Child DevelopmentChild DevelopmentChild DevelopmentChild Development

Chapter 9Chapter 9

Developmental Psychology

• Lifespan psychology• The study of human psychological

development from conception to death

• Stages- infancy, childhood, adolescence, early, middle and late adulthood

Lifespan psychologists• May specialize in a particular age • Or- special area of interest;

physical, cognitive, language development, or emotional or moral development

Controversial Issues• Nature-nurture debate• Stage theories • Personal traits and how they

change over the lifespan

Methods used to study age-related changes

• Longitudinal study• Cross-sectional study

Prenatal Development• Conception – 3 months• 3 – 6 months• 6 – 9 months• Trimesters, 3 periods of three

months’ duration

Conception• Sperm cell- ovum (egg) = single-celled

zygote• Zygote= 46 chromosomes, 23 from

mother’s ovum and 23 from father’s sperm

• Chromosomes carry genes-biochemical instructions as to an individual’s characteristics

Twins• Monozygotic, identical- one egg,

one sperm• Dizygotic, fraternal- two eggs, two

sperm

Stages of Prenatal Development

• Germinal• Embryonic• Fetal

Germinal Stage• Conception – two weeks• Stage of rapid cell division

Embryonic Stage

• Begins with zygote attaching itself to the lining of the uterus, and formation of first bone cells: weeks 3-8

• Now called an embryo• 1/7 of an ounce, 1” long, appears like a

human being with limbs, eyes, many internal organs functioning; all major body systems forming

Fetal Stage• 9 weeks, beginning of bone cells,

until birth• Fetus• Rapid growth, development of

body structures, organs, systems

Fetal Behavior• Ultrasound- able to observe fetal

behavior directly (sucking thumb)• Newborns remember prenatal

stimuli such as mother’s heartbeat, the odor of amniotic fluid, music they heard in the womb

Negative Influences on Prenatal Development

• Maternal illness- diabetes= retardation or acceleration of fetal growth

• Virus- rubella, chicken pox, HIV = physical, behavioral abnormalities, such as heart problems

Teratogens• Viruses, X-rays, environmental

toxins that have negative impacts on prenatal development

• Impact of teratogen depends on intensity and time when it is introduced in embryonic stage

Critical Periods• During embryonic stage, time periods

when certain body structures develop• Ex. Fetal alcohol syndrome;

maternal alcohol intake early in prenatal development resulting in facial irregularities, mental retardation

Low-birth weight• One of the most serious effects of

teratogens• < 5.5 pounds• Preterm infants: born early, before 38

weeks of gestation- lungs not fully formed

• Small-for-date infants; birth weights lower than expected for gestational period- more likely to die or have permanent disabilities

Birth Complications• Collapse of umbilical cord• Premature separation of the

placenta• Oxygen deprivation

Infancy• Neonate: newborn – 1 month of age• Behaviors dominated by reflexes:

inborn, unlearned, automatic responses to certain stimuli

• Ensure survival and include sucking, swallowing, coughing, blinking

• Rooting reflex, Babinski response, stepping reflex, crying when hungry

Maturation• Motor milestones (crawling, walking,

standing) result from maturation• Genetically determined, biological

pattern of development• Sequential: physical and motor

development proceeds head downward to trunk- center of body outward

• Experience may accelerate motor development

Sensory and Perceptual Development

• Vision• Depth perception• Hearing and other senses

Vision• Infant’s vision 20/600- not 20/20

until age 2• 9” from infant’s face best focus,

can follow moving object• Can distinguish colors by 2 months• Prefer red, blue, green, yellow

(primary colors)

Depth Perception• Visual cliff: apparatus used to

measure infants’ ability to perceive depth

• By 6 weeks old, can distinguish depth and may show fear of deep side

Hearing and Other Senses

• Newborn’s hearing better developed than vision

• Prefer Mother’s voice to strange voice• Turn head in direction of noise• Can discriminate certain odors and tastes• Sensitive to pain• Responsive to touch, responding

positively to stroking and fondling

Learning• Habituation: phenomenon that

shows newborns can and do learn• New stimulus presented, they

quiet, heart rate slows, and they fixate on the stimulus (voice)

• Once accustomed, they stop responding- they “habituate” to it

Temperament• The way that individual infants

responds to the environment• Each infant has an individual style

or characteristic way of responding

Thomas, Chess, Birch- Temperament Types

• Studies 2-3 month old infants into adolescence and adulthood

• Identified three types of temperaments

• Easy, difficult, and slow-to-warm up

Easy Children• 40% of the group• Pleasant moods, adaptable,

approached new situations and people positively

• Established regular eating, sleeping, elimination patterns

Difficult Children• 10% of the group• Unpleasant moods, reacted

negatively to new people and situations, intense in emotional reactions, irregular in bodily functions

Slow-to-warm-up Children

• 15% of the group• Withdrawn, slow to adapt, prone

to negative emotional states

• Other 35% too inconsistent to categorize

Implications• Temperament can predict behavioral

problems that will occur later in childhood or adolescence

• Impulsive children become aggressive, danger-seeking adolescents and over controlled children more prone to social withdrawal

Attachment• Earliest relationships exist between

primary caregivers and ourselves• Manifest by crying or protesting

when infant finds himself in threatening situation, and he attempts to reconnect with caregiver separated from caregiver

Purpose of Attachment• When attachment lacking, infants

often suffer from depression, anxiety, and general poor psychological well-being

• Ex. Effect MR foster mothers on orphaned infants

Harlow• 1959; monkey attachment experiment• Baby monkeys and two dummy versions of

mother monkey- wire, mesh with food for babies, soft, cloth covering with no food

• Babies preferred contact with soft cloth despite no food

• Deprived baby rhesus monkeys of social contact with other monkeys- 6 months; when released exhibited depressed, withdrawn, self-harming behavior

Humans and Attachment

• Parental affection and responsiveness necessary for development of attachment in humans

• Responding to infant’s needs- gazing, stroking, talking to, relieving stress of crying by carrying, picking up, human voice- promotes attachment

continued• Attachment strong by 6-8 months• Separation anxiety: fear and distress

when parent leaves them (8-24 months, peaks at 12-18 months)

• Stranger anxiety: 6-7 months until 12 ½ months; greater in unfamiliar setting, parent not close by, strange setting

Attachment Patterns in Infancy

• Secure: 65%; typical distress at separation, happiness at return, feels safety with Mom present

• Avoidant: 20%;no distress when Mother leaves, or indifferent when returns

• Resistant: 10%; cling, angry when Mom returns, difficult to comfort

• Disorganized/Disoriented: %; indifference, anger, expressionless face

What does the research say about

attachment?• Depression in mother related to insecure

attachment in infant• Foster care; <1 yr. develop secure

attachment, >1 yr. insecure• Securely attached infants likely to be

emotionally secure children and adolescents• Impacts quality of adult love relationships• Securely attached parents more responsive to

infants

Father – Child Relationships

• Fathers are important role models for fathering skills that will be exhibited by their sons later in life

Father Absence• Associated with undesirable developmental

outcomes• Poorer school performance• Lower GPA• Lower attendance at school• Higher drop-out rate• Reduced self-confidence in problem solving• Low self-esteem• Depression

continued• Suicidal thoughts• Behavioral problems with delinquency

and aggression• For girls: predictor of earlier sexual

behavior and teenage pregnancy• Conclusion: children need both

influences- 38% American children live apart for their fathers

Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development• Jean Piaget, Swiss developmental

psychologist (1896-1980)Work focused on the attempt to

understand development of cognitive functioning in the child

Child passes through stages, cognitive periods, each with characteristic modes of thought

Piaget Defined: Organization

the primary way in which human knowledge develops, a mental process

• Through experiences humans make generalizations and inferences about new experiences

Schemes• Roadmap, template- basic ways of

thinking about the world• Mental modes of thinking, to represent,

organize, integrate experience children take information given to them and actively construct an understanding, mental representation of the world

Piaget’s Developmental Theory

• See handout• Sensorimotor Stage• Preoperational Stage• Concrete operational Stage• Formal operational Stage

Vygotsky’s sociocultural View

• Russian psychologist who believed that a child’s social environment is important to their individual development

• Believed that spontaneous language behaviors exhibited by children are important to their cognitive development

• Private speech, self-guided talk helps children direct their actions and solve problems

Scaffolding• Parents provide minimal help to

children that enables them to achieve their tasks that they wouldn’t be able to do on their own

Language Development

• Sequence;– Cooing– Babbling– Phonemes– Overextension– Underextension– Telegraphic speech– Overregularization

Learning to Read• Phonological awareness

Parent’s Role in Socialization Process

• Socialization• Authoritarian parents• Authoritative parents• Permissive parents• Neglecting parents

• What impact do peers have on a child’s socialization?

• How does television influence a child’s development?

• How does Bronfenbrenner explain the influence of culture on children’s development?

• What are the differences between macrosystems, exosystems, and microsystems? How are these systems interrelated?