1. Development

2. Developmental Psychology
Psychologists study how people grow and change throughout the life span- from conception to death
Interested in two stages in infancy and childhood:
Early childhood experiences affect people as adolescents and adults
By studying early stages of development, can learn about developmental problems (what causes them and how to treat them)

3. Developmental Psychology
Learn about what types of experiences in infancy and childhood foster healthy and well-adjusted children and adults

4. Two types of studies used in Developmental Psychology
Longitudinal- select a group of participants and then observe that same group of participants and then observe that same group for a period of time, often years or even decades (very time consuming and expensive)
Cross-Sectional- researchers select a sample that includes people of different ages then compare the participants in the different age groups

5. General Issues
Developmental psychologists are concerned with two general issues
The ways in which heredity and environmental influences contribute to human development
Whether development occurs gradually or in stages

6. Nature vs. Nurture
Long debate over the extent to which human behavior is determined by heredity (nature) or environment (nurture)
Some aspects of behavior originate in heredity
Certain behaviors are biologically “programmed” to develop as long as children receive adequate nutrition and social experiences

7. Maturation
Maturation- the automatic and sequential process of development that results from genetic signals
Infants crawl before walking
Sequence happens automatically and on its own genetically determined timetable
Infants will not perform certain skills until they are “ready”

8. Critical Period
The concept of “readiness” relates to an important term: critical period
A stage or point in development during which a person or animal is best suited to learn a particular skill or behavior pattern
Research suggests that there may be a critical period for language development in humans

9. Critical Period
Some psychologists believe maturation is the most important role in development
John Watson and John Locke believed in the idea that the mind of the infant is like a tabula rasa (Latin for blank slate)
The mind is clean and experiences write on the mind
“nurture” will have the greatest effect on the infant
Nutrition, family background, culture, and learning experiences at home, community, and school

10. Stage vs. Continuity Development
Stage development- a period or level in the development process that is distinct from other levels
Continual development- a gradual process, happens slowly and gradually, tends to go unnoticed

11. Physical Development Height and Weight
Infancy- the period from birth to the age of two years
Usually double birth weight in about 5 months and triple by one year
Grow about 10 inches in the first year, 2nd year gain another four to six inches and four to seven pounds

12. Physical Development Height and Weight
Childhood- period from two years to adolescence
Gain on average two to three inches in height and four to six pounds in weight each year until they read the start of adolescence

13. Physical Development Motor Development
4-5 months- turns from stomach to side
5-6 months- turns from stomach to back
6-7 months- turns from back to stomach
7-8 months- sits
8-9 months- crawls
9-10 months- kneels
11,12, 13 months- stands
12, 14, 15, 16 months- walks

14. Psychological Development
What are the Developmental Tasks of Infancy and Childhood?
Cognitive Development: Piaget’s Theory
Developmental psychologists investigate not only what children think but how they think
Piaget studied children’s intellectual development for 50 years.
Concentrated his studies on his children
Noticed children go through changes in thought at various stages

15. Piaget 3 ideas which distinguish Piaget’s approach Schemas
Interaction of assimilation and accommodation
Stages of cognitive development

16. Piaget
Schemas- mental structures or programs that guide a developing child’s thought
Guide thinking
Building blocks of development
Form and change as we develop and organize our knowledge to deal with new experiences and predict future events

17. Piaget Assimilation and Accommodation Underlie all cognitive growth
Assimiliation- a mental process that modifies new information to fit with existing schemas (ex. Pepperoni goes with pizza)
Accommodation- process of restructuring or modifying schemas to incorporate new information

18. Piaget Assimilation and Accommodation
Piaget felt cognitive development results from both assimilation and accommodation working together
Individual’s behavior and knowledge become less dependent on concrete external reality and more reliant on internal thought
Assimilation makes new information fit our existing views of the world
Accommodation changes our views to fit new information

19. Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Dev.
Four Cognitive Stages
Sensorimotor- infancy
Preoperational- early childhood
Concrete Operational- middle childhood
Formal Operational- adolescence
All are based on sensory reaction to logical thought
All children progress through these stages in the same sequence

20. Sensorimotor Stage Birth to nearly 2 years of age
Babies take in the world through their sensory & motor interactions with objects
Young infants lack object permanence- the awareness that objects continue to exist when not perceived
By 8 months, begin exhibiting memory for things no longer seen

21. Sensorimotor Stage
Piaget assumed before age 2, infants could not think
They recognize things, smile at them, crawl to them. Manipulate them
Do not think abstractly

22. Preoperational Stage Preschool period up to age 6 or 7
Piaget felt children are too young to perform mental operations
Lack the concept of conservation- the principle that quantity remains the same despite changes in shape
Thought children were egocentric- difficulty taking another’s point of view
Causes them to appear to be “selfish”

23. Preoperational Stage
Premack and Woodruff developed the concept of theory of mind- people’s ideas about their own and other’s mental states- about feelings, perceptions and thoughts, the behavior these might predict
Develop the ability to tease, empathize, and persuade
Between 3½ & 4½, children worldwide come to realize that others may hold false beliefs

24. Preoperational Stage
Can understand feelings (sad events cause sad feelings)
Understand thoughts can cause feelings
Between 5&8, learn that spontaneous self-produced thoughts can also create feelings
Age7- Children become increasingly capable of thinking in words and of using words to work out solutions to problems
Can internalize their culture’s language and rely on inner speech

25. Concrete Operational 6 or 7 years old Begin to understand conservation
Gain the full mental ability to comprehend mathematical transformations and conservation

26. Formal Operations 12 years old
Reasoning expands from purely concrete (involving actual experience) to encompass abstract thinking (involving realities and symbols)
Become capable of solving hypothetical propositions and deducing consequences
Systematic reasoning

27. Is Piaget correct?
According to today’s research, Piaget’s theories are correct
More continuous
Young people are incapable of adult logic
Cognitive maturity is adaptive

28. Parenting Styles Authoritative
Warm, attentive, sensitive to child’s needs and interests
Make reasonable demands for the child’s maturity level, explains and enforces rules
Permits child to make decisions in accord with developmental readiness, listens to child’s viewpoint

29. Parenting Styles Authoritarian
Cold, rejecting, frequently degrades the child
Highly demanding, may use coercion by yelling, commanding, criticizing, and reliance on punishment
Makes most decisions for the child, rarely listens to child’s viewpoint

30. Parenting Styles Permissive Warm but may spoil the child
Makes few or no demands- often out of misplaced concern for child’s self-esteem
Permits child to make decisions before the child is ready

31. Parenting Styles Uninvolved
Emotionally detached, withdrawn, inattentive
Make few or no demands- often lacking in interest or expectations for the child
Indifferent to child’s decisions and point of view

32. Parenting Styles
Children of authoritative parents tend to be confident, self-reliant, enthusiastic- overall happier, less troublesome, and more successful
Children of authoritarian parents tend to be anxious and insecure
Children of permissive and uninvolved parents tend to be less mature, more impulsive, more dependent, and more demanding

33. Effects of Daycare Good News Most children thrive
Do well-sometimes even better- both intellectually and socially as children raised at home by a full time parent

34. Effects of Daycare Bad News
Poor facilities cause aggression, depression, and maladjustment
Usually caused by children receiving little attention
Those in poor facilities are usually raised in poor, unorganized, and highly stressed families
Inadequate day care and family pressure can lead to children with emotional & behavioral problems

35. School & Leisure Activities
Children in the US have more free time than anywhere else in the world
Spend time “hanging out” with friends
Involved in structured activities such as clubs and other organizations

36. Attachment The emotional ties that form between people
Can form stranger anxiety- fear of strangers
Can also form separation anxiety- causes infants to cry or behave in ways that indicate distress if their mothers leave them

37. Child Abuse and Neglect
Child abuse- physical or psychological
Neglect- failure to give a child adequate food, shelter, clothing, emotional support, or schooling
Physical child abuse- the physical assault of a child

38. Child Abuse and Neglect
Causes of child abuse:
Stress
A history of child abuse in at least one parent’s family of origin
Acceptance of violence as a way of coping with stress
Lack of attachment to the child
Substance abuse
Rigid attitudes about child rearing

39. Self-Esteem The value or worth that people attach to themselves
Carl Rogers stated there are two types of support parents can give their children:
Unconditional positive regard- parents love and accept their children for who they are, no matter how they behave
Conditional positive regard- parents show their love only when the children behave in certain acceptable ways