psych ch. 11

development

sequence of age-related changes that occur as a person progresses from conception to death.

4 periods of life span

1) the prenatal period, between conception and birth

2) childhood

3) adolescence

4) adulthood.

prenatal period

extends from conception to birth, usually encompassing nine months of pregnancy (devlopment is rapid)

3 phases of prenatal period

1) the germinal stage (the first 2 weeks)

2) the embryonic stage (2 weeks to 2 months)

3) the fetal stage (2 months to birth)

germinal stage

1st phase of prenatal development, encompassing the first two weeks after conception

* ZYGOTE created
* implantation
* RAPID CELL DIVISION
* placenta created

what happnes during implantation process

placenta begins to form

placenta

structure that allows oxygen and nutrients to pass into the fetus from the mother’s bloodstream, and bodily wastes to pass out to the mother

embryonic stage

2nd stage of prenatal development, lasting from 2 weeks until the end of the 2nd month

* VITAL ORGANS AND BODILY SYSTEMS begin to form!!!
* Structures such as the heart, spine, and brain emerge gradually as cell division becomes more specialized
* Arms, legs, hands, feet, fingers, toes, eyes, and ears are already discernible.
* VULNERABLE stage cuz all basic physiological structures are being formed.
* If anything interferes with normal development during the embryonic phase, the effects can be devastating. Most miscarriages occur during this period

fetal stage

3rd stage of prenatal development, lasting from 2 months through birth

* 1st 2 months of the fetal stage bring rapid bodily growth, as MUSCLES and BONES begin to form
* fetus, becomes capable of physical movements as skeletal structures harden.
* SEX ORGANS develop during 3rd month
* 26-28 weeks, survival rate \~ 85 %

when does fetus reach “threshold of viability”

sometime btwn. 22-23 wks.

threshold of viabilty

age at which a baby can survive in the event of a premature birth.

* At 23 weeks, the probability of survival is still slim (about 24%), but it climbs rapidly to around a 72% survival rate at 25 weeks

Teratogens

any external agents, such as drugs or viruses, that can harm an embryo or fetus

why does mother’s eating habits, drug use, and physical health, among other things,affect prenatal development and have long-term health consequences

Because the developing organism and its mother are linked through the placenta

Environmental Factors and Prenatal Development

* maternal nutrition
* maternal drug and alcohol use
* stress and emotion
* maternal illness
* environmental toxins

maternal nutrition

* very important because the developing fetus needs a variety of essential nutrient
* Severe maternal malnutrition increases the risk of birth complications and neurological deficits for the newborn
* it is important for mothers to consume a balanced diet that includes essential vitamins and minerals

maternal drug and alochol use

* drugs consumed can slip thru membrane in placenta
* Exposure to cannabis has been found to be related to children’s later cognitive and academic difficulties, along with problems related to impulsivity, attention deficits, and later substance use
* Smoking appears to increase a mother’s risk for miscarriage, stillbirth, and premature delivery, as well as newborns’ risk for sudden infant death syndrome
* smoking linked to poor self-regulation, deficits in academic achievement, and an increased risk for psychological disorders

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD)

a collection of congenital (inherited) problems associated with excessive alcohol use during pregnancy

* most common known cause of intellectual disability

stress and emotion

* studies suggest that maternal emotions in reaction to stressful events can have an impact on prenatal development
* ex. elevated levels of prenatal stress have been found to be associated with increased stillbirths, impaired immune response (Veru et al., 2014), heightened vulnerability to infectious disease , slowed motor development, and below-average cognitive development
* mothers’ emotional reactions to stressful events can disrupt the delicate hormonal balance that fosters healthy prenatal development

maternal illness

The placenta screens out quite a number of infectious agents, but not all

* so many maternal illnesses can interfere with prenatal development
* measles, rubella (German measles), syphilis, and chickenpox can be hazardous to the fetus
* HIV virus that causes AIDS can be trasnmitted from mother to fetus

environmental toxins

babies in the womb are exposed to a surprising variety of environmental toxins that can affect them

* ex. prenatal exposure to air pollution has been linked to impairments in cognitive development at age 5, increased obesity at age 7, and deficits in social competence and self-regulation in middle childhood
* exposure to phthalate chemicals used in a variety of household products correlates with IQ deficits of 6–7 points at age 7

what does prenatal malnutrition put person at risk for later in life?

vulnerabilty to schizophrenia

low birth weight associated with what?

increased risk of heart disease many decades later in adulthood

aspects of prenatal development are linked to what?

adults’ risk for depression and bipolar disorders, as well as obesity, diabetes, and some types of cancer

motor development

refers to the progression of muscular coordination required for physical activities

* Basic motor skills include grasping and reaching for objects, manipulating objects, sitting up, crawling, walking, and running

maturation

development that reflects the gradual unfolding of one’s genetic blueprint.

* product of genetically programmed physical changes that come with age, rather than through experience and learning.
* early motor development depends to a considerable extent on maturation

Developmental norms

indicate the median age at which individuals display various behaviours and abilities

Cultural variations in the emergence of basic motor skills demonstrate what?

that environmental factors can accelerate or slow down early motor development

Temperament

refers to characteristic mood, activity level, and emotional reactivity

* Individual differences in temperament appear to be influenced to a considerable degree by heredity

longitudinal design

investigators observe one group of participants repeatedly over a period of time

* ex. assemble one group of 50 six-year-olds and measure their vocabulary at age six, again at age eight, and once more at age ten.
* pro: tend to be more sensitive to developmental changes
* con: participants often drop out because they move away or lose interest. The changing composition of the sample may produce misleading developmental trends.

cross-sectional design

investigators compare groups of participants of differing age at a single point in time

* ex. investigator tracing the growth of children’s vocabulary might compare 50 six-year-olds, 50 eight-year-olds, and 50 ten-year-olds.
* pro: can be completed more quickly, easily, and cheaply, -
* con: changes that appear to reflect development may really be cohort effects

Cohort effects

occur when differences between age groups are due to the groups growing up in different time periods

* ex. if you used the cross-sectional method to examine viewing habits in groups aged 20, 40, and 60 years, you would be comparing people who grew up before, during, and after the widespread availability of streaming services, which would probably lead to major differences as a result of historical context rather than development.

temperamental individuality is well established by when?

the time the infant is 2-3 months old

3 basic styles of temperament apparent in children (Thomas, Chess & Birch)

* 40 % of the youngsters were “easy” children who tended to be happy, regular in sleeping and eating, adaptable, and not readily upset.
* 15 % were “slow-to-warm-up” children who tended to be less cheery, less regular in their sleeping and eating, and slower in adapting to change. These children were wary of new experiences, and their emotional reactivity was moderate.
* Difficult children constituted 10 % of the group. Tended to be glum, erratic in sleeping and eating, resistant to change, and relatively irritable.
* remaining 35% of the children showed mixtures of these 3 temperaments

Cephalocaudal trend

head to foot

Proximodistal trend

center-outward

how sex is determined

* Egg is fertilized by sperm
* Egg cell contains an X chromosome
* Sperm cell contains either X or Y chromosome
* Up to week 6, still sexless
* Second half of week 6, if Y chromosome present
* AND gene SRY present = Male
* SRY gene (part of Y chromosome)
* Stimulates chain reaction of male hormones
* If X chromosome, or if SRY missing = Female
* Schizophrenia and Parkinson’s disease more prevalent in men

Chess and Thomas

child’s temperament at 3 months was a fair predictor of the child’s temperament at age 10. Infants categorized as “difficult” developed more emotional problems requiring counselling than other kids

Attachment

refers to the close, emotional bonds of affection that develop between infants and their caregivers

* infants’ attachment to their mothers is not instantaneous but by 6-8 months of age, they show a preference for her and protest when separated from her - 1st manifestation of separation anxiety

separation anxiety

emotional distress seen in many infants when they are separated from people with whom they have formed an attachment

* typically peaks at around 14-18 months and then begins to decline

behaviourist theory of attachment

argued that this special attachment between infant and mother develops because mothers are associated with the powerful, reinforcing event of being fed

Harry Harlow’s study of attachment in infant rhesus monkeys

* removed monkeys from their mothers at birth and raised them in the laboratory with two types of artificial “substitute mothers.”
* 1 type of artificial mother was made of terry cloth and could provide contact comfort.
* other type of artificial mother was made of wire.
* 1/2 the monkeys were fed from a bottle attached to a wire mother and the other half were fed by a cloth mother.
* The young monkeys’ attachment to their substitute mothers was tested by introducing a frightening stimulus, such as a strange toy.
* if reinforcement through feeding were the key to attachment, the frightened monkeys should have scampered off to the mother that had fed them.
* This was not the case. The young monkeys scrambled for their cloth mothers, even if they were not fed by them. Harlow’s work mad

Bowlby

* argued that there must be a biological basis for attachment.
* Infants are biologically programmed to emit behaviour (smiling, cooing, clinging, and so on) that triggers an affectionate, protective response from adults
* asserted that adults are programmed by evolutionary forces to be captivated by this behaviour and to respond with warmth, love, and protection.
* analyzed attachment in terms of its survival value for infants
* theory has guided most of the research on attachment over the last several decades, including Ainsworth’s

contemporary evolutionary theoy on attachment

emphasize how attachment contributes to parents’ and children’s reproductive fitness

Ainsworth

* attachment emerges out of a complex interplay between infant and mother.
* used method called the strange situation procedure
* 3-minute episodes in procedure involve events such as stranger entering room where infant is playing with parent nearby, followed by the parent leaving, returning, leaving, and returning again.
* child’s reactions (distress, comfort) to the parent’s departures and returns are carefully monitored to gauge attachment quality
* attachments follow 3 patterns: secure attachment, anxious-ambivalent attachment, avoidant attachemnt
* added years later = disorganized-disoriented attachment

strange situation procedure

infants are exposed to a series of 8 separation and reunion episodes to assess the quality of their attachment

secure attachment

children play and explore comfortably with their mother present, become visibly upset when she leaves, and are quickly calmed by her return.

anxious-ambivalent attachment

appear anxious even when their mother is near and protest excessively when she leaves, but they are not particularly comforted when she returns

avoidant attachment

seek little contact with their mother and often are not distressed

disorganized-disoriented attachment

children appear confused about whether they should approach or avoid their mother and are especially insecure

what does type of attachment that emerges between an infant and mother depend on?

maternal sensitivity

maternal sensitivity

Mothers who are sensitive and responsive to their children’s needs are more likely to promote secure attachments than mothers who are relatively insensitive or inconsistent in their responding

how does children attahcment experiences affect them in the future?

they develop internal working models of the dynamics of close relationships that influence their future interactions with a wide range of people

what happens to infants with secure attachment?

* tend to become resilient, socially competent toddlers with high self-esteem and more advanced language development.


* In their school years, such children enjoy better relations with their peers, stronger self-regulation of emotions and greater understanding of others’ emotions, and greater academic competence.

stage

a developmental period during which characteristic patterns of behaviour are exhibited and certain capacities become established.

stage theory

assume that:

* 1) individuals must progress through specified stages in a particular order because each stage builds on the previous stage
* 2) progress through these stages is strongly related to age, and
* 3) development is marked by major discontinuities that usher in dramatic transitions in behaviour

\*\*\*\*\*Erikson’s stage theory\*\*\*\*\*

* partitioned the life span into eight stages, each of which brings a psychosocial crisis involving transitions in important social relationships
* partitioned the life span into eight stages, each of which brings a psychosocial crisis involving transitions in important social relationships
* described stages in terms of these antagonistic tendencies, which represent personality traits that people display in varying degrees over the remainder of their lives
* pro: accounts for both continuity and transition in personality development.
* con: depended heavily on illustrative case studies, which are open to varied interpretations. Provides “idealized” description of “typical” developmental patterns. So, it isn’t well suited for explaining the enormous personality differences that exist among people

Trust versus Mistrust (Erikson)

* encompasses the 1st year of life, when an infant has to depend completely on adults to take care of them
* If infant’s basic biological needs are adequately met by their caregivers and sound attachments are formed, the child should develop an optimistic, trusting attitude toward the world.
* However, if the infant’s basic needs are taken care of poorly, a more distrusting, pessimistic personality may result

Autonomy versus Shame and Doubt (Erikson)

* unfolds during the 2nd & 3rd years of life
* child must begin to take some personal responsibility for feeding, dressing, and bathing.
* If all goes well, the child acquires a sense of self-sufficiency.
* But, if parents are never satisfied with the child’s efforts and there are constant parent–child conflicts, the child may develop a sense of personal shame and self-doubt

Initiative versus Guilt (Erikson)

* lasting roughly from ages 3-6
* children experiment and take initiatives that may sometimes conflict with their parents’ rules.
* Overcontrolling parents may begin to instill feelings of guilt, and self-esteem may suffer.
* In the ideal situation, children will retain their sense of initiative while learning to respect the rights and privileges of other family members

Industry versus Inferiority (Erikson)

* age 6-puberty
* challenge of learning to function socially is extended beyond the family to the broader social realm of the neighbourhood and school.
* Children who are able to function effectively in this less nurturant social sphere where productivity is highly valued should learn to value achievement and to take pride in accomplishment, resulting in sense of competence

Cognitive development

transitions in youngsters’ patterns of thinking, including reasoning, remembering, and problem solving

Piaget stage theory

proposed that youngsters progress through four major stages of cognitive development, which are characterized by fundamentally different thought processes

* children progress in their thinking through the complementary processes of assimilation & accommodation


* administered intelligence tests to many children to develop better test norms. In doing this testing
* became intrigued by the reasoning underlying the children’s wrong answer
* measuring children’s intelligence < studying how children use their intelligence

Different thought processes in Piaget stage theory

* 1) the sensorimotor period (birth-2)
* 2) the preoperational period (ages 2-7)
* 3) the concrete operational period (ages 7-11)
* 4) the formal operational period (age 11 onward)
* acknowledged that transitional ages may vary, but he was convinced that all children progress through the stages of cognitive development in the same order.

Assimilation

involves interpreting new experiences in terms of existing mental structures without changing them.

accommodation

involves changing existing mental structures to explain new experiences.

assimilation & accomodation

* often occur interactively.
* ex. a child who has learned to call four-legged pets “puppies” may apply this scheme the first time they encounter a cat (assimilation), but they will eventually discover that puppies and cats are different types of animals and make adjustments to their mental schemes (accommodation)

Sensorimotor Period (Piaget)

* birth to age 2
* infants are developing the ability to coordinate their sensory input with their motor actions
* major development = gradual appearance of symbolic thought
* beginning - child’s behaviour dominated by innate reflexes.
* end of the stage - child can use mental symbols to represent objects (e.g., a mental image of a favourite toy)
* key to this transition is the acquisition of the concept of object permanence

object permanence

develops when a child recognizes that objects continue to exist even when they are no longer visible

* 1st signs = 4-8months
* children haven’t mastered concept till baout 18 months


* ex. peek-a-boo - child belives head is actually gone so they r fascinated

Preoperational Period (Piaget)

* age 2-7
* children gradually improve in their use of mental images
* not yet mastered the principle of conservation due to some basic flaws (conservation, centration, irreversibility, and egocentrism)
* can’t mentally “undo” something
* fail to appreciate that there are points of view other than their own.

conservation

Piaget’s term for the awareness that physical quantities remain constant in spite of changes in their shape or appearance.

Irreversibilty (preoperational stage - Piaget)

inability to envision reversing an action

* kids can’t envision puring water back into other beaker

Egocentrism (preoperational stage - Piaget)

characterized by a limited ability to share another person’s viewpoint

* ex. , if you ask a preoperational girl whether her sister has a sister, she’ll probably say no if they are the only two girls in the family. She’s unable to view sisterhood from her sister’s perspective (this also shows irreversibility)

animism

belief that all things are living

Concrete Operational Period (Piaget)

* beginning - development of mental operations
* age 7-11
* children can perform operations only on images of tangible objects and actual events
* masters reversibility and decentration - leads to decline in egocentrism & gradual mastery of conservation as it applies to liquid, mass, number, volume, area, and length
* develop variety of new problem-solving capacities

\

reversibilty

permits a child to mentally undo an action

decentration

allows the child to focus on more than one feature of a problem simultaneously.

Formal Operational Period (Piaget)

* begins around 11
* children apply their operations to abstract concepts in addition to concrete object
* come to enjoy the heady contemplation of abstract concepts
* youngsters graduate to relatively adult modes of thinking
* become more systematic in their problem-solving efforts - think things through
* capable of hypothetico-deductive reasoning

hypothetico-deductive reasoning

they can think abstractly and test out their hypotheses

weak spots in Piaget’s theory

* appears to have underestimated young children’s cognitive development
* children often simultaneously display patterns of thinking that are characteristic of several stages. This “mixing” of stages and the fact that the transitions between stages are gradual rather than abrupt call into question the value of organizing cognitive development in terms of stages
* Piaget believed that his theory described universal processes that should lead children everywhere to progress through uniform stages of thinking at roughly the same ages. Subsequent research has shown that the sequence of stages is largely invariant, but the timetable that children follow in passing through these stages varies considerably across cultures

Vgotsky

* sociocultural theory
* culture = critical factor in how cognitive development unfolds
* ex. cognitive skills acquired in literate cultures that rely on schools for training will differ from those skills acquired in societies with no formal schooling
* language acquisition plays crucial, central role in fostering cognitive development
* children acquire most of their culture’s cognitive skills and problem-solving strategies through collaborative dialogues with more experienced members of their society
* private speech
* scaffolding

private speech

* Preschool children talk aloud to themselves a lot as they go about their activities.
* Piaget viewed this speech as egocentric and insignificant. Vygotsky argued that children use this private speech to plan their strategies, regulate their actions, and accomplish their goals.
* As children grow older, this private speech is internalized and becomes the normal verbal dialogue that people have with themselves as they go about their business
* zone of proximal development and scaffolding

zone of proximal development and scaffolding

gap between what a learner can accomplish alone and what they can achieve with guidance from more skilled partners

Scaffolding

occurs when the assistance provided to a child is adjusted as learning progresses

Habituation

gradual reduction in the strength of a response when a stimulus event is presented repeatedly

* ex. If you show infants the same event over and over (e.g., an object dropping onto a platform), they habituate to it—their heart and respiration rates decline and they spend less time looking at the stimulus

Dishabituation

occurs if a new stimulus elicits an increase in the strength of a habituated response

nativists

assert that humans are prewired to readily understand certain concepts without making any assumptions about why humans are prewired in these ways

* principal interest is to sort out the complex matter of what is prewired and what isn’t

evolutionary theorist

agree with the nativists that humans are prewired for certain cognitive abilities, but they are keenly interested in why. As you might expect, they maintain that this wiring is a product of natural selection, and they strive to understand its adaptive significance

critical period

a limited time span in the development of an organism when it is optimal for certain capacities to emerge because the organism is especially responsive to certain experience

* suggests that if the ability or knowledge is not acquired at that point, it will not be possible to acquire it later

sensitive period

suggests an optimal period for acquisition but one that does not prevent acquisition at a later point

theory of mind

most children under the age of four do not yet appreciate that people can hold false beliefs that do not accurately reflect reality (ex. child knowing that box holds crayons believes that everyone else will know box holds crayons)

kohlberg stage theory

devised a model of how moral reasoning develops. (Heinz’s dillema - man getting drug 4 his wife)

* What is morality?


* focuses on moral reasoning rather than overt behaviour
* individuals progress through a series of three levels of moral development, each of which can be broken into two sublevels, yielding a total of six stages
* Each stage represents a different approach to thinking about right and wrong

Younger children at the preconventional level think in terms of what in Kholberg’s theory

external authority. Acts are wrong because they are punished or right because they lead to positive consequences

What do older children who have reached the conventional level of moral reasoning in Kohlberg’s theory think like?

* see rules as necessary for maintaining social order.
* accept these rules as their own.
* “internalize” these rules not to avoid punishment but to be virtuous and win approval from others.
* Moral thinking at this stage is relatively inflexible.
* Rules are viewed as absolute guidelines that should be enforced rigidly

postconventional level (kohlberg)

* involves working out a personal code of ethics.
* Acceptance of rules is less rigid, and moral thinking shows some flexibility.
* allow for the possibility that someone might not comply with some of society’s rules if they conflict with personal ethics.
* ex. participants at this level might applaud a newspaper reporter who goes to jail rather than reveal a source of information who was promised anonymity.

morality

involves the ability to discern right from wrong and to behave accordingly

Adolescence

transitional period between childhood and adulthood. Its age boundaries are not exact, but in our society, adolescence begins at around age 13 and ends at about age 22.

* volume of white matter in the brain grows throughout adolescence - neurons are becoming more myelinated, leading to enhanced connectivity in the brain
* while the volume of grey matter declines - reflect synaptic pruning, which plays a key role in the formation of neural networks

adolescent growth spurt

phase of rapid growth in height and weight

secondary sex characteristics

physical features that distinguish one sex from the other but that are not essential for reproduction—such as facial hair and broader shoulders in males, and breast growth and wider hips in females

puberty

stage where sexual functions reach maturity, which marks the beginning of adolescence

* primary sex characteristics develop fully