Transcript History of the Study of Human Development

History of the
Study of Human
Development
Preformation
Locke, Rousseau, and Darwin
Six Major Theories
Current Theoretical Perspectives
History
• To a large extent, the study of human
development is the study of child
development.
– Most significant changes take place from infancy
through adolescence.
History
 Life phases evaluated in this course:
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Infancy
Childhood
Adolescence
Young adulthood
Middle adulthood
Late adulthood
 Childhood has been of interest for a long time.
 Adulthood became of interest in the late 1900’s.
 Childhood seen as special time of growth and change,
influenced by child-rearing practices, childhood
experiences, and environmental influences.
History
 Since 1900, the older adult population has increased
dramatically:
 Greatest increases up to 2040 will be in the
85-and-over and 100-and-over age groups.
 A girl born today in the U.S. has a 1-in-3
chance of living to be 100 years old.
 Changes in adulthood are just as important as the changes
in childhood:
 There are great changes in body, personality, and
abilities during adulthood.
Average Human Life Expectancy (in Years) at
Birth, from Prehistoric to Contemporary Times
77
70
Years
5
1620
Mass.
Bay
Colony
4
47
41
1900
USA
35
33
20
18
Ancient
Greece
Prehistoric
times
Middle
Ages,
England
19th Century
England
Time
Period
1915
USA
1954
USA
2002
USA
The Aging of
America
Female
Male
40
30
Americans
over 65
20
(in millions)
10
0
1900
1940
2000
Year
2040
History
Characteristics of the life-span perspective:
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Development is lifelong.
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Biological, cognitive, and socioeconomic dimensions of experiences and
psychological orientation are very important.
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Development is multidirectional:
 Some aspects of dimensions shrink and some expand.
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Development is plastic:
 It has the capacity for change

Development is multidisciplinary:
 Psychologists
 Sociologists
 Anthropologists
 Neuroscientists
 Medical researchers
History
 Development is contextual:
 Biological processes
 Sociocultural and environmental experiences
 Historical circumstances
 Life events or unusual circumstances impacting on
the specific individual
 Development involves:
 Growth
 Maintenance
 Regulation
History
Contemporary concerns (in the media):
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Health and well-being:
 Lifestyle
 Drug and alcohol use
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Parenting:
 Divorce
 Child maltreatment
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Education:
 U.S. system
 Bilingual education
 Poverty
 Cooperative learning
History
Contemporary Concerns (continued):
 Sociocultural contexts and diversity:
 SES
 Gender
 Context
 Culture
 Ethnicity
 Social policy
History
Life-span psychologists focus on shared
Characteristics.

Not individual uniqueness.
Biological processes focus on:
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Physical nature and genetic influences
 Height and weight
 Brain development
 Motor skill changes
 Hormonal changes of puberty
 Cardiovascular decline
Cognitive processes focus on changes in individual thought,
intelligence, and language.
History
How should age be conceptualized?
• Chronological age
• Biological age
• Psychological age
• Social age
Chronological age
Number of years since birth
Biological age
Conceptions
of age
Age in terms of physical health
Psychological age
Adaptive capacity compared with
others of the same chronological age
Social age
Social roles and expectations
relative to chronological age
Main Debates
Issue
Details
Nature/Nurture
How do genetic inheritance
(our nature) and experience
(the nurture we receive)
influence our behavior?
Continuity/Stages
Is developmental a gradual,
continuous process or a
sequence of separate stages?
Stability/Change
Do our early personality
traits persist through life, or
do we become different
persons as we age.
Preformation
Defined: (Previous Formation) Development
involves merely an increase in size.
•
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Women were merely a housing unit designed to
help the fathers fully formed child to grow.
Homunculus: (Little Man) Miniature adult that
inhabits the germ cell and produces a mature
individual.
Locke, Rousseau, and
Darwin
• John Locke (1632-1704)
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Tabula Rasa: Blank Slate
Whatever comes into the mind comes from the environment.
Knowledge depends on the experience of the sense organs.
Environment molds the mind.
Thoughts and feelings develop through associations,
repetition, and imitation.
– Learn through rewards and punishment.
Locke, Rousseau, and
Darwin
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)
– People are always looking for the man in the child, without
considering what he is before he becomes a man.
– Childhood has its own way of seeing, thinking, and feeling.
– According to Nature’s Design.
– Created four stages in child development.
Locke, Rousseau, and
Darwin
• Charles Darwin
– Children develop through evolution.
– Explains mental and psychological traits as
adaptations and the functional products of natural
selection.
– To bring the functional way of thinking about
biological mechanisms into the field of psychology.
– Applys to all organisms as opposed to just humans.
• Applys to any organism with a nervous system.
Six Major Theories
• Psychodynamic Theory
(Sigmund Freud)
• Epigenetic Theory
(Erik Erikson)
• Integrated-Attachment Theory
(John Bowlby/Mary Ainsworth)
• Social-Cognitive Learning Theory
(Albert Bandura)
• Genetic Epistemology
(Jean Piaget)
• Cognitive-Mediation Theory
(Lev Vygotsky)
Current Theoretical
Perspectives
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Psychodynamic
Behavioral
Cognitive
Humanistic
Biological
Evolutionary
Social