Chapter 10

Development

Psychology

McGonigle

Developmental Psychology

• Field in which psychologists study how people grow and change throughout their lifespan ( Ch. 1)

• Conception

• Infancy

• Childhood

• Adolescence

• Adulthood

Piaget- Theory of Cognitive Development

• Piaget – Studied at Binet Institute in Paris

• He worked on the famous IQ Test, later paired with Stanford. ( Memory games – Miss Mary Mac)

• Wrong answers to tests fit a pattern from child to child.

• This set up his various stages of development.

Maturation

• Automatic and sequential process of development that results from genetic signals

• Sit up

• Crawl

• Walk

• These are natural sequences – not rushed

Critical Period

• Period or stage when a person is best suited to learn a particular skill or a behavior pattern.

• Young children learn language much more easily than older children & adults.

Nature vs. Nurture

• Very important in terms of development

• Some aspects of human behavior originate in the genes.

• Certain behaviors are biologically programmed. ( patience/stubbornness)

Development – Stages vs. Continuity

• Does development have distinct levels like climbing a ladder or is it more walking up a hill with less distinction?

• Gesell- Most developments occur in stages which lead us into a new stage.

• Piaget- Major stage theorist- he studied cognitive development.

JH Flavell’s Theory

• Cognitive development is a gradual process.

• It happens continuously like walking up a slope slowly and gradually

• Child’s weight and height from 2-11 change continuously and gradually w/out always noticing it.

Physical Development

• Reflexes- Involuntary response or reaction like swallowing.

• Some reflexes continue, some like sucking one’s thumbs eventually disappear.

• Changes in reflexes are examples of physical development for children.

Height and Weight

• Most dramatic changes occur before an infant’s birth.

• During nine months of pregnancy, the embryo develops from a microscopic cell to a baby about twenty inches in length.

Infancy - Development

• Period of birth to the age of two years.

• Dramatic gains continue in height and weight.

• Infants double their birth weight in five months and triple it by one year.

Childhood Development

• Period from two years to adolescence.

• Following 2nd birthday- children gain on average two or three inches each year, and four to six pounds each year. (until adolescence)

John Locke

• Stated that a newborn child was a blank slate with his/her life experiences yet to be drawn on them, in light of the nature v. nurture argument in our class, do you agree or disagree with this statement and why do you agree or disagree?

• Genetics vs. Life experience!

Motor Development

• The development of purposeful movement is known as motor development.

• Motor development usually proceeds in stages.

• Roll-sit up- crawl-stand- walk

Point at which these behaviors occur differ from baby to baby.

Reflexes

• Babies are taught to grasp a Doctor or Nurses hand shortly after birth.

• Grasping is a reflex, they are inborn, not learned and occur automatically without thinking.

• Some reflexes are essential to our survival such as breathing.

Rooting/ Moro Reflex

• In the rooting reflex babies turn toward stimuli that touch their cheek or the corner of their mouths.

• This begins the sucking/swallowing reflexes that are essential to their survival.

• Moro reflex- pull up legs or arch their backs in response to a sudden sound or bump that they hear.

Perceptual Development

• Infants tend to prefer new & interesting stimuli. They are preprogrammed to survey their environment & learn more about it.

• 5-10 weeks- look longest at complex patterns• 15-20 weeks- they prefer patterns that look like a

human face. ( because of interaction)• This is a good example of nature vs. nurture.

Depth Perception- Visual Cliff

• Cliff- gives perception of a drop off after a checkerboard pattern.

• Very young babies are not afraid of the visual cliff when they are placed facedown on the edge.

• By 9 months, they refuse to crawl onto the glass that represents the cliff. ( crawling/nurture teaches that cliffs are dangerous.)

• Is it ethical to use infants in experiments that may cause them to be afraid or fear something greatly?

Hearing/Smelling

• Most newborns stop what they are doing to turn to unusual sounds.

• Seem soothed by someone singing softly or speaking in a low pitched voice.

• Newborns- immediately distinguish strong odors. They spit, stick out their tongues, and wrinkle their noses at pungent odors.

Maturational Readiness

• Think of a time in your life when a task such as tying your shoes was difficult to do at the age of 3 or 4. Then think of how easily you were able to accomplish this task at 6 years old. Explain how this came to be and what does it tell us about early childhood development or maturational readiness. ( 1 Paragraph)

Social Development

• Involves ways in which children learn to relate to other people.

• Infants can be comforted by being held & they soon respond to their mother’s voices.

• After a few months, they venture out to explore the world & make contact with strangers.

Development of Attachment

• Mary Ainsworth – infants prefer being held or being with someone, over being alone.

• By 4 months, infants develop specific attachments to their main caregivers- usually their mothers.

• This grows stronger by 6 to 7 months..

Attachment

• Feelings of attachment are the emotional ties that form between people.

• For infants, feelings of attachment are essential to their survival.

• This is because, infants are basically helpless without our help.

Stranger Anxiety

• Also known as “Stranger Danger”

• Occurs at 8-10 months- infants cry + reach for parents if they are near strangers. *

• Their anxiety is somewhat less if parent is holding them.

• The closer the “stranger’s” proximity, the greater the perceived danger.

Separation Anxiety

• “Where did Mommy go?” (film)

• Infants cry or indicate distress if their mothers leave them.

• Why does an infant become so attached to their primary caregiver?

Contact Comfort

• Harlow’s Study: Monkeys had a basic need to touch and be touched by something soft, such as skin or fur. ( Linus/your “blankie”)

• Babies may cling to their mothers more for contact comfort than just because they are hungry.

• What are your thoughts/opinions/beliefs???

Imprinting

• Ducks, geese, and other animals become attached to the first moving object that they see.

• Imprinting- Process by which some animals form immediate attachments during a critical period.

• Lorenz- present during the hatching of baby geese, they soon followed him wherever he went.

Secure Attachment

• When mothers or caregivers are affectionate and reliable, infants become securely attached.

• Infants are closely bonded to their caregivers, they cry if she leaves.

• When caregiver returns- infant welcomes her + is happy again.

Insecure Attachment

• When caregivers are unreliable or unresponsive, infants are insecurely attached.

• They do not seem to mind when a caregiver leaves them.

• When caregiver returns, they make little or no effort to seek contact w/ them or cry.

Styles of Parenting : Warm/Cold

• Warm: Show a great deal of affection to their children. Hug + Kiss and show children they are happy to have their company..

• Cold: Not as affectionate to children + not as happy to share their company.

Children of Warm Parents

• More likely to be well adjusted and develop a conscience- a sense of moral goodness or a sense of responsibility.

• Children of cold parents: more interested in escaping punishment than in doing the right thing for its own sake.

Strict/Permissive Parenting

• Strict Parenting: Impose many rules & supervise their children closely. Child will run wild if not taught discipline.

• Permissive parenting: impose fewer rules & watch their children less closely. Children need freedom to express themselves.

Permissiveness-Weakness

• Often parents are less concerned w/ their children & have little time to monitor their activities.

• W/out clear guidelines, these children become confused with what behaviors are acceptable vs. unacceptable.

Strict is not Mean Parenting!

• Parents can be strict & still love their children.

• Consistent & firm enforcement of rules can foster achievement & self control, especially when combined with warmth & support.

• Physical punishment can lead to disobedience and poor grades in school.

Authoritative Parenting

• Meaning with authority

• Parents combine warmth w/ positive kinds of strictness. ( high expectations)

• Children of these parents are more often independent & achievement oriented. (They also feel better about themselves)

Authoritarian Parenting

• These parents believe in obedience for its own sake.

• Children – follow strict guidelines without question.

• Often these parents are rejecting and cold.• Children of authoritarian generally become

too resistant to other people or too dependent on them.

Child Abuse and Neglect

• Physical Child Abuse: refers to a physical assault of a child.

• Neglect: Failure to give a child adequate food, shelter, clothing, emotional support, or schooling.

Why do parents abuse their children?

• Stress, particularly of poverty & unemployment.

• A history of child abuse in at least one parent’s family/

• Acceptance of violence as a way of coping w/stress/

• Lack of attachment to the child.

• Substance abuse.

Self Esteem

• Value that people attach to themselves.

• Helps to protect us from the struggles and stresses of life.

• Gives us the confidence to know that we can overcome our difficulties.

Rogers – Unconditional positive regard

• Parents love & accept children for who they are no matter how they behave.

• These children usually develop high self esteem.

• Even if they do something wrong, they will be seen as worthwhile people.

Conditional Positive Regard

• Parents show their love only when the children behave in acceptable ways.

• They feel worthwhile only when they are doing what their parents want them to do.

• This can lead to excessive need for approval, which can lead to low self esteem.

Gender & Self Esteem

• In grade school- girls display greater competence in reading and general academic skills.

• Boys- excel in math and physical skills.

• It is “suggested” that girls will do better at tasks that are feminine and boys will do better at tasks that are masculine.

• People generally live up to expectations set up for them.

Age and Self Esteem

• Children gain in competence as they grow older. They learn more skills & become better at them.

• Self esteem still declines during the elementary school years- reaches a low point at 12-13 and increases again during adolescence.

• How can one explain this pattern?

Assimilation & Accomodation

• Assimilation – process by which new information is placed into categories that already exist. ( pen/pencil)

• Accommodation – A change must be brought in because of new information.

• ( A crayon or a marker is different from any pen or pencil)

• What is an accommodation on a test or evaluation?

Sensorimotor Stage

• 1st stage of cognitive development – learning to coordinate sensation and perception with motor activity.

• There is a relationship between their physical movements & the results they sense & perceive.

• Infants at 3-4 months are fascinated by their hands and legs. ( open & close their fists)

• Do not yet know the idea of object permanence.

Object Permanence

• 10 month old child- understands that objects exist even when they can not be seen or touched.

• “Peek a boo” – is more than just a game for parents to play with 10 months- it teaches object permanence.

• Infant – can hold an object in mind, they can mentally picture an object such as a stuffed animal.

Preoperational Stage

• Begins at two years of age for most children.

• Preoperational is one dimensional thinking, they can only see one aspect of a situation at a time.

• Do not understand the law of conservation- weight, volume, #, stay the same even if shape is changed.

Egocentrism

• The inability to see another person’s point of view.

• Others see the world just as they do, they can’t imagine that things happen to others that don’t happen to them.

• The world exists to meet their needs. • (consequence of one dimensional thinking)

Concrete Operational Stage

• Most children enter this stage at the age of seven!

• Begin to think like adults concerning objects, not necessarily abstract ideas.

• Good for hands on learning, can be termed as two dimensional learners. (understand law of conservation)

Formal Operational Stage

• These children can think abstractly.

• Ideas can be compared & classified just as objects can be. ( freedom, democracy, etc)

• In math, they understand angles, quantity x, triangles and squares.