Post on 15-Dec-2015
Myers’ PSYCHOLOGY
(5th Ed)
Chapter 3
The Developing Child
James A. McCubbin, PhDClemson University
Worth Publishers
Developmental IssuesNature versus Nurture
How is our development influenced by our heredity (nature) and by our experience (nuture)?
Continuity versus Stages Is developmental change gradual and
continuous or does it proceed through a sequence of separate stages?
Stability versus Change Do we grow into older versions of our early
selves or do we become new persons?
Genetic Influences
X- Chromosomes sex chromosome found in both males
and females females have two, males have one an X-chromosome from each parent
produces a femaleY-Chromosomes
sex chromosome found only in males when paired with a X-chromosome from
the mother, it produces a male child
The Developing ChildTestosterone
most important of the male sex hormones both males and females have it additional testosterone in males
stimulates growth of male sex organs in the fetus
stimulates development of male sex characteristics during puberty
Gender characteristics, whether biologically or
socially influenced, by which people define male and female
Prenatal DevelopmentZygote
fertilized egg enters a 2 week period of rapid cell division develops into an embryo
Embryo developing human organism from 2 weeks
through 2nd monthFetus
developing human organism from 9 weeks to birth
Prenatal DevelopmentTeratogens
agents that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm
chemical, e.g. alcohol, some medicines, cocaine, nicotine
viral, e.g. HIV, RubellaFetal Alcohol Syndrome
physical and cognitive abnormalities in children caused by drinking in pregnancy
The Newborn
Rooting Reflex tendency to turn head, open mouth, and
search for nipple when touched on the cheek
Preferences human voices and
facesfacelike images-->
smell and sound of mother preferred
Infancy and Childhood
At birth 3 months 15 months
Cortical Neurons
Maturation biological growth
processes that enable orderly changes in behavior
relatively uninfluenced by experience
sets the course for development while experience adjusts it
Infancy and Childhood
Babies only 3 months old can learn that kicking moves a mobile- and can retain that learning for a month (Rovee-Collier, 1989).
Infancy and Childhood
Rats reared in an environment enriched with playthings show increased development of the cerebral cortex (Rosenzweig, et al., 1972).
Impoverished environment
Enriched environment
Infancy and Childhood
Plasticity the brain’s capacity for modificationevidence for plasticity
•brain reorganization following damage
–especially in children•experiments on the effects of
experience on brain development
Infancy and Childhood
A finger-tapping task activates more motor cortex neurons after training (right).
Infancy and ChildhoodCognition
mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, and remembering
Schema a concept or framework that organizes and
interprets informationAssimilation
interpreting one’s new experience in terms of one’s existing schemas
Accommodation adapting one’s current schemas to
incorporate new information
Typical Age Range
Description of Stage
Developmental Phenomena
Birth to nearly 2 years SensorimotorExperiencing the world through senses and actions (looking, touching, mouthing)
•Object permanence•Stranger anxiety
About 2 to 6 years
About 7 to 11 years
About 12 through adulthood
PreoperationalRepresenting things with words and images but lacking logical reasoning
•Pretend play•Egocentrism•Language development
Concrete operationalThinking logically about concrete events; grasping concrete analogies and performing arithmetical operations
•Conservation •Mathematical transformations
Formal operationalAbstract reasoning
•Abstract logic•Potential for moral reasoning
Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Object Permanence the awareness that things continue to exist
even when not perceivedConservation
the principle that properties such as mass, volume, and number remain the same despite changes in the forms of objects
part of Piaget’s concrete operational reasoning
Egocentrism the inability of the preoperational child to
take another’s point of view
Cognitive Development
Habituation decreasing responsiveness with repeated
stimulation newborns become bored with a repeated
stimulus, but renew their attention to a slightly different stimulus
Cognitive Development
10
20
0
30
40
50
60
70
80
Familiar stimulus
Novelstimulus
Percentage of time spent looking
Cognitive DevelopmentBaby Mathematics
Shown a numerically impossible outcome, infants stare longer (Wynn, 1992)
1. Objects placed in case.
2. Screen comes up.
3. One object is removed.
4. Possible outcome: Screen drops, revealing one object.
4. Possible outcome: Screen drops, revealing two object.
Social Development
Stranger Anxiety fear of strangers that infants commonly
display beginning by about 8 months of age
Attachment an emotional tie with another person shown in young children by seeking
closeness to the caregiver and showing distress on separation
Social Development
Harlow’s Surrogate Mother Experiments Monkeys preferred
contact with the comfortable cloth mother, even while feeding from the nourishing wire mother
Social Development
Critical Period an optimal period shortly after birth when an
organism’s exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces proper development
Imprinting the process by which certain animals form
attachments during a critical period very early in life
Temperament a person’s characteristic emotional reactivity
and intensity
Social Development
Monkeys raised by artificial mothers were terror-stricken when placed in strange situations without their surrogate mothers.
Social Development
Basic Trust (Erik Erikson) a sense that the world is predictable and
trustworthy said to be formed during infancy by
appropriate experiences with responsive caregivers
Self-Concept a sense of one’s identity and personal
worth
Social Development
Groups of infants who had and had not experienced day care were left by their mothers in a unfamiliar room.
0
20
40
60
80
100
3.5 5.5 7.5 9.5 11.5 13.5 20 29
Percentage of infantswho criedwhen theirmothers left
Age in months
Day care
Home
Social Development
Percentage of children experiencing school problems in the previous year
Percentageof children
Live with both biological parents
Live with formerly married mother and no father
Repeated school grade
Expelled or
suspended
Treated forproblems in last year
0
15
10
5
20
Social Development- Child-Rearing Practices
Authoritarian parents impose rules and expect
obedience “Don’t interrupt” “Why? Because I said so.”
Authoritative parents are both demanding and
responsive set rules, but explain reasons encourage discussion
Social Development- Child-Rearing Practices
Permissive submit to children’s desires make few demands use little punishment
Rejecting-neglecting disengaged expect little invest little
Social Development- Child-Rearing Practices Three explanations for correlation between
authoritative parenting and social competence
(3) Some third factor may be influencing both parents and child.
(1) Parent’s behavior may be influencing child.
Authoritative parents
(2) Child’s behavior may be influencing parents.
Self-reliant,Socially competentchild
Authoritative parents
High education, ample income, harmonious marriage, common genes
Authoritative parents
Self-reliant,Socially competentchild
Self-reliant,Socially competentchild
Gender and Child-Rearing
Gender Identity one’s sense of being male or female
Gender-Typing the acquisition of a traditional masculine or
feminine roleSocial Learning Theory
we learn social behavior by observing and imitating and by being rewarded or punished
Gender Schema Theory children learn from their cultures a concept of
what it means to be male and female adjust behavior accordingly