Life-Span Developmental Psychology

List of Contributors

Preface

Conceptual Status and History


1. Status and Issues of a Life-Span Developmental Psychology

I. Introduction

II. Developmental Disciplines: The Study of Change

III. General Developmental Psychology

IV. Human Life-Span Developmental Psychology

V. Conclusions and Perspectives


2. Historical Antecedents of Life-Span Developmental Psychology

I. Introduction

II. American Beginnings

III. Clinical Work with Children

IV. Educational Psychology

V. Behaviorism

VI. Developmental Psychology in the 1920s and 1930s

VII. Child-Study Institutes

VIII. Other Early Influences

IX. Maturity and Old Age

X. Child Psychology through the Middle of the Century

XI. Post World War II

XII. Who Studies the Life-Span

XIII. Longitudinal Studies of the Life-Span

XIV. Conclusion


3. Life-Span Developmental Psychology in Europe: Past and Present

I. Introduction

II. Prescientific Origins of Life-Span Developmental Psychology

III. Scientific Origins of Life-Span Developmental Psychology

IV. Concluding Remarks

Theory Construction


4. An Approach to Theory Construction in the Psychology of Development and Aging

I. Introduction

II. Evidence and Inference: A Case History and Commentary

III. The Deductive Function of Theories

IV. Theories and the Analysis of Arguments

V. A Simple Exercise in Theory Construction: The Internal Logic of a Theory of the Effects of Age on Creative Thinking

VI. A Difficult Exercise in Theory Construction: The Internal Logic of the Theory of Disengagement

VII. The Role of Models and Analogies in Theory Construction

VIII. Commentary on Birren's Counterpart Theory of Aging

IX. Conclusions


5. Models of Development and Theories of Development

I. Introduction

II. Models and Theories

III. The Concept of Development

IV. The Mechanistic and Organismic Models of Development

V. Summary and Conclusions

General Methodology


6. Methodology and Research Strategy in the Study of Developmental Change

I. Introduction: The Age Variable in Developmental Research

II. The Formulation and Assessment of the Dependent Variable in Developmental Studies

III. The Longitudinal Method: Its Value and Limitations and Some Compromise Solutions

IV. The Descriptive Analysis of Developmental Functions

V. The Study of Functional Relations among Developmental Variables

VI. The Study of Individual Differences within the Developmental-Functional Framework

VII. Conclusion


7. Application of Multivariate Strategies to Problems of Measuring and Structuring Long-Term Change

I. Introduction

II. Implications of Multivariate Techniques for Studying Patterns of Change

III. Implications of Factor Analysis for Structuring Qualitative and Quantitative Change: Factor Loading Patterns and Factor Scores

IV. Correlational Techniques which Bear directly on the Problems of Structuring Change

V. Overview of More Generalized Correlational Techniques

VI. Areas of Convergence between Multivariate Techniques and Developmental Concepts

VII. Conclusion

Perception and Cognition


8. Life-Span Changes in Visual Perception

I. Introduction

II. Visual Illusion

III. Spatial Orientation

IV. Part-Whole Differentiation

V. Perceptual Closure

VI. Speed of Recognition

VII. Conclusion


9. Light Detection and Pattern Recognition: Some Comments on the Growth of Visual Sensation and Perception

I. Introduction

II. Some History of Sensation and Perception

III. The Mechanisms of Detection and Recognition

IV. Detection and Recognition in Neonates

V. Simultaneous Detection and Recognition

VI. Detection, Recognition, and Method

VII. Perception and Judgment

VIII. Detection Theory

IX. Muddy and Cloudy Developmental Data


10. Cognitive Changes in Adulthood

I. Differences between Child and Adult Cognitive Changes

II. The Role of Experience in Adult Cognitive Change

Learning and Retention


11. Learning in Children and in Older Adults

I. Conditioning

II. Discrimination Learning

III. Paired-Associate and Serial Learning

IV. Incidental Learning


12. The Experiential Origins of Human Behavior

I. Introduction

II. Unconditioned and Conditioned Behavior

III. A Brief Review of Selected Facts about Infant Behavior Plasticity

IV. Comments on the Concept of “State”

V. Summary


13. Retention-Forgetting as a Nomological Network for Developmental Research

I. Introduction

II. Verbal Learning: Models, Processes, and Paradigms

III. A Nomological Network for Retention-Development Relationships

IV. Interference Theory and Retention-Development Relationships

V. Retention-Development Relationships for Recognition Learning

VI. Concluding Comments

Language


14. The Language Acquisition Process: A Reinterpretation of Selected Research Findings

I. Introduction

II. Intralingual Relations

III. Psycholinguistic Operations


15. Research on Language Acquisition: Do We Know Where We Are Going

I. Historical Introduction

II. Psycholinguistics

Intellectual Abilities


16. Organization of Data on Life-Span Development of Human Abilities

I. Introduction

II. Unity and Differentiation among Abilities

III. Processes Basic to Intellectual Functioning

IV. Development of Abilities in Childhood

V. Development of Abilities in Adulthood and Old Age

VI. General Summary


17. Comparative Factor Analytic Studies of Intelligence throughout The Human Life-Span

I. Introduction

II. Relevant Hypotheses and Results

III. Methodological Aspects and Problems

IV. Discussion and Conclusions


18. A Reinterpretation of Age Related Changes in Cognitive Structure and Functioning

I. Introduction

II. Age Changes versus Age Differences versus Cultural Change

III. The Impact of Generational Differences

IV. Empirical Evidence Bearing upon Generation Differences in Intelligence

V. Conclusions

References

Author Index

Subject Index