Physical & Cognitive Development

Lifespan development  

  • Study of womb to tomb changes in and interactions  

    • Physical  

    • Cognitive  

    • Social  

 

3 major issue in development  

  1. Nature Vs Nurture  

    • How does nature interact with nurture to influence our development? 

    • Nature = genetics 

    • Maturation  

      • Development through genetically programmed growth processes 

    • Prenatal development and the newborn  

      • Zygotes  

        • Fertilized  

        • Two weeks  

      • Zygotes attach to placenta 

        • Placenta  

          • Organ connected the fetus to the uterine wall  

      • Embryo  

        • 2 weeks through 2 months  

      • Fetus  

        • 9 weeks to birth 

        • Visible at 6 months 

      • Teratogens  

        • Chemical & viruses that can harm the developing human  

      • Reflex  

        • Genetically programmed automatic behaviors to support & survival 

        • Rotem reflex  

          • Touching a baby cheek they will towards the touch and open mouth 

      • Twins   

        • Monozygotic twins  

          • Genetically identical twins 

        • Dizygotic twins  

          • Fraternal twins  

            • Same any other brothers & sister  

      • Nurture  

        • Non-genetics    

          • Experiences  

            • Affects the brain  

            • Influence  

              • Culture  

              • Norms  

          • Learning  

          • Environment  

          • Socioeconomic status  

        • Biological influences  

          • Chromosomes  

            • thread structure made of DNA that contain the genes  

          • DNA 

            • Complex molecule containing the genetic info that make up the chromosomes  

       

  2. Continuity & stages  

    • Experiences &  learning are gradual &continuous  

    • Major criticism  

      • Cognitive development: Piaget 

      • Moral development: Kohlberg  

      • Social Development: Erikson  

  3. Stability & change  

    • Temperament  

      • Emotional reactivity & intensity is stable  

        • Establishes identity & enduring personality traits  

        • social attitudes are fickle  

 

Jean Piaget  

  • Swiss developmental psychologist  

  • Theories of cognitive development  

    • Based his theory on observations he made on his own kids  

    • Cognitive Development  

      • Changes across the lifespan in all mental actives associated with thinking, knowing, remembering & communicating 

    • bio 

      • Pruning  

        • Unused neural connections are shutdown while those in use strengthen  

  • First researches  

    • Suggest that children weren't "miniature adults" 
       

    • Identified children thinking was different quality than adults  

  • Schemas  

    • Organized "unites" of knowledge 

  • Equilibration  

    • Disequilibrium => reconstruction (accommodation) => cognitive development ( critical thinking) 

    • Assimilation  

      • Interpreting new info/ experiences in term of existing schemas  

        • Same schema  

    • Accommodation  

      • Modifying existing schemas to incorporate new info  

        • Change or create schema  

  

STAGE 

AGE 

DESCRIPTION OF STAGE 

DEVELOPMENTAL PHENOMENA 

Sensorimotor 

  I 

  N 

  K  

  Y 

 
0-2 years old  

Experiences the world through sensory experiences & motor actions 

  • Object permanence 

  • Stranger anxiety 

Preoperational 

I 

G 

S 

 
2-7 years old  

Constantly ask-questions  

"Why? How come?" 

Lacking logic  

Pretend play begins  

  • Pretend play 

  • egocentrism 

Concrete Operational 

CAN'T 
 

 
7-11 years old  

Beings to understand conservation & eventually master the concept trouble with abstract ideas 

" What if?" 

  • Conservation 

  • Mathematical transformations 

Formal Operational 

FLY 
 

 
11 years old+ 

Understand abstract ideas free from concept limits of perception  

not achieve by everyone 
 

  • Abstract logic 

  • Potential for mature moral reasoning 

 

Sensorimotor stage  

  • Children lack object permanence  

    • Out of sight out of mind  

  • Stranger anxiety  

    • Fear of stranger 

 

Preoperational through 

  • Conservation  

    • Quantity does not change when its appearance changes  

  • Egocentrism  

    • Inability to understand another person's perspective  

  • Theory of mind  

    • Have empathy  

      • Ideas about their own & other mental state  

 

Lev Vygotsky  

  • Cognition develops through interaction with the social environment. 

    • Basic of teaching & group work 

  • Scaffolding  

    • Support an individual to complete a task that us just beyond their current ability to growth  

    • Zone of proximal development