Lifespan Development Exam 1
Paul Baltes 8 Key Perspectives (Life-span Perspective) - Correct Answers-Views development as
lifelong, multidimensional, multidirectional, plastic, multidisciplinary, contextual, as a process
that involves growth, maintenance and regulation of loss, and biocultural co-constructivist.
Development is constructed through biological, sociocultural, and individual factors working
together.
1.) Development is Lifelong (Baltes) - Correct Answers-Early adulthood is not the end of
development and no age period dominates development, looks at development at different
points in life.
2.) Development is Multidimensional (Baltes) - Correct Answers-No matter what age you are,
your body, mind, emotions and relationships are changing and affecting each other. (Example:
Ted Kaczynski, Unabomber, hospitalization at 6 mo) Development has biological, cognitive, and
socioemotional dimensions.
3.) Development is Multidirectional (Baltes) - Correct Answers-Throughout life, some
dimensions or components of a dimension grow or decline. (Example: Language, difficulty in
acquiring a second language decreases in development, especially after early childhood.
Another is older adults having better judgement than younger, but performing slower than
younger on speed related task)
4.) Development is Plastic (Baltes) - Correct Answers-Plasticity means the capacity for change.
(As we grow older, do we possess less capacity for change? Researchers have found that
cognitive skills of older adults can be improved through training and acquisition of effective
strategies)
5.) Developmental Science is Multidisciplinary (Baltes) - Correct Answers-Number of different
disciplines that study life-span, many different perspectives.
6.) Development is Contextual (Baltes) - Correct Answers-All development is within a context or
setting. Contexts exert three types of influences, normative age-graded influences, normative
history-graded influences, and nonnormative life events.
6.) Contextual normative age-graded influences - Correct Answers-Are similar for individuals in
a particular age group, things such as puberty, menopause, beginning formal education and
retiring from the workforce.
,6.) Contextual normative history-graded influences - Correct Answers-Common to people of a
particular generation. Such as assassination of JFK, World Wars, 9/11 and integration of cell
phones and computers into everyday life (cohort effects) Cohort is the year in which you were
born.
6.) Contextual nonnormative life events - Correct Answers-Development at a slower rate, less
rapid decline. Are unusual occurrences that have a major impact on the lives of an individual.
7.) Growth, Maintenance, and Regulation of Loss (Baltes) - Correct Answers-Once you get to an
age where you're done growing, you worry about maintaining that growth and then regulating
it as you decline.
8.) Development Is a Co-construction of Biology, Culture, and the Individual - Correct Answers-
Can create an unique developmental path through everyday decisions and have the ability to
change aspects, since we're the smartest.
Biological Processes - Correct Answers-Changes in an individual's physical nature
Cognitive Processes - Correct Answers-Changes in an individual's thought, intelligence, and
language.
Socioemotional Processes - Correct Answers-Changes in an individual's interpersonal
relationships, emotions, and personality.
Psychoanalytic Theories (Freud) - Correct Answers-Theories that describe development as
primarily unconscious and heavily colored by emotion. Behavior is merely a surface
characteristic, and the symbolic workings of the the mind have to be analyzed the understand
behavior. Early experiences with parents are emphasized.
Freud's Theory - Correct Answers-He thought as children grow up, their focus of pleasure and
sexual impulses shifts from the mouth to the anus and to eventually, the genitals. As a result we
go through five stages of psychosexual development: oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital.
Freud overemphasized sexual instincts; more influence should be placed on cultural
experiences as determinants of an individual's development. Conscious thought plays a greater
role than unconscious. Erik Erikson revised his idea.
Erikson's Psychosocial Theory - Correct Answers-Includes eight stages of human development.
Each stage consists of a unique developmental task that confronts individuals with a crisis that
must be resolved.
, 1.) Trust vs Mistrust (Erikson) - Correct Answers-Experienced in the first year of life,
development of trust during infancy sets stage for lifelong expectation that world will be a good
and pleasant place to live.
2.) Autonomy vs Shame and Doubt (Erikson) - Correct Answers-Occurs in late infancy and
toddlerhood. After gaining trust in caregivers, infants begin to discover that their behavior is
their own, start to assert their sense of independence and autonomy, if restrained or punished
too much they are likely to develop a sense of shame and doubt.
3.) Initiative vs Guilt (Erikson) - Correct Answers-Occurs during preschool years, as children
begin to encounter a widening social world, face new challenges that require active, purposeful,
and responsible behavior. Feelings of guilt may arise if children are irresponsible and made to
feel too anxious.
4.) Industry vs Inferiority (Erikson) - Correct Answers-During elementary school years, children
now need to direct their energy toward mastering knowledge and intellectual skills. Negative
outcome is that child may feel inferior, incompetent, and unproductive.
5.) Identity vs Identity Confusion (Erikson) - Correct Answers-During adolescent years, children
need to find out who they are. If they find explore roles in a healthy manner, they arrive at a
positive path to follow in life, otherwise identity confusion reigns.
6.) Intimacy vs Isolation (Erikson) - Correct Answers-During early adulthood, face task of
forming intimate relationships.
7.) Generativity vs Stagnation (Erikson) - Correct Answers-During middle adulthood, means to
help the younger generation to develop and lead useful lives or to not, to be stagnant.
8.) Integrity vs Despair (Erikson) - Correct Answers-Late adulthood, during this stage a person
reflects on the past. Individual's will decide if they spent their lives well or they'll gloom and
doubt.
Piaget's Cognitive Developmental Theory - Correct Answers-Theory stating that children
actively construct their understanding of the world and go through four stages of cognitive
development, sensorimotor stage where infant constructs an understanding of the world by
coordinating sensory experiences with physical actions, preoperational stage where where child
begins to represent the world with words and images, concrete operational stage where a child
can reason logically about events and classify objects into different sets, and the formal
operational stage where the adolescent reasons in more abstract ways.
Paul Baltes 8 Key Perspectives (Life-span Perspective) - Correct Answers-Views development as
lifelong, multidimensional, multidirectional, plastic, multidisciplinary, contextual, as a process
that involves growth, maintenance and regulation of loss, and biocultural co-constructivist.
Development is constructed through biological, sociocultural, and individual factors working
together.
1.) Development is Lifelong (Baltes) - Correct Answers-Early adulthood is not the end of
development and no age period dominates development, looks at development at different
points in life.
2.) Development is Multidimensional (Baltes) - Correct Answers-No matter what age you are,
your body, mind, emotions and relationships are changing and affecting each other. (Example:
Ted Kaczynski, Unabomber, hospitalization at 6 mo) Development has biological, cognitive, and
socioemotional dimensions.
3.) Development is Multidirectional (Baltes) - Correct Answers-Throughout life, some
dimensions or components of a dimension grow or decline. (Example: Language, difficulty in
acquiring a second language decreases in development, especially after early childhood.
Another is older adults having better judgement than younger, but performing slower than
younger on speed related task)
4.) Development is Plastic (Baltes) - Correct Answers-Plasticity means the capacity for change.
(As we grow older, do we possess less capacity for change? Researchers have found that
cognitive skills of older adults can be improved through training and acquisition of effective
strategies)
5.) Developmental Science is Multidisciplinary (Baltes) - Correct Answers-Number of different
disciplines that study life-span, many different perspectives.
6.) Development is Contextual (Baltes) - Correct Answers-All development is within a context or
setting. Contexts exert three types of influences, normative age-graded influences, normative
history-graded influences, and nonnormative life events.
6.) Contextual normative age-graded influences - Correct Answers-Are similar for individuals in
a particular age group, things such as puberty, menopause, beginning formal education and
retiring from the workforce.
,6.) Contextual normative history-graded influences - Correct Answers-Common to people of a
particular generation. Such as assassination of JFK, World Wars, 9/11 and integration of cell
phones and computers into everyday life (cohort effects) Cohort is the year in which you were
born.
6.) Contextual nonnormative life events - Correct Answers-Development at a slower rate, less
rapid decline. Are unusual occurrences that have a major impact on the lives of an individual.
7.) Growth, Maintenance, and Regulation of Loss (Baltes) - Correct Answers-Once you get to an
age where you're done growing, you worry about maintaining that growth and then regulating
it as you decline.
8.) Development Is a Co-construction of Biology, Culture, and the Individual - Correct Answers-
Can create an unique developmental path through everyday decisions and have the ability to
change aspects, since we're the smartest.
Biological Processes - Correct Answers-Changes in an individual's physical nature
Cognitive Processes - Correct Answers-Changes in an individual's thought, intelligence, and
language.
Socioemotional Processes - Correct Answers-Changes in an individual's interpersonal
relationships, emotions, and personality.
Psychoanalytic Theories (Freud) - Correct Answers-Theories that describe development as
primarily unconscious and heavily colored by emotion. Behavior is merely a surface
characteristic, and the symbolic workings of the the mind have to be analyzed the understand
behavior. Early experiences with parents are emphasized.
Freud's Theory - Correct Answers-He thought as children grow up, their focus of pleasure and
sexual impulses shifts from the mouth to the anus and to eventually, the genitals. As a result we
go through five stages of psychosexual development: oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital.
Freud overemphasized sexual instincts; more influence should be placed on cultural
experiences as determinants of an individual's development. Conscious thought plays a greater
role than unconscious. Erik Erikson revised his idea.
Erikson's Psychosocial Theory - Correct Answers-Includes eight stages of human development.
Each stage consists of a unique developmental task that confronts individuals with a crisis that
must be resolved.
, 1.) Trust vs Mistrust (Erikson) - Correct Answers-Experienced in the first year of life,
development of trust during infancy sets stage for lifelong expectation that world will be a good
and pleasant place to live.
2.) Autonomy vs Shame and Doubt (Erikson) - Correct Answers-Occurs in late infancy and
toddlerhood. After gaining trust in caregivers, infants begin to discover that their behavior is
their own, start to assert their sense of independence and autonomy, if restrained or punished
too much they are likely to develop a sense of shame and doubt.
3.) Initiative vs Guilt (Erikson) - Correct Answers-Occurs during preschool years, as children
begin to encounter a widening social world, face new challenges that require active, purposeful,
and responsible behavior. Feelings of guilt may arise if children are irresponsible and made to
feel too anxious.
4.) Industry vs Inferiority (Erikson) - Correct Answers-During elementary school years, children
now need to direct their energy toward mastering knowledge and intellectual skills. Negative
outcome is that child may feel inferior, incompetent, and unproductive.
5.) Identity vs Identity Confusion (Erikson) - Correct Answers-During adolescent years, children
need to find out who they are. If they find explore roles in a healthy manner, they arrive at a
positive path to follow in life, otherwise identity confusion reigns.
6.) Intimacy vs Isolation (Erikson) - Correct Answers-During early adulthood, face task of
forming intimate relationships.
7.) Generativity vs Stagnation (Erikson) - Correct Answers-During middle adulthood, means to
help the younger generation to develop and lead useful lives or to not, to be stagnant.
8.) Integrity vs Despair (Erikson) - Correct Answers-Late adulthood, during this stage a person
reflects on the past. Individual's will decide if they spent their lives well or they'll gloom and
doubt.
Piaget's Cognitive Developmental Theory - Correct Answers-Theory stating that children
actively construct their understanding of the world and go through four stages of cognitive
development, sensorimotor stage where infant constructs an understanding of the world by
coordinating sensory experiences with physical actions, preoperational stage where where child
begins to represent the world with words and images, concrete operational stage where a child
can reason logically about events and classify objects into different sets, and the formal
operational stage where the adolescent reasons in more abstract ways.
