This text, based on Lifespan Psychology by Laura Overstreet, includes additional material from the Noba Project, OpenStax Psychology, and additional noteworthy contributions by the Lumen Learning team and Sarah Carte, Margaret Clark-Plaski, Daniel Dickma, Tera Jones, Julie Lazzara, Stephanie Loalada, John R. Mather, Sonja Ann Miller, Nancee Ott, and Jessica Traylor. Modification, adaptation, and original content Authored by: Julie Lazzara
This textbook emphasizes the resilience, resistance, and beauty of Indigenous cultures as a way to honor Indigenous peoples’ strength and positive contributions, countering narratives that often focus solely on deficits or trauma. While these are critical topics, centering them exclusively risks reducing Indigenous identities to experiences of suffering and injustice.
By highlighting resilience and cultural continuity, this textbook aims to showcase the vibrancy of Indigenous cultures that have persisted, often against tremendous odds. It also emphasizes Indigenous agency, as communities actively resist ongoing challenges, adapt, and thrive. This approach acknowledges trauma without allowing it to define Indigenous identity, encouraging learners to see Indigenous communities as rich, complex, and dynamic.
This reframing is essential for moving beyond stereotypes of victimhood and recognizing Indigenous peoples as knowledge-bearers, innovators, and leaders in their own right. By celebrating these aspects, this textbook fosters a more balanced understanding, inspiring respect, appreciation, and a deeper awareness of Indigenous contributions to broader society.
The textbook can be downloaded in different formats on the homepage of the book at no cost.
Introduction to Lifespan Development
Lifespan Development examines the physical, cognitive, and socioemotional changes that occur throughout a lifetime. This course covers the essentials in understanding human development, psychological research, and theories of growth and development. Students will come to understand the lifespan perspective and to analyze growth through each of the major stages of development: prenatal development, infancy, early childhood, middle childhood, adolescence, early adulthood (including emerging adulthood), middle adulthood, and late adulthood. The course covers key topics in each of these stages, including major developmental theories, genetics, attachment, education, learning, disabilities, parenting, family life, moral development, illnesses, aging, generativity, and attitudes towards death and dying.
