Barron's Developmental Psych Chapter (1)
Developmental Psychology Learning Objectives
Overview of Developmental Psychology
Developmental psychology studies how behaviors and thoughts change across the lifespan. This field encompasses various aspects including personality development, the nature versus nurture debate, and various developmental research methods that align with psychological theories. It plays a critical role in understanding the biological, cognitive, and social factors that contribute to individual growth and change.
Research Methods
Various research methodologies are employed in developmental psychology to gather data and understand developmental processes:
Cross-sectional Studies: These studies compare different age groups at a single point in time to observe developmental changes and differences. For example, researchers may test the recall of nonsense words across children, adolescents, and older adults to infer cognitive age-related differences.
Longitudinal Studies: In contrast, longitudinal studies involve following one group over an extended period, which provides insights on how development unfolds over time. An example would be evaluating how children with mental challenges learn skills from early childhood through adolescence, highlighting the progression of learning abilities at different ages.
Prenatal Influences
The prenatal stage is crucial as various factors can significantly shape development:
Genetics: Inherited traits play a vital role in influencing development. Research involving identical twins helps in examining the extent of genetic impact on personality, behavior, and cognitive abilities.
Teratogens: Environmental agents, such as alcohol and drugs, can severely affect fetal development. For instance, maternal alcohol consumption can lead to fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), which affects physical and cognitive development, while cocaine or heroin exposure can result in newborns experiencing withdrawal symptoms and addiction.
Motor/Sensory Development
Motor and sensory milestones are critical in early development:
Reflexes: Infants possess a set of inborn reflexes, such as the rooting reflex (turning head to the touch of the cheek), sucking reflex, grasping reflex, Moro reflex (startle response), and Babinski reflex (toes fan out when foot is stroked).
Newborn's Senses: Infants are capable of hearing sounds while still in the womb. Vision develops dramatically during the first year, as demonstrated by studies involving the visual cliff, which illustrate how babies perceive depth and assess their surroundings.
Gender and Development
This area examines the intersection of cultural roles and biological differences in shaping gender identity and expectations:
Biopsychological Theory: This theory emphasizes genetic differences that influence trends in gender roles and behaviors.
Social-Cognitive Theory: It highlights the impact of societal influences, self-perception, and socialization processes on the development of gender identity throughout childhood and adolescence.
Stage Theories
There are differing perspectives on how development progresses:
Discontinuity vs. Continuity: This debate addresses whether development occurs in distinct stages (discontinuity) or through smoother, continuous progression.
Erik Erikson's Psychosocial Stages: Erikson proposed eight developmental stages that focus on significant social conflicts that individuals encounter as they grow:
Trust vs. Mistrust
Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt
Initiative vs. Guilt
Industry vs. Inferiority
Identity vs. Role Confusion
Intimacy vs. Isolation
Generativity vs. Stagnation
Integrity vs. Despair
Cognitive Development
Jean Piaget is a pivotal figure in understanding cognitive development, identifying four distinct stages:
Sensorimotor Stage (0-2 years): Characterized by the development of object permanence; infants explore the world primarily through their senses and motor actions.
Preoperational Stage (2-7 years): In this stage, children develop language skills and engage in imaginative play, but they struggle with egocentrism (difficulty in seeing the perspective of others).
Concrete Operational Stage (7-12 years): Children begin to think logically about concrete events and grasp the concept of conservation—understanding that quantity does not change with physical arrangement.
Formal Operational Stage (12+ years): Adolescents develop abstract reasoning, allowing for hypothesis testing and advanced problem-solving.
Language Acquisition
Language development is closely linked to cognitive processes:
Stages of Language Development: These include the Babbling Stage (around 4 months), where infants experiment with different phonemes; the Holophrastic Stage (around 1 year), characterized by single-word utterances; and the Telegraphic Stage (around 18 months), where two-word combinations are used.
Overregularization: This phenomenon occurs when language rules are incorrectly applied (e.g., adding -ed to irregular verbs). The nativist theory posits that humans possess an innate language acquisition device that facilitates language learning, as proposed by Noam Chomsky.
Attachment Theory
Attachment theory emphasizes the importance of early relationships:
Contact Comfort: Research by Harry Harlow demonstrated that infants prefer physical comfort (as observed in his studies with monkeys) over mere nourishment, highlighting the emotional component of attachment.
Mary Ainsworth's Study: In Ainsworth's research, three types of attachment were identified: secure attachment, where children feel safe exploring their environment; avoidant attachment, where children show reduced emotional engagement; and anxious/ambivalent attachment, characterized by clinginess and resistance to separation.
Ecological Systems Theory
This theory posits that development is influenced by a variety of interrelated systems:
Microsystem: The immediate environment, such as family and school interactions.
Mesosystem: The interactions between different parts of a person’s microsystem, for instance, how family life influences a child's performance at school.
Exosystem: External settings that indirectly influence development, like parental workplaces.
Macrosystem: The overarching cultural influences that shape individual experiences and values.
Chronosystem: The influence of time and changes over the lifespan on development and life events.
Parenting Styles
Parenting styles significantly affect a child's emotional and social development:
Authoritarian: This style features strict rules and a high demand for obedience with little open dialogue, often leading to anxious or withdrawn children.
Permissive: Characterized by lenient rules and an inconsistent approach to discipline, fostering a more liberal environment often resulting in lack of self-discipline in children.
Authoritative: Balances high expectations with support and open communication, generally correlating with positive developmental outcomes such as greater self-esteem and social competence in children.