Developmental Psychology

Chapter 11 Presented by Ms. RT Masia

Introduction
Developmental psychology field within psychology thats concerned with describing & understanding how individuals grow & change over their lifetimes Development is a life-span phenomenon. It begins with conception & continues all throughout life.

Four broad periods of lifespan

Pre-natal period (between conception & birth) Childhood Adolescence Adulthood

Prenatal period
When does development begin?
with conception

Prenatal period extends from conception to birth Development during prenatal period is rapid

The Course of Prenatal Development

germinal stage (the first two weeks)

Embryonic stage (two weeks to two months)

Fetal stage (two months to birth)

The three stages

Germinal stage
Embryonic stage Fetal stage
fertilization Formation of placenta structure that allows oxygen & nutrients to pass into the fetus from mothers bloodstream & bodily wastes to pass out to the mother

Formation of vital organs & bodily systems Most miscarriages & major birth defects occur during this phase

Physical movements as skeletal structures harden Organs continue to grow & gradually begin to function (hearing functional around 20-24 weeks) Age of viability (between 22&26 weeks) survival at premature birth

Prenatal Development

Environmental factors & prenatal development

Maternal nutrition essential nutrients
Malnutrition increase risk of birth complications & neurological defects for the newborn

Maternal drug use Maternal illness Maternal stress????

Wondrous years of childhood

Magic is associated with childhood
Young children have ability to captivate adults attention

Most wondrous rapid & momentous developmental changes of the childhood years

Exploring the world: Motor development

Definition: the progression of muscular coordination required for physical activities Basic motor skills include grasping & reaching for objects, sitting up, crawling, walking

Motor development

i.

Basic principles

1. Cephalocaudal trend : head-to-foot direction of motor development Children gain control over the upper part of their bodies before the lower part 2. Proximodistal trend : centre-outward direction of motor development Children gain control over their torso before their extremities 3. Maturation: development that reflects the gradual unfolding of ones genetic blueprint

i. Basic principles
maturation is a product of genetically programmed physical changes that come with age as opposed to experience and learning. Progress in motor development is attributed to infants experimentation & their learning the consequences of their activities.

ii. Understanding developmental norms Developmental norms indicate typical age at which individuals display various behaviours and abilities. Useful benchmarks parents should not expect their children to progress exactly at the pace specified in the norms

iii. Cultural variations & their significance

Interplay between experience & maturation in motor development Environmental factors can accelerate or slow early motor development

Easy & difficult babies: differences in temperament

Temperament refers to characteristic mood, activity level & emotional reactivity

Early emotional development: Attachment

Do mothers & infants forge lasting emotional bonds in the first few hours after birth? Do early emotional bonds affect later development? Attachment refers to the close, emotional bonds of affection that develop between infants & their caregivers

Early emotional development: Attachment

By about 6-8 months infants begin to show preference for their mothers company & often protest when separated from her
This is the first manifestation of separation anxiety

Separation anxiety refers to the emotional distress seen in many infants when they are separated from people with whom they have formed an attachment

Theories of attachment

Why do children gradually develop special attachment to their mothers? Reinforcement theory of attachment came into question as a result of Harlows famous studies of attachment in infant monkeys Bowlby argued that there must be a bilogical basis for attachment infants are bilogically programmed to emit behaviour (smile,clinging)

Patterns of attachment
Attachments fall into 3 categories: Secure attachment: These infants use their mother as secure base from which to venture out & explore the world. They play comfortably with their mothers present & become upset when she leaves & are quickly calmed by her return Anxious-ambivalent attachment (resistant attachment): They appear anxious even when their mothers are near & protests excessively when she leaves, but are not comforted when she returns

Patterns of attachment

Avoidant attachment: Seek little contact with their mothers Often are not distressed when she leaves

Fourth category which was added in later years: disorganized-disoriented attachment These children appear confused about whether they should approach or avoid their mother They are especially insecure

Day care & attachment Culture & attachment

Are day care centres good or bad for the attachment process?

How does culture influence the attachment process?

Becoming unique: Personality development

How do individuals develop their unique constellations of personality traits over time? Many theories have addressed this question First major theory of personality development
Sigmund Freud basic foundation of individuals personality is firmly laid down by age 5

Erik Erikson concluded that events in early childhood leave a permanent stamp on adult personality Personality continues to evolve over the entire lifespan

Becoming unique: Personality development

Erikson devised a stage theory of personality development A stage is a developmental period during which characteristic patterns of behaviour are exhibited and certain capacities become established stage theories assume that :
Individuals must progress through specified stages in a particular order because each stage builds on the previous stage Progress through these stages is strongly related to age Development is marked by major discontinuities that usher in dramatic transitions in behaviour

Eriksons stage theory

Erikson partitioned the lifespan into eight stages Each stage brings a psychosocial crisis involving transitions in important social relationships Erikson claims that personality is shaped by how individuals deal with these psychosocial crises. First four childhood stages Remaining stages in upcoming sections on adolescence and adulthood

Eriksons stage theory

The growth of thought: Cognitive development

Definition: transitions in youngsters patterns of thinking, including reasoning, remembering & problem solving

Investigation was dominated by the theory of Jean Piaget

Piagets stage theory

Like Erikson, Piagets model is also a stage theory of development. He believed that youngsters progress through four major stages of cognitive development, which are characterized by fundamentally different thought processes
1. 2. 3. 4. Sensorimotor period (birth age 2) Preoperational period (ages 2 7) Concrete operational period (ages 7 11) Formal operational period (age 11 onward)

Piagets stage theory

1. Sensorimotor: (birth to about age 2) Infants develop the ability to co-ordinate their sensory input with their motor actions. Major development gradual appearance of symbolic thought at the beginning of this stage, the childs behaviour is dominated by innate reflexes By the end of the stage, the child can use mental symbols to represent objects (e.g. mental image of a favourite toy)

Piagets stage theory

The key to this transition is the acquisition of the concept of object permanence Object permanence develops when a child recognizes that objects continue to exist even when they are no longer visible. Teaching for a child in this stage should be geared to the sensorimotor system. You can modify behaviour by using the senses: a frown, a stern or soothing voice -- all serve as appropriate techniques.

Piagets stage theory

2. Pre-operational period: ( 2-7 years) Children improve in their use of mental images Not yet mastered the principle of conservation Conservation is the awareness that physical quantities remain constant in spite of changes in their shape or appearance Why are preoperational children unable to solve conservation problems?

Piagets stage theory

Their inability to understand conservation is caused by some basic flaws in preoperational thinking.
Centration tendency to focus on just one feature of a problem, neglecting other important aspects Irreversibility inability to envision reversing an action Egocentrism characterized by limited ability to share another persons viewpoint Notable feature of egocentrism is animism (belief that all things are living), just like oneself

Piagets stage theory

3. Concrete operational period: (7 11 years) Children can perform operations only on images on tangible objects & actual events Operations that children can master during this stage:
Reversibility permits a child to mentally undo an action Decentration allows the child to focus on more than one feature of a problem simultaneously

Pre-operational period

Piagets stage theory

4. Formal operational period: (11 years onward) Children begin to apply their operations to abstract concepts in addition to concrete objects Many adolescents spend hours pondering over hypothetical possibilities related to abstractions such as justice, love & free will Youngsters graduate to relatively adult modes of thinking during this stage

Piagets cognitive stage

Vigotskys sociocultural theory

Vigotsky places enormous emphasis on how childrens cognitive development is fueled by social interactions with parents, teachers & older children who can provide invaluable guidance Children acquire most of their cultures cognitive skills & problem-solving strategies through collaborative dialogues with more experiences members of their society His emphasis on the social origins of cognitive development is apparent in his concept of zone of proximal development
Zone of proximal development (ZPD) is the gap between what a learner can accomplish alone & what s/he can achieve with guidance from more skilled partners

Vigotskys sociocultural theory

His emphasis on the primary of language is reflected in his discussion of private speech Preschool children talk aloud to themselves a lot as they go about their activities As children grow older this private speech is internalized & becomes the normal verbal dialogue that people have with themselves as they go about their business. Language increasingly serves as the foundation for youngsters cognitive processes

Comparison between Piaget & Vigotsky

Cognitive development
Piaget
1. Cognitive development is primarily fueled by individual childrens active exploration of the world around them The child is viewed as the agent of change 2. Piaget viewed cognitive development as a universal process that should unfold in largely the same way across widely disparate cultures.

Vigotsky
1. Emphasis is on how childrens cognitive development is fueled by social interactions with parents, teachers & older children who can provide invaluable guidance 2. Vigotsky asserted that culture exerts great influence over how cognitive growth unfolds cognitive skills acquired in literate cultures that rely on schools for training will differ from those acquired in tribal societies where there may be no formal schooling

Cognitive development
Piaget
3. Piaget viewed childrens gradual mastery of language as just another aspect of cognitive development

Vigotsky
3. Children acquire most of their cultures cognitive skills & problem solving strategies through collaborative dialogues with more experienced members of their society Vigotsky saw cognitive development as more like an apprenticeship than a journey of individual discovery

The development of moral reasoning: Kohlbergs stage theory

His theory focuses on moral reasoning rather than overt behaviour Moral reasoning is the thinking process that occurs when we decide whether an act is right or wrong. According to Kohlberg, a person cannot skip stages & a person who has reached a higher stage will not regress to earlier stages.

Kohlbergs stage theory

Kohlberg examined the nature & progression of subjects moral reasoning. He found that individuals progress through a series of 3 levels of moral development
Each stage can be broken down into 2 sublevels, yielding a total of 6 stages. A. Preconventional level younger children think in terms of external authority. B. Conventional level older children see rules as necessary for maintaining social order. C. Postcoventional level during adolescence, acceptance of rules is less rigid & moral thinking shows some flexibility

Kohlbergs stage theory

Kohlbergs stage theory (Assignment : case study)

Martha is a 36 year old woman who had very bad cancer. There was no treatment known to medicine that would save her. Her doctor, Dr. Jefferson, knew that she had only about 6 months to live. She was in terrible pain, but she was so weak that a good dose of a pain killer like ether or morphine would make her die sooner. She was delirious and almost crazy with pain, and in her calm periods she would ask Dr. Jefferson to give her enough ether to kill her. She said she couldnt stand the pain and she was going to die in a few months anyway. Although he knows that mercy killing is against the law, the doctor thinks about granting her request.

Kohlbergs stage theory Assignment: case study

Should Dr. Jefferson give her the drug that would make her die? Why or why not? Should Martha have a right to make the final decision? Why or why not? Remember, Kohlbergs goal is to understand how an individual thinks, not whether s/he is for or against providing the woman with the drug.

The transition of Adolescence

Adolescence
Definition: It is a transitional period between childhood & adulthood. Its age boundaries are not exact but in our society adolescence is thought to begin around age 13 & end at about age 21-22

Physical changes
The phase of rapid growth in height & weight is called the adolescent growth spurt It is brought on by hormonal changes Onset: girls (10 years) and boys (12 years) Pubescence is a 2 year span preceding puberty during which the changes leading to physical & sexual maturity take place. In addition to growing taller & heavier during pubescence, development of physical features that characterize adults of their respective sexes takes place These features are termed secondary sex characteristics
Physical features that distinguish one sex from the other but that are not essential for reproduction (e.g. Males - voice change ; Females breast growth)

Physical changes
Puberty is the stage during which sexual functions reach maturity, which marks the beginning of adolescence During puberty, the primary sex characteristics develop fully.
The structures necessary for reproduction Males (testes, penis) Females (ovaries, vagina, uterus)

In females, the onset of puberty is typically signalled by menarche the first occurrence of menstruation (12- 13 years) Males experience spermarche the first occurrence of ejaculation (13 14 years)

Physical changes
The timing of puberty varies from one adolescent to the next over a range of about 5 years Girls who mature early & boys who mature late seem to experience more subjective distress & emotional difficulty with the transition to adolescence. Early maturation (in both males & females) is associated with greater use of alcohol & drug use, more high risk behaviour, greater aggression & more delinquency. Among females, early maturation is also correlated with earlier experience of intercourse, more unwanted pregnancies, greater risk for eating problems & variety of psychological disorders.

Neural development
The size of the human brain doesnt increase significantly after age 5 it was widely assumed until recently that the brain did not undergo much development after middle adulthood However, the increased availability of the MRI scans, which can provide exquisitely detailed images of the brain permitted neuroscientists to conduct entirely new investigations of whether there are age related changes in brain structure The volume of white matter in the brain grows throughout adolescence Grey matter decreases in volume Prefrontal cortex appears to be the last area of the brain to fully mature (maturation may not be complete until ones mid-20s)

Neural development
Prefrontal cortex executive control center that is crucial to high level cognitive functions (e.g. planning, organization, emotional regulation & response inhibition) Immaturity of the prefrontal cortex may explain why risky behaviour peaks during adolescence (e.g. reckless driving, experimentation with drugs, dangerous stunts, binge drinking, unprotected sex) Peer pressure also contributes to risky behaviour during adolescence

Adolescence: Time of turmoil?

Stanley Hall (1904) proposed that adolescent years are characterized by convulsive instability & disturbing inner turmoil Hall attributed this to physical changes & resultant confusion about self-image Adolescence = stormy period?? Statistics on adolescence suicide would seem to support the idea
More attempted suicide more than completed suicide Attempted suicide is a major issue during adolescence Girls higher rates of attempted suicide Boys higher rates of completed suicide

NOT ALL ADOLESCENTS experience storm & stress

The search for identity

Erikson was interested in personality development during adolescence which is the 5th of the 8 major life stages he described The premier challenge of adolescence is the struggle to form a clear sense of identity According to Erikson, adolescents grapple with questions such as Who am I? & Where am I going in life? Although the struggle for a sense of identity can be a lifelong process it tends to be intense during adolescence Adolescents deal with identity formation in a variety of ways According to James Marcia, the presence or absence of a sense of commitment (to life goals & values) & a sense of crisis (active questioning & exploration) can combine to produce four different identity statuses

The search for identity

The statuses are not stages that people pass through, but orientations that may occur at a particular time
Identity diffusion state of rudderless apathy with no commitment to an ideology Identity foreclosure premature commitment to visions, values & roles (typically those prescribed by parents). Foreclosure is associated with conformity & not being very open to new experiences Identity moratorium delaying commitment for a while to experiment with new alternative ideologies & careers Identity achievement arriving at a sense of self & direction after some consideration of alternative possibilities . Identity achievemnet is associated with higher self-esteem, conscientiousness, security, achievemnt motivation & capaciyt for intimacy

Emerging adulthood as a new developmental stage

Emerging adulthood
Jeffrey Arnett claims that we ought to recognize the existence of a new developemntal stage in morden societies emerging adulthood
The years between 18 and 25 have become a disticnt, new transitional stage of life He attributes this to a variety of demographic trends (e.g. more people delay marriage & parenthood until their late 20s or early 30s; lenghthier participation in higher education; increaesd barriers to financial independence) Emrging adulthood is characterized by a number of promionenet features

Kohlbergs moral reasoning

END
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