Author’s note:
I have tried to keep the summary to the learning goals and important concepts, but it is pretty
extensive. Some of the chapters didn’t have learning goals, and some of the learning goals
could not fully be answered by the information in the book.
Ik heb geprobeerd om de samenvatting alleen te schrijven over de leerdoelen en belangrijke
begrippen, maar het is relatief uitgebreid. Sommige hoofdstukken hadden geen leerdoelen, en
sommige van de leerdoelen konden niet volledig beantwoord worden met de informatie die in
het boek stond.
,Samenvatting Ontwikkelingspsychologie
Unit 1: Meta-theories
What is Development?
Developmental science: Human Development or Lifespan Development is the scientific study
of the ways in which people change, as well as remain the same, from conception to death. It
examines changes and stability across multiple domains of psychological and social
functioning.
Learning Objectives: Lifespan Perspective
- Explain the lifespan perspective and its assumptions about development
Lifespan Perspective
Underlying principles of the lifespan perspective:
1. Development is lifelong. No single age period is more crucial, characterizes, or
dominates human development.
2. Development is multidirectional and multidimensional. Different people follow
different developmental pathways, and proceed along pathways at different rates.
Even within the same person, different dimensions or domains of development can
change in different ways.
3. Development includes both gains and losses. The lifespan approach holds that at
every age, we may show gains in some areas of development, while showing losses in
other areas.
4. Development is characterized by plasticity.
Plasticity: malleability, or our potential to change and to follow a wide range of
developmental pathways
5. Development is embedded in historical and cultural contexts. Development is
influenced by the many social contexts in which it unfolds. How people develop will
depend on their societal and cultural contexts, and on the historical period during
which their development takes place.
6. Development is multiply determined. Development is caused by multiple factors,
and is always shaped by both biological and environmental factors. In addition, the
individual plays an active role in his or her own development.
7. Development is multidisciplinary.
There are three specific developmental systems of influence, all of which include biological
and environmental forces:
- Normative age-graded influences: An age-grade is a specific age group, such as
toddler, adolescent, or senior. Humans experience particular age-graded social
experiences (e.g., starting school) and biological changes (e.g., puberty).
- Normative history-graded influences: The time period in which you are born shapes
your experiences. A cohort is a group of people who are born at roughly the same
period in a particular society. These people travel through life often experiencing
similar historical changes at similar ages. History-graded influences include both
, environmental determinants (e.g., historical changes in the job market) and biological
determinants (e.g., historical changes in life expectancy).
- Non-normative influences: People’s development is also shaped by specific
influences that are not organized by age or historical time, such as immigration,
accidents, or the death of a parent. These can be environmental (e.g., parental mental
health issues) or biological (e.g., life threatening illness).
We change across three general domains/dimensions; physical, cognitive, and psychosocial.
- The physical domain includes changes in height and weight, sensory capabilities, the
nervous system, as well as the propensity for disease and illness.
- The cognitive domain encompasses the changes in intelligence, wisdom, perception,
problem-solving, memory, and language.
- The psychosocial domain focuses on changes in emotion, self-perception and
interpersonal relationships with families, peers, and friends.
All three domains influence each other. It is also important to note that a change in one
domain may cascade and prompt changes in the other domains.
Contextual perspectives, like the lifespan approach, highlight societal contexts that influence
our development. An important societal factor is our social standing, socioeconomic status, or
social class. All of us born into a class system are socially located, and we may move up or
down depending on a combination of both socially and individually created limits and
opportunities.
Socioeconomic status (SES): a way to identify families and households based on their shared
levels of education, income, and occupation.
Poverty level: an income amount established by the federal government that is based on a set
of thresholds that vary by family size.
Poverty is associated with poorer health and a lower life expectancy due to poorer diet, less
healthcare, greater stress, working in more dangerous occupations, higher infant mortality
rates, poorer prenatal care, greater iron deficiencies, greater difficulty in school, and many
other problems.
Culture: the totality of our shared language, knowledge, material objects, and behavior.
Ethnocentrism: The belief that our own culture is superior. This is a normal by-product of
growing up in a culture.
Cultural relativity: an appreciation for cultural differences and the understanding that cultural
practices are best understood from the standpoint of that particular culture.
Lifespan, or longevity: the maximum age any member of a species can reach under optimal
conditions.
Life expectancy: the average number of years a person born in a particular time period can
typically expect to live.
Chronological age: the number of years since your birth
, Biological age: Another way developmental researchers can think about the concept of age is
to examine how quickly the body is aging. Several factors determine the rate at which our
body ages.
Psychological age: Our psychologically adaptive capacity compared to others of our
chronological age. This includes our cognitive capacity along with our emotional beliefs
about how old we are.
Social age: Our social age is based on the social norms of our culture and the expectations our
culture has for people of our age group. Our culture often reminds us whether we are “on
target” or “off target” for reaching certain social milestones. However, there have been
arguments that social age is becoming less relevant in the 21st century.
- Differentiate periods of human development
Prenatal: Starts at conceptions, continues through implantation in the uterine wall by the
embryo, and ends at birth.
Conception occurs and development begins. All of the major structures of the body are
forming, and the health of the mother is of primary concern. Understanding nutrition,
teratogens, and labor and delivery are primary concerns.
Teratogens: environmental factors that can lead to birth defects.
Infancy and Toddlerhood: Starts at birth and continues to two years of age.
The first two years of life are ones of dramatic growth and change. A newborn, with a keen
sense of hearing but very poor vision, is transformed into a walking, talking toddler within a
relatively short period of time. Caregivers are also transformed from someone who manages
feeding and sleep schedules to a constantly moving guide and safety inspector for a mobile,
energetic child.
Early Childhood: Starts at two years of age until six years of age.
The years that follow toddlerhood and precede formal schooling. As a two to six-year-old, the
child is busy learning language, gaining a sense of self and greater independence, and
beginning to understand the workings of the physical world.
Middle and Late Childhood: Starts at six years of age and continues until the onset of puberty.
The ages of six to the onset of puberty comprise middle and late childhood, and much of what
children experience at this age is connected to their involvement in the early grades of school.
Now the world becomes one of learning and testing new academic skills, and assessing one’s
abilities and accomplishments by making comparisons between self and others.
Adolescence: Starts at the onset of puberty until 18
Adolescence is a period of dramatic physical change marked by an overall growth spurt and
sexual maturation, known as puberty. It is also a time of cognitive change. At the same time,
adolescents have a sense of invincibility that puts them at greater risk of accidents or
contracting sexually transmitted infections that can have lifelong consequences.
Emerging Adulthood: Starts at 18 until 25.
