Overview of Development:

Overview of Development: Systematic changes and continuities in the individual that occur between conception and death  Developmental theory can influence policy oriented action  Evidence based theoretically grounded interventions can make a difference  Problems that confront our society are intergenerational The nature of change: 1. Positive: GROWTH in competence or capacity 2. Negative: LOSS of competence or capacity 3. Quantitative change: more or less of something (increase in height/weight) 4. Qualitative change: involves the appearance of something new (new behavior e.g. sitting  crawling  walking or the reorganization of thought e.g. mentally manipulate representations) 5. Normative change: changes in behavior across ages that children share e.g. milestones 6. Individual change : variability in when and how universal developmental milestones are achieved – differences sequences of development – style/preference variability Developmental processes: Maturation: the biological unfolding of the individual according to a plan contained in the genes (NA) Learning: the process through which experience brings about relatively permanent changes in thoughts, feelings, or behavior (NU) Epigenetics: the process through which experience and environment can influence gene expression Developmental controversies:  Nature/nurture  Continuity vs. discontinuity  Stages vs. incremental change  Universal or culturally determined Normative-descriptive approach  Careful systematic observations of children  Maturational theory – genetic determinants  Largely invariant (universal) sequence  Cycles ‘better’/’worse’ phases  Provide descriptive age-norms Baltes: A lifespan perspective Development involves age-related change in adaptive capacity 1. Lifelong process: Any single period of development is best understood within a lifespan context 2. Multidirectional: growth, decline, stability can occur at any age 3. Involves both gains and losses at every age 4. Lifelong plasticity: change in response to + and – experiences 5. Historically embedded (cohort effects) 6. Contextualism as a paradigm (cultural effects) 7. Understanding development requires multiple disciplines Contextual influences: Normative age-graded influences  Biological and environmental influences that are similar for individuals in a particular age group (context)  Puberty, menopause, entry into school, retirement  Major source of influence in childhood Normative history-graded influences  Common to people of a particular generation because of the historical circumstances they experience  E.g. economic boom, ‘great depression’, babyboomers, 9/11, Gen X  Major source of influence in adolescence/early adulthood Non-normative life events

 Unusual occurrences that affect an individual but do not have a broader influence  E.g. major accident, death of a parent, winning the lottery  Source of such influences increases across the lifespan Examples: 1. Microsystem – the home 2. Mesosytsem – neighbourhood 3. Exosystem – the workplace 4. Macrosystem – the society Contextual-systems theories: Positive legacy: systematic examination of the nature of biological/environmental influences on development  Complexity reflects complexity of development  Development can proceed along many paths depending on the intricate interplay of nature/nurture Age:  Lifespan definitions culturally/historically constrained  Physical/biological age  Psychological age  Social age  Neugarten ‘social clock’  Chronological age = no. of years since birth  Biological age = age in terms of biological health  Psychological age = adaptive capacities compared to others of the same chronological age  Social age = social roles/expectations related to a person’s age MODULE 1: EARLY DEVELOPMENT  Prenatal Development  Infant Development  Perceptual Development  Adult/Infant Communication MODULE 2: COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT  Piaget – Human development  Cognitive Development (Vygotsky) MODULE 3: SOCIAL & EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT  Temperament and attachment  Attachment and emotional Development MODULE 4: GENDER + MORAL DEVELOPMENT  Gender development  Moral development MODULE 5: ADULT DEVELOPMENT AND AGEING  Adolescence and Early Adulthood  Mid-life Adjustment  Death and Dying