Developmental Psychology

1. Developmental Psychology A Life of Change

2. Research Focus • Nature vs. Nurture • How do genetic inheritance (nature) and experiences (nurture) influence develop • Continuity vs. Stages • Is development a gradual, continuous process, or does it proceed though sequence of stages? • Stability vs. Change • Do our early personality traits persist though life, or do we become different persons as we age?

3. The Competent Newborn • Infants will gaze at objects – preferring those that have face-like features • Within days of birth, infant’s will turn toward familiar smell – mother • Around 3 weeks, infants can differentiate different sounds/voices

4. Physical Development • Maturation (Brain Development) • Orderly sequence of biological growth • Slowed by severe deprivation or abuse • Sets the course for development, experience adjusts it • Motor Development • Genes play a major role in motor development

5. Cognitive DevelopmentCognition – all mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating • What is the earliest memory you have? • Average age of first conscious memory • 3.5 years old • How does a child’s mind develop? • “If we examine the intellectual development…the human spirit goes through a certain number of stages, each different from the other.” - Jean Piaget

6. Piaget & Cognitive Development • As we develop, we are constantly building schemas – concept or framework that organizes and interprets information • Assimilate– interpreting new experiences in terms of our current understanding (schemas) • Trying to fit new object into old schema • Example: Referring to all four-legged animals as dogs • Accommodate – adapting/adjusting our schemas to incorporate information provided by new experiences • Change our schema to fit new object

7. Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development

8. Forming Attachments • Attachment is powerful survival impulse • Keeps infants close to caregivers • Harry Harlow - studied relationship between mother and child • Importance of nourishment and body contact • Familiarity • Imprinting – process by which certain animals form attachments during critical period – inherited tendencies - early in life • Children do not imprint – attach through mere exposure

9. Self-ConceptHow does parenting impact children’s traits and self-concepts? • Describe your parent/guardian’s parenting style considering the following factors: • Communication/Reasoning • Rules • Obedience • Punishment/Rewards • How has this parenting style impacted your development? • Self-esteem, self-reliance, social skills/competence, maturity • Would you describe their parenting as too hard, too soft, or just right?

10. Parenting Styles • Authoritarian • Parents impose rules and expect obedience • Examples: “Don’t interrupt”; “If you stay out too late, you’re grounded” • Permissive • Parents submit to their children’s desires • Parents make few demands and use little punishment • Authoritative • Parents are both demanding and responsive • Exert control by setting rules and enforcing them…also explain the reasons for rules • Encourage open discussion when making the rules, allowing exceptions • Older children

11. Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development

12. WHAT IS MORALITY? • HOW IS ONE’S MORALITY DEVELOPED? • WHAT HAS HAD THE GREATEST IMPACT ON YOUR MORAL BELIEFS?

13. Consider the Following: • A runaway trolley is headed for five people. All will certainly be killed unless you throw a switch that diverts the trolley to another track, where it will kill one person. Should you throw the switch? • Same situation. • To save the five people, you must now push a large stranger onto the track to stop the trolley. You will obviously kill him, but will save the other five. Do you do it?

14. Kohlberg’sDevelopment of Morality • Pre-conventional (before age 9) • Focuses on self-interest - egocentric • Obey rules to avoid punishment or gain reward • Conventional (early adolescence) • Become aware of what others think • Caring for others, recognizing and upholding laws and social rules • Post-conventional • Is a law fair or just? • Universal ethical principles

15. Freud’s Stages of Psychosexual Development

16. Physical Changes in Adulthood • Physical decline begins in early adulthood, but is less noticeable • Muscle strength • Reaction time • Cardiac output - stamina • Sensory abilities • Vision, Smell, Hearing

17. Physical Changes in Adulthood • Menopause • End of woman’s menstrual cycle (around 50 years old) • Mid-life crisis • What comes to mind? • Ageism • Prejudice against the old • Dementia – mental disintegration • Caused by small strokes, brain tumor, alcohol dependence • Alzheimer’s Disease • Loss of brain cells and deterioration of neurons • Forgetfulness, confusion »loss of emotion, disorientation »mental vacancy

18. Language Development

19. How Do We Learn Language? • B.F. Skinner (Behaviorist) • Operant learning • Association of sight of thing with sounds of words • Imitation of words and syntax modeled by others • Reinforcement with smiles and hugs when the child says something right • Noam Chomsky (Linguist) • Language is not just the acquisition of words and meanings • Language development is much like “helping a flower to grow in its own way” • Given adequate nurture, language will naturally occur • Humans possess a language acquisition device • Switches just need to be turned on • All human languages have the same grammatical building blocks • Example: We start speaking mostly in nouns

20. Thinking & Language • Benjamin Whorf (Linguist) • Language determines the way we think • Linguistic determinism – different languages impose different conceptions of reality • Studies of tribal groups have revealed how words may not determine what we think, but do influence our thinking • How we describe ourselves, our emotions, classify numbers, or even describe colors