Life Span Psychology
Life Span Psychology
Life Span Psychology
1.0 INTRODUCTION
From the moment the human child is first conceived, to the day the individual dies,
they keep changing constantly and developing. While some of the changes humans
undergo are as a result of chance incidents and personal choices, the vast majority
of life changes and stages the human passes through are due to certain common
biological and psychological factors partly inherited and partly environmental and are
shared by all people.
Development refers to the biological and psychological changes that occur in human
beings between birth and the end of adoloscent, as the individual progresses from
dependency to increasing autonomy. Because these developmental changes may be 5
Prenatal, Infancy and Early strongly influenced by the genetic and enviornmental factors during prenatal life and
Childhood
these are the part of the study of child development. Developmental change may
occur as a result of genetically-controlled processes known as maturation, or as a
result of environmental factors and learning, but most commonly involves an interaction
between the two. Developmetal psychology refers to development throughout the
lifespan, and pediatrics, the branch of medicine relating to the care of children.
In this unit we are also going to introduce the concept of life span development. It
deals with important developmental stages that human beings go through birth, infancy,
adolescence, adulthood, old age and death. As the humans grow up from one stage
to another stage they learn to make use of their body parts, learn how to express
themselves and communicate with persons, learn how to maintain relationship with
others and how to love and care for others. In this unit we will be focusing on the
concept of development, issues and stages. In development of humans, and then put
forward the concept of life span development, and its characteristics and theories of
child development.
1.1 OBJECTIVES
After go through this unit, you will be able to:
z define the concept of human development;
z describe about the growth and development;
z explain life span perspectives;
z explain the significant issues involved in the process of human development;
z identify the stages and important domains of development;
z analyse the characteristic features of life span development; and
z explain the research methods and its obstacles in studying the life span.
5) Ethical aspects: The ethical aspect is a difficult task for the study of life-span
development, as the rights of subject is to be considered by the researcher, even
if the subject is being paid by the researcher for the study. Consent of the
subject if adult and consent of parents/ guardians if child is an important and
necessary step before data collection. These considerations also apply to
younger or older subjects.
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Prenatal, Infancy and Early
Childhood 1.10 UNIT END QUESTIONS
1) What is life span development?
2) Explain characteristics of development.
3) What are major issues involved in the process of development?
4) Describe significant facts about development.
5) What are the different periods of development?
6) What are the various domains of human development?
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UNIT 2 PRENATAL DEVELOPMENT
(GENETICS, ENVIORNMENT
INFLUENCE AND HAZARDS OF
DEVELOPMENT)
Structure
2.0 Introduction
2.1 Objectives
2.2 Beginnings of the Life
2.3 Characteristics of Prenatal Period
2.4 Period of Prenatal Development
2.4.1 Period of Zygote
2.4.2 Period of Embryo
2.4.3 Period of Fetus
2.0 INTRODUCTION
Prenatal development is the process in which an embryo or fetus, gestates during
preganancy, from fertilisation until birth. Often, the terms fetal development, foetal
development are used in a similar sense.Most physiologists and members of the
medical profession believed that most development takes place before birth.
Development before birth takes place in three stages or period’s i.e. ovum, embryo
and fetus. Many factors are considered to understand the behaviour of a developing
child. Mainly five factors are considered:
1) Genetically determined biological variables
2) Nongenetically determined biological variables (i.e., lack of oxygen during the
birth process and malnutrition)
3) The child’s past learning
4) The immediate socio psychological environment (parents, siblings, peers and
teachers)
5) The social and cultural milieu in which the child develops.
We always considered biological and environment separately for ease of exposition
but they always act in unison. This is as true of the individual cell as it is of the whole
person. The science of genetics and embryology has shown dramatic progress during
the last 25 years. This unit will deal with the current knowledge of human genetics
20 and prenatal factors affecting the course of development. In this unit you will be able
to understand the major happenings during the nine months of prenatal developement Prenatal Development
(Genetics, Enviornment
and what genetics, environmental influence and hazards affect the course of Influence and Hazards of
development. Development)
2.1 OBJECTIVES
After going through this unit, you will be able to: