Lifespan Development

1. Lifespan Development • Developmental Psychology - psychological changes across the entire life span • Themes: • Stages • Critical periods • Gradual changes • Heredity vs environment

2. Genetics • A. Chromosomes, DNA, Genes • B. Genotype/Phenotype • C. Dominant/Recessive Genes • D. Sex-Linked Recessive Characteristics • Color blindness, night blindness, hemophilia

3. Prenatal Development • Germinal period— 0-2 weeks • Embryonic period— 2-8 weeks • Fetal period— 8 weeks to birth • Provides very different qualitative info than “trimesters”

4. 8 week embryo

5. 12 week fetus

6. 18 week fetus

7. 20 weeks (5 months)

8. 24 weeks (6 months)

9. 28 weeks (7 months)

10. 32 weeks (8 months)

11. Amniotic sac • Umbilical cord • Placenta • Teratogens—any agent that causes a birth defect (e.g., drugs, aspirin, ibuprofin, radiation, nicotine, alcohol, viruses)

12. Reflexes – inborn behaviors that have been selected for b/c they have survival value • Blinking • Rooting (orient head/mouth) • Sucking • Grasping • Stepping • Babinski (toes) • Moro (startle)

13. Senses • All senses functioning before birth • Vision • Visual acuity (fuzzy) • can see color, but prefer bold B/W contrast • minimal tracking of moving objects • will mimic facial expressions in first month • Hearing – can orient toward sounds • Smell – will turn head away from unpleasant odors • Taste - prefer sweet to sour tastes • Touch – will react to virtually any touch, especially painful stimuli

14. Physical Development • Brain and neuron development • At birth, brain is 25% of adult weight • By 5, brain is 95% adult size • Body weight is only 5% of adult weight • Motor skill development • 3 mos – grasping • 6 mos – standing • 12 mos - walking

15. Social and Personality Development • Temperament - inborn predisposition to react to stimuli - physiological • Easy — adaptable, positive mood, regular habits • Difficult — intense emotions, irritable, cry frequently • Slow to warm up — low activity, somewhat slow to adapt, generally withdraw from new situations • Average — unable to classify (1/3 of all children)

16. Attachment – John Bowlby • Attachment-- emotional bond between infant and caregiver • Parents who are consistently warm, responsive, and sensitive to the infant’s needs usually have infants who are securely attached • Parents who are neglectful, inconsistent, or insensitive to infant’s needs usually have infants who are insecurely attached

17. Attachment • Survival value – protection • Contact comfort • Separation anxiety • Culturally influenced

18. Ainsworth’s Strange Situation • Used to study quality of attachment in infants • Observe child’s reaction when mother is present with the child in a “strange” room • Observe the child’s reaction when mother leaves • Observes the child’s reaction when mother returns

19. Attachment styles • Secure • Avoidant • Resistant • Disorganized • Internal Working Model – schema • Secure style 70% likely to continue • Insecure styles 30% likely to continue 3/7/2006 NYTimes.com

20. Gender Role Development • Gender—cultural, social, and psychological meanings associated with masculinity or femininity • Different than “sex” • Gender roles—various traits designated either masculine or feminine in a given culture • Gender identity—A person’s psychological sense of being male or female

21. Gender Differences • Toy preferences • “aggressive” play • “rigidity” in sex-role stereotypes

22. Social Learning Theory Gender roles are acquired through the basic processes of learning, including reinforcement, punishment, and modeling

23. Gender Schema Theory • Gender-role development is influenced by the formation of schemas, or mental representations, of masculinity and femininity • Trucks are for boys and dolls are for girls • Girls can be mommies and boys can be daddies • Gender permanence – age 5

24. Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development • Jean Piaget (1896–1980) Swiss psychologist • Constructivist - “children are active thinkers, constantly trying to construct more advanced understandings of the world”

25. Thinking • Jean Piaget’s stages • Adaptation • assimilation • accommodation • Sensorimotor 0-2 • Preoperational 2-7 • Concrete operational 7-11 • Formal operational 11 + • Object permanence, egocentrism, conservation

27. Sensorimotor Stage (birth – 2 years) • Use of senses and motor actions • Child perceives and manipulates but does not “reason” • Symbolic thought emerges with brain maturation, experience, and language development • Object permanence is acquired

28. Preoperational Stage (2–7 years) • Emergence of symbolic thought • Centration • Egocentrism • Lack of the concept of conservation • Animism

30. Video of Megan

31. Concrete Operational Stage (7–12 years) • Increasingly logical thought • Classification and categorization • Less egocentric • Ability to understand that physical quantities are equal even if appearance changes (conservation) • Inability to reason abstractly or hypothetically

32. Formal Operational Stage (age 12 – adulthood) • Hypothetico-deductive reasoning – can manipulate problems in the mind • Emerges gradually • Continues to develop into adulthood

33. Adolescence • Transition stage between late childhood and early adulthood • Sexual maturity is attained at this time • Puberty--attainment of sexual maturity and ability to reproduce • Health, nutrition, genetics play a role in onset and progression of puberty

34. Adolescence • Puberty – rebirth into adulthood • Menarche – spermarche • Biological growth precedes cognitive, emotional growth • “Storm & Stress”? • Body Image • Peers become more important, distance from parents (individuation) Search for Identity • Coming to terms with new emotions (& hormones and moods) • Popularity and acceptance

35. Social Relationships • Parent-child relationship is usually positive • May have some periods of friction • Peers become increasingly important • Peer influence may not be as bad as most people think.

36. Erikson’s Theory • Biological and Social • Eight psychosocial stages - crises • Outcome of each stage varies along a continuum from positive to negative

37. Identity Development • Identity vs. role confusion - adolescence • Successful resolution leads to positive identity • Unsuccessful resolution leads to identity confusion or a negative identity

38. Stage 1 (birth–1)Trust vs. Mistrust • Infants must rely on others for care • Consistent and dependable caregiving and meeting infant needs leads to a sense of trust • Infants who are not well cared for will develop mistrust

39. Stage 2 (1–3 years) Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt • Children are discovering their own independence • Those given the opportunity to experience independence will gain a sense of autonomy • Children that are overly restrained or punished harshly will develop shame and doubt

40. Stage 3 (3–5 years)Initiative vs. Guilt • Children are exposed to the wider social world and given greater responsibility • Sense of accomplishment leads to initiative, whereas feelings of guilt can emerge if the child is made to feel too anxious or irresponsible

41. Stage 4 (5–12 years) Industry vs. Inferiority • Stage of life surrounding mastery of knowledge and intellectual skills • Sense of competence and achievement leads to industry • Feeling incompetent and unproductive leads to inferiority

42. Stage 5 (adolescence)Identity vs. Confusion • Developing a sense of who one is and where one is going in life • Successful resolution leads to positive identity • Unsuccessful resolution leads to identity confusion or a negative identity

43. Stage 6 (young adulthood)Intimacy vs. Isolation • Time for sharing oneself with another person • Capacity to hold commitments with others leads to intimacy • Failure to establish commitments leads to feelings of isolation

44. Stage 7 (middle adulthood)Generativity vs. Stagnation • Caring for others in family, friends, and work leads to sense of contribution to later generations • Stagnation comes from a sense of boredom and meaninglessness

45. Stage 8 (late adulthood to death)Integrity vs. Despair • Successful resolutions of all previous crises leads to integrity and the ability to see broad truths and advise those in earlier stages • Despair arises from feelings of helplessness and the bitter sense that life has been incomplete

46. Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development • Assessed moral reasoning by posing hypothetical moral dilemmas and examining the reasoning behind people’s answers • Proposed six stages, each taking into account a broader portion of the social world

47. Levels of Moral Reasoning • Preconventional—moral reasoning is based on external rewards and punishments • Conventional—laws and rules are upheld simply because they are laws and rules • Postconventional—reasoning based on personal moral standards

48. Adult Development • Genetics and lifestyle combine to determine course of physical changes • Social development involves marriage and transition to parenthood • Paths of adult social development are varied and include diversity of lifestyles

49. Types of Love – Robert Sternberg • Passionate love (romance, lust, infatuation, physical) • Intimate love (closeness, truly knowing another, sharing yourself, emotional) • Commitment (enduring, walking toward the future side by side) Passion (biological) Passion + Intimacy = romantic love Passion + commitment = fatuous love Intimacy (emotional) Commitment (rational) Intimacy + commitment = companionate love Passion + Intimacy + commitment = consummate love

50. Parenting Styles - Diana Baumrind – p. 387-388 Control High Low Authoritative Indulgent Promote high SE But low SC Promote high SE, SC High High social skills, Achievement, identity Self-centered, entitled Responsiveness Authoritarian Indifferent Promote low SE, SC Low Demand obedience Impulsive, depressed, lonely Angry, resentful, antisocial