Exam 3.1-3.2

3 major forms of development through childhood and infancy

• physical

• cognitive

• social

maturation

biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience

• for example, seen in the brain as density of neural pathways increases as one ages

stepwise motor development

there is a decent amount of variation in age when a certain action occurs, but all are seen occurring in a stepwise fashion

infantile amnesia

the average age of earliest conscious memory is 3.5 y/o

memories are organized differently after

3-4 y/o

• since below the age of 3-4, we do not understand language, so once you are older and understand language, you organize your memories differently

the ______ of infants does not translate well into later langauge

pre-verbal memories

• since before they understand language, trying to organize those memories creates retrieval failures

do babies have memories?

yes, they just cannot recall them later since at the time of the original event, they did not understand language

Jean Piaget

studied childhood development

• idea that children know less, and know things differently than adults

• idea that a child’s mind develops through a series of stages

• children are active thinkers, constantly trying to construct more advanced understandings of the world

schemas

a cognitive framework that organizes and interprets incoming info

• what Piaget believes children develop as they learn more

assimilation

interpreting one’s new experience in terms of one’e existing schemas

accomodation

adopting one’s current schemas to incorporate new info

• ex: kid before thoughts cows were normal cows, but later learns that a female moose is also called a cow, so incorporates this new info into what they knew before

Piaget’s main idea

children experience spurts of change, followed by stability as they move from one cognitive developmental stage to the next

piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development

• sensorimotor

• preoperational

• concrete operational

• formal operational

Sensorimotor Stage

• from birth to ~ 2y/o

• infants know the world in terms of their sensory impressions and motor activities (looking, touching, mouthing, grasping)

• kids here lack object permanence (awareness that objects continue to exist when not perceived) (this is why kids like playing peeka boo since they don’t realize that thing is just the same thing every time)

object permanence

• awareness that objects continue to exist when not perceived

• begins to develop at 8 m/o

Preoperational Stage

• 2-6/7 y/o

• child learns to use language, but does not yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete logic

• ex: kids here lack the concept of conservation, that properties like mass, volume, and number, remain that same despite changes in forms of objects (changes in shape don’t mean changes in quantity)

• kids have egocentrism

• theory of mind develops ~ 4 y/o

egocentrism

the preopertional child’s difficulty taking another’s point of view

• ex: kids talking to you on the phone assume you can see the object they are looking at

• kids stand in front pf the TV not realizing they are blocking it for you

does egocentrism ever completely diminish in people?

no

theory of mind

ideas about one’s own and other’s feelings, perceptions, and thoughts and the ability to infer them (so reduces egocentrism)

• lacks in people with autism

• develops about the age of 4

Concrete Operational Stage

• 7-11 y/o

• children gain the mental operations that enable them to think logically about concrete events

• kids begin to learn conservation

• can understand that if 6+3=9, then 9-3=6

Formal Operational Stage

• 12 y/o to adulthood

• stage when people begin to think logically about abstract concepts (If ___, then ___)

overall, Piaget’s ideas pf progression were accurate

from birth, babies develop an intense bond with their

caregiver

attachment

an emotional tie with another person, shown in young children by their desire for closeness with their caregiver and showing distress upon separation

• children begin to prefer familiar faces and voices

stranger anxiety

when around 8 m/o, infants develop the ability to evaluate people as unfamiliar and possibly threatening

Harlow’s cloth and wire mother monkey study

• found that baby monkeys preferred the cloth mother who provided comfort and warmth over the wire mother who provided food

• the monkey only went to the wire mother for food

• - show how important body contact is for newborns for attachment (especially skin on skin)

familiarity

another key to attachment

critical period

an optimal period shortly after birth when an organism’s exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces proper development

imprinting

the process by which certain animals (excluding humans) form attachments during the critical period

• not seen in humans, but shows us the importance of familiarity in attachment

• seen in geese and ducks in a 1937 study by Lorenze

• in the study, if a human was the first person hatching ducklings saw, then they would follow around that person

neophobia

a fear of new things, seen in children and shows the concept of familiarity

_______ varies with attachment style

strange situation responses

attachment differences show

level of emotional security

secure attachment

• the child plays comfortably and explores in the mother’s presence, becomes upset for a sec when she leaves but is then ok, and is calmed by her return

• can count on their caregiver to be there when needed

insecure/avoidant attachment

• the child is indifferent to the mother’e leaving and returning, maintains proximity, but avoid close contact

• is emotionally indifferent whether the mother is there or not

• is hesitant to play and later in life, hesitant to date

• caregiver is inconsistently there, so cannot count on them to be there, so kid can become clingy

anxious/ambivalent attachment

• child is anxious even when the mother is near, explores the new environment, protests when mother leaves, but is not super comforted by her return either

• anxious no matter what

• wants to explore but is hesitant to do so, is constantly anxious

Overarching question of attachment differences

Can I count on my primary caregiver to be there when I need them?

self-concept

a sense of one’s identity and personal worth

Rouge Test

tests if kids can identify themselves in a mirror by noticing that their nose is covered in a red rouge

• if they realize that the kid in the mirror is them, they will wipe their nose

• at 15-18 m;o, they begin tp touch their noses

by age _____ self-image is quite stable

8-10 y/o

after self-recognition begins to occur at 15-18 m/o, _____ strengthens

sense of self

• by school-age, kids start to describe themselves in terms of gender, group memberships, psychological traits, and compare themselves to other children

3 types of attachment styles

• secure

• insecure/avoidant

• anxious/ambivalent

3 types of parenting styles

• authoritarian

• permissive

• authoritative

which parenting swtyle yields children with the most self-reliance, self-esteem, and social competence?

authoritative

authoritarian parenting

• parents impose rules and simply expect obedience, do not describe WHY they have certain rules

• say “because I said so”

permissive parenting

• parents submit to their child’s desires, make few demands, and use barely any punishment either

• they just go with the flow

authoritative parenting

• parents are both demanding and responsive

• exert control by setting rules but ALSO explaining why they have those rules

• have pen discussion with older children that allows for exceptions for rules

• ythe best form of parenting for self-reliant kids

adolescence

the period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty to independence

3 main aspects of development

• physical

• social

• cognitive

puberty

a period of sexual maturation, when a person becomes capable of reproducing

• occurs for girls ~11 y/o, for boys is ~13 y/o

• involves the development of primary and secondary sex characteristics

primary sex characteristics

reproductive organs and external genitalia

secondary sex characteristics

non-reproductive traits such as breats and hips in women, male facial hair and deeper voice

brain cells increase connections as the body physically develops during

puberty, then the brain cells begin selective pruning

• the brain cells begin to work faster since they have increased myelination

frontal lobe development during puberty

• continued growth of myelin allows for incr speed of neurons, so speed of thinking increases as kids mature

• kids gain improved judgement, since the frontal lobe is getting more developed

cognitive development

• reasoning power via logic developed

• early-on, is mostly focused on the self

• then eventually the kids enter Piaget’s formal operational stage at age 12 (where you become capable of if-then logic)

• you develop morality

Piaget’s formal operational stage

• where you become capable of if-then logic

• adolescents begin to advocate for social and political issues

morality

discerning right from wrong

• Kohlberg asked how moral reasoning develops by asking people what they would do and WHY in certain ethics-like dilemmas, created the Kohlberg’s Stage Theory

Kohlberg’s Stage Theory

• includes 3 steps, shows what people in different stages of life would do and WHY in certain ethical dilemmas

Kohlberg Stage Theory Stage 1

postconventional morality

• follows what one personally perceives as ethical principles

Kohlberg Stage Theory Stage 2

conventional morality

• you begin to think about others more and think about rules

• in early adolescence when you begin to care for others and uphold laws and rules simply because they are the laws

Kohlberg Stage Theory Stage 3

preconventional morality

• before the age of 9

• you obey to avoid punishment or to gain rewards

• would say that someone should or should not steal simply because that would make someone else happy or mad (an egocentric response)

Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial development 1963

• each stage of life has its own psychosocial crisis that requires resolution

• adolescence is marked by search for identity (one’s sense of self) by testing and integrating various roles

• people start to think about what group of people they are in, etc