LIFESPAN DEVELOPMENT COMPREHENSIVE
STUDY GUIDE 2026 HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
AND PSYCHOLOGICAL GROWTH STAGES
◉ the different focuses of lifespan development. Answer: biological
processes, genetic endowment, cognitive development, physical
growth, and social development
◉ approaches of lifespan development (4). Answer: personality
development, social development, physical development, and
cognitive development
◉ physical development. Answer: examines the ways in which the
body's makeup helps determine behavior
◉ cognitive development. Answer: seeks to understand how growth
and change intellectual capabilities influence a person's behavior
◉ personality devlopment. Answer: the study of stability and change
in the enduring characteristics that differentiate one person from
another over the life span
,◉ social development. Answer: ways in which individuals'
interactions with others and their social relationships grow, change,
and remain stable over the course of life
◉ age and range differences. Answer: prenatal period; infancy and
toddlerhood; middle childhood; adolescence; emerging adulthood;
young adulthood; middle adulthood; late adulthood
◉ prenatal period. Answer: conception to birth
◉ infancy and toddlerhood period. Answer: birth to age 3
◉ preschool period. Answer: ages 3 to 6
◉ middle childhood. Answer: ages 6 to 12
◉ adolescence. Answer: ages 12 to 20
◉ young adulthood. Answer: ages 20 to 40
◉ middle adulthood. Answer: ages 40 to 65
◉ late adulthood. Answer: ages 65 to death
, ◉ cohort. Answer: group of people born at around the same time in
the same place
◉ influences on development. Answer: history-graded, age-graded,
sociocultural-graded, non-normative life event
◉ history graded influences. Answer: biological and environmental
influences associated with particular historical moment...
examples: 9/11
◉ age-graded influences. Answer: biological and environmental
influences that are similar for individuals in a particular age...
examples: puberty, menopause, entering formal education
◉ sociocultural-graded influences. Answer: the social and cultural
factors present at a particular age group (*will be considerably
different for children who are white and affluent than for children
who are members of a minority group and living in poverty*)
◉ non-normative life events. Answer: specific, atypical events that
occur in a person's life at a time when such events do not happen to
most people
example: child whose parent's died in automobile accident at age 6
STUDY GUIDE 2026 HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
AND PSYCHOLOGICAL GROWTH STAGES
◉ the different focuses of lifespan development. Answer: biological
processes, genetic endowment, cognitive development, physical
growth, and social development
◉ approaches of lifespan development (4). Answer: personality
development, social development, physical development, and
cognitive development
◉ physical development. Answer: examines the ways in which the
body's makeup helps determine behavior
◉ cognitive development. Answer: seeks to understand how growth
and change intellectual capabilities influence a person's behavior
◉ personality devlopment. Answer: the study of stability and change
in the enduring characteristics that differentiate one person from
another over the life span
,◉ social development. Answer: ways in which individuals'
interactions with others and their social relationships grow, change,
and remain stable over the course of life
◉ age and range differences. Answer: prenatal period; infancy and
toddlerhood; middle childhood; adolescence; emerging adulthood;
young adulthood; middle adulthood; late adulthood
◉ prenatal period. Answer: conception to birth
◉ infancy and toddlerhood period. Answer: birth to age 3
◉ preschool period. Answer: ages 3 to 6
◉ middle childhood. Answer: ages 6 to 12
◉ adolescence. Answer: ages 12 to 20
◉ young adulthood. Answer: ages 20 to 40
◉ middle adulthood. Answer: ages 40 to 65
◉ late adulthood. Answer: ages 65 to death
, ◉ cohort. Answer: group of people born at around the same time in
the same place
◉ influences on development. Answer: history-graded, age-graded,
sociocultural-graded, non-normative life event
◉ history graded influences. Answer: biological and environmental
influences associated with particular historical moment...
examples: 9/11
◉ age-graded influences. Answer: biological and environmental
influences that are similar for individuals in a particular age...
examples: puberty, menopause, entering formal education
◉ sociocultural-graded influences. Answer: the social and cultural
factors present at a particular age group (*will be considerably
different for children who are white and affluent than for children
who are members of a minority group and living in poverty*)
◉ non-normative life events. Answer: specific, atypical events that
occur in a person's life at a time when such events do not happen to
most people
example: child whose parent's died in automobile accident at age 6
