Developing Through the Lifespan

What is developmental Psychology

Scientific study of patters of change and stability in human

Development

the pattern of change from conception throughout the life spam (womb to tomb)

How can we study genetic contribution to traits and behavior?

• Behavioral genetic

• heritability

• Adoption studies

• twin-studies

Behavioral genetics

study of genetics and environmental bases of individual differences in behavior and personality

heritabiliy

statistical estimate of contribution of heredity to individual differences

adoption studies

compare adopted children to adoptive families and biological families

twin studies

compare pairs of monozygotic and same-sex dizygotic twinsm

monozygotic twins (MZ)

share 100% genes

Dizygotic twins (DZ)

share 50% genes

Adoption twin studies

compare MZ twins separated in infancy and MZ twins reared together

The 3 types of development

• Physical

• Cognitive

• Social

Reflexes

automatic responses to a specific stimulis

Piaget

theory of cognitive states

Cognitive Development (child) - piaget

Children make constant mental adaptations to new observations and experience

Assimilation

filling new information into present system of knowledge (schema)

Accommodation

as a result of new information, change existing schemaS

schema

cognitive framework or mental blueprint

birth to 2 years

Sensorimotor stage

Sensorimotor stage

looking, sucking, touching

object permanence

understanding that something continues to exist even when it cannot be seen

age 2 to 7

age 2 to 7

egocentric

only use own frame of reference

animistic thinking

attribute life to objects

Preoperational state

• egocentric

• animistic thinking

• cannot grasp concept of conservation

conservation

understanding that physical properties do not change when appearance changes

Concrete Operations Stage

age 7-11

age 2 to 7

Preoperational stage

What happens during concrete operations stage?

• Can understand conversation

• Can understand reversibility

• Can understand transitivity

reversibility

idea that a stimulus that has been changed can return to its original state

transitivity

understand how components in a series are related (if A>B and B>C, then A>C)

age 11 to adulthood

age 11 to adulthood

What happens during formal operations stage

• abstract and systematic reasoning

• thinking about future possibilities

Vygotsky’s theory of sociocultural influences

• cognitive development results from guidance

• Zone proximal development

• scaffolding

Zone of proximal development

level at which a child can almost perform a task independently

Scaffolding

teacher adjust amount of support to child’s level of development

Zone of Proximal development

Theory of mind

understanding of how other people think

Social development within a chilld

• changes in interpersonal thought, feeling, and behavior

True or false: social development is lifelong

True

Attachment

enduring, emotional bond between infant and another person

Harlow

soft contact important

Attachment styles

• secure

• insecure - anxious/ambivalent (resistant
  Insecure - avoidant

What causes insecure attachments?

• temperament

• stressful home life

• parenting

Long-term effects of attachment

attachment security affects emotional, social, and cognitive competence

What can attachment effect?

• Size of vocabulary

• interpersonal interaction

• emotions

Deprivation of attachments

Difficulty developing social bonds

Ethological theory (bowlby)

Babies have biologically programmed behaviors that prompt others to care for them

True or false: Infants that are more attractive get more affection, attention

true

Social development in an infant include:

• Attachment

• Harlow