Life-Span Development & Personality – Comprehensive Notes

Module 27 – Nature & Nurture: The Enduring Developmental Issue

• Core Question (Nature–Nurture Issue)
– \text{Behavior} = f(\text{Hereditary factors} + \text{Environmental factors})
– Modern view = interactionism (both forces always co-operate).
• Key Methods for Estimating Heredity vs. Environment
– Twin studies (identical vs. fraternal; reared together / apart).
– Adoption studies (genetically unrelated siblings in same home).
– Selective breeding & enrichment / deprivation studies in animals.
• Developmental Research Designs
– Cross-sectional: compare age cohorts at one time; fast but cohort effects.
– Longitudinal: follow same people across time; shows true change but costly; attrition.
– Sequential: combines both ⇒ disentangles cohort vs. age changes.

Prenatal Development – Conception→Birth

• Genetics Primer
– 23 chromosome pairs per zygote → 23 \times 2 = 46 total.
– Gene = DNA segment; humans ≈ 25{,}000 genes.
– Sex determination: XX = female, XY = male (Y carries “maleness” gene).
• Periods & Milestones

1. Germinal (0–2 wk): zygote cell division \uparrow.

2. Embryonic (2–8 wk): organogenesis; heartbeat at ≈4 wk.

3. Fetal (8 wk–birth): growth, movement, age of viability ≈22–24 wk.
   • Sensitive / Critical Periods
   – Time windows when teratogens (drugs, alcohol, radiation, maternal illness) exert maximal damage.
   – Language‐learning sensitive period continues postnatally.
   • Genetic Disorders
   – PKU, sickle-cell anemia, Tay-Sachs, Down syndrome (trisomy-21; risk \uparrow if mother < 18 or > 35).
   • Teratogens & Maternal Variables
   – Nutrition, disease (rubella, syphilis), drug use (legal & illegal), alcohol → FASD, nicotine, stress hormones.

Module 28 – Infancy & Childhood

The Extraordinary Newborn (Neonate)

• Reflexes: rooting, sucking, gag, startle (Moro), Babinski.
• Sensory Competence: vision best at 7–8 in; depth by 1 mo; size constancy; imitate facial expressions; prefer sweet taste.
• Habituation Paradigm: heart-rate or sucking change marks discrimination.

Physical Milestones (50 % attainment ages)

Roll 3 mo → Sit 6 mo → Stand 9 mo → Walk 12 mo
Fine-pincer 8 mo → 2-block tower 15 mo → Steps 17 mo

Social Development

• Attachment (Bowlby; Ainsworth Strange Situation).
– Secure, Avoidant, Ambivalent (Resistant), Disorganized.
• Father & Multiple Attachments: rough-and-tumble play; children form several bonds simultaneously.
• Peer Play: parallel → associative → cooperative; cultural variability (e.g., Korean-American less pretend play).
• Child-Care Quality: high-quality centers → IQ \uparrow, social skills \uparrow; >20 h/wk before age 1 may weaken attachment.
• Parenting Styles (Baumrind)
– Authoritarian, Permissive, Authoritative (best outcomes), Uninvolved.
• Temperament: biologically based reactivity; interacts with parenting to shape outcomes.
• Resilience: high outgoingness, perceived control; can neutralize risk.

Erikson’s Childhood Stages

0-1½  Trust vs. Mistrust
1½-3 Autonomy vs. Shame & Doubt
3-6   Initiative vs. Guilt
6-12  Industry vs. Inferiority

Cognitive Development

• Piaget’s Four Stages

1. Sensorimotor (0-2): object permanence (≈9 mo).

2. Preoperational (2-7): egocentrism; no conservation.

3. Concrete Operational (7-12): conservation & reversibility; logical about concretes.

4. Formal Operational (12+): abstract, hypothetical thinking (only ~40–60 % adults fully reach).
   • Critiques: development more continuous; infants show number sense, OP earlier.
   • Information-Processing Gains: faster processing, memory span grows: 2-yr-old ≈2 chunks ⇒ adult ≈7.
   • Metacognition & Theory-of-Mind emerge ⇒ understand own/others’ mental states.
   • Vygotsky: cognition = socially mediated; Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) & scaffolding.

Module 29 – Adolescence: Becoming an Adult

Physical Development

• Puberty: girls ~11–12 (menarche); boys ~13 (spermarche).
• Early vs. late maturation impacts body-image, social status, depression risk.

Cognitive & Moral Development

• Kohlberg Levels
– Pre-conventional (punishment/reward)
– Conventional (social norms)
– Post-conventional (universal principles).
– Critiques: cultural bias; Carol Gilligan ⇒ ethic of care.

Social Identity (Erikson)

• Identity vs. Role Confusion → peer reliance, exploration.
• Storm-and-Stress myth: modest parent-teen conflict peaks ~15 yr.
• Adolescent egocentrism (imaginary audience; personal fable).
• Suicide: 2nd leading death 10–14 yr; warning signs.

Module 30 – Adulthood

Early & Middle Adulthood

• Emerging Adulthood (18-25): identity exploration, instability.
• Physical peak ≈18-25; then slow decline; menopause ~50; no male menopause.
• Midlife Transition; “crisis” usually exaggerated.
• Social Roles: career, marriage (avg age \uparrow, divorce ≈39 %), parenting; second-shift for women.

Late Adulthood (65+)

• Aging Theories:
– Genetic preprogramming (telomere shortening).
– Wear-and-tear (oxidative damage).
• Cognition: fluid intelligence ↓; crystallized ↑; episodic memory may decline; semantic & implicit stable.
• Alzheimer’s: 5.5 M Americans; \uparrow plaques & neurofibrillary tangles.
• Disengagement vs. Activity Theory; Life Review.

Death & Dying (Kübler-Ross)

Denial → Anger → Bargaining → Depression → Acceptance

Chapter 10 – Personality

Psychodynamic Approaches

• Freud’s Structure
– Id (pleasure principle).
– Ego (reality principle).
– Superego (conscience + ego-ideal).
• Defense Mechanisms: repression (primary), regression, displacement, rationalization, denial, projection, sublimation, reaction formation.
• Psychosexual Stages: Oral (0-18 mo); Anal (18-36 mo); Phallic (3-6 yr, Oedipal/Electra); Latency (6-puberty); Genital (puberty+).
• Neo-Freudians:
– Jung: collective unconscious & archetypes.
– Horney: social & cultural factors; womb envy.
– Adler: striving for superiority; inferiority complex.

Trait Approaches

• Allport: cardinal, central (5–10), secondary traits.
• Cattell: 16PF via factor analysis.
• Eysenck: 3 superfactors – Extraversion, Neuroticism, Psychoticism.
• Big Five (OCEAN):
– Openness (curious ↔ conventional).
– Conscientiousness (organized ↔ careless).
– Extraversion (sociable ↔ reserved).
– Agreeableness (trusting ↔ antagonistic).
– Neuroticism (stable ↔ anxious).

Learning Perspectives

• Skinner: personality = operant history.
• Bandura: social-cognitive; observational learning; reciprocal determinism; self-efficacy.
• Mischel: situationism; CAPS – if-then behavior signatures; delay of gratification.
• Self-Esteem Cycle (low \rightarrow anxiety \rightarrow failure loop).

Biological & Evolutionary

• Temperament present at birth; heritability studies (twins).
• Specific genes (e.g., DRD4) linked to novelty seeking.
• \text{Personality variance} = \text{Genetic factors} + \text{Environment} + \text{Gene} \times \text{Env.}.

Humanistic Approaches

• Rogers: self-concept; need for positive regard; unconditional positive regard ⇒ congruence ⇒ self-actualization.
• Maslow: hierarchy culminating in self-actualization.

Personality Assessment

• Psychological Test Quality
– Reliability (consistency).
– Validity (accuracy).
– Standardization & Norms (comparison group).

Self-Report Inventories

• MMPI-2-RF: 338 T/F items → 51 scales; includes validity (Lie) scales.
• 16PF, NEO-PI-R (Big Five), Kuder Career, Myers-Briggs (type indicator; limited evidence).

Projective Techniques

• Rorschach Inkblot Test – 10 blots; responses scored on form, content, movement, color.
• Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) – 30 ambiguous pictures; story content reveals needs (achievement, affiliation, power).
– Interpretation subjective; reliability/validity debated.

Behavioral Assessment

• Direct observation in labs or natural settings; frequency & duration counts.
• Useful for intervention evaluation (e.g., shyness treatment).

Cultural & Ethical Issues

• Test norms must consider fairness; race-based norming banned in employment (Civil Rights Act 1991) yet debates persist.

Quick Equations & Statistics

• Suicide rate formula: \text{Rate} = \frac{\text{Suicides}}{\text{Population}} \times 100{,}000.
• Age of viability ≈ 22\text{ wk} = 154\text{ days} post-conception.
• Telomere shortening rate ≈ \sim 50–100 base pairs per cell division (aging theory).

End of Comprehensive Notes

Module 27 – Nature & Nurture: The Enduring Developmental Issue

• Core Question (Nature–Nurture Issue)

– \text{Behavior} = f(\text{Hereditary factors} + \text{Environmental factors})

– Modern view = interactionism: both genetic predispositions (nature) and environmental influences (nurture) constantly co-operate and interact to shape development, rather than acting as independent forces.

• Key Methods for Estimating Heredity vs. Environment

– Twin studies: Compare similarities between identical (monozygotic, sharing 100\% of genes) and fraternal (dizygotic, sharing 50\% of genes like regular siblings) twins, both reared together and, if possible, reared apart. Higher correlation in identical twins than fraternal twins suggests genetic influence, while differences between identical twins reared apart point to environmental effects.

– Adoption studies: Compare adopted children to their biological parents (genetics) and their adoptive parents (environment). Similarities with biological parents suggest genetic influence, and similarities with adoptive parents suggest environmental influence.

– Selective breeding & enrichment / deprivation studies in animals: These allow researchers to control genetic lineage (selective breeding) or environmental conditions (enrichment/deprivation) to observe specific developmental outcomes, providing insights into nature-nurture interactions that cannot be ethically studied in humans.

• Developmental Research Designs

– Cross-sectional: Compares different age groups (cohorts) at a single point in time. It is fast and efficient but susceptible to "cohort effects" (differences observed between age groups may be due to the unique experiences or historical contexts of each generation, not true developmental change).

– Longitudinal: Follows the same group of individuals over an extended period, measuring changes as they age. This design effectively shows true individual change but is costly, time-consuming, and faces challenges like participant attrition (drop-out) and practice effects from repeated testing.

– Sequential: Combines elements of both cross-sectional and longitudinal designs, studying multiple age cohorts over time. This approach helps to disentangle age-related changes from cohort effects and is considered the most powerful design for developmental research.

Prenatal Development – Conception→Birth

• Genetics Primer

– A zygote is formed from the union of sperm and egg, each contributing 23 chromosomes, resulting in 23 chromosome pairs, making a total of 23 \times 2 = 46 chromosomes in each human cell.

– Gene: A specific segment of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) located on a chromosome that carries instructions for inherited traits. Humans have approximately 25{,}000 genes.

– Alleles: Different forms of a gene. Genotype refers to the specific genetic makeup (e.g., inheriting 'Bb' for eye color), while phenotype is the observable characteristic expressed by the genotype (e.g., brown eyes).

– Sex determination: Determined by the 23rd pair of chromosomes. XX chromosomes result in a female, while XY chromosomes result in a male. The Y chromosome carries the SRY ("sex-determining region Y") gene, which initiates "maleness."

• Periods & Milestones

1. Germinal (0–2 wk): Begins at conception with the formation of the zygote. Characterized by rapid cell division (mitosis) as the zygote travels down the fallopian tube to the uterus and implants into the uterine wall, forming a blastocyst.

2. Embryonic (2–8 wk): Following implantation, major organs and body systems develop in a process called organogenesis. By week 4, the heart begins to beat, and rapid growth in neural tubes, limbs, and facial structures occurs. This period is highly vulnerable to teratogens.

3. Fetal (8 wk–birth): Marked by significant growth and maturation of all organ systems. Fetal movements become prominent. The age of viability (the earliest point at which a fetus can survive outside the womb with medical intervention) is approximately 22–24 weeks, though survival rates increase significantly with each passing week.

• Sensitive / Critical Periods

– Specific time windows during development when an organism is especially sensitive or vulnerable to certain environmental influences or stimuli. Exposure to teratogens (environmental agents such as drugs, alcohol, radiation, or maternal illnesses) during these periods can exert maximal and often irreversible damage to fetal development.

– For example, heart development is most sensitive to teratogens between weeks 3 and 6 of gestation. Language learning has a sensitive period that extends significantly postnatally, where acquiring a first language is easiest, and subsequent language acquisition becomes more challenging over time.

• Genetic Disorders

– Inherited conditions caused by abnormalities in an individual's genes or chromosomes.

– PKU (Phenylketonuria): A metabolic disorder where the body cannot process the amino acid phenylalanine, leading to intellectual disability if untreated.

– Sickle-cell anemia: A blood disorder causing red blood cells to become sickle-shaped, leading to pain and organ damage.

– Tay-Sachs disease: A fatal genetic disorder that destroys nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, predominantly affecting infants.

– Down syndrome (Trisomy-21): Caused by an extra copy of chromosome 21, resulting in characteristic physical features and intellectual disability. The risk for Down syndrome increases significantly if the mother is younger than 18 or older than 35 at conception.

• Teratogens & Maternal Variables

– Nutrition: Inadequate maternal nutrition, especially deficiencies in folic acid, can lead to neural tube defects like spina bifida.

– Disease: Maternal infections can cross the placenta and harm the fetus. Examples include rubella (German measles, leading to blindness, deafness, heart defects), syphilis (can cause miscarriage, stillbirth, or congenital syphilis affecting various organs).

– Drug use (legal & illegal): Prescription drugs (e.g., some anti-depressants), over-the-counter medications, and illegal substances (e.g., cocaine, heroin) can cause various developmental abnormalities, withdrawal symptoms, and long-term behavioral issues.

– Alcohol: Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) are a range of physical, behavioral, and cognitive abnormalities caused by maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) is the most severe form, characterized by distinct facial features, growth problems, and central nervous system abnormalities.

– Nicotine: Smoking during pregnancy can lead to low birth weight, premature birth, respiratory problems, and increased risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

– Stress hormones: Chronic maternal stress and the associated increase in stress hormones (e.g., cortisol) can negatively affect fetal brain development, leading to increased risk of anxiety, attention problems, and other behavioral difficulties in childhood.

Module 28 – Infancy & Childhood

The Extraordinary Newborn (Neonate)

• Reflexes: Innate, involuntary responses crucial for survival and early development.

– Rooting: Turning the head and opening the mouth in response to a touch on the cheek, helping in finding the nipple for feeding.

– Sucking: Rhythmic sucking movements when an object is placed in the mouth, essential for feeding.

– Gag: Contraction of the throat to prevent choking.

– Startle (Moro): Arching the back, flinging out arms and legs, and then pulling them in, in response to a sudden loud noise or loss of head support. Believed to be a primitive protective reflex.

– Babinski: Fanning and curling of the toes when the sole of the foot is stroked. Disappears around 12 months.

• Sensory Competence: Newborns possess remarkable sensory abilities from birth.

– Vision: Initially fuzzy, best at 7–8 inches (the typical distance of a mother's face during feeding). Depth perception develops around 1 month of age. Infants show size constancy, meaning they perceive objects as maintaining a constant size despite changes in distance. They prefer human faces, high contrast patterns, and patterns resembling eyes. Newborns can imitate basic facial expressions, suggesting early social responsiveness.

– Hearing: Well-developed at birth, infants show a preference for their mother's voice and can discriminate between different speech sounds.

– Taste & Smell: Prefer sweet tastes over sour or bitter ones, important for breast milk intake. They can distinguish their mother's scent.

• Habituation Paradigm: A research method used to study infant perception and cognition. It relies on the principle that infants will show a decreased response (e.g., reduced heart rate, decreased sucking) to a repeatedly presented stimulus (habituation); if a new stimulus is then presented and the infant's response recovers (dishabituation), it indicates they can discriminate between the new and old stimuli.

Physical Milestones (50 % attainment ages)

Motor development follows cephalocaudal (head-to-toe) and proximodistal (center-outward) patterns, leading to increasingly complex movements.

Roll (front to back, back to front): 3 months
Sit (unsupported): 6 months
Stand (holding on): 9 months
Walk (unassisted): 12 months
Fine-pincer grasp (using thumb and forefinger): 8 months
2-block tower (stacking two blocks): 15 months
Steps (walking up/down stairs): 17 months

Social Development

• Attachment (Bowlby; Ainsworth Strange Situation):

– Attachment: A deep, enduring emotional bond between a child and a primary caregiver, crucial for healthy social and emotional development.

– Mary Ainsworth's Strange Situation: A laboratory procedure designed to assess the quality of attachment by observing an infant's reactions to separations from and reunions with their caregiver.

– Secure Attachment: (approx. 60-65%): Infants use the caregiver as a secure base, explore freely when the caregiver is present, show distress when separated, and are easily comforted upon reunion.

– Avoidant Attachment: (approx. 20%): Infants show little distress upon separation, may avoid the caregiver upon reunion, and do not use the caregiver as a secure base. They appear independent but may suppress emotional needs.

– Ambivalent (Resistant) Attachment: (approx. 10-15%): Infants are highly distressed when separated, seek closeness upon reunion but simultaneously resist contact (e.g., pushing away). They are often anxious and clingy, showing both desire for proximity and anger.

– Disorganized Attachment: (approx. 5-10%): Infants display a confusing mix of behaviors (e.g., dazed expressions, flat affect, contradictory actions like approaching then avoiding), indicating a lack of a coherent strategy for coping with stress. Often associated with inconsistent or frightening caregiving.

• Father & Multiple Attachments: Children typically form several attachment bonds simultaneously. Fathers often engage in more rough-and-tumble play, which contributes to children's social and physical development by teaching them about limits, emotional regulation, and social interaction.

• Peer Play: Play with peers is vital for social learning.

– Parallel play: (toddlers) Children play alongside each other with similar toys but do not interact.

– Associative play: (preschoolers) Children interact, sharing toys or materials, but without a common goal or formal organization.

– Cooperative play: (school-age) Children collaborate on a common goal, often involving imaginative play or organized games with rules and roles.

– Cultural variability exists in play patterns (e.g., Korean-American children may engage in less pretend play than Western children due to cultural emphasis on real-world skills).

• Child-Care Quality: High-quality child-care centers (characterized by low child-to-staff ratios, well-trained staff, engaging activities, and warm interactions) are associated with positive outcomes, including higher IQ scores and improved social skills in children. However, studies suggest that spending more than 20 hours/week in child care before age 1, especially in lower-quality settings, may slightly weaken attachment security, though this effect is often modest and dependent on family factors.

• Parenting Styles (Baumrind): Developmental psychologist Diana Baumrind identified four primary parenting styles based on two dimensions: demandingness (control) and responsiveness (warmth).

– Authoritarian: High demandingness, low responsiveness. Parents impose strict rules, expect unquestioning obedience, and use harsh punishment. Children tend to be obedient but may have lower self-esteem, be less joyful, and struggle with social competence.

– Permissive: Low demandingness, high responsiveness. Parents set few rules, avoid confrontation, and are highly nurturing. Children may be impulsive, lack self-control, and have difficulty with authority but often have high self-esteem.

– Authoritative (best outcomes): High demandingness, high responsiveness. Parents set clear limits and expectations but are also sensitive to their children's needs, explain rules, and encourage open communication. This style consistently leads to the best child outcomes, including high self-esteem, self-reliance, social competence, and academic success.

– Uninvolved (Neglectful): Low demandingness, low responsiveness. Parents are emotionally detached, neglectful, and provide minimal supervision or support. Children often exhibit poor academic performance, social difficulties, and behavioral problems.

• Temperament: Refers to an individual's innate, biologically based set of behavioral and emotional predispositions (e.g., reactivity, mood, activity level) that appear early in life. It interacts dynamically with parenting styles to shape developmental outcomes, leading to a "goodness of fit" or "poorness of fit" between child temperament and parental practices.

– Temperament categories often include "easy" (adaptable, positive mood), "difficult" (irritable, irregular, intense reactions), and "slow-to-warm-up" (low activity, somewhat negative mood, adapt slowly).

• Resilience: The capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness. Resilient children often exhibit high outgoingness, a strong sense of perceived control over their lives, and the ability to neutralise risk factors by leveraging internal strengths and external support systems, such as positive relationships with adults or involvement in structured activities.

Erikson’s Childhood Stages

Erik Erikson proposed a psychosocial theory of development, emphasizing social interactions and conflicts that lead to the development of ego identity. Each stage presents a crisis that must be resolved.

0-1½ Trust vs. Mistrust: Infants learn to trust their caregivers and the world if their basic needs are met consistently and caringly. If not, they develop mistrust.
1½-3 Autonomy vs. Shame & Doubt: Toddlers develop a sense of personal control over physical skills and a sense of independence. Success leads to autonomy; failure leads to shame and doubt.
3-6   Initiative vs. Guilt: Preschoolers begin to assert control and power over the environment, planning activities and making up games. Success in taking initiative leads to a sense of purpose; over-criticism can lead to guilt.
6-12  Industry vs. Inferiority: School-age children cope with new social and academic demands. Success leads to a sense of competence and industry; failure leads to feelings of inferiority. 

Cognitive Development

• Piaget’s Four Stages: Jean Piaget's theory describes discontinuous, stage-like changes in cognitive abilities as children construct their understanding of the world.

1. Sensorimotor (0-2 years): Infants learn about the world through sensory experiences and motor actions. Key achievement: object permanence, understanding that objects continue to exist even when not seen (emerges around 9 months). During this stage, infants also develop rudimentary problem-solving skills and goal-directed behavior.

2. Preoperational (2-7 years): Children use symbols (words, images) to represent objects but lack logical reasoning. Characterized by egocentrism (difficulty taking another's perspective) and a lack of conservation (understanding that quantity remains the same despite changes in appearance, e.g., water in different shaped glasses). Thinking is pre-logical, relying on perception rather than reason. Animism (attributing life to inanimate objects) is also common.

3. Concrete Operational (7-12 years): Children develop logical thought about concrete events. They master conservation, understand reversibility (actions can be undone), and can perform mental operations as long as they are applied to concrete objects or events. They begin to think systematically but still struggle with abstract or hypothetical concepts.

4. Formal Operational (12+ years): Adolescents and adults develop the ability for abstract, hypothetical, and deductive reasoning. They can think systematically about possibilities, consider multiple variables, and engage in scientific reasoning. Piaget estimated that only approximately 40–60\% of adults fully reach this stage, suggesting that formal operational thought is not universal.

• Critiques: Piaget's theory has been critiqued for underestimating the cognitive abilities of young children. Research, particularly using methods like habituation, shows that development is more continuous than stage-like, and infants often demonstrate capabilities such as number sense and object permanence much earlier than Piaget proposed.

• Information-Processing Gains: Cognitive development involves gradual improvements in mental processes, similar to how a computer processes information.

– Faster processing speed: Children's cognitive processing becomes more efficient as they age, allowing them to solve problems more quickly.

– Memory span grows: Working memory capacity increases. A typical 2-year-old can hold approximately 2 "chunks" of information in working memory, which gradually expands to about 7 chunks for adults (similar to Miller's "magic number" 7 \pm 2 for short-term memory capacity).

– Increased attention span and selective attention.

– Development of more effective memory strategies (e.g., rehearsal, organization).

• Metacognition & Theory-of-Mind emerge:

– Metacognition: "Thinking about thinking"; the awareness and understanding of one's own thought processes, including monitoring and regulating one's learning and problem-solving strategies (e.g., knowing how to study effectively).

– Theory-of-Mind: The ability to attribute mental states (beliefs, desires, intentions, emotions) to oneself and others and to understand that others' mental states may differ from one's own. This is crucial for empathy, social interaction, and deception. It typically begins to emerge around age 4-5.

• Vygotsky: Lev Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory emphasizes that cognition is fundamentally socially mediated. Learning occurs through social interactions with more knowledgeable others.

– Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD): The gap between what a learner can do independently and what they can achieve with the guidance and collaboration of a more skilled person (e.g., a teacher or a peer). This is where learning is most effective.

– Scaffolding: The temporary support provided by a more skilled person to a learner within their ZPD. This support is gradually withdrawn as the learner becomes more competent, allowing them to take on increasing responsibility for the task.

Module 29 – Adolescence: Becoming an Adult

Physical Development

• Puberty: The period of rapid physical maturation involving hormonal and bodily changes that lead to sexual maturity.

– Girls typically begin puberty around 11–12 years of age, marked by menarche (first menstruation).

– Boys typically begin puberty around 13 years of age, marked by spermarche (first ejaculation).

– These changes are driven by an increase in hormones like estrogens (in girls) and androgens (in boys), leading to the development of primary (reproductive organs) and secondary (e.g., breast development, facial hair) sex characteristics.

• Early vs. late maturation impacts body-image, social status, and depression risk.

– Early-maturing girls: May experience negative body image (due to increased body fat), higher rates of depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and may be exposed to substance abuse and sexual activity earlier due to associating with older peers.

– Early-maturing boys: Often have an advantage, being perceived as more athletic and popular, leading to higher self-esteem. However, they may also be more prone to engage in risk-taking behaviors.

– Late-maturing boys: May feel self-conscious and less attractive, leading to lower self-esteem and potential social difficulties.

– Late-maturing girls: Tend to have a more positive body image, closer relationships with peers their own age, and fewer behavioral problems than early-maturing girls.

Cognitive & Moral Development

• Kohlberg Levels: Lawrence Kohlberg's theory describes three levels of moral reasoning, each with two stages, built upon cognitive development.

– Pre-conventional (Stage 1: Punishment and Obedience Orientation; Stage 2: Individualism and Exchange/Self-Interest Orientation): Moral reasoning is based on external consequences (punishment or reward) and self-interest. "What's in it for me?" and avoiding punishment.

– Conventional (Stage 3: Good Interpersonal Relationships/Mutual Interpersonal Expectations; Stage 4: Maintaining the Social Order/Law and Order Orientation): Moral reasoning is guided by social norms, laws, and the desire to gain approval from others or maintain social order. Acts are considered right if they conform to societal rules.

– Post-conventional (Stage 5: Social Contract and Individual Rights; Stage 6: Universal Ethical Principles): Moral reasoning is based on abstract principles and universal human rights, recognizing that laws can be fallible. Stage 6 involves making decisions based on self-chosen ethical principles, even if they conflict with laws (very few individuals consistently reach this stage).

– Critiques: Kohlberg's theory has been criticized for cultural bias (emphasizing justice and individual rights, which may not be universal values) and gender bias. Carol Gilligan argued that Kohlberg's model, developed primarily using male participants, did not adequately account for a distinctly female ethic of care, which emphasizes relationships, empathy, and responsiveness to others' needs, rather than abstract justice.

Social Identity (Erikson)

• Identity vs. Role Confusion (Adolescence): This is Erikson's fifth psychosocial stage, where adolescents grapple with defining who they are, what they believe, and where they are going in life. They explore various roles, values, and ideologies, often through peer reliance and experimentation. Successful resolution leads to a strong sense of personal identity; failure results in role confusion and uncertainty about their place in the world.

• Storm-and-Stress myth: While adolescence is a period of significant change, the idea of it being a time of extreme "storm and stress" (marked by severe mood swings, rebellion, and crisis) is largely exaggerated. Research shows that while modest parent-teen conflict peaks around 15 years of age, most adolescents navigate this period without severe emotional turmoil, and the majority maintain positive relationships with their parents.

• Adolescent egocentrism: A heightened self-consciousness that manifests in two distinct ways:

– Imaginary audience: The belief that others are constantly watching and evaluating them, and that they are the focus of everyone's attention (e.g., feeling like everyone notices a small zit).

– Personal fable: The belief that one is unique and invulnerable, and that no one else can understand their experiences or emotions. This can lead to risk-taking behaviors (e.g., "It won't happen to me").

• Suicide: Unfortunately, suicide is a serious concern during adolescence and is currently the 2\text{nd} leading cause of death among individuals aged 10–14 years ($\$1\text{st}$ among 15-24 years in some statistics). Warning signs include: direct or indirect threats of self-harm, preoccupation with death, withdrawal from social activities, sudden changes in mood or behavior, giving away possessions, increased substance abuse, feelings of hopelessness, and a lack of interest in future plans. Prompt recognition and intervention are critical.

Module 30 – Adulthood

Early & Middle Adulthood

• Emerging Adulthood (18-25 years): A distinct developmental period proposed by Jeffrey Arnett. It is characterized by five features:

1. Identity exploration: Exploring possibilities in love, work, and worldview.

2. Instability: Frequent changes in residence, relationships, and careers.

3. Self-focused: Less obligations to others, more focus on personal needs.

4. Feeling in-between: Not fully an adolescent, not yet truly an adult.

5. Age of possibilities: Optimism about the future, a chance to transform their lives.

• Physical peak: Physical abilities (strength, speed, reaction time) typically peak around ages 18-25. After this, there is a slow, gradual decline in physical functioning. This decline accelerates somewhat in middle adulthood via changes like vision and hearing loss, muscle mass reduction, and a slower metabolism.

– Menopause: Occurs in women around age 50, marking the cessation of menstruation and reproductive capacity due to a significant decline in estrogen production. It can be accompanied by symptoms like hot flashes and mood changes.

– No male menopause: While men experience a gradual decline in testosterone (andropause) starting in their 40s, it is a much slower and less dramatic process than menopause in women, and men generally retain reproductive capacity throughout much of their lifespan.

• Midlife Transition: A normative developmental period, often involving a re-evaluation of one's life, goals, and legacy. The idea of a "midlife crisis" involving dramatic upheaval (e.g., buying a sports car, changing careers spontaneously) is usually exaggerated and experienced by only a minority of adults. For most, significant changes during this period are often predictable life events rather than crises.

• Social Roles: Adulthood involves navigating various social roles and transitions.

– Career: Establishing and advancing in a career path.

– Marriage: Average age for first marriage has increased (e.g., late 20s/early 30s in many Western countries). The divorce rate in the US has historically been around 39\% for first marriages, though rates vary by cohort and individual circumstances.

– Parenting: The shift to parenthood significantly impacts lifestyle, relationships, and responsibilities.

– Second-shift for women: Many women in heterosexual relationships, even when working full-time, still disproportionately bear the burden of household chores and childcare, creating a "second shift" of labor after their paid employment.

Late Adulthood (65+)

• Aging Theories: Explanations for the biological processes of aging.

– Genetic preprogramming (cellular clock theory): Suggests that human cells have a built-in limit to the number of times they can divide, implying a predetermined genetic lifespan. This is linked to telomere shortening, where the protective caps on the ends of chromosomes (telomeres) shorten with each cell division. When telomeres become too short, cells can no longer divide and become senescent (aging and non-functioning) or undergo apoptosis (programmed cell death). The typical shortening rate is approximately \sim 50–100 base pairs per cell division.

– Wear-and-tear (oxidative damage theory): Proposes that the body and its cells simply wear out over time due to accumulating damage from normal metabolic processes and environmental factors. Oxidative damage is a key mechanism, where unstable oxygen molecules (free radicals) are produced during metabolism and cause damage to cellular structures like DNA, proteins, and lipids, contributing to cellular aging and disease.

• Cognition: Cognitive changes are typical but highly variable in late adulthood.

– Fluid intelligence (processing speed, abstract reasoning, novel problem-solving): Tends to decline gradually from middle adulthood onward.

– Crystallized intelligence (accumulated knowledge, vocabulary, wisdom based on experience): Tends to remain stable or even increase throughout much of adulthood and into late adulthood.

– Episodic memory (memory for specific events): May show some decline, particularly for remembering specific details or dates.

– Semantic memory (general knowledge, facts, concepts) and implicit memory (unconscious memory, procedural skills): Generally remain relatively stable, showing little to no decline with age.

• Alzheimer’s: A progressive neurodegenerative disease and the most common cause of dementia. It affects an estimated 5.5 million Americans. Characterized pathologically by the accumulation of amyloid plaques (dense deposits of beta-amyloid protein fragments outside neurons) and neurofibrillary tangles (twisted fibers of tau protein within neurons), which disrupt neuronal communication and lead to widespread brain cell death, particularly in areas associated with memory and cognitive function.

• Disengagement vs. Activity Theory:

– Disengagement theory: (Older, largely disproven view) Proposes that as people age, they naturally and mutually withdraw from society, and society withdraws from them. This prepares them for death.

– Activity theory: (More widely supported) Suggests that successful aging involves maintaining as much activity and social involvement as possible. Positive self-concept and life satisfaction are linked to continued engagement in social roles and activities.

• Life Review: A common and often therapeutic process in late adulthood where individuals reflect on and integrate their life experiences, accomplishments, and setbacks. It can lead to a sense of integrity and closure (Erikson's final stage).

Death & Dying (Kübler-Ross)

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross proposed five stages of grief typically experienced by people facing terminal illness or significant loss. It's important to note these are not necessarily sequential and individuals may experience them differently or not at all.

Denial: Refusal to accept the reality of the situation, believing it's a mistake or that doctors are wrong.
Anger: Feelings of rage, resentment, and bitterness directed at oneself, others, or higher powers.
Bargaining: Attempts to make deals with a higher power or fate to postpone the inevitable (e.g., "If I do X, I'll live longer").
Depression: Overwhelming sadness, despair, and hopelessness as the reality of the situation sets in.
Acceptance: Coming to terms with the inevitable, finding a sense of peace and often a quiet resignation.

Chapter 10 – Personality

Psychodynamic Approaches

• Freud’s Structure: Sigmund Freud proposed that personality is shaped by unconscious psychological forces, structured into three interacting components:

– Id (pleasure principle): The most primitive part, entirely unconscious, driven by innate biological urges and desires, seeking immediate gratification of needs (e.g., hunger, sex, aggression). Operates according to the pleasure principle, aiming for immediate tension reduction.

– Ego (reality principle): Develops from the Id, acts as the rational, decision-making component. It mediates between the Id's demands, the Superego's strictures, and the external world. Operates according to the reality principle, delaying gratification until appropriate and realistically achievable. Conscious and unconscious parts.

– Superego (conscience + ego-ideal): The moral component, internalized from parental and societal standards. It strives for perfection, judging actions as right or wrong. The conscience punishes unacceptable behavior with guilt, while the ego-ideal provides standards for good behavior and aspirations, leading to feelings of pride.

• Defense Mechanisms: Unconscious strategies employed by the Ego to reduce anxiety by distorting reality, protecting the individual from unacceptable thoughts or feelings.

– Repression (primary): The foundational defense mechanism; pushing anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories into the unconscious.

– Regression: Retreating to an earlier, more infantile stage of development (e.g., adult throwing a tantrum).

– Displacement: Shifting aggressive or sexual impulses toward a more acceptable or less threatening object or person (e.g., yelling at your spouse after a bad day at work).

– Rationalization: Offering self-justifying explanations in place of the real, more threatening, unconscious reasons for one's actions (e.g., "I didn't get the job because I didn't really want it anyway").

– Denial: Refusing to believe or even perceive painful realities (e.g., a smoker refusing to admit smoking is bad for health).

– Projection: Attributing one's own threatening impulses or feelings to another person (e.g., a hostile person accusing others of being hostile).

– Sublimation: Channeling unacceptable impulses into socially admirable or constructive behaviors (e.g., an aggressive person becoming a surgeon).

– Reaction formation: Behaving in a way that is the opposite of one's true (unconscious) feelings (e.g., a person secretly attracted to someone acting hostile towards them).

• Psychosexual Stages: Freud believed that personality develops through a series of stages, each characterized by a distinct erogenous zone (area of pleasure) and a primary conflict related to gratifying or frustrating urges. Fixation at a stage can lead to specific personality traits.

– Oral (0-18 mo): Focus on the mouth (sucking, biting, chewing). Conflict related to weaning. Fixation can lead to oral-dependent (gullible, passive) or oral-aggressive (sarcastic, argumentative) traits.

– Anal (18-36 mo): Focus on bowel and bladder control; conflict related to toilet training. Fixation can lead to anal-retentive (orderly, neat, compulsive) or anal-expulsive (messy, disorganized, defiant) traits.

– Phallic (3-6 yr): Focus on genitals; Oedipal complex (boys' sexual desire for mother and rivalry with father) or Electra complex (girls' equivalent, less developed concept). Identification with same-sex parent leads to Superego development.

– Latency (6-puberty): Sexual impulses are repressed; focus on social and intellectual development.

– Genital (puberty+): Maturation of sexual interests, seeking healthy adult relationships.

• Neo-Freudians: Psychodynamic theorists who were influenced by Freud but emphasized social and cultural factors more than sexual drives, and often minimized the role of the unconscious.

– Jung (Carl Jung): Developed analytical psychology. Proposed a collective unconscious, a universal reservoir of inherited memories, images, and archetypes (universal symbolic patterns) shared by all humans across cultures (e.g., the hero, the wise old man, the shadow). Emphasized concepts like introversion and extraversion.

– Horney (Karen Horney): Challenged Freud’s male-centric views, particularly the concept of "penis envy." Instead, she proposed that social and cultural factors, especially basic anxiety and neurotic needs arising from disturbed interpersonal relationships, were primary drivers of personality development. Introduced the concept of "womb envy" as a male counterpart to penis envy.

– Adler (Alfred Adler): Developed individual psychology. Emphasized the striving for superiority, a universal drive to overcome feelings of helplessness originating in childhood (inferiority complex). Believed that birth order, style of life, and social interest were crucial in personality formation, viewing people as motivated by social rather than sexual urges.

Trait Approaches

• Focus on identifying, describing, and measuring stable, enduring predispositions to behave in certain ways (traits) that are consistent across situations and over time.

– Allport (Gordon Allport): Categorized traits into three levels:

– Cardinal traits: Dominant traits that are so pervasive they define nearly everything a person does (e.g., Machiavellian, Christ-like). Very rare.

– Central traits: The 5–10 most salient characteristics that describe an individual (e.g., honest, kind, shy, anxious).

– Secondary traits: Less consistent and situation-specific traits (e.g., preferring certain foods, being impatient when waiting in line).

– Cattell (Raymond Cattell): Used factor analysis to identify 16 basic dimensions of personality, resulting in the 16PF (Personality Factor) Questionnaire. Distinguished between surface traits (observable behaviors) and source traits (underlying causes of behavior).

– Eysenck (Hans Eysenck): Proposed three broad, biologically based "superfactors" or dimensions of personality:

– Extraversion-Introversion: Sociable, outgoing, lively vs. quiet, reserved, internally focused.

– Neuroticism-Stability: Emotionally unstable, anxious, moody vs. calm, even-tempered, resilient.

– Psychoticism-Superego Function: Aggressive, impulsive, non-conforming vs. empathetic, cooperative, controlled.

– Big Five (OCEAN): The most widely accepted trait model, comprising five broad dimensions of personality, commonly remembered by the acronym:

– Openness to Experience: Curious, imaginative, unconventional, artistic vs. conventional, cautious, preferring routine.

– Conscientiousness: Organized, disciplined, responsible, efficient, achievement-oriented vs. careless, spontaneous, impulsive.

– Extraversion: Sociable, assertive, outgoing, energetic, sensation-seeking vs. reserved, solitary, quiet.

– Agreeableness: Trusting, cooperative, empathetic, kind, compassionate vs. antagonistic, suspicious, uncooperative.

– Neuroticism: Emotionally unstable, anxious, moody, worried, prone to negative emotions vs. calm, secure, emotionally stable.

Learning Perspectives

• Emphasize environmental influences on personality, viewing personality as a collection of learned behaviors and cognitive patterns.

– Skinner (B.F. Skinner): A strict behaviorist who believed personality is simply a collection of operant behaviors that have been reinforced or punished over time. He rejected the idea of internal mental states, focusing solely on observable behavior influenced by environmental consequences.

– Bandura (Albert Bandura): Developed social-cognitive theory, emphasizing the importance of observational learning (learning by observing others' behaviors and consequences). Key concepts:

– Reciprocal determinism: A dynamic, interacting system where personality is shaped by the reciprocal influence of cognitive factors (thoughts, beliefs), behavioral factors (actions), and environmental factors (social situations).

– Self-efficacy: One's belief in their own ability to succeed in specific situations or accomplish a task. High self-efficacy leads to greater effort and persistence, while low self-efficacy can lead to avoidance and giving up.

– Mischel (Walter Mischel): Challenged trait theories with his concept of situationism, arguing that specific behaviors are largely determined by the situation rather than stable traits. Proposed the Cognitive-Affective Personality System (CAPS), which suggests that personality is revealed in consistent if-then behavior signatures (e.g., "If X happens, then Y is likely to occur"). Known for his research on delay of gratification (foregoing immediate rewards for larger, later ones), showing how cognitive strategies play a role in self-control.

– Self-Esteem Cycle: A cyclical relationship where low self-esteem can lead to anxiety and a fear of failure, which in turn can lead to actual failure due to lack of effort or self-sabotage, further reinforcing low self-esteem. Conversely, high self-esteem can lead to greater confidence, effort, and success, reinforcing positive self-worth.

Biological & Evolutionary

• Focus on the genetic, neurological, and physiological bases of personality.

– Temperament: Inherited, biologically based behavioral and emotional styles present at birth or very early in life (e.g., activity level, emotional intensity, sociability). Twin and adoption studies provide strong evidence for the heritability of temperament and broader personality traits.

– Heritability studies (twins): By comparing the personality similarities of identical twins (monozygotic) to fraternal twins (dizygotic) reared together and apart, researchers estimate the genetic contribution to personality. Heritability estimates for Big Five traits typically range from 40-50\%. This means that about half of the variance in personality traits within a population can be attributed to genetic factors.

– Specific genes: Research links specific gene variations to personality traits. For example, the DRD4 gene (involved in dopamine regulation) has been linked to novelty seeking (a component of Extraversion/Openness).

– Gene-Environment Interaction: The understanding that personality is not solely determined by genes or environment but by their complex interplay. The formula expresses this:

\text{Personality variance} = \text{Genetic factors} + \text{Environmental factors} + \text{Gene} \times \text{Environment Interaction} (where Gene x Env. refers to how genes and environment mutually influence each other).

Humanistic Approaches

• Emphasize inherent goodness, free will, self-actualization, and the importance of subjective experience rather than unconscious drives or external contingencies.

– Rogers (Carl Rogers): Developed person-centered (or client-centered) therapy. Key concepts:

– Self-concept: The set of perceptions and beliefs an individual holds about themselves. A healthy self-concept is largely congruent with one's experiences.

– Need for positive regard: A universal human need for acceptance, sympathy, and love from others.

– Unconditional positive regard: The attitude of total acceptance toward another person without judgment. This is seen as crucial for fostering self-acceptance and healthy personality development.

– Leads to congruence: A state where one's self-concept aligns closely with their actual experiences, fostering psychological well-being and facilitating self-actualization (the innate tendency to strive for one's full potential and become the best version of oneself).

– Maslow (Abraham Maslow): Proposed a hierarchy of needs, where basic physiological and safety needs must be satisfied before higher-level psychological needs can be pursued. The hierarchy culminates in self-actualization, which is the realization of one's full potential, characterized by creativity, spontaneity, problem-centeredness, and a deep appreciation for life.

Personality Assessment

• Psychological Test Quality: Criteria for evaluating the effectiveness and scientific soundness of psychological tests.

– Reliability (consistency): The extent to which a test yields consistent results over time or across different administrators. A reliable test produces similar scores when administered repeatedly to the same individual under similar conditions (e.g., test-retest reliability, internal consistency).

– Validity (accuracy): The degree to which a test actually measures what it purports to measure. A valid test measures the construct it was designed to measure (e.g., predictive validity, construct validity).

– Standardization & Norms (comparison group): Standardization refers to uniform procedures for administering and scoring a test, ensuring consistency. Norms are the established standards of performance for a given population, derived from typical scores of a large, representative sample. They allow for comparison of an individual's score to the average performance of others in the age group or population.

Self-Report Inventories

• Objective personality tests consisting of questionnaires with clear, unambiguous items (e.g., true/false, Likert scales).

– MMPI-2-RF (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory – 2 Restructured Form): A widely used, comprehensive personality test containing 338 true/false items. It yields scores on 51 scales, including clinical scales (e.g., depression, anxiety) and validity scales (e.g., Lie, F, K scales) designed to detect dishonest or distorted response patterns (e.g., faking good, faking bad, random responding).

– 16PF (Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire): Based on Cattell's 16 personality factors.

– NEO-PI-R (NEO Personality Inventory – Revised): A self-report measure developed by Costa and McCrae to assess the Big Five personality traits (Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism).

– Kuder Career Interests Inventory: Measures vocational interests to help individuals identify career paths that align with their preferences.

– Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI): A popular self-report questionnaire designed to indicate different psychological preferences in how people perceive the world and make decisions. While widely used in corporate settings, it has limited empirical evidence for its reliability and validity from mainstream psychology.

Projective Techniques

• Personality tests that present ambiguous stimuli, prompting test-takers to project their hidden personality, unconscious thoughts, and feelings onto the stimuli. Interpretation is often subjective.

– Rorschach Inkblot Test: Consists of 10 symmetrical inkblots (5 black/white, 5 color) presented one at a time. The individual reports what they see, and responses are scored based on factors like form (how accurately the response fits the shape), content (what is seen), movement (perception of movement), and color. Interpretation relies heavily on the examiner's skill and theoretical orientation.

– Thematic Apperception Test (TAT): Developed by Murray and Morgan, it consists of 30 ambiguous pictures (though typically 10-20 are used). The individual is asked to tell a story about each picture, describing what is happening, what led up to it, what will happen next, and the characters' thoughts and feelings. Story content is analyzed to reveal underlying psychological needs (e.g., achievement, affiliation, power), motives, and interpersonal dynamics.

– Critiques: Both Rorschach and TAT face significant criticism regarding their reliability (consistency across different raters) and validity (whether they truly measure personality traits). Their subjective nature makes standardized scoring and interpretation challenging.

Behavioral Assessment

• Involves observing and systematically recording an individual's actual behavior in labs or natural settings. Focuses on specific behaviors, their frequency, duration, and the environmental factors that elicit and maintain them.

– Examples: Direct observation in a classroom to assess a child's disruptive behavior; counting the number of times a person washes their hands in a ritualistic manner.

– Highly useful for intervention evaluation (e.g., assessing the effectiveness of a shyness treatment by counting social interactions before and after intervention) and functional analysis of behavior.

Cultural & Ethical Issues

• Test norms must consider fairness: It is crucial that psychological tests are fair and unbiased across different cultural and ethnic groups. Test norms developed on one cultural group may not be appropriate for another.

– Race-based norming: The practice of using different cutoff scores or norms based on racial or ethnic group membership was a contentious issue. It was banned in employment testing by the Civil Rights Act of 1991 in the United States, but debates persist regarding the appropriate use of culturally sensitive assessment instruments and the potential for adverse impact on certain groups.

– Ethical considerations also include ensuring client confidentiality, obtaining informed consent, and ensuring tests are administered and interpreted by qualified professionals.

Quick Equations & Statistics

• Suicide rate formula: \text{Rate} = \frac{\text{Suicides}}{\text{Population}} \times 100{,}000 (expressed per 100,000 people).

• Age of viability ≈ 22\text{ wk} = 154\text{ days} post-conception (the point at which a fetus has a reasonable chance of survival outside the womb).

• Telomere shortening rate ≈ \sim 50–100 base pairs per cell division (a key mechanism in cellular aging, contributing to the "genetic preprogramming" theory of aging).

End of Comprehensive Notes

Module 27 – Nature & Nurture: The Enduring Developmental Issue

• Core Question (Nature–Nurture Issue)

– \text{Behavior} = f(\text{Hereditary factors} + \text{Environmental factors})

– Modern view = interactionism: both genetic predispositions (nature) and environmental influences (nurture) constantly co-operate and interact to shape development, rather than acting as independent forces.

• Key Methods for Estimating Heredity vs. Environment

– Twin studies: Compare similarities between identical (monozygotic, sharing 100\% of genes) and fraternal (dizygotic, sharing 50\% of genes like regular siblings) twins, both reared together and, if possible, reared apart. Higher correlation in identical twins than fraternal twins suggests genetic influence, while differences between identical twins reared apart point to environmental effects.

– Adoption studies: Compare adopted children to their biological parents (genetics) and their adoptive parents (environment). Similarities with biological parents suggest genetic influence, and similarities with adoptive parents suggest environmental influence.

– Selective breeding & enrichment / deprivation studies in animals: These allow researchers to control genetic lineage (selective breeding) or environmental conditions (enrichment/deprivation) to observe specific developmental outcomes, providing insights into nature-nurture interactions that cannot be ethically studied in humans.

• Developmental Research Designs

– Cross-sectional: Compares different age groups (cohorts) at a single point in time. It is fast and efficient but susceptible to "cohort effects" (differences observed between age groups may be due to the unique experiences or historical contexts of each generation, not true developmental change).

– Longitudinal: Follows the same group of individuals over an extended period, measuring changes as they age. This design effectively shows true individual change but is costly, time-consuming, and faces challenges like participant attrition (drop-out) and practice effects from repeated testing.

– Sequential: Combines elements of both cross-sectional and longitudinal designs, studying multiple age cohorts over time. This approach helps to disentangle age-related changes from cohort effects and is considered the most powerful design for developmental research.

Prenatal Development – Conception→Birth

• Genetics Primer

– A zygote is formed from the union of sperm and egg, each contributing 23 chromosomes, resulting in 23 chromosome pairs, making a total of 23 \times 2 = 46 chromosomes in each human cell.

– Gene: A specific segment of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) located on a chromosome that carries instructions for inherited traits. Humans have approximately 25{,}000 genes.

– Alleles: Different forms of a gene. Genotype refers to the specific genetic makeup (e.g., inheriting 'Bb' for eye color), while phenotype is the observable characteristic expressed by the genotype (e.g., brown eyes).

– Sex determination: Determined by the 23rd pair of chromosomes. XX chromosomes result in a female, while XY chromosomes result in a male. The Y chromosome carries the SRY ("sex-determining region Y") gene, which initiates "maleness."

• Periods & Milestones

1. Germinal (0–2 wk): Begins at conception with the formation of the zygote. Characterized by rapid cell division (mitosis) as the zygote travels down the fallopian tube to the uterus and implants into the uterine wall, forming a blastocyst.

2. Embryonic (2–8 wk): Following implantation, major organs and body systems develop in a process called organogenesis. By week 4, the heart begins to beat, and rapid growth in neural tubes, limbs, and facial structures occurs. This period is highly vulnerable to teratogens.

3. Fetal (8 wk–birth): Marked by significant growth and maturation of all organ systems. Fetal movements become prominent. The age of viability (the earliest point at which a fetus can survive outside the womb with medical intervention) is approximately 22–24 weeks, though survival rates increase significantly with each passing week.

• Sensitive / Critical Periods

– Specific time windows during development when an organism is especially sensitive or vulnerable to certain environmental influences or stimuli. Exposure to teratogens (environmental agents such as drugs, alcohol, radiation, or maternal illnesses) during these periods can exert maximal and often irreversible damage to fetal development.

– For example, heart development is most sensitive to teratogens between weeks 3 and 6 of gestation. Language learning has a sensitive period that extends significantly postnatally, where acquiring a first language is easiest, and subsequent language acquisition becomes more challenging over time.

• Genetic Disorders

– Inherited conditions caused by abnormalities in an individual's genes or chromosomes.

– PKU (Phenylketonuria): A metabolic disorder where the body cannot process the amino acid phenylalanine, leading to intellectual disability if untreated.

– Sickle-cell anemia: A blood disorder causing red blood cells to become sickle-shaped, leading to pain and organ damage.

– Tay-Sachs disease: A fatal genetic disorder that destroys nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, predominantly affecting infants.

– Down syndrome (Trisomy-21): Caused by an extra copy of chromosome 21, resulting in characteristic physical features and intellectual disability. The risk for Down syndrome increases significantly if the mother is younger than 18 or older than 35 at conception.

• Teratogens & Maternal Variables

– Nutrition: Inadequate maternal nutrition, especially deficiencies in folic acid, can lead to neural tube defects like spina bifida.

– Disease: Maternal infections can cross the placenta and harm the fetus. Examples include rubella (German measles, leading to blindness, deafness, heart defects), syphilis (can cause miscarriage, stillbirth, or congenital syphilis affecting various organs).

– Drug use (legal & illegal): Prescription drugs (e.g., some anti-depressants), over-the-counter medications, and illegal substances (e.g., cocaine, heroin) can cause various developmental abnormalities, withdrawal symptoms, and long-term behavioral issues.

– Alcohol: Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) are a range of physical, behavioral, and cognitive abnormalities caused by maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) is the most severe form, characterized by distinct facial features, growth problems, and central nervous system abnormalities.

– Nicotine: Smoking during pregnancy can lead to low birth weight, premature birth, respiratory problems, and increased risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

– Stress hormones: Chronic maternal stress and the associated increase in stress hormones (e.g., cortisol) can negatively affect fetal brain development, leading to increased risk of anxiety, attention problems, and other behavioral difficulties in childhood.

Module 28 – Infancy & Childhood

The Extraordinary Newborn (Neonate)

• Reflexes: Innate, involuntary responses crucial for survival and early development.

– Rooting: Turning the head and opening the mouth in response to a touch on the cheek, helping in finding the nipple for feeding.

– Sucking: Rhythmic sucking movements when an object is placed in the mouth, essential for feeding.

– Gag: Contraction of the throat to prevent choking.

– Startle (Moro): Arching the back, flinging out arms and legs, and then pulling them in, in response to a sudden loud noise or loss of head support. Believed to be a primitive protective reflex.

– Babinski: Fanning and curling of the toes when the sole of the foot is stroked. Disappears around 12 months.

• Sensory Competence: Newborns possess remarkable sensory abilities from birth.

– Vision: Initially fuzzy, best at 7–8 inches (the typical distance of a mother's face during feeding). Depth perception develops around 1 month of age. Infants show size constancy, meaning they perceive objects as maintaining a constant size despite changes in distance. They prefer human faces, high contrast patterns, and patterns resembling eyes. Newborns can imitate basic facial expressions, suggesting early social responsiveness.

– Hearing: Well-developed at birth, infants show a preference for their mother's voice and can discriminate between different speech sounds.

– Taste & Smell: Prefer sweet tastes over sour or bitter ones, important for breast milk intake. They can distinguish their mother's scent.

• Habituation Paradigm: A research method used to study infant perception and cognition. It relies on the principle that infants will show a decreased response (e.g., reduced heart rate, decreased sucking) to a repeatedly presented stimulus (habituation); if a new stimulus is then presented and the infant's response recovers (dishabituation), it indicates they can discriminate between the new and old stimuli.

Physical Milestones (50 % attainment ages)

Motor development follows cephalocaudal (head-to-toe) and proximodistal (center-outward) patterns, leading to increasingly complex movements.

Roll (front to back, back to front): 3 months
Sit (unsupported): 6 months
Stand (holding on): 9 months
Walk (unassisted): 12 months
Fine-pincer grasp (using thumb and forefinger): 8 months
2-block tower (stacking two blocks): 15 months
Steps (walking up/down stairs): 17 months

Social Development

• Attachment (Bowlby; Ainsworth Strange Situation):

– Attachment: A deep, enduring emotional bond between a child and a primary caregiver, crucial for healthy social and emotional development.

– Mary Ainsworth's Strange Situation: A laboratory procedure designed to assess the quality of attachment by observing an infant's reactions to separations from and reunions with their caregiver.

– Secure Attachment: (approx. 60-65%): Infants use the caregiver as a secure base, explore freely when the caregiver is present, show distress when separated, and are easily comforted upon reunion.

– Avoidant Attachment: (approx. 20%): Infants show little distress upon separation, may avoid the caregiver upon reunion, and do not use the caregiver as a secure base. They appear independent but may suppress emotional needs.

– Ambivalent (Resistant) Attachment: (approx. 10-15%): Infants are highly distressed when separated, seek closeness upon reunion but simultaneously resist contact (e.g., pushing away). They are often anxious and clingy, showing both desire for proximity and anger.

– Disorganized Attachment: (approx. 5-10%): Infants display a confusing mix of behaviors (e.g., dazed expressions, flat affect, contradictory actions like approaching then avoiding), indicating a lack of a coherent strategy for coping with stress. Often associated with inconsistent or frightening caregiving.

• Father & Multiple Attachments: Children typically form several attachment bonds simultaneously. Fathers often engage in more rough-and-tumble play, which contributes to children's social and physical development by teaching them about limits, emotional regulation, and social interaction.

• Peer Play: Play with peers is vital for social learning.

– Parallel play: (toddlers) Children play alongside each other with similar toys but do not interact.

– Associative play: (preschoolers) Children interact, sharing toys or materials, but without a common goal or formal organization.

– Cooperative play: (school-age) Children collaborate on a common goal, often involving imaginative play or organized games with rules and roles.

– Cultural variability exists in play patterns (e.g., Korean-American children may engage in less pretend play than Western children due to cultural emphasis on real-world skills).

• Child-Care Quality: High-quality child-care centers (characterized by low child-to-staff ratios, well-trained staff, engaging activities, and warm interactions) are associated with positive outcomes, including higher IQ scores and improved social skills in children. However, studies suggest that spending more than 20 hours/week in child care before age 1, especially in lower-quality settings, may slightly weaken attachment security, though this effect is often modest and dependent on family factors.

• Parenting Styles (Baumrind): Developmental psychologist Diana Baumrind identified four primary parenting styles based on two dimensions: demandingness (control) and responsiveness (warmth).

– Authoritarian: High demandingness, low responsiveness. Parents impose strict rules, expect unquestioning obedience, and use harsh punishment. Children tend to be obedient but may have lower self-esteem, be less joyful, and struggle with social competence.

– Permissive: Low demandingness, high responsiveness. Parents set few rules, avoid confrontation, and are highly nurturing. Children may be impulsive, lack self-control, and have difficulty with authority but often have high self-esteem.

– Authoritative (best outcomes): High demandingness, high responsiveness. Parents set clear limits and expectations but are also sensitive to their children's needs, explain rules, and encourage open communication. This style consistently leads to the best child outcomes, including high self-esteem, self-reliance, social competence, and academic success.

– Uninvolved (Neglectful): Low demandingness, low responsiveness. Parents are emotionally detached, neglectful, and provide minimal supervision or support. Children often exhibit poor academic performance, social difficulties, and behavioral problems.

• Temperament: Refers to an individual's innate, biologically based set of behavioral and emotional predispositions (e.g., reactivity, mood, activity level) that appear early in life. It interacts dynamically with parenting styles to shape developmental outcomes, leading to a "goodness of fit" or "poorness of fit" between child temperament and parental practices.

– Temperament categories often include "easy" (adaptable, positive mood), "difficult" (irritable, irregular, intense reactions), and "slow-to-warm-up" (low activity, somewhat negative mood, adapt slowly).

• Resilience: The capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness. Resilient children often exhibit high outgoingness, a strong sense of perceived control over their lives, and the ability to neutralise risk factors by leveraging internal strengths and external support systems, such as positive relationships with adults or involvement in structured activities.

Erikson’s Childhood Stages

Erik Erikson proposed a psychosocial theory of development, emphasizing social interactions and conflicts that lead to the development of ego identity. Each stage presents a crisis that must be resolved.

0-1½ Trust vs. Mistrust: Infants learn to trust their caregivers and the world if their basic needs are met consistently and caringly. If not, they develop mistrust.
1½-3 Autonomy vs. Shame & Doubt: Toddlers develop a sense of personal control over physical skills and a sense of independence. Success leads to autonomy; failure leads to shame and doubt.
3-6   Initiative vs. Guilt: Preschoolers begin to assert control and power over the environment, planning activities and making up games. Success in taking initiative leads to a sense of purpose; over-criticism can lead to guilt.
6-12  Industry vs. Inferiority: School-age children cope with new social and academic demands. Success leads to a sense of competence and industry; failure leads to feelings of inferiority. 

Cognitive Development

• Piaget’s Four Stages: Jean Piaget's theory describes discontinuous, stage-like changes in cognitive abilities as children construct their understanding of the world.

1. Sensorimotor (0-2 years): Infants learn about the world through sensory experiences and motor actions. Key achievement: object permanence, understanding that objects continue to exist even when not seen (emerges around 9 months). During this stage, infants also develop rudimentary problem-solving skills and goal-directed behavior.

2. Preoperational (2-7 years): Children use symbols (words, images) to represent objects but lack logical reasoning. Characterized by egocentrism (difficulty taking another's perspective) and a lack of conservation (understanding that quantity remains the same despite changes in appearance, e.g., water in different shaped glasses). Thinking is pre-logical, relying on perception rather than reason. Animism (attributing life to inanimate objects) is also common.

3. Concrete Operational (7-12 years): Children develop logical thought about concrete events. They master conservation, understand reversibility (actions can be undone), and can perform mental operations as long as they are applied to concrete objects or events. They begin to think systematically but still struggle with abstract or hypothetical concepts.

4. Formal Operational (12+ years): Adolescents and adults develop the ability for abstract, hypothetical, and deductive reasoning. They can think systematically about possibilities, consider multiple variables, and engage in scientific reasoning. Piaget estimated that only approximately 40–60\% of adults fully reach this stage, suggesting that formal operational thought is not universal.

• Critiques: Piaget's theory has been critiqued for underestimating the cognitive abilities of young children. Research, particularly using methods like habituation, shows that development is more continuous than stage-like, and infants often demonstrate capabilities such as number sense and object permanence much earlier than Piaget proposed.

• Information-Processing Gains: Cognitive development involves gradual improvements in mental processes, similar to how a computer processes information.

– Faster processing speed: Children's cognitive processing becomes more efficient as they age, allowing them to solve problems more quickly.

– Memory span grows: Working memory capacity increases. A typical 2-year-old can hold approximately 2 "chunks" of information in working memory, which gradually expands to about 7 chunks for adults (similar to Miller's "magic number" 7 \pm 2 for short-term memory capacity).

– Increased attention span and selective attention.

– Development of more effective memory strategies (e.g., rehearsal, organization).

• Metacognition & Theory-of-Mind emerge:

– Metacognition: "Thinking about thinking"; the awareness and understanding of one's own thought processes, including monitoring and regulating one's learning and problem-solving strategies (e.g., knowing how to study effectively).

– Theory-of-Mind: The ability to attribute mental states (beliefs, desires, intentions, emotions) to oneself and others and to understand that others' mental states may differ from one's own. This is crucial for empathy, social interaction, and deception. It typically begins to emerge around age 4-5.

• Vygotsky: Lev Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory emphasizes that cognition is fundamentally socially mediated. Learning occurs through social interactions with more knowledgeable others.

– Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD): The gap between what a learner can do independently and what they can achieve with the guidance and collaboration of a more skilled person (e.g., a teacher or a peer). This is where learning is most effective.

– Scaffolding: The temporary support provided by a more skilled person to a learner within their ZPD. This support is gradually withdrawn as the learner becomes more competent, allowing them to take on increasing responsibility for the task.

Module 29 – Adolescence: Becoming an Adult

Physical Development

• Puberty: The period of rapid physical maturation involving hormonal and bodily changes that lead to sexual maturity.

– Girls typically begin puberty around 11–12 years of age, marked by menarche (first menstruation).

– Boys typically begin puberty around 13 years of age, marked by spermarche (first ejaculation).

– These changes are driven by an increase in hormones like estrogens (in girls) and androgens (in boys), leading to the development of primary (reproductive organs) and secondary (e.g., breast development, facial hair) sex characteristics.

• Early vs. late maturation impacts body-image, social status, and depression risk.

– Early-maturing girls: May experience negative body image (due to increased body fat), higher rates of depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and may be exposed to substance abuse and sexual activity earlier due to associating with older peers.

– Early-maturing boys: Often have an advantage, being perceived as more athletic and popular, leading to higher self-esteem. However, they may also be more prone to engage in risk-taking behaviors.

– Late-maturing boys: May feel self-conscious and less attractive, leading to lower self-esteem and potential social difficulties.

– Late-maturing girls: Tend to have a more positive body image, closer relationships with peers their own age, and fewer behavioral problems than early-maturing girls.

Cognitive & Moral Development

• Kohlberg Levels: Lawrence Kohlberg's theory describes three levels of moral reasoning, each with two stages, built upon cognitive development.

– Pre-conventional (Stage 1: Punishment and Obedience Orientation; Stage 2: Individualism and Exchange/Self-Interest Orientation): Moral reasoning is based on external consequences (punishment or reward) and self-interest. "What's in it for me?" and avoiding punishment.

– Conventional (Stage 3: Good Interpersonal Relationships/Mutual Interpersonal Expectations; Stage 4: Maintaining the Social Order/Law and Order Orientation): Moral reasoning is guided by social norms, laws, and the desire to gain approval from others or maintain social order. Acts are considered right if they conform to societal rules.

– Post-conventional (Stage 5: Social Contract and Individual Rights; Stage 6: Universal Ethical Principles): Moral reasoning is based on abstract principles and universal human rights, recognizing that laws can be fallible. Stage 6 involves making decisions based on self-chosen ethical principles, even if they conflict with laws (very few individuals consistently reach this stage).

– Critiques: Kohlberg's theory has been criticized for cultural bias (emphasizing justice and individual rights, which may not be universal values) and gender bias. Carol Gilligan argued that Kohlberg's model, developed primarily using male participants, did not adequately account for a distinctly female ethic of care, which emphasizes relationships, empathy, and responsiveness to others' needs, rather than abstract justice.

Social Identity (Erikson)

• Identity vs. Role Confusion (Adolescence): This is Erikson's fifth psychosocial stage, where adolescents grapple with defining who they are, what they believe, and where they are going in life. They explore various roles, values, and ideologies, often through peer reliance and experimentation. Successful resolution leads to a strong sense of personal identity; failure results in role confusion and uncertainty about their place in the world.

• Storm-and-Stress myth: While adolescence is a period of significant change, the idea of it being a time of extreme "storm and stress" (marked by severe mood swings, rebellion, and crisis) is largely exaggerated. Research shows that while modest parent-teen conflict peaks around 15 years of age, most adolescents navigate this period without severe emotional turmoil, and the majority maintain positive relationships with their parents.

• Adolescent egocentrism: A heightened self-consciousness that manifests in two distinct ways:

– Imaginary audience: The belief that others are constantly watching and evaluating them, and that they are the focus of everyone's attention (e.g., feeling like everyone notices a small zit).

– Personal fable: The belief that one is unique and invulnerable, and that no one else can understand their experiences or emotions. This can lead to risk-taking behaviors (e.g., "It won't happen to me").

• Suicide: Unfortunately, suicide is a serious concern during adolescence and is currently the 2\text{nd} leading cause of death among individuals aged 10–14 years ($\$1\text{st}$ among 15-24 years in some statistics). Warning signs include: direct or indirect threats of self-harm, preoccupation with death, withdrawal from social activities, sudden changes in mood or behavior, giving away possessions, increased substance abuse, feelings of hopelessness, and a lack of interest in future plans. Prompt recognition and intervention are critical.

Module 30 – Adulthood

Early & Middle Adulthood

• Emerging Adulthood (18-25 years): A distinct developmental period proposed by Jeffrey Arnett. It is characterized by five features:

1. Identity exploration: Exploring possibilities in love, work, and worldview.

2. Instability: Frequent changes in residence, relationships, and careers.

3. Self-focused: Less obligations to others, more focus on personal needs.

4. Feeling in-between: Not fully an adolescent, not yet truly an adult.

5. Age of possibilities: Optimism about the future, a chance to transform their lives.

• Physical peak: Physical abilities (strength, speed, reaction time) typically peak around ages 18-25. After this, there is a slow, gradual decline in physical functioning. This decline accelerates somewhat in middle adulthood via changes like vision and hearing loss, muscle mass reduction, and a slower metabolism.

– Menopause: Occurs in women around age 50, marking the cessation of menstruation and reproductive capacity due to a significant decline in estrogen production. It can be accompanied by symptoms like hot flashes and mood changes.

– No male menopause: While men experience a gradual decline in testosterone (andropause) starting in their 40s, it is a much slower and less dramatic process than menopause in women, and men generally retain reproductive capacity throughout much of their lifespan.

• Midlife Transition: A normative developmental period, often involving a re-evaluation of one's life, goals, and legacy. The idea of a "midlife crisis" involving dramatic upheaval (e.g., buying a sports car, changing careers spontaneously) is usually exaggerated and experienced by only a minority of adults. For most, significant changes during this period are often predictable life events rather than crises.

• Social Roles: Adulthood involves navigating various social roles and transitions.

– Career: Establishing and advancing in a career path.

– Marriage: Average age for first marriage has increased (e.g., late 20s/early 30s in many Western countries). The divorce rate in the US has historically been around 39\% for first marriages, though rates vary by cohort and individual circumstances.

– Parenting: The shift to parenthood significantly impacts lifestyle, relationships, and responsibilities.

– Second-shift for women: Many women in heterosexual relationships, even when working full-time, still disproportionately bear the burden of household chores and childcare, creating a "second shift" of labor after their paid employment.

Late Adulthood (65+)

• Aging Theories: Explanations for the biological processes of aging.

– Genetic preprogramming (cellular clock theory): Suggests that human cells have a built-in limit to the number of times they can divide, implying a predetermined genetic lifespan. This is linked to telomere shortening, where the protective caps on the ends of chromosomes (telomeres) shorten with each cell division. When telomeres become too short, cells can no longer divide and become senescent (aging and non-functioning) or undergo apoptosis (programmed cell death). The typical shortening rate is approximately \sim 50–100 base pairs per cell division.

– Wear-and-tear (oxidative damage theory): Proposes that the body and its cells simply wear out over time due to accumulating damage from normal metabolic processes and environmental factors. Oxidative damage is a key mechanism, where unstable oxygen molecules (free radicals) are produced during metabolism and cause damage to cellular structures like DNA, proteins, and lipids, contributing to cellular aging and disease.

• Cognition: Cognitive changes are typical but highly variable in late adulthood.

– Fluid intelligence (processing speed, abstract reasoning, novel problem-solving): Tends to decline gradually from middle adulthood onward.

– Crystallized intelligence (accumulated knowledge, vocabulary, wisdom based on experience): Tends to remain stable or even increase throughout much of adulthood and into late adulthood.

– Episodic memory (memory for specific events): May show some decline, particularly for remembering specific details or dates.

– Semantic memory (general knowledge, facts, concepts) and implicit memory (unconscious memory, procedural skills): Generally remain relatively stable, showing little to no decline with age.

• Alzheimer’s: A progressive neurodegenerative disease and the most common cause of dementia. It affects an estimated 5.5 million Americans. Characterized pathologically by the accumulation of amyloid plaques (dense deposits of beta-amyloid protein fragments outside neurons) and neurofibrillary tangles (twisted fibers of tau protein within neurons), which disrupt neuronal communication and lead to widespread brain cell death, particularly in areas associated with memory and cognitive function.

• Disengagement vs. Activity Theory:

– Disengagement theory: (Older, largely disproven view) Proposes that as people age, they naturally and mutually withdraw from society, and society withdraws from them. This prepares them for death.

– Activity theory: (More widely supported) Suggests that successful aging involves maintaining as much activity and social involvement as possible. Positive self-concept and life satisfaction are linked to continued engagement in social roles and activities.

• Life Review: A common and often therapeutic process in late adulthood where individuals reflect on and integrate their life experiences, accomplishments, and setbacks. It can lead to a sense of integrity and closure (Erikson's final stage).

Death & Dying (Kübler-Ross)

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross proposed five stages of grief typically experienced by people facing terminal illness or significant loss. It's important to note these are not necessarily sequential and individuals may experience them differently or not at all.

Denial: Refusal to accept the reality of the situation, believing it's a mistake or that doctors are wrong.
Anger: Feelings of rage, resentment, and bitterness directed at oneself, others, or higher powers.
Bargaining: Attempts to make deals with a higher power or fate to postpone the inevitable (e.g., "If I do X, I'll live longer").
Depression: Overwhelming sadness, despair, and hopelessness as the reality of the situation sets in.
Acceptance: Coming to terms with the inevitable, finding a sense of peace and often a quiet resignation.

Chapter 10 – Personality

Psychodynamic Approaches

• Freud’s Structure: Sigmund Freud proposed that personality is shaped by unconscious psychological forces, structured into three interacting components:

– Id (pleasure principle): The most primitive part, entirely unconscious, driven by innate biological urges and desires, seeking immediate gratification of needs (e.g., hunger, sex, aggression). Operates according to the pleasure principle, aiming for immediate tension reduction.

– Ego (reality principle): Develops from the Id, acts as the rational, decision-making component. It mediates between the Id's demands, the Superego's strictures, and the external world. Operates according to the reality principle, delaying gratification until appropriate and realistically achievable. Conscious and unconscious parts.

– Superego (conscience + ego-ideal): The moral component, internalized from parental and societal standards. It strives for perfection, judging actions as right or wrong. The conscience punishes unacceptable behavior with guilt, while the ego-ideal provides standards for good behavior and aspirations, leading to feelings of pride.

• Defense Mechanisms: Unconscious strategies employed by the Ego to reduce anxiety by distorting reality, protecting the individual from unacceptable thoughts or feelings.

– Repression (primary): The foundational defense mechanism; pushing anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories into the unconscious.

– Regression: Retreating to an earlier, more infantile stage of development (e.g., adult throwing a tantrum).

– Displacement: Shifting aggressive or sexual impulses toward a more acceptable or less threatening object or person (e.g., yelling at your spouse after a bad day at work).

– Rationalization: Offering self-justifying explanations in place of the real, more threatening, unconscious reasons for one's actions (e.g., "I didn't get the job because I didn't really want it anyway").

– Denial: Refusing to believe or even perceive painful realities (e.g., a smoker refusing to admit smoking is bad for health).

– Projection: Attributing one's own threatening impulses or feelings to another person (e.g., a hostile person accusing others of being hostile).

– Sublimation: Channeling unacceptable impulses into socially admirable or constructive behaviors (e.g., an aggressive person becoming a surgeon).

– Reaction formation: Behaving in a way that is the opposite of one's true (unconscious) feelings (e.g., a person secretly attracted to someone acting hostile towards them).

• Psychosexual Stages: Freud believed that personality develops through a series of stages, each characterized by a distinct erogenous zone (area of pleasure) and a primary conflict related to gratifying or frustrating urges. Fixation at a stage can lead to specific personality traits.

– Oral (0-18 mo): Focus on the mouth (sucking, biting, chewing). Conflict related to weaning. Fixation can lead to oral-dependent (gullible, passive) or oral-aggressive (sarcastic, argumentative) traits.

– Anal (18-36 mo): Focus on bowel and bladder control; conflict related to toilet training. Fixation can lead to anal-retentive (orderly, neat, compulsive) or anal-expulsive (messy, disorganized, defiant) traits.

– Phallic (3-6 yr): Focus on genitals; Oedipal complex (boys' sexual desire for mother and rivalry with father) or Electra complex (girls' equivalent, less developed concept). Identification with same-sex parent leads to Superego development.

– Latency (6-puberty): Sexual impulses are repressed; focus on social and intellectual development.

– Genital (puberty+): Maturation of sexual interests, seeking healthy adult relationships.

• Neo-Freudians: Psychodynamic theorists who were influenced by Freud but emphasized social and cultural factors more than sexual drives, and often minimized the role of the unconscious.

– Jung (Carl Jung): Developed analytical psychology. Proposed a collective unconscious, a universal reservoir of inherited memories, images, and archetypes (universal symbolic patterns) shared by all humans across cultures (e.g., the hero, the wise old man, the shadow). Emphasized concepts like introversion and extraversion.

– Horney (Karen Horney): Challenged Freud’s male-centric views, particularly the concept of "penis envy." Instead, she proposed that social and cultural factors, especially basic anxiety and neurotic needs arising from disturbed interpersonal relationships, were primary drivers of personality development. Introduced the concept of "womb envy" as a male counterpart to penis envy.

– Adler (Alfred Adler): Developed individual psychology. Emphasized the striving for superiority, a universal drive to overcome feelings of helplessness originating in childhood (inferiority complex). Believed that birth order, style of life, and social interest were crucial in personality formation, viewing people as motivated by social rather than sexual urges.

Trait Approaches

• Focus on identifying, describing, and measuring stable, enduring predispositions to behave in certain ways (traits) that are consistent across situations and over time.

– Allport (Gordon Allport): Categorized traits into three levels:

– Cardinal traits: Dominant traits that are so pervasive they define nearly everything a person does (e.g., Machiavellian, Christ-like). Very rare.

– Central traits: The 5–10 most salient characteristics that describe an individual (e.g., honest, kind, shy, anxious).

– Secondary traits: Less consistent and situation-specific traits (e.g., preferring certain foods, being impatient when waiting in line).

– Cattell (Raymond Cattell): Used factor analysis to identify 16 basic dimensions of personality, resulting in the 16PF (Personality Factor) Questionnaire. Distinguished between surface traits (observable behaviors) and source traits (underlying causes of behavior).

– Eysenck (Hans Eysenck): Proposed three broad, biologically based "superfactors" or dimensions of personality:

– Extraversion-Introversion: Sociable, outgoing, lively vs. quiet, reserved, internally focused.

– Neuroticism-Stability: Emotionally unstable, anxious, moody vs. calm, even-tempered, resilient.

– Psychoticism-Superego Function: Aggressive, impulsive, non-conforming vs. empathetic, cooperative, controlled.

– Big Five (OCEAN): The most widely accepted trait model, comprising five broad dimensions of personality, commonly remembered by the acronym:

– Openness to Experience: Curious, imaginative, unconventional, artistic vs. conventional, cautious, preferring routine.

– Conscientiousness: Organized, disciplined, responsible, efficient, achievement-oriented vs. careless, spontaneous, impulsive.

– Extraversion: Sociable, assertive, outgoing, energetic, sensation-seeking vs. reserved, solitary, quiet.

– Agreeableness: Trusting, cooperative, empathetic, kind, compassionate vs. antagonistic, suspicious, uncooperative.

– Neuroticism: Emotionally unstable, anxious, moody, worried, prone to negative emotions vs. calm, secure, emotionally stable.

Learning Perspectives

• Emphasize environmental influences on personality, viewing personality as a collection of learned behaviors and cognitive patterns.

– Skinner (B.F. Skinner): A strict behaviorist who believed personality is simply a collection of operant behaviors that have been reinforced or punished over time. He rejected the idea of internal mental states, focusing solely on observable behavior influenced by environmental consequences.

– Bandura (Albert Bandura): Developed social-cognitive theory, emphasizing the importance of observational learning (learning by observing others' behaviors and consequences). Key concepts:

– Reciprocal determinism: A dynamic, interacting system where personality is shaped by the reciprocal influence of cognitive factors (thoughts, beliefs), behavioral factors (actions), and environmental factors (social situations).

– Self-efficacy: One's belief in their own ability to succeed in specific situations or accomplish a task. High self-efficacy leads to greater effort and persistence, while low self-efficacy can lead to avoidance and giving up.

– Mischel (Walter Mischel): Challenged trait theories with his concept of situationism, arguing that specific behaviors are largely determined by the situation rather than stable traits. Proposed the Cognitive-Affective Personality System (CAPS), which suggests that personality is revealed in consistent if-then behavior signatures (e.g., "If X happens, then Y is likely to occur"). Known for his research on delay of gratification (foregoing immediate rewards for larger, later ones), showing how cognitive strategies play a role in self-control.

– Self-Esteem Cycle: A cyclical relationship where low self-esteem can lead to anxiety and a fear of failure, which in turn can lead to actual failure due to lack of effort or self-sabotage, further reinforcing low self-esteem. Conversely, high self-esteem can lead to greater confidence, effort, and success, reinforcing positive self-worth.

Biological & Evolutionary

• Focus on the genetic, neurological, and physiological bases of personality.

– Temperament: Inherited, biologically based behavioral and emotional styles present at birth or very early in life (e.g., activity level, emotional intensity, sociability). Twin and adoption studies provide strong evidence for the heritability of temperament and broader personality traits.

– Heritability studies (twins): By comparing the personality similarities of identical twins (monozygotic) to fraternal twins (dizygotic) reared together and apart, researchers estimate the genetic contribution to personality. Heritability estimates for Big Five traits typically range from 40-50\%. This means that about half of the variance in personality traits within a population can be attributed to genetic factors.

– Specific genes: Research links specific gene variations to personality traits. For example, the DRD4 gene (involved in dopamine regulation) has been linked to novelty seeking (a component of Extraversion/Openness).

– Gene-Environment Interaction: The understanding that personality is not solely determined by genes or environment but by their complex interplay. The formula expresses this:

\text{Personality variance} = \text{Genetic factors} + \text{Environmental factors} + \text{Gene} \times \text{Environment Interaction} (where Gene x Env. refers to how genes and environment mutually influence each other).

Humanistic Approaches

• Emphasize inherent goodness, free will, self-actualization, and the importance of subjective experience rather than unconscious drives or external contingencies.

– Rogers (Carl Rogers): Developed person-centered (or client-centered) therapy. Key concepts:

– Self-concept: The set of perceptions and beliefs an individual holds about themselves. A healthy self-concept is largely congruent with one's experiences.

– Need for positive regard: A universal human need for acceptance, sympathy, and love from others.

– Unconditional positive regard: The attitude of total acceptance toward another person without judgment. This is seen as crucial for fostering self-acceptance and healthy personality development.

– Leads to congruence: A state where one's self-concept aligns closely with their actual experiences, fostering psychological well-being and facilitating self-actualization (the innate tendency to strive for one's full potential and become the best version of oneself).

– Maslow (Abraham Maslow): Proposed a hierarchy of needs, where basic physiological and safety needs must be satisfied before higher-level psychological needs can be pursued. The hierarchy culminates in self-actualization, which is the realization of one's full potential, characterized by creativity, spontaneity, problem-centeredness, and a deep appreciation for life.

Personality Assessment

• Psychological Test Quality: Criteria for evaluating the effectiveness and scientific soundness of psychological tests.

– Reliability (consistency): The extent to which a test yields consistent results over time or across different administrators. A reliable test produces similar scores when administered repeatedly to the same individual under similar conditions (e.g., test-retest reliability, internal consistency).

– Validity (accuracy): The degree to which a test actually measures what it purports to measure. A valid test measures the construct it was designed to measure (e.g., predictive validity, construct validity).

– Standardization & Norms (comparison group): Standardization refers to uniform procedures for administering and scoring a test, ensuring consistency. Norms are the established standards of performance for a given population, derived from typical scores of a large, representative sample. They allow for comparison of an individual's score to the average performance of others in the age group or population.

Self-Report Inventories

• Objective personality tests consisting of questionnaires with clear, unambiguous items (e.g., true/false, Likert scales).

– MMPI-2-RF (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory – 2 Restructured Form): A widely used, comprehensive personality test containing 338 true/false items. It yields scores on 51 scales, including clinical scales (e.g., depression, anxiety) and validity scales (e.g., Lie, F, K scales) designed to detect dishonest or distorted response patterns (e.g., faking good, faking bad, random responding).

– 16PF (Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire): Based on Cattell's 16 personality factors.

– NEO-PI-R (NEO Personality Inventory – Revised): A self-report measure developed by Costa and McCrae to assess the Big Five personality traits (Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism).

– Kuder Career Interests Inventory: Measures vocational interests to help individuals identify career paths that align with their preferences.

– Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI): A popular self-report questionnaire designed to indicate different psychological preferences in how people perceive the world and make decisions. While widely used in corporate settings, it has limited empirical evidence for its reliability and validity from mainstream psychology.

Projective Techniques

• Personality tests that present ambiguous stimuli, prompting test-takers to project their hidden personality, unconscious thoughts, and feelings onto the stimuli. Interpretation is often subjective.

– Rorschach Inkblot Test: Consists of 10 symmetrical inkblots (5 black/white, 5 color) presented one at a time. The individual reports what they see, and responses are scored based on factors like form (how accurately the response fits the shape), content (what is seen), movement (perception of movement), and color. Interpretation relies heavily on the examiner's skill and theoretical orientation.

– Thematic Apperception Test (TAT): Developed by Murray and Morgan, it consists of 30 ambiguous pictures (though typically 10-20 are used). The individual is asked to tell a story about each picture, describing what is happening, what led up to it, what will happen next, and the characters' thoughts and feelings. Story content is analyzed to reveal underlying psychological needs (e.g., achievement, affiliation, power), motives, and interpersonal dynamics.

– Critiques: Both Rorschach and TAT face significant criticism regarding their reliability (consistency across different raters) and validity (whether they truly measure personality traits). Their subjective nature makes standardized scoring and interpretation challenging.

Behavioral Assessment

• Involves observing and systematically recording an individual's actual behavior in labs or natural settings. Focuses on specific behaviors, their frequency, duration, and the environmental factors that elicit and maintain them.

– Examples: Direct observation in a classroom to assess a child's disruptive behavior; counting the number of times a person washes their hands in a ritualistic manner.

– Highly useful for intervention evaluation (e.g., assessing the effectiveness of a shyness treatment by counting social interactions before and after intervention) and functional analysis of behavior.

Cultural & Ethical Issues

• Test norms must consider fairness: It is crucial that psychological tests are fair and unbiased across different cultural and ethnic groups. Test norms developed on one cultural group may not be appropriate for another.

– Race-based norming: The practice of using different cutoff scores or norms based on racial or ethnic group membership was a contentious issue. It was banned in employment testing by the Civil Rights Act of 1991 in the United States, but debates persist regarding the appropriate use of culturally sensitive assessment instruments and the potential for adverse impact on certain groups.

– Ethical considerations also include ensuring client confidentiality, obtaining informed consent, and ensuring tests are administered and interpreted by qualified professionals.

Quick Equations & Statistics

• Suicide rate formula: \text{Rate} = \frac{\text{Suicides}}{\text{Population}} \times 100{,}000 (expressed per 100,000 people).

• Age of viability ≈ 22\text{ wk} = 154\text{ days} post-conception (the point at which a fetus has a reasonable chance of survival outside the womb).

• Telomere shortening rate ≈ \sim 50–100 base pairs per cell division (a key mechanism in cellular aging, contributing to the "genetic preprogramming" theory of aging).

End of Comprehensive Notes