Theories

of Psychological Development

Emo7onal development
Around the middle of the 20th century psychologists observed that children who had spent their early years in orphanages where they received minimal care and a?en7on o@en experienced emo7onal dicul7es in later years. Observa7ons such as these led psychologists to hypothesize about the importance of the psychological bond between infants and their caregivers on emo7onal development.

A?achment Theory
From birth infants rely on people around them for their survival. Over 7me the infant develops an emo7onal connec7on with the people who respond to its needs. This is called a?achment. Bri7sh psychologist John Bowlby was rst to discover the concept of a?achment.

A?achment Theory con7nued

Psychologists now dene a?achment as the tendency of infants to form an emo7onal bond to another person, usually their main caregiver. The a?achments formed within the rst 12 months of an infants life have a considerable inuence on a persons emo7onal development throughout their lives.

Bowlbys Theory
According to Bowlby, there are four key characteris7cs that all need to be present if a strong a?achment is to be formed. These are:
Proximity maintenance: the infants desire to be near the person(s) to whom it is a?ached. Safe haven: the ability to return to the a?achment gure for comfort and safety when scared or threatened.

Bowlbys Theory con7nued

Secure base: the ability to perceive the a?achment gure as a base of a security from which the infant can explore the surrounding environment. Separa7on distress: anxiety experienced when the a?achment gure leaves or is absent.

Bowlbys Theory con7nued

A close emo7onal connec7on with a caregiver keeps the infant and the caregiver physically close and therefore, therefore increasing the infants safety.

A?achment targets
An a?achment target is the person(s) to whom an infant forms an a?achment. The a?achment is usually made with the main caregiver. Infants are also capable of developing dierent and separate a?achments with other people who have signicant involvement in their lives; eg. An older sibling, grandparents.

A?achment Targets
Infants under 6 months of age do not fully recognize their caregiver on an individual basis. They tend to happily accept comfort from anyone who provides it to their sa7sfac7on. Between 6-8 months there is a change from accep7ng comfort from anyone to only accep7ng it from the main caregivers. Infants are more likely to cry and cling when their main caregiver moves away from them and to react nega7vely to anyone else who tries to comfort them. Controversially, Bowlby believed that females were the be?er caregiver for infants because they were gene7cally programmed to be cargivers.

Schaer and Emerson (1964)

In one research study by Schaer and Emerson (1964) studied the forma7on of a?achment among a group of 60 Sco\sh infants. The infants were aged between 5 and 23 weeks and were observed periodically un7l they were 18 months.

Schaer and Emerson

They found that even in the homes where the mother was the main care giver some infants a?ached to the father and others to an older sibling or grandparent. About one third formed a?achments with mul7ple individuals. By 18 months 87% had formed emo7onal contacts with several people. But the infants used these people for dierent purposes. Each a?achment was much the same in quality but the infants seemed to use dierent people for dierent purposes.

Schaer and Emerson

An infant could become a?ached to the mother if they were frightened, if they wanted to play they tended to prefer their father. Schaer suggested that an infants capacity for a?achments is not limited, like a cake that has to be shared out. Love, even in babies, has no limits. (Shaer, 1977)

Indicators of a?achment
Bowlbys student, and later colleague, Mary Ainsworth conducted many research studies on a?achment. She suggested that infants show a?achment through behaviour that promotes closeness or contact with the person to whom they are a?ached.

Indicators of a?achment
According to Ainsworth (1978) behaviours that indicate a?achment include:
Crying to a?ract the caregivers a?en7on Crying when held by someone other that the caregiver and stopping when taken by the caregiver Clinging physically to the caregiver, par7cularly in the presence of a stranger Smiling at the caregiver more readily and more frequently than at other people. Vocalizing more readily and more frequently in the caregivers presence than with strangers. Looking at the caregiver when separated but in sight. Crying when the caregiver can no longer be seen

Indicators of a?achment
Climbing over the caregiver, exploring and playing with the caregivers face, hair and clothes. Gree7ng the caregiver a@er an absence by raising arms, smiling and making sounds. Li@ing arms to be picked up by the caregiver. Embracing, kissing, hugging the caregiver. Burying their face in the caregivers lap. When able to crawl, following the caregiver when they leave and approaching them when they return. Exploring the environment using the caregiver as a secure home base, returning from 7me to 7me for brief periods.

Types of a?achment
According to Ainsworth, infants can form dierent forms of a?achment with their caregivers. These can vary in terms of how strong the connec7on. The strength of each a?achment is dependent on how sensi7ve and responsive the caregiver is to the infants needs. There are two categories of a?achment; secure and insecure a?achment.
Insecure a?achment is further divided into two types; resistant a>achment and avoidance a>achment.

Types of a?achment
As a consequence to the categories of a?achment, the types of a?achment are as follows:
Secure a?achment Resistant a?achment Avoidant a?achment

Types of A?achment

Secure a?achment
An infant who has formed a secure a?achment shows a balance between dependence and explora7on. The infant uses the caregiver as a safe base from which to venture out and explore an unfamiliar environment, but shows some distress and decreases explora7on when the caregiver departs. Securely a?ached infants feels safe and are able to depend on their caregivers. About 65% of 1 year olds are securely a?ached.

Avoidant a?achment
The infant does not seek closeness or contact with the caregiver and treats them like a stranger. The infant rarely cries when the caregiver leaves the room and ignores the caregiver on their return. Research has shown that this a?achment style may be the result of a negleciul or abusive caregivers. About 20% of 1 year olds are in this category.

Resistant a?achment
The infant appears anxious even when their caregiver is near. They become very upset when separated from the caregiver. When the caregiver returns the infant approaches them, cries to be picked up, then squirms or ghts to be free. This a?achment style is thought to result from caregivers who are not responsive to their infants needs. About 12% of 1 year olds are in this category.

Strange Situa7on Test

This involves an experimenter taking a caregiver and their infant into an unfamiliar room containing toys. The infant is then exposed to a series of separa7ons and reunions. The infants behaviour is recorded. The strange situa7on test is s7ll used in contemporary child development research and has highlighted stranger anxiety and separa7on anxiety.

Strange Situa7on Test

Adults who have had secure a?achments as infants tend to have good self esteem, seek social support when they need it, have trus7ng and las7ng rela7onships and are comfortable sharing feelings with their friends and partners. Those who have had insecure early a?achments may experience anxiety, inner turmoil, lack trust in others and are reluctant to form close rela7ons with others (Bachman and Zakahi, 2000)

How do human a?achments form?

Bowlby believed that humans have a biological or inherited need to form an a?achment. He suggested that infants use gene7cally inherited abili7es such as crying, smiling, gazing, vocalising and clinging to get near the main caregiver. The main caregiver then responds to the infants a?achment signals by caring for it with nurturing, feeding, touching and cuddling.

How human a?achments form

According to Bowlby a?achment is a two way rela7onship and both the infant and the main caregiver play important roles in its forma7on. The rst year of life is a sensi7ve or cri7cal period for a?achment forma7on. If a close emo7onal connec7on is not developed during this 7me, or is broken, there will be signicant consequences for their wellbeing later in life.

How human a?achments form

Bowlbys work as a psychiatrist suggested that individuals in prisons and psychiatric hospitals had not formed a?achment during infancy. More recent evidence collected from children who spent their early infancy in orphanges in Romania during the 1980s and 1990s suggests that the lack of a?en7on given to the children was responsible for their maladjustment later in life. (Fisher and others 1997)

Imprin7ng and A?achment

Austrian biologist Konrad Lorenz rst inden7ed imprin7ng in 1937. Imprin7ng is a form of learning rather than an inborn tendency. A newly hatched mallard duckling will approach and follow almost any moving, noisy object that it sees a@er birth.

Imprin7ng and A?achment

Once the duckling begins to follow the object it will, generally speaking, not follow anything else. A@er approximately 10 minutes the duckling will have formed an a?achment to the object. Hess (1972) found that if a Mallard duckling is too young or too old imprin7ng will not take place.

Imprin7ng and A?achment

A duckling between 13 and 16 hours follows a moving object imprin7ng will occur. h?p://www.youtube.com/watch? v=eqZmW7uIPW4 h?p://www.youtube.com/watch? v=LGBqQyZid04&feature=fvw

Factors Inuencing A?achment

The quality of care is more important than the quan7ty of care when it comes to forming and developing a?achments (Ainsworth, 1983). The characteris7cs of the caregiver and the infant aect the degree to which an infant will become a?ached.

Characteris7cs of the caregiver

Infants do not begin to use recognisable words un7l about 12 months. Up un7l then they rely on other ways to communicate their moods. For example smiling, reaching, squirming, crying and babbling. Ainsworth (1983) compared how mothers with securely a?ached infants and mothers with insecurely a?ached infants responded to signals of discomfort from their infants.

Characteris7cs of the caregiver

She found that mothers with securely a?ached infants were more sensi7ve to their infants and responded more appropriately throughout the rst year of their infants life. They were quickest to respond when their infants cried, and were able to accurately iden7fy the cause of the crying and the remedy required.

Characteris7cs of the caregiver

In contrast, the mothers with insecurely a?ached infants tended to lack awareness of what their infants were feeling or needing. They had less physical contact with their infants and their care giving ac7vi7es appeared to revolve more around their own interests and moods than those of their infants. The mothers tended to be less interested in mothering.

Characteris7cs of the caregiver

Factors which can inuence this is their general a\tude towards paren7ng (what were their experiences of paren7ng like?) and situa7onal factors such as the type of rela7onship between the parents, involvement of others in paren7ng, the number of other children, family income and housing.

Characteris7cs of the infant

An infants personal characteris7cs can inuence the caregivers responsiveness and the appropriateness of the response made. For example if an infant is usually cheerful, relaxed, adaptable and has a regular pa?ern of sleeping and ea7ng, the carer will nd it easier to iden7fy the infants needs and respond to them appropriately.

Characteris7cs of the infant

Peterson (1989) examined studies on the links between the characteris7cs and a?achment displayed by an infant. She concluded that infants who started life with a happy disposi7on made stronger a>achments with their mothers. Conversely, those who began life with a fussy temperament were less likely to form strong a?achments.

Harlows experiments on a?achment in monkeys

Harlow conducted a number of experiments (in 1958) to inves7gate the factors inuencing the development of a?achment of infant rhesus monkeys. He used 8 rhesus monkeys who had been separated from their mothers at birth.

Harlows experiments on a?achment in monkeys

The monkeys were individually reared in cages, each of which contained two surrogate mothers. The surrogate mothers were made of wire mesh and were roughly the same size and shape of real monkey mothers. One of the surrogates was covered in terry-towling cloth and the other was le@ uncovered.

Harlows experiments on a?achment in monkeys

A feeding bo?le was a?ached to one of the surrogates in the same area where it would be found on a real monkey. Half the animals were in a cage with the feeding bo?le on the cloth monkey. The other half were in cages where the bo?le was on the wire mesh monkey.

Harlows experiments on a?achment in monkeys

Harlow proposed that if an infants a?achment was based primarily on feeding, the infant monkey should have preferred and become a?ached to the surrogate which had the bo?le a?ached. Harlow found that regardless of which surrogate had the bo?le the infant monkeys spent more 7me with the cloth surrogate.

Harlows experiments on a?achment in monkeys

By the age of 3 weeks all of the monkeys were spending around 15 hours a day in contact with the cloth monkey. None of the infants spent more that 1 hour a day with the wire mesh surrogate. When the infants were confronted with a frightening object they sought comfort from the cloth surrogate. Harlow concluded that the a?achment of monkeys was not based on food rewards. Instead contact comfort emerged as a more important factor. h?p://www.youtube.com/watch? v=fLrBrk9DXVk

Other animal experiments by Harlow

In further experiments Harlow found that contact comfort was not the only important variable in a?achment. h?p://www.youtube.com/watch? v=fg9QCeA4FJs&NR=1 Harlow, Dodsworth and Harlow (1965) separated a group of infant rhesus monkeys for three months to determine the eect of isola7on on social behaviour.

Other animal experiments by Harlow con7nued

One group of monkeys was separated for three months, another for six, and another for twelve months. A forth group was reared normally and was used as the control group. A@er three months the monkeys who had been separated from their mothers were emo7onally disturbed and their social behaviour was impaired.

Other animal experiments by Harlow

When they were released into the company of the monkeys that were reared normally for 30 minutes they crouched in the corner of the cage. A@er 1 year of being returned with the other monkeys their behaviour returned back to normal. The monkeys separated for 6 months isolated themselves even more and developed self destruc7ve behaviour which included bi7ng themselves and pulling out their own hair.

Other animal experiments by Harlow

Improvement occurred more slowly than those monkeys who had been separated for three months. The monkeys which had been separated for 12 months were totally withdrawn and unable to relate socially to other monkeys. They were fearful and avoided all contact with interac7on. Their behaviour did improve but not in all areas.

Other animal experiments by Harlow

When these monkeys became mothers themselves they were disinterested in their infants and were some7me abusive towards them. These mothers were referred to as motherless mothers. Harlows experiments enabled psychologists to understand the factors which inuence a?achment and social and emo7onal development of monkeys.

Learning Ac7vity 5.12

Complete LA 5.12 on page 199 using your text book and the ow chart provided.

Cogni7ve development
As with other areas of psychological development, cogni7ve development cannot be directly observed. Therefore much of what psychologists understand about cogni7ve development in infancy must be inferred from the overt behaviour which the infant demonstrates.

Cogni7ve development
Many people believed that infants were not capable of thinking. Infant behaviours were seen as random and occurring without purpose. Some psychologists saw infants as empty vessels with limited perceptual abili7es and li?le capacity to learn, remember or think.

Cogni7ve development
Psychologists now understand the capabili7es of infants and children much be?er as a result of the work of Jean Piaget. Since his rst theories developed in 1920, researchers have tested and rened Piagets theories.

Key principles of Piagets theory

Piaget proposed that cogni7ve development occurs as we adapt to the changing world around us. Adapta7on is described as the con7nuous process of using the environment to learn and to adjust to the changes in the environment. Adapta7on involves taking in, processing, organising and using new informa7on in ways which enable us to adjust to changes in the environment.

Key principles of Piagets theory

According to Piaget adapta7on occurs through two closely related processes which he called assimila7on and accommoda7on.

Assimila7on
ASSIMILATION the process of taking in new informa7on, \ng it into and making it a part of an exis7ng mental idea about objects or the world. EG: calling a truck a car simply because a car is the only vehicle for which the child has an exis7ng mental idea.

Accommoda7on
Some7mes we cannot assimilate new informa7on into an exis7ng idea, therefore we are forced to change (accommodate), an exis7ng mental idea to t in the new object or experience ACCOMMODATION refers to changing an exis7ng mental ideas in order to t in new informa7on. EG: learning to modify behaviour from breast feeding to drinking from a bo?le.

More advance process than assimila7on because it involves restructuring the way in which exis7ng informa7on is mentally organised. Accommoda7on involves modifying exis7ng info so the new info may be incorporated into the mental idea.

Key principles of Piagets theory

The process of assimila7on and accommoda7on is needed to form a schema, or mental idea, of what something is and how to deal with it.

Piagets four-stage theory of cogni7ve development

Piagets theory of cogni7ve development suggests that we move through four dis7nct and sequen7al stages from birth to adulthood. Each stage is linked to an approximate chronological age. Piaget suggested that individuals do not develop the mental capaci7es of a later stage un7l they acquired those of an earlier stage.

Piagets four-stage theory of cogni7ve development

Some individuals with severe mental disabili7es will never progress past rst or second stage. Piaget outlined key cogni*ve accomplishments that individuals achieve in each stage. According to Piaget, what people know is not as important as the way in which they think and acquire mental abili7es.

The four stages and their cogni7ve accomplishments

Sensorimotor stage (birth to two years)

In the sensorimotor stage infants construct their understanding of the world by coordina7ng sensory experience (for example vision or touch) with motor abili7es. In the rst few months of life the infant cannot coordinate sensory informa7on with movements. For example they do not realise that they can reach for a toy or a dummy which is less than an arms length away.

Sensorimotor Stage
A@er the rst three months most infants begin to integrate sensory and motor informa7on and can start to coordinate their behaviour to grasp an object or turn towards a noise.

Sensorimotor Stage- Object Permanence

With increasing mobility, the infants percep7on of the world expands very quickly. At around 7-9 months (when the infant begins to crawl) the infant will follow an object with their eyes un7l it is out of their view. This is the beginning of Object Permanence. Object Permanence: refers to the understanding that objects s7ll exist even if they cannot be seen or touched. Before object permanence has been acquired out of sight really is out of mind for an infant. Object Permanence

Sensorimotor Stage- Object Permanence

Once they have acquired object permanence they will search ac7vely for the object of interest even if they can no longer see it.

Sensorimotor Stage
Towards the end of the sensorimotor stage they also develop the ability to carry out goal directed behaviour, or behaviour which is carried out with a par7cular purpose in mind, working out various ways to obtain things they want.

The four stages and their cogni7ve accomplishments

Pre-opera7onal stage (two to seven years)
As infants progress through this stage they become increasingly able to internally represent events (think about and imagine things in their own mind). Symbolic thinking or the ability to use symbols such as words and pictures to represent objects, places or events.

Pre-Opera7onal Stage- Egocentrism

Children at this stage have diculty seeing things from another persons point of view. This is called egocentrism. egocentrism video This is not selsh behaviour, rather that they only see the world from their point-of-view. By the end of the pre-opera7onal stage a shi@ from egocentric to decentered thought (the ability to think of anothers perspec7ve) has occurred.

Pre-Opera7onal Stage- Animism & Transforma7on

Children of the pre-opera7onal stage also use the thinking style animism Animism: the belief that everything which exists has some kind of consciousness or awareness. For example a child that bumps its knee on the table may smack the table because it has been naughty. Another key cogni7ve accomplishment in the la?er stages of pre-opera7on is transforma7on or the understanding that something can change from one state to another. For example the transforma7on of ice into liquid.

Pre-Opera7onal Stage- Centra7on & Reversibility

The pre-opera7onal child can only focus one quality or feature of an object at a 7me. This process is known as centra7on. Children in the la?er stages can use reversibility or the ability to follow a line of reasoning back to its original star7ng point. Eg: A 4 year old boy was asked whether he had a brother. Yes, his name is Jim, replied the boy. Then when asked whether Jim had a brother, the 4 yo old boy answered No.

The four stages and their cogni7ve accomplishments

Concrete opera7onal stage (seven to twelve years) The concrete opera7onal child uses their thinking skills to revolve around what they know and what they can experience through their senses. A key cogni7ve accomplishment is understanding conserva7on. Conserva7on: refers to the idea that an object does not change its weight, mass, volume or areas when the object changes its shape or appearance. 5 experiments on conserva7on: Of volume, mass, number and length.

Concrete opera7onal stage- Conserva7on.

Mass

Volume

Conserva7on tasks Conserva7on of volume

Concrete opera7onal stage- Conserva7on.

Another key accomplishment is the ability to organise informa7on (things or events) into categories based on common features that sets them apart from other classes or groups. This is called classica7on.

A child is presented with 20 wooden beads, 18 of which are brown and two of which are white. The pre-opera7onal child who is asked to state whether there are more brown beads than wooden beads, will state that there are more brown beads. However, the concrete opera7onal child will be able to iden7fy that there are more wooden ones because white beads are also wooden.

The four stages and their cogni7ve accomplishments

Formal opera7onal stage (12 years and over)
In this stage more complex thought processes become evident and thinking become increasingly sophis7cated. Abstract thinking or a way of thinking that does not rely on being able to see or visualise things in order to understand concepts is a key cogni7ve accomplishment.

Formal Opera7onal Stage

Another key accomplishment is logical thinking. As individuals move throughout this stage, they are able to develop strategies to solve problems, develop hypotheses and systema7cally test solu7ons. They are then able to understand the concept of 7me and distance.
The researcher showed a child several dierent weights which could be hooked on the end of a piece of string to make a pendulum. The researcher then asked the child to choose the length of the string, the weight to be a?ached and the height at which the weight should be released. The problem involved working out which of the three factors (length, weight or height), or combina7on of factors, determines the speed at which the pendulum will swing. The solu7on involves changing one of the three factors while keeping the other two constant and seeing if it has any eect on speed. Piaget found that children in the pre-opera7onal or concrete opera7onal stages randomly change one or more of the factors (length, weight or height), rather than changing them or tes7ng their respec7ve eects in a systema7c and logical way.

Cri7cisms of Piagets Theory

In rening Piagets methods, researchers have found that key cogni7ve accomplishments described in the dierent stages are o@en achieved by children much younger. Another cri7cism is that Piaget may have over es7mated young childrens language ability, leading him to assume that wrong answers came from faulty thinking.

Cri7cisms of Piagets Theory

His theories have also been cri7cised because of the small number of par7cipants involved in the experiments. He o@en used his own children in the experiments.