Development

1. Development

2. Developmental Psychology • Psychologists study how people grow and change throughout the life span- from conception to death • Interested in two stages in infancy and childhood: • Early childhood experiences affect people as adolescents and adults • By studying early stages of development, can learn about developmental problems (what causes them and how to treat them)

3. Developmental Psychology • Learn about what types of experiences in infancy and childhood foster healthy and well-adjusted children and adults

4. Two types of studies used in Developmental Psychology • Longitudinal- select a group of participants and then observe that same group of participants and then observe that same group for a period of time, often years or even decades (very time consuming and expensive) • Cross-Sectional- researchers select a sample that includes people of different ages then compare the participants in the different age groups

5. General Issues • Developmental psychologists are concerned with two general issues • The ways in which heredity and environmental influences contribute to human development • Whether development occurs gradually or in stages

6. Nature vs. Nurture • Long debate over the extent to which human behavior is determined by heredity (nature) or environment (nurture) • Some aspects of behavior originate in heredity • Certain behaviors are biologically “programmed” to develop as long as children receive adequate nutrition and social experiences

7. Maturation • Maturation- the automatic and sequential process of development that results from genetic signals • Infants crawl before walking • Sequence happens automatically and on its own genetically determined timetable • Infants will not perform certain skills until they are “ready”

8. Critical Period • The concept of “readiness” relates to an important term: critical period • A stage or point in development during which a person or animal is best suited to learn a particular skill or behavior pattern • Research suggests that there may be a critical period for language development in humans

9. Critical Period • Some psychologists believe maturation is the most important role in development • John Watson and John Locke believed in the idea that the mind of the infant is like a tabula rasa (Latin for blank slate) • The mind is clean and experiences write on the mind • “nurture” will have the greatest effect on the infant • Nutrition, family background, culture, and learning experiences at home, community, and school

10. Stage vs. Continuity Development • Stage development- a period or level in the development process that is distinct from other levels • Continual development- a gradual process, happens slowly and gradually, tends to go unnoticed

11. Physical Development • Height and Weight • Infancy- the period from birth to the age of two years • Usually double birth weight in about 5 months and triple by one year • Grow about 10 inches in the first year, 2nd year gain another four to six inches and four to seven pounds

12. Physical Development • Height and Weight • Childhood- period from two years to adolescence • Gain on average two to three inches in height and four to six pounds in weight each year until they read the start of adolescence

13. Physical Development • Motor Development • 4-5 months- turns from stomach to side • 5-6 months- turns from stomach to back • 6-7 months- turns from back to stomach • 7-8 months- sits • 8-9 months- crawls • 9-10 months- kneels • 11,12, 13 months- stands • 12, 14, 15, 16 months- walks

14. Psychological Development • What are the Developmental Tasks of Infancy and Childhood? • Cognitive Development: Piaget’s Theory • Developmental psychologists investigate not only what children think but how they think • Piaget studied children’s intellectual development for 50 years. • Concentrated his studies on his children • Noticed children go through changes in thought at various stages

15. Piaget • 3 ideas which distinguish Piaget’s approach • Schemas • Interaction of assimilation and accommodation • Stages of cognitive development

16. Piaget • Schemas- mental structures or programs that guide a developing child’s thought • Guide thinking • Building blocks of development • Form and change as we develop and organize our knowledge to deal with new experiences and predict future events

17. Piaget • Assimilation and Accommodation • Underlie all cognitive growth • Assimiliation- a mental process that modifies new information to fit with existing schemas (ex. Pepperoni goes with pizza) • Accommodation- process of restructuring or modifying schemas to incorporate new information

18. Piaget • Assimilation and Accommodation • Piaget felt cognitive development results from both assimilation and accommodation working together • Individual’s behavior and knowledge become less dependent on concrete external reality and more reliant on internal thought • Assimilation makes new information fit our existing views of the world • Accommodation changes our views to fit new information

19. Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Dev. • Four Cognitive Stages • Sensorimotor- infancy • Preoperational- early childhood • Concrete Operational- middle childhood • Formal Operational- adolescence • All are based on sensory reaction to logical thought • All children progress through these stages in the same sequence

20. Sensorimotor Stage • Birth to nearly 2 years of age • Babies take in the world through their sensory & motor interactions with objects • Young infants lack object permanence- the awareness that objects continue to exist when not perceived • By 8 months, begin exhibiting memory for things no longer seen

21. Sensorimotor Stage • Piaget assumed before age 2, infants could not think • They recognize things, smile at them, crawl to them. Manipulate them • Do not think abstractly

22. Preoperational Stage • Preschool period up to age 6 or 7 • Piaget felt children are too young to perform mental operations • Lack the concept of conservation- the principle that quantity remains the same despite changes in shape • Thought children were egocentric- difficulty taking another’s point of view • Causes them to appear to be “selfish”

23. Preoperational Stage • Premack and Woodruff developed the concept of theory of mind- people’s ideas about their own and other’s mental states- about feelings, perceptions and thoughts, the behavior these might predict • Develop the ability to tease, empathize, and persuade • Between 3½ & 4½, children worldwide come to realize that others may hold false beliefs

24. Preoperational Stage • Can understand feelings (sad events cause sad feelings) • Understand thoughts can cause feelings • Between 5&8, learn that spontaneous self-produced thoughts can also create feelings • Age7- Children become increasingly capable of thinking in words and of using words to work out solutions to problems • Can internalize their culture’s language and rely on inner speech

25. Concrete Operational • 6 or 7 years old • Begin to understand conservation • Gain the full mental ability to comprehend mathematical transformations and conservation

26. Formal Operations • 12 years old • Reasoning expands from purely concrete (involving actual experience) to encompass abstract thinking (involving realities and symbols) • Become capable of solving hypothetical propositions and deducing consequences • Systematic reasoning

27. Is Piaget correct? • According to today’s research, Piaget’s theories are correct • More continuous • Young people are incapable of adult logic • Cognitive maturity is adaptive

28. Parenting Styles • Authoritative • Warm, attentive, sensitive to child’s needs and interests • Make reasonable demands for the child’s maturity level, explains and enforces rules • Permits child to make decisions in accord with developmental readiness, listens to child’s viewpoint

29. Parenting Styles • Authoritarian • Cold, rejecting, frequently degrades the child • Highly demanding, may use coercion by yelling, commanding, criticizing, and reliance on punishment • Makes most decisions for the child, rarely listens to child’s viewpoint

30. Parenting Styles • Permissive • Warm but may spoil the child • Makes few or no demands- often out of misplaced concern for child’s self-esteem • Permits child to make decisions before the child is ready

31. Parenting Styles • Uninvolved • Emotionally detached, withdrawn, inattentive • Make few or no demands- often lacking in interest or expectations for the child • Indifferent to child’s decisions and point of view

32. Parenting Styles • Children of authoritative parents tend to be confident, self-reliant, enthusiastic- overall happier, less troublesome, and more successful • Children of authoritarian parents tend to be anxious and insecure • Children of permissive and uninvolved parents tend to be less mature, more impulsive, more dependent, and more demanding

33. Effects of Daycare • Good News • Most children thrive • Do well-sometimes even better- both intellectually and socially as children raised at home by a full time parent

34. Effects of Daycare • Bad News • Poor facilities cause aggression, depression, and maladjustment • Usually caused by children receiving little attention • Those in poor facilities are usually raised in poor, unorganized, and highly stressed families • Inadequate day care and family pressure can lead to children with emotional & behavioral problems

35. School & Leisure Activities • Children in the US have more free time than anywhere else in the world • Spend time “hanging out” with friends • Involved in structured activities such as clubs and other organizations

36. Attachment • The emotional ties that form between people • Can form stranger anxiety- fear of strangers • Can also form separation anxiety- causes infants to cry or behave in ways that indicate distress if their mothers leave them

37. Child Abuse and Neglect • Child abuse- physical or psychological • Neglect- failure to give a child adequate food, shelter, clothing, emotional support, or schooling • Physical child abuse- the physical assault of a child

38. Child Abuse and Neglect • Causes of child abuse: • Stress • A history of child abuse in at least one parent’s family of origin • Acceptance of violence as a way of coping with stress • Lack of attachment to the child • Substance abuse • Rigid attitudes about child rearing

39. Self-Esteem • The value or worth that people attach to themselves • Carl Rogers stated there are two types of support parents can give their children: • Unconditional positive regard- parents love and accept their children for who they are, no matter how they behave • Conditional positive regard- parents show their love only when the children behave in certain acceptable ways