Development Notes

Early Brain Development

• Developmental psychologists study how the mind and brain change across the lifespan.
• The brain is composed of over 80 billion nerve cells (neurons).
• Neurons communicate and process information.
• Each neuron has a cell body with a nucleus, and a fibre called an axon.
• Axon terminal releases chemicals called neurotransmitters.
• Brain development begins around the third week of pregnancy.
• Stem cells transform into any type of neuron.
• Main structures of the central nervous system take shape by day 56.
• The brain is largely complete by half-way through pregnancy.
• Key structure complete by birth.

Brain Areas and Functions:

• Brain stem: Autonomic functions such as breathing and heartbeat
• Thalamus: Completes some basic sensory processing and relays signals to the cerebral cortex
• Cerebellum: Controls precise physical movement and helps to coordinate actions
• Cerebral cortex: Cognition - thinking, perception and most memory processes; the visual cortex is part of the cerebral cortex

Brain Development After Birth

• A newborn baby has a more complex level of interconnections in their brain than an adult.
• Neural development occurs by pruning unnecessary connections.
• The brain becomes more attuned to its environment.
• Connections are strengthened, as the child learns rapidly.
• A stimulating environment is required.
• Brain development continues until at least adolescence.
• The brain shows plasticity throughout life.

Nature vs. Nurture Debate

• Human psychological development depends on both input from a child's environment and the expression of genes.
• Nature: Genes are more important than the environment.
• Nurture: Upbringing and life experiences are more important.
• Twin studies compare the psychology of identical and non-identical twins.
• A gene is a sequence of DNA.
• Expression of a gene causes the body to produce a protein.
• Genes affect the development of the body.
• Life experiences make human beings unique.
• Parenting plays a key role in a child's educational success.
• Genes and life experiences work in combination.
• Genes can be switched off or on depending on life experiences.
• Epigenetics is the study of this process and how the environment impacts gene expression.

Piaget's Theories

• Piaget believed that children develop schemas, which change and develop as they grow up.
• Schemas develop through two key processes: assimilation and accommodation.
• Assimilation means fitting new information into an existing schema.
• Accommodation means changing a schema, or developing a new one.
• Younger children are not just worse at thinking than adults, but they solve problems in different ways.
• Centration is the tendency of young children to focus on one element of a problem and ignore others.
• Logical operations allow older children to show conservation of volume, mass and other properties.

Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development

• Children's thinking goes through four main stages from birth to the age of 11:
  • Sensorimotor (0-2 years): Schemas are based on movements and interactions with physical objects.
  • Pre-operational (2-7 years): Thinking is egocentric; exhibit centration.
  • Concrete operational (8-11 years): Can make logical operations but are limited to concrete problems.
  • Formal operational (11+ years): Can think in the abstract.
• Piaget suggested that a child will learn to do things when they are biologically ready.
• Schools should facilitate discovery learning with support.

Evaluation of Piaget's Stage Theory

• Piaget's stages match the school system.
• Children develop at different rates.
• Cognitive development takes place slowly and gradually.
• Research focused on a small number of European children.
• Younger children are egocentric.
• Children can conserve number earlier than previously thought.

Learning Styles

• The theory of learning styles suggests that everyone has a way of learning that suits them best - visual, auditory or kinaesthetic.
• There is no reliable scientific evidence for the learning styles theory.
• Combining both verbal and visual information improves memory.
• Factual knowledge is essential.

Dweck's Mindset Theory of Learning

• There are two main mindsets that people can have: fixed or growth.
• A mindset is not the same as a self-efficacy belief.
• Praise can affect mindset.
• Fixed mindset: People think that ability levels are fixed.
• Growth mindset: People think that ability levels can be changed.
• Negative messages can affect self-efficacy