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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?