1. UNIT 1: INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY
AREA OF STUDY 2
LIFESPAN DEVELOPMENT

2. THEORIES OF PSYCHOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT
PERCEPTUAL DEVELOPMENT
EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
MORAL DEVELOPMENT
PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
Eleanor Gibson
John Bowlby, Mary Ainsworth & Harry Harlow
Jean Piaget
Lawrence Kohlberg
Erik Erikson

3. PERCEPTUAL DEVELOPMENT (Eleanor Gibson)
KEY PROCESSES
Role of the infant as an ‘active explorer’
Affordances – what the environment offers an animal, and what it provides. Perceived and actual properties of something in the environment that suggest how it should be used
Differentiation – the ability to selectively perceive differences between things in the environment

4. Learning Activity 5.1 (pg.183)
HOMEWORK

5. EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT (JOHN BOWLBY)
ATTACHMENT THEORY
The tendency of infants to form an emotional bond to another person
4 Key characteristics
Proximity maintenance
Safe haven
Secure base
Separation distress

6. EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT (MARY AINSWORTH)
Indicators of Attachment
crying to attract caregiver’s attention or when held by someone else
Clinging physically to caregiver
Smiling at caregiver more readily
Lifting arms to be picked up by caregiver
TYPES OF ATTACHMENT
SECURE ATTACHMENT
AVOIDANT ATTACHMENT
RESISTANT ATTACHMENT

7. EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT (MARY AINSWORTH)
STRANGE SITUATION TEST (1978)

8. EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT (MARY AINSWORTH)
Factors Influencing Attachment
Characteristics of the caregiver
sensitive responsiveness
physical contact
situational factors
Characteristics of the infant
Difficult vs. easy Temperament
regular patterns / adaptable

9. EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT (HARRY HARLOW)
HARLOW’S EXPERIMENTS ON ATTACHMENT IN MONKEYS (1958)
Watch the following clip:
Also, check out Figure 5.23: Harlow’s 1958 experiment (pg.197)

10. HOMEWORK Learning Activity 5.3 (pg.187) Learning Activity 5.8 (pg.191)
GRIVAS (pg.187, 191, 195)

11. COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT (JEAN PIAGET)
KEY PRINCIPLES
Assimilation = the process of taking in new information and fitting it into and making it part of an existing mental idea about objects or the world
EXAMPLE: A TRUCK IS A TYPE OF CAR
THE FULL MOON IS A BALL
GRIVAS (pg )

12. COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT (JEAN PIAGET)
KEY PRINCIPLES
Accommodation = changing an existing mental idea in order to fit new information
EXAMPLE: A TRUCK IS DIFFERENT FROM A CAR
THE MOON IS NOT A BALL
GRIVAS (pg )

13. COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT (JEAN PIAGET)
Piaget’s four-stage theory
Sensorimotor stage (0-2 Years)
Pre-operational stage (2-7 Years)
Concrete Operational stage (7-12 Years)
Formal operational Stage (12+ Years)
GRIVAS (pg )

14. COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT (JEAN PIAGET)
1. Sensorimotor stage (0-2 Years)
Object Permanence = the understanding that objects still exist even if they cannot be seen or touched
Goal-Directed Behaviour = behaviour which is carried out with a particular purpose in mind
GRIVAS (pg )

15. COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT (JEAN PIAGET)
2. Preoperational stage (2-7 Years)
Egocentrism = unable or have difficulty seeing things from another person’s perspective
Animism = the belief that everything that exists has some kind of consciousness/awareness
Transformation = understanding that something can change from one state to another
Centration = can focus on only one quality or feature of an object at a time
Reversibility = the ability to follow a line of reasoning back to its original starting point
GRIVAS (pg )

16. COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT (JEAN PIAGET)
3. Concrete Operational stage
(7-12 Years)
Conservation = an object does not change its weight, mass, volume or area when the object changes its shape or appearance
Classification = the ability to organise information into categories based on common features
GRIVAS (pg )

17. COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT (JEAN PIAGET)
4. Formal Operational stage
(12+ Years)
Abstract Thinking = does not rely on being able to see or visualise things in order to understand concepts
Logical Thinking = develop strategies to solve problems, identify solutions, develop hypotheses and test solutions
GRIVAS (pg )

18. HOMEWORK Learning Activity 5.15 (pg.202)
GRIVAS (pg.202, 210, 213, 214)
HOMEWORK

19. MORAL DEVELOPMENT (LAWRENCE KOHLBERG)

20. MORAL DEVELOPMENT (LAWRENCE KOHLBERG)
Kohlberg used both cross-sectional and longitudinal studies to test people of different ages in relation to their moral reasoning
He found the following 3 distinct broad levels of moral development…
PRECONVENTIONAL LEVEL (0-9 years)
CONVENTIONAL LEVEL (9-15 years)
POSTCONVENTIONAL LEVEL (16+ years)

21. MORAL DEVELOPMENT (LAWRENCE KOHLBERG)
1. PRECONVENTIONAL LEVEL (0-9 years)
Stage 1 – Obedience & Punishment orientation
Stage 2 – Naively Egotistical orientation

22. MORAL DEVELOPMENT (LAWRENCE KOHLBERG)
2. CONVENTIONAL LEVEL (9-15 years)
Stage 1 – Good boy / Nice girl orientation
Stage 2 – Law & Social Order orientation

23. MORAL DEVELOPMENT (LAWRENCE KOHLBERG)
3. POSTCONVENTIONAL LEVEL (16+ years)
Stage 1 – Legalistic-Social-Contract orientation
Stage 2 – Universal-Ethical orientation

24. HOMEWORK Learning Activity 5.28 (pg.221)
GRIVAS (pg.221, 222, 223)
HOMEWORK

25. PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT (ERIK ERIKSON)=
Psychological Processes + Environment

26. PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT (ERIK ERIKSON)
At each lifespan stage, an individual has to deal with a different psycho-social crisis
Stage
Age
Period
Psycho-Social Crisis 1
0-18 months
Early Infancy
Trust vs. Mistrust 2
18 months - 3 years
Late Infancy
Autonomy vs. Shame/Doubt 3
3 – 5 years
Early Childhood
Initiative vs. Guilt 4
5 – 12 years
Middle/Late Childhood
Industry vs. Inferiority 5
12 – 18 years
Adolescence
Identity vs. Identity Confusion 6
18 – 25 years
Young Adulthood
Intimacy vs. Isolation 7
25 – 65 years
Adulthood
Generativity vs. Stagnation 8
65+ years
Late Adulthood
Integrity vs. Despair

27. HOMEWORK Learning Activity 5.34 (pg.226)
GRIVAS (pg.226, 234, 235)
HOMEWORK

28. UNIT 1: INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY
SAC 1 EMPIRICAL RESEARCH ACTIVITY Investigation Into the Theories of Psychological Development
AREA OF STUDY 2:
LIFESPAN DEVELOPMENT