1.
LIFE SPAN
DEVELOPMENT
Lesson 1

2.
DEVELOPMENT
➤ Psychologists refer to
development as changes that
occur over time

3.
AREAS OF DEVELOPMENT
Physical development
involves changes in the body
and its various systems, such as
development of the brain and
its nervous system
Social development involves
changes in an individual’s
relationships with other people
and their skills in interacting
with others, such as the ability
to form and maintain close
relationships with others in a
group situation.
Emotional development involves
changes in how an individual
experiences different feelings and how
these feelings are expressed, interpreted
and dealt with; for example, the way
in which anger is expressed
Cognitive development involves changes
in an individual’s mental abilities, such as
reasoning, problem solving, decision
making, perception, learning, memory and
use of languages.

4.
CONTINUOUS V DISCONTINUOUS DEVELOPMENT

5.
SEQUENTIAL NATURE OF DEVELOPMENT
Development progresses in a step-by-step fashion. It is orderly, sequential, and proceeds
from the simple to the complex. Each achieved behaviour forms the foundation for more
advanced behaviours.

6.
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
So what makes us different?
Heredity involves the
transmission of characteristics
from biological parents to their
offspring via genes at the time of
conception.
In psychology, the term
Environment is used to refer
to all the experiences, objects and
events to which we are exposed
throughout our entire lifetime.

7.
NATURE VS NURTURE

8.
NATURE VS NURTURE

9.
THE ROLE OF MATURATION
Maturation refers to the orderly and sequential developmental
changes which occur in the nervous system and other bodily
structures controlled by our genes.

10.
PRINCIPLE OF READINESS
The Principle of readiness states that unless the necessary bodily structures and
processes are sufficiently mature, be they muscles, bones, the brain, nerves,
neurons or neurotransmitters then no amount of practice will produce the
particular mental process or behaviour.