Module 46: Infancy and Childhood: Physical Development
Harry and Margaret Harlow's research between 1957-1963 with rhesus monkeys challenged their theories about attachment being fostered by providing nourishment and proved the importance of body touch in development
- When frightened, monkeys retreated to the terry mothers for reassurance and encouragement
- Findings highlighted the importance of contact comfort
- Challenged prevailing parenting advice to avoid holding children to prevent spoiling them
Attachment - the powerful bond developed with our caregivers
- High quality day care does not seem to have any negative effects
- Poor quality care is detrimental to development
- Children receiving the highest amount of daycare show slight advantages in thinking and language skills as well as elevated aggressiveness and defiance
Imprinting - attachment formed by certain animals like geese and other birds. It is formed with the first thing is sees
- Indicated that there was a Critical Period or optimal period to stimulate development
- In research studies in the 30s, Lorenz separated hatching geese from their mothers, allowing them to imprint on him
- This attachment process is different from that in humans and other animals
Separation from caregivers is emotionally distressing for children
- Young children recover quickly when placed in nurturing environments
- Children who are older than 2 at the time of an adoption struggle with attachment
- Foster care is disruptive to a child emotional growth and well being
- We see similar emotional distress when attachment is broken through death or divorce
Deprivation of Attachment
Mary Ainsworth - The strange situation test
- Parents who are attentive and sensitive to their children's needs have children who are securely attached
- Parents who are inattentive and respond to their children at their convenience, ignoring the child's needs, have children who are insecurely attached
- Experiments placed children in a strange situation and observed differences in their responses
- Securely attached children were relaxed and confident as they explored the new environment
- Insecurely attached children were clingy, unadventurous and distressed at their mother's departure
Lack of attachment and nurture during infancy and childhood has profound and lasting effects
- Harlow's continued studies showed that isolated monkeys were never able to interact appropriately with other monkeys
- Human children of neglect are withdrawn and insecure
- Abused children are more likely to suffer anxiety, depression, and substance abuse problems
- Those who are abused are more frequently abusers themselves
- Deprivation can lead to poor neurological growth
Secure attachment provides a safe "base" from which to explore our world
BUT... Is it nature or nurture?
- Are differences in attachment really a result of parenting styles or are they the result of biologically based differences in temperament (easy, difficult, or slow-to-warm-up babies)?
Self -Concept
Key Terms:
- Stranger anxiety
- Attachment
- Critical period
- Imprinting
- Temperament
- Basic trust
- Self-concept
Module 47: Cognitive Development
Module 45: Developmental Issues, Prenatal Development, and the Newborn
Three Major Issues in Developmental Psych
Jean Piaget - Swiss Psychologist
- Worked with children for more than 50 years
- Noticed children made characteristic errors on IQ tests at various ages
- Believed that the way children think is fundamentally different than the way adults think
- We make sense of their world by organizing information into concepts called schemas - frameworks for organizing information
- Assimilation - interpreting information using existing schemas
- Accommodation - modifying existing schemas to incorporate new information
- Nature and nurture
- Continuity and stages
- Stability and change
Key Terms
- Developmental psychology
- Zygote
- Embryo
- Fetus
- Teratogen
- Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS)
- Habituation
- Cognition
- Schema
- Assimilation
- Accommodation
- Sensorimotor stage
- Object permanence
- Preoperational stage
- Concrete operational stage
- Formal operational stage
- Conservation
- Egocentrism
- Theory of mind
- Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
Physical Development
Piaget's Theory
- Reflexes - inborn, involuntary response. Help to ensure survival
- Rooting
- Sucking
- Grasping
- Startle (Moro)
- Newborns show a strong preference for human faces
- Babies see best at a distance of 8-12 inches
- Has preferences for its mother's smell and voice
- Babies show preference for novel stimuli, but habituation means that their attention fades with familiarity
Preoperational Stage
Age: 2-7
Maturation - biological growth processes that enable the emergence of personality and behavioral characteristics. Largely independent of experience
- Babies explore the world through their senses
- Understands the world through symbols (language) and mental images
- Cannot perform mental operations such as reasoning
- Pretend play and imagination
- Egocentrism
- Irreversibility
- Centrism
- Language development
- lacks conservation abilities
- Theory of mind - begins to develop
- Object Permanence - understanding that objects still exist even when they are out of view
- occurs by 8 months (according to Piaget)
- more recent research suggests it develops gradually starting much earlier
- Stranger anxiety develops during this time
- The cognitive ability to understand ourselves and others in terms of mental processes like thoughts, perceptions, beliefs, desires and feelings
- We understand that others have have mental processes that are separate and unique from our own
- We start to be able to see things from another's perspective
- People with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are said to have an impaired theory of mind (they have difficulty inferring other people's thoughts and feelings)
Sensorimotor Stage
Age: Birth-2yrs
Brain Development:
- Brain is fully formed at birth but neural development continues
- Learning and experience cause neural networks to develop
- Pruning removes unnecessary pathways allowing others to strengthen
- Ages 3-6 most rapid growth occurs in frontal lobes
Concrete Operational Stage
Age 7-11
Formal Operational Stage
Age: 12-adult
- Capable of abstract reasoning
- Abstract reasoning
- Logical, systematic thinking
- Mature moral reasoning
- We can think logically about concrete events
- Can perform arithmetical operations
- Conservation
- Hierarchical Classification
- Mathematical transformations
- if A+B=C then C-B=A
Maturation and Infant Memory
Social Development Theory
Lev Vygotsky
- Stressed social component of cognitive development
- Adults provide temporary scaffolds to enable a child's development
- Unlike Piaget, believed that cognitive development varied from culture to culture
- Zone of proximal development -
- Believed language was important to cognitive development
We have few if any reliable memories prior to the age of about 3.5
- we don't have the neurological maturity earlier
- language and self-identity have matured
& Teratogenic susceptibility
Module 48: Social Development
Our sense of identity and self worth
- Forms gradually with our understanding of self starting around 15-18 months
Parent and Peer Influence
- Teens form close bonds with a few good friends and additional, casual friends
- We tend to select friends that are similar to ourselves in age, background, and values
- Teens are heavily influenced by their peers in regards to dress, music, and attitudes
- We are the most susceptible to peer pressure around the age of 15
- Most teens who have good relationships with their parents have conflict that generally revolve around mundane topics
- Teens who feel close to their parents tend to be happier and more successful in school
- Teens who begin to individuate from parents and peers have more influence in many areas but parents influence religious beliefs, political leanings, and career
Unit 51:
Parenting Styles
According to Erikson, the task of adolescence is to solidify our sense of self
- We develop our sense of self by testing and integrating various roles
- As we have an increasingly developed sense of self we also report more positive self concept
- Failure to do this leads to role confusion
- As we move into young adulthood, we develop an increased capacity for intimacy
- Identity Crisis - A turning point when adolescents make decisions about their lives
Key Terms:
Key Terms
- Identity
- Social Identity
- Intimacy
- Emerging Adulthood
Transition from childhood to adulthood
Module 53:
Sexual Development
Key Terms
- X Chromosome
- Y Chromosome
- Testosterone
- Puberty
- Primary Sex Characteristic
- Secondary Sex Characteristic
- Menarche
- AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome)
- Sexual Orientation
Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development
Puberty
Prenatal Sexual Development
Teen Pregnancy
Puberty
STI's
- STI rates increasing
- Young women especially vulnerable due to lower rates of protective antibodies
- STI rates amongst sexually active 14-19 year old females are around 39%
- Condoms only offer limited protection (80% for HIV with an infected partner)
- Around age 11 for girls 13 for boys
- Starts with development of primary and secondary sex characteristics and ends with sexual maturation
- This development varies from county to country due to
- increased body fat
- increased hormone mimicking chemicals
- increased stress due to family disruption
- Compared to European teens, Americans have higher rates of STIs and pregnancy
- minimal communication about birth control with parents
- guilt related to sexual values
- alcohol use (leads to reduction in condom use)
- mass media norms of unprotected promiscuity
- Some predictive factors of sexual restraint
- higher intelligence
- religious engagement
- presence of a father
- participation in service learning programs
- X from mother; X or Y from father determines sex
- Sexual differentiation takes place at 7 weeks. Y chromosome triggers development of male sex organs and hormones
- At 4-5 months, sex hormones bathe the child's brain and influence his or her development
- Atypical hormone exposure or sensitivity may cause atypical fetal development designated as intersex
- There can also be chromosomal abnormalities that lead to a variety of intersex conditions
- Continued individuation from parents
- Growing independence
- In industrialized nations, the time between the end of puberty has lengthened and young adults are taking longer to assume adult roles
Biology and Sexual Orientation
Environment and Sexual Orientation
- 3% men, 1-2% women identify as exclusively homosexual
- Depression rates and suicide attempts are higher amongst homosexual people due to bullying, harassment, and discrimination
- Role of environment:
- no connection to relationship with parents
- not caused by hatred or fear of the opposite sex
- not caused by levels of sex hormones in blood
- most were not abused as children
- most children raised by homosexual parents are straight
- no known links to environment
Module 52: Social Development and Emerging Adulthood
The period of sexual maturation leading to the ability to reproduce
- Begins at age 11 for girls and 13 for boys
- Primary sex characteristics - development of reproductively necessary organs
- Secondary sex characteristics - development of nonreproductive traits
- Menarche - a woman's first menstrual period
Occurs mostly in individualistic cultures
Emerging Adulthood
Module 49: Gender Development
Other Theories of Moral Development
Module 50 - Parents, Peers and Early Experiences
Nurture of Gender
Cognitive Development
- Gender typing - the acquisition of traditional male and female roles
- Ideas about gender roles are shaped by culture with widely varying degrees of equality - they are largely learned
- Social learning theory - We learn through observation and imitation. This behavior is reinforced or punished
- Some people feel that their gender identity differs from their birth sex. They are described as transgender (this is distinct from sexual orientation)
- No key terms
- Read on your own
- Focus on interplay of nature/nurture
- Look at the roles that various people in your life play
- Gender
- Aggression
- Gender role
- Role
- Gender identity
- Social learning theory
- Gender typing
- Transgender
- Neural networks are still forming
- Pruning occurs at the end of puberty
- Limbic system and frontal lobes are still developing explaining emotionality and impulsiveness
- Ability for abstract thought continues to develop (Piaget's formal operations)
Haidt - Moral Foundations Theory - A social intuitionist account of moral reasoning
- Moral feelings precede moral reasoning
- 6 foundations:
- Care, Fairness, Liberty, Loyalty, Authority, and Sanctity
- Moral paradoxes
- Kill 1 to save 5
- Push 1 to his death to save 5
- Though the situations are morally the same, we react differently
Similarities and Differences
- Vocabulary
- Intelligence
- Happiness
- Genetics (mostly)
- Self-esteem (almost)
- Higher suicide rates
- Alcohol dependence
- Higher rates of autism
- Color blindness
- ADHD
- Higher rates of antisocial personality disorder
- 9:1 murder arrests
- Men more likely to use physical aggression
- Higher paid
- More assertive in communication
- Larger friend groups, with more competition and less intimate discussion
- Higher interest in computers and technology
- Hold 80% of world government positions
- Girls enter puberty 2 years earlier
- Life span 5 years longer
- 70% more fat/ 40% less muscle
- 5 inches shorter
- Better sense of smell
- Two times more likely to suffer depression
- Ten times more likely to develop an eating disorder
- Slightly more likely to commit acts of relational aggression (gossip)
- More concered with making social connection
- Girls play in smaller groups, less competitive, role play real-life situation
- Social connections - tend and befriend
- Five times more likely to be primary caregivers
Key Terms
Module 54: Adulthood
- Menopause
- Cross-sectional Study - People of different ages are compared with one another
- Longitudinal Study - The same people are researched and retested over time
- Social Clock - The culturally-preferred timing of social events such as marriage, parenthood, and retirement
- Physical decline occurs, but it is gradual
- Healthy lifestyle and exercise minimizes this decline
- Skin loses elasticity leading to sagging and wrinkles
- Hormones fluctuate leading to menopause in women and lower testosterone in men
- Attitudes about these midlife changes have more impact on well-being then the changes themselves
- Many women say they actually feel reinvigorated after menopause
- We all experience loss and grieving
- Grief is particularly painful when it is unexpected
- Death of a child is often the most challenging loss to overcome
- People react to death in many different ways
- Specific types of grieving rituals or grief counseling do not correlated with a lessening of grief or a shortening of the grieving process
- We experience gradual mental decline as we age
- Cognitive processing speeds decline.
- We experience some atrophy with memory being moderately impacted
- we have good memory for life events
- recall is diminished but recognition is largely intact
- we also retain our skill based knowledge
- Cross-sectional studies indicated that mental decline was a normal part of aging but longitudinal studies found intelligence stable
- So you lose speed, maintain intelligence, and gain wisdom
- Crystallized intelligence - accumulated knowledge and verbal skills increases with age
- Fluid intelligence - speedy reasoning and abstract thinking decreases slowly to 75 and more rapidly thereafter
- Tasks - marriage, running a home, starting career, starting a family, creating a network of friends and coworkers
- We are our strongest and most cognitively powerful in our 20s and 30s
- Our 30s is often a time of reassessment with major life changes like marriage and new careers
- Marriage and child-rearing are occurring later in both men and women
- Life expectancy in the US is 78.8 (highest is Monaco at 89.5) with actual values being higher for women
- Muscular strength continues to decline
- Senses also decline
- lessening of visual acuity
- less sensitivity to light
- decrease in hearing and smell
- Body is more frail and you are more susceptible to illness. Get sick less frequently due to increased antibodies from prior illness
- We form close bonds with our spouses, especially if they share our beliefs, values and interests.
- marriages are strongest when there are more positive than negative interactions
- Twin studies showing that siblings are not attracted to one another's spouses suggest that chance encounters influence our levels of attraction
- Our love for our children is even more profound
- Marriage ages are on the rise: 27 for women and 29 for men
- marrying later reduces risk of divorce
- New research suggests 1 in 5 may never marry
- Divorce rates hover around 50%
- Cohabiting increases the risk of divorce
- Middle age is a time of transition
- Jobs and families are established
- Children may be leaving home
- Midlife crisis or transition - was thought to be a time of strife and upheaval when people struggled with loss of youth and impending old age
- research shows it is largely a myth, life satisfaction is similar across all ages
Middle Adulthood (40-65)
Young Adulthood (20-40)
Late Adulthood (65-???)
Unit 9: Developmental Psychology