Week 11 — Readings & Resources · Development Across the Lifespan

Course: Introduction to Psychology (PSYC 1) · Silver Oak University (fictional sample) · Prof. Bennett
Objective covered: Objective 7 — Describe physical, cognitive, and social development across the lifespan (the lifespan-development half).

How to use this page

Everything here is a link to an external resource — open it in your browser, the same way you'd open a YouTube link. Nothing needs to be downloaded.

This week's load is deliberately light: 3 short readings + 1 video, grouped by the ideas from the lecture, plus one optional full-chapter reference. Read or watch one item per group and you're ready for the quiz; do all of them and you'll be very comfortable. Total time is roughly 40–50 minutes if you do everything, far less if you pick one per group.

Reading order that matches the lecture: ① how the mind develops (Piaget & Vygotsky) → ② how bonds form (attachment) → ③ the lifelong arc (Erikson) → ④ aging and intelligence.

A habit to start now: before you trust any claim about development — in these readings or anywhere — ask the questions from class: Is this nature, nurture, or both interacting? Which stage or which theorist does this fit? Are the age ranges being treated as exact when they're really approximate?

① How the Mind Develops · Piaget & Vygotsky

Maps to Lecture Segments 3–4. Children don't just know less than adults — they think in qualitatively different ways, and they move through four stages in a fixed order. Vygotsky adds the social angle: thinking grows with help, in the zone of proximal development.

Reading — "Jean Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development" (Simply Psychology)
🔗 https://www.simplypsychology.org/piaget.html
Why it's assigned: the cleanest plain-language walk-through of all four stages in order — sensorimotor (object permanence), preoperational (egocentrism, no conservation), concrete operational (conservation), formal operational (abstract thought) — plus schemas, assimilation, and accommodation, exactly as we drew them in class.
⏱ ~10 min

Video — "The Growth of Knowledge: Crash Course Psychology #18"
🔗 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nz2dtv--ok
Why it earns the click: a fast, lively 10-minute tour of Piaget's four-stage theory and Vygotsky's scaffolding and zone of proximal development — the whole cognitive-development segment in one video. The on-screen chapter list matches our lecture's order beat for beat.
⏱ ~10 min

Optional companion — "Lev Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory" (Simply Psychology)
🔗 https://www.simplypsychology.org/vygotsky.html
Why it's here: if the zone of proximal development and scaffolding felt fast in class, this page slows them down with everyday examples (and contrasts Vygotsky's "little apprentice" with Piaget's "little scientist"). Optional, but the best one-stop on the social side of thinking.
⏱ ~7 min

② How Bonds Form · Attachment (Harlow & Ainsworth)

Maps to Lecture Segment 5. Babies don't simply bond with whoever feeds them. Harlow's monkeys chose comfort over food; Ainsworth's Strange Situation showed that the reunion reveals secure vs. insecure attachment.

Reading — "Attachment Theory in Psychology" (Simply Psychology)
🔗 https://www.simplypsychology.org/attachment.html
Why it's assigned: covers both classics in one place — Harlow's contact-comfort monkey studies and Ainsworth's Strange Situation with the secure/insecure attachment styles — plus a brief note on responsive caregiving, the same points we made in class.
⏱ ~9 min

Optional companion — "Mary Ainsworth: The Strange Situation" (Simply Psychology)
🔗 https://www.simplypsychology.org/mary-ainsworth.html
Why it's here: a focused deep-dive on the Strange Situation procedure and what each attachment pattern looks like at reunion — useful if you want the method spelled out step by step. Optional.
⏱ ~7 min

③ The Lifelong Arc · Erikson's Psychosocial Stages

Maps to Lecture Segment 6. Development doesn't stop at childhood. Erikson runs the whole lifespan — trust in infancy, identity in adolescence, integrity in late life. Know the arc and a few stages well.

Reading — "Erik Erikson's Stages of Psychosocial Development" (Simply Psychology)
🔗 https://www.simplypsychology.org/erik-erikson.html
Why it's assigned: lays out all eight psychosocial stages from infancy to old age with the central "crisis" of each — the perfect reference for the three stages we taught in depth (trust vs. mistrust, identity vs. role confusion, integrity vs. despair) and the arc in between.
⏱ ~9 min

④ Aging & Intelligence

Maps to Lecture Segment 7. The hopeful headline of aging: as fluid intelligence (fast, novel reasoning) gradually declines, crystallized intelligence (knowledge, vocabulary, expertise) holds steady or grows. Development is lifelong.

Reference — OpenStax Psychology 2e, Chapter 9 ("Lifespan Development"), §9.3 "Stages of Development"
🔗 https://openstax.org/books/psychology-2e/pages/9-3-stages-of-development
Why it's assigned: the late-life section covers adulthood and aging, including the fluid vs. crystallized intelligence distinction and the socioemotional changes of older adulthood — a clean, current treatment of the segment our other readings touch only briefly.
⏱ ~8 min

Optional one-stop reference (free online text)

If you'd like one optional reference to skim all week, OpenStax Psychology 2e keeps its full text free to read online. Chapter 9 ("Lifespan Development") covers everything in this week — what development is, Piaget's stages, attachment, Erikson, adolescence, and aging.
🔗 https://openstax.org/books/psychology-2e/pages/9-introduction
Why it's here: a reputable, currently-available reference you can return to in later weeks — entirely optional this week.

Pick-one quick path (≈19 min total)

In a hurry? Do exactly these two and you'll be ready for the quiz:
1. Watch Crash Course Psychology #18 — The Growth of Knowledge (group ① — Piaget + Vygotsky).
2. Read Attachment Theory in Psychology (group ② — Harlow + Ainsworth), and skim the top of Erik Erikson's Stages (group ③).

Heads-up (links rot): these point to outside sites that occasionally move or rename pages. If a link ever fails, tell Prof. Bennett and use the OpenStax reference above in the meantime.