Video Lesson: Development (29:01) - Quizlet Import

Prenatal and Early Childhood Development in Psychology outline

Overview of Developmental Psychology

• Developmental psychology studies how individuals grow and change throughout their lives, focusing on both genetic and environmental influences.

• The interaction between nature (genetics) and nurture (environment) is crucial in shaping human development from conception onward.

• Understanding prenatal development provides insights into later stages of life, including childhood and adulthood.

Key Stages of Prenatal Development

• Prenatal development is divided into three main stages: the zygote, embryo, and fetus, each with distinct characteristics and milestones.

• The zygote stage begins at conception when the sperm and egg unite, leading to rapid cell division and formation of a blastocyst.

• The embryonic stage involves differentiation of cells into three types: ectoderm (nervous system and skin), mesoderm (muscles and skeleton), and endoderm (digestive organs).

• The fetal stage marks significant growth, with the fetus developing major organ systems and exhibiting simple behaviors like sucking reflexes.

Genetic Factors in Development

• The genome provides the genetic blueprint for development, influencing physical and behavioral traits.

• Genetic instructions guide the differentiation of cells during the embryonic stage, determining their future roles in the body.

• Genetic disorders can arise from mutations or chromosomal abnormalities, impacting development.

Environmental Influences and Teratogens

• Environmental factors, including maternal health and external substances, significantly affect prenatal development.

• Teratogens are harmful agents (e.g., drugs, alcohol, pollution) that can disrupt normal development, particularly during critical periods.

• The impact of teratogens is influenced by timing, dosage, and the fetus's developmental stage, with greater risks during rapid growth phases.These influences can lead to physical, cognitive, and emotional challenges in the child.

Reflexes in Newborns

Newborns exhibit several reflexes essential for survival, such as rooting, sucking, grasping, and the Moro reflex.

These reflexes are automatic responses to stimuli, helping infants interact with their environment and ensuring their needs are met.

Most reflexes diminish by four to five months as infants develop more complex behaviors. Most reflexes in babies reduce by the time they reach four to five months old, as they start to learn and perform more complicated actions.

Sensory Abilities of Newborns

• Newborns possess functional sensory capacities, including the ability to discriminate sounds and recognize their mother's voice.

• Visual capabilities are limited; they can see objects about a foot away and show preferences for certain colors and brightness levels.

• Research methods like habituation are used to study infants' perceptual and cognitive abilities, revealing their understanding of stimuli.They can sense touch, taste, and smell, which help them interact with their environment.

Habituation Procedures

• Habituation is a technique used to assess infants' cognitive abilities by measuring their response to familiar versus novel stimuli.

• In experiments, infants are shown a stimulus until their interest wanes, indicating familiarity, and then a new stimulus is introduced to measure renewed interest.

• This method provides insights into infants' memory, learning, and perceptual capabilities without requiring verbal communication.

Habituation Procedure in Infants

A research method to evaluate infants' cognitive skills by observing their reactions to new versus familiar stimuli, indicating memory and learning capabilities.

• The habituation procedure involves recording infants' eye and face movements in response to stimuli, such as adult faces, to measure gaze duration.

• When a stimulus is presented, the amount of time the baby looks at it is recorded, and after a brief removal, the stimulus is presented again to observe changes in gaze time.

• A decrease in gaze time upon repeated presentations indicates habituation, while an increase in gaze time when a new stimulus is introduced suggests the ability to differentiate between stimuli.

• This method has shown that infants can notice changes in various stimuli, including colors, sounds, and even basic principles of numbers and physics.

• The research highlights the innate cognitive abilities of infants and their capacity for learning through experience.

• The findings emphasize the importance of genetic growth tendencies in cognitive development, paralleling physical milestones like rolling over and walking..

Key Concepts in Cognitive Development

• Cognitive development refers to how children learn to think, remember, and communicate as they grow.

• Jean Piaget, a prominent developmental psychologist, proposed that children progress through distinct stages of cognitive development, each characterized by unique abilities and ways of thinking.

• Piaget's theory emphasizes that children are active learners who construct knowledge through experiences and interactions with their environment.

• The development of schemas, or mental frameworks, is crucial for organizing and processing information as children encounter new experiences.

• Two key processes in schema development are assimilation (integrating new information into existing schemas) and accommodation (modifying schemas to incorporate new information).

• Piaget's stages of cognitive development provide a framework for understanding how children's thinking evolves over time.

The Sensorimotor Stage (Birth to 2 Years)

• The sensorimotor stage is characterized by infants experiencing the world through their senses and actions, such as touching, grabbing, and exploring objects.

• Piaget observed that younger infants do not show concern when an object disappears, indicating a lack of object permanence.

• Around 8 months, infants begin to search for hidden objects, but they may still struggle with the A-not-B error, where they search for an object in its original hiding place despite seeing it hidden elsewhere.

• The A-not-B effect demonstrates that infants have not yet developed an understanding of object permanence, believing the object's existence is tied to their actions.

• A major achievement of this stage is the development of object permanence, where infants learn that objects continue to exist even when out of sight.

• This stage lays the foundation for later cognitive development by enhancing infants' schemas and understanding of the world.

The Pre-Operational Stage (2 to 7 Years)

The pre-operational stage marks the beginning of symbolic thought, where children can represent objects and events with words and images.

During this stage, children exhibit animism, attributing feelings and intentions to inanimate objects, such as toys.

Although children begin to use language and think more abstractly, their reasoning is still intuitive and lacks logical operations.

Piaget's studies revealed that children struggle with tasks requiring mental transformation, such as understanding the relationship between a small dollhouse and its full-sized replica.

For example, when asked to find a toy in a life-sized version of a dollhouse, younger children often fail to make the connection, demonstrating their cognitive limitations.

This stage is crucial for developing language skills and early problem-solving abilities, despite the lack of logical reasoning.

Pre-Operational Stage (2-7 years)

• Children in this stage struggle with understanding the concept of conservation, as demonstrated by their inability to recognize that two identical glasses filled with the same amount of liquid remain equal when one is poured into a taller, thinner glass.

• Egocentrism is prevalent; children cannot take another person's perspective, as shown in the example of hiding toys where they cannot transition their understanding of space.

• Piaget's experiments with quarters illustrate that children fail to conserve number, believing that a longer row of coins has more than a shorter one, despite both having the same number.

• The inability to interrelate dimensions (height and width) contributes to their misunderstanding of conservation, as they focus on one dimension at a time.

• This stage is crucial for developing operational skills, as children begin to improve their ability to think logically about concrete events.

• Case studies show that children around three years old can begin to grasp some concepts of conservation, indicating a gradual development of cognitive skills.

Concrete Operational Stage (7-11 years)

Children begin to think logically about concrete events and understand that changes in one aspect can be compensated by changes in another, such as pouring liquid back into its original container.

They can perform mental operations on concrete objects, but struggle with abstract concepts until they reach the next stage.

This stage marks a significant improvement in cognitive abilities, allowing children to understand the concept of reversibility in operations.

Piaget noted that children in this stage can systematically test hypotheses, leading to more scientific reasoning.

The ability to classify objects and understand relationships between them develops, enhancing their problem-solving skills.

Examples of tasks that children can now perform include understanding the concept of volume and mass conservation.

Formal Operational Stage (12 years and up)

• Marked by the ability to think abstractly and use deductive reasoning, children can now consider hypothetical situations and engage in philosophical thought.

• They can systematically manipulate variables in experiments to draw conclusions, a skill that is crucial for scientific inquiry.

• This stage allows for the development of moral reasoning and the ability to think about possibilities and future outcomes.

• Children can now understand complex concepts such as justice, freedom, and equality, which are essential for social interactions.

• Piaget's theory has been criticized for being too rigid, as some researchers have found evidence of earlier cognitive abilities in children than he proposed.

• Despite criticisms, Piaget's work remains foundational in understanding cognitive development.

Self-Concept and Self-Awareness

• Self-awareness, or consciousness, develops in early childhood, leading to the formation of a self-concept that includes beliefs about personality traits, physical characteristics, and roles.

• Research on animals, such as chimpanzees, shows that some species have a primitive sense of self, as evidenced by their ability to recognize themselves in mirrors.

Self-Concept and Self-Awareness Age

• By 18 months, infants begin to recognize themselves in mirrors, indicating the onset of self-awareness.

• At age two, children become aware of their gender, which is a significant aspect of their identity development.

• By age four, self-descriptions often focus on physical attributes, while by age six, children can articulate basic emotions and traits, such as being 'nice' or 'mean.'

• Social comparison begins around age five or six, where children start to evaluate themselves in relation to their peers.

Attachment and Emotional Bonds

• Attachment is an important step in a baby's social development. It helps create emotional connections between babies and their main caregivers, usually the mother.

• Secure attachment leads to healthier emotional and social development, while insecure attachment can result in difficulties in relationships later in life.

• The quality of attachment influences a child's ability to form relationships and manage emotions throughout their life.

• Classic studies, such as those conducted at Wisconsin University, demonstrate the long-term effects of attachment on child development.

• Understanding attachment styles can help caregivers foster better emotional health in children.

Attachment and Emotional Bonds

• John Bowbly

• John Bowlby's studies in the 1950s highlighted the importance of attachment, showing that children in orphanages often exhibited emotional and developmental delays due to lack of bonding.

• John Bowlby's research showed that kids, especially those in orphanages, struggle emotionally and developmentally when they don't form strong bonds with caregivers. This means that having loving and reliable relationships is crucial for healthy growth in children. John Bowlby's research during the 1950s demonstrated that attachment is crucial for healthy emotional and psychological development in children. His studies revealed that children raised in orphanages, where they lacked consistent emotional bonding with caregivers, frequently showed significant delays in both emotional growth and social skills.

• This groundbreaking work has since influenced child psychology and the understanding of attachment theory, underscoring the necessity of nurturing relationships for overall well-being.

Attachment Theory - Harlow's Monkeys Experiment

• Conducted by Harry and Margaret Harlow at Wisconsin University, this classic study demonstrated the importance of attachment in infant development.

• The experiment involved young monkeys separated from their biological mothers and introduced to two surrogate mothers: a wire mother providing food and a cloth mother providing comfort.

• Results showed that while the monkeys went to the wire mother for nourishment, they overwhelmingly preferred the cloth mother for comfort, highlighting the significance of emotional support over mere physical needs.

• This study illustrated that infants require a secure base to explore their environment, which is crucial for healthy psychological development.

• The findings suggest that attachment is not solely about meeting physical needs but also about emotional bonding and security.

• The implications of this study extend to understanding human attachment, emphasizing the need for nurturing relationships in early development.

Ainsworth's Strange Situation

• Developed by Mary Ainsworth, the Strange Situation is a structured observational study to assess infant attachment styles.

• The procedure involves a series of separations and reunions between the infant and caregiver, observing the child's behavior in response to a stranger and the caregiver's absence.

• Four main attachment styles were identified: secure, ambivalent, avoidant, and disorganized, each reflecting different patterns of behavior and emotional responses.

• Securely attached children explore freely in the caregiver's presence, showing distress when separated but joy upon reunion, indicating a healthy attachment.

• Ambivalent children display anxiety and clinginess, showing extreme distress during separation and ambivalence upon reunion, suggesting inconsistent caregiving.

• Avoidant children tend to ignore or avoid the caregiver, showing little emotional response, indicating a lack of trust or connection.

Cultural Influences on Attachment

• Research indicates that while attachment styles are relatively constant across cultures, cultural factors can influence the expression of attachment behaviors.

• The interplay between a child's temperament and parental responsiveness plays a crucial role in the development of attachment styles.

• Secure attachment is often fostered by sensitive and responsive parenting, while insecure styles may arise from neglect or inconsistent caregiving.

• Temperament differences among infants can affect attachment outcomes, with some children being more prone to anxiety or irritability.

• Understanding attachment requires considering both genetic predispositions and environmental influences, highlighting the complexity of human development.

• Studies show that securely attached children tend to have better social relationships and lower anxiety levels in adolescence.

Kohlberg's Stages of Moral Development

• Lawrence Kohlberg proposed a theory of moral development consisting of three main levels: preconventional, conventional, and postconventional morality.

• The Heinz dilemma is a well-known moral scenario used by Kohlberg to assess moral reasoning, where a husband must decide whether to steal a drug to save his dying wife.

• Responses to moral dilemmas are categorized into stages, with higher stages reflecting more complex reasoning about human rights and ethical principles.

• Preconventional morality is characterized by self-interest and obedience to avoid punishment, while conventional morality focuses on social norms and maintaining relationships.

• Postconventional morality, which few individuals reach, involves abstract reasoning and principles of justice, often prioritizing human life over property rights.

• Kohlberg's theory emphasizes the progression of moral reasoning through stages, but critics argue that it does not account for moral behavior.

Gilligan's Critique and Alternative Perspective

• Carol Gilligan, a former research assistant of Kohlberg, criticized his theory for being male-centric and not representative of women's moral reasoning.

• In her book "A Different Voice," Gilligan proposed that women approach moral dilemmas differently, focusing on relationships and care rather than abstract principles.

• Gilligan's perspective highlights the importance of context and interpersonal relationships in moral reasoning, suggesting that women may prioritize the well-being of others over strict adherence to rules.

• Her critique led to a broader understanding of moral development that includes diverse perspectives and experiences, particularly those of women.

• This shift emphasizes the need to consider individual differences in moral reasoning and the influence of socialization on moral development.

• Gilligan's work has contributed to a more inclusive view of moral psychology, recognizing the interplay of gender and moral reasoning.

Interplay of Developmental Factors

• Development is a complex interplay of physical, cognitive, and socio-emotional factors, influencing overall growth and behavior.

• The interaction between nature (genetic predispositions) and nurture (environmental influences) shapes individual differences in development.

• Understanding attachment and moral development requires a holistic approach that considers various developmental domains and their interconnections.

• Research indicates that early attachment experiences can influence later moral reasoning and social relationships, demonstrating the continuity of development.

• The integration of different developmental aspects is crucial for a comprehensive understanding of human behavior and personality.

• This perspective encourages a multidisciplinary approach to studying development, incorporating insights from psychology, sociology, and education.