Download - Development Through the Lifespan
Development Through the Lifespan
Developmental Psychology:Studies physical, cognitive and social changes through
the life span.
Issue Details
Nature/NurtureHow do genetic inheritance (our nature) and experience
(the nurture we receive) influence our behavior?
Continuity/StagesIs development a gradual, continuous process or a
sequence of separate stages?
Stability/ChangeDo our early personality traits persist through life, or do we become different persons as
we age.
Prenatal Development and the Newborn
From zygote to birth, physical development progresses in an orderly
sequence.
Infancy & Childhood Physical Development
• You are born with the most brain cells you would ever have!
• Neural networks multiply as we grow & gain abilities
• Association areas for thinking, memory, and language are last areas to develop
• Maturation - gradual unfolding of genetically-programmed physical changes
Infant ReflexesRooting reflex
Babinski reflex
Moro reflex
Grasping reflex
Habituation
Infants & Habituation• Infants
look longer at novel stimulus
• Look less at familiar stimuli
Motor Development
• Experience has little effect on motor development; it is mostly due to our genes & maturation
Maturation & Infant Memory• Infantile amnesia– Conscious memory at age
3 ½ (Bauer, 2002)• As we develop language, the
way in which we organize memories change.
• A 5-year-old has a sense of self and an increased long-term memory, thus organization of memory is different from 3-4 years.
Infants do show evidence of some memory.(Rovee-Collier)
Temperament• Temperament = infant’s individual style &
frequency of expressing needs/emotions• Difficult babies• Emotional, difficulty in adapting to new
situations, easily fussy/reactive to stimuli (noise, temperature, jostling, etc.)
• Easy babies• Less reactive, able to adapt to situational
changes• Slow-to-warm up babies• Take time to warm up to new
environments/people
Attachment & Familiarity• Familiarity forms during critical period &
leads to attachment• Imprinting forms attachment during critical
period in early life• Konrad Lorenz (1937)• Goslings were imprinted to him
because he was the first being they knew
• Attachment is instinctual in animals
Infants & Social Development
• Attachment – bond between infant & caregiver
• Stranger anxiety @ 8 months (Bowlby)• Showing anxiety towards someone new
means they have an attachment to someone familiar (care-giver)
Attachment & Body Contact• Harry Harlow (1971)• Attachment forms through comfort,
contact – NOT merely providing nourishment
Deprivation of AttachmentWhat happens when circumstances prevent a
child from forming attachments?In such circumstances children become:1. Withdrawn2. Frightened3. Unable to develop
speech
Harlow’s studies showed that monkeys experience great anxiety if their terry-cloth
mother is removed.
Mary Ainsworth & Strange SituationEpisode Event Attachment Behavior
1 Caregiver/child enter room None
2 Caregiver/child alone Caregiver as secure base, child explores environment
3 Stranger enters, talks to parent, approaches child
Reaction to stranger
4 1st Separation Episode – child & stranger alone
Separation distress
5 1st Reunion Episode – parent comforts & leaves
Reunion reaction
6 2nd Separation Episode – Child alone
Distress
7 2nd S.E. – Stranger enters Stranger comfort
8 2nd Reunion - Caregiver returns Reunion reaction
Ainsworth’s Types of Attachment
• Secure (60%) – Play & explore happily on their own– Distressed when caregiver leaves– Readily greets caregiver upon return
• Insecure (30%) – Less likely to explore– Avoid or ignore caregiver (avoidant)– Very upset when caregiver leaves, but
alternate between greeting/rejecting upon their return (ambivalent)
• Disorganized
Temperament & Attachment• Sensitive parents
have securely attached infants
• Heredity (Rothbart, 2007)• Nurturing, sensitive
parent (Van den Boom, 1990, 1995)
• Even children of abusive parents develop attachment
ReferencesKaplan, H. Development (PPT file). Retrieved from AP Psychology Commune web Site: http://www.appsychology.com
Myers, D.G. (2011). Myers’ psychology for AP. Holland, MI: Worth Publishers.