lifespan development social work essay

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Social Development

Psychosocial development.

Adolescents continue to refine their sense of self as they relate to others. Erikson referred to the task of the adolescent as one of identity versus role confusion. Thus, in Erikson’s view, an adolescent’s main questions are “Who am I?” and “Who do I want to be?” Some adolescents adopt the values and roles that their parents expect for them. Other teens develop identities that are in opposition to their parents but align with a peer group. This is common as peer relationships become a central focus in adolescents’ lives.

As adolescents work to form their identities, they pull away from their parents, and the peer group becomes very important (Shanahan, McHale, Osgood, & Crouter, 2007). Despite spending less time with their parents, most teens report positive feelings toward them (Moore, Guzman, Hair, Lippman, & Garrett, 2004). Warm and healthy parent-child relationships have been associated with positive child outcomes, such as better grades and fewer school behavior problems, in the United States as well as in other countries (Hair et al., 2005).

It appears that most teens don’t experience adolescent storm and stress to the degree once famously suggested by G. Stanley Hall, a pioneer in the study of adolescent development. Only small numbers of teens have major conflicts with their parents (Steinberg & Morris, 2001), and most disagreements are minor. For example, in a study of over 1,800 parents of adolescents from various cultural and ethnic groups, Barber (1994) found that conflicts occurred over day-to-day issues such as homework, money, curfews, clothing, chores, and friends. These types of arguments tend to decrease as teens develop (Galambos & Almeida, 1992).

Social Changes

Parents. Although peers take on greater importance during adolescence, family relationships remain important too. One of the key changes during adolescence involves a renegotiation of parent–child relationships. As adolescents strive for more independence and autonomy during this time, different aspects of parenting become more salient. For example, parents’ distal supervision and monitoring become more important as adolescents spend more time away from parents and in the presence of peers. Parental monitoring encompasses a wide range of behaviors such as parents’ attempts to set rules and know their adolescents’ friends, activities, and whereabouts, in addition to adolescents’ willingness to disclose information to their parents (Stattin & Kerr, 2000 [1] ).  Psychological control , which involves manipulation and intrusion into adolescents’ emotional and cognitive world through invalidating adolescents’ feelings and pressuring them to think in particular ways (Barber, 1996 [2] ), is another aspect of parenting that becomes more salient during adolescence and is related to more problematic adolescent adjustment.

As children become adolescents, they usually begin spending more time with their peers and less time with their families, and these peer interactions are increasingly unsupervised by adults. Children’s notions of friendship often focus on shared activities, whereas adolescents’ notions of friendship increasingly focus on intimate exchanges of thoughts and feelings. During adolescence, peer groups evolve from primarily single-sex to mixed-sex. Adolescents within a peer group tend to be similar to one another in behavior and attitudes, which has been explained as being a function of homophily (adolescents who are similar to one another choose to spend time together in a “birds of a feather flock together” way) and influence (adolescents who spend time together shape each other’s behavior and attitudes). One of the most widely studied aspects of adolescent peer influence is known as deviant peer contagion (Dishion & Tipsord, 2011 [3] ), which is the process by which peers reinforce problem behavior by laughing or showing other signs of approval that then increase the likelihood of future problem behavior.

Peers can serve both positive and negative functions during adolescence. Negative peer pressure can lead adolescents to make riskier decisions or engage in more problematic behavior than they would alone or in the presence of their family. For example, adolescents are much more likely to drink alcohol, use drugs, and commit crimes when they are with their friends than when they are alone or with their family. However, peers also serve as an important source of social support and companionship during adolescence, and adolescents with positive peer relationships are happier and better adjusted than those who are socially isolated or have conflictual peer relationships.

Crowds are an emerging level of peer relationships in adolescence. In contrast to friendships (which are reciprocal dyadic relationships) and cliques (which refer to groups of individuals who interact frequently), crowds are characterized more by shared reputations or images than actual interactions (Brown & Larson, 2009 [4] ). These crowds reflect different prototypic identities (such as jocks or brains) and are often linked with adolescents’ social status and peers’ perceptions of their values or behaviors.

Romantic relationships

Adolescence is the developmental period during which romantic relationships typically first emerge. Initially, same-sex peer groups that were common during childhood expand into mixed-sex peer groups that are more characteristic of adolescence. Romantic relationships often form in the context of these mixed-sex peer groups (Connolly, Furman, & Konarski, 2000 [5] ). Although romantic relationships during adolescence are often short-lived rather than long-term committed partnerships, their importance should not be minimized. Adolescents spend a great deal of time focused on romantic relationships, and their positive and negative emotions are more tied to romantic relationships (or lack thereof) than to friendships, family relationships, or school (Furman & Shaffer, 2003 [6] ). Romantic relationships contribute to adolescents’ identity formation, changes in family and peer relationships, and adolescents’ emotional and behavioral adjustment.

Furthermore, romantic relationships are centrally connected to adolescents’ emerging sexuality. Parents, policymakers, and researchers have devoted a great deal of attention to adolescents’ sexuality, in large part because of concerns related to sexual intercourse, contraception, and preventing teen pregnancies. However, sexuality involves more than this narrow focus. For example, adolescence is often when individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender come to perceive themselves as such (Russell, Clarke, & Clary, 2009 [7] ). Thus, romantic relationships are a domain in which adolescents experiment with new behaviors and identities.

Behavioral and Psychological Adjustment

Identity formation.

Theories of adolescent development often focus on identity formation as a central issue. For example, in Erikson’s (1968 [8] ) classic theory of developmental stages, identity formation was highlighted as the primary indicator of successful development during adolescence (in contrast to role confusion, which would be an indicator of not successfully meeting the task of adolescence). Marcia (1966 [9] ) described identify formation during adolescence as involving both decision points and commitments with respect to ideologies (e.g., religion, politics) and occupations. He described four identity statuses: foreclosure, identity diffusion, moratorium, and identity achievement. Foreclosure occurs when an individual commits to an identity without exploring options. Identity diffusion occurs when adolescents neither explore nor commit to any identities. Moratorium is a state in which adolescents are actively exploring options but have not yet made commitments. Identity achievement occurs when individuals have explored different options and then made identity commitments. Building on this work, other researchers have investigated more specific aspects of identity. For example, Phinney (1989 [10] ) proposed a model of ethnic identity development that included stages of unexplored ethnic identity, ethnic identity search, and achieved ethnic identity.

Aggression and antisocial behavior

Several major theories of the development of antisocial behavior treat adolescence as an important period. Patterson’s (1982 [11] ) early versus late starter model of the development of aggressive and antisocial behavior distinguishes youths whose antisocial behavior begins during childhood (early starters) versus adolescence (late starters). According to the theory, early starters are at greater risk for long-term antisocial behavior that extends into adulthood than are late starters. Late starters who become antisocial during adolescence are theorized to experience poor parental monitoring and supervision, aspects of parenting that become more salient during adolescence. Poor monitoring and lack of supervision contribute to increasing involvement with deviant peers, which in turn promotes adolescents’ own antisocial behavior. Late starters desist from antisocial behavior when changes in the environment make other options more appealing. Similarly, Moffitt’s (1993 [12] ) life-course persistent versus adolescent-limited model distinguishes between antisocial behavior that begins in childhood versus adolescence. Moffitt regards adolescent-limited antisocial behavior as resulting from a “maturity gap” between adolescents’ dependence on and control by adults and their desire to demonstrate their freedom from adult constraint. However, as they continue to develop, and legitimate adult roles and privileges become available to them, there are fewer incentives to engage in antisocial behavior, leading to desistance in these antisocial behaviors.

Anxiety and depression

Developmental models of anxiety and depression also treat adolescence as an important period, especially in terms of the emergence of gender differences in prevalence rates that persist through adulthood (Rudolph, 2009 [13] ). Starting in early adolescence, compared with males, females have rates of anxiety that are about twice as high and rates of depression that are 1.5 to 3 times as high (American Psychiatric Association, 2013 [14] ). Although the rates vary across specific anxiety and depression diagnoses, rates for some disorders are markedly higher in adolescence than in childhood or adulthood. For example, prevalence rates for specific phobias are about 5% in children and 3%–5% in adults but 16% in adolescents. Anxiety and depression are particularly concerning because suicide is one of the leading causes of death during adolescence. Developmental models focus on interpersonal contexts in both childhood and adolescence that foster depression and anxiety (e.g., Rudolph, 2009 [15] ). Family adversity, such as abuse and parental psychopathology, during childhood sets the stage for social and behavioral problems during adolescence. Adolescents with such problems generate stress in their relationships (e.g., by resolving conflict poorly and excessively seeking reassurance) and select into more maladaptive social contexts (e.g., “misery loves company” scenarios in which depressed youths select other depressed youths as friends and then frequently co-ruminate as they discuss their problems, exacerbating negative affect and stress). These processes are intensified for girls compared with boys because girls have more relationship-oriented goals related to intimacy and social approval, leaving them more vulnerable to disruption in these relationships. Anxiety and depression then exacerbate problems in social relationships, which in turn contribute to the stability of anxiety and depression over time.

Academic achievement

Adolescents spend more waking time in school than in any other context (Eccles & Roeser, 2011 [16] ). Academic achievement during adolescence is predicted by interpersonal (e.g., parental engagement in adolescents’ education), intrapersonal (e.g., intrinsic motivation), and institutional (e.g., school quality) factors. Academic achievement is important in its own right as a marker of positive adjustment during adolescence but also because academic achievement sets the stage for future educational and occupational opportunities. The most serious consequence of school failure, particularly dropping out of school, is the high risk of unemployment or underemployment in adulthood that follows. High achievement can set the stage for college or future vocational training and opportunities.

Adolescent development does not necessarily follow the same pathway for all individuals. Certain features of adolescence, particularly with respect to biological changes associated with puberty and cognitive changes associated with brain development, are relatively universal. But other features of adolescence depend largely on circumstances that are more environmentally variable. For example, adolescents growing up in one country might have different opportunities for risk taking than adolescents in a different country, and supports and sanctions for different behaviors in adolescence depend on laws and values that might be specific to where adolescents live. Likewise, different cultural norms regarding family and peer relationships shape adolescents’ experiences in these domains. For example, in some countries, adolescents’ parents are expected to retain control over major decisions, whereas in other countries, adolescents are expected to begin sharing in or taking control of decision making.

Even within the same country, adolescents’ gender, ethnicity, immigrant status, religion, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and personality can shape both how adolescents behave and how others respond to them, creating diverse developmental contexts for different adolescents. For example, early puberty (that occurs before most other peers have experienced puberty) appears to be associated with worse outcomes for girls than boys, likely in part because girls who enter puberty early tend to associate with older boys, which in turn is associated with early sexual behavior and substance use. For adolescents who are ethnic or sexual minorities, discrimination sometimes presents a set of challenges that nonminorities do not face.

Finally, genetic variations contribute an additional source of diversity in adolescence. Current approaches emphasize gene X environment interactions, which often follow a differential susceptibility model (Belsky & Pluess, 2009 [17] ). That is, particular genetic variations are considered riskier than others, but genetic variations also can make adolescents more or less susceptible to environmental factors. For example, the association between the CHRM2genotype and adolescent externalizing behavior (aggression and delinquency)has been found in adolescents whose parents are low in monitoring behaviors (Dick et al., 2011 [18] ). Thus, it is important to bear in mind that individual differences play an important role in adolescent development.

Conclusions

Adolescent development is characterized by biological, cognitive, and social changes. Social changes are particularly notable as adolescents become more autonomous from their parents, spend more time with peers, and begin exploring romantic relationships and sexuality. Adjustment during adolescence is reflected in identity formation, which often involves a period of exploration followed by commitments to particular identities. Adolescence is characterized by risky behavior, which is made more likely by changes in the brain in which reward-processing centers develop more rapidly than cognitive control systems, making adolescents more sensitive to rewards than to possible negative consequences. Despite these generalizations, factors such as country of residence, gender, ethnicity, and sexual orientation shape development in ways that lead to diversity of experiences across adolescence.

Outside Resources

Discussion questions.

• What can parents do to promote their adolescents’ positive adjustment?
• In what ways do changes in brain development and cognition make adolescents particularly susceptible to peer influence?
• How could interventions designed to prevent or reduce adolescents’ problem behavior be developed to take advantage of what we know about adolescent development?
• Reflecting on your own adolescence, provide examples of times when you think your experience was different from those of your peers as a function of something unique about you.
• In what ways was your experience of adolescence different from your parents’ experience of adolescence? How do you think adolescence may be different 20 years from now?
• Stattin, H., & Kerr, M. (2000). Parental monitoring: A reinterpretation. Child Development, 71, 1072–1085. ↵
• Barber, B. K. (1996). Parental psychological control: Revisiting a neglected construct. Child Development, 67, 3296–3319. ↵
• Dishion, T. J., & Tipsord, J. M. (2011). Peer contagion in child and adolescent social and emotional development. Annual Review of Psychology, 62, 189–214. ↵
• Brown, B. B., & Larson, J. (2009). Peer relationships in adolescence. In R. M. Lerner & L. Steinberg (Eds.), Handbook of adolescent psychology (pp. 74–103). New York, NY: Wiley. ↵
• Connolly, J., Furman, W., & Konarski, R. (2000). The role of peers in the emergence of heterosexual romantic relationships in adolescence. Child Development, 71, 1395–1408. ↵
• Furman, W., & Shaffer, L. (2003). The role of romantic relationships in adolescent development. In P. Florsheim (Ed.), Adolescent romantic relations and sexual behavior: Theory, research, and practical implications (pp. 3–22). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. ↵
• Russell, S. T., Clarke, T. J., & Clary, J. (2009). Are teens “post-gay”? Contemporary adolescents’ sexual identity labels. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 38, 884–890. ↵
• Erikson, E. H. (1968). Identity, youth, and crisis. New York, NY: Norton. ↵
• Marcia, J. E. (1966). Development and validation of ego identity status. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 3, 551–558. ↵
• Phinney, J. (1989). Stages of ethnic identity in minority group adolescents. Journal of Early Adolescence, 9, 34–49. ↵
• Patterson, G. R. (1982). Coercive family process. Eugene, OR: Castalia Press. ↵
• Moffitt, T. E. (1993). Adolescence-limited and life course persistent antisocial behavior: Developmental taxonomy. Psychological Review, 100, 674–701. ↵
• Rudolph, K. D. (2009). The interpersonal context of adolescent depression. In S. Nolen-Hoeksema & L. M. Hilt (Eds.), Handbook of depression in adolescents (pp. 377–418). New York, NY: Taylor and Francis. ↵
• American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing. ↵
• Eccles, J. S., & Roeser, R. W. (2011). Schools as developmental contexts during adolescence. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 21, 225–241. ↵
• Belsky, J., & Pluess, M. (2009). Beyond diathesis-stress: Differential susceptibility to environmental influences. Psychological Bulletin, 135, 885–908. ↵
• Dick, D. M., Meyers, J. L., Latendresse, S. J., Creemers, H. E., Lansford, J. E., … Huizink, A. C. (2011). CHRM2, parental monitoring, and adolescent externalizing behavior: Evidence for gene-environment interaction. Psychological Science, 22, 481–489. ↵

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Article contents

Life span: overview.

• Lani V. Jones Lani V. Jones Center for the Elimination of Minority Health Disparities (CEMHD), University at Albany, State University of New York
• https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199975839.013.581
• Published online: 11 June 2013

This entry provides an overview of the life-span perspective focusing on biological developments and social tasks all of which are embedded in a larger sociocultural context from birth to old age within diverse environments, cultures, and historical eras. This section will also focus on how the life-span perspective succeeds traditional life course models that assume to be universal, sequential, and predictable. The life-span perspective of social work departs from approaches based on traditional models that are narrow and focuses on personal deficits, pointing instead to strengths, continued growth, and environmental resources for individuals, families, groups, and communities. Finally, this entry will discuss how the life-span perspective shows great promise for encompassing theory of human development for the purpose of expanding knowledge, promoting “best practice” service delivery, policy regulation and research to enhance the lives of people with whom social workers come into contact.

• human development
• human diversity
• intervention

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Lifespan Development: A Psychological Perspective - Fourth Edition

(38 reviews)

Martha Lally, College of Lake County

Suzanne Valentine-French, College of Lake County

Copyright Year: 2022

Last Update: 2023

Publisher: Martha Lally, Suzanne Valentine-French

Language: English

Formats Available

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Learn more about reviews.

Reviewed by Michael Shaughnessy, Professor, Eastern New Mexico University on 1/16/24

This is a VERY comprehensive book, integrating historical, medical and psychological information as it relates to human growth and development. That being said at 496 pages- it is really a graduate level book- as undergraduates would be... read more

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

This is a VERY comprehensive book, integrating historical, medical and psychological information as it relates to human growth and development. That being said at 496 pages- it is really a graduate level book- as undergraduates would be overwhelmed with it and its comprehensiveness. It is up to date and chock full of tables and figures and pictures and is well organized and rich and robust with depth.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

From what I have seen the book is accurate, and while I did not read every word of every page of this 496 page book- what I have read seems on target and relevant and unbiased.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

Very timely and relevant- one notices the mention of COVID and it's impact on learning and the growth and development of the human organism. Artificial intelligence will be integrated into this 10 chapter book relatively quickly. At first, when I saw 10 chapters, I thought this would be a superficial summary type of book but it is surprisingly an indepth very comprehensive book- one that might fit into an honors class.

Clarity rating: 5

Clarity is good- but this book would need to be a text for a 16-week course- to allow students to read and reflect and absorb the material.

Consistency rating: 5

Logical rational and reasonable---but the length is overwhelming- students might intially be drawn to the pictures charts and graphs- but this is a graduate level text for a graduate level class- in which the graduate students have plenty of time to read and review and reflect.

Modularity rating: 4

This is a ten-chapter book- but it really delves into each chapter extensively. I was initially happy to see the 10-chapter organization- but each of these chapters is rich and robust and in depth-. I suppose that students could be told to skim over the historical and medical parts and just glance at the charts and graphs and figures- but this is a THICK book- 496 pages- and it deserves a full semester. I would NOT recommend this for a summer class.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

It is easy to reflect on the organization as it covers the human development from birth to death - and does so comprehensively. This is a book for reflective scholars- who want to stop and think about and in class- to discuss all of the issues comprehensively covered.

Interface rating: 5

Charts, graphs, figures---are all clean and neat---font could be larger in SOME places- but BOLD is used for terms and headings- and this is nicely organized.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

Readable, enjoyable, conversational----but time has to be allocated for a real reading of this 496 page tome.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The authors seem to have worked on this- and I have seen a balance here- and I have no concerns or objections.

As I have already mentioned,----this is a book that deserves a full semester---and should not be used in a 4-week summer class or any 8-week approach. This book deserves the time to absorb, think about and reflect on the material that is interwoven with theory and factual knowledge and information. This is a rich robust, but thick challenging book for serious graduate students who really do want to learn more not just about human growth and development- but the human condition !

Reviewed by Kelli Rogers, Assistant Professor Practice, University of Texas at Arlington on 12/12/22

This text examines how biological, psychological, and social factors shape people’s lives from conception to death, covering various stages of development and a number of theories relates to these stages. However, there is need for further... read more

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

This text examines how biological, psychological, and social factors shape people’s lives from conception to death, covering various stages of development and a number of theories relates to these stages. However, there is need for further discussion of atypical development and the influence of various social, cultural, and environmental contexts. There is no glossary, which would be helpful for students who prefer to print the text.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

The content parallels other text on lifespan development and course curricula. However, more contemporary research would increased its accuracy. Detailed discussions of risk and protective factors relative to each of the stages of development would provide a more comprehensive perspective. In addition, other issues of diversity (besides just socioeconomic background and culture) should be described.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

This text contains relevant information, however, there are several older references. While this may be appropriate for theoretical and historical discussions of human development, it fails to include updates in science and technology that significantly influences development. In addition, the inclusion of case vignettes would improve relevance and engagement. The text is written and arranged in such a way that necessary updates will be relatively easy and straightforward to implement.

This text is well-organized and easy to read, which makes it ideal for undergraduates. The learning objectives could be more concisely written, as there are several sets of topic-specific learning objectives in each chapter.

Consistency rating: 4

The text appears to be presented in a consistent manner, with regard to terminology and framework. However, the degree of depth to which theories and concepts are covered varies. For example, there are fewer theories discussed in chapters middle adulthood through late adulthood, which may be a reflection of current literature.

Modularity rating: 5

The text consists of 10 chapters, organized by developmental stages and can be easily reorganized and realigned for a variety of course modalities. The text is also easily and readily divisible into smaller reading sections that can be assigned at different points within the course

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

The topics in the text are presented in a logical, clear fashion and the layout remain consistent across all chapters. However, some chapter lack a smooth transition between subsections and topics.

The text is free of significant interface issues. The table of contents and external links embedded within the chapters are navigable. The charts and images are readable.

I did not noticed any grammatical errors or issues.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

I would have appreciated more content on issues of diversity and how this significantly impacts various stages of development. Ageism was limited to experiences in late adulthood ad fails to discuss ageism in adolescence. Case study examples of a variety of backgrounds, disabilities and abilities, religions/spirituality, etc., would improve cultural sensitivity and inclusivity. More diverse images and the inclusion of studies of nonwhite populations would be beneficial.

Overall, I found this text to be very comprehensive in covering all of the developmental stages and major theories of development. While the majority of the content is consistent with other texts, supplemental reading materials, documentaries, case vignettes, etc., are necessary to improve relevance, accuracy, and inclusiveness.

Reviewed by Michael Slavkin, Assistant Professor of Psychological Services and Counseling, Marian University on 5/31/22

Each chapter is organized around a developmental level. Pertinent theories and concepts are covered. Details are strong and material is well discussed. read more

Each chapter is organized around a developmental level. Pertinent theories and concepts are covered. Details are strong and material is well discussed.

No accuracy issues were evidenced. The text is error-free and no bias seems to exist. Relevant information and up-to date references.

The textbook is relevant, providing current information that links with the current research in the field. There is a clear arrangement as the text is tied to areas of development. The fact that there are 10 chapters makes the text fairly straightforward to implement over the course of a term.

No clarity issues were found. The text is written in a clear style, and provides good content with limited jargon. Those terms that are new are highlighted for student ease (no glossary is included, but bolded words are used for new terms).

The text is internally consistent, using a clear organizational scheme. There is no issue with framework, and material could be supplemented easily.

The text is divided into 10 chapters, which could be aligned to different course management systems easily. The text is not overly self-referential. It can be organized and aligned with articles or materials relatively easily.

The topics in the text are organized well. The material is clearly stated, and presented relatively easily for review.

No navigation problems or distorted in any way. The text was displayed well.

Clear text with no grammatical issues.

The book does an exemplary job of sharing up-to-date material that supports a strong multicultural and diverse background. Details about exceptionalities, neurodiversity, and cultural/social sensitivity are included.

The text by Martha Lally and Suzanne Valentine-French is a solid overview of lifespan development. Appropriate for psychology, sociology, education, and human services; this would be a strong textbook for use in a variety of programs. Well organized and developed.

Reviewed by Joshua Smith, Psychology Instructor, Dodge City Community College on 2/25/22

This book is well laid out and covers all of the major areas of the lifespan development. The book is hits on all of the major concepts and theories that I would want to teach in an introductory or intermediate lifespan development course. The... read more

This book is well laid out and covers all of the major areas of the lifespan development. The book is hits on all of the major concepts and theories that I would want to teach in an introductory or intermediate lifespan development course. The book does not contain a list of key terms and definitions at the end of the chapters or a glossary. An index at the end of the text would also be helpful.

Content in the text is consistent with other introductory development textbooks. Historical and theoretical information is accurate and contemporary examples are beneficial. The text presents information that is consistent with psychological theory and supported by research in a way that appears free of any overt bias.

The text was updated in 2019, but still contains several older references. Depending on your teaching goals (e.g., theoretical foundations vs. modern applications), the addition of more recent works could be beneficial. Instructors might need to supplement with recent research in some areas. There have been some updates from previous versions, such as the inclusion of social media and its influences on adolescents.

Clarity rating: 4

The text is clear and should be relatively easy for the average undergraduate student to understand. Major terms and concepts are generally defined in context as you read each chapter, but definitional content could be better. A glossary would help with this. It may occasionally be challenging for students to differentiate major theories or concepts from examples and elaborations on those concepts.

The table of contents is very informative and aligns clearly with the layout of each chapter. Chapter layouts are consistent and easy to follow, making the text very easy to navigate. An index at the end of the text would be helpful for students looking for concepts that are not major chapter or sections headings.

The organization and presentation of chapters follows the unfolding of the human lifespan, so reordering the text is not likely to be necessary. Within each chapter, the text is easily divisible into smaller sections for reading or teaching.

Chapters are clear and logically organized. Presentation of chapter topics follows the unfolding of the human lifespan which is appropriate for a lifespan course. Some instructors might choose to reorder subtopics and sections within a chapter which could easily be done.

Interface rating: 4

The interface is smooth. You can click on chapter titles or subsections from the expanded table of contents to be linked directly to that section of the text. However, navigation within each chapter would be more smooth if the bookmark function was used in the left navigation bar to provide point and click navigation to each chapter and section as you read.

I did not notice any grammatical errors during my review.

There is a nice, if small, section on culture and development in chapter one, but this is not detailed. In several areas, the text touches on culture and diversity, and explores their impact on development. For example, the text brings up cultural influences on cognitive development and education, gender and gender identity, parenting behaviors, marriage practices, and many other areas. However, as with many introductory texts the predominant focus is on white-western culture which serves as the normative comparison point for other groups.

I would use this text for my introductory course in developmental psychology.

Reviewed by Elbert Davis, Assistant Professor, Marshall University on 12/17/21

This is a very in-depth textbook on lifespan development. The authors follow the lifespan from pre-birth to death. The theories are introducted in the first chapter, and are again discussed in the relevant developmental stage in future chapters.... read more

This is a very in-depth textbook on lifespan development. The authors follow the lifespan from pre-birth to death. The theories are introducted in the first chapter, and are again discussed in the relevant developmental stage in future chapters. There's not a glossary, but definitions are highlighted in purple when words are introduced.

The content of the textbook relies on factual information, providing references at the end of each chapter. Author bias was not observed. Errors were not evident.

This textbook would be easy to update. The chapters are broken into many different sections, which is reflected in the table of contents. While lifespan development is not a new concept, the authors included information on transgendered persons, which is not something usually discussed. That was refreshing to see.

The authors introduce jargon and new terminology by highlighting in purple. They also do a great job in breaking up text by using graphics and tables.

The chapters are arranged using the same basic framework, which makes it easier on the reader to know what to expect.

The authors use extensive subheadings to break up the material, as well as images and tables.

The topic of lifespan development makes it easier for organization. The authors started with pre-birth and discussed the various stages of development, inlcuding infancy, childhood, and adulthood, until death.

There was nothing confusing or distorted in the book. Navigation was easy. The subheadings in the table of contents were clickable, making it easy to navigate.

No graamatical errors were evident throughout the book.

Cultural diversity is woven into the chapters, as well as students with learning disabilites.

Reviewed by Lisamarie Bensman, Assistant Professor, Windward Community College on 12/12/21

This text includes all major areas of development that I would expect to find in a developmental text. The index at the beginning of the text is useful for a quick overview of what is in each chapter and can be used to jump to specific sections. ... read more

This text includes all major areas of development that I would expect to find in a developmental text. The index at the beginning of the text is useful for a quick overview of what is in each chapter and can be used to jump to specific sections. There isn’t a glossary, which has its positives and negatives. Glossaries can be super helpful in reminding students of what terminology means, but they can also provide students with an oversimplified idea of those concepts, so for me a glossary is not a deal breaker.

The content in the text is accurate and provides a solid introduction to development. I was particularly pleased with how the authors presented Freud, as they appropriately acknowledged his lasting contributions to development, as well as the limitations of his work, and did so without his presenting his unsupported, unscientific theory of psychosexual development followed by the usual disclaimer. Avoiding this standard but very flawed way that many developmental texts handle Freud set a tone early on that the authors thought carefully about the validity of the content that they included and would present only the most accurate, scientifically supported information. That trend appears to have continued throughout the text (with a few exceptions, please see comments on relevance).

The majority of the content appears to be as current as can reasonably be expected for any text and, in some places, even more current than would be expected (for instance, when I selected this text in 2019 it already included a small section on children in detention centers at the southern US border and the impact separation and stress has on children, as well as the APA’s opposition to family separations). There are a few places, particularly in regards to pregnant individuals in the second chapter and in regards to gender identity that language could be more inclusive and better reflect current research and understanding, but even then, the language and understandings used are not that out of date nor different from how many developmental texts approach these issues (I’m not saying this standard approach is a good thing, merely a common issue).

The writing in this text is clear and easy to follow. The style is a bit more formal than would be my ideal for my particular students, but it’s not overly formal in an off-putting way. The syntax is appropriate for college students of all levels.

The text is consistent in the framework and terminology used. As a developmental text, it follows a standard organizational format for each chapter (after the beginning two foundational chapters and minus the final chapter on death and dying). The authors clearly, consistently, and appropriately reference back to the same theories and concepts throughout each chapter (adding new developmental concepts and removing old concepts, as appropriate). They provide enough context each time that a past theory/concept is presented to remind students what the students already know without giving so much context that students feel like they are re-reading the same information over and over again.

The chapters in the text are a bit lengthy because they cover all areas of development within the chapter’s developmental time period. If desired, smaller sections within each chapter could be assigned using page numbers. But there’s only one link for the whole book, as opposed to separate links per chapter or section, so if you were going to assign sections within each chapter separately, you’d have to first figure out the page numbers and then students would have to navigate to those sections. This isn’t the end of the world, just like navigating to each chapter isn’t the end of the world, but it might be something you or your students find annoying. As this is a developmental textbook, I wouldn’t suggest doing the chapters or sections out of order (I’d say the same for any developmental text).

This text is well organized. It has one chapter per developmental time period with each chapter progressing from physical development to cognitive development and ending with social development. Putting all three areas of development into one chapter does make the chapters long, but students seem to think they have less reading this way than with development textbooks that do three chapters per developmental time period (i.e. one chapter per area). Within each chapter, the topic order makes sense and follows naturally.

Interface rating: 3

The interface for this book is okay. The text and images flow well together. There are no confusing breaks/blank spaces or distorted images. That being said, it’s not the easiest text to navigate. If you know what page you want or remember to use the table of contents at the beginning of the text (which does allow you to jump directly to a section), you’re all set. But if you’re in a chapter and want something else in that chapter, it’s a scroll till you find it or use ctrl-F a lot type situation. On the left-hand side of the .pdf are thumbnails of the pages, but a linked table of contents would be easier. That way, the sections and order of the chapter could be seen at a glance and, if linked, one could jump directly to the desired section.

There are no large grammatical errors of note. For the most part, the text reads well/easily. There are a few hiccups here and there, but nothing overwhelming, nor do the small issues happen enough to be off-putting or undermine confidence in content.

Cultural Relevance rating: 3

Based on the reviews, I expected more discussion of culture than I found in this text. Even the ‘issues in development’ section in chapter 1 is missing the question of whether development is universal or particularistic, an overarching question addressed in most developmental classes. That being said, there are some sections throughout the text that do mention the impact of culture. In a related vein, as far as diversity goes, while there is some diversity mentioned, there isn’t as much diversity as needed to reflect real life. Even the images selected skew highly Caucasian in many sections. This lack of diversity made the text less relevant to my students who are extremely diverse and might struggle to see themselves in the images and descriptions given.

Generally, I am satisfied with this text. I am currently finishing my fourth semester teaching with it. Students have reported that they find the book easy to read and engaging enough. I typically describe it as a solid text without the bells and whistles of the new for-purchase textbooks and that my students as a group get more out of this text that they can afford to read than they would out of a flashy, interactive text that few of them can afford to buy. I do recommend this text to other instructors.

Reviewed by Mary Ann Woodman, Adjunct Professor, Rogue Community College on 12/8/21

The content material in this book is very easy to read and well organized. It provides a comprehensive look at the stages of human growth over time including theoretical, methodological and historical approaches to lifespan development. Chapter 1:... read more

The content material in this book is very easy to read and well organized. It provides a comprehensive look at the stages of human growth over time including theoretical, methodological and historical approaches to lifespan development. Chapter 1: Introduction to Lifespan Development Chapter 2: Heredity, Prenatal Development, and Birth Chapter 3: Infancy and Toddlerhood Chapter 4: Early Childhood Chapter 5: Middle and Late Childhood Chapter 6: Adolescence Chapter 7: Emerging and Early Adulthood Chapter 8: Middle Adulthood Chapter 9: Late Adulthood Chapter 10: Death and Dying Each chapter presents physical development, cognitive development, and psychosocial (or social and emotional) development.

The information is historically accurate, unbiased and without error. It includes a balance of history and contemporary theories and concerns. The information in this text appears accurate, error-free, and unbiased. There is a great deal of content in each chapter from birth to death and all stages in between. Within each category of development, physical, cognitive, and psychosocial development is covered along with stories and examples to support the theories. It also contains links to other resources for students to consider as they study.

The book was completed in 2019, so it is up to date, written and arranged in a way that provides for updates in an easy and straightforward manner. An instructor can easily supplement the material with current issues relevant to the material presented in each stage of human development. The bibliography at the end is also helpful.

The authors writing style is lucid, easily accessible with college level terminology. The learning objectives make it easy for student outcomes and instructor assessment. It would be beneficial to include a glossary and make certain the PDF meets standards of accessibility according to federal legislation.

Each chapter is laid out in a developmental structure with sub-headings that make it consistent in framework. There are no inconsistencies in terminology. The bold vocabulary and italic definitions are a desirable feature and the print size very readable.

The text is organized well and additional material could be added without presenting disruption to the reader. Because the content is already 468 pages, a bit much for college students to absorb in one term, it might be wise to condense some of the material if new content is later added.

Birth to death in a linear fashion is the mark of a book focused on Lifespan Development and this one offers physiology, psychology, sociology and research to support the content. It is well organized in chapters with clear subheadings, and very easy to follow.

The images, graphs, charts and visuals support and enhance the written material very well. Many students are visual learners therefore, this component adds a great deal for understanding the concepts. There are no places that distract or confuse the reader.

There are no grammatical errors in this book.

Most of the chapters include cultural sensitivity of race, ethnicity, and gender concerns. There is a fair amount of information focused on family diversity, religious populations, gender roles and inclusivity.

It will be a gift to offer this textbook at our College as the current cost of textbooks has risen to levels quite unaffordable by our students. Much appreciation to the authors for their incredible efforts in providing this resource for Lifespan Development Courses.

Reviewed by Jeongwoon Jeong, Instructor, Fort Hays State University on 10/20/21

The overall text covers comprehensive ideas including basic and advanced concepts of theories. It would have been better if the text included index or glossary. read more

The overall text covers comprehensive ideas including basic and advanced concepts of theories. It would have been better if the text included index or glossary.

The text content is mostly standard and accurate.

The text content is mostly up-to-date and relevant to each subject with different resources.

The text is well written and is to understand; however, it could have better if the text is more clearly separated between subjects and theories

The text is internally consistent in terms of terminology and framework. They also well included tables and images for each theory or framework

I can say that the text has a high readability by including smaller reading sections.

The topics in the text are well organized by theories and others but some sections are not clear whether they are listed headings or sub-headings.

The text included appropriate images but I would recommend to have more vibrant images.

The text contains no grammatical errors.

Since diversity is very important in our society, I hope that the text included more about cultural perspective in each chapter and theories.

Reviewed by Keonya Booker, Associate Professor, College of Charleston on 9/15/21

This textbook analyzes the human lifespan from birth until death. Each chapter includes a discussion about the physical, cognitive, and psychosocial changes that can be expected at every developmental stage. The expanded table of contents lists... read more

This textbook analyzes the human lifespan from birth until death. Each chapter includes a discussion about the physical, cognitive, and psychosocial changes that can be expected at every developmental stage. The expanded table of contents lists all sub-headed sections, but a clear distinction between the three aforementioned categories would have been useful. Terms are in bold print and defined for the reader. The addition of a glossary would be helpful for students who wish to have particular terms organized in one place.

Overall, the textbook is accurate. There are few errors that would significantly change the meaningful content of the book. As an introductory textbook, the major theories of development are presented correctly and without bias.

This textbook juxtaposes classic developmental theory (e.g., Sociocultural, Constructivism, Behaviorism) that will not change, with more recent information that may have to be updated. For example, in the late adulthood chapter the leading causes of death in the wake of COVID will likely have to be revisited. It should be easy to make these revisions. Since the last update was in 2019, another version could address this.

The writing was clear and without filler. Jargon is left to a minimum and examples are provided to help the reader understand complex terms. At times there is an overwhelming amount of statistical references, which can result in a sea of parenthetical percentages that may be hard for students to move through.

Each lifespan stage has a section devoted to physical, cognitive, and psychosocial development. The textbook is consistent with respect to its terminology and framework. A list of fully cited references are provided at the conclusion of each chapter.

In its current state, the textbook is in a PDF format. While the table of contents provides page numbers, it would be preferable to have a more reader-friendly searchable function such as hyperlinked headers, or another way to go to a specific part of the text. As it stands right now, the reader has to seek and scroll. Also, each chapter is very dense, some at more than 40 pages. In a typical twice or thrice weekly class schedule, an instructor may have to assign sections and specific pages at a time.

As this is a developmental psychology textbook, the authors presented the human lifespan in a logical fashion. The physiological and social implications of each developmental stage are addressed.

Most of the images added to the reading experience; however, a few were distorted and unclear. Replacing these images would be helpful. The figures and tables illuminated important topical ideas and research findings.

Grammatical Errors rating: 4

There were a handful of grammatical errors, some of which were within a bolded, defined term. Another thorough editing of the textbook could eliminate this issue.

The authors presented the qualities of the human experience from multiple cultural perspectives. Beyond racial and gender diversity, attention was paid to LGBTQ+ communities, neurodivergent populations, and those who are differently abled. Research was presented that explored how humans make sense of their worlds in a diverse set of circumstances and from a unique identity perspective. The inclusion of images that depicted various multicultural groups was an important component as well.

Thank you to the authors for providing an open source alternative to a traditionally published textbook. I appreciate the time and effort it took to complete such a large project.

Reviewed by Cebrail Karayigit, Assistant Professor, Pittsburg State University on 4/22/21

This book is comprehensive, and includes chapters on each stage of the lifespan. The book covers not only cognitive domain, but also biosocial and psychosocial development, involving continuity and change. The book also analyze different... read more

This book is comprehensive, and includes chapters on each stage of the lifespan. The book covers not only cognitive domain, but also biosocial and psychosocial development, involving continuity and change. The book also analyze different developmental events from the perspective of the major theories of development (e.g. Erikson, Kohlberg). This book also provides a thorough understanding of the timing and sequence of development throughout the lifespan.

The content of this is accurate and consistent with most developmental levels. However, there are few things in emerging adulthood section that I do not believe are fully up-to-date (e.g. emerging adulthood has been proposed as a new life stage between 18-29 in recent literature). Emerging adulthood and Early Adulthood could be covered separately and in different chapters.

The book explains how research contributes to the understanding of development. Although information included is mostly relevant to each developmental level, I do not see any focus on how use of social media plays a crucial role in adolescents' and emerging adults' lives.

The information presented is written very clearly, and the book is easy to follow.

The book has a consistent format and structure. The chapters has good internal consistency.

Each chapter could include a separate domain (e.g. cognitive, biosocial, and psychosocial/emotional), so it would make it easy to focus on specific topics across different developmental levels.

While the book has a consistent and logical structure, it would be helpful if the subsections in each chapter were arranged according to specific domain such as cognitive, biosocial, and psychosocial aspect.

Information is presented in a way that makes it easy to read and navigate. The book contains a lot of figures, graphs, and seems like a good fit with the online format.

No major grammatical errors were detected.

Although few chapters focus on diversity (e.g. chapter 1 and 8), it would make it more effective if each chapter included a section that attempt to analyze different developmental events from the perspective of non-Western perspective.

Reviewed by Dr. Charlene Moore-Peterson, Adjunct Professor, Aiken Technical College on 3/16/21

This book covers all areas effectively as it relates to the subject of Lifespan. read more

This book covers all areas effectively as it relates to the subject of Lifespan.

Accuracy is error and is unbiased.

Content in this book is updated and easy and straightforward to implement effectively.

This book provides adequate context.

Great consistency.

This book is easily readily divisible; broken down inyo section is quite helpful.

Well organized.

The text is free of interface issues.

Little to no grammatical errors.

The text is not culturally insensitive and is not offensive in anyway. Culturally appropriate.

Reviewed by Emily Healy, Assistant Professor, Bunker Hill Community College on 2/9/21

This textbook provides a comprehensive look at human growth and development over the lifespan. It begins with an introductory chapter, which looks at theoretical approaches to studying lifespan development, different methodological approaches to... read more

This textbook provides a comprehensive look at human growth and development over the lifespan. It begins with an introductory chapter, which looks at theoretical approaches to studying lifespan development, different methodological approaches to lifespan development, as well as an overview of the different periods of development:

Chapter 1: Introduction to Lifespan Development Chapter 2: Heredity, Prenatal Development, and Birth Chapter 3: Infancy and Toddlerhood Chapter 4: Early Childhood Chapter 5: Middle and Late Childhood Chapter 6: Adolescence Chapter 7: Emerging and Early Adulthood Chapter 8: Middle Adulthood Chapter 9: Late Adulthood Chapter 10: Death and Dying

Each chapter and corresponding period of development is treated from different perspectives: physical development, cognitive development, and psychosocial (or social and emotional) development.

The information in this text is accurate, error-free, and unbiased. As a survey course, this book is tasked with covering a wide amount of information of the entire lifespan. The book looks at issues of heredity, prenatal development, birth, infancy and toddlerhood, early childhood, middle and late childhood, adolescence, emerging and early adulthood, middle adulthood, late adulthood, and death and dying. Within each category of development, physical, cognitive, and psychosocial (social-emotional) development is considered. Furthermore, each period of development includes special topics and categories that are more pertinent to those periods of development. For example, in the chapter on late adulthood, issues of retirement, neurocognitive disorders, elder abuse, and substance use disorders specifically in the elderly populations are treated. By contrast, in the chapter on adolescence, special topics include sexual development, eating disorders, and teenage drivers.

This book is likely to retain a high score in relevance in the coming decades. While it provides a wealth of information specific to each stage of lifespan development, the information is no so specific as though it will become obsolete or outdated quickly. This textbook provides a solid foundation upon which instructors and educators may build in relevant examples from current events. For example, in the chapter on middle and late childhood, while the topic of physical development is discussed and special topics of sports and childhood obesity are treated, an individual instructor can bring in information that is relevant and pertinent to the specific population in which he/she/they are teaching.

This text is written clearly, in an accessible manner, providing both context and working definitions for any technical terminology. The textbook introduces students to technical terminology used in the field of human growth and development in a scaffolded manner, where new concepts are introduced in appropriate context, are then defined. and the concepts are used in examples in order to improve reader comprehension. Each section of the chapter begins with the learning objectives for that particular section. The text utilizes headers and subheaders to clearly denote information organization. Vocabulary words are bolded and set in the text in purple, and definitions are in italics.

The textbook is organized in a consistent manner. Each chapter begins with an overview. Each section of the chapter contains a text box including learning objectives for that section. Each chapter (apart from the first introductory chapter) treats the subject matter from three broad domains or dimensions: 1. Physical development 2. Cognitive development 3. Psychosocial (social-emotional) development

Within the chapters, consistent formatting of headers and subheaders are used. It is a well-organized and highly navigable text overall, which is student-friendly.

On the whole, this text is easily divided into sections. Chapters do not run over into each other, as each chapter begins on a new page. The text also makes use of a consistent, predictable format, which makes it more predictable for the reader. The only drawback to the text that I have found with regard to its modularity is that it would be helpful if the three approaches (physical development, cognitive development, and psychosocial development) were also set apart. For my own classes, I treat physical and cognitive development on one day (or one week), and psychosocial development on another day (or week), and it is not readily divisible into these sections.

Overall, the organization of this text is clear and predictable. Each chapter is clearly listed, with topics clearly defined. Each section contains a set of learning objectives for that section. In addition, the chapters are organized in a repeating manner, then adding in topic-specific information for that particular stage of development.

The text is easily navigable, and is easily exported as a PDF (in the event that the instructor wishes to break the textbook down chapter-by-chapter for students, such as in an online learning environment where different topics are treated on a week-to-week basis).

The text is very culturally sensitive. Pictures in the text depict a wide array of diverse racial, ethnic, and religious populations (for example: BIPOC, Muslim individuals, etc.). Furthermore, discussions of special topics within chapters are treated from a multitude of perspectives. For example, in the section on religion, a wide variety of faith traditions are treated, rather than singling out one perspective. Furthermore, in the section on family units, different formulations of families (including step- and blended- families, as well as LBGT families) are included.

Reviewed by Jacqueline McMillion-Williams, Adjunct Professor, Bunker Hill Community College on 1/31/21, updated 2/1/21

For a course on developmental psychology, this text provides appropriate coverage of all areas of the lifespan. The table of contents provides an effective index in both short and long form. Key words are bold and defined within the text, but... read more

For a course on developmental psychology, this text provides appropriate coverage of all areas of the lifespan. The table of contents provides an effective index in both short and long form. Key words are bold and defined within the text, but there is not a glossary at the end of the text.

Accurate information about theory and application with diverse perspectives of the lifespan. Theory presented within a historical context with examples of life lived in a variety of circumstances that influence development.

There is a clear timeline of theory formation, historical context, and application to current society and with recent data. The arrangement of the text, with clear citations and reference information at the end of each chapter allows data to be easily located and updated. This is also true of the use of current slang; reflective of the time and society the text is written within, but also easy to locate and update.

From my perspective, the audience for this book is students and as such, a benefit of this book in comparison to those I have used in the past, is the use of common and approachable language. There is an appropriate use of jargon so the reader can place it in context. Although the text is clearly academic, it tells a clear story about development that engages the reader.

From the beginning, there is a clear framework of development for the reader to follow. Contents of each chapter and use of terminology stays consistent with the framework.

Authors divide the content of the textbook into sections that are logical for a comprehensive overview of the lifespan. Content is easy to divide into weekly readings or modules for student consumption and learning. Teachers could choose to assign in the original order or rearrange content by preference. Simultaneously the sections can be pulled out to be used a supplements for study in other courses on the lifespan such as early childhood, child psychology or adolescence and adult. You could also choose to restructure content to provide individual overviews of each theory.

Authors present topics in a logical sequence as chapters and subtopics are sections of each chapter. This makes the text easy to follow and annotate.

The textbook does not have any interface issues. It has appropriate headings to divide sections. Images and charts are clearly visible in color and black & white. Images are in appropriate locations that provide illustration of information. Alignment with text is complimentary.

I did not locate any grammatical errors in the text.

Text includes culturally relevant and sensitive examples of a variety of backgrounds (race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation) as well as about various aspects of biological, psychological and social influences on normalized development in a manner that may challenge students to rethink what is normal.

My use of this text with students is just beginning. Initial adoption occurred based on a recommendation from other faculty. Overall, the text is more up to date and culturally diverse than past texts I have used for similar and the same course. I would have liked some supplementary materials, but given the electronic format of the text, I have not found it difficult to create my own.

Reviewed by Meagan Docherty, Assistant Professor, Bowling Green State University on 12/15/20

This book is comprehensive, and includes chapters on each stage of the lifespan, as well as an introductory chapter with information on the lifespan perspective, theories, and research. Each chapter includes the major developmental changes and... read more

This book is comprehensive, and includes chapters on each stage of the lifespan, as well as an introductory chapter with information on the lifespan perspective, theories, and research. Each chapter includes the major developmental changes and tasks associated with physical, cognitive, and socioemotional development. The table of contents is very detailed, and provides information on subheadings within each chapter.

This textbook is more accurate than others I've looked into using. It provides information on historical research and theory, while also providing a more contemporary perspective, and indicating when findings may be culture-dependent.

I think the content generally appears to be up to date, and includes more contemporary perspectives and recent research findings.

This book is written in a clear, simple style that I think would work well for undergraduate classes. New terms are introduced and explained clearly.

The book appears to be consistent in its approach and framework, including concepts covered and terms used.

With maybe a few exceptions, the text is generally broken up into several subheadings, making it easy to use certain sections on their own or reorganize material if needed.

I think overall the book is organized very well. Other lifespan psychology books tend to break chapters up into subsections for physical, cognitive, and social and emotional development, and it's my impression that undergraduate students appreciate that distinction, so it may help for a later edition of this book to adopt that organization.

Overall I think the book is laid out very well, but some of the charts and images appear to be low quality or dated. I like that there are links to sources embedded in chapters, but overall it does not have the same production quality that undergraduate students may be used to with current e-books.

I did not notice any grammatical errors in my reading of the book.

Overall I think the book does a good job of being inclusive and highlighting different cultural perspectives while being sensitive and appropriate.

I like the material covered in the book, and I think it would provide a good amount of breadth and depth for an undergraduate lifespan course. I think if the production quality was even higher, it would make the book even easier to adopt.

Reviewed by Amy Clinard, Assistant Professor, Bunker Hill Community College on 12/14/20, updated 12/18/20

The Table of Contents itemizes lifespan development just in terms of the stages of the lifespan (infancy, early childhood, etc.) and does not further itemize based on domains which many other textbooks do (physical, cognitive, psychosocial). ... read more

The Table of Contents itemizes lifespan development just in terms of the stages of the lifespan (infancy, early childhood, etc.) and does not further itemize based on domains which many other textbooks do (physical, cognitive, psychosocial). Although the full table of contents does provide an exhaustive list of specific topics covered within each of those lifespan stages, it might have been better to have those topics itemized by domains.

I very much appreciated the level of accuracy and the unbiased nature of this textbook. It is clear that the authors were deliberate in integrating multiple diverse perspectives into their work. I have not found any major content errors.

This textbook is notably up-to-date and contains many timely, current and important conversations that are not always found in textbooks. It would seem that any necessary updates will be easily implemented as a result.

This textbook is written in a way that is clear, accessibly, and ELL friendly. It clearly identifies, defines and explains psychological jargon and technical terms in a way that is easily understood by the reader.

The text is exceptionally consistent with terminology and framework.

Due to the fact that this textbook only contains a few chapters (based on the stages of the lifespan such as infancy, early childhood, etc.), and is not broken down further into developmental domains (physical, cognitive, psychosocial growth), it can make it slightly challenging to identify and assign smaller reading assignments without referencing specific page numbers.

The topics presented within this textbook flow nicely, and are organized in a logical manner for the reader.

There are no interface issues within this text such as navigation issues, distortions of images, etc. I would add that some of the images included within this textbook are slightly rudimentary (black and white, with limited detail or visual interest) and may benefit from some more interesting components.

There are no grammatical errors within this text.

I would say that this is a major strength of this textbook. In my experience, many other textbooks contain a limited amount of perspectives and/or inclusion of diverse ideas. This particular book is intentional in terms of including diverse perspectives, local AND global issues, and is relevant and meaningful to all students as a result.

Reviewed by Joshua Becker, Professor of Psychology, Greenfield Community College on 6/30/20

The text itself is comprehensive, with each topic organized into logical and interesting sub-topics. The sub-topics are written comprehensively in easy-to-digest paragraphs. There is no glossary or index, however. read more

The text itself is comprehensive, with each topic organized into logical and interesting sub-topics. The sub-topics are written comprehensively in easy-to-digest paragraphs. There is no glossary or index, however.

The information in this text is accurate, current, and relatively bias-free. Good (brief) section in Early Childhood on transgender kids, for example.

This text has a good balance of grand theories and current research. It will (like all texts) require continual revising as new theories emerge and new areas of focus become important for developmental psychologists.

The writing is clear and understandable.

Good internal consistency!

This is a strength of this text. Each subsection can be used on its own, or part of the whole.

Overall, the text is well organized, though I think I would prefer a text that has more layers of organization. This text has 10 chapters, each with numerous sub-headings, but without clear delineations between domains of development.

I did enjoy the interface - though this is essentially one long PDF document, which may be confusing or problematic for some students.

Nice writing!

The text includes weaves in topics related to several lenses of identity, including race, class, sexualities, and gender identity. It does not challenge, however, the enduring structures of oppression in the field of psychology and society at large - though this is probably considered outside the scope of developmental psychology.

I enjoyed the text! I would consider adapting it if I could find ancillary materials.

Reviewed by Kevin Duquette, Assistant Professor, Bridgewater State University on 6/22/20

Very clearly laid out with ten chapters ranging from prenatal to death. Table of contents acts also as an index of sorts, with specific topics within each stage clearly defined and page numbers provided. Could benefit from a glossary (either at... read more

Very clearly laid out with ten chapters ranging from prenatal to death. Table of contents acts also as an index of sorts, with specific topics within each stage clearly defined and page numbers provided. Could benefit from a glossary (either at the end of each chapter or at the end of the text as a whole) and/or separate index for concepts that are present throughout multiple chapters.

An overall comprehensive view of development with special consideration for culture and diversity. Text also discusses how views have changed over time (e.g., in relation to intellectual disabilities; gender roles, etc.), and uses the most current terms. Text also provides information on many developmental theories (as opposed to pigeonholing information to few), and continually spirals back to these topics to reinforce them. A few small errors (e.g., “tabula rosa” instead of “tabula rasa”, pg. 16), but by and large information is up to date, and clearly explained.

All information is up to date, and uses current citations. Authors also did a great job with citing and providing sources as well so that readers can find additional information on topics from the primary sources. In addition to current parenthetical citations, the writers provide context to let the reader know when the data were taken, which allows a more informed understanding of the numbers provided. Authors show data trends over time that will be easy to update as newer data are published.

One area where there could be additional relevant information would be in regards to substance use, and the recent legalization of marijuana across U.S. states and Canada, and how this legalization may affect understanding and interventions related to marijuana and other substance use.

Writing is very accessible, and clear. Jargon terms are defined as part of the text and the flow of the book as a whole is logical. Main topics (i.e., developmental theories) are revisited and applied to specific life stages with relevant examples to connect to larger themes.

Major concepts are revisited in each chapter, and examples for application of knowledge are given. Further, the formatting itself is consistent, leading to an overall clean and intuitive look. Authors are also consistent with the use of discussion questions for each chapter.

Very well organized. Great use of headings, subheadings, bold, italics, color, and other formatting to break up ideas into intuitive sections. The chapters are broken up logically based on developmental periods. Could have benefited from additional focus specifically on early adolescence considering the importance of this stage of life (relative to others—similar to how the text broke up childhood into early ‘childhood’, and ‘middle & late childhood’)

Clear organization throughout. Good use of boxes, figures, graphs, etc. to enhance understanding and draw readers’ attention to important concepts or illustrations. Logically sequenced chapters and sections.

Very well-organized and good use of images/charts to enhance understanding. Text provides links to images, graphs, references for further reading, which enhances the interactivity of the text. Text would benefit from the ability to “jump” to chapters or sub-sections by clicking on that particular section in the table of contents.

Aside from the aforementioned “tabula rosa” being used instead of “tabula rasa” (p.16), this book reads well and is grammatically sound.

Shows appreciation and consideration of the effect of culture and intersectional identity on development. Provides international perspectives on development as well. The only criticism would be that the vast majority of the images used are of white people.

Solid text. Rivals books that are $100+.

Reviewed by Sandra Gilliland, Associate Professor, Louisiana State University of Alexandria on 4/20/20

This 468 page book covers all of the major stages and domains of development. The book begins with a detailed overview of the field of lifespan development and then goes into great depth on the common issues and areas of interest for each major... read more

This 468 page book covers all of the major stages and domains of development. The book begins with a detailed overview of the field of lifespan development and then goes into great depth on the common issues and areas of interest for each major stage.

The book appears to provide information from various perspectives allowing the student/reader to apply critical thinking to evaluate each topic.

This book was published in 2017, the majority of references are less than 10 years old. The topics are covered with several recent examples but also uses many of the historically popular studies that will remain relevant (for example Harlow's work on attachment).

This was actually my favorite part of the book. I found it very easy to read and feel as though my students would as well.

The book builds on some of the most reputable theories in lifespan development (Piaget, Erikson, Vygotsky).

Modularity rating: 3

I like that each stage of development is covered in separate chapters but it also results in very long chapters. For example chapter 3 is 44 pages long. That is a lot for students to digest so I would need to assign page numbers instead of chapters.

I like the breakdown of chapters into the developmental stages.

The book downloaded as a free PDF, no problems navigating.

No issues with grammar were noted.

Text and images appears to represent a wide arrange of different cultures.

The length of this book is a little intimidating but the content is excellent.

Reviewed by Masami Takahashi, Professor, Northeastern Illinois University on 4/5/20

This is a very comprehensive Lifespan Developmental Psychology textbook (465 pgs). It covers not only psychology but also a fair amount of biology as well, and almost any other topis I can think of including relatively up-to-date research... read more

This is a very comprehensive Lifespan Developmental Psychology textbook (465 pgs). It covers not only psychology but also a fair amount of biology as well, and almost any other topis I can think of including relatively up-to-date research findings. However, one may say that it is good for neither one thing nor the other. Although comprehensive, this book lacks details in theory and data for upper level Developmental Psychology courses for our Psych majors. The book simply scratches the surface of many topics. On the other hand, there is simply too much information for our Gen Ed Human Development. What this means is that the instructors are required to work quite a bit before adopting it for a particular course, at least initially (e.g., finding supplemental readings for our majors, selecting small portions of this textbook appropriate for our Gen Ed students, etc.).

It is accurate for the topics it covers, but the discussions are often limited in details for the Psych majors.

Content is relatively up-to-date. However. with any textbook with cutting-edge research evidence, it is inevitable that that part of the book will require further editing in the near future.

It is clearly written and readable for any level of undergrads.

I noticed several sections with duplication (i.e., cut/paste) that needs editing

For those instructors who are adopting a part of this book (e.g., easy sections for Intro Developmental), it would be helpful if the subsections in each chapter were numbered (2-1, 2-2, etc.) so that they can be specified in the syllabus.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 2

I like the fact that the References are provided not at the end of the book but immediately after each chapter. This allows the readers an easier access to the references if needed. Personally, however, I prefer a topic by topic (rather than chronological) arrangement of the chapters.

There are lots of Figures (mostly photographs from public domains) throughout the book that do not have any caption. I couldn’t tell what these pictures were for.

Good. Readable.

It includes a fair amount of cross-cultural studies

Having presented pros and cons above, would I adopt this book? Yes, I would for my Gen Ed course. That means after thoroughly reading this book, I have to handpick those sections that are general enough for the freshman/sophomore students, specify the pg numbers in syllabus, and align the contents with the exams that I already have for the course.

Reviewed by Linde Althaus, Psychology Instructor, Minnesota State University System on 3/8/20

This book covers all of the age groups covered in a lifespan class, but consolidates some age groups to lengthy chapters. read more

This book covers all of the age groups covered in a lifespan class, but consolidates some age groups to lengthy chapters.

The book appears to be straight-forward and accurate. Several topics could use up-dating and it surprised me that it was last updated in 2019.

The photos seemed dated and some of the topics could be refreshed, but it did not impact my perception of the book as a whole.

Topics were clearly written and were approachable to a reader.

The writing and terminology appears to be consistent throughout the text.

The chapters were long and I feel like it may be difficult to divide into modules. I'm not sure how I would assign the readings in a fully online class if I adapted this text.

This is a book organized from birth to death, which is how I like to teach Lifespan. Someone who teaches a topical approach would struggle using this text.

You have to scroll through the text to find your page. There are not easy ways to jump to various sections of the text. I wanted to read particular sections that I feel are my areas of expertise and I found it cumbersome.

What I read appears correct and well-written.

Some of the pictures are culturally diverse, but I would like more examples and descriptions of other cultures within the text.

I appreciate that this book is available, but I am hesitant to adopt it at the moment. If it was updated, made easier to navigate and more cultural diversity was added, I would definitely switch.

Reviewed by Pamela L. Parent, Associate Professor (Adjunct), J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College on 1/14/20

The text was comprehensive and well-planned. Addresses major concepts and theories with numerous online links to facilitate further inquiry. read more

The text was comprehensive and well-planned. Addresses major concepts and theories with numerous online links to facilitate further inquiry.

Accurate content with good coverage of material. Commendable addition of inclusion of some “nontraditional” areas in developmental psychology.

Good use is made of numerous and diverse live links allowing readers to access various resources.

Written in a clear and coherent manner with some excellent examples. Content was presented in a manner that made it useful to varying levels of learners.

Chapters are well-structured and organized in a clear manner throughout.

Chapters contain logical sections with subheadings. Developmental Psychology lends itself well to a chronological format as used in this text.

Well-organized with consistency in addressing domains. Chapter sections well-segmented.

This text worked well with the online format. Contains numerous helpful graphs, diagrams, etc.

Grammatical errors were not apparent however a few spelling errors that one would hope would have been caught on review - “constructivitst’ and “constrctivist” in the same sentence cluster.

This book consistently incorporated attention to diversity. The unique influences of various cultures on developmental stages was well-addressed.

A comprehensive textbook that works well as an OER. I am intrigued by the possibility of using this as my primary text.

Reviewed by Elizabeth Becker, Senior Instructor II, Eastern Oregon University on 1/4/20, updated 1/15/20

The text covers a wide range of topics related to development, including current trends and issues. read more

The text covers a wide range of topics related to development, including current trends and issues.

The text is accurate and includes a large number of references. It also includes important critiques of major theorists.

The structure of this text will allow it to be easily updated and continue to address important trends and issues.

Educational Psychology texts are often written with dense academic language that makes it a challenge for students to easily process and understand. This OER is written in a way that makes the information more accessible to students and will help keep their interest.

There is a consistent format and structure used throughout the text.

While the overall organization of the text is through chronological age, each chapter addresses many of the same topics in a way that would make it easy to focus on specific topics across different ages/chapters.

The text follows a consistent and logical organization.

The material is presented in a fashion that makes it easy to read and navigate.

No major grammatical errors or patterns were detected.

This text specifically addresses cultural differences related to the topics at hand in a way that is respectful and will help anyone working with a variety of cultures in the classroom.

Reviewed by Amy Hammond, Associate Professor/Dept Chair, Centenary College of Louisiana on 12/30/19

Very comprehensive! All the major concepts and ideas are addressed, although sometimes briefly (as is necessary in a lifespan text). read more

Very comprehensive! All the major concepts and ideas are addressed, although sometimes briefly (as is necessary in a lifespan text).

On the whole, the content is accurate and consistent with most developmental texts. There are elements in the pre-natal development section (particularly around teratogens) that I do not believe are fully up-to-date and provide inaccurate or misleading information.

Content is highly relevant to the topic. While there are some topics that some would consider “supplemental” throughout, there is enough variety that individual instructors can tailor inclusion of these materials as they desire.

Material is presented in a clear and coherent manner throughout the text.

The structure within in chapter reflects consistent approaches to the material. The writing and thoughtfulness is consistently strong throughout.

Organization and structure lend themselves to including or excluding various elements as one chooses. Major sections are easily identified and segmented.

The overall organization is very good for a chronological developmental text. Within chapters, there is a consistent organization of physical, then cognitive, then psychosocial issues and within these sections, when relevant, consistencies in the order of presentation of theories and concepts.

Learning Objectives in each chapter were clear, if exclusively at the lower levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy. I found the use of headings within chapters to be difficult to follow. It wasn’t always easy to see which sections where sub-sections of which ideas. Overall, this text is less visually “fun” than the big publisher versions, however, it is full of colorful photos, relevant graphs and diagrams.

Excellent! This text is easy to read, but is still written in an appropriate manner for lower-level college students.

There is excellent coverage of ideas for a United States audience relevant to US-centric concerns (for example, there are very good sections on LGBTQIA issues). However, mention of topics outside a US context are somewhat thin (especially in the first half of the text). To be fair, this reflects weaknesses in the field more generally (which are slowly being rectified). There is more comprehensive consideration of cross-cultural issues in later chapters. The prenatal development section felt somewhat maternal-blaming. While there were some explicit mentions that environmental factors were important, there was strong implication that most things which could go wrong were the “fault” of the mother. Nothing was explicitly stated in this way, but I felt there was too little explicit and implicit acknowledgement of the randomness that can sometimes cause less-than-ideal outcomes during pregnancy and birth.

I am grateful to our colleagues who have worked to put together this excellent resource! And in particular that you have chosen to make it available in a way that invites ongoing use/changes/updates! It allows me to use the many, many, MANY wonderful elements and tweak the few things that are not quite my personal pedagogical approach. I anticipate adopting this text next year!

Reviewed by Sara Fier, Professor, Minnesota State University System-Southwest Minnesota State University on 12/30/19

The book provided good coverage of developmental psychology concepts. There was no index or glossary included, although the fact that the book is in an electronic format makes this less problematic than for a hard copy book. read more

Comprehensiveness rating: 3 see less

The book provided good coverage of developmental psychology concepts. There was no index or glossary included, although the fact that the book is in an electronic format makes this less problematic than for a hard copy book.

The book seemed to present information accurately and presented multiple theories/perspectives on topics without getting too technical/detailed.

The book covers developmental psychology historical information and developmental basics well. More recent research is incorporated as well. The book's format seems to allow for updates to be easily made.

The book is easy to understand. In some cases illustrative examples help explain concepts that may be new to the reader. The reader would benefit from the use of additional examples.

The book's internal consistency is good, with chapters being organized in a similar format.

Developmental psychology allows for ease of modularity, and this text uses a chronological lifespan format.

The book was organized in the typical developmental psycology chronological format and then further broken down within each chapter by developmental domain: physical, cognitive, social. That was easy to follow. As future editions of the book lead to revisions within each domain, domain-specific organization and transitions can be reconsidered.

Navigation of the book was easy and seemed to work well in the electronic format. No display issues were noted.

Grammatical Errors rating: 3

The book had grammatical/typographical errors comparable in number to published textbooks.

A variety of examples were provided related to diversity of race, ethnicity, and background. Authors should continuously strive to enhance incorporation of these topics into books.

I appreciate the authors making this book available. I look forward to using it as a devopmental psychology text.

Reviewed by Diane Bordenave, Associate Professor, SUNO on 11/9/19

The text covers lifespan development content from birth until death. There is an Table of Contents with chapter sections and page numbers for reference. read more

The text covers lifespan development content from birth until death. There is an Table of Contents with chapter sections and page numbers for reference.

I found no grammatical errors, bias or inaccurate content.

The content of the textbook should become more and more relevant as the country recognizes the importance of understanding and responding to the needs of an aging generation of baby boomers. For the most part, content has been more focused on early childhood and infant development. When comparing the content to older lifespan development textbooks, I did not see many issues where changes in a short period of time were necessary for updating the text. For the most part, issues of development covered here have remained relatively unchanged over time. Particularly in an introductory survey course, more in-depth analysis of changes and consequences such as those resulting from science or technology, are not expected here but can be further explored in graduate or higher level specialized courses on a topic.

The textbook is written at a level appropriate for the students at my HBCU, many of whom are first generation college students. Terminology, when used, is defined. Figures and Tables assist in interpreting the prose.

The terminology and framework in the text is internally consistent and is particularly suited to a lifespan approach. It helps to understand the continuity of life from birth to death and how earlier stages of development impact later ones when the terminology and framework are consistent.

I would have preferred that the text was divided into more chapters than 10 to better align with a typical semester of 15 weeks. Students tend to understand and work better on a chapter by chapter basis than on subsections in my experience.

After a well written introduction, the text presented the chapter is a logical fashion that followed the normal human developmental process from birth to aging/death.

I was able to both view the textbook online and download it and make a copy. I had no interface, navigational or display feature problems in either context. I intend to offer this textbook in an online format.

I found no grammatical errors, and I am a stickler for that in the academic setting.

I teach at an HBCU with mainly non-traditional students so cultural sensitivity is important to me in choosing content. The cover of the textbook is of a diverse family which is immediately welcoming. In the chapter are other culturally diverse images such as in Figure 1.1.

I have adopted this book for my Spring 2020 course CDFS 303 Lifespan Development in the Family. I am happy to give the students the benefit of not having to purchase an expensive textbook, which many of them were unable to do, and still benefit from the readings. I have recommended this book to my colleagues as well.

Reviewed by Sarah McEwan, Assistant Professor, Marian University on 11/4/19

This text addresses all aspects of human growth and development that I cover in my course. read more

This text addresses all aspects of human growth and development that I cover in my course.

This text is accurate up to its published date, 2017.

Published in 2017, so relatively up to date, but there's always few opportunities for updates here and there.

This text is quite user friendly and quick to read.

The text has solid internal consistency.

This book covers all the basics, but just the basics. This text does not contain a lot of additional fluff that other texts contain.

This text was well organized.

No issues with navigation.

I found no grammatical issues.

The text does a fine job covering the basics, but the field of psychology in general has a ways to go to become inclusive.

I chose this text for an accelerated course- I needed a book that accurately and concisely covered all my key concepts, which this did. However, this text did not have as many opportunities/ asides to provide further reading for students interested in specific areas as I have seen in other textbooks. If you are looking for fluff, this is not your textbook. However, I intend on continuing to use this text in my accelerated classes, as it was perfect for a quick overview that my students could manage in a short amount of time.

Reviewed by Allie Chroust, Assistant Professor, East Tennessee State University on 4/21/19

The textbook covers human development across the lifespan. It is presented in the chronological framework. Each chapter provides an in-depth look at that stage of development. However, there is no glossary of key terms or index. Students would... read more

The textbook covers human development across the lifespan. It is presented in the chronological framework. Each chapter provides an in-depth look at that stage of development. However, there is no glossary of key terms or index. Students would have to rely on the search text feature of their PDF reader.

To the best of my knowledge, the information presented within the textbook is accurate. The one area for improvement in relational to accuracy would be the updating some of the sections to use more inclusive terminology (e.g., Children with Disabilities, p. 176).

The textbook is was last revised in 2017. I did come across one or two content areas that should have been updated for the latest edition (e.g., Box 2.3 on p. 50--the Tennessee Law has since been changed; Figure 1.18 p. 2006--it would be very easy to update the years on the basic figure as the years do not relate to any specific study it is simply a schematic of research design).

The textbook is written at a level that lower-level undergraduate students can understand.

Terminology and framework is consistent throughout textbook.

The text is divided into 10 chapters. There are subsections within each chapter if the instructor wishes to break up readings assignments into smaller chunks.

Chronological presentation of human development.

Textbook is easy to navigate within your PDF reader. Tables and Figures are clear. Each hyperlink I tested within the textbook worked properly.

No to minimal grammatical errors.

The textbook does an adequate job describing that human development occurs in variety of contexts, one of those contexts being culture. However, the textbook could provide a more in-depth description of the impact of culture on various developmental concepts. For example, the textbook frequently states, "in some cultures, ...." but, more often then not, textbook does not describe the different patterns of behavior or specify what culture is being referenced.

It is great to have an open textbook aimed at lifespan development however I would like to see a few improvements to make it more competitive against the ebooks for-profit publishers are providing: 1) glossary of terms and/or definitions in the margins 2) improved figures and creation of figure captions 3) inclusion of examples of applications of concepts that show students how the information can be directly applied to various careers 4) hyperlinks within the text--for example if students click on one of the learning objectives at the beginning of the chapter, they are taken to the section of that chapter that addresses that specific objective. 5) inclusion of reading comprehension questions for students to check themselves on before moving on to next section.

Reviewed by Patrick Smith, Associate Professor, Thomas Nelson Community College on 3/21/19

The comprehensiveness of the textbook is interesting, as there are only ten chapters. In other words, the authors pack a great deal of information into each chapter. This book covers all of the requisite topics for an introductory or survey... read more

The comprehensiveness of the textbook is interesting, as there are only ten chapters. In other words, the authors pack a great deal of information into each chapter. This book covers all of the requisite topics for an introductory or survey developmental psychology course.

This is an introductory level textbook, so specific research found in higher level courses would be missing. For the most part, this text covers the basics well, and any inaccuracies are negligible and can be overcome with good discussion.

The thoroughness of the coverage, which is a strength, makes this text very relevant to get a good discussion of actual human development going.

This textbook is very easy to read and follow. Any technical terms and theoretical concepts are well defined and illustrated within an applicable context.

There is no real individual psychological perspectives evident here beyond the basic introduction to this context of human psychology. For this reason, all areas of the human lifespan get fair coverage and presentation.

With a lifespan development course, it is easier to present material that can be discussed as physical, cognitive, or socioemotional. This textbook is divided by stage of life alone. For this reason, it may be difficult to separate chapters into smaller reading sections easily.

The text follows a nice, logical pathway through the human lifespan with a pretty strong connection between stages of development.

Technically, the presentation of the textbook comes without flaw.

There is no consistently evident problem with grammatical errors.

There is a pleasant focus on diversity and inclusion in both the text and the illustrations. There is some attempt to apply the principles discussed beyond the dominant culture of America, without this being forced and artificial.

I would highly recommend this textbook for an introductory, 200-level developmental psychology course. It hits all the right points and is engaging enough to stimulate some good class discussions.

Reviewed by Natalie Danner, Assistant Professor, Western Oregon University, Open Oregon Educational Resources on 3/20/19

This textbook is VERY comprehensive and covers lifespan development from prenatal development to death and dying. There is a very detailed Table of Contents; making it easy to find age groupings, theories, or concepts in development. There is no... read more

This textbook is VERY comprehensive and covers lifespan development from prenatal development to death and dying. There is a very detailed Table of Contents; making it easy to find age groupings, theories, or concepts in development. There is no glossary, which would be helpful to find mentions of a specific term. Overall this textbook covers a great deal of material, without delving into the topic of atypical development.

The developmental theories and definitions were accurate.

Most of the content is still current, and the publication dates for this text is 2017. However there is an emphasis on Howard Gardener's Multiple Intelligence theory in Chapter 5 which has much research against it currently. Rather in the field we now advocate for more of a Universal Design for Learning (UDL) approach or a multi-sensory/hands-on approach to learning. Neither of which are mentioned in the text.

This text would be easy to read and accessible for an undergraduate course in child/adolescent/lifespan development.

Yes, this text is internally consistent.

I plan on using only several chapters of this textbook for a focus on child development ages 3-elementary; chapters 1, 4, and 5. These chapters do make sense on their own and will work as good content for my child development course. However, I wished that the theories that were mentioned, a few in each chapters, either could have all been combined in one chapter, or were easier to pull for individual readings for an online course.

Other than the theories, the book moves in a linear fashion from prenatal development to death and dying. Theories are interspersed in a variety of chapters.

It was easy for me to navigate through the textbook. Images and charts were clear.

This textbook used accurate grammar and writing conventions.

Cultural Relevance rating: 2

The book does not mention cultural diversity, cultural bias, diversity of children and families, and other key topics needed in a child development text. Supplemental material will be needed to focus on this subject.

Reviewed by Laura Lawn, Adjunct Faculty, Chemeketa Community College on 3/5/19

On the whole, the book is very comprehensive, though there were a few places where it could have used a bit more. I did not see much on atypical development outside early childhood years which would be beneficial to include. It would also be... read more

On the whole, the book is very comprehensive, though there were a few places where it could have used a bit more. I did not see much on atypical development outside early childhood years which would be beneficial to include. It would also be nice to see a wider range of cultural studies. The text does not utilize a glossary, but the words are defined in the chapters and you can search the document if using as an e-book to find words which is even easier than a traditional glossary. Though if a student wants to print out the text, a glossary would be helpful.

This textbook is a straightforward discussion of human life span development which, as a field, is always growing. This book is largely current and accurate, but there should be updates as some references are older. Though the information is presented without bias and with references for further research.

The book is current and mostly up to date (as of 2019), though some of the references are a bit old. It worked when the authors were using the original work for a theory but other sources could be updated. For example, the media and development section didn’t touch social media. Including some of the newer studies would increase relevance to the technological age we are in.

The text is clear, easy to read, and understandable while still providing in-depth information. The graphics helped to clarify ideas, especially when explaining or comparing theories.

The look and feel of the text hold consistency through the document. Chapters were presented with continuing themes (such as Erikson’s stages in each life stage) and all work is referenced.

This text is sectioned into logical chunks that can be taught individually or in conjunction with each other. You do not need to read one chapter to understand the following one meaning the book could be taught any number of different ways to match with a variety of courses.

The book is organized into age periods, which is the way I think about the course information, though not the way I have always seen it presented in a text. So, the overall organization matched my thinking quite nicely. This organization also makes it easy to break the text into sections if the entire life span is separated over multiple classes (for example, if someone taught birth through adolescence only).

The text is pleasant to look at with calming colors and a variety of images and graphics that represent cultural diversity. There are no digital or navigational issues with the book.

I did not find any grammatical errors or issues.

The text is not offensive or insulting to any group and handles discussions of differences well. There are some representations of cultures and ages, though this book would benefit from a wider range of faces in images and of experimental studies conducted by / for nonwhite populations.

Reviewed by Francesca Kendris, Associate Professor, Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania on 2/27/19

The book is quite comprehensive. It addresses all developmental milestones and the major theories that accompany them. It provides appropriate depth to each topic and offers a thorough explanation of the subject. The book does not possess an... read more

The book is quite comprehensive. It addresses all developmental milestones and the major theories that accompany them. It provides appropriate depth to each topic and offers a thorough explanation of the subject. The book does not possess an index and/or glossary but defines all terminology in each chapter.

The book is accurate, error-free and unbiased. It is a straightforward presentation of Lifespan material in and objective and researched light. There are references at the end of each chapter to support the context of the text. There are no attempts to persuade the reader into to thinking that there is a correct or incorrect way to think about the material presented in each chapter. It is factual and the facts are supported by multiple references in most cases.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 3

The content is currently up-to-date (as of 2/2019). There are a variety of references provided for the material presented. Some of the references are current and some are rather dated. In some cases the authors went to the original source for a theory or study, which is fine for most clearly presenting the idea; however, at other times the references for material in the text were from the 1980's or 1990's and could soon be or already be considered obsolete. On the bright side, the material is written in such a way that it should not be difficult to up-date this text with more modern references throughout the book.

The book is very clear and written in easily understandable terms. Everything is defined and explained in a thorough manner for most undergraduate readers. Yet, it is sophisticated enough that I am planning on adopting it for my graduate human development course. This is because while it defines most terms and explains most theories, it does so in such a way that it provides enough depth to substantiate the theory or term presented.

This book is presented in order of development from pre-birth to old age and dying, touching upon milestones and developmental considerations along the way. It is internally sound and all work is referenced and themes are carried from chapter to chapter. For example, Erikson's Psychosocial Stages are presented in each chapter, as well as physical aspects of development. As noted earlier, all terminology is supported by referenced material which addes to the structural integrity of this text.

The book is readily divided up into different modules. One chapter is not dependent upon the next for a thorough understanding of each stage of development. The book could be assigned in any order without difficulty or too much self-referencing.

The book is organized in the most logical fashion for a developmental textbook: from birth to old age. It breaks down into the following chapters: An introduction; Heredity, Prenatal Development, Birth; Infancy & Toddlerhood; Early Childhood; Middle & Late Childhood; Adolescence; Emerging and Early Adulthood; Middle Adulthood; Late Adulthood; Death & Dying. It is free from technical jargon and presents material in a logical and understandable manner.

The images and diagrams in the text represent diverse populations in terms of age, gender, race and LGBTQA populations. The images and diagrams enhance the text and are pleasing to look at.

The book has excellent grammar and is free from typographical errors.

The text is not culturally offensive and the pictures are very diverse. The text itself makes good references and is inclusive of the LGBTQA populations. There are not too many other diverse populations represented, apart from age and gender. There are some considerations given to racial and ethnic differences but not enough. The book would benefit from more multicultural references.

Reviewed by Dan Bacon, Lecturer, San Diego State University on 2/22/19

The courses I teach primarily cover birth through middle childhood, so my review focused most heavily on chapters 1-5. The text is comprehensive in that it covers a wide range of topics you would expect in such a book. However, it may be... read more

The courses I teach primarily cover birth through middle childhood, so my review focused most heavily on chapters 1-5. The text is comprehensive in that it covers a wide range of topics you would expect in such a book. However, it may be improved by providing more depth in many of the areas. Even for use in a broad survey course, it would be nice to have more examples to help students understand the basic concepts they are reading about. For example, when covering longitudinal research, I might expect the author to mention an example of landmark longitudinal research in the field. There are certainly some examples (e.g., mentions Piaget when discussing case studies), but not to the degree I'm accustomed to in other textbooks. This text would also benefit from a glossary. While an eText allows students to search for terms easily, for those students who print the pdf (for preference or issues of accessibility), a glossary would be helpful.

A few errors stood out, and makes me imagine there are others in areas outside my expertise that I did not catch. One small example is the author lacks accuracy in stating: "Although the behaviorists were incorrect in their beliefs that it was not possible to measure thoughts and feelings". This is a misunderstanding and oversimplification of Skinner's analysis of public versus private events. Skinner, and other subsequent radical behaviorists, welcomed the scientific analysis of private events, and noted each individual is the observer of their own thoughts. The view that private events have no place in science was that of Watson and the methodological behaviorists. Being a half century past the shift to radical behaviorism, it may be time to start representing the field of behaviorism more accurately.

Mostly relevant with many 2016 citations. As a 2017 publication however, I would have expected the author to use more up-to-date data in some areas. For example, the author referenced a 2012 CDC publication with autism prevalence data from 2008 (1 in 88 children in US). It would have been more relevant to use 2016 publications which showed CDC prevalence rates were then 1 in 68 children in the US. With that said, the text is written in a way that could be easily updated (2018 publication of CDC numbers estimate the prevalence of ASD to be 1 in 59 in US).

I believe students would enjoy the clarity of this text, in terms of its concise writing. This text does a nice job of avoiding jargon, or clearly explaining the terminology when it is used. Where I think it could improve is in providing some additional examples to illustrate some concepts. Additional figures or links to videos might really benefit readers in their ability to quickly digest material.

There seems to be a clear framework that is easy to follow across all chapters. The text is easy to navigate in terms of its internal consistency.

This text could be used in a modular fashion. I could easily see taking chapters 1, 4 & 5 to use in my course on early and middle childhood. One area that adversely impacts modularity, which I touch on in the organization section as well, is how the book covers individuals with disabilities. For example, discussion of ASD is self contained in the chapter on early childhood. While the author briefly touches on the ability of adults with autism to live and work independently, this would be missed if using a modular approach of only assigning the chapter on adulthood.

As is typical of many other human development texts, the author does a nice job of consistently referencing hallmark theories (e.g. Erikson's stages of development) across the chronological chapters. This allows for the reader to build upon prior knowledge, but is done in a way that doesn't limit modularity too much. One area for improvement would be looking at atypical development and individuals experiencing disabilities across all chapters. Discussions of lifelong disabilities, such as Down syndrome, tended to be concentrated in early chapters, without touching on how individual's lives might be impacted in adulthood. This tends to be a problem with other human development texts as well, where atypical development is treated more as a token issue, often as a standalone chapter.

Images and charts are all clearly displayed in the pdf. While navigation could be improved by including links to more outside sources, or the ability to easily jump between chapters and topics by clicking on the index, there are no significant interface issues. I think users of eTexts have come to expect them to be a little easier to navigate through internal links between chapters or to a glossary (if it had one).

Grammatical errors did not strike me as an issue when reading this text.

While no text is perfect, as described by some other reviewers, I found myself wanting a greater focus on diversity. It would have been nice to see a focus not only on issues of race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation, but also on topics like military culture, immigrant culture, and disability culture.

Overall, I found this to be one of the strongest OER options for human development I've come across, at least for an undergraduate survey course. It is easy to think about topics that could be enhanced, such as cultural perspectives, but I think it is worth remembering that there is a finite amount of content that can be covered in one semester. No one text can meet the needs for all courses in developmental psychology or human development, but I thank the authors for creating and sharing something that likely fits the needs for some course very well.

Reviewed by Jennifer Parta-Arno, Psychology Instructor, Minnesota State on 2/7/19

Overall I found this text to be very comprehensive in covering all of the developmental stages and topics that I have used in other textbooks. It has a good layout of information that is for the most part relevant and up to date. read more

Overall I found this text to be very comprehensive in covering all of the developmental stages and topics that I have used in other textbooks. It has a good layout of information that is for the most part relevant and up to date.

Content Accuracy rating: 3

I found at least one instance of out of date information- in Chapter 2 it discusses the law that went into effect in Tennessee that women who use drugs while pregnant can be charged, however that bill was allowed to sunset in 2016 and that is no longer the case so this is outdated information. Hopefully this OER text will be reviewed regularly and updated.

I noticed that in discussing Children and The Media in Chapter 4 there is but a brief paragraph or two and it only pertains to tv not social media or any devices such as smartphones or tablets which are a huge topic of developmental discussion. Also, I do not see any mention of social media and it's influence on teens in the chapter on adolescence. Would need to provide up to date and supplementary materials.

Yes I found the text and writing to be very precise, clear and easy to comprehend for students. Didn't seem to be too much terminology and if used it was defined pretty well.

Yes the layout and structure in which material/theories were covered was consistent throughout the text. The reader knows what to expect in terms of presentation and formatting.

There are quite a few sub-headings and divisions or modulations within the chapters. It isn't the easiest to "pull out a chunk of material" because of the pdf formatting. Would prefer linking to different sections.

I found the text to be fairly well organized.

I just have to say I am not a fan of the pdf format. I have used several other OER texts and they all have the ability to link to different sections within the text or chapters and you can present by Chapter instead of directing someone just to a certain page/chapter. As a hardcover book that is fine, however, I think that online users are expecting more functionality. Also, there aren't any links to supplemental videos, articles or activities which is another aspect that needs improvement.

Grammar was fine.

I appreciated the section on cultural differences in end of life decisions in the final chapter. Also, the section on gay and lesbian elders was refreshing to see included and something that is not currently in a text I use. I liked that!

Overall it is an ok option if you just essentially want an ebook, however as I stated above I think other OER resources have a lot more functionality than this text which is in a pdf format. Not very user friendly and wouldn't be my first choice to use for my students.

Reviewed by Lori Waters, Lecturer - Adjunct Faculty, Leeward Community College on 1/24/19

The research and experiment chapter was easily readable, attractive and enticing. Good, solid, well rounded text. I will highly recommend this text. read more

The research and experiment chapter was easily readable, attractive and enticing. Good, solid, well rounded text. I will highly recommend this text.

The content is accurate. A bit of bias is felt. However, due to readers biases the authors did a good job of masking biases with good solid research that was sited and created unbiased accurate content.

Graphics and photos are helpful and are nicely relevant and certainly adds great clarity. The text easily blends the valid content and includes relevant updates that flow nicely. Organized to easily create new updates. Epigenetics could have been more thoroughly covered.

The text is written with excellent clarity with a simplification of jargon that makes material easy to grasp quickly.

The text is consistent, with topics flowing together and broken up into easily readable subheadings, and tables/graphs/charts/images all flowing nicely. Terminology is consistent.

Good modularity which is consistent throughout the text. Subheadings are clear, easy to read and flow nicely to the eye. Self-referential is not present. Text is easily divisible into smaller reading sections that make it easy to grab topics out of their context. Modularity is also well balanced with the flow, fluidity and relatedness of previous subunits. Especially good flow for online reading and easy page accessibility.

It is easy to page up and down and clearly see the logical organization, again especially as an online pdf. The organization is excellent!

The charts, images, photos and graphics are free of distractions regarding interface issues. They are nicely placed and spaced throughout the text and fall appealingly on the page. Easy for the eye to track and to organize.

The textbook is grammatically correct.

Love the picture on the cover! Great start. Excellent examples that are culturally relevant, especially in the “classroom” section of chapter 5 and remain consistently exceptional throughout the text.

I will use this textbook the next opportunity I have to teach Human Development with the option of choosing which text to use!!!!

Reviewed by Glinda Rawls, Associate Professor, Western Michigan University on 12/14/18

Much of the content presented in the chapters is standard for most lifespan development textbooks. read more

Much of the content presented in the chapters is standard for most lifespan development textbooks.

I did not notice many errors, however there were places in the the textbook where the authors clearly presented their bias. For example, in chapter 4 when discussing childhood disciplinary practices the authors only discussed the harmful affects of corporal punishment; however, there are other scholars who have highlighted the benefit of such disciplinary practices especially among different cultural groups. Both perspectives should have been presented.

In some areas, the content was not up to date. For example, in chapter 10 which contains information about death and dying the authors only mentioned that in 1997 Oregon had laws which facilitate dignity in dying where patients can choose to die on their own terms. However, since 1997 I believe there are three states (California, Colorado, and Hawaii) and Washington DC who all have passed these laws. This needs to be updated in the textbook. Also in chapter 8 the authors really did not discuss how women are delaying marriage and child-bearing along with the content related to marriage. And the information on marriage could have included more topics related to cultural diversity because African American women tend to have the highest rates of being single than other ethnic groups. This was left out of the textbook. Another omission was in discussing maternal mortality. The authors only cited PID as the cause for infertility but PCOS and endometriosis are two other conditions which could contribute to infertility in women. So the authors should update this too.

The textbook was written in clear and uncomplicated way. The information presented in this textbook is succinct and brief which may make undergraduate students more apt to read this textbook. It was very simple and easy to read.

I really liked how the authors used Erickson's lifespan development across several chapters. I have used other lifespan development textbooks that followed this same format. This consistency allowed the reader to have easy access to the theory so that they could apply it to various stages of development.

Each chapter had several subheadings and headings. The material was arranged in such a way that the content flowed very well. The subheadings made sense and were relevant to the larger headings.

The chapters followed the normal stages of development and were well organized.

I am not sure if this would be possible but it would be helpful if the reader could click onto the chapter and just pull it up. Since the document is in a pdf format, the reader has to scroll up and down if they wanted to move back and forth in the textbook. This was a bit cumbersome.

I did not notice any grammatical errors.

The authors made an effort to include cultural diversity and LGBT issues in the textbook. I certainly applaud their efforts, but in some ways things fell a little short in this area. For example, issues of adverse childhood experiences was not mentioned. Social issues like poverty, childhood homelessness and incarcerated parents were also omitted. It seems as though the book could also benefit from including some sociological perspectives to deepen their attempts to include diversity. They also did not include all types of families in chapter 5. They did not include trans-racial adoption or multicultural families where the parents are of different races. So the area of cultural diversity could be enhanced.

Overall this textbook would be useful in a undergraduate course. The instructor would definitely have to supplement the materials to include content that is not only up to date but also includes more sociological perspectives in understanding lifespan development.

Reviewed by Jamie Nordling, Assistant Professor, Augustana College on 11/18/18

The book content matches what I currently teach. read more

The book content matches what I currently teach.

I did not find any big errors. They do discuss how the Attachment Q-Sort is a solid, contemporary way to measure attachment, but there are issues with this method.

I did not notice any issues with relevance.

The prose is clear and easy to understand.

Consistency rating: 3

There are some topics that are not discussed enough (e.g., temperament), and some topics that are not even developmental in scope that are covered in too much detail (e.g., components of memory).

There are subheadings.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 3

There are several chapters that seem choppy (i.e., the sections stand alone and are not well connected).

I had no issues.

Nothing stood out.

Culture is covered, but I believe it could be covered even more.

Overall, I believe this textbook provides a good overview on human development. The writing is well-suited for introductory students.

Some of the concepts that were included that stand out in a positive way include: (a) a good description of how the field has changed from just looking at childhood to looking at the whole lifespan; (b) the use of the multidimensional, multidirectional, multidisciplinary, multicontextual, and plastic approach to development; (c) the inclusion of a description about archival data/secondary analysis, because a lot of developmental data is longitudinal; and (d) the theories of aging (i.e., why do we age).

Some of the more minor issues include: (a) There were some structure issues. I think some of this could be solved by including more clear headings or including an outline of the topics that would be covered in each chapter. It does feel a little like, “Here’s everything you need to know about this age,” without good transitions or an understanding of how topics are related to one another. Students may struggle with processing all of the information as it is presented. (b) There were some citation issues. I want students to have good models for their own writing. There were several sections of the book that made claims about research findings without a single citation. As examples, SES was linked to poor health and various other outcomes (p. 11) without a single citation. Also, the section on genetics (Ch. 2) does not have enough citations to support the claims stated. This citation issue was not found in every chapter – some sections were better than others—but it happened enough to where I took notice. (c) I would ideally like more discussions of culture; however, the book does talk about some aspect of culture in every chapter. (d) There were some topics that were discussed in too much detail given that the topics are not inherently developmental. For example, the authors go into a lot of detail about the different types of memory in chapter 4 (e.g., discusses rehearsal, different types of declarative memories) and into a lot of detail about sex in chapter 7 (e.g., phases in sexual response cycle, role of the hypothalamus, STIs). (e) And there are some topics that, while they may be developmental, are described in more detail than I have seen before in a developmental textbook. For example, (a) there was more detail than other books on prenatal development, pregnancy, and childbirth;(b) I have never seen as much detail about Piaget’s theory in any textbook (not even a child development book that has more time to focus on Piaget); (c) there was a lot of detail on sports and sports involvement, and (d) the sections on childhood issues (e.g., genetic disorders, childhood disabilities, communication disorders) were too detailed given that they seemed more biological or medical than psychological. Note that I am not saying that these issues do not have psychological components, but rather that that is not the way they are presented. They’re presented simply as biological/medical descriptions. (f) There were also some topics that were not detailed enough. My biggest area of complaint in this area relates to temperament. The authors spent too much time focusing on Thomas and Chess, which we know is an outdated view, and spent very little time talking about contemporary approaches to temperament or children’s personality.

Some of the more major issues include: (a) One of the things that bothers me about this textbook is that there are VERY few critical thinking questions that lead students to think deeply about the material. Of course, these questions can be addressed in the classroom, but the book does not include any real aspects of active learning. (b) I wish the textbook had more “science” built into it. The introduction sets up the field as scientific, but there is often little discussion about how the scientific method is essential to the findings presented. Chapter 3 stands out as doing this better – there is more incorporation of research methods, study findings, and some issues with measurement – but other chapters were deficient (c) Relatedly, given that I am teaching my lifespan course in a psychology department, we talk about how developmental psychology is much more than understanding the “whats” and the “whens” of development. We really are aiming to uncover the “hows,” “for whoms,” and “under what conditions”. Essentially, I want my students to better understand mechanisms. This book, compared to about five others that I have either used or previously reviewed, seems to talk more about the “whats” and “whens”, and in my opinion, these are less psychological. For example, topics like (a) when to introduce solid foods, (b) toilet training tips, (c) healthy eating, and (d) how to choose between preschool programs seem more suited to students who are taking a child development course in high school rather than students who are pursuing the scientific study of human development. I realize that this may have been the goal of the authors – perhaps they wanted their textbook to have flexibility for different types of courses. For me, this takes away from the messages that I tell my students.

Will I use this book in my course? In short, I have not decided yet. As noted above, the content that I normally expect my students to know (except for temperament!) is present within this textbook. However, students are not going to be asked to use their critical thinking or scientific literacy skills in this book as much as other books.

Reviewed by Lisa Dunkley, Assistant Professor, East Tennessee State University on 10/23/18

The text is comparative to other texts in the field. However, disability inclusive issues across the lifespan would add for a more comprehensive outlook. read more

The text is comparative to other texts in the field. However, disability inclusive issues across the lifespan would add for a more comprehensive outlook.

Book has used prominent literature to support context.

Information included is relevant to each topic area and today's society.

Book is easy to follow and undergraduate level students will be able to comprehend the information included in the text.

Consistent with related texts.

Book is organized into sections that make it easy to break up reading the content.

The book has a good flow and is easy to understand. Flow is consistent with others in the field.

Images included are appropriate however more vibrant images would make for a more user-friendly book.

None observed.

Book is not culturally insensitive. However more references to other cultures would make for a more inclusive book.

The book is easy to follow and navigate. Information is consistent with for sale texts in the field.

Reviewed by Christopher Belser, Assistant Professor, University of New Orleans on 6/19/18

Overall, the text covers a wide array of topics within this subject, but the degree of depth to which these topics are covered varies. Career development isn’t introduced until the section on emerging adulthood. Research dating back 50+ years... read more

Overall, the text covers a wide array of topics within this subject, but the degree of depth to which these topics are covered varies.

Career development isn’t introduced until the section on emerging adulthood. Research dating back 50+ years discusses career development in the context of childhood and adolescence. Not including career development is a disservice to the career development programming that has been done and continues to be done in K-12 settings.

The textbook covers many of the theories of human development, but does not introduce all of them in the first chapter. Only a select few are covered in this introduction; other theories are introduced in later chapters in the point in the lifespan during which this theory becomes most salient. This is problematic, as the stages are not firmly restricted to these age bands. A review of all theories in the beginning would be helpful to the reader. The book does not cover some theories (e.g., Spiritual development).

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are not covered at all, and the research has been around for 20 years. Any discussion of human development that does not include this research is incomplete.

Other topics (e.g., sexuality, gender identity) are presented in greater detail than other texts I’ve seen. The discussion of grief models, especially refutations of the Kubler-Ross model, are excellent and represent modern research.

The information presented in the text appears to be accurate, with the exception of a few areas that need to be updated with contemporary research.

The text does not include contemporary research on Adverse Childhood Experiences, neuroimaging, and neuropsychology. This contemporary research has enhanced or refuted many long-held theories and must be represented in any discussion of human development

The information presented is written clearly and in a way that is easy to understand and comprehend.

The book appears to be presented in a consistent manner, with regard to terminology, framework, and layout. The authors were not consistent with the depth to which topics are covered; this may be an indication of the authors areas of interest and areas for development.

The book is chunked very well. The chapters are broken down in a rational manner and each chapter includes many smaller sections with headings.

The book is chunked very well. The chapters are broken down in a rational manner and each chapter includes many smaller sections with headings. The authors were not consistent with the depth to which topics are covered; this may be an indication of the authors areas of interest and areas for development.

The book has a very good look. The table of contents is navigable, and there are links to sources embedded within. The graphics, tables, and charts are clear and readable.

The authors use correct grammar and have edited the book well for mechanical and grammatical errors.

The book presents cultural information more completely in some areas and more incompletely in other areas. This is an area of the text that could use additional fine-tuning. Stereotype threat introduced in the section on age, although the research emerged from discussions of race and ethnicity. The book covers sexuality and gender identity in more depth than other texts I’ve used.

Based on the current edition of the text, I cannot say that I would use this book over a traditionally published text without having to provide many additional readings to supplement incomplete areas. At best, there are chapters from this text I could see assigning to supplement additional readings.

Table of Contents

• Chapter 1: Introduction to Lifespan Development
• Chapter 2: Heredity, Prenatal Development, and Birth
• Chapter 3: Infancy and Toddlerhood
• Chapter 4: Early Childhood
• Chapter 5: Middle and Late Childhood
• Chapter 6: Adolescence
• Chapter 7: Emerging and Established Adulthood
• Chapter 8: Middle Adulthood
• Chapter 9: Late Adulthood
• Chapter 10: Death and Dying

Ancillary Material

About the book.

Developmental Psychology, also known as Human Development or Lifespan Development, is the scientific study of ways in which people change, as well as stay the same, from conception to death. You will no doubt discover in the course of studying that the field examines change across a broad range of topics.  These include physical and other psychophysiological processes, cognition, language, and psychosocial development, including the impact of family and peers.

About the Contributors

Martha Lally is an Instructor in the Psychology department at the College of Lake County.

Suzanne Valentine-French is an Instructor in the Psychology department at the College of Lake County.

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Article Contents

The generations concept, the lifespan developmental perspective, generations from a lifespan developmental perspective, methodological issues and recommendations, practical recommendations and concluding thoughts.

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Considering Generations From a Lifespan Developmental Perspective

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Cort W. Rudolph, Department of Psychology, Saint Louis University, Morrissey Hall 2827, St. Louis, MO 63103. E-mail: [email protected]

Decision Editor: Lisa Finkelstein, PhD

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Cort W. Rudolph, Hannes Zacher, Considering Generations From a Lifespan Developmental Perspective, Work, Aging and Retirement , Volume 3, Issue 2, 1 April 2017, Pages 113–129, https://doi.org/10.1093/workar/waw019

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We extend recent critiques of research on generations in the work context by proposing a differentiated lifespan developmental perspective. We accomplish this through several means: First, we define generations and trace the historical development of this concept from sociological thought experiments to their contemporary (mis)use for understanding individual-level psychological processes at work. Second, we review core principles of the lifespan developmental perspective, with an emphasis on contextual-dialectical models of human development. Third, we argue that generations are better understood from a contextualized lifespan framework that accounts for time period and history-graded developmental influences that may impact individuals’ attitudes, values, beliefs, motives, and behavior at work. Fourth, we propose a new lifespan model of generations and offer several associated propositions to serve as a theoretical guide as well as an agenda for future research. Finally, we review and critique methodologies typically used to study generational effects, outline methodological recommendations to guide future studies, and offer practical recommendations based on our model. Overall, this article contributes to better theorizing and more rigorous research and practice regarding the idea of generations at work.

Work and organizational psychology researchers and practitioners have become increasingly interested in the sociological notion of generations, along with psychological theories of lifespan developmental processes ( Costanza & Finkelstein, 2015 ; Finkelstein, Truxillo, Fraccaroli, & Kanfer, 2015 ; Joshi, Dencker, & Franz, 2011 ; Rudolph, 2016 ). Curiously, these two topics have not been jointly considered within this literature. This is unfortunate, because there have been recent criticisms of the study of generations in the workplace that beg for further theoretical elaboration. In the following, we offer a perspective that integrates these diverse literatures, focusing on generations from a lifespan developmental perspective.

Our overarching goal is to extend critiques of generations research (e.g., Costanza & Finkelstein, 2015 ; Lyons & Kuron, 2014 ; Parry & Urwin, 2011 ) by proposing a differentiated lifespan perspective on age-related differences in workplace processes and outcomes. We aim to bolster the development of theory that appropriately distinguishes age-related factors, and propose the exploration of alternatives to generational concepts. We accomplish this through several means. First, we define generations and critically outline the historical development of this concept as it emerged and has been adopted by psychologists who study aging and work. Second, we outline key tenets of the lifespan developmental perspective, highlighting similarities and differences between sociological and psychological accounts of generational effects. Third, we explore how generations can be understood through a lifespan developmental lens, focusing on how contemporary time period and history-graded developmental influences impact individuals’ attitudes, values, beliefs, motives, and behavior. Fourth, we propose an integrative lifespan model of generations and associated propositions. Finally, we outline an agenda for future research and practical recommendations to guide future practice based upon our model.

In its common sociological conceptualization, the term “generation” refers to a group of people born during the same time span, who by virtue of their chronological age proximity have shared similar life experiences (e.g., major historical events, see Eyerman & Turner, 1998 ). The modern social-scientific usage of the term is most often linked to a thought experiment offered by Mannheim (1927/1952 ), which recapitulates a classic philosophical problem explored by Hume (1777/1985 ). At hand is the following question: What if a single generation lived in perpetuity, such that the concept of generations was absent? This question was asked as a means of giving perspective to the study of social change, by positing whether or not such change would ever occur if new birth cohorts never challenged the ideas of previous cohorts. This notion led to a paradigmatic shift in sociological thinking, and gave an immense amount of power to the generations concept (i.e., an aggregate phenomenon) as a catalyst for social change (i.e., also an aggregate notion).

Various functionalist lenses for defining and exploring the generations concept have been considered. As a school of sociological thought, functionalism seeks to understand order within society by focusing on social consensus and shared constructions. From a functionalist perspective, generations may be reasonably invoked as a mechanism for explaining societal dynamics. However, the notion of generations has been adopted by psychologists as an explanation for disaggregated individual-level behavior. Their argument typically follows something like, “Individuals that fall into ‘Group A’ display, on average, some characteristic that is in some capacity different from that of ‘Group B’, and we can tie this difference to a construction we have labeled ‘generations’ that differently defines these groups.” Different generational groups are typically defined by nonoverlapping age-brackets (e.g., people born between 19XX and 19XX + T are members of “Generational Group A,” whereas people born between 19YY and 19YY + T are member of “Generational Group B,” where “T” represents a time increment, typically in years).

Across systems of psychological thought, we see different perspectives on the role of generational groups for explaining behavior. Here, we explore the nuances of the lifespan developmental perspective as it relates to understanding and defining generations. We take this perspective because, arguably, work and organizational psychology has generally adopted a rather “black-box” understanding (cf. Lawrence, 1997 ) of the theoretical mechanism linking generations to work behavior. That is to say, generations are defined in terms of different perspectives (e.g., on the basis of different life history experiences, social contexts, broadly defined socioeconomic opportunities) each of which may lead to very different conclusions when comparing members of one generation to another. However, the overt psychological mechanisms that actually lead to these different perspectives are not explored in this literature (i.e., differences between generations are assumed to be caused by something that resides in the generational “black-box,” but this thing is not observed, measured, or evaluated—rather the mechanism is inferred from group membership formed on the basis of arbitrary age-bracketing).

Mannheim’s View of Generations

Even within sociology there are marked differences in the understanding of generations, as defined by various theoretical perspectives. For example, Mannheim viewed generations more as historical units, and suggested that there is substantial within-generation variation in responses to historical contexts that might give rise to a generation. Whereas Mannheim’s work is often cited as an explanation for the rigid means of defining and classifying individuals into generational groups, it is somewhat ironic that his own writing on the topic recognizes that there is far more variability within generational groups than modern reinterpretations may lead us to believe. Most notably, Mannheim argues that birth year proximity represent but one circumstance under which a shared behavioral consciousness may emerge.

Ryder’s View of Generations

Ryder (1965) , who uses the term “birth cohorts” in lieu of “generations,” presents a different and rather simplified interpretation of the ideas offered by Mannheim. Ryder’s perspective shuns the notion of shared consciousness that Mannheim offered, and instead suggests that social change could be tied directly to clearly bounded birth cohort (i.e., age-bracketed) groupings, presuming that a shared consciousness or purpose was unnecessary to define a generational group. Arguably, the strict definition of generational categories on the basis of birth cohorts that we see in contemporary psychological research stems from the conflation of these ideas presented by Mannheim and Ryder.

Ryder’s perspective is reductionist in that it aims to simplify the task of understanding the role of generations in the development of social change. In much the same way that demographic factors such as age and gender serve as proxy indicators for differences in attitudes, traits, values, or other characteristics, so do cohorts as Ryder would define them. In many respects this is unfortunate, for although Mannheim’s view does not give rise directly to testable propositions, at least the proposed mechanism (i.e., the development of a shared consciousness among members of a generational group) hints at the possibility for empirical elaboration. Ryder’s approach has been aptly criticized as too cohort-centric (i.e., giving too much power to the idea of cohorts) and representing cohort determinism (i.e., the assumption that all members of a birth cohort experience aging in the same way, see Walker, 1993 ).

Riley’s View of Generations

Age stratification theory (e.g., Riley, 1973 , 1987 ; Riley, Johnson, & Foner, 1972 ) recognizes that biological aging is accompanied by changes in social roles and positions over time. Society defines age-graded roles (e.g., transitions from student to worker to spouse to parent to retiree, etc.) and various norms that accompany such roles are likely to change over time. Social change can thus be explained by shifting values associated with these role-norm dynamics. Thus, age stratification theory gives substantial power to the role of generations as a unit for social change.

The birth cohort is the entity that defines generations according to age stratification theory (i.e., people born at about the same time). Such cohorts simultaneously move through a society’s age-graded systems (e.g., experience similar role transitions around the same time). Each experience presents new roles and challenges to the members of a given cohort; likewise, each cohort brings a new set of norms and values to bear on such experiences. Thus, the succession of cohorts over time represents a catalyst for social change, because different historical experiences give rise to unique influences on existing social structures ( Riley, Foner, & Waring, 1988 ). Age stratification theory has been criticized for viewing society as a homogenous structure that similarly and consistently affects all members of a birth cohort (e.g., Novak, 2012 ). More generally, both Ryder and Riley’s perspectives on generations largely ignore the role of individual agency, experiences, and sensemaking processes for understanding the historical contexts that purportedly give rise to generations (e.g., experiencing national conflict may lead one person to patriotism and another to pacifism). This implied notion of “agency within structure” is reflected in the more contemporary life course perspective.

Elder’s View of Generations

Whereas the macro-level functionalist perspectives offered by Mannheim, Riley, and Ryder were aimed at explaining social change at the level of society (c.f., Mannheim does tacitly recognize the role of individual agency), Elder’s life course perspective instead focuses on the meso-level implications of social change on individual lives. The life course consists of various roles that define a biography—an individual’s accounting of their own developmental course. Life course scholars study processes at different levels of analysis that transition people into various roles, direct people along trajectories within these roles, and signal people’s exit from such roles. The life course perspective acknowledges individual, biologically driven trajectories of aging, however in the functionalist tradition, a significant emphasis is placed on the role of social structures and the embeddedness of one’s biography within social institutions. Such biographies are organized around various age-graded roles and relationships that define a normative developmental course. Life course theory further recognizes that three chronologies—historical, biographical, and social time—comprise a dynamic system that defines the interaction of individual developmental courses embedded within larger social systems (e.g., Elder, 1996 ; Moen, 1998 ). One advantage of the life course theory for understanding generations is the acknowledgement of individual developmental processes and the recognition that various contextual factors have the potential to affect developmental trajectories.

Defining and Differentiating Age, Period, Cohort, and Generations

The previous discussion makes it clear that there is remarkable variation regarding the use of the term “generation” present in the literature. Across disciplines (e.g., psychology, sociology, anthropology), a variety of different definitions, conceptualizations, and valuations of generations emerge. Highlighting this confusion, Kertzer (1983) refers to this “multivocality” as a “… liability in science” (p. 125). The definition of generations and the theory that describes their impact are intermingled to the extent that to explain one often necessitates the qualification of the other. For example, generations often represent groupings of birth cohorts that have some meaning attached to them, whereas any given birth cohort by itself can be thought of as value-free (i.e., decontextualized) generation (e.g., the cohort of people born in 2015).

The term birth cohort is used in various, often ambiguous ways in the literature. For example, Twenge and Campbell (2001) recognize: “A birth cohort is usually defined as all people born in a given year. However, the term can also be used more generally to refer to generational differences, which include larger numbers of birth years in the same group” (p. 322). On the other hand, the lifespan developmental literature typically uses the term cohort to refer to a single birth year. For example, Baltes and Reinert (1969) note: “ Schaie (1965) formulated a well-explicated general model for the study of developmental problems which is based on three components: age, cohort (birthdate), and time of measurement” (p. 169). Given our argument for a lifespan developmental perspective, we take the position here that the use of the term cohort should only invoke the notion of a single birth year. It is only when we start adding meaning to artificial groupings of birth cohorts (e.g., via shared experiences that manifest across age-bracketed groupings of cohorts) that the generations construct emerges. In essence, we give the term “cohort” a “generationalized” meaning when we start ascribing significance to assumptions regarding the experiences of a particular group of people born within the boundaries of a particular arbitrary time span.

To make this discussion clearer, we adopt the following common distinctions between age, period, and cohort ( Glenn, 2005 ): age refers to one’s biological/chronological age in years (i.e., years since birth), period refers to contemporaneous time (i.e., the current year), and cohort refers to one’s birth year (e.g., 1984). The complexities of “juggling” the effects of age, period, and cohort constitutes what sociologists have deemed, “the generation problem” (e.g., Kertzer, 1983 ). Differentiating these effects is important, because unless two of these three factors are defined by identical (assumed to be unmeasured) causal factors, then any conclusions drawn regarding the effect of the third may be spurious with respect to the other two. For example, in a cross-sectional research design, any correlations between chronological age and an outcome variable (e.g., job satisfaction) may be due to either age or cohort effects (i.e., because period is held constant in such designs). Thus, unless the same causal factor is driving both age and cohort effects in such an analysis, it is impossible to separate the two effects from one another, or to unequivocally attribute such an effect to either one or the other source of variance. This highlights a related issue, in that there is a simple, yet remarkably confounding linear dependency among age i , period j , and cohort k , such that

This dependency wreaks havoc on statistical models that attempt to separate age, period, and cohort effects, and reams of literature exist that have attempted to rectify this problem (e.g., Baltes, 1968 ; Baltes, Cornelius, & Nesselroade, 1979 ; Baltes, Reese, & Nesselroade, 1977 ; Kosloski, 1986 ; Schaie, 1965 ; see Glenn, 2005 for a review).

The introduction of the “shared experiences” component of generations bears some consideration here as well. This argument for the construction of generational groups rests on the idea that developmental experiences early during one’s lifespan (i.e., sociocontextual factors) are more important for the formation of stable traits (e.g., personality, attitudes, values) than later life experiences. Another way to put this, is that research concerning generations has assumed that there is diminishing intraindividual variability in traits over time (i.e., increased rigidity and decreased plasticity) associated with the process of aging. Such “crystallization” results in decreasing age-graded differential susceptibility to contextual influences. This manifests such that young individuals are more susceptible to contextual influences by virtue of flexibility in, for example, the capacity for socialization. This argument allows for the ability to tie birth year (i.e., cohort) to the shared experiences argument, and permits contemporaneous influences (i.e., period) to be ignored.

This argument likewise implies a certain level of age-related heterogeneity in the effects of such contextual influences that serve to define generations. Indeed, operationalizations of generational groups that are found in the literature assume agreement among the constituents within a “generation” (i.e., generational groupings defined by a range of birth cohorts exist at a higher level of analysis). This assumption suggests that there is more variability between generational groups than within, and this logic opens up several possible opportunities for misleading conclusions to be drawn based on improper conceptualizations of these different levels of analysis (cf. Klein & Kozlowski, 2000 ). For example, assuming that individuals within generational groups share the assumed characteristics of the group itself represents an ecological fallacy (i.e., erroneous inferences made about the nature of individuals on the basis of their group membership; Robinson, 1950 ; Thorndike, 1939 ). Moreover, because inferences regarding “generational differences” are often made on the basis of aggregated individual level data, the possibility for atomistic fallacies is present (i.e., erroneous inferences made about the nature of groups on the basis of relationships observed among individuals; Ostroff, 1993 ). Mirroring this, Walker (1993) suggests that assuming generational groups defined by clusters of birth cohorts possess higher-level meanings may lead one to fall into a “cohort trap” (p. 144) that is defined in terms of the potential for both ecological and atomistic faults in thinking.

The classical and oversimplified solution to the age–period–cohort problem is to ignore period effects, on the basis of the crystallization and ratification argument ( Ryder, 1965 ). This argument offers that period effects can be ignored, as most attitudes, perceptions, and trait-like individual differences are formed early in life. This is the same logic applied by contemporary cross-temporal meta-analysts (e.g., Twenge, Konrath, Foster, Keith Campbell, & Bushman, 2008 ). For example, Gentile, Wood, Twenge, Hoffman, and Campbell (2015) suggest that to accomplish the isolation of cohort effects, age and period effects are necessarily and justifiably confounded in cross-temporal meta-analysis. Despite this argument, it is easy to find examples of macro-level contemporaneous contextual effects (i.e., period effects) that can manifest as behavioral, attitudinal, or affective dynamics for people of all ages at work, regardless of birth year. Table 1 summarizes several empirical studies that have considered the role of period effects on work-relevant outcomes.

Examples of Empirical Evidence of Contemporaneous Period Effects

Furthermore, at a more micro-level, research on trait plasticity points to the within-person malleability of certain personality traits across time (e.g., Park & Reuter-Lorenz, 2009 ; Roberts, Walton, & Viechtbauer, 2006 ; Roberts, Wood, & Smith, 2005 ; Staudinger, 2015 ). Other work has similarly considered dynamics in wellbeing across the lifespan, pointing to age-related effects (i.e., nonlinear U-shaped dynamics in happiness, life satisfaction, depression, and anxiety) that are irrespective of cohort effects (e.g., Blanchflower & Oswald, 2008 ). These lines of research call into question the fundamental assumptions of the crystallization and ratification argument as applied to the study of cohort effects in cross-temporal methodologies. Moreover, the application of such methodologies is subject to self-criticism by those applying them (i.e., the recognition of the limitations of confounding cohort and period effects; e.g., Twenge et al., 2008 , p. 894). Period effects are also being recognized by more recent cross-temporal work, which has largely ignored them in the past (e.g., Leckelt et al., 2016 ).

Another solution to the age–period–cohort dependency problem is to artificially split and combine birth year cohorts into generational groups (e.g., Davis, Pawlowski, & Houston, 2006 ; Dilworth & Kingsbury, 2005 ; Hess & Jepsen, 2009 ). This splitting and combining procedure removes some of the dependency associated with age, period, and cohort effects by dividing age into categories on the basis of birth year. This technique has the advantage of providing an illusion of theoretical sophistication, and a great deal of effort has been applied to constructing (i.e., naming and classifying general characteristics of) generational groups. This is the statistical procedure through which the adoption of the “shared experiences” argument manifests in much of the psychological literature that addresses generations. Artificial bifurcation has the added advantage of synthetically changing the nature of age-relevant variability present in one’s data. On the one hand, this adds to the misconception that generational groups are meaningful, and on the other, furthers the divide between reality and the inferences drawn from our data (e.g., MacCallum et al., 2002 ; Rudolph, 2015 ). Curiously, studies adopting this methodology rarely attempt to estimate age or period parameters; the simplification of cohort effects by themselves is often sufficient to justify conclusions regarding generational effects.

The preceding review has been critical of the application of sociological notions of generations to the study of individual-level behavior within psychology. This critique leaves us with an important question to consider next: “If traditional sociological conceptualizations of generations are such a poor match to psychological theories, what can we do about it?” In the next sections, we introduce the lifespan development perspective as a reasonable and defensible theoretical framework for understanding age, period, and cohort-like ideas within psychological research on work and aging.

The lifespan developmental perspective is an integrative, meta-theoretical, and multidisciplinary framework. It aims to describe and explain stability and change in experiences and behavior across time, and to optimize developmental processes ( Baltes, 1987 ; Baltes, Lindenberger, & Staudinger, 2006 ; Baltes, Reese, & Lipsitt, 1980 ; Baltes, Staudinger, & Lindenberger, 1999 ). Lifespan researchers are interested in identifying general principles of development (i.e., intraindividual change), interindividual differences in development, and the extent and antecedents of intraindividual malleability in development. Baltes (1987) summarized seven key propositions of the lifespan perspective ( Table 2 ). Although all seven propositions have implications for understanding generations from a lifespan perspective, propositions four (i.e., historical and sociocultural embeddedness) and five (i.e., the paradigm of contextualism) are most important in this regard, and will therefore be considered further.

Core Propositions of the Lifespan Developmental Perspective (Baltes, 1987)

Historical/Sociocultural Embeddedness

Despite its focus on describing, explaining, and modifying individual development (i.e., ontogenesis) the lifespan perspective is not mono-theoretical and person-centered, but is rather a multi-level, multi-disciplinary, and person–environment interaction framework ( Baltes, 1987 ; Lerner, 1996 ). Even critics acknowledge that historical, sociocultural, and other contextual factors are well-integrated within the lifespan perspective ( Dannefer, 1984 ). The proposition of historical and sociocultural embeddedness acknowledges that development is influenced not only by biological factors (e.g., genetics), but also by historical and evolutionary contexts (i.e., the time period during which an individual’s development unfolds), changes in sociocultural conditions (i.e., structural factors such as the economy, education, and medical care), and interactions of person and contextual factors. In describing developmental contextualism, Lerner (1996) emphasizes reciprocal influences of changes in multiple levels of organization. Thus, individual development is not only a product of contextual influences, but also as a process of actively shaping developmental and contextual factors at multiple levels (e.g., within families or organizations, see Lerner & Busch-Rossnagel, 1981 ).

The importance of historical and sociocultural factors to the lifespan perspective was informed by two lines of research. First, sociological research demonstrated mutual relationships between individual development and intergenerational continuity and change ( Elder, 1994 ). Specifically, this research demonstrated that individuals’ development both influences and is influenced by biological and sociocultural intergenerational exchanges (e.g., fertility, parenting, and grandparenting, but also intergenerational distributions of resources at a societal level). Second, this research found evidence for strong birth cohort effects on developmental outcomes, such as cognitive abilities and personality characteristics ( Baltes, 1968 ; Riley et al., 1972 ; Schaie, 1965 ). In particular, Schaie’s (1994 , 1996 , 2013 ) research on adult intellectual development found that fluid cognitive abilities (e.g., working memory, processing speed) typically decreased with age; at the same time, there were substantial improvements in these abilities across successive birth cohorts ( Gerstorf, Ram, Hoppmann, Willis, & Schaie, 2011 ; Schaie, 2013 ). Elder and colleagues ( Elder, 1974 ; Elder & Liker, 1982 ) demonstrated that historical events (i.e., the Great Depression) experienced in childhood were associated with adults’ personality. Similarly, Nesselroade and Baltes (1974) showed that changes in adolescents’ personality were influenced by both age-related factors as well as historical contexts (i.e., the Vietnam War). Beyond these seminal works, however, empirical studies of cohort effects on individual development are rare; research has instead adopted a methodological or descriptive understanding of such phenomena ( Baltes et al., 1979 ).

The lifespan perspective assumes that cohort effects must be explained using a multidisciplinary approach. For instance, Baltes (1987) acknowledged that “… classical psychological theory has little to offer when it comes to interpreting the substantive meaning and origin of cohort effects …. The fields of cultural anthropology, historical sociology, and historical medicine may prove to be more relevant” (p. 620). Possible explanations for cohort effects in intellectual development may involve continuous improvements in education, health and medical care, and the increasing complexity of work and home environments ( Baltes, 1987 ). Cohort effects on certain outcomes (e.g., cognitive ability) should be stronger when the mechanisms involved (e.g., complex work environments) are specific and theoretically relevant for the outcome of interest ( Zacher, 2015b ). For instance, individuals’ attitudes toward job security may be more influenced by the extent to which jobs were available when they first entered the labor market than by other contemporaneous events (e.g., protests against a war).

Baltes and colleagues (1979) argued that the way researchers understand potential cohort effects depends on their disciplinary background, theoretical orientation, and research questions. Specifically, cohort effects can be treated in four different ways. First, they can be treated as error. Most psychologists interested in basic and normative processes of child development would treat cohort effects in this way (i.e., they would be generally neglected). Second, cohort effects can be treated as transitory, historical irregularities that temporarily disturb normative developmental processes. Third, cohort effects can be conceived as systematic quantitative changes in levels of an outcome without a general change in underlying mechanisms. Finally, cohorts can be treated as a substantive theoretical mechanism or process variable, which requires explication of the “... form and nature of cohort change that is judged to be developmental, the need for such concepts as stages or transitions in representing cohort change, and the type of explanatory mechanisms involved in producing cohort change” ( Baltes et al., 1979 , p. 80).

Most psychologists would treat cohort effects in one of the first three ways, assuming that cohort effects and sociocultural changes are generally not relevant for those domains of psychological development established during genetic and cultural evolution ( Baltes, 1987 ). For instance, Baltes (1987) argued that in developed countries, cohort effects on cognitive development are rather small due to the stability of the biocultural architecture. In contrast, sociologists are more likely to adopt the fourth approach ( Baltes & Nesselroade, 1984 ; Dannefer, 1984 ), which suggests that findings regarding individual development cannot be generalized to other historical epochs. Indeed, sometimes cohort effects are used to negate the existence of any developmental regularities and to argue for pure historicism ( Baltes, 1987 ). According to Baltes and Nesselroade (1984) , “… the cohort concept legitimately has a different predominant status in sociology than it has in psychology. Our prediction was that sociologists would have a tendency to view cohort effects as an essential aspect of any sociological theory (representing cohort as a theoretical process variable), whereas many psychologists, due to their primary emphasis on individual-level paradigms and the search for invariant behavioral laws, would generally opt for the first three types” (pp. 844–845).

The Paradigm of Contextualism

The paradigm of contextualism assumes that individuals have to process, react to, and act upon normative age-graded, normative history-graded, and non-normative influences that co-determine development ( Baltes, 1987 ). Normative age-graded influences include person (i.e., biological) and contextual (i.e., environmental) determinants of development that most people encounter as they age, such as biological maturation, deteriorating senses, and declining physical strength, as well as very common socialization events (e.g., school entry, marriage, birth of children, retirement). Thus, these determinants are strongly related to age and are predictable in terms of their onset and duration. Importantly, the use of the term normative is understood in a statistical-descriptive, not value-based prescriptive sense ( Baltes & Nesselroade, 1984 ). History-graded influences include person and contextual factors that are linked to a specific historical period (e.g., the Great Depression, World War II) that may differentially influence people’s development. Finally, non-normative influences include person and contextual determinants of development that are rather uncommon and whose manifestation is unique to each individual. Non-normative influences are not closely related to ontogenetic or historical development and are rather unpredictable (e.g., career changes, divorce, job loss, severe illnesses, accidents, death of significant others). Together, the dynamic and interactive impact of these three influence systems leads to stability and change, as well as multidimensionality and multidirectionality in individual development ( Baltes, 1987 ).

Lifespan theory assumes that there are interindividual differences (e.g., based on gender, social class, ethnicity) in the experience and effects of these developmental influences, including the two normative influence systems ( Baltes & Nesselroade, 1984 ). Moreover, Baltes and colleagues (1980) argued for the existence of general lifespan profiles that describe the relative influences of age-graded, history-graded, and non-normative influences on individual development across the lifespan ( Figure 1 ). First, the influence of normative age-graded factors is U-shaped across the lifespan, with a strong influence in childhood, decreased impact in adolescence, and increased importance in adulthood and old age. With regard to intellectual development, Baltes and colleagues argued that there is less biological and cultural stabilization in adulthood and old age, which are characterized by more plasticity and potential for active control by individuals, compared to earlier life phases, which are characterized by much more biocultural regularity.

Profiles of lifespan influences. Prototypical/hypothetical profiles of lifespan influences representing the relative impact of normative age-graded, normative history-graded, and non-normative developmental influences (adapted from Baltes et al., 1980 ).

Second, the strength of normative history-graded determinants takes an inverted U-shape across the lifespan, with a peak in adolescence and early adulthood, and weaker influences in childhood and old age ( Figure 1 ). Baltes and colleagues (1980) argued that adolescence and early adulthood are phases in which the relationship between the individual and society as well as intergenerational dialectics are particularly salient, and in which individuals—influenced by the sociocultural environment—lay the foundation for their adult life. Finally, Baltes and colleagues speculate that the strength of non-normative influences increases linearly across the lifespan. Important life events become more important predictors of development over time due to age-related declines in evolutionary-based genetic control over development and the increased multidirectionality, heterogeneity, and plasticity in developmental outcomes at higher ages. Although Baltes and colleagues emphasized the relative strengths of developmental influences across the lifespan, at no point are these sources irrelevant to individual development. For instance, Schaie’s (1979) cohort-sequential research suggests that cohort effects in intellectual functioning exist across different ages. Moreover, Baltes and colleagues pointed out that these profiles are prototypical and that their depiction does not take into account the interactions or transactions among the three systems of influences.

Lifespan developmental researchers do not use the generations concept as introduced by sociologists such as Mannheim. When they use the term, they typically refer to individuals’ birth year cohorts ( Baltes, 1968 ), but they do not make assumptions about broader categories of individuals based on rather arbitrary collections of birth years and shared life experiences of people born within certain timespans. The lifespan perspective defines development (i.e., intraindividual change) and interindividual differences in such intraindividual trajectories, but it does not categorize individuals based on their birth years or shared life experiences into broader generational groups. Consistently, Kosloski (1986) argued that defining a “generational cohort” by a shared time period does not automatically imply that individual members of that cohort shared common experiences, and that such cohort effects are meaningless.

The lifespan perspective does accept that historical and sociocultural contexts can impact individuals. However, it assumes that such contextual factors impact experiences and behavior at the individual level, not as shared generational effects. Even though the lifespan perspective suggests that history-graded effects are “normative,” it does not make assumptions about effects on collective experiences and behaviors of generational groups. Instead, the lifespan perspective argues that events and experiences associated with a historical period constitute factors that can impact each individual’s developmental outcomes and interact with age-graded and non-normative factors.

In the revised version of his classic general developmental model, which aims to methodologically disentangle age, period, and cohort effects on development ( Schaie, 1965 ), Schaie (1986) criticized time-based cohort concept used in developmental psychology. He argued that the conceptualization of age, period, and cohort as chronological indices (i.e., years) is problematic, because they are “empty constructs” that are mere correlates of substantive factors and thus cannot have causal effects ( Birren, 1999 ; Schaie & Hertzog, 1985 ; Wohlwill, 1970 ). Schaie (1986) suggested a theoretical framework in which cohort and period indicators are decoupled from calendar time and re-conceptualized as more meaningful variables. In this framework, the meanings of cohort and time period are broadened to have more explanatory value for individual development, such that a cohort is defined as “the total population of individuals entering the specified environment at the same point in time” ( Schaie & Hertzog, 1985 , p. 92) and time period is re-defined as “historical event time.”

For cohorts, the time of entry does not have to be birth, and can include time markers related to biocultural development, such as puberty, parenthood/grandparenthood, menopause or societal markers such as workforce entry, marriage, or retirement ( Schaie, 1986 ; see similar life course sociology arguments by Diewald & Mayer, 2009 ; Mayer, 2009 ; Settersten & Mayer, 1997 ). More recently, the motivational theory of lifespan development has discussed cohort-defining events and processes as age-graded opportunity structures ( Heckhausen & Shane, 2015 ; Heckhausen, Wrosch, & Schulz, 2010 ). The framework further suggests that there can be history-graded cohorts (e.g., such as being member of the initial staff of a start-up organization), as well as non-normative cohorts characterized by events such as divorce, infectious disease, or other social group memberships. Thus, cohorts are re-defined as an interindividual difference variable ( Schaie, 1986 ). The uncoupling of period effects from calendar time involves identifying important historical events, and assessing the timing and duration of their greatest influence. Period is therefore re-defined as an intraindividual change variable ( Schaie, 1986 ).

Integrative Lifespan Model of Generations

One of the themes we have argued for in the preceding review is that traditional sociological perspectives on generations are too deterministic and reductionist for understanding psychological phenomena concerning work and aging. It should be clear that, when applied, such perspectives are typically used to defend predictions at a higher level of analysis without clear or reasonable justifications (i.e., aggregate social phenomena explaining individual level behavior). Although recent work has advanced generations theory away from traditional sociological perspectives (e.g., Joshi, Dencker, Franz, and Martocchio, 2010 ; Rudolph & Zacher, 2015 ), no attempt has been made to integrate broader lifespan developmental perspectives into a testable theoretical framework. To coalesce these ideas and the theory reviewed earlier, we argue that a more contemporary model for understanding generations must be grounded in the traditions of lifespan developmental contextualism. To achieve this, our integrative lifespan model of generations can be viewed as a parallel argument to the contextual-dialectic model of lifespan development proposed by Lerner and Busch-Rossnagel (1981) . The tenets and concepts of the lifespan development perspective should supplant outdated sociological notions to guide thinking and research. Thus, the propositions discussed here and summarized in Table 3 should serve as a foundation for the application of such lifespan perspectives to the study of generations at work.

Summary of the Integrative Lifespan Model of Generations

The core argument of the contextual model of lifespan development is the constructivist notion that people are both the product and producers of their own developmental course. This idea leads to the assumption that, at the individual level of analysis, the influence of age-graded and historical/contextual influences are inherently codetermined and thus inseparable. This sentiment is reflected in earlier work by Baltes (1979 , p. 2), who suggests:

As development unfolds, it becomes more and more apparent that individuals act on their environment and produce novel behavioral outcomes, thereby making the active and selective nature of human beings of paramount importance. Furthermore, the recognition of the interplay between age-graded, history-graded, and non-normative life events suggests a contextualistic and dialectical conception of development is the reflection of multiple forces which are not always in synergism, or convergence, nor do they always permit the delineation of a specific set of endstates.

Given this, the most fundamental proposition of our integrated lifespan model of generations is that the influence of historically graded and sociocultural context variables occurs at the individual (i.e., person) level of analysis, and not as a manifestation of shared phenomena:

Proposition 1. Historical and sociocultural contexts impact experiences and behavior at the individual level, not as shared generational effects.

Proposition 1 suggests that future research must focus on individual-level indicators of historical and sociocultural influences that have been hypothesized to give rise to generational effects. Offering that such effects manifest at the individual level opens up myriad psychosocial explanations for observed historically graded and sociocontextual influences on behavior. For example, one might argue for investigating differences in perceptions, attitudes, and values at the person level that can be tied to individual experiences and life histories—what Bronfenbrenner (1993) would refer to as an ecological developmental system ( Moen, Elder, & Lüscher, 1995 ). Indeed, this idea represents an important departure from prior research, which has focused on “black-box” explanations for such effects (e.g., Gursoy, Maier, & Chi, 2008 ; Wong, Gardiner, Lang, & Couon, 2008 ). Directly measuring individual-level influences should aid in unpacking this black-box.

The notion that historical and sociocultural experiences serve as intraindividual influences is further supported by ideas derived from various contextual models of lifespan development (e.g., Baltes, 1979 ; Ford & Lerner, 1992 ; Lerner & Busch-Rossnagel, 1981 ; Moen et al., 1995 ). Such models highlight another facet of our argument against the prototypical conceptualization of generations. Just as we have argued that age, period, and cohort effects are empirically confounded, the notion of age-graded, history graded, and non-normative life events are phenomenologically confounded. That is to say, such mechanisms of developmental change are both functionally and theoretically inseparable. More specifically:

Proposition 2. Developmental contextualism implies that age, period, and cohort effects are codetermined and inherently inextricable.

The direct implication of Proposition 2 is that researchers must abandon time-based operationalizations of generations. Past research concerning generations at work has ignored this idea by conflating age, period, and/or cohort (e.g., Jurkiewicz, 2000 ; Lyons, Duxbury, & Higgins, 2007 ) making it impossible to extract meaningful conclusions regarding these individual effects from such studies. Given that time-based operationalizations of age, period, and cohort effects are inseparable and serve merely as proxies for actual psychological and developmental process, a corollary proposition follows from Proposition 2. Namely, and consistent with the arguments levied by Schaie (1986) , a contextualized understanding of these processes necessitates the reconceptualization of time-based age, period, and cohort effects as measurable or observable psychological variables:

Proposition 3. A contextualized understanding of individual lifespan development necessitates alternative operationalizations of age, period, and cohort effects.

Given Proposition 3, two subordinate propositions can also be explicated on the basis of the ideas presented by Schaie (1986) . Both of these propositions describe methodological concerns for defining and developing empirical investigations of such contextualized phenomena under the assumption that age, period, and cohort effects must be re-conceptualized (i.e., decoupled from calendar time). Thus:

Proposition 3a. Cohort effects are defined in terms of interindividual differences. Proposition 3b. Period effects are defined in terms of intradindividual changes.

More specifically, Proposition 3a suggests that, in lieu of time-based operationalizations, cohorts should be operationalized as interindividual differences (i.e., as psychological individual differences). Additionally, consistent with Schaie (1986) , Proposition 3b suggests that period effects should be defined in terms of individual-level dynamics (i.e., as with-person changes over time that can be tied to a specific occasion and place, life experience, or condition). Bearing these propositions in mind, let us explore methodological issues and recommendations for the implementation of this integrative, contextualized lifespan model of generations.

To understand how this integrative lifespan model of generations can be applied to future research endeavors, and to address the propositions raised herein, it is necessary to discuss methodologies for studying such effects. This discussion will begin with a consideration of traditional developmental methodologies, and then consider new recommendations in line with the propositions raised earlier. Baltes and colleagues (1977) outline features, strengths and weaknesses of developmental designs, a summary of which is provided here. Generally, procedures for estimating cohort effects have been quasi-experimental in nature. Though we acknowledge these quasi-experimental methods, we also propose new ways of considering age, period, and cohort-like effects that better match the notion of contextualism that we propose here, including both updated quasi and traditional experimental methods ( Table 4 ).

Common Developmental Designs

Note. Age of respondent is represented within the cells (e.g., 40, 50, 60,…) of each design. Grey shaded regions represent differences in observations between designs.

Quasi-Experimental Methodologies

Cross-sectional methods.

Single time-point methodologies have typically been applied to study generational effects in work contexts ( Costanza et al., 2012 ). In cross-sectional designs, people of varying ages are sampled on one occasion. Cross-sectional designs are of little utility for studying generations, because one cannot separate age, period, and cohort effects. Because data are collected at one time point in such designs, period effects are held constant (e.g., 1990; see example in Table 4 , Panel A), whereas age and cohort variables are perfectly confounded with one another. Thus, cohort and age effects cannot be unequivocally separated in such analyses. In fact, such designs may lead to spurious conclusions regarding the nature of age effects in the presence of true cohort effects ( Figure 2 ).

“True” cohort effects and their manifestation in two hypothetical cross-sectional studies (adapted from Baltes, 1968 ).

As suggested previously, one way to alleviate this dependency is to bundle cohorts into larger “generational groups.” In doing so, such groups are constructed on the basis of clustering birth cohorts in temporally ordered increments (e.g., D’Amato & Herzfeldt, 2008 ; Cennamo & Gardner, 2008 ; Leiter, Jackson, & Shaughnessy, 2009 ). The practice of splitting and recombining continuous variables in this way is frowned upon (e.g., MacCallum, Zhang, Preacher, & Rucker, 2002 ), and can lead to incorrect assumptions regarding the influence of cohort effects in the presence of actual age effects ( Rudolph, 2015 ). This procedure (partially) removes the dependency between age and cohort (i.e., generations are aggregated cohorts in such a procedure). However, this does not lead one to make more valid inferences regarding the effect of cohort versus age. There are other issues with cross sectional methodologies that further limit the inferences one can draw from such designs. For example, single time point designs cannot inform hypotheses regarding age-related changes, nor individual stability.

Longitudinal methods

Longitudinal designs are likewise limited in their ability to study generations. In a single-cohort longitudinal developmental design, people born at the same time are sampled repeatedly across the span of several successive years (see Table 4 , Panel B). This is the traditional developmental design of intraindividual change. In such designs, age and period are necessarily confounded, whereas cohort is held constant across time. Thus, no inferences regarding cohort effects are tenable in such designs, as the methodology constrains one to study a single cohort over time. In contrast, cross-sequential longitudinal designs start with a cross-sectional sample, and subsequently add a longitudinal sequence to each cohort. Though popular and nearly ubiquitous in the work and aging literature, cross-sequential methodologies are likewise problematic for the study of generations. This is because age and cohort effects are initially confounded by the cross-sectional nature of the baseline measurement, and subsequent observations cannot serve to tease such effects apart.

Cross-temporal methods

Apart from cross-sectional methods and longitudinal methods, cross-temporal or time-lag methods, including cross-temporal meta-analysis (e.g., Twenge, Campbell, Hoffman, & Lance, 2010 ), try to circumvent the linear age, period, and cohort dependency by isolating cohort effects and disregarding period effects. For example ( Table 4 , Panel C) one could compare outcomes (e.g., job attitudes) from samples of similarly aged respondents collected at multiple different points in time (e.g., job satisfaction of 40 year olds in 1990 vs. the job satisfaction of 40 year olds in 2010). In doing so, differences could be tied to either cohort or period effects, as age is held constant in such comparisons. The crystallization and ratification argument is then applied to justify overlooking period, and favoring support for cohorts as primary explanatory variables. Of note, period effects are equally likely in such cases, because of the confounding of cohort and period.

Longitudinal-sequential methods

Whereas simple longitudinal designs are of little value for studying generations, more complex longitudinal designs, including cohort-sequential designs and time-sequential designs can more appropriately models age, period, and/or cohort effects. Longitudinal-sequential designs combine elements of cross-sectional, cross-temporal, and longitudinal designs into single methodologies. Cohort-sequential designs involve sampling people of different birth cohorts repeatedly across a span of time. Such designs are essentially comprised of two or more overlapping longitudinal studies. Considering the example in Table 4 , Panel D, three cohorts born in 1950, 1960, and 1970 are surveyed three times across (i.e., baseline, 10 years, 20 years) across a 20-year span.

There are distinct advantages to the use of cohort sequential designs compared to the other developmental methodologies reviewed earlier. For example, because different measurements are collected between cohorts over time, age is not automatically confounded with cohort (e.g., cohort comparisons of 40 year olds in 1990 and 2000 are acceptable in such a design). Perhaps of equal importance, we can also compare people to their own baseline levels, which cannot be achieved via cross-temporal methods. This allows for the direct modeling of within-person change relative to other factors in such models. Related to this, the staggering of baseline measurements (i.e., samples are drawn independently from different cohorts) means that longitudinal comparisons (i.e., differences in developmental trajectories) are meaningful between cohorts. Cohort-sequential designs also allow for cross-sectional comparisons, as different age groups are measured at each time point. Finally, because similar age groups are represented across different measurement occasions, cross-temporal/time-lag effects can also be represented (e.g., comparing 40 year olds in 1990 vs. 2000). It is important to note, however, that because period effects are confounded with cohort effects, that this design does not allow for one to draw strong conclusions regarding contemporaneous time of measurement effects.

A related methodology, the time-sequential design, consists of two or more cross-sectional studies conducted at different measurement occasions. The advantages of the time-sequential design largely mirror that of the cohort-sequential design. However, whereas the major strength of the cohort-sequential design is its ability to unconfound age and cohort, the strength of time-sequential designs is to unconfound age and period. The example in Table 4 , Panel E shows one such plausible time-sequential design. Compared to cohort-sequential designs, there is some flexibility in sampling strategies that can be adopted in time-sequential designs. Specifically, the samples employed by such designs can be independent of each other (e.g., different cross-sectional samples collected at each time point) or the same across measurement occasions.

Proposed Quasi-Experimental Methodologies

The preceding review hints at the fact that separating age, period, and cohort effects within a single study design is difficult if not impossible without some other restrictions imposed upon one’s data (e.g., artificially grouping birth year cohorts). Our contextualized lifespan perspective suggests the need for a different approach to these issues. Consistent with Schaie, (1986) , Little (2013) suggests that age, period, or cohort effects can be viewed as potential contextual variables that can be measured and modeled in one’s analyses. Specifically, including theoretically justifiable and well-operationalized alternative measures of such effects allows one to gauge the amount of variance that can be accounted for and/or control for their influences, statistically. Indeed, reasonable alternative (i.e., non time-based) operationalizations can be independently conceptualized for age, period, and cohort effects (see Table 5 for a summary).

Alternative Age, Period, and Cohort Operationalizations

For example, alternative measures of age beyond chronological age might be considered (e.g., age/age group identity, subjective age, self-perceptions of aging, attitudes toward aging, awareness of age-related changes, see Diehl et al., 2014 ). Still other proxy variables concerning functional (e.g., health) or cognitive capacities associated with successful aging at work (e.g., Rowe & Kahn, 1997 ; Zacher, 2015a ) may be considered as alternative age operationalizations. In terms of period effects, various alternative indices at different levels of analysis may be considered. At the individual level, one might measure the influence of contemporaneous life events to address person-specific period effects. Such events could be subjectively assessed (e.g., “To what extent have major events changed your life in the past 12 months?”), constructed through biographical narratives (e.g., McAdams, 2006 ), or more objectively scaled (e.g., the Life Events Inventory; Cochrane & Robertson, 1973 ). At higher levels of analysis, research has considered contemporaneous economic conditions (e.g., unemployment rates) as an index of contextual factors that influences job insecurity (e.g., Keim, Landis, Pierce, & Earnest, 2014 ). Other research has tied contemporaneous unemployment rates to differences in narcissism ( Bianchi, 2014 ) and job satisfaction (e.g., Bianchi, 2013 ). Indeed, similar national indices of wellbeing may also prove fruitful for addressing period effects in future analyses (e.g., OECD Indicators, Gallup-Healthways Wellbeing Index).

In terms of alternatives to cohort effects, rather than estimating such effects from birth year, one might consider collecting an index of generational identity as an indicator of cohort membership ( Finkelstein, Gonnerman, & Foxgrover, 2001 ; Weiss, 2014 ; Weiss & Lang, 2009 ; 2012 ). Still another strategy would be to collect measures that reflect a person’s response, attitudes, or opinions surrounding a particular event, movement, or phenomena that that is suspected to give rise to the shared consciousness that defines generations. A related idea involves construing cohorts differently, for example around life transitions (e.g., post-secondary education to initial career) or perceived career stages (e.g., “time to retirement”). Construing such “developmental deadlines” as meaningful psychological time indices has a well-founded precedence in the lifespan developmental literature (e.g., Freund, 1997 ; Heckhausen & Tomasik, 2002 ; Haase, Heckhausen, & Köller, 2008 ).

Beyond alternative operationalizations, the application of the proposed quasi-experimental methodologies requires recognition of how these effects manifest at different levels of analysis. Fundamentally, questions of aging require the investigation of within-person (i.e., intraindividual) changes over time. Given our proposed model, the redefinition of period and cohort effects requires the explication of person-level effects (i.e., interindividual differences) that manifest between-persons, but can also take the form of cross-level effects (e.g., individual differences that may buffer or augment within-person processes over time).

Proposed Experimental Methodologies

As suggested previously, generational identity is one reasonable alternative operationalization of cohort effects for the study of generations (e.g., Joshi et al., 2010 ). This argument implies measuring the strength of one’s generational identity, along the lines of Finkelstein (e.g., Finkelstein et al., 2001 ) or Weiss (e.g., Weiss, 2014 ). Another reasonable possibility for conceptualizing this idea is through the manipulation of generational identity via momentary activation and priming of generational characteristics (e.g., Bargh & Morsella, 2010 ; Eschleman, 2016 ). Related age-based characteristics (e.g., age stereotypes) can be primed via such activation frameworks. For example, Stein and colleagues (2002) demonstrated that priming negative age stereotypes can impair memory task performance. Moreover, related research suggests that the embodiment of age-related stereotypes has long-term influences on intraindividual health and well-being outcomes (e.g., B. R. Levy, 2003 ; B. Levy, 2009 ). A related experimental approach involves the manipulation of time horizons (e.g., future time perspective, see Carstensen, 1993 , 1995 ). For example, research that has experimentally manipulated temporal deadlines has suggested that both goal focus and contents shift with the perception of limited versus limitless timelines (see Carstensen, Isaacowitz, & Charles, 1999 for a review). Additionally, such manipulations need not be direct, as suggested by evidence from natural experiments concerning the dynamic interplay between contemporaneous period effects (i.e., the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks and the SARS outbreak of 2003) and socioemotional goals. Indeed, experiencing sociocultural events that increase the salience of the fragility of one’s life increases motivation to derive emotional meaning from life, regardless of one’s chronological age ( Fung & Carstensen, 2006 ).

The goal of this article was to offer an extension of recent critiques of research on generations in the work context by proposing a differentiated lifespan perspective. Here, we have argued that this differentiated approach better accounts for the individual-level manifestations of such effects that psychologists are interested in investigating. Although we have been critical of past attempts to empirically distinguish “generations” and to identify “generational differences,” it bears noting that practitioners have arguably latched onto these idea more vigorously than academic researchers. We suspect that the application of the generations concept to organizational practice stems from the fact that this concept serves as a heuristic that helps distill an otherwise complicated issue (e.g., intra- and interindivdiual variability) into smaller pieces that are easier to understand and communicate. It may also be that generationally based explanations are offered as an attempt to veil overt ageism ( Rudolph & Zacher, 2015 ). Given our review and critique, we next offer some specific recommendations that attempt to integrate the propositions raised here with the needs of practice. Consistent with our integrative lifespan model of generations, we suggest that both research and practice would benefit from a moratorium on time-based operationalizations of generations as units for understanding complex dynamics in organizational behavior. In addition to this central idea, we see three additional areas in which practice may be informed by our model.

First, practitioners would be wise to adopt a lifespan perspective on work and aging, which recognizes that continuous developmental influences far outweigh the potential for categorical intergenerational differences. This perspective compels practitioners to recognize that there is a great deal of diversity both within and between generations. Second, the practice literature on this topic emphasizes the need to train managers to recognize intergenerational differences, and the need to actively manage generational differences as a matter of personnel practice (e.g., Baldonado, 2008 ; Eisner, 2005 ; Kapoor & Solomon, 2011 ). We suggest that the focus of these efforts be shifted to a broader recognition of aging as a process, toward understanding broader implications of workforce aging, and to recognizing the dynamic interplay between age and normative life stage considerations (e.g., shifting dynamics in work and family demands over time; see Zacher, Rudolph, & Reinicke, in press ). There is also a need to recognize that attitudes, values, beliefs, motives, and behavior may shift predictably with age, and not as a function of generationally based effects. Organizational initiatives should be designed to address lifespan dynamics in such psychological processes, rather than tailoring interventions to specific generational groups (e.g., Langan, 2012 ; Tulgan, 2016 ). Finally, we suggest that practitioners must be cautious in interpreting the results of research on generations given the limitations of such works noted here. Policy recommendations (e.g., Hershatter & Epstein, 2010 ; Twenge, 2013 ) should not be based on the very tenuous conclusions that have been drawn thus far regarding generational differences.

In conclusion, our lifespan model of generations, and associated propositions and recommendations should serve as a guide for more rigorous organizational research and practice concerning the idea of generations. Moreover, this work stands as a reminder for the need to better educate researchers and practitioners regarding the limits and pitfalls of generational thinking. Our hope is that a differentiated lifespan perspective on generations helps to clarify and support future work that seeks reasonable means of conceptualizing and understanding generation-like explanations for individual-level psychological processes and outcomes in the work context.

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Module 2: Developmental Theories

Comparing and evaluating lifespan theories, learning outcomes.

• Contrast the main psychological theories that apply to human development

Developmental theories provide a set of guiding principles and concepts that describe and explain human development. Some developmental theories focus on the formation of a particular quality, such as Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. Other developmental theories focus on growth that happens throughout the lifespan, such as Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development. It would be natural to wonder which of the perspectives provides the most accurate account of human development, but clearly, each perspective is based on its own premises and focuses on different aspects of development. Many lifespan developmentalists use an eclectic approach, drawing on several perspectives at the same time because the same developmental phenomenon can be looked at from a number of perspectives.

In the table below, we’ll review some of the major theories that you learned about in this module. Recall that three key issues considered in human development examine if development is continuous or discontinuous, if it is the same for everyone or distinct for individuals (one course of development or many), and if development is more influenced by nature or by nurture. The table below reviews how each of these major theories approaches each of these issues.

Table 1. Major Theories in Human Development [1]

• Berk, L. E. (1998). "Stances of Major Theories on Basic Issues in Human Development."Development through the lifespan. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. p. 26. ↵
• Comparing and Evaluating Lifespan Theories. Authored by : Lumen Learning. License : CC BY: Attribution

Intro to Lifespan Development

Why study lifespan development.

Welcome to the study of lifespan development! This is the scientific study of how and why people change or remain the same over time.

Think about how you were five, ten, or even fifteen years ago. In what ways have you changed? In what ways have you remained the same? You have probably changed physically; perhaps you’ve grown taller and become heavier. But you may have also experienced changes in the way you think and solve problems. Cognitive change is noticeable when we compare how 6-year olds, 16-year olds, and 46-year olds think and reason, for example. Their thoughts about themselves, others, and the world are probably quite different. Consider friendship—a 6-year-old may think that a friend is someone with whom they can play and have fun. A 16-year old may seek friends who can help them gain status or popularity. And the 46-year old may have acquaintances, but rely more on family members to do things with and confide in. You may have also experienced psychosocial change. This refers to emotions and psychological issues as well as social roles and relationships. Psychologist Erik Erikson suggests that we struggle with issues of trust, independence, and intimacy at various points in our lives (we will explore this thoroughly throughout the course.)

This is a very interesting and meaningful course because it is about each of us and those with whom we live and work. One of the best ways to gain perspective on our own lives is to compare our experiences with those of others. In this course, we will strive to learn about each phase of human development and the physical, cognitive, and psychosocial changes, all the while making cross-cultural and historical comparisons and connections to the world around us.

In addition, we will take a lifespan developmental approach to learn about human development. That means that we won’t just learn about one particular age period by itself; we will learn about each age period, recognizing how it is related to both previous developments and later developments. For instance, it helps us to understand what’s happening with the 16-year old by knowing about development in the infant, toddler, early childhood, and middle childhood years. In turn, learning about all of that development and development during adolescence and early adulthood will help us to more fully understand the person at age 46 (and so on throughout midlife and later adulthood).

Development does not stop at a certain age; development is a lifelong process. We may find individual and group differences in patterns of development, so examining the influences of gender, cohort/generation, race, ethnicity, culture, socioeconomic status, education level, and time in history is also important. With the lifespan developmental perspective, we will gain a more comprehensive view of the individual within the context of their own developmental journey and within social, cultural, and historical contexts. In this way, this course covers and crosses multiple disciplines, such as psychology, biology, sociology, anthropology, education, nutrition, economics, and healthcare.

Think It Over

Wherever you are in your own lifespan developmental journey, imagine yourself as an elderly person about to turn 100 years old (becoming a “centenarian”). If researchers want to understand you and your development, would they get the full picture if they just took a snapshot (so to speak) of you at that point in time? What else would you want them to know about you, your development, and your experiences to really understand you?

What you’ll learn to do: define human development and identify the stages of human development

What aspects of ourselves change and develop as we journey through life? We move through significant physical, cognitive, and psychosocial changes throughout our lives—do these changes happen in a systematic way, and to everyone? How much is due to genetics and how much is due to environmental influences and experiences (both within our personal control and beyond)? Is there just one course of development or are there many different courses of development? In this module, we’ll examine these questions and learn about the major stages of development and what kind of developmental tasks and transitions we might expect along the way.

Learning Outcomes

• Describe human development and its three domains: physical, cognitive, and psychosocial development
• Explain key human development issues about the nature of change: continuous/discontinuous, one course/multiple courses, and nature/nurture
• Describe the basic periods of human development

Defining Human Development

Human development refers to the physical, cognitive, and psychosocial development of humans throughout the lifespan. What types of development are involved in each of these three domains, or areas, of life? Physical development involves growth and changes in the body and brain, the senses, motor skills, and health and wellness. Cognitive development involves learning, attention, memory, language, thinking, reasoning, and creativity. Psychosocial development involves emotions, personality, and social relationships.

Physical Domain

Many of us are familiar with the height and weight charts that pediatricians consult to estimate if babies, children, and teens are growing within normative ranges of physical development. We may also be aware of changes in children’s fine and gross motor skills, as well as their increasing coordination, particularly in terms of playing sports. But we may not realize that physical development also involves brain development, which not only enables childhood motor coordination but also greater coordination between emotions and planning in adulthood, as our brains are not done developing in infancy or childhood. Physical development also includes puberty, sexual health, fertility, menopause, changes in our senses, and primary versus secondary aging. Healthy habits with nutrition and exercise are also important at every age and stage across the lifespan.

Cognitive Domain

If we watch and listen to infants and toddlers, we can’t help but wonder how they learn so much so fast, particularly when it comes to language development. Then as we compare young children to those in middle childhood, there appear to be huge differences in their ability to think logically about the concrete world around them. Cognitive development includes mental processes, thinking, learning, and understanding, and it doesn’t stop in childhood. Adolescents develop the ability to think logically about the abstract world (and may like to debate matters with adults as they exercise their new cognitive skills!). Moral reasoning develops further, as does practical intelligence—wisdom may develop with experience over time. Memory abilities and different forms of intelligence tend to change with age. Brain development and the brain’s ability to change and compensate for losses is significant to cognitive functions across the lifespan, too.

Psychosocial Domain

Development in this domain involves what’s going on both psychologically and socially. Early on, the focus is on infants and caregivers, as temperament and attachment are significant. As the social world expands and the child grows psychologically, different types of play, and interactions with other children and teachers become important. Psychosocial development involves emotions, personality, self-esteem, and relationships. Peers become more important for adolescents, who are exploring new roles and forming their own identities. Dating, romance, cohabitation, marriage, having children, and finding work or a career are all parts of the transition into adulthood. Psychosocial development continues across adulthood with similar (and some different) developmental issues of family, friends, parenting, romance, divorce, remarriage, blended families, caregiving for elders, becoming grandparents and great grandparents, retirement, new careers, coping with losses, and death and dying.

As you may have already noticed, physical, cognitive, and psychosocial development are often interrelated, as with the example of brain development. We will be examining human development in these three domains in detail throughout the modules in this course, as we learn about infancy/toddlerhood, early childhood, middle childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, middle adulthood, and late adulthood development, as well as death and dying.

Who Studies Human Development and Why?

Many academic disciplines contribute to the study of development and this type is offered in some schools as psychology (particularly as developmental psychology); in other schools, it is taught under sociology, human development, or family studies. This multidisciplinary course is made up of contributions from researchers in the areas of health care, anthropology, nutrition, child development, biology, gerontology, psychology, and sociology, among others. Consequently, the stories provided are rich and well-rounded and the theories and findings can be part of a collaborative effort to understand human lives.

The main goals of those involved in studying human development are to describe and explain changes. Throughout this course, we will describe observations during development, then examine how theories provide explanations for why these changes occur. For example, you may observe two-year-old children be particularly temperamental, and researchers offer theories to explain why that is. We’ll learn a lot more about theories, especially developmental theories, in the next module.

What you’ll learn to do: describe the theories of lifespan development

Learning outcomes

• Describe theories as they relate to lifespan development
• Explain Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological model
• Contrast the main psychological theories that apply to human development

Understanding Theories

In l ifespan development, we need to rely on a systematic approach to understanding behavior, based on observable events and the scientific method. There are so many different observations about childhood, adulthood, and development in general that we use theories to help organize all of the different observable events or variables. A theory is a simplified explanation of the world that attempts to explain how variables interact with each other. It can take complex, interconnected issues and narrow them down to the essentials. This enables developmental theorists and researchers to analyze the problem in greater depth.

Two key concepts in the scientific approach are theory and hypothesis. A theory is a well-developed set of ideas that propose an explanation for observed phenomena that can be used to make predictions about future observations. A hypothesis is a testable prediction that is arrived at logically from a theory. It is often worded as an if-then statement (e.g., if I study all night, I will get a passing grade on the test). The hypothesis is extremely important because it bridges the gap between the realm of ideas and the real world. As specific hypotheses are tested, theories are modified and refined to reflect and incorporate the result of these tests. In essence, lifespan theories explain observable events in a meaningful way. They are not as specific as hypotheses, which are so specific that we use them to make predictions in research. Theories offer more general explanations about behavior and events.

Think of theories are guidelines much like directions that come with an appliance or other object that required assembly. The instructions can help one piece together smaller parts more easily than if trial and error are used.

Theories can be developed using induction, in which a number of single cases are observed and after patterns or similarities are noted, the theorist develops ideas based on these examples. Established theories are then tested through research; however, not all theories are equally suited to scientific investigation.  Some theories are difficult to test but are still useful in stimulating debate or providing concepts that have practical application. Keep in mind that theories are not facts; they are guidelines for investigation and practice, and they gain credibility through research that fails to disprove them.

People who study lifespan development approach it from different perspectives. Each perspective encompasses one or more theories—the broad, organized explanations and predictions concerning phenomena of interest. Theories of development provide a framework for thinking about human growth, development, and learning. If you have ever wondered about what motivates human thought and behavior, understanding these theories can provide useful insight into individuals and society.

Throughout psychological history and still in the present day, three key issues remain among which developmental theorists often disagree. Particularly oft-disputed is the role of early experiences on later development in opposition to current behavior reflecting present experiences–namely the passive versus active issue . Likewise, whether or not development is best viewed as occurring in stages or rather as a gradual and cumulative process of change has traditionally been up for debate – a question of continuity versus discontinuity. Further, the role of heredity and the environment in shaping human development is a much-contested topic of discussion – also referred to as the nature/nurture debate . 

Is Development Continuous or Discontinuous?

Continuous development views development as a cumulative process, gradually improving on existing skills (Figure 2). With this type of development, there is a gradual change. Consider, for example, a child’s physical growth: adding inches to their height year by year. In contrast, theorists who view development as discontinuous believe that development takes place in unique stages and that it occurs at specific times or ages. With this type of development, the change is more sudden, such as an infant’s ability to demonstrate awareness of object permanence (which is a cognitive skill that develops toward the end of infancy, according to Piaget’s cognitive theory—more on that theory in the next module).

Is There One Course of Development or Many?

Is development essentially the same, or universal, for all children (i.e., there is one course of development) or does development follow a different course for each child, depending on the child’s specific genetics and environment (i.e., there are many courses of development)? Do people across the world share more similarities or more differences in their development? How much do culture and genetics influence a child’s behavior?

Stage theories hold that the sequence of development is universal. For example, in cross-cultural studies of language development, children from around the world reach language milestones in a similar sequence (Gleitman & Newport, 1995). Infants in all cultures coo before they babble. They begin babbling at about the same age and utter their first word around 12 months old. Yet we live in diverse contexts that have a unique effect on each of us. For example, researchers once believed that motor development followed one course for all children regardless of culture. However, childcare practices vary by culture, and different practices have been found to accelerate or inhibit the achievement of developmental milestones such as sitting, crawling, and walking (Karasik, Adolph, Tamis-LeMonda, & Bornstein, 2010).

For instance, let’s look at the Aché society in Paraguay. They spend a significant amount of time foraging in forests. While foraging, Aché mothers carry their young children, rarely putting them down in order to protect them from getting hurt in the forest. Consequently, their children walk much later: They walk around 23–25 months old, in comparison to infants in Western cultures who begin to walk around 12 months old. However, as Aché children become older, they are allowed more freedom to move about, and by about age 9, their motor skills surpass those of U.S. children of the same age: Aché children are able to climb trees up to 25 feet tall and use machetes to chop their way through the forest (Kaplan & Dove, 1987). As you can see, our development is influenced by multiple contexts, so the timing of basic motor functions may vary across cultures. However, the functions are present in all societies.

How Do Nature and Nurture Influence Development?

Are we who we are because of nature (biology and genetics), or are we who we are because of nurture (our environment and culture)? This longstanding question is known in psychology as the nature versus nurture debate. It seeks to understand how our personalities and traits are the product of our genetic makeup and biological factors, and how they are shaped by our environment, including our parents, peers, and culture. For instance, why do biological children sometimes act like their parents—is it because of genetics or because of early childhood environment and what the child has learned from their parents? What about children who are adopted—are they more like their biological families or more like their adoptive families? And how can siblings from the same family be so different?

We are all born with specific genetic traits inherited from our parents, such as eye color, height, and certain personality traits. Beyond our basic genotype, however, there is a deep interaction between our genes and our environment. Our unique experiences in our environment influence whether and how particular traits are expressed, and at the same time, our genes influence how we interact with our environment (Diamond, 2009; Lobo, 2008). There is a reciprocal interaction between nature and nurture as they both shape who we become, but the debate continues as to the relative contributions of each.

History of Developmental Psychology

The scientific study of children began in the late nineteenth century and blossomed in the early twentieth century as pioneering psychologists sought to uncover the secrets of human behavior by studying its development.

Early scholars John Locke and Charles Darwin proposed theories of human behavior that are the “direct ancestors of some major theoretical traditions” of developmental psychology today(Vasta et al., 1998, p. 10). Locke, a British empiricist, adhered to a strict environmentalist position. He saw the newborn’s mind as a tabula rasa (“blank slate”) on which knowledge is written through experience and learning.  Finally, the work of Darwin, the British biologist famous for his theory of evolution, led others to suggest that development proceeds through evolutionary recapitulation, with many human behaviors having their origins in successful adaptations in the past.

John B. Watson

The 20th century marked the formation of qualitative distinctions between children and adults. When John Watson wrote the book Psychological Care of Infant and Child in 1928, he sought to add clarification surrounding behaviorists’ views on child care and development. Watson was the founder of the field of behaviorism, which emphasized the role of nurture, or the environment, in human development. He believed, based on Locke’s environmentalist position, that human behavior can be understood in terms of experiences and learning. He believed that all behaviors are learned, or conditioned, as evidenced by his famous “Little Albert” study, in which he conditioned an infant to fear a white rat. In Watson’s book on the care of the infant and child, Watson explained that children should be treated as a young adult—with respect, but also without emotional attachment. In the book, he warned against the inevitable dangers of a mother providing too much love and affection. Watson explained that love, along with everything else as the behaviorist saw the world, is conditioned. Watson supported his warnings by mentioning invalidism, saying that society does not overly comfort children as they become young adults in the real world, so parents should not set up these unrealistic expectations. His book became highly criticized but was still influential in promoting more research into early childhood behavior and development.

Sigmund Freud

Another name you are probably familiar with who was influential in the study of human development is Sigmund Freud. Sigmund Freud’s model of “psychosexual development” grew out of his psychoanalytic approach to human personality and psychopathology. In sharp contrast to the objective approach espoused by Watson, Freud based his model of child development on his own and his patients’ recollections of their childhood. He developed a stage model of development in which the libido, or sexual energy, of the child, focuses on different “zones” or areas of the body as the child grows to adulthood. Freud’s model is an “interactionist” one since he believed that although the sequence and timing of these stages are biologically determined, successful personality development depends on the experiences the child has during each stage. Although the details of Freud’s developmental theory have been widely criticized, his emphasis on the importance of early childhood experiences, prior to five years of age, has had a lasting impact.

Freud emphasized the importance of early childhood experiences in shaping our personality and behavior. In our natural state, we are biological beings. We are driven primarily by instincts. During childhood, however, we begin to become social beings as we learn how to manage our instincts and transform them into socially acceptable behaviors. The type of parenting the child receives has a very powerful impact on the child’s personality development. We will explore this idea further in our discussion of psychosexual development, but first, we must identify the parts of the “self” in Freud’s model, or in other words, what constitutes a person’s personality and makes us who we are.

Jean Piaget

Jean Piaget (1896-1980) is considered one of the most influential psychologists of the twentieth century, and his stage theory of cognitive development revolutionized our view of children’s thinking and learning. His work inspired more research than any other theorist, and many of his concepts are still foundational to developmental psychology. His interest lay in children’s knowledge, their thinking, and the qualitative differences in their thinking as it develops. Although he called his field “genetic epistemology,” stressing the role of biological determinism, he also assigned great importance to experience. In his view, children “construct” their knowledge through processes of “assimilation,” in which they evaluate and try to understand new information, based on their existing knowledge of the world, and “accommodation,” in which they expand and modify their cognitive structures based on new experiences.

Modern developmental psychology generally focuses on how and why certain modifications throughout an individual’s life-cycle (cognitive, social, intellectual, personality) and human growth change over time. There are many theorists that have made, and continue to make, a profound contribution to this area of psychology, amongst whom is Erik Erikson who developed a model of eight stages of psychological development. He believed that humans developed in stages throughout their lifetimes and this would affect their behaviors. In this module, we’ll examine some of these major theories and contributions made by prominent psychologists.

Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory

Another psychologist who recognized the importance of the environment on development was American psychologist, Urie Bronfenbrenner (1917-2005), who formulated the ecological systems theory to explain how the inherent qualities of a child and their environment interact to influence how they will grow and develop. The term “ecological” refers to a natural environment; human development is understood through this model as a long-lasting transformation in the way one perceives and deals with the environment. Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory stresses the importance of studying children in the context of multiple environments because children typically find themselves enmeshed simultaneously in different ecosystems. Each of these systems inevitably interact with and influence each other in every aspect of the child’s life, from the most intimate level to the broadest. Furthermore, he eventually renamed his theory the  bioecological model  in order to recognize the importance of biological processes in development.  However, he only recognized biology as producing a person’s potential, with this potential being realized or not via environmental and social forces.

An individual is impacted by microsystems such as parents or siblings; those who have direct, significant contact with the person. The input of those people is modified by the cognitive and biological state of the individual as well. These influence the person’s actions, which in turn influence systems operating on them. The  mesosystem includes larger organizational structures such as school, the family, or religion. These institutions impact the microsystems just described. For example, the religious teachings and traditions of a family may create a climate that makes the family feel stigmatized and this indirectly impacts the child’s view of themselves and others. The philosophy of the school system, daily routine, assessment methods, and other characteristics can affect the child’s self-image, growth, sense of accomplishment, and schedule, thereby impacting the child physically, cognitively, and emotionally. These mesosystems both influence and are influenced by the larger contexts of the community, referred to as the exosystem . A community’s values, history, and economy can impact the organizational structures it houses. And the community is influenced by macrosystems , which are cultural elements such as global economic conditions, war, technological trends, values, philosophies, and a society’s responses to the global community. In sum, a child’s experiences are shaped by larger forces such as the family, school, religion, and culture. All of this occurs within the relevant historical context and timeframe, or chronosystem .  The chronosystem is made up of the environmental events and transitions that occur throughout a child’s life, including any socio-historical events. This system consists of all the experiences that a person has had during their lifetime.

Comparing and Evaluating Lifespan Theories

Developmental theories provide a set of guiding principles and concepts that describe and explain human development. Some developmental theories focus on the formation of a particular quality, such as Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. Other developmental theories focus on growth that happens throughout the lifespan, such as Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development. It would be natural to wonder which of the perspectives provides the most accurate account of human development, but clearly, each perspective is based on its own premises and focuses on different aspects of development. Many lifespan developmentalists use an eclectic approach, drawing on several perspectives at the same time because the same developmental phenomenon can be looked at from a number of perspectives.

In the table below, we’ll review some of the major theories that you learned about in your introductory course and others that we will cover throughout this text. Recall that three key issues considered in human development examine if development is continuous or discontinuous, if it is the same for everyone or distinct for individuals (one course of development or many), and if development is more influenced by nature or by nurture. The table below reviews how each of these major theories approaches each of these issues.

Periods of Human Development

Think about the lifespan and make a list of what you would consider the basic periods of development. How many periods or stages are on your list? Perhaps you have three: childhood, adulthood, and old age. Or maybe four: infancy, childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. Developmentalists often break the lifespan into nine stages:

• Prenatal Development
• Infancy and Toddlerhood
• Early Childhood
• Middle Childhood
• Adolescence
• Emerging Adulthood
• Early Adulthood
• Middle Adulthood
• Late Adulthood

In addition, the topic of “Death and Dying” is usually addressed after late adulthood since overall, the likelihood of dying increases in later life (though individual and group variations exist). Death and dying will be the topic of our second to last module, though it is not necessarily a stage of development that occurs at a particular age. Our last module will cover grief and bereavement. 

The list of the periods of development reflects unique aspects of the various stages of childhood and adulthood that will be explored in this book, including physical, cognitive, and psychosocial changes. So while both an 8-month-old and an 8-year-old are considered children, they have very different motor abilities, cognitive skills, and social relationships. Their nutritional needs are different, and their primary psychological concerns are also distinctive. The same is true of an 18-year-old and an 80-year-old, both considered adults. We will discover the distinctions between being 28 or 48 as well. But first, here is a brief overview of the stages.

Think about your own development. Which period or stage of development are you in right now? Are you dealing with similar issues and experiencing comparable physical, cognitive, and psychosocial development as described above? If not, why not? Are important aspects of development missing and if so, are they common for most of your cohort or unique to you?

What you’ll learn to do: explain the lifespan perspective

As we have learned, human development refers to the physical, cognitive, and psychosocial changes and constancies in humans over time. There are various theories pertaining to each domain of development, and often theorists and researchers focus their attention on specific periods of development (with most traditionally focusing on infancy and childhood; some on adolescence). But isn’t it possible that development during one period affects development in other periods and that humans can grow and change across adulthood too? In this section, we’ll learn about development through the lifespan perspective, which emphasizes the multidimensional, interconnected, and ever-changing influences on development.

• Describe Baltes’ lifespan perspective with its key principles about development
• Explain what is meant by development being lifelong, multidimensional, and multidirectional
• Explain contextual influences on development

The Lifespan Perspective

Lifespan development involves the exploration of biological, cognitive, and psychosocial changes and constancies that occur throughout the entire course of life. It has been presented as a theoretical perspective, proposing several fundamental, theoretical, and methodological principles about the nature of human development. An attempt by researchers has been made to examine whether research on the nature of development suggests a specific metatheoretical worldview. Several beliefs, taken together, form the “family of perspectives” that contribute to this particular view.

German psychologist Paul Baltes, a leading expert on lifespan development and aging, developed one of the approaches to studying development called the lifespan perspective . This approach is based on several key principles:

• Development occurs across one’s entire life or is lifelong.
• Development is multidimensional,  meaning it involves the dynamic interaction of factors like physical, emotional, and psychosocial development
• Development is multidirectional  and results in gains and losses throughout life
• Development is plastic , meaning that characteristics are malleable or changeable.
• Development is influenced by contextual and socio-cultural influences.
• Development is multidisciplinary.

Development is lifelong

Lifelong development means that development is not completed in infancy or childhood or at any specific age; it encompasses the entire lifespan, from conception to death. The study of development traditionally focused almost exclusively on the changes occurring from conception to adolescence and the gradual decline in old age; it was believed that the five or six decades after adolescence yielded little to no developmental change at all. The current view reflects the possibility that specific changes in development can occur later in life, without having been established at birth. The early events of one’s childhood can be transformed by later events in one’s life. This belief clearly emphasizes that all stages of the lifespan contribute to the regulation of the nature of human development.

Many diverse patterns of change, such as direction, timing, and order, can vary among individuals and affect the ways in which they develop. For example, the developmental timing of events can affect individuals in different ways because of their current level of maturity and understanding. As individuals move through life, they are faced with many challenges, opportunities, and situations that impact their development. Remembering that development is a lifelong process helps us gain a wider perspective on the meaning and impact of each event.

Development is multidimensional

By multidimensionality, Baltes is referring to the fact that a complex interplay of factors influence development across the lifespan, including biological, cognitive, and socioemotional changes. Baltes argues that a dynamic interaction of these factors is what influences an individual’s development.

For example, in adolescence, puberty consists of physiological and physical changes with changes in hormone levels, the development of primary and secondary sex characteristics, alterations in height and weight, and several other bodily changes. But these are not the only types of changes taking place; there are also cognitive changes, including the development of advanced cognitive faculties such as the ability to think abstractly. There are also emotional and social changes involving regulating emotions, interacting with peers, and possibly dating. The fact that the term puberty encompasses such a broad range of domains illustrates the multidimensionality component of development (think back to the physical, cognitive, and psychosocial domains of human development we discussed earlier in this module).

Development is multidirectional

Baltes states that the development of a particular domain does not occur in a strictly linear fashion but that the development of certain traits can be characterized as having the capacity for both an increase and decrease in efficacy over the course of an individual’s life.

If we use the example of puberty again, we can see that certain domains may improve or decline in effectiveness during this time. For example, self-regulation is one domain of puberty that undergoes profound multidirectional changes during the adolescent period. During childhood, individuals have difficulty effectively regulating their actions and impulsive behaviors. Scholars have noted that this lack of effective regulation often results in children engaging in behaviors without fully considering the consequences of their actions. Over the course of puberty, neuronal changes modify this unregulated behavior by increasing the ability to regulate emotions and impulses. Inversely, the ability for adolescents to engage in spontaneous activity and creativity, both domains commonly associated with impulse behavior, decrease over the adolescent period in response to changes in cognition. Neuronal changes to the limbic system and prefrontal cortex of the brain, which begin in puberty lead to the development of self-regulation, and the ability to consider the consequences of one’s actions (though recent brain research reveals that this connection will continue to develop into early adulthood).

Extending on the premise of multidirectionality, Baltes also argued that development is influenced by the “joint expression of features of growth (gain) and decline (loss)”. This relation between developmental gains and losses occurs in a direction to selectively optimize particular capacities. This requires the sacrificing of other functions, a process known as selective optimization with compensation. According to the process of selective optimization, individuals prioritize particular functions above others, reducing the adaptive capacity of particulars for specialization and improved efficacy of other modalities.

The acquisition of effective self-regulation in adolescents illustrates this gain/loss concept. As adolescents gain the ability to effectively regulate their actions, they may be forced to sacrifice other features to selectively optimize their reactions. For example, individuals may sacrifice their capacity to be spontaneous or creative if they are constantly required to make thoughtful decisions and regulate their emotions. Adolescents may also be forced to sacrifice their fast reaction times toward processing stimuli in favor of being able to fully consider the consequences of their actions.

Development is plastic

Plasticity denotes intrapersonal variability and focuses heavily on the potentials and limits of the nature of human development. The notion of plasticity emphasizes that there are many possible developmental outcomes and that the nature of human development is much more open and pluralistic than originally implied by traditional views; there is no single pathway that must be taken in an individual’s development across the lifespan. Plasticity is imperative to current research because the potential for intervention is derived from the notion of plasticity in development. Undesired development or behaviors could potentially be prevented or changed.

As an example, recently researchers have been analyzing how other senses compensate for the loss of vision in blind individuals. Without visual input, blind humans have demonstrated that tactile and auditory functions still fully develop and they can use tactile and auditory cues to perceive the world around them. One experiment designed by Röder and colleagues (1999) compared the auditory localization skills of people who are blind with people who are sighted by having participants locate sounds presented either centrally or peripherally (lateral) to them. Both congenitally blind adults and sighted adults could locate a sound presented in front of them with precision but people who are blind were clearly superior in locating sounds presented laterally. Currently, brain-imaging studies have revealed that the sensory cortices in the brain are reorganized after visual deprivation. These findings suggest that when vision is absent in development, the auditory cortices in the brain recruit areas that are normally devoted to vision, thus becoming further refined.

A significant aspect of the aging process is cognitive decline. The dimensions of cognitive decline are partially reversible, however, because the brain retains the lifelong capacity for plasticity and reorganization of cortical tissue. Mahncke and colleagues developed a brain plasticity-based training program that induced learning in mature adults experiencing an age-related decline. This training program focused intensively on aural language reception accuracy and cognitively demanding exercises that have been proven to partially reverse the age-related losses in memory. It included highly rewarding novel tasks that required attention control and became progressively more difficult to perform. In comparison to the control group, who received no training and showed no significant change in memory function, the experimental training group displayed a marked enhancement in memory that was sustained at the 3-month follow-up period. These findings suggest that cognitive function, particularly memory, can be significantly improved in mature adults with age-related cognitive decline by using brain plasticity-based training methods.

Development is contextual

In Baltes’ theory, the paradigm of contextualism refers to the idea that three systems of biological and environmental influences work together to influence development. Development occurs in context and varies from person to person, depending on factors such as a person’s biology, family, school, church, profession, nationality, and ethnicity. Baltes identified three types of influences that operate throughout the life course: normative age-graded influences, normative history-graded influences, and nonnormative influences. Baltes wrote that these three influences operate throughout the life course, their effects accumulate with time, and, as a dynamic package, they are responsible for how lives develop.

Normative age-graded influences are those biological and environmental factors that have a strong correlation with chronological age, such as puberty or menopause, or age-based social practices such as beginning school or entering retirement. Normative history-graded influences are associated with a specific time period that defines the broader environmental and cultural context in which an individual develops. For example, development and identity are influenced by historical events of the people who experience them, such as the Great Depression, WWII, Vietnam, the Cold War, the War on Terror, or advances in technology.

This has been exemplified in numerous studies, including Nesselroade and Baltes’, showing that the level and direction of change in adolescent personality development was influenced as strongly by the socio-cultural settings at the time (in this case, the Vietnam War) as age-related factors. The study involved individuals of four different adolescent age groups who all showed significant personality development in the same direction (a tendency to occupy themselves with ethical, moral, and political issues rather than cognitive achievement). Similarly, Elder showed that the Great Depression was a setting that significantly affected the development of adolescents and their corresponding adult personalities, by showing a similar common personality development across age groups. Baltes’ theory also states that the historical socio-cultural setting had an effect on the development of an individual’s intelligence. The areas of influence that Baltes thought most important to the development of intelligence were health, education, and work. The first two areas, health and education, significantly affect adolescent development because healthy children who are educated effectively will tend to develop a higher level of intelligence. The environmental factors, health and education, have been suggested by Neiss and Rowe to have as much effect on intelligence as inherited intelligence.

Nonnormative influences are unpredictable and not tied to a certain developmental time in a person’s development or to a historical period. They are the unique experiences of an individual, whether biological or environmental, that shape the development process. These could include milestones like earning a master’s degree or getting a certain job offer or other events like going through a divorce or coping with the death of a child.

The most important aspect of contextualism as a paradigm is that the three systems of influence work together to affect development. Concerning adolescent development, the age-graded influences would help to explain the similarities within a cohort, the history-graded influences would help to explain the differences between cohorts, and the nonnormative influences would explain the idiosyncrasies of each adolescent’s individual development. When all influences are considered together, it provides a broader explanation of an adolescent’s development.

Other Contextual Influences on Development: Cohort, Socioeconomic Status, and Culture

What is meant by the word “context”? It means that we are influenced by when and where we live. Our actions, beliefs, and values are a response to the circumstances surrounding us. Sternberg describes contextual intelligence as the ability to understand what is called for in a situation (Sternberg, 1996). The key here is to understand that behaviors, motivations, emotions, and choices are all part of a bigger picture. Our concerns are such because of who we are socially, where we live, and when we live; they are part of a social climate and set of realities that surround us. Important social factors include cohort, social class, gender, race, ethnicity, and age. Let’s begin by exploring two of these: cohort and social class.  

A  cohort is a group of people who are born at roughly the same time period in a particular society. Cohorts share histories and contexts for living. Members of a cohort have experienced the same historical events and cultural climates which have an impact on the values, priorities, and goals that may guide their lives.

Another context that influences our lives is our social standing, socioeconomic status, or social class. Socioeconomic status is a way to identify families and households based on their shared levels of education, income, and occupation. While there is certainly individual variation, members of a social class tend to share similar lifestyles, patterns of consumption, parenting styles, stressors, religious preferences, and other aspects of daily life.

Culture  is often referred to as a blueprint or guideline shared by a group of people that specifies how to live. It includes ideas about what is right and wrong, what to strive for, what to eat, how to speak, what is valued, as well as what kinds of emotions are called for in certain situations. Culture teaches us how to live in a society and allows us to advance because each new generation can benefit from the solutions found and passed down from previous generations.

Culture is learned from parents, schools, churches, media, friends, and others throughout a lifetime. The kinds of traditions and values that evolve in a particular culture serve to help members function in their own society and to value their own society. We tend to believe that our own culture’s practices and expectations are the right ones. This belief that our own culture is superior is called ethnocentrism and is a normal by-product of growing up in a culture. It becomes a roadblock, however, when it inhibits understanding of cultural practices from other societies. Cultural relativity is an appreciation for cultural differences and the understanding that cultural practices are best understood from the standpoint of that particular culture.

Culture is an extremely important context for human development and understanding development requires being able to identify which features of development are culturally based. This understanding is somewhat new and still being explored. So much of what developmental theorists have described in the past has been culturally bound and difficult to apply to various cultural contexts. For example, Erikson’s  theory that teenagers struggle with identity assumes that all teenagers live in a society in which they have many options and must make an individual choice about their future. In many parts of the world, one’s identity is determined by family status or society’s dictates. In other words, there is no choice to make.

Even the most biological events can be viewed in cultural contexts that are extremely varied. Consider two very different cultural responses to menstruation in young girls. In the United States, girls in public school often receive information on menstruation around 5th grade, get a kit containing feminine hygiene products, and receive some sort of education about sexual health. Contrast this with some developing countries where menstruation is not publicly addressed, or where girls on their period are forced to miss school due to limited access to feminine products or unjust attitudes about menstruation.

Development is Multidisciplinary

Any single discipline’s account of development across the lifespan would not be able to express all aspects of this theoretical framework. That is why it is suggested explicitly by lifespan researchers that a combination of disciplines is necessary to understand development. Psychologists, sociologists, neuroscientists, anthropologists, educators, economists, historians, medical researchers, and others may all be interested and involved in research related to the normative age-graded, normative history-graded, and nonnormative influences that help shape development. Many disciplines are able to contribute important concepts that integrate knowledge, which may ultimately result in the formation of a new and enriched understanding of development across the lifespan.

• Consider your cohort. Can you identify it? Does it have a name and if so, what does the name imply? To what extent does your cohort shape your values, thoughts, and aspirations? (Some cohort labels popularized in the media for generations in the United States include Baby Boomers, Generation X, Millennials, and Generation Z.)
• Think of other ways culture may have affected your development. How might cultural differences influence interactions between teachers and students, nurses and patients, or other relationships?

Additional Supplemental Resources

• Want to participate in a study? Click on a link that sounds interesting to you in order to participate in online research
• U.S. Census Data is available and widely used to look at trends and changes taking place in the United States
• KFF is an endowed, nonprofit organization filling the need for trusted, independent information on national health issues.
• SRCD launched a project to increase the visibility of leading developmental scientists of color who have made critical research contributions and paved the way, through mentoring and advocacy, for younger scholars of color.
• This video gives a summary of Piaget’s theory and his four stages of cognitive development.
• This video summarizes Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development which identifies eight stages in which a healthy individual should pass through from birth to death.
• This video on research methods covers the different categories of psychological research including observational studies and experiments. Closed captioning available.

How to Age Gracefully

• People of all ages offer words of wisdom to their younger counterparts in this WireTap video, from CBC Radio One. It is a great overview of the journey we will take through the lifespan.

Lifespan Development Copyright © 2020 by Julie Lazzara is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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1.8: Research in Lifespan Development

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Learning Outcomes

• Explain how the scientific method is used in researching development
• Compare various types and objectives of developmental research

How do we know what we know?

An important part of learning any science is having a basic knowledge of the techniques used in gathering information. The hallmark of scientific investigation is that of following a set of procedures designed to keep questioning or skepticism alive while describing, explaining, or testing any phenomenon. Not long ago a friend said to me that he did not trust academicians or researchers because they always seem to change their story. That, however, is exactly what science is all about; it involves continuously renewing our understanding of the subjects in question and an ongoing investigation of how and why events occur. Science is a vehicle for going on a never-ending journey. In the area of development, we have seen changes in recommendations for nutrition, in explanations of psychological states as people age, and in parenting advice. So think of learning about human development as a lifelong endeavor.

Personal Knowledge

How do we know what we know? Take a moment to write down two things that you know about childhood. Okay. Now, how do you know? Chances are you know these things based on your own history (experiential reality), what others have told you, or cultural ideas (agreement reality) (Seccombe and Warner, 2004). There are several problems with personal inquiry, or drawing conclusions based on our personal experiences. Read the following sentence aloud:

Paris in the the spring

Are you sure that is what it said? Read it again:

If you read it differently the second time (adding the second “the”) you just experienced one of the problems with relying on personal inquiry; that is, the tendency to see what we believe. Our assumptions very often guide our perceptions, consequently, when we believe something, we tend to see it even if it is not there. Have you heard the saying, “seeing is believing”? Well, the truth is just the opposite: believing is seeing. This problem may just be a result of cognitive ‘blinders’ or it may be part of a more conscious attempt to support our own views. Confirmation bias is the tendency to look for evidence that we are right and in so doing, we ignore contradictory evidence.

Philosopher Karl Popper suggested that the distinction between that which is scientific and that which is unscientific is that science is falsifiable; scientific inquiry involves attempts to reject or refute a theory or set of assumptions (Thornton, 2005). A theory that cannot be falsified is not scientific. And much of what we do in personal inquiry involves drawing conclusions based on what we have personally experienced or validating our own experience by discussing what we think is true with others who share the same views.

Science offers a more systematic way to make comparisons and guard against bias. One technique used to avoid sampling bias is to select participants for a study in a random way. This means using a technique to ensure that all members have an equal chance of being selected. Simple random sampling may involve using a set of random numbers as a guide in determining who is to be selected. For example, if we have a list of 400 people and wish to randomly select a smaller group or sample to be studied, we use a list of random numbers and select the case that corresponds with that number (Case 39, 3, 217, etc.). This is preferable to asking only those individuals with whom we are familiar to participate in a study; if we conveniently chose only people we know, we know nothing about those who had no opportunity to be selected. There are many more elaborate techniques that can be used to obtain samples that represent the composition of the population we are studying. But even though a randomly selected representative sample is preferable, it is not always used because of costs and other limitations. As a consumer of research, however, you should know how the sample was obtained and keep this in mind when interpreting results. It is possible that what was found was limited to that sample or similar individuals and not generalizable to everyone else.

Scientific Methods

The particular method used to conduct research may vary by discipline and since lifespan development is multidisciplinary, more than one method may be used to study human development. One method of scientific investigation involves the following steps:

• Determining a research question
• Reviewing previous studies addressing the topic in question (known as a literature review)
• Determining a method of gathering information
• Conducting the study
• Interpreting the results
• Drawing conclusions; stating limitations of the study and suggestions for future research
• Making the findings available to others (both to share information and to have the work scrutinized by others)

The findings of these scientific studies can then be used by others as they explore the area of interest. Through this process, a literature or knowledge base is established. This model of scientific investigation presents research as a linear process guided by a specific research question. And it typically involves quantitative research , which relies on numerical data or using statistics to understand and report what has been studied.

Another model of research, referred to as qualitative research, may involve steps such as these:

• Begin with a broad area of interest and a research question
• Gain entrance into a group to be researched
• Gather field notes about the setting, the people, the structure, the activities or other areas of interest
• Ask open-ended, broad “grand tour” types of questions when interviewing subjects
• Modify research questions as the study continues
• Note patterns or consistencies
• Explore new areas deemed important by the people being observed
• Report findings

In this type of research, theoretical ideas are “grounded” in the experiences of the participants. The researcher is the student and the people in the setting are the teachers as they inform the researcher of their world (Glazer & Strauss, 1967). Researchers should be aware of their own biases and assumptions, acknowledge them and bracket them in efforts to keep them from limiting accuracy in reporting. Sometimes qualitative studies are used initially to explore a topic and more quantitative studies are used to test or explain what was first described.

A good way to become more familiar with these scientific research methods, both quantitative and qualitative, is to look at journal articles, which are written in sections that follow these steps in the scientific process. Most psychological articles and many papers in the social sciences follow the writing guidelines and format dictated by the American Psychological Association (APA). In general, the structure follows: abstract (summary of the article), introduction or literature review, methods explaining how the study was conducted, results of the study, discussion and interpretation of findings, and references.

Link to Learning

Brené Brown is a bestselling author and social work professor at the University of Houston. She conducts grounded theory research by collecting qualitative data from large numbers of participants. In Brené Brown’s TED Talk The Power of Vulnerability , Brown refers to herself as a storyteller-researcher as she explains her research process and summarizes her results.

https://assessments.lumenlearning.co...essments/16500

Research Methods and Objectives

The main categories of psychological research are descriptive, correlational, and experimental research. Research studies that do not test specific relationships between variables are called descriptive, or qualitative, studies . These studies are used to describe general or specific behaviors and attributes that are observed and measured. In the early stages of research it might be difficult to form a hypothesis, especially when there is not any existing literature in the area. In these situations designing an experiment would be premature, as the question of interest is not yet clearly defined as a hypothesis. Often a researcher will begin with a non-experimental approach, such as a descriptive study, to gather more information about the topic before designing an experiment or correlational study to address a specific hypothesis. Some examples of descriptive questions include:

• “How much time do parents spend with children?”
• “How many times per week do couples have intercourse?”
• “When is marital satisfaction greatest?”

The main types of descriptive studies include observation, case studies, surveys, and content analysis (which we’ll examine further in the module). Descriptive research is distinct from correlational research , in which psychologists formally test whether a relationship exists between two or more variables. Experimental research goes a step further beyond descriptive and correlational research and randomly assigns people to different conditions, using hypothesis testing to make inferences about how these conditions affect behavior. Some experimental research includes explanatory studies, which are efforts to answer the question “why” such as:

• “Why have rates of divorce leveled off?”
• “Why are teen pregnancy rates down?”
• “Why has the average life expectancy increased?”

Evaluation research is designed to assess the effectiveness of policies or programs. For instance, research might be designed to study the effectiveness of safety programs implemented in schools for installing car seats or fitting bicycle helmets. Do children who have been exposed to the safety programs wear their helmets? Do parents use car seats properly? If not, why not?

This Crash Course video provides a brief overview of psychological research, which we’ll cover in more detail on the coming pages.

A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: http://pb.libretexts.org/lsdm/?p=62

You can view the transcript for “Psychological Research: Crash Course Psychology #2” here (opens in new window) .

https://assessments.lumenlearning.co...essments/16501

[glossary-page] [glossary-term]correlational research:[/glossary-term] [glossary-definition]research that formally tests whether a relationship exists between two or more variables, however, correlation does not imply causation[/glossary-definition]

[glossary-term]descriptive studies:[/glossary-term] [glossary-definition]research focused on describing an occurrence[/glossary-definition]

[glossary-term]evaluation research:[/glossary-term] [glossary-definition]research designed to assess the effectiveness of policies or programs[/glossary-definition]

[glossary-term]experimental research:[/glossary-term] [glossary-definition]research that involves randomly assigning people to different conditions and using hypothesis testing to make inferences about how these conditions affect behavior; the only method that measures cause and effect between variables[/glossary-definition]

[glossary-term]explanatory studies:[/glossary-term] [glossary-definition]research that tries to answer the question “why”[/glossary-definition]

[glossary-term]qualitative research:[/glossary-term] [glossary-definition]theoretical ideas are “grounded” in the experiences of the participants, who answer open-ended questions[/glossary-definition]

[glossary-term]quantitative research:[/glossary-term] [glossary-definition]involves numerical data that are quantified using statistics to understand and report what has been studied[/glossary-definition] [/glossary-page]

Contributors and Attributions

• Psyc 200 Lifespan Psychology. Authored by : Laura Overstreet. Located at : http://opencourselibrary.org/econ-201/ . License : CC BY: Attribution
• question mark. Authored by : Alexas_Fotos. Located at : https://pixabay.com/en/question-mark-tissue-structure-1098294/ . License : CC0: No Rights Reserved
• Descriptive Research. Provided by : Lumen Learning. Located at : https://courses.lumenlearning.com/waymaker-psychology/chapter/reading-clinical-or-case-studies/ . License : CC BY: Attribution
• Psychological Research: Crash Course Psychology #2. Provided by : CrashCourse. Located at : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFV71QPvX2I . License : Other . License Terms : Standard YouTube License

The Lifespan Development Perspective Essay

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• As a template for you assignment

Introduction

The lifespan perspective of development, conclusions, reference list.

Lifespan development is a progressive process of development in a human being involving an increase in age, which begins at conception and ends with death (Sugarman, 2000, p. 56). In addition, lifespan development can be divided into four levels depicting advanced functionality and character changes as an individual moves from one level to another.

These levels include childhood and adolescence; early adulthood; middle adulthood; and late adulthood (Sugarman, 2000, p. 56). This paper presents discussions on the lifespan perspective of development and two major theories of lifespan development. In addition, the impact of the interaction between genes and the environment on the process of human development is also discussed.

The lifespan perspective examines the changes that take place at each level of human development relative to the environmental (Society and culture) factors that influence these changes (Sigelman & Rider, 2008, p. 84). Moreover, the lifespan perspective can be defined in many ways.

For instance, the lifespan perspective can be a progressive and lifelong process of development that is not limited to any single level in human development. On the other hand, there are three major aspects of the lifespan perspective of development, which include the cognitive, social, physical dimensions of change (Sugarman, 2000, p. 59).

Furthermore, other studies claim that the perspective is plastic in nature because some domains of lifespan development increase while others decrease. This plasticity of the lifespan perspective occurs in response to various environmental factors that influence human development.

In addition, the perspective is embedded in the lifelong events that occur in the life of an individual. Thus, this perspective is studied by scientists, anthropologists, and psychologists, which brings out its multidisciplinary nature (Sugarman, 2000, p. 63). On the other hand, the perspective has different contextual implications. Therefore, human development is determined by biological, cultural, social, and physical environmental factors.

The three aspects of the lifespan perspective are also implicated in different developmental changes. The physical aspect of development involves changes in weight, height, shape, and the changes in individual experiences with the external environment (Sigelman & Rider, 2008, p. 86).

On the other hand, the social aspect of development involves changes in different phases of human development, which are directly influenced by the social environment such as social skills and relationships. Lastly, the cognitive domain of human development entails change in an individual’s thinking capacity, memory, and decision-making (Sugarman, 2000, p. 64).

The changes characterizing the lifespan perspective of development can also be divided into eight stages of human development. The first stage also known as the Trust vs. Mistrust stage occurs during the period between birth and one year.

Here, development of trust depends on the relationship between the toddler and the care-giver (Sugarman, 2000, p. 66). The second stage also known as Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt period occurs during the early childhood stage. During this stage, the child is capable of making choices relative to the individualized willingness.

The Initiative vs. Guilt is the third stage in development, which occurs during the middle childhood stage. During this stage, children develop a sense of purpose through engaging in goal-oriented activities (Sigelman & Rider, 2008, p. 88). The fourth stage also called the Industry vs. Inferiority period occurs at the late childhood period. Here, children develop competence through learning social norms, basic education, and culture.

Additionally, the adolescence stage signifies the Identity vs. Role Confusion period. Here, individual values and choices develop because individuals are able to account for their actions. The Intimacy vs. Isolation period occurs during early adulthood and it is characterized by development of intimate relationships, marriage, and families (Sigelman & Rider, 2008, p. 90).

The Generativity vs. Stagnation period occurs during the middle adulthood stage. Here, individuals are committed with providing for their families and developing their careers. Lastly, the Integrity vs. Despair stage occurs during the late adulthood stage. The elderly individuals are self-contented and they are full of life experiences and advice.

Theories of Lifespan Development

There are many theories that attempt to explain the process of human development from different perspectives such as Freud’s theory of psychosexual development and Erikson’s theory on psychosocial development. Erikson’s theory posits that an individual encounters several conflicts during the development process, which depend on the type of relationship existing between this individual and the society.

Therefore, as an individual moves through the eight stages of development discussed above, he/she must solve the conflicts involved in one stage before moving to another. This ensures that one develops a sound personality; otherwise one may encounter difficulties in addressing conflicts in subsequent stages if the previous ones were not sufficiently resolved (Sugarman, 2000).

On the other hand, Freud’s theory states that the process of personality development occurs at the early childhood stage. Subsequently, the behavioral changes observed in developing individuals are influenced by the childhood events. Here, personality development occurs through several stages during the early childhood stage.

During this stage, the pleasure-oriented capabilities of an individual become focused on specific areas in one’s body. These capabilities also known as sexual libido or psychosexual energy play a major role in the subsequent behavioral changes in an individual (Sigelman & Rider, 2008).

Thus, if all the issues involved in the psychosexual stages of development are adequately resolved, then an individual develops a sound personality. However, if the psychosexual issues remain unresolved, the person involved is trapped in a particular stage until all the issues are resolved.

The Interaction of Genes and the Environment in Lifespan Development

A child inherits the genetic information of both parents through the information carriers known as genes. The genes are made up of DNA, which is found on chromosomes. On the other hand, the environment in the context of lifespan development refers to the total social and cultural factors surrounding a developing human being (Sigelman & Rider, 2008, p. 86). Therefore, lifespan development in children depends on two major factors; the genetic make-up of a child and the environmental factors.

However, the two factors can play a mutual role in influencing the development of different individuals in the society. Here, the epigenetic framework of development posits that the genetic make-up can be turned on and off relative to the internal and external environmental feedback (Sigelman & Rider, 2008, p. 89).

This gives the process of lifespan development the flexibility and plasticity described in the discussions above. For instance, the learning process in children follows a specific pattern of adaptability, which depends on the internal and external factors.

Therefore, during the early childhood stage, individuals use the environmental experiences in reasoning and acting. However, as the environmental factors and experiences change along the period of lifespan development, so does the emotional, reasoning, and social attributes in an individual (Sigelman & Rider, 2008, p. 91).

The paper presents discussions on the lifespan perspective of development, the theories of lifespan development and the interaction of heredity and environment to produce individual differences in development.

From the discussions above, the lifespan perspective of development examines the changes that occur in different individuals, which occur due to the interaction of the genetic make-up and the total circumstances surrounding an individual. On the other hand, this perspective is also reinforced by Freud’s theory of psychosexual development and Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development, which are summarized in the discussions above.

Sigelman, C. K. & Rider, E. A. (2008). Lifespan human development. New York: Cengage Learning Publishers, Inc.

Sugarman, L. (2000). Lifespan development: Frameworks, accounts and strategies (2 nd ed.). New York: Routledge.

• Freud's Psychosexual Stage Conception
• Lifespan Development and Its Theories
• Behaviour across the Lifespan
• Development Stages in Infant-Father Relationship
• The role of genetics in development
• Erik Erikson's Life and Contributions to Psychoanalysis
• Developmental Theories in Psychology
• Levels of Play Development
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

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Ch 3: Lifespan Development

Welcome to the story of your life. In this chapter, we will explore the fascinating tale of how you have grown and developed into the person you are today. We will also look at some ideas about who you will grow into tomorrow. Yours is a story of lifespan development (Figure 1), from the start of life to the end.

The process of human growth and development is more obvious in infancy and childhood, yet your development is happening this moment and will continue, minute by minute, for the rest of your life. Who you are today and who you will be in the future depends on a blend of genetics, environment, culture, relationships, and more, as you continue through each phase of life. You have experienced firsthand much of what is discussed in this chapter. Now consider what psychological science has to say about your physical, cognitive, and psychosocial development, from the womb to the tomb.

Theories of Development

There are many theories regarding how babies and children grow and develop into happy, healthy adults. Sigmund Freud suggested that we pass through a series of psychosexual stages in which our energy is focused on certain erogenous zones on the body. Eric Erikson modified Freud’s ideas and suggested a theory of psychosocial development. Erikson said that our social interactions and successful completion of social tasks shape our sense of self. Jean Piaget proposed a theory of cognitive development that explains how children think and reason as they move through various stages. Finally, Lawrence Kohlberg turned his attention to moral development. He said that we pass through three levels of moral thinking that build on our cognitive development. You’ll learn about each of these theories in this section.

Learning Objectives

• Describe the three major issues in development: continuity and discontinuity, one common course of development or many unique courses of development, and nature versus nurture

What Is Lifespan Development?

My heart leaps up when I behold A rainbow in the sky: So was it when my life began; So is it now I am a man; So be it when I shall grow old, Or let me die! The Child is father of the Man; And I could wish my days to be Bound each to each by natural piety. (Wordsworth, 1802)

In this poem, William Wordsworth writes, “the child is father of the man.” What does this seemingly incongruous statement mean, and what does it have to do with lifespan development? Wordsworth might be suggesting that the person he is as an adult depends largely on the experiences he had in childhood. Consider the following questions: To what extent is the adult you are today influenced by the child you once were? To what extent is a child fundamentally different from the adult he grows up to be?

These are the types of questions developmental psychologists try to answer, by studying how humans change and grow from conception through childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and death. They view development as a lifelong process that can be studied scientifically across three developmental domains—physical, cognitive, and psychosocial development. Physical development involves growth and changes in the body and brain, the senses, motor skills, and health and wellness. Cognitive development involves learning, attention, memory, language, thinking, reasoning, and creativity. Psychosocial development involves emotions, personality, and social relationships. We refer to these domains throughout the module.

Connect the Concepts: Research Methods in Developmental Psychology

You’ve learned about a variety of research methods used by psychologists. Developmental psychologists use many of these approaches in order to better understand how individuals change mentally and physically over time. These methods include naturalistic observations, case studies, surveys, and experiments, among others.

Naturalistic observations involve observing behavior in its natural context. A developmental psychologist might observe how children behave on a playground, at a daycare center, or in the child’s own home. While this research approach provides a glimpse into how children behave in their natural settings, researchers have very little control over the types and/or frequencies of displayed behavior.

In a case study, developmental psychologists collect a great deal of information from one individual in order to better understand physical and psychological changes over the lifespan. This particular approach is an excellent way to better understand individuals, who are exceptional in some way, but it is especially prone to researcher bias in interpretation, and it is difficult to generalize conclusions to the larger population.

In one classic example of this research method being applied to a study of lifespan development Sigmund Freud analyzed the development of a child known as “Little Hans” (Freud, 1909/1949). Freud’s findings helped inform his theories of psychosexual development in children, which you will learn about later in this module. Little Genie, the subject of a case study discussed in the module on thinking and intelligence, provides another example of how psychologists examine developmental milestones through detailed research on a single individual. In Genie’s case, her neglectful and abusive upbringing led to her being unable to speak until, at age 13, she was removed from that harmful environment. As she learned to use language, psychologists were able to compare how her language acquisition abilities differed when occurring in her late-stage development compared to the typical acquisition of those skills during the ages of infancy through early childhood (Fromkin, Krashen, Curtiss, Rigler, & Rigler, 1974; Curtiss, 1981).

The survey method asks individuals to self-report important information about their thoughts, experiences, and beliefs. This particular method can provide large amounts of information in relatively short amounts of time; however, validity of data collected in this way relies on honest self-reporting, and the data is relatively shallow when compared to the depth of information collected in a case study.

Experiments involve significant control over extraneous variables and manipulation of the independent variable. As such, experimental research allows developmental psychologists to make causal statements about certain variables that are important for the developmental process. Because experimental research must occur in a controlled environment, researchers must be cautious about whether behaviors observed in the laboratory translate to an individual’s natural environment.

Later in this chapter, you will learn about several experiments in which toddlers and young children observe scenes or actions so that researchers can determine at what age specific cognitive abilities develop. For example, children may observe a quantity of liquid poured from a short, fat glass into a tall, skinny glass. As the experimenters question the children about what occurred, the subjects’ answers help psychologists understand at what age a child begins to comprehend that the volume of liquid remained the same although the shapes of the containers differs.

Across these three domains—physical, cognitive, and psychosocial—the normative approach to development is also discussed. This approach asks, “What is normal development?” In the early decades of the 20th century, normative psychologists studied large numbers of children at various ages to determine norms (i.e., average ages) of when most children reach specific developmental milestones in each of the three domains (Gesell, 1933, 1939, 1940; Gesell & Ilg, 1946; Hall, 1904). Although children develop at slightly different rates, we can use these age-related averages as general guidelines to compare children with same-age peers to determine the approximate ages they should reach specific normative events called developmental milestones  (e.g., crawling, walking, writing, dressing, naming colors, speaking in sentences, and starting puberty).

Not all normative events are universal, meaning they are not experienced by all individuals across all cultures. Biological milestones, such as puberty, tend to be universal, but social milestones, such as the age when children begin formal schooling, are not necessarily universal; instead, they affect most individuals in a particular culture (Gesell & Ilg, 1946). For example, in developed countries children begin school around 5 or 6 years old, but in developing countries, like Nigeria, children often enter school at an advanced age, if at all (Huebler, 2005; United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization [UNESCO], 2013).

To better understand the normative approach, imagine two new mothers, Louisa and Kimberly, who are close friends and have children around the same age. Louisa’s daughter is 14 months old, and Kimberly’s son is 12 months old. According to the normative approach, the average age a child starts to walk is 12 months. However, at 14 months Louisa’s daughter still isn’t walking. She tells Kimberly she is worried that something might be wrong with her baby. Kimberly is surprised because her son started walking when he was only 10 months old. Should Louisa be worried? Should she be concerned if her daughter is not walking by 15 months or 18 months?

Link to Learning

Issues in developmental psychology, is development continuous or discontinuous.

Continuous development views development as a cumulative process, gradually improving on existing skills (Figure 2). With this type of development, there is gradual change. Consider, for example, a child’s physical growth: adding inches to her height year by year. In contrast, theorists who view development as discontinuous  believe that development takes place in unique stages: It occurs at specific times or ages. With this type of development, the change is more sudden, such as an infant’s ability to conceive object permanence.

Is There One Course of Development or Many?

Is development essentially the same, or universal, for all children (i.e., there is one course of development) or does development follow a different course for each child, depending on the child’s specific genetics and environment (i.e., there are many courses of development)? Do people across the world share more similarities or more differences in their development? How much do culture and genetics influence a child’s behavior?

Stage theories hold that the sequence of development is universal. For example, in cross-cultural studies of language development, children from around the world reach language milestones in a similar sequence (Gleitman & Newport, 1995). Infants in all cultures coo before they babble. They begin babbling at about the same age and utter their first word around 12 months old. Yet we live in diverse contexts that have a unique effect on each of us. For example, researchers once believed that motor development follows one course for all children regardless of culture. However, child care practices vary by culture, and different practices have been found to accelerate or inhibit achievement of developmental milestones such as sitting, crawling, and walking (Karasik, Adolph, Tamis-LeMonda, & Bornstein, 2010).

For instance, let’s look at the Aché society in Paraguay. They spend a significant amount of time foraging in forests. While foraging, Aché mothers carry their young children, rarely putting them down in order to protect them from getting hurt in the forest. Consequently, their children walk much later: They walk around 23–25 months old, in comparison to infants in Western cultures who begin to walk around 12 months old. However, as Aché children become older, they are allowed more freedom to move about, and by about age 9, their motor skills surpass those of U.S. children of the same age: Aché children are able to climb trees up to 25 feet tall and use machetes to chop their way through the forest (Kaplan & Dove, 1987). As you can see, our development is influenced by multiple contexts, so the timing of basic motor functions may vary across cultures. However, the functions themselves are present in all societies (Figure 3).

How Do Nature and Nurture Influence Development?

Are we who we are because of nature (biology and genetics), or are we who we are because of nurture (our environment and culture)? This longstanding question is known in psychology as the nature versus nurture debate. It seeks to understand how our personalities and traits are the product of our genetic makeup and biological factors, and how they are shaped by our environment, including our parents, peers, and culture. For instance, why do biological children sometimes act like their parents—is it because of genetics or because of early childhood environment and what the child has learned from the parents? What about children who are adopted—are they more like their biological families or more like their adoptive families? And how can siblings from the same family be so different?

We are all born with specific genetic traits inherited from our parents, such as eye color, height, and certain personality traits. Beyond our basic genotype, however, there is a deep interaction between our genes and our environment: Our unique experiences in our environment influence whether and how particular traits are expressed, and at the same time, our genes influence how we interact with our environment (Diamond, 2009; Lobo, 2008). This module will show that there is a reciprocal interaction between nature and nurture as they both shape who we become, but the debate continues as to the relative contributions of each.

Dig Deeper: The Achievement Gap: How Does Socioeconomic Status Affect Development?

The achievement gap refers to the persistent difference in grades, test scores, and graduation rates that exist among students of different ethnicities, races, and—in certain subjects—sexes (Winerman, 2011). Research suggests that these achievement gaps are strongly influenced by differences in socioeconomic factors that exist among the families of these children. While the researchers acknowledge that programs aimed at reducing such socioeconomic discrepancies would likely aid in equalizing the aptitude and performance of children from different backgrounds, they recognize that such large-scale interventions would be difficult to achieve. Therefore, it is recommended that programs aimed at fostering aptitude and achievement among disadvantaged children may be the best option for dealing with issues related to academic achievement gaps (Duncan & Magnuson, 2005).

Low-income children perform significantly more poorly than their middle- and high-income peers on a number of educational variables: They have significantly lower standardized test scores, graduation rates, and college entrance rates, and they have much higher school dropout rates. There have been attempts to correct the achievement gap through state and federal legislation, but what if the problems start before the children even enter school?

Psychologists Betty Hart and Todd Risley (2006) spent their careers looking at early language ability and progression of children in various income levels. In one longitudinal study, they found that although all the parents in the study engaged and interacted with their children, middle- and high-income parents interacted with their children differently than low-income parents. After analyzing 1,300 hours of parent-child interactions, the researchers found that middle- and high-income parents talk to their children significantly more, starting when the children are infants. By 3 years old, high-income children knew almost double the number of words known by their low-income counterparts, and they had heard an estimated total of 30 million more words than the low-income counterparts (Hart & Risley, 2003). And the gaps only become more pronounced. Before entering kindergarten, high-income children score 60% higher on achievement tests than their low-income peers (Lee & Burkam, 2002).

There are solutions to this problem. At the University of Chicago, experts are working with low-income families, visiting them at their homes, and encouraging them to speak more to their children on a daily and hourly basis. Other experts are designing preschools in which students from diverse economic backgrounds are placed in the same classroom. In this research, low-income children made significant gains in their language development, likely as a result of attending the specialized preschool (Schechter & Byeb, 2007). What other methods or interventions could be used to decrease the achievement gap? What types of activities could be implemented to help the children of your community or a neighboring community?

Think It Over

• How are you different today from the person you were at 6 years old? What about at 16 years old? How are you the same as the person you were at those ages?
• Your 3-year-old daughter is not yet potty trained. Based on what you know about the normative approach, should you be concerned? Why or why not?

Lifespan Theories

• Define Freud’s theory of psychosexual development
• Describe the major tasks of child and adult psychosocial development according to Erikson
• Discuss Piaget’s view of cognitive development and apply the stages to understanding childhood cognition
• Describe Kohlberg’s theory of moral development
• Compare and contrast the strengths and weaknesses of major developmental theories

Psychosexual Theory of Development

Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) believed that personality develops during early childhood. For Freud, childhood experiences shape our personalities and behavior as adults. Freud viewed development as discontinuous; he believed that each of us must pass through a serious of stages during childhood, and that if we lack proper nurturance and parenting during a stage, we may become stuck, or fixated, in that stage. Freud’s stages are called the stages of psychosexual development . According to Freud, children’s pleasure-seeking urges are focused on a different area of the body, called an erogenous zone, at each of the five stages of development: oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital.

While most of Freud’s ideas have not found support in modern research, we cannot discount the contributions that Freud has made to the field of psychology. Psychologists today dispute Freud’s psychosexual stages as a legitimate explanation for how one’s personality develops, but what we can take away from Freud’s theory is that personality is shaped, in some part, by experiences we have in childhood. These stages are discussed in detail in the personality chapter in OpenStax .

Psychosocial Theory of Development

Erik Erikson (1902–1994) (Figure 4), another stage theorist, took Freud’s theory and modified it as psychosocial theory. Erikson’s psychosocial development  emphasizes the social nature of our development rather than its sexual nature. While Freud believed that personality is shaped only in childhood, Erikson proposed that personality development takes place all through the lifespan. Erikson suggested that how we interact with others is what affects our sense of self, or what he called the ego identity.

Erikson proposed that we are motivated by a need to achieve competence in certain areas of our lives. According to psychosocial theory, we experience eight stages of development over our lifespan, from infancy through late adulthood. At each stage there is a conflict, or task, that we need to resolve. Successful completion of each developmental task results in a sense of competence and a healthy personality. Failure to master these tasks leads to feelings of inadequacy.

According to Erikson (1963), trust is the basis of our development during infancy (birth to 12 months). Therefore, the primary task of this stage is trust versus mistrust. Infants are dependent upon their caregivers, so caregivers who are responsive and sensitive to their infant’s needs help their baby to develop a sense of trust; their baby will see the world as a safe, predictable place. Unresponsive caregivers who do not meet their baby’s needs can engender feelings of anxiety, fear, and mistrust; their baby may see the world as unpredictable.

As toddlers (ages 1–3 years) begin to explore their world, they learn that they can control their actions and act on the environment to get results. They begin to show clear preferences for certain elements of the environment, such as food, toys, and clothing. A toddler’s main task is to resolve the issue of autonomy versus shame and doubt, by working to establish independence. This is the “me do it” stage. For example, we might observe a budding sense of autonomy in a 2-year-old child who wants to choose her clothes and dress herself. Although her outfits might not be appropriate for the situation, her input in such basic decisions has an effect on her sense of independence. If denied the opportunity to act on her environment, she may begin to doubt her abilities, which could lead to low self-esteem and feelings of shame.

Once children reach the preschool stage (ages 3–6 years), they are capable of initiating activities and asserting control over their world through social interactions and play. According to Erikson, preschool children must resolve the task of initiative versus guilt. By learning to plan and achieve goals while interacting with others, preschool children can master this task. Those who do will develop self-confidence and feel a sense of purpose. Those who are unsuccessful at this stage—with their initiative misfiring or stifled—may develop feelings of guilt. How might over-controlling parents stifle a child’s initiative?

During the elementary school stage (ages 6–12), children face the task of industry versus inferiority. Children begin to compare themselves to their peers to see how they measure up. They either develop a sense of pride and accomplishment in their schoolwork, sports, social activities, and family life, or they feel inferior and inadequate when they don’t measure up. What are some things parents and teachers can do to help children develop a sense of competence and a belief in themselves and their abilities?

In adolescence (ages 12–18), children face the task of identity versus role confusion. According to Erikson, an adolescent’s main task is developing a sense of self. Adolescents struggle with questions such as “Who am I?” and “What do I want to do with my life?” Along the way, most adolescents try on many different selves to see which ones fit. Adolescents who are successful at this stage have a strong sense of identity and are able to remain true to their beliefs and values in the face of problems and other people’s perspectives. What happens to apathetic adolescents, who do not make a conscious search for identity, or those who are pressured to conform to their parents’ ideas for the future? These teens will have a weak sense of self and experience role confusion. They are unsure of their identity and confused about the future.

People in early adulthood (i.e., 20s through early 40s) are concerned with intimacy versus isolation. After we have developed a sense of self in adolescence, we are ready to share our life with others. Erikson said that we must have a strong sense of self before developing intimate relationships with others. Adults who do not develop a positive self-concept in adolescence may experience feelings of loneliness and emotional isolation.

When people reach their 40s, they enter the time known as middle adulthood, which extends to the mid-60s. The social task of middle adulthood is generativity versus stagnation. Generativity involves finding your life’s work and contributing to the development of others, through activities such as volunteering, mentoring, and raising children. Those who do not master this task may experience stagnation, having little connection with others and little interest in productivity and self-improvement.

From the mid-60s to the end of life, we are in the period of development known as late adulthood. Erikson’s task at this stage is called integrity versus despair. He said that people in late adulthood reflect on their lives and feel either a sense of satisfaction or a sense of failure. People who feel proud of their accomplishments feel a sense of integrity, and they can look back on their lives with few regrets. However, people who are not successful at this stage may feel as if their life has been wasted. They focus on what “would have,” “should have,” and “could have” been. They face the end of their lives with feelings of bitterness, depression, and despair. Table 1 summarizes the stages of Erikson’s theory.

Cognitive Theory of Development

Jean Piaget (1896–1980) is another stage theorist who studied childhood development (Figure 5). Instead of approaching development from a psychoanalytical or psychosocial perspective, Piaget focused on children’s cognitive growth. He believed that thinking is a central aspect of development and that children are naturally inquisitive. However, he said that children do not think and reason like adults (Piaget, 1930, 1932). His theory of cognitive development holds that our cognitive abilities develop through specific stages, which exemplifies the discontinuity approach to development. As we progress to a new stage, there is a distinct shift in how we think and reason.

Piaget said that children develop schemata, sometimes called schemas, to help them understand the world. Schemata  are concepts (mental models) that are used to help us categorize and interpret information. By the time children have reached adulthood, they have created schemata for almost everything. When children learn new information, they adjust their schemata through two processes: assimilation and accommodation. First, they assimilate new information or experiences in terms of their current schemata: assimilation is when they take in information that is comparable to what they already know. Accommodation  describes when they change their schemata based on new information. This process continues as children interact with their environment.

For example, 2-year-old Blake learned the schema for dogs because his family has a Labrador retriever. When Blake sees other dogs in his picture books, he says, “Look mommy, dog!” Thus, he has assimilated them into his schema for dogs. One day, Blake sees a sheep for the first time and says, “Look mommy, dog!” Having a basic schema that a dog is an animal with four legs and fur, Blake thinks all furry, four-legged creatures are dogs. When Blake’s mom tells him that the animal he sees is a sheep, not a dog, Blake must accommodate his schema for dogs to include more information based on his new experiences. Blake’s schema for dog was too broad, since not all furry, four-legged creatures are dogs. He now modifies his schema for dogs and forms a new one for sheep.

Like Freud and Erikson, Piaget thought development unfolds in a series of stages approximately associated with age ranges. He proposed a theory of cognitive development that unfolds in four stages: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational.

The first stage is the sensorimotor stage, which lasts from birth to about 2 years old. During this stage, children learn about the world through their senses and motor behavior. Young children put objects in their mouths to see if the items are edible, and once they can grasp objects, they may shake or bang them to see if they make sounds. Between 5 and 8 months old, the child develops object permanence , which is the understanding that even if something is out of sight, it still exists (Bogartz, Shinskey, & Schilling, 2000). According to Piaget, young infants do not remember an object after it has been removed from sight. Piaget studied infants’ reactions when a toy was first shown to an infant and then hidden under a blanket. Infants who had already developed object permanence would reach for the hidden toy, indicating that they knew it still existed, whereas infants who had not developed object permanence would appear confused.

Please take a few minutes to view this brief video demonstrating different children’s ability to understand object permanence:

You can view the transcript for “Piaget – Stage 1 – Sensorimotor Stage : Object Permanence” here (opens in new window) .

In Piaget’s view, around the same time children develop object permanence, they also begin to exhibit stranger anxiety, which is a fear of unfamiliar people. Babies may demonstrate this by crying and turning away from a stranger, by clinging to a caregiver, or by attempting to reach their arms toward familiar faces such as parents. Stranger anxiety results when a child is unable to assimilate the stranger into an existing schema; therefore, she can’t predict what her experience with that stranger will be like, which results in a fear response.

Piaget’s second stage is the preoperational stage , which is from approximately 2 to 7 years old. In this stage, children can use symbols to represent words, images, and ideas, which is why children in this stage engage in pretend play. A child’s arms might become airplane wings as he zooms around the room, or a child with a stick might become a brave knight with a sword. Children also begin to use language in the preoperational stage, but they cannot understand adult logic or mentally manipulate information (the term operational refers to logical manipulation of information, so children at this stage are considered to be pre -operational). Children’s logic is based on their own personal knowledge of the world so far, rather than on conventional knowledge. For example, dad gave a slice of pizza to 10-year-old Keiko and another slice to her 3-year-old brother, Kenny. Kenny’s pizza slice was cut into five pieces, so Kenny told his sister that he got more pizza than she did. Children in this stage cannot perform mental operations because they have not developed an understanding of conservation , which is the idea that even if you change the appearance of something, it is still equal in size as long as nothing has been removed or added.

This video shows a 4.5-year-old boy in the preoperational stage as he responds to Piaget’s conservation tasks.

You can view the transcript for “A typical child on Piaget’s conservation tasks” here (opens in new window) .

During this stage, we also expect children to display egocentrism , which means that the child is not able to take the perspective of others. A child at this stage thinks that everyone sees, thinks, and feels just as they do. Let’s look at Kenny and Keiko again. Keiko’s birthday is coming up, so their mom takes Kenny to the toy store to choose a present for his sister. He selects an Iron Man action figure for her, thinking that if he likes the toy, his sister will too. An egocentric child is not able to infer the perspective of other people and instead attributes his own perspective. At some point during this stage and typically between 3 and 5 years old, children come to understand that people have thoughts, feelings, and beliefs that are different from their own. This is known as theory-of-mind  (TOM).

Piaget developed the Three-Mountain Task to determine the level of egocentrism displayed by children. Children view a 3-dimensional mountain scene from one viewpoint, and are asked what another person at a different viewpoint would see in the same scene. Watch the Three-Mountain Task in action in this short video from the University of Minnesota and the Science Museum of Minnesota.

You can view the transcript for “Piaget’s Mountains Task” here (opens in new window) .

Piaget’s third stage is the concrete operational stage , which occurs from about 7 to 11 years old. In this stage, children can think logically about real (concrete) events; they have a firm grasp on the use of numbers and start to employ memory strategies. They can perform mathematical operations and understand transformations, such as addition is the opposite of subtraction, and multiplication is the opposite of division. In this stage, children also master the concept of conservation: Even if something changes shape, its mass, volume, and number stay the same. For example, if you pour water from a tall, thin glass to a short, fat glass, you still have the same amount of water. Remember Keiko and Kenny and the pizza? How did Keiko know that Kenny was wrong when he said that he had more pizza?

Children in the concrete operational stage also understand the principle of reversibility , which means that objects can be changed and then returned back to their original form or condition. Take, for example, water that you poured into the short, fat glass: You can pour water from the fat glass back to the thin glass and still have the same amount (minus a couple of drops).

The fourth, and last, stage in Piaget’s theory is the formal operational stage , which is from about age 11 to adulthood. Whereas children in the concrete operational stage are able to think logically only about concrete events, children in the formal operational stage can also deal with abstract ideas and hypothetical situations. Children in this stage can use abstract thinking to problem solve, look at alternative solutions, and test these solutions. In adolescence, a renewed egocentrism occurs. For example, a 15-year-old with a very small pimple on her face might think it is huge and incredibly visible, under the mistaken impression that others must share her perceptions.

Beyond Formal Operational Thought

As with other major contributors of theories of development, several of Piaget’s ideas have come under criticism based on the results of further research. For example, several contemporary studies support a model of development that is more continuous than Piaget’s discrete stages (Courage & Howe, 2002; Siegler, 2005, 2006). Many others suggest that children reach cognitive milestones earlier than Piaget describes (Baillargeon, 2004; de Hevia & Spelke, 2010).

According to Piaget, the highest level of cognitive development is formal operational thought, which develops between 11 and 20 years old. However, many developmental psychologists disagree with Piaget, suggesting a fifth stage of cognitive development, known as the postformal stage (Basseches, 1984; Commons & Bresette, 2006; Sinnott, 1998). In postformal thinking, decisions are made based on situations and circumstances, and logic is integrated with emotion as adults develop principles that depend on contexts. One way that we can see the difference between an adult in postformal thought and an adolescent in formal operations is in terms of how they handle emotionally charged issues.

It seems that once we reach adulthood our problem solving abilities change: As we attempt to solve problems, we tend to think more deeply about many areas of our lives, such as relationships, work, and politics (Labouvie-Vief & Diehl, 1999). Because of this, postformal thinkers are able to draw on past experiences to help them solve new problems. Problem-solving strategies using postformal thought vary, depending on the situation. What does this mean? Adults can recognize, for example, that what seems to be an ideal solution to a problem at work involving a disagreement with a colleague may not be the best solution to a disagreement with a significant other.

Explain how you would use your understanding of one of the major developmental theories (psychosexual, psychosocial, or cognitive) to deal with each of the difficulties listed below:

• Your infant daughter puts everything in her mouth, including the dog’s food.
• Your eight-year-old son is failing math; all he cares about is baseball.
• Your two-year-old daughter refuses to wear the clothes you pick for her every morning, which makes getting dressed a twenty-minute battle.
• Your sixty-eight-year-old neighbor is chronically depressed and feels she has wasted her life.
• Your 18-year-old daughter has decided not to go to college. Instead she’s moving to Colorado to become a ski instructor.
• Your 11-year-old son is the class bully.

Theory of Moral Development

A major task beginning in childhood and continuing into adolescence is discerning right from wrong. Psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg (1927–1987) extended upon the foundation that Piaget built regarding cognitive development. Kohlberg believed that moral development, like cognitive development, follows a series of stages. To develop this theory, Kohlberg posed moral dilemmas to people of all ages, and then he analyzed their answers to find evidence of their particular stage of moral development. Before reading about the stages, take a minute to consider how you would answer one of Kohlberg’s best-known moral dilemmas, commonly known as the Heinz dilemma:

In Europe, a woman was near death from a special kind of cancer. There was one drug that the doctors thought might save her. It was a form of radium that a druggist in the same town had recently discovered. The drug was expensive to make, but the druggist was charging ten times what the drug cost him to make. He paid $200 for the radium and charged $2,000 for a small dose of the drug. The sick woman’s husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the money, but he could only get together about $1,000, which is half of what it cost. He told the druggist that his wife was dying and asked him to sell it cheaper or let him pay later. But the druggist said: “No, I discovered the drug and I’m going to make money from it.” So Heinz got desperate and broke into the man’s store to steal the drug for his wife. Should the husband have done that? (Kohlberg, 1969, p. 379)

How would you answer this dilemma? Kohlberg was not interested in whether you answer yes or no to the dilemma: Instead, he was interested in the reasoning behind your answer.

After presenting people with this and various other moral dilemmas, Kohlberg reviewed people’s responses and placed them in different [pb_glossary id="2815"]stages of moral reasoning (Figure 6). According to Kohlberg, an individual progresses from the capacity for pre-conventional morality (before age 9) to the capacity for conventional morality (early adolescence), and toward attaining post-conventional morality (once formal operational thought is attained), which only a few fully achieve. Kohlberg placed in the highest stage responses that reflected the reasoning that Heinz should steal the drug because his wife’s life is more important than the pharmacist making money. The value of a human life overrides the pharmacist’s greed.

It is important to realize that even those people who have the most sophisticated, post-conventional reasons for some choices may make other choices for the simplest of pre-conventional reasons. Many psychologists agree with Kohlberg's theory of moral development but point out that moral reasoning is very different from moral behavior. Sometimes what we say we would do in a situation is not what we actually do in that situation. In other words, we might “talk the talk,” but not “walk the walk.”

How does this theory apply to males and females? Kohlberg (1969) felt that more males than females move past stage four in their moral development. He went on to note that women seem to be deficient in their moral reasoning abilities. These ideas were not well received by Carol Gilligan, a research assistant of Kohlberg, who consequently developed her own ideas of moral development. In her groundbreaking book, In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women’s Development , Gilligan (1982) criticized her former mentor’s theory because it was based only on upper class white men and boys. She argued that women are not deficient in their moral reasoning—she proposed that males and females reason differently. Girls and women focus more on staying connected and the importance of interpersonal relationships. Therefore, in the Heinz dilemma, many girls and women respond that Heinz should not steal the medicine. Their reasoning is that if he steals the medicine, is arrested, and is put in jail, then he and his wife will be separated, and she could die while he is still in prison.

Development in Childhood

Think about the miraculous development that occurs during childhood in order for a tiny zygote to grow into a walking, talking, thinking child. Newborn infants only weigh about 7.5 pounds but their physical, cognitive, and psychosocial skills grow and change as they move through developmental stages. In this section, you'll learn about many of these changes.

• Describe the stages of prenatal development and the significance of prenatal care
• Define and differentiate between various infant reflexes
• Explain the physical, cognitive, and emotional development that occurs from infancy through childhood

Prenatal Development

As discussed at the beginning of this chapter, developmental psychologists often divide our development into three areas: physical development, cognitive development, and psychosocial development. Mirroring Erikson’s stages, lifespan development is divided into different stages that are based on age. We will discuss prenatal, infant, child, adolescent, and adult development.

Germinal Stage (Weeks 1–2)

In the discussion of biopsychology earlier in the book, you learned about genetics and DNA. A mother and father’s DNA is passed on to the child at the moment of conception. Conception occurs when sperm fertilizes an egg and forms a zygote (Figure 7). A zygote begins as a one-cell structure that is created when a sperm and egg merge. The genetic makeup and sex of the baby are set at this point. During the first week after conception, the zygote divides and multiplies, going from a one-cell structure to two cells, then four cells, then eight cells, and so on. This process of cell division is called mitosis. Mitosis  is a fragile process, and fewer than one-half of all zygotes survive beyond the first two weeks (Hall, 2004). After 5 days of mitosis there are 100 cells, and after 9 months there are billions of cells. As the cells divide, they become more specialized, forming different organs and body parts. In the germinal stage, the mass of cells has yet to attach itself to the lining of the mother’s uterus. Once it does, the next stage begins.

Embryonic Stage (Weeks 3–8)

After the zygote divides for about 7–10 days and has 150 cells, it travels down the fallopian tubes and implants itself in the lining of the uterus. Upon implantation, this multi-cellular organism is called an embryo . Now blood vessels grow, forming the placenta. The placenta  is a structure connected to the uterus that provides nourishment and oxygen from the mother to the developing embryo via the umbilical cord. Basic structures of the embryo start to develop into areas that will become the head, chest, and abdomen. During the embryonic stage, the heart begins to beat and organs form and begin to function. The neural tube forms along the back of the embryo, developing into the spinal cord and brain.

Fetal Stage (Weeks 9–40)

When the organism is about nine weeks old, the embryo is called a fetus. At this stage, the fetus is about the size of a kidney bean and begins to take on the recognizable form of a human being as the “tail” begins to disappear.

From 9–12 weeks, the sex organs begin to differentiate. At about 16 weeks, the fetus is approximately 4.5 inches long. Fingers and toes are fully developed, and fingerprints are visible. By the time the fetus reaches the sixth month of development (24 weeks), it weighs up to 1.4 pounds. Hearing has developed, so the fetus can respond to sounds. The internal organs, such as the lungs, heart, stomach, and intestines, have formed enough that a fetus born prematurely at this point has a chance to survive outside of the mother’s womb. Throughout the fetal stage the brain continues to grow and develop, nearly doubling in size from weeks 16 to 28. Around 36 weeks, the fetus is almost ready for birth. It weighs about 6 pounds and is about 18.5 inches long, and by week 37 all of the fetus’s organ systems are developed enough that it could survive outside the mother’s uterus without many of the risks associated with premature birth. The fetus continues to gain weight and grow in length until approximately 40 weeks. By then, the fetus has very little room to move around and birth becomes imminent. The progression through the stages is shown in Figure 8.

Prenatal Influences

During each prenatal stage, genetic and environmental factors can affect development. The developing fetus is completely dependent on the mother for life. It is important that the mother takes good care of herself and receives prenatal care , which is medical care during pregnancy that monitors the health of both the mother and the fetus. According to the National Institutes of Health ([NIH], 2013), routine prenatal care is important because it can reduce the risk of complications to the mother and fetus during pregnancy. In fact, women who are trying to become pregnant or who may become pregnant should discuss pregnancy planning with their doctor. They may be advised, for example, to take a vitamin containing folic acid, which helps prevent certain birth defects, or to monitor aspects of their diet or exercise routines.

Recall that when the zygote attaches to the wall of the mother’s uterus, the placenta is formed. The placenta provides nourishment and oxygen to the fetus. Most everything the mother ingests, including food, liquid, and even medication, travels through the placenta to the fetus, hence the common phrase “eating for two.” Anything the mother is exposed to in the environment affects the fetus; if the mother is exposed to something harmful, the child can show life-long effects.

A teratogen is any environmental agent—biological, chemical, or physical—that causes damage to the developing embryo or fetus. There are different types of teratogens. Alcohol and most drugs cross the placenta and affect the fetus. Alcohol is not safe to drink in any amount during pregnancy. Alcohol use during pregnancy has been found to be the leading preventable cause of mental retardation in children in the United States (Maier & West, 2001). Excessive maternal drinking while pregnant can cause fetal alcohol spectrum disorders with life-long consequences for the child ranging in severity from minor to major (Table 3). Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) are a collection of birth defects associated with heavy consumption of alcohol during pregnancy. Physically, children with FASD may have a small head size and abnormal facial features. Cognitively, these children may have poor judgment, poor impulse control, higher rates of ADHD, learning issues, and lower IQ scores. These developmental problems and delays persist into adulthood (Streissguth et al., 2004). Based on studies conducted on animals, it also has been suggested that a mother’s alcohol consumption during pregnancy may predispose her child to like alcohol (Youngentob et al., 2007).

Smoking is also considered a teratogen because nicotine travels through the placenta to the fetus. When the mother smokes, the developing baby experiences a reduction in blood oxygen levels. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2013), smoking while pregnant can result in premature birth, low-birth-weight infants, stillbirth, and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

Heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, almost all prescription medicines, and most over-the counter medications are also considered teratogens. Babies born with a heroin addiction need heroin just like an adult addict. The child will need to be gradually weaned from the heroin under medical supervision; otherwise, the child could have seizures and die. Other teratogens include radiation, viruses such as HIV and herpes, and rubella (German measles). Women in the United States are much less likely to be afflicted with rubella because most women received childhood immunizations or vaccinations that protect the body from disease.

Each organ of the fetus develops during a specific period in the pregnancy, called the critical or sensitive period (Figure 9). For example, research with primate models of FASD has demonstrated that the time during which a developing fetus is exposed to alcohol can dramatically affect the appearance of facial characteristics associated with fetal alcohol syndrome. Specifically, this research suggests that alcohol exposure that is limited to day 19 or 20 of gestation can lead to significant facial abnormalities in the offspring (Ashley, Magnuson, Omnell, & Clarren, 1999). Given regions of the brain also show sensitive periods during which they are most susceptible to the teratogenic effects of alcohol (Tran & Kelly, 2003).

Dig Deeper:  Should Women Who Use Drugs During Pregnancy Be Arrested and Jailed?

As you now know, women who use drugs or alcohol during pregnancy can cause serious lifelong harm to their child. Some people have advocated mandatory screenings for women who are pregnant and have a history of drug abuse, and if the women continue using, to arrest, prosecute, and incarcerate them (Figdor & Kaeser, 1998). This policy was tried in Charleston, South Carolina, as recently as 20 years ago. The policy was called the Interagency Policy on Management of Substance Abuse During Pregnancy, and had disastrous results.

The Interagency Policy applied to patients attending the obstetrics clinic at MUSC, which primarily serves patients who are indigent or on Medicaid. It did not apply to private obstetrical patients. The policy required patient education about the harmful effects of substance abuse during pregnancy. . . . [A] statement also warned patients that protection of unborn and newborn children from the harms of illegal drug abuse could involve the Charleston police, the Solicitor of the Ninth Judicial Court, and the Protective Services Division of the Department of Social Services (DSS). (Jos, Marshall, & Perlmutter, 1995, pp. 120–121)

This policy seemed to deter women from seeking prenatal care, deterred them from seeking other social services, and was applied solely to low-income women, resulting in lawsuits. The program was canceled after 5 years, during which 42 women were arrested. A federal agency later determined that the program involved human experimentation without the approval and oversight of an institutional review board (IRB). What were the flaws in the program and how would you correct them? What are the ethical implications of charging pregnant women with child abuse?

Infancy through Childhood

The average newborn weighs approximately 7.5 pounds. Although small, a newborn is not completely helpless because his reflexes and sensory capacities help him interact with the environment from the moment of birth. All healthy babies are born with newborn reflexes : inborn automatic responses to particular forms of stimulation. Reflexes help the newborn survive until it is capable of more complex behaviors—these reflexes are crucial to survival. They are present in babies whose brains are developing normally and usually disappear around 4–5 months old. Let’s take a look at some of these newborn reflexes. The rooting reflex is the newborn’s response to anything that touches her cheek: When you stroke a baby’s cheek, she naturally turns her head in that direction and begins to suck. The sucking reflex is the automatic, unlearned, sucking motions that infants do with their mouths. Several other interesting newborn reflexes can be observed. For instance, if you put your finger into a newborn’s hand, you will witness the grasping reflex , in which a baby automatically grasps anything that touches his palms. The Moro reflex is the newborn’s response when she feels like she is falling. The baby spreads her arms, pulls them back in, and then (usually) cries. How do you think these reflexes promote survival in the first months of life?

Take a few minutes to view this brief video clip illustrating several newborn reflexes .

If you are interested in learning more about human development in babies, watch  this TED talk by Alison Gopnik . Recent discoveries reveal that babies are probably smarter than we think.

What can young infants see, hear, and smell? Newborn infants’ sensory abilities are significant, but their senses are not yet fully developed. Many of a newborn’s innate preferences facilitate interaction with caregivers and other humans. Although vision is their least developed sense, newborns already show a preference for faces. Babies who are just a few days old also prefer human voices, they will listen to voices longer than sounds that do not involve speech (Vouloumanos & Werker, 2004), and they seem to prefer their mother’s voice over a stranger’s voice (Mills & Melhuish, 1974). In an interesting experiment, 3-week-old babies were given pacifiers that played a recording of the infant’s mother’s voice and of a stranger’s voice. When the infants heard their mother’s voice, they sucked more strongly at the pacifier (Mills & Melhuish, 1974). Newborns also have a strong sense of smell. For instance, newborn babies can distinguish the smell of their own mother from that of others. In a study by MacFarlane (1978), 1-week-old babies who were being breastfed were placed between two gauze pads. One gauze pad was from the bra of a nursing mother who was a stranger, and the other gauze pad was from the bra of the infant’s own mother. More than two-thirds of the week-old babies turned toward the gauze pad with their mother’s scent.

Physical Development

In infancy, toddlerhood, and early childhood, the body’s physical development is rapid (Figure 10). On average, newborns weigh between 5 and 10 pounds, and a newborn’s weight typically doubles in six months and triples in one year. By 2 years old the weight will have quadrupled, so we can expect that a 2 year old should weigh between 20 and 40 pounds. The average length of a newborn is 19.5 inches, increasing to 29.5 inches by 12 months and 34.4 inches by 2 years old (WHO Multicentre Growth Reference Study Group, 2006).

During infancy and childhood, growth does not occur at a steady rate (Carel, Lahlou, Roger, & Chaussain, 2004). Growth slows between 4 and 6 years old: During this time children gain 5–7 pounds and grow about 2–3 inches per year. Once girls reach 8–9 years old, their growth rate outpaces that of boys due to a pubertal growth spurt. This growth spurt continues until around 12 years old, coinciding with the start of the menstrual cycle. By 10 years old, the average girl weighs 88 pounds, and the average boy weighs 85 pounds.

We are born with all of the brain cells that we will ever have—about 100–200 billion neurons (nerve cells) whose function is to store and transmit information (Huttenlocher & Dabholkar, 1997). However, the nervous system continues to grow and develop. Each neural pathway forms thousands of new connections during infancy and toddlerhood. This period of rapid neural growth is called blooming. Neural pathways continue to develop through puberty. The blooming period of neural growth is then followed by a period of pruning, where neural connections are reduced. It is thought that pruning causes the brain to function more efficiently, allowing for mastery of more complex skills (Hutchinson, 2011). Blooming occurs during the first few years of life, and pruning continues through childhood and into adolescence in various areas of the brain.

The size of our brains increases rapidly. For example, the brain of a 2-year-old is 55% of its adult size, and by 6 years old the brain is about 90% of its adult size (Tanner, 1978). During early childhood (ages 3–6), the frontal lobes grow rapidly. Recalling our discussion of the 4 lobes of the brain earlier in this book, the frontal lobes are associated with planning, reasoning, memory, and impulse control. Therefore, by the time children reach school age, they are developmentally capable of controlling their attention and behavior. Through the elementary school years, the frontal, temporal, occipital, and parietal lobes all grow in size. The brain growth spurts experienced in childhood tend to follow Piaget’s sequence of cognitive development, so that significant changes in neural functioning account for cognitive advances (Kolb & Whishaw, 2009; Overman, Bachevalier, Turner, & Peuster, 1992).

Motor development occurs in an orderly sequence as infants move from reflexive reactions (e.g., sucking and rooting) to more advanced motor functioning. For instance, babies first learn to hold their heads up, then to sit with assistance, and then to sit unassisted, followed later by crawling and then walking.

Motor skills refer to our ability to move our bodies and manipulate objects. Fine motor skills focus on the muscles in our fingers, toes, and eyes, and enable coordination of small actions (e.g., grasping a toy, writing with a pencil, and using a spoon). Gross motor skills focus on large muscle groups that control our arms and legs and involve larger movements (e.g., balancing, running, and jumping).

As motor skills develop, there are certain developmental milestones that young children should achieve (Table 4). For each milestone there is an average age, as well as a range of ages in which the milestone should be reached. An example of a developmental milestone is sitting. On average, most babies sit alone at 7 months old. Sitting involves both coordination and muscle strength, and 90% of babies achieve this milestone between 5 and 9 months old. In another example, babies on average are able to hold up their head at 6 weeks old, and 90% of babies achieve this between 3 weeks and 4 months old. If a baby is not holding up his head by 4 months old, he is showing a delay. If the child is displaying delays on several milestones, that is reason for concern, and the parent or caregiver should discuss this with the child’s pediatrician. Some developmental delays can be identified and addressed through early intervention.

Cognitive Development

In addition to rapid physical growth, young children also exhibit significant development of their cognitive abilities. Piaget thought that children’s ability to understand objects—such as learning that a rattle makes a noise when shaken—was a cognitive skill that develops slowly as a child matures and interacts with the environment. Today, developmental psychologists think Piaget was incorrect. Researchers have found that even very young children understand objects and how they work long before they have experience with those objects (Baillargeon, 1987; Baillargeon, Li, Gertner, & Wu, 2011). For example, children as young as 3 months old demonstrated knowledge of the properties of objects that they had only viewed and did not have prior experience with them. In one study, 3-month-old infants were shown a truck rolling down a track and behind a screen. The box, which appeared solid but was actually hollow, was placed next to the track. The truck rolled past the box as would be expected. Then the box was placed on the track to block the path of the truck. When the truck was rolled down the track this time, it continued unimpeded. The infants spent significantly more time looking at this impossible event (Figure 11). Baillargeon (1987) concluded that they knew solid objects cannot pass through each other. Baillargeon’s findings suggest that very young children have an understanding of objects and how they work, which Piaget (1954) would have said is beyond their cognitive abilities due to their limited experiences in the world.

Just as there are physical milestones that we expect children to reach, there are also cognitive milestones. It is helpful to be aware of these milestones as children gain new abilities to think, problem solve, and communicate. For example, infants shake their head “no” around 6–9 months, and they respond to verbal requests to do things like “wave bye-bye” or “blow a kiss” around 9–12 months. Remember Piaget’s ideas about object permanence? We can expect children to grasp the concept that objects continue to exist even when they are not in sight by around 8 months old. Because toddlers (i.e., 12–24 months old) have mastered object permanence, they enjoy games like hide and seek, and they realize that when someone leaves the room they will come back (Loop, 2013). Toddlers also point to pictures in books and look in appropriate places when you ask them to find objects.

Preschool-age children (i.e., 3–5 years old) also make steady progress in cognitive development. Not only can they count, name colors, and tell you their name and age, but they can also make some decisions on their own, such as choosing an outfit to wear. Preschool-age children understand basic time concepts and sequencing (e.g., before and after), and they can predict what will happen next in a story. They also begin to enjoy the use of humor in stories. Because they can think symbolically, they enjoy pretend play and inventing elaborate characters and scenarios. One of the most common examples of their cognitive growth is their blossoming curiosity. Preschool-age children love to ask “Why?”

An important cognitive change occurs in children this age. Recall that Piaget described 2–3 year olds as egocentric, meaning that they do not have an awareness of others’ points of view. Between 3 and 5 years old, children come to understand that people have thoughts, feelings, and beliefs that are different from their own. This is known as theory-of-mind (TOM). Children can use this skill to tease others, persuade their parents to purchase a candy bar, or understand why a sibling might be angry. When children develop TOM, they can recognize that others have false beliefs (Dennett, 1987; Callaghan et al., 2005).

False-belief tasks are useful in determining a child’s acquisition of theory-of-mind (TOM). Take a look at this video clip showing a false-belief task involving a box of crayons.

You can view the transcript for "The "False Belief" Test: Theory of Mind" here (opens in new window) .

Cognitive skills continue to expand in middle and late childhood (6–11 years old). Thought processes become more logical and organized when dealing with concrete information (Figure 12). Children at this age understand concepts such as the past, present, and future, giving them the ability to plan and work toward goals. Additionally, they can process complex ideas such as addition and subtraction and cause-and-effect relationships. However, children’s attention spans tend to be very limited until they are around 11 years old. After that point, it begins to improve through adulthood.

One well-researched aspect of cognitive development is language acquisition. As mentioned earlier, the order in which children learn language structures is consistent across children and cultures (Hatch, 1983). You’ve also learned that some psychological researchers have proposed that children possess a biological predisposition for language acquisition.

Starting before birth, babies begin to develop language and communication skills. At birth, babies apparently recognize their mother’s voice and can discriminate between the language(s) spoken by their mothers and foreign languages, and they show preferences for faces that are moving in synchrony with audible language (Blossom & Morgan, 2006; Pickens, 1994; Spelke & Cortelyou, 1981).

Children communicate information through gesturing long before they speak, and there is some evidence that gesture usage predicts subsequent language development (Iverson & Goldin-Meadow, 2005). In terms of producing spoken language, babies begin to coo almost immediately. Cooing is a one-syllable combination of a consonant and a vowel sound (e.g., coo or ba). Interestingly, babies replicate sounds from their own languages. A baby whose parents speak French will coo in a different tone than a baby whose parents speak Spanish or Urdu. After cooing, the baby starts to babble. Babbling begins with repeating a syllable, such as ma-ma, da-da, or ba-ba. When a baby is about 12 months old, we expect her to say her first word for meaning, and to start combining words for meaning at about 18 months.

At about 2 years old, a toddler uses between 50 and 200 words; by 3 years old they have a vocabulary of up to 1,000 words and can speak in sentences. During the early childhood years, children's vocabulary increases at a rapid pace. This is sometimes referred to as the “vocabulary spurt” and has been claimed to involve an expansion in vocabulary at a rate of 10–20 new words per week. Recent research may indicate that while some children experience these spurts, it is far from universal (as discussed in Ganger & Brent, 2004). It has been estimated that, 5 year olds understand about 6,000 words, speak 2,000 words, and can define words and question their meanings. They can rhyme and name the days of the week. Seven year olds speak fluently and use slang and clichés (Stork & Widdowson, 1974).

What accounts for such dramatic language learning by children? Behaviorist B. F. Skinner thought that we learn language in response to reinforcement or feedback, such as through parental approval or through being understood. For example, when a two-year-old child asks for juice, he might say, “me juice,” to which his mother might respond by giving him a cup of apple juice. Noam Chomsky (1957) criticized Skinner’s theory and proposed that we are all born with an innate capacity to learn language. Chomsky called this mechanism a language acquisition device (LAD). Who is correct? Both Chomsky and Skinner are right. Remember that we are a product of both nature and nurture. Researchers now believe that language acquisition is partially inborn and partially learned through our interactions with our linguistic environment (Gleitman & Newport, 1995; Stork & Widdowson, 1974).

Everyday Connection: The Importance of Play and Recess

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (2007), unstructured play is an integral part of a child’s development. It builds creativity, problem solving skills, and social relationships. Play also allows children to develop a theory-of-mind as they imaginatively take on the perspective of others.

Outdoor play allows children the opportunity to directly experience and sense the world around them. While doing so, they may collect objects that they come across and develop lifelong interests and hobbies. They also benefit from increased exercise, and engaging in outdoor play can actually increase how much they enjoy physical activity. This helps support the development of a healthy heart and brain. Unfortunately, research suggests that today’s children are engaging in less and less outdoor play (Clements, 2004). Perhaps, it is no surprise to learn that lowered levels of physical activity in conjunction with easy access to calorie-dense foods with little nutritional value are contributing to alarming levels of childhood obesity (Karnik & Kanekar, 2012).

Despite the adverse consequences associated with reduced play, some children are over scheduled and have little free time to engage in unstructured play. In addition, some schools have taken away recess time for children in a push for students to do better on standardized tests, and many schools commonly use loss of recess as a form of punishment. Do you agree with these practices? Why or why not?

Psychosocial development occurs as children form relationships, interact with others, and understand and manage their feelings. In social and emotional development, forming healthy attachments is very important and is the major social milestone of infancy. Attachment  is a long-standing connection or bond with others. Developmental psychologists are interested in how infants reach this milestone. They ask such questions as: How do parent and infant attachment bonds form? How does neglect affect these bonds? What accounts for children’s attachment differences?

Building on the work of Harlow and others, John Bowlby developed the concept of attachment theory. He defined attachment as the affectional bond or tie that an infant forms with the mother (Bowlby, 1969). An infant must form this bond with a primary caregiver in order to have normal social and emotional development. In addition, Bowlby proposed that this attachment bond is very powerful and continues throughout life. He used the concept of secure base to define a healthy attachment between parent and child (1988). A secure base is a parental presence that gives the child a sense of safety as he explores his surroundings. Bowlby said that two things are needed for a healthy attachment: The caregiver must be responsive to the child’s physical, social, and emotional needs; and the caregiver and child must engage in mutually enjoyable interactions (Bowlby, 1969) (Figure 13).

While Bowlby thought attachment was an all-or-nothing process, Mary Ainsworth’s (1970) research showed otherwise. Ainsworth wanted to know if children differ in the ways they bond, and if so, why. To find the answers, she used the Strange Situation procedure to study attachment between mothers and their infants (1970). In the Strange Situation, the mother (or primary caregiver) and the infant (age 12-18 months) are placed in a room together. There are toys in the room, and the caregiver and child spend some time alone in the room. After the child has had time to explore her surroundings, a stranger enters the room. The mother then leaves her baby with the stranger. After a few minutes, she returns to comfort her child.

Based on how the infants/toddlers responded to the separation and reunion, Ainsworth identified three types of parent-child attachments: secure, avoidant, and resistant (Ainsworth & Bell, 1970). A fourth style, known as disorganized attachment, was later described (Main & Solomon, 1990). The most common type of attachment—also considered the healthiest—is called secure attachment (Figure 14). In this type of attachment, the toddler prefers his parent over a stranger. The attachment figure is used as a secure base to explore the environment and is sought out in times of stress. Securely attached children were distressed when their caregivers left the room in the Strange Situation experiment, but when their caregivers returned, the securely attached children were happy to see them. Securely attached children have caregivers who are sensitive and responsive to their needs.

With avoidant attachment   (sometimes called insecure or anxious-avoidant), the child is unresponsive to the parent, does not use the parent as a secure base, and does not care if the parent leaves. The toddler reacts to the parent the same way she reacts to a stranger. When the parent does return, the child is slow to show a positive reaction. Ainsworth theorized that these children were most likely to have a caregiver who was insensitive and inattentive to their needs (Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, & Wall, 1978).

In cases of resistant attachment (also called ambivalent or anxious-ambivalent/resistant), children tend to show clingy behavior, but then they reject the attachment figure’s attempts to interact with them (Ainsworth & Bell, 1970). These children do not explore the toys in the room, as they are too fearful. During separation in the Strange Situation, they became extremely disturbed and angry with the parent. When the parent returns, the children are difficult to comfort. Resistant attachment is the result of the caregivers’ inconsistent level of response to their child.

Finally, children with disorganized attachment  behaved oddly in the Strange Situation. They freeze, run around the room in an erratic manner, or try to run away when the caregiver returns (Main & Solomon, 1990). This type of attachment is seen most often in kids who have been abused. Research has shown that abuse disrupts a child’s ability to regulate their emotions.

While Ainsworth’s research has found support in subsequent studies, it has also met criticism. Some researchers have pointed out that a child’s temperament may have a strong influence on attachment (Gervai, 2009; Harris, 2009), and others have noted that attachment varies from culture to culture, a factor not accounted for in Ainsworth’s research (Rothbaum, Weisz, Pott, Miyake, & Morelli, 2000; van Ijzendoorn & Sagi-Schwartz, 2008).

Watch this video to view a clip of the Strange Situation. Try to identify which type of attachment baby Lisa exhibits.

You can view the transcript for "The Strange Situation - Mary Ainsworth" here (opens in new window) .

Self-Concept

Just as attachment is the main psychosocial milestone of infancy, the primary psychosocial milestone of childhood is the development of a positive sense of self. How does self-awareness develop? Infants don’t have a self-concept, which is an understanding of who they are. If you place a baby in front of a mirror, she will reach out to touch her image, thinking it is another baby. However, by about 18 months a toddler will recognize that the person in the mirror is herself. How do we know this? In a well-known experiment, a researcher placed a red dot of paint on children’s noses before putting them in front of a mirror (Amsterdam, 1972). Commonly known as the mirror test, this behavior is demonstrated by humans and a few other species and is considered evidence of self-recognition (Archer, 1992). At 18 months old they would touch their own noses when they saw the paint, surprised to see a spot on their faces. By 24–36 months old children can name and/or point to themselves in pictures, clearly indicating self-recognition.

Children from 2–4 years old display a great increase in social behavior once they have established a self-concept. They enjoy playing with other children, but they have difficulty sharing their possessions. Also, through play children explore and come to understand their gender roles and can label themselves as a girl or boy (Chick, Heilman-Houser, & Hunter, 2002). By 4 years old, children can cooperate with other children, share when asked, and separate from parents with little anxiety. Children at this age also exhibit autonomy, initiate tasks, and carry out plans. Success in these areas contributes to a positive sense of self. Once children reach 6 years old, they can identify themselves in terms of group memberships: “I’m a first grader!” School-age children compare themselves to their peers and discover that they are competent in some areas and less so in others (recall Erikson’s task of industry versus inferiority). At this age, children recognize their own personality traits as well as some other traits they would like to have. For example, 10-year-old Layla says, “I’m kind of shy. I wish I could be more talkative like my friend Alexa.”

Development of a positive self-concept is important to healthy development. Children with a positive self-concept tend to be more confident, do better in school, act more independently, and are more willing to try new activities (Maccoby, 1980; Ferrer & Fugate, 2003). Formation of a positive self-concept begins in Erikson’s toddlerhood stage, when children establish autonomy and become confident in their abilities. Development of self-concept continues in elementary school, when children compare themselves to others. When the comparison is favorable, children feel a sense of competence and are motivated to work harder and accomplish more. Self-concept is re-evaluated in Erikson’s adolescence stage, as teens form an identity. They internalize the messages they have received regarding their strengths and weaknesses, keeping some messages and rejecting others. Adolescents who have achieved identity formation are capable of contributing positively to society (Erikson, 1968).

What can parents do to nurture a healthy self-concept? Diana Baumrind (1971, 1991) thinks parenting style may be a factor. The way we parent is an important factor in a child’s socioemotional growth. Baumrind developed and refined a theory describing four parenting styles: authoritative, authoritarian, permissive, and uninvolved. With the authoritative style , the parent gives reasonable demands and consistent limits, expresses warmth and affection, and listens to the child’s point of view. Parents set rules and explain the reasons behind them. They are also flexible and willing to make exceptions to the rules in certain cases—for example, temporarily relaxing bedtime rules to allow for a nighttime swim during a family vacation. Of the four parenting styles, the authoritative style is the one that is most encouraged in modern American society. American children raised by authoritative parents tend to have high self-esteem and social skills. However, effective parenting styles vary as a function of culture and, as Small (1999) points out, the authoritative style is not necessarily preferred or appropriate in all cultures.

In authoritarian style , the parent places high value on conformity and obedience. The parents are often strict, tightly monitor their children, and express little warmth. In contrast to the authoritative style, authoritarian parents probably would not relax bedtime rules during a vacation because they consider the rules to be set, and they expect obedience. This style can create anxious, withdrawn, and unhappy kids. However, it is important to point out that authoritarian parenting is as beneficial as the authoritative style in some ethnic groups (Russell, Crockett, & Chao, 2010). For instance, first-generation Chinese American children raised by authoritarian parents did just as well in school as their peers who were raised by authoritative parents (Russell et al., 2010).

For parents who employ the permissive style  of parenting, the kids run the show and anything goes. Permissive parents make few demands and rarely use punishment. They tend to be very nurturing and loving, and may play the role of friend rather than parent. In terms of our example of vacation bedtimes, permissive parents might not have bedtime rules at all—instead they allow the child to choose his bedtime whether on vacation or not. Not surprisingly, children raised by permissive parents tend to lack self-discipline, and the permissive parenting style is negatively associated with grades (Dornbusch, Ritter, Leiderman, Roberts, & Fraleigh, 1987). The permissive style may also contribute to other risky behaviors such as alcohol abuse (Bahr & Hoffman, 2010), risky sexual behavior especially among female children (Donenberg, Wilson, Emerson, & Bryant, 2002), and increased display of disruptive behaviors by male children (Parent et al., 2011). However, there are some positive outcomes associated with children raised by permissive parents. They tend to have higher self-esteem, better social skills, and report lower levels of depression (Darling, 1999).

With the uninvolved style  of parenting, the parents are indifferent, uninvolved, and sometimes referred to as neglectful. They don’t respond to the child’s needs and make relatively few demands. This could be because of severe depression or substance abuse, or other factors such as the parents’ extreme focus on work. These parents may provide for the child’s basic needs, but little else. The children raised in this parenting style are usually emotionally withdrawn, fearful, anxious, perform poorly in school, and are at an increased risk of substance abuse (Darling, 1999).

As you can see, parenting styles influence childhood adjustment, but could a child’s temperament likewise influence parenting? Temperament refers to innate traits that influence how one thinks, behaves, and reacts with the environment. Children with easy temperaments demonstrate positive emotions, adapt well to change, and are capable of regulating their emotions. Conversely, children with difficult temperaments demonstrate negative emotions and have difficulty adapting to change and regulating their emotions. Difficult children are much more likely to challenge parents, teachers, and other caregivers (Thomas, 1984). Therefore, it’s possible that easy children (i.e., social, adaptable, and easy to soothe) tend to elicit warm and responsive parenting, while demanding, irritable, withdrawn children evoke irritation in their parents or cause their parents to withdraw (Sanson & Rothbart, 1995).

Development in Adolescence and Adulthood

Changes in development during childhood are rapid and more obvious than the changes that come later on in life, but before you reach adulthood, there is one more large transition: adolescence. Adolescence brings the physical development of puberty, as well as cognitive, social, and emotional changes. Following adolescence, transitions are less obvious, but still significant throughout emerging adulthood and adulthood. Finally, growing older means confronting many psychological, emotional, and social issues that come with entering the last phase of life.

Watch this video from a few of the world's oldest people for some advice on how you can also live a fulfilling life until the very end.

You can view the transcript for "How to Be the Oldest Person Alive" here (opens in new window) .

• Describe physical, cognitive, and emotional development that occurs during adolescence
• Describe physical, cognitive, and emotional development that occurs in adulthood
• Differentiate between fluid and crystallized intelligence

Adolescence

Adolescence is a socially constructed concept. In pre-industrial society, children were considered adults when they reached physical maturity, but today we have an extended time between childhood and adulthood called adolescence. Adolescence is the period of development that begins at puberty and ends at emerging adulthood, or into the mid- to late 20s. In the United States, adolescence is seen as a time to develop independence from parents while remaining connected to them (Figure 15). The typical age range of adolescence is from 12 to 18 years, and this stage of development also has some predictable physical, cognitive, and psychosocial milestones.

As noted above, adolescence begins with puberty. While the sequence of physical changes in puberty is predictable, the onset and pace of puberty vary widely. Several physical changes occur during puberty, such as adrenarche and gonadarche, the maturing of the adrenal glands and sex glands, respectively. Also during this time, primary and secondary sexual characteristics develop and mature. Primary sexual characteristics are organs specifically needed for reproduction, like the uterus and ovaries in females and testes in males. Secondary sexual characteristics are physical signs of sexual maturation that do not directly involve sex organs, such as development of breasts and hips in girls, and development of facial hair and a deepened voice in boys. Girls experience menarche, the beginning of menstrual periods, usually around 12–13 years old, and boys experience spermarche, the first ejaculation, around 13–14 years old.

During puberty, both sexes experience a rapid increase in height (i.e., growth spurt). For girls this begins between 8 and 13 years old, with adult height reached between 10 and 16 years old. Boys begin their growth spurt slightly later, usually between 10 and 16 years old, and reach their adult height between 13 and 17 years old. Both nature (i.e., genes) and nurture (e.g., nutrition, medications, and medical conditions) can influence height.

Because rates of physical development vary so widely among teenagers, puberty can be a source of pride or embarrassment. Early maturing boys tend to be stronger, taller, and more athletic than their later maturing peers. They are usually more popular, confident, and independent, but they are also at a greater risk for substance abuse and early sexual activity (Flannery, Rowe, & Gulley, 1993; Kaltiala-Heino, Rimpela, Rissanen, & Rantanen, 2001). Early maturing girls may be teased or overtly admired, which can cause them to feel self-conscious about their developing bodies. These girls are at a higher risk for depression, substance abuse, and eating disorders (Ge, Conger, & Elder, 2001; Graber, Lewinsohn, Seeley, & Brooks-Gunn, 1997; Striegel-Moore & Cachelin, 1999). Late blooming boys and girls (i.e., they develop more slowly than their peers) may feel self-conscious about their lack of physical development. Negative feelings are particularly a problem for late maturing boys, who are at a higher risk for depression and conflict with parents (Graber et al., 1997) and more likely to be bullied (Pollack & Shuster, 2000).

The adolescent brain also remains under development. Recall from your earlier study, that the brain consists of six regions: temporal lobe, brain stem, cerebellum, occipital lobe (includes the visual cortex), parietal lobe, and the frontal lobe. The frontal lobe consists of the prefrontal cortex, premotor cortex, and motor cortex. The prefrontal lobe lies just behind the forehead. Up until puberty, brain cells continue to bloom in the frontal region. Adolescents engage in increased risk-taking behaviors and emotional outbursts possibly because the frontal lobes of their brains are still developing (Figure 16). Recall that this area is often called the "CEO of the brain", as it is responsible for judgment, impulse control, and planning. It is still maturing into early adulthood, up until around age 25 (Casey, Tottenham, Liston, & Durston, 2005).

Brain maturity occurs when there is growth of new neural connections and the pruning of unused neurons and connections. According to recent research, the brain regions tend to develop from the back to the front of the brain. Also, myelin continues to grow around axons and neurons helping to speed transmission between the various regions of the brain.

Psychosocial Development

Adolescents continue to refine their sense of self as they relate to others. Erikson referred to the task of the adolescent as one of identity versus role confusion. Thus, in Erikson’s view, an adolescent’s main questions are “Who am I?” and “Who do I want to be?” Some adolescents adopt the values and roles that their parents expect for them. Other teens develop identities that are in opposition to their parents but align with a peer group. This is common as peer relationships become a central focus in adolescents’ lives.

As adolescents work to form their identities, they pull away from their parents, and the peer group becomes very important (Shanahan, McHale, Osgood, & Crouter, 2007). Despite spending less time with their parents, most teens report positive feelings toward them (Moore, Guzman, Hair, Lippman, & Garrett, 2004). Warm and healthy parent-child relationships have been associated with positive child outcomes, such as better grades and fewer school behavior problems, in the United States as well as in other countries (Hair et al., 2005).

It appears that most teens don’t experience adolescent storm and stress to the degree once famously suggested by G. Stanley Hall, a pioneer in the study of adolescent development. Only small numbers of teens have major conflicts with their parents (Steinberg & Morris, 2001), and most disagreements are minor. For example, in a study of over 1,800 parents of adolescents from various cultural and ethnic groups, Barber (1994) found that conflicts occurred over day-to-day issues such as homework, money, curfews, clothing, chores, and friends. These types of arguments tend to decrease as teens develop (Galambos & Almeida, 1992).

Emerging Adulthood

The next stage of development is emerging adulthood . This is a relatively newly defined period of lifespan development spanning from 18 years old to the mid-20s, characterized as an in-between time where identity exploration is focused on work and love.

When does a person become an adult? There are many ways to answer this question. In the United States, you are legally considered an adult at 18 years old. But other definitions of adulthood vary widely; in sociology, for example, a person may be considered an adult when she becomes self-supporting, chooses a career, gets married, or starts a family. The ages at which we achieve these milestones vary from person to person as well as from culture to culture. For example, in the African country of Malawi, 15-year-old Njemile was married at 14 years old and had her first child at 15 years old. In her culture she is considered an adult. Children in Malawi take on adult responsibilities such as marriage and work (e.g., carrying water, tending babies, and working fields) as early as 10 years old. In stark contrast, independence in Western cultures is taking longer and longer, effectively delaying the onset of adult life.

Why is it taking twenty-somethings so long to grow up? It seems that emerging adulthood is a product of both Western culture and our current times (Arnett, 2000). People in developed countries are living longer, allowing the freedom to take an extra decade to start a career and family. Changes in the workforce also play a role. For example, 50 years ago, a young adult with a high school diploma could immediately enter the work force and climb the corporate ladder. That is no longer the case. Bachelor’s and even graduate degrees are required more and more often—even for entry-level jobs (Arnett, 2000). In addition, many students are taking longer (five or six years) to complete a college degree as a result of working and going to school at the same time. After graduation, many young adults return to the family home because they have difficulty finding a job. Changing cultural expectations may be the most important reason for the delay in entering adult roles. Young people are spending more time exploring their options, so they are delaying marriage and work as they change majors and jobs multiple times, putting them on a much later timetable than their parents (Arnett, 2000).

Adulthood begins around 20 years old and has three distinct stages: early, middle, and late. Each stage brings its own set of rewards and challenges.

By the time we reach early adulthood (20 to early 40s), our physical maturation is complete, although our height and weight may increase slightly. In young adulthood, our physical abilities are at their peak, including muscle strength, reaction time, sensory abilities, and cardiac functioning. Most professional athletes are at the top of their game during this stage. Many women have children in the young adulthood years, so they may see additional weight gain and breast changes.

Middle adulthood extends from the 40s to the 60s (Figure 18). Physical decline is gradual. The skin loses some elasticity, and wrinkles are among the first signs of aging. Visual acuity decreases during this time. Women experience a gradual decline in fertility as they approach the onset of menopause, the end of the menstrual cycle, around 50 years old. Both men and women tend to gain weight: in the abdominal area for men and in the hips and thighs for women. Hair begins to thin and turn gray.

Late adulthood is considered to extend from the 60s on. This is the last stage of physical change. The skin continues to lose elasticity, reaction time slows further, and muscle strength diminishes. Smell, taste, hearing, and vision, so sharp in our twenties, decline significantly. The brain may also no longer function at optimal levels, leading to problems like memory loss, dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease in later years.

Because we spend so many years in adulthood (more than any other stage), cognitive changes are numerous. In fact, research suggests that adult cognitive development is a complex, ever changing process that may be even more active than cognitive development in infancy and early childhood (Fischer, Yan, & Stewart, 2003).

Researchers have identified areas of both losses and gains in cognition in older age. Cognitive ability and intelligence are often measured using standardized tests and validated measures. The psychometric approach has identified two categories of intelligence that show different rates of change across the life span (Schaie & Willis, 1996). Fluid intelligence  refers to information processing abilities, such as logical reasoning, remembering lists, spatial ability, and reaction time. Crystallized intelligence  encompasses abilities that draw upon experience and knowledge. Measures of crystallized intelligence include vocabulary tests, solving number problems, and understanding texts.

With age, systematic declines are observed on cognitive tasks requiring self-initiated, effortful processing, without the aid of supportive memory cues (Park, 2000). Older adults tend to perform poorer than young adults on memory tasks that involve recall of information, where individuals must retrieve information they learned previously without the help of a list of possible choices. For example, older adults may have more difficulty recalling facts such as names or contextual details about where or when something happened (Craik, 2000). What might explain these deficits as we age? As we age, working memory, or our ability to simultaneously store and use information, becomes less efficient (Craik & Bialystok, 2006). The ability to process information quickly also decreases with age. This slowing of processing speed may explain age differences on many different cognitive tasks (Salthouse, 2004). Some researchers have argued that inhibitory functioning, or the ability to focus on certain information while suppressing attention to less pertinent information, declines with age and may explain age differences in performance on cognitive tasks (Hasher & Zacks, 1988). Finally, it is well established that our hearing and vision decline as we age. Longitudinal research has proposed that deficits in sensory functioning explain age differences in a variety of cognitive abilities (Baltes & Lindenberger, 1997).

Fewer age differences are observed when memory cues are available, such as for recognition memory tasks, or when individuals can draw upon acquired knowledge or experience. For example, older adults often perform as well if not better than young adults on tests of word knowledge or vocabulary. With age often comes expertise, and research has pointed to areas where aging experts perform as well or better than younger individuals. For example, older typists were found to compensate for age-related declines in speed by looking farther ahead at printed text (Salthouse, 1984). Compared to younger players, older chess experts are able to focus on a smaller set of possible moves, leading to greater cognitive efficiency (Charness, 1981). Accrued knowledge of everyday tasks, such as grocery prices, can help older adults to make better decisions than young adults (Tentori, Osheron, Hasher, & May, 2001).

How do changes or maintenance of cognitive ability affect older adults’ everyday lives? Researchers have studied cognition in the context of several different everyday activities. One example is driving. Although older adults often have more years of driving experience, cognitive declines related to reaction time or attentional processes may pose limitations under certain circumstances (Park & Gutchess, 2000). Research on interpersonal problem solving suggested that older adults use more effective strategies than younger adults to navigate through social and emotional problems (Blanchard-Fields, 2007). In the context of work, researchers rarely find that older individuals perform poorer on the job (Park & Gutchess, 2000). Similar to everyday problem solving, older workers may develop more efficient strategies and rely on expertise to compensate for cognitive decline.

How can we delay the onset of cognitive decline? Mental and physical activity seems to play a part (Figure 20). Research has found adults who engage in mentally and physically stimulating activities experience less cognitive decline and have a reduced incidence of mild cognitive impairment and dementia (Hertzog, Kramer, Wilson, & Lindenberger, 2009; Larson et al., 2006; Podewils et al., 2005).

There are many theories about the social and emotional aspects of aging. Some aspects of healthy aging include activities, social connectedness, and the role of a person’s culture. According to many theorists, including George Vaillant (2002), who studied and analyzed over 50 years of data, we need to have and continue to find meaning throughout our lives. For those in early and middle adulthood, meaning is found through work (Sterns & Huyck, 2001) and family life (Markus, Ryff, Curan, & Palmersheim, 2004). These areas relate to the tasks that Erikson referred to as intimacy versus isolation in early adulthood and  generativity versus stagnation  in middle adulthood. As mentioned previously, adults tend to define themselves by what they do—their careers. Earnings peak during this time, yet job satisfaction is more closely tied to work that involves contact with other people, is interesting, provides opportunities for advancement, and allows some independence (Mohr & Zoghi, 2006) than it is to salary (Iyengar, Wells, & Schwartz, 2006). How might being unemployed or being in a dead-end job challenge adult well-being?

As people enter the final stages of life, they have what Erik Erikson described as a crisis over integrity versus despair. In other words, they review the events of their lives and try to come to terms with the mark (or lack thereof) that they have made on the world. People who believe they have had a positive impact on the world through their contributions live the end of life with a sense of integrity. Those who feel they have not measured up to certain standards—either their own or others'—develop a sense of despair.

Positive relationships with significant others in our adult years have been found to contribute to a state of well-being (Ryff & Singer, 2009). Most adults in the United States identify themselves through their relationships with family—particularly with spouses, children, and parents (Markus et al., 2004). While raising children can be stressful, especially when they are young, research suggests that parents reap the rewards down the road, as adult children tend to have a positive effect on parental well-being (Umberson, Pudrovska, & Reczek, 2010). Having a stable marriage has also been found to contribute to well-being throughout adulthood (Vaillant, 2002).

Another aspect of positive aging is believed to be social connectedness and social support. As we get older, socioemotional selectivity theory suggests that our social support and friendships dwindle in number, but remain as close, if not more close than in our earlier years (Carstensen, 1992) (Figure 21).

Putting It Together: Lifespan Development

In this chapter, you learned to

• compare and contrast theories lifespan development theories
• explain the physical, cognitive, and emotional development that occurs from infancy through childhood
• describe physical, cognitive, and emotional development in adolescence and adulthood

Our understanding of human nature has come a long way since the belief that children were just little adults in need of instruction. Through ongoing research, we now know that children hit certain milestones that enable them to take another viewpoint or understand the law of conservation, that babies can understand enough about the world around them to make moral judgments, and that issues of physical, social, and cognitive importance change across the lifespan.

Adolescence is one of the time periods of interest to psychologists, especially due to the focus on identity formation, which often involves a period of exploration followed by commitments to particular identities. Adolescence is characterized by risky behavior, which is made more likely by changes in the brain in which reward-processing centers develop more rapidly than cognitive control systems, making adolescents more sensitive to rewards than to possible negative consequences.

Marcia (1966) described identify formation during adolescence as involving both decision points and commitments with respect to ideologies (e.g., religion, politics) and occupations. He described four identity statuses: foreclosure, identity diffusion, moratorium, and identity achievement.

• Foreclosure occurs when an individual commits to an identity without exploring options.
• Identity diffusion occurs when adolescents neither explore nor commit to any identities.
• Moratorium is a state in which adolescents are actively exploring options but have not yet made commitments.
• Identity achievement occurs when individuals have explored different options and then made identity commitments.

Think about your own adolescent experience (you may consider yourself still in this life stage). Which identity status best fits with your own experience? Do you feel committed to your current identity, or do you feel as though you are still developing? Regardless of your answer, you can rest assured that human development does not end with adolescence, and research proves that people can continue to learn, grow, and even change as long as they would like.

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study of development using norms, or average ages, when most children reach specific developmental milestones

all of the beliefs, customs, art, and traditions of a particular society

view that development is a cumulative process: gradually improving on existing skills

view that development takes place in unique stages, which happen at specific times or ages

process proposed by Freud in which pleasure-seeking urges focus on different erogenous zones of the body as humans move through five stages of life

domain of lifespan development that examines emotions, personality, and social relationships from infancy through adulthood, proposed by Erikson

(plural = schemata) mental construct consisting of a cluster or collection of related concepts

adjustment of a schema by adding information similar to what is already known

adjustment of a schema by changing a scheme to accommodate new information different from what was already known

idea that even if something is out of sight, it still exists

second stage in Piaget’s theory of cognitive development; from ages 2 to 7, children learn to use symbols and language but do not understand mental operations and often think illogically

idea that even if you change the appearance of something, it is still equal in size, volume, or number as long as nothing is added or removed

preoperational child’s difficulty in taking the perspective of others

third stage in Piaget’s theory of cognitive development; from about 7 to 11 years old, children can think logically about real (concrete) events

principle that objects can be changed, but then returned back to their original form or condition

structure created when a sperm and egg merge at conception; begins as a single cell and rapidly divides to form the embryo and placenta

multi-cellular organism in its early stages of development

structure connected to the uterus that provides nourishment and oxygen to the developing baby

medical care during pregnancy that monitors the health of both the mother and the fetus

time during fetal growth when specific parts or organs develop

inborn automatic response to a particular form of stimulation that all healthy babies are born with

ability to move our body and manipulate objects

use of muscles in fingers, toes, and eyes to coordinate small actions

use of large muscle groups to control arms and legs for large body movements

long-standing connection or bond with others

parental presence that gives the infant/toddler a sense of safety as they explore their surroundings

characterized by the child using the parent as a secure base from which to explore

characterized by child’s unresponsiveness to parent, does not use the parent as a secure base, and does not care if parent leaves

characterized by the child’s tendency to show clingy behavior and rejection of the parent when they attempt to interact with the child

characterized by the child’s odd behavior when faced with the parent; type of attachment seen most often with kids that are abused

parents give children reasonable demands and consistent limits, express warmth and affection, and listen to the child’s point of view

parents place a high value on conformity and obedience, are often rigid, and express little warmth to the child

parents make few demands and rarely use punishment

parents are indifferent, uninvolved, and sometimes referred to as neglectful; they don’t respond to the child’s needs and make relatively few demands

period of development that begins at puberty and ends at early adulthood

newly defined period of lifespan development from 18 years old to the mid-20s; young people are taking longer to complete college, get a job, get married, and start a family

information processing abilities, such as logical reasoning, remembering lists, spatial ability, and reaction time

intelligence that draw upon experience and knowledge. Measures include vocabulary tests, solving number problems, and understanding texts

Psychological Science: Understanding Human Behavior Copyright © by Karenna Malavanti is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Specific features of the ecological functioning of urban soils in Moscow and Moscow region

Eurasian Soil Science

Urban soils (constructozems) were studied in Moscow and several cities (Dubna, Pushchino, and Serebryanye Prudy) of Moscow oblast. The soil sampling from the upper 10-cm-thick layer was performed in the industrial, residential, and recreational functional zones of these cities. The biological (the carbon of the microbial biomass carbon, Cmic and the microbial (basal) respiration, BR) and chemical (pHwater and the contents of Corg, heavy metals, and NPK) indices were determined in the samples. The ratios of BR to Cmic (the microbial respiration quotient, qCO2) and of Cmic to Corg were calculated. The Cmic varied from 120 to 738 μg C/g soil; the BR, from 0.39 to 1.94 μg CO2-C/g soil per hour; the Corg, from 2.52 to 5.67%; the qCO2, from 1.24 to 5.28 μg CO2-C/mg Cmic/g soil per h; and the Cmic/Corg, from 0.40 to 1.55%. Reliable positive correlations were found between the Cmic and BR, the Cmic and Cmic/Corg, and the Cmic and Corg values (r = 0.75, 0.95, and 0.61, respectively), as well...

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Soils and plants of Saint Petersburg are under the constant technogenic stress caused by human activity in in-dustrial, residential, and recreational landscapes of the city. To assess the transformed landscapes of various functional zones, we studied utility, housing, and park districts with a total area of over 7,000 hectares in the southern part of the city during the summer seasons of 2016-2018. Throughout the fieldwork period, 796 individual pairs of soil and plant samples were collected. A complex of consequent laboratory studies performed in an accredited laboratory allowed the characterization of key biogeochemical patterns of urban regolith specimens and herbage samples of various grasses. Chemical analyses provided information on the concentrations of polluting metals in soils and plants of different land use zones. Data interpretation and calculation of element accumulation factors revealed areas with the most unfavorable environmental conditions. We believe that a high pollution level in southern city districts has led to a significant degree of physical, chemical, and biological degradation of the soil and vegetation cover. As of today, approximately 10 % of the Technosols in the study area have completely lost the ability to biological self-revitalization, which results in ecosystem malfunction and the urgent need for land remediation.

András Bidló

The main purpose of the present study was to monitor actual contamination levels and execute a comparative assessment of results in a mid-sized Hungarian city for two different years. The first citywide soil investigations were completed in 2011. In 2018, the most prominent properties (pH, CaCO3, texture, and trace metals Cd, Co, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn) were reanalyzed and were supplemented with mesofauna on selected sites. The available trace metal elements of urban soils showed the following tendency in 2011: Zn &gt; Cu &gt; Pb &gt; Cd &gt; Cr = Ni = Co. In 2018, the previous order changed to Zn &gt; Pb &gt; Cu &gt; Cr &gt; Cd = Ni = Co. Cd and Pb enrichments were found, especially near the M7 motorway. The comparison between 2011 and 2018 revealed soil contamination was, on average, higher in 2011. Soil microarthropod communities were sampled and assessed using abundance data and diversity measurements. Soil biological quality was evaluated with the help of the Soil Biological Qualit...

Mikhail Reshetnikov , Ngun Clement

A soil diagnosis of an urban territory Stepnoe (Saratov region) was conducted within the framework of soil research monitoring of inhabited localities with low levels of anthropogenic impact using chemical and microbiological analysis. Excess over maximum permissible concentration (MPC) of mobile forms of Cr, Zn and Cd were not observed within the researched territory. A universal excess over MPC of mobile forms of Ni, Cu and Pb was established which is most likely connected with anthropogenic contamination. It was discovered that, at the territory of the Stepnoe settlement, mobile forms of heavy metals compounds (HM) in most cases formed paragenetic associations with high correlation coefficient and despite this, an excess over MPC was not significant. This point to a common mineralogical origin of the elements inherited from the parent rock. The values of the total index of chemical contamination were not above 16, which puts the researched samples in a category with permissible contamination. The indices of the total number of heterotrophic bacteria, iron-oxidizing and hydrocarbon-oxidizing bacteria in most samples corresponded to normal indices for chestnut solonetsous and saline soils. In some samples, a deviation from the normal indices was observed justifying the impact of specific contaminants on the soil.

Soil Science Annual

Lidia Oktaba

The objective of the study was to determine properties of soils located within a city, and to assess the effect of anthropopressure on the accumulation of carbon and nitrogen in soils of Pruszków . a medium sized town in central Poland. Surface soil layers (0.20 cm) were collected at 36 sites. A total of 12 samples from lawns, 11 from allotment gardens, 9 from fields and 4 from fallow lands were subject to analysis. Lawns and allotment gardens were treated as central zone I . under strong pressure of anthropogenic factors, fields and fallow lands were treated as zone II . with potentially low level of anthropogenic influence. The statistical analysis showed significantly higher (p=0.008) amount of organic carbon (Corg) in lawns (mean 20.5 g·kg

For the first time, the quantitative geochemical data are given for urban soils of several groups of cities which differ in population. The content of chemical elements is considered as well as the specific ecological significance of soil contamination by these elements. The figures were established by authors on the base of average concentrations of chemical elements in the soils of more than 300 cities and settlements. The major part of data (sampling, analyses, and their statistical treatment) was obtained directly by authors as a result of special studies conducted for more than 15 years. The sufficiently numerous published materials of different researchers were also used. The greatest elements accumulation comparing with the Earth’s soils (tens of thousands of tons per 1 km2) is associated with an increase in the content of Ca and Mg. Considering the environmental significance of chemical elements accumulation in soils, we note the primary role of Pb and Zn in all groups of cities. Out from the rest pollutants it is necessary, first of all, to note As, Cu, and Cl, which are the main contaminants in four of six cities groups. In two groups of settlements, Cd and Co are important soil pollutants. In three groups, a considerable increase in the Ca content significantly modifies ecological–geochemical state of soils.

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Norilsk: The city built by gulag prisoners where Russia guards its Arctic secrets

Environmental activists are frustrated by how authorities handled a diesel spill which poured into two Arctic rivers in late May.

International correspondent @DiMagnaySky

Friday 3 July 2020 23:41, UK

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The drive from Norilsk airport to the city takes you past mile after mile of crumbling, Soviet-era factories.

It looks like an endless, rusting scrapyard - a jumble of pipes, industrial junk and frost-bitten brickwork. If you were looking for an industrial apocalypse film setting, this would be your place - but you're unlikely to get the permissions.

Norilsk was built in Stalin's times by gulag prisoners. This gritty industrial city is a testament to their endurance both of the cruelty of Stalin's regime and of the harsh polar climate. There were no thoughts then on how to build to protect the environment, just to survive it.

Vasily Ryabinin doesn't think much has changed, at least in ecological terms. He used to work for the local branch of the federal environmental watchdog, Rosprirodnadzor, but quit in June after exposing what he says was a failure to investigate properly the environmental impact of the gigantic diesel spill which poured into two Arctic rivers in late May.

At 21,000 tonnes, it was the largest industrial spill in the polar Arctic .

Despite the Kremlin declaring a federal emergency and sending a host of different agencies to participate in the clean-up, just last week Mr Ryabinin and activists from Greenpeace Russia found another area where technical water used in industrial processes was being pumped directly into the tundra from a nearby tailing pond. Russia's investigative committee has promised to investigate.

"The ecological situation here is so bad," Mr Ryabinin says.

"The latest constructions such as the tailing pond at the Talnack ore-processing plant were built exclusively by Nornickel chief executive Vladimir Potanin's team and supposedly in accordance with ecological standards, but on satellite images you can see that all the lakes in the vicinity have unnatural colours and obviously something has got into them."

Mining company Nornickel would disagree. It has admitted flagrant violations at the tailing pond and suspended staff it deems responsible at both the Talnack plant and at Norilsk Heat and Power plant no 3 where the diesel spill originated from.

On Thursday it appointed Andrey Bougrov, from its senior management board, to the newly-created role of senior vice president for environmental protection. It has a clear environmental strategy, provides regular updates on the status of the spill, and its Twitter feed is filled with climate-related alerts.

But what investors read is very different to the picture on the ground.

Norilsk used to be a closed city - one of dozens across the Soviet Union shut off to protect industrial secrets. Foreigners need special permissions approved by the Federal Security Service (FSB) to enter the region. It would take an invitation from Nornickel to make that happen and, for the past month since the spill, that has not been forthcoming.

Unlike in Soviet times, Russian citizens are now free to come and go. That's why our Sky News Moscow team were able to fly in and travel around the city, even if getting to the spill site was blocked. What they were able to film provides a snapshot of the immense challenge Russia faces in upgrading its Soviet-era industrial infrastructure, particularly at a time when climate change is melting the permafrost on which much of it was built.

Just downwind from one of the rusting factories on the city outskirts is a huge expanse of dead land. The skeletal remains of trees stand forlorn against the howling Arctic winds. Sulphur dioxide poisoning has snuffed the life out of all that lived here. Norilsk is the world's worst emitter of sulphur dioxide by a substantial margin.

"For 80km south of here everything is dead," Mr Ryabinin says, "and for at least 10km in that direction too. Everything here depends on the wind."

Immediately after the spill, Mr Ryabinin filmed and took samples from the Daldykan river just a few kilometres from the fuel tank which had leaked. By that point the river was a churning mix of diesel and red sludge dredged up from the riverbed by the force of the leak. Norilsk's rivers have turned red before and the chemical residues have sunk to the bottom, killing all life there. Nothing has lived in those rivers for decades.

In his capacity as deputy head of the local environmental watchdog, Mr Ryabinin says he insisted that he be allowed to fly further north to check the levels of contamination in Lake Pyasino and beyond.

Nornickel at the time claimed the lake was untouched by the spill. Mr Ryabinin says his boss encouraged him to let things be.

"I can't be sure I would have found anything, but this sort of confrontation - making sure I didn't go there with a camera, let alone with bottles for taking samples, it was all very clear to me. It was the final straw."

Rosprirodnadzor refused to comment to Sky News on Mr Ryabinin's allegations or suggestions that the agency was working hand in hand with Nornickel.

Georgy Kavanosyan is an environmental blogger with a healthy 37,000 following on YouTube. Shortly after the spill, he set out for Lake Pyasino and to the Pyasina River beyond to see how far the diesel had spread.

"We set out at night so that the Norilsk Nickel security wouldn't detect us. I say at night, but they've got polar nights there now, north of the Arctic Circle. So it's still light but it's quieter and we managed to go past all the cordons."

He is one of the few to have provided evidence that the diesel has in fact travelled far beyond where the company admits. Not just the 1,200km (745m) length of Lake Pyasino but into the river beyond.

He says his measurements indicated a volume of hydrocarbons dissolved in the water of between two and three times normal levels. He thinks after he published his findings on YouTube, the authorities' vigilance increased.

Greenpeace Russia have spent the last two weeks trying to obtain samples from Lake Pyasino and the surrounding area. They have faced difficulties getting around and flying their samples out for independent analysis.

They are now waiting for results from a laboratory in St Petersburg but say the samples remain valid technically for just four days after collection and that they weren't able to make that deadline due to the authorities' actively obstructing their work.

Elena Sakirko from Greenpeace Russia specialises in oil spills and says this has happened to her before. This time, a police helicopter flew to the hunter's hut where they were staying and confiscated the fuel for the boat they were using. Then a deputy for the Moscow city parliament tasked with bringing the samples back from Norilsk was forced to go back empty-handed.

"We were told at the airport we needed permission from the security department of Nornickel," Ms Sakirko says. "We asked them to show us some law or statement to prove that this was legal or what the basis for this was, but they haven't showed us anything and we still don't understand it."

Nornickel announced this week that the critical stage of the diesel spill is over. The company is now finalising dates for a press tour for foreign media and for other international environmentalists.

Mr Ryabinin thinks this should have happened weeks ago.

"If we don't let scientists come to the Arctic region to evaluate the impact of the accident, then in the future if anything similar happens, we won't know what to do."

A spokesperson for Nornickel said the company "is actively cooperating with the scientific community and will meticulously assess both the causes and effects of the accident."

Nornickel considers permafrost thawing to be the primary cause of the accident, but is waiting for the end of investigation before making a final statement, the spokesperson said.

They added that the company "accepts full responsibility for the incidents on its sites these past two months and holds itself accountable for any infrastructural deficits or poor decisions by personnel.

"The imperative is to do everything to clean up our sites, instil a stronger culture of transparency and safety in our workforce, and ensure that such situations do not occur in the future."

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Gagarin Cup Preview: Atlant vs. Salavat Yulaev

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Gagarin cup (khl) finals:  atlant moscow oblast vs. salavat yulaev ufa.

Much like the Elitserien Finals, we have a bit of an offense vs. defense match-up in this league Final.  While Ufa let their star top line of Alexander Radulov, Patrick Thoresen and Igor Grigorenko loose on the KHL's Western Conference, Mytischi played a more conservative style, relying on veterans such as former NHLers Jan Bulis, Oleg Petrov, and Jaroslav Obsut.  Just reaching the Finals is a testament to Atlant's disciplined style of play, as they had to knock off much more high profile teams from Yaroslavl and St. Petersburg to do so.  But while they did finish 8th in the league in points, they haven't seen the likes of Ufa, who finished 2nd. 

This series will be a challenge for the underdog, because unlike some of the other KHL teams, Ufa's top players are generally younger and in their prime.  Only Proshkin amongst regular blueliners is over 30, with the work being shared by Kirill Koltsov (28), Andrei Kuteikin (26), Miroslav Blatak (28), Maxim Kondratiev (28) and Dmitri Kalinin (30).  Oleg Tverdovsky hasn't played a lot in the playoffs to date.  Up front, while led by a fairly young top line (24-27), Ufa does have a lot of veterans in support roles:  Vyacheslav Kozlov , Viktor Kozlov , Vladimir Antipov, Sergei Zinovyev and Petr Schastlivy are all over 30.  In fact, the names of all their forwards are familiar to international and NHL fans:  Robert Nilsson , Alexander Svitov, Oleg Saprykin and Jakub Klepis round out the group, all former NHL players.

For Atlant, their veteran roster, with only one of their top six D under the age of 30 (and no top forwards under 30, either), this might be their one shot at a championship.  The team has never won either a Russian Superleague title or the Gagarin Cup, and for players like former NHLer Oleg Petrov, this is probably the last shot at the KHL's top prize.  The team got three extra days rest by winning their Conference Final in six games, and they probably needed to use it.  Atlant does have younger regulars on their roster, but they generally only play a few shifts per game, if that. 

The low event style of game for Atlant probably suits them well, but I don't know how they can manage to keep up against Ufa's speed, skill, and depth.  There is no advantage to be seen in goal, with Erik Ersberg and Konstantin Barulin posting almost identical numbers, and even in terms of recent playoff experience Ufa has them beat.  Luckily for Atlant, Ufa isn't that far away from the Moscow region, so travel shouldn't play a major role. 

I'm predicting that Ufa, winners of the last Superleague title back in 2008, will become the second team to win the Gagarin Cup, and will prevail in five games.  They have a seriously well built team that would honestly compete in the NHL.  They represent the potential of the league, while Atlant represents closer to the reality, as a team full of players who played themselves out of the NHL. 

• Atlant @ Ufa, Friday Apr 8 (3:00 PM CET/10:00 PM EST)
• Atlant @ Ufa, Sunday Apr 10 (1:00 PM CET/8:00 AM EST)
• Ufa @ Atlant, Tuesday Apr 12 (5:30 PM CET/12:30 PM EST)
• Ufa @ Atlant, Thursday Apr 14 (5:30 PM CET/12:30 PM EST)

Games 5-7 are as yet unscheduled, but every second day is the KHL standard, so expect Game 5 to be on Saturday, like an early start. 

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