Myers’ PSYCHOLOGY

(7th Ed)

Chapter 4

The Developing Person

James A. McCubbin, PhD Clemson University Worth Publishers

Prenatal Development and the Newborn

 Developmental Psychology  a branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive and social change throughout the life span

Prenatal Development and the Newborn

Prenatal Development

(Prenatal means before birth)

 Zygote - the newly fertilized egg  Not one in two makes it past the first 14 days. The zygote enters a 2 week period of rapid cell division. One cell becomes two, then four, then eight, etc.

  After a week or dividing 7 times, the cells start to differentiate or specialize in function. Our genes direct this process.

At the end of the tenth day, the outer wall of the zygote attaches to the mother’s uterine wall and forms the placenta.

Pre-natal Development

The placenta passes oxygen & nutrients to the fetus, as well as screens out teratogens.

Embryo –The developing human organism from about 2 weeks after fertilization through the end of the eighth week.

Fetus – The developing human organism from nine weeks after conception until birth.

Prenatal Development

40 days 45 days 2 months 4 months

Prenatal Development

 Teratogens   Harmful agents, such as chemicals and viruses, that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm Examples: radiation, German measles, prescription and over the counter medicines, nicotine. Alcohol, drugs, viruses associated with STD’s. (lead to blindness & mental retardation)

FETAL ALCOHOL SYNDROME

A series of physical & cognitive abnormalities that appear in children whose mothers consumed large amounts of alchol while pregnant. Symptoms may included noticeable facial misproportions.

REFLEXES AND PREFERENCES

Within the first 30 minutes of birth, infants will turn their heads to watch a picture or look at a human face, or towards human voices. Prefer salty & sweet tastes. It knows the sound and smell of its mother.

Newborns are born with reflexes: responses to a stimulus.

automatic, unlearned a. Rooting reflex –when touched on the cheek, to open the mouth & search for the nipple.

b. Sucking –when an object is placed in a baby’s mouth, he will suck on it.

REFLEXES

c. Grasping reflex – if an object is placed into a baby’s palm. The baby will to grasp the object.

d. Moro reflex-when startled a baby will fling his arms out quickly & retract them, making himself as small as possible.

e. Babinski reflex – when a baby’s foot is stroked, he will spread his toes.

The Grasping Reflex

DEVELOPMENT

Infancy is the first year of a child’s life.

From ages one to three, a child is called a toddler.

Childhood is the ages of 3 until 13.

Adolescence is from puberty until adulthood.

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

During prenatal development, your body makes nerve cells at the rate of 4000 per second. However, your nerve system was still very immature. You could not walk, talk or have memory, because your brain had not yet created neural networks that would let you perform these behaviors.

The Newborn

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Habituation

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decreasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation

The Newborn

Having habituated to the old stimulus, newborns preferred gazing at a new one

Infancy and Childhood: Physical Development

 Maturation    biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior relatively uninfluenced by experience The development of neural pathways is illustrated on the right.

At birth 3 months 15 months Cortical Neurons

 Most of us can not remember anything before the age of 3 or even the age of 5 because we did not have the neural connections in our brains that allow us to remember.

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT OF INFANTS

              Newborn babies can suck, turn their heads, look at things, cry, smile, show signs of fright or surprise.

At the age of : 1-month -babies can pull up their chin 2 months –babies can pull up their chest 3 months - babies lift their heads & reach 4 months - smile & sit with support 5-6 months – grasp at objects/roll over 7 months - sit alone 8-9 months – stand 10 months – crawl 12 months – pull self into a standing position/begin to walk 13 months - climb stair steps 14 months – stand-alone 15 months -walk alone

Jean Piaget-1896-1980

Jean Piaget

 A pioneer in the study of developmental psychology who introduced a stage theory of cognitive development that lead to a better understanding of children’s thought processes.

 Piaget’s greatest contribution was to point out that the way children think differs from the way adults think.

Infancy and Childhood: Cognitive Development

  Schema  a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information Cognition  All the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating

Infancy and Childhood: Cognitive Development

 1. Assimilation  interpreting one’s new information in terms of one’s existing schemas  Information about a new object is fitted into an existing schema.

Example: A child is given a vitamin pill for the first time and calls it candy. The child does not have a schema for a vitamin pill, but does have one for candy.

 2. Accommodation  adapting one’s current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information  Information about the new object forces a change or modification of the existing schema.

Example: The child realizes that the vitamin comes once a day and is not a reward for good behavior. Attempts at chewing it have revealed that it does not taste like candy. The child then develops a new schema for vitamins.

Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development

Typical Age Range Birth to nearly 2 years About 2 to 6 years About 7 to 11 years About 12 through adulthood Description of Stage

Sensorimotor

Experiencing the world through senses and actions (looking, touching, mouthing)

Preoperational

Representing things with words and images but lacking logical reasoning

Concrete operational

Thinking logically about concrete events; grasping concrete analogies and performing arithmetical operations

Formal operational

Abstract reasoning Developmental Phenomena

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Object permanence

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Stranger anxiety

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Pretend play

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Egocentrism

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Language development

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Conservation

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Mathematical transformations

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Abstract logic

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Potential for moral reasoning

Infancy and Childhood: Cognitive Development

 Object Permanence  the awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived

Infancy and Childhood: Cognitive Development

 Conservation  the principle that properties such as mass, volume, and number remain the same despite changes in the forms of objects

Infancy and Childhood: Cognitive Development

   Egocentrism  the inability of the preoperational child to take another’s point of view Theory of Mind  people’s ideas about their own and others’ mental states- about their feelings, perceptions, and thoughts and the behavior these might predict Autism   a disorder that appears in childhood Marked by deficient communication, social interaction and understanding of others’ states of mind

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 their seeking closeness to the caregiver and displaying distress on separation

Attachment

 Three elements contribute to the infant-parent bond that forms during attachment.

 A) Body Contact  B) Familiarity -Critical Period -Imprinting  C) Responsiveness   -Attachment -Parenting Patterns

Imprinting-Konrad Lorenz

Social Development

 Harry Harlow’s (1906-1981) Surrogate Mother Experiments-1950’s  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.

Social Development

Percentage of infants who cried when their mothers left 100 80 60 40 Day care Home 20 0 3.5 5.5 7.5 9.5 11.5 13.5 20 Age in months 29

 Groups of infants left by their mothers in a unfamiliar room (from Kagan, 1976).

Social Development

  Basic Trust   (Erik Erikson) a sense that the world is predictable and trustworthy said to be formed during infancy by appropriate experiences with responsive caregivers Self-Concept  a sense of one’s identity and personal worth

Social Development: Child Rearing Practices

   Authoritarian   parents impose rules and expect obedience “Don’t interrupt.” “Why? Because I said so.” Permissive  submit to children’s desires, make few demands, use little punishment Authoritative   both demanding and responsive set rules, but explain reasons and encourage open discussion

Adolescence

  Adolescence   the transition period from childhood to adulthood extending from puberty to independence Puberty   the period of sexual maturation when a person becomes capable of reproduction

Adolescence

   Primary Sex Characteristics  body structures that make sexual reproduction possible  ovaries--female  testes--male  external genitalia Secondary Sex Characteristics  nonreproductive sexual characteristics  female--breast and hips  male--voice quality and body hair Menarche (meh-NAR-key)  first menstrual period

Body Changes at Puberty

Lawrence Kohlberg’s Moral Ladder-Cognitive Development

Postconventional level Conventional level Preconventional level Morality of abstract principles: to affirm agreed-upon rights and personal ethical principles Morality of law and social rules: to gain approval or avoid disapproval Morality of self-interest: to avoid punishment or gain concrete rewards

 As moral development progresses, the focus of concern moves from the self to the wider social world.

Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development

Approximate age Stage Infancy (1st year) Toddler (2nd year) Preschooler (3-5 years) Elementary (6 years puberty) Description of Task Trust vs. mistrust If needs are dependably met, infants develop a sense of basic trust.

Autonomy vs. shame Toddlers learn to exercise will and and doubt do things for themselves, or they doubt their abilities.

Initiative vs. guilt Preschoolers learn to initiate tasks and carry out plans, or they feel guilty about efforts to be independent.

Competence vs.

inferiority Children learn the pleasure of applying themselves to tasks, or they feel inferior.

Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development

Approximate age Stage Description of Task Adolescence Identity vs. role (teens into confusion 20’s) Young Adult Intimacy vs.

(20’s to early isolation 40’s) Teenagers work at refining a sense of self by testing roles and then integrating them to form a single identity, or they become confused about who they are.

Young adults struggle to form close relation ships and to gain the capacity for intimate love, or they feel socially isolated.

Middle Adult Generativity vs. (40’s to 60’s) stagnation The middle-aged discover a sense of contri buting to the world, usually through family and work, or they may feel a lack of purpose.

Late Adult Integrity vs.

(late 60’s and despair up) When reflecting on his or her life, the older adult may feel a sense of satisfaction or failure.

Adolescence: Social Development

  Identity  one’s sense of self  the adolescent’s task is to solidify a sense of self by testing and integrating various roles Intimacy   the ability to form close, loving relationships a primary developmental task in late adolescence and early adulthood

ADULTHOOD

Early Adulthood – 20 to 40 years Middle Adulthood – 41 to 64 years Late Adulthood – 65 years and older

Adulthood:

Gerontology –

The branch of psychology that studies the aging process and the aging problems of old people.

Thanatology

- the study of death and the methods used for coping with it. New field of study-1970’s.

Elizabeth Kubler-Ross is one well-known researcher

Adulthood: Physical Development

  Menopause   the time of natural cessation of menstruation also refers to the biological changes a woman experiences as her ability to reproduce declines Alzheimer’s Disease   a progressive and irreversible brain disorder characterized by a gradual deterioration of memory, reasoning, language, and finally, physical functioning

SENILE DEMENTIA

Is the loss of mental faculties in old age. It is the mental disintegration that accompanies alcoholism, brain tumors, stroke, aging and Alzheimer's. The major cause of senile dementia is Alzheimer’s.

Our ability to recall information decreases with age, but our ability to recognize remains the same.

Adulthood: Cognitive Development

Reasoning ability score 60 55

Cross-sectional method suggests decline

50 45

Longitudinal method suggests more stability

40 35 25 32 39 46 53 60 Age in years 67

Cross-sectional method

74 81

Longitudinal method

  Cross-Sectional Study  a study in which people of different ages are compared with one another Longitudinal Study  a study in which the same people are restudied and retested over a long period

Adulthood- Cognitive Development

Intelligence (IQ) score 105 Verbal scores are stable with age 100 95 90 85 Nonverbal scores decline with age 80 75 20 25 35 45 55 Verbal scores Nonverbal scores Age group 65 70

 Verbal intelligence scores hold steady with age, while nonverbal intelligence scores decline (adapted from Kaufman & others, 1989).

Adulthood: Cognitive Development

  Crystallized Intelligence   one’s accumulated knowledge and verbal skills tends to increase with age Fluid Intelligence   ones ability to reason speedily and abstractly tends to decrease during late adulthood

Adulthood: Social Changes

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Social Clock

 the culturally preferred timing of social events  marriage  parenthood  retirement

Social Development

  Critical Period  an optimal period shortly after birth when an organism’s exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces proper development Imprinting  the process by which certain animals form attachments during a critical period very early in life