Knowt
AP Psych: Dev/Lang
Chapter 5
Developmental Issues, Prenatal development, and the Newborn
Developmental Psychology’s Major Issues
Developmental Psych examines our physical, cognitive, and social development across the life span, w/ a focus on three major issues
nature and nurture: how does the interaction between these two influence out development
continuity and stages: what parts of development are continuous and what parts are abrupt
stability and change: which traits persist and what changes?
Continuity and Stages
There are different theories suggesting how we develop as we grow and the stages we go through (provided by Jean Piaget, Lawrence Kohlberg, and Erik Erikson) but it it important to remember that “life does not progress through a fixed, predictable series of steps.”
Stability and Change
Personality traits tend to persist from childhood to adulthood
As people grow older, personality gradually stabilizes
BUT, some traits are less stable (ie social attitudes) and ultimately, we all change with age
shy fearful toddlers blossom into self-confident individuals in the years after adolescence
Openness, self-esteem, and agreeableness often peak in midlife
LIfe requires both stability AND change
stability provides out identity, change gives us hope for a brighter future
Prenatal Development and the Newborn
Prenatal Development
zygote: the fertilized egg; it enters a 2-week period of rapid cell division and develops into an embryo.
embryo: the developing human organism from about 2 weeks after fertilization through the second month.
fetus: the developing human organism from 9 weeks after conception to birth.
At each prenatal stage, genetic and environmental factors affect our development.
by the 6 mo, a fetus is responsive to sound and after emerging, they prefer their mother’s voice to another woman’s or their father’s
teratogens: (literally, “monster maker”) agents, such as chemicals and viruses, that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm.
ie alcohol
fetal alcohol syndrome: physical and cognitive abnormalities in children caused by a pregnant woman’s heavy drinking. In severe cases, signs include a small, out-of-proportion head and abnormal facial features.
substantial prenatal stress exposure puts a child at increased risk for health
problems such as hypertension, heart disease, obesity, and psychiatric disorders.
The Competent Newborn
habituation: decreasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation. As infants gain familiarity with repeated exposure to a stimulus, their interest wanes and they look away sooner.
The novel stimulus gets attention when first presented. With repetition, the response weakens.
Infancy and Childhood
maturation: biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience.
Physical Development
Brain Development
At different stages, different parts of the brain start to develop (ie nervous system, neural networks, frontal lobe, association areas)
Fiber pathways supporting agility, language, and self-control proliferate into puberty.
Under the influence of adrenal hormones, tens of billions of synapses form and organize, while a use-it-or-lose-it pruning process shuts down unused links
Motor Development
a baby’s first movements reflection not imitation, but a maturing nervous system
Genes guide motor development
Brain Maturation and Infant Memory
infantile amnesia: individuals are more likely to recall events that happened after/during the ages of 4-5, but not before that
by age 7, childhood amnesia wanes
infants are capable of learning (Rovee Collier)
What the conscious mind does not know and cannot express in words, the nervous system and our two-track mind somehow remember.
Cognitive Development
Jean Piaget studied children’s cognitive development
cognitive: all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating.
our intellectual progression reflects an unceasing struggle to make sense of our experiences.
was intrigued by children’s wrong answers, which were often strikingly similar among same-age children.
studies led him to believe that a child’s mind develops through a series of stages
schema: a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information.
assimilation: interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing schemas.
accommodation: adapting our current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information.
Piaget’s Theory and Current Thinking
Four Major Stages
1. sensorimotor- the stage (from birth to nearly 2 years of age) during which infants know the world mostly in terms of their sensory impressions and motor activities
“out of sight, out of mind” - lack of object permanence: the awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived.
baby physics
baby math
2. preoperational- the stage (from about 2 to about 6 or 7 years of age) during which a child learns to use language but does not yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete logic.
lack conservation- the principle (which Piaget believed to be a part of concrete
operational reasoning) that properties such as mass, volume, and number remain the same despite changes in the forms of objects.
symbolioc thinking
pretend play
egocentrism- the preoperational child’s difficulty taking another’s point of view.
theory of mind- people’s ideas about their own and others’ mental states— about their feelings, perceptions, and thoughts, and the behaviors these might predict.
3. concrete operational- the stage of cognitive development (from about 7 to 11 years of age) during which children gain the mental operations that enable them to think logically about concrete events.
beginning to grasp conservation
begin to comprehend mathematical transformations
4. formal operational- the stage of cognitive development (normally beginning about age 12) during which people begin to think logically about abstract concepts.
abstract thinking
systematic reasoning
Lev Vygotsky and the Social Child
He noted that by age 7, they increasingly think in words and use words to solve problems. They do this, he said, by internalizing their culture’s language and relying on inner speech (Fernyhough, 2008).
Vygotsky emphasized how the child’s mind grows through interaction with the social environment.
Autism Spectrum Disorder
disorder that appears in childhood and is marked by significant deficiencies in communication and social interaction, and by rigidly fixated interests and repetitive behaviors.
The underlying source of ASD’s symptoms seems to be poor communication among brain regions that normally work together to let us take another’s viewpoint.
“underconnectivity” “underconnectivity”—fewer than normal fiber tracts connecting
the front of the brain to the back. With underconnectivity, there is less of the whole-brain synchrony that, for example, integrates visual and emotional information.
spend less time looking into others’ eyes than other children the same age
impaired thory of mind
difficulty inferring and remembering others’ thoughts and feelings
have a hard time “mirroring”
Biological factors, including genetic influences and abnormal brain development, con tribute to ASD.
prenatal devlopment matters!
maternal infection and inflammation
psychiatric drug use
stress hormones
popular myth: mmr vaccines cause autism
two individuals with ASD mating increases the likelihood of their offspring having asd
random genetic mutations in sperm-producing cells
Social Development
stranger anxiety- the fear of strangers that infants commonly display, beginning by about 8 months of age.
Human Bonding
attachment- an emotional tie with another person; shown in young children by their seeking closeness to the caregiver and showing distress on separation.
survival impulse that keeps infants close to their caregivers
Body contact
Harlow study- wire mother vs cloth mother
Much parent-infant emotional communication occurs via soothing or arousing touch
Human attachment also consists of one person providing another with a secure base from which to explore and a safe haven when distressed.
As we mature, our secure base and safe haven shift—from parents to peers and partners
Familiarity
critical period- an optimal period early in the life of an organism when exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces normal development.
imprinting- the process by which certain animals form strong attachments during early life.
Lorenz studied ducklings
animals imprint best to their own species, but they will also imprint to a variety of moving objects
once formed this attachment is difficult to reverse
Children do not imprint
children become attatched to what they’re known
exposure fosters fondness
familiarity breeds content
Attachment Differences
secure attatchment- In their mother’s presence they play comfortably, happily exploring their new environment. When she leaves, they become distressed; when she returns, they seek contact with her.
mothers that were sensitive and resposive had infants who displayed secure attachment
insecure attatchement- marked by anxiety or avoidance of trusting relationships
less like to explore their surroundings
may cling to mother
when mother is not present, those with insecure attachment cry loudly and remain upset OR seem indifferent
those with insensitive, unresponsive mothers were often insecurely attacthed
Across nearly 100 studies worldwide, a father’s love and acceptance have been comparable to a mother’s love in predicting their offspring’s health and well-being.
Attachment Styles and Later Relationships
basic trust- according to Erik Erikson, a sense that the world is predictable and trustworthy; said to be formed during infancy by appropriate experiences with responsive caregivers.
Erikson attributed basic trust to early parenting theorizing that infants with sensitive, loving caregivers form a lifelong attitude of trust rather than fear.
left on pg 199
10/4/24
egocentrism and theory of mind are two sides of the same coin
theory of mind: the ability to put yourself in other’s shoes
children under the age of four are not able to predict what another individual would think or feel (ie princess sally experiment)
egocentrism: not knowing that others don’t know what you know
pretend play: practices theory of mind- away from egocentrism
p for present play, p for preoperational
C for conservation, c for concrete operational
conservation: the principle that properties such as mass, volume, and number remain the same despite changes in the forms of objects
ie. liquid, money, length, substance (clay)
Criticisms for Piaget
stages are not rigid
ages may not be accurate
Deep thinking does not dominate the formal operation stage
children have an intuitive understanding of the basic laws of physics
Infancy and Childhood: Cognitive Development
Baby mathematics: shown a numerically impossible outcome, infants stare longer
habituation: when babies don’t stare
Cognition: All the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating
Schema: a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information
Assimilation: interpreting one’s new experience in terms of one’s existing schemas
Accommodation: changing one’s current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information or experiences
Infancy and Childhood: Physical Development
motor development: refers to the acquisition of abilities such as grasping, walking, skipping, and balancing.
developmental norms: timetable during infancy that helps doctors and psychologists record motor development, and spot possible problems.
infantile amnesia: this explains why 3-4 year olds can’t remember anything of the first few months of life. Many neural connections that underlie memories are only beginning to form.
Sensory Development
Depth Perception: developed at least by the age of 6 months.
Visual cliff: used as a measurement of depth perception
Harlow study
monkey study (wire vs cloth mother)
Harlow (1971) showed that infants bond with surrogate mothers because of bodily contact and not because of nourishment.
pulling a being from their caregiver has disastrous consequences
monkeys were terror-stricken
Imprinting
attachment to
Lorenz studied birds
birds imprinted to his polka dot boots
Social Development (Mary Ainsworth)
Attachment: an emotional tie with another person
shown in young children by their seeking closeness to the caregiver and displaying distress on separation
Separation anxiety: Emotional distress seen in many infants when separated from people with whom they have formed attachments.
Forms of Attatchment
avoidantly attached: a form of insecure attachment in which child avoids mother and acts coldly to her
anxious resistant attachment: a form of insecure attachment where the child remains close to mother and remains distressed despite her attempts to comfort
secure attachment: Relaxed and attentive caregiving becomes the backbone of secure attachment.
Prenatal Development
At 9 weeks, an embryo turns into a fetus
Teratogens are chemicals or viruses that can enter the placenta and harm the developing fetus.
Fetal alcohol syndrome
physical and cognitive abnormalities in children caused by a pregnant woman’s heavy drinking
symptoms include misproportioned head
You are born with more brain cells than you need
may explain children’s increased plasticity
pruning: the “cutting down” on skill ability that is not being used/not needed
if children are not exposed to a language by a certain age, their ability to learn the language will decrease
10/8/24
Kohlberg may be outdated
Preconventional Morality: Before age 9, children show morality to avoid punishment or gain reward.
Conventional Morality: By early adolescence, social rules and laws are upheld for their own sake.
Postconventional Morality: Affirms people’s agreed-upon rights or follows personally perceived ethical principles.
Adolescence: Social Development
Carol Gilligan – Gilligan believes females differ from males both in being less concerned viewing themselves as separate individuals and in being more concerned with making connections.
males = individualistic and justice-oriented
females = relationship-oriented/care-oriented, group-oriented
Authoritative- considered the ideal parenting style in western society;
have a lot of rules but more acceptance
let the child develop into their unique self
Trust vs Mistrust
Erickson- psychodynamic
10/11/24
Aging and Intelligence
Cross-Selectional Studies
you see a steep drop in abilities
there is a lot of confounding variables that affect the results
Longitudinal studies
suggest that intelligence remains relative as we age. It is believed today that fluid intelligence (ability to reason speedily) declines with age, but crystallized intelligence (accumulated knowledge and skills) does not.
it is easier to keep track of the people
participants may drop out
researches may retire
Aging and Memory
Recognition memory does not decline with age, and material that is meaningful is recalled better than meaningless material. The same is true for prospective memory (remember to …).
recall: the ability to remember something off the top of you read
recognition: from a multiple-choice question, the ability to recognize the answer
recall tends to drop with age, recognition stays the same
10/16/24
Stages of Death
Kubler-Ross- Stages of Dying
Denial
Anger
Bargaining w/ God
Depression
Acceptance of death
Criticism
not everybody goes through each of the stages in order
some of the stages are skipped
Chomsky
have the inborn structures in your brain- you need to be fed whatever language you’re surrounded by
language acquisition device
you learn language the same way you learn walking
not intentional, through observation and imitation
social-learning theory- learning through observation
overgeneralization- overextending grammar rules to where they are not needed or appropriate
I “went” to the park —> I “goed” to the park
-s = plural
called morphemes- sounds that have meaning
language learning is in your genes- FOXP2
Whorf
linguistic determinism/relativity - language determines how you think and look at the world
Inuit people
Self-introductions: how one introduces themselves in America may be different from someone who introduces themselves somewhere else
Stages of Language Learning
babbling
making sounds found in any language
sounds start to resemble the native language around you
one word stage
words have meaning
two-word stage
telegraphic speech
no three-word stage
early intervention is key- for walking, for language
the earlier parents intervene with their child’s issues, the less detectable it will be later on
Lenninberg theory
if primary language is not learned by 13-14, the child will never really learn it
extending to a second language, might always have an accent if learned after a time period
learning a language at an earlier age = no accent/less likely to have an accent