Lifespan & Development

Development:

a branch of psychology that looks at patterns of growth and change occurring throughout life

Fact about development

• Challenges Previous belfies of development occurring in infancy and and adolescent (viewed as the only interesting periods of growth and change)

• Examines the interaction between unfolding of biologically predetermined patterns of behaviour and the changing, dynamic environment

• Examines how our genetics influence our behaviour throughout our lives

Heredity:

influences based on the genetic makeup of an individual which influences growth and development

Environment:

influences of parents, sibling, friends, schooling, nutrition, and all other experiences which the child is exposed to

Twin studies and nature/nurture

• Twins are important information relating heredity and environmen (If identical twins (share 100% same genetic makeup) display different patterns of development, this is because of variations in environment) Most useful data comes from identical twins who were separated from birth

results of twin studies in development

Both genes and environment have an influence on development

Cross sectional research

compares people of different ages at the same point in time (snapshot)

It provides information about different in development between different age groups

Longitudinal

traces the behaviour of the same groups of participants over a period of time as they age

Longitudinal cons

• Difficult

• Time constraints

• Expensive

• Participants drop out of the study

  • Despite this, this is the most Ideal form of study

Sequential research:

combine scores-sectional and longitudinal approaches by taking a number of different age groups and examining them several points at time

Zygote

the new cell formed by the union of an egg and sperm at the time of conception.

The germinal period

first 2 weeks after conception where the zygote increases to 100–150 cells within a week after fertilization.

Embryo:

developed zygote with heart, brain, other organs.

• Develops through an intricate, preprogrammed process of cell division during the embryonic period (week 2 through week 8).

• Week 4: rudimetnry beating heart, brain, intestinal tract, etc

Fetus (the fetal period)

is a developing individual from 8 weeks after conception until birth 

• Age of viability:

• point at which a fetus can survive if born prematurely (about prenatal age of 22 weeks). 

Issue with age of viability

• Severely early, needs a lot of support after birth, possibility of birth defects

• If born at this age, it can open and close its eyes; suck; cry; look up, down, and around; and even grasp objects placed in its hands.

• Preterm infants

• are those who are born before week 38.

  • 
    

issue with preterm infants

• Because they have not been able to develop fully, they are at higher risk for illness, future problems, and even death.

Critical periods

There is sensitive periods where specific events/stimuli have their greatest effect

Teratogens

Things that alter or harm the fetus:

1. Drugs

2. Alcohol

3. Radiation

4. Illness

Reflexes

Unlearned, involuntary responses that occur automatically through the presence of stimuli

5 reflexes in infants

Rooting

Gag reflex

Sucking reflex

Startle

Rooting

causes newborn (neonates) to turn their heads towards whatever touches their cheek

Gag reflex

clearing of throat

startle reflex

series of movement where an infant  flings its arms out, fans out its fingers, and arches it back in response to a sudden noise

sucking

prompts infant to suck things that touches it’s lips

Attachment:

emotional bonds with another evidenced by seeking closeness to the caregiver and displaying distress on separation.

Imprinting and attachment: Ethologist Konrad Lorenz 

• Focused on newborn goslings, who instinctively follow their mother, the first moving object to which they are exposed.

• Found goslings whose eggs were raised in an incubator and who viewed him immediately after hatching would follow his every movement, as if he were their mother.

• He labeled this process imprinting: behaviour that takes place during a critical period and involves attachment to the first moving object that is observed.

Harlow's Monkeys: Importance of contact

• Studied infant rhesus monkeys (our close genetic relatives) which he separated from their mothers only hours after birth.

• Placed them in a cage with two fake mothers: 

  • one wire mom, and one terrycloth mom.

• Would feed from wire mom, preferred contact with cloth mom

• When frightened, they sought out the contact comfort of a cloth mom.

Bowlby on Attachment

• Infants must be biologically programmed to emit behaviours that trigger affectionate responses from caregivers (e.g., crying, clinging).

• Adults/caregivers must be biologically programmed to respond to such behaviours with care and nurturance.

• The greater the responsiveness of the caregiver to the child's signals, the more likely the child will become securely attached. 

• The infant plays just as active a role as the caregiver forming bonds.

• Reciprocity builds attachment = Infants who respond positively to a caregiver produce more positive behaviour from caregiver, which in turn produces an even stronger degree of attachment in the child.

Ainsworth’s The Strange situation

Used separation anxiety as a proxy or measure of attachment. Sequence of events involving a child and their mother, where the child's reactions to the experimental situation vary drastically, depending on their attachment to the mother:

4 levels of strange situation attachment

Securely, avoidant, Ambivalent, Disorganized-disoriented

Securely attached

explore independently but returning to their mother occasionally, exhibit distress when she leaves, and go to her when she returns.

Avoidant:

• do not cry when the mother leaves, avoid her when she returns, as if they were indifferent to her.

Ambivalent:

display anxiety before separation and are upset when the mother leaves, but they may show ambivalent reactions to her return.

Disorganized-disoriented:

• show inconsistent, contradictory behaviour.

Erikson developmental changes

8 stages of psychosocial development, of which 4 occur during childhood.

Psychosocial development

changes in our interactions and understanding of one another as well as in our knowledge and understanding of ourselves as members of society.

Erikson suggests that passage through each of the stages necessitates the resolution of a crisis or conflict. Each crisis is never resolved entirely, but it has to be resolved sufficiently to equip us to deal with demands made in the next stage.

Testing

1. Trust versus mistrust: (Birth to 1.5 years)

Infants develop feelings of trust or lack of trust, based on interaction w/primary caregivers. Sense of trust to the world. 

2. Autonomy versus shame and doubt: (1.5 to 3 years)

Toddlers stage: develop independence and autonomy if exploration and freedom are encouraged, or shame and self-doubt if they are restricted and overprotected.

• Parents are trying to make children potty-trained 

• Social behaviours like not making inappropriate actions

• Independence or restriction 

3. Initiative versus guilt : (3 to 6 years)

Children experience conflict between independence of action and the sometimes-negative results of that action.

• Freedom of actions, allowing to learn

• Let them learn about actions and the consequences

4. Industry versus inferiority: (6 to 12 years)

Children may develop positive social interactions with others or may feel socially inadequate.

• Friendships and relationships, helping children develop feeling socially adequate like having relationships

Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development

• Children aren’t mini adults, very different cognitive processees 

  • nor are they passive recipients of experience

    • Development involves transitional periods (stages) that children must pass through on their way to more adult-like thinking.

    • Children are motivated to match their experiences with their beliefs about the world (schemas)

Assimilation:

incorporating new experiences into current understanding

Sensorimotor Stage (Birth to 2 years)

Children’s understanding of the world is based primarily on touching, sucking, chewing, shaking, manipulating objects.

Children have relatively very little competence in representing the environment by using images, language, or symbols.

Infants lack object permanence: the awareness that objects and people continue to exist even if they are out of sight.

Object permanence is critical development during this stage.

Preoperational Stage (2 to 7 years)

The most important development at this stage is use of language.

Children develop internal representational systems that allow them to describe people, events, and and feelings.

Use egocentric thought, a way of thinking in which the child views the world entirely from his or her own perspective.

They think that everyone shares their own perspective and knowledge (theory of mind)

They are unable to understand the principle of conservation: that quantity is unrelated to the arrangement/physical appearance of objects.

Concrete Operational Stage (7 to 12 years)

The beginning of this stage is marked by mastery of the principle of conservation.

Some aspects of conservation (such as conservation of weight and volume) are not fully understood for several years.

Children develop the ability to think in a more logical manner, begin to overcome some of the egocentrism

Assimilation

incorporating new experiences into current understanding.

Vygotsky’s Cognitive Development View

Zone of proximal development: what a children do on their own, what they can do, find a sweet spot and work on it. Cognitive development occurs as a result of social interactions in which children work with others to solve problems.

Through ZPD

Through such interactions, children’s cognitive skills increase, and they gain the ability to function intellectually on their own.

ZPD

• The level at which a child can almost, but not fully, comprehend or perform a task on his or her own. 

  • For instance, parents doing homework for their child

    • It may seem nice, however, they are not going to learn

    • Finding the sweet spot, what do they already know, what do they not, and implement both together to learn

      • Achieved through use of scaffolding of learning

Emerging adulthood:

• The period beginning in the late teenage years and extending into the mid-20s). Different as life now is different

• During this period, people are no longer adolescents, but they haven’t fully taken on the responsibilities of adulthood either.

• Instead, they’re still engaged in determining who they are and what their life and career paths should be.

  • Housing more expensive

  • Education more important

  • Job market is competitive 

Changes in intelligence and memory in older adulthood

1. Intelligence in older adults remain stable, but some decline

2. Memory decline occurs during late adulthood

   1. Epsoideic memory loss, semantic and implicit memories retained loss 

Disengagement Theory:

 aging can produce a gradual withdrawal from the world on physical, psychological, and social levels.

• Provides opportunity for increased reflection and decreased emotional investment in people beyond their immediate circle.

Activity Theory

people who age most successfully are those who maintain their interests, activities, and level of social interaction.