Week 2: Understanding Normal

3 general domains/dimensions

physical, cognative, social and emotional

Physical Domain

changes in height/ weight, gross/ fine motor skills, sensory capabilities, the nervous system

Cognitive Domain

changes in intelligence, wisdom, perception, problem solving and language

social and emotional domain

changes in emotion, self perception, interpersonal relationships with family, friends, peers

The periods of development

Prenatal Development (conception through birth)
- Infancy and Toddlerhood (birth through 2
years)
- Early Childhood (3 to 5 years)
- Middle Childhood (6 to 11 years)
- Adolescence (12 years to adulthood)

Prenatal development

- conception to birth
- major structures of the body are forming
- health of mother and labour and delivery is primary concern

Infancy and toddlerhood

- birth through 2 years
- dramatic growth and change
- walking, talking toddler

Early Childhood

- 3-5 years
- preschool years
- learning language
- gaining self and independence

Middle childhood

- 6-11
- school age
- growth rates slow down
- fine motor skills are refined
- social relationships beyond family members

Adolescence

- 12 to adulthood
- overall physical growth-spurt
- sexual maturation
- sense of invincibility

nature vs nurture

Nature:
- hereditary role in the upbringing of a child (genetic)
Nurture:
- Environments role: social interactions

Continuity vs Discontinuity

- The stage theories or discontinuous development assume change often occurs in distinct stages. At each stage, children have different qualities and characteristics
- Continuous theorists belive development is gradual and skills become more advanced with time.

longitudinal research

pros:
starts with a group of people of the same age
- these groups can be followed over time and be compared with them when they were younger
- provides developmental analysis
cons
- expensive
- takes a long time
- participant attrition

cross-sectional research

pros:
- sample that represents are cross section of the population
- provides info on age related change
cons:
- cannot examine change over time
- cannot examine cohort efforts

sequential research

pros:
- combines aspects of the previous two techniques, beginning with a cross-sectional sample and measuring them through time
- good or studying: age, gender, social class
cons:
- expensive
- practice efforts

Biology and evolutionary theories

genetics and epigenetic interact with the environment to shape health/ wellbeing
- genes control specific characteristics
- polygenic (height) and recessive genes (red hair)

genotype and phenotype, patterns of inheritance

Developmental Plasticity:

- developing fetuses form characteristics well adapted to the environments they are likely to live in
eg. temperatures, stress environments

4 evolutionary theories:

Ethology:
- genetically determined survival behaviours that are assumed to have evolved through natural selection

Behaviour genetics:
- traits are influenced by genes - when related people are more similar than those who are unrelated

Evolutionary Psychology:
- the view that genetically inherited cognitive social traits have evolved through natural selection

Evolutionary developmental psychology:
- genetically inherited cognitive and social characteristics promote survival and adaptations at different times across
the lifespan (programmed with predispositions)

Evolutionary theories:
The good, the bad, the ugly

good:
- understanding biology improves precision medicene
bad:
- large emphasis on heredity
ugly:
- may underestimate impact on environment

Epigenetics

the study of changes stemming from the modification of gene expression rather than the alteration of the genetic code
- epigenetic markers regulate gene expression (turn genes off and on)
- by controlling gene expression

Sigmund Freud's Psychosexual Theory

- personality forms during the 1st few years of life
- parents/ caregivers have a big impact on children's emotional state
- proven wrong since research has proven children can overcome harsh backgrounds with no emotional scars

Freuds 3 parts to self:

id:
- inborn
- biological urges
- the thing that feels good to do
- eg. newborn crying when hungry
- PLEASURE PRINCIPLE - guided by need and selfishness

ego:
- develops through interaction with others
- guided by logic or reality
- mediates between id and superego using logic and reality to calm the other parts of the self
- defence mechanisms
- REALITY PRINCIPLE

superego:
- concerned by what is socially acceptable
- guided by guilt, values, morals, conscience
- MORALITY PRINCIPLE

Freuds stages

oral stage:
- infant is id
- simulation and comfort is focused on mouth and sucking
- too much or too little may lead to fixation

Anal stage:
- potty training
- learning to control biological urges
- ego develops

Phallic stage:
- marks the development of the superego and a sense of masculinity or femininity

Latency:
- child's urges quiet down and friendships become the focus. ego and superego become refined

Genital stage:
- begins with puberty and continues through adulthood. preoccupation is sex and reproduction
- preoccupation is of sex and reproduction

Psycho-analytic Feminism

- dominated by Freud
- Chodorow emphasized the difference in mother-daughter vs. mother-son relationship
- mother son relationships= independent sons
- mother daughter relationships = feminine daughters

Erik Erikson's Psychosocial Theory

- student of freud but emphasized the importance of the ego, or conscious urges/ thought
- considered father of developmental psychology because his model gives us a guideline for the entire lifespan and suggests primary social and psychological concerns throughout life
- emphasizes continued development during adulthood

Erikson's 8 stages (crises) of the lifespan

trust vs mistrust (0-1):
- infant has basic needs met in a consistent way in order to trust the world
.
Autonomy vs. shame and doubt (1-2):
- mobile toddlers exercise and learn independence
.
Initiative vs. guilt (3-5):
- preschoolers doing things "all by myself"
.
Industry vs. inferiority (6-11):
- school children focus on accomplishments and make comparisons between themselves and classmates
.
Identity vs role confusion (adolescence)
- teens gain a sense of identity as they experiment
.
Intimacy vs. Isolation (young adulthood):
- long term relationships in our 20s and 30s

Generativity vs. stagnation (middle adulthood):
- 40s and 60s focus on productivity and focus on contribution to society

Integrity vs. despair (late adulthood):
- look back on lives and have sense of integrity

Learning Theories

- focus on how experience in the environment shape the child
- human behaviour is seen as being shaped by processes such as classical and operant conditioning

Humanistic alternative

image: Maslow's Hierarchy of needs
- most important internal drive is to achieve one's full potential- self actualization is the ultimate goal in human life

Carl Rogers, Inherent optimism

- focused on capacity of each person to become a 'fully functioning person' without guilt or seriously distorting defences
- not linear, more freedom than Freud and Eriksons theories
- however hard to test and measure

Behaviorism

- rejected any reference to mind and viewed overt and observable behaviour as the proper subject matter
- Pavlov, Watson, Skinner, Bandura

Ivan Pavlov

- studied digestion and salivation in his lab dogs
- he figured out dogs learned to associate the sound of a bell with food and would salivate
- This learned response, he called= conditioned response
- classical conditioning

John B. Watson

- fears and emotional responses are classically conditioned
- expert on parenting advice
- Little Albert experiments
- Introduced him to 'scary' objects to see his response
- introduced little alberts favourite white rat with the sound of a loud noise
- little Albert began to fear the rat because he feared the loud noise

B.F. Skinner and Operant Conditioning

- reinforcement is more effective than punishment
positive reinforcement
- cookie for cleaning your room
negative reinforcement
- electric fence shocking animals when they go near it

MUST UNDERSTAND!! difference between Pavlov's classical conditioning and Skinners operant conditioning

Classical:
- stimulus - involuntary response
- dog salivation
- think Jim giving Dwight mints at the sound of his computer
Operant
- punishment behaviour
- positive reinforcement
- negative reinforcement
- rat in a box

Albert Bandura,
Social learning theory

- learning doesn't always require reinforcement
- emphasis on attention, memory and motivation
- learn through observation, imitation and modelling

Reciprocal Determinism

Bandura's central social learning theory
- model composed of three factors that influence behaviour:
- the individual (including how they think and feel),
- their environment
- behaviour itself.

Cognitive theories

- emphasize mental aspects of development
- logic and memory

Piaget, theory of cognitive development

understanding is motivated by what we see and what we know. Knowledge is created in categories
- cognitive theory based on scheme, assimilation, accommodation and equilibrium

Scheme:
- internal cognitive procedure eg. brushing teeth
- the way children interpret the world

Assimilation:
- process of applying schemes to experiences
- interpret schemes through assimilation

Accommodation:
- changing the scheme as a result of new information

Equilibration:
- balance of assimilation and accommodation
- learning what works and what doesn't

example:
- scheme: child looks in the sky and sees a bird
- assimilation: child sees plane (sees it has wings, pointed front and flies = must be a bird)
- Accommodation: Adult tells child that its actually a plane (doesn't have eyes and has wheels) - child can now see the difference between bird and plane
- equilibration: refining and transforming schemes as a whole

Piagets 4 stages of cognitive development

Sensorimotor (0-2):
- Sensory curiosity about the world
- language for demands

Pre Operational (2-7):
- symbolic thinking
- proper grammar
- strong imagination

Concrete operational (7-11):
- time, space, quantity understood but not
applied

Formal Operational (11+):
- theoretical and hypothetical thinking
- abstract logic and reasoning
- concepts can be applied in context

Vygotsky

Concentrated on child's interaction with peers and adults - child is apprentice
- socio-cultural theory asserts complex forms of thinking have their origins in social interactions
- scaffolding (guidance)
eg. helping a child learn to walk
- Zone of proximal development

Piaget vs Vygotsky

Vygotsky:
- child's immediate social and cultural interactions with peers and adults
Piaget:
- child actively discovering the world through individual actions with it

Systems Theory

- personal and external factors form a dynamic integrate theory
HOLSIM - whole is primary and often greater than the sum of its parts
WELLNESS
- a result of adaptive adjustment

Brofenbrenner

- Studied Freud, Erikson and Piaget
- foundation of scientific approaches to early childhood initiatives
- focused on relationships between environment and people
-eg. if a child is struggling to learn math, we have to look at all possible aspects of their learning, teacher, child's friends, classroom

Brofenbrenners ecological model

The microsystem:
- immediate surroundings
- parents, school friends, family
The Mesosystem:
- relationships among the microsystem
- teachers + parents, friends and teachers
Exosystem:
- social institutions indirectly affecting child
- parents work, family network, community
resources
Macrosystem:
- broader cultural values, laws, governmental resources
Chronosystem:
- changes in a child's life
- birth of sibling, death of family member, war

Complexity Theory

- grew from systems theory
- emphasized interactions and accompanying feedback loops
- systems are unpredictable and constrained by order-generating rules
- moves away for any oversimplification of childhood development

Detailed Information Processing model

Summary of each theory:

Bio/Evolutionary:
- genetics are selected for in terms of survival and adaptation
Psychoanalytical:
- internal drives and emotions impact behaviour
Learning:
- Experiences in the environment shape the child
cognitive:
- emphasize mental aspects of development (logic and memory)

Kent Thornburg TEDx video Key points

- Americas health has been declining over the past 35 years
- obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure increasing (basis of heart disease)
- David Barker showed chronic disease curve:
--born at 5 pound end of the birth weight scale, you
have a 5x higher risk of dying of heart disease
-- same with babies born at the 9 pound area
- how you grow before you are born MATTERS
- babies born small have more issues: less heart cells, fewer kidney filtering units, fewer insulin cells in pancreas
- babies born big have too much nutrition - too much glucose deposited into fat
- the egg that made in me was made in tanya's ovary in grannies womb
- the egg that made me was nourished by granny
- the nutrition a woman gives her baby comes from her diet AND the body she made when she was a child
- Epigenetics
- in 2015, 1 in 8 people are diabetic
- in 2050, 1 in 3 people will be diabetic