Chapter 10: Human Development Across the

Life Span

Development

• Physical, behavioral, cognitive, and personality changes or lack of changes that occur throughout the lifespan.

Chronological Periods

• Prenatal• Infancy• Preschool/Early Childhood• School Age/Middle Childhood• Adolescence• Early Adulthood• Middle Adulthood• Late Adulthood

• Conception – Birth• 0 to 2• 2 to 5/6• 6 to 12• 12 to 20• 20 to 40• 40 to 65• 65 and older

Prenatal Period

Conception - Birth

Conception

• Zygote

– One-celled organism formed by the union of the sperm and the egg.

– Usually occurs in fallopian tubes.

Female Reproductive Organs

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Fertilization

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• Egg is viable for

24 hours

• Sperm is viable for

3 to 5 days

• “Unsafe period” is from

day 9 to 15 if ovulation occurs on day 14

day 7 to 17 could be unsafe

Progress Before Birth:Prenatal Development

• 3 phases

– Germinal stage = Conception to 2 weeks• Conception• Implantation • Formation of placenta

Fertilization

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• Many miscarriages happen at the end of the Germinal phase

• Many sexually active women of childbearing age have had a miscarriage and did not know it.

1

Progress Before Birth:Prenatal Development

• 3 phases

– Embryonic stage = 2 weeks – 2 months• Formation of vital organs and systems• Most birth defects occur during this

stage• Sexual differentiation

Progress Before Birth:Prenatal Development

• 3 phases

– Fetal stage = 2 months – birth• Bodily growth continues, movement

capability begins, brain cells multiply• Age of viability – 22 to 26 weeks• Movement can be felt• Average weight and height

Figure 10.1 Overview of fetal development

Environmental Factorsand Prenatal Development

• Maternal nutrition– Malnutrition linked to increased risk of birth

complications, neurological problems, and psychopathology

• Maternal drug use– Tobacco, alcohol, prescription, and

recreational drugs– Fetal alcohol syndrome

Environmental Factorsand Prenatal Development

• Maternal illness– Rubella, syphilis, mumps, genital herpes,

AIDS, severe influenza– Prenatal health care– Prevention through guidance

Childhood

0-12 years

The Childhood Years: Motor Development

• Basic Principles– Cephalocaudal trend – head to foot– Proximodistal trend – center-outward

• Maturation – gradual unfolding of genetic blueprint

• Developmental norms – median age– Cultural variations

Attachment Theories

• Behaviorism– Food is a reinforcer

• Harlow’s Monkeys– Contact Comfort

• Bowlby– Biological Basis

• Current– Bi-directional

Early Emotional Development: Attachment

• Separation anxiety

– Ainsworth (1979)– The strange situation and patterns of

attachment

• Secure• Anxious-ambivalent• Anxious-Avoidant

Becoming Unique: Personality Development

• Stage theories, three components– progress through stages in order– progress through stages related to age– major discontinuities in development

• Erik Erikson (1963)– Eight stages spanning the lifespan– Psychosocial crises determining balance

between opposing polarities in personality

Figure 10.6 Erikson’s stage theory

Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory

• Trust vs. Mistrust• Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt• Initiative vs. Guilt• Industry vs. Inferiority• Identity vs. Confusion• Intimacy vs. Isolation• Generativity vs. Stagnation• Integrity vs. Despair

The Growth of Thought:Cognitive Development

• Jean Piaget (1920s-1980s)– Children think different at different ages– Basic Concepts

• Schemes• Adaptation

– Assimilation/– Accommodation

Figure 10.7 Piaget’s stage theory

Cognitive DevelopmentJean Piaget

4 stages and major milestones• Sensorimotor

– Object permanence• Preoperational

– Centration, Egocentrism• Concrete Operational

– Decentration, Reversibility, Conservation• Formal Operational

– Abstraction

Figure 10.8 Piaget’s conservation task

Evaluating Piaget’s Theory

• Criticisms– Piaget underestimated children’s abilities– Problems with stage theories– Universality

• Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory

The Development of Moral Reasoning

• Kohlberg (1976)– Reasoning as opposed to behavior

• Moral dilemmas–Measured nature and progression of

moral reasoning– 3 levels, each with 2 sublevels

• Preconventional• Conventional• Postconventional

Figure 10.10 Kohlberg’s stage theory

Adolescence: Physiological Changes

• Puberty– Secondary sex characteristics– Primary sex characteristics

• Menarche• Spermarche

– Maturation: early vs. late

Figure 10.12 Physical development at puberty

Adolescence: Neural Changes

• Increasing myelinization

• Changes in prefrontal cortex

The Search for Identity

• Erik Erikson (1968)– Key challenge - forming a sense of identity

• James Marcia (1988)– Four identity statuses

• Identity diffusion• Identity foreclosure• Identity moratorium• Identity achievement

The Expanse of Adulthood

• Early Adulthood

• Middle Adulthood

• Late Adulthood