© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION Sixth Edition by Karen Huffman PowerPoint  Lecture Notes Presentation Chapter 9 Life Span Development I Paul J. Wellman Texas A&M University

© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E Lecture Overview Studying Development Physical Development Language Development Social-Emotional Development Cognitive Development

© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E Developmental Psychology The focus of developmental psychology is on age-related changes in behaviors throughout the life span Key development issues include: –Nature versus nurture? To what extent are behaviors the result of experience or the result of biological processes such as maturation? –Stability versus change? To what extent are behaviors constant over the life span?

© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E Key Developmental Issues continued –Continuity versus stages? Continuity view suggests that change is uniform and gradual Stage theory suggests that change can be rapid with qualitatively different stages evident across the life span

© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E Life Span Development StageApproximate Age PrenatalConception to birth InfancyBirth to 18 months Early childhood18 mo. to 6 years Middle childhood6-12 years Adolescence12-20 years Young adulthood20-45 years Middle adulthood45-60 years Later adulthood60 years to death

© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E Developmental Research Methods

© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E Cohort Issues Cross-sectional studies examine age-related changes across different cohorts Longitudinal studies follow the same cohort across time

© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E Culture and Development Culture is an important determinant of development Human development has to be studied within a sociocultural context Culture is invisible to its participants The beliefs of a culture are key determinants of behavior within that culture

© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E Prenatal Development Prenatal development occurs in 3 stages: –Ovulation to implantation: the ovum travels down the fallopian tube, is fertilized by a sperm, and is then implanted within the wall of the uterus –Embryonic period: implantation to 8 weeks –Fetal stage: 8 weeks to birth

© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E Prenatal Hazards Teratogens are environmental substances that can cause birth defects in the developing fetus –Maternal alcohol use leads to fetal alcohol syndrome (facial defects, low IQ,neurobehavioral defects) –Nicotine exposure leads to premature birth, low birth weight, and more fetal deaths –These drugs cross the placental barrier and impair fetal brain development Poor maternal nutrition can impair fetal development Drug use by father can damage sperm –Alcohol, opiates, cocaine, lead, and various gases are known to damage sperm

© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E Body Proportions Change over the Life Span

© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E Motor Milestones Early motor actions of the infant are limited to reflexes Myelination and further brain development allow for crawling and then walking

© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E Perceptual Abilities at Birth Infant vision is poor at birth (equivalent to 20/200 to 20/600) Functionality of other sensory systems: –Hearing is functional prior to birth –Smell is functional at birth –Touch and pain are functional at birth Infant perception can be inferred by changes in heart rate upon stimulus exposure or by changes in sucking rate

© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E Language Development Newborns communicate via crying –Basic hunger cry, anger cry, pain cry Cooing starts at 2 months Babbling appears at about 6 months Single words appear at one year of age By age 2, telegraphic speech is evident By age 5, children have mastered grammar and have a 2000 word vocabulary

© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E Social-Emotional Development Attachment is defined as an active, intense, emotional relationship between 2 people that endures over time Attachment as an innate process: –Bowlby argued that infants have verbal (cooing) and nonverbal (smiling, following) responses that elicit nurturance Attachment as “contact comfort” –Harlow found that infant monkeys preferred contact with terry cloth surface over access to food

© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E Types of Attachment Ainsworth found 3 distinct categories of attachment evident in children in a strange situation: –Secure attachment: infant stays close to mother, shows moderate distress when separated, and is happy when mother returns –Avoidant: Infant does not seek contact with mother and does not cry when she leaves –Anxious/Ambivalent: infant is upset when mother leaves and angry when she returns

© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E Parenting Styles Baumrind studied parenting style: –Authoritarian: Parent places a high value on obedience as well as respect for authority –Permissive: Parent imposes minimal controls on their children –Authoritative: Parent enforce standards, but encourages verbal give-and-take with the child Parenting style affects children’s behavior –Authoritarian parents produce children with low independence, low self-esteem, and an external locus of control Or, children’s temperament/characteristics may lead to parental style

© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E Piaget and Cognition Cognitive reasoning is primitive at birth and changes from infancy to adulthood Schemas are the basic units of intellect Cognitive adaptation reflects the actions of two complementary processes: –Assimilation allows an existing schema to adapt to the environment –Accommodation allows the schema to change in order to handle a new environmental situation

© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E Cognitive Development Stages Sensorimotor period: Birth through age 2 –Infant schemes are simple reflexes and interactions with people and objects Preoperational period: Age 2 to 7 –Child begins to use mental representations, but problem solving is limited Concrete operations: Age 7 to 11 –Child performs mental operations (conservation) Formal operations: Age 12 through adulthood –Child can use formal problem solving and higher level abstract thinking

© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E Conservation Conservation is the ability to recognize that a given quantity, weight or volume remains the same despite changes in shape, length, or position

© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E Achievement in Late Adulthood

© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E Copyright Copyright 2002 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, NY. All rights reserved. No part of the material protected by this copyright may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission of the copyright owner.