An Introduction to Lifespan Development - Pearson

1 1An Introduction to Lifespan DevelopmentFLDNMC01_002-041-hr 5/4/10 4:17 PM Page 213An Introduction toLifespan DevelopmentPROLOGUE:The Oldest Newest MotherIn May 2009, British businesswoman Elizabeth Adeney gave birth to a 5 pound 3 ounce infantboy. This would not be remarkable, of course, except for one startling fact: Elizabeth Adeneywas 66 years old at the time of her child s delivery. At the time, Elizabeth Adeney was the old-est woman to have ever given birth in the United Kingdom. CHAPTER OVERVIEWAN ORIENTATION TO LIFESPANDEVELOPMENTC haracterizing Lifespan Development : TheScope of the FieldCohort and Other Influences onDevelopment: Developing with Others in aSocial WorldKEY ISSUES AND QUESTIONS:DETERMINING THE NATURE ANDNURTURE OF LIFESPANDEVELOPMENTC ontinuous Change VersusDiscontinuous ChangeCritical and Sensitive Periods: Gauging theImpact of Environmental EventsLifespan Approaches Versus a Focus onParticular PeriodsThe Relative Influence of Nature andNurture on DevelopmentTHEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES ONLIFESPAN DEVELOPMENTThe Psychodynamic Perspective.

2 Focusingon the Inner PersonThe Behavioral Perspective: Focusing onObservable BehaviorThe Cognitive Perspective: Examining theRoots of UnderstandingThe Humanistic Perspective: Concentratingon the Unique Qualities of Human BeingsThe Contextual Perspective: Taking a BroadApproach to DevelopmentEvolutionary Perspectives: Our Ancestors Contributions to BehaviorWhy Which Approach Is Right? Is theWrong QuestionRESEARCH METHODST heories and Hypotheses: PosingDevelopmental QuestionsChoosing a Research Strategy: AnsweringQuestionsCorrelational StudiesExperiments: Determining Cause and EffectTheoretical and Applied Research:Complementary ApproachesMeasuring Developmental ChangeEthics and ResearchElizabeth 5/4/10 4:17 PM Page 3It has been more than 30 years since the birth of the world s first test tube baby, LouiseBrown, born by in vitro fertilization (IVF).

3 This is a procedure in which fertilization of amother s egg by a father s sperm takes place outside of the mother s body. In the decades thatfollowed Louise s birth, medical technology has continued to progress by leaps and at the time Louise s birth made headlines, today in vitro fertilization is a relativelycommon procedure. Fertility science has progressed to the point where even a relativelyelderly woman like Elizabeth Adeney can deliver a even as the possibilities of conception became increasingly varied, the Development ofhuman beings still often follows a predictable pattern: from infancy, through childhood andadolescence, and to marriage and parenthood.

4 Though the specifics of Development vary some of us encounter economic deprivation or live in war-torn territories; others contendwith genetic or family issues such as divorce and stepparents the broad strokes of develop-ment are remarkably similar for all of us. Shaquille O Neal, Donald Trump, the Queen of Eng-land, and each and every one of us are traversing the territory known as Lifespan Adeney s late-in-life pregnancy provoked controversy. Yet it represents only oneof the brave new worlds of 21st-century life. Issues ranging from cloning to the consequencesof poverty for Development to the prevention of AIDS raise significant concerns about factorsthat affect human Development .

5 Underlying these problems are even more fundamentalissues: How do we develop physically? How does our understanding of the world growand change throughout our lives? And how do our personalities and our social relationshipsdevelop as we move from birth through the entire span of our lives?Each of these questions, and many others we ll encounter throughout this book, is centralto the field of Lifespan Development . As a field, Lifespan Development encompasses not only abroad span of time from before birth to death but also a wide range of areas of develop-ment. Consider, for example, the range of interests that different specialists in lifespandevelopment focus on when considering Elizabeth Adeney s son: Lifespan Development researchers who investigate behavior at the level of biologicalprocesses might determine whether the functioning of Adeney s baby was affected by theadvanced age of his birth mother.

6 Specialists in Lifespan Development who study genetics might examine how his geneticendowment shaped his later behavior. For Lifespan Development specialists who investigate the ways that thinking changes overthe course of life, Adeney s son s life might be examined in terms of how his understandingof his birth changed as he grew older. Other researchers in Lifespan Development , who focus on physical growth, might considerwhether his growth rate differed from those of children of younger mothers. Lifespan Development experts who specialize in the social world and social relationshipsmight look at the ways he interacted with others and the kinds of friendships he their interests take many forms, these specialists in Lifespan Development shareone concern: understanding the growth and change that occur during the course of life.

7 Tak-ing many differing approaches, developmentalists study how our biological inheritance fromour parents and the environment in which we live jointly affect our developmentalists focus on explaining how our genetic background can determinenot only how we look but also how we behave and relate to others in a consistent manner that is, matters of personality. They explore ways to identify how much of our potential ashuman beings is provided or limited by heredity. Other Lifespan Development specialistslook to the environment, exploring ways in which our lives are shaped by the world that weencounter.

8 They investigate the extent to which we are shaped by our early environments, andhow our current circumstances influence our behavior in both subtle and evident they concentrate on heredity or environment, all developmental specialists ac-knowledge that neither heredity nor environment alone can account for the full range of4PA RT 1 BeginningsFLDNMC01_002-041-hr 5/4/10 4:17 PM Page 4 CHAPTER 1 An Introduction to Lifespan Development5 LOOKING AHEAD human Development and change. Instead, our understanding of people s Development re-quires that we look at the joint effects of the interaction of heredity and environment,attempting to grasp how both, in the end, underlie human this chapter, we orient ourselves to the field of Lifespan Development .

9 We begin with adiscussion of the scope of the discipline, illustrating the wide array of topics it covers and thefull range of ages it examines. We also survey the key issues and controversies of the field andconsider the broad perspectives that developmentalists take. Finally, we discuss the ways devel-opmentalists use research to ask and answer reading this chapter, you will be able to answer these questions: What is Lifespan Development , and what are some of the basic influences on humandevelopment? What are the key issues in the field of Development ? Which theoretical perspectives have guided Lifespan Development ?

10 What role do theories and hypotheses play in the study of Development ? How are developmental research studies conducted?AN ORIENTATION TO Lifespan DEVELOPMENTHave you ever wondered how it is possible that an infant tightly grips your finger with tiny,perfectly formed hands? Or marveled at how a preschooler methodically draws a picture? Orat the way an adolescent can make involved decisions about whom to invite to a party or theethics of downloading music files? Or the way a middle-aged politician can deliver a long,flawless speech from memory? Or wondered what it is that makes a grandfather at 80 so simi-lar to the father he was when he was 40?