Justin Arnold AP Psych Chapter 5 Outline: Developing Through the Life Span As we journey through life, from womb

to tomb how do we develop? Walking around age 1 Talking around age 2 Developmental Psychology Definition: A branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social change throughout the life span Much of its research centers on three major issues: Nature vs. Nurture Continuity/Stages Stability/Change Prenatal Development and the Newborn 1: How does life develop before birth? Conception Process of reproducing starts when a womans ovary releases a mature egg Man begins producing sperm at puberty Women are born with all eggs they will ever have Men produce new sperm constantly Sperm has a race to the egg Prenatal Development Zygotes Definition: The fertilized eggs, they enter a 2-week period of rapid cell division and develop into embryos One cell becomes 2, then becomes 4, etc. About 10 days after conception, the zygote attaches to the mothers uterine wall, beginning approximately 37 weeks of the closest human relationship Embryo Definition: The developing human organism from about 2 weeks after fertilization through the second month By 9 weeks after conception, the embryo looks unmistakably human Fetus Definition: The developing human organism from 9 weeks after conception to birth Microphone readings taken inside the uterus have revealed that the fetus is exposed to the sound of its mothers muffled voice At each prenatal stage, genetic and environmental factors affect our development Placenta: Forms as the zygotes outer cells attached to the uterine wall, transfers nutrients and oxygen from mother to fetus Teratogens Definition: Agents, such as chemicals and viruses, that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm If the mother carries HIV, the baby may also Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) Definition: Physical and cognitive abnormalities in children caused by a pregnant womans heavy drinking. In severe cases, symptoms include noticeable facial misproportions

The Competent Newborn 2: What are some newborn abilities, and how do researchers explore infants mental abilities? Having survived prenatal hazards, we as newborns came equipped with automatic responses ideally suited for our survival William James presumed that the newborn experiences a blooming, buzzing confusion Scientists have discovered that babies can tell us a lot if one knows how to ask What can my baby hear, smell, see and think? Habituation Decreasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation. As infants gain familiarity with repeated exposure to a visual stimulus, their interest wanes and they look away sooner Janine Spencer, Paul Quinn and colleagues used a novelty-preference procedure to ask 4-month olds how they recognize cats and dogs Infants, like adults focus on the face, not the body When shown two visual stimuli with the same elements, but one resembles a face, and one resembles an upside down face, newborns spend twice as long looking at the face-like image Infancy and Childhood 3: During infancy and childhood, how do the brain and motor skills develop? Brain Development In your mothers womb, your developing brain formed nerve cells at the explosive rate of nearly onequarter million per minute The developing brain actually overproduces neurons, with the number peaking at 28 weeks and then subsiding to a stable 23 billion or so at birth Fiber pathways support language and agility proliferate into puberty, after which a pruning process shuts down excess connections and strengthens others Maturation Definition: Biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience Decrees many of our commonalities Sets the basic course of development; experience adjusts it Motor Development The developing brain enables physical coordination As an infants muscles and nervous system mature, more complicated skills emerge Genes play a major role in development Maturation and Infant Memory Our earliest memories seldom predate our third birthday Although we consciously recall little from before age 4, our memory was processing information during those early years What the conscious mind does not know and cannot express in words, the nervous system somehow remembers Cognitive Development 4: From the perspective of Piaget and of todays researchers, how does a childs mind develop? - Cognition Definition: All the mental abilities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering and communicating Developmental psychologist Jean Piaget spent his life searching for the answers to such questions A half-century spent with children convinced Piaget that a childs mind is not a miniature model of an

adults Thanks partly to his work, we now understand that children reason differently in wildly illogical ways about problems whose solutions are self-evident to adults Piagets studies led him to believe that a childs mind develops through a series of stages, in an upward march from the newborns simple reflexes to the adults abstract reasoning power Piagets core idea is that the driving force behind our intellectual progression is an unceasing struggle to make sense of our experiences Schemas Definition: Concepts or frameworks that organize and interpret information By adulthood we have built countless schemas, ranging from cats and dogs, to our concept of love Assimilation Definition: Interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing schemas Having a simple schema for cow, for example, a toddler may call all four-legged animals cows Accommodation Definition: Adapting to our current understands (schemas) to incorporate new information The child soon learns that the original cow schema is too broad and accommodates by refining the category Piaget believed that as children construct their understandings while interacting with the world, they experience spurts of change, followed by greater stability as they move from one cognitive plateau to the next Piagets Theory and Current Thinking Piaget proposed that children progress through four stages of cognitive development, each with distinctive characteristics that permit special kinds of thinking Sensorimotor Stage Sensorimotor Stage Definition: In Piagets theory, the stage from birth to about 2 years of age during which infants know the world mostly in terms of their sensory impressions and motor activities Object Permanence Definition: The awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived Researchers believe that Piaget and his followers underestimated young childrens competence Preoperational Stage Preoperational Stage Definition: In Piagets theory, the stage from about 2 to 6 or 7 years of age during which a child learns to use language but does not yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete logic Idea about moving different liquids into different containers, same amount, is inconceivable to young children Conservation Definition: The principle (which Piaget believed to be a part of concrete operational reasoning) that properties such as mass, volume and number remain the same despite changes in the forms of objects Egocentrism Egocentrism Definition: In Piagets theory, the preoperational childs difficulty taking anothers point of view Asking a two year old to show Mommy a picture, they may show it to themselves and believe that the mother can see through their own eyes Children are more susceptible, but some adults are egocentric as well Theory of Mind Theory of Mind Definition: Peoples ideas about their own and others mental states about their feelings, perceptions,

and thoughts, and the behaviors these might predict Concrete Operational Stage By about 6 or 7 years of age said Piaget, children enter the concrete operational stage Concrete Operational Stage Definition: In Piagets theory, the stage of cognitive development (from about 6 or 7 to 11 years of age) during which children gain the mental operations that enable them to think logically about concrete events Formal Operational Stage By age 12, our reasoning expands from the purely concrete (involving actual experience) to encompass abstract thinking (involving imagined realities and symbols) Formal Operational Stage Definition: In Piagets theory, the stage of cognitive development (normally beginning around age 12) during which people begin to think logically about abstract concepts Formal operational thinkers have no trouble answering correctly, but neither do most 7 year olds Reflecting On Piagets Theory What remains of Piagets ideas about the childs mind? Piaget would not be surprised that today, as part of our own cognitive development, we are adapting his ideas to accommodate new findings Implications for Parents and Teachers Young children are incapable of adult logic It is natures strategy for keeping children close to protective adults and providing time for learning and socialization Social Development 5: How do parent-infant attachment bonds form? - From birth, babies in all cultures are social creatures, developing an intense bond with their caregivers. Stranger Anxiety Definition: The fear of strangers that infants commonly display, beginning by about 8 months of age The brain, mind and social-emotional behavior develop together Origins of Attachment Attachment Definition: An emotional tie with another person; shown in young children by their seeking closeness to the caregiver and showing distress on separation Body Contact How important caregiver/protective item (blanket) is Human infants too become attached to parents who are soft and warm and who rock, feed and pat Familiarity Contact is one key to attachment, another is familiarity Critical Period Definition: An optimal period shortly after birth when an organisms exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces proper development Imprinting Definition: The process by which certain animals form attachments during a critical period very early in life Attachment Differences 6: How have psychologists studied attachment differences, and what have they learned? - What accounts for childrens attachment differences? - Strange situation, secure attachment

Researchers have more often studied mother care than father care Infants who lack a caring mother are said to suffer maternal deprivation Who lack a father merely experience father absence Basic Trust Definition: According to Erik Erikson, a sense that the world is predictable and trustworthy, said to be formed during infancy by appropriate experiences with responsive caregivers Deprivation of Attachment 7: Do parental neglect, family disruption, or daycare affect childrens attachments? - If secure attachment nurtures social competence, what happens when circumstances prevent a child from forming attachments? - In humans, sometimes the unloved become the unloving Extreme early trauma seems to leave footprints on the brain Such findings help explain why young children terrorized through physical abuse or wartime atrocities may suffer other lasting wounds-often nightmares, depression, anxiety, etc. Disruption of Attachment What happens to an infant when attachment is disrupted? - If placed in a more positive and stable environment, most infants recover from the separation distress Adults also suffer when attachments bonds are severed, research shows Does Day Care Affect Attachment? - In the mid-twentieth century, when Mom-at-home was the social norm, researchers asked Is day care bad for children? - The answer is no One ongoing study in 10 American cities has followed 1100 American children since the age of one month Found that children who were in daycare had better skills at 4-6 years of age What all children need is a loving relationship with adults that they can trust Self-Concept 8: How do childrens self-concepts develop, and how are childrens traits related to parenting styles? - Infancys social achievement is attachment Self-Concept Definition: Our understanding and evaluation of who we are Beginning with simple self-recognition, childrens self-concepts gradually strengthen Childrens views of themselves affect their actions Children who form a positive self-concept are more confident and sociable How can parents encourage a positive yet realistic self-concept? Parenting Styles Some parents spank, some reason There are three identifiable parenting styles according to researchers 1: Authoritarian parents impose rules and expect obedience 2: Permissive parents submit to their childrens desires 3: Authoritative parents are both demanding and responsive Too hard, too soft, and just right are what these styles are nicknamed The association between certain parenting styles and certain childhood outcomes is correlational Parents suffering with conflicting device and the stresses of child-rearing should remember that all advice reflects the advice-givers values We reach backward into our parents and forward into children

Adolescence Adolescence Definition: The transition period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty to independence. Physical Development 9: What physical changes mark adolescence? - Puberty - Definition: The period of sexual maturation, during which a person becomes capable of reproducing - Primary Sex Characteristics - Definition: The body structures (ovaries, testes, and external genitalia) that make sexual reproduction possible - Secondary Sex Characteristics - Definition: Non-reproductive sexual characteristics, such as female breasts and hips, male voice quality, and body hair - Menarche - Definition: The first menstrual period - The sequence of physical changes in puberty is far more predictable than their timing - Some girls start as early as 9, some boys start as late as 16 - Heredity and environment interact Cognitive Development 10: How do Piaget, Kohlberg, and later researchers describe adolescent cognitive and moral development? - As young teenagers become capable of thinking about their thinking, and of thinking about other peoples thinking, they begin imagining what other people are thinking about them Developing Reasoning Power During the early teen years, reasoning is often self-focused Gradually, though, most achieve the intellectual summit Piaget called formal operations, and they become more capable of abstract reasoning The ability to reason hypothetically and deduce consequences also enables them to detect inconsistencies in others reasoning and to spot hypocrisy This can lead to heated debates with parents and silent vows to never lose sight of their own ideals