Course

Introduction to Psychology

Human Development

• Prof. BARAKAT• Summer Term

Developmental Psychology

The study of progressive changes in behavior and abilities

Involves every stage of life from conception to death (or “the womb to the tomb”)

Heredity and environment also affect us throughout life (Nature Vs. Nurture)

• You can gain insight to your own life as a child, adolescent, and young adult

• You will learn about life through the adult years (middle age and old age)

• You may be a parent or a teacher some day

• Life-span development is linked with many different areas of psychology.

Why Study Life-span Development

• Developmental psychologists are interested in children’s increasing ability to use strategies (regulating thoughts and behavior)

• Goal-directed problem-solving is especially evident in technologically advanced societies

• Executive Function: Processes involved in regulating attention and in determining what to do with information gathered or retrieved from long-term memory.

Development Psychology & Cognitive Strategy

Types of Development Psychology

• Physical development• Emtional development• Cognitive development• Moral development• Personality development• Perceptual development• Motor development• Social change

Patterns of Change

• Although in theory, these domains can be viewed as separate, they all influence and are influenced by each other

• E.g., Physical development during the adolescent years can result in emotional changes (e.g. reduced or heightened self-confidence) which could in turn, affect one’s pattern of social interaction

• Nature vs. Nurture

• Continuity vs. Discontinuity

• Stability vs. Change

• Activity vs. passivity

• Universal vs. particular

Developmental Issues

Questions

• Are children active in development (curious creatures who determine how society treats them) or Passive participants in development (passive souls on whom society fixes its stamp)?

• Are major aspects of development universal outcomes that everyone tends to display or particular (or unique) trends or outcomes that vary from person to person?

The Nature-Nurture Issue

• Involves the debate about whether development is primarily influenced by nature or nurture

Nature

• An organism’s biological inheritance

Nurture

• An organism’s environmental experiences

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Historically: Heredity or Environment

• Nativists: Human intellectual abilities are innate

– Development “constrained” by inherited genetic material

• Empiricists: Nature provides only a species-general learning mechanism (brain)

– cognitive development arises from experience– Context and culture (family, peers, school,

media) are key

Heredity and Genes

• Heredity: Transmission of physical and psychological characteristics from parents to their children through genes

• Chromosomes

• DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid): Molecular structure, shaped like a double helix that contains coded genetic information

• Genes: Specific areas on a strand of DNA that carry hereditary information:

– Dominant– Recessive

What Does Innate Mean?

There are genetically-based constraints on behavior or development

Representational Constraints: Representations that are hard-wired into the brain

E.g., the nature of objects, mental math

We enter the world able to make sense of these aspects of the environment

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Figure 1: Chromosomes

Figure 2 (Top left) Linked molecules (organic bases) make up the “rungs” on DNA’s twisted “molecular ladder.” The order of these molecules serves as a code for genetic information. The code provides a genetic blueprint that is unique for each individual (except identical twins). The drawing shows only a small section of a DNA strand. An entire strand of DNA is composed of billions of smaller molecules. (Bottom left) The nucleus of each cell in the body contains chromosomes made up of tightly wound coils of DNA. (Don’t be misled by the drawing: Chromosomes are microscopic in size, and the chemical molecules that make up DNA are even smaller.)

Figure 3: Genes

FIGURE 3.3 Gene patterns for children of brown-eyed parents, where each parent has one brown-eye gene and one blue-eye gene. Because the brown-eye gene is dominant, one child in four will be blue-eyed. Thus, there is a significant chance that two brown-eyed parents will have a blue-eyed child.

Heredity

• Congenital Problem: A problem or defect that occurs during pre-natal development; “birth defect”; becomes apparent at birth

• Genetic Disorder: Problem caused by inherited characteristics

Environment

• Environment (“Nurture”): All external conditions that affect development

• Sensitive Periods: A period of increased sensitivity to environmental influences; also, a time when certain events must occur for normal development to take place

Environment (cont'd)

• Teratogens - Anything capable of causing birth defects (e.g., narcotics, radiation, cigarette smoke, lead, and cocaine)

• Deprivation: Lack of normal stimulation, nutrition, comfort, or love

• Enrichment: When an environment is deliberately made more complex and intellectually stimulating

Temperament and Environment

• Temperament: The physical “core” of personality

– Easy Children: 40%; relaxed and agreeable

– Difficult Children: 10%; moody, intense, easily angered

– Slow-to-Warm-Up Children: 15%; restrained, unexpressive, shy

– Remaining Children: Do not fit into any specific category

The Continuity-Discontinuity Issue

• This issue focuses on the extent to which development involves gradual, cumulative change or distinct stages

Continuity

• Development results from a gradual process occurring over several weeks, months, and possibly years

Discontinuity

• Development occurs through a sequence of stages in which change is qualitatively rather than quantitatively different

• Development as abrupt and qualitative

The Stability-Change Issue

• Involves the degree to which we become older renditions of our early experience or whether we develop into someone different from who we were at an earlier point in development.

• It considers the extent to which early experiences (especially in infancy) or later experiences are the key determinants of a person’s development.

Evaluating the Developmental Issues

• Most life-span developmentalists recognize that extreme positions are unwise

• The key to development is the interaction of nature and nurture rather than either factor alone

• There still exists a strong debate regarding how strongly development is influenced by each of the factors

Newborns (Neonates) and Their Reflexes

• Grasping Reflex: If an object is placed in the infant’s palm, she’ll grasp it automatically (all reflexes are automatic responses; i.e., they come from nature, not nurture)

• Rooting Reflex: Lightly touch the infant’s cheek and he’ll turn toward the object and attempt to nurse; helps infant find bottle or breast

• Suckling Reflex: Touch an object or nipple to the infant’s mouth and she’ll make rhythmic sucking movements

• Motor Reflex: If a baby’s position is abruptly changed or if he is startled by a loud noise, he will make a hugging motion.

Emotional and Social Development

Social Smile: Smiling elicited by social stimuli

Not exclusive to parents

Invites parents to care for them

FIGURE 4: Infants display many of the same emotional expressions as adults do. Carroll Izard believes such expressions show that distinct emotions appear within the first months of life. Other theorists argue that specific emotions come into focus more gradually, as an infant’s nervous system matures. Either way, parents can expect to see a full range of basic emotions by the end of a baby’s first year.

FIGURE 5: Motor development. Most infants follow an orderly pattern of motor development. Although the order in which children progress is similar, there are large individual differences in the ages at which each ability appears. The ages listed are averages for American children. It is not unusual for many of the skills to appear 1 or 2 months earlier than average or several months later (Frankenberg & Dodds, 1967; Harris & Liebert, 1991). Parents should not be alarmed if a child’s behavior differs from the average.

Emotional Attachment

• Sensitive Period• Separation Anxiety: Crying and signs of fear when a child

is left alone or is with a stranger; generally appears around 8-12 months

• Quality of Attachment (Mary Ainsworth)

– Secure: Stable and positive emotional bond; upset by mother’s absence

– Insecure-Avoidant: Tendency to avoid reunion with parent or caregiver

– Insecure-Ambivalent: Desire to be with parent or caregiver and some resistance to being reunited with Mom

– Insecure-Disorganized: Contradictory behaviors

Parenting Styles (Baumrind, 1991)

• Authoritarian: Enforce rigid rules and demand strict obedience to authority (obedient and self-controlled children)

• Overly Permissive: Give little guidance. Allow too much freedom, or don’t hold children accountable for their actions. Children tend to be dependent and immature, and frequently misbehave.

• Authoritative: Provide firm and consistent guidance combined with love and affection. Children tend to be competent, self-controlled, independent, and assertive.

• Neglectful: Little guidance, excessive freedoms and limited to no accountability.

Types of Child Discipline

• Power Assertion: Using physical punishment or a show of force (Skinner)

• Withdrawal of Love: Withholding affection; refusing to speak to a child or threatening to leave

• Management Techniques: Combine praise, recognition, approval, rules, and reasoning to encourage desirable behavior

Language Acquisition

• Cooing: Repetition of vowel sounds by infants (like “oo” and “ah”); starts at about 8 weeks

• Babbling: Repetition of meaningless language sounds (e.g., babababa); starts at about 7 months

• Single-Word Stage: The child says one word at a time

• Telegraphic Speech: Two-word sentences that communicate a single idea (e.g., Want yogurt)

The Roots of Language

• Biological Disposition Vs. Tabula Rasa: Presumed readiness of all humans to learn certain skills such as how to use language

Noam Chomsky:

– Language patterns are in-born– Pattern of speech used when talking to

infants (Marked by raised voice; short, simple sentences and repetition)

Jean Piaget and Cognitive Development

• Believed that all children passed through a series of stages during their intellectual development (a Stage Theorist)

• Transformation Vs. Conservation: Mentally changing the shape or form of a substance; children younger than 6 or 7 cannot do this Scheme

• Assimilation: Application of existing mental patterns to new situations

• Accommodation: Existing ideas are changed to accommodate new information or experiences

Jean Piaget: Sensorimotor Stage

• Sensorimotor (0-2 Years): All sensory input and motor responses are coordinated

• Most intellectual development here is non-verbal

• Object Permanence: Concept that objects still exist when they are out of sight

Jean Piaget: Pre-operational Stage

• Preoperational Stage (2-7 Years): Children begin to use language and think symbolically, BUT their thinking is still intuitive and ego-centric

– Intuitive: Makes little use of reasoning and logic

– Egocentric Thought: Thought that is unable to accommodate viewpoints of others.

Jean Piaget: Concrete Operational Stage

• Concrete Operational Stage (7-11 Years): Children become able to use concepts of time, space, volume, and number BUT in ways that remain simplified and concrete, not abstract

– Conservation: Mass, weight, and volume remain unchanged when the shape or appearance of objects changes

– Reversibility of Thought: Relationships

involving equality or identity can be reversed

Jean Piaget: Formal Operations

• Formal Operations Stage (11 Years and Up): Thinking now includes abstract, theoretical, and hypothetical ideas

– Abstract Ideas: Concepts and examples removed from specific examples and concrete situations

– Hypothetical Possibilities: Suppositions, guesses, or projections.

Lawrence Kohlberg and Stages of Moral Development

• Moral Development: Values, beliefs, and thinking abilities that guide responsible behavior. Three Levels:

– Pre-conventional: Moral thinking guided by consequences of actions (punishment, reward, exchange of favors)

– Conventional: Reasoning based on a desire to please others or to follow accepted rules and values

– Post-conventional: Follows self-accepted moral principles

Erik Erikson’s Eight Stages of Psycho-social Dilemmas

• Stage One: Trust Vs. Mistrust (Birth-1): Children are completely dependent on others

– Trust: Established when babies given adequate warmth, touching, love, and physical care

– Mistrust: Caused by inadequate or unpredictable care and by cold, indifferent, and rejecting parents

• Stage Two: Autonomy Vs. Shame and Doubt

– Autonomy: Doing things for themselves– Overprotective or ridiculing parents may cause

children to doubt abilities, and feel shameful about their actions

Erik Erikson’s Eight Stages of Psycho-social Dilemmas (cont'd)

• Stage Three: Initiative Vs. Guilt (3-5 years old)

– Initiative: Parents reinforce via giving children freedom to play, use imagination, and ask questions

– Guilt: May occur if parents criticize, prevent play, or discourage a child’s questions

• Stage Four: Industry Vs. Inferiority (6-12 years old)

– Industry: Occurs when a child is praised for productive activities

– Inferiority: Occurs if child’s efforts are regarded as messy or inadequate

Erik Erikson’s Eight Stages of Psychosocial Dilemmas (cont'd)

• Stage Five (Adolescence): Identity Vs. Role Confusion

– Identity: problems answering, “Who am I?”– Role Confusion: Occurs when adolescents are

unsure of where they are going and who they are

– How does adolescence differ from puberty?

• Stage Six (Young adulthood): Intimacy Vs. Isolation

– Intimacy: Ability to care about others and to share experiences with them

– Isolation: Feeling alone and uncared for in life

Erik Erikson’s Eight Stages of Psychosocial Dilemmas (cont'd)

• Stage Seven (Middle adulthood): “Generativity” Vs. Stagnation

– Generativity: Interest in guiding the next generation– Stagnation: When one is only concerned with one’s

own needs and comforts

• Stage Eight (Late adulthood): Integrity Vs. Despair

– Integrity: Self-respect; developed when people have lived richly and responsibly

– Despair: Occurs when previous life events are viewed with regret; experiences heartache and remorse

Maturation

• Physical growth and development of the body, brain, and nervous system

• Increased muscular control occurs in patterns

– Cephalocaudal: From head to toe– Proximodistal: From the center of the

body to the extremities

Aging

• Peak physical functioning:

- Cognitive functioning - Fluid Intelligence, i.e.,

inductive/deductive reasoning

- Crystallized Intelligence, i.e., lifetime or intellectual achievement)

• Disengagement Vs. Activity Theories

• Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

– Denial– Anger– Bargaining– Depression– Acceptance

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION