EDCO 268 – Fall 2012 Lifespan Development Theory Shawn Ogimachi [email protected] Please place...
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Transcript of EDCO 268 – Fall 2012 Lifespan Development Theory Shawn Ogimachi [email protected] Please place...
EDCO 268 – Fall 2012 Lifespan Development
Theory
Shawn [email protected]
Please place “268” in the subject line of email
•The scientific study of human growth throughout life
•Is rooted in Child Development - the scientific study of development from birth to adolescence
•Closely related to Gerontology, the scientific study of aging and Adult Development, the scientific study of the adult stage of life
•Lifespan Development is studied by “Developmental Scientists” also called Developmentalists
Lifespan Development
Lifespan Development •Multidisciplinary or Interdisciplinary
•Predictable milestones of the human journey
•Focuses on the individual differences
•Explores the impact of life transitionsNormative transitions - predictableNon-normative - unforeseen
Contexts of Development
•Contexts of Development - identifiable markers including cohort, socioeconomic status, culture, and gender that influence development throughout the lifespan
•Cohort - our age group, the age group with whom we travel through life
•Baby Boomers - the age group born between 1946 and 1964
•Average Life Expectancy - your fifty fifty chance at birth to living to a certain age
•20th Century life expectancy revolution - the dramatic increase in life expectancy in developed nations and societies
•Maximum lifespan - the biological limit of human life (about 105 years)
•Young Old - 60s and 70s
•Old Old - 80 and beyond
Changing Conceptions of Later Life
Socioeconomic status
Socioeconomic status - marker that measures income and education
Developed World - higher incomes, educational levels and life expectancy
Developing World - lower educational levels, income, and life expectancy
Culture, Ethnicity, and Gender
Collectivist Cultures - value social harmony, obedience and close family ties over individual achievement
Individualist Cultures - value independence, competition, and personal success
Gender
Theory
•Perspectives that explain human behavior
•Theories are used to predict behavior and suggest how to intervene to change behaviors
•NATURE - Biological or genetic causes of development
•NURTURE - Environmental causes of Behavior
Traditional Behaviorism - Nurture Theory
John Watson and B. F. Skinner
•Focused on “Objective” or visible behaviors
•Operant Conditioning - we act the way we do because we are reinforced for acting that way
•Reinforcement - Behavioral term for reward
•Extinction - complete lack of reinforcement
Cognitive Behaviorism
People learn by watching others and our thinking about reinforcers determine our behaviors
Modeling - learning by watching and imitating others
Self- efficacy - an internal belief in ourselves that predicts our successes resiliency
Albert Bandura
Attachment Theory John Bowlby
The importance of being connected to a caregiver in early childhood and being attached to a significant other during all of life.
Combines elements of nature and nurture as Bowlby argued that attachment response is genetically programmed in humans
Evolutionary Psychology
Inborn biological forces - explain behavior and development
Certain behaviors cannot be changed by reinforcers
Behavioral Genetics - Studies the role of hereditary forces in determining individual differences in behavior
Nature - Nurture
Evocative forces - inborn (nature) temperaments that evoke or produce responses other humans
Bidirectionality - people affect each other, interpersonal influences flow in both directions
Nature shapes Nurture
Active Forces - genetic temperamental tendencies lead us to actively seek environments that let us be ourselves.
Person-Environment Fit - How well the environment fits our nature
Age Linked Theories Jean Piaget
Cognitive Development Theory - from infancy to adolescence, children progress through four qualitatively different stages of intellectual growth
Assimilation - first step in Piaget’s theory - fitting the environment into our mental capacities
Accommodation - expanding our mental capacities to fit the world
Age Linked Theories Erik Erikson
Theorized that we develop throughout life
Identified 8 life stages with psychosocial tasks at each stage
Developmental Systems Perspective
Stresses the need to use many different approaches
Emphasis the need to look at interactions of processes - every influence on development relates
Research Methods
Correlation study - relating two or more variables
• Mixing the result with the cause
• There may be another variable that explains the result
Experiments - randomly assigning people to different treatments and then looking at the outcome. Isolates the independent variable
Research Methods
Experiments - randomly assigning people to different treatments and then looking at the outcome. Isolates the independent variable
Measuring variables
Naturalistic Observation
Direct observation: codes action
+ Direct record of behavior- Time intensive- People behave differently when watched
Measuring variables
Self Reports - Questionnaires where people report on their feelings, interests, attitudes, and thoughts
+ Easy to administer provides data quickly - Subject to bias
Measuring variables
Ability tests - measuring skills
+ Objective measure of performance
- May not accurately measure that skill in the “real world”
Measuring variables
Observer reports - Knowledgeable person or trained observer completes scales evaluating the person
+ Offers a structured look at the person’s behavior
- Observers have their biases
Cross- Sectional Studies
A developmental research strategy that involves testing different age groups at the same time
Tend to give us snapshots about the differences among cohorts
Measures group differences rather than individual differences
Longitudinal Studies
Research strategy that tests an age group repeatedly over many years
Requires time, planning, resources,
Participants often are motivated individuals
EDCO 268 – Fall 2012 Practicum in Lifespan and
Career Development
Shawn N. [email protected]
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