Psychology Unit 5

1. PsychologyUnit 5 Human Development Across the Lifespan

2. Outline • Infancy and Childhood • Early and Middle Adulthood • Later Adulthood

3. Developmental Psychology = Study of changes in people from conception to death • Cross-Sectional Approach = A method of studying developmental changes by comparing people of different ages at about the same time • Cohort = A group of people born during the same period in time • Longitudinal Approach = A method of studying developmental changes by evaluating the same people at different points in their lives

4. Erikson’s Stage Theory • Trust vs Mistrust (0-1 yr) • If needs are met, infants come to trust the environment and themselves • Autonomy vs Shame and Doubt (1-3 yrs) • Ability to master skills such as walking, holding onto thing, control of their excretory functions • Initiative vs Guilt (3-6 yrs) • Support and encouragement or scolding for new activities? • Industry vs Inferiority (6-13 yrs) • Ability to meet the new expectations at home and school

5. Erikson’s Stage Theory • Identity vs Role Confusion (13-18 yrs) • Ability to integrate the various roles (student, sister, friends, etc.) • Intimacy vs Isolation (18-25 yrs) • To love someone else we must have resolved earlier issues and feel secure in our own identities • Generativityvs Stagnation (25-60 yrs) • The challenge is to remain creative in all aspects of one’s life, finding meaning and joy in all major activities • Integrity vs. Despair (60 yrs-end of life) • Acceptance with one’s life, a sense that it is complete and satisfactory

6. Parent-Child Relationships in Infancy: Development of Attachment • Attachment = Emotional bond that develops in the first year of life that makes human babies cling to their caregivers for safety and comfort • Evident by six months or earlier • reacts with coos at the caregiver’s appearance or whimpers when they leave • Autonomy • Sense of independence • a desire not to be controlled by others • A child who has formed a secure attachment to a caregiver can explore the environment without fear

7. Parent-Child Relationships in Infancy: Development of Attachment • Socialization = Process by which children learn the behaviors and attitudes appropriate to their family and culture • The need for both autonomy and socialization can be met if • parent allows the child a reasonable amount of independence • while insisting the child follow certain rules

8. Parent-Child Relationships in Childhood • Effect of parenting style on a child’s outlook and behavior • Authoritative parents provide firm structure and guidance without being overly controlling. • Must successful parenting style • Authoritarian parents are low on warmth but high on control and insist on unquestioning obedience • Produce children who generally have poor communication skills, are moody, withdrawn and distrustful. May also act out when the parents aren’t around

9. Parent-Child Relationships in Childhood • Effect of parenting style on a child’s outlook and behavior • Permissive parents are high on warmth, but low on control • Children tend to be immature, disrespectful, impulsive and out of control • Indifferent parents exert little control, are neglectful and inattentive • Children tend to be overly dependent and lacking social skills and self-control

10. Forming an Identity • Identity Formation • The development of a stable sense of self, necessary to make the transition from dependence on others to dependence on oneself • Identity Crisis • A period of intense self-examination and decision making • Part of the process of identity formation

11. Watch Consuming Kids: The Commercialization of Childhood

12. Early and Middle Adulthood • Development during adulthood is less predictable • more a function of the individual's decisions, circumstances and even luck • Certain experiences and changes take place sooner or later in nearly everyone's life and certain needs that nearly every adult tries to fulfill

13. “I don’t know how to be in relationships.” • “HOW can I change to be more successful in relationships?!”

14. Love, Partnership and Parenting • Nearly all adults form a long-term, loving partnership with another adult at some point in their lives • Failure to form an intimate partnership with someone else can cause a young adult to feel painfully lonely and incomplete

15. Forming Partnerships • Almost 90% of Americans eventually get married • it is happening later in life • Cohabitation • Usually < two years • Greatest recent increase for those 35+ • Homosexual couples • Successful relationships have the same characteristics as heterosexual relationships: • High levels of mutual trust, respect and appreciation • Shared decision making • Good communication • Good conflict resolution skills

16. Parenthood • Marital satisfaction tends to decline after the arrival of the first child • Less time or energy for each other • May be conflict between their careers and home responsibilities

17. Martial Satisfaction

18. Ending a Relationship • Almost half of all marriages eventually end in divorce • Rarely a mutual decision • Most report it was a positive step resulting in • greater personal contentment • healthier psychological functioning

19. Possible Effects of Divorce on Children • Poorer school performance • Self-esteem problems • Problems with gender-role development • Emotional adjustments • Difficulty maintaining relationships • Negative attitude toward marriage

20. Cognitive Changes with Adulthood • An adult's thinking is more flexible and practical than an adolescent's • Realize that there may be several "right" solutions or none at all • Realize that “truth” often varies according to the situation and one’s viewpoint • Changes derive from greater experience of the world

21. Cognitive Changes • Vocabulary and verbal memory increase steadily through the sixth decade of life • Reasoning and spatial orientation peek during the 40s • Perceptual speed begins to decline as early as 25 years of age • Mathematical computation skills decline at approximately 40 years of age • Declines can be minimized if people stay mentally active

22. Personality Changes • Psychological health generally increases in adulthood • Less self-centered • better coping skills • more sympathetic • Productive • dependable • Increasing commitment to and responsibility for others • more comfortable in interpersonal relationships

23. Personality Changes • Midlife Crisis • A time when adults discover they no longer feel fulfilled in their jobs or personal lives and attempt to make a decisive shift in career or lifestyle • Most people do not experience a midlife crisis • Midlife Transition • A process whereby adults assess the past and formulate new goals for the future

24. Later Adulthood • During the 20th century, the percentage of Americans over age 65 has more than tripled • In 2000, 35 million Americans were over age 65 • By 2030, expected to be more than 70 million Americans were over age 65 • Those over 85 represent the fastest-growing segment of the US population

25. Demographics of Aging • Women live an average of 7 years longer than men • Differences in hormones, exposure to stress, health-related behaviors and genetic makeup • White Americans live an average of 5 years longer than African Americans • Disparities in socioeconomic well-being

26. Demographics of Aging • Myths of older people: • Lonely, poor, troubled by ill health, and “senility” is inevitable • Some symptoms go untreated because medical professionals assume they are inevitable signs of decay in old age • Increasingly, people age 65+ are healthy, productive and able

27. Social Development • Most men and women over 65 live autonomous lives and are satisfied with their lifestyles • Happiest are those who remain physically and mentally active, travel, exercise and attend meetings • Generally, older people interact with fewer people and perform fewer social roles • Make more sensible choices that suit their more limited time frames and physical capabilities

28. Retirement • Society has no clear expectations of what retirees are supposed to do • Men tend to see retirement as a time to slow down and do less • Women view retirement as a time to learn new things and explore new possibilities • People who are fulfilled by their jobs, who are very ambitious, or have hard driving personalities are usually less interested in retiring

29. Sexual Behavior • Respond more slowly and are less sexually active • 37% of married couples over 60 have sex at least once a week, 20% have sex outdoors and 17% swim in the nude • Half the men aged 65 - 97 surveyed still viewed sex as important

30. Cognitive Changes • Healthy people who remain intellectually active maintain a high level of mental functioning in old age • The brain only shrinks about 10% between the ages of 20 and 70 • The aging mind does work slowly and certain types of memories are a little more difficult to store and retrieve

31. Alzheimer’s Disease = A neurological disorder, most commonly found in late adulthood • characterized by progressive losses in memory and cognition and changes in personality • 10% of adults over 65 and nearly half of adults over age 85 suffer from Alzheimer’s Disease

32. Alzheimer’s Disease • Begins with minor memory losses, such as difficulty recalling words and names or where something was placed • Over the next 2 – 20 years people may become emotionally withdrawn, suffer from delusions, become confused and may not know where they are or what time of day it is • Eventually people are unable to care for themselves or recognize family members • Believed to be caused by a deterioration of the brain’s structure and function

33. Facing the End of Life Kübler-Ross’s Stages of Dying • Denial • Anger • Bargaining • Depression • Acceptance

34. Facing the End of Life • Americans have a greater problem coping with death than in some other cultures • Most elderly people fear death less than younger people do • What they do fear are pain, indignity, depersonalization, and loneliness associated with a terminal illness • They also worry about becoming a financial burden to their families • The death of a spouse may be the most severe challenge the elderly face