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CHAPTER 11

Human Development Across the Life Span

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PROGRESS BEFORE BIRTH: PRENATAL DEVELOPMENT

3 phases germinal stage = first 2 weeks

conception, implantation, formation of placenta embryonic stage = 2 weeks – 2 months

formation of vital organs and systems fetal stage = 2 months – birth

bodily growth continues, movement capability begins, brain cells multiply

age of viability

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ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS AND 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

Maternal illness Rubella, syphilis, mumps, genital herpes, AIDS,

severe influenza Prenatal health care Prevention through guidance

Infant mortality by countries – Slide 5 Preventive care for children

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Cross-cultural comparisons of infant mortality

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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 – growth charts 95% level Cultural variations

Table of ContentsFigure 11.3 – Developmental Motor milestones

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EASY AND DIFFICULT BABIES: DIFFERENCES IN TEMPERAMENT

Thomas, Chess, and Birch (1970) 3 basic temperamental styles

easy – 40% slow-to-warm-up – 15% difficult – 10% mixed – 35%

stable over time Kagan & Snidman (1991)

Inhibited vs. uninhibited temperament inhibited – 15 - 20% uninhibited – 25 - 30%

stable over time, genetically based

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XX 11.4

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EARLY EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT: ATTACHMENT

Separation anxiety Ainsworth (1979) The strange situation and patterns of attachment

Secure Anxious-ambivalent Avoidant Figure 11.5, process and Figure 11.6, cross-cultural

comparison Effects on mating strategy – slide 11

Developing secure attachment Bonding at birth – contact comfort – Harlow – p.

449 Daycare Cultural factors

Evolutionary perspectives on attachment

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Cultural variations in attachment patterns

Attachment and mating strategy, from childhood to puberty

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STAGE THEORIES OF DEVELOPMENT: PERSONALITY

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

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XX 11.7

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XX 11.8

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STAGE THEORIES: COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

Jean Piaget (1920s-1980s) Assimilation/ Accommodation 4 stages and major milestones – Figure 11.9

Sensorimotor Object permanence

Preoperational Centration, Egocentrism

Concrete Operational Decentration, Reversibility, Conservation – F 11.10, F

11.11 Formal Operational

Abstraction

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XX 11.11

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OTHER COGNITIVE ABILITIES

Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory Thought and Language (1934) Importance of social interactions in cognitive

development Zone of proximal development (ZPD) – difference in

accomplishing alone and with help from others Inhibition – disinhibition – innate? Memory abilities – active maintenance

rehearsal 9-10 years Memory capacities - metacognition

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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 – punishment S1 – naïve reward S2 Conventional - good boy/good girl S3 – authority S4 Postconventional - social contract S5 – individual

principles and conscience S6 Longitudinal studies –research issues (use of

males), reasoning versus behavior Greene’s et al. studies of moral judgments and

brain functioning – fMRI studies using 60 moral dilemmas

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Age and moral reasoning based on Kohlberg’s stages

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ADOLESCENCE: PUBERTY AND THE GROWTH SPURT

Pubescence – growth spurts 10 – 12 females 12 – 14 males Puberty

Secondary sex characteristics Primary sex characteristics

Menarche Sperm production Tanner stages

Maturation: early vs. late – Belsky’s study Sex differences in effects of early maturation

Brain Development in adolescence Risk taking Rates of suicide

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Figure 11.17 – Prefrontal Cortex and adolescence development

Table of ContentsFigure 11.18 Peer influence on risk taking

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THE SEARCH FOR IDENTITY

Problems – suicide rates and brain development

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

James Marcia (1988) 4 identity statuses

Foreclosure Moratorium Identity Diffusion Identity Achievement

Longitudinal study – changes in the four statuses – slide 28

Table of ContentsFigure 11.20 Marcia’s four identity statuses

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Slide 28 – Age and Identity status based on Marcia (1980), data

from Meilman (1979)

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EMERGING ADULTHOOD AS A NEW DEVELOPMENTAL STAGE

Search for identity extends into adulthood Ages 18 – 25 have become a distinct

transitional stage of life Characterized by:

subjective feeling of transition age of possibilities self-focused period of identity formation

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THE EXPANSE OF ADULTHOOD

Personality development – midlife crisis? Social development – family life cycle, marriage, parenthood, empty nest

Career development – patterns, work and in the home

Physical changes – biological aging process

Cognitive changes – mental abilities, memory, response time

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Figure 11.23 – Median age at first marriage in United States

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Figure 11.24 – Housework trends since the 1960s

Table of ContentsFigure 11.25 Age and the stability of primary mental abilities

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GENDER DIFFERENCES AND ISSUES

Stereotypes Cognitive Social/personality Biological origins – brain hemisphere

differences Hormone influences – estrogens and androgens

Environment influences - socialization Gender role – gender versus sex

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Figure 11.27 – distribution of gender differences

Figure 11.28 – The cerebral hemispheres and the corpus callosum