“All the world’s a stage. And all the men and
Ex: biological processes
women merely players. They have their exits and
their entrances, and one man in his time plays
many parts.”
-William Shakespeare-
English Playwright, 17th Century
The Importance of Studying Life-span
Development
Development - the pattern of change that begins at
conception and continues through the life span.
Most development involves growth, although it
also includes decline brought on by aging and
dying.
Life-span perspective - involves growth,
maintenance and regulation; and is constructed
through biological, sociocultural and individual
factors working together.
Characteristics of the Life-span perspective
1. Development is Lifelong = development occurs
from the moment of conception to death.
2. Development is Multidimensional = whatever
your age, your body, your mind, your emotions and
your relationships are changing and affecting each
other.
- Development consists of biological, cognitive and
socioemotional dimensions. Even with dimension,
there are many components: attention, memory,
abstract thinking, speed of processing information,
social intelligence and others.
3. Development is Multidirectional = throughout
life, some dimensions or components of a
dimension expand and others shrink.
4. Development is Plastic = Plasticity means the
capacity for change.
5. Developmental Science is Multidisciplinary =
How do your heredity and health limit your
intelligence? Do intelligence and social
relationships change with age in the same way
around the world?
6. Development is Contextual = All development
occurs within a context or setting. Contexts include
families, schools, peer groups, churches, cities,
neighborhoods, university laboratories, etc. As a
result of these changes, contexts exert 3 types of
influences (Baltes, 2003):
A. Normative age-graded influence –
influences/changes which are similar for individuals
in a particular age group.
such as puberty and menopause; sociocultural like
start of formal education.
B. Normative history-graded influence = common
to people of a particular generation because of
historical circumstances. Example: Covid-19.
C. Nonnormative life events = are unusual
occurrences that have a major impact on the
individual’s life. Example: death of a parent when a
child is young.
6. Development involves Growth, Maintenance
and Regulation of Loss - Mastery of life often
involves conflicts and competition among three
goals of human development: growth,
maintenance and regulation of loss.
7. Development is a Co-construction of Biology,
Culture and the Ind’l
Example: the brain shapes culture but it is also
shaped by culture and the experiences that the
individuals have pursue.
Some Contemporary Concerns:
1. Health and well-being – the power of lifestyles
and psychological states in health and well-being
2. Parenting and education
3. Sociocultural contexts and diversity culture,
ethnicity, socioeconomic status (SES) and gender
4. Social policy – a national government’s course of
action designed to promote the welfare of its
citizens.
The Nature of Development
1. Biological Processes- are changes in an
individual’s physical nature: genes, brain
development, changes in motor skills and
hormonal changes in pubertal stage.
2. Cognitive Processes = changes in an
individual’s thought, intelligence and
language.
3. Socioemotional processes = changes in an
individual’s relationships with other
people, emotions and personality.
Connecting Biological, Cognitive and
Socioemotional Processes:
Example: A baby smiling in response to a
parent’s touch
2 Emerging fields:
a] developmental cognitive neuroscience
 b] Developmental social science Psychoanalytic Theories

- describe development as primarily

Periods of Development unconscious and heavily colored by emotion.
Behavior is merely surface characteristics, and the
The interplay of biological, cognitive and
symbolic workings of the mind have to be analyzed
socioemotional processes produces the periods of
to understand behavior. Early experiences with
the human life span.
parents are emphasized.
1. Prenatal period = conception to birth
2. Infancy = birth to 18-24 months A} Freud’s Theory
3. Early childhood = 2-5 years or
- convinced that their problems were the result of
preschool age
experiences early in life. He thought that as
4. Middle and late childhood = 6 -11
children grow up, their focus of pleasure and
years or elem years
sexual impulses shifts from the mouth to the anus
5. Adolescence = transition stage from
and eventually to the genitals. As a result, we go
childhood to early adolescents; 10-12
through 5 stages of psychosexual stages: oral, anal,
to 18-21 years old
phallic, latency and genital. Our adult personality,
6. Early Adulthood = 20s to 30s
Freud claimed, is determined by the way we
7. Middle Adulthood = 40s to 50s
resolve conflicts between sources of pleasure at
8. Late Adulthood = 60s to 70s and lasts
each stage and the demands of reality.
until death

Developmental Issues

1. Nature and Nurture = this refers to the debate

about whether development is primarily influenced
by nature or nurture.

2. Stability and Change = involves the degree to

which we become older renditions of our early
experience (stability) or whether we develop into
someone different from who we were at an earlier
point in development (change).

3. Continuity-Discontinuity = focuses on the extent

to which development involves gradual, cumulative
change (continuity) or distinct stages
(discontinuity).

Theories of Development

Key terms:

1. Scientific method = is an approach that can be

used to obtain accurate information. It includes
these steps:

a] conceptualize the problem

b] Collect data

c] Draw conclusions

d] Revise research conclusions and theory

2. Theory = an interrelated, coherent set of ideas

that helps to explain and make predictions.

3. Hypotheses = specific assumption and

predictions that can be tested to determine that
accuracy.