Chapter 1:

Lifespan Development- is a diverse and growing fiend that covers the

entire life span of an individual from conception to death. It examines the
way people develop physically, intellectually and socially.
Physical Development- development involving the bodys physical
makeup, including the brain, nervous system, muscle, and senses, and the
need for food, drink, and sleep. (What determines sex? Benefits of breast
milk, how adults to scope with stress?)
Cognitive Development- development involving the ways that growth and
change in intellectual capabilities influence a persons behavior.
(Consequences of watching tv? Benefits of being bilingual? How teenagers
ego affects their view of the world?
Personality Development- development involving the ways that the
enduring characteristics that differentiate one person from another change
over the lifes span. (Best way of discipline? How to choose romantic
partner? Causes of adolescent suicide?)
Social Development- the way in which individuals interactions with others
and their social relationship grow, change, and remain stable over the course
of life.
Age rages and individual differences- Developmentalists also look for
age-range.
Prenatal (conception to birth)
Infancy and toddler (birth to 3)
Preschool (3 to 6)
Middle childhood (6 to 12)

Adolescence (12 to 20)

Young adulthood (20 to 40)
Middle adulthood (40 to 60)
Late Adulthood (60 to death)

These periods are SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION which means that is a shared

notion of reality that is widely accepted but is a function of society and
culture at a given time. These periods can be arbitrary and cultural derived,
for example CHILDHOOD DINT EXIST- children were seen as miniature
adults.
Cohort- People born at around the same time in the same place. (example:
after WWII, after 9/11)
Age-graded influences: are biological and environmental influences that
are similar for individuals in a particular age, group regardless of when or
where they are raised. (Puberty, menopause)
Non-normative life events: are specific, atypical events that occur in a
particular persons life. (the death of parents in car accident)
Continuous change: gradual development in which achievement at one
level build those of previous level.
Discontinuous change: development that occurs in distinct steps or
stages, with each stage bringing about behavior that is assumed to be
qualitatively different from behavior at earlier stages.
Critical period: a specific time during development when a particular event
has its greatest consequences and the present of a certain kinds of
environments stimuli are necessary for development to proceed normally.
(rubella at 11th week of pregnancy is bad but not at 30th )
Usually the damage is irreversible.
Sensitive period: a point in development when organisms are particularly
susceptible to certain kinds of stimuli in their environments, but the
absences of those stimuli does not always produce irreversible
consequences.
Life span approaches versus a focus on particular periods:
developmentalists tend to focus on infancy and adolescence however is
believed that the entire life span is important because development growth
and change during every part of life.