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2 Human Development: A Life-Span View, Fifth Edition Robert V. Kail and John C. Cavanaugh Psychology Editor: Jaime Perkins Development Editor: Kristin Makarewycz Assistant Editor: Paige Leeds Editorial Assistant: Trina Tom Media Editor: Mary Noel, Amy Cohen Executive Marketing Manager: Kimberly Russell Marketing Manager: Tierra Morgan Executive Marketing Communications Manager: Talia Wise Sr. Content Project Manager, Editorial Production: Pat Waldo Creative Director: Rob Hugel Art Director: Vernon Boes Print Buyer: Becky Cross Text Permissions Manager: Tim Sisler Image Permission Manager: Don Schlotman Production Service: Newgen Austin Text Designer: Jeanne Calabrese Photo Researcher: Sarah Evertson Copy Editor: Matt Darnell Cover Designer: Terri Wright Cover Image: Background: Masterfile Royalty Free (RF); Insets from top to bottom: Sean Justice/ Getty Images, Ariel Skelley/Getty Images, Polka Dot Images/Jupiterimages, John W. Gertz/zefa/Corbis, Dirk Anschutz/Getty Images, Baerbel Schmidt/Getty Images, Steve Mason/Getty Images Compositor: Newgen 2010, 2007 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this work covered by the copyright herein may be reproduced, transmitted, stored, or used in any form or by any means graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including but not limited to photocopying, recording, scanning, digitizing, taping, Web distribution, information networks, or information storage and retrieval systems, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without the prior written permission of the publisher. For product information and technology assistance, contact us at Cengage Learning Customer & Sales Support, For permission to use material from this text or product, submit all requests online at Further permissions questions can be ed to permissionrequest@cengage.com. Library of Congress Control Number: Student Edition: ISBN-13: ISBN-10: Loose-leaf Edition: ISBN-13: ISBN-10: Wadsworth 10 Davis Drive Belmont, CA USA Cengage Learning is a leading provider of customized learning solutions with office locations around the globe, including Singapore, the United Kingdom, Australia, Mexico, Brazil, and Japan. Locate your local office at international.cengage.com/region. Cengage Learning products are represented in Canada by Nelson Education, Ltd. For your course and learning solutions, visit Purchase any of our products at your local college store or at our preferred online store Printed in Canada

3 1.1 THINKING ABOUT DEVELOPMENT Recurring Issues in Human Development Basic Forces in Human Development: The Biopsychosocial Framework REAL PEOPLE: APPLYING HUMAN DEVELOPMENT: Sarah and Elizabeth Delany 1.2 DEVELOPMENTAL THEORIES Psychodynamic Theory Learning Theory Cognitive-Developmental Theory The Ecological and Systems Approach Life-Span Perspective, Selective Optimization With Compensation, and Life-Course Perspective The Big Picture 1.3 DOING DEVELOPMENTAL RESEARCH Measurement in Human Development Research General Designs for Research Designs for Studying Development SPOTLIGHT ON RESEARCH: Stability and Change in Life Satisfaction Integrating Findings From Different Studies Conducting Research Ethically Communicating Research Results Applying Research Results: Social Policy CURRENT CONTROVERSIES: Stem Cell Research SUMMARY KEY TERMS LEARN MORE ABOUT IT

4 C H A P T E R 1 The Study of Human Development Masterfile D id you ever wonder how you managed to go from being a young child to the more experienced person you are now? Or what might lie ahead in your future over the next few years or decades? Take a moment and think about your life to this point. Make a note to yourself about or share with someone else your fondest memories from childhood or the events and people who have most influenced you. Thinking about your past experiences is the beginning of an exciting personal journey. Think about major moments or experiences you ve had. What happened? Why do you think things happened the way they did? What major forces shaped that event, and have shaped your life? In this course, you will have the opportunity to ask some of life s most basic questions: How did your life begin? How did you go from a single cell about the size of the period at the end of a sentence in this text to the fully grown, complex adult person you are today? Will you be the same or different by the time you reach late life? How do you influence other people s lives? How do they influence yours? How do the various roles you have throughout life child, teenager, partner, spouse, parent, worker, grandparent shape your development? How do we deal with our own and others deaths? These are examples of the questions that create the scientific foundation of human development, the multidisciplinary study of how people change and how they remain the same over time. Answering these questions requires us to draw on theories and research in the physical and social sciences, including biology, genetics, chemistry, medicine, psychology, sociology, demography, ethnography, economics, and anthropology. The science of human development reflects the complexity and uniqueness of each person and each person s experiences as well as commonalities and patterns across people. As a science, human development is firmly grounded in theory and research as it seeks to understand human behavior. Before our journey begins, we need to collect some things to make the trip more rewarding. In this chapter, we pick up the necessary road maps that point us in the proper direction: a framework to organize theories and research, common issues and influences on development, and the methods developmentalists use to make discoveries. Throughout the book, we will point out how the various theories and research connect to your own experience. Pack well, and bon voyage. 3

5 1.1 THINKING ABOUT DEVELOPMENT LEARNING OBJECTIVES What fundamental issues of development have scholars addressed throughout history? What are the basic forces in the biopsychosocial framework? How does the timing of these forces affect their impact? Javier Suarez smiled broadly as he held his newborn grandson for the fi rst time. So many thoughts rushed into his mind What would Ricardo experience growing up? Would the poor neighborhood they live in prevent him from reaching his potential? Would the family genes for good health be passed on? How would Ricardo s life growing up as a Latino in the United States be different from Javier s own experiences in Mexico? human development the multidisciplinary study of how people change and how they remain the same over time LIKE MANY GRANDPARENTS, Javier wonders what the future holds for his grandson. The questions he asks are interesting in their own right, but they are important for another reason: They bear on general issues of human development that have intrigued philosophers and scientists for centuries. In the next few pages we introduce some of these issues, which surface when any aspect of development is being investigated. Recurring Issues in Human Development In thinking about your life to this point, you may have considered the factors that have influenced the lives of yourself and others. These factors probably included such things as your genetic heritage, your family or neighborhood, the observation that some changes in your life are sudden whereas others are more gradual, and that some people seem to be strongly influenced by their culture whereas others are not. Your speculations capture three fundamental issues that pervade modern research on human development: nature versus nurture, continuity versus discontinuity, and universal versus context-specific development. The versus suggests that each issue is an either or, but they are actually continua. That is, human development at the level of individual people is a blend to differing degrees of each concept in the pair that describe each issue. Because these issues underlie all the topics in this book, let s examine each one. nature nurture issue the degree to which genetic or hereditary influences (nature) and experiential or environmental influences (nurture) determine the kind of person you are THINK ABOUT IT Think of some common, everyday behaviors, such as dancing or playing basketball with your friends. How do nature and nurture influence these behaviors? Nature Versus Nurture Think for a minute about a particular characteristic that you and several people in your family have, such as intelligence, good looks, or a friendly and outgoing personality. Why is this trait so prevalent? Is it because you inherited the trait from your parents? Or is it because of where and how you and your parents were brought up? Answers to these questions illustrate different positions on the nature nurture issue, which involves the degree to which genetic or hereditary influences (nature) and experiential or environmental influences (nurture) determine the kind of person you are. Scientists once hoped to answer these questions by identifying either heredity or environment as the cause of a particular aspect of development. The goal was to be able to say, for example, that intelligence was due to heredity or that personality was due to experience. Today, however, we know that virtually no feature of life-span development is due exclusively to either heredity or environment. Instead, development is always shaped by both: Nature and nurture are mutually interactive influences. For example, in Chapter 2 you will see that some individuals inherit a disease that leads to mental retardation if they eat dairy products. However, if their environment contains no dairy products, they develop normal intelligence. Similarly, in Chapter 10 you will learn that one risk factor for cardiovascular disease is heredity but that lifestyle factors such as diet and smoking play important roles in determining who has heart attacks. 4 CHAPTER 1

6 As these examples illustrate, a major aim of human development research is to understand how heredity and environment jointly determine development. For Javier, it means his grandson s development will surely be shaped both by the genes he inherited and by the experiences he will have. Continuity Versus Discontinuity Think of some ways in which you remain similar to how you were as a 5-year-old. Maybe you were outgoing and friendly at that age and remain outgoing and friendly today. Examples like these suggest a great deal of continuity in development. Once a person begins down a particular developmental path for example, toward friendliness or intelligence he or she stays on that path throughout life. According to this view, if Ricardo is a friendly and smart 5-year-old then he should be friendly and smart as a 25- and 75-year-old. The other view that development is not always continuous is illustrated in the Hi and Lois cartoon. Sweet and cooperative Trixie has become assertive and demanding. In this view, people can change from one developmental path to another and perhaps several times in their lives. Consequently, Ricardo might be smart and friendly at age 5, smart but obnoxious at 25, and wise but aloof at 75! The continuity discontinuity issue concerns whether a particular developmental phenomenon represents a smooth progression throughout the life span (continuity) or a series of abrupt shifts (discontinuity). Of course, on a day-to-day basis, behaviors often look nearly identical, or continuous. But when viewed over the course of many months or years, the same behaviors may have changed dramatically, reflecting discontinuous change. Throughout this book, you will find examples of developmental changes that appear to be more like continuities and others that appear to be more like discontinuities. For example, in Chapter 5 you will see evidence of continuity: Infants who have satisfying emotional relationships with their parents typically become children with satisfying peer relationships. But in Chapter 15 you will see an instance of discontinuity: After spending most of adulthood trying to ensure the success of the next generation and to leave a legacy, older adults turn to evaluating their own lives in search of closure and a sense that what they have done has been worthwhile. Universal Versus Context-Specific Development In some cities in Brazil, 10- to 12-year-olds sell fruit and candy to pedestrians and passengers on buses. Although they have little formal education and often cannot identify the numbers on the money, they handle money proficiently (Saxe, 1988). In contrast, 10- to 12-year-olds in the United States are formally taught at home or school to identify numbers and to perform the kinds of arithmetic needed to handle money. Can one theory explain development in both groups of children? The universal versus context-specific development issue concerns whether there is just one path of development or several. Some theorists argue that, despite what look like differences in development, there is really only one fundamental developmental process for everyone. continuity discontinuity issue whether a particular developmental phenomenon represents a smooth progression throughout the life span (continuity) or a series of abrupt shifts (discontinuity) universal versus context-specific development issue whether there is just one path of development or several paths Reprinted with special permission of King Features Syndicate. THE STUDY OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT 5

7 Mathias Oppersdorff / Photo Researchers, Inc. Even with little formal education, this Brazilian boy has well-developed mathematical skills, an example of cultural contextual forces on development. biopsychosocial framework a useful way to organize the biological, psychological, and sociocultural forces on human development According to this view, differences in development are simply variations on a fundamental developmental process in much the same way that cars as different as a Chevrolet, a Honda, and a Porsche are all products of fundamentally the same manufacturing process. The opposing view is that differences among people are not simply variations on a theme. Advocates of this view argue that human development is inextricably intertwined with the context within which it occurs. A person s development is a product of complex interaction with the environment, and that interaction is not fundamentally the same in all environments. Each environment has its own set of unique procedures that shape development, just as the recipes for different cars yield vehicles as different as a Mini Cooper and a Hummer. As is the case for the other two issues, individual development reflects both universal and context-specific influences. For example, the basic order of development of physical skills in infancy is essentially the same in all cultures. But how those skills are focused or encouraged in daily life may differ across cultures. Putting all three issues together and using personality to illustrate, we can ask how heredity and environment interact to influence the development of personality, whether the development of personality is continuous or discontinuous, and whether personality develops in much the same way around the world. To answer these kinds of questions, we need to look at the forces that combine to shape human development. Basic Forces in Human Development: The Biopsychosocial Framework When trying to explain why people develop as they do, scientists usually consider four interactive forces: Biological forces include all genetic and health-related factors that affect development. Psychological forces include all internal perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and personality factors that affect development. Sociocultural forces include interpersonal, societal, cultural, and ethnic factors that affect development. Life-cycle forces reflect differences in how the same event affects people of different ages. Each person is a product of a unique combination of these forces. No two individuals, even in the same family, experience these forces in the same way; even identical twins eventually have different friendship networks, partners, and occupations. To see why each of these forces is important, think about whether a mother decides to breast-feed her infant. Her decision will be based on biological variables (e.g., the quality and amount of milk she produces), her attitudes about the virtues of breastfeeding, the influences of other people (e.g., the father), and her cultural traditions about appropriate ways to feed infants. Additionally, her decision will reflect her age and stage of life. Only by focusing on all of these forces can we have a complete view of the mother s decision. One useful way to organize the biological, psychological, and sociocultural forces on human development is with the biopsychosocial framework. As you can see in Figure 1.1, the biopsychosocial framework emphasizes that each of the forces interacts with the others to make up development. Let s look at the different elements of the biopsychosocial model in more detail. 6 CHAPTER 1

8 Figure 1.1 The biopsychosocial framework shows that human development results from interacting forces. Biological forces Sociocultural forces Lifecycle forces Psychological forces Biological Forces Prenatal development, brain maturation, puberty, menopause, facial wrinkling, and change in cardiovascular functioning may occur to you as examples of biological forces. Indeed, major aspects of each are determined by our genetic code. For example, many children resemble their parents, which shows biological influences on development. But biological forces also include the effects of lifestyle factors, such as diet and exercise. Collectively, biological forces can be viewed as providing the raw material necessary and as setting the boundary conditions (in the case of genetics) for development. Psychological Forces Psychological forces probably seem familiar because they are the ones used most often to describe the characteristics of a person. For example, think about how you describe yourself to others. Most of us say that we have a nice personality and are intelligent, honest, self-confident, or something similar. Concepts like these reflect psychological forces. In general, psychological forces are all the internal cognitive, emotional, personality, perceptual, and related factors that influence behavior. Psychological forces have received the most attention of the three main developmental forces. Much of what we discuss throughout this text reflects psychological forces. For example, we will see how the development of intelligence enables individuals to experience and think about their world in different ways. We ll also see how the emergence of self-esteem is related to the beliefs people have about their abilities, which in turn influence what they do. Sociocultural Forces People develop in the world, not in a vacuum. To understand human development, we need to know how people and their environments interact and relate to each other. That is, we need to view an individual s development as part of a much larger system in which no individual part can act without influencing all other aspects of the system. This larger system includes one s parents, children, and siblings as well as important individuals outside the family, such as friends, teachers, and co-workers. The system also includes institutions that influence development, such as schools, television, and the workplace. At a broader level, the society in which a person grows up plays a key role. Biological influences on development help explain why relatives tend to look alike. David Young-Wolff / PhotoEdit THE STUDY OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT 7

9 Vidler Vidler / Mauritus / Photolibrary Chad Ehlers / Alamy The cultural experiences of this Asian child and Asian woman will differ from those of people growing up in different parts of the world. All of these people and institutions fit together to form a person s culture: the knowledge, attitudes, and behavior associated with a group of people. Culture can be linked to a particular country or people (e.g., French culture), to a specific point in time (e.g., popular culture of the 2000s), or to groups of individuals who maintain specific, identifiable cultural traditions (e.g., African Americans). Knowing the culture from which a person comes provides some general information about important influences that become manifest throughout the life span. Understanding the impact of culture is particularly important in the United States, the most diverse country in the world. Hundreds of different languages are spoken, and in many states no racial or ethnic group constitutes a majority. The many customs that people bring offer insights into the broad spectrum of human experience and attest to the diversity of the U.S. population. Although the U.S. population is changing rapidly, much of the research we describe in this text was conducted on middle-class European Americans. Accordingly, we must be careful not to assume that findings from this group necessarily apply to people in other groups. Indeed, there is a great need for research on different cultural groups. Perhaps, as a result of taking this course, you will help fill this need by becoming a developmental researcher yourself. Another practical problem that we face is how to describe each group. Terminology changes over time. For example, the terms colored people, Negroes, black Americans, and African Americans have all been used to describe Americans of African ancestry. In this book, we use the term African American because it emphasizes the unique cultural heritage of that group of people. Following the same line of reasoning, we use European American (instead of Caucasian or white), Native American (instead of Indian or American Indian), Asian American, and Latino American. These labels are not perfect. In some cases, they blur distinctions among ethnic groups. For example, people from both Guatemala and Mexico may be described as Latinos. However, their cultural backgrounds vary on several important dimensions, so we should not view them as being from a homogeneous group. Similarly, the term Asian American blurs variations among people whose heritage is, for example, Japanese, Chinese, or Korean. Whenever researchers have identified the subgroups in their research sample, we will use the more specific terms in describing results. When we use the more general terms, remember that conclusions may not apply to all subgroups within the group described by the more general term. Topham / The Image Works Due to life cycle forces, experiencing pregnancy in high school is different from experiencing it later in adulthood. The Forces Interact So far, we ve described biological, psychological, and sociocultural forces in the bio psychosocial framework as if they were independent. But as we pointed out earlier in introducing the notion of the biopsychosocial framework, each force shapes the others. Consider eating habits. When the authors of this text were growing up, a red meat and potatoes diet was common and was thought to be healthy. Scientists later discovered that high-fat diets may lead to cardiovascular disease and some forms of cancer. Consequently, social pressures changed what people eat; advertising campaigns were begun; and restaurants began to indicate which menu items were low in fat. Thus, the biological forces of fat in the diet were influenced by the social forces of the times, whether in support of or in opposition to eating beef every evening. Finally, as your authors 8 CHAPTER 1

10 became more educated about diets and their effects on health, the psychological forces of thinking and reasoning also influenced their choice of diets. (We confess, however, that chocolate remains a passion for one of us!) This example illustrates that no aspect of human development can be fully understood by examining only one or two of the forces. All three must be considered in interaction. In fact, we ll see later in this chapter that integration across the three major forces of the biopsychosocial framework is one criterion by which the adequacy of a developmental theory can be judged. Before we do that, however, we need to consider one more aspect of this framework: The point in life at which a specific combination of biological, psychological, and sociocultural forces operates matters a great deal. Timing Is Everything: Life-Cycle Forces Consider the following two situations. Jacqui, a 32- year-old woman, has been happily married for 6 years. She and her husband have a steady income. They decide to start a family, and a month later Jacqui learns she is pregnant. Jenny, a 14-year-old girl, lives in the same neighborhood as Jacqui. She has been sexually active for about 6 months but is not in a stable relationship. After missing her period, Jenny took a pregnancy test and discovered that she is pregnant. Although both Jacqui and Jenny became pregnant, the outcome of each pregnancy will certainly be affected by factors in each woman s situation such as her age, her financial situation, and the extent of her social support systems. The example illustrates life-cycle forces: The same event can have different effects depending on when it happens in a person s life. In the scenarios with Jacqui and Jenny, the same event pregnancy produces happiness and eager anticipation for one woman but anxiety and concern for the other. The influence of life-cycle forces reflects the influences of biological, psychological, and sociocultural forces at different points in the life span. A particular issue or event (such as pregnancy) may recur at different points in life, but how a person deals with it depends on their accumulated experience. For example, trust is an issue that is addressed throughout life (Erikson, 1982). Beginning as an infant s trust in parents, it develops into progressively more complex forms of trust over the life span for friends and/or lovers as Jacqui can attest and as Jenny will ultimately learn. Each time a person revisits trust issues, he or she builds on past experiences in light of intervening development. This accumulated experience means that the person will deal with trust in a new way and that trust is shown in different ways across the life span. Combining the four developmental forces gives a view of human development that encompasses the life span yet appreciates the unique aspects of each phase of life. From this perspective we can view each life story as a complex interplay among the four forces. One way to see this is to look back on life from the perspective of old age. Sadie and Bessie Delany, discussed in the Real People feature, are good examples of this. Due to life cycle forces, pregnancy in one s 30s is experienced differently than pregnancy in one s teens. THINK ABOUT IT Earning a college degree is another event that has different effects based on when it happens in a person s life. Can you think of other events like these? THE STUDY OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT 9 Vladimir Pcholkin / Getty Images / Photographer s Choice

11 Real People: Applying Human Development Sarah and Elizabeth Delany Understanding how the developmental forces affect people s personal developmental paths greatly enhances our knowledge by helping us understand how people s lives unfold. This is especially helpful when you look back over people s lives from the perspective of old age: When you get real old, honey, said Elizabeth (Bessie) Delany, you lay it all on the table. There s an old saying: Only little children and old folks tell the truth. With her sister Sarah (Sadie), Bessie lived through and was shaped by some of the most important historical events of the late 19th and 20th centuries. The sisters grew up during a time when segregation was the rule in the South, so they experienced many forms of discrimination as well as the civil rights and the women s movements. They were born more than a decade before the invention of the airplane, and they lived to see people travel to space and walk on the moon. Each rose to professional prominence, Bessie as the second African American woman to become a licensed dentist in New York and Sadie as the first African American to teach domestic science on the highschool level in New York City public schools. From a biological perspective, they clearly had good genes for longevity. Psychologically, they endured the effects of discrimination. Socioculturally, they were pioneers in many ways, and they were not only shaped by historical events but helped shape them as well. From a life cycle perspective, the sisters repeatedly faced obstacles and challenges to their careers but always managed to overcome them. As to the rest of their story, they never married. Bessie died at age 104 in 1995, and Sadie Sadie Delany (attending her sister Bessie s funeral) is an example of how historical events can shape a life. died at age 109 in Discover for yourself how social and historical events affected their lives by reading their story, which is listed in the readings at the end of this chapter. AP Images Test Yourself RECALL 1. The nature nurture issue involves the degree to which and the environment influence human development. 2. Azar remarked that her 14-year-old son is incredibly shy and has been ever since he was a little baby. This illustrates the of development. 3. forces include genetic and health factors. INTERPRET How does the biopsychosocial framework provide insight into the recurring issues of development (nature nurture, continuity discontinuity, universal context-specific)?. APPLY How does your life experience reflect the four developmental forces? Recall answers: (1) genetics, (2) continuity, (3) Biological 1.2 DEVELOPMENTAL THEORIES LEARNING OBJECTIVES What is a developmental theory? How do psychodynamic theories account for development? What is the focus of learning theories of development? How do cognitive-developmental theories explain changes in thinking? What are the main points in the ecological and systems approach? What are the major tenets of life-span and life-course theories? Marcus has just graduated from high school, fi rst in his class. For his proud mother, Betty, this is a time to reflect on her son s past and to ponder his future. Marcus has always been a happy, easy-going child a joy to rear. And he s constantly been interested in learning. 10 CHAPTER 1

12 Betty wonders why he is so perpetually good-natured and so curious. If she knew the secret, she laughed, she could write a best-selling book and be a guest on Oprah! TO ANSWER BETTY S QUESTIONS ABOUT HER SON S GROWTH, developmental researchers would provide a theory of his development. Theories are essential because they provide the why s for development. What is a theory? In human development, a theory is an organized set of ideas that is designed to explain development. For example, suppose friends of yours have a baby who cries often. You could imagine several explanations for her crying. Maybe the baby cries because she s hungry; maybe she cries to get her parents to hold her; maybe she cries because she s simply a cranky, unhappy baby. Each of these explanations is a very simple theory: It tries to explain why the baby cries so much. Of course, actual theories in human development are much more complicated, but the purpose is the same to explain behavior and development. There are no truly comprehensive theories of human development to guide research (Lerner, 2002). Instead, five general perspectives influence current research: psychodynamic theory; learning theory; cognitive theory; ecological and systems theory; and theories involving the life-span perspective, selective optimization with compensation, and the life-course perspective. Let s consider each approach briefly. Psychodynamic Theory Psychodynamic theories hold that development is largely determined by how well people resolve conflicts they face at different ages. This perspective traces its roots to Sigmund Freud s theory that personality emerges from conflicts that children experience between what they want to do and what society wants them to do. Building on Freud s idea, Erik Erikson ( ) proposed the first comprehensive life-span view, his psychosocial theory, which remains an important theoretical framework today. theory an organized set of ideas that is designed to explain development psychodynamic theories theories proposing that development is largely determined by how well people resolve conflicts they face at different ages psychosocial theory Erikson s proposal that personality development is determined by the interaction of an internal maturational plan and external societal demands Erikson s Theory In his psychosocial theory, Erikson proposed that personality development is determined by the interaction of an internal maturational plan and external societal demands. He proposed that the life cycle is composed of eight stages and that the order of the stages is biologically fixed (the eight stages shown in Table 1.1). You can see that the name of each stage reflects the challenge people face at a particular age. For example, the challenge for young adults is to become involved in a loving relationship. Challenges are met through a combination of inner psychological influences and outer social influences. When challenges are met successfully, people are well prepared to meet the challenge of the next stage. Erik Erikson Bettmann / Corbis TABLE 1.1 The Eight Stages of Psychosocial Development in Erikson s Theory Psychosocial Stage Age Challenge Basic trust vs. mistrust Birth to 1 year To develop a sense that the world is safe, a good place Autonomy vs. shame 1 to 3 years To realize that one is an independent person who can make decisions and doubt Initiative vs. guilt 3 to 6 years To develop the ability to try new things and to handle failure Industry vs. inferiority 6 years to adolescence To learn basic skills and to work with others Identity vs. identity Adolescence To develop a lasting, integrated sense of self confusion Intimacy vs. isolation Young adulthood To commit to another in a loving relationship Generativity vs. Middle adulthood To contribute to younger people through child rearing, child care, or stagnation other productive work Integrity vs. despair Late life To view one s life as satisfactory and worth living THE STUDY OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT 11

13 Bettmann / Corbis B. F. Skinner epigenetic principle in Erikson s theory, the idea that each psychosocial strength has its own special period of particular importance operant conditioning learning paradigm in which the consequences of a behavior determine whether a behavior is repeated in the future reinforcement a consequence that increases the future likelihood of the behavior that it follows punishment a consequence that decreases the future likelihood of the behavior that it follows imitation or observational learning learning that occurs by simply watching how others behave The sequence of stages in Erikson s theory is based on the epigenetic principle, which means that each psychosocial strength has its own special period of particular importance. The eight stages represent the order of this ascendancy. Because the stages extend across the whole life span, it takes a lifetime to acquire all of the psychosocial strengths. Moreover, Erikson realizes that present and future behavior must have its roots in the past, because later stages are built on the foundation laid in previous ones. The psychodynamic perspective emphasizes that the trek to adulthood is difficult because the path is strewn with challenges. Outcomes of development reflect the manner and ease with which children surmount life s barriers. When children overcome early obstacles easily, they are better able to handle the later ones. A psychodynamic theorist would tell Betty that her son s cheerful disposition and his academic record suggest that he has handled life s early obstacles well, which is a good sign for his future development. Learning Theory In contrast to psychodynamic theory, learning theory concentrates on how learning influences a person s behavior. This perspective emphasizes the role of experience, examining whether a person s behavior is rewarded or punished. This perspective also emphasizes that people learn from watching others around them. Two influential theories in this perspective are behaviorism and social learning theory. Behaviorism Early in the 20th century, John Watson ( ) believed that infants minds were essentially blank slates and argued that learning determines what people will become. He assumed that, with the correct techniques, anything could be learned by almost anyone. In Watson s view, then, experience was just about all that mattered in determining the course of development. Watson did little research to support his claims, but B. F. Skinner ( ) filled this gap. Skinner studied operant conditioning, in which the consequences of a behavior determine whether a behavior is repeated in the future. Skinner showed that two kinds of consequences were especially influential. A reinforcement is a consequence that increases the future likelihood of the behavior that it follows. Positive reinforcement consists of giving a reward such as chocolate, gold stars, or paychecks to increase the likelihood of a previous behavior. A father who wants to encourage his daughter to help with chores may reinforce her with praise, food treats, or money whenever she cleans her room. Negative reinforcement consists of rewarding people by taking away unpleasant things. The same father could use negative reinforcement by saying that whenever his daughter cleans her room she doesn t have to wash the dishes or fold laundry. A punishment is a consequence that decreases the future likelihood of the behavior that it follows. Punishment suppresses a behavior either by adding something aversive or by withholding a pleasant event. Should the daughter fail to clean her room, the father may punish her by nagging (adding something aversive) or by not allowing her to watch television (withholding a pleasant event). Skinner s research was done primarily with animals, but human development researchers showed that the principles of operant conditioning could be extended readily to people, too (Baer & Wolf, 1968). Applied properly, reinforcement and punishment are indeed powerful influences on children, adolescents, and adults. Social Learning Theory Researchers discovered that people sometimes learn without reinforcement or punishment. People learn much by simply watching those around them, which is known as imitation or observational learning. Imitation is occurring when one toddler throws a toy after seeing a peer do so or when a school-age child offers to help an older adult carry groceries because she s seen her parents do the same. Perhaps imitation makes you think of monkey-see, monkey-do, in which people simply mimic what they see. Early investigators had this view too, but research quickly 12 CHAPTER 1

14 showed that this was wrong. People do not always imitate what they see around them. People are more likely to imitate if the person they see is popular, smart, or talented. They re also more likely to imitate when the behavior they see is rewarded than when it is punished. Findings like these imply that imitation is more complex than sheer mimicry. People are not mechanically copying what they see and hear; instead, they look to others for information about appropriate behavior. When peers are reinforced for behaving in a particular way, this encourages imitation. Albert Bandura (1925 ) based his social cognitive theory on this more complex view of reward, punishment, and imitation. Bandura s theory is cognitive because he believes people actively try to understand what goes on in their world; the theory is social because, along with reinforcement and punishment, what other people do is an important source of information about the world. Bandura also argues that experience gives people a sense of self-efficacy, which refers to people s beliefs about their own abilities and talents. Self-efficacy beliefs help to determine when people will imitate others. A child who sees himself as not athletically talented, for example, will not try to imitate LeBron James dunking a basketball despite the fact that LeBron is obviously talented and popular. Thus, whether an individual imitates others depends on who the other person is, on whether that person s behavior is rewarded, and on the individual s beliefs about his or her own abilities. Bandura s social cognitive theory is a far cry from Skinner s operant conditioning. The operant conditioned person who responds mechanically to reinforcement and punishment has been replaced by the social cognitive person who actively interprets these and other events. Nevertheless, Skinner, Bandura, and all learning theorists share the view that experience propels people along their developmental journeys. These theorists would tell Betty that she can thank experience for making her son Marcus both happy and successful academically. Cognitive-Developmental Theory Another way to approach development is to focus on thought processes and the construction of knowledge. In cognitive-developmental theory, the key is how people think and how thinking changes over time. Two distinct approaches have developed. One approach postulates that thinking develops in a universal sequence of stages; Piaget s theory of cognitive development (and its recent extensions) is the best-known example. The second approach proposes that people process information as computers do, becoming more efficient over much of the life span; information-processing theory is an example of this view. Piaget s Theory The cognitive developmental perspective focuses on how children construct knowledge and how their constructions change over time. Jean Piaget ( ), who was the most influential developmental psychologist of the 20th century, proposed the best-known of these theories. Piaget believed that children naturally try to make sense of their world. Throughout infancy, childhood, and adolescence, youngsters want to understand the workings of both the physical and the social world. For example, infants want to know about objects: What happens when I push this toy off the table? And they want to know about people: Who is this person who feeds and cares for me? In their efforts to comprehend their world, Piaget argued that children act like scientists, creating theories about the physical and social worlds. Children try to weave all that they know about objects and people into a complete theory, which is tested daily by experience because their theories lead children to expect certain things to happen. As with real scientific theories, when the predicted events do occur, a child s belief in her theory grows stronger. When the predicted events do not occur, the child must revise her theory. Let s take the perspective of an infant whose theory of objects includes the idea that Toys pushed off the table fall to the floor. If the infant pushes some other object a plate or an article of clothing she will find that it, too, falls to the floor, and Jean Piaget Albert Bandura self-efficacy people s beliefs about their own abilities and talents Linda Cicero / Stanford News Service Bettmann / Corbis THE STUDY OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT 13

15 TABLE 1.2 Piaget s Four Stages of Cognitive Development Stage Approximate Age Characteristics Sensorimotor Birth to 2 years Infant s knowledge of the world is based on senses and motor skills; by the end of the period, uses mental representation Preoperational thought 2 to 6 years Child learns how to use symbols such as words and numbers to represent aspects of the world but relates to the world only through his or her perspective Concrete operational 7 years to early Child understands and applies logical operations to experiences thought adolescence provided they are focused on the here and now Formal operational thought Adolescence and Adolescent or adult thinks abstractly, deals with hypothetical situations, beyond and speculates about what may be possible Michael Newman / PhotoEdit THINK ABOUT IT Try to use the basic ideas of operant conditioning (page 12) to explain how children create theories of the physical and social world. information-processing theory theory proposing that human cognition consists of mental hardware and mental software Information-processing theory helps explain how this girl learns, stores, and retrieves information so she can pass this exam. she can then make the theory more general: Objects pushed off the table fall to the floor. Piaget also believed children begin to construct knowledge in new ways at a few critical points in development. When this happens, they revise their theories radically. These changes are so fundamental that the revised theory is, in many respects, a brand-new theory. Piaget claimed that these changes occur three times in development: once at about age 2 years, a second time at about age 7, and a third time just before adolescence. These changes mean that children go through four distinct stages in cognitive development. Each stage represents a fundamental change in how children understand and organize their environment, and each stage is characterized by more sophisticated types of reasoning. For example, the first or sensorimotor stage begins at birth and lasts until about 2 years of age. As the name implies, sensorimotor thinking refers to an infant s constructing knowledge through sensory and motor skills. This stage and the three later stages are shown in Table 1.2. Piaget s theory has had an enormous influence on how developmentalists and practitioners think about cognitive development. The theory has been applied in many ways from the creation of discovery learning toys for children to the ways teachers plan lessons. In Chapter 4 we ll see how Piaget explained thinking during infancy and the preschool years; in Chapters 6 and 8 we ll learn about his description of thinking in school-age children and adolescents. Information-Processing Theory Information-processing theorists draw heavily on how computers work to explain thinking and how it develops through childhood and adolescence. Just as computers consist of both hardware (disk drives, random-access memory, and central processing unit) and software (the programs it runs), information-processing theory proposes that human cognition consists of mental hardware and mental software. Mental hardware refers to cognitive structures, including different memories where information is stored. Mental software includes organized sets of cognitive processes that enable people to complete specific tasks, such as reading a sentence, playing a video game, or hitting a baseball. For example, an information-processing psychologist would say that, for a student to do well on an exam, she must encode the information as she studies, store it in memory, and then retrieve the necessary information during the test. How do information-processing psychologists explain developmental changes in thinking? To answer this question, think about improvements in personal computers. Today s personal computers can accomplish much more than computers built just a decade ago. Why? Today s computers have better hardware (e.g., more memory and a faster processor) as well as more sophisticated software that takes advantage of the better hardware. Like modern computers, older children and adolescents have better hardware and better software than younger children, who are more like last year s out-of-date model. For example, older children typically solve 14 CHAPTER 1

16 math word problems better than younger children because they have greater memory capacity to store the facts in the problem and because their methods for performing arithmetic operations are more efficient. Some researchers also point to deterioration of the mental hardware along with declines in the mental software as explanations of cognitive aging. In Chapter 14 we will see, for example, that normal aging brings with it significant changes in people s ability to process information. Vygotsky s Theory Lev Vygotsky ( ) was one of the first theorists to emphasize that children s thinking does not develop in a vacuum but rather is influenced by the sociocultural context in which children grow up. A Russian psychologist, Vygotsky focused on ways that adults convey to children the beliefs, customs, and skills of their culture. Vygotsky believed that, because a fundamental aim of all societies is to enable children to acquire essential cultural values and skills, every aspect of a child s development must be considered against this backdrop. For example, most parents in the United States want their children to work hard in school and be admitted to college because earning a degree is one of the keys to finding a good job. However, in Mali (an African country), Bambara parents want their children to learn to farm, herd animals such as cattle and goats, gather food such as honey, and hunt because these skills are key to survival in their environment. Vygotsky viewed development as an apprenticeship in which children develop as they work with skilled adults, including teachers and parents. For Piaget, information-processing theorists, and Vygotsky, children s thinking becomes more sophisticated as they develop. Piaget explained this change as resulting from the more sophisticated knowledge that children construct from more sophisticated thinking; information-processing psychologists attribute it to more sophisticated mental hardware and mental software. What would these theorists say to Betty about Marcus s good nature? Vygotsky would point out that Betty communicated key aspects of the culture to Marcus, which influenced his good nature. Neither Piaget nor information-processing theorists would have much to say, since their theories do not handle personality issues very well. What about Marcus s academic success? That s a different story. Piaget would explain that all children naturally want to understand their world; Marcus is simply unusually skilled in this regard. An information-processing psychologist would point to superior hardware and superior software as the keys to his academic success. Vygotsky would again emphasize Betty s influence in cultural transmission. The Ecological and Systems Approach Lev Vygotsky Felicia Martinez / PhotoEdit Most developmentalists agree that the environment is an important force in many aspects of development. However, only ecological theories (which get their name from the branch of biology dealing with the relation of living things to their environment and to one another) have focused on the complexities of environments and their links to development. In ecological theory, human development is inseparable from the environmental contexts in which a person develops. The ecological approach proposes that all aspects of development are interconnected, much like the threads of a spider s web are intertwined, so that no aspect of development can be isolated from others and understood independently. An ecological theorist would emphasize that, to understand why adolescents behave as they do, we need to consider the many different systems that influence them, including parents, peers, teachers, television, the neighborhood, and social policy. We will consider two examples of the ecological and systems approach: Bronfenbrenner s theory and the competence environmental press framework. Bronfenbrenner s Theory The best-known proponent of the ecological approach was Urie Bronfenbrenner ( ), who proposed that the developing person is embedded in a series of complex and interactive systems (Bronfenbrenner, 1979, 1989, 1995). Bronfenbrenner Urie Bronfenbrenner ecological theory theory based on idea that human development is inseparable from the environmental contexts in which a person develops AP Images THE STUDY OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT 15

17 Figure 1.2 Bronfenbrenner s ecological approach emphasizes the interaction across different systems in which people operate. Macrosystem Exosystem Mesosystem events Historical employment Parents places of School Microsystem Parents Child Friends Government and social policy Ethnic group Parents social network Culture Adapted from The Child: Development in a Social Context, by Claire B. Kopp and Joanne B. Krakow, p microsystem the people and objects in an individual s immediate environment mesosystem provides connections across microsystems exosystem social settings that a person may not experience firsthand but that still influence development macrosystem the cultures and subcultures in which the microsystem, mesosystem, and exosystem are embedded divided the environment into the four levels shown in Figure 1.2: the microsystem, the mesosystem, the exosystem, and the macrosystem. At any point in life, the microsystem consists of the people and objects in an individual s immediate environment. These are the people closest to a child, such as parents or siblings. Some children may have more than one microsystem; for example, a young child might have the microsystems of the family and of the day-care setting. As you can imagine, microsystems strongly influence development. Microsystems themselves are connected to create the mesosystem. The mesosystem provides connections across microsystems, because what happens in one microsystem is likely to influence others. Perhaps you ve found that if you have a stressful day at work or school then you re often grouchy at home. This indicates that your mesosystem is alive and well; your microsystems of home and work are interconnected emotionally for you. The exosystem refers to social settings that a person may not experience firsthand but that still influence development. For example, changes in government policy regarding welfare may mean that poor children have less opportunity for enriched preschool experiences. Although the influence of the exosystem is no more than secondhand, its effects on human development can be quite strong. The broadest environmental context is the macrosystem, the cultures and subcultures in which the microsystem, mesosystem, and exosystem are embedded. A mother, her workplace, her child, and the child s school are part of a larger cultural setting, such as Asian Americans living in Southern California or Italian Americans living in large cities on the East Coast. Members of these cultural groups share a common identity, a common heritage, and common values. The macrosystem evolves over time; each successive generation may develop in a unique macrosystem. Bronfenbrenner s ecological theory emphasizes the many levels of influence on human development. People are affected directly by family members and friends and indirectly by social systems such as neighborhoods and religious institutions which, in turn, are affected by the beliefs and heritage of one s culture. 16 CHAPTER 1

18 Competence Environmental Press Theory Another view of the influence of environments on human development comes from Lawton and Nahemow s (1973) competence environmental press theory. According to this theory, people adapt most effectively when there is a good match between their competence or abilities and the environmental press, or the demands put on them by the environment. This theory was originally proposed to account for the ways in which older adults function in their environment, but it applies as well throughout the life span. For example, the match between a child s social skills and her peer group s demands can determine whether she is accepted by the peer group. As with Bronfenbrenner s theory, competence environmental press theory emphasizes that, in order to understand people s functioning, it is essential to understand the systems in which they live. Ecological theorists would agree with learning theorists in telling Betty that the environment has been pivotal in her son s amiable disposition and his academic achievements. However, the ecological theorist would insist that environment means much more than the reinforcements, punishments, and observations that are central to learning theory; such a theorist would emphasize the different levels of environmental influence on Marcus. Betty s ability to balance home (microsystem) and work (mesosystem) so skillfully (which meant that she was usually in a good mood herself) contributed positively to Marcus s development, as did Betty s membership in a cultural group (exosystem) that emphasized the value of doing well in school. Life-Span Perspective, Selective Optimization With Compensation, and Life-Course Perspective Most of the theories of human development that we have considered so far pay little attention to the adult years of the life span. Historically, adulthood was downplayed owing to the belief that it was a time when abilities had reached a plateau (rather than continuing to develop) and that adulthood was followed by inevitable decline in old age. However, modern perspectives emphasize the importance of viewing human development as a lifelong process. These perspectives view development in terms of where a person has been and where he or she is heading. Life-Span Perspective and Selective Optimization With Compensation What would it be like to try to understand your best friend without knowing anything about his or her life? We cannot understand adults experiences without appreciating their childhood and adolescence. Placing adults lives in this broader context is what the life-span perspective does. According to the life-span perspective, human development is multiply determined and cannot be understood within the scope of a single framework. The basic premises of the life-span perspective is that aging is a lifelong process of growing up and growing old, beginning with conception and ending with death. No single period of a person s life (such as childhood, adolescence, or middle age) can be understood apart from its origins and its consequences. To understand a specific period, we must know what came before and what is likely to come afterward (Riley, 1979). In addition, how one s life is played out is affected by social, environmental, and historical change. Thus, the experiences of one generation may not be the same as those of another. Paul Baltes ( ) and colleagues provide many of the main approaches to human development from a life-span perspective (Baltes, 1987; Baltes, Lindenberger, & Staudinger, 2006; Baltes & Smith, 2003) in a model that has influenced a wide range of research, especially on adult development and aging. A key point in their model is that human development is complex and cannot be understood from a single discipline. They identify four key features of the life-span perspective as follows. Multidirectionality. Development involves both growth and decline; as people grow in one area they may lose in another and at different rates. For example, life-span perspective view that human development is multiply determined and cannot be understood within the scope of a single framework Paul Baltes Courtesy of Paul Baltes / Center of Lifespan Psychology at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development THE STUDY OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT 17

19 people s vocabulary ability tends to increase throughout life, but reaction time tends to slow down. Plasticity. One s capacity is not predetermined or carved in stone. Many skills can be learned or improved with practice, even in late life. For example, people can learn ways to help themselves remember information, which may help them deal with the declines in memory ability that accompany aging. There are limits to the degree of potential improvement, though, as described in later chapters. Historical context. Each of us develops within a particular set of circumstances determined by the historical time in which we are born and the culture in which we grow up. For example, living in a middle-class suburb in 1950s Indianapolis has little in common with living in a poor Latino neighborhood in 1990s Texas. Multiple causation. How we develop results from biological, psychological, sociocultural, and life-cycle forces, which we mentioned previously in this chapter. For example, two children growing up in the same family will have different experiences if one has a developmental disability and the other does not. selective optimization with compensation (SOC) model model in which three processes (selection, optimization, and compensation) form a system of behavioral action that generates and regulates development and aging Based on these principles, Baltes and colleagues (2006) propose that life-span development consists of the dynamic interplay between growth, maintenance, and loss regulation. Taken together, the principles of the life-span perspective create a way to describe and explain the successful adaptation of people to the changes that occur with aging by proposing an interaction between three processes: selection, compensation, and optimization (Baltes, 1997; Baltes et al., 2006; B. Baltes & Heydens-Gahir, 2003; M. Baltes & Carstensen, 1999). Selection processes serve to choose goals, life domains, and life tasks, whereas optimization and compensation concern maintaining or enhancing chosen goals. The basic assumption of the selective optimization with compensation (SOC) model is that the three processes form a system of behavioral action that generates and regulates development and aging. As people mature and grow old, they select from a range of possibilities or opportunities. This selection occurs for two main reasons. Elective selection occurs when one chooses to reduce one s involvement to fewer domains as a result of new demands or tasks, such as when a college student drops out of some organizations because of the amount of work required in the courses she is taking that term. Loss-based selection occurs when this reduced involvement happens as a result of anticipated losses in personal or environmental resources, such as when an older person stops going to church because he can no longer drive. In either case, selection can involve the continuation of previous goals on a lesser scale or the substitution of new goals, and it may be either proactive or reactive. Compensation occurs when a person s skills have decreased so that they no longer function well in a particular domain. When a person compensates, she searches for an alternative way to accomplish the goal; for example, if an injury reduces one s ability to drive then one might compensate by taking the bus. Sometimes, compensation requires learning a new skill; for example, an older adult who is experiencing short-term memory problems might compensate by learning to use a personal digital assistant. Thus, compensation differs from selection in that the task or goal is maintained although other means are used to achieve it. Optimization involves minimizing losses and maximizing gains. The main idea is to find the best match possible between one s resources (biological, psychological, and sociocultural) and one s desired goals. Because people cannot achieve optimal outcomes in everything, development becomes a dynamic process of selecting the right goals and compensating when possible to help maximize the odds of achieving them. One can see the SOC model at work in many situations. For example, aging musicians may reduce the number of pieces they play (selection), rehearse them more often (optimization), and sing them in a lower key (compensation). This way, they can continue playing concerts later in life. A college athlete who excels at ice hockey and 18 CHAPTER 1

20 baseball may decide to concentrate on hockey (selection), work on training all year (optimization), and develop a wicked wrist shot to make up for a mediocre slap shot (compensation). The life-span perspective and the SOC model have provided important approaches to the contemporary study of human development. The emphasis on the need for a multidisciplinary approach and for recognizing many interactive forces will be developed throughout this text. Life-Course Perspective Adults often describe their lives as a story that includes several key life transitions (e.g., going to school, getting a first job, getting married, having children). Such stories show how people move through their lives and experience unique interactions of the four forces of development. The life-course perspective describes the ways in which various generations experience the biological, psychological, and sociocultural forces of development in their respective historical contexts. Specifically, it lets researchers examine the effects of historical time on how people create their lives (Dannefer & Miklowski, 2006; Hagestad & Dannefer, 2001; Hareven, 1995, 2002). A key feature of the life-course perspective is the dynamic interplay between the individual and society. This interplay creates three major dimensions, which all involve timing and underlie the life-course perspective: life-course perspective description of how various generations experience the biological, psychological, and sociocultural forces of development in their respective historical contexts The individual timing of life events in relation to external historical events. This dimension addresses the question: How do people time and sequence their lives (e.g., getting a first job) in the context of changing historical conditions (e.g., economic good times or recession)? The synchronization of individual transitions with collective familial ones. This dimension addresses the question: How do people balance their own lives (e.g., work obligations) with those of their family (e.g., children s soccer games)? The impact of earlier life events, as shaped by historical events, on subsequent ones. This dimension addresses the question: How does experiencing an event earlier in life (e.g., a male turning 18 years old) at a particular point in history (e.g., when there is a military draft) affect one s subsequent life (e.g., choosing a particular career)? Research from the life-course perspective has clearly shown that major life transitions such as marriage, childbearing, starting and ending a career, and completing one s education occur at many different ages across people and generations. These differences first appear after adolescence, when people begin to have much more control over the course of their lives. Research has also shown that life transitions are more continuous and multidirectional than previously thought. For example, completing an education was relegated to early adulthood in traditional models, yet current trends toward lifelong learning make this view obsolete. Finally, research shows that the various domains of people s lives are highly interdependent; for example, the decision to have a child is often made in the context of where one is in one s career and education. The emphasis in the life course perspective on interrelations between the individual and society with reference to historical time has made it a dominant view in the social sciences. In particular, this approach is useful in helping researchers understand how the various aspects of people s experiences (work, family, education) interact to create unique lives. Overall, life-span and life-cycle theories have greatly enhanced the general body of developmental theory by drawing attention to the role of aging in the broader context of human development. These theories have played a major role in conceptualizing adulthood and have greatly influenced the research we consider in Chapters 10 through 15. Theorists espousing a life-span or life-course perspective would tell Betty that Marcus will continue to develop throughout his adult years and that this developmental journey will be influenced by biopsychosocial forces, including his own family. THE STUDY OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT 19