The Complexity of Psychological Development

Development

changes in an organism that occur over time.

Developmental change

A change that is relatively permanent or lasting.

What does the study of life span development cover?

both relatively permanent changes, as well as changes which differ between individuals.

relatively permanent changes are…

common to all individuals

what does emotional development involve

changes in how an individual experiences different feelings and how these feelings are expressed, interpreted and dealt with

emotional development example

the way in which anger is expressed by a 2-year-old, compared with a 16-year-old or an 80-year-old person.

what does cognitive development involve

changes in an individual’s mental abilities, such as reasoning, problem-solving, decision-making, perception, learning, memory and use of language.

what does social development involve

changes in an individual’s relationships with other people and their skills in interacting with others, such as the ability to form and maintain close relationships with others in a group situation.

what does physical development involve

changes in the body and its various systems, such as development of the brain and its nervous system, bones and muscles, motor skills, and the hormonal changes of puberty and menopause.

what are the stages of life span development

infancy: birth–2 years, childhood: 2–12 years, adolescence: 12–20 years, early adulthood: 20–40 years, middle age: 40–65 years, older age: 65 years and beyond.

Developmental norm

a data set showing the typical skills and expected levels of achievement associated with a particular age or stage of development

What do developmental norms provide

a way of comparing an individual’s development with that of others in the same age group.

Comparison

Comparison can give information on the progress of development in relation to what is ‘the average’ or ‘typical’ for people in an age group. 

Hereditary

the transmission of characteristics from biological parents to their offspring via genes at the time of conception.

Environment

all experiences, objects and events to which we are exposed throughout our entire lifetime.

What did many of the early psychologist believe in?

either the hereditary or the environmental view of development.

What does our individual development begin with?

with the genetic instructions instructions we inherit at conception and that these instructions provide the building blocks, or ‘blueprint’, for the development of our psychological (and physical) characteristics.

The environment interacts with our…

inherited potential to determine how the genetic plan unfolds

the biopsychosocial model 

an approach to describing and explaining psychological development and wellbeing through the interaction of biological, psychological and social factors.

Psychological factors include:

Effects of prior experience, learning, memory, ways of thinking, attitude, beliefs, perception, emotions, resilience and coping skills.

Social factors include

Interpersonal relationships, access to social support, social media, education background, employment history, economic circumstances, access to healthcare, social stressors, ethnicity, cultural values and traditions.

Biological factors include

Genes, age, sex, race, brain chemistry, nervous system activity, hormones, disease, sleep patterns and bodily responses to stress.

Biological factors involve

physiologically based or determined influences, often not under our control

Psychological factors involve

all those internal, mental processes and influences

Social factors involve

influences from the external social environment in which we interact with others

The biopsychosocial model reflects…

a holistic view of development and wellbeing. The individual is considered as a ‘whole person’ functioning in their unique environment.

What does the biopsychosocial model recognise?

that development is not only the result of internal factors but is also greatly influenced by external factors such as their physical surroundings, social interactions and cultural exposure.

Emotion

a complex reaction pattern to a personally significant event or matter that involves a mixture of physiological responses, subjective feelings and expressive behaviour

Subjective feeling

The inner, personal experience of an emotion

Expressive behavior

The many overt expressions of behaviour which communicate emotions. an outward sign that an emotion is being experienced, and such behaviour can be either intentional or unintentional

Physiological responses

Occur when we experience an emotion involving changes such as heart rate, blood pressure, breathing rate and perspiration.

attachment

the emotional bond which forms between an infant and another person.

The strange situation

a standardised test for measuring the attachment relationship a child has with their parent.

Who made the strange situation

Mary Ainsworth

What happens in the strange situation

The infant and caregiver are taken into an unfamiliar room containing some age-appropriate toys. Then the infant is exposed to a series of separations and reunions involving the caregiver, the infant and a stranger.

Stranger anxiety

the distress and uneasiness experienced by young children when they are around people who are unfamiliar to them.

Separation anxiety

the distress and uneasiness when away from the person or people to whom they are attached.

What does an infant who has formed a secure attachment show?

a balance between dependence and exploration.

what shows you that the infant has as secure attachment

The infant uses the caregiver as a ‘home’, or safe base from which to venture out and explore an unfamiliar environment, but shows some distress and decreases exploration when the caregiver departs. When the caregiver returns, the infant is enthusiastic and seeks physical contact with them.

What does an infant with insecure avoidant attachment do?

does not seek closeness or contact with the caregiver and treats them much like a stranger.

How does the infant with insecure avoidant attachment respond?

The infant rarely cries when the caregiver leaves the room and ignores the caregiver upon their return.

What do research findings suggest about infants with insecure avoidant attachment?

this attachment type may be the result of neglectful or abusive caregivers

What does the infant do in insecure resistant attachment?

appears anxious even when their caregiver is near. They become very upset when separated from the caregiver.

How does the infant with insecure resistant attachment respond?

When the caregiver returns, the infant approaches them, cries to be picked up, then squirms or fights to get free, as though it is not sure about what it really wants.

What is insecure resistant attachment a result of?

from caregivers who are not very responsive to their infant’s needs.

Who identified disorganised attachment?

Mary Main and Judith Solomon

What is disorganised attachment

A form of insecure attachment in which infants show inconsistent or odd and contradictory behaviours during separation from and reunion with their caregivers.

Disorganised attachement example

when reunited with a caregiver they might seek close contact but would do so by moving slowly back towards the caregiver or approach with their head turned in another direction as if avoiding eye contact.

What happens to people with a disorganised attachment in adulthood?

they tend to find it difficult to have close relationships, to open up to others or to seek out help or other forms of support.

Surrogate

anyone or anything which ‘substitutes for’ or ‘plays the part of’ something else.

How were the surrogates set up in Harry Harlow’s monkey experiment?

One of the surrogates was covered in terry-towelling cloth and the other was left uncovered.

What did Harlow propose about his monkey experiment?

that if an infant’s attachment to its mother was based primarily on feeding, the infant monkeys should have preferred and become attached to whichever surrogate mother had the bottle.

privation

the absence of the opportunity to satisfy something that is needed or desired, in this case, the need for social contact.

What has Harlow’s experiment enabled?

psychologists to better understand factors which influence attachment, and the effects of different attachment experiences on emotional and social development

Cognitive development cannot…

be directly observed

Adaptation

taking in, processing, organising and using new information in ways which enable us to adjust to changes in our environment.

Assimilation

the process of taking in new information and fitting it into and making it part of a pre-existing mental idea about objects or experiences.

How does adaptation happen?

through two closely related processes which he called assimilation and accommodation.

What do we do through assimilation

we explain or make sense of new information in terms of what we already know. For example, a young child may see a truck and call it a car, simply because a car is the only type of vehicle for which the child has a pre-existing mental idea.

Accomodation

changing pre-existing information (or mental idea) so the new information may be included.

What does cognitive development involve?

an ongoing attempt to achieve a balance between assimilation and accommodation — a state of equilibrium through a process he termed equilibration

Schema

a mental idea of what something is and how to act on it. 

What are the 4 stages of cognitive development

The sensorimotor stage, the pre operational stage, the concrete operational stage, and the formal operational stage.

Piaget proposed that individuals…

do not develop the mental capabilities of a later stage without first having acquired those of an earlier stage. Furthermore, the rate at which each person passes through the stages may vary.

What age group is the sensorimotor stage?

birth to about 2 years of age

What do infants do in the sensorimotor stage

infants explore and learn about the world primarily through their senses and motor activities

What happens after the first 3 months of an infants life?

most infants begin to integrate sensory and motor information and can start to coordinate their behaviour to grasp an object or turn towards a noise

Object permanence

the understanding that objects still exist even if they cannot be seen, heard or touched

What stage of cognitive development object permanence is reached in?

Sensorimotor stage

What stage of cognitive development is goal directed behaviour reached in?

Sensorimotor stage

Piaget proposed that object permanence…

is a key cognitive accomplishment of the sensorimotor stage.

Goal-directed behaviour

to perform and successfully complete a sequence of actions with a particular purpose in mind

What age group is the pre operational stage?

2-7

What stage of cognitive development is symbolic thinking reached in?

pre operational stage

What stage of cognitive development is egocentrism reached in?

pre operational stage

What stage of cognitive development is animism reached in?

pre operational stage

What stage of cognitive development is transformation reached in?

pre operational stage

What stage of cognitive development is centration reached in?

pre operational stage

What stage of cognitive development is reversibility reached in?

pre operational stage

What happens as children progress through the pre operational stage

they become increasingly able to mentally represent objects and experiences

symbolic thinking

the ability to use symbols such as words and pictures to represent objects that are not physically present

egocentrism

the tendency to perceive the world solely from one’s own point of view

Animism

the belief that everything which exists has some kind of consciousness

Piaget proposed that animism…

was linked to egocentric thinking

transformation

understanding that something can change from one state to another

centration

only focusing on one quality or feature of an object or event at a time.

reversibility

the ability to mentally follow a sequence of events or line of reasoning back to its starting point

What age group is the concrete operational stage

7-12

What is a child in the concrete operational stage now capable of?

true logical thought and can perform mental ‘operations’

What stage of cognitive development is conservation reached in?

Concrete operational stage

What stage of cognitive development is classification reached in?

Concrete operational stage

What stage of cognitive development are mental operations reached in?

Concrete operational stage

Mental operations

the ability to accurately imagine the consequences of something happening without it actually needing to happen

In the concrete operational stage, mental operations…

can only be applied to ‘concrete’ objects or events that are immediately present and can therefore be touched, seen or experienced in some way through the senses

Conservation

the understanding that certain properties of an object can remain the same even when its appearance changes

classification

the ability to organise objects or events into categories based on common features that set them apart from other categories

What age level is the Formal operational stage

12+

What stage of cognitive development is abstract thinking reached in?

formal operational stage

What stage of cognitive development is deductive reasoning reached in?

formal operational stage

What stage of cognitive development is idealistic thinking reached in?

formal operational stage