Introduction to Psychology
CHAPTER 11 DEVELOPMENT
Development
 Development: change over time
 Developmental Psychology: the branch of psychology
concerned with the interaction between physical and
psychological processes over the lifespan

“cradle to grave”
Developmental Research Methods
 Normative investigation: research designed to
describe the normal developmental trajectories of
individuals

Developmental age: the chronological age at which most
children show a particular level of physical or mental
development
Developmental Research Methods
 Longitudinal design: the same participants are
observed repeatedly, sometimes over many years

Benefits of longitudinal designs


Can infer causal relationships and developmental trajectories
Problems with longitudinal designs
Events can occur in between time-points that can influence results
 Participants drop out (attrition) or die (mortality)
 Usually expensive and time consuming

Developmental Research Methods
 Cross-sectional design: groups of participants of
different chronological ages are observed and
compared at one time

Benefits of cross-sectional designs
Cost and time effective
 Can collect data in a relatively short period of time


Problems with cross-sectional designs

Social and political conditions can vary by cohort
 “Cohort Effects”
Prenatal Development
 Zygote: the single cell that results when a sperm fertilizes an
egg

Contains 46 chromosomes
Chromosome: rod-shaped structures
that contain all basic hereditary
information
 Gene: the individual part of the
chromosome through which information is transmitted


Individual genetic expression is determined by


Epigenetic tags (Methyl groups and Histones)
Interactions between the embryo and the uterine/ovo environment
Prenatal Development
 Embryo: a developed zygote that has a heart, brain, and
other organs
 Fetus: a developing individual from 8 weeks after
conception [for humans]

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Vestibular system begins functioning
Movement
Major organs begin to function
 Age of viability: the point at which a fetus can survive if
born prematurely

The age of viability is becoming earlier and earlier due to
advancements in medical technology
Prenatal Development
Prenatal Development
Which one is a human?
Vertebrate Embryos
Prenatal Development
 Teratogens: environmental agents or factors that can
produce a birth defect

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Maternal nutrition
Maternal illness
Maternal stress
Maternal drug use
Maternal alcohol use


Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS)
Maternal nicotine use
Prenatal Sensory Development
 The order in which sensory systems develop is the
same across vertebrates:

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1) vestibular (touch & motion)
2) chemoreception (taste & smell)
3) auditory
4) visual
 Learning does occur in-utero/ovo
 Human fetuses at 32 weeks can demonstrate a preference for a
familiar nursery rhyme.
 Newborns can identify and prefer their mother’s voice and
native language
Postnatal Development
 Precocial: the organism is born with all of it’s sensory
systems functioning and can “fend for its-self”.

Example: baby antelope, chicken chick
 Altricial: the organism is born with immature sensory
systems and cannot survive on it’s own

Example: puppy, kitten
 Humans are born with a unique mix of precocial and
altricial characteristics

This mix may make it easier for us to acquire language and other
social behaviors
Postnatal Development
 Motor Development: The
progression of muscular
coordination required for
physical activities

Cephalocaudal trend (A)


Head-to-foot direction of
motor development
Proximodistal trend (B)

Center-to-outward
direction of motor
development
Postnatal Development
 Eleanor Gibson

Infants are equipped to investigate the world and to detect
relationships between themselves and the environment
Can detect invariances, such as gravity
 Can detect functional relationships, such as contingencies


Affordances: opportunities to interact with and explore the
environment

The Visual Cliff Experiment

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WvtEFJGp-8&list=PLtoX6L88vjkf2YQn5R7NIOvnIxq78viPY
Infancy & Attachment
 Attachment: emotional relationship between a child and their primary
caregiver


This first attachment has implications for all future relationships
Depends on the interaction between the infant and their caregiver
 John Bowlby

Attachment theorist that believed that infants and adults are genetically
predisposed to form attachments; since attachment provides evolutionary
benefits
 Mary Ainsworth

Attachment style in childhood has implications for future relationships
 Skinner

Attachment is the result of mutual conditioning between infant and
caretaker
Attachment Research
 Harlow’s Monkeys

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrNBEhzjg8I
 Ainsworth’s “Strange
Situation” task

Identified 3 attachment styles

Securely attached
Insecurely attached –Avoidant
Insecurely attached – Anxious

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnFKaaOSPmk

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 Eastern European
Orphanages
Temperament
 Temperament: characteristic mood, activity level,
and emotional reactivity

Easy children (40%)

Slow-to-warm children (15%)

Difficult children (10%)

Mixed (35%)
Parenting Styles
Style
Parent Behavior
Child Behavior
Authoritarian
Rigid, punitive, strict
Unsociable, withdrawn
Permissive
Lax, inconsistent,
undemanding, but warm
Immature, moody, lowself-control, dependent
Authoritative
Firm, sets limits and
goals, encourages
independence
Good social skills,
likeable, independent
Uninvolved
Emotionally detached,
only provides basic needs
Indifferent
Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages of Development
 All humans go through the
exact developmental stages
in the same order

The ages at which each stage
occurs may be different
depending on culture
 What is considered
successful resolution of the
crisis may be different
between cultures
 Focus on the development
of positive identity
Erikson: Identity Formation
 Identity formation occurs during adolescence and
emerging adulthood

Identity diffusion: has not gone through an identity crisis and has
not made any commitments

Foreclosure: has not gone through an identity crisis, but has made
commitments

Moratorium: actively involved in exploring different identities and
has yet to make a commitment

Identity achievement: an individual who has explored different
identities and has made a tentative commitment to one
Piaget: Cognitive Development
Piaget Cognitive Development
 Tests of cognitive
development:
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Object Permanence
Egocentrism
Animism
Conservation tasks
Point-of-view tasks
Possible Combinations
(The Sandwich Task)
Gender Identity
 Puberty: the period at which maturation of the sexual organs occurs
 Typically 11-12 for females (menarche)
 13-14 males (spermarche)
 Gender identity development has been shown to begin in infancy
 Infants prefer the actions of a gender-matched model over those of the opposite
gender at 10 months
 Sex: the biological presentation of males and females
 Gender: a psychological phenomenon that refers to learned sex-
related behaviors and attitudes

Different cultures have different accepted gender classifications

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9VmLJ3niVo
Moral Development: Kohlberg’s Model
Assessing Moral Development
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjPfI4Xu2CU
Aging
 Disengagement theory of aging
 Aging produces gradual withdrawal from the world on
physical, psychological, and social levels
 Activity theory of aging
 Suggests that elderly individuals that remain active in interests
and activities from middle age are the most successful in the
aging process
Aging
 The importance of personal control in old age
 Langer & Rodin conducted a longitudinal study of elderly
nursing home residents on the effect of personal choice on
happiness and health
Group 1: Standard nursing home care
 Group 2: Increased personal choice / responsibility
 Group 3: No personal choice / responsibility


Residents given more autonomy were subjectively happier and
had significantly better health measures compared to the other
groups

Residents in the No Control group had increased learned
helplessness
Aging and Death
 Life review: the process by which people examine
and evaluate their lives

Ego Integrity vs. Despair
 Coping with death
 Denial
 Anger
 Bargaining
 Depression
 Acceptance