Understanding Developmental Psychology: Nature vs. Nurture, Stages vs. Continuity

1. Developmental Psychology

2. Developmental Psychology • Looks at how our behavior, thoughts, bodies, morals, etc., change over our entire lives • From womb to tomb • Looks at commonalities as well as differences

3. 3 overriding issues • 1.) Nature vs. Nurture • 2.) Stability vs. Change: • Do our early personality traits persist through our life? Or do we become different people as we age? • 3.) Continuity vs. Stages: • Is development gradual and continuous (like an elevator)? • Or, Does it proceed through distinct stages (like a ladder)? (stage theorists)

4. Research Methods for Developmental Psych Cross Sectional Longitudinal Study one cohort over several years i.e. study a group of five year olds for ten years until they are 15 Pros – precisely measures development over time Cons - take a long time, people drop out, and research takes forever • Study people of different cohorts (ages) at one point in time • i.e. in one year, I compare 5 year olds to 10 year olds to 15 year olds • Pros – quick, efficient • Cons – effects of historical or cultural events on one cohort but not another (confounding variable)

6. Prenatal Development and the Newborn Baby

7. Prenatal Development • Zygote- Fertilized egg to 2 weeks • Fewer than half survive

8. Prenatal Development • Embryo- 2 weeks to 2 months

9. Prenatal Development • Fetus- 9 weeks to birth

14. Teratogens • Harmful chemicals or environmental agents ingested or contracted by Mother that negatively affect the fetus • Alcohol – may lead to Fetal Alcohol Syndrome – babies of mothers who drink heavily during pregnancy may have small, malformed skulls, and IQs below the cutoff for mental retardation • Drugs – can cause premature birth and all kinds of health problems • Nicotine • Polluting chemicals • Bacteria or viruses (HIV) • Rule of thumb – whatever environmental agents the Mother is exposed to, the baby will be exposed to and it can negatively impact development

16. Motor and Sensory Development • Babies are not born blank slates. All babies exhibit reflexes- specific, inborn, automatic responses to certain stimuli. • Rooting – root for nipple when face is touched • Sucking – suck on whatever goes in their mouth • Grasping – grasp objects placed in hand • Moro – when startled, babies flail their limbs out and then retract into a ball as if in a protective mode • Babinski – when foot is stroked, toes spread (rooting and sucking are critical to eating from day one)

17. Newborn Senses – healthy babies senses are born intact with the exception of vision • Babies can hear before birth- immediately recognize their mother’s voice – hearing is their dominant sense • Babies have same basic preferences for smell and taste • Babies are born almost legally blind; they can only see about 8-12” in front of their face Vision improves to “normal” by about 1 year of age

18. The Visual Cliff • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6cqNhHrMJA

19. Motor Development • We develop through the same sequence (Though some may be ahead of others) • Motor control develops as neurons in the brain connect

20. Sequence of Motor Development • Roll over at about 5 months • Crawl at about 6-7 months • Stand around 8-9 months • Walk at about 15 months • Run • 1 year = walkie/talkie stage Kids typically take first steps and say first words

21. Language Emergence • 1-2 months: Cooing • 4 months: Babbling • 8-16 months: First Word • 24 months: 2 and 3 word telegraphic speech • 2-3 years: Multi-word sentences • 4 years: Adult-like; almost grammatical speech

23. Cognitive Development • How we think about and evaluate the world • Thinking • Knowing • Remembering • Communicating

24. Cognitive Development • Jean Piaget • Greatest influence on children’s cognitive development • In France in the 1920s • Before Piaget, people thought children knew less (Not differently) • Piaget illustrated that kids think and reason qualitatively differently from adults Most of what we know about how kids think and learn is attributed to Piaget

25. Cognitive Development • Schemas: our rules/categories/expectations for understanding the world • Assimilate: when we incorporate new information into schemas • It fits our expectations • Accommodate: if we have to adjust our schema to fit new information – it doesn’t fit so we change the schema • We are constantly filing away new experiences with either assimilation or accommodation. Kids are especially busy doing this as so many of their experiences are new.

26. Piaget’s Stages - Sensorimotor • Birth to ~2 years • Experiencing the world through senses and actions • Looking, touching, grasping, mouthing • Developmental Phenomenon • Stranger Anxiety • Object Permanence

27. Piaget’s Stages - Preoperational • 2-6 years • Kids represent things through words and images but lack logical reasoning • Developmental Phenomenon: • Pretend play • Egocentrism • Explosive language development

28. Piaget’s Stages – Concrete Operational • Concrete Operational • About 7-11 years old • Thinking logically about concrete events • Grasping concrete analogies and performing arithmetical operations • Developmental Phenomenon • Conservation • Math Transformations (2+3=5; 5-3=2)

29. CONSERVATION • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnArvcWaH6I

30. “Smart” My dad gave me one dollar bill 'Cause I'm his smartest son, And I swapped it for two shiny quarters 'Cause two is more than one! And then I took the quarters And traded them to Lou For three dimes -- I guess he don't know That three is more than two! Just then, along came old blind Bates And just 'cause he can't see He gave me four nickels for my three dimes, And four is more than three! And I took the nickels to Hiram Coombs Down at the seed-feed store, And the fool gave me five pennies for them, And five is more than four! And then I went and showed my dad, And he got red in the cheeks And closed his eyes and shook his head-- Too proud of me to speak! - Shel Silverstein

31. Piaget’s Stages – Formal Operational • ~12 through adulthood • Abstract reasoning – i.e. if Native American diseases had killed Europeans, how might history have been different? • Developmental Phenomena: • Abstract thinking • Potential for mature moral reasoning

32. Criticisms of Piaget • 1.) Most value and agree with Piaget’s order (sequence) but think he underestimated kids • Argue Kids go through stages faster and earlier that Piaget thought • He likely underestimated them due to kids lack of language – they cognitively understand some concepts they do not have the language to explain 2.) Other’s criticize the very idea of stages – argue development is more gradual and continuous BUT – Piaget’s contributions are invaluable. Because of him subsequent researchers looked at kids qualitatively differently – not just as miniature adults

34. SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

35. Social Development • From birth, babies are very social creatures. • Attachment: an emotional tie with another person. • One of the most critical aspects of early environment • relationship between parent and child • Infants develop an intense bond with their caregiver • Stranger Anxiety – by about 8 months – greet strangers by crying • The quality of attachment has major ramifications for a kid’s development

36. Harry Harlow – studies on attachment • Harlow raised baby monkeys with two artificial wire monkey mothers • Mom 1 = bottle- fed monkey – babies could come here for food • Mom 2 = wrapped in soft cloth – babies could come here to snuggle – the sensation of physical touch

38. Harlow cont. • When frightened, the babies preferred the mother in soft cloth • Showed importance of physical contact in forming attachment (holding, rocking, patting, cuddling) Attachment is more than just feeding a kid – it’s holding, cuddling, loving

39. Harlow cont . . . • When put in “strange situations,” monkeys raised w/ wire mothers became more stressed & frightened than monkeys with real mothers – they often couldn’t function as “normal” monkeys should • i.e. - Deprivation of attachment has serious, long-term consequences

40. Harlow’s Monkeys • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrNBEhzjg8I

41. Familiarity is also important to attachment Critical Periods- optimal period shortly after birth when certain events must take place to facilitate proper development – miss the critical period and you miss the window of opportunity forever Imprinting- animals imprint/copy the 1st things we see in critical period – Lorenz’s geese http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UIU9XH-mUI Konrad Lorenz

42. Mary Ainsworth • Researched attachment by placing infants in strange situation (parents leave for a short period of time and return) • Noticed three types of responses: • Secure Attachment – 66% • Avoidant Attachment – 21% • Anxious Ambivalent Attachment – 12% • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTsewNrHUHU • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DH1m_ZMO7GU

43. Ainsworth - Results • Securely attached infants had consistently responsive mothers. Long term these kids were more confident, optimistic, trusting, competent and had good relationships. • Insecure attachments often correlated in low self-esteem. • i.e. Attachment MATTERS

44. Baumrind’s - Parenting Styles • Authoritarian - dictator • Strict standards with punishments for violation. • Value obedience, not questioning. • No explanation or discussion of rules, no exceptions • “Because I said so” • Permissive – try to be kid’s friend • No clear guidelines • If rules exist, they constantly change or are not enforced consistently. • Few demands, little punishment • Authoritative • Set consistent standards that are reasonable and explained • They tell the “why” • Use praise more than punishment • Value obedience but also value kid’s independence

45. Parenting Styles - Results • Authoritative Parents – best results • Kids are socially capable, high self esteem, self-reliant & often perform better academically • Permissive Parents • Kids often have emotional control problems and dependent – can’t follow rules of society • Authoritarian Parents • Kids often distrust others and may be withdrawn form peers. • May be controlling of themselves or others • Often make bad choices when finally on their own

47. Adolescence • Life between childhood and adulthood (teenage years). • Adolescence has gotten longer over time . . . Kids maturing earlier and leaving home later • “Emerging Adulthood” = new phrase to describe current trend of delaying adult endeavors – living on your own, supporting yourself, getting married

48. Puberty • Beginning of adolescence • Girls start earlier at ~ 11 • Boys a little later at ~ 13 • By late teens, they catch up

49. Lawrence Kohlberg’s Moral Development • How does our ability to reason about ethical situations change over our lives? • Heinz experiment

50. Kohlberg: Pre-conventional Morality • Good girl Bad girl (boy) • Before age 9 • Avoid punishment or gain reward (personal gain or loss) • My decision about right or wrong are all about how the consequences affect me • i.e. Heinz should not steal the drug because he will go to jail – so it’s wrong