Developmental Psychology From Childhood to Adolescence to Adulthood

Key Terms Reflex- A physical response that happens automatically, without thinking Motor development- Growing ability to use and control muscles Perceptual development-Growing ability to understand information from the senses Attachment- A feeling of connection with a parent or care-giver Empathy- Being able to understand and feel what others are feeling Self esteem- The value or worth that people attach to themselves Animism- The belief that everything is alive; giving human attributes to objects Perspective- How a specific person in a specific place sees things Concrete- Empirical, physically real Abstract- Rational, requiring imagination Hypothetical- assumed or imagined Schema- a structure in your mind that helps you organize information

What is developmental psychology? Study of how people change throughout their lives, from childhood to adolescence to adulthood. Domains Physical Development Social Development Cognitive Development Major Debates in Developmental Psychology: Heredity vs. Environment Stage theory vs. Continuous Development

Physical Development Infancy Childhood Rapid physical growth: Birthweight is usually tripled in the first year Most early physical activity is based on reflexes Motor Development: transition from reflex to purposeful activity. Why would babies start with reflexes, and only develop purposeful activity later? What might that imply about early cognitive development? Perceptual Development: Making sense of sights and sounds After about 15-20 weeks, babies seem to recognize faces Depth perception seems to correlate with crawling (visual cliff experiment) Childhood Growth slows after age two 2 to 3 inches, 4 to 6 pounds each year

Think-Pair-Share How might physical development during childhood, adolescence, and adulthood affect someone psychologically?

Social Development Infancy/Early Childhood Childhood Attachment: Babies don’t like to be alone By 4-6 months of age, babies specifically prefer their primary caregiver Stranger Anxiety, Separation Anxiety develop around 8 months Contact Comfort: Physical touch plays a major role in forming attachments Harlow’s Monkey Experiment Secure vs. Insecure attachment- Depends on parenting style Childhood Perspective taking and Empathy Empathy begins as early as infancy, but is limited by cognitive development Ages 2-6: Generally children assume others think and feel the same as they do; empathy is more egocentric (self-focused) in this period Ages 7-12: Children start to be able to “step into another’s shoes,” recognizing others feel differently from them and have different needs Self-Esteem Theory Secure Attachment Unconditional Positive Regard Competence The “Self Esteem Trap” and bullying: While children with high self-esteem are happier and more confident there is no connection with self-discipline, or with pro-social behavior. Bullies, for example, tend to have a high opinion of themselves.

Think-Pair-Share How might the development of self-esteem influence the development of empathy, or vise versa?

Cognitive Development (Piaget’s theory) Infancy/Early Childhood Sensorimotor stage (0-2 years)- children begin to understand the connection between physical cause and effect, especially with their own movements Object permanence- around 8 months, children understand that objects still exist even when they don’t see them (this is when playing peek-a-boo is entertaining) Pre-Operational stage (2-7 years)- Beginning use of language and symbolic thinking One-dimensional thinking Egocentric thinking Animism and fantasy-beliefs Childhood Concrete-Operational Stage (7-12 years) Multi-dimensional thinking and perspective-taking Use of logic with concrete objects, but not abstract ideas E.g., the Law of Conservation, Transitive Property Formal Operational Stage (12 years +): The beginning of abstract thought and hypothetical reasoning E.g., “if-then” statements,

Cognitive Development (Piaget’s theory) Schema Theory Schema- A mental structure for organizing and making sense of experiences; a mental category As children develop more complex mental representations of the world, they adapt their schemas in two ways: Assimilation: using current schemas to interpret the world E.g., Addie and the ducks Accommodation: creating new schema (or adjusting old ones) after realizing that old schemas don’t match up with our experience This is more common during periods of cognitive change (Piaget called it “cognitive disequilibrium”) Occurs more easily in the later cognitive stages. Why might that be?

Cognitive Development (Vygotsky’s theory) Vygotsky’s theory of development was based on sociocultural psychology Language drives cognitive development Higher cognitive processes don’t develop in automatic stages, but through continuous social interaction Zone of proximal development- The range of activities children cannot complete on their own, but can with some coaching, or scaffolding, from adults or more skilled peers Make-believe play-Vygotsky believed this was an essential way for children to propel their own development forward Imaginary situations all children to act on internal ideas, not external stimuli Acting within a structured role (pretending to be a father, a mother, a doctor, a cowboy, etc) helps them practice thinking before acting, and practice social norms

Nature vs. Nurture Nature Nurture Development is determined by DNA (or some other innate characteristic) Little can be done to change the rate of development Most compatible with stage theory “fixed mindset” Nurture We are shaped by our environment, society, and culture Development is continuous, and dependent on surroundings “growth mindset” Some have argued that this debate is fundamentally flawed because it ignores the possibility of choice

Stage Theory vs. Continuous Growth