Chapter 1: An Introduction to Lifespan Development - PSY 110 - Lifespan Development - Textbook - LibGuides at Hostos Community College Library

Why It Matters: Lifespan Development

Why It Matters - Lifespan Development
Welcome to the study of lifespan development! This is the scientific study of how and why people change or remain the same over time.

This is a very interesting and meaningful course because it is about each of us and those with whom we live and work. One of the best ways to gain perspective on our own lives is to compare our experiences with those of others. In this course, we will strive to learn about each phase of human development and the physical, cognitive, and psychosocial changes, all the while making cross-cultural and historical comparisons and connections to the world around us. In addition, we will take a lifespan developmental approach to learning about human development. That means that we won’t just learn about one particular age period by itself; we will learn about each age period, recognizing how it is related to both previous developments and later developments.

Human Development

Human Development
What you’ll learn to do: define human development and identify the stages of human development.

What aspects of ourselves change and develop as we journey through life? We move through significant physical, cognitive, and psychosocial changes throughout our lives—do these changes happen in a systematic way, and to everyone? How much is due to genetics and how much is due to environmental influences and experiences (both within our personal control and beyond)?

The Lifespan Perspective

The Lifespan Perspective
What you’ll learn to do: explain the lifespan perspective

As we have learned, human development refers to the physical, cognitive, and psychosocial changes and constancies in humans over time. There are various theories pertaining to each domain of development, and often theorists and researchers focus their attention on specific periods of development (with most traditionally focusing on infancy and childhood; some on adolescence). But isn’t it possible that development during one period affects development in other periods and that humans can grow and change across adulthood too? In this section, we’ll learn about development through the lifespan perspective, which emphasizes the multidimensional, interconnected, and ever-changing influences on development.

Here are the videos included in the Word document readings:

Click the image to watch Mentoring Makes a Difference. A new window will open.

Click the image to watch Generations: Past, Present, And Future. A new window will open.

Putting It Together: Lifespan Development

Putting It Together: Lifespan Development
As we are beginning to see, lifespan development involves multiple domains and many ages and stages that are important in and of themselves, but that are also interdependent and dynamic and need to be viewed holistically. There are many influences on lifespan development at individual and societal levels.

Psychodynamic Theories

Psychodynamic Theories
What you’ll learn to do: use psychodynamic theories, like those from Freud and Erikson, to explain development.

Many people sometimes feel intimidated by theory; even the phrase, “Now we are going to look at some theories…” may elicit some blank stares or yawns. But, don’t tune out quite yet! Theories are valuable tools for understanding human behavior; they are proposed explanations for the “how” and “whys” of development. In this first section, we’ll examine some of the most persistent theories, developed by Sigmund Freud over a hundred years ago. While some of Freud’s ideas have since been debunked, others have lasted and continue to shape the way we think about development.

Here are the videos included in the Word document readings:

Click the image to watch Psychotherapy. A new window will open.

Behavioral and Cognitive Theories

Behavioral and Cognitive Theories
What you’ll learn to do: explain key principles of behaviorism and cognitive psychology.

Is all behavior learned from the environment? Should psychology, as science, focus on observable behavior—the result of stimulus-response, as opposed to internal events like thinking and emotion? Is there little difference between the learning that takes place in humans and that in other animals? These are types of questions considered by behaviorists, which we’ll learn more about in this section. We’ll also consider cognitive theories, which examine the construction of thought processes, including remembering, problem-solving, and decision-making, from childhood through adolescence to adulthood.

Here are the videos included in the Word document readings:

Click the image to watch Classical Conditioning - Ivan Pavlov. A new window will open.

Click the image to watch Watson's Famous Study. A new window will open.

Click the image to watch Operant Conditioning. A new window will open.

Click the image to watch The Bandura Bobo Doll Experiment. A new window will open.

Click the image to watch The Further Reaches of Adult Development: Thoughts on the 'Self-Transforming' Mind. A new window will open.

The Humanistic, Contextual, and Evolutionary Perspectives of Development

The Humanistic, Contextual, and Evolutionary Perspectives of Development
What you’ll learn to do: describe the humanistic, contextual, and evolutionary perspectives of development.

Each perspective that we have seen so far emphasizes different aspects of development. We first looked at the psychodynamic approach and how it emphasizes unconscious determinants of behavior. We then turned to the behavioral perspective which emphasizes overt behavior. Now, we’ll turn our attention to the humanistic perspective, which emphasizes empathy and stresses the good in human behavior; it is similar to the cognitive perspective in that it looks more at what people think than at what they do. In this section, we will also look at the contextual perspective, which considers the relationship between individuals and their physical world, cognitive processes, personality, and social worlds. It also examines social and cultural influences on development. And finally, we will briefly examine the evolutionary perspective which focuses on how inherited biological factors underlie development.

Here are the videos included in the Word document readings:

Click the image to watch Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Theory. A new window will open.

Licenses & Attributions

CC Licensed Content, Shared Previously

Lifespan Development. Provided by: Lumen Learning. Located at: courses.lumenlearning.com/wmopen-lifespandevelopment/. License: CC BY 4.0, except where otherwise noted.
Freud's Psychosexual Development. Provided by: Khan Academy. Located at: https://youtu.be/nG7yosFQHP4. License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Erikson's Sychosocial development | Individuals and Society. Provided by: Khan Academy. Located at: https://youtu.be/SIoKwUcmivk. License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Piaget's stages of cognitive development | Processing the Environment | MCAT. Provided by: Khan Academy. Located at: https://youtu.be/Jt3-PIC2nCs. License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Provided by: Sprouts. Located at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-4ithG_07Q. License: CC BY-NC-ND 4.
Vygotsky sociocultural development. Provided by: Khan Academy. Located at: https://youtu.be/-p_-0n2f35o. License: CC BY-NC-SA.

Mentoring Makes a Difference. Authored by: BBBS of America. Located at: https://youtu.be/07FKB06PE80 License: Other. License Terms: Standard YouTube license.
Generations Through History. Provided by: BuzzFeed Video. Located at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=IfYjGxI6AJ8. License: Other. License Terms: Standard YouTube License
"PSYCHOTHERAPY - Anna Freud" by The School of Life. Located at: https://youtu.be/v80Nd8w1uts License: Other. License Terms: Standard YouTube license.
Classical Conditioning - Ivan Pavlov. Authored by: BullyingNewsVideos. Located at: https://youtu.be/hhqumfpxuzI. License: Other. License Terms: Standard YouTube license.
Baby Albert Experiments. Authored by: Jaap van der Steen. Located at: https://youtu.be/FMnhyGozLyE License: Other. License Terms: Standard YouTube license.
Operant conditioning. Authored by: jenningh. Located at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_ctJqjlrHA. License: Other. License Terms: Standard YouTube License.
The Bandura Bobo Doll Experiment. Authored by: PsychHub. Located at:https://youtu.be/Eqxjc4IUDyY . License: Other. License Terms: Standard YouTube License
The Further Reaches of Adult Development - Robert Kegan. Authored by: The RSA. Located at: https://youtu.be/BoasM4cCHBc. License: Other. License Terms: Standard YouTube License
Bronfenbrenner ecological theory. Authored by: Rachelle Tannenbaum. Located at: https://youtu.be/HV4E05BnoI8. License: Other. License Terms: Standard YouTube License.

Other

Seeing Beyond the Visual Cortex - Science Nation. Authored by: National Science Foundation. Located at: https://youtu.be/_Y4KsUqmuUw. License: Other. License Terms: See terns of use

PSY 110 - Lifespan Development - Textbook

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PSY 110 Lifespan Development

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Why It Matters: Lifespan Development

Human Development

The Lifespan Perspective

Putting It Together: Lifespan Development

Psychodynamic Theories

Behavioral and Cognitive Theories

The Humanistic, Contextual, and Evolutionary Perspectives of Development

Licenses & Attributions

CC Licensed Content, Shared Previously

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