Introductory Psychology 1023 Chapter 11: Human Development

What is development?
Age-related changes over time w Nature-nurture interactions dominate our approaches
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Example: Nature-Nurture debate over intelligence Example: Cultural variation in child-rearing practice
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Continuity vs. discontinuity; Stages occur in sequence, rapid transition, change is systematically organized
locomotion, butterflies, sexual maturity, swim badges at what age do these transitions happen?

Physical and Motor Development

Progress Before Birth:

Prenatal Development
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3 phases
germinal stage = first 2 weeks
conception, implantation, formation of placenta

embryonic stage = 2 weeks 2 months

formation of vital organs and systems

fetal stage = 2 months birth

bodily growth continues, movement capability begins, brain cells multiply age of viability
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Fetal period
Bones and muscles develop Movement occurs and facilitates nervous system development in muscles Weight gain and nervous system development in last three months Birth process 266 days (9 months) after conception

Six months gestation: Nervous

system and crucial internal organs

Last three months: Body weight,

surface features finish (hair, skin)

Environmental Factors and Prenatal Development

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Maternal nutrition
Malnutrition linked to increased risk of birth complications, neurological problems, and psychopathology

Maternal drug use

Tobacco, alcohol, prescription, and recreational drugs (marijuana) Fetal alcohol syndrome

Maternal illness
Rubella, syphilis, mumps, genital herpes, AIDS, severe influenza Prenatal health care Prevention through guidance

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Teratogens
Heavy metals: Lead, Mercury Radiation

Critical Periods of Susceptibility during Prenatal

Development

Figure 10.3

The Childhood Years:

Motor Development
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Basic Principles
Cephalocaudal trend head to foot Proximodistal trend centre-outward

Maturation gradual unfolding of genetic blueprint w Developmental norms median age

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Cultural variations
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Growth in infancy
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Babys are born around 3kg or 7 pounds Skull sutures not set, head expands like a balloon (micro, hydro cephaly) Brain is 25% final weight at birth, 75% at 2 years Cells do not multiply, but size, complexity, and connections grow, denndrites and synapses, glial cells added Neural plasticity: Genetic code provides a basic wiring plan waiting for environment to complete

Motor development to walking Milestones for 90% of babies

Lift head: 4 months w Roll over: 5 months w Sits up: 8 months w Stands alone: 14 months w Walks alone: 15 months w Largely genetically mediated some cultures carry babies swaddled for months, yet these milestones are not impeded
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Childhood and adolescence

Continued gradual growth, height, weight throughout childhood w At puberty, there is a quick change in growth, maturation of internal and external sexual organs, secondary sexual characteristics such as body hair w Girls: Triggered by estrogen, marked by breast and hip development, first menarche around age 12 w Boys: Triggered by androgens, marked by voice change and body hair, semen production
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Puberty is another example of GXE interaction

Age of first menarche has dropped from 16 to 12 or 13 in the last 100 years w Not due to genetic changes, but increased nutrition, health care, better living conditions w Family factors affect menarche: High stress and no father-in-home is related to earlier onset in girls
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Aging
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Brain at adult weight by 16 Reaction time increases, physical maturity peaks in early 20s, think of Olympic athletes Physical tone, wrinkles, aging skin texture, all reflect aging across adulthood Brain degeneration can take place in late adulthood, e.g, dementia, alzheimers Loss of cells, but those that remain may become more efficient with more elaborate connections

Research designs used

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Longitudinal

GpA

GpA

GpA

Cross-sectional

GrpA
5 years

GpB
7 years

GpC
9 years

Cognitive Development

Studying cognition in infancy

Visual preference tasks Two displays, which do they look at more? w Habituation tasks Infants prefer novelty Infants bore of a stimuli, change it, see if they orient, this means they discriminated the change Pressure-sensitive nipples w Reward babies for behavior, see if it increases
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The Preference Technique

Figure 10.7

Watson, 1972: The Game

Infant changes in perception

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Infants prefer Soft voices with sound contours Face patterns (instead of scrambled faces) Sweet instead of sour The odour of mothers breast milk Feeling safe/secure Visual cliff experiments (i.e., they have 3-D visual system by age 2) Vision and hearing develop acuity All is pretty much intact by age 2, how perceptual systems are used changes through rest of life

Can babies imitate emotions?

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Piagets Cognitive Development

Jean Piagets Theory

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Coherent problem-solving (strategies) underlies childrens thought and progresses through a series of stages

Schemas, are mental frameworks that allow children to adapt to their environment w Assimilation: New information fits existing schemas: bang spoons and sticks on pots; w Accommodation: New information does not fit -schema must change: squeeze Teddy but not the dog
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Stage Theories:
Cognitive Development
Jean Piaget (1920s-1980s) w Assimilation/ Accommodation
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4 stages and major milestones

Sensorimotor
Object permanence

Preoperational
Centration, Egocentrism

Concrete Operational
Decentration, Reversibility, Conservation

Formal Operational
Abstraction

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Lev Vygotsky

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Critical Periods in Development

Limited time span when it is optimal for certain capacities to emerge because the organism is especially responsive to certain experiences. w Sensitive periods w Evident in language development w Theory of Mind: Understanding the distinction between self and other
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Challenges to Piagets Theory

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Well-accepted contribution: Children have unique schemata that guide thinking Challenges: Piaget tended to underestimate childrens cognitive abilities Example: Object permanence in young infants Sharp transitions between stages? Role of culture? Could there be stages after formal operational?

Moral Development
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Kohlbergs model: Your friend is very ill and no one has any money. The drugstore had medicine. Should you steal medicine for your sick friend?
Preconventional morality age 7-10: Punishment and obedience; TROUBLE Conventional morality age 10-16: Social rules internalized, conscience; SHOULDNT Post-conventional morality 16+: Internal moral principles outweigh social rules; SHOULD

Evaluating Kohlbergs Theory

Care and Compasion?
Too much emphasis on an abstract code of justice?

Role of culture?
Too much emphasis on individualism, instead of on collective goals?

Role of Emotion?
Long been criticized for leaving emotion out of the theory; reasoning is unrelated to behavior

Social Development

Temperament
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Temperament:
Behavioural tendencies that have biological origins affects quality of relationships Temperament: General level of emotional reactivity Babies vary: some are easier to comfort, adapt more easily to routines, accept change easily

Different kinds of bonds may be formed between children, caregivers

Forming Bonds with Others

Attachments: Strong emotional ties formed to one or more intimate companions w How does attachment start?
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Contact comfort: Warm physical contact Harlows research: Newborn rhesus monkeys become attached to soft objects in their cages if separated from mother
What if a hard wire object gives food, soft one gives nothing? Attach to soft object anyway

Harry Harlow & Rhesus Monkeys

Types of Attachment
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Main research technique: Strange situation test (Ainsworth)

How does behaviour change in a stressful situation such as being left in a strange room? Used mainly with 10 to 24-month old children Research room has toys; child encouraged to play with them, then stress introduced by having caregiver step out, stranger come in

Attachment Types
Secure: Upset when caregiver leaves, happy when he or she returns w Resistance: Upset when caregiver leaves, but may seem upset when caregiver returns too w Avoidant: Not upset when caregiver leaves, little reaction when he or she returns w Disorganized/disoriented: Inconsistent responses (sometimes like secure, sometimes fearful of returning caregiver)
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Maasi in africa: Attachment theory is cross-cultural

Eriksons Crises of Development

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Personal Identity:
A sense of self, of who you are as an individual and how well you measure up against peers

Eriksons idea:
Sense of self shaped by psychological crises at certain points in life

Infancy and Childhood

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Stages of childhood:
Infancy: Trust versus mistrust Toddlerhood: Autonomy versus shame/doubt 3 to 6: Initiative versus guilt 6 to 12: Industry versus inferiority Adolescence: Identity versus role confusion

Adolescence and Young Adulthood

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Identity versus role confusion w Young Adulthood: Crisis of intimacy versus isolation

Adulthood, Middle Age, and Beyond

With establishment of career and family arrives crisis of generativity versus stagnation w Focus shifts from resolving intimacy to concern about children and future generations w Middle Age:
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Psychological development is marked by soulsearching questions about personal identity, reminiscent of adolescence
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Late Adulthood to Death:

Crisis of integrity versus despair

Evaluating Eriksons Theory

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Well-accepted contributions:
Personal development is lifelong Social and cultural interactions are important shapers of identity

Challenges:
Sharp transitions between stages? Mechanisms that allow for resolution Difficult to test scientifically

Gender-Role Development

Gender roles: Patterns of behaviour consistent with how society dictates males and females should act
Gender identity: Sense of self as male or female

Gender Schemas: The organized sets of beliefs and perceptions held about men and women

Death and Dying: Kubler-Ross Stages

Based on interviews with the terminally ill, Kubler-Ross proposed that the typical sequence is denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance w Well-accepted contribution: Denial, anger, and depression are normal reactions w Challenges: Not all dying people go through these stages in this order
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