Psy Ch. 9, 12 & 14

3 Domains of Lifespan Development

Physical - Height / Weight

Cognitive

Psychosocial - 1st Primary Caregiver

Normative Approach in Lifespan Development

Developmental Milestones

1. Biological - height and weight

2. Social - speech and language

Continuous Development

Views development as cumulative process, gradually improving on existing skills

Internal - harder to measure

Discontinuous Development

Views development as occurring in unique stages (specific times or ages)

External - easier to measure

1 course

Studies show children from around the world reach language milestones in a similar sequence

Many courses

Cultural differences in childcare practices can accelerate or inhibit developmental milestones

Nature

Biology and Genetics

Nurture

Environment and Culture

Psychosexual (Freud)

Childhood experiences shape our personalities and behaviors as adults

Viewed development as Discontinuous

Oral stage

Birth - 1 year

Anal stage

1 - 3 years

Phallic stage

3 - 6 years

Latency stage

6 years - Puberty

Genital stage

Puberty - Adult

Life Span Approach

Erikson’s psychosocial stages of development

Trust vs. Mistrust

Trust (or mistrust) basic needs will be met

Autonomy vs. Shame/doubt

Develop a sense of independence in many tasks

Initiative vs. guilt

Take initiative on some activities

Industry vs. inferiority

Develop self-confidence or inferiority in abilities

Identity vs. confusion

Experiment w/ and develop identity, roles.

Intimacy vs. isolation

Establish intimacy and relationships with others

Generativity vs. stagnation

Contribute to society and be part of a family

Integrity vs despair

Assess; make sense of life

Piaget

Cognitive theory

1. assimilation

2. accommodation

Assimilation

Incorporates information into existing schemata

Accommodation

Change schemata based on new information

Equilibrium

What you know and what you are learning match

Disequilibrium

What you know and what you are learning do not match

Sensorimotor

World experienced through senses and actions

Preoperational

Use words and images to represent things but lack logical reasoning

Concrete operational

Understand concrete events and analogies logically; perform arithmetical operations

Formal Operational

Formal operations

Utilize abstract reasoning / logic

Egocentrism

Unable to take the perspective of others

Aspect of Preoperational

Object permanence

Understanding that even if something is out of sight, it still exists

Aspect of Sensorimotor

Psychosocial Development: Parenting Styles

Development of a healthy self-concept can depend on parenting styles

Authoritative parenting style

High involvement

Strong development

Responsive

Accepting

Authoritarian parenting style

Low involvement

Strong development

Controlling

Rejecting

Permissive parenting style

High involvement

Weak development

Low control

Lenient

Uninvolved parenting style

Low involvement

Weak development

Uninvolved

Rejecting

Theory 4: Moral Development (Kohlberg)

Learning to discern right from wrong

Level 1: Preconventional Morality

Stage 1: Obedience and punishment: behavior driven by avoiding punishment

Stage 2: Individual interest: behavior driven by self-interest and rewards

Level 2: Conventional Morality

Stage 3: Interpersonal: behavior driven by social approval

Stage 4: Authority: behavior driven by obeying authority and conforming to social order

Level 3: Post-conventional Morality

Stage 5: Social contract: behavior driven by balance of social order and individual rights

Stage 6: Universal ethics: behavior driven by internal moral principles

Teratogen

Any environment agent (biological, chemical, physical) that causes damage to the developing embryo or fetus

• Alcohol - FAS

• Smoking

• Drugs

• Radiation

• Viruses (e.g., HIV, Herpes, Rubella)

Newborn Reflexes

Inborn automatic responses to particular forms of stimulation (help new born survive)

Rooting, Sucking, Grasping, Moro Reflexes

Sensory Abilities of Newborns

Not fully developed at birth

Vision the least developed sense

Prefer human voices, specifically their mothers over a stranger’s

Can distinguish between the smell of their mother and others

Cognitive Development 2.0 (Baillargeon 1987)

Very young children understand objects and how they work long before they have experiences with those objects

Infants observed truck:

1. roll down an unobstructed track

2. roll down an unobstructed track with an obstruction (box) beside it

3. roll down and pass through what appeared to be an obstruction

Infant spent more time looking at 3, why?

Attachment

A long-standing connection or bond with others

Healthy attachments is one of the main psychosocial milestones of infancy

Most influential studies: Harry Harlow, John Bowlby, and Mary Ainsworth

Attachment - Harlow

Separated newborn monkeys from their mothers and presented them with two surrogate mothers

Feelings of comfort and security critical to maternal infant bonding

Attachment - Bowlby

Defined attachment as affectional bond/tie infant forms with mothers

Bond must be made with primary care giver to have normal social or emotional development

Saw attachment as all or nothing process

Secure base and requirements

Attachment - Ainsworth

Do children differ in the way they bond, and if so, why?

Strange Situation:

1. Caregiver and infant placed in room together with toys

2. Mother leaves room and stranger enters

3. After a few minutes, mother returns to the room to comfort child

Ainsworth styles of Attachment

Secure, Avoidant, Resistant, Disorganized

Secure attachment

Child uses parent as secure base from which to explore

Avoidant attachment

Unresponsive to parent, parent is not secure base, and does not care if parent leaves

Resistant attachment

Show clingy behavior, but then rejects mom’s attempts to interact with them

Disorganized attachment

Show odd behavior around caregiver

Social Psychology

our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors influenced by social situations

Situationism

our behavior, actions determined by OUR surroundings

Dispositionism

our behavior is determined by INTERNAL factors

Actor-Observer Bias

explaining other’s behaviors are due to internal factors and our own due to situations

-Situational traits -Dispositional traits

Self-Serving Bias

Success= it’s me

Failure= others interfered with me

-protects self-esteem-

Attribution

A belief about or the reason for the result

One model poses 3 dimensions

• Locus of Control - Internal/External

• Stability - Continuous/Changeable

• Controllability - Within/Outside our Power

Just World Hypothesis

Based on belief that the world is fair

Allows us to believe life is predictable and controllable

Also has negative outcomes

May contribute to victim blaming

Social Roles

Pattern of behavior expected of a person in given setting or group

Influenced by social norms and scripts

Attitude

Evaluation of person, an idea, or an object

Can be negative or positive

3 components

• Emotion

• Behavior

• Thinking

Cognitive Dissonance

Psychological discomfort when you have 2 or more inconsistent:

• Attitudes

• Behaviors

  • Cognitions

Prejudice

Negative attitude and feeling toward individuals based solely on one’s membership in a particular social group

Stereotype

Specific belief or assumption about individuals based solely on their membership in a group

Discrimination

A negative action toward individuals because of one’s membership of a particular group

Racism

P and D against an individual based solely on race

Dual Attitudes Model

Explicit: conscious and controllable

Implicit: unconscious and uncontrollable

Ageism

P and D toward individuals based solely on their age

Homophobia

P and D of individuals based solely on sexual orientation

-often results in discrimination of individual from social groups

-widespread in U.S. society

Sexism

P and D toward individual based on their sex

Self-fulfilling prophecy

-expectations about stereotype

-treat person according to our expectation

-influences person to act consistent with stereotype expectations

-confirms our stereotypic beliefs

What is stress

Stimulus-Based - Stress=Situations (high stress job)

Response-Based - Stress=Response (Anxiety)

Neither provide complete definition of stress

Process

How we perceive and respond to events we appraise as overwhelming or threatening

Types of Stress

Eustress

Distress

Eustress

Positive and motivates us

Distress

Negative, people feel burned out

Primary Appraisal

Judge potential or stressor outcome

Threat - leads to harm/loss/negative outcomes

Challenge - has the potential for gain/personal growth

Secondary Appraisal

What coping options are available and effective to make things less threatening/more in control

Stress Prevalence Trends

44% increased in stress level

31% stayed the same

Fight or Flight Response

threatening stressor → adrenal glands release

-epinephrine (adrenaline) and norepinephrine (noradrenaline)

-causes physio changes in body

General Adaptation Syndrome (Selye’s)

Alarm Reaction, Resistance, Exhaustion

-prolonged stress results in exhaustion

-ability to fight stress

Stressors

Chronic and Acute

• Traumatic events

  • Military combat

  • natural disasters

  • car accident

• Life changes

  • fairly typical events

  • Holmes and Rahe: Social Readjustment Rating Scale

• Daily hassles

  • Better predictor of physical and psy health than LCU’s

    • ex. waiting in line

Cortisol

stress hormone: boosts energy at stressor encounter

High Stress Occupations

-Difficult, demanding, or unsafe working conditions

-Occupations containing unpleasant elements

• Job strain and Job burnout

Close Relationships

-Adverse exchanges: conflicts

-Lack of emotional support

-Lack of reciprocity

Chronic stress

sustained physio reaction can lead to wear and tear on the body

Psychophysiological disorders

disorder/diseases with symptoms related to stress and emotional factors

Stress and Immune Function (Cohen)

-276 healthy volunteers reported recent stressors

-experimenters inserted nasal drops with cold virus

Problem-focused coping

-Id’ing problem, considering solutions, selecting one

-proactively addresses the problem

-often used when stressor is perceived as controllable

Emotion-focused coping

-avoiding, minimizing, or distancing oneself from problem

-+ comparisons with others, seeking positivity in a - event

-treat symptoms of stress, not the cause

-often used for stressors we feel powerless to change

Perceived control

believe we can influence: shape outcomes

Stress Reduction

Social Support

Exercise

Meditation and Relaxation

Biofeedback

Two types of coping

Problem-focused coping

Emotion-focused coping