1. Lifespan Development

2. Developmental Psychology
What shapes the way we change over time?
Focus on psychological changes across the entire life span
Every area of psychology can be looked at from this perspective
biological development
social development
cognitive/perceptual development
personality development

3. Fundamental Issues: Nature vs. Nurture
What is role of heredity vs. environment in determining psychological makeup?
Is IQ inherited or determined early environment?
Is there a ‘criminal’ gene?
Is sexual orientation a choice or genetically determined?
These are some of our greatest societal debates
Mistake to pose as “either/or” questions

4. Fundamental Issues: Is Development Continuous?
Development means change; change can be abrupt or gradual
Two views of human development
stage theories: there are distinct phases to intellectual and personality development
continuity: development is continuous

5. Fundamental Issues in Developmental Psychology
Critical period —Are there periods when an individual is particularly sensitive to certain environmental experiences?
Are the first hours after birth critical for parent-child bonding?
Is first year critical for developing trust?
Easier to learn a language before age 10?

6. Overview of Genetics Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes
Chromosomes are long twisted strands of DNA
DNA is the chemical basis of heredity and carries instructions
Genes are the basic unit of heredity; single unit of DNA on the chromosome

7. Dominant and Recessive
Genotype—underlying genetic makeup
Phenotype—traits that are expressed
Dominant genes—will always be expressed if present
Recessive genes—will not be expressed unless they are in a pair

9. Sex Linked Traits Traits linked to the X or Y (sex) chromosomes
Usually recessive and carried on the X chromosome
Appear more frequently in one sex than another
Color blindness, baldness, hemophilia, Fragile X

10. Physical and Psychological Development Related
Physical development begins at conception
Physical maturity sets limits on psychological ability
visual system not fully functional at birth
language system not functional until much later
Prenatal environment can have lifetime influence on health and intellectual ability

11. Prenatal Development Conception—when a sperm penetrates the ovum
Zygote—a fertilized egg
Germinal period—first two weeks after conception
Embryonic period—weeks three through eight after conception
Fetal period—two months after conception until birth

12. 8 week embryo http://www.w-cpc.org/fetal1.html
If you click on the smaller picture, you will bring up this one.
It is possible that all of these pictures came from this book A Child Is Born by Lennart Nilsson (also in
paperback)..
Another site that may have them is
But I am not sure. They do have an awesome media gallery.
8 week embryo

13. Prenatal Influences on Development
Nutrition
Anxiety
Mother’s general health
Maternal age
Teratogens—any agent that causes a birth defect (e.g., drugs, radiation, viruses)

14. Drugs Over the counter Alcohol Cocaine Heroine Nicotine Aspirin
Excess vitamins

15. Infant Abilities Infants are born with immature visual system
can detect movement and large objects
Other senses function well on day 1
will orient to sounds
turn away from unpleasant odors
prefer sweet to sour tastes
Born with a number of reflex behaviors

16. Infant Reflexes
Rooting—turning the head and opening the mouth in the direction of a touch on the cheek
Sucking—sucking rhythmically in response to oral stimulation
Grasping—curling the fingers around an object

17. Social and Personality Development
Temperament--inborn predisposition to consistently behave and react in a certain way
Attachment-- emotional bond between infant and caregiver

18. Temperament Easy—adaptable, positive mood, regular habits
Slow to warm up—low activity, somewhat slow to adapt, generally withdraw from new situations
Difficult—intense emotions, irritable, cry frequently
Average—unable to classify (1/3 of all children)

19. Quality of Attachment
Parents who are consistently warm, responsive, and sensitive to the infant’s needs usually have infants who are securely attached
Parents who are neglectful, inconsistent, or insensitive to infant’s needs usually have infants who are insecurely attached

20. Ainsworth’s Strange Situation
Used to study quality of attachment in infants
Observe child’s reaction when mother is present with the child in a “strange” room
Observe the child’s reaction when mother leaves
Observes the child’s reaction when mother returns

21. Language Development
Noam Chomsky asserts that every child is born with a biological predisposition to learn language “universal grammar”
Motherese or infant directed speech--style of speech used by adults (mostly parents) in all cultures to talk to babies and children

22. Language Development
Infant preference for human speech over other sounds
before 6 months can hear differences used in all languages
after 6 months begin to hear only differences used in native language
Cooing—vowel sounds produced 2–4 months
Babbling—consonant/vowel sounds between 4 to 6 months
Even deaf infants coo and babble

23. Language Development MONTH Speech Characteristic 2 Cooing vowel sounds
4 Babbling consonant/vowel
10 Babbling native language sounds
12 One-word stage
24 Two-word stage
24+ Sentences
Table adapted from Myers (5e)

24. Young Children’s Vocabulary
Comprehension vocabulary--words that the infant or child understands
Production vocabulary--words that the infant or child understands and can speak

25. Gender Role Development
Gender—cultural, social, and psychological meanings associated with masculinity or femininity
Gender roles—various traits designated either masculine or feminine in a given culture
Gender identity—A person’s psychological sense of being male or female
Between ages 2-3 years, children can identify themselves and other children as boys or girls. The concept of gender or sex, is, however, based more on outward characteristics such as clothing.

26. Gender Differences
Toddler girls tend to play more with dolls and ask for help more than boys
Toddler boys tend to play more with trucks and wagons, and to play more actively
After age 3 years we see consistent gender differences in preferred toys and activities
Children are more rigid in sex-role stereotypes than adults

27. Social Learning Theory
Gender roles are acquired through the basic processes of learning, including reinforcement, punishment, and modeling
Cole & Cole 4e (Image and lecture gallery)

28. Gender Schema Theory
Gender-role development is influenced by the formation of schemas, or mental representations, of masculinity and femininity
Children actively develop mental categories of masculinity ad femininity and categorize these into gender categories or schemas
Trucks are for boys and dolls are for girls is an example of a gender schema

29. Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Jean Piaget (1896–1980) Swiss psychologist who became leading theorist in 1930s
Piaget believed that “children are active thinkers, constantly trying to construct more advanced understandings of the world”
Cognitive development is a stage process

30. Qualitative Difference in Thinking
Assimilation—process of taking in new knowledge or a new experience
Accommodation—process by which we change our way of thinking because of new knowledge
These processes build on the knowledge of previous stages

31. Piaget’s Approach
Primary method was to ask children to solve problems and to question them about the reasoning behind their solutions
Discovered that children think in radically different ways than adults
Proposed that development occurs as a series of ‘stages’ differing in how the world is understood

32. Sensorimotor Stage (birth – 2)
Information is gained through the senses and motor actions
Child perceives and manipulates but does not reason
Symbols become internalized through language development
Object permanence is acquired

33. Object Permanence
The understanding that objects exist independent of one’s actions or perceptions of them
Before 6 months infants act as if objects removed from sight cease to exist
Can be surprised by disappearance/reappearance of a face (peek-a-boo)

34. Preoperational Stage (2–7 years)
Emergence of symbolic thought
Centration
Egocentrism
Lack of the concept of conservation
Animism
Artificialism
These are speaker notes

35. Concrete Operational Stage (7–12 years)
Increasingly logical thought
Classification and categorization
Less egocentric
Ability to understand that physical quantities are equal even if appearance changes (conservation)
Inability to reason abstractly or hypothetically

36. Formal Operational Stage (age 12 – adulthood)
Hypothetico-deductive reasoning
Emerges gradually
Continues to develop into adulthood

37. Critique of Piaget’s Theory
Underestimates children’s abilities
Overestimates age differences in thinking
Vagueness about the process of change
Underestimates the role of the social environment
Lack of evidence for qualitatively different stages

38. Information-Processing Perspective
Focuses on the mind as a system, analogous to a computer, for analyzing information from the environment
Developmental improvements reflect
increased capacity of working memory
faster speed of processing
new algorithms (methods)
more stored knowledge

39. Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Perspective
Emphasized the child’s interaction with the social world (other people) as a cause of development
Vygotsky believed language to be the foundation for social interaction and thought
Piaget believed language was a byproduct of thought

40. Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Perspective
Vygotsky—children learn from interactions with other people
Piaget—focused on children’s interaction with the physical world

41. Adolescence
Transition stage between late childhood and early adulthood
Sexual maturity is attained at this time
Puberty--attainment of sexual maturity and ability to reproduce
Health, nutrition, genetics play a role in onset and progression of puberty

42. Social Relationships Parent-child relationship is usually positive
May have some periods of friction
Peers become increasingly important
Peer influence may not be as bad as most people think. Adolescents tend to have friends of similar age, race, social class, and with same religious beliefs.

43. Erikson’s Theory
Biological because of belief that there are innate drives to develop social relationships and that these promote survival (Darwinism)
Divided life span into eight psychosocial stages, each associated with a different drive and a problem or crisis to resolve
Outcome of each stage varies along a continuum from positive to negative

44. Identity Development
Identity vs. role confusion is the psychosocial stage during adolescence
Developing a sense of who one is and where one is going in life
Successful resolution leads to positive identity
Unsuccessful resolution leads to identity confusion or a negative identity

45. Stage 1 (birth–1) Trust vs. Mistrust
Infants must rely on others for care
Consistent and dependable caregiving and meeting infant needs leads to a sense of trust
Infants who are not well cared for will develop mistrust

46. Stage 2 (1–3 years) Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt
Children are discovering their own independence
Those given the opportunity to experience independence will gain a sense of autonomy
Children that are overly restrained or punished harshly will develop shame and doubt

47. Stage 3 (3–5 years) Initiative vs. Guilt
Children are exposed to the wider social world and given greater responsibility
Sense of accomplishment leads to initiative, whereas feelings of guilt can emerge if the child is made to feel too anxious or irresponsible

48. Stage 4 (5–12 years) Industry vs. Inferiority
Stage of life surrounding mastery of knowledge and intellectual skills
Sense of competence and achievement leads to industry
Feeling incompetent and unproductive leads to inferiority

49. Stage 5 (adolescence) Identity vs. Confusion
Developing a sense of who one is and where one is going in life
Successful resolution leads to positive identity
Unsuccessful resolution leads to identity confusion or a negative identity

50. Stage 6 (young adulthood) Intimacy vs. Isolation
Time for sharing oneself with another person
Capacity to hold commitments with others leads to intimacy
Failure to establish commitments leads to feelings of isolation

51. Stage 7 (middle adulthood) Generativity vs. Stagnation
Caring for others in family, friends, and work leads to sense of contribution to later generations
Stagnation comes from a sense of boredom and meaninglessness

52. Stage 8 (late adulthood to death) Integrity vs. Despair
Successful resolutions of all previous crises leads to integrity and the ability to see broad truths and advise those in earlier stages
Despair arises from feelings of helplessness and the bitter sense that life has been incomplete

53. Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development
Assessed moral reasoning by posing hypothetical moral dilemmas and examining the reasoning behind people’s answers
Proposed six stages, each taking into account a broader portion of the social world

54. Levels of Moral Reasoning
Preconventional—moral reasoning is based on external rewards and punishments
Conventional—laws and rules are upheld simply because they are laws and rules
Postconventional—reasoning based on personal moral standards

55. Stage 1: Obedience and Punishment Orientation
A focus on direct consequences
Negative actions will result in punishments
Positive actions will result in rewards

56. Stage 2: Mutual Benefit
Reflects the understanding that different people have different self-interests, which sometimes come in conflict
Getting what one wants often requires giving something up in return

57. Stage 3: Interpersonal Expectations
An attempt to live up to the expectations of important others
Positive actions will improve relations with significant others
Negative actions will harm those relationships

58. Stage 4: Law-and-Order Morality
To maintain social order, people must resist personal pressures and follow the laws of the larger society

59. Stage 5: Legal Principles
A balance is struck between respect for laws and ethical principles that transcend specific laws
Laws that fail to promote general welfare or that violate ethical principles can be changed, reinterpreted, or abandoned

60. Stage 6: Universal Moral Principles
Self-chosen ethical principles
Profound respect for sanctity of human life
Moral principles take precedence over laws that might conflict with them, i.e., conscientious objectors

61. Adult Development
Genetics and lifestyle combine to determine course of physical changes
Social development involves marriage and transition to parenthood
Paths of adult social development are varied and include diversity of lifestyles

62. Late Adulthood
Old age as a time of poor health, inactivity, and decline is a myth
Activity theory of aging—life satisfaction is highest when people maintain level of activity they had in earlier years

63. Death and Dying
In general, anxiety about dying tends to decrease in late adulthood
Kubler-Ross stages of dying
Denial
Anger
Bargain
Depression
Acceptance
Not universally demonstrated

64. Baumrind’s Parenting Styles
Authoritarian—value obedience and use a high degree of power assertion
Authoritative—less concerned with obedience, greater use of induction
Permissive—most tolerant, least likely to use discipline
Neglectful—completely uninvolved