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Chapter 1: The Study of Human

Development
Introduction
The primary goal for Chapter One is to introduce primary concepts in the field of human
growth and development. In addition to detailing how the field has developed historically, the
chapter stresses the practical applications of the discipline. The authors introduce key principles
of a life span approach, emphasizing that the study of human development is an ever-evolving
endeavor with influences from genetics, the environment and social differences including social
class and ethnicity. These differences can be normative or nonnormative and vary due to the
timing of events around us and our context.
The three domains of development: physical, cognitive, and psychosocial, serve to
introduce the periods of the life span, which are notably different in different societies. Cultural
differences introduce the concept of social construction which explains why some cultures do not
have stages of adolescence or middle age.
The chapter concludes with a description of the life-span developmental perspective
proposed by Paul Baltes.

Learning Objectives
1. Describe human development and how its study has evolved.

2. Describe the domains and periods of human development.

3. Give examples of the influences that make one person different from another.

4. Discuss the principles of the life-span perspective.

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 The Total Teaching Package Outline: Chapter 1
The Study of Human Development

Heading Resources
Research in Action: Is There a Critical Learning Objective 1.3
Period for Language Acquisition? Videos: Secrets of the Wild Child
Nell
Activity: 1.3
Window on the World: Children of Learning Objective 1.3
Immigrant Families Lecture Opener: 1.1

Human Development: An Ever- Learning Objective 1.1

Evolving Field Checkpoint: 1-1
Critical Thinking Exercise: 1.2

Studying the Life Span Learning Objective 1.1

Checkpoint: 1-2
Activity: 1.5
Human Development Today Learning Objective 1.1
Checkpoint: 1-3
The Study of Human Development: Learning Objective 1.2
Basic Concepts Lecture Opener: 1.5

Domains of Development Learning Objective 1.2

Checkpoint: 1-4
Essay Questions: 1.1, 1.3
Periods of the Life Span Learning Objective 1.2
Lecture Openers: 1.4
Checkpoint: 1-5
Critical Thinking Exercise: 1.1
Activity: 1.4, 1.8
Video Developmental Characteristics from
Video Collection
Influences on Development Learning Objective 1.2
Checkpoint: 1-6
Activity: 1.6
Heredity, Environment, and Maturation Learning Objective 1.2
Lecture Opener: 1.3

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Contexts of Development Learning Objective 1.3
Essay Question: 1.2, 1.4
Activity: 1.1, 1.7

Normative and Nonnormative Influences Checkpoint: 1-7

Activity: 1.2
Lecture Opener: 1.2
Critical Thinking Exercise: 1.3
Timing of Influences: Critical or Sensitive Learning Objective 1.3
Periods Checkpoint: 1-8
Paul B. Baltess Life-Span Learning Objective 1.4
Developmental Approach Checkpoint: 1-9

Detailed Chapter Outline with Key Terms

Chapter 1: The Study of Human Development

Research in Action: Is There a Critical Period for Language Acquisition?

Window on the World: Children of Immigrant Families

DID YOU KNOW?

HUMAN DEVELOPMENT: AN EVER-EVOLVING FIELD

Human development: Scientific study of processes of change and stability throughout

the human life span.

Studying the Life Span

Life-span development: Concept of development as a lifelong process, which can be

studied scientifically.

Human Development Today

Describe: Goal in the study of human development in which scientists observe behavior
in order to describe what happens in the lives of children and adults.
Explain: Goal in which scientists attempt to understand, or explain, why observed
behavior occursthe cause of observed behavior.
Predict: Goal in which scientists make educated guesses about what might happen in the
future to behavior.
Intervene: Goal in which scientists use the knowledge of causes of behavior to change or
control behavior.

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THE STUDY OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT: BASIC CONCEPTS

Domains of Development

Domain: An aspect of the self, such as physical, cognitive, or psychosocial.

Physical development: Growth of the body and brain and change or stability in sensory
capacities, motor skills, and health.
Cognitive development: Change or stability in mental abilities, such as learning,
memory, language, thinking, moral reasoning, and creativity.
Psychosocial development: Change and stability in emotions, personality, and social
relationships.

Periods of the Life Span

Social construction: Concept about the nature of reality, based on societally shared
perceptions or assumptions.

INFLUENCES ON DEVELOPMENT

Individual differences: Differences in characteristics, influences, or developmental

outcomes.

Heredity, Environment, and Maturation

Heredity: Inborn characteristics inherited from the biological parents at conception.

Environment: Totality of nonhereditary, or experiential, influences on development.
Maturation: Unfolding of a natural sequence of physical and behavioral changes,
including readiness to master new abilities.
Inherited characteristics: The influence of heredity on development
Environmental factors: The influence of environment on development

CONTEXTS OF DEVELOPMENT

Family

Nuclear family: Kinship and household unit made up of one or two parents and their
natural, adopted, or stepchildren.
Extended family: Kinship network of parents, children, and other relatives, sometimes
living together in an extended-family household.

Socioeconomic Status and Neighborhood

Socioeconomic status (SES): Combination of economic and social factors describing an

individual or family, including income, education, and occupation.

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 Risk factors: Conditions that increase the likelihood of a negative developmental
outcome.

Culture and Race/Ethnicity

Culture: A societys or groups total way of life, including customs, traditions, beliefs,
values, language, and physical productsall learned behavior passed on from parents to
children.
Ethnic group: Group united by ancestry, race, religion, language, and/or national origins,
which contribute to a sense of shared identity.

The Historical Context

Normative and Nonnormative Influences

Normative: Characteristic of an event that occurs in a similar way for most people in a
group.
Normative age-graded influences: Event or influence that is highly similar for people in a
particular age group- includes biological (puberty, menopause) and social (marriage,
retirement) events.
Normative history-graded influences: Event or influence common to a particular cohort.
In this section, the concept of historical generations is defined as a group of people who
experience the event at a formative time in their lives.
Cohort: Group of people growing up at about the same time.
Historical generation: A group of people strongly influenced by a major historical event
during their formative period.
Nonnormative: Characteristic of an unusual event that happens to a particular person, or
a typical event that happens at an unusual time of life.

Timing of Influences: Critical or Sensitive Periods

Imprinting: Phenomenon in which newly hatched birds will instinctively follow the first
moving object they see- the result of the readiness of the nervous system of the organism
to acquire certain information during a brief critical period in early life.
Predisposition toward learning: The readiness of an organisms nervous system to
acquire certain information.
Critical period: Specific time when a given event, or its absence, has the greatest impact
on development.
Plasticity: Range of modifiability of performance.
Sensitive periods: Times in development when a person is particularly open to certain
kinds of experiences.

BALTESS LIFE-SPAN DEVELOPMENTAL APPROACH

Baltess Seven Principles of the Life-Span Approach:

o Development is lifelong.

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o Development is multidimensional.
o Development is multidirectional.
o Relative influences of biology and culture shift over the life span.
o Development involves changing resource allocations.
o Development shows plasticity.
o Development is influenced by the historical and cultural context.

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 Suggested Lecture Openers
1.1 Everything you always wanted to know about human development but were afraid
to ask

Objective: To have students engage in the course material. To create a classroom atmosphere of
inquiry and acceptance. To assist in identifying and matching student and instructor course goals.

Time necessary: 15 minutes

Directions: This exercise works well for a first day class opener. Give each student a blank 3 x
5 note card. Begin by having students take a moment or two to think of several questions they
have about childhood, adolescence, adulthood, or old age but were afraid to ask. Have them
submit these questions anonymously. The questions can then be categorized by topic and used as
potential discussion starters later in the course to be sure the information and materials are being
addressed appropriately.

Wrap-Up: These questions can be used throughout the semester or by topic, depending on the
responses. You can also repeat the exercise several times throughout the semester to be sure
students have the opportunity to voice their questions and concerns.

1.2 Defining Your Generation

Objective: To increase student interaction and to illustrate the concepts of normative history-
graded influences on development and historical generations. NOTE: This exercise works best in
classes that include a wide range of ages.

Time necessary: 15-30 minutes, depending on whether the exercise is shared in small groups or
in a larger discussion

Directions: Divide the class into groups by age, placing students of similar age together. Have
each group make a list of defining historical and cultural events that characterized their pre-teen
and adolescent years. Events might include popular songs, movies, books, pop culture figures, as
well as political and historical events that they witnessed. Have each group share its completed
list with the entire class.

Wrap-Up: Use the groups examples of defining characteristics to help reinforce the concept of
normative history-graded influences. You can also have the students label their age-group using
the current terms of baby-boomers, X-generation, millennials to demonstrate social construction
of terms.

Jean Twenge has written a book, Generation Me, that is an excellent summary of the
characteristics of the current cohort of college students called millennials. This is easily
incorporated into the exercise.

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1.3 Nature/Nurture Debate

Objective: To develop more awareness of how heredity and environment interact to shape
human development. To illustrate the concepts of the three domains of development: physical,
cognitive, and psychosocial.

Time necessary: 15-30 minutes, depending on whether the exercise is shared in small groups or
in a larger discussion

Directions: Have small groups or the entire class list five characteristics that fall under each of
the three domains: physical, cognitive, and psychosocial. Encourage students to consider, for
example, traits like weight, height, hair color, intelligence, mathematical ability, friendliness, or
shyness. Once the list of fifteen characteristics is complete, guide students to discuss whether
environment or heredity more strongly influences each trait. This discussion lends itself to a
debate-like format in which students on one side of the argument are assigned to present ways
heredity influences the characteristic, while the other side is assigned to present ways that
environment might influence it.

Wrap-Up: Present some research-generated information about the relative influence of heredity
and environment on some of the characteristics that were included in the debate. Conclude the
activity with a discussion of how heredity and environment most often work together in shaping
our development.

1.4 Memory and Social Constructions

Objective: To develop more awareness of social constructions.

Time necessary: 15-30 minutes, depending on whether the exercise is shared in small groups or
in a larger discussion

Directions: Ask the students to think about their earliest memory, either in small groups or as a
class. A few students can be called upon to share their memories on a voluntary basis if the
exercise is done with the class as a whole. They may share with each other if it is done in small
groups. Encourage them to analyze their memories by considering the following questions: How
do you know if this event actually happened? Do you have personal memories of the event? Do
you have memories of people telling you about the event? How might other family members
recall the event? Does it matter if the event actually happened or not? How is the event woven
into the fabric of your ideas about your past? Has your description of the event changed at all
over time?

Wrap-Up: You may be able to tie the concept of social constructions to the examples of
memories generated by the students. If done in small groups, this exercise can also serve as a
bonding experience for students. In addition, it is a good exercise to refer back to when
discussing theories during the next chapter. This exercise can also be used to demonstrate how

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research might use data provided from memory and how bias and error can be a significant
problem.

1.5 Social Construction of Childhood

Objective: To illustrate social constructionist theory by examining the construct of childhood

from a historical perspective.

Time necessary: 20 minutes, variable

Directions: Illustrate for students how childhood as a construct has changed historically. You
may do this either through traditional lecture format or in a visual format, using PowerPoint or
other projection/multimedia tools. You can find many effective visual images in the sources
listed below. Discuss images in the context of such variables as infant mortality, birth rate,
economics, value placed on children or even childhood clothing. Tracing one or more of these
variables through several historical periods provides an effective way to demonstrate how the
concept of childhood has been socially constructed and is embedded in a historical context.

Wrap-Up: Sometimes the complexity of social constructionism is initially difficult for students
to grasp. Placing concrete visual images before them seems to help communicate more abstract
concepts.

Internet Resources:
Society for the History of Children and Youth
http://www.h-net.org/~child/SHCY/index.htm
The Useful Links page on this site provides excellent primary and secondary resources
for the history of childhood.

A Google search for images from childhood can also provide a wealth of illustrations for
a PowerPoint slide show to highlight this topic.

Published Resources:
Hwang, C.P., Lamb, M.E., Sigel, I.E. (Eds.). (1996). Images of childhood. Hillsdale, NJ:
Erlbaum.
Mintz, S. & Kellogg, S. (1989). Domestic revolutions: A social history of American
family life. New York: Free Press. Simpson, J. (1976). The American family: A
history in photographs. New York: Viking.
Mintz, S. (2004). Huck's Raft: A history of American childhood. The Belknap Press of
Harvard University Press.

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 Critical Thinking Exercises
1.1 Challenging Stereotypes of Developmental Stages

Objective: To identify and challenge preconceived ideas students may have about developmental
stages.

Type/Length of activity: Whole-class or small group discussion

Time to complete: 30-45 minutes

Directions: Either on a handout, overhead transparency or on the board, create a list of age
bracketed decades (0-9, 10-19, 20-29 etc.). Students should list, as quickly as possible, at least
three words that describe each of the age groups. Identify which were the easiest and hardest
decades to describe and discuss why this was the case. If working in small groups, each group
might list their choices on the board. This can also be done in a larger group discussion. Discuss
whether students had a particular person in mind, whether gender was relevant, or whether there
were common associations with particular periods. Have students think about the sources for
their perceptions. This exercise can also be used as an introduction to stage theories described
later in the textbook.

Reference:
Rebelsky, F.G. (1981). Life-span development. In L. Benjamin & K. Lowman (Eds.), Activities
handbook for the teaching of psychology (pp. 131-132). Washington, DC: APA.

1.2 Back to the Future

Objective: To demonstrate social constructionist theory and potential media influences on these
constructions. To serve as an introduction to research methods, particularly content analysis

Type/Length of activity: Can be done as an in-class demonstration or an out-of-class project

Time to complete: Varies

Directions: Divide the class into small groups. Have students assume the role of a researcher in
human development from some time in the future. They have traveled back in time to the current
year to investigate media portrayals of a particular age group. (Assign age groups or let students
select a group of their choice.) Using a specific media type (news, sit-coms, cartoons, MTV,
magazines), have each group bring in three videotapes or magazine articles that portray images
of its assigned age group. Ask students what they might conclude about people in this age group
in the current year if this were the only information available to them. This demonstration also
works well as a PowerPoint presentation, where video or still images, such as those from
magazines, can be inserted into a lecture format.

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1.3 Identifying Current Life Adjustments

Objective: To help students become more aware of their own developmental stage and place
current developmental challenges into a socio-historical context.

Type/Length of activity: Small groups

Time to complete: 20-30 minutes

Directions: Distribute a life adjustments scale, such as The Holmes-Rahe Social Adjustment
Scale, to each group. The Holmes-Rahe Social Adjustment Scale can be found on the Internet at:
http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/stress.htm.
Have students create personal lists of life challenges that they either face currently or
have met and overcome recently. Then students should be asked to consider how each of these
challenges might have been faced differently by their parents and their grandparents. Have
students discuss whether they think challenges faced by their parents or grandparents were more
or less difficult than those they face today.

Essay Questions

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1.1 Provide an example of a critical period for each of the domains of development:
physical, cognitive, and psychosocial. Explain how plasticity would be related to
each of your examples.

Sample Answers:
physical the drug Thalidomides influence upon development of arms and legs
cognitivethe development of language in the first three years
psychosocialthe development of attachment in infancy
Plasticity in each example would include the impact based upon timing along with other
influences in both biological and social areas.

1.2 Compare and contrast nuclear and extended families in terms of their differences in
privacy, rules, and authority. Would one type be more child friendly than the
other? If so, how? How would the two types of families manage resources, such as
income, room allocation or space, and distribution of chores? What aspects of your
development would be most influenced by the type of family you grew up in?

Sample Answers:
nuclear familyfewer adults in home, fewer parent figures, fewer resources for income
and child care
extended familymore persons in home, may have additional parent figures, may have
additional resources for income and child care

1.3 In each of the domains of development (physical, cognitive, and psychosocial), give
an example of a change that is quantitative and an example that is qualitative.

Sample Answers:
physical developmentquantitative: measurement of height, weight, blood pressure,
motor control
physical developmentqualitative: changes in a child upon reaching puberty
cognitive developmentquantitative: measurement of intelligence by IQ score or grade
level equivalents
cognitive developmentqualitative: changes in the way a child acts upon acquiring
object permanence in searching for toys and parents
psychosocial developmentquantitative: scores on a shyness measure
psychosocial developmentqualitative: temperament type

1.4 Examine the definitions in your textbook of ethnic gloss, stereotyping, and prejudice
(prejudice is discussed in chapter 10). Discuss similarities and differences in the
terms.

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Sample Answer:
ethnic gloss: an overgeneralization that obscures cultural differences within a group.
stereotyping: having a standard or oversimplified idea about members of a group. Similar
to ethnic gloss in that both obscure individual differences.
prejudice: negative attitudes toward members of certain groups outside ones own,
especially racial or ethnic groups. Different from stereotyping and ethnic gloss in that
attitudes are negative. Similar in that attitudes ignore individual differences among group
members.

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 Activities

1.1 Sociocultural Look at the Family

Due date: _______________

Objective: To assess and analyze cultural differences in the makeup of the family.

Type/Length of activity: 5-6 page paper

Time to complete: variable, approximately 4-6 hours

Directions: You will use Internet resources, academic journals found in the campus library, and
other printed media related to research differences and similarities in family structure and roles
among at least four different cultural groups. In order to limit the topic and make the research
more manageable, choose one specific area such as typical male/female roles in the family,
discipline techniques, divorce rates, or family size and structure.

What do I turn in?

A paper that is 5-6 pages long.

Begin by introducing your topic and your source(s).
Summarize and describe the typical family structure in at least four cultural groups.
Compare and contrast similarities and differences among these groups in terms of family
structure, roles, and dynamics.
End with a concluding paragraph that summarizes the comparisons and contrasts among
the groups.

Follow correct format. The paper should be typed, and double spaced, with 1 inch
margins, font no larger than 12 point.
Include a cover sheet with your name, the title of your paper, your ID#, course name and
section number, and the date.
Reference all your sources using APA format.

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 1.2 My Own Timeline

Due date:_______________

Objective: To explore and examine individual milestones of development, looking both at the
past and the future. To illustrate normative and nonnormative events.

Type/Length of activity: In or out-of-class

Time to complete: 50 minutes to 1 hour

Directions: You will need two sheets of typing paper for this (legal size works better than the
standard size).

Your Past:
Turn one sheet sideways and draw a line from one side to the other through the middle of the
page. At the left write down your birth date, and on the right write down the due date for this
project. This will form the timeline of your past. Add markers across your timeline for each of
your birthdays.
Mark at least 10 milestones or special dates on your timeline. A milestone might be the month
you started walking or talking. A special date might be the month when you got your drivers
license or graduated from high school. You may need to check with your parents for some of
these dates.
Mark each event as a normative-age graded event, a normative-history graded event or a
nonnormative event.

NOTE: Please protect your own privacy here. There is no need to put down anything
embarrassing or anything so private that you prefer to keep it to yourself.

Your Future:
Take the second sheet of paper, turn it sideways, and draw a line from one side to the other
through the middle of the page. At the left, write down the due date for this project. At the right,
write your best guess as to the date of your death and the cause of death. This will form a
possible timeline for your future.
Mark at least 10 milestones or special dates you anticipate in your future. Give yourself a
reasonable and optimistic future.
Also mark each event as a normative-age graded event, a normative-history graded event, or a
nonnormative event.

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 1.3 Video Comparison of Secrets of the Wild Child

Due date:_______________

Objective: To critically evaluate differences between Hollywood depictions of feral children

with stories of Genie.

Type/Length of activity: Film viewing and 2-3 page paper

Time to complete: 2-3 hours

Directions: Watch the movie Nell and compare your findings with either the textbooks
description of Genie or the information presented in the video version of Secrets of the Wild
Child.

A detailed transcript of the case of Genie as presented on NOVA can be found on the Internet at:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/2112gchild.html

Another website of interest includes a lengthy discussion of many aspects of the lives of feral
children: http://www.feralchildren.com/en/pager.php?df=yousef2001&pg=2

What do I turn in?

Write and turn in your answers to the following questions. What similarities do you find in the
stories of these wild children? What differences do you find? What scientific or ethical dilemmas
do you see? What is the role of the teacher or person who discovers these children? Why are
these stories of interest to people who study human growth and development?

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 1.4 Letter (or E-mail) Exchange

Due date:_______________

Objective: To help you understand people of different ages and backgrounds.

Type/Length of activity: Ongoing or for a designated time period

Time to complete: Begin in class and complete out-of-class

Directions: Select a target age population and identify a group of people who would be willing
to participate with your class or small group. Examples might include an elementary school
class, a retirement community, etc. With your class or group, develop a list of questions that
might help you better understand this age group, such as What do you like about being your
age? Describe the best thing about you? When you get angry, what do you do? What age
would you like to be and why? For use later, predict the target groups responses to your
questions.
Conduct the exchange of information. Be sure to allow the target group to ask you questions as
well.
What do I turn in?

Write an essay to report the results. Include the target groups responses to your questions as part
of your essay, and then answer the following questions:

How did the target groups responses help you understand them better?
Were you surprised by some of the groups answers? Which ones, and why?
How did the actual responses compare with your predictions?

Katz, L. (1996). Essay exchange with children: An exercise for the child development class.
Teaching of psychology, 23, 112-115.

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 1.5 Your Lot in Life

Due date:_______________

Objective: To understand the milestones and goals of human development and to gain exposure
to cultural and economic influences.

Type/Length of activity: 2-3 page paper or can be assigned as a term project with an in-class
oral presentation component

Time to complete: variable

Directions: Your instructor will ask you to randomly draw a slip of paper out of a hat with one
of the following lot in life conditions. Your task is first to describe and define the condition,
then to locate whatever local resources are available to support you in your community. Compile
an annotated bibliography of these resources to present to the class or as your paper assignment.

Lots in Life
Your 7 year-old son has been diagnosed with ADHD.

Your partner is of a different race and your parents do not approve of the relationship.

Your 14 year-old daughter is pregnant and wants to keep the child.

Your partner has been diagnosed with colon cancer.

Your partner has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

Your child was born blind.

You and your spouse have just been told that you are expecting triplets.

Your company is downsizing. You are likely either to lose your job or to have to take a
salary that is barely above minimum wage with no benefits.

Your family, including your junior-high daughter, must relocate to another state that is
very different from the one in which you have lived for the past 12 years.

Your 13 year-old daughter tells you that she and her best friend are sniffing paint.

Your 10 year-old son/daughter tells you that a family member has been sexually
molesting him/her.

Your son/daughter has been arrested for breaking out the windows of the school over the
weekend when you thought he/she was with a friend.

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 Your 14 year-old son thinks he might be gay and is being teased at school.

Your 75 year-old mother/father has been diagnosed with Alzheimers disease.

Your 83 year-old father/mother has recently become widowed.

Your 28 year-old son/daughter has been diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Your 29 year-old son/daughter is divorced, jobless, homeless, and has two children to
support.

You are told that you or your partner is pregnant with a child that most likely has Trisomy
21, also known as Down syndrome.

A family member is hitting their children hard enough to leave bruises.

Your parents have died and you are left to plan and pay for the funeral.

Your elderly parent is incompetent and very ill. You are asked what amount of
intervention you wish for your parent, if any. You and your siblings disagree on the
amount of treatment.

Your partner of 15 years tells you that he/she is having an affair. You have three children
together, ages 2 to 13.

You and your partner find that you cannot have children due to medical conditions that
cause infertility for both of you. You want a child.

Your partner has acquired a sexually transmitted disease which he/she has passed along to
you.

Your elderly parent has become too ill to stay alone and has decided to move in with you.

Your ex-spouse will not pay child support and currently owes you $15,000.

You have become part of a stepfamily and do not know how to manage and discipline
your teenage stepchildren who live with you now.

You have been very involved with your grandchildren, caring for them often. The
childrens parents divorce and your child is not the primary custodian. You have not seen
the children in months and foresee no opportunity to see them in the future.

Your retirement is approaching and you find that the money that you had expected to be
in your pension is not available.

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 You are in your 60s and now must raise your three young grandchildren.

Specifics:
Your paper should:
be 2-4 pages long.
be typed, double spaced, and have 1 inch margins.
include a cover sheet with your name, the title of your paper, your ID#, course name
and section number, and the date.
reference all your sources using APA format.

Adapted from Hamill, S.B. (1996). Your lot in life. Teaching of Psychology, 23, 245-246.

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 Activity Appropriate for Nursing/Healthcare Majors:

1.6 Understanding Individual Differences

Due date:_______________

Objective: To examine individual differences for the three areas of development and attempt to
understand what causes these differences.

Type/Length of activity: Self-analysis and 2-3 page reaction paper

Time to complete: 2-3 hours

Directions: Compare your life with the life of a sibling (or a parent if a sibling is not available).
How are you alike and different in physical appearance (height, weight, medical conditions, hair
color, complexion, strength, fine and gross motor skills, athletic ability, etc.)? How are you alike
and different in cognitive abilities (school work, memory, grades, scores on entrance exams to
college, use of language, vocabulary, etc.)? How are you alike and different in psychosocial areas
(temperament, personality, reliability, responsibility, concern for others, etc.)? What caused these
differences? Was it nature or nurture?

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 Activity Appropriate for Education Majors:

1.7 Cultural and SES variations on discipline

Due date:_______________

Objective: To understand the goals of human development and gain exposure to cultural and
economic influences.

Type/Length of activity: Interviews and 2-3 page report

Time to complete: 2-3 hours

Directions: Interview five persons about the methods of discipline that were used in their
families (spanking, grounding, lecturing, time-outs, etc.). Determine each persons SES (poor,
working class, middle class, or wealthy) and his or her ethnic and/or cultural background. Write a
short paper, comparing the responses to the interviews and attempting to explain them. Your
paper should use the four goals of human development; you should: 1) describe the different
methods of discipline, 2) explain the differences, 3 ) predict how other groups might respond,
and 4) tell how you would modify the discipline methods if you had been hired to teach
parenting classes to the parents of each person you interviewed.

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 Observation/Lab/Interview Project
1.8: Stages of Life

Due Date: ___________

Objective: To gain an understanding of the activities and concerns of people in different stages
of the life span.

Type/Length of activity: Observation with 1-2 page summary of observations

Time to complete: 1-2 hours, but variable

Directions: Select an age group to observe, such as seniors, preschoolers, or teenagers. Go to a

place where people of the chosen age group tend to congregate, such as a senior citizen center, a
playground, a mall area, etc.. Spend at least 30 minutes to an hour simply observing and noting
down the kinds of activities in which the members of this age group engage. If you have time,
observe at least one other age group under similar circumstances of leisure activities and note
any contrasts or similarities in the activities.
Summarize your observations in 1-2 written pages. Be sure to provide any comparisons
and contrast between age groups that you observed.

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 Ideas for Independent Study
1. Try to observe one or more examples of (a) an infant learning to walk and (b) a teenager
learning to drive. (If you cannot find examples to observe, think about examples you have
observed in the past.) Compare the roles played by physical, cognitive, and psychosocial
factors in each of these developmental milestones. How much influence does each of the
three domains have on each milestone? In each case, is one domain more influential than
the others, or are the three domains equally influential? Is the relative influence of the
domains similar or different in the two situations?

2. Thinking about your own life, give examples of the following kinds of influences: (a)
normative age-graded, (b) normative history-graded, and (c) nonnormative. How have
these influences helped make you the person you are today? Which of the three kinds of
influences have been most important in your life? Compare your answers with those of one
or two classmates. Discuss the normative history-graded influences you identified, and
determine whether there is a clear consensus about the defining historical events for your
cohort.

3. Watch the movie Boyhood (2014) and discuss how this movie depicts childhood and
adolescence and the major milestones that occur. This movie was made over a 12 year
period and is not a documentary but provides the observations of a single person as he
grows from childhood to emerging adulthood. Write about the milestones that are
discussed (first kiss to driving) and how those milestones match your milestones during
that same period of time.

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 Resources Available In Connect

The following are a selection of various resources available in McGraw-Hills Connect, which
can be used in class or assigned as homework. For more about Connect, please visit:
http://successinhighered.com/psychology/connect/.

Activity Title Activity Type Learning Objective

Development 1.2 Describe the domains and period of
Video 1.42 min
Characteristics development.

Audio Visual Resources

Distributor, date, and running time are given for each film or video. Distributors' addresses
are listed in the Additional Resources at the end of this instructors manual. If a film or
video is not in color, there is a notation (BW) to that effect. A helpful resource for locating
AV resources is the excellent annotated directory, Audiovisual resources for family
programming:

The greatest generation with Tom Brokaw DVD. (Entertainment Distributing, Inc., 1999, 400
min.)
Split into three parts, this NBC News production sees Tom Brokaw casting an eye over
the ordinary and extraordinary people who played a key role in America's Great
Depression and Second World War.

Nell. (Fox Home Entertainment, 1994, 113 min.)

Fictional story of Nell, a woman raised in the woods of North Carolina with no human
contact except her speech-impaired mother, and her difficulty adjusting to the modern
world.

Secret of the wild child. (NOVA, 1994, video, 60 min.)

Discusses Genie, a girl whose parents kept her imprisoned in near total isolation from
infancy as she goes through rehabilitation and shows how we learn the skills that make
us human.

Multimedia Courseware for Child Development

Charlotte J. Patterson, University of Virginia
This video-based two-CD-ROM set (ISBN 0-07-254580-1) covers classic and
contemporary experiments in child development. Respected researcher Charlotte J.
Patterson selected the video and wrote modules that can be assigned to students. The
modules also include suggestions for additional projects as well as a testing component.
Multimedia Courseware can be packaged with the text at a discount.

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 Suggested Readings

Brokaw, Tom (1998). The greatest generation. New York: Random House.
Tom Brokaw goes out into America to tell, through the stories of individual men and
women, the story of a generation, America's citizen heroes and heroines who came of
age during the Great Depression and the Second World War and went on to build
modern America.

Calusen, J. A. (1993). American lives: Looking back at the children of the great depression.
New York: Free Press.
An engrossing account of the three major longitudinal studies and their findings of the
characteristics that lead to success in life. Richly detailed case histories of happy and
successful adults and whose lives were unhappy and trouble-ridden dramatically
illustrate the studies' findings.

Chudacoff, H. P. (1992). How old are you? Age consciousness in American culture. Princeton,
NJ: Princeton University Press.
The historian author of this lively book traces the development of age consciousness in
urban middle-class culture from its beginnings in the late 1800s. He also discusses both
advantages (policy makers can better identify groups that need special help) and
disadvantages (ageism, or discrimination against certain age groups, most often the
elderly) to age consciousness.

Coontz, S. (2000). The way we never were: American families and nostalgia trap. New York:
Basic Books.
An examination of the myths about the American family from Ozzie and Harriet to
crack babies.

Frieberg, K. Annual editions: Human development. McGraw-Hill/Dushkin.

A series of compilations of readings in human development.

Kagan, J. (1985). The nature of child. New York: Basic Books.

A beautifully written and compelling argument against the idea of the irreversibility of
early experience. Kagan believes that people have the ability to change throughout life
and that later events transform early childhood experiences.

Katz, D. (1992). Home Fires: An intimate portrait of one middle-class family in postwar
America. New York: Harper Collins.
This true story that spans over 40 years (from 1946 through 1992), reads like an epic
novel and dramatically illustrates the ecological theory of development in context. The
author integrates the events in the lives of the parents and four children in the Gordon
family into an account of American social history, from World War II, through the

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 tumultuous 1960s, up to the last decade of the century.

Lindenmeyer, Kriste (2007). The greatest generation grows up: American childhood in the
1930s. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee.
This latest volume in the American Childhoods series chronicles the lives and times of
Americans who grew up during the Great Depression and entered adulthood during
World War II. Lindenmeyer's aim is to show how children and adolescents both
influenced and were the targets of important social and political changes.

Miller, J. B. et al. (1991). Women's growth in connection. Cambridge, MA: Guilford Press.
A diverse collection of scholarly articles from the Stone Center for Developmental
Services and Studies, focusing on the self-in-relation theory. The theory is applied to
such issues as depression and eating disorders in women.

Mintz, Steven. (2004). Huck's raft: A history of American childhood. Cambridge, MA: Belknap
Press.
A comprehensive history of American childhood, placing children at the center of the
events that shaped our past. Emphasizes how childrearing, children's health, schooling,
play, toys, and literature have changed over time.

Reinier, J.S. (1996). From virtue to character: American childhood, 1775-1850. New York:
Twayne Publishers.
A social history of childhood which pays particular attention to often-overlooked topics
such as the spiritual world of the child, black and white children in the South, and child
rearing patterns reflecting values of the cultures.

Rymer, R., & Rymer, R. (1993). Genie: An abused childs flight from silence. New York:
Harper Collins.
This absorbing and controversial in-depth exploration of Genie's case follows her from
the time of her discovery by the outside world into adulthood. It discusses the roles that
psychologists, linguistics, and social workers played in her life and traces the failure,
despite many people's efforts, to enable her to live a normal life.

Shapiro, J. P. (1994). No pity: People with disabilities forging a new civil rights movement.
New York: Times Books.
A fascinating account of the birth and development of the disability rights movement,
which led to the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1992. The book
deals with many of the issues involved in this struggle and includes many personal
stories of people with physical, mental, or emotional disabilities who were instrumental
in changing the way such people were viewed and treated.

Twenge, J.M. (2006), Generation Me. New York: Atria.

This is a compilation of research about young adults who are in the group considered to
be Millennials. It discusses some of the differences in parenting and life expectations for this
generation as compared to past generations.

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 Web Resources

Evaluating Web Resources, or Internet 101:

Guide to meta-search engines

http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=2156241
This is a useful description of the purpose of meta-search engines with links to several
of the most popular and helpful tips on how they can aid both instructors and students in
searching for Internet resources.

Tutorial for beginning users:

http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/FindInfo.html
Created by the library staff at Berkeley, this is an excellent place for both instructors and
students to learn more about using the Internet. The tutorial is divided into two sections.
The first provides information about how to access the Internet and use Netscape. The
second part of the tutorial discusses how to search for information and includes a
comparative chart of the five best search engines, explanations of meta-search tools, and
convenient handouts which can be used for class exercises. Also available in the
handout section are PowerPoint slides and instructors notes.

Psychology related mega-lists, resources, and search tools:

AlleyDog
http://www.alleydog.com/
AlleyDog is a site designed for students to learn more about and enjoy psychology. The
adolescence to adulthood and the child development links provide useful resources and
examples of student created pages.

Association for Psychological Science

http://psych.hanover.edu/APS/teaching.html
This is an easy to use site that provides links that focus on resources for those who teach
a variety of psychology courses and topics, including links for teaching developmental
psychology courses.

Athabasca University psychology links

http://psych.athabascau.ca/html/aupr/psycres.shtml
There is a useful set of links under the developmental area although most focus is on
early childhood.

Mega-psych
http://www.tulsa.oklahoma.net/~jnichols/megapsych.html
John Nichols list of psychology bookmarks is quite complete and has a useful section

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 for developmental psychology. The site also includes a useful article about searching for
psychology related information on the Internet, located at

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

http://www.nichd.nih.gov/
The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) seeks to
assure that every individual is born healthy and wanted, that women suffer no adverse
consequence from the reproductive process, and that all children have the opportunity to
fulfill their potential for a healthy and productive life unhampered by disease or
disability. NICHD conducts and supports laboratory, clinical, and epidemiological
research on the reproductive, neurobiological, developmental, and behavioral processes
that determine and maintain the health of children, adults, families, and populations.

PsychRef
http://www.psychref.com
Includes extensive resources for students and instructors that are organized by general
resources, faculty and students resources and sub-fields of psychology. The
developmental psychology links are targeted mostly for early childhood. The site does
contain a comprehensive list of both online and traditional psychology journals.

ThePsych: Internet resources

http://www.thepsych.com/
The site reports having over 3000 indexed resources. The developmental list focuses
mostly on early childhood resources. The site catalogs both academic and more general
or self-help types of information.

29 2015 McGraw-Hill Education