Development: Infancy and Childhood

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Objectives• List reasons psychologists study development.

• Describe how psychologist study development.

• Compare how heredity and the environment contribute to the development process.

• Describe and compare the development as a process of stages versus continuity.

• Explain physical growth; its importance from conception through childhood.

• Describe reflexes analyze their benefits.

• Define motor development

• Analyze and synthesis motor development's importance

• List and describe the process through which infants learn (perceptual development)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0yGZnJqMXY&feature=relatedLook on this page (right for videos)

Before the Bell:

You need notes.

I. Developmental Psychology

A. The Study of Development

*The study of how people grow and change throughout the life span

*Interest in early childhood experiences affect people as adolescents and adults

*Helps understand developmental problems, what causes them, and how to treat them.

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http://abcnews.go.com/Health/40-year-child-benjamin-button-children-grow-age/story?id=12724960

http://littlelindsay.com/new-hope-for-a-cure-in-the-battle-against-progeria/

I. Developmental Psychology

A. The Study of Development

1. Two methods to study change:

a. longitudinal method –

1.select a group of participants and then observe that same group for a period of time…years or even

decades

2. Advantage observe, compare, contrast over times as they mature

3. Drawbacks – some withdraw, studying may affect or alter

behaviors

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• Stanford University psychology researcher Michael Mischel demonstrated how important self-discipline (the ability to delay immediate gratifiction in exchange for long term goal achievement) is to lifelong success? In a longitudinal study which began in the 1960s, he offered hungry 4-year-olds a marshmallow, but told them that if they could wait for the experimenter to return after running an errand, they could have two marshmallows.

Those who could wait the fifteen or twenty minutes for the experimenter to return would be demonstrating the ability to delay gratification and control impulse. About one-third of of the children grabbed the single marshmallow right away while some waited a little longer, and about one-third were able to wait 15 or 20 minutes for the researcher to return.

Years later when the children graduated from high school, the differences between the two groups were dramatic: the resisters were more positive, self-motivating, persistent in the face of difficulties, and able to delay gratification in pursuit of their goals. They had the habits of successful people which resulted in more successful marriages, higher incomes, greater career satisfaction, better health, and more fulfilling lives than most of the population.

This is Dayton. He is a 3 1/2 yr old with Prader willi syndrome (In short most cases cannot control their urges for food) He is a funny, sassy little boy who pushes things to the limits! He went farther than we all thought he could!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amsqeYOk--w

b. Cross-sectional method

1. select a sample that includes people of different ages.

2. compare the participants in the different age groups

3. advantages: less time consuming, less expensive

4. drawbacks: grown up with different educational methods, medical treatments, cultural influence.

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B. Heredity and Environment

1. Debate between which is more influential.

2.Heredity

a. how do your genes effect your development? Use kinship studies.b. maturation – automatic and

sequential process of development that results from genetic signals. (sequences that happen automatically, roll over, sit up, crawl, etc.)

c. normal time range

d. Critical period – is a stage or a point in development during which a person is

best suited to learn a particular skill or behavior pattern. i.e. Language Genie

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQsV8U_nFCo&feature=fvwrel

• http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=4804490&page=1

http://www.countyhistorian.com/cecilweb/index.php/Genie_Wiley

EQ: Is there a critical time period for learning?

Before the Bell:

Get out your notes for Genie. You’re going to use details from the video to become a Genie team member.

EQ: Is there a critical time period for learning?

Before the Bell:

Get out your notes for Genie.

Type1: Predict an outcome for Genie. Give me three reasons why you think it will happen.

Type 1

• Compare/Contrast Nativist (biology v. Nurturist (environment theories. What is similar and what is different about each of them. You may use notes, your book or other tools. You must have a minimum of three comparisons and three contrasts.

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e. Language development

1. cries

2. 2-3 months coos (vowels)

3. 6 months – babble (consonants)

4. 1 year overextend words – using words to include objects that do not fit the word’s meanings “doggie” any furry animal.

5. 2 years – telegraphic – 2-3 word sentences linking words

6. over generalize – extend the rules for past tense and plural to irregular form.

“My foots hurt.’

7. LAD (language acquisition device)

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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/42849334#42803886

e. tabula rasa – blank slate – infant’s mind

2. Heredity

a. Watson and other behaviorist present environmental explanations. Factors such as nutrition, family background, culture, learning experiences in the home, community and school.

3. Today – agree both play a role.

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C. Stages Versus Continuity

* Debate – do we change in steps or is it just continuous?

1. A stage – like one step in a stair case, a period or a level of development process…have to walk in the order to get there

a. Maturational theorist such as Gesell believe that most development occurs

in stages

b. Jean Piaget – one of most famous – he studied how children think – different

children reach different stages at different times

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEam9lpa6TQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ue8y-JVhjS0&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLj0IZFLKvg&feature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gA04ew6Oi9M&feature=related

IV. Cognitive Development

Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development

* best known researcher in childhood development

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jw33CBsEmR4&feature=related

Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development

Stage Age Characteristics

Sensorimotor Stage 0-2 •Learning to coordinate sensation and perception with motor activity•Development of object permanence

Preoperational Stage 2-7 •One-dimensional thinking•Displays of egocentrism, artificialism, and animism

Concrete-Operational Stage

7-12 •Signs of adult thinking about specific objects but not abstract ideas•Reduced egocentrism

Formal-Operational Stage

12+ •Capable of abstract thinking•Able to deal with hypothetical situations, strategize, and plan ahead to solve problems

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Examples of Preoperational Thinking

Kind of Thinking

Sample Questions Typical Answers

Egocentric 1.What does the sun shine?2. Why is grass green?3.What are TV sets for?

1. To keep me warm.2. Because that’s my favorite

color.3. To watch my favorite

cartoons.

Artificialism 1. Why do stars twinkle?2. Why do trees have

leaves?3. Where do boats go at

night?

1. Because they’re happy2. To keep them warm3. They go to sleep, like m

Animistic 1. Why is the sky blue?2. Where do mountains

come from?3. What is the wind?

1. Somebody painted it2. A giant built them3. A person blowing

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Good Afternoon

• You are going to need a phone/Kindle

• Make sure only one person from your table gets them and it needs to be from the pile from your number on your table.

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Groups

• You are to spend 20 minutes researching becoming “experts” on your level”

• Then the next 20 minutes you are to create a skit, poem, song, or rap that allow us to learn everything about your level.

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c. Erick Erickson – focused on the role of social relationships – believed people

pass through eight stages in healthy development of their personalities

d. J.H. Flavell – argues that cognitive development is a gradual process – it

is continuous

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGFKAfixHJs

• Tell me where you are in Erikson’s stages and explain why.

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II. Physical Development

A. Physical Growth

1. Changes in reflexes, height, weight

2. Babies grow in an amazing rate

a. embryo (8 weeks is 1 ½ inch long)

b. 12 weeks – fetus doubles in length, open close it's mouth and swallow

c. 24 weeks – skin , hair, nails, opens eyes, sleep and wakefulness respiratory system (can usually survive at this point)

d. during nine months – microscopic cell to about 20 inches and weights a billion or more xs what it weighted at conception

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Fetus 21 weekshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=

RS1ti23SUSw

B. Reflexes

1. a voluntary action or response (like swallowing, grasping)

2. inborn, not learned

3. Moro- startle reflex- withdraw from painful stimuli arch back draw up legs

C. Motor Development

1. Gross motor- major muscle groups (arms, legs, trunk)

2. Fine motor – coordination of hands, face, and other smaller muscles

3. vary from infant to infant and culture to culture – Uganda – walking before10 months

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7XVcYkOdZ0&feature=related

II. Physical Development

A. Physical Growth

3. Infancy – period from birth to age 2 – dramatic gains in height and weight

a. double weight in five and triple in one year

b. 10 inches first year

4. Childhood – 2 years – adolescence

a. gain average of 2-3 inches and 4-6 lbs a year

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D. Perceptual Development

1. Infants prefer new and interesting stimuli.

2. 2 months old prefer human face to any other picture

3. Perceptual preferences are influenced by their age

a. 5-10 week old – patterns that are complex

b. 15-20 weeks – patterns begin to matter like face like patterns

4. Visual Cliff – special structure, a portion of which as one surface that looks like a checkerboard the other a sheet of glass with a checkerboard pattern- at 9 months become afraid

26http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6cqNhHrMJA

5. Hearing – much better at birth – respond to high pitched sounds

6. Odors- newborns immediately distinguish strong orders. They'll spit, stick our their tongues prefer sweet tasting, refuse salty or bitter

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III. Social Development

A. Attachment

*emotional ties that form between people

*bring people together

*essential for infants to survive

1. Development of Attachment

a. Mary Ainsworth – studied babies: found that infants preferred being held to being alone, but develop specific attachments

b. by 6-7 months very strong

c. 8 months strange anxiety and separation anxiety

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTsewNrHUHU

2. Contact Comfort

a. Harry Harlow – observed that infant monkeys without mothers or companions become attached to

pieces of clothing

b. instinctual need to touch and be

touched by something soft

3. Imprinting – process by which some

animals for an immediate attachment –

Konrad Lorenz

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlfOecrr6kI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqZmW7uIPW4

4. Secure vs. Insecure Attachmenta. Secure attachment - bonded to caregivers – welcome them back and are

happy, mature into secure children

b. insecure – when caregivers are unresponsive or unreliable infants are insecurely attached. Don’t mind when caregivers leave them, no effort to

seek contact with them. May cry when

picked up

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5. Autism

a. developmental disorder that prevents children form forming proper attachments with others.

b. wide rand of social, cognitive, behavioral and physical problems.

c. Difficulty processing sensory information – damages ability to relate to their environment

d. wide variety of symptoms – severe to subtle

e. detected by observation watching a child behaves and how he or she

communicates and interacts with others.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbeyIG7Fz8s&feature=fvw What Child Wishes

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=2406085n&tag=related;photovideo Brain Main

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVqRT_kCOLI draw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeGaffIJvHM What it means to be Austisc

Good AfternoonAt your table….you have 5 minutes to come up with

two skits. If the oldest person at your table has the last name starting with A-L you do A and C. If they oldest person at your table’s last name starts M-Z do B and D

a. strict – imposed many rules and supervise their children closely

b. permissive – children need freedom to express themselves

c. Authoritative – combine warmth with age appropriate rules and responsibilities – more independent and achievement

orientated than the other children

d. Authoritarian – obedience for it’s own sake -strict guidelines to follow without questions,

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B. Styles of Parenting

1. Warm or Cold

a. warm – hugs, smile, show happiness, enjoy being with people

b. cold – may not be as affectionate do not appear to enjoy them

c. children do better when parents are warm – more likely to have a conscience (moral

goodness)

d. children of cold parents tend to focus on escaping punishment.

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B. Styles of Parenting

2. Strict or Permissive

a. strict – imposed many rules and supervise their children closely

b. permissive – children need freedom to express themselves

c. Authoritative – combine warmth with age appropriate rules and responsibilities –

more independent and achievement orientated than the other children

d. Authoritarian – obedience for it’s own sake -strict guidelines to follow without

questions,

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C. Child Abuse and Neglect

1. Physical – assault:

a. striking, kicking, shaking, choking

b. (13 states exposure to drugs or alcohol is abuse)

2. Sexual – victimization or exploitation of a child by an older child, an adolescent or adult

a. more that 80% the child knows the perpetrator

3. Neglect – failure to give adequate food, shelter, clothing, emotional support or schooling

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiFnR73kUUE&feature=fvst

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHQ8EYaz5OY&feature=related

http://www.wxyz.com/dpp/news/region/wayne_county/4-year-old-found-dead%3B-police-say-there-were-signs-of-horrific-abuse

5/8/11

Type 1

• Describe your parents. Which of the four types of parenting do the exhibit. Explain. Minimum of 4 sentences.

(Strict, Authoritative, Authoritarian, Permissive)

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C. Child Abuse and Neglect

4. Why?

-stress (unemployment, poverty)

-history of physical or sexual abuse in at least one parent's family of origin

-acceptance of violence as a way of coping with stress

-lack of attachment to the child

-substance abuse

-rigid attitudes about child rearing

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOlB-m57_lw

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=5290464n

D. Child Care

1. Effects depend on the day care center

a. many caregivers, many learning resources individual attention – children did as well

as those who stayed home with their mother

b. some psychologists worry that distancing from mother could mean child is

insecurely attached.

c. some believe children adapt

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http://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/seccyd.cfm

Type 1

• Does self esteem matter? Why or why not? Minimum four sentences.

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E. Self-Esteem

1. the value or worth that people attach to themselves begins early

2. Influences

a. secure attachment

b. authoritative parenting

c. Carl Rogers

1. unconditional positive regard – means parents love and accept

their children for who they are no matter how they behave.

2. conditional positive regard – show love only when children behave in

certain acceptable ways

d. sense of competence

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjTpEL8acfo

E. Self-Esteem

3. Gender and Self-Esteem

* age 5-7 being to value themselves on basis of their physical appearance and performance

4. Age

a. children gain competence as they grow older but they tend to lose self esteem

b. generally hits a low point 12 or 13

c. gets better after high school

d. young children assume people like them, the older they get they start to compare

themselves

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Good Morning• Type 1 - Do you believe in the idea of

moral development? What factors do you think go into shaping a persons moral beliefs? Give examples from your own life or others. Minimum of 8 lines.

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IV. Cognitive Development

B. Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development

1. He was not interested in if the children thought the man was right or wrong.

2. He wanted to know the reasons why children thought he should or should not steal the drugs –classified stages of

moral development

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTzBrjxKHLg

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http://faculty.plts.edu/gpence/html/kohlberg.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYrfV-F3x_8

http://www.haverford.edu/psych/ddavis/p109g/kohlberg.dilemmas.htm

l

Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development

Level Stage Moral Reasoning Goal What is Right??

Preconventional 1

2

Avoid punishment

Satisfying needs

Doing what is necessary to avoid punishment

Doing what is necessary to satisfy one’s needs

Conventional 3

4

Winning approval

Law and order

Seeking and maintaining the approval of others using

Moral judgments based on maintaining social order ;High regard for authority

Postconventional 5

6

Social Order

Universal Ethics

Obedience to accepted laws; Judgments based on personal valuesMorality of individual conscience, not necessarily in agreement with others

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IV. Cognitive Development

B. Bias in Kohlberg’s Theory

1. boys scored higher than girls – does this mean they are more moral?

2. no, it may mean scoring system were biased to favor males.

3. Carol Gilligan – difference between boys and girls are created because of what adults tech children.

a. girls – often taught to consider needs of others over simple right and wrong

b. boys are taught to argue logically rather than with empathy

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Before the Bell:

Get out a piece of paper. If you have had Mr. Schmidt over the past years write him a note and tell him something you will miss about him….be nice! =)

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