Social development across the lifespan
Relationships shape development from our first days to our last.
Attachment
Harry Harlow's studies showed infant monkeys preferred a soft cloth 'mother' to a wire one that provided food, showing that comfort matters, not just feeding. Mary Ainsworth's 'strange situation' identified attachment styles: secure, avoidant, and resistant (ambivalent); later researchers added disorganised. Secure attachment is linked to better relationships later.
Erikson's psychosocial stages
Erik Erikson proposed eight stages, each with a central conflict. Infants face trust versus mistrust; adolescents face identity versus role confusion; young adults face intimacy versus isolation; middle-aged adults face generativity versus stagnation; and older adults face integrity versus despair, looking back on their lives with satisfaction or regret.
Adolescence and ageing
Adolescence brings puberty, growing independence, and a still-developing prefrontal cortex, which is linked to risk-taking. In late adulthood, many cognitive skills like vocabulary remain strong while processing speed slows. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross described emotional responses to dying, though people do not move through them in a fixed order.
Flashcard
Using a caregiver as a safe base for exploring
Check your understanding
A 50-year-old mentors young colleagues and volunteers to help children in her community. In Erikson's theory, she is achieving: