Developmental Psychology

1. 9 Developmental Psychology

2. Developmental Psychology Developmental Psychology • Focuses on development across life span – a field of psychology that focuses on development across the life span. • Development • More-or-less predictable changes in behavior associated with increasing age • Nature or nurture? • Nature: behavior unfolds like a plant over time • Nurture: behavior is molded by experiences

3. Developmental Psychology Nature view

4. Developmental Psychology What do they see?

5. Developmental Psychology Basic Processes of Development • Maturation • Biological process of systematic physical growth • Experience plays a role in specific contexts • McGraw’s study of toilet training twins • Children change dramatically from birth to adulthood

6. Hugh Hilton 100 80 60 Success in percent 40 20 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 Age in days Developmental Psychology Importance of maturational readiness in McGraw’s study of toilet training twin boys

7. Developmental Psychology Early Experiences and Critical Periods • Imprinting (Lorenz) • Inborn tendency or instinct • Sensitive period – critical period • Early social deprivation • Harlow’s monkeys, social isolation, and continuing detrimental effects • Controversy over effects on children • Some abnormal effects may be irreversible

8. Developmental Psychology Variations in Development • Normal for children to be variable in their development • Discontinuities in development are the rule • Parents make important decisions about raising children that impacts on development • Raising deaf child • Impact of technology and medicine

9. Developmental Psychology Stage Theories of Development • Stages – series of abrupt changes from one period to another – • All children must pass through in same order • Many advocate unfolds over time • More qualitative than quantitative (such as child mastering physical properties of object) • Decentered thought allows conservation problem solutions

10. Developmental Psychology Piaget’s Developmental Theory • Identified 4 stages of cognitive development • Sensorimotor stage – infant experiences world in sensory information and motor activities • Preoperational stage – children sometimes think illogically by adult standards • Concrete operational stage – increased abilities • Formal operational stage – use of full adult logic

11. Developmental Psychology Piaget’s cognitive development theory

12. Developmental Psychology Kohlberg’s Theory • Moral development • Three level, six stage theory • Premoral level – child has no sense of morality as adults understand it • Child’s moral view based on what others think until highest level of development creates independent thinking

13. Developmental Psychology Kohlberg’s Theory • Moral development • Gilligan critical of Kohlberg’s research results – had her own theory • Morality as Individual Survival • Morality as Self-Sacrifice • Morality as Equality

14. Developmental Psychology Kohlberg’s theory of moral development

15. Developmental Psychology Development Across the Life Span • Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory • Focuses on the individual’s developing relationships with others in social world • Eight stages - development continues over life span • Crisis at each stage of development

16. Trust vs. Mistrust Autonomy vs. Shame/doubt Initiative vs. Guilt Industry vs. Inferiority Identity vs. Role confusion Intimacy vs. Isolation Generativity vs. Stagnation Integrity vs. Despair Developmental Psychology Erikson’s psychosocial theory

17. Developmental Psychology Development Across the Life Span • Average ages at which changes in development take place portray pattern of age-related changes • Neonatal Period • Infancy • Early childhood • Middle childhood • Adolescence • adulthood

18. Developmental Psychology Development in Infancy and Childhood • Neonatal period • First two weeks of life • Marks transition from womb to independence • Reflexively grasps anything placed in hand • Rooting reflex

19. Developmental Psychology Development in Infancy and Childhood • Infancy • Age: 2 weeks until 2 years • Time of rapid physical, perceptual, cognitive, linguistic, social, and emotional growth • During sensorimotor stage – infants stare at interesting visual stimuli • Preference for human faces

20. Developmental Psychology Development in Infancy and Childhood • Infancy • Physical development • Cognitive development • Object permanence • Telegraphic speech • Rovee-Collier’s studies of memory

21. Developmental Psychology Rovee-Collier’s studies tested the memory of young infants

22. Developmental Psychology Development in Infancy and Childhood • Infancy – emotional and social development • Visual cliff and depth perception • Attachment • Strong attachments formed between infants and caregivers • Separation anxiety • Fear of strangers

23. Developmental Psychology Gibson and Walk’s visual cliff tested infant depth perception

24. Developmental Psychology Early Childhood • Growth less explosive and rapid than during infancy • Lasts 2 to 7 years of age • Cognitive development • Children in preoperational stage show egocentric thought • Animism • Transductive reasoning

25. Developmental Psychology Early Childhood • Emotional and social development • Most notable changes in peer relationships and types of play • Solitary play • Parallel play • Cooperative play

26. Developmental Psychology Early Childhood Cooperative play Parallel play Solitary play

27. Developmental Psychology Middle Childhood • Lasts from 7 to 11 years of age • Characterized by slow physical growth • Important cognitive changes occur • Conservation and reversibility • Child decenters – allows conservation problems to be solved; learns some matter changes shape but not volume

28. Developmental Psychology Middle Childhood • Emotional and social development • Child enters with close ties to parents • Peer relationships become increasingly important • Friendships more important, last longer • Cliquesor groups formed, mostly same sex • Terms boyfriend and girlfriend have little meaning at this stage

29. Developmental Psychology Adolescent Development • Adolescence • Physical changes of puberty • Adolescent growth spurt • Heightened sexual and romantic interest • Peers become more important than parents • Cognitively – capable of abstract reasoning • Ponders abstract issues like justice or equality • No clear cut end to adolescence in society

30. Developmental Psychology Adolescent Development • Physical development • Puberty becomes production of sex hormones • Primary sex characteristics appear • Females – menarche: menstruation, ovulation • Secondary sex characteristics appear • Females – breasts, pubic hair, wider hips • Males – testes and penis growth, facial and pubic hair, broadened shoulders

31. Developmental Psychology Adolescence • Cognitive development • Formal operations stage entered • Ability to use abstract concepts • Shift to stage varies among individuals; some never reach this stage, others reach it in early adulthood • Piaget’s classic experiment with weights

32. Developmental Psychology Piaget’s Balance Test - task: make the weight times the distance equal on both sides of center 4-yr-old 7-yr-old 5 kg A B 5 kg 5 kg 10-yr-old 14-yr-old C D 5 kg 10 kg 2 kg 8 kg

33. Developmental Psychology Adolescence • Adolescent egocentrism • Imaginary audience – everyone is watching • Personal fable – belief that s/he is unique • Hypocrisy – okay for one to do it but not another • Pseudostupidity – use of oversimplified logic • Social development • Time of drifting or breaking away from family

34. Developmental Psychology Adolescence • Emotional development • G. Stanley Hall – time of storm and stress • Most adolescents are happy, well-adjusted • Areas of problems • Parent-child conflicts • Mood changes - self-conscious, awkward, lonely, ignored • Risky behavior - aggression, unprotected sex, suicide, use of substances or alcohol

35. Developmental Psychology Adulthood • Young adulthood through older adulthood • Developmental changes continue throughout adulthood: not a single phase of life • Taking on adult responsibilities in work and social relationships • Challenges: love, work, play continue changing

36. Developmental Psychology Adulthood • Physical development • Growth and strength in early adulthood, then slow process of decline afterwards • Speed and endurance • Vision and ability to see in weak lighting • Hearing and detection of tones • Taste – intact until later in life; men tend to lose hearing and taste earlier than women • Decline affected by health and lifestyles

37. Developmental Psychology Adulthood • Cognitive development • Continues throughout adulthood; some abilities improve while others decline • Fluid intelligence peaks in 20s, declines therafter • Crystallized intelligence improves until 30s; then declines slowly afterwards • Overall, individual rates vary depending on lifestyle and health

38. Developmental Psychology Adulthood • Emotional and social development • Many aspects of personality are fairly stable over time, and changes are predictable • On average, adults become • less anxious and emotional, socially outgoing, and creative • People become more dependable, agreeable, and accepting of life’s hardships • Gender differences lessen over time

39. Developmental Psychology Adulthood • Emotional and social development • Much disagreement about when and how changes occur during aging – differences between stages of infant/child development and adult development • Not all adults go through every stage • Order of stages can vary for individuals • Timing of stages not controlled by biological maturation

40. Developmental Psychology Stages of Adult Life • Early adulthood • Erikson • Intimacy versus isolation (17 to 45 years) • Levinson - Early adulthood has three stages • Entry into early adulthood (17-28) • Age 30 transition (28-33) • Culmination of early adulthood (to age 40) • Challenges of career, marriage, and parenthood

41. Developmental Psychology Middle Adulthood • Erikson – • Generativity versus stagnation (40-65 years) • Taking stock of what one has, who s/he is • Some are happy, some are disappointed • Generativity – reaching out, not self-centered

42. Developmental Psychology Middle Adulthood • Levinson – four brief stages • Midlife transition (early 40s) • Entry to middle adulthood stage (45 to 50) • Age 50 transition • Culmination of middle adulthood • Climactic – • Female sexual ability to reproduce declines • Not all adult development timed by social clock rather than biological clock

43. Developmental Psychology Later Adulthood • Erikson (age 65 and onward) • Integrity versus despair • Looks back over life as a whole: satisfying existence or merely staying alive • Levinson devotes little to later years • Life expectancy dramatically increased as have conceptions of old age • many have healthy years after retirement • Second careers and activism launched

44. Developmental Psychology Evaluating Stage Theories • Gender differences – more focus on men • Cultural differences and historical change • Few cultural comparison studies done • Inconsistent evidence • Questions about idea of stage theories • Mid-course correction, not mid-life crises • Predicted changes do not occur at ages indicated

45. Developmental Psychology Causes of Aging • Biological – human body deteriorates • Psychological • Happy or unhappy aging • Social activity and slowed intellectual decline or disengagement and isolation • Maintain healthy or unhealthy lifestyle • Optimism linked to happier, healthier, longer life

46. Developmental Psychology Death and Dying: The Final Stage • Kübler-Ross – five stages • Denial • Anger • Bargaining • Depression • Acceptance

47. Developmental Psychology Application of Psychology: Parenting • Parents play a key role in children’s lives • Parenting and infant attachment • Parenting and discipline style • Effect in childrearing: Two-way street • Common discipline mistakes • Lax parenting, verbosity, overreactivity, and reinforcement of inappropriate behavior • Sociocultural factors in parenting • Myth of the perfect parent • Day care, divorce, and parenting

48. Baumrind: Three Parenting Styles

49. Developmental Psychology 9 The End