Capítulo 1 "Human development", Apuntes de Psicología

¡Descarga Capítulo 1 "Human development" y más Apuntes en PDF de Psicología solo en Docsity! chapter 1: THE STUDY OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT The changes all human beings experience during their lifetimes have certain common patterns. We define “human development” as the scientific study of these patterns of change and stability. Development is systematic (coherent and organized) and adaptive (deal with internal and external conditions of existence). Human development is also a life-long process (a concept known as life-span). Human development goals as a scientific discipline include: description (i.e. how do children learn their first word), explanation (i.e. how is language acquired), prediction (i.e. know that a child is going to experience speech problems lately) and intervention (i.e. giving the child speech therapy). The study of human development is ever evolving. The questions that developmental psychologists seek to answer nowadays are much more sophisticated than those made twenty years ago. This shift reflects the progress in understanding the field, use of advances in technology and brain imaging. The developmental science is and has been since its beginnings interdisciplinary, working collaboratively with a wide range of disciplines (psychiatry, sociology, anthropology …). 1.1. Domains of Development Physical development: growth of the body and brain, sensory capacities, motor skills and health. Cognitive development: learning, attention, memory, language, thinking, reasoning and creativity. Psychosocial development: emotions, personality and social relationships. All these three domains are interrelated, and we can see multiple examples: cognitive advances and declines are closely related to physical, emotional and social factors, psychosocial development can affect cognitive and physical functioning, motivation and self-confidence are important contributions to school success… Researches even have identified possible links between personality and length of life. 1.2. Periods of the Life Span The division of the life span into periods is a social construction: a concept that may appear natural and obvious to those who accept it but in reality is an invention of a particular culture or society. We’re going to follow a sequence of eight periods generally accepted in Western industrial societies. This age divisions are somehow arbitrary, especially in adulthood where there are no clear-cut social or physical landmarks. Despite the individual differences between the people in these periods, certain basic developmental needs must be met and certain developmental tasks mastered during each period for normal development to occur. Prenatal period (conception to birth) Infancy and toddlerhood (birth to age 3) Early childhood (ages 3 to 6) Middle childhood (ages 6 to 11) Adolescence (about 20) Young adulthood (ages 20 to 40) Middle adulthood (ages 40 to 65) Late adulthood (age 65 and over) 1.3. Normative ad Nonnormative Influence In order to understand similarities and differences in development we have to distinguish between: • Normative influences: biological or environmental events that affect many or most people in a society in similar ways. • Normative age-graded influences: highly similar for people in a particular age group. The timing of biological events is fairly predictable within a normal range. For example, puberty or menopause. • Normative history-graded influences: significant environmental events that shape the behaviour and attitudes of an age cohort (group of people born at about the same time) or a historical generation (people who experience the same life-changing event at a formative time in their lives). Depending on when and where they live, they may feel the impact of famines, wars, major epidemics, economic crisis, technological development, changing roles of women, … • Nonnormative influences: unusual events that have a major impact on individual lives because they disturb the expected sequence of the life cycle. They might be typical events that happen at an atypical time or atypical events. Some of these influences are beyond a person’s control but people sometimes help create their own nonnormative life events. 1.4. Timing of Influences: Critical or Sensitive Periods The famous zoologist Konrad Lorenz showed that newly hatched ducklings will instinctively follow the first moving object they see. This phenomenon is called imprinting and it’s automatic and irreversible, and it’s a result of a predisposition toward learning of our nervous system. A critical period is a specific time when a given event, or its absence, has a specific impact on development. However, the concept of critical period in humans is controversial; because many aspects of development show plasticity (modifiability of performance) it might be more useful to talk about sensitive periods, when a person is especially responsive to certain kinds of experiences. 1.5. Paul B. Baltes’ Life Span Developmental Approach Paul B. Baltes identified seven key principles that serve as a widely accepted conceptual framework for the study of the life-span: