1. Developmental Psychology
The study of how people grow, mature and change over the life span.
Prepared by Terrence M. Barnhardt, Ph.D
Some of these slides ©2001 Prentice Hall Psychology Publishing.
Some of these slides ©2006 W. W. Norton & Company

2. Developmental Psychology
Stages of development
Fetus: conception to birth
Infant: birth to 1 year
Toddler: 1 year to 3 years
Early childhood: 3 years to 6 years
Childhood: 6 years to puberty (11-15)
Adolescence: puberty to independence (18-22)
Young adulthood: 20-40
Middle adulthood: 40-60
Late adulthood: 60-75
Puberty continues up to 15 as girls cannot typically have healthy babies before age 15 and boys typically do not ejaculate live sperm until around 14 1/2

3. Developmental Psychology
Dimensions of developmental psychology
Biological: brain, motor, sensory, etc.
Cognitive: thought, language, memory, etc.
Social-emotional
Moral
Chapter outline

4. Milestones in Motor Development
Figure from:
Kassin, S. (2001). Psychology, third edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

5. Basic Developmental Questions
The Nature-Nurture Debate
Genetics vs. environment, and their interaction
Critical periods (also known as sensitive periods)
Especially in vision, social development, and language
Developmental Research Strategies
Longitudinal vs. cross-sectional research
Cohorts: groups of people born around the same time
Nell: grows up in extreme isolation; develops own language based on mother’s speech defect and imaginary conversations with a twin that died at age 6; Nell becomes bilingual, but the evidence shows that this would not happen
Genie: isolated in a room, tied to a chair from age 20 mos to discovery at age 13 years; “Genie go” even after long intensive work
Kittens: if deprived of light for 3 or 4 days at 1 month of age, visual cortex begins to degenerate; if deprived for 2 months, damage is permanent
Monkeys: if young monkeys are deprived of visual input, this lead to tactile exploration of environment, even after visual input is available
Qualitative stages vs. information processing

6. Figure 10.2 from:
Kassin, S. (2001). Psychology, third edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

7. Developmental Research: Cohort Effects
In cross-sectional research
We don’t know whether the differences between the cohorts are due to their ages, per se, or are due to the fact that they were born at different times and had different experiences as a result.
In longitudinal research
We don’t know whether the changes that occur in our cohort are due to their changes in age, per se, or are due to the particular year in which they were born.
Sequential studies
A combination of longitudinal and cross-sectional
Different cohorts studied longitudinally

8. Conception & prenatal development
Genetic Building Blocks
Prenatal or “fetal” stages
Zygote: fertilized egg
Germinal: until 2 weeks
Embryonic: until 8 weeks (1” and 1/10 oz)
Forebrain, midbrain, hindbrain begin to form by week 4
Cells forming the cortex are visible by week 7
Fetal: until birth at 40 weeks (M = 7 lbs.)
By the 7th month the fetus has a working nervous system
At birth the brain has cortical layers, neuronal connectivity, and some myelination
Hormonal influences in the womb are substantial
Zygote splits hundreds of times in the first two weeks (cell division) and as it does so, the zygote travels down the fallopian tubes and implants itself in the uterine wall, beginning the embryonic stage
At 7 months (28 weeks), the infant, if born prematurely, has a fighting chance for survival
Hormones that circulate in the womb influence the developing fetus. For instance,
if the mother’s thyroid does not produce sufficient levels of thyroid hormones,
the fetus is at risk for lower IQ and diminished intellectual development. The
mother’s emotional state can also affect the developing fetus. Although pregnancy is
often trying, the fetuses of mothers who are unusually anxious and upset may be exposed
to high levels of stress hormones, which may interfere with normal development
and produce low birth weight and other negative cognitive and physical
outcomes that can persist throughout life (Wadhwa, Sandman, & Garite, 2001). Another
possible influence of maternal hormones on the developing fetus is that of androgens,
such as testosterone, on sexual orientation (as you recall from Chapter 9).
Simon Baron-Cohen and his colleagues (2004) have found that levels of testosterone
in the womb are correlated with a range of behaviors later in childhood, from making
eye contact to developing a vocabulary. They speculate that maternal hormones
may play an important role in autism, a communication and cognitive disorder that
you will learn more about in Chapter 13.

9. Teratogens and the Fetus
Alcohol
A mother’s heavy drinking can lead to fetal alcohol syndrome
One drink per day can cause motor and balance deficits in the child
The most damage is done during the 3rd and 4th weeks, a time when many women don’t yet know that they are pregnant
Detrimental effects are still observed when the child is 14 years old
Cigarettes
Cocaine
Aspirin
Marijuana
AIDS
Rubella (German measles)
X-rays
Mercury (fish)
Teratogens: Any substance that can harm the fetus
Fetal alcohol syndrome: stunted growth, facial deformities, and mental retardation
Thalidomide: in the 1950’s, a drug given to women to ease the symptoms of pregnancy; led to birth defects, including limb deformities
Aspirin: linked to low birth weight, infant death at birth, poorer motor development, lower IQ scores in early adulthood; blood thinning is proximal cause

10. Newborn infants (neonates)
Taste
Newborns prefer sweet tastes
Smell (olfaction)
Newborns prefer the smell of their mothers’ milk
Hearing (Audition)
Newborns are startled by and orient toward loud sounds
Vision
Visual acuity in newborns is 8-12 inches
Newborns can see their world clearly, but only when object is within 8” ( vision at birth)
Infant can see an object at 20 feet about as well as an adult can see an object at 600 feet
Adult levels of acuity reached at one year
Reflexes
In adult humans, almost all behaviors are the product of learning, of one type or another. Now, there are some behaviors that are not a product of learning. One class of these behaviors are reflexes. Reflexes themselves fall into two general categories: those that stay with us our whole lives (such as the withdrawal reflex, the knee-jerk reflex, the blink reflex) and a large number that we are born with but that disappear during the first year of life (rooting, sucking, swimming, moro, palmar grasp, tonic neck, stepping, babinski). [Talk about the withdrawal reflex -- does not involve the brain] Many of these early reflexes clearly have survival value, but they are relatively inflexible. They are replaced by learned behaviors. Even though learned behaviors are probably not efficient, in terms of the speed with which they are produced, they are much more flexible in adapting to a changing environment.
Another type of behavior that seems at first to have little to do with learning are eating, drinking, sleeping, and sexual behaviors. At one time these were referred to as instincts. The term instincts has always been reserved for behaviors that are not learned. But as psychologists studied eating, drinking, sleeping, and sexual behaviors, it became clear that even though the general internal push to engage in behaviors that will reduce hunger, thirst, etc. are not learned, the manner in which these behaviors are expressed is learned, through culture and personal experience. So, now psychologists refer to these as motivation rather than instincts.
The term instincts is instead reserved for fixed action patterns. These are behaviors that are built into an animal’s nervous system. They are triggered by a specific stimulus, even the first time the stimulus is encountered, and all members of a particular species display the behavior (i.e., the behavior is species-specific).

11. The Developing Brain
At Birth
During First Year
Next Few Years
At birth, all billion neurons are in place, but few connections exist
During first year, axons grow, dendrites multiply, and connections form
Over next few years, active connections strengthen and inactive connections atrophy (synaptic pruning)
Myelination until 4–7 years in many areas of brain and until 20 years old in the frontal lobes
Figure from:
Kassin, S. (2001). Psychology, third edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

12. This development process leads to massive growth of the brain from 350 grams (approximately .75 pound) at birth to about 1,250 grams (2.75 pounds or about 80 percent of the adult size) by age 4.
The strong role of environment in determining which synapses or connections are pruned can be illustrated by (1) rats raised in enriched environments developed bigger, heavier brains and (2) the effects of malnourishment on myelination and learning in children
The highest levels of density can be thought of as the times when the brain is most plastic — most able to change. 12

13. Neonate Social Development: Attachment
Attachment: A deep emotional bond that persists over time and across circumstances that an infant develops with its primary caretaker. Includes …
A desire to be physically close
A sense of security when physically close
Feelings of distress when not close
First social smile: between 4 and 6 weeks
At 10 weeks, infants may become upset when their primary caregivers fail to display emotional reactions

14. Separation Anxiety
Separation anxiety is a fear reaction when the primary caregiver is absent
Seen in all cultures
Corresponds with development of object permanence
Figure from:
Kassin, S. (2001). Psychology, third edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Source:
Kagan, J. (1976). Emergent themes in human development. American Scientist, 64,

15. Harlow, Bowlby, and Ainsworth
Harlow (1958, 1971): infant rhesus monkeys preferred terrycloth substitutes over wire substitutes with a bottle of milk
Bowlby (1969, 1983): theory of attachment arguing that clinging and crying enhance the infant’s chances for survival
Ainsworth (1973, 1991): measured and classified the quality of attachment

16. Styles of Attachment
Strange Situation Test: A parent-infant “separation and reunion” procedure that is staged in a laboratory to test the security of a child’s (1-2 yrs. old) attachment
Secure Attachment: Baby is secure when the parent is present, distressed by separation, and delighted by reunion; about 60% of infants
Insecure Attachment
Anxious-ambivalent (resistant): baby clings to the parent when present, cries at separation, and reacts with anger or apathy to reunion
Avoidant: indifferent or avoidant during presence, separation, and reunion
1. Experimenter introduces parent and baby to playroom and then leaves
2. Parent is seated while baby plays with toys
3. Stranger enters, is seated, and talks to paren
4. Parent leaves room. Stranger responds to baby and offers comfort if upset.
5. Parent returns, greets baby, and offers comfort if necessary. Stranger leaves room.
6. Parent leaves room.
7. Stranger enters room and offers comfort.
8. Parent returns, greets baby, offers comfort if necessary, and tries to re-interest baby in toys.

17. 17

18. 18

19. Other issues in attachment
Biology
The hormone oxytocin plays a role in attachment.
Why do infants differ in attachment style?
Temperament
Caregiver responsiveness
Caregiver-infant fit
Early attachment styles are predictive of social behavior in elementary school (and adults?).
But predictability is not 100%
Internal working models
Based on their first intimate relationship (their attachment relation with the primary caretaker), children develop an idea of what intimate relationships are like and they carry this idea into all of their new relationships. This idea is sometimes termed an internal working model.
Daycare
CHEMISTRY OF AT TACHMENT Scientists working at the biological level of
analysis have recently discovered that the hormone oxytocin is related to social behaviors,
including infant-caregiver attachment (Carter, 2003). Oxytocin plays a role
in maternal tendencies, feelings of social acceptance and bonding, and sexual gratification.
In terms of the mother and infant, oxytocin affects both of them, promoting
behaviors that ensure the survival of the young. For instance, in both animal and
human studies, infant suckling triggers the release of oxytocin, which in turn leads
to biological processes that move milk into the milk ducts so the infant can nurse.
Oxytocin also facilitates infant attachment to the mother. Research using rat pups
that have been separated from their mothers and later reunited with them has found
that pups who formed an association between a specific odor and maternal reunion
show a preference for that smell. However, the odor is not preferred among pups
that have been given an oxytocin inhibitor, indicating that oxytocin is important for
these attachment associations.
Father’s role: key to attachment is caretaking (feeding, changing, bathing, etc.); so, father can be an attachment figure if he is involved on this level
US Bureau of the Census (1996): 60% of American mothers with a child under 2 are employed
Initial studies indicated many more problems, but recent studies have shown that this is not necessarily the case: There is a bit more insecure attachment in daycared infants (36% to 29%), but all-in-all, it’s the quality of the daycare that is the most important factor in promoting normal emotional and cognitive development of children in daycare. Quality can be defined as the ratio of children to adults and the attentiveness of the adults to the children. Other important elements are the number of hours per week. As a rule of thumb, still okay at less than 30, but more than 30 is asking for trouble. In addition, it is important for that the choice for or against daycare matches the desires of the mother. For example, if the mother is at home, but wants to be at work, it may be better for the child to be in daycare.

20. Infancy and Childhood I
Experimental techniques for assessing a baby’s knowledge
Preferential looking technique
Babies look longer at novel or interesting stimuli
When shown two stimuli simultaneously, if a baby looks longer at one, then the baby can tell the difference between them
Using this technique, it has been found that . . .
2- to 5-day old infants prefer high-contrast patterns and faces
12- to 21-day old infants imitate adult facial expressions
By 2 mos., infant can discriminate colors and focus on objects as well as an adult (if the stimuli are displayed close enough)
By 6 mos. 20/100
By 11 mos., adult level visual acuity
Depth perception emerges between 3 and 6 ½ months
For example, if you want to know whether an infant can discriminate between a black and white checkerboard pattern with 4 squares and one with 8 squares …
Visual cliff experiments
Crawling and depth perception are linked
Both emerge at about 7 mos.

21. Infancy and Childhood II
Experimental techniques for assessing a baby’s knowledge
Habituation paradigms
An infant will become habituated to (become bored with) a stimulus that does not change
However, if the infant shows a “recovery response” (i.e., dishabituates) to a change in the stimulus, this indicates that it can distinguish between the old and new stimuli
Using this technique, it has been found that . . .
2-day old infants prefer their mother’s voice over an unfamiliar female voice
2-day old infants prefer particular stories that their mother read while the infant was still in utero (i.e., in the womb)
When given a pacifier that the infant can use to control which stimulus is presented
When measuring sucking rate
The frequency and intensity with which an infant sucks a pacifier
Infants prefer high-pitch sounds and the human voice
“Motherese”
During the final 12 weeks in utero, the fetus can distinguish sounds from the external world
Mother read the same story twice a day every day for the last six weeks (DeCasper & Spence, 1986).
Motherese: child-directed speech; a form of language made up of short sentences with high-pitched exaggerated expression and very clear pronunciation; especially eeh, ah, ooh, which were spontaneously used in Swedish, Russian, and English.
Do you want to play with the beads?

22. Infancy and Childhood III
Rovee-Collier (1999) and the development of memory
Baseline phase: measure kicking rate when ribbon is not tied from baby’s ankle to mobile
Learning phase: measure kicking rate when ribbon is attached to the mobile and the mobile moves when baby kicks
Test phase: after some period of time, reattach ribbon and measure kicking rate
Using this technique, it has been found that . . .
6 week olds will kick to move the mobile attached to their foot one week after the learning phase (Rovee-Collier, 1988)
3 month olds that learn to kick when the mobile blocks have A’s on them will not kick as vigorously with a mobile that has 2’s on it
Memories in 3 month olds can even be reactivated a month later with a simple reminder (the experimenter moves the mobile once)
Infants remember longer as they get older
By 18 mos., they can remember the learning phase for several weeks
Newborns can differentiate linguistic stimuli on a variety of dimensions, which supports the notion that they are born with a LAD (language-acquisition device)
(1) pa vs. ba
(2) different multisyllabic words
Rovee-Collier: Also, 3 mo. olds that learn to kick when blocks on the mobile have A’s on them will not kick as vigorously with a mobile that has blocks with 2’s on them
Wynn: (1) put objects on the stage
(2) cover with screen
(3) add or take away an object
(4) remove screen
(5) number remaining is “correct” or “incorrect”

23. Infancy and Childhood IV
Memory problems in childhood
Infantile amnesia (also known as childhood amnesia)
Most people cannot recall anything that happened before the age of 3
Source amnesia
Children have special difficulty remembering where they learned something.
Confabulation
Children make things up when asked about something.
Children’s memory, especially preschoolers, is highly vulnerable to repetition, misinformation, leading questions, and outside sources of information
Children are notoriously unreliable eyewitnesses
Children have relatively poor metamemory skills
Metamemory refers to a person’s knowledge about the contents, and regulation, of memory.
Metamemory plays an important role in planning, allocation of cognitive resources, strategy selection, comprehension monitoring, and evaluation of performance. Young children (under the age of 10) find it difficult (1) to monitor the contents of memory, (2) to estimate the resources needed to complete a task, (3) to select an appropriate strategy for the task, and (4) to monitor their learning. As a consequence, self-regulation is poor and leads to overconfidence or illusions about how well one can (or does) remember something.
See also metacognition in children.

24. Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
When testing children, Piaget observed that children at different ages make characteristic errors
These errors signal the fact that children at different ages use a logic that is different from that of adults
Children form schemas and use these schemas to make sense of new information
Assimilation: Children incorporate new information into their existing schemas
Accommodation: Children alter their existing schemas in order to make sense of new information
Kassin’s earth schema example: how does a child incorporate the idea that the earth is a sphere into their initial schema that the earth is flat? Through a series of stages: disc earth, dual earth, goldfish bowl earth, flattened sphere earth, then finally earth
Assimilation vs. accommodation: If I assimilate you, do you become more similar to me or I more similar to you? If I accommodate you, do you become more similar to me or I more similar to you?

25. General elements of Piaget’s Cognitive Stage Theory
Children pass through a series of four cognitive stages
The exact age at which children transition from one stage to the next varies from child to child
The sequence of stages is universal
The transition from one stage to the next is relatively abrupt
The transition from one stage to the next consists of qualitative (not quantitative) changes in the way the child comes to understand and explores their world

26. Four stages of Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Sensorimotor (0-2)
Preoperational (2-6)
Concrete Operational (7-11)
Formal Operational (13-Adult)
Operations – the ability to internally manipulate ideas according to a stable set of rules

27. Sensorimotor stage 0-2 years old
Infants come to know their world through physically interacting with their environment
From 1-5 months, the primary tool of exploration is the mouth
Infants younger than 8 months old lack object permanence
That is, when an object is out of sight, it is out of mind
One of the reasons infants like to play peek-a-boo
It is now known that infants as young as 4 months old will demonstrate object permanence when tested using more sensitive tasks
Circular reactions: repetition of an accidental event; this repetition becomes more and more complex (varied, think before acting, etc.) as time passes
Lack of object permanence is the “error” that characterizes the sensorimotor stage
Actually, the peek-a-boo thing is interesting: Do they like it when they don’t have object permanence (and that the object reappears is surprising) or does their interest continue even after object permanence because of hypothesis testing
Describe Teresa’s ball-box experiment

28. Representational Thought
The ability to create and use mental representations (internal images of absent objects and past events) and symbols (words and images that do not have an iconic relationship with their referent)
The development of representational thought bridges the sensorimotor and preoperational stages
Some examples
Solve sensorimotor problems without trial and error
Deferred imitation
The ability to remember and copy the behavior of models that are not immediately present
Make-believe (pretend) play
How does a child prior to 18 mos. get a wagon or trike unstuck? Trial and error. How about after 18 mos.?

29. Preoperational Stage 2-6 years old During second year, memory improves
Children move from playing peek-a-boo to playing hide-and-seek
However, they lack full use of operations – the ability to internally manipulate ideas according to a stable set of rules
Egocentrism
Others can tell what they are thinking
Others know everything that is going on in their lives
Hiding in full view
Lack of conservation
Conservation: Basic properties of an object or situation are conserved (remain stable) despite superficial changes
Instead, their thinking is rigid – limited to one aspect of a situation at a time, and strongly influenced by the way things appear at the moment
Egocentric: I am the center of the universe and everyone is concerned with what I am doing, thinking, feeling, etc.
Animistic thinking: inanimate objects experience the world the way I do (the clouds are angry at the sun)
But it is now known that in many ways 3 and 4 year olds are not egocentric
(1) they speak more simply to babies
(2) they have theory of mind: that is, a set of ideas about the existence of other people’s perceptions, thoughts, beliefs, desires, feelings, and intentions
Cannot think about two properties of an object at once – cannot perform two mental operations at once

30. Egocentrism: The 3 mountain task
Let the preoperational child walk around the display for themselves.
Then ask them to pick the picture of the mountains that the bear sees.
They just pick the picture that they themselves see.
They cannot take the bear’s perspective.

31. Conservation Tasks Figure 10.15a from:
Kassin, S. (2001). Psychology, third edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

32. Operational Stages Concrete Operational (7-11 years old)
Less egocentric
Understands conservation
Understands transitivity (If A>B and B>C, A>C)
But cannot state general abstract rules that govern a variety of similar situations
2 is even, 2+1 is odd, as are 4+1, 6+1, 8+1, but the child cannot state the principle “Any even number plus 1 is an odd number”
Tends to use trial and error approaches for problem solving
Formal Operational (age 13 –adult)
Now has the cognitive capacity for thinking logically, but it is not necessarily the case that every adult does so

33. The pendulum problem
The pendulum problem clearly differentiates the concrete operational and the formal operational stages.
The pendulum problem: give a child strings of different lengths, objects of different weights, and a bar to hang the string from. Ask them to figure out what influences the speed with which the pendulum swings through it’s arc
Concrete operational children experiment unsystematically. For example, they don’t hold all other things constant while varying one thing.
Formal operational children solve the problem in a hypothetico-deductive fashion (begin with a theory, deduce particular hypotheses, test these hypotheses systematically)
The theory is that the length of the string, the weight of the object, the height to which the object is raised, and the force with which it is pushed all contribute to the speed. Then they test this systematically.

34. Challenges to Piaget: Earlier and More
Violation of expectation paradigms
Habituate the infant to a possible event, then compare with looking time to an “impossible” event
If the baby looks longer at the impossible event, this shows that the baby expected a certain event to occur and was surprised when it did not
Using this technique, it has been found that . . .
4.5 month old infants have object permanence
4-month old infants expect that two similar objects moving together are part of a single object
3-month old infants know that objects do not hang suspended in mid-air without support
5-month old infants have rudimentary arithmetic skills
Looked longer (were surprised) when they “expected” a certain number of objects to be behind a screen that was removed, but there was a different number of objects instead
Wynn: (1) put objects on the stage
(2) cover with screen
(3) add or take away an object
(4) remove screen
(5) number remaining is “correct” or “incorrect”
McCrink & Wynn (2004): same idea but with 5 block blocks on a computer monitor and nine month olds could do this

35. Understanding the relation between movement and physical properties requires cognitive skills. Infants appear to use movement to infer that objects moving together are continuous. 35

36. Infants seem to intuitively sense that a box placed in midair must fall.36

37. 37

38. Children who might not have succeeded on Piaget’s marble test were able to choose the row that contained more items when those items were M&Ms and the test question was Which row would you like to eat? 38

39. Theory of Mind Theory of mind
Knowing that other people have mental states and using that knowledge to explain and predict their behavior
Children begin to read other people’s intentions by the end of their first year and become very good at doing so by the end of their second year
Children can take another person’s perspective by the end of their fourth or fifth year
The false belief test
Good cross-cultural evidence
Not a problem with general intelligence, as kids with Down syndrome can do the false belief test
Children older than nine months show greater impatience when an adult is unwilling to give them a toy then when the adult is unable to give them a toy. Also, children did not imitate the actual movements (which included slipping) of an adult when the adult was trying to separate two dumbbells; instead they only imitated the separating.
In the false belief test, child A watches child B place a toy in a particular box, after which child B leaves the room. Then Child A moves the toy to another box and predicts where, upon returning, child B will look for the toy.
Coincides with frontal lobe development.
When adults think about other people’s mental states, their frontal lobes light up in neuroimaging.

40. Moral Reasoning

41. The Heinz dilemma
In Europe a woman was near death from cancer. There was one drug that the doctors thought might save her. A druggist in the same town had discovered it, but he was charging ten times what the drug cost him to make. The sick woman’s husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the money, but he could only get together half of what it cost. The druggist refused to sell it cheaper or let Heinz pay later. So Heinz got desperate and broke into the man’s store to steal the drug for his wife. Should Heinz have done that? Why?

42. Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Reasoning
There are three stages in Kohlberg’s theory
Preconventional
Conventional
Postconventional
The difference between these stages is not necessarily determined by what decision a person makes
In other words, saying Heinz should not steal the drug is not automatically a sign of a higher stage of moral reasoning
Instead, the difference between these stages is determined by the reasoning behind the decision
The following slides should make this clear

43. Preconventional Level
At this level of moral reasoning, the reasons behind the decision emphasize avoidance of punishment and obtaining reward
If a person said that Heinz should not steal the drug because
Society will punish him for the crime (avoidance of punishment)
It’s more risk to Heinz than it is worth, since if he is caught, he will go to jail, his wife will die, and he won’t be there for her (emphasis on the fact that Heinz will lose the reward of being with his wife)
If a person said that Heinz should steal the drug because
His wife’s family would be less critical (avoiding punishment)
He would still have his wife after spending some time in jail (emphasis on the reward of having his wife)
All of these people would be described as being at the preconventional level
(3) Satisfying personal needs: Not taking a stance; each person onto themselves; It’s his own life he’s risking so he can decide what he wants; People can have different perspectives

44. Conventional Level
At this level of moral reasoning, the reasons behind the decision emphasize meeting learned moral standards, avoiding disapproval, and maintaining law, order, honor, and duty
If a person said that Heinz should not steal the drug because
What will others in society think of me? (Avoiding disapproval)
Laws state stealing is illegal and everyone must follow the rules, regardless of how they feel (Maintaining law and order)
If a person said that Heinz should steal the drug because
His wife’s family will think more highly of him (seeking approval)
It is honorable to sacrifice oneself (and avoid the guilt of dishonor)
It is one’s duty (by virtue of one’s marriage vows)
All of these people would be described as being at the conventional level

45. Postconventional Level: Part I
At this level of moral reasoning, individuals
Understand the notion of social contract
Laws and rules are flexible instruments for furthering human purposes
When a law is consistent with individual rights and the interests of the majority, everyone agrees to participate because it is the most good for the most people
Alternative social orders are possible
There should be fair procedures for interpreting and changing the law
Follow there own conscience, which is based on carefully reasoned-out principles, such as
Equal consideration of the claims of all people
Respect for the dignity of each person

46. Postconventional Level: Part II
If a person said that Heinz should steal the drug because
The law against stealing is wrong, when the stealing is from a person that is charging exorbitant prices and people are dying because of it (an individual’s right to life is violated)
What value can be held more highly than the value of life? It doesn’t make sense to put respect for property above respect for life.
Both of these people would be described as being at the postconventional level.

47. Criticisms/Alternatives to Kohlberg
Some cultural differences not reflected in this theory
Although moral reasoning and moral behavior are often related, moral reasoning is not a necessary component for moral behavior
Instead, morality in children is rooted in moral emotions
Empathy, sympathy, guilt, shame, and embarrassment
How children select between fulfilling one’s own desires and meeting the needs of another person is predictive of moral behavior
Parents’ behaviors influence the development of moral emotions
Cultural differences: Some non-Western cultures value conventional morality over the individualistic quality of post-conventional reasoning
The Heinz dilemma pits a rule against one’s own sense of right and wrong. In contrast, the emotion approach presents a conflict between fulfilling one’s own desires and meeting the need of another person. In other words, the moral emotion approach can be contrasted with selecting between rules and one’s own sense of morality, as in the Heinz dilemma. For example, (1) going to the beach or helping a friend study, (2) hoarding food after a flood or sharing with others, and (3) getting an injured child’s parents or going to a party.
The developmental progression when given the moral emotion problems is . . .
Preschoolers: self
Grade schoolers: more others oriented, but because of what others think
Late adolescence: increase in feelings of guilt and sympathy and an increase in perspective-taking leads to more social responsibility
Parents of sympathetic children are high in sympathy themselves, allow them to express negative emotions that are not harmful to others, help their children cope with negative emotions, and promote an understanding of others. Also, it has been shown that the development of moral emotions is enhanced when parents reasoned about behaviors, commented on emotions and intentions, and made evaluative comments about behaviors.

48. Language Development I
Elements of Language
Phoneme: Basic, distinct sounds of a spoken language.
Over 40 phonemes in English
Morpheme: The smallest meaningful unit of a language
Syntax: Rules of grammar that govern how words can be combined into sentences in order to convey meaning.
In English we use word order
Bill told the men to deliver the piano on Monday.
Bill told the men on Monday to deliver the piano.
Beth asked the man about this headaches.
About the Beth headaches man asked his.

49. Lanuage Development II
Characteristics of Human Language
Semanticity
The property of language that describes the separate units and how these units have meaning.
Generativity
Property of language that accounts for our capacity to use a limited number of words to produce an infinite variety of expressions.
Displacement
Property of language that allows communication about matters that are not here and not now.

50. Generativity Figure 7.17 from:
Kassin, S. (1998). Psychology, second edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

51. Language Development III
Newborns can differentiate linguistic stimuli on a variety of dimensions
pa vs. ba
different multisyllabic words
Infants as young as four days old prefer to listen to their native language
After several months of exposure to their native language, babies lose the ability to distinguish between phonemic sounds that are not important to their native language
All of which supports the notion that they are born with a LAD (language-acquisition device)

52. Language Development IV
By age 6, children know 14,000 words and syntax
Adults know 50,000 – 60,000 words
Developmental sequence
Newborn: crying
Second month: babbling
One year old: first word (ba for bottle)
From 1 year old to 2 years old, child accumulates 250 words
Two years old
naming explosion begins (learn an average of 9 words per day)
vocabulary is larger if parents talk with child
telegraphic speech (“more juice”)
3 to 5 years old
As children learn syntactic and grammatical rules, overgeneralization may occur and child may make errors that they did not make earlier
Like adding –ed to run instead of saying “ran”
Performatives vs. true words: utter a word in the appropriate context, but not know the meaning (right around 1 year old)
Telegraphic speech: lacks appropriate articles, verbs, etc.
Impatience and rejection will slow language development. Responsiveness will strengthen language development.
Acceptance of child’s attempts to talk as meaningful and worthwhile
Sensitivity to child’s needs and capacities.
Using an utterance length just ahead of the child’s; creating a sensitive match between adult and child speech
Repetition of one’s own and the child’s utterances; also, the use of simple questions.
Conversational give and take
Dialogues about picture books
1 & 2 are the foundation. 3 & 4 fall out of 1 & 2. Numbers 4-6 are predictive of language development.

53. Other Language Development Issues I
Vigotsky: The role of culture in language
Social and cultural context influences language development, which in turn influences cognitive development.
First, the child directs their speech towards others, asking for food or toys.
Later, they begin to direct their speech inwards, giving themselves directions or talking to themselves while playing.
Eventually, children internalize their words into inner speech: verbal thoughts that direct both behavior and cognition.
In the end, your thoughts are a product of (are determined by) the society and culture in which you were raised.

54. Other Language Development Issues II
Learning to read
Phonics approach
Traditional approach
Memorize the mapping between the letters and their sounds
Then learn the exceptions
Whole language approach
Has become popular the last twenty years
Learn to read the way you learn to talk
We don’t process individual phones when we hear speech, so why should we do it when we read?
Learn individual words and learn to connect them in the context of a sentence that has meaning.
Which approach is better?
The evidence clearly supports the phonics approach (Rayner et al., 2001)

55. Can Non-Human Apes Learn Language?
Many apes of several species have learned various different signing systems
Is it language?
Semanticity: “Language apes” satisfy this criterion
Generativity: Bonobos can use the same words in different orders to initiate different actions
Displacement: Researchers say apes refer to past events, but most evidence is anecdotal
However, non-human apes never caught on to the fact the language is fundamentally a tool used to communicate meanings, thought, and ideas