1. Developmental Psychology Infancy and Childhood

2. Physical Development

3. How do brain and motor skills develop? Good News While in the womb, you produce almost ¼ million brain cells per minute. Bad News That is basically all you are ever going to develop.

4. The Brain and Infancy Although the brain does not develop many new cells, the existing cells begin to work more efficiently- forming more complex neural networks.

5. Physical Development Average weight? 7.5 lbs. Height? 18 – 22 inches MATURATION: gives doctors and parents a timetable to measure progress –Important to remember that every child is unique and that charts are just a guide

6. Maturation  The development of the brain unfolds based on genetic instructions, causing various bodily and mental functions to occur in sequence— standing before walking, babbling before talking—this is called maturation. To a certain extent we all mature similarly, but the time can vary depending on the person. Maturation sets the basic course of development, while experience adjusts it.

7. Motor Development Motor development refers to the progression of muscular coordination required for physical activities. A basic number of principles are apparent in motor development. The cephalocaudal trend describes the fact that children tend to gain control over the upper part of their bodies before the lower part. The proximodistal trend describes the fact that children gain control over their torsos before their extremities. Motor development depends in part on physical growth, as well as on the process of maturation (the gradual unfolding of one’s genetic blueprint), and the infant’s ongoing exploration of the world.

8. Motor Development First, infants begin to roll over. Next, they sit unsupported, crawl, and finally walk. Experience has little effect on this sequence. Relive your own early motor development with the pencil task (gross vs. fine motor skills)!

9. Infant Memory The earliest age of conscious memory is around 3½ years (Bauer, 2002). A 5-year-old has a sense of self and an increased long-term memory; thus, organization of memory is different from 3-4 years. Video clip of Carolyn Rovee-Collier experiment Video clip of Carolyn Rovee-Collier experiment below (Watch “Kicking Mobile” from home here: http://ap-psychology- 5th.grandblanc.high.schoolfusion.us/modules/locker/files/gro up_files.phtml?gid=1316810&parent=4687684&sessionid=35 12dcdb039cc78ff3718c12dec3b96e http://ap-psychology- 5th.grandblanc.high.schoolfusion.us/modules/locker/files/gro up_files.phtml?gid=1316810&parent=4687684&sessionid=35 12dcdb039cc78ff3718c12dec3b96e

10. Nature vs. Nurture Is our development behavior the result of genetics or the result of our experiences and learning? “Mom may be holding a full house while Dad has a straight flush, yet when Junior gets a random half of each of their cards his poker hand may be a loser.” David Lykken (2001)

11. Walking Walking – in U.S., 25% learn by 11 months, 50% within a week of 1 st birthday, 90% by 15 months. Varies by culture – if the culture emphasizes walking, then babies can walk at younger ages (NURTURE). But identical twins tend to learn to walk on the same day (NATURE).

12. Toilet Training No matter what, the baby needs the physical maturation to hold his or her bladder or bowel movements before toilet training. NO TRAINING WILL WORK IF THE CHILD IS NOT PHYSICALLY READY.

13. Perceptual Development Pgs. 176 & 182 in text (visual preferences) Depth perception (we will talk about the visual cliff experiment in the next chapter; in the meantime, you can read about it in your 40 Studies book!)

14. Cognitive Development All mental activities associated with thinking, knowing and remembering.

15. Cognitive (Intellectual) Development The development of an individual’s mental abilities For many years this was measured mainly by using the results of intelligence (I.Q.) tests A Swiss psychologist named Jean Piaget changed this –He became interested in reasons for the wrong answers instead of the wrong answers themselves

16. Cognitive Development This field is dominated by Jean Piaget. While working in developing IQ tests, he noticed that many children got the same answers wrong. Thought to himself, “maybe these kids are not stupid, but instead think differently than adults.”

17. Piaget’s important concepts Children are active thinkers, always trying to make sense of the world. To make sense of the world, they develop schemas. Schema- a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information (mental molds into which we pour our experiences). Jean Piaget with a subject Bill Anderson/ Photo Researchers, Inc.

18. Piaget’s important concepts Assimilation- interpreting one’s new experiences into one’s current understanding (existing schemas). (To remember this, use the double “s” in “assimilation” to remember “same schema”) Accommodation- adapting and adjusting one’s current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information. (To remember this, use the “c” in “accommodation” to remember “change schema”) (Sucker example)

19. More Assimilation/Accommodation Examples When my family first got a DVD player, my dad kept trying to figure out how to rewind the DVD (trying to assimilate using his VCR knowledge), then had to figure out that DVDs have chapters that you can use to move to the previous or next chapter (accommodation). Let's say I have 5 folders on my computer to put new songs into: Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Aerosmith, Britney Spears, and Eminem. When I download a new song, I need to put it into a folder. If I download a song by Christina Aguilera, I might initially put it into that Britney Spears folder because I don't realize that they're different. I interpret the new song in terms of my existing folders (assimilation). Eventually I do learn the difference, and instead of leaving it in the Britney Spears folder, I create a NEW folder for Christina Aguilera (accommodation).

20. Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development Jean Piaget (1920s-1980s) –4 stages and major milestones Sensorimotor –Object permanence Preoperational –Centration »the tendency to focus on just one feature of a problem –Egocentrism »the limited ability to share another’s viewpoint (results in animism, the belief that all things are living, just like oneself). Concrete Operational –Decentration, Reversibility, Conservation Formal Operational –Abstraction

21. Sensorimotor Stage The Sensorimotor Stage is from approximately birth to 2 years of age. Babies take in the world purely through their senses and motor abilities – looking, hearing, touching, tasting and grasping.

22. Sensorimotor Stage At 4 to 8 months of age, your child will learn that she can make things move by banging them and shaking them. (Example--shaking a rattle, banging on toys, banging on tray of high chair)

23. Sensorimotor Stage Between 12 and 18 months your child will be able to represent hidden objects in her mind (object permanence). In other words, she will be able to “see” objects even when they are out of sight. Before object permanence – what is out of sight, is gone from the universe forever.

25. Before object permanence… After object permanence! Watch at home: http://www.wh oisthemonkey.com/videos/4 1/family-guy- peek-a-boo http://www.wh oisthemonkey.com/videos/4 1/family-guy- peek-a-boo Video summary of sensorimotor stage

26. Scale Errors – 18-30 months Children may fail to take the size of an object into account when trying to perform impossible actions with it.

27. Preoperational Stage The Preoperational Stage is from approximately 2 to 7 years of age. “Pre-operational” implies that children are too young to perform mental operations.

28. For example… Children in this stage are often unable to group things in categories – it is a mental operation that they are not yet able to tackle.

29. Preoperational Stage At the early part of this stage, a child will develop the ability to use symbols. Between the ages of 3 and 4, your child will be able to apply this ability to symbolize with objects, and to people (names represent people). At this stage, kids have characteristic flaws in their reasoning such as centration, the tendency to focus on just one feature of a problem.

30. Preoperational Stage The preoperational child does not yet understand the principle of conservation (mass, volume, and number remain the same despite changes in the forms of objects)

31. Conservation Examples “Cut it up into a LOT of slices, mom! I’m really hungry!”

32. Preoperational Stage Children in the preoperational stage are egocentric (the inability to take on another’s point of view). This is why kids will do things like stand right in front of the TV, which seems obnoxious to us. If they can see it, we must be able to see it! Egocentrism can result in animism, the belief that all things are living, just like oneself.

33. Concrete Operational Stage 7-11 years old Understand concept of conservation. Can think logically, use analogies, and perform mathematical transformations (5+9 is the same as 9+5) also known as reversibility (does your brother have a brother?). Lacks abstract thought Video summary of concrete operational stage

34. Formal Operational Stage Age 12 on Able to reason abstractly. If John is in school, then Mary is in school. John is in school. What can you say about Mary? God is love.Love is BlindStevie Wonder is Blind. Stevie Wonder is god. Improved critical thinking and problem solving abilities

35. Piaget’s Theory and Current Thinking

36. Prenatal Development ChildhoodAdolescenceAdulthood 2 Thru 7 Years7 Thru 11 YearsBirth Thru 2 Years Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 Sensorimotor Period Coordination of sensory input and motor responses; development of object permanence Preoperational Period Development of Symbolic thought marked by irreversibility, Centration, and egocentrism Concrete Operational Period Mental operations applied to concrete events; mastery of conservation, hierarchical classification Age 11 Thru Adulthood Formal Operational Period Mental operations applied to abstract ideas; logical, systematic thinking

37. Criticisms of Piaget 1.Ages of stages vary quite a bit 2.Research has shown that only about 30-40% of adolescents and adults have reached the formal operational stage in the U.S. 3.Formal operations are almost absent in many non-literate cultures 4.Individuals who have taken science courses (scientific procedures) are always in formal operations 5.He used his own children to develop his theory of cognitive stages.

38. Just because it’s interesting… When you have time, watch this interesting video about “Overcoming Attentional Inertia” (Watch at home (click on the one called “06_Cognitive Development”)): http://ap- psychology- 5th.grandblanc.high.schoolfusion.us/mo dules/locker/files/group_files.phtml?gid= 1316810&parent=4687684&msg_notify =File+uploaded.&sessionid=33c999468 dd6cb1f2d8e05b120cb0de8 http://ap- psychology- 5th.grandblanc.high.schoolfusion.us/mo dules/locker/files/group_files.phtml?gid= 1316810&parent=4687684&msg_notify =File+uploaded.&sessionid=33c999468 dd6cb1f2d8e05b120cb0de8