Week 1 Flashcards
(28 cards)
Lifespan development
the study of factors that influence consistency & transformation from conception to death
A dynamic, lifelong process
Types of development
- Bi-directional
- Plasticity
- Multi-dimensional: Physical, emotional, social, perceptual, personality, intellectual
Major periods of development
*look up image
Changing historical context of development
- Medieval Europe: children as miniature adults, no concept of ‘adolescence’
-> Adolescence
.. 19th – 20th century phenomenon
.. compulsory schooling mid 1800s
.. separate juvenile courts/prisons Australia 1889
-> Emerging Adulthood
.. 21st century western phenomenon
.. Arnett (2000): 18 to 25 years
Changes in life expectancy
- Australia 1890: males 47.2, females 50
- 2009: males 79.3, females 83.9
Early theories saw development plateau after adolescence, & inevitably decline with age
Influences in development
Normative age-graded influences: similar biological influences for individuals at same age – e.g. puberty
Normative history-graded influences: why people born at the same time (cohort) tend to be similar-impact on a generation
Non-normative life events: unique occurrences that impact on the individual, independent of the historical period
Normative history-graded influences
*look up image
Major developmental theories
Major theories to be covered
.. Psychoanalytic theories -> Freud & Erikson
.. Learning (behaviourist) theories -> Pavlov, Skinner, & Bandura
.. Cognitive developmental theories -> Piaget, Vygotsky & Information-Processing Perspective
.. Ethological & Evolutionary theories -> Lorenz, Bowlby
.. Ecological theories -> Bronfenbrenner
Psychoanalytic theories of development
- Freud and Erikson
- People move through a series of stages where they confront conflicts between biological drives & social expectations
- > Psychosexual stages of development & how 3 parts of personality (id, ego & super-ego) become integrated through these stages
- > Freud was the first person to emphasise the importance of the parent-child relationship on development
Erikson’s psychosocial theory of development
- look up image
- Saw development as continuing throughout the lifespan
- Fundamental psychosocial conflict at each stage
Behaviourism developmental theories
Traditional behaviourism
- Pavlov: classical conditioning
- Watson: Little Albert
- Skinner: operant conditioning theory
Social Learning Theory
- Bandura: influence of modelling & observational learning
Cognitive developmental theories
- Piaget: Rather than reinforcement, children develop through brain maturation & manipulation, exploration of environment
- Information-processing theories: views development similarly to computer model – how info is attended to, encoded, stored & decoded
- Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory: development is socially mediated, varies across culture
Developmental theories - evolutionary
Ethological & Evolutionary theories
- Lorenz: addresses the adaptive value of behaviour; imprinting
- Bowlby: applied ethnological theory to understanding caregiver-child relationship; attachment
Bronfenbrenner: ecological systems theory
*look up image
Environmental influences on development
- Family
- SES
.. Affluence
.. Poverty - Neighbourhoods, towns and cities
- Cultural context
Environmental influences: family
- Bidirectional: behaviours of each family member affect behaviours of others
- Direct Influence: parents who use harsh discipline have more aggressive children; more aggressive children evoke more discipline
- Indirect influence: 3rd parties; positive or negative influence on development
- Degree of marital/parental relationship conflict/harmony impacts on parenting
- Prolonged exposure to unresolved conflict impacts on child’s emotional stability
Examples of family influence
*look up image
Environmental influence: socioeconomic status
Measured by 3 related variables
..Level of education.. Occupational skills.. Income
-> Australia: Index of Relative Advantage/Disadvantage based on postcode
- Related to family size, age of parenting
- Time & resources available for engaged parenting
- Higher parental education = more likely to invest in cognitive development
- Related to differences in values, expectations, and behaviours
-> e.g., Communication styles, home literacy environment
Family and socioeconomic status influence examples
- look up images
- dinner with parents example
- language input example
Life pathways: environment and genetics
- Early foundations (gene/environ) are the starting point and set the stage for who we are today
-> Determine/influence:
.. Physiological health
.. Psychological health
.. Attachments
.. Emotional regulation
The relationship between environment and heredity
Epigenetic Framework
- epigenesis: bidirectional influences of heredity and environment (including person’s own behaviour) on development
Behavioural genetics
the study of degree and nature of behaviour’s hereditary versus environmental basis
- One way we study this is through kinship studies
Kinship studies
*look up image
Heritability and heritability estimate
Heritability
- The extent to which individual differences in complex traits are due to genetic factors (Note: True only for mid-high SES samples)
Heritability estimate
- Measures the extent to which individual differences in complex traits in a specific population are due to genetic factors
