Psych Lifespan chapters 1 & 2

• The study of human and animal behavior and mental processes both normal and
• abnormal

• innate, genetic, biological, physical 
• ex. Family history of diseases or disorders

• environment, learned   
• ex. Family environment- living with one parent,
• parent suffers from addiction    
• Social economic status
• rban vs. suburban neighborhood, big city vs
• small town

• Psychology attempts to: describe, explain/understand, predict
• other people’s behaviors and actions, control (optimize)

systematic changes/progressions and continuities that occur in an individual from conception to death (womb to tomb)

• 1. Physical
• 2. Cognitive
• 3. Psychosocial

- growth, path of growth, weight

• thought process
• How we develop or logical ability   
• How we perform in school
• How we perform in relationships

your personality

• 1. Survival of the fittest (natural selection)
• 2. Ideas of Evolution 
• Evolve as psychological beings
• Baby Biographies

Noticing a pattern with development such as, first step, first word being said

Not generalizable since it is an individual case study

• 1. Made an experiment with baby biographies with a group of people, he built off of Darwin’s baby biographies so they canbe generalized 
• 2. First president of the APA (American Psychological Association)

1.       Prenatal- Conception-Birth

2.       Infancy(Toddlerhood)- Birth-2 years

3.       Preschool/ Early Childhood- 2-5 years

4.       Middle Childhood/School age- 5-10 year

5.       Adolescence- 10-18 years

6.       Emerging Adulthood- 18-25 years

7.       Young Adulthood- 25-40 years

8.       Middle Adulthood- 40-65 years

9. Late Adulthood/Mature- 65+ years

conception to birth

birth to 2 years

2 to 5 years

5 to 10 years

10 to 18 years

18-25 years

25 to 40 years

40 to 65 years

65+

the expectation on where we should be (expected) based on our society, family,culture says is acceptable

• 1. Lifelong
• 2. Multidirectional
• 3. Gains and losses
• 4. Plasticity
• 5. Historical
• 6. Influences
• 7. Disciplines

development is a lifelong progress

development can increase, plateau, decrease and go backwards (based on setbacks in lifesuch as divorce

• for everything we gain there is something we lose
• ex. Baby learning to talk they lose the baby words they used to says
• ex. Gain reasoning and lose creativity

• remolding based on our environment
• Ex. A major change in our self-such as moving to a different place

psychology is a constantly changing type of science

people in the same generation and age group

• multiple forces (Nature vs. Nurture)
• Our environment influences who we are as an individual also what we are innate with

• that there are different perspectives of psychology
• Looking at every different perspectives before making a final decision
• Getting the full picture
• Helps us become nonbiased

• 1. State your hypothesis
• 2. Set up operational definitions
• 3. Gather information
• 4. Analyze/Test/ Form conclusions
• 5. Revise the variables
• 6. Publish findings

• 1. Verbal reports
• 2. Case studies
• 3. Observation
• 4. Physiological Reports

• interviews, surveys
• can be biased questions

• A case study is a study on a single individual
• Pro: gains a lot of information on an individual and how to treat them specifically
• Con: Cannot generalize other people

Anything in a controlled setting

• 1. Structured
• 2. Naturalistic

• Pro: able to control situation
• Con: Can be biased

• People don't know they are being watched
• Pro: Cannot be manipulated and biased
• Con: hard to gather enough information, what point does it cross the line

• EKG- Heart monitor
• Pro: don't lie and cannot be biased
• Con: Expensive and not everyone has access to it

Tell the people in the experiments what you were looking for, who had the Independent variable, they are allowed to ask questions

• • The shocking experiment
• • Obedience to authority
• • Removal of responsibility
• • Removal of proximity

the part we are aware of

Thedesires, wants, fear, that drives what happens in the conscious mind

• • Altered states of consciousness
• Hypnosis
•  Drugs/alcohol•
• Catharsis-when we spill our guts, release of emotion, stream of conscious

pleasure principle, selfish side, just wants our needs met immediately not caring who gets hurt along the way

morality principle, selfless, wants everyone else’s needs met before them

reality principle, the mediator

mind moving, changing, conflicting, seeking sexual pleasure and avoiding pain

• 1. Oral (birth-18 months)
• 2. Anal (18 months-3 years)
• 3. Phallic (3 years- 6 years)
• 4. Latent (6 years- Puberty)
• 5. Genital (active puberty)

• a. Putting everything in our mouth: Toys, pacifiers, bottles 
• ex. Over/undergratfied- develop fixation later in life, Chewing on pens, sucking thumbs, always having something in their mouth after this stage

Occurs when we are under gratified or over gratified

• Potty Training
• Overgratefied: anal retentive-Forced to be in control too soon, perfectionist
• UnderGratefied: anal exulsive- messy

• a. Realizing what they have, curiosity, exploring stage
• b. First feeling of sexuality
• i. Electra Complex- Girls fall in love with Daddy
• ii. Oedipus Complex- Boys fall in love with mommy
• c. Under gratified- Boys don’t have mom, girls don’t have dad
• i. Gender Identity
• ii. Fixation- disruption in future romantic relationships, promiscuous, no respect for women, players
• d. Over gratified- Too connected
• e. Fixation- relying too much on the other person in relationships

• a. Sexual energy is at rest
• i. Girls bond with mommy (modeling), friends are girls
• ii. Boys bond with daddy (modeling), friends are boys
• b. Under gratified- Missing the same sex parent
• i. Fixation- Girls become masculine, boys become feminine

• a. When all the stages comes together
• b. Able to make the choice to be a better person