Module 8 Development During Infancy and Childhood

Recap Module 8 – Infancy and Childhood  Cognitive development  Jean Piaget’s theory  Schemas - Assimilation / accommodation  Stages: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, & formal operational  Object permanence, egocentrism, conservation, theory of mind  Social development  Attachment  Stranger anxiety, attachment through touch, attachment through familiarity (imprinting during a critical period)

Attachment through familiarity  Critical Period  an optimal period when an organism’s exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces proper development  Imprinting  the process by which certain animals form rigid attachments during a critical period very early in life

Attachment Differences  Attachment can be measured  Strange Situation Test:A parent-infant “separation and reunion” procedure that is staged in a laboratory to test the security of a child’s attachment  Securely attached vs. insecurely attached  Attachment is influenced by parenting and by child temperament  Responsive mothers tend to have securely attached children  Infants with difficult temperaments are less likely to be securely attached  Attachment styles have consequences for subsequent development and adulthood interpersonal relationships  Infants who are securely attached have basic trust – the world is predictable  Secure vs. anxious or avoidant attachment styles

Conclusions about social development in infancy  All humans need to form an attachment to a caring and responsive caregiver early in life (first 8 months of life)  Total deprivation from attachment has strong negative consequences:  Some of those consequences may be physiological  Later emotional development  Later interpersonal relationships  Later parenting behaviors

Parenting Variations in parents’ attempts to socialize their children

7 Neglecting, ignoring, indifferent, uninvolved Permissive: few demands, following child’s desires Undemanding low in control attempts Authoritarian Power assertive, not inductive, not flexible Authoritative: High in bidirectional communication, high in explanationDemandingControlling Rejecting Unresponsive Parent-centered Accepting Responsive Child-centered Parents Demandingness Parents’ responsiveness Parenting Styles

The Influence of Parenting Styles on Social Development  Harsh and inconsistent parenting impedes the social development of children.  Power assertive parenting practices serve as models and disinhibit the similar behaviors of the children.  The inability to set limits perpetuates the child’s ongoing behavioral problems (e.g. noncompliance, aggression).

The Influence of Parenting Styles on Social Development Authoritative parenting High self esteem, high social competence Authoritarian parenting Unquestioning obedience, low levels of autonomy, low in empathy These associations are correlational!

Module 10 - Adulthood Physical development Cognitive development Social development

Physical Development

Physical Development – declining physical vigor +/- age 35

Physical Development  Our physical abilities peak around mid 20s and then start to decline.  more related to a person’s health and exercise habits than to age  Decline of fertility  Women - menopause (~50): the time of natural cessation of menstruation and associated emotional changes  Men – gradual decline of sperm count, testosterone, sexual function  Most older adults have satisfactory sexual activity

Declining sensory abilities: vision Proportion of normal (20/20) vision when identifying letters on an eye chart Age in years 65 year-old retina receives 1/3 rd of the light that 20 year- old receives

Declining sensory abilities: smell Percent correct when Identifying smells Age in years

Declining sensory abilities: hearing Percent correct when identifying spoken words Age in years

Changes in health  The immune system weakens  increased risk of cancer, pneumonia, etc.  accumulation of antibodies – protection from cold & flu  Neural processing slows down  Reaction time increases  Implications for driving: 75 year olds get into as many accidents as 16 year olds per mile of driving  Memory loss increases  Brain loses 5% of its weight by 80  Brain can still form new neural connections  adults who remain active retain more of their capacities  Aging proceeds more slowly in women.

Cognitive Development

Memory  For some types of learning and remembering, early adulthood is a peak time.  Recall declines but recognition does not  Ability to remember names decline  Ability to remember meaningless syllables decline  Ability to recognize words in a list does not decline  Can remember meaningful type of information better.  They can situate new information in the context of existing knowledge  Emotional information is retained well.

Memory  The ability to recall new information declined during early and middle adulthood, but the ability to recognize new information did not. Number Of words remembered Age in years Number of words recalled declines with age Number of words recognized is stable with age

Types of intelligence  Crystallized Intelligence  one’s accumulated knowledge and verbal skills  tends to increase with age (WISDOM)  Fluid Intelligence  ones ability to reason speedily and abstractly  tends to decrease during late adulthood (~ 75)  We lose recall memory and processing speed, we gain vocabulary and knowledge

Social Development

Emotional development Females Males No early 40s emotional crisis Age in Years Emotional Instability Score

Satisfaction with life  Multinational surveys show that age differences in life satisfaction are trivial.  Older adults tend less to negative information Percentage “satisfied” with life as a whole Age group

Adulthood life events  Life events  New jobs  Marriage  Children  Death of a loved one  Social clock  Culturally determined normative time to experience life events  These norms have loosened

Commitments: Erikson  Two basic aspects of our lives dominating adulthood  Intimacy (forming close relationships)  Generativity (being productive and supportive of future generations)  Freud & Tolstoy agree that satisfaction with life requires love and work

Love and Work  Love  An enduring emotional bond that includes intimacy, support, warmth, and sexual attraction  An enduring attachment increases life satisfaction  Marriage tends to be the preferred social institution of demonstrating attachment  Child rearing diminishes marital bonds  Most couples with grown children enjoy re-affirmed love  Work  Most young adults change careers and employment  Work that matches one’s interests provides a sense of accomplishment

Death  Death of a spouse is experienced by 5 times more women than men  Death brings more grief if it is out of sync with the social clock and when it is sudden  How grief is experienced is cultural