1501 Life-span development

Means of study longitudinal/cross-sectional

Development occurs toward differentiation– few to many– simple to complex– general to specialized– homogeneous to diverse

Nature to nurture controversy Maturation:

– any relatively permanent change as the result of internal prompted processes, without regard to environment or personal experience.

Piaget and Vygotsky

Jean Piaget– Development depends on

• organization• adaptation

– assimilation– accommodation

– Stages• Sensorimotor

– spans from birth to 2 years of age– the focus is on concrete actions– development of object permanence– the beginning development of symbolic play

– Cont stages• Preoperational

– spans 2 to 7 years of age– the focus is on the missing abilities

» egocentrism» centration» irreversibility

• Concrete operational– spans 7 to 11 years of age– focus on decentration, reversibility, seriation

Cont stages– Formal operational

• spans 12 years and up• focuses on

– abstract thinking– systematic thinking– logical and reflective thinking

Evaluate Piaget

The theory of Leo Vygotsky

Social influence is more important than biological influences.

Cognitive development occurs through internalization, whereby individuals absorb knowledge from their social context.

Cont. theory of Vygotsky

Develop intelligence within a zone of proximal development (ZPD), the range of ability between a child’s developed, observable level of ability and the child’s full level, potentially hidden.

In summary, Piaget emphasized maturation(nature), while Vygotsky emphasized learning (nurture).

Physical Development

Pre-natal development– 3 stages

• germinal• embryonic• fetal

Teratogens

Cont. physical development

Newborn Development– The newborn prefers

• to look at human faces• listen to the human voice• the most fully developed sense is touch• motor reflexes: automatic behavior necessary

for survival• cephlocaudal (head to toe) See milestones in

chart, pg. 313.

Emotional development

Attachment – Not insananeous– Begins around 6 to 8 months– Peaks at 14 to 18 months– Tapers and is usually resolved around 30

months.

3 Theories of attachment– Reinforcement theory

• Harry and Margaret Harlow

– Biological • John Bowlby

– Social • Mary Ainsworth’s strange situation

– 3 types of personality» secure attachment» ambivalent attachment» avoidant attachment

Strength of attachment effects emotional development. Secure attachment results in obedient, persistent, curious, independent children.

Childhood

Socioemotional Development Erikson

– Trust vs. Mistrust • Birth to 1 year of age• Dependent for biological needs

– Autonomy vs Shame/doubt• 1 to 3 years of age• Toilet training and other regulating behavior.

– Initiative vs Guilt• 3 to 6 years of age• social function within the family

– Industry vs Inferiority• 6 to puberty• social function outside the family

– Identity vs role confusion• adolescence• try to figure out who they are

– Intimacy vs isolation• young adult• develop loving intimate relationships

– Generativity vs stagnation• middle adult• work and prepare for the next generation

– Integrity vs despair• late adulthood• reflection on life

Gender development

2-3 no gender constancy 4-5 gender identity Gender socialization

– learn gender norms of culture Gender schema

– knowledge, beliefs, expectations about gender roles.

Interpersonal relationships

Follows ability to consider another’s point of view.

Adolescence Development

Physical development– Puberty

Cognitive development– Inductive reasoning

• Observing specifics and making hypotheses

– Deductive reasoning• Taking general principles and applying to

specific instances.

– Personal fable• Destined to fame or fortune

– Invincibility fallacy• Not subject to the same risks as everyone else.

Socioemotional development– Identity crisis– Imaginary audience

• They feel they are the constant object of the thoughts, judgments, and observations of other people.

Moral Development by L. Kohlberg– Preconventional

• Acts are right/wrong because they are punished/rewarded

– Conventional• Rules are necessary for social order

– Postconventional• Personal code of ethics

For most, depend on situation and will regress when necessary.

Cont. Moral development– Carol Gilligan

• Justice vs compassion.

Adult Development

Cognitive development– Slower processes– IQ remains stable through adulthood with a slight

decline after 60 years of age and a more rapid decline a few years before death primarily due to health problems.

– Even though the thinking processes may slow, the decline is balanced by stabilization and even advancement of well-practiced mental functioning.

Important milestones– Social clock– Long-term relationships/marriage

• Validating marriage:– Compromise and calmly resolve conflict

• Conflict-avoiding marriage:– agree to disagree and avoid conflict

• Volatile marriages– frequent conflicts

What destroys a marriage– Attacking a partner’s character, rather than

behavior– Being defensive– Failing to respond to the needs of the

partner

Career/stages– Exploration: search for a career– Establishment: begins to be identified with

a particular career– Mid-career: established in career– Late-career: fully established and may

even be a mentor.

Mid-life crisis Retirement

Language Development

0-6 month: crying– Motherese

6-10 month: phonemes 10-13 month: morphomes 13-18 month: 3-50 words

– overextention 18-2y begin to put 2-3 words together -

– telegraphic

18m-6y: 8000-14000 words– overregularization