Section 1 The Life-Span Development Perspective

Chapter 1 Introduction

Summary

 

1.0 Images of Life-Span Development: How did Jeffrey Dahmer Get to Be Jeffrey Dahmer and Alice Walker To Be Alice Walker?

 

The stories of Jeffrey Dahmer and Alice Walker illustrate why it is difficult to portray life-span development: who we were from our first cries as a newborn baby, who we are today, and who will we be as an elderly adult.

 

2.0 The Life-Span Perspective

 

Why Study Life-Span Development? Children are, or will be, part of almost everyone's everyday life. Studying children produces responsible caretakers who better can deal with and help children become competent human beings. In addition, the study of life-span development helps each of us understand who we are, how we came to be this way, and where our future may take us.

 

The Historical Perspective. The view of children and child development has changed throughout history. Aries used samples of art to conclude that, historically, childhood consisted of only two phases—infancy and adulthood. However, his conclusions have been called into question because ancient Egyptians, Greecians, and Romans held rich conceptions of children's development.

Three philosophical views about children were original sin, which appeared during the Middle Ages, and the tabula rasa and innate goodness views, which appeared during the Renaissance. The original sin view reflected the philosophical perspective that children are inherently evil and that societal constraints and salvation are necessary for children to become mature adults. Locke's tabula rasa view saw the child as a blank slate upon which experience would write. Rousseau's innate goodness view conceived of children as basically good and stressed that children should be allowed to grow naturally, without constraints from parents or society. Childhood is now conceived and valued as a unique period of life that creates an important foundation for the adult years.

Despite an initial view that adolescence was a period of storm and stress, most adolescents are competent individuals who are not experiencing deep emotional turmoil. Cross-cultural studies have revealed most adolescents have positive self-images. Adolescence is a developmental period characterized by physical, social, and legal identity. For example, every state has special laws for individuals between the ages of 16 and 21.

In contrast to a traditional approach, the life-span approach emphasizes that developmental change continues to occur throughout adulthood. Increasing average life expectancies have contributed to the developmental study of aging. The elimination of mandatory retirement requirements places a new value on the contributions of older adults.

 

Characteristics of the Life-Span Perspective. The life-span perspective indicates that development is life-long, multidimensional, multidirectional, plastic, historically embedded, multidisciplinary, and contextual. Many different careers include positions that involve an application of knowledge about life-span development.

 

Contextualism : Age-Graded, History-Graded, and Nonnormative Influences. Context refers to the setting in which development occurs. Contextualism indicates that normative age-graded influences (influences that are similar in a particular age group), normative history-graded influences (generational influences), and nonnormative life events (unusual occurrences) all interact to determine paths of development.

 

Some Contemporary Concerns. Prominent contemporary concerns for our culture include genetic research, child abuse, homosexuality, parenting, intelligence, career changes, ethnic diversity, gender issues, stress and health, and aging.

One prominent concern is with health and well-being. A second concern pertains to parenting and education. A third concern centers on sociocultural contexts. The dramatically changing American cultural tapestry creates sociocultural issues pertaining to context, culture, ethnicity, and gender. Context refers to the setting in which development occurs, a setting that is influence by historical, economic, social, and cultural factors. Culture refers to the behavioral patterns, beliefs, and all other products that one group of people transmit from generation to generation. Ethnicity encompasses cultural heritage, national characteristics, race, religion, and language. Ethnicity is central to the development of ethnic identity. Gender is a sociocultural dimension of being female and male. A fourth concern is with social policy. One goal of contemporary life-span development research is to produce knowledge that will lead to wise and effective social policies regarding citizens of all ages. Generational inequity is a social policy concern in which the older population is doing better at the expense of younger individuals.

 

3.0 The Nature of Development

 

Development is the pattern of movement or change that occurs throughout the life-span. Development is influenced by an interplay of biological, cognitive, and socioemotional processes.

 

Biological, Cognitive, and Socioemotional Processes. Biological processes include changes in physical characteristics. Cognitive processes include changes in thought, intelligence, and language. Experience alone does not determine one's behavior because it is tempered by how the one's cognitive processes interpret it. Social processes include changes in relationships with other individuals, emotions, and personality.

 

Periods of Development. The periods of childhood development are the prenatal period (conception to birth), infancy (birth to 18-24 months), early childhood (the preschool years), middle and late childhood (the elementary school years), and adolescence (puberty to 18-21 years). Early adulthood begins in the late teens and extends through the thirties. Middle adulthood refers to a period from approximately 35 to 45 years through the fifties. Late adulthood begins in the sixties and lasts until death. Although different developmental tasks are important at each of these stages, Bernice Neugarten has argued that ours is an increasingly age-irrelevant society.

 

4.0 Developmental Issues

 

Maturation and Experience (Nature and Nurture). Maturation is the orderly sequence of changes dictated by our individual genetic blueprints. One controversy concerns the issue of how much of development is explained by maturation (nature) and how much by the influence of the environment (nurture). The current view is that both nature and nurture are responsible for development.

 

Continuity and Discontinuity. A second controversy concerns the issue of whether development consists of gradual, cumulative change from conception onward (continuity) or whether development entails distinct stages and qualitative changes (discontinuity).

 

Stability and Change. A third controversy concerns the issue of how much an individual simply becomes an older version of her or his younger self (stability) and how much an individual becomes different with age (change). The dialectical model emphasizes continual change that results from an individual's action and reaction to social and historical conditions. One aspect of the stability/change issue concerns the extent to which experiences early or later in life play dominant roles. Both early and later experiences make important contributions to development in the life-span approach.

 

Evaluating the Developmental Issues. Most developmentalists recognize that extreme positions on these three issues are unwise. Nonetheless, spirited debate characterizes these issues and stimulates further research.

 

5.0 Contemporary Concerns

 

Sociocultural Worlds of Development: Women's Struggle for Equality: An International Journey. An international look at women's status indicates that women are generally disadvantaged with regard to political, economic, educational, and psychosocial conditions (e.g., experiencing violence and depression).

 

Perspectives on Parenting and Education: Family Policy. Family policy, a particular instance of the more general category of social policy, has become increasingly controversial due to lack of agreement about objectives regarding "breadwinning," nurturing, and caregiving. Most family policy is geared toward treatment rather than prevention.

 

Life-span Health and Well-Being: Explorations in Health and Well-Being Across the Lifespan. Indicators of societal neglect place the United States near the bottom of industrialized nations in the treatment of children. Concern for health increase with age. Life-style changes can improve your life today and pave the way for better life-time health and well-being.

 

Life-Span Practical Knowledge: Familyhood. Although families have changed dramatically in recent years, the values cherished by families have remained stable. For example, parents today still want family members to provide emotional support for one another and think that family members should try to understand and listen to one another.

 

Key Terms

 

1. 0 Images of Life-span Development; How did Jeffrey Dahmer Get to Be Jeffrey Dahmer and Alice Walker To Be Alice Walker?

 

2.0 The Life-Span Perspective

original sin

tabula rasa

 innate goodness

storm and stress view

traditional versus life-span perspective

normative age-graded influences

normative history-graded influences

nonnormative life events

context

culture

cross-cultural studies

ethnicity

ethnic identity

gender

social policy

generational inequity

 

3.0 Thе Nature of Development

development

biological processes

cognitive processes

socioemotional processes

prenatal period infancy

early childhood

middle and late childhood

adolescence

early adulthood

middle adulthood

late adulthood

 

4.0 Developmental Issues maturation

nature-nurture controversy

continuity of development

discontinuity of development

stability-change issue

dialectical model

early-later experience issue

interaction

 

5.0 Contemporary Concerns

family policy

 

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