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Chapter 7. Human Development Across the Lifespan. Outline. Prenatal Development The Newborn Infancy and Childhood Adolescence Early and Middle Adulthood Later Adulthood. Developmental Psychology. The study of the changes that occur in people from conception to death. Outline.
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Chapter 7 Human Development Across the Lifespan
Outline • Prenatal Development • The Newborn • Infancy and Childhood • Adolescence • Early and Middle Adulthood • Later Adulthood
Developmental Psychology • The study of the changes that occur in people from conception to death
Outline • Prenatal Development • The Newborn • Infancy and Childhood • Adolescence • Early and Middle Adulthood • Later Adulthood
Prenatal Development • The period of development from conception to birth • Embryo • A developing human between 2 weeks and 3 months after conception • Cells are beginning to specialize to form organs, muscles, bones, etc. • Fetus • A developing human between 3 months after conception to birth • One inch long, but roughly resembles a human being with arms, legs, a large head and a beating heart
Prenatal Development • The placenta nourishes the embryo and the fetus and carries away waste products • The mother’s blood never actually mingles with the unborn child • Diseases and teratogens (toxic agents that she eats, drinks, or inhales) can cross the placenta and compromise the baby’s development
Critical Periods in Development • Critical Period • A time when certain internal and external influences have a major effect on development • At other periods, the same influences will have little or no effect • Alcohol is the drug most often abused by pregnant women • Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) • A disorder that occurs in children of women who drink alcohol during pregnancy • Characterized by facial deformities, heart defects, stunted growth, and cognitive impairments
Critical Periods in Development • Smoking during pregnancy restricts the oxygen supply to the fetus, slows its breathing and speeds up its heartbeat • Associated with a significantly increased of miscarriage • Babies are more likely to suffer low birth weights, which puts the child at risk for other developmental problems • Other factors that are related to health of a newborn: • Prenatal care and nutrition • Mother’s level of psychological stress during pregnancy
Outline • Prenatal Development • The Newborn • Infancy and Childhood • Adolescence • Early and Middle Adulthood • Later Adulthood
The Newborn • Neonates • Newborn babies • Newborns an sleep up to 20 hours a day • When awake, they are much more aware and competent than they seem at first glance
Reflexes • Rooting reflex • A baby turns its head toward something touching its cheek and gropes around with its mouth • Helps the baby find its mother’s nipple • Sucking reflex • Sucking on any object placed in a baby’s mouth • Swallowing reflex • Enables the baby to swallow liquids without choking
Reflexes • Grasping reflex • Clinging vigorously to anything placed in their hands • Stepping reflex • The light stepping motions made by babies if they are held upright with their feet just touching a surface • These reflexes disappear after two or three months
Perceptual Abilities • All of a baby's senses are functioning at birth: • Sight • Hearing • Taste • Smell • Touch
Vision • A baby’s least developed sense is probably vision, which takes 6 to 8 months to become as good as the average college student's
Other Senses • Hearing • Fetuses in the womb hear sounds and after birth and show signs that they remember sounds they heard in the womb • Babies are also able to tell the direction of a sound • Newborns seem particularly adept at discriminating speech sounds • Smell and taste • Newborns have clear-cut likes and dislikes • Prefer sweet flavors
Other Senses • As infants grow older their perceptions improve • Their sense organs and nervous system physically mature • Gain experience of the world • Teacher Tube
Outline • Prenatal Development • The Newborn • Infancy and Childhood • Adolescence • Early and Middle Adulthood • Later Adulthood
Infancy and Childhood • During the first dozen years of life a helpless infant becomes a competent older child • This transformation encompasses many important kinds of changes including • Physical • Motor • Cognitive • Social developments
Physical Development • Growth of the body is most rapid during the first year • The average baby grows approximately 10 inches and gains about 15 pounds • Growth slows down considerably until early adolescence • Growth occurs suddenly rather than through small, steady changes • During the first two years, children have heads that are large relative to their bodies as their brain undergoes rapid growth • Brain reaches ¾ of adult size by the age of two • Head growth is complete by age 10
Cognitive Development • Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget • Cognitive development is a way of adapting to the environment • Children are intrinsically motivated to explore and understand things, progressing through four basic stages of cognitive development • Piaget’s stages of cognitive development • Sensory-motor stage (birth-2) • Preoperational stage (2-7) • Concrete operational (7-11) • Formal operational (11-15)
Sensory-Motor Stage (birth-2) • Object Permanence • The concept that things continue to exist even when they are out of sight • Mental Representations • Mental images or symbols (such as words) used to think about or remember an object, a person, or an event • Self-Recognition • Ability to recognize the reflection as “myself”
Preoperational Stage (2-7) • A child becomes able to use mental representations and language to describe, remember, and reason about the world • Allows for engaging in fantasy play and symbolic gestures • Egocentric • Unable to see things from another person’s point of view • Easily mislead by appearances
Concrete-Operational Stage (7-11) • A child can attend to more than one thing at a time and understand someone else’s point of view, though thinking is limited to concrete matters • Grasp principles of conservation • The concept that the quantity of a substance is not altered by reversible changes in its appearance
Formal-Operational Stage (11-15) • Individuals acquire the ability to think abstractly and test ideas mentally using logic
Moral Development • How people make moral decisions about right and wrong • Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development • Preconventional • Interpreting behavior in terms of its concrete consequences • Conventional • Interpreting behavior in terms of social and societal approval • Postconventional • Emphasis on abstract principles, for example justice, liberty, and equality
Language Development • Development of language follows a predictable pattern
Social Development • Erikson’s Stage Theory • Eight stages beginning at birth and ending in old age • In each stage, the individual faces a central conflict or “crisis” that must be resolved • Successful development in the following periods of development occur when the crisis is resolved favorably • In early development, parent-child interactions are critically important • As the child grows older, peer relationships become more important • In adulthood, focus is on how the person interprets the patterns of his or her life
Erikson’s Stage Theory • Trust vs Mistrust (0-1 yr) • If needs are met, infants come to trust the environment and themselves • Autonomy vs Shame and Doubt (1-3 yrs) • Ability to master skills such as walking, holding onto thing, control of their excretory functions • Initiative vs Guilt (3-6 yrs) • Support and encouragement or scolding for new activities? • Industry vs Inferiority (6-13 yrs) • Ability to meet the new expectations at home and school
Erikson’s Stage Theory • Identity vs Role Confusion (13-18 yrs) • Ability to integrate the various roles (student, sister, friends, etc.) • Intimacy vs Isolation (18-25 yrs) • To love someone else we must have resolved earlier issues and feel secure in our own identities • Generativity vs Stagnation (25-60 yrs) • The challenge is to remain creative in all aspects of one’s life, finding meaning and joy in all major activities • Integrity vs. Despair (60 yrs-end of life) • Acceptance with one’s life, a sense that it is complete and satisfactory
Parent-Child Relationships in Infancy: Development of Attachment • Attachment • The emotional bond that develops in the first year of life that makes human babies cling to their caregivers for safety and comfort • Signs of attachment are evident by age six months or earlier by reacting with coos at the caregiver’s appearance or whimpers when they leaves • Autonomy • Sense of independence; a desire not to be controlled by others • A child who has formed a secure attachment to a caregiver can explore the environment without fear
Parent-Child Relationships in Infancy: Development of Attachment • Socialization • Process by which children learn the behaviors and attitudes appropriate to their family and culture • The need for both autonomy and socialization can be met if parent allow the child a reasonable amount of independence, while insisting the child follow certain rules
Parent-Child Relationships in Childhood • Effect of parenting style on a child’s outlook and behavior • Authoritative parents provide firm structure and guidance without being overly controlling. • Must successful parenting style • Authoritarian parents are low on warmth but high on control and insist on unquestioning obedience • Produce children who generally have poor communication skills, are moody, withdrawn and distrustful. May also act out when the parents aren’t around
Parent-Child Relationships in Childhood • Effect of parenting style on a child’s outlook and behavior • Permissive parents are high on warmth, but low on control • Children tend to be immature, disrespectful, impulsive and out of control • Indifferent parents exert little control, are neglectful and inattentive • Children tend to be overly dependent and lacking social skills and self-control
Parent-Child Relationships in Childhood • Criticisms: • Parents do not determine the parent-child relationship on their own – children affect it too • Parents do not act the same way toward every child in the family • Research that indicates that the importance of parents may be overestimated and that peers are a key factor in shaping adult personality
Relationships with other Children • Solitary play (0-18 months) • A child engaged in some activity alone • The earliest form of play • Parallel play (18 months – 2 yrs) • Two children playing side by side at the same activities, paying little or no attention to each other • The earliest form of social interaction between toddlers • Cooperative play (3+ yrs) • Two or more children engaged in play that requires interaction
Children in Dual Career Families • In the US, over half the children between birth and age third grade spend some time being regularly cared for by persons other then their parents • Current research indicates no direct link between children who are raised in one parent families and psychological disorders.
Gender-Role Development • Gender identity (age 3) • The knowledge that one is male or female • Little understanding of what that means • Gender constancy (age 4 or 5) • The realization that gender cannot be changed
Gender-Role Development • Gender-role awareness • Knowledge of what behavior is appropriate for each gender • Gender stereotypes • General beliefs about characteristics that men and women are presumed to have • Gender-typed behavior • Socially prescribed ways of behaving that differ for boys and girls • Popular culture – especially television – influences the norms of gender-appropriate behavior that develop in children’s peer groups
Television and Children • American children spend more time watching television than they do any other activity other than sleeping • Concerns: • Violence • Sleep Disturbances • Children can learn worthwhile things from educational programs on TV
Outline • Prenatal Development • The Newborn • Infancy and Childhood • Adolescence • Early and Middle Adulthood • Later Adulthood
Adolescence • Adolescence is a period of the lifespan that is defined as much by social expectations and personal circumstances as by biological and cognitive changes • About age 10 to age 20
Sexual Development • Puberty • The onset of sexual maturation, with accompanying physical development • Visible signs occur in a different sequence for boys and girls
Early vs Late Development • Age at puberty differs greatly in individuals • Early development for boys has positive impact • They are better in sports and receive greater respect from their peers • Early development has both positive and negative effects for girls • Early developing girls may be admired by other girls, but may be treated as a sex object by boys
Adolescent Sexual Activity • The US has the highest teen birth rate in the industrialized world • Nearly 7x the rate in France and 13x the rate in Japan • May be due to ignorance of the most basic facts concerning reproduction
Cognitive Changes • Increased ability to reason abstractly (formal operational thought) • Can understand and manipulate abstract concepts, speculate about alternative possibilities and reason in hypothetical terms • Imaginary Audience • Adolescents’ delusion that they are constantly being observed by others • Personal Fable • Adolescents’ delusion that they are unique, very important, and invulnerable
Personality and Social Development • Adolescents are eager to establish independence, but fear the responsibilities of adulthood • How “stormy and stressful” is adolescence? • Many adolescents manage to keep stress in check, experience little disruption in their everyday lives, and generally develop more positively than is commonly believed
Forming an Identity • Identity Formation • The development of a stable sense of self, necessary to make the transition from dependence on others to dependence on oneself • Identity Crisis • A period of intense self-examination and decision making • Part of the process of identity formation
Relationship with Peers • Adolescents require guidance and structure from adults • The low point of parent-child relationships generally occurs in early adolescence, when physical changes of puberty are occurring
Outline • Prenatal Development • The Newborn • Infancy and Childhood • Adolescence • Early and Middle Adulthood • Later Adulthood