Transcript Introduction to Psychology

Chapter 4
Developing Through
the Life Span
Sara J. Buhl
Psychology 101
Cayuga Community College
Developmental Psychology
study of physical, cognitive, and social changes
from infancy through old age
Developmental Issues
 Nature (genetic inheritance) versus Nurture (our
experiences)
 Continuity versus Stages
 Is development gradual and continuous? Or is there a sequence
of separate stages?
 Stability versus Change
 Do our personality traits remain the same or do they change?
Prenatal Development
 Zygote (conception to 2 weeks)
 fertilized egg
 enters a 2-week period of rapid cell division
 develops into an embryo
 Embryo
 developing human organism from 2 weeks through second
month (8 weeks)
 Fetus
 developing human organism from 9 weeks to birth
Prenatal Development
 Teratogens
 agents that can reach the embryo or fetus
during prenatal development and cause
harm
 chemical, e.g., alcohol, some medicines,
cocaine, heroin, nicotine
 viral, e.g., HIV, Rubella
Prenatal Development
 Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
 caused by a pregnant woman’s heavy drinking
 physical and brain abnormalities in children
 no known safe amount of alcohol during pregnancy
 Smoking
 Fetus may receive fewer nutrients
 May be born underweight
Infancy and Childhood
 Maturation
 biological growth processes
that enable orderly changes
in behavior
At birth
3 months
15 months
Cortical Neurons
Maturation & Infant Memory
 What is your earliest memory?
 Infantile Amnesia - most people cannot
recall much from before age 4 or 5
Cognitive Development
 Cognition
 mental activities associated with thinking, knowing,
remembering, and communicating
 Jean Piaget (1896-1980)
 developed and administered intelligence tests
 interested in how children had different ways of reasoning
than adults
 mind develops in a series of stages
 Schema = a framework that organizes and interprets
information (e.g., dog)
Piaget’s Stages of
Cognitive Development
Object Permanence
 Infants younger than 6 months tend not to understand
that things continue to exist when they are out of sight
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjBh9ld_yIo
Conservation
 properties such as mass, volume, and number remain
the same despite changes in the forms of objects
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtLEWVu815o
Current Researchers & Piaget
 Piaget underestimated young children
 babies do seem to possess a more intuitive sense of logic
and numbers
 symbolic and formal operational thinking both appear
earlier than Piaget thought
 today development is seen as more continuous than
Piaget proposed
 Studies do support the sequence of Piaget’s stages
(even if the ages aren’t exact)
Social Development
 Stranger Anxiety
 fear of strangers that infants commonly display
 beginning by about 8 months of age
 Attachment
 an emotional tie with another person
 shown in young children by seeking closeness to the
caregiver and showing distress on separation
Attachment Styles
 Securely Attached
 Explore surroundings, play (when mother is present)
 Distressed when mother leaves; comforted when she returns
 Insecurely Attached - Ambivalent
 Less likely to explore and may cling to mother
 Seem indifferent when mother leaves and returns
 Insecurely Attached – Avoidant
 Also less likely to explore and may cling to mother
 May cry loudly and remain upset when mother leaves and
returns
Social Development
 Harlow’s Surrogate Mother
Experiments
 Monkeys preferred contact
with the comfortable cloth
mother, even while feeding
from the nourishing wire
mother
Social Development
 Monkeys raised by
artificial mothers
were terror-stricken
when placed in
strange situations
without their
surrogate mothers
 (due to animal
welfare issues this
would not be done
today )
Social Development
Percentage
of infants
100
who cried
when their
mothers left
80
 Groups of infants
who had and had
not experienced
day care were
left by their
mothers in a
unfamiliar room
Day care
60
40
Home
20
0
3.5 5.5 7.5 9.5 11.5 13.5 20
Age in months
29
Parenting Styles
 Authoritarian
 Parents impose rules
 Obedience is expected
 Permissive
 Parents submit to their children’s desires
 Few demands are made
 Little punishment
 Authoritative
 Set expectations, but are also responsive
 Set and enforce rules
 Explain reasons for rules
Social Development
 The correlation between authoritative parenting and social
competence in children
Parenting
style
(e.g.,authoritative)
Child’s traits
(e.g., self-reliant
socially competent)
Harmonious marriage,
common genes, or
other third factor
Chapter 4 – Part II
Adolescence & Adulthood
 Development is now seen as lifelong
 Adolescence
 Transition from childhood to adulthood
 Starts with puberty
 Ends when independent adult status is attained
Adolescence
Physical Changes
 Puberty – sexual maturation; become capable of
reproducing
 Surge of hormones
 Rapid physical development
 Primary sex characteristics
 Body structures that make reproduction possible
 Ovaries, testes, and external genitalia
 Secondary sex characteristics
 Sexual characteristics that are nonreproductive
 breasts; facial hair
Adolescent Brain
 Brain is still developing
 Frontal lobe matures until about age 25
 Myelin growth occurring (fatty tissue surrounding axons
that speeds communication between neurons)
 Judgment improves
 Better impulse control
 Greater long term planning ability
Adolescence
Cognitive Development
 Piaget
 Formal Operational Stage
 Adolescents are capable of abstract reasoning and logic
 Abstract ideas like good versus evil
 Hypothetical reasoning and consequences
Adolescence
Moral Reasoning
 Kohlberg’s Moral Dilemmas
 Moral dilemmas were posed to children, adolescents, and
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adults
“Is it acceptable for a person to steal medicine to save a
loved one’s life?”
Answer often depended on stage of development
Preconventional morality (before age 9)
 Self-interest is focus: avoid punishment or obtain rewards
Conventional morality (by early adolescence)
 Cares for others and upholds laws and social rules
Postconventional morality
 Considers rights of people and basic ethical principals
Moral Development
 Empathy – capability to relate to another person’s
feelings and emotions
 Sympathy – ability to support another by being
compassionate
 Delay Gratification
 http://vimeo.com/7494173
Adolescence
Social Development
 Erik Erikson (1960s)
 Stages of Psychosocial Development
 Search for identity
 Identity – sense of self
 Intimacy – ability to form close relationships (later
adolescence and early adulthood)
Erikson’s Stages of
Psychosocial Development
 TRUST vs. MISTRUST
 Infancy (0-1 yr.)
 When needs are met, a basic sense of trust is developed
Erikson’s Stages of
Psychosocial Development
 Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt
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Toddlerhood (Age 1-2)
Gaining independence: Walking
Learn to do things for themselves OR doubt their abilities
First Power Struggles
Erikson’s Stages of
Psychosocial Development
 INITIATIVE vs. GUILT
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Preschooler (ages 3-5)
Language = questions
Creative independent play
Learn to initiate tasks
Guilt – Feeling bad about behavior
Erikson’s Stages of
Psychosocial Development
 COMPETENCE vs. INFERIORITY
 Elementary School (6 years to puberty)
 Skills: Read, Write, Math, Social, Sports
 Tendency to feel inferior if unable to master tasks
Erikson’s Stages of
Psychosocial Development
 IDENTITY vs. ROLE CONFUSION
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Adolescence (teen years – 20s)
Meaning of question: Who am I ?
Role Experimentation
Refine sense of self (identity)
Identity Crisis – confusion about sense of self
Erikson’s Stages of
Psychosocial Development
 INTIMACY vs. ISOLATION
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Young Adulthood (20s to early 40s)
Emotional commitment
Form close relationships
Lack of close relationships – social isolation
Erikson’s Stages of
Psychosocial Development
 GENERATIVITY vs. STAGNATION
 Middle Adulthood (40s - 60s)
 Contribution to Next Generation
 Through family and work
 What makes life meaningful?
 May feel a lack of purpose
Erikson’s Stages of
Psychosocial Development
 INTEGRITY vs. DESPAIR
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Late Adulthood (late 60s+ )
Pride, Self-Respect
Reflect on life
May feel satisfaction or failure
Adolescence
Social Development
 Parent influence diminishes in many areas
 Parent influence remains in:
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Religion
Thinking about college
Career choices
Political views
Adolescence
Social Development
 Peer Influence Grows
 Talk
 Dress
 Actions
 Peer exclusion
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Painful
May lead to withdrawal
Loneliness
Low self-esteem
Adulthood
Physical Development
 Physical abilities – peak in mid-20s
 Health & exercise habits play a large role
 Women – ability to reproduce declines
 Menopause occurs around age 50
 Later life
 changes in vision, hearing, smell become increasingly
noticeable
 Immune system weakens
Adulthood
Cognitive Development
 Memory abilities change as we age
 When asked to learn a list of 24 words
 No clues: younger people recall more words
 Multiple choice test of recognition: no change with age
 Crystallized intelligence
 Accumulated knowledge and verbal skills
 Increases with age
 Fluid intelligence
 Ability for quick and abstract reasoning
 Decreases in late adulthood
Adulthood
Social Development
 Evidence does not support a midlife “crisis”
 Most divorces are in 20s
 Most suicides in 70s and 80s
 Life crisis triggered by major events (illness, divorce) not
age
 Social Clock
 Preferred timing of social events (marriage, parenthood,
retirement)
 Culture dependent
Adulthood
 Marriage
 Adults are marrying later
 Divorce rates have increased
 Less economic dependence for women
 Striving for an “equal” relationship (work, chores)