Describe the history of interest in the life-span perspective and indicate how contemporary concerns have arisen from previous views.

1.
Explain the importance of studying life-span development.
2.
Describe the history of interest in the life-span perspective and indicate how contemporary concerns have arisen from
previous views.
3.
Describe the seven basic characteristics of the life-span perspective.
4.
Discuss the nature of development as a pattern of movement or change occurring throughout the life span.
5.
Define and distinguish between biological processes, cognitive processes, and socioemotional processes.
6.
Understand the major developmental periods from conception to death.
7.
Understand the three major developmental issues (nature and nurture, continuity and discontinuity, stability and
change).
8.
Understand, compare, and contrast the key development theories, including:
 Freud’s psychoanalytic theory versus Erikson’s psychoanalytic theory
 Piaget’s theory of cognitive development versus Vygotsky’s sociocultural cognitive theory and the information
processing approach
 Behavioral theories, including Pavlov’s classical conditioning, Skinner’s operant conditioning, and social
cognitive theory
 Ethological theories
 Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory
 Eclectic theoretical orientation
9.
Define and distinguish between theory, hypotheses, and the scientific method, and understand the different research
measures used by developmental psychologists, including:
 observation
 interviews and questionnaires
 case studies
 standardized tests
 life-history records
 physiological research and research with animals
 correlational research
 experimental research
 time span of the research
10.
Understand the standard ethics of developmental research

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