HISTORY OF Emaan Rangoonwala

PSY 309
DEVELOPMENT Spring 2020
AGENDA
Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory
History of developmental psychology
1. Definition of childhood
2. Stages of life
3. Definition of lifespan
BRONFENBRENNER’S
ECOLOGICAL SYSTEMS
THEORY
APPLYING THE THEORY
6 year old Ayza
Lives with mum, dad, 12 year old brother, 25 year old mum’s brother (unmarried) (uncle),
mum’s widowed father (grandfather, retired, but spends a lot of time volunterering)
Brother is a quiet, mature, fairly well-adjusted child with a few close friends from the
neighbourhood.
Dad is a 5th grade teacher for Science and Math / 9-1:30 job
Mum is a lawyer / 9-6 job
Uncle is a PhD student
Goes to 3rd Grade at a private school (Bayview)
2 close friends – both from wealthy backgrounds
After school activities: home, lunch with dad, tuitions with brother to neighbor’s house,
home, plays with neighbours, some Quran reading and story time/ games/pretend play with
grandfather and/or brother), dinner with whole family, sleep by 8 pm, mum puts her to bed.
No TV or phone time except on weekends when the whole family watches a Disney/animated
film together. Weekend is also when the family gets to spend most time together.
Close to dad, brother, grandfather the most.
APPLYING THE THEORY
Family from a middle socio economic background – they live a fairly
comfortable life
Moderately religious (no school of thought as such)
Values family time wherever possible, importance given to education, basic
morality, independence, some importance to “traditional” gender roles in the
extended family and community.
Implicit negative attitudes towards obesity and skin colour – fat shaming and
colourism common in extended family.
Ayza wants to be an astronaut when she grows older, just like her brother.
She is v talkative, sensitive, and empathic.
Her parents sometimes express concern over how she internalizes her
feelings and only shares them her brother.
OVERVIEW OF
DEVELOPMENTAL
PSYCHOLOGY
1. Definition of childhood
2. Stages of life
3. Definition of lifespan

History of childhood and developmental psychology

DEFINITION OF
CHILDHOOD
The state or period of being a child
The early period in the development of something
 LIFESPAN & STAGES OF
LIFE
lifespan development: age-related changes (or constants) that occur from
conception, throughout a persons' life, into and during old age.

development as a lifelong process can be studied scientifically across three

developmental domains:
What are the three domains?
physical, cognitive development, and psychosocial
 LIFESPAN DEVELOPMENT:
THEN AND NOW
Originally concerned with infants and children,
 Now includes adolescence
 More recently, shifted to a more holistic way of thinking - included aging and the entire life
span.
Originally
 Believed that once you are 25, your development is essentially completed (brain developed
 overall development complete?)
 still less research on adulthood than on childhood, but now adulthood is gaining increasing
attention.
 The assumption that early childhood experiences dictate our future is also being called into
question.

growth and change continues throughout life and experience continues to

have an impact on who we are and how we relate to others. We now
recognize that adulthood is a dynamic period of life marked by continued 10
“One key part of that trajectory is the development of the
prefrontal cortex, a significant part of the brain, in terms of
social interactions, that affects how we regulate emotions,
control impulsive behavior, assess risk and make long-term
plans. Also important are the brain's reward systems, which
are especially excitable during adolescence. But these parts
of the brain don't stop growing at age 18. In fact, research
shows that it can take more than 25 years for them to reach
maturity.”
“The cerebellum also affects our cognitive maturity. But unlike the prefrontal cortex, the
development of the cerebellum appears to depend largely on environment, as Dr. Jay
Giedd, chair of child psychiatry at Rady Children's Hospital-San Diego, told PBS:
"Identical twins' cerebellum are no more alike than non-identical twins. So we think
this part of the brain is very susceptible to the environment. And interestingly,
it's a part of the brain that changes most during the teen years. This part of the
brain has not finished growing well into the early 20s, even. The cerebellum used to be
thought to be involved in the coordination of our muscles. So if your cerebellum is
working well, you were graceful, a good dancer, a good athlete.
But we now know it's also involved in coordination of our cognitive processes, our
thinking processes. Just like one can be physically clumsy, one can be kind of mentally
clumsy. And this ability to smooth out all the different intellectual processes to navigate
the complicated social life of the teen and to get through these things smoothly and
gracefully instead of lurching. . . seems to be a function of the cerebellum."
THE QUESTION IS…
How do you draw a line between “child” and “adult”?
Is it acc to age? How well developed their cerebellum* and/or
prefrontal cortex is? How “big” they look?

In many justice systems, they draw “legal” ages at 18/21, whether

for allowance of drinking, joining the army, driving, watching certain
movies, prison protocol etc”.
“You’ll get a phone / can hang out with friends outside of home / can
drive when you’re old enough”
What is “old enough”?
ONE WAY IT’S BEEN
CATEGORIZED:

Early
Childhoo Adolesce Middle Older
Infancy adulthoo
d nce age age
d

The Stages of Life

 Early
Childhoo Adolesce Middle Older
Infancy adulthoo
d nce age age
d

Childhood:
Infancy:
 birth to two years, two to 10 years.
 neurons making increasingly
more independence
dense connections,
 continual bonding with parents, increased memory & analytical
 learning basic cognitive concepts skills
such as of object permanence, a higher need for peer approval.
 developing the basic structure of
language.

The Stages of Life

 Early
Childhoo Adolesce Middle Older
Infancy adulthoo
d nce age age
d

Adolescence Early adulthood

 10 to 20 years
 thoughts are more abstract,
scientific and idealistic.
 Sexual orientation develops,
 Pressure of self-identity (and
actual self-identity),
 the influence of peer pressure
increases.
 20 to 40 years old,
 Emotional maturity begins to set in,
 practical thought dominates the
intellect at this point,
 *Settling down / beginning a new life
 A need for achievement and affiliation
are also prominent

The Stages of Life

 Early
Childhoo Adolesce Middle Older
Infancy adulthoo
d nce age age
d

Middle age older age stage

 40 to 65 years old,
 Desire to contribute, leave a legacy
 greater cognitive awareness,
 Greater stabilization of personality
traits,
 More emotional stability as well.
 Potential onset of short-term memory
loss,
 Feelings of loss may increase (friends
)
 increase in semantic-based
knowledge.
 subjective feeling of well-being that is
greater than at any other stage of
life. // can also go the opposite way

The Stages of Life

 LIFESPAN, LIFE EXPECTANCY
Lifespan, or longevity, refers to the length of time
a species can exist under the most optimal conditions.
 The grey wolf can live up to 20 years in captivity, the bald
eagle up to 50 years, and the Galapagos tortoise over 150
years (Smithsonian National Zoo, 2016). The longest recorded
lifespan for a human was Jean Calment who died in 1994 at
the age of 122 years, 5 months, and 14 days (Guinness World
Records, 2016).
Life expectancy is the predicted number of years a
person born in a particular time period can reasonably
expect to live (Vogt & Johnson, 2016)
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 LIFESPAN PERSPECTIVE
Paul Baltes - Lifespan theorists believe that development is lifelong, and
change is apparent across the lifespan. No single age period is more
crucial, characterizes, or dominates human development.
1. Development is multidirectional. Humans change in many directions.
We may show gains in some areas of development, while showing losses
in other areas. Every change, whether it is finishing high school, getting
married, or becoming a parent, entails both growth and loss.
2. Development is multidimensional. We change across three general
domains/dimensions; physical, cognitive, and psychosocial. All three
domains influence each other. A change in one domain may cascade and
prompt changes in the other domains. For instance, an infant who has
started to crawl or walk will encounter more objects and people, thus
fostering developmental change in the child’s understanding of the
physical and social world.
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 LIFESPAN PERSPECTIVE
Paul Baltes - Lifespan theorists believe that development is lifelong, and change
is apparent across the lifespan. No single age period is more crucial,
characterizes, or dominates human development.
1. Development is multidisciplinary. As mentioned at the start of the
chapter, human development is such a vast topic of study that it
requires the theories, research methods, and knowledge base of many
academic disciplines.
2. Development is characterized by plasticity. Plasticity is all about our
ability to change and that many of our characteristics are malleable.
For instance, plasticity is illustrated in the brain’s ability to learning
from experience and how it can recover from injury.
3. Development is multicontextual. Development occurs in many
contexts. Baltes (1987) identified three specific contextual influences.
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BALTES (1987) 3 SPECIFIC
CONTEXTUAL INFLUENCES
ON OUR DEVELOPMENT
Normative age-graded influences: An age-grade is a specific
age group, such as toddler, adolescent, or senior. Humans in a
specific age-grade share particular experiences and developmental
changes.
Normative history-graded influences: The time period in which
you are born shapes your experiences. A cohort is a group of
people who are born at roughly the same period in a particular
society. These people travel through life often experiencing similar
circumstances.
Non-normative life influences: Despite sharing an age and
history with our peers, each of us also has unique experiences that
may shape our development. A child who loses his/her parent at a
young age has experienced a life event that is not typical of the 21
age group
CONCEPTIONS OF AGE Those who study
lifespan
Chronological age – your actual age development
Biological age – how quickly the body Is aging recognize that
 Several factors determine the rate at which our body ages. Our nutrition, level chronological age
of physical activity, sleeping habits, smoking, alcohol consumption, how we does not completely
mentally handle stress, and the genetic history of our ancestors, etc capture a person’s
Psychological age age. Our age profile
 Our psychologically adaptive capacity compared to others of our chronological is much more
age. This includes our cognitive capacity along with our emotional beliefs complex than this.
about how old we are. An individual who has cognitive impairments might be A person may be
20 years of age yet has the mental capacity of an 8 year-old. A 70 year-old physically more
might be travelling to new countries, taking courses at college, or starting a
competent than
new business.
others in their age
Social age: group, while being
 Based on the social norms of our culture and the expectations our culture has psychologically
for people of our age group. Our culture often reminds us whether we are “on immature.
target” or “off target” for reaching certain social milestones, such as
completing our education, moving away from home, having children, or
retiring from work. However, there have been arguments that social age is So, how old are
becoming less relevant in the 21st century (Neugarten, 1979; 1996). you?
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CONCEPTIONS OF AGE
Examples of biological age?
CONCEPTIONS OF AGE
Examples of psychological age?
CONCEPTIONS OF AGE
Examples of social age?
THE HISTORY OF HOW CHILDREN
WERE VIEWED & TREATED
The history of childhood has been a topic of interest in social history since
the highly influential book Centuries of Childhood, by French historian
Philippe Ariès in 1960. He argued "childhood" as a concept was
created by modern society. Ariès studied paintings, gravestones,
furniture, and school records. He found before the 17th-century, children
were represented as mini-adults.
Other scholars have emphasized how medieval and early modern child
rearing was not indifferent, negligent, nor brutal.
 context of pre-industrial poverty and high infant mortality (with a third or more of the
babies dying), actual child-rearing practices represented appropriate behavior in the
circumstances
 extensive parental care during sickness, and grief at death, sacrifices by parents to
maximize child welfare.
 In a few years, a huge part of the 'history' of contemporary childhood will be children's
role as participants in networked and mediated online settings as a response to the
ever-changing social world as the social media and these online settings provide an outlet
to reclaim some of the agency and social power they commonly grapple with adults for.
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WAS CHILDHOOD ALWAYS
CONCEPTUALIZED AS IT IS
TODAY?

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WAS CHILDHOOD ALWAYS
CONCEPTUALIZED AS IT IS
TODAY?
Education in the sense of training was the exclusive function of
families for the vast majority of children until the 19th century.
Historians had assumed traditional families in the preindustrial era
involved the extended family, with grandparent, parents, children
and perhaps some other relatives all living together and ruled by an
elderly patriarch. There were examples of this in the Balkans—and
in aristocratic families. However, the typical pattern in Western
Europe was the much simpler nuclear family of husband, wife and
their children (and perhaps a servant, who might well be a relative).
Children were often temporarily sent off as servants to
relatives in need of help
 WAS CHILDHOOD ALWAYS
CONCEPTUALIZED AS IT IS TODAY?
The notion of childhood with its own autonomy and goals –Enlightenment and
Romantic period
Rousseau described childhood as a brief period of sanctuary before people encounter
the perils and hardships of adulthood. "Why rob these innocents of the joys
which pass so quickly," Rousseau pleaded. "Why fill with bitterness the
fleeting early days of childhood, days which will no more return for them
than for you?"
Sir Joshua Reynolds' extensive children portraiture clearly demonstrate the new
enlightened attitudes toward young children. His 1788 painting The Age of Innocence,
emphasizes the innocence and natural grace of the posing child and soon became a
public favourite.
During this period children's education became more common and institutionalized,
in order to supply the church and state with the functionaries to serve as their future
administrators. Small local schools where poor children learned to read and write
were established by philanthropists, while the sons and daughters of the noble and
bourgeois elites were given distinct educations at the grammar school and university
WAS CHILDHOOD ALWAYS
CONCEPTUALIZED AS IT IS TODAY?
During the 1600s, a shift in philosophical and social attitudes
toward children and the notion of "childhood" began in Europe.
Adults increasingly saw children as separate beings,
innocent and in need of protection and training by the
adults around them
John Locke - Essay Concerning Human Understanding / Tabula
Rasa - blank slate - emphasised the importance of providing
children with "easy pleasant books" to develop their minds
rather than using force to compel them: "children may be
cozened into a knowledge of the letters; be taught to read,
without perceiving it to be anything but a sport, and play
themselves into that which others are whipped for."
WAS CHILDHOOD ALWAYS
CONCEPTUALIZED AS IT IS
TODAY?

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WAS CHILDHOOD ALWAYS
CONCEPTUALIZED AS IT IS
TODAY?
John B. Watson and Jean-Jacques Rousseau are typically cited
as providing the foundations for modern developmental psychology.
In the mid-18th century Jean Jacques Rousseau described three
stages of development: infants (infancy), puer (childhood) and
adolescence in Emile: Or, On Education. Rousseau's ideas were
taken up strongly by educators at the time.
In the late 19th century, psychologists familiar with the
evolutionary theory of Darwin began seeking an evolutionary
description of psychological development;
Sigmund Freud, whose concepts were developmental,
significantly affected public perceptions
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TABULA RASA/BLANK SLATE
John Locke’s famous statement that the child’s mind is a tabula
rasa, or “blank slate,” upon which knowledge and perceptual skills
will be “written” through experience (Locke, 1690/1964).
Psychologist and philosopher William James described this view
more colorfully when he wondered if all the newborn saw was a
“blooming, buzzing confusion,” a meaningless collage of fleeting
images, colors and sounds (James, 1890).

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MODERN CHILDHOOD
Compulsory schooling
Creativity
 In mid 20th century America, there was intense interest in using institutions to support the innate creativity of children.
It helped reshape children's play, the design of suburban homes, schools, parks, and museums. Producers of children's
television programming worked to spark creativity. Educational toys designed to teach skills or develop abilities
proliferated. For schools there was a new emphasis on arts as well as science in the curriculum.
 The emphasis was reversed in the 1980s, as public policy emphasized test scores, school principles downplayed
anything that was not being scored on standardized tests. After 2000 some children became mesmerized by their cell
phones, often checking their text messages or Facebook page. Checking Facebook and responding to text messages is
a form of participatory culture. Participatory culture is engaging with media and developing ones voice and identity. By
doing so, children are able to develop their voices and identities in a space separate from adults (Henry Jenkins)

The market economy of the 19th century enabled the concept of childhood as a time of fun of
happiness. Factory-made dolls and doll houses delighted the girls and organized sports and
activities were played by the boys

Is all this info relevant to us?

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