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Approx. Month of Conception
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Period: to
Beginnings
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My Birth
Born in Ypsilanti, Michigan around 8:30am.
Parents and mom's extended family were present.
Weighed approximately 9 pounds. -
Period: to
The First Two Years
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Cognitive: Stage One Sensorimotor Intelligence
Lasts from birth to 1 month.
Reflexes such as sucking, grasping, staring, and listening are present. -
Cognitive: Stage Two Sensorimotor Intelligence
Lasts from 1-4 months.
Adaptations to reflexes are acquired: sucking nipples and pacifiers differently, grasping bottles while drinking from them -
Psychosocial: "Social Smile"
First appears around 6 weeks. An infant smiles as a social response. "Genuine" smiles begin around 4 months. -
Biosocial: Development of Binocular Vision
At approx. 14 weeks, an infant develops binocular vision. Instead of using the eyes "independently" of each other, they begin to coordinate both to work together to view one image. -
Cognitive: Stage 3 Sensorimotor Intelligence
Lasts 4-8 months.
An awareness of things develop. Infants learn to react to people and other objects. -
Cognitive: Stage Four Sensorimotor Intelligence
Lasts from 8-12 months.
Infants begin partaking in more deliberate and purposeful actions when responding to people and objects. -
Psychosocial: Fear of Social Events and Separation
Starts around 9-14 months.
An infant often develops a "fear" or meeting strangers and being away from a known caregiver, even if they didn't feel very strongly about it before. I experienced this, even at relatives' houses. My mother told me when visiting it would take a while for me to "warm up" to them. -
Cognitive: First Word
Around this time I said my first word, "Da-Da." -
Cognitive: Stage Five Sensorimotor Intelligence
Lasts from 12-18 months.
The child becomes a "little scientist", getting creative and experimenting with their surroundings.
I also started walking right around this time. -
Cognitive: Stage Six Sensorimotor Intelligence
Lasts from 18-24 months.
The child begins thinking about things before they do them, and remembering past experiences to help make decisions. -
Psychosocial: Appearance of Many Emotions
Around 18 months, emotions such as self-awareness, pride, shame, and embarrassment begin to appear. -
Biosocial: Height and Weight Increase
Over the first two years, an infant generally grows around a foot taller and quadruples their birth weight. I was no exception. -
Period: to
Early Childhood
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Cognitive: Development of Concepts
At ages 3-4, a child has a mature enough brain to start learning numbers, store memories, and learn routines. Whether or not the child does so depends on their culture and family lifestyle. Around this age, according to my mom, I was doing these things. -
Biosocial: The "Just Right" Phase
Around age 3, a child generally deveolps what's called a "just-right" phase where they feel they must stick to a certain routine, food, or other preferences. My "just-right" phase mainly focused on bedtime: I had to be read a certain number of books, and they had to be read in just the right way by my parents. I also was pretty picky about food choices. -
Psychosocial: Prosocial or Antisocial?
Around age 4 or 5, children begin exhibiting generally "prosocial" (helpful and kind) or "antisocial" (hurtful or destructive) behavior. I was generally prosocial. -
Cognitive: Vocabulary, Grammar, and Questions
Around 5 years old, a child has a vocabulary of about 5,000 to 20,000 words. Their sentences often drag on and on (".... and... and.... then.... and...."), though their grammar is improving. This is also an age where questions about differences (gender, rich/poor, old/young) become prevalent. -
Cognitive: Skipped Kindergarten
I started kindergarten in fall of 2000. I was an avid reader from age two, and enjoyed writing my own stories when most other kids in my class were learning to write their names. After consideration between my parents and the school, I was moved up to first grade about halfway through the year. I was too bored in my kindergarten class. Because of this, I was always a year behind in age from my classmates and graduated high school in 2012 instead of 2013 like I should have. -
Biosocial: Body at Age 6
An average six year old is at least 3.5ft tall, weighs 40-50 pounds, and has the same body proportions as an adult. I fell within these ranges. -
Period: to
Middle Childhood
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Biosocial: Athletic Clubs and Leagues
Sports provide a multitude of benefits for a child, including better overall health and improved problem-solving abilities. From ages seven to nine I took part in cheerleading. -
Psychosocial: Social Comparison
School-aged children begin comparing themselves to their peers, whether differences are explicitly pointed out or not. I remember becoming more socially aware of myself around this time. I began thinking about how other people viewed me. -
Cognitive: Metacognition
School-aged children begin developing the capacity to partake in metacognition, or "thinking about thinking." They become aware of thought processes and can monitor their progress while completing tasks. -
Psychosocial: Aggressive vs. Withdrawn Rejected
When children are rejected or ignored among peers, it's usually because they are aggressive (angry, violent, and confrontational) or withdrawn (shy, quiet, non-involved). Around this time is when my social anxiety began developing. I did have a few friends, but I remember feeling ignored by a lot of people because I wasn't outgoing enough for them to notice me. -
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Adolescence
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Biosocial: Beginning of Puberty
Puberty can begin in a wide range of ages, but it generally begins anywhere from ages 8 to 14. I remember really noticing my body changing around age 12. -
Cognitive: Imaginary Audience
Adolescents are usually egocentric and develop a concept of "imaginary audience." They feel as though all eyes are on them and they are the center of attention all the time. Some like to draw even more attention to themselves, while others feel pressured and self-conscious under the imagined audience. I was definitely the latter. -
Psychosocial: Bickering with Family
Early adolescence is generally when the parent-child conflicts occur the most. It often manifests in the form of bickering, or ongoing petty, peevish arguing. Of course I love my parents but I do remember getting into pointless fights with them all the time especially around ages 12-14. -
Cognitive: Formal Operational Thought
Jean Piaget was the first to describe the concept of adolescents advancing to a more abstract level of cognition. Teens can understand and analyze abstract concepts that younger children cannot comprehend. Once I started middle school and high school my classes were focused on more abstract concepts. We learned more about things like algebra, imaginary numbers, cells, bacteria, and advanced data. -
Psychosocial: Identity vs. Diffusion
Erik Erikson described the idea that adolescents' main goal is to form a sense of identity. In more modern years, this search for "identity achievement" has been prolonged due to societal changes. I think I began having a sense of my own identity sometime in high school, but even to this day I feel like I'm still figuring things out. -
Graduation from High School
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Period: to
Emerging Adulthood
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Started College
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Psychosocial: Diathesis-Stress Model
The diathesis-stress model states that mental illness is caused by genetic disposition plus stressful circumstances and life events. Mental disorders are more likely to develop in emerging adulthood than any other time. I was officially diagnosed with depression and anxiety disorder at the end of 2013 but thankfully I've been improving more recently. -
Cognitive: Postformal Thought
Postformal thought is the next step after Piaget's definition of formal operational thought. This level of cognitive capability enabled emerging adults to find their own problems to solve, rather than only solve ones that are given to them. They are able to anticipate and analyze problems even more so than adolescents. -
Biosocial: Body Mass Index
A body mass index, or BMI, is often used to measure an adult's height and weight in relation to their overall size. It is important to note that BMI ratings are often inaccurate and must be used with other health-monitoring measures. My BMI is usually around 24-25, which is the borderline of normal/overweight. -
The Current Day
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Psychosocial: Cohabitation
Emerging adults are more likely than ever to cohabitate. This is the approximate date that my girlfriend and I will be moving in together. -
Cognitive: Dialectical Thought
Beyond postformal thought is dialectical thought. This realm of cognitive ability based on the concept that "every idea or truth bears within itself the opposite idea or truth." This is considered the most advanced form of cognition. -
Cognitive: Morality of Care or Morality of Justice
Carol Gilligan believes that depending on sex, a person is taught to assess morality in different ways. Women are more likely to have morality of care, or reluctancy to judge right or wrong and tendency to be more nurturing and compassionate. Men often believe in morality of justice, which is judging things in absolute terms of right and wrong. -
Period: to
Adulthood
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Cognitive: Continued Improvement of Mental Skills
Most peoples' abilities in many mental skills increase during adulthood. The Seattle Longitudinal Study, an ongoing project studying intelligence, has backed up this claim. -
Psychosocial: A Midlife Crisis?
People are expected to experience a "midlife crisis" around ages 40-50. During which they supposedly experience a crisis about how their life has gone so far and may make drastic decisions and changes in desparation. However, research has shown a "standardized" midlife crisis does not occur. -
Biosocial: Senescence
Senescence, or a gradual physical decline, occurs once growth stops. When it begins, and the rate at which the decline occurs, varies greatly depending on the person and a variety of other factors. -
Psychosocial: Gender Convergence
Throughout their middle aged years, males and females tend to become more similar in terms of personality types. This tendency is called Gender Convergence. -
Biosocial: Menopause
The occurence of menopause varies from age, but it usually occurs from ages 42 to 58. A decrease in the production of certain hormones causes menstruation and ovulation to stop. Andropause is the male counterpart. -
Psychosocial: Sandwich Generation
People between the younger and older generations are often called the "Sandwich Generation." They sometimes feel stuck between the obligations of younger people and older people. However, they are rarely burdened by this. -
Biosocial: Changing Sleep Patterns
Older adults need to sleep for longer, stay asleep longer, and wake up often during the night. -
Period: to
Late Adulthood
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Biosocial: Primary vs. Secondary Aging
Gerontologists, or those who study older people and aging, classify the aging process into either primary or secondary aging. Primary aging are changes that are going to occur with age regardless of other factors or conditions. Secondary aging is the interaction between effects of primary aging and things like disease or environmental factors. -
Psychosocial: Integrity vs Despair
The last of Erik Erikson's proposed life stages. Older adults either begin to integrate their experiences and knowledge into the community, or are overcome with despair because they feel they don't have enough time to make a difference. -
Cognitive: Control Processes
The effeciency of one's memory often declines with age. Older adults can use control processes, or methods that help one think clearly or remember things, to cope with this. One example is to write notes. -
Psychosocial: Aging in Place
Many aging adults choose to age in place, or remain in their home and adjust as they begin to rely on more medical attention or assistance. There are many reasons to choose to do so; many elderly take pride in their home and garden and some want to be closer to friends and family members. -
Predicted Date of Death
The Lifespan Calculator, based on health, family history, and lifestyle information I put in, guessed that I'll live to be 85 years old if current trends in my life continue.