This chapter discusses the scientific study of human development across the lifespan. It covers key concepts including the domains of development (physical, cognitive, psychosocial), influences on development (heredity, environment, maturation), contexts of development (family, SES, culture, race/ethnicity, historical context), and timing of influences (critical periods, sensitive periods, plasticity). The chapter establishes human development as a lifelong process shaped by biological and environmental factors.

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The Study of Human Development
Chapter 1
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Did you know?
⚫ In some societies there is no concept of adolescence
or middle age?
⚫ Within the next 50 years, it has been estimated that
half the US population will be Hispanic, black, or
Asian?
⚫ More than 36 million people still live in poverty?
⚫ According to research, children who have been
exposed to television and computers from an early
age develop differently than children who grew up
without them?
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Human Development
⚫ Human Development: the scientific study of
processes of change and stability throughout
the human life span
⚫ Developmental Scientists: professionals who
study the science of development
– Their work can have a drastic impact on human
lives
⚫ Example: Researchers in Boston found that children
who went to school hungry or lacked essential nutrients
in their diets had poorer grades and more emotional or
behavioral problems © 2009 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc

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Formal Study of
Human Development
⚫ The Scientific Study of How Humans Develop
– Development is systematic (coherent and organized)
– Development is adaptive (it is aimed at dealing with internal
and external conditions of existence)
– Development is life-long (i.e. life-span development)
⚫ Stanford Studies of Gifted Children

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Four Goals of
Developmental Psychology
● Describe
 Example: When do
children say their first
words?
● Explain
 Example: How do
children learn to use
language?
⚫ Predict
 Example: Will delayed
language development
affect speech?
● Modify
 Example: Can therapy
help speech delays?
⚫A better understanding of these concepts allows us to know when to
intervene

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Domains of Development
Change & Stability
⚫ Developmental Scientists study the
following 3 main domains:
– Physical Development
 Body, brain, senses, motor skills, & health
– Cognitive Development
 Learning, memory, moral reasoning, language,
thinking, & creativity
– Psychosocial Development
 Personality, emotional life, & relationships

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3 Domains
⚫ Although we speak of each of these domains
as if they were separate, they all impact each
other.
⚫ “Our brains work better, our thinking is
sharper, our moods are brighter, and our
vulnerability to disease diminishes if we are
physically fit.”
⚫ For example, a child who develops an ear
infection may have delayed speech.
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Periods of the Life Span:
A Social Construction
• Based on subjective perceptions or
assumptions
• Varies among cultures
• Changes over generations
 Adolescence only recently introduced in industrial
societies
 In the past people were considered children until they
left school. Adolescence was developed as a concept
when formal high schools were developed and more
families become financially capable of providing
increased schooling to children

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Periods of the Life Span
Prenatal Period Conception – Birth
Infancy and Toddlerhood Birth – 3 years
Early Childhood 3 - 6 years
Middle Childhood 6 - 11 years
Adolescence 11 - 20 years
Young Adulthood 20 – 40 years
Middle Adulthood 40 – 65 years
Late Adulthood 65 years and Over

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Influences on Development
Individuals vary in rate and timing of
development, due to:
o Heredity: Inherited traits from biological
parents
o Environment: Physical & social influences
o Maturation: Sequences of physical &
behavioral patterns

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Contexts of Development: Family
⚫ What is a family?.......Depends!
⚫ Great changes
– Over time
– Place to place

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Nuclear Family
Two generations, parents and children
⚫ Economic unit, history in farming
– In the past families use to be a lot larger due to farming
needs
⚫ Dominant in Western societies
⚫ Increasing numbers of
– Working parents
– Stepchildren
– Gay/Lesbian Homes
– Single parents

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Extended Family
⚫ A multi-generational kinship
 Includes grandparents, cousins, aunts/uncles
……….and more!
 Social roles are flexible
 Historically, common in
Asian, African, &
Latin American cultures
 Becoming less typical

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Contexts of Development:
Socioeconomic Status (SES)
⚫ Includes income, education & occupation
 Poor children more likely to:
 Have emotional & behavior problems
 Not reach cognitive potential
 Have poorer school performance
Why may this be the case?
Do affluent children face issues also?

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Poverty Hurts Children
Outcome Risk Increase
Health
Death in Infancy 1.6 times
Premature Birth 1.8 times
Inadequate Prenatal Care 2.8 times
No regular healthcare 2.7 times
Education
Repeat a Grade 2 times
Drop Out (16 - 24 years) 3.5 times

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Low SES &
Related Risk Factors
⚫ Poverty-related risks that increase
chance of negative outcomes include:
 Living in neighborhoods with high
unemployment
 Lack of social support
 Social support less likely in high-
unemployment neighborhoods

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Contexts of Development:
Culture
⚫ Culture – A way of life
 Includes:
– Customs
– Traditions
– Artwork
 Learned behavior, passed on to children

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Contexts of Development:
Race & Ethnicity
● Ethnic Group – A shared identity
 United by ancestry, religion, or origin (cultural)
 Contributes to shared attitudes & beliefs
● Race – A socially-constructed term
 Scholars have no real consensus on definition
 Categories ‘fluid’ – shaped by society & politics
● Ethnic Gloss
 Overgeneralization that obscures cultural
differences within a group
 Examples: ‘Black’ or ‘Hispanic’. What can be an issue
with this?

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Contexts of Development:
Historical Context
⚫ Unique time in which people live & grow up
⚫ Experiences tied to time and place:
– Great Depression
– World War II
– The “Sixties”

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Age-Graded
Normative Influences
⚫ Similar for an age group
 Maturational: Fixed in time
 Puberty or menopause
 Social: Timing is flexible
 Marriage or parenthood

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Normative
History-Graded Influences
⚫ Events that shape attitudes of a
historical generation
o Historical Generation: A group that
experiences an event at a formative time
⚫ Ex: WWII children have strong social bond to each other
o Cohort: Group born around the same time
⚫ A historical generation can have many cohorts

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Non-Normative Influences
⚫ Unusual events affecting individual lives
 Typical events at atypical times
 Puberty at age 20
 Marriage in teens
 Atypical events
 Birth defect
 Winning the lottery

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Timing of Influences
• Imprinting
• Instinctively following first moving
object seen after birth; usually mother
• Konrad Lorenz & his ducklings
• Indicates predisposition or readiness
to learn

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Timing of Influences:
Critical & Sensitive Periods
 Critical Period
 Specific time when an event (or its absence) has
specific impact on development
 Example: Genie
 Sensitive Period
 Developmental timing when child is particularly
responsive to certain experiences.

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Timing of Influences:
Plasticity of Development
 Modifiability of performance
Plasticity lasts through life span,
but has limits
– Example: Limits and progress of
Genie

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Baltes’s Life Span Approach:
6 Key Principles
• Development is lifelong
• Each period of the lifespan is affected by what happened before and will
affect what happens after
• Development is multidimensional
• It is affected by biology, psychology, and social aspects
• Development is multidirectional
• Some abilities increase and others decrease
• Development involves changing resource allocations
• Individuals chose to invest their resources of time, energy, talent, money, and
social support in different ways.
• Development shows plasticity
• Many abilities can be improved even late in life
• Development is influenced by the historical and cultural context
• History and culture influence your development.