life span development chapter 5: development. defining terms developmental psychology branch of...
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Life Span Development
Chapter 5:
Development
Defining Terms
Developmental Psychology Branch of psychology that specifically examines
the physiological, cognitive, and emotional changes in an organism from conception to death.
Developmental Psychologists utilize a number of different methods of inquiry to gather this information.
Cross-Sectional Study
Study people of different ages at the same point in time
Advantages Inexpensive Can be completed quickly Low attrition
Disadvantages Different age groups are not necessarily much alike Differences may be due to cohort differences rather than
age
Longitudinal Study
Study the same group of people over time Advantages
Detailed information about subjects Developmental changes can be studied in detail Eliminates cohort differences
Disadvantages Expensive and time consuming Potential for high attrition Differences over time may be due to assessment tools and
not age
Biographical or Retrospective Study
Participant’s past is reconstructed through interviews and other research about their life
Advantages Great detail about life of individual In-depth study of one person
Disadvantages Recall of individual may not be accurate Can be expensive and time consuming
Prenatal Development Prenatal - period of time from conception to birth Zygote – a fertilized egg with full set of genes Embryo
From about two weeks after conception to three months after conception (most of first trimester)
Organs begin to form; heartbeat Fetus
Three months after conception to birth (second and third trimesters)
Organs continue to form; response to sounds Placenta
Connects fetus to mother Brings oxygen and nutrients and takes away wastes
Prenatal Development Teratogens
Any agent that causes a structural abnormality following fetal exposure during pregnancy
Cocaine, alcohol, tetracycline, x-rays, lithium, diazepam (Valium)
Fetal alcohol syndrome Occurs in children of women
who consume large amounts of alcohol during pregnancy
Symptoms include facial deformities, heart defects, stunted growth, and cognitive impairments
Prenatal Development Critical period
Specific time during which an organism has to experience stimuli in order to progress through developmental stages properly. Biological “readiness”
If period passes without proper stimulation/development, development is hindered permanently
The Newborn Babyaka NEONATE
I WANT BACK IN!
The Competent Newborn: Reflexes
Rooting Baby turns its head toward
something that brushes its cheek and gropes around with mouth
Sucking Newborn’s tendency to suck
on objects placed in the mouth Swallowing
Enables newborn babies to swallow liquids without choking
Grasping Close fist around anything
placed in their hand
Stepping Stepping motions made by an
infant when held upright Babinski
Stroke bottom of foot – toes fan and curl
Moro Drop baby unexpectedly (?!) or
make loud noise and it will throw arms out, arch back and then grasp for something
Crawling Place neonate on stomach and
press down on soles of feet – arms and legs move rhythmically
The Competent Newborn: Temperament
Temperament refers to characteristic patterns of emotional reactions and emotional self-regulation
Thomas and Chess identified three basic types of babies (1977) + Kagan (1988) added a fourth Easy
Good-natured, easy to care for, adaptable Difficult
Moody and intense, react to new situations and people negatively and strongly
Slow-to-warm-up Inactive and slow to respond to new things, and when they do
react, it is mild Shy Child
Timid and inhibited, fearful of anything new or strange Temperament may predict later disposition
The Competent Newborn: Sensory Learning
In addition to reflexes present at birth, neonates also have the ability to learn
Habituation - basic type of learning involving decreased response to a stimulus judged to be of no importance/novelty
Visual learning – focus on FACES Olfactory learning – fully functioning; smell of mother Auditory learning – response to mothers voice Taste – Fully functioning; preference for sweets!
The Competent Newborn:Visual Perception
Clear for 8-10 inches Good vision by 6 months Depth perception: Is a fear of heights
innate or learned? Visual cliff research Despite parental beckoning, a crawling
infant hesitates to cross the “visual cliff.” Most infants 6 to 14 months of age were
reluctant to crawl over the cliff, though earlier on they show no fear.
The ability to perceive depth is partly innate and partly a product of early visual and kinesthetic experience.
The Visual Cliff
Dude. I’m not going
that way!
Infancy and ChildhoodOoh. How did you get your hair so silky
soft?
Stop touching
me.
Physical Development: Body and Brain
Children grow about 10 inches and gain about 15 pounds in first year
Growth occurs in spurts, as much as 1 inch overnight!
Growth slows during second year Neural “pruning and paving”
Motor and Memory Development
Developmental norms Ages by which an average child achieves various developmental
milestones Occurs in a proximodistal and cephalocaudal manner “Back to Sleep” movement to reduce SIDS may delay crawling
Maturation Automatic biological unfolding of development in an organism as
a function of passage of time Relatively uninfluenced by experience
Memory not solidified until after 3rd birthday Known as “infantile amnesia” Development of hippocampus?
Perception of Scale
Perception of Scale
Cognitive Development Cognition – all mental activities associated
with thinking, knowing, remembering and communicating
Jean Piaget Cognitive developmental psychologist who
studied intellectual development in children Stage-based theory of cognitive development Intellectual growth as a process of adaptation
(adjustment) to the world. This happens through Formation of schemas – mental frameworks Assimilation – using an existing schema to
understand a new situation Accommodation – modifying schemas to incorporate
new information Adjusting schemas (equilibration
) when new information doesn’t fit existing ones (disequilibrium)
Piaget’s Stages of Development
Sensorimotor Stage (birth to 2 years) Take in world through senses Object permanence and the A not B error
Preoperational Stage (2-7 years) Egocentrism; intuitive over logical reasoning Development of a theory of mind, ideas about their own
and others’ cognitions and their resulting behaviors The Mountain problem; mountain problem video
Concrete Operations (7-11 years) Logical reasoning about concrete events Principles of conservation
Formal Operations (12 through adulthood) Hypothetical problems solving and deductive reasoning Understand abstract ideas
Piaget’s Stages - Summary
Criticisms of Piaget's Theory
Many developmental theorists such as Vygotsky questioned the assumption that there are distinct stages in cognitive development
Criticism of notion that infants do not understand world
Piaget may have underestimated influence of social interaction in cognitive development
Lev Vygotsky believed development was a function
of social interaction
Social Development: Attachment Stranger Anxiety
Appears around 8 months – coincides with mobility – why?
Protective mechanism Attachment through Contact
Humans form a bond with those who care for them in infancy
Based upon interaction with caregiver Harry Harlow’s work: role of physical contact in
attachment Attachment through Familiarity
Imprinting (Lorenz): tendency to follow the first moving thing seen as the basis of attachment
Occurs in many species of animals in a critical period
Top: Harlow’s experiment; Bottom: Lorenz and
imprinting
Social Development: Attachment Attachment Differences
Mary Ainsworth’s Strange Situation Secure attachment: Explores freely while the mother is present, will
engage with strangers, will be visibly upset when the mother departs, and happy to see the mother return.
Anxious-ambivalent insecure attachment: Anxious of exploration and of strangers, even when mother is present. When mother departs, the child is extremely distressed. The child will be ambivalent when she returns, seeking to remain close to the mother but resentful, and also resistant when the mother initiates attention.
Anxious-avoidant insecure attachment: Avoids or ignores mother - showing little emotion when the mother departs or returns. Will not explore much regardless of who is there. Strangers not treated much differently from mother. Not much emotional range displayed.
Aligns with Erikson’s first stage of “Basic Trust” Deprivation of Attachment
Impact of denying infant monkeys physical comfort from their mother (Harlow revisited…)
Cases of “Genie” and “Victor” Daycare?
Self Concept and Parenting Styles Self Concept: understanding of who we are
If infants can achieve attachment, children must achieve a positive self concept
Develops gradually in first year (“Mirror Test”) By 18 months, children know THEY are the image in
the mirror, and that it is not another person Children with a positive self concept are more
confident, assertive, optimistic, and sociable, but how is this achieved?
Diana Baumrind’s 4 Parenting Styles may help explain… Authoritarian – demanding not responsive Permissive – not demanding but responsive Neglectful – not demanding, not responsive Authoritative – demanding and responsive
Impact of parenting styles on children? Authoritative appears to be best, but… Correlational NOT causational research!
Erikson: Trust v. Mistrust
Mirror Test
Baumrind’s Parenting Styles: At-a-Glance Comparison
Relationships With Other Children Solitary play
Children first play by themselves Parallel play
As they get older, children play side-by-side with other children, but not interacting
Cooperative play By about 3 or 3½, children begin playing
with others Peer group
A network of same-aged friends and acquaintances who give one another emotional and social support
When children start school, peers begin to have greater influenceParallel Play vs.
Cooperative Play
Sex-Role Development Gender identity
Knowledge of being a boy or girl Occurs by age 3
Gender constancy Child realizes that gender cannot change Occurs by age 4 or 5
Gender-role awareness Knowing appropriate behavior for each
gender Gender stereotypes
Beliefs about presumed characteristics of each gender
MissRepresentation film Sex-typed behavior
Socially defined ways to behave different for boys and girls
May be at least partly biological in origin
Adolescence
The Nature of Adolescence A “Carefree Time” vs. G. Stanley Hall’s
“Storm and Stress” The American experience? Trends today? Cultural differences?
Physical Changes
Growth spurt Begins about age 10½ in girls and
about 12½ in boys Sexual development
Primary (reproductive) vs. Secondary (non-reproductive) sexual characteristics
Puberty Onset of sexual maturation
Menarche First menstrual period
Spermarche First ejaculation of sperm
Neurological changes – frontal lobe maturation
Physical Changes: Sexual Activity Early and late developers:
Implications? Adolescent sexual activity
Approximately ¾ of males and ½ of females between 15 and 19 have had intercourse
Average age for first intercourse is 16 for boys and 17 for girls
Teenage pregnancy Rate of teen pregnancy has
fallen in the last 50 years Highest in U.S. of all
industrialized nations
Cognitive Changes
David Elkind’s Theories Imaginary audience:
delusion that everyone else is always focused on them
Personal fable: delusion that they are unique and very important
Invulnerability Nothing can harm
them Reckless behavior
Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development
Preconventional (preadolescence) “Good” behavior is mostly to avoid
punishment or seek reward Conventional (adolescence)
Behavior is about pleasing others and, in later adolescence, becoming a good citizen
Postconventional (adulthood...maybe) Emphasis is on abstract principles
such as justice, equality, and liberty
Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development
The “Heinz Dilemma” A woman was near death from a special kind of cancer. There was
one drug that the doctors thought might save her. The drug was expensive to make, but the druggist was charging ten times what the drug cost him to produce. The sick woman's husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the money, but he could only get together about $1,000 which is half of what it cost. He told the druggist that his wife was dying and asked him to sell it cheaper or let him pay later. But the druggist said: "No, I discovered the drug and I'm going to make money from it." So Heinz got desperate and broke into the man's store to steal the drug for his wife.
Should Heinz have broken into the store to steal the drug for his wife? Why or why not?
The response is not as important as the reasoning WHY in determining which stage of moral reasoning a person is in
Criticisms of Kohlberg’s Theory
Research shows that many people never progress past the conventional level
Theory maintains that our rationale remains consistent – does it?
Theory does not take cultural differences into account
Theory is considered by some to be sexist in that girls often scored lower on tests of morality
Carol Gilligan’s moral development theory? Kohlberg researched only men and boys Gilligan believed gender differences unfairly stagnated women in conventional
reasoning due to emphasis on relationships over principles
Personality and Social Development
Major task in adolescence is identity formation Forming an identity (James Marcia, 1980)
Achievement Successfully find identity
Foreclosure Settle for identity others wish for them
Moratorium Explore various identities, but unable to commit
Diffusion Unable to “find themselves” – refusal to deal with the task;
escapist techniques Erikson’s 8 Psychosocial Stages
Identity vs. Role Confusion (teens to early 20s) Intimacy vs. Isolation (early 20s to early 40s)
Personality and Social Development
Relationships with peers Adolescents often form
cliques, or groups with similar interests and strong mutual attachment
Relationships with parents Adolescents test and question
every rule and guideline from parents
Can be a difficult time for parents AND children
Some Issues of Adolescence
Declines in self-esteem Related to appearance Satisfaction in appearance is related to higher self-esteem
Depression and suicide Rate of suicide among adolescents has increased 600%
since 1950, but has leveled off since ’90s Suicide often related to depression, drug abuse, disruptive
behaviors, or child abuse
Youth Violence Emerging Adulthood – trends in lengthening this
period
Adulthood
Love, Partnerships, and Parenting
Forming partnerships First major event of
adulthood is forming and maintaining close relationships
Erikson’s Intimacy vs. Isolation
Parenthood Having children alters
dynamics of relationships Marital satisfaction often
declines after birth of child
Marital Satisfaction
Other Issues… The World of Work
Balancing career and family obligations is a challenge
Many adults define who they are by what they do
Cognitive Changes Fluid intelligence declines with old age Crystallized intelligence does NOT
decline, and even can increase as learning continues throughout life
Personality Changes Less self-centered, better coping skills Some men and women have a midlife
crisis (or midlife transition) Empty Nest Myth
Many parents report feeling a sense of relief when their
children move out!
Late Adulthood
Physical Changes
In late adulthood, physical deterioration is inevitable As early as the twenties, strength, reaction times,
sensory abilities and cardiac capacity decline, though in late adulthood we may finally notice
Menopause and the end of fertility
Social Development Independent and satisfying
lifestyles – Erikson’s Generativity vs. Stagnation
Retirement Most people will stop working and
face challenges with that sudden change
Redefining of self Marital satisfaction
Sexual behavior Research shows that many older
couples continue to be sexually active
It is not until age 75 that half of men and most women report a complete loss of interest in sex
I’m too cool for
ceramics
I can’t wait to swill my
whiskey from this vessel!
Cognitive Changes
Research has demonstrated that those who continue to “exercise” their mental abilities can delay mental decline
Even PHYSICAL exercise seems to have a positive impact on cognitive maintenance
However, Alzheimer’s disease afflicts approximately 10% of people over 65 and perhaps as many as 50% of those over 90
Checkmate, Sucka!
I will OWN you!
Facing the End of Life
Elizabeth Kubler-Ross’s stages of grief/death Denial Anger Bargaining Depression Acceptance Giraffe: Stages of Dying
Erikson’s Integrity vs. Despair