Modules 11, 12, 13, and 14; Developing Through the Lifespan

Developmental Psychology

Developmental Psychology

A branch of psychology that studies consistent physical, cognitive and social change or growth throughout the life span.

What 3 issues does developmental psychology study?

• Stability and change

• Continuity and stages

• Nature x nurture

What are we determined by an ongoing interaction?

• Biological

• Psychological

• Social-cultural forces

  These are studied via adoption studies and twin studies.

Adoption Studies

Compare adopted children with biological and adoptive parents.

Twin studies

Twins, particularly identical are compared.

Why studied? To see if there are any differences due to the environment. Like PTSD, depression, and autism.

Maturation

Biological (nature) growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience (nurture).

Examples of maturation in Infancy:

Rolling, sitting, crawling, and walking

We are born with nearly all the _______ cells we will ever have.

Brain

• Following birth, cells grow- lengthening, branching, and connecting.

What shapes us, that was very controversial at the time?

Nature x nurture

Critical Period

An optimal period or window early in the life of an organism when exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces normal development.

-Example in Infancy of this:

• Babies hearing people speak, helps them speak better, when they get older.

• This would happen if this didn’t occur: Babies not opening their eyes when they are little, affect their vision has they get older.

What did Jean Piaget develop?

He developed the hallmark theory of children’s cognitive development.

The 3 major ideas in Piaget’s Stage Theory

1. Schemas

2. How schemas are used/adjusted

3. Stages of cognitive development

Assimilation

Interpreting new experiences in terms of our existing schemas.

These new experiences/ information fit right in.

Accommodation

Adopting (or modifying) our current schemas to incorporate new information.

• Adjusting/reorganizing.

Example:

• Learning that penguins were birds, when we were little. We thought wtf? They can’t fly? They’re birds?

Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development

• Sensorimotor (Infancy)

• Pre-operational (Early Childhood)

• Concrete Operational (Mid Childhood)

• Formal Operational (Adolescence)

Sensorimotor

Birth to about age 2

The child relies heavily on their senses and actions to take in the world.

• Sensorimotor intelligence

• Object Permanence

  • Examples:

    • Spoon coming towards them, they open their mouth.

    • Looking at you when you say their name.

Object Permanence

The awareness that objects continue to exist even when not perceived.

• Example

  • Peek-a-Boo

Pre-operational

Ages 2-7

Representing things with words and images; Using intuitive rather than logical reasoning.

• They can’t take other’s views.

• Pretend play is seen a lot in this stage. They mimic what they see.

• Egocentrism: Hide and seek.

  • Examples

    • “You need to eat breakfast” “NO I DONT WANT TO!”

Concrete Operational

Ages 7-11

Thinking logically about concrete events; Grasping concrete analogies and performing arithmetic.

-Master the concept of conservation

-Master operations

• Examples:

  • Knowing they need to eat breakfast, so does.

  • Starts questioning if Santa is real.

Mental Operations

Can solve problems by manipulating concepts entirely in one’s mind.

Piaget’s Concept of Conservation

Conservation of liquid task:

A child who HASN’T mastered conservation will think the taller/skinnier beaker has more water.

VS

A child who HAS will say that they have equal amounts of water in them.

Formal Operational

From age 12 and on

Reasoning abstractly

• Example:

  • How will I get my friends to like me?

Theory of Mind

Our ability to take another’s perspective

People’s ideas about their own and others’ mental states (feelings, perceptions, and thoughts) and behaviors they might predict.

• The “other side” of egocentrism(locked in to our perspective)

  • Example:

    • The bandaid box filled with pencils.

Autism Spectrum Disorder

A disorder appearing in childhood marked by deficiencies in communication and social interaction, and by rigid and repetitive behaviors.

-Diagnosed in 1 of 68 children by age 8

-A key underlying source seems to be poor functioning in brain areas responsible for theory of mind.

-Range in severity from mild to more severe.

• Tend to lack theory of mind

• Engage less in pretend play

Attachment

An emotional tie with another person

Body contact

Provides comfort, including reassurance and stimulation, and helps form attachment.

Differences in attachment styles were explored by:

Ainsworth in her “Strange Situation” experiment

Secure attachment

• Uses mother as a safe base.

• Distressed when left

• Happy on return

Insecure attachment

• Intense distress or no distress when left

• Continued distress or no distress when return.

Erikson’s Lifespan Theory of Development

• He was the only person thinking about development from born-death.

• If they didn’t complete each challenge they will struggle and have issues later in life.

Age 0-1 year

Basic trust vs mistrust

This ties to attachment and can lead to mistrust in the future.

Age 1-3 years

Autonomy vs Self-doubt/Shame

• LOTS of independence.

  • Wanting to put own shoes on by themselves

  • Picking outfits out on their own

  • “I want to do that”

• Parents being too strict can lead to self-doubt and shame.

6 years to puberty

Competence vs Inferiority

• Feels good about abilities.

  • Parents can celebrate success and also learning from mistakes and failure.

• If parents don’t celebrate they can begin to feel like a failure.

Adolescence and Physical Development

The transition period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty to independence.

• Begins with puberty:

  • The period of sexual maturation, which a person becomes capable of reproducing.

• The sequence of physical changes is more predictable than the timing.

• Developing a realistic and accepting body image is a formidable task.

• Abstract thinking

  • What would they think?

The brain during adolescence

The amygdala (responsible for emotions) is fully developed; The frontal lobes (choosing, reasoning, deciding, judging, and thinking through) is not fully developed.

A crucial task of childhood and adolescence is discerning:

Right from wrong

What did Piaget and Lawrence Kohlberg propose?

Moral reasoning (or thinking) guides moral actions.

Pre-conventional Morality, Stage 1

Interest in rewards and avoiding punishment

Pre-conventional Morality, Stage 2

Cost/benefit orientation; Exchange

Conventional Morality, Stage 3

“Good child” orientation

• Social approval

• What are other people gonna think of me?

Conventional Morality, Stage 4

Uphold laws and rules

• Follow law and not steal

Post conventional (Principled Morality) Stage 5

“Social contract” orientation

• Rules should be flexible in certain situations and circumstances.

Post conventional (Principled Morality) Stage 6

Ethical principle orientation

• Ethical, human integrity

Adolescence

Identity vs Role Confusion

• Serving lots of roles: Softball, musical, piano.

• Different identities around friends, family, and the public

• Questions about who we are

Emerging Adulthood

A period from about 18 to the mid-twenties, when many in Western cultures are no longer adolescents but have yet to achieve full indigence as adults.

• Like me, this is the stage I am at

Early adulthood

Intimacy vs Isolation

• Giving full commitment.

• Ties back to trust and mistrust in 0-1 yrs old.

• Not going all in leads to loneliness

Middle Adulthood

Generativity vs Stagnation

• Peak period of life OR “mid-life crisis”

• Contributing to the world through family, work, and/or society.

• Those who have not resolved difficulty in past stages become “stagnant” or feel a lack of purpose.

Life events trigger transitions to new life stages

• A period of time during which an individual redefines or transforms a life role, goal, value, or lifestyle.

  • Empty nesters, divorce, retirement, death

Late adulthood

Ego integrity vs Despair

• No regrets, well rounded experience.

• Look back on life, and what they would do differently

Scaffold

A framework that offers children temporary support as they develop higher levels of thinking.

Imprinting

The process by which certain animals form strong attachments during early life.

Temperament

A person’s characteristic emotional reactivity and intensity.