Unit 4

• sections:• 1- Infancy and Childhood

• 2- Adolescence• 3- Adulthood and Aging

• EQ: What are the cognitive, physical, emotional, and social changes that take place during the

human life span?

Developmental Psychology

• The study of how people grow and change through life

• Nature v. Nurture– Maturation

• baby signing

– Critical periods

– Tabula rasa

Physical Development• Automatic

– Babinski Reflex• Neurological disorders

– Rooting

• Sensory – motor development– Infancy – approx. 3

• Eye movement / focus

• Grasping

• Lifting head

• Sitting / crawling / standing

– Next stage – fine motor skills• Hand-eye coordination

Social Development• Children are very

ego-centric– Develop self-concept

through the caregiver

• Attachment– Stranger anxiety– Separation anxiety

• Contact Comfort– Harlow’s Monkeys– Isolation– attachment

• Imprinting– Critical period

• Ex: Fly Away Home

Secure vs Insecure Attachment• Secure:

– Parents are affectionate and reliable– Children bonded to caregivers

• Insecure– Parents are unresponsive and unreliable– Little reaction to parent’s presence or absence– Children cry often to convey anger; act out

Parenting Styles• Authoritarian

– Parent has total control – results in severe dependence or resistance to authority, low self-esteem, depression

• Authoritative– Shared decision making, 60% - 40%, - results in a

well adjusted child

• Permissive– Child has control; abandonment issues, risky

behavior, low self-esteem, depression

Child Care, Abuse & Neglect• Statistics• Facts• Health risks increase

– Asthma

– Anxiety

– Coronary disease

– Cancer

• Societal / relationship / addiction problems

• ‘Discipline’ controversy• Is childhood obesity the new face

of neglect?

Self-concept• The value or worth that people attach to themselves

– Unconditional positive regard v conditional• still face experiment

• Parental mental health impact– During pregnancy– Observational

• Bullying– Low esteem – more likely to bully or be bullied

Cognitive Development

• Noticed a pattern in development

• Termed “assimilation” and “accommodation”

• every child goes through a “sequence” of development, constantly changing their perceptions

Jean Piaget

Piaget’s stage theory• Sensorimotor - birth-2, world is learned

through senses– exploration– no object permanence

• Preoperational - 2-7, world becomes symbolic, but one dimensional – ego-centric– language acquisition– no conservation

Piaget’s Stage theory

• Concrete Operational, 7-11, first signs of adult thinking– two dimensional– conservation understood– Can think logically, but only with practical aids

• Stop-by-step, guidance

• Formal Operations, 11 & up, many do not fully attain– Logic / abstract reasoning

Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development

• Pre-conventional - through the age of nine– Motivated by pleasure / pain

• 1. obedience and punishment driven• 2. self-interest driven (what’s in it for me?)

• Conventional - ends around 16– Acceptance of rules and standards of one’s group

• 3. win approval - interpersonal conformity• 4. authority and social order obedience driven

• Post-conventional– Ethical Principals

• 5. Social contract & Prior rights (mutual respect)• 6. Universal ethics - equality and worth of all human beings

Adolescence

Physical changes• growth spurts;

growing pains

• sexual development– primary and

secondary changes– Early v. late

maturation and self-esteem

Social Development• Peer relationships

– parents & independence– peers &affiliation

• peer pressure– positive or negative influences

• role of parenting?

– Popularity?

• dating /romantic relationships– what role? What limits?

Identity formation

• Termed by Erik Erikson– life is a series of “tests” and the main

“test” for teens is to establish identity• achieved through choosing and

developing commitments– if not successful, no real sense of

self…confusion– should result in identity crisis -

examine values

Analogy of the Jacket

by Basia

• Parents DNA weaves the fabric

• Early years cut the cloth

• Elementary school shape the jacket

• Middle school – experiment

• High school – tailor to fit

• Future - - constantly hem, and patch, and fix - - - but comfortable.

Marcia & Identity status

• Identity moratorium – delay decision making, but still considering options

• Identity foreclosure– ID commitment based on the opinions of others

• Identity diffusion– no clear idea of self; no attempt or unwilling

• Overwhelmed - - so will not think about it.• Identity achievement

– after exploring options, identification self arrived

Challenges of Adolescence

• Working - can aid in ID development– However:

• non-transferable skills

• results in negative work attitude

• spending patterns self centered

• effect on grades

• Dating – identifying likes / dislikes in future partner– However:

• Too much, too soon?

• Lose identity?

Challenges continued

• Eating disorders– Anorexia Nervosa

• over 90% female, why?

• avoid adult responsibility or assert control?

– Bulimia

• Substance abuse….

Now back to theory……

• We started with childhood development, and now finished adolescent development.

• Next we move to adulthood and aging.

• BUT, before we do, let’s revisit Erik Erikson.– His 8 stage theory blends all three sections.

Erik Erikson -Psychosocial Development

1. Trust v. mistrust - world perception

2. Autonomy v. shame and doubt -desire to make choices

3. Initiative v. guilt - becoming “active”

4. Industry v inferiority - productivity & worth

5. Identity v role confusion - career objectives

6. Intimacy v. Isolation - commitment

7. Generativity v Stagnation - needing to be needed

8. Integrity v Despair - was life well lived?

ADULTHOOD AND AGING

Young Adulthood20-40

•Reassessment•settling down*managing home/bills/career

•Marriage/ intimate relationships*Gardener vs. fantasy*Children?*how you view money

•divorce•children of divorce

Middle Adulthood40-65

• Generativity - self value

• transition - re-evaluate

– middlescence - “crisis”

• Empty nest syndrome

• menopause

Late adulthood• Physical changes

– Programmed theory vs.

Cellular Damage

• Cognitive changes– Senile Dementia

– Alzheimer's

• Social changes– retirement and grand-parenting

– living arrangements

– Successful aging?

Death and Dying• 5 Stages

– Denial– Anger– Bargaining– Depression– Acceptance

• Giraffe

• Dying with Dignity– Hospice? Euthenasia?

Living will? Funeral plans• Bereavement