Experience Human Development
Femke van Rijn
February 2020
Chapter 1
Human development = the scientific study of the systematic processes of change and stability in
people
- Interdisciplinary: research from multiple fields besides psychology
Life-span development = human development is a lifelong process
Goals of human development:
- Description
- Explanation
- Prediction
- Intervention
3 major domains of the self:
- Physical development (growth, motor skills, health, sensory capacities)
- Cognitive development (learning, attention, language, memory, reasoning)
- Psychosocial development (emotions, personality, social relationships)
The domains affect each other.
Division of the life span into periods is a social construction, there are no objectively definable
moments, it’s influenced by culture.
In this book: 8 periods generally accepted in Western societies, and the 3 domains (table 1-1).
Age period Physical developments Cognitive developments Psychosocial developments
Prenatal period -Conception -Development of -Responding to and
(conception – -Genetic endowment abilities to learn and preferring mother’s voice
birth) interacts with remember and to
environmental respond to sensory
influences, very stimuli
vulnerable to this
-Forming of body
structures and organs,
most rapid physical
growth
Infancy and -All senses and body -Abilities to learn and -Forming attachment to
toddlerhood systems operate to remember are present parents and others
(birth – age 3) varying degrees -End of 2nd school year: -Developing self-awareness
-The brain grows in using symbols and -Shift from dependence to
complexity, highly solving problems autonomy
sensitive to -Rapid development of -Increasing interest in
environmental language other children
influences
-Rapid physical growth
and development of
motor skills
Early childhood -Steady growth -Egocentric thinking but -More complex self-
(age 3 – 6) -Diminished appetite, growing understanding concept and understanding
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, more sleep problems of other people’s of emotions
-Improvement of fine perspective -Increased independence,
and gross motor skills -Cognitive immaturity, initiative and self-control
and strength some illogical ideas -Development of gender
about the world identity
-Improvement of -More imaginative,
language and memory elaborate and social
-More predictable playing
intelligence -Common altruism,
aggression and fear
-Social life is focused on
family, and other children
become more important
Middle -Slowing down of -Diminishing of -More complex self-
childhood growth egocentrism concept, affecting self-
(age 6 – 11) -Improvement of -Beginning to think esteem
strength and athletic logically -Gradual shift in control
skills -Increased memory and from parents, coregulation
-Common respiratory language skills -Central importance of
illnesses, but good -Cognitive gains peers
health -Some show special
education needs and
strengths
Adolescence -Physical growth and -Ability to think -Search for identity
(age 11 – 20) changes abstractly and scientific -Influences from peer
-Reproductive reasoning group
maturity occurs -Still immature thinking
-Major health risks in some attitudes and
from behavioral issues behaviors
Emerging and -Peak of physical -More complex -Personality traits and
young condition, slight thoughts and moral styles become relatively
adulthood decline judgments stable, may be influenced
(age 20 – 40) -Lifestyle choices -Educational and by life stages and events
influence health occupational choices -Intimate relationships and
personal lifestyles are
established but may not
last
-Marriage and parenthood
Middle -Slow deterioration of -Peak of mental -Midlife transition,
adulthood sensory abilities, abilities, expertise and continuing developing
(age 40 – 65) health, stamina and practical problem sense of identity
strength, individual solving skills -Responsibilities of caring
differences -Creative output for children and parents,
-Menopause becomes less but higher stressful
quality -Empty nest
-Peak of career success
and power, or burnout
or career change
Late adulthood -Health and physical -Mentally alert -Retirement, new options
(Age 65 – death) abilities generally -Compensation of of time use
decline deteriorating -More flexible strategies to
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, -Slower reaction time intelligence and cope with personal losses
affects some aspects memory and death
of functioning -Support from relationships
with family and friends
-Search for meaning of life
Besides the universal processes of development, individual differences are also studied.
Factors that interact:
- Heredity = inborn traits or characteristics inherited from the biological parents
- Environment = the world outside of the self, learning comes from experience
Maturation of the body and brain = the unfolding of a natural sequence of physical changes and
behavior patterns
- As people get older, individual differences play a greater role
Context of development:
- Family
o Nuclear family = a household with 1 or 2 parents and biological, adopted and
stepchildren
o Extended family = multigenerational network (can live together in extended-family
households)
- SES and neighborhood
o Socioeconomic status = based on family income and the educational and
occupational levels of the parents
- Culture and ethnicity
o Culture = a group’s way of life, learned behavior (customs, traditions, beliefs, values,
language, objects)
o Ethnic group = a group united by ancestry, race, religion, language or national
origins, which contributes to a sense of shared identity
Ethnic gloss = overgeneralization about a group that hides differences within
the group
- Historical context
Normative influences = biological or environmental events that affect most people in a similar way
- Normative age-graded influences = timing of biological events, fairly predictable
- Normative history-graded influences = significant events that shape behavior and attitudes of
a historical generation
o Not the same as an age cohort (people that are born at the same time)
Nonnormative influences events that have a major impact on individual lives, they disturb the
expected sequence
Imprinting = a young animal forms an attachment to the first moving object it sees during a critical
period in early development
- The result of a predisposition towards learning
Critical period = a specific time when a certain event has a specific impact on development
- If this event does not occur, there will not be a normal development
The concept of critical periods in humans is controversial, because many aspects of developments
have shown plasticity.
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, - It’s more useful to think about sensitive periods, when a person is especially responsive to
certain kinds of experiences
- There are individual differences in plasticity of responses to events
7 key principles of a life-span developmental approach (Baltes):
- Development is lifelong
- Development is multidimensional
- Development is multidirectional
- Relative influences of biology and culture shift over the life span
- Development involves changing resource allocations
- Development shows plasticity
- Development is influenced by the historical and cultural context
Chapter 2
A theory is a set of logically related concepts or statements that organizes and explains the data that
is gathered by research. Theories can inspire further research and predict results by forming
hypotheses. Theories are based on assumptions. The way development can be explained is based on
assumptions about two issues:
- Whether people are active or reactive in their own development
- Whether development is continuous or occurs in stages
The Mechanistic Model: people are like machines that react to environmental input
- Fits with Locke’s view of the mind as a blank slate
- A machine is the sum of its parts, and to understand it we can break it down in small
components
- Human behavior is the operation of biological pars in response to stimuli
- Quantitative change: development is continuous
The Organismic Model: people are active, growing mechanisms that set their own development in
motion
- Fits with Rousseau’s view that people are born as noble savages
- The driving force for change is internal, not because of environmental influences
- Human behavior is viewed as an organic whole, the development has an underlying, orderly
structure and is a progressive sequence of stages
- Qualitative change: development is marked by the emergence of phenomena that cannot be
anticipated on the basis of earlier functioning
5 major theoretical perspectives on human development:
- Psychoanalytic: focuses on unconscious emotions and drives
o Freud’s psychosexual theory
Newborns are governed by the id, which operates under the pleasure
principle (seeking immediate satisfaction of needs and desires)
The ego develops during the first year of life and operates under the reality
principle (finding realistic ways to gratify the id that are acceptable to the
superego)
The superego develops around 5 years old, which includes conscience and
values
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