Development- Exam 2

Developmental Psychology

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

Issues in Developmental Psychology

Prepared vs. Unprepared for Life: What are we born naturally ready to do, versus what do we have to learn from experience?

- Example: Babies are born with reflexes, like sucking, but must learn skills like riding a bike.

2. Stability vs. Change: How much does our personality stay the same or change as we get older?

- Example: A shy child may grow into a shy adult (stability), or become more outgoing (change).

3. Continuity vs. Stages: Does development happen gradually over time, or does it happen in distinct stages?

• Continuity: Gradual, steady changes over time.

  • Example: A child slowly builds their vocabulary.

• Stages: Development happens in separate steps, with noticeable changes between stages.

  • Example: A child moves through distinct stages of cognitive development.

William James 19th Century describes infants “buzzing, booming confusion” of infant:

the newborn is born into the world utterly confused, useless. 

The Uniquely Bi-Pedal Human Primate

Humans are bipedal, meaning we walk on two legs. Compared with other primates, human babies are born very helpless and take about a year to begin walking because their brains and bodies are still developing.

As humans evolved from living in woodlands to more open grasslands, walking on two legs helped our ancestors travel longer distances to find food. Humans also evolved larger brains, which require a long time to develop.

Key idea for your note card: Humans are unique primates that walk on two legs and have large, slowly developing brains, making human babies especially dependent on caregivers. Chimpanzee brains start at 20 percent and human brains starts at 2 percent.

How prepared are infants?

Infants are born with certain natural abilities that help them survive, even though they are very dependent on adults.

• Reflexes: Automatic responses babies are born with, such as sucking to get milk and grasping a finger.

• Facial preferences: Babies tend to prefer looking at face-like patterns and human faces, which helps them pay attention to caregivers and form social connections.

Key idea: Infants are partly prepared for life because they are born with built-in reflexes and preferences that help them survive and connect with others, but they still need lots of learning and care.

Why are brain so underdeveloped?

Because we need to get the brain through canal

Human brains are underdeveloped at birth because our brains are so large and complex that they need many years to fully develop, and there are limits to how large a baby's head can be during childbirth.

• Brain growth: The brain continues developing after birth, especially the areas involved in planning, decision-making, and self-control.

• Evolution: Walking upright changed the shape of the human pelvis, while our brains evolved to become larger. Human babies are born before their brains are fully mature.

• Learning: Having a brain that develops over a long period allows children to learn from their environment and adapt to their culture.

• Dependence: Because their brains are still developing, human babies need caregivers for food, safety, and support for many years.

Key idea for your note card: Human brains are immature at birth because they are large and complex, and much of their development happens after birth. This makes babies dependent on caregivers but also allows extensive learning and adaptation.Human babies are born with underdeveloped brains partly because their heads must fit through the birth canal. This allows them to be born before their brains are fully developed, so their brains continue growing after birth.

The 7 Up

1. Paul — Stochastic Model of Developmental Change

• Paul grew up in a group home and lacked stability and a positive example of family life.

• At age 7, he had insecurities and doubted he could achieve his goal of becoming a police officer.

• Susan became a stable, loving person in his life, helping change his development and giving him a new experience of love.

• Key idea: Unexpected events or important people can change our developmental path, even if some struggles remain.

2. Nick — Person–Environment Transaction Model

• Nick grew up in a farming community but wanted to become a scientist.

• With his family's support, he attended boarding school and Oxford, giving him opportunities to pursue science.

• He actively sought an environment that matched his goals.

• Key idea: Our development is shaped by the interaction between who we are and our environment. We can actively seek environments that help us grow.

Cognitive Development

Cognition: all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating.

Cognitive Development- Schema

Schema: A mental framework or organized set of ideas that helps us understand and interpret the world.

Example: A child’s schema for a dog is that it has four legs and fur. When they see a cat, they might initially think it’s a dog because it fits their existing schema.

Schema example we have schema for everything

attending a lecture, eating at a restaurant, what other people are like, how worthy (or unworthy) we are as individuals.

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Paranoid schema and why they matter schemas?

• Paranoid schema: Belief that other people are untrustworthy or trying to hurt you. Even when someone is honest, the person may still suspect them because the schema is deeply ingrained.

• Depression schemas: Negative beliefs about yourself, such as “I am unlovable,” “I am defective,” or “I am incompetent.”

• Why schemas matter: We need schemas to organize information and understand the world, but they can sometimes cause us to misinterpret situations.

Is this conversation helpful so far?

How a schema develops: Assimilation

When you fit new information into a schema you already have, without changing the schema.

Example: A child’s schema for a dog is an animal with four legs. They see a cat and call it a dog because they fit the new animal into their existing dog schema.

How a schema develops:Accommodation

Accommodation: adapting ones current understanding schemas to incorporate new information.

How parents play a role in accommodation: ZOne of Proximal Development

The difference between what a child can do alone and what they can do with help from someone more knowledgeable.

Example: A child solves a math problem with a teacher's hints but cannot solve it alone yet.

Key connection: Parents and teachers act as the invisible helping hand by guiding children until they can do something independently.

Cognitive Development - Piaget

 French Scientist, saw children in developing stages, when you go from one stage to another you are making a huge leap, qualitative difference between stages. Each stage builds on previous stages, development isn’t continuous. The development happens in distinct stages, so his theory isn’t continuous.

Cognitive Development: 4 stages; Sensorimotor

Ages: 0-2

Description: Children experience the world through senses and action (looking, touching, mouthing and grasping)

Developmental Phenomena: Object permanence: Realizing something still exists even when it is out of sight.

• Example: A baby looks for a toy hidden under a blanket instead of thinking it disappeared.

• Stranger Anxiety, When a baby becomes fearful or upset around unfamiliar people. Example: A baby cries when an unfamiliar person tries to hold them.

Kids put things in their mouth because they are trying to figure it out through their senses. 

Stage 2: Preoperational, in the 4 stages of Cognitive development

Ages: 2-6 years

Description: Children are able to use words and representational images but lack logical reasoning.

Developmental Phenomena: pretend play, language development, Egocentrism: Children have difficulty understanding that other people may see things or think differently from them.

Conservation Tasks: Concrete Operational

Understanding that the amount of something stays the same even when its appearance changes.

Example: You pour water from a short, wide glass into a tall, skinny glass. A young child may think the tall glass has more water because the water level is higher, even though the amount is the same.

Stage 3: Concrete Operational: Cognitive Development

Ages: 7-11 years

Description: Children can think logically about concrete events such as math, complex games)

Developmental Phenomena: Conservation,

Why are kids such sticklers for rules?

They are developing logical thinking and enjoy applying their new ability to understand rules and categories. They may believe rules should be followed exactly and applied fairly to everyone.

Example: A child insists that a board game must follow every rule exactly and gets upset when someone changes a rule.

Stage 4: Formal Operational

Ages 12 and up

Description: Youth can think abstractly such as Who am I and what is my fulfillment?

Developmental Phenomena: Abstract knowledge, potential for mature moral reasoning.

Examples:

• Thinking about justice, freedom, or love.

• Asking, “What would happen if everyone broke the rules?”

• Thinking about future possibilities and considering different outcomes.

Social Development:

How our feelings, thoughts about other people, and interactions with others change throughout our lives.

Example: A child learns to share toys, make friends, and understand other people's feelings as they grow.

Social Development: Consider the changes in social development from 18 months to 18 years

18 months: Children begin to recognize themselves in the mirror
18 years: young adults go to college seeking to find their calling.

Psychoanalysis

 Sigmund Freud- development theorist, had a theory of human nature. 

Sigmund Freud and Popular for Psychosexual stages:

Freud was a complicated theorist: someone whose ideas and theories are complex and difficult to understand. Freud believed that basic biological drives influence personality development and how we relate to others. He proposed that personality develops through psychosexual stages, each focused on different sources of pleasure.

Example: Freud believed that experiences during childhood can influence a person's personality later in life.

Freuds Stages: The Oral Stage

 the child seeks pleasure through oral gratification. Pleasure breast feeding, sucking my thumb, looking for objects to put in my mouth. Even after they are full will still suck their thumbs or want to use the pacifier, it's more than about food, pleasure we seek after. The early feeling that your wishes make things happen because caregivers respond to your needs. This theory suggests that difficulties developing this sense may contribute to later struggles with control and relationships. The child does not understand that he or she is a self separate from other and completly dependent.

What happens if the child needs are not consistently met:

• Needing immediate gratification: Wanting their needs met right away and having trouble waiting.

• Difficulty handling disappointment: Becoming very upset when someone says no or doesn't do what they want.

• Need for control: Trying to control situations or other people to feel secure.

• Unstable views of others: Seeing someone as perfect when they meet their needs, then as terrible when they disappoint them. This is called splitting.

Example: Someone thinks their friend is the best person ever when the friend gives them attention. But when the friend is busy and can't hang out, they suddenly think their friend is a horrible person.

The “image”

1. The mother-child bond: A newborn can see most clearly about 8–12 inches away, which is roughly the distance between a mother’s face and her baby while feeding. This helps the baby focus on the caregiver’s face.

What the baby will imagine while waiting for the mother or caregiver to come:

• The baby feels hungry.

• The baby may mentally recall or imagine the mother and breastfeeding.

• This imagined experience is a fantasy of having their need satisfied while waiting for the real caregiver.

• When the caregiver arrives and feeds the baby, the baby's need is actually met.

The Anal Stage

• Pleasure comes from controlling bowel movements and the body.

• Child learns to act on their needs instead of just wishing.

• Begins realizing other people are separate and cannot always meet their needs immediately.

• Freud theorized that frustration during this stage could contribute to later struggles with control and power, including narcissistic traits.

• Freud theorized that how children experience and handle this frustration could influence their later personality.