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Copyright 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-202
Copyright 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-202
Copyright 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-202
3RD
AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND
EDITION

Sigelman – De George – Cunial – Rider


Copyright 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-202
Life Span Human Development © 2019 Cengage Learning Australia Pty Limited
3rd Edition
Carol K. Sigelman Copyright Notice
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 22 21 20 19 18

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CONTENTS v

CHAPTER 1 CHAPTER 2
BRIEF
CONTENTS

Understanding life span Theories of human


human development 1 development 48

CHAPTER 3 CHAPTER 4 CHAPTER 5

Genes, environment and Body, brain and Cognitive development 219


the beginnings of life 97 health 156

CHAPTER 6 CHAPTER 7 CHAPTER 8

Sensory-perception, Intelligence and Language, literacy and


attention and memory 267 creativity 326 learning 381

CHAPTER 9 CHAPTER 10 CHAPTER 11

Self, personality, gender Social cognition and moral Emotions, attachment and
and sexuality 429 development 491 social relationships 548

CHAPTER 12 CHAPTER 13

Developmental The final challenge:


psychopathology 615 Death and dying 676

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vi

CONTENTS

Guide to the text xii


Guide to the online resources xvi
Preface xviii
About the authors xxii
Acknowledgments xxiii

1 UNDERSTANDING LIFE SPAN HUMAN DEVELOPMENT 1

1.1 How should we think about 1.3 How is development studied? 21


development? 3 The scientific method 22
Defining development 3 Sample selection 23
Conceptualising the life span 4 Data collection techniques 23
Framing the influence of nature and Case study, experimental
nurture 11 and correlational methods 25
1.2 What is the science of life Developmental research designs 31
span development? 15 1.4 What special challenges do
Goals of study 16 developmental scientists face? 38
Early beginnings 17 Protecting the rights of research
The modern life span perspective 18 participants 38
Conducting culturally sensitive
research 39

2 THEORIES OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT 48

2.1 Developmental theories 2.4 Humanistic theories 68


and the issues they raise 49 Maslow: Hierarchy of needs 69
Nature and nurture 51 Humanistic theories: Contributions
Activity and passivity 51 and weaknesses 71
Continuity and discontinuity 52 2.5 Cognitive theories 72
Universality and context specificity 52 Piaget: Cognitive developmental
2.2 Psychoanalytic theories 54 theory 72

Freud: Psychoanalytic theory 55 Vygotsky: Sociocultural theory 74

Erikson: Psychosocial theory 58 Information-processing approach 74

Psychoanalytic theories: Contributions Theories of adult cognitive


and weaknesses 60 development 75
Cognitive theories: Contributions and
2.3 Learning theories 60
weaknesses 76
Pavlov and Watson: Classical
conditioning 61 2.6 Systems theories 78
Skinner: Operant conditioning 62 Gottlieb: Epigenetic psychobiological
systems perspective 78
Bandura: Social cognitive theory 65
Systems theories: Contributions and
Learning theories: Contributions and weaknesses 81
weaknesses 67
2.7 Theories in perspective 83

Copyright 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-202
CONTENTS vii

3 GENES, ENVIRONMENT AND THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE 97

3.1 Individual heredity 98 3.4 The prenatal environment


Conception 98 and foetal health 126
The genetic code 100 Teratogens 126
Mechanisms of inheritance 104 Maternal characteristics and foetal
Genetic abnormalities and disorders 107 health 132
Paternal characteristics and foetal
3.2 The interplay of genes
health 136
and environment 110
3.5 The perinatal environment 136
Studying genetic and environmental
influences 111 Childbirth 137
The heritability of different traits 114 Identifying at-risk newborns 141
How genes and environment 3.6 The neonatal environment 142
work together 115 Breast or bottle? 142
3.3 Prenatal stages 120 Peripartum depression 143
The germinal period 121 Risk and resilience 144
The embryonic period 121
The foetal period 123

4 BODY, BRAIN AND HEALTH 156

4.1 Building blocks of growth 4.3 The child 176


and lifelong health 157 Physical growth and motor capabilites 176
The endocrine system 158 Brain lateralisation 178
The brain and nervous system 160 Health and wellness in childhood 179
Principles of growth 161 4.4 The adolescent 185
A life span developmental model of The adolescent growth spurt
health 162 and puberty 185
4.2 The infant 164 The adolescent brain 191
Rapid physical growth 164 Teen health and wellness 193
The infant brain 165 4.5 The adult 196
Newborn capabilities 166 The changing body 196
Infant motor development 169 The changing brain 197
Health and wellness in infancy 173 The changing reproductive system 199
Health challenges: Ageing or disease,
disuse or misuse? 202

5 COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT 219

5.1 Piaget’s cognitive 5.2 Vygotsky’s sociocultural


developmental theory 220 theory 228
Processes of intellectual and cognitive Culture and thought 228
development 221 Social interaction and thought 228
Piaget: Contributions and challenges 223 Tools of thought 230
A modern take on constructivism 226 Evaluation of Vygotsky 232

Copyright 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-202
viii CONTENTS

5.3 Fischer’s dynamic skill 5.6 The adolescent 249


framework 234 Emergence of abstract and
Comparison to Piaget and Vygotsky 235 systematic thinking 249
5.4 The infant 237 Progress toward mastery of formal
operations 252
Sensorimotor thinking 237
Implications of formal thought 254
The development of object
permanence 238 5.7 The adult 256
The emergence of symbols 240 Limitations in adult cognitive
performance 256
5.5 The child 241
Growth beyond formal thought 257
Preschoolers: Symbolic thinking 241
Ageing and cognitive growth 259
School-age children: Logical thinking 246

6 SENSORY-PERCEPTION, ATTENTION AND MEMORY 267

6.1 The information-processing Advances in attention 287


approach to cognition 269 Explaining memory development 288
Sensation, perception and attention 269 Autobiographical memory 293
Memory 269 Developments in problem solving 296
Problem solving 273 6.4 The adolescent 299
6.2 The infant 274 Attention 299
Uncovering infants’ mental Improvements in memory and
capabilities 274 problem solving 300
Sensory-perceptual abilities 275 6.5 The adult 303
Early memory abilities 285 Sensory-perceptual changes 303
6.3 The child 287 Memory, problem solving and ageing 308
Sensory-perceptual refinements 287

7 INTELLIGENCE AND CREATIVITY 326

7.1 Defining and measuring 7.4 The child 351


intelligence and creativity 327 The stability of IQ scores during
The psychometric view of childhood 351
intelligence 327 The emergence of creativity 352
Gardner’s theory of multiple 7.5 The adolescent 353
intelligences 332
Intellectual change and continuity 353
Sternberg’s triarchic theory of
IQ and school achievement 354
intelligence 333
Fostering creativity 354
Creativity 336
7.6 The adult 355
7.2 Factors that influence
intelligence and creativity 339 Changes in IQ with age 355

The Flynn effect 339 IQ, wealth and health 359

Genes and intelligence 340 Potential for wisdom 362

Environment and intelligence 341 Creative endeavours 363

Genes, environments and creativity 345 7.7 The extremes of intelligence 365
7.3 The infant 345 Intellectual disability 365

Developmental quotients 346 Giftedness 367

Infant intelligence as a predictor 7.8 Integrating cognitive


of later intelligence 346 perspectives 370

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CONTENTS ix

8 LANGUAGE, LITERACY AND LEARNING 381

8.1 The language system 382 8.4 The adolescent 411


Describing language: Basic Academic achievement 411
components 382 Integrating school and work 413
Explaining language: Nature and Pathways to adulthood 415
nurture 384
8.5 The adult 416
8.2 The infant 388
Language: Continuity and change 416
Developing language 388
Adult literacy 417
Mastery motivation 394
Adult education 418
Early learning 395
Theoretical contributions to
8.3 The child 398 learning and education 419
Expanding language skills 399
Learning to read 399
Fostering academic success 402

9 SELF, PERSONALITY, GENDER AND SEXUALITY 429

9.1 Conceptualising the self 9.4 The adolescent 457


and personality 430 Forging a sense of self and identity 457
Basic concepts and theories of Adhering to gender roles 463
self and personality 430 Adolescent sexuality 464
Sex, gender and sexuality 435
9.5 The adult 466
9.2 The infant 440 Ageing and self-esteem 467
The emerging self 440 Continuity and discontinuity in
Temperament 443 personality 468
9.3 The child 446 Eriksonian psychosocial personality
The evolving self and personality 446 growth 471
Acquiring gender roles 450 Changes in gender roles and
sexuality 472
Childhood sexuality 455
Vocational identity and development 475

10 SOCIAL COGNITION AND MORAL DEVELOPMENT 491

10.1 Social cognition 492 The functions of morality:


Developing a theory of mind 492 Evolutionary theory 508
Perspective taking 498 10.3 The infant 509
Social cognition in adulthood 499 Empathy and prosocial behaviour 510
10.2 Perspectives on moral Early antisocial behaviour 511
development 501 Early moral training 511
Moral emotion: Psychoanalytic 10.4 The child 513
theory and beyond 502 Moral understandings 513
Moral reasoning: Cognitive Moral socialisation 515
developmental theory 503
10.5 The adolescent 518
Moral behaviour: Social cognitive
Moral identity 518
theory 507

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x CONTENTS

Changes in moral reasoning 518 10.6 The adult 530


Antisocial behaviour 519 Changes in moral reasoning 530
Bullying 527 Religiousness and spirituality 534

11 EMOTIONS, ATTACHMENT AND SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS 548

11.1 Emotional development 549 11.5 The adolescent 580


First emotions and emotional regulation 549 Balancing autonomy and attachment
Emotional learning in childhood 552 to parents 580
Adolescent moods 553 Changing peer relationships 581
Emotions and ageing 554 11.6 The adult 584
11.2 Perspectives on relationships 556 Evolving social relationships 584
Changing social systems across Family relationships 585
the life span 556 Adult attachment styles 590
Attachment theory 559 11.7 Family violence and child
11.3 The infant 562 abuse 594
An attachment forms 562 Why does child abuse occur? 595
Quality of attachment 563 What problems do abused children
Implications of early attachment 568 display? 599

First peer relations 572 How do we stop the violence? 599

11.4 The child 573


The caregiver–child relationship 573
A new baby arrives 576
Peer networks 577

12 DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOPATHOLOGY 615

12.1 What makes development 12.4 The adolescent 640


abnormal? 616 Storm and stress? 640
Diagnostic guidelines and criteria 616 Eating disorders 641
Developmental psychopathology 618 Substance use disorders 645
12.2 The infant 623 Depression and suicidality 649
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) 623 12.5 The adult 655
Depression in infancy? 629 Depression in adulthood 656
12.3 The child 631 Ageing and dementia 658
Externalising and internalising
problems 631
Attention deficit hyperactivity
disorder (ADHD) 634
Childhood depression 637

Copyright 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-202
CONTENTS xi

13 THE FINAL CHALLENGE: DEATH AND DYING 676

13.1 Matters of life and death 677 13.5 The adolescent 704
What is death? 677 Advanced understandings of death 704
What kills us and when? 682 Experiences with death and dying 704
Theories of ageing: Why do we age 13.6 The adult 706
and die? 686 Death in the family context 706
13.2 The experience of death 690 13.7 Coping with death 713
Perspectives on dying 691 Challenges to the grief work
Perspectives on bereavement 692 perspective 713
13.3 The infant 697 Who copes and who succumbs? 715
13.4 The child 699 Bereavement and positive growth 717
Grasping the concept of death 699 Supporting the dying and bereaved 717
Experiences with death and dying 701 Taking our leave 720

Glossary [Online]
Name index 732
Subject index 751

Copyright 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-202
xii

4
GUIDE TO THE TEXT CHAPTER

As you read this text you will find a number of features in every
chapter to enhance your study of human development and help
you understand how the theory is applied in the real world.

4
BODY, BRAIN AND HEALTH
CHAPTER
CHAPTER-OPENING FEATURES CHAPTER OUTLINE
4.1 Building blocks of growth 4.3 The child 4.5 The adult
and lifelong health Physical growth and motor The changing body

Gain insight into how psychology theories explored in the chapter relate to real life individuals The endocrine system
The brain and nervous system
capabilities
Brain lateralisation
The changing brain
The changing reproductive
Principles of growth Health and wellness in childhood system
through the real-life story at the beginning of each chapter. 4.4 The adolescent
A life span developmental model Health challenges: Ageing or
of health disease, disuse or misuse?
The chapter outline signposts the main chapter heading
4.2 The infant
contained in eachThechapter
puberty
for
adolescent growth spurt and

The adolescent brain


easy reference. Rapid physical growth
The infant brain Teen health and wellness

BODY, BRAIN AND HEALTH


Newborn capabilities
Infant motor development
Health and wellness in infancy

CHAPTER OUTLINE
The arrow of time evident in the photographs. Greying hair, wrinkling
4.1 Building blocks of growth 4.3 The child 4.5 The On
adult
17 June every year, the Goldberg family photographs skin and glasses appear in images of Diego and Susy as
and lifelong health Physical growth and motor The changing body
each family member ‘to stop, for a fleeting moment, they progress through adulthood toward old age. And
The endocrine system capabilities The changing
the arrowbrain
of time passing by’ (Goldberg, 2017). Diego the photographs of their sons chronicle the remarkable
The brain and nervous system Brain lateralisation The changing reproductive
Goldberg, a photographer, and his wife Susy began their growth and physical development that occurs from
Principles of growth Health and wellness in childhood system
family ritual in 1976. As each of their three sons, Nicolas, infancy through puberty to early adulthood. Nicolas,
A life span developmental model Health challenges: Ageing or Matias and Sebastian now add yearly portraits of their
4.4 The adolescent Matias and Sebastian, were born, they too became part
of health disease, disuse or misuse? own growing families – this Goldberg family tradition
The adolescent growth spurt and of the photographic essay. Adopting the same pose year
4.2 The infant puberty to year, the physical changes of growth and ageing are today spans three generations.
Rapid physical growth The adolescent brain
The infant brain Teen health and wellness CHAPTER 4: BODY, BRAIN AND HEALTH 157
Express
Newborn capabilities
Infant motor development
Throughout this chapter, the CourseMate Express logo indicates an opportunity for online self-study, linking you to
Health and wellness in infancy
activities, videos and other online resources.
The Goldberg family’s photographic case study, spanning over four decades and now several
generations, illustrates the changes in physical growth and appearance that occur throughout the life ON THE
INTERNET
The arrow span of time
(see On the internet: Goldberg family evident
tradition). What
in the are the processes
photographs. underlying
Greying hair, wrinkling such growth
On 17 June everyandyear,
change? And what
the Goldberg familyabout physical and
photographs skin and glasses appear in images of Diego and Susy as
biological changes that are not easily captured in yearly Goldberg family
each family member ‘to stop, for a fleeting moment, they progress through adulthood toward old age. And tradition
photographic snapshots, such as changes the in internal bodily systems, physical capabilities and health
photographs of their sons chronicle the remarkable http://zonezero.
the arrow of time passing by’ (Goldberg, 2017). Diego
status? These are the sorts of questions that com/en/open/158-
Goldberg, a photographer, and his wife Susy began their growth and physical development that occurs brain
we address in this chapter on body, from and health.
the-arrow-of-time

FEATURES WITHIN CHAPTERS


family ritual inWe overview
1976. changes
As each of across
their three sons,the life spaninfancy
Nicolas, in body and brain
through and
puberty to156
how adulthood.
early these changes influence our
Nicolas,
Visit this link to
health. were
Matias and Sebastian, We also
born,look
they at
toothe reproductive
became part Matias and
system as itSebastian
maturesnow add yearly
during portraitsand
adolescence of their
then changes view the Goldberg
of the photographic
againessay. Adopting
during the same
adulthood. Andpose considerown
weyear thegrowing
physicalfamilies – this Goldberg family tradition
self in action as movement becomes more family’s yearly
to year, the physical changes of growth and ageing are today spans three generations. photographic
sophisticated throughout the life span. We identify influences on body, brain and health so that you portraits that feature
Identify the key concepts that the chapter will cover with the Learning objectives at the start
can better understand why some children develop – and some older adults age – more rapidly than in the chapter
Express opening vignette.
others.
of each key164heading. LIFE SPANThen HUMAN test your knowledge and apply the theory you have learned with the
DEVELOPMENT The portraits span
three generations
Throughout this chapter, the CourseMate Express logo indicates an opportunity for online self-study, linking you to
and four decades
checking understanding and critical thinking questions at the end of each key topic.
activities, videos and other online resources.

> >4.1 BUILDING BLOCKS OF GROWTH


and chronicle some
> of the physical

when I cameAND LIFELONG HEALTH


changes that occur
to New Zealand from the the hospital environment. Family do all Māori and Pasifikaasfamilies
individuals age.
treat their
United Kingdom was that often when their personal cares, sit with them, elders in that way and that’s why it’s so
an elderly Māori or Pasifika person was sometimes bring their guitars in and important not to make assumptions
■ Associate key processes of the endocrine and nervous systems with important aspects of Learning
admitted to hospital, the entire family, sing to them; and to me that is a huge based on stereotypes. But I take a
and
growth and development.
even the young people – the kids, positive strength of the culture. Of personal and
objectives
person-centred approach
156 ■ Describe and provide an example of each of the three major principles of growth.
and
■ the grandkids
Articulate theinmain
their components
teens – are of the
course, it is important
life span not tomodel
developmental make of health,
to and
eachthe
person and their situation.
involved in of
value supporting
adoptingthat
this person
sort of in sweeping
approach generalisations,
to understanding after all not
health.

Our physical selves – brain, body, and all the behaviours that emerge from these – are fundamental to
IN REVIEW
what we are able to do in life. A 5-year-old child is physically able to experience the world in ways
markedly different from those available to a 5-month-old infant. Five-year-old Mariah, for example,
CHECKING
can throw a ball withUNDERSTANDING
her mum, run with her dog, play hopscotch CRITICAL
with herTHINKING
friends, feed and dress
herself,
1 How anddoes
enjoythe
many of the system
endocrine rides atsupport
the park.Yet Mariah and Illustrate
other 5-year-olds
the aspectsareoflimited
the lifeby their
span developmental model
physical of health
selves. As you will learn in this chapter, their strength and coordination
development? using the example of coeliac
must continue to disease discussed
earlier in this chapter.
improve
2 How before
does they can competently
myelination contribute engage with detailed motor tasks, and their bodies must grow
to developmental LINKAGES
taller and heavier
changes thatbefore
we canthey can move through the world as adults do. It will be years before their
observe?
Chapter 3 Genes,
3 What
brains are fully developed,
is one example allowing
of each ofgreater Get
concentration and more sophisticated thought processes
the cephalocaudal, the answers to the Checkingand
environment
Express understanding questions on
proximodistal
(see Chapters 5 and 6). and orthogenetic principles of the beginnings of
CourseMate Express. life
Asdevelopment?
you have been learning, human growth and development is an incredibly complex process,
Chapter 5
influenced by both genetic and environmental factors (see Chapter 3). At certain times and for Cognitive
certain developments, genetic influences dominate, whereas at other times environmental influences development

4.2 THE INFANT


are more powerful – yet genetic and environmental forces are always working together. Consider Chapter 6 Sensory-
perception,
height. The average female in Australia and New Zealand is 162 centimetres tall and the average attention and
male isLearning
176 centimetres■tall,Discuss
but there is considerable
typical variability
physical and in individual
brain changes duringadult height (Australian
infancy. memory
objectives
Bureau of Statistics, 2012; Summarise
■ Daley, 2013).newborn capabilities
Genes account thatof
for some promote
this: tallhealthy adaptation
people tend to havetotallthe world outside the
womb.
parents, whereas short people often have ‘short genes’ in their family history. Heritability studies
■ Describe fine motor, gross motor, and locomotor skills, and note the typical order in which
confirm a strong genetic influence on height (Dubois et al., 2012).
these skills develop.
Even if you inherit■theDiscuss
geneticthepropensity to be tall (or short), environment can influence the
dynamic systems theory of motor development and summarise the research
expression of those genes.
Copyright 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. If you lack
findingsMay adequate
supporting nutrition,
not bethis theory.
copied, for example, or
scanned, youduplicated,
may not realise inyour
wholefull or in part. WCN 02-200-202
growth potential. And consider
■ Describethe case
the of children with
birth-related coeliac
risks disease,health
to infant an inherited digestive
and the role ofproblem
vaccinations in health.
in which gluten (the protein found in all wheat products) triggers an immune response that damages
We hope the broader message is clear: We must view life span development in its sociocultural and
sociohistorical context. We must bear in mind that each social group settles on its own definitions of
the life span, the age grades within it and the age norms appropriate to each age range, and that each
social group experiences development differently. We must also appreciate that age – whether it is 7,
17 or 70 – has had different meanings in different historical eras and most likely will mean something
Guide to the text
different again in the decades and centuries to come. We must also remain aware of the cultural
and subcultural contexts of development and how these too influence views of age boundaries
xiii
and expectations. One of the most fascinating challenges in the study of human development is to
understand which aspects of development are universal and which differ across social, historical and
cultural contexts – and why (Norenzayan & Heine, 2005; Shweder et al., 2006).

Application

Application SUCCESSFUL AGEING

There is tremendous variability in the more about longitudinal studies, see


health, wellness and functioning of the section later in this chapter on

Source: Steve Liss/Getty Images


older adults. Some are limited by health ‘Developmental research designs’.) For
Application boxes examine how knowledge has problems, but others, like Ruth Frith, the
centenarian athlete who features in the
example, the Melbourne Collaborative
Cohort study (which commenced in

been applied to optimise development in a domain chapter opening, enjoy active, healthy
lives. What factors might account for
1990 with over 40 000 participants born
in Australia, New Zealand and Europe)

of developmental psychology. These facilitate student differences in the functioning of older


adults, and what do we know about
and the Three-City (3C) study in France
(which commenced in 1999 with 9000
staying healthy and ageing successfully participants) both found that avoiding Sister Esther, shown here at age 106,
understanding of the practical and professional in older adulthood? smoking, maintaining a healthy weight interacting with Nun Study researcher
Dr David Snowdon
Longitudinal studies that have and engaging in physical activity are
applications of developmental psychology theory. followed the same participants for
a decade or more have produced
strong predictors of successful ageing in
the elderly (Artaud et al., 2013; Hodge,
study, those older people who smoked
and were overweight and sedentary had
some consistent findings. (To learn English, Giles, & Flicker, 2013). In the 3C a 2.5-fold increased hazard of disability.

>>> >>>

Successful aging Ch 1, p. 10
Using developmental theories to prevent risky
sexual behaviour and unplanned teen pregnancy Ch 2, p. 86 Making inclusion work Ch 8, p. 408
Prevention and treatment of genetic conditions Ch 3, p. 109 Treating disorders of sex development Ch 9, p. 437
Halting the obesity ‘brain drain’ Ch 4, p. 195 Stopping the bullies Ch 10, p. 528
Improving children’s cognitive functioning Ch 5, p. 233 Preventing child abuse Ch 11, p. 600
Aiding children with hearing impairments Ch 6, p. 281 Reducing risks to mental health when
Nurturing development in early natural disasters strike Ch 12, p. 632
learning programs Ch 7, p. 347 Supporting the bereaved family Ch 13, p. 720

40 LIFE SPAN HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

Diversity
Diversity CULTURALLY SENSITIVE RESEARCHERS

Both Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological in New Zealand and Australia (see On method (Māori approaches to research),
model and Baltes’ life span perspective the internet: Guidelines for research which involved engaging Māori iwi

Explore the diverse cultural issues, research and emphasise that development is shaped
by its cultural context. This implies
with Indigenous peoples) require
consultation at all stages of research
(tribes) and health providers to assist
with recruitment and conduct of the
that we need to study development with Indigenous people, not only for research and the use of Māori language
practices in relation to developmental science by in a variety of contexts using culturally protecting research participants but in interviews (Dyall et al., 2013; Walker,
sensitive methods to understand both also to ensure Māori and Aboriginal Eketone, & Gibbs, 2006). With this
reading the Diversity boxes. what is universal and what is culturally
specific about human development
and Torres Strait Islander people have a
voice and are meaningfully engaged in
approach the researchers successfully
recruited large, equal numbers of Māori
(Cole & Packer, 2011). research about issues for their people and non-Māori participants (600 in each
Culturally sensitive researchers must and communities (Health Research Council group).
first be prepared to consult, negotiate of New Zealand, 2010; National Health Third, researchers who study

Culturally sensitive researchers Ch 1, p. 40 and research with participants and


representatives (such as elders) of
and Medical Research Council, 2003).
Second, it can be extremely
cultural influences on development,
or racial, ethnic and socioeconomic

Culture and observational learning Ch 2, p. 67 other cultural and subcultural groups


before, during and after research and
challenging to ensure that data
collection procedures are culturally
differences in development, must
work hard to keep their own cultural
when planning, implementing and appropriate, and that they mean values from biasing their perceptions
Childbirth and culture Ch 3, p. 140 disseminating research. Research the same thing for individuals from of other groups. Too often, Western
design, conduct and analysis have different cultural groups if comparisons researchers have let ethnocentrism –
Aboriginal children’s health Ch 4, p. 180 evolved from Western worldviews, are to be made (Rogoff, 2003). For the belief that
ethnocentrism The
and people from other societies and example, when one organisation one’s own group belief that one’s own
Are Piaget’s stages cross-culturally universal? Ch 5, p. 224 cultures may have different ideas translated a survey into 63 languages and its culture cultural or ethnic group
about who should give consent for and then had the questions translated are superior – is superior to others.
Culture and autobiographical memory Ch 6, p. 295 Morality, culture and gender
participation, or how research data can back into English, strange things Ch 10, p. 531 creep into their
be collected, analysed and used. For happened: ‘married or living with a research designs, procedures and
Explaining cultural differences in IQ test scores Ch 7, p. 344 Attachment and culture
example, in Australia and New Zealand, Ch 11, p. 567
partner’ was translated as ‘married but measures. Ethnocentrism can mean
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander have a girlfriend’, and ‘American ideas the results of studies with children
International differences in achievement test scores Ch 8, p. 414 Ethnic differences in rates of psychological distress Ch 12, p. 656
and Māori knowledge, which is an and customs’ became ‘the ideology of and adults from other cultures are
integral part of identity development America and border guards’ (Morin, misinterpreted according to standards
Culture and self-conceptions Ch 9, p. 434 Grief, mourning and culture
and cultural preservation, is verbally 2003). Other times, researchers needCh 13, p. 693 of another culture; label participants
passed down through the generations to select alternative research methods as ‘deficient’ when they would
and is collectively owned. Researchers or adapt data gathering processes. better be described as ‘different’; or
8 must therefore
LIFE SPANrespect group
HUMAN consent
DEVELOPMENT When recruiting older adult research focus on vulnerabilities rather than
processes (in addition to individual participants for ‘Life and Living in strengths (Spencer, 2006). Also, too
consent), that data gathered remains Advanced Age: A Cohort Study in New often researchers have assumed that
Engagement
the property of the community (not Zealand’ (LiLACS NZ), the research all individuals within various cultural

Engagement the researcher), and that use of the


HOW DO YOU
data should be agreedRELATE TOthe
by both
team used two different methods –
OLDER ADULTS?
non-Māori participants were recruited
groups are alike psychologically, when
in fact there is immense diversity
researchers and the community through local health and community within each cultural, racial or ethnic
Below
(Gorman are&20Toombs,
statements that
2009). may or
General 10 When
networks, whileanMā
older person has were
ori participants endorsed
group (Helms,when compared
Jernigan, to the
& Mascher,
may not apply to you. Write a number
and specific research ethics guidelines an ailment, I may say,
recruited using the Kaupapa Māori ‘That’s highest possible total score for all
2005).

Engagement boxes in each chapter provide from 0 to 2 next to each statement that
indicates how often you relate to older
normal at your age’.
11 When an older person can’t
the positive items.
B Add together the ratings for items 2,
people, aged 60 and over, in these remember something, I may 4, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18,
real-life or hypothetical situations that will help ways. ON THE INTERNET say, ‘That’s what they call a 19 & 20 then divide that total by 28.
0 = Never “Senior Moment”.’ This is the proportion of negative
students to engage personally with the material 1 = Sometimes
2 = Often
Guidelines for research
Health Research
12 Talk
Council of
withlouder
New
Indigenous
Zealand
or slower
(HRC)
peoples
to older
and
people because of their age. Research with
ageist behaviours you endorsed
Māori people
http://www.hrc.govt.nz/news-and-publications/publications/maori
when compared to the highest
and assess their own knowledge, beliefs, traits and Search me! and
Discover
How often Access
do you:the
13 Use simple words when talking
The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies possible
to older
Research in Australian Indigenous Studiespeople.
(AIATSIS) total
negative items.
score for all
and Guidelines for the
Ethical

Psychology database older people


1 Compliment 14 Ignore older people because of
attitudes by completing personality scales, test and investigate the
https://aiatsis.gov.au/research/ethical-research/guidelines-ethical-research-australian-indigenous-studies
how well they look,Visit
on
these website links for their
despite furtherage.
C To help you see roughly where you
information about research ethics and culturally sensitive research
topic of culturally approaches with Aboriginal,
15 Vote Torres
forStrait Islander and Māori peoples. stand, compare your positive and
sensitivetheir age. an older person
items, surveys and short quizzes. research.
2 Send birthday cards to older because of their age.
negative scores to the average age
and gender scores in Table 1.2.
people that joke about 16 Vote against an older person
The values in the table were found
their age. because of their age.
by Cherry and Palmore (2008) in
3 Enjoy conversations with older 17 Avoid older people because of
a sample of 162 participants. As
people because of their age. their age.
indicated by the results in the
How do you relate to older adults? Ch 1, p. 8 4 Tell older people jokes about
old age.
18 Avoid older people because
they are cranky.
table, they found all age groups
readily admitted to positive ageist
5 Hold doors open for older 19 When a slow driver is in front of
Where do you stand on major people because of their age. me, I may think, ‘It must be an
behaviours. Any differences in the
endorsement of positive or negative
developmental issues? Ch 2, p. 50 What’s your motivation style?
6 Tell an older person, ‘You’re too old person’. Ch 8, p. 403 ageist items between age groups
old for that’. 20 Call an older woman, ‘young
was not significant, meaning the
Genetic influence: what is myth, what is reality Ch 3, p. 100 A brief personality scale
7 Offer to help an older person lady’, or call an older man, Ch 9, p. 432 younger and older adults endorsed
across the street because of ‘young man’.
similar numbers of items. Females
Longevity quiz Ch 4, p. 206 Do you have a theory of mind?
their age. Ch 10, p. 496
To score and interpret your responses:
endorsed positive ageist items
8 When I find out an older A Add together the ratings for items significantly more often than
How well do you understand Piaget’s stages? Ch 5, p. 251 Identifying internal working models of attachment Ch 11, p. 592
person’s age, I may say, ‘You 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 and 10, then divide that males, but there were no gender
don’t look that old’. total by 12. This is the proportion differences for the endorsement of
Improve your memory! Ch 6, p. 301 9 Ask an older person for advice
Is someone you know suicidal? Ch 12, p. 654
of positive ageist behaviours you negative items.
because of their age.
Are you creative? Ch 7, p. 337 Life and death: what are your views? Ch 13, p. 681
TABLE 1.2 Average age and gender scores

Group Positive items Negative items


Younger adults (18–29 years) 0.54 0.24
Middle-aged adults (40–57 years) 0.51 0.15
Older adults (60+ years) 0.54 0.26
Males 0.49 0.23
Females 0.55 0.24
Copyright 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole 0.53
Total sample
or in part. WCN 02-200-202
0.23

Source: Reprinted from Cherry & Palmore (2008), with permission from Taylor & Francis Ltd, http://www.tandfonline.com, © 2008.
xiv Guide to the text
CHAPTER 1: UNDERSTANDING LIFE SPAN HUMAN DEVELOPMENT 35

Exploration

Exploration AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND LONGITUDINAL STUDIES OF DEVELOPMENT

As you have learned, longitudinal life span – for example (and this is
research studies have clear advantages by no means an exhaustive list of LINKAGES
over cross-sectional designs for the featured longitudinal studies
Exploration boxes provide in-depth investigation answering questions about how we or of chapters that refer to the
Chapter 2 Theories of human
development
develop and grow as we age. In findings of longitudinal studies): the Chapter 3 Genes, environment and the
of local and international research on various high 14
Table 1.5 we highlight some of the
largest ongoing Australian and
LIFE SPAN HUMAN DEVELOPMENT New
Australian Temperament Project
(ATP; Chapter 9 ); the Auckland
beginnings of life
Chapter 4 Body, brain and health

interest topics. Zealand longitudinal studies – some


studies are in early stages; others have
Birthweight Collaborative (ABC)
Study (Chapters 3, 4 and 7); the
Chapter 7 Intelligence and creativity
Chapter 8 Language, literacy and
been gathering data on participants Christchurch Health and Development learning
for over 40 years! enjoyable and more pressured as a result of work
Study (CHDS; Chapters 7 and 8); the (Hayes, Qu, Weston, & Baxter, 2011). Family-
Chapter 9 Self, personality, gender and
Throughout this bookfriendly
we workplaceGudagapolicies, such as flexible
Longitudinal Birthworking
Cohort hours, if available,
sexuality may help some families
will draw on the resultstoof better
these balance work
Study and family
of Urban life (Gray
Australian & Tudball, 2002).
Indigenous Further, therecognition
Chapter 10 Social is considerable
and moral
and many other Australian, Infants
international evidence (Chapter
that 7); the leave
paid parental Australian development
is associated with improved child development
Australian and New Zealand longitudinal New Zealand and international Mater-University Study of Pregnancy
and maternal health outcomes (Berger, Hill, & Waldfogel, 2005; Khanam, Nghiem, & Connelly,
studies of development Ch 1, p. 35 longitudinal studies as we seek (MUSP; Chapter 10); the Minnesota Values Study (NZAVS; Chapter 9);
2009). This is good news for the New Zealand and Australian parents who have been able to
to understand the influences on Twin Family Study (MTFS; Chapter 3); and the Seattle Longitudinal Study
accessthe
government-funded parentalAttitudes
leave since
and 2002 and(this
2011 respectively (Department
2 and of
Psychoanalytic theorists: Notes on school refusal Ch 2, p. 59 human development across the New Zealand chapter and Chapters
Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, 2011; Inland Revenue, 2011).
7).

5 In addition to microsystems, mesosystems, exosystems and macrosystems, Bronfenbrenner


Learning theorists: Notes on school refusal Ch 2, p. 67 TABLE 1.5 Ongoing Australian and New Zealand longitudinal studies
chronosystem The introduced the concept of the chronosystem to capture the idea that changes in people and
Humanistic theorists: Notes on school refusal Ch 2, p. 70 system that captures
Study in
the way changes
their environments occur
Purpose in a timeframe
Participants and timing(chrono
Data means time) and
collection unfold
Unique in particular
features Examples patterns
environmental systems, or sequences over a person’s lifetime. Another
of data collection way to think about this is that we cannot study
methods
Cognitive theorists: Notes on school refusal Ch 2, p. 75 such as social trends
Australian development by taking
To gain further still1992,
Since photos;
2000+we mustInterviews,
use video to understand how one See,
In addition eventforleads to
example,
The summer learning effect
and life events, are
Longitudinal Study of understanding
another
South Australian adults surveys, Ch 8, p. 407 to tracking in this chapter,
of how and how societal changes intertwineinformant
with changes inindividual
people’s lives. Fordiscussion
example,of an
Systems theorists: Notes of school refusal Ch 2, p. 81 patternedAgeing
over a (ALSA) social, aged 70+ years have

Self-recognition around the


person’s lifetime.
edu.au/sabs/fcas/
world
http://www.flinders. economic
environmental
crisis
biomedical andmay result
occasions. Around 70
in a husband’s
been assessed
Ch 9, p. 442
on 10+job reports,
loss, causing marital
objective
assessments
conflict, and in turn
development,
500+ married
ALSAleading
findingsto
that provide
divorce and to changesper in cent
theirwere
children’s lives of
and family relationships. Each of us, then, functions
Parental influences on gene expression Ch 3, p. 119 alsa/ factors are born in physical couples have insights into
Marshmallows and the life span significance of
in associated
particular with
microsystems
ageing in older
linked
Australia, through
with a smallthefunctioning
number of Aboriginal
mesosystem and embedded
(e.g.
blood pressure,
in the larger
been followed
over the course of
contexts
successful ageing.

How can brain changes during adolescence self-control Ch 10, p. 512 of people,
the exosystem
and
and and
the Torres
macrosystem,
Strait
all in balance)
the continual
and
flux the
of the chronosystem.
study.
Bronfenbrenner’s
to explore the bioecological model suggests that function
answers to questions about how child
explain risky behaviours? Ch 4, p. 192 MAKING
Islander peoples. Those cognitive

The intergenerational
CONNECTIONS transmission of parenting
abuse,concept of healthy, born overseas are
marriage, retirement or other experiences (e.g.
active ageing. largely from English- Ch 11, p. 597
memory and
affect development will often be complex because
verbal ability).
Can there really be a Santa Claus? Ch 5, p. 244 outcomes depend on so many speakingfactors. According to Bronfenbrenner and Morris (2006), researchers
countries.
Explaining the gender
Give an example
Growing
of how each of
up in New difference
need to
To consider inrelationships
provide a the eating disorders
amongNew
Seven thousand Ch
and effects of12, p. 642
key characteristics
Interviews of the person,
Data gathering See,the context,
for example,
Ageing drivers Ch 6, p. 306 Zealand study
Bronfenbrenner’s
complete picture
the time Zealand children
dimension and the with parents
processes through which started when
an active person Chapter 3,
and his or herinenvironment
Communicating
environmental with patients
http://www.
growingup.co.nz/interact
that(for
lead
with parent–infant
of the pathways
example,
to
unresponsive
born in 2009/10 have
interaction
been assessed every
and children
or playhealth
about
the mother of
with peers).
theNature
discussion of
and nurture,
study child studytherefore,
findings
Cognitive enhancement for ageing adult Ch 7, p. 358 wakefulness syndrome
systemsen.html
have
affected you and cannotsuccessful and easily12–18
be separated months,
because are part Ch
theywith and 13, p.system,
of awellbeing,
dynamic 678
was 28 weeks
continually that provideone
influencing
equitable child the study planned whānau (family) pregnant. insights into the
your development another. Complex research
development, and todesigns
continueand statistical techniques
until are needed to assess the many
life, education, interacting
health of mothers
over the past year. improve outcomes they become adults. psychological and babies during
influences on development portrayed in Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological model, but progress is being
for all children. All socioeconomic development, pregnancy and
made (Holt, 2009; Sameroff, 2009). It is appropriate,
levels are represented then,
neighbourhood that we look next at the science
early of life
infancy.
span human development.and the sample is and environment,
ethnically diverse. and culture and
identity.
Professional practice

Professional Practice MEET AN EDUCATIONAL AND DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGIST

What does your role as an I decided to become an educational


educational and developmental and developmental psychologist

Meet real professionals in the Professional practice psychologist involve, and why did
you decide to become one?
because as a former teacher I had
a passion for nurturing children’s
>>>

boxes and gain insights into how theory relates to, The Australian Psychological
Society recognises educational and
strengths and supporting their
weaknesses, particularly those children
developmental psychologists as those with special learning or developmental
and informs day-to-day practice for psychologists, practitioners with specialised training needs, in order to help them achieve
and experience in providing assessment, their full potential and succeed in a

Source: Kimberley Cunial


social workers and educators. intervention and counselling services to
help children and adults with learning as
way that is meaningful for them. Thus,
in my psychology practice I work
well as developmental issues. I personally with children, adolescents and their
believe this definition accurately captures families. This means I really work with all
the nature of this specialisation. Yet the stages of the life span, including even
Meet an educational and developmental specific roles within this specialisation the prenatal stage if I am providing Kimberley Cunial BA(Hons), PGDipEd,
MEdPsych, MAPS, CEDP, Educational and
psychologist Ch 1, p. 14 can be quite diverse. pregnancy support counselling.
Developmental Psychologist, Queensland,
Australia
>>>
Meet an occupational therapist Ch 1, p. 17
Meet a social worker Ch 1, p. 20
Meet a clinical psychologist Ch 2, p. 53 Administering intelligence tests Ch 7, p. 331
Meet an educator Ch 2, p. 82 Cooperative learning Ch 8, p. 410
Fostering self-righting pathways Ch 3, p. 145 Identity and wellbeing Ch 9, p. 464
A strengths-based approach to health Ch 4, p. 163 Responding to bullying Ch 10, p. 529
Nurturing student success Ch 5, p. 236 Responding to family violence Ch 11, p. 596
Selective optimisation with compensation Kick-ing the rumination habit Ch 12, p. 650
in practice Ch 6, p. 313 Being a person and a professional Ch 13, p. 719

6 LIFE SPAN HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

Statistics snapshot

Statistics Snapshot SOCIAL TRENDS

In Australia … • In 1971 the median age of first • In 1971, the median age of first
• In 1976, 21 per cent of 18- to motherhood was 25.4 years; in 2014 marriage was 23 years for males
34-year-olds lived at home with their this had increased to 29 years. and 21 years for females; in 1966 it
Statistics snapshot boxes highlight parents; in 2011 this had increased • In 1974 the median age for first was 28 years for males and 26 years
for females; and in 2015 it was 30
to 29 per cent. fatherhood was around 29 years;
important data relating to this region. • In 1976, the median age of first in 2010 this had increased to 33.1
years.
years for males and 29 years for
females.
marriage was 24 years for males and
21 years for females; in 2015 this had • In 1996, 30 per cent of 18- to
In New Zealand … 24 year olds were studying,
increased to 32 years for males and
30 years for females. • From 1986 to 2006, the number of compared to 40 per cent in 2006.
20- to 24 year olds living at home • in 1976 the median age for first
• In 1976, 14 per cent of 18- to
has remained relatively stable at motherhood was 25 years; this had
34-year olds attended a higher
Social trends Ch 1, p. 6 education institution compared to
around 30 per cent, although there increased to 28 years in 2011.
was a peak in 1991 at 38.7 per cent.
26 per cent in 2011.
Teen birth rates Ch 2, p. 88 Sources: AIHW (2016); Australian Bureau of Statistics (1997, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2015); New Zealand Families Commission (2008);
Statistics New Zealand (2012, 2015, 2017).
Prematurity, low birth weight and foetal mortality Ch 3, p. 135
Overweightness and obesity Ch 4, p. 206 Age and development: Sociocultural perspectives
Table 1.1 represents only one view of the periods of the life span; age, like gender, race and other
Visual impairment and ageing Ch 6, p. 305 Juvenile crime rates Chthings
significant human characteristics, means different 10,inp.different
521societies and cultures (Fry, 2009).
culture A system of Culture is often defined as the shared understandings and way of life of a people (see Mistry &
Participation in early childhood education Ch 7, p. 349 Households and families
meanings shared by a Ch 11, p. 558
Dutta, 2015; Packer & Cole, 2015). It includes beliefs, values and practices concerning the nature
population of people
of humans in different phases of the life span, what children need to be taught to function in
Participation in adult education Ch 8, p. 418 Suicide rates Ch
and transmitted from
one generation to the
12, p. 650
their society, and how people should lead their lives as adults. Different cultures can lead us along
next.
Gender identification Ch 9, p. 436 Life expectancy
different developmental pathways, but we allCh 13, p.
participate in a683
culture. That culture becomes part of
us, influencing how we live and how we experience our lives (Packer & Cole, 2015).
Each culture has its own ways of dividing the life span and of treating the people in different
age grade Socially-age groups. And each socially-defined age group in a culture – called an age grade or age
defined age group or
stratum – is assigned different statuses, roles, privileges and responsibilities. Segregating children into
stratum, with distinct
grades in school based on age is one form of age grading, but whole societies are layered into age
statuses, roles, privileges
and responsibilities in
grades and privilege certain ages. For example, in Australia and New Zealand, it has been determined
Copyright 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or society. duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-202
that ‘adults’ (18-year-olds by law) can legally consume alcohol and are extended a voting privilege
not granted to children. But even legal definitions of the boundaries between adolescence and
adulthood vary. The legal age for marriage in Australia and New Zealand is 18 years; however, the
age of consent for sexual activity ranges from 16–17 years (Lamont, 2010). Similarly, although many
Guide to the text xv

ICONS
As you read, keep an eye out for these icons.

NEW Linkages icons in the margin direct Think about how developmental science
students to make connections between theory connects with you by considering
important topics covered elsewhere in the Making connections margin questions
the text. throughout the chapters.

Express

Take your learning further by Explore the online resources by


considering the On the Internet following the NEW CourseMate Express
activities throughout the chapters. margin icons throughout the text. Find
answers, activities and more.

END-OF-CHAPTER FEATURES CHAPTER 1: UNDERSTANDING LIFE SPAN HUMAN DEVELOPMENT 41

At the end of each chapter you will find several tools to help you to review, practise and extend
IN REVIEW
your
CHECKING knowledge of the
UNDERSTANDING keyTHINKING
CRITICAL learning objectives.
A researcher wants to interview elderly widows in Japan,
1
• Review your understanding of the key chapter topics with the Summary.
If researchers do not try to keep ethnocentrism out of
their research, what can happen? South Korea, Australia and New Zealand about their
emotional reactions to widowhood shortly after the >>>
2 A researcher deceives research participants into

• Test your knowledge and consolidate your learning through the Self-test, Review questions
thinking they are in a study of learning, when the
real purpose is to determine whether they are willing
deaths of their husbands. What might the researcher do
>>>
to make this research as culturally sensitive as possible?
>>>
4 True or false? Plasticity, or the capacity of an organism
to respond to positive and negative experiences,
c the conclusions are confounded by time-of-
measurement effects.
to inflict harm on people who make learning errors, should be internally consistent, falsifiable and, Case studies haveafter
ceases limited generalisability,
childhood and in
and adolescence. d they have no clear dependent variables.
and Discussion questions. Answers to the self-test can be found at the end of each chapter.
Get the answers to the Checking
if told to do so by an authority figure. What ethical ultimately,
Express supported by
understanding the data.
questions correlational studies, one faces the directionality and
4 True 5 orA false?
good Plasticity, or __________,
theory is (a) the capacity (b)
of an organismand (c)
__________ c 7 the
Researchers
conclusionsmust protect research
are confounded participants
by time-of-
responsibilities does this researcher have? ■ Commonondata collection
CourseMate methods include reporting
Express. third variable problems in attempting to draw cause- from physicaleffects.
and psychological harm by following
to respond to positive and negative experiences,
__________. measurement
(self- and informant), behavioural observations and effect conclusions. Developmentalists use meta-
d they
• Expand your knowledge by conducting further research in the Search me! Psychology database
ceases after childhood and adolescence. standards
have noofclear
(a) __________.
dependent This involves informing
variables.
physiological measures. Use of multiple methods 6 toThe
analysis synthesise the results of of
major disadvantage multiple studiesstudies
correlational participants about all aspects of the research so they
in the same study can capture different aspects of 5 the
of A same
good theory
toisproduce
(a) __________, (b) __________ and (c) 7 Researchers must protect research participants
is issue
that: overall conclusions. can provide
development and compensate for weaknesses in the __________.research designs seek to describe
■ Developmental from physical and (b) __________.harm
psychological Participants must be
by following
a they are costly and time consuming.
with the suggested key terms.
guaranteed
standards that their responses
of (a) __________. provided
This involves during the
informing
different methods. age
6 effects bonthey
The major development.
disadvantage Cross-sectional
do not allow studies
researchers tostudies
of correlational draw cause-and- research will be (c) __________.
■ The goal of explaining development is best compare different age groups but confound age participants about all aspects of the research so they
is that: effect conclusions.
achieved through experiments involving random effects and cohort effects. Longitudinal studies study can provide (b) __________. Participants must be

CHAPTER REVIEW
a they are costly and time consuming. guaranteed that their responses provided during the
assignments to conditions, manipulation of the age change but confound age effects and time-of-
b they do not allow researchers to draw cause-and- research will be (c) __________.
independent variable and experimental control. measurement effects. Sequential studies combine
effect conclusions.
However, not all developmental issues can be the cross-sectional and longitudinal approaches to
studied with experiments for ethical reasons. REVIEW
overcome QUESTIONS
these weaknesses.

1.4 What special challenges do developmental scientists face? Develop your understanding of the chapter content by preparing short answer or essay responses to the following
REVIEW QUESTIONS
SUMMARY
■ Researchers must adhere to standards of ethical
research practice, with attention to ensuring
contexts; this requires
questions – or ayou
culturally sensitive
might like
to research in which researchers collaborate with
to tryapproach
developing a concept map or thinking map for these questions.

informed consent, debriefing individuals from


whom information has been withheld, protecting ONLINE STUDY TOOLS
participants
Develop
1 in the
your
Explain
dissemination
planning,
understanding
the implementation
difference
of research;howutilise
ofbetween
the chapter
eachtoculturally
and
contentand
maturation
sensitive
by preparing short answerthe
6 Explain
observation
or difference
essay responses
betweento naturalistic
the following

1.1 How should we think about development? questionslearning


– or you and
might like contributes to development
try developing a concept map or thinking map forand structured
these observation and the
questions.
research participants from harm and maintaining methods and measures;
across the life and
span.keep their own reasons you would select one over the other to study
■ Development is systematic changes and continuities ■ Understanding nature and
confidentiality nurture influences
of data. cultural values and ethnocentrism from biasing their
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optimisation, began with the baby biographies development (1) occurs throughout the life span, FOR DISCUSSION The Australian andtoThe
written by Charles Darwin and others. However, (2)1 canSystematic changes directions,
take many different and continuities in a person occurring from conception to death are collectively
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c exosystem ANSWERS TO THE SELF-TEST


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their development
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>>> CHAPTER REVIEW 43
Search tip: Search me! Psychology → centenarian REFERENCES
contains information from both 42 CHAPTER 1: UNDERSTANDING LIFE SPAN HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
→ ageism
local and international sources. To CHAPTER REVIEW 43
Aber, L., Morris, P., & Raver, C. (2012). Children, Arnett, J. J. (2000). Emerging adulthood: A theory Australian Bureau of Statistics. (1997).
get the greatest number of search → functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). families and poverty. Definitions, trends, of development from the late teens through the Australian social trends, 1997. Canberra,
results, try using both Australian and emerging science and implications for policy. twenties. American Psychologist, 55, 469–480. ACT: ABS. Retrieved from http://
American spellings in your searches, SRCD Social Policy Report, 26,1–19. Arnett, J. J. (2015). The cultural psychology of www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.
Alwin, D. F. (2009). History, cohorts, and patterns emerging adulthood. In L. A. Jensen (Ed.), The nsf/2f762f95845417aeca25706c00834efa/
e.g. ‘globalisation’ and ‘globalization’; a8d1bea8a2ff1b33ca2570e
of cognitive aging. In H. B. Bosworth, & C. Oxford handbook of human development and
‘organisation’ and ‘organization’. Hertzog (Eds.), Aging and cognition: Research culture: An interdisciplinary perspective (pp. c001b0dc3!penDocument
Copyright 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied,
methodologies scanned, or duplicated, in wholeAustralian
and empirical advances. or in part.
Bureau WCN
of Statistics. 02-200-202
(2009). Australian 487–501). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Washington, DC: American Psychological Arnett, J. J., & Tanner, J. L. (Eds.) (2006). Emerging social trends, 2009: Home and away: The
Association. adults in America: Coming of age in the living arrangements of young people.
Andrews, G., Clark, M., & Luszcz, M. (2002). 21st century. Washington, DC: American Canberra, ACT: ABS. Retrieved from http://

ANSWERS TO THE SELF-TEST Successful aging in the Australian Longitudinal Psychological Association. www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/
Study of Aging: Applying the MacArthur model Lookup/4102.0Main+Features50June+2009
Artaud, F., Dugravot, A., Sabia, S., Singh-Manoux,
xvi

GUIDE TO THE ONLINE RESOURCES

FOR THE INSTRUCTOR


Cengage is pleased to provide you with a selection of resources that will help you prepare your
lectures and assessments. These teaching tools are accessible via cengage.com.au/instructors for
Australia or cengage.co.nz/instructors for New Zealand.

COURSEMATE EXPRESS
CourseMate Express is your one-stop shop for learning tools and activities that help
students succeed. As they read and study the chapters, students can access revision quizzes,
data activities, solutions to in-text questions and key weblinks. CourseMate Express also
features the Engagement Tracker, a first-of-its-kind
tool that monitors student engagement in the content.
Ask your Learning Consultant for more details.
Express

MINDTAP
MindTap is an interactive, customisable and complete online course solution. MindTap
integrates authorita-tive textbook pedagogy with customisable student ‘learning paths’, an
innovative ‘app’ model of instructional utilities, LMS interoperability, and the power of s
social media to create a personal learning experience
for today’s mobile students. To prescribe MindTap for
your students, please contact your Learning Consultant.

INSTRUCTOR’S MANUAL WORD-BASED TEST BANK


The Instructor’s manual includes: This bank of questions has been developed
• chapter outlines in conjunction with the text for creating
• learning objectives quizzes, tests and exams for your students.
• review questions with suggested answers Deliver these through your LMS and in
• suggested class discussions and projects your classroom.
• suggested audio-visual material to
aid learning
• websites and readings, and
• Search me! activities

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Guide to the online resources xvii

ARTWORK FROM POWERPOINTTM


THE TEXT PRESENTATIONS
Add the digital files of graphs, pictures and Use the chapter-by-chapter PowerPoint
flowcharts into your course management slides to enhance your lecture presentations
system, use them in student handouts, or and handouts by reinforcing the key
copy them into your lecture presentations. principles of your subject.

FOR THE STUDENT


New copies of this text come with an access code that gives you a 12-month subscription to the
CourseMate Express website and Search me! psychology.Visit http://login.cengagebrain.com
and log in using the access code card.

COURSEMATE EXPRESS FOR HUMAN DEVELOPMENT


Access your CourseMate Express website, which includes a suite of interactive resources
designed to support your learning, revision and further research, including:
• revision quizzes • key weblinks
• data activities • and more!
• solutions to in-text questions Express

SEARCH ME! PSYCHOLOGY


Expand your knowledge with Search me! psychology. Fast and convenient, this
resource provides you with 24-hour access to relevant full-text articles from hundreds
of scholarly and popular journals and newspapers, including The Australian and The
New York Times. Search me! psychology allows you to explore
topics further and quickly find current references.

MINDTAP
A new approach to highly personalised online learning, MindTap is designed to match
your learning style and provides you with an engaging interface to interact with the course
content, multimedia resources as well as your peers, lecturers and tutors. In the MindTap
Reader, you can make notes, highlight text and even find a definition directly from the
page. To purchase your MindTap experience for Life Span Human
Development, please contact your instructor.

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xviii

PREFACE
This book is about the development of human beings – from their days as fertilised eggs to their
dying days. It highlights regularities as well as differences in development, and it asks fundamental
questions about why we humans develop as we do.
This third Australian and New Zealand edition of Life Span Human Development incorporates
many exciting changes to ensure the book is relevant to students studying in the Australian
and New Zealand context, yet it retains four core features of the original text that have been
valued by students and instructors over the years: (1) the unique integrated topical–chronological
approach, (2) a presentation that is both research-based and applied, (3) an emphasis on the different
theoretical perspectives that guide thinking about human development and research; and (4) an in-
depth exploration throughout of nature and nurture contributions to development as well as the
universality and diversity surrounding human development.

TOPICAL AND CHRONOLOGICAL APPROACH


The most distinctive feature of this book is its unique integrated topical–chronological approach.
Most other life span development textbooks adopt a chronological or ‘age–stage’ approach, carving
the life span into age ranges and describing the prominent characteristics of individuals within
each age range. In contrast, we adopt a topical approach for the overall organisation of the book
and after three introductory chapters we blend a topical approach with a chronological approach
within chapters. Each blended chapter focuses on a domain of development, such as physical growth,
cognition or psychosocial development, and then incorporates major sections on infancy, childhood,
adolescence and adulthood to trace the developmental trends and influences throughout the life span.

Why topical?
Like many other instructors, we have typically favoured topically organised textbooks when teaching
child-, adolescent- or adult-development courses. As a result, it seemed natural to use that same
topical approach in introducing students to the whole life span. Besides, chronologically organised
texts often have to repeat themselves as they remind readers of where development left off in an
earlier age period that was covered in a previous chapter.
More important, a topic-by-topic organisation conveys the flow of development in each area –
the systematic, and often dramatic, transformations that take place as well as the developmental
continuities. The topical approach also helps us emphasise the processes behind development.
Finally, a predominantly topical approach is more compatible with a life span perspective, which
views each period of life in relation to what comes before and what is yet to come. In chronologically
organised textbooks, many topics are described only in connection with the age group to which
they seem most relevant – for example, attachment in relation to infancy, or sexuality in relation to
adolescence and adulthood. A topical organisation stimulates us to ask intriguing questions we might
otherwise not ask, such as these about attachment relationships as explored in Chapter 11 Emotions,
attachment and social relationships:
• What do infants’ attachments to their parents have in common with, and how do they differ
from, attachments between childhood friends or between adult romantic partners?
• Do securely attached infants later have a greater capacity to form and sustain friendships or
romantic partnerships than infants whose early social experiences are less favourable?
• What are the consequences at different points in the life span of lacking a close relationship?
Attachments are important throughout the life span, and a topical organisation helps make that
clear.
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Preface xix

Why chronological?
We also appreciate the strengths of the chronological approach, particularly its ability to portray the
whole person in each period of the life span. For this reason, we integrated the age–stage approach
with the topical organisation, aiming to have the best of both worlds.
Each topical chapter contains major sections on infancy, childhood, adolescence and adulthood.
The existence of these sections is proof that the chapters consider development in each of the
domains covered across the whole life span. These age–stage sections call attention to the distinctive
qualities of each phase of life and make it easier for students to find material on an age period of
particular interest to them. In short, we believe that our integrated topical–chronological approach
allows us to convey the flow of life span development in particular areas and the factors influencing
it while highlighting the major physical, cognitive and psychosocial developments within each
particular developmental period.

Adaptability of the integrated topical–


chronological approach
Even though links among chapters have been clearly identified throughout the book, instructors
who are teaching short courses or who are otherwise pressed for time can omit a chapter without
fear of rendering other chapters incomprehensible. For example:
• A cognitively oriented course might omit one or more of the socially-oriented chapters (i.e.
omit any of Chapters 9 to 13).
• A socially oriented course might omit one or more of the cognitively-oriented chapters (i.e.
omit any of Chapters 5 to 8).
Moreover, the topical–chronological approach of the text gives instructors the flexibility to cover
infancy, childhood and adolescence in a course, if they prefer, and to save the material in each chapter
on adulthood for another course.

RESEARCH-ORIENTED AND RELEVANT


COVERAGE
We have worked hard to create a text that is rigorous yet readable – research-oriented yet ‘real’ to
students. Life Span Human Development tackles complex theoretical concepts and controversies and
presents the best of both classic and contemporary research from multiple disciplines in a way that is
accessible and relevant to students’ life experiences and career development.
We believe that it is critical for students to understand how we know what we know about
development – to appreciate the research process. With that in mind, we describe illustrative studies
and present their data in graphs and tables, and we cite the authors and dates of publication for a
large number of books and articles, all fully referenced in the reference section at the end of each
chapter. Some students may wonder why they are there. It is because we are committed to the value
of systematic research, because we are bound to give credit where credit is due and because we want
students and their instructors to have the resources they need to pursue their interests in human
development during and after the course.
We also appreciate that solid scholarship is of little good to students unless they want to read it,
can understand it and see its relevance. We maintain that even the most complex issues in human
development can be made understandable through clear and organised writing.To make the material
more ‘real’, we clarify developmental concepts through examples and analogies, connect topics in

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xx Preface

the text to topics in the news, and highlight the practical implications of research findings. We
also incorporate applied material relevant to students’ current and future roles as parents, teachers,
psychologists, educators, social workers, occupational therapists and other allied health and human
service professionals. And we help students see that major theories of human development do
not just guide researchers but can help anyone analyse issues that we all face – including such
practical matters as raising and educating children, working with troubled adolescents or coping with
Alzheimer’s disease or death in the family.

THEORETICAL GROUNDING
Theories are critical in any science, telling scientists what to study, how to study it and how to
interpret their findings. We want students to leave the study of life span human development with
more than facts alone; we want them to appreciate the major issues of interest to developmental
scientists and how the leading theories in the field have shaped our thinking about development.
Most important, we want students to learn to use these theoretical perspectives to guide their
thinking and action when they encounter a question about human development outside the course.
With this in mind, we have devoted Chapter 2 to laying out in broad strokes the psychoanalytic,
learning, humanistic, cognitive and systems perspectives on human development, showing what they
say, where they stand on key developmental issues and how they would explain developmental
phenomena such as school refusal and teenage pregnancy. We delve deeper into these and other
perspectives and show how they have been applied to the study of specific aspects of development
in later chapters; see, for example, a treatment of the dynamic systems view of motor development in
Chapter 4; a comparison of Jean Piaget’s cognitive developmental and Lev Vygotsky’s sociocultural
perspectives in Chapter 5; an application of the information-processing perspective in Chapter
6; alternative views of intelligence in Chapter 7; nativist, learning and interactionist theories of
language development in Chapter 8; alternative theories of personality and gender role development
in Chapter 9; theories of moral development in Chapter 10; attachment theory in Chapter 11;
models and theories relating to various disorders in Chapter 12; and perspectives on dying and
bereavement in Chapter 13.

NATURE–NURTURE AND UNIVERSALITY–


CONTEXT SPECIFICITY THEMES
Finally, we want students to gain a deeper understanding of the influence of nature and nurture and
of the many interacting forces affecting the developing person that contribute to both similarities
(universalities) and differences (context specificity) in human development. We want students to
appreciate that human development is an incredibly complex process that grows out of transactions
between a changing person and a changing world and out of dynamic relationships among biological,
psychological and social influences. No contributor to development – a gene, a temperament, a
parent, a culture – acts alone and is unaffected by other influences on development.
We introduce nature and nurture and (by implication) the universality and context specificity
of development in Chapter 1, and we give these concepts extended treatment in Chapter 2, where
we explore the developmental issues that underpin theories; and also in Chapter 3, where we focus
on genes and environment. Each subsequent chapter includes many examples of the intertwined
contributions of nature and nurture to development and the ways in which human development is
both similar from person to person and culture to culture, but also diverse from person to person

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Preface xxi

and culture to culture. Along the way, we describe some exciting studies that compare individuals
with and without particular genes and with and without particular life experiences to bring home
what it means to say that genes and environment interact to influence development – as when genes
predisposing an individual to depression combine with stressful life events to produce depression.
We also illustrate the many ways in which genes and environment are intertwined and affect one
another – for instance, ways in which genetic makeup influences the experiences an individual has,
and ways in which experience influences which of an individual’s genes are activated or expressed.
In this book we provide coverage not only of genes, hormones, brain functions and other biological
forces in development but also of ways in which ethnicity, social class, community and the larger
cultural context modify development. Most important, we illuminate the complex interrelationships
between biological and environmental influences that are at the heart of the developmental process.

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xxii

ABOUT THE AUTHORS


Carol K Sigelman is Professor of Psychology and, until recently, Associate Vice President for
Research and Graduate Studies and then Graduate Studies and Academic Affairs at The George
Washington University. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Carleton College and a double-
major doctorate in English and Psychology from George Peabody College for Teachers. She has
also been on the faculty at Texas Tech University, Eastern Kentucky University (where she won
her college’s Outstanding Teacher Award) and the University of Arizona. She has taught courses in
child, adolescent, adult and life span development and has published research on such topics as the
communication skills of individuals with developmental disabilities, the development of stigmatising
reactions to children and adolescents who are different, and children’s emerging understandings of
diseases and psychological disorders. Through a grant from the National Institute of Child Health
and Human Development, she and her colleagues studied children’s intuitive theories of AIDS and
developed and evaluated a curriculum to correct their misconceptions and convey the facts of HIV
infection. With a similar grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, she explored children’s
and adolescents’ understandings of the effects of alcohol and drugs on body, brain and behaviour. For
fun, she enjoys hiking, biking, discovering good movies and communing with her cats.
Linda De George has, in recent years, focused her career on leading social innovation, having recently
held senior government and university positions in this area as well as in stakeholder, community
and consumer engagement. She earned an undergraduate degree in psychology and a Master of
Educational Psychology from the University of Queensland, and a PhD from Griffith University. She
has worked as a psychology practitioner and has considerable experience as a university academic,
teaching courses in life span development, educational psychology, developmental disabilities, special
education and psychological assessment. Linda’s research interests are broadly themed around capacity
building of individuals, groups and communities. Outside of work, Linda loves to cook, camp and
hike, spend time with amazing family and friends, and be owned by two cats.
Kimberley Cunial is a practising Educational and Developmental Psychologist with experience
working in school, university, community, hospital and private practice settings. She is also an
approved Supervisor with the Australian Board of Psychology. She earned a Bachelor and a Master
of Educational Psychology from the University of Queensland, and a Postgraduate Diploma of
Education from the Queensland University of Technology. At the time of writing, Kimberley was in
the final stages of completing her PhD in Clinical Psychology at Griffith University. Kimberley has
particular research interests, and is published, in the area of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
(ADHD). For leisure, Kimberley enjoys spending time with her three children, family, friends, and
beloved cats, as well as getting outdoors cycling, hiking and visiting the beach.
Elizabeth A Rider is Professor of Psychology and Associate Academic Dean at Elizabethtown College
in Pennsylvania. She has also been on the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Asheville.
She earned her undergraduate degree from Gettysburg College and her doctorate from Vanderbilt
University. She has taught courses on child and life span development, women’s and gender issues,
applied developmental psychology and genetic and environmental influences on development. She
has published research on children’s and adults’ spatial perception, orientation and ability to find their
way. Through a grant from the Pennsylvania State System for Higher Education, she studied factors
associated with academic success. The second edition of her text on the psychology of women, Our
Voices, was published by John Wiley & Sons in 2005. When she is not working, her life revolves
around her son and a fun-loving springer spaniel.

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xxiii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The adapting authors would like to thank Carol K Sigelman and Elizabeth A Rider for allowing
adaptation of their original work for the Australian and New Zealand first, second and third editions.
Thank you also to the editorial team at Cengage Australia for their support in the development of
this textbook.

Reviewers
The authors and Cengage would like to thank the following reviewers for their time, expertise and
constructive criticism:
Annette Gainsford, Charles Sturt University
Annette Henderson, The University of Auckland
Claire Henderson,Wilson, Deakin University
Ying Yang, Australian Catholic University (NSW)
Sharna Spittle, Victoria University
Natasha Loi, University of New England
Joel Howell, Curtin University
Tick Zweck, Tabor College of Higher Education
Justine Dandy, Edith Cowan University
Laynie Hall-Pullin, Western Sydney University
Prudence Millear, University of the Sunshine Coast
Sandra Goetz, Griffith University.
Every effort has been made to trace and acknowledge copyright. However, if any infringement
has occurred, the publishers tender their apologies and invite the copyright holders to contact them.

Copyright 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-202
Copyright 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-202
CHAPTER

UNDERSTANDING LIFE SPAN


HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER OUTLINE
1.1 How should we think about 1.3 How is development 1.4 What special challenges
development? studied? do developmental scientists
Defining development The scientific method face?
Conceptualising the life span Sample selection Protecting the rights of research
Framing the influence of nature Data collection techniques participants
and nurture Case study, experimental and Conducting culturally sensitive
correlational methods research
1.2 What is the science of life
Developmental research designs
span development?
Goals of study
Early beginnings
The modern life span perspective

Source: Getty Images/Heather Faulkner/AFP


The centenarian athlete or smoke and generally enjoyed
Ruth Frith, born in 1909, was one of the world’s oldest good health – even though she
competing field athletes, taking up the sport in her 70s and didn’t eat vegetables as an adult,
competing until she died in 2014 aged 104. The Australian as she didn’t like them! Ruth
great-grandmother held Masters Games medals and world trained to be a solicitor but gave
records in shotput, javelin and hammer-throw. Ruth had this away when she married in
a regular physical training regime, including bench- 1933: despite living through the
pressing, and was coached by her daughter, Helen Searle – women’s liberation and feminism
herself a dual Olympic and Commonwealth Games movements, Ruth thought a
athlete in the 1960s who also continues to compete as woman’s place is in the home: Ruth Frith, centenarian
athlete
a veteran athlete. Ruth had pacemaker surgery at age ‘I think that’s half the problem
103 for heart problems, which temporarily interrupted with children; there is no one to come home to when they
her athletics training. In her later years, she was not come home from school’ (Jerga, 2009; McKimmie, 2010;
able to cook as much as she would have liked because of SBS Insight, 2013; Stephens, 2014). Although her parents
eyesight problems related to macular degeneration. But died when she was at high school, Ruth’s sisters lived long
overall, Ruth maintained a healthy lifestyle, did not drink lives too, reaching 80 and 97 years of age.

Express

Throughout this chapter, the CourseMate Express logo indicates an opportunity for online self-study, linking you to online
resources.

1
Copyright 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-202
2 LIFE SPAN HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

centenarian An This book is about the development of humans like Ruth Frith – and you – from conception to
individual who lives to death. Like any life, the life of Ruth Frith, a centenarian (an individual who lives to 100 years or
be 100 years of age or
older.
older; see On the Internet:The 100+ club), raises many questions:Was her extraordinary physical fitness
in her 100s, and that of her daughter, now in her 70s, mainly a matter of good genes, or the result
of physical training? What changes in functioning and fitness does ageing entail, and are conditions
ON THE
INTERNET like heart and eye disease inevitable as we age? How important are lifestyle factors such as smoking
and diet for health and longevity? Going in a different direction, how were Ruth and others of
The 100+ club
http://www.
her generation affected by growing up in a society in which women often had to make the choice
flickchicks.com. between marriage, family and a career? And what allows some people to cope better than others with
au/100+clubdoco/
negative life events such as the death of a partner, parent or siblings?
media
Enter this website We address questions like these and more in this book. Among other things, we’ll ask how infants
to find out more perceive the world; how preschool children think; how life events such as the loss of a parent affect
about membership
of one of the most
a child’s adjustment and later romantic relationships; why some young people engage in riskier
exclusive clubs in pursuits than others; whether most adults eventually experience declines in their capacities; and how
the world, the 100+
people typically change physically, mentally and emotionally as they age. We will also take on even
club – where you
don’t have to be more fundamental questions: How does a single fertilised egg cell turn into a unique human being
rich and famous, like Ruth Frith? And how can we use knowledge of the genetic and environmental forces that shape
just extremely old!
At this website you
development to optimise it?
can view a clip Do any of these questions intrigue you? Probably so, because we are all developing people
from the 100+ club
interested in ourselves and other developing people around us. Many of us want to understand how
documentary, which
features Ruth Frith we and those we know have been affected by our experiences, how we have changed over the years
from our chapter and where we may be headed. Throughout this book there will be opportunities for you to reflect
opening, and you
will also find links to
on your own developmental experiences and views about development. For example, in the chapter
more information Engagement boxes there are questionnaires and quizzes to complete, and in the For discussion activities
about the club and
at the end of chapter you can explore your beliefs and attitudes about topical issues and debates in
centenarians.
human development. In the Making connections activities, you are invited to engage personally with
specific theories and concepts you are learning about.
Many who read this book have practical motivations for learning about human development –
for example, a desire to be a good parent or to pursue a career as a psychologist, educator, nurse,
occupational therapist, counsellor, speech and language pathologist, social worker or other human
services or allied health professional. So, in this edition of the book we are delighted to introduce
you to five Australian and New Zealand professionals who are practitioners, researchers and
educators in some of these fields. In Professional practice boxes throughout the book, they will share
their professional experiences with you, including how they use developmental theories, concepts
and research to inform their work of optimising human development. Look out, too, for a range
of other boxed features and activities throughout the text: Exploration boxes, Application boxes and
Search me! activities are all designed to enhance your study of human development by helping you
engage with the research and theory behind developmental sciences and the real-world applications
(refer to the Resources guide at the front of this book for a description of these and more features).
This introductory chapter will now lay the groundwork for the remainder of the book by
addressing some basic questions: How should we think about development and the influences on it?
What is the science of life span development? How is development studied? And what are some of
the special challenges in studying human development?

Copyright 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-202
CHAPTER 1: UNDERSTANDING LIFE SPAN HUMAN DEVELOPMENT 3

1.1 HOW SHOULD WE THINK ABOUT


DEVELOPMENT?
■■ Define development and ageing, and their relationship to each other. learning
■■ Explain and illustrate the role played by age grades, age norms and the social clock in making objectives
human development different in various historical, cultural and subcultural contexts.
■■ Summarise the positions one can take on the ‘nature–nurture’ issue and the position most
developmental scientists today take.

We begin by asking what it means to say that humans ‘develop’ or ‘age’ over the life span, how we
can conceptualise the life span and its cultural and historical diversity, and how nature and nurture
influence developing humans in their ever-changing environments.

Defining development
Development can be defined as systematic changes and continuities in the individual that occur development Orderly
patterns of change,
between conception and death, or from ‘womb to tomb’. Development entails many changes; by
as well as continuities,
describing these changes as systematic, we imply that they are orderly, patterned and relatively that occur in an
enduring – not fleeting and unpredictable like mood swings. Development also involves continuities, individual throughout
their life span.
ways in which we remain the same or continue to reflect our past selves.
The systematic changes and continuities of interest to those who study human development fall
into three broad domains or areas of development:
1 Physical development is concerned with physical and biological processes, such as genetic physical development
A component
inheritance; the growth of the body and its organs; the functioning of physiological systems,
of development
including the brain; health and wellness; the physical signs of ageing and changes in motor concerned with
abilities; and so on. physical and
biological processes.
2 Cognitive development is concerned with thought and other mental and intellectual processes,
cognitive
such as perception, attention, language, learning, memory, intelligence, creativity and problem development
solving. A component
3 Psychosocial development is concerned with aspects of the self, and social and interpersonal of development
concerned with
interactions, such as motives, emotions, personality traits, morality, social skills and relationships, thought and
and roles played in the family and in the larger society. other mental and
intellectual processes.
Developmentalists appreciate that humans are whole beings and that these developmental areas
are interwoven and overlap, with changes in one area often affecting the others throughout the psychosocial
development
life span (Figure 1.1). The baby who develops the ability to crawl (physical), for example, has new A component
opportunities to develop her mind (cognitive) by exploring kitchen cabinets, and can hone her social of development
concerned with aspects
skills (psychosocial) by following her parents from room to room and observing and interacting with of the self, and social
them. And for Ruth Frith, introduced at the start of the chapter, daily training and exercise (physical) and interpersonal
may have helped her retain her intellectual abilities (cognitive) and enriched her social interactions interactions.

(psychosocial).
How would you portray, in a graph, typical changes from birth to old age in these three domains?
Many people picture tremendous positive gains in capacity from infancy to young adulthood,
little change during early adulthood and middle age, and loss of capacities in the later years. This
stereotypical view of the life span is largely false, but it also has some truth in it, especially with growth The physical
changes that occur
respect to physical development.Traditionally, biologists have defined growth as the physical changes from conception
that occur from conception to maturity. We indeed become biologically mature and physically to maturity.

Copyright 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-202
4 LIFE SPAN HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

competent during the early part of the life span. And biological
FIGURE 1.1 The interwoven and overlapping
nature of the three main domains that influence ageing is the deterioration of all organisms, including humans,
human development that leads inevitably to their death. Biologically, then, development
does involve growth in early life, stability in early and middle
adulthood, and declines associated with the cumulative effects of
ageing in later life.
Physical Many aspects of development do not follow this ‘gain–
development
stability–loss’ model as we age, however. Developmental scientists
have come to appreciate that developmental change at any age
involves both gains and losses. For example, we should not assume
Cognitive Psychosocial that child development is all about gain; children gain many
development development cognitive abilities as they get older, but they also become less
flexible in their thinking and less open to considering unusual
solutions (Gopnik, Griffiths, & Lucas, 2015). They may also lose
self-esteem and become more prone to depression (Wasserman,
2011; Manning, Bear, & Minke, 2006).
Nor should we associate ageing only with loss. Some cognitive
Source: Adapted from Santrock (2014).
abilities do decline over the adult years. However, adults aged 50
and older typically score higher on vocabulary tests and on tests of
mental ability that draw on a person’s accumulated knowledge than young adults do (Hartshorne &
biological ageing
The biological and Germine, 2015; Salthouse, 2012). They also sometimes show more wisdom when given social
physical deterioration problems to ponder (Grossmann et al., 2010). Gerontologist Margaret Cruikshank (2009, p. 207)
of organisms that
conveyed the gains associated with ageing this way: ‘Decline is thought to be the main theme of
leads inevitably to
their death. ageing, and yet for many, old age is a time of ripening, of becoming most ourselves.’
In addition, people do not always improve or worsen but instead just become different than
they were (as when a child who once feared loud noises comes to fear hairy monsters under the
MAKING
CONNECTIONS bed instead, or an adult who was worried about career success becomes more concerned about her
children’s futures). Development clearly means more than positive growth during infancy, childhood
Identify examples
of how you have
and adolescence, and decline during adulthood and old age. In short, development involves gains,
changed and losses, neutral changes, and continuities in each phase of the life span, and ageing is part of it.
stayed the same

Conceptualising the life span


physically, mentally
or emotionally
from childhood
into adulthood.
If you were to divide the human life span into periods, how would you do it? Table 1.1 lists the
periods that are typically referred to by professionals and researchers. Notice that the book’s inside
back cover provides a table summarising key developments in these different periods of the life
span; this is a preview of the aspects of physical, cognitive and psychosocial development we will be
exploring throughout the chapters of this book. Note, however, that the given ages are approximate
and age is only a rough indicator of developmental status. Improvements in the standard of living
and health, for example, have meant that today’s 65-year-olds are not as ‘old’ physically, cognitively
or psychosocially as 65-year-olds decades ago were. There are also huge differences in functioning
and personality among individuals of the same age; while some adults are bedridden at age 90,
others, like Ruth Frith, are involved in athletic competition and display the physical abilities of
much younger people.

Copyright 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-202
CHAPTER 1: UNDERSTANDING LIFE SPAN HUMAN DEVELOPMENT 5

TABLE 1.1 An overview of periods of the life span

Period of Life Age Range


Prenatal period Conception to birth
Infancy First 2 years of life (the first month is referred to as the neonatal or
newborn period)
Early childhood 2 to 5 or 6 years (some refer to children aged 1 to 3 who have begun to
walk as toddlers)
Middle childhood 6 to about 12 years (or the onset of puberty)
Adolescence Approximately 12 to 18 or 20 years (or when the individual becomes
relatively independent of parents and begins to assume adult roles)
Emerging adulthood 18 to 25 or even 29 years (transitional period between adolescence and
adulthood)
Early adulthood 20 to 40 years
Middle adulthood 40 to 65 years
Late adulthood 65 years and older (some refer to subcategories within this period, such
as the young old, old old, and very old, based on age ranges or differences in
functioning)

The most recent addition to this list of periods of the life span – the one you may not have heard
of – is emerging adulthood, a transitional period between adolescence and full-fledged adulthood emerging adulthood A
that extends from about age 18–25 and maybe as late as 29. According to psychologist Jeffrey Arnett period of the life span
from about
and others, this is a distinct phase of life in which post-school youth spend years getting educated 18–25 years, when
and saving money in order to launch their adult lives (Arnett, 2000, 2015). Emerging adulthood is a young people are
neither adolescents
distinct developmental period primarily in developed countries, but the phenomenon is spreading to nor adults and are
developing ones, especially in urban areas (Arnett, 2015). According to Arnett and colleagues (Arnett exploring their
& Tanner, 2006), emerging adults (maybe you?): identities, careers
and relationships.
• explore their identities
• lead unstable lives filled with job changes, new relationships, and moves
• are self-focused, relatively free of obligations to others, and therefore free to focus on their own
psychological needs
• feel in between – adult-like in some ways but not others; and
• believe they have limitless possibilities ahead.
Not everyone agrees that emerging adulthood is a distinct period of development (Epstein,
2013). Do you believe individuals in their late teens or early 20s are truly an adult rather than an
‘emerging’ adult? Why or why not? There are many ways to define adulthood, but sociologist Frank
Furstenberg and his colleagues (2004) looked at five traditional, objective markers of adulthood and
found that adolescents and young adults in our society are taking longer to achieve some of these,
such as completing an education, being financially independent, leaving home, marrying and having
children – patterns evident in the Statistics snapshot box. Granted, many people today no longer
consider marriage and parenthood to be markers of adulthood (Nelson et al., 2007), and the statistics
may be misleading due to other changes in family structures. For example, in Australia, while the
marriage rate has been decreasing, there has been a two-fold increase in cohabitation (two single
adults living together as an unmarried couple), with 22 per cent of people aged 20–29 living in a de
facto relationship in 2009–2010 compared to 10 per cent in 1992 (Australian Bureau of Statistics,
2012). Still, progress toward adulthood is changing, lending some support to the concept of a period
of emerging adulthood between adolescence and adulthood. Note too, that there are different social,
cultural and historical views about the periods of the life span as shown in Table 1.1.

Copyright 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-202
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
praedestinatie; maar later legde hij, zonder ze te herroepen, het
zwaartepunt in de openbaring Gods in Christus, in de algemeene
aanbieding des heils, in woord en sacrament. Melanchton kwam
sedert 1527 tot het synergisme en leerde, dat bij de bekeering ook
de wil medewerkt, assentiens nec repugnans verbo Dei, wijl hij nog
behouden heeft de facultas applicandi se ad gratiam, Loci, c. de lib.
arb. De Formula Concordiae verwierp wel uitdrukkelijk de leer, dat
de wil uit eigene, natuurlijke krachten zich naar de genade schikken
kan, ed. Müller 607, cf. 608. 713. Maar zij leerde toch naast elkaar
de praedestinatie en onmacht des menschen, ib. 594. 705, en de
universaliteit en resistibiliteit der genade, 555. 602, en vond de
verzoening daarin, dat de mensch nog behouden heeft capacitatem
non activam sed passivam, nog ter kerk kan gaan enz., en vooral
daarin, dat hij nog patitur (en pati potest), ut Deus in se operetur, ib.
609. 610. Later werd dit in de Luthersche theologie gewoonlijk zoo
uitgewerkt, dat God aan allen, die onder het evangelie leven, in den
doop of door de prediking des Woords eene gratia sufficiens (motus
bonos inevitabiles, irresistibiles) schenkt, waardoor de wil des
menschen zoo bevrijd en vernieuwd wordt, dat hij òf alleen niet-
weerstaan, Gods genade in zich tot wedergeboorte en bekeering
laten werken en geheel passief eronder verkeeren kan, òf ook wel
positief met haar medewerken kan, Gerhard, Loc. XI n. 56. 57. 81.
Quenstedt, Theol. III 505. 508. 510. 513. Hollaz, Ex. 794. 861 sq.
872 sq. Buddeus, Inst. theol. 921 sq. Schmid, Dogm. d. ev. l. K. 297-
369. Luthardt, Komp. § 57-66. Onder invloed van dit bedekte of
opene synergisme kreeg de ordo salutis, toen zij later uitgebreid en
zooals bij Hollaz met verwijzing naar Hd. 26:17, 18 in de loci over de
gratia vocans, illuminans, convertens, regenerans, justificans,
renovans en glorificans behandeld werd, bij de Lutherschen deze
gedaante: Christenkinderen worden, wijl zij nog niet kunnen
weerstaan, in den doop wedergeboren en ontvangen de gave des
geloofs; anderen worden op later leeftijd eerst geroepen met eene
vocatio sufficiens, die voor allen gelijk is en allen voorziet van die
verlichting in het verstand en van die kracht in den wil, welke hen in
staat stelt, om de werking van Gods genade niet te wederstaan; in
geval zij niet wederstaan, worden zij door de prediking der wet tot
contritio (poenitentia, conversio in enger zin) gebracht en voorts
wedergeboren en begiftigd met het geloof, dat eene vrucht der
wedergeboorte is; door het geloof worden zij dan gerechtvaardigd,
krijgen de vergeving der zonden en verder achtereenvolgens de
adoptio, de unio mystica, de renovatio en de glorificatio. Maar zoo
geregeld loopt het christelijk leven in de werkelijkheid niet; gelijk de
genade in haar aanvang afhangt van den door bovennatuurlijke
kracht versterkten wil, zoo blijft het bij den voortgang en tot het einde
toe. De genade is altijd resistibel en daarom ook tot in de
stervensure toe verliesbaar en ook weer verkrijgbaar, niet eens maar
zelfs herhaalde malen. Het zwaartepunt ligt daarom bij deze
heilsorde in den mensch; al wordt nog zoo sterk uitgesproken, dat
God alleen wederbaart en bekeert, het hangt toch van het al of niet
weerstaan des menschen af, of God dat doen zal; de mensch heeft
de beslissing in handen, hij kan door te weerstaan heel het werk van
den Vader, den Zoon en den Geest te niet doen; en hij houdt die
beslissing in handen tot zijn dood toe. Nog nader ligt het
zwaartepunt bij deze heilsorde in geloof en rechtvaardigmaking.
Roeping, berouw, wedergeboorte dragen n.l. slechts een
voorbereidend karakter; zij zijn eigenlijk nog geen weldaden van het
genadeverbond, zij gaan als het ware nog buiten Christus om en
dienen, om den zondaar naar Christus heen te leiden. Eerst als de
mensch gelooft en door dat geloof de gerechtigheid van Christus
aanneemt, ziet God hem in Christus, vergeeft hem de zonden,
maakt hem vrij van de wet, neemt hem aan tot zijn kind, lijft hem in in
de gemeenschap met Christus enz. Op het geloof, en wel bepaald
op de daad des geloofs, komt alles aan. Oefent de mensch deze,
dan heeft hij alles en alles in eens, vrede, troost, leven, zaligheid,
maar laat hij deze na, dan wordt alles wankel, onvast, verliesbaar.
Zoo is er alles op gericht om dat geloof te behouden, maar gelijk de
Luthersche geloovige het werk der genade niet uit de eeuwige
verkiezing, uit het verbond laat opkomen, zoo zet hij het ook niet met
natuur en wereld en menschheid in verband; hij is zalig in zijn geloof
maar laat dit niet inwerken op gezin en school, maatschappij en
staat. Het is hem genoeg, met Christus in gemeenschap te leven,
maar hij voelt geen drang, om onder Christus als koning te strijden.
Cf. vooral Schneckenburger, Vergl. Darst. d. luth. u. ref. Lehrbegriffs,
2 Th. 1855 passim.
7. Bij alle overeenstemming droeg de heilsorde in de Geref.
theologie toch van huis uit een geheel ander karakter. Wel behandelt
Calvijn rechtvaardigmaking, Inst. III 12-18, en verkiezing ib. 21-24,
na geloof, wedergeboorte, bekeering, christelijk leven, maar hij wil
daarmede geenszins te kennen geven, dat zij dan eerst objectief
ontstaan. De grondgedachte, waarvan Calvijn uitgaat, is eene
geheel andere; de verkiezing is een eeuwig besluit, al wordt de
mensch eerst door het geloof van haar bewust, en de vergeving der
zonden rust alleen in Christus, al wordt zij ons eerst geschonken in
het geloof. Immers keert bij Calvijn telkens de gedachte terug, dat er
geen gemeenschap is aan de weldaden van Christus dan door
gemeenschap aan zijn persoon, Inst. III 1, 1. 3. 2, 24. 3, 9. 11, 10
enz. Hierin ligt in beginsel al het verschil opgesloten, dat in de
heilsorde tusschen Geref. en Luth. bestaat, cf. Heppe, Dogm. d. d.
Prot. II 311-316. Schneckenburger, Vergl. Darst. I 195 II 22. Philippi,
Kirchl. Gl. V 115. Indien het toch waar is, dat de allereerste weldaad
der genade reeds de gemeenschap aan den persoon van Christus
onderstelt, dan gaat de toerekening en schenking van Christus aan
de gemeente aan alles vooraf. En dit is ook de Geref. leer. Reeds in
de eeuwigheid, in de verkiezing, en nader nog in het pactum salutis
is er een band gelegd tusschen den middelaar en degenen, die Hem
gegeven zijn van den Vader. Toen reeds is er in het besluit Gods
eene unio mystica tusschen beiden gelegd en eene
plaatsverwisseling tot stand gekomen. Krachtens dat verbond is
Christus mensch geworden en heeft Hij voor zijn volk de zaligheid
verworven; Hij kon dat doen, juist omdat Hij reeds met hen in
gemeenschap stond, hun borg en middelaar, hun hoofd en
plaatsvervanger was; en de gansche gemeente, in Hem als haar
hoofd begrepen, is objectief met Hem gekruisigd en gestorven,
opgestaan en verheerlijkt. Alle weldaden der genade liggen dus in
den persoon van Christus voor de gemeente gereed; alles is
volbracht; God is verzoend; er komt niets van den mensch bij.
Verzoening, vergeving, rechtvaardigmaking, unio mystica,
heiligmaking, heerlijkmaking enz., zij komen niet tot stand na en door
het geloof, maar in objectieven, actieven zin zijn zij in Christus
aanwezig; zij zijn vruchten van zijn lijden en sterven alleen; en
onzerzijds worden zij alleen aangenomen door het geloof. God
schenkt ze en rekent ze aan de gemeente toe in het besluit, in de
opstanding van Christus, in de roeping door het evangelie. Op Gods
tijd komen zij ook subjectief in het bezit der geloovigen. Want al is
het, dat de mensch niets aan het werk van Christus heeft toe te
voegen, Christus zelf heeft het Hem opgedragen werk met de
verwerving der zaligheid nog volstrekt niet voltooid. Hij heeft op zich
genomen, om zijn volk werkelijk en ten volle zalig te maken. Hij
treedt als middelaar niet af, voordat Hij zijne gemeente zonder vlek
of rimpel aan den Vader voorgesteld heeft. De toepassing des heils
is een even wezenlijk bestanddeel van de verlossing als de
verwerving. Dempta applicatione, redemptio non est redemptio.
Christus zet daarom in den hemel zijne profetische, priesterlijke en
koninklijke werkzaamheid voort. De toepassing des heils is zijn werk;
Hij is de handelende; Hij deelt zichzelf en zijne weldaden door eene
gratia irresistibilis en inamissibilis aan de zijnen mede. Ook de
soteriologie is theologisch te beschouwen, als een werk van Vader,
Zoon en Geest. En gelijk de verwerving der zaligheid door Christus
plaats had in den weg des verbonds, zoo geschiedt dit ook met hare
toepassing. Ten eerste is de toebrenging der uitverkorenen niet
individualistisch en atomistisch te denken, want zij zijn allen aan
Christus gegeven, zijn in het verbond begrepen, worden te hunner
tijd uit Christus, als het lichaam met zijne leden uit het hoofd,
geboren en al zijne weldaden deelachtig. De gemeente is een
organisme, geen aggregaat; het geheel gaat vóór de deelen.
Sommige Geref., Wollebius, Theol. c. 21-27, Keckermann, Syst.
Theol. 1603 p. 370, Brakel, Red. Godsd. I c. 24-29 e. a.
behandelden daarom zelfs de leer der kerk voor die des heils. Dit
behoeft niet, omdat de Geref. theologie in het verbond der genade
bezit wat deze theologen met deze hunne orde bedoelden; het
verwart ook de kerk als lichaam van Christus met de kerk als
instituut, zooals ook Ritschl doet, als hij beweert, dat Calvijn de kerk
stelt boven de heilsorde, Rechtf. u. Vers. I2 216. Maar het vertolkt
toch eene ware gedachte; het verbond der genade komt niet door de
heilsorde tot stand maar gaat eraan vooraf. Ten tweede zijn
wedergeboorte, geloof, bekeering geen voorbereidingen, die buiten
Christus en het verbond der genade omgaan en den mensch eerst
tot Christus heenleiden. Maar het zijn weldaden, die reeds uit het
verbond der genade, uit de unio mystica, uit de schenking van den
persoon van Christus voortvloeien. De H. Geest, die de auteur dezer
weldaden is, is door Christus voor de zijnen verworven; de
toerekening van Christus gaat dus aan de gave des Geestes vooraf.
Wedergeboorte, bekeering, geloof leiden niet eerst naar Christus
henen, maar zijn uit Hem herkomstig. Ten derde nemen geloof en
rechtvaardigmaking in de Geref. heilsorde niet die centrale plaats in,
welke door de Lutherschen eraan toegekend wordt. Want het geloof
brengt op geenerlei manier de weldaad der vergeving tot stand,
maar neemt ze alleen uit Christus aan. De nadruk valt niet op het
subject en zijne ervaringen, maar op het objectieve werk van
Christus. Het geloof zelf is maar een schakel in de lange keten des
heils. Het wortelt in de verkiezing, het is een weldaad van het
genadeverbond, het is eene gave van Christus, het is eene vrucht
der wedergeboorte, het is zelfs als habitus in de kinderen des
verbonds en blijft in beginsel ook bij de geloovigen in hun vallen en
struikelen aanwezig, het wordt zelfs bij hen, die op later leeftijd
worden toegebracht, niet magisch gewerkt maar veeleer door allerlei
leidingen des levens voorbereid; de bijzondere genade sluit bij de
algemeene genade in de natuur zich aan. Ten vierde, dit geloof
brengt de zekerheid der zaligheid mede, want deze ligt
onwankelbaar vast in den raad Gods, in den persoon van Christus,
in het verbond der genade. En wijl de heiligmaking evengoed eene
weldaad is van Christus als de rechtvaardigmaking, wijl de goede
werken, in welke de geloovigen wandelen moeten, door God in
Christus voorbereid zijn, kan het geloof bij de vergeving der zonden
niet blijven staan, maar strekt het zich ook uit naar de volmaaktheid,
die in Christus is, zoekt het zich uit de goede werken als zijne
vruchten te bevestigen en te versterken, gordt het aan met den
moed en de kracht, om niet alleen met Christus in verborgen
gemeenschap te leven, maar ook onder Hem als koning tegen
zonde, wereld en vleesch op alle terrein te strijden en alles
dienstbaar te maken aan de eere van Gods naam.

8. Maar naast deze voorstellingen van de heilsorde kwamen nog


vele andere. Het mysticisme, dat altijd en overal, in Indië en Arabië,
onder Joden en Grieken, bij Roomschen en Protestanten eenzelfde
karakter vertoont, laat al het objectieve en uitwendige terugtreden bij
het inwendige heilsproces. Het rekent daarom in het Christendom
weinig met de H. Schrift, den Christus voor ons, voldoening,
toegerekende gerechtigheid, rechtvaardigmaking, kerk, sacramenten
enz., maar legt alle gewicht op de inwendige genade, verlichting,
wedergeboorte, Christus in ons, ingestorte gerechtigheid,
vernieuwing des H. Geestes enz. Langs drie trappen zoekt het de
volmaaktheid te bereiken: καθαρσις (via purgativa, ascese),
φωτισμος (via illuminativa, meditatio) en ἐποπτεια (via
contemplativa, exstase). Als de ziel n.l. door ascese van heel de
wereld zich afgetrokken en door meditatie zich geheel op één punt
saamgetrokken heeft, dan wordt zij de aanschouwing Gods, de
vergoddelijking, de transformatie in Christus enz. deelachtig, dan
verliest zij zich en zinkt weg in God, cf. Zeller, Philos. d. Gr. V 599 f.
Voetius, Exerc. pietatis 56 sq. Hollaz, Ex. theol. 208. 796. 821.
Erbkam, Gesch. d. prot. Sekten 52 f., en verdere litt. bij Herzog2 15,
487-504. Vlak daartegenover staat het rationalisme, dat door
Socinianisme en Remonstrantisme voorbereid werd en in de 18e
eeuw de geesten beheerschte. Het ziet in Christus niet meer dan
een profeet en leeraar, die de waarheid Gods verkondigd en met zijn
leven en dood bezegeld heeft; door Hem na te volgen, wordt de wel
door de zonde verzwakte maar niet machtelooze mensch de
zaligheid deelachtig. De roeping, welke in het evangelie tot hem
komt, oefent daarom op zijn verstand en wil slechts een zedelijken
invloed uit. Als de mensch uit eigen, vrije keuze aan die roeping
gehoor geeft, de waarheid toestemt, op Gods genade vertrouwt en
Christus’ geboden volbrengt—want in assensus, fiducia en
obedientia bestaat het wezen des geloofs—dan wordt hij om dit
geloof, dat in beginsel de gansche gehoorzaamheid insluit en door
God reeds uit genade, om Christus’ wil voor volkomen
gehoorzaamheid gerekend wordt, gerechtvaardigd en bij volharding
de eeuwige zaligheid deelachtig, cf. Fock, der Socin. 651-689. Conf.
Rem. en Apol. Conf. VII. Limborch, Theol. Chr. IV 11 sq. V 8 sq. VI 4
sq. Wegscheider, Inst. theol. § 146 sq. Bretschneider, Dogm. § 177 f.
Knapp, Glaub. II 323 f. 382 f. Reinhard, Dogm. § 130.
Op dezelfde wijze als mysticisme en rationalisme, staan in de
heilsorde antinomianisme en neonomianisme tegenover elkander.
Het antinomianisme is in het algemeen die richting, welke in de
eerste plaats de toepassing des heils geheel en al terugbrengt tot en
vereenzelvigt met de verwerving des heils. Christus n.l. heeft alles
volbracht, Hij heeft niet alleen onze schuld maar zelfs de smet der
zonde van ons overgenomen, Hij heeft niet alleen de gerechtigheid
maar ook wedergeboorte en heiligmaking voor ons verworven; voor
den mensch blijft dus niets te doen over; berouw, bekeering, boete,
gebed om vergeving, het doen van goede werken, het is alles
onnoodig, draagt een wettisch karakter en doet te kort aan de
volmaaktheid der offerande van Christus. De mensch behoeft alleen
te gelooven, d. i. tot het inzicht te komen, dat hij gerechtvaardigd,
wedergeboren, geheiligd is, dat hij volmaakt is in Christus; de
zonden, die hij dan nog doet, zijn geen zonden meer, zij zijn werken
van den ouden mensch, die den geloovige als zoodanig niet meer
aangaan, want deze is volmaakt in Christus, is van de wet bevrijd en
roemt in de genade. Gewoonlijk blijft het antinomianisme hierbij
echter niet staan maar doet nog een stap verder terug; het herleidt
eerst de toepassing des heils tot de verwerving en dan deze weder
tot het besluit Gods. Ook Christus heeft de zaligheid niet verworven,
want deze lag eeuwig in Gods besluit gereed, maar Hij heeft alleen
Gods liefde geopenbaard; gelooven is daarom niets anders dan den
waan afleggen, dat God op ons toornt; zonde bestaat alleen in dien
waan. Dergelijke gevoelens werden oudtijds door de Gnostieken, in
de Middeleeuwen door vele libertinistische secten verkondigd en
vonden in de Geref. kerk ingang bij de Hattemisten en Hebreën, cf.
Hulsius, De hedendaagsche Antinomianerye, 2e dr. 1738. Fruytier,
Klaer en kort vertoog van de valsheit en gedeformeertheit van het
gevoelen der sogen. Hebreën 1697. M. Leydecker, Hist. en Godg.
Oefeningen over de oorsprong, voortgang en gevoelens v. d. oude
en nieuwe Antin. 1700. Ypey, Gesch. d. chr. Kerk in de 18e E. VII
290v. J. van Leeuwen in Ned. Archief v. Kerk. Gesch. VIII 1848 bl.
57-169. van Manen in Gids, Sept. Oct. 1885. Het is te begrijpen, dat
dit antinomianisme juist in de Geref. kerk zooveel ingang vond; de
Geref. heilsorde toont er onmiskenbaar verwantschap mede. Reeds
van de Reformatie af aan hadden velen, wijl remissio peccatorum
fide non efficitur sed accipitur, de rechtvaardigmaking of de
vergeving der zonden vóór het geloof geplaatst en het wezen des
geloofs als cognitio, certitudo omschreven, Luther bij Köstlin, Luthers
Theol. I 223. Melanchton bij Ritschl, Rechtf. u. Vers. I2 197. Calvijn,
Inst. III 2, 7. 14. Hyperius, Meth. Theol. 1574 p. 205. Ursinus op vr.
21 Heid. Cat. Olevianus, Verklaring der Apost. geloofsbel. 2e dr.
Doesburg 1868 bl. 131. 261. 418. 462 en zoo verder Pareus,
Tossanus, Piscator, Twissus e. a. Vooral werd dit gevoelen in
Engeland tegenover het veldwinnend neonomisme met klaarheid
ontwikkeld door de zoogenaamde antinomianen, maar die beter als
antineonomianen worden aangeduid, John Eaton, The honeycombe
of free justification bij Christ alone, London 1642. William Eyre,
Vindiciae justificationis gratuitae 1654. Tobias Crisp, Christ alone
exalted 1643. John Saltmarsh, Free grace 1645. Samuel Crisp,
Christ. made sin 1691. Thomas Tully, Justificatio paulina sine
operibus 1674. Isaac Chauncy, Neonomianism unmasked 1692. Id.
Alexipharmacon, a fresh antidote against neonomian bane 1700, cf.
Witsius, Misc. Sacra II 753 sq. Hoornbeek, Summa Contr. 1653 p.
701. Pfaff, Hist. theol. litt. 257 sq. Walch, Bibl. theol. sel. II 1069. Id.
Einl. in die Religionsstr. auss. d. luth. K. III 999. Hier te lande werd
deze opvatting van de rechtvaardigmaking als voorafgaande aan het
geloof, hetzij dan in het besluit Gods of in de opstanding van
Christus of in de belofte des evangelies of in de inwendige roeping,
en dienovereenkomstig ook de opvatting van het geloof als cognitio
en certitudo verdedigd door Trigland, Antapol. 314. Maccovius, Loci
c. 69-72. Coll. theol. p. 128. Loc. Comm. Disp. 1641 p. 309. Voetius,
Disp. II 453 sq. V 277 sq. Hoornbeek, Summa Contr. 705, en vooral
in de 18e eeuw door Holtius, Rechtv. door het geloof 1750. Comrie,
Heid. Cat. vr. 21. Id. Brief over de rechtv. des zondaars door de
onmidd. toerekening der gerecht, van Christus, nieuwe uitg. Utrecht
1889. Ex. v. h. Ontw. v. Tol., voorrede voor de 7e Samenspraak.
Walch. art. 3. Brahe, Aanm. over de vijf Walch. art. 1758 bl. 60v.
Godgeleerde stellingen over de leer der rechtv. des zondaars voor
God, opgesteld door J. J. Brahe, nieuwe uitgave door A. Capadose,
Amst. 1833, cf. ook Hartmann, Huisbijbel op Rom. 4:5. van Thuynen,
Korte Uitlegging van het Geref. geloof 1722. Vrolikhert, Twee Godg.
verh. over werkverbond en toerekening van Christus’ dad. gehoorz.
en over den aard en het wezen des geloofs 1732. B. S. Cremer,
Summa theol. supran. 1730. Id. Evang. Geloofsketen der waarheid
1740. Maar lang niet allen konden zich in deze voorstelling vinden.
Tegenover haar stond eene andere beschrijving der heilsorde, welke
als neonomiaansche kan aangeduid worden en wederom in eene
meer rationalistische en in eene meer pietistische te onderscheiden
is. Eerstgenoemde richting wortelt principieel reeds in de leer van
Piscator, dat de actieve gehoorzaamheid van Christus niet tot de
voldoening behoort, en werd weldra van groote beteekenis en
invloed door de school van Saumur. Camero leerde aldaar, dat de
wil altijd het verstand volgt en dat daarom ter bekeering verlichting
des verstands genoegzaam is. Amyraldus maakte de objectieve
genade universeel. Pajon achtte eene inwendige genade onnoodig
en liet de efficacia der roeping, op de wijze van Bellarminus,
afhangen van hare congruiteit met de omstandigheden, waarin zij tot
iemand komt. Gevolg daarvan was, dat natuurlijke onmacht,
werkverbond, onmiddellijke toerekening van Adams zonde en van
Christus’ gerechtigheid enz. ontkend, het geloof met de werken
saamgevoegd en zoo als middel of grond der rechtvaardigmaking
opgevat werd. Dit geschiedde o. a. in Engeland door George Bull,
Harmonia apostolica 1670, die wel door velen bestreden maar door
Morus, Glanville, Whitby, Tillotson, Cave enz. verdedigd werd, M.
Vitringa III 296; in Schotland door de Anti-Marrowmen Simson,
Hadow e. a., boven bl. 395; in Amerika door de volgelingen van
Jonathan Edwards, boven bl. 127; en hier te lande door Vlak, die in
zijn Eeuwig Evangelie 1684 eene rechtvaardiging leerde uit de
werken des geloofs, door van den Os 1740, die het geloof
omschreef als vertrouwen op Christus en gehoorzaamheid aan zijne
geboden, door J. van den Honert, Verh. van de rechtv. des sondaers
uyt en door het geloof, en J. J. Schultens, Uitv. Waarschuwing op
verscheiden stukken der Kategismusverklaaringe van Al. Comrie
1755 en (Petrus Boddaert), Wolk van getuigen voor de leer de
rechtv. door en uit het geloove, verzameld bij gelegenheid van het in
’t licht geven der Aanm. over de vijf Walch. art. door J. J. Brahe, die
allen de onmiddellijke toerekening ontkenden en het geloof plaatsten
vóór de rechtvaardigmaking, door Kleman, die in zijne Orde des
heils 1774 een zoodanig door Gods wijsheid en goedheid gelegd
verband tusschen ’s menschen zedelijke handelingen en de
bovennatuurlijke mededeeling des geloofs aannam, dat allen die een
behoorlijk gebruik maken van hunne natuurkrachten, zeker staat
kunnen maken op de verkrijging der bovennatuurlijke genade enz.

9. Maar het neonomanisme trad ook op in een pietistischen vorm


en maakte dan wel niet geloof en gehoorzaamheid maar toch geloof
en bevinding tot conditie der rechtvaardigmaking. Van den beginne
af was er in de Geref. kerk en theologie eene practische richting, die
wars was van alle scholastiek en allen nadruk legde op het leven. Zij
werd vooral gesteund en bevorderd door den wijsgeer Petrus
Ramus, die een sterk bestrijder van Aristoteles was, in de
philosophie meer eenvoud verlangde en de theologie omschreef als
doctrina bene vivendi, wier doel niet is notitia rerum sed usus et
exercitatio, cf. Tideman, in Stud. en Bijdr. op het gebied der hist.
Theol. door Moll en de Hoop Scheffer III 1876 bl. 389-429. Deze
opvatting vond bij vele Geref. theologen ingang, te Strassburg bij
Sturm, te Heidelberg bij Tremellius, te Herborn bij Piscator, in
Nederland bij Snellius, Scaliger, Jac. Alting, te Cambridge bij
Perkins, wiens leerling Amesius, later in Franeker hoogleeraar naast
Maccovius, de theologie ook omschreef als doctrina Deo vivendi,
studium pietatis, zetelend in den wil, cf. Dr. H. Visscher, Guil.
Amesius, Haarlem 1894. Zoo kwam er eene practicale, pietistische
richting, in Engeland bijv. vertegenwoordigd door R. Baxter, A call to
the unconverted 1669, Daniel Williams, Gospel truth stated and
vindicated 1692, B. Woodbridge, The method of grace in the
justification of sinners 1656 en vele practicale schrijvers, en hier te
lande voorgestaan door vele theologen en predikers, Witsius,
Vitringa, Lampe, Mel, d’Outrein, Brakel, Hellenbroek, Smytegelt,
Francken, Groenewegen, Borstius, van der Groe, Eswijler,
Schortinghuis enz., cf. Heppe, Gesch. d. Piet. u. d. Mystik in der ref.
K. Leiden 1879. Göbel, Gesch. d. chr. Lebens in der rh.-westph. ev.
K. 3 Bde 1849-1860. Ritschl, Gesch. des Pietismus, I in der ref. K.
1880. Naarmate de toestanden in de kerk droeviger werden en eene
doode orthodoxie de overhand nam, legden deze schrijvers allen
nadruk op de noodzakelijkheid eener waarachtige bekeering.
Geboorte uit geloovige ouders, lidmaatschap der kerk, doop,
avondmaal, rechtzinnig geloof was niet genoeg. Men moest het
waarachtig, zaligmakend geloof deelachtig zijn, dat een geheel
ander karakter droeg dan het tijd- en het wonder- en het historisch
geloof. Het waarachtig geloof ontstaat niet, dan nadat schrik voor de
wet, vreeze voor het oordeel, angst over de zonde zijn
voorafgegaan. Het wezen des geloofs is ook geen toestemming of
overtuiging maar bestaat veelmeer in vertrouwen dan in kennis; het
zetelt meer in het hart en den wil dan in het verstand. En het is niet
terstond certitudo, zekerheid; neen, er moet, gelijk Gomarus, Op. I
654 sq. al gezegd had, onderscheid gemaakt tusschen een
toevluchtnemend en een verzekerd vertrouwen; het eerste maakt
alleen het wezen des geloofs uit, het tweede behoort tot het
welwezen en kan er veel later aan toegevoegd worden. Dat geloof
als toevluchtnemend vertrouwen, bestaande in een hongeren en
dorsten naar Christus en zijne gerechtigheid, is eene conditie, welke
aan de rechtvaardiging voorafgaat; het vertrouwt zich aan Christus
toe, ten einde gerechtvaardigd te worden; als het de gerechtigheid
van Christus heeft aangenomen, dan gaat het daarmede tot God
den Vader, wijst Hem op zijne beloften en wordt door Hem
gerechtvaardigd. Het gaat dus zoo eenvoudig en zoo gemakkelijk
niet toe, als velen meenen; het evangelie is niet voor alle menschen,
het aanbod des heils is niet algemeen, de wet is voor allen, maar het
evangelie is alleen voor zekere „behoedanigde” zondaars, voor
aanvankelijk begenadigden. Niemand mag gelooven, dan wie
daartoe eerst van den H. Geest de vrijmoedigheid ontvangen heeft;
men hoede zich voor een ingebeeld en voor een gestolen geloof!
Daarom blijft voortdurende zelfbeproeving noodig; men kan zich zoo
licht bedriegen; het onderscheid is zoo fijn tusschen den
wedergeborene op zijn slechtst en den onwedergeborene op zijn
best; er is zooveel gelijkheid tusschen valsche en ware genade.
Altijd heeft de geloovige dus weder zichzelf te beproeven en te
toetsen aan de kenteekenen van het geestelijk leven; de weg des
heils is een smalle, nauwe weg, waarlangs zelfs de rechtvaardigen
nauwelijks zalig worden. Ook is het een lange weg. Van het
toevluchtnemend tot het verzekerd vertrouwen is een groote afstand;
daartusschen bewegen zich vele klassen en groepen van
menschen, ontdekten, overtuigden, bekommerden, heilbegeerigen,
klein- en zwakgeloovigen enz. De verzegeling en verzekering volgt
in den regel eerst na langen tijd van twijfel en strijd, en komt dan
menigmaal op buitengewone wijze, door eene stem, een gezicht,
een plotseling invallend troostwoord der Schrift enz. tot stand. Aan
dit pietisme in de Geref. kerk is het Luthersche verwant, dat door
Musaeus, Arnd enz., en ook door Geref. schrijvers, als Baxter, Dyke,
Bayle e. a. voorbereid was en dan door Spener 1635-1705 eene
machtige beweging werd en eene groote uitbreiding verkreeg. Door
prediking, tucht, collegia pietatis en vele geschriften zooals Pia
desideria oder herzliches Verlangen nach gottgefälliger Besserung
der wahren christlichen Kirche 1675 trad Spener op tegen de doode
orthodoxie. Hij wilde terugkeer tot de in den doop ontvangen maar
later verloren genade der wedergeboorte. Historisch geloof is
ongenoegzaam; er is een levend, werkzaam geloof noodig voor de
zaligheid. En dit geloof krijgt men eerst, als men zijne zonden leert
kennen door de prediking der wet, en eene lange, bange worsteling
heeft gehad met duivel, wereld en vleesch, zelfs tot vertwijfeling toe
(Busskampf); dan komt daaruit het waarachtig geloof tot Durchbruch.
Dit geloof bestaat daarom niet alleen in toestemming, maar in
vertrouwen; het is eene ervaring, eene bevinding des harten, een
leven der ziel. En als zoodanig is het ook eerst een middel ter
rechtvaardiging, om dan daarna zich te openbaren in een heilig, van
de wereld onderscheiden, zelfs van de adiaphora zich onthoudend
leven. Cf. Walch, Hist. u. theol. Einl. in die Religionsstreit. der ev.
luth. K. II 239-436. Ritschl, Gesch. d. Pietismus II 1884. Riggenbach,
Herzog2 11, 672 en de daar aangehaalde litt. In dit pietisme werd
Zinzendorf 1700-1760 opgevoed, en hij bleef er eenstemmig mede
in afkeer van de doode orthodoxie; maar het pietisme was hem toch
te wettisch. Schrik voor de wet en angst over de zonde, schoon niet
verkeerd en soms eene voorbereidende kracht hebbende, zijn toch
het ware niet. Ware boete, ofschoon het woord boete minder juist is,
wijl het aan straf doet denken, komt voort uit het evangelie, uit de
prediking van den lijdenden Christus. Zij bestaat niet zoozeer in
angst en strijd, in klagen en weenen, maar in vertrouwen op Gods
genade. Zij is eene zaak van het hart, van het gevoel. Daarom moet
het hart gevoelig gemaakt worden, en dat geschiedt het best door de
levendige schildering van Christus’ lijdensgestalte, van zijn bloed en
wonden. Daardoor als door onmiddellijke aanschouwing, door een
diepen, levendigen indruk, door een Wundenblick, wordt in het hart
het geloof geboren, zonder dat men een Busskampf doorgemaakt
heeft of nauwkeurig het uur van zijn wedergeboorte weet. Dat geloof
brengt een unie, een verloving, een huwelijk tusschen Christus en de
ziel tot stand, doet het hart in de genade, d. i. in Jezus’ bloed
zwemmen als in zijn element, en doet den geloovige steeds leven in
de liebe Nähe van den Heiland. Het rechtvaardigt en wederbaart
tegelijk; geloof en liefde vallen saam; meer dan de objectieve
rechtvaardiging is de dynamische Geestesmeedeeling, de geboorte
uit Jezus’ zijde van waarde. Uit Hem geboren, leven de geloovigen
zonder pietistische angstvalligheid in zijne nabijheid, doen alles in
zijn naam, stellen alles, ook het huiselijk en maatschappelijk leven,
onder zijn regiment, en leiden een opgeruimd, christelijk leven, cf.
Plitt, Zinzendorfs Theol. I 301-453 II 242-420 III 45-215.
Spangenberg, Idea fidei fratrum 1778. Becker in Herzog2 17, 513.
Ritschl, Gesch. d. Pietismus III 1886. Wat het pietisme was voor de
Luthersche, werd later het methodisme van Wesley 1703-1791 en
Whitefield 1714-1771 voor de Geref. kerk. Het wilde oorspronkelijk
niets anders dan de slapende kerk wakker schudden en de
rechtzinnige Christenheid bezielen met een nieuw leven. Daartoe
moesten allereerst door eene aangrijpende prediking van
gerechtigheid, zonde, oordeel, verdoemenis de menschen plotseling
tot een diep besef van hun verloren toestand gebracht; dan in
hetzelfde oogenblik, zonder uitstel, door het geloof tot Christus
geleid en van hun zaligheid verzekerd; en daarna tot een nieuw, in
den dienst van het koninkrijk Gods werkzaam, aan zending en
philanthropie zich toewijdend, van allerlei middelmatige dingen zich
onthoudend, zondeloos leven aangespoord worden. Het
methodisme verraadt, in onderscheiding van het pietisme, duidelijk
zijn engelschen oorsprong en gereformeerde herkomst. Het is wel
evenzeer eene reactie tegen de doode orthodoxie; maar het wil van
geen voorbereiding, van geen geleidelijken voortgang der bekeering
weten; het heeft geen langdurigen Busskampf, geen eindelijk
intredenden Durchbruch, geen later volgende Versiegelung; het trekt
alles op één punt saam, plaatst de bekeering in het volle licht des
bewustzijns, en houdt boek van de geredde zielen. En als het de
menschen bekeerd heeft, verzamelt het hen niet in stille,
teruggetrokken kringen, in gezelschappen en conventikels, om daar
de vroomheid aan te kweeken; maar het organiseert hen tot een
leger, dat aanvallenderwijze te werk gaat, vol vuur de wijde wereld
intrekt en ze stormenderhand voor Christus verovert, cf. Schaff,
Creeds I 882 III 807. Schoell in Herzog2 9, 681. Schneckenburger,
Vorl. über die Lehrbegriffe der kleineren prot. Kirchenparteien 1863
d. 103-151. Lecky, Entstehungsgesch. u. Charakt. der Methodismus,
aus d. Engl. Leipzig 1880. Kolde, Der Methodismus und seine
Bekämpfung, Erl. 1886. Id. Die Heilsarmee, Erl. 1885.

10. Ook in de nieuwere theologie loopen de beschrijvingen der


heilsorde verre uiteen. Kant kwam door zijne leer van het radikal
Böse tot de erkentenis, dat er bij den mensch eene neue Schöpfung
plaats hebben moest, Religion ed. Rosenkranz 54. Desniettemin ziet
hij in de bekeering een werk van den mensch; besluit, evenals
Pelagius met zijn si debet, potest, uit het du sollst tot het du kannst;
en wekt elk op, om te doen wat in zijn vermogen is om een beter
mensch te worden en dan voorts te hopen op höhere Mitwirkung, ib.
58. 59. Al is het nu, dat die bekeering op aarde onvolkomen blijft,
God rekent de gezindheid voor de daad en rechtvaardigt ons uit
genade. Ook boet de mensch na zijne bekeering nog altijd voor de
zonden, die hij vroeger bedreven heeft, neemt de smart en straf
daarvoor vrijwillig op zich, en maakt zich ook alzoo de vergeving
waardig, ib. 82. 86 f. Nog sterker dan door Kant werd het bederf der
menschelijke natuur door Schopenhauer geleerd; ook hij zeide
daarom, dat, om den mensch radikaal te verbeteren, verheldering
van het hoofd, ontwikkeling van het verstand geheel onvoldoende
was, dat er eene wedergeboorte moest plaats hebben van de kern
van zijn wezen, omdat operari sequitur esse, Die Welt I6 477 f. II6
692 f. Maar hij buigt zelf ook weer van deze lijn zijner gedachten af
en zoekt de verlossing van het lijden ten deele in kunst en
philosophie maar vooral daarin, dat de mensch in het licht der kennis
het gansche ellendige leven laat werken als een quietief voor den
wil, den wil verneine en alzoo inga in het nirwana, waar de wil
volkomen uitgebluscht is, ib. I 448 f. Hierin kwam Schopenhauer met
Schelling overeen, wiens negatieve philosophie daarmede eindigde,
dat de zaligheid bereikbaar is, niet langs het pad der deugd en de
onderhouding der wet, maar alleen in den weg van het
„beschauliche” leven, Werke I 8 S. 235 f. II 1 S. 554 f., maar die toch
in zijne positieve philosophie het uitsprak, dat de mensch de
rechtvaardiging en zaligheid alleen deelachtig wordt door de religie,
door de gemeenschap met den opgestanen Christus, denn Person
sucht Person, ib. 566 f. II 4 S. 217 f. En zoo ook zoekt von Hartmann
de zaligheid niet in kunst, philosophie, religie maar in het eenmaal
door de menschheid te nemen besluit, om het willen te vernietigen,
in de Universalwillensverneinung, Philos. d. Unb. II9 400 f. Bij Hegel
is de verzoening een proces in het Goddelijk wezen zelf. De mensch
is wezenlijk één met God, maar hij weet het niet. Zijn en bewustzijn
zijn gedeeld, de mensch is voor zichzelf een vreemde. Maar Christus
is de eerste geweest, die zich zijn Goddelijk wezen, zijn één-zijn met
God bewust werd. En wie evenals Christus, in zijne gemeenschap,
die eenheid inziet en erkent, die is verzoend. Het komt hierbij op de
gezindheid aan; de daad blijft nog lang achter die gezindheid terug
maar deze onvolkomenheid is een verdwijnend moment en telt
daarom bij de verzoening heel niet mede, Philos. d. Rel., Werke XII
266 f. In overeenstemming met deze philosophie van Hegel leert de
theologie der modernen, dat God en mensch, genade en wil in het
werk der bekeering geen tegenstelling vormen, maar dat de
bekeering tegelijk en geheel eene daad is van beide. De genade valt
n.l. feitelijk met de voorzienigheid Gods saam, werkt alleen ethisch
en paedagogisch, kweekt en versterkt zelve in de religieuse
gemeenschap de vatbaarheid voor het heil (facultas se applicandi ad
gratiam). Op den duur zal zij dan ook alle menschen brengen tot het
heil en allen tegenstand overwinnen. De mensch heeft ook in
eigenlijken zin geen wedergeboorte van noode; alleen kan de
bekeering zoo heeten, als zij van Gods zijde beschouwd wordt. Die
bekeering bestaat zelve in boete, d. i. berouw over de verledene
zonden, gezindheid om de straf ervoor gewillig te dragen en
voortaan het leven te beteren, en in geloof, d. i. vertrouwen op de
genade Gods in Christus. Als de mensch zich zoo bekeert, dan
wordt hij daarin ook terstond gerechtvaardigd. De rechtvaardiging
n.l. is geen transcendente daad Gods maar niets anders dan de
wegneming van het schuldbewustzijn, verandering in het bewustzijn
van de verhouding tot God, opheffing van de tweespalt tusschen het
natuurlijk ik en zijne bestemming. In de bekeering toch is de mensch
aanvankelijk vernieuwd en draagt als zoodanig den waarborg der
volmaking in zich, gelijk in het zaad de plant schuilt en in het kind de
man. Cf. Strauss, Chr. Gl. II 362 f. 463. 492-497. Biedermann, Chr.
Dogm. § 847-911. Schweizer, Chr. Gl. § 138-164. Lang, Versuch
einer chr. Dogm. § 19-25. Pfleiderer, Grundriss § 170. Scholten, L.
H. K. II 76v. 109v. Initia c. 5.
Meer in schijn dan in waarheid verschilt van deze heilsorde de
voorstelling, welke Schleiermacher ervan geeft. Nadat Christus, zoo
zegt hij, ingegaan is in onze gemeenschap van zonde en ellende,
heeft Hij de kracht en de roeping, om ons op te nemen in zijne
gemeenschap van heiligheid en zaligheid. Dat geschiedt door
wedergeboorte en heiliging. De wedergeboorte bestaat in bekeering
en rechtvaardiging, welke beide een en hetzelfde zijn, de eene maal
van onze, de andere maal van Gods zijde bezien. Bij de bekeering,
die weder twee deelen heeft: boete en geloof, is de mensch niet
medewerkend en ook niet geheel passief maar receptief (in den zin
van Melanchtons facultas se applicandi ad gratiam), zoodat dan ook
de gansche menschheid eens voor de genade rijp en de zaligheid
deelachtig wordt. De rechtvaardiging is die daad Gods, waardoor de
mensch in de gemeenschap met Christus wordt gesteld; zij bestaat
negatief in vergeving, d. i. veroordeeling van het oude, en positief in
adoptie, d. i. opwekking van een nieuw leven; en laat, als keerzijde
van de bekeering, de vergeving feitelijk gescheiden, omdat en in
zoover de mensch in de gemeenschap van Christus een nieuw leven
deelachtig is. De Vermittelungstheologen hebben wel aan den
persoon van Christus en aan de werkzaamheid des H. Geestes
eene breedere plaats in de dogmatiek toegekend; maar in de
heilsorde zijn zij toch de gedachten van Schleiermacher niet geheel
te boven gekomen. Ten eerste schrijven zij bijna allen aan den
mensch de kracht toe, om de genade aan te nemen of te verwerpen,
hetzij die kracht afkomstig is uit de schepping of voorzienigheid
Gods, of uit de in doop of roeping geschonken gratia praeparans, cf.
deel II 343. En ten andere corrigeeren zij Schleiermacher wel in
zooverre, dat zij de rechtvaardiging houden voor eene objectieve
daad Gods, maar zij laten haar toch allen geschieden op grond, niet
van de toegerekende maar van de ingestorte gerechtigheid van
Christus, zoodat zij niet alleen eene rechterlijke maar ook eene
meedeelende, heiligende daad Gods en eene προληψις op de
toekomst leeren, cf. b.v. Neander, Gesch. der Pflanzung u. Leitung
der chr. K.5 551 f. Nitzsch, Syst. d. chr. Lehre § 146. 147. Martensen,
Chr. Dogm. § 230. 231. Lange, Chr. Dogm. II § 95. Ebrard, Dogm. §
443. Schöberlein, Prinzip u. Syst. d. Dogm. 652 enz.; ook Beck, Chr.
Lehrwiss. I 522 f. 533 f. Chr. Glaub. II 595 f., cf. Die
Rechtfertigungslehre der Prof. d. Theol. Joh. Tob. Beck, O. F.
Myrberg und A. W. Ingman, geprüft u. beleuchtet von mehreren
evang. Theologen u. von E. T. Gestrin, Berlin 1892; en zelfs
Hengstenberg in de Ev. Kirchenz. van 1866 en 1867, die zich voor
zijn gevoelen op den brief van Jakobus en ook op Luk. 7:36v. beriep,
cf. Bew. d. Gl. 1868 S. 381 f. Ritschl, Rechtf. u. Vers. I2 644 f.
Tegenover deze op het subject gebouwde rechtvaardiging ging
Ritschl weer naar den persoon van Christus terug en zocht in zijn
werk den grond der vergeving. Wel niet in dien zin, dat zij door
Christus verworven was en in eene verandering van Gods
gezindheid bestond, want God is eeuwige liefde en straffende
gerechtigheid is er bij Hem niet. Maar Christus heeft door zijn
volmaakte beroepstrouw, door zijn onafgebroken gemeenschap met
God, door zijne volkomene overgave aan Gods wil toch verkondigd
en bewezen, dat God liefde is, dat Hij niet toornt of straft maar
vergeeft. Dit nu was noodig, niet omdat God ver van de menschheid,
maar omdat de menschheid, door hare zonde, welke eigenlijk
onwetendheid, geen objectieve schuld maar subjectief
schuldbewustzijn is, verre is van God. Daarom heeft Christus tot in
den dood toe Gods liefde verkondigd en, Gods doel met de
menschheid tot het zijne makende, een rijk Gods, eene gemeente
gesticht, in welke Hij dat bewustzijn heeft overgeplant, dat God liefde
is en de zonde vergeeft, en dat zij, zonder dat hare zonde haar
behoeft te hinderen, in de gemeenschap met God leven kan. De
rechtvaardiging is daarom bij Ritschl een synthetisch oordeel, niet op
grond van de goede werken uitgesproken maar aan die goede
werken voorafgaande; eerst moet toch bij den mensch de vreeze
voor God als den rechter plaats maken voor het bewustzijn van zijne
gemeenschap, eer hij goede werken doen en zijne zedelijke roeping
vervullen kan. Voorts is die rechtvaardiging ook geen uitspraak over,
geen ervaring van den individueelen geloovige, maar zij is een goed
der gemeente, die weet trots hare zonde in gemeenschap met God
te staan; zij valt met de stichting der gemeente zelve saam, Rechtf.
u. Vers.2 III 26-131. Kaftan, Dogm. 493 f. Schultz, Grundriss der ev.
Dogm. § 52. De bijzondere personen worden deze weldaad der
rechtvaardiging alleen deelachtig, door zich aan te sluiten bij de
gemeente en ze zich toe te eigenen in het geloof. Dat geloof is vrij,
Rechtf. u. Vers. III 536; de verkiezing heeft ook niet individueele
menschen maar de gemeente tot object, ib. III 114. Dat geloof wordt
ook niet magisch gewerkt, maar de opvoeding is de gewone vorm,
waarin iemand tot het geloof komt, III 555. Het bestaat wezenlijk in
vertrouwen, is onafhankelijk van historisch onderzoek en zijn
resultaten en berust op een diepen indruk, die door de zedelijke
grootheid van Jezus op het onbevangen gemoed wordt gemaakt, cf.
deel I 453. Door dat geloof krijgt de mensch een ander oordeel over
God, zichzelven, de wereld; hij leert God kennen als liefde, weet, dat
zijne zonde geene verhindering meer is voor de gemeenschap met
God, acht rampen en onheilen geen straffen meer maar heerscht
geestelijk over alle dingen; in één woord, zijn schuldbewustzijn is
weggenomen en daarin bestaat zijne rechtvaardiging, Rechtf. u.
Vers. III 38 f. Gevolg van deze rechtvaardiging is de verzoening, het
afleggen der vijandschap jegens God op grond van die
rechtvaardiging, ib. III 74-76. En met die rechtvaardiging en
verzoening is wezenlijk de wedergeboorte identisch, want deze
bestaat niet in eene hyperphysische verandering, maar in eene
verandering van stemming en gezindheid, ib. III 557. 562.

11. Door de heilsorde, ordo of via salutis, is te verstaan de wijze


waarop, of de weg waarlangs de zondaar in het bezit komt van de
weldaden der genade, die door Christus verworven zijn. In de
dogmatiek kreeg zij eerst laat eene zelfstandige plaats en eene
eenigszins geregelde behandeling. Bij de scholastici is de stof voor
dezen locus nog verspreid; het voornaamste, dat hier ter sprake
komt, is te vinden in de commentaren op Sent. II dist. 26-29, III dist.
25-27 en Summa II 1 qu. 109-114. Het Tridentinum behandelt al de
op de genade betrekking hebbende onderwerpen onder den titel de
justificatione, sess. VI. De Roomsche theologen vatten de stof
gewoonlijk saam in een locus de gratia en brengen daarin
achtereenvolgens ter sprake de gratia actualis (natura, necessitas,
gratuitas; sufficientia, efficacia enz.), de gratia habitualis (justincatio)
en de fructus gratiae (meritum). De Hervorming was oorzaak, dat
deze locus veel breeder dan vroeger behandeld werd; zij zelve sprak
daarin eerst wel alleen de poenitentia, de fide en de bonis operibus,
maar breidde allengs het aantal onderwerpen uit en handelde
achtereenvolgens de vocatione, de illuminatione, de regeneratione,
de conversione, de fide, de justificatione enz. Natuurlijk werd toen
spoedig de behoefte gevoeld, om deze uitgebreide, rijke stof weer
onder één hoofd saam te brengen. Calvijn ging daarin reeds voor en
gaf aan het derde boek zijner Institutie den titel: de modo
percipiendae Christi gratiae, et qui inde fructus nobis proveniant et
qui effectus consequantur. Anderen spreken van de gratia Sp. S.
applicatrix (Quenstedt), σωτηριοποιια seu salutis consequendae
modus (Calovius), redemptionis applicatio (Mastricht), ordo salutis
seu salutis impetrandae modus (Reinhard) enz. Deze heilsorde heeft
nu te worstelen met eene eigenaardige moeilijkheid. Eenerzijds toch
is alles door Christus volbracht, de zonde verzoend, de wet vervuld,
de dood overwonnen, Satan onderworpen, de vergeving verworven,
het leven in onverderfelijkheid aan het licht gebracht. Men zou
verwachten, dat zij, voor wie Christus gestorven is, terstond en
volkomen van zonde, lijden, dood bevrijd en de heiligheid en
zaligheid deelachtig zouden worden. Dit is echter niet het geval;
integendeel worden zij in den tijd vermaand tot geloof en bekeering,
moeten wedergeboren, gerechtvaardigd, geheiligd en verheerlijkt
worden, blijven in dit leven aan zonde, lijden en dood onderworpen
en gaan eerst door vele verdrukkingen in in het koninkrijk der
hemelen. Hoe is het eene met het andere te rijmen? Eenerzijds alles
volbracht, zoodat er voor den mensch niets te doen overblijft; en
andererzijds schijnt aan den mensch nog het voornaamste te
moeten gebeuren, zal hij de verworvene zaligheid deelachtig
worden. De christelijke religie schijnt twee onverzoenbare
standpunten in te nemen, het hetero- en het autosoterische, als zij
de verwerving der zaligheid geheel aan Christus toeschrijft en ons
toch opwekt, om onze zaligheid uit te werken met vreeze en beving,
cf. v. Hartmann, Religionsphilosophie I 569 f. Twee klippen zijn er
daarom, op welke de christelijke heilsorde altijd gevaar liep te
stranden, op het antinomianisme aan den eenen en op het
pelagianisme aan den anderen kant.
Het pelagianisme komt niet alleen met de besluiten Gods in strijd,
deel II 349-357, maar het doet ook te kort aan den persoon en het
werk van Christus. Naarmate het bij de verwerving der zaligheid de
werkzaamheid des menschen uitbreidt, krimpt het die van Christus
in. Het is toch duidelijk, dat, indien het geloof, de bekeering, de
volharding, voor het geheel of voor een deel in ’s menschen macht
staan en zijn werk zijn, indien de beslissing over het feitelijk zalig
worden ten slotte, als het er op aankomt, in de handen van den
mensch ligt, dat dan Christus hoogstens alleen kan verworven
hebben de mogelijkheid van het zalig worden. Hij heeft dan wel de
gelegenheid geopend, maar of iemand of weinigen of velen of allen
van die gelegenheid gebruik zullen maken en blijven maken, hangt
ten slotte van de menschen zelven af. God liet hen vrij en legde de
beslissing in hunne handen. Dan volgt, dat Christus inderdaad lang
niet alles heeft volbracht, maar dat het voornaamste, d. i. datgene,
wat over het werkelijk zalig worden beslist, nog door den mensch
geschieden moet. Christus daalt dus af van de eenige plaats, die Hij
in het werk der zaligheid inneemt; Hij komt op ééne lijn te staan met
al die profeten en leeraars, door welke God de menschen
onderwezen en opgevoed heeft; zijn werk wordt verwant aan en
ingevoegd in al die praeparatoire en paedagogische
werkzaamheden, welke God aan het menschelijk geslacht te koste
heeft gelegd; het evangelie der genade is slechts gradueel van de
lex naturae onderscheiden. En de mensch zelf, schoon door al dien
opvoedenden arbeid Gods geholpen en gesteund, wordt
opgeroepen tot zelfwerkzaamheid. Van hem hangt het af, of hij de
gelegenheden, die God hem biedt, aangrijpen en alzoo de zaligheid
deelachtig worden zal. De pelagiaansche voorstelling van de
heilsorde wischt het specifieke onderscheid tusschen het
Christendom en de heidensche godsdiensten uit, vat ze alle saam in
één proces en kan de Christelijke religie hoogstens eeren als de
eerste onder haars gelijken. Zij valt in het paganisme terug en laat
de zaligheid verwerven door de eigen wijsheid en kracht van den
mensch. En daarbij ondermijnt het dan ook de zekerheid des
geloofs. Van de Heidenen getuigt Paulus, dat zij zonder Christus en

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