Lifespan Development. Tara L. Kuther

and the environment interact and influence each other (Bandura, 2011). In contrast with behaviorist theorists, Bandura viewed individuals as active in their development rather than passively molded by their physical and social environments. Specifically, development is a result of interactions between the individual’s characteristics, his or her behavior, and the physical and social environment (see Figure 1.5).

      Description

      Figure 1.5 Bandura’s Model of Reciprocal Determinism

      As an example, consider how a particular person’s characteristics might influence that person’s behavior and the surrounding social environment. Suppose Issac is an excitable person, which makes him quick to debate with others. This behavior, in turn, stimulates those around him to engage in debate. But suppose, too, that Issac’s behavior (being quick to debate) does not result only from his personal characteristics (excitability). It is also influenced by the environment (e.g., being surrounded by smart people who enjoy debating), and it influences the environment (e.g., people who enjoy debating are more likely to talk to Issac, while people who avoid debating are less likely to talk to him). This is an example of the complex interplay among person, behavior, and physical and social environment that underlies much of what we will discuss throughout this book.

      Behaviorist theories have made important contributions to understanding lifespan human development. Classical and operant conditioning and social learning are powerful means of explaining human behavior at all ages. Concepts such as observational learning, reinforcement, and punishment hold implications for parents, teachers, and anyone who works with people. Social learning theory and reciprocal determinism offer a more complex explanation for development and behavior than do behaviorist theories. We will revisit these concepts in later chapters.

      Jean Piaget (1896–1980) believed that children’s drive to explore and understand the world around them propels them through four stages of cognitive development.

      Bill Anderson / Science Source

      Cognitive Theories

      Cognitive theorists view cognition—thought—as essential to understanding people’s functioning across the lifespan. In this section, we look at some of the ideas offered by cognitive-developmental theory and information processing theory.

      Piaget’s Cognitive-Developmental Theory

      Swiss scholar Jean Piaget (1896–1980) was the first scientist to systematically examine infants’ and children’s thinking and reasoning. Piaget believed that to understand children, we must understand how they think, because thinking influences all behavior. Piaget’s cognitive-developmental theory views children and adults as active explorers of their world, driven to learn by interacting with the world around them and organizing what they learn into cognitive schemas, or concepts, ideas, and ways of interacting with the world. Through these interactions, they construct and refine their own cognitive schemas, thereby contributing to their own cognitive development.

      Piaget proposed that children’s drive to explore and understand the world—to construct more sophisticated cognitive schemas—propels them through four stages of cognitive development, as shown in Table 1.4.

      Piaget’s cognitive-developmental theory transformed the field of developmental psychology and remains one of the most widely cited developmental theories. It was the first to consider how infants and children think and to view people as active contributors to their development. In addition, Piaget’s concept of cognitive stages and the suggestion that children’s reasoning is limited by their stage has implications for education—specifically, the idea that effective instruction must match the child’s developmental level.

      Some critics of cognitive-developmental theory argue that Piaget focused too heavily on cognition and ignored emotional and social factors in development (Crain, 2016). Others believe that Piaget neglected the influence of contextual factors by assuming that cognitive-developmental stages are universal—that all individuals everywhere progress through the stages in a sequence that does not vary. Some cognitive theorists argue that cognitive development is not a discontinuous, stage-like process but instead is a continuous process (Birney & Sternberg, 2011), as described in the following section.

      Information Processing Theory

      A developmental scientist presents a 5-year-old child with a puzzle in which a dog, cat, and mouse must find their way to a bone, piece of fish, and hunk of cheese. To solve the puzzle, the child must move all three animals to the appropriate locations. How will the child approach this task? Which item will she move first? What steps will she take? What factors influence whether and how quickly a child completes this task? Finally, how does the 5-year-old child’s process and performance differ from that of children older and younger than herself?

Table 1.4

      The problem described above illustrates the questions studied by developmental scientists who favor information processing theory, which posits that the mind works in ways similar to a computer in that information enters and then is manipulated, stored, recalled, and used to solve problems (Halford & Andrews, 2011). Unlike the theories we have discussed thus far, information processing theory is not one theory that is attributed to an individual theorist. Instead, there are many information processing theories, and each emphasizes a different aspect of thinking (Callaghan & Corbit, 2015; Müller, Kerns, Müller, & Kerns, 2015; Ristic & Enns, 2015). Some theories focus on how people perceive, focus on, and take in information. Others examine how people store information, create memories, and remember information. Still others examine problem solving—how people approach and solve problems in school, the workplace, and everyday life.

      According to information processing theorists, we are born with the ability to process information. Our mental processes of noticing, taking in, manipulating, storing, and retrieving information do not show the radical changes associated with stage theories. Instead, development is continuous and entails changes in the efficiency and speed with which we think. Maturation of the brain and nervous system contributes to changes in our information processing abilities. We tend to become more efficient at attending to, storing, and processing information over the childhood years and to slow over the adult years (Luna, Marek, Larsen, Tervo-Clemmens, & Chahal, 2015). Experience and interaction with others also contribute by helping us learn new ways of managing and manipulating information. We naturally engage in information processing throughout our lives. We will discuss these changes and their implications for children, adolescents, and adults in later chapters.

      Information processing theory offers a complex and detailed view of how we think, which permits scientists to make specific predictions about behavior and performance that can be tested in research studies. Indeed, information processing theory has generated a great many research studies and has garnered much empirical support (Halford & Andrews, 2011). Critics of the information processing perspective argue that a computer model cannot capture the complexity of the human mind and people’s unique cognitive abilities. In addition, findings from laboratory research may not extend to everyday contexts in which people must adapt to changing circumstances and challenges to attention (Miller, 2016).

      Contextual Theories

      Contextual theories emphasize the role of the sociocultural context in development. People of all ages are immersed in their social contexts; they are inseparable from the cultural beliefs and societal, neighborhood, and familial contexts in which they live. The origins of sociocultural