Developmental Psychology - Exam #1 (PSYC 3093)

Medieval times (6th to 15th century)

- Children treated as miniature adults? "pre formationism"

- Childhood recognized as unique phase of life.

Reformation

The puritans. Believed the children were evil. Harsh, strict discipline practices to literally "beat the devil" out of them

John Locke

- Empricist

- All things must be learned

- newborns are a tabula rasa

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

- Children are born innocent and innately good

- "noble savages"

- We must nurture these tendencies

Charles Darwin

Believed in natural selection. Adaptive significance of behavior or physical characteristics

"Ontogeny Recapitulates Phylogeny"

Development Repeats Evolution.

(Darwin stole this saying from Haeckel)

G. Stanely Hall

- "Father of developmental psychology"

- Founder of the APA

- Was fond of ORP, applied it to moral development in childhood and adolescence

- Since we have only recently in our history become "moral creatures", we should wait until late in development to begin moral education. NOT A GOOD IDEAAAA!!

Development

Development is a change, specifically over time. Not all change is development

For change to be development, it must be..

- Systemic: orderly and predictable

- Organized: systems working together

- Successive in character: later developments build upon earlier ones

Continuity vs. Discontinuity

Continuity: Development occurs steadily and gradually, developmental change is quantitative

Discontinuity: Development occurs in discrete stages; developmental change is qualitative

Nature vs. Nurture

Nature: Biological factors (genetics) are the most important determinants of developmental outcomes

Nurture: Environmental and experiential factors are the most important determinants of development (family, schools, peers, etc)

One Developmental path vs. Many

One path: proscribed, universal pattern followed by all typical members of the species

Many paths: start and endpoints may be defined, but multiple ways to get there

"Legacy" theories

- Psychodynamic Theories

- Learning Theories

- Piaget's Theory

"Newer" theories

- Vygotsky's Theory

- Systems Theories

- Ethological and Evolutionary Theories

Psychodynamic Theory

Theoretical viewpoint of Sigmund Freud - Best known for his system of therapy called psychoanalysis and work with adults, but he was also a developmental theorist too.

Three main aspects of Freud's theory

- Structure of personality - id, ego, superego

- Topography of personality - Conscious/Unconscious

- Developmental Personality - Psychosexual stages

Psychosexual stages

-Oral: 1st year of life - Attatchment

-Anal: 1-3 years - Toilet training

-Phallic: 3-5 years - Sex typing

-Latency: 5-puberty - Quiet period

-Genital: puberty and onward - Adult personality

Problems with Freud's theory

-Based on studies of mentally troubled adults!

-Never studied children!

-Gender biased/sexist

-Too occupied with sex

-Too much focus on early years of life, however...

!!!!MAJOR STRENGTH: Importance of early experience for later development!!!!

Erikson's Psychosocial Theory

Two major deviations from Freud -

1. Turns focus away from internal, sexual urges to external, social issues.

2. Lifespan theory: 8 psychosocial stages extend into and through adulthood, each characterized by the major psychosocial issue that needs to be resolved during that stage

The Psychosocial Stages

1. Infancy - Trust vs. Mistrust

2. Toddler - Autonomy vs. Shame/Doubt

3. Early Childhood - Initiative vs. Guilt

4. Middle Childhood - Industry vs. Inferiority

5. Adolescence - Identity vs. Identity Confusion

6. Early Adult - Intimacy vs. Isolation

7. Middle Adult - Generativity vs. Stagnation

8. Late Adult - Integrity vs. Despair

Learning Theories

classical conditioning, operant conditioning, social learning

Learning Theories

Completely different from Freudian Psychology.

J.B. watson

Behaviorism.

-If psychology really wants to be a science, then it should focus on only what is directly observable (behaviors)

-Everything is learned (tabula rosa)

Classical Conditioning

A very basic form of learning. Always dependent on the prior existence of a reflex or automatic response.

Operant Conditioning

BF Skinner!!

-Consequences can influence the liklehood that a response will occur

-Reinforcement & Punishment

Reinforcement

Any consequences that make the preceding response more likely to occur again

Punishment

Any consequences that make the preceding response less likely to occur again

Positive Reinforcement

Presentation of a desirable stimulus following the response

Negative Reinforcement

Removal of an aversive or undesirable stimulus following the response. Is not a punishment!!!

Reinforcement traps

Positive and negative reinforcement working together

Social Learning Theory

Learning in the absence of reinforcement. Children can learn via sample process of observation and imitation

Bandura's famous bobo doll experiment

Demonstrated social learning.

Vicarious reinforcement: Children had to remember what happened. Opened way for cognition to re-enter the picture

Piaget's theory

Most influential theory in developmental psychology through much of the late 20th century. Was a child prodigy, trained in biology.

- "Genetic Epistemology" - The development of knowledge

-Complex, organismic theory of development

Schemes

Basic unit of knowledge

Adaptation

Mental structures change to fit the demands of the environment

Equilibrium

Mental structures move toward a state of balance or equilibrium

Assimilation

Fitting new information/problems/etc. into existing cognitive structures

Accomodation

Modifying cognitive structures in response to new information/problems

Piaget's 4 stages of cognitive development

sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational

Sensorimotor Stage

(0-2 years)

-Knowledge = perception and action. A child knows about things only when they are actively involved with the object/activity

Preoperational Stage

(2-6 years)

- Child has symbolic representation

- Child can't operate logically on those symbols

- Thus, the preschool child's thought is characterized by - Lack of logical problem solving and Egocentrism

Egocentrism

Inability to take another's perspective. Believe everyone shares their own point of view

Concrete operational stage

(6-12 years)

- Child can now operate logically on mental representations

- Can only do so for concrete, real tangible problems and situations

- Has problems with abstract concepts and abstract reasoning

Formal Operational Stage

(12 years and up)

- Fully formed adult logical abilities

- Logical operations are mental structures that can be applied to any content

- Scientific reasoning

- Abstract reasoning

Strengths of Piaget's Theory

- Extremely influential

- Cognitive/Developmental assumption

- Testable predictions

Limitations of Piaget's Theory

- Lots of jargon

- Are they really stages?

- Underestimate kid's abilities

Alternatives to Piaget

Information processing approaches - not a single theory but a group of theories. David Klahr and Robert Siegler. Accept Piagets cognitive/developmental assumption but disagree with the description of cognition, so they treat cognition as an information processing machine

Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory

-Lev S. Vygotsky

-Russion theory influenced by the major sociocultural events at the time

Vygotsky

Believed conflict is the root of all change.

- Children are confronted with conflict during social interaction with more competent others

- Culture and its "tools" are transmitted to children during social interaction

- Allows for multiple developmental trajectories

- Distinct paths for different skills

- No strong stage claims

- Places cognitive development squarely within social contexts

Zone of proximal development

Difference in performance on a task alone and performance on the same task when assisted by a more competent other

- This "zone" is where effective instruction and social interaction can occur

- Similar to something like "readiness" or emergent skills

Vygotsky vs. Piaget

-Stage vs ZPD - piaget's strong stage claims versus vygotsky's developmental "windows"

- Language and thought - Piaget says thought drives language, Vygotsky says it's the other way around

- Private speech - P: Egocentric speech V: self regulatory speech

Ethology

Darwin, Konrad Lorenz, Niko Tinbergen

- infants and young children especially interesting to ethologist/evolutionary developmental psychologist

- also important in understanding parental 'investment' in children and pubertal/reproductive issues

Adaptive

Promotion of survival and therefore reproduction

Natural Selection

Adaptive characteristics are 'selected' and passed down to progeny

Neonety

Characteristics of young species when compared with adults

-Large head in comparison to body

-Large eyes in comparison to head

-Small, frail looking body

Critical Periods

Important ethological concept. Developmental period during which the organism is most susceptible to environmental effects

Experimental Method

-Independent variable, dependent variable

-Great control, allows for casual conclusions

-Lack of ecological validity

Correlation Method

-Observation, Interviews, Surveys, Case studies

-No manipulation of variables

-High ecological validity

-Correlation not Causation!

Developmental Designs

- Procedures used to measure change with development/age -> Cross sectional, Longitudinal, Sequential

Cross-Sectional

- Testing children of different ages at the same approximate point in time

- Most frequently used in developmental design

- Strengths - Efficient and Economical

- Weaknesses - Doesn't measure individual development, must choose age groups very carefully

Longitudinal Design

- Testing the same group of participants across time

- Less frequently used, but becoming more common

- Strengths - Measures individual development, measures stability and change in development

- Weaknesses - Expensive and time intensive, Participant Attrition

Cohort effects

-Neither cross-sectional nor longitudinal design can account for cohort effects

-A cohort is a group of people born at approximately the same time

-Cohort effect is an effect that is a function of date of birth (social/physical/economical conditions, etc).

Cross sectional

Tests many cohorts but at the same time

Longitudinal

Tests only one cohort

Sequential Design

A longitudinal series of cross-sectional studies. First proposed by Schaie

Informed Consent

- Informed -> Purpose, Procedures, Rights as participants

- Consent -> Agreeing to participate

Level of the cell

-Nucleus

-46 Chromosomes - 23 pairs

-Genes

-Dna

-Nucleotides

A (Adenine) always paired with

T (Thymine)

C (Cytosine) always paired with

G (Guanine)

Mitosis

Exact duplication of cells with full complement of 46 chromosomes

Meiosis

Produces the gametes (Sperm and ova) with 23 chromosomes

Alleles

Matched pairs of genes at identical location on chromosome pairs

Autosomal Dominant Alleles

Expresses even if only one of alleles is dominant

Autosomal Recessive Alleles

Expresses only when both alleles are recessive

D-R Inheritance traits

-Eye Color?

6 or more sets of alleles

-Hair Color?

Bright red hair

-Several Diseases

Cystic Fibrosis

Phenylketonuria (PKU)

Sickle-Cell Anemia

X linked chromosomes

Expressed more in males.

Male pattern baldness, Albinism, Muscular dystrophy, Hemophilia

Down Syndrome (Trisomy 21) *Non sex chromosomes

-Distinct physical characteristics

-Mental retardation

-Congenital heart defect

XXY

Klinefelter syndrome

X0

Turner syndrome

Fragile X

Most common genetic cause of mental retardation. some association with autism. Abnormal repetition of a particular gene sequence on the X chromosome. Expressed only when defective gene is passed from mother to child

Physical Environment Factors

Prenatal and Postnatal (Quality of air, water, nutrition, etc)

Social Environment Factors

Family, Peers, Schools, Community

Genotype

Genetic makeup

Phenotype

Outward expression of traits

Reaction Range

Genotype sets lower and upper limits on expression of the phenotype

Scarr and McCartney's Model

Gene and environments are not independent factors, they are correlated. Genetic determines to some extent what environments one experiences

-Parent genotype influences child genotype

-Child genotype influences child phenotype

-Rearing environment influences child phenotype

-NOTE the three arrows influencing Rearing Environment

Twin Studies

Considered to be "holy grail" of behavior genetics studies, but given these new conceptualizations they may not be.

Epigenetic Change

-This interaction between nature and nurture can occur at all environmental levels

-Specific aspects or events in the prenatal environment or early behavior can influence gene expression

-Thus, the environment can actually influence the behavior of cells and their components.

-And such changes are heritable!

Prenatal Development

Fertilization occurs in fallopian tube, create zygote

Germinal Period

0-2 Weeks

Embryonic Period

2-8 Weeks

Fetal Period

9 Weeks on..

A child is Born (Nilsson, 1966)

-Followed a piece in life that featured his photos

-Photos taken endoscopically through the uterine wall and also of fetuses that were miscarried or surgically removed

-Unbelievable technology/images for the time period

Embryonic Period

-Groundwork for major body components and organs, including brain

-Heartbeat by 4 to 5 weeks

-Sexual differentiation begins around 7 weeks (though not visually distinguished until around 12 weeks)

-1.5" in length at end of this period

Fetal Stage

-From rudiments to fully formed infant

-"Growth and finishing"

-Ossification (bone development)

End of 4th month

Undeniably human form, ultrasound can pretty accurately detect gender

End of 5th month

Neural proliferation basically complete, glial cells and myelination begins, survival outside of womb possible, but difficult (20%)

End of 6th month

-Hemispheric cleft, production of pulmonary surfactant which allow for independent breathing

-"Age of viability" (about 85-90% born will survive)

7th month

-Lungs capable, eyes open and close, great increase in brain fissures

8th month

-Skin pigmented

-Fat accumulation, esp on arms and legs