Developmental Psych (UNIT 9)

Developmental Psychology

A branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social change throughout the life span (conception to cremation)

Nature vs. Nurture, Continuity or Stages, and Stability or Change

What are the 3 major issues targeted by research in developmental psychology?

Nature vs. Nurture Debate

Debate in which the following question is considered:

* How does our genetic inheritance (nature) interact with our experiences (nurture) to influence our development

__Argument__: Due to biopsychosocial influences

Continuity or Stages Debate

Debate in which the following question is considered:

• What parts of development are gradual and continuous? What parts change abruptly in separate stages

Arguments:

1. Thought of like a rung of a ladder, age defines each rung of a ladder; each person experiences stages

2. Other researchers argue that it is more like an elevator's gradual change, some people's elevators rise faster than others

Stability or Change Debate

Debate in which the following question is considered:

• Which of our traits persist through life? How do we change as we age?

• Focuses on personality; does you personality stay the same or change over the course of your life?

Additional questions to consider:

• If you have a type A personality as a child, do you remain type A for the entirety of your life or can you become type B?

• If you are an introvert, can you become an extrovert?

• Will you always be messy or can you become an organized individual?

Cross-sectional and longitudinal studies

What are the two types of ways empirical studies are conducted in developmental psychology?

Cross-sectional study

A study in which a representative age variance of the population is tested or surveyed at one specific time

Longitudinal study

A study that observes and restudies the SAME participant on many occasions over a long period of time

Longitudinal

Which method of conducting a study is more accurate?

Cross-sectional - less costly and easier to conduct as it involves a singular occasion in which data is captured

What method of conducting a study is most typically used?

200

Human conception begins with \____ million sperm racing towards a released, mature egg

Once a single sperm has broken through, it releases an enzyme in order to break through the egg's protective layer and the egg's surface blocks the other sperm & uses fingerlike projections to pull the successful sperm inward

How do sperm navigate through the egg's protective layer?

Yes - but it is rare and typically leads to a miscarriage

Is it possible for two sperm to reach the same egg?

Identical Twins

Twins who develop from a single fertilized egg that splits in two, creating two genetically identical organisms

Fraternal Twins

Twins who develop from separate fertilized eggs; are genetically no closer than brothers and sisters, but they share a fetal environment

Zygote

What is formed after 12 hours when the egg nucleus & sperm nucleus have fused together?

Zygote

The fertilized egg; it enters a 2-week period of rapid cell division and develops into an embryo

The cells begin to differentiate (form cell clusters)

What happens after 7 days to the zygote?

The cells attach to the uterine wall & the zygote's outer part forms the placenta

What happens after 10 days to the zygote?

Placenta

A flattened circular organ in the uterus of pregnant eutherian mammals, nourishing and maintaining the fetus through the umbilical cord (allows for transfer of oxygen and nutrients)

Teratogens

Agents, such as chemicals and viruses, that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm (i.e. alcohol, drugs, etc.)

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

A medical condition in which body deformation or facial development or mental ability of a fetus is impaired because of exposure to alcohol

\* __Note__: Will not take place in early stage of pregnancy (when the female has not recognized she is pregnant); will occur if alcohol consumption is present THROUGHOUT the pregnancy

Embryo

The developing human organism from about 2 weeks after fertilization through the 2nd month

At 6 weeks

When does the embryo begin to experience a heartbeat?

Roe v. Wade

The 1973 Supreme Court decision holding that a state ban on all abortions was unconstitutional. The decision forbade state control over abortions during the first trimester of pregnancy, permitted states to limit abortions to protect the mother's health in the second trimester, and permitted states to protect the fetus during the third trimester.

Viability

Ability of the fetus to survive outside the womb

Starting in the first trimester

When is it possible for the fetus to survive outside the womb, from a medical standpoint?

Fetus

The term given to the developing human organism from 9 weeks after conception to birth

1. The stomach forms & functions allowing for greater viability

2. The fetus becomes responsive to sound, which is used to explain a newborn's preference for its mother's voice

What takes place during the 6th month with the fetus?

Fetuses show evidence of habituation

What occurs in the 7th month with the fetus?

Habituation

Decreasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation.

As infants gain familiarity with repeated exposure to a visual stimulus, their interest wanes and they tend to stop focusing on constant, unchanging information.

Competency

The ability to do something successfully or efficiently (i.e. capability, proficiency)

Neonate

Newborn child

Rooting, sucking, grasping, moro, and babinski reflex

What are the names of the 5 reflexes neonate's experience?

Rooting Reflex

A reflex in which when touched on the cheek, a baby will turn its head to the side where it felt the touch and seek to put the object into its mouth; intended to find sustenance/find food for survival

Sucking Reflex

A reflex in which when an object is placed into the baby's mouth, the infant will suck on it; prompts sophisticated movement in order to draw food/drink in and be able to ingest food

Grasping Reflex

A reflex in which when an object is placed into a baby's palm OR foot pad, the baby will try to grasp the object with his or her fingers or toes

Evolutionary psychologists argue this reflex developed as a way to hold on to your mother, arguing that we developed from chimps in which hands and feet would experience grasping reflex in order to be able to hold on to mother

What is the evolutionary perspective on the grasping reflex?

Moro Reflex

A reflex in which when startled, a baby will fling his or her limbs out and then quickly retract them, making himself or herself as small as possible

Argument from evolutionary perspective is that in nature, animals make themselves bigger in order to scare off predators then retract themselves in to become a smaller target → applies to babies similarily

What is the evolutionary perspective on the moro reflex?

Babinski Reflex

A reflex in which when a baby's foot is stroked, he or she will spread the toes

According to evolutionary psychologists, splaying out toes creates greater mobility in order to have a greater surface area to walk on \= achieve mobility faster, is observable in chimps, but not applicable as much to babies because mobility isn't achieved until around the age of 1

What is the evolutionary perspective on the babinski reflex?

• Neonates prefer the sound of their mother's voice

• Neonates prefer the taste of sugar and respond to a higher concentration of sugar in foods (i.e. lactose in breast milk)

• Neonates prefer the smell of their mother over the smell of other people

• As depth field increases, neonates visually prefer faces and facelike objects (i.e. cars)

What are the sensory apparatus preferences of neonates?

8-12 inches

What is the range of vision for neonates before depth perception increases?

Neonates visually habituate after repeated exposure to the same stimuli, and can exhibit boredom

i.e. objects in nursery. If they keep seeing the same mobile, toys, drawings on the walls they will become less stimulated and "used" to them - should mix it up and play different music each night and switch up objects within nursery to grow neurological connections within neonates crib

Why is repeated exposure to the same objects and entities *detrimental* for neonates?

Maturation

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

Maturation (nature) sets the basic course of development; experience (nurture) adjusts it

The child's life processes will be impaired (cognitively = can impact language skills, learning skills, etc.)

Ex: If a kid is left in crib "prison" entirely and not let out, walking will be delayed because isolated from outside

Ex: If a kid is not allowed to flourish and speak and interact with others and is kept isolated, they will not be able to develop language skills

Why is the inhibition (slowing) of **maturation** problematic?

23 Billion

How many "immature" neurons are neonates born with?

From infancy on, **brain** and **mind**--neural hardware and cognitive software--develop together

Brain = physical organ

Mind = cognition influenced by brain formation; i.e. if the brain has not developed entirely, that impacts mind and can be delayed

How does the development of the brain impact the mind?

From 3-6; frontal lobes

When is the most rapid growth in the brain and where?

Frontal lobe development allows for more cognitive output and personality to develop

How does development of the frontal lobes impact brain processes?

Association areas linked with thinking, memory, and language are the last cortical areas to develop; ex. infantile amnesia

What are the LAST cortical regions to develop?

Infantile Amnesia

The inability to recall explicit memory until the age of 3

roll over→ sit up→ crawl→ walk

What is the motor development sequence?

Myelination

What causes differentiation in timing the motor development sequence?

Myelination

Axons become coated with **myelin sheath**, a fatty substance that speeds the transmission of nerve impulses from neuron to neuron

Myelin Sheath

A layer of fatty tissue segmentally encasing the fibers of many neurons; enables vastly greater transmission speed of neural impulses as the impulse hops from one node to the next.

THINK internet cable!!!

Cognition

All the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating

Jean Piaget

Known for his theory of cognitive development in children; believed that a child's mind develops through a series of stages (4 total) and that children reason differently than adults

Schema/Schemata

Concepts or mental frameworks that organize and interpret information

THINK folders in the mind to organize and label information

Ex: A child learns that a "doggy" is a furry, four-legged animals

Assimilation

The process by which new information/experiences are incorporated into a child's schemas; interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing schemas

Ex: After seeing a cat, a child calls it a "doggy" b/c cats are also furry and four-legged animals

Accommodate

Adapting our current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information

Ex: After realizing the "doggy" schema is too broad, the child distinguishes a "doggy" from a "kitty"

1. Schema (create folder)

2. Assimilate (add to folder, identify based on information in folder)

3. Accomadate (re-establish folder or create new folder or differentiations)

What are the 3 general steps in which information is stored and refined?

Mnemonic for Piaget's Cognitive Stages of Development

Sissy People Can't Fight (0-2, 2-6/7, 7-11, 12+)

Sensorimotor Stage

STAGE 1 of the cognitive stages of development

(birth - 2 years old)

Infants know the world mostly in terms of their sensory impressions and motor activities \[ex. placing objects (toys, etc.) in their mouths\] = sensory information leads to the creation of a baby's first schemas

Object Permanence

The awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived or directly in line of sight

At 8 months

When do infants begin to gradually exhibit object permanence?

Preoperational Stage

STAGE 2 of the cognitive stages of development

(2 - 6/7 years old)

A child learns to use language & symbols but does not yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete logic

Most common question: "Why?" → will ask it CONTINUOUSLY

__Biggest points__: Children are ***egocentric***, struggle with ***conversion***, and lack ***theory of mind***

Egocentric

Difficulty taking another person's point of view in their thinking; "If I see it, everyone else sees it"

Ex: If a kid stands in front of a TV and their father is behind them, believes in the kid's mind that if they can see the TV, everyone can see the TV

Ex: If a person asks to see someone's drawing, they will show it to themselves instead of that person because they believe that the other person will see it as they see it from their point of view

Children demonstrate this in the **Preoperational** Stage of cognitive development

Conservation

The principle that properties such as mass, volume, and # remain the same despite changes in the forms of objects; "glass of milk" dilemma

Ex: Tall, skinny glass of milk and short, squat glass of milk with same amount in each → perceiving the short glass as "less"

Children STRUGGLE with this in the **Preoperational** Stage of cognitive development

Theory of Mind

People's ideas about their own and others' mental states- about their feelings, perceptions, and thoughts, and the behaviors these might predict

THINK empathy of cognition

Children LACK this in the **Preoperational** Stage of cognitive development

The "Band-Aid" Test

An experiment in which a band aid box was shown to kids and they were asked what was in there, and they would respond with "band-aids" but there would be a different object in there. The kid would then be told a new kid coming into the room and asked if the new kid was asked the same question, how they would respond. The kid would most likely say the other object THEY just saw because they do not possess the ability to put themselves in other shoes.

However, when they would repeat the same experiment when the kid was 5, he would understand and be able to cognitively interpret how it would go and would say "band-aids" and understand that the other kid would most likely be tricked similarly.

Demonstrates THEORY OF MIND.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

A disorder that appears in childhood and is marked by significant deficiencies in communication and social interaction, and by rigidly fixated interests and repetitive behaviors

Concrete Stage

STAGE 3 of cognitive development

(6/7 - 11 years old)

Children gain the mental operations that enable them to think logically about concrete events; demonstrate knowledge of conservation and mathematical transformations

However, still can NOT consider all the complex aspects of the answer of a question such as "How do you address deforestation?" (would respond by saying "to plant more trees" - simple logic response, not viable in consideration of all factors in this stage)

Formal Stage

STAGE 4 of cognitive development

(12 years old and UP)

People begin to think logically about *abstract* concepts (ADULT REASONING!); teens are capable of debating human nature, good and evil, truth and justice, hypocrisy, etc.

Includes "hypothesis testing" and METACOGNITION

Hypothesis Testing

"If, then" imaginative thinking to test out pros and cons of an action or such, can "test" out things with thought processes

Metacognition

The ability to think about the way we think; knowledge of your own thought processes and how you think, study, understand, learn, communicate, etc.

It is that he UNDERESTIMATED children!! Many children go through the stages faster and enter them earlier than Piaget predicted!

This evidence is used by some researchers to argue for the **continuity model of development** over the stage model

What is the main criticism of Piaget's theory?

Information-Processing/Continuity Model

Our abilities to memorize, interpret, and perceive *gradually* develop as we age rather than developing in distinct stages; ex. attention span growth - every day your attention span increases to a greater extent due to frontal lobe development

Adolescence

The transition period from childhood to adulthood (puberty → independence)

This sequence of physical changes in puberty (maturation) is universal (ex. breast buds, pubic hair, etc.), but the timing varies by person

Menarche

First occurrence of menstruation cycle for females

Spermarche

First occurrence of ejaculation for males

Lawrence Kohlberg

Famous for his **theory of moral development** in children; believed that adolescents develop moral reasoning by transitioning up the **moral ladder** (is a stage theory - each rung represents a stage)

Preconventional, conventional, and postconventional

What are the three stages of Kohlberg's stages of moral development?

Preconventional Level

FIRST LEVEL of reasoning in Kohlberg's theory

(before age 9)

Moral reasoning is based is guided by self-interest; obey the rules to gain a concrete reward or avoid a punishment (essentially based on operant conditioning)

Ex: In elementary school, raising your hand to get the reward of teacher being nice to you for raising your hand versus getting in trouble for not raising your hand and participating

Conventional Level

SECOND LEVEL of reasoning in Kohlberg's theory

(early adolescence)

Morality is guided by __how others will view them__; uphold laws and rules established by society to maintain social approval and order

Ex: Taking shoes off in the house

Postconventional Level

THIRD LEVEL of reasoning in Kohlberg's theory

(adolescence and UP)

Moral actions are judged on the basis of __personal codes of ethics__ that are general and abstract and that may not agree with societal norms

Ex: Making the decision to not follow the speed limit guidelines

She criticized Kohlberg's model because it was modeled on the responses of __boys__, and concluded that girls come to moral conclusions differently:

Argued *boys* have a more absolute view of morality (rules apply in every context); *girls* pay more attention to situational factors (ex. relationships of the people involved)

**NOT SUPPORTED** by modern research; reflection of HER bias, morals are defined by absolutes and there is no difference between genders

How did **Carol Gilligan** criticize Kohlberg's levels of moral development?

Believed that morality is rooted in **moral intuitionism** ("quick gut feelings, or affectively laden intuitions"); moral emotions trigger moral reasoning, feeling occurs first and then explanation occurs later

Ex: The Trolley Problem

What was **Jonathon Haidt's** perspective on morality?

Moral Intuitionism

Moral truths are knowable by intuition; there is an immediate *instinctive* knowledge without reference to any evidence.

Trolley Problem

A trolley is running out of control down a track. In its path are 5 people who have been tied to the track. Fortunately, there is a switch, which will lead the trolley down a different track to safety, however, there is a single person tied to that track. Provides question in which moral reasoning is needed to evaluate - answer is influenced by morals in the gut instinct.

Eric Erikson

• Neo-Freudian, Humanistic

• Believed personality was profoundly influenced by our experiences with others.

• Known for his psychosocial stage theory (8 stages)

Psychosocial Stage Theory

Theory that consists of 8 stages which demonstrate how people evolve through the life span. Each stage is marked by a psychological specific social crisis that involves confronting "Who am I?"

What are the 8 stages of the **psychosocial stage theory**?

1. Trust vs. Mistrust

2. Autonomy vs. Shame/Doubt

3. Initiative vs. Guilt

4. Competence vs. Inferiority

5. Identity vs. Role Confusion

6. Intimacy vs. Isolation

7. Generativity vs. Stagnation

8. Integrity vs. Despair

Acronym to remember **8 stages of psychosocial stage theory**?

tobey maguire

as spiderman

is great

\
comic interest

increased recently

\
incarnations include:

guardians, spiderman,

iron (man), daredevil

Trust vs. Mistrust

STAGE 1 OF PSYCHOSOCIAL STAGE THEORY (**BIRTH-1**) - needs dependably met → sense of basic trust

Autonomy vs. Shame/Doubt

STAGE 2 OF PSYCHOSOCIAL STAGE THEORY (**TODDLERHOOD 1-3**) - Toddlers learn to exercise their will and do things for themselves (potty training; temper tantrums, "NO!"), or they doubt their abilities

Initiative vs. Guilt

STAGE 3 OF PSYCHOSOCIAL STAGE THEORY (**PRESCHOOL 3-6**) - Preschoolers learn to initiate tasks and carry out plans (__curiosity__, "Why?"), or they feel guilty about their efforts to be independent (asking too many questions)

Competence vs. Inferiority

STAGE 4 OF PSYCHOSOCIAL STAGE THEORY (**ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 6-puberty**) - Children learn the pleasure of applying themselves to tasks (school evaluations), or they feel inferior (inferiority complex)

Identity vs. Role Confusion

STAGE 5 OF PSYCHOSOCIAL STAGE THEORY (**ADOLESCENCE teens-20s**) - Teenagers work on refining a __sense of self__ by testing roles and then integrating them to form a single identity, or they become confused about who they are