Developmental Psychology

Developmental Psychology

•Looks at how our behavior, thoughts, bodies, morals, etc., change over our entire lives–From womb to tomb

•Looks at commonalities as well as differences

3 overriding issues• 1.) Nature vs. Nurture• 2.) Stability vs. Change:

– Do our early personality traits persist through our life? Or do we become different people as we age?

• 3.) Continuity vs. Stages:– Is development gradual and

continuous (like an elevator)? – Or, Does it proceed through distinct

stages (like a ladder)? (stage theorists)

Research Methods for Research Methods for Developmental PsychDevelopmental Psych

Cross Sectional• Study people of different

cohorts (ages) at one point in time

• i.e. in one year, I compare 5 year olds to 10 year olds to 15 year olds

• Pros – quick, efficient• Cons – effects of historical

or cultural events on one cohort but not another (confounding variable)

Longitudinal• Study one cohort over

several years• i.e. study a group of five

year olds for ten years until they are 15

• Pros – precisely measures development overtime

Cons - take a long time,people drop out, and

researchtakes forever

Prenatal Development

and the Newborn Baby

Prenatal Development

•Zygote- Fertilized egg to 2 weeks– Fewer than half survive

Prenatal Development

•Embryo- 2 weeks to 2 months

Prenatal Development

•Fetus- 9 weeks to birth

Teratogens

• Harmful chemicals or environmental agents ingested or contracted by Mother that negatively affect the fetus

– Alcohol – may lead to Fetal Alcohol Syndrome – babies of mothers who drink heavily during pregnancy may have small, malformed skulls, and IQs below the cutoff for mental retardation

– Drugs – can cause premature birth and all kinds of health problems

– Nicotine

– Polluting chemicals

– Bacteria or viruses (HIV)

– Rule of thumb – whatever environmental agents the Mother is exposed to, the baby will be exposed to and it can negatively impact development

Motor and Sensory Development

• Babies are not born blank slates. All babies exhibit reflexes- specific, inborn, automatic responses to certain stimuli.– Rooting – root for nipple when face is touched– Sucking – suck on whatever goes in their mouth– Grasping – grasp objects placed in hand– Moro – when startled, babies flail their limbs out and then retract

into a ball as if in a protective mode– Babinski – when foot is stroked, toes spread

(rooting and sucking are critical to eating from day one)

Newborn Senses – healthy babies senses are born intact with the

exception of vision• Babies can hear before birth-

immediately recognize their mother’s voice – hearing is their dominant sense

• Babies have same basic preferences for smell and taste

• Babies are born almost legally blind; they can only see about 8-12” in front of their faceVision improves to “normal” by about 1 year of age

The Visual Cliff

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6cqNhHrMJA

Motor Development

•We develop through the same sequence (Though some may be ahead of others)

•Motor control develops as neurons in the brain connect

Sequence of Motor Development

• Roll over at about 5 months• Crawl at about 6-7 months• Stand around 8-9 months• Walk at about 15 months• Run• 1 year = walkie/talkie stage

Kids typically take first steps and sayfirst words

Language Emergence

•1-2 months: Cooing•4 months: Babbling•8-16 months: First Word•24 months: 2 and 3 word

telegraphic speech•2-3 years: Multi-word sentences•4 years: Adult-like; almost

grammatical speech

Cognitive Development

•How we think about and evaluate the world–Thinking–Knowing–Remembering–Communicating

Cognitive Development

• Jean Piaget– Greatest influence on children’s

cognitive development

– In France in the 1920s

– Before Piaget, people thought children knew less (Not differently)

– Piaget illustrated that kids think and reasonqualitatively differently from adults

Most of what we know about how kids thinkand learn is attributed to Piaget

Cognitive Development

• Schemas: our rules/categories/expectations for understanding the world– Assimilate: when we incorporate new information into

schemas • It fits our expectations

– Accommodate: if we have to adjust our schema to fit new information – it doesn’t fit so we change the schema

– We are constantly filing away new experiences with either assimilation or accommodation. Kids are especially busy doing this as so many of their experiences are new.

Piaget’s Stages - Sensorimotor

– Birth to ~2 years– Experiencing the world through senses and

actions• Looking, touching, grasping, mouthing

• Developmental Phenomenon– Stranger Anxiety– Object Permanence

Piaget’s Stages - Preoperational

• 2-6 years

• Kids represent things through words and images but lack logical reasoning

• Developmental Phenomenon:– Pretend play– Egocentrism– Explosive language development

Piaget’s Stages – Concrete Operational

• Concrete Operational– About 7-11 years old– Thinking logically about concrete

events– Grasping concrete analogies and

performing arithmetical operations

– Developmental Phenomenon• Conservation• Math Transformations

(2+3=5; 5-3=2)

CONSERVATION

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnArvcWaH6I

“Smart”My dad gave me one dollar

bill'Cause I'm his smartest son,And I swapped it for two

shiny quarters'Cause two is more than

one!

And then I took the quartersAnd traded them to LouFor three dimes -- I guess he

don't knowThat three is more than two!

Just then, along came old blind Bates

And just 'cause he can't seeHe gave me four nickels for

my three dimes,And four is more than three!

And I took the nickels to HiramCoombs

Down at the seed-feed store,And the fool gave me five

pennies for them,And five is more than four!

And then I went and showed my dad,

And he got red in the cheeksAnd closed his eyes and

shook hishead--

Too proud of me to speak!

- Shel Silverstein

Piaget’s Stages – Formal Operational

– ~12 through adulthood

– Abstract reasoning – i.e. if Native American diseases had killed Europeans, how might history have been different?

– Developmental Phenomena:• Abstract thinking• Potential for mature moral

reasoning

Criticisms of Piaget

• 1.) Most value and agree with Piaget’s order (sequence) but think he underestimated kids– Argue Kids go through stages faster and earlier that

Piaget thought– He likely underestimated them due to kids lack of

language – they cognitively understand some concepts they do not have the language to explain

2.) Other’s criticize the very idea of stages – argue development is more gradual and continuous

BUT – Piaget’s contributions are invaluable. Because of him subsequent researchers looked at kids qualitatively differently – not just as miniature adults

SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

Social Development

• From birth, babies are very social creatures.• Attachment: an emotional tie with another person.

– One of the most critical aspects of early environment

– relationship between parent and child– Infants develop an intense bond with their

caregiver– Stranger Anxiety – by about 8 months – greet

strangers by crying

– The quality of attachment has major ramifications for a kid’s development

Harry Harlow – studies on attachment

• Harlow raised baby monkeys with two artificial wire monkey mothers– Mom 1 = bottle- fed

monkey – babies could come here for food

– Mom 2 = wrapped in soft cloth – babies could come here to snuggle – the sensation of physical touch

Harlow cont.

• When frightened, the babies preferred the mother in soft cloth– Showed importance of

physical contact in forming attachment (holding, rocking, patting, cuddling)

Attachment is more than just feeding a kid – it’s holding, cuddling, loving

Harlow cont . . .

• When put in “strange situations,” monkeys raised w/ wire mothers became more stressed & frightened than monkeys with real mothers – they often couldn’t function as “normal” monkeys should– i.e. - Deprivation of attachment has serious,long-term consequences

Harlow’s Monkeys

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrNBEhzjg8I

Konrad Lorenz

• Familiarity is also important to attachment

• Critical Periods- optimal period shortly after birth when certain events must take place to facilitate proper development – miss the critical period and you miss the window of opportunity forever

• Imprinting- animals imprint/copy the 1st things we see in critical period – Lorenz’s geese

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UIU9XH-mUI

Mary Ainsworth• Researched attachment by placing infants

in strange situation (parents leave for a short period of time and return)

• Noticed three types of responses:– Secure Attachment – 66%– Avoidant Attachment – 21%– Anxious Ambivalent Attachment – 12%

– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTsewNrHUHU

– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DH1m_ZMO7GU

Ainsworth - Results

• Securely attached infants had consistently responsive mothers. Long term these kids were more confident, optimistic, trusting, competent and had good relationships.

• Insecure attachments often correlated in low self-esteem.

• i.e. Attachment MATTERS

Baumrind’s - Parenting Styles

• Authoritarian - dictator– Strict standards with punishments for violation.– Value obedience, not questioning.– No explanation or discussion of rules, no exceptions– “Because I said so”

• Permissive – try to be kid’s friend– No clear guidelines– If rules exist, they constantly change or are not enforced

consistently.– Few demands, little punishment

• Authoritative– Set consistent standards that are reasonable and explained– They tell the “why”– Use praise more than punishment– Value obedience but also value kid’s independence

Parenting Styles - Results– Authoritative Parents – best results

• Kids are socially capable, high self esteem, self-reliant & often perform better academically

– Permissive Parents • Kids often have emotional control

problems and dependent – can’t follow rules of society

– Authoritarian Parents• Kids often distrust others and may

be withdrawn form peers.• May be controlling of themselves

or others• Often make bad choices when

finally on their own

Adolescence• Life between childhood and

adulthood (teenage years).

• Adolescence has gotten longer over time . . . Kids maturing earlier and leaving home later

• “Emerging Adulthood” = new phrase to describe current trend of delaying adult endeavors – living on your own, supporting yourself, getting married

Puberty

•Beginning of adolescence•Girls start earlier at ~ 11•Boys a little later at ~ 13•By late teens, they catch

up

Lawrence Kohlberg’s Moral Development

•How does our ability to reason about ethical situations change over our lives?

•Heinz experiment

Kohlberg: Pre-conventional Morality

• Good girl Bad girl (boy)• Before age 9• Avoid punishment or gain reward (personal

gain or loss)• My decision about right or wrong are all

about how the consequences affect me• i.e. Heinz should not steal the drug because

he will go to jail – so it’s wrong

Kohlberg: Conventional Morality• Early adolescence – 9 to…..• Make choices on how others view you. • Follow standards of parents, peers, society (laws and

rules, authority, conformity)• Kohlberg says most adults never get past this level – Nazi

Germany• i.e. Heinz shouldn’t steal the drug because it’s against

the law

Kohlberg: Post-conventional Morality

• Adulthood; not all reach this stage• Higher moral reasoning or ethical principles• Do what you believe is right despite possible

negative consequences and despite what others are doing or what the law says

• Don’t blindly accept rules/laws• Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr.

Criticisms of Kohlberg?

• A number of people were critical of Kohlberg’s work

• Carol Gilligan, critical because Kohlberg’s model focused only on boys and men; when he later tested girls, he placed them on a lower moral level

• Gilligan said boys and girls are equally ethically but approach morality differently - boys have more absolute view of right and wrong; girls are more likely to look at situational factors

FREUD’s Stage Theories

• Freud was the first to theorize that we pass through different stages in childhood

• 4 psychosexual stages – each stage has a conflict that needs to be resolved. Failure to resolve the conflict results in fixation – problems later in life from earlier issues (stuck in development)

ORAL STAGE

0-18 months

Baby seeks pleasure with mouth – sucking, biting, drooling

Fixation – overeating, smoking, chewing gum, etc.

ANAL STAGE

• 18-36 months• Development

al phenomenon = toilet training

• Fixations = overly controlling (type A) or out of control/messy

PHALLIC STAGE

• 3-6• Realize

gender• Oedipus or

Electra Complex

• Fixation – gender confusion

Latency – 6-pubertyThe calm before the

storm!

GENITAL STAGE

• Puberty on• Focus on sexual

maturation• Romantic/sexual

relationships

Erik Erikson

• 1960s Neo-Freudian• Each stage of life has its own

psychosocial crisis that needs resolution

• Erikson was friend’s with Freud’s daughter and knew the family

• Borrowed Freud’s idea of a crisis at each stage and fixation if crisis not resolved

• Changes stages to Psychosocial – says kids not that sexual

• Extends stages throughout adulthood

Gender and Development

•What does it mean to be male or female? - culturally

•What are developmental differences between the genders?

•Gender roles vary widely between cultures

•How would different psychological perspectives view this?

Adulthood

•An increasing life expectancy = a larger population of elderly – Baby boomers – born 1946-1964– Women live longer– Sight, smell hearing and reflexes all

decline after age 70– Sometimes loss of independence –

driver’s license, living alone, etc.

Estimated Worldwide life expectancies

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expectancy

Dementia and Alzheimer’s

• Dementia = damage to the brain/ mental erosion

• Alzheimer’s– 3% of the population by age 75– First memory, then reasoning and

language deteriorate– Patient becomes emotionally flat,

disoriented and mentally vacant– Deterioration of neurons that produce

the neurotransmitter acetylcholine (ACh)– Plaque buildup causes tangles of

neurons in the brain

60 Minutes – Over 90 Parts I and II

• http://www.cbsnews.com/news/living-to-90-and-beyond/

Parkinson’s Disease• Parkinson’s is a

degenerative disorder of the central nervous system.

• It results in impairment in motor skills, speech and other functions.

Tardive dyskinesia

Death and Dying – Elizabeth Kubler Ross

• Grief stages: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance

• Grief is especially severe when death is early or unexpected

• Six times more women suffer the loss of a spouse

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_Z3lmidmrY