Developmental Psychology: Exam 1 (Mississippi State-Armstrong)

Conception

process of becoming pregnant; sperm cells join with ovum to begin new life

Prenatal Period

the period of development from conception to birth

Child

a person undergoing the period of development from infancy through puberty

Infancy

"not speaking"

birth-2 yrs

before the appearance of complex speech

Early Childhood

2-5 years

lots of changes

Middle Childhood

6-12 years

entry into school

Puberty

process leading to sexual maturity

body might be able to have baby before it's really ready

"adolescence" is used interchangeably

Child Development

-"orderly unfolding of things"; "happens over time"; "sequential order"

-follows a sequence; the pattern is always the same but timing is different for each individual

-some people skip part of the sequence, but the sequence always stays the same

Development occurs on two levels:

1. Qualitative

2. Quantitative

Qualitative

a change in kind, structure, or organization marked by the emergence of new phenomena that cannot easily be anticipated on the basis of earlier function

-totally different, you couldn't have predicted it before

Quantitative

change in number or amount

Development occurs in 3 domains (multidimensional):

1. Physical

2. Cognitive

3. Social/Emotional

Physical

growth of body and in brain

Cognitive

patterns of change in mental ability (language)

Social Emotional

personality, relationships w/ people, etc.

Development occurs in three domains that are all INTERRELATED

meaning the development occurring in one area effects the other two areas

Development is multidirectional

effects gains and losses

Example where a gain isn't always a good thing

Alzheimers

Examples where a loss isn't always a bad thing

baby teeth

Development is plastic (plasticity)

meaning your brain is malleable in a way and your brain can COMPENSATE for other parts of the brain; helps us be ADAPTABLE

birth-2 years

the plasticity of your brain occurs from...

Development is influenced by multiple CONTEXTS

there are many of these in which we develop (family, school, culture, historical time period: cohort, etc.

Cohort

people are born at about the same generation, experiencing situations and life at the same time together

Cohorts are influenced by HISTORY GRADED influences

there are things that happen in our cohort that will happen in no other cohort

Cohorts are influenced by AGE GRADED influences

things you will experience simply because of your chronological age

Ex: when you started shool

-Vulnerability vs Resiliency (more positive outcome)

-Genetics

-Physical disabilities

-Intelligence (protective factor)

-easy temperament (protective factor)

-polite nature and lovely smile (protective factor)

What are some factors for why people with same experiences have different outcomes?

Differential Susceptability

idea that people vary in how sensitive they are to different situations or experiences

(some kids are a "dandelion," and can grow any time anywhere; other kids are "orchids", and everything must be just right to grow)

Optimize

Our goal is to ___________ conditions of development

1. Nature vs. Nurture

2. Continuous vs. Discontinuous

3. Active vs. Passive

4. Stability vs. Change

4 Controversies (Debates) in Child Development

Nature vs. Nurture

how much of you is explained by genetics vs how you're raised in your environment (both go together)

Continuous vs. Discontinuous

whether or not development is slow continuous process (walking uphill) or is it in spurts (walking up steps); both go together

Active vs. Passive

do children pursue things or are they more like a sponge, just taking what comes; both go together

Stability vs. Change

is your development stable or are parts of your development changing all the time (personality); also do they change across situation (w/ friends vs. w/ grandma)

Mechanistic Model vs. Organismic Model

Active vs. Passive Debate was the genesis for these two models

Mechanistic Model

development has to have an external impetus

Organismic Model

internal; development is driven internally

Theory

a formulation of relationships underlying observed events; involves assumptions and logically derived explanations and predictions (clear and testable)

Psychoanalytic Perspective

views children--and adults--as caught in conflict; a number of theories fall within this perspective, and all owe its origin to Freud

Psychosexual Stages of Development vs. Psychosocial Stages of Development

Freud's Theory vs. Erikson's Theory

beneath consciousness, like an iceberg

Freud believed that most of the human mind lies where?

Id, Ego, and Superego

Freud's 3 parts of personality

Id

operates on "pleasure principle"; it wants what it wants when it wants it; sexual desires, aggressive (ex: a 2-yr old)

Ego

largely conscious; develops as you get older and operates on "reality principle"; knows the Id but it understands reality; the two are at constant conflict with one another (ex: the babysitter)

Superego

strives for the absolute best (ex: Mom)

1. Oral Stage

2. Anal Stage

3. Phallic Stage

4. Latency Stage

5. Genital Stage

Freud's 5 stages of psychosexual development

Fixated

In Freud's psychosexual stages, if a child receives too little or too much gratification during a stage, it becomes _______________ on that stage

Oral Stage

-(birth-1 yr.) Gratifications derives from oral activities such as sucking

-people fixated on this stage talk too much, bite nails, smokers, sarcastic, dependent, depression, gullability

Anal Stage

-(1-3 yrs.) Gratification derives from anal activities involving elimination

-people fixated on this stage develop "anal-retentive" traits (excessive neatness) or "anal-expulsive traits" (sloppiness)

Phallic Stage

-(3-6 yrs.) Gratification derives from stimulation of the genital region

-develops unconscious sexual desire for mother or father

-people fixated on this stage develop phallic traits such as vanity

Latency Stage

(6-12 yrs) Sexual impulses are suppressed, allowing the child to focus on same sex peer relationships and technological skills

Genital Stage

(Adolescence-the rest of our lives) Sexual impulses reappear, with gratification sought through sexual relationships with an adult of the other sex

Theory of Psychosocial Development

-Erikson extended Freud's 5 stages to 8 to include the changing concerns throughout adulthood

-believed social interactions with people shape our development; always "something" vs. "something" else; healthy development includes both good and bad

-Labeled stages after the "life crises" that the child (and then adult) might encounter during that stage

1. Trust vs. Mistrust

2. Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt

3. Initiative vs. Guilt

4. Industry vs. Inferiority

5. Identity vs. Role Diffusion

6. Intimacy vs. Isolation

7. Generatively vs. Stagnation

8. Ego Integrity vs. Despair

Erikson's 8 Stages of Psychosocial Development

Trust vs. Mistrust

-(birth to 1) Developmental task is to come to trust their caregivers, primarily the mother, and the environment

-need to leave infancy knowing that if they have a need, people in their life will try to address it even though they can't meet it

Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt

(1-3 yrs.) independent; Developmental task is to gain the desire to make choices and the self-control to regulate one's behavior so that the choices can be actualized

-Be proactive parent (set it up so it's a win, win)

Initiative vs. Guilt

(3-6 yrs. old) Developmental task is to ad initiative--planning and attempting to achieve that which one has chosen. The preschooler is on the move and becomes proactive.

-Ex: plan afternoon, who they want to play with, plan a show for parents, etc.

Industry vs. Inferiority

(6-12 yrs.) Developmental task is to become absorbed in development and implementation of skills

-they have gone to school now; not industrious = lazy

-the sooner you learn the skills, the better

Identity vs. Role Diffusion

(Adolescence) Developmental task is to associate one's skills and social roles with the development of career goals

-More broadly, finding their identity

Intimacy vs. Isolation

(Young Adulthood) Developmental task is to commit oneself to another person and engage in a mature sexual love

Generativity vs. Stagnation

(Middle Adulthood) Developmental task is to appreciate the opportunity to "give back."

-creative and encourage and guide the younger generation, which may include their own children

Ego Integrity vs. Despair

Developmental task is to achieve wisdom and dignity in the face of declining physical abilities

-accepting the time and place of one's own life cycle

1. Behaviorism

2. Social Cognitive Theories

2 Learning Perspectives on Child Development

Behaviorism

associative learning; Watson argued that a scientific approach to development must focus on observable behavior only

1. Classical Conditioning

2. Operant Conditioning

two forms of learning in Behaviorism

Classical Conditioning

- 2 separate stimuli are associated

- a simple form of learning in which one stimulus comes to bring forth the response usually elicited by a second stimulus by being paired repeatedly with the second stimulus

Predict

Classical conditioning allows you to _______________ events because of the association between two events

Pavlov's Dogs

Classic example of classical conditioning

Unconditioned stimulus (UCS)

natural dog food in Pavlov's experiment

Neutral stimulus (NS)

the pitchfork in Pavlov's experiment

Unconditioned Response (UCR)

the saliva produced by the dog when the dog food and pitch fork were associated together

Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

the stimulus that was learned when the pitchfork was presented without the food yet still evoked a response

Conditioned Response (CR)

the saliva produced when the pitchfork was presented WITHOUT the food

False

True/False:

Everything learned through classical conditioning is a good thing

change the association

if you wanted to change what you learned through classical conditioning, you would need to...

Operant Conditioning

-a simple form of learning in which an organism learns to engage in behavior that is reinforced

-power comes from paying attention to behavior and consequence (result)

-there is a result in every action--not necessary for someone to do it

increases; good

Reinforcement always ______________ behavior; it is always _____________

Positive reinforcement

"+" ; presented/added after behavior occurs to increase likelihood of you doing behavior again; not everyone's is the same; typically good things

Negative reinforcement

"-" ; removed/taken away; removing something negative

-(ex: headache--whatever worked you'll do it again if it removes that unpleasant pain

Postive punishment

something bad presented/added

(ex: spanking)

Negative punishment

something good removed/taken away

Punishment

meant to decrease behavior

-by itself does not suggest an alternative behavior; we provide the alternative by replacing it (distracting them)

its delivery is guarenteed

punishment tends to suppress the undesirable behavior only when...

Forgotten behavior

Suppressed behavior and punished behavior is NOT... (goal is self-discipline)

Shaping

rewarding successive approximations of a goal

Social Cognitive Theory

Albert Bandura; observational learning--watch a model behave in some way and we mimic it

Ex: Bobo Doll

-we watch and wait before we model, and then we evaluate what happens

Self-efficacy

one's belief in one's ability to succeed in specific situations or accomplish a task

Cognitive-developmental theory

stage theory that hold that child's abilities to mentally represent the world and solve problems unfold as a result of the interaction experience and the maturation of neurological structures

While actively working w/ test makers and started to notice he got a lot of wrong answers

-noticed kids of the same age would miss certain answers in certain ways

How did Jean Piaget come across Cognitive Perspective?

1. Sensorimotor

2. Preoperational

3. Concrete Operational

4. Formal Operational

Jean Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development

Sensorimotor

-(Birth-2 yrs.) Children at this age are learning by their sensory motors (senses and motors)

-development of "object permanence"

Object permanence

things continue to exist even when you can't see them

Preoperational

-(2-7 yrs.) Before the child can perform operations (complex mental acts)

-Reversibility (conservation proves this)

-Conservation--->children presented with two beakers filled with equal amounts of fluid. Experimenter asks child if they are the same? The child answers "Yes."

-Experimenter then pours one beaker into a tall beaker, asking the child again if they are the same. This time the child says "no." Experimenter asks which has more? Child says "tall one."

-Same thing happens when looking at ball of Play-Dough and stretching out into a line of Play-Dough

Classic Experiment of Reversibility

Concrete Operational

(7-12 yrs.) when child goes to school and reversibility becomes important

-concrete is firm--->children can't think abstract

-when they can work with tangible/concrete things, typically they do better

Formal Operational

(12 yrs. and older) Capable of adult logic

1. Organization

2. Adaptation

3. Equilibration

At each of Piaget's stages, cognitive growth and development happened through these 3 interrelated processes:

Organization

tendency to create increasingly complex ways of thinking that incorporate more and more accurate images of reality

Ways of thinking: schemes

Organization includes this:

Schemes

organized patterns of behavior that a person uses to think about a situation and to act in that situation; changes as we get older

Adaptation

an interaction between the organism and the environment that consists of two processes