PSYC 357 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Catastrophe Theory, Developmental Science, Gompertz Function

• School: Simon Fraser University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 357
• Professor: Wendy Thornton

Document Summary

Models of development: nature and nurture in adulthood. Key concepts in the study of the lifespan. Life span perspective: views development as continuous from childhood through old age. Contextual influences on development: incorporates the effects of sex, race, ethnicity, social class, religion and culture. An interdisciplinary field that draws from biology, sociology, anthropology, the humanities and other behaviourol and social sciences: suggests that individuals continue to grow and change over the entire course of their lives. Challenging the nature position was the founder of american behaviourism, john b. Once they start down that particular pathway, they experience further changes that influence the later developmental of those particular abilities. The prominent models in developmental science: organismic model. Proposes that heredity drives the course of development throughout life. Changes overtime occur because the individual is programmed to exhibit certain behaviours at certain ages with distinct differences between stages of life: mechanistic model.