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Developing Through the Life Span

Psychology 40S C. McMurray

Source: PSYCHOLOGY

(9th Edition)David Myers

Worth Publishers, © 2010

Developmental Psychologists

1. Jean Piaget (Cognitive Development)

2. Erik Erikson (Social Development)

3. Lawrence Kohlberg (Moral Development)

4. Sigmund Freud (Psychosexual Development) Personality

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Prenatal Development and the Newborn

How, over time, did we come to be who we are? From zygote to birth,

development progresses in an orderly, though fragile, sequence.

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Conception

A single sperm cell (male) penetrates the outer coating of the egg (female) and

fuses to form one fertilized cell.

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Prenatal Development

A zygote is a fertilized egg By day 14, the zygote turns into an

embryo

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Prenatal Development

At 9 weeks, an embryo turns into a fetus

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Teratogens

Most prenatal influences on our development are genetic BUT environment can also influence development.

Teratogens: chemicals that are passed through the placenta to the fetus

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The Newborn

• Infants are born with reflexes that aid in survival.

• In the first few hours of life, a newborn’s temperament (emotional excitability) can be seen.

The Newborn and Reflexes• Rooting reflex

an infant’s response in turning toward the source of touching that occurs anywhere around his or her mouth

• Grasping reflexan infant’s clinging response to a touch on the palm of his or her hand

• Moro reflexwhen a baby is started, they will fling their

limbs out and then quickly retract them making themselves as small as possible

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MaturationThe development of the brain unfolds based on genetic instructions, causing various bodily and mental functions to occur in sequence— standing before

walking, babbling before talking—this is called maturation.

Maturation is our predetermined blueprintThe internally programmed growth of a child

Maturation sets the basic course of development, while experience adjusts it.

Cognitive Development

Cognition refers to all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering.

• It is the ability to understand.

• It develops gradually as a child grows.

Jean Piaget 1896-1980

Who was he?Developmental psychologistwho studied cognitive development

What did he do?Studied hundreds of children.

Believed that a child’s mind develops through a series of 4 stages

Believed that we learn by making sense of our experiences

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Piaget’s Theory and Current Thinking

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Cognitive Development

Piaget believed that cognitive development is shaped by the errors we

make.

Scale errors – 18 to 30 month old children may fail to take the size of an object into account when trying to perform impossible actions with it.

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Schemas

Schemas are mental molds into which we pour our experiences.

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Assimilation and Accommodation

The process of assimilation involves incorporating new experiences into

our current understanding (schema).

The process of adjusting a schema and modifying it is called

accommodation.

Cognitive Development

Schema – is a specific plan for knowing the world

Assimilation – is the process of fitting objects and experiences into one’s schemas

Accomodation – is the adjustment of one’s schemas to include newly observed events and experiences

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Sensorimotor Stage Birth - Age 2

In the sensorimotor stage, babies take in the world by looking, hearing, touching,

mouthing, and grasping.

Children younger than 6 months of age do not grasp object permanence, i.e.,

objects that are out of sight are also out of mind.

No object permanence

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Object permanenceA child’s realization that an object exists even when he or she cannot see or touch it. (This usually occurs around 6 months of age.)

Stranger anxiety is the fear of strangers that develops at around 8 months. This is the age at which infants form schemas for familiar faces and cannot assimilate a new face.

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Preoperational StageAge 2 – Age 7

Piaget thought that children in the preoperational stage can’t think logically, they lack conservation and are too young to perform mental operations. They represent the world through the us of language but their language is egocentric.

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Egocentrism

Piaget concluded that preschool children are egocentric. They cannot perceive things from another’s point of view.

When asked to show her picture to mommy, 2-year-old Gabriella holds the picture facing her own eyes, believing that her mother can see it through her

eyes.

Egocentric A young child’s inability to understand another

person’s perspective

“Do you have a brother?”

“Yes.”

“What’s his name?”

“Jim”

“Does Jim have a brother?”

“No.”

Conservation The principle that a given quantity does not

change when its appearance is changed

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Concrete Operational Stage

In concrete operational stage, given concrete materials, 6- to 7-year-olds

grasp conservation problems and mentally pour liquids back and forth into

glasses of different shapes conserving their quantities.

Children in this stage are also able to transform mathematical functions. So, if 4 + 8 = 12, then a transformation, 12 – 4

= 8, is also easily doable.

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Formal Operational Stage

Around age 12, our reasoning ability expands from concrete thinking to abstract thinking. We can now use symbols and imagined realities to

systematically reason. Piaget called this formal operational thinking.

Social EmotionalDevelopment

Socialization – the process of learning the rules of behaviour of the culture within which an individual is born and will live. The development of self-awareness, attachment to parents or caregivers, and relationships with other children and adults.

The real core of social development is found in the emotional attachment, or close emotional bond, that human babies form with their primary caregivers.

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Attachment

Emotional Attachment – an especially close emotional bond that infants form with their parents, caregiver, or others.

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Origins of Attachment

Harlow (1971) showed that infants bond with surrogate mothers because of bodily contact and

not because of nourishment.

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Harlow’s discovery surprised many

psychologists: The monkeys much preferred

contact with the comfortable cloth mother.

For many years, developmental

psychologists thought that infants became attached to those who satisfied their need for nourishment.

Monkeys raised by artificial mothers were terror-stricken when placed in strange situations

without their surrogate mothers.

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Origins of Attachment

Like bodily contact, familiarity is another factor that causes attachment. In some

animals (goslings), imprinting is the cause of attachment.

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Insecure Attachment

Harlow’s studies showed that monkeys experience great anxiety if their terry-

cloth mother is removed.

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Deprivation of Attachment

What happens when circumstances prevent a child from forming

attachments?

In such circumstances children become:

1. Withdrawn2. Frightened3. Unable to develop

speech

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Prolonged Deprivation

If parental or caregiving support is deprived for an extended period of time,

children are at risk for physical, psychological, and social problems,

including alterations in brain serotonin levels.

Watch: Feral Child Video

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Child-Rearing Practices

Practice Description

AuthoritarianParents impose rules and

expect obedience.

Permissive Parents submit to children’s demands.

Authoritative Parents are demanding but responsive to their children.

Social Development Parenting Styles

Authoritarian Family• Parents are the “bosses”• Very strict, no negotiation

Democratic/Authoritative Family• Children participate in decision making• Lots of discussion• Parents still have final say

Permissive/Laissez-faire Family• Children have the final say• Parents are less controlling

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Authoritative Parenting

Authoritative parenting correlates with social competence — other factors like

common genes may lead to an easy-going temperament and may invoke an

authoritative parenting style.