HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
ACROSS THE LIFESPAN
CHAPTER 11
From womb to tomb!
IMPORTANT CONCEPTS IN
DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCH
• Prenatal development: gestational (zygotic), embryonic,
and fetal stages
• Impact of drugs and alcohol on prenatal development
• Attachment and Mary Ainsworth’s “strange situation”
experiments
• Erik Erikson and the psychosocial crisis
• Jean Piaget and his sensorimotor, preoperational,
concrete operational, and formal operational stages
• Lawrence Kohlberg and Carol Gilligan (feminist): stages
of moral development
BABIES IN THE WOMB:
PRENATAL DEVELOPMENT
• Each group will specialize in one of the prenatal stages.
Read about it and be prepared to explain details such
as timeframe and critical developments to other
students.
• (Myers, pg. 170-172)
• germinal (zygotic): conception week 2; fertilized egg
(zygote) moves toward the uterus (takes up to a week);
cell division begins approximately 24 to 36 hours after
conception.
• embryonic: weeks 3-8; a mass of cells becomes a
distinct human being; major bodily systems begin to form
• fetal stages: week 8-9-birth; bodily systems mature and
infant progresses to the point where it can survive
outside of the womb
FETAL ALCOHOL SYNDROME, ETC.
• Myers, pg. 171-172
• Alcohol depresses activity in both mother’s and fetus’s
central nervous systems.
• Teens whose mothers drank when pregnant are at risk for
heavy drinking and alcohol dependence (confirmed in
rats, too) (Youngentob et al., 2007).
• Mother’s drinking can effect the fetal brain.
• Persistent heavy drinking will put the fetus at risk for birth
defects and intellectual disability.
• 1 in 800 infants impacted by fetal alcohol syndrome.
• FAS marked by a small, disproportioned head and
lifelong brain abnormalities (May & Gossage, 2001).
(SPIRAL) WHO’S WHO IN ATTACHMENT
Directions: Write a miniature biography on each of
the following people highlighting their contribution
to studies on attachment.
• Mary Ainsworth (Myers, 187)
• Konrad Lorenz (Myers, 187)
• Harry Harlow (Myers, 186)
IMPORTANT PEOPLE IN HUMAN
DEVELOPMENT
• EARLY CHILDHOOD
• Mary Ainsworth – responsive parenting and strange situation paradigm
(attachment); anxious/avoidant vs. securely attached vs. anxious/resistant
• Konrad Lorenz – imprinting/geese (instinct theorist). He was the first thing
the geese saw after they were born, so they followed him around
everywhere (even when real goose mothers were available to
follow).Promotes survival of newborns and defines future relationships. In
child development, imprinting is used to refer to the process by which a
baby learns who its mother and father are. The process is recognized as
beginning in the womb, when the unborn baby starts to recognize its
parents' voices.
• Harry Harlow: studied attachment; motherless rhesus monkeys prefer
cuddly fake moms to wire fake moms; rhesus monkeys without an
attachment suffered worse health and had no social skills when full grown;
when reunited with their monkey children, mothers did not recognize them
and in many cases tried to harm them
ATTACHMENT (AINSWORTH)
• “A highly individualized relationship that forms
between parents and their child. It is based on a
biological bond between child and parent that is as
basic a need as is food or warmth. It is affected by
many factors, such as parental emotional and
physical health, an infant’s temperament, and
family’s social support network.” (Shafer, 2004)
STRANGE SITUATION (AINSWORTH)
• Children aged 12 - 18
months and their mothers
• 1. Caregiver and infant
enter the room.
• 2. Child plays with the toys
while the mother is
present.
• 3. A stranger enters the
room and the caregiver
leaves.
• 4. The stranger tries to
comfort the child.
• 5. The caregiver returns
and the stranger leaves.
• 6. The caregiver comforts
the child and then leaves
for a second time.
• 7. The child is left alone
for 3 minutes.
• 8. The stranger enters and
interacts with the child.
• 9. The caregiver enters,
picks up the child and
the stranger leaves.
SECURE ATTACHMENT
(AINSWORTH)
• Infant explores the room with
interest;
• shows signs of missing parent
during separation, crying.
• Greets parent actively,
settles, and returns to play.
• Securely attached infants
have caregivers who are
attentive and interactive
• These children know their
parent or caregiver will
provide comfort and
reassurance, so they are
comfortable seeking them
out in times of need.
AMBIVALENT ATTACHMENT
(AINSWORTH)
• Wary or distressed even prior to
separation; little exploration;
angry or passive; focuses on
parent and cries; fails to settle
• Ambivalently attached children
usually become very distressed
when a parent leaves.
• This attachment style is
considered relatively uncommon,
affecting an estimated 7-15% of
U.S. children.
• Research suggests that
ambivalent attachment is a result
of poor maternal availability.
• These children cannot depend on
their mother (or caregiver) to be
there when they are in need
INSECURE AVOIDANT
ATTACHMENT (AINSWORTH)
• Doesn’t cry at separation; actively
avoids and ignores parent on
reunion. No distress, no anger.
Unemotional response to parent;
avid interest in toys or environment.
• Children will show no preference
between a caregiver and a
complete stranger.
• Research has suggested that this
attachment style might be a result
of abusive or neglectful caregivers.
• Children who are punished for
relying on a caregiver will learn to
avoid seeking help in the future.
DISORGANIZED/
DISORIENTED ATTACHMENT
(AINSWORTH)
• Infant’s behavior is disorganized or
disoriented, i.e., may freeze with a
trance-like expression, may lay in
fetal position, may cling and cry
hard, or lean away with gaze
averted.
• Infants in this category have
generally had trauma.
CARRY-OVER TO ADULTHOOD
(AINSWORTH)
• Research suggests that
negative attachment
issues in childhood
have effects in
adulthood: anxiety,
anger, hysterical,
affectionless,
psychopathology,
depression,
agoraphobia,
hypochondria,
substance abuse . . .
KONRAD LORENZ
• imprinting/geese (instinct theorist).
• He was the first thing the geese saw after they were
born, so they followed him around everywhere (even
when real goose mothers were available to follow).
• Promotes survival of newborns and defines future
relationships.
• Humans don’t imprint like birds do. However, a baby
learns who its mother and father are and has a
fondness for familiar things. The process is recognized
as beginning in the womb, when the unborn baby
starts to recognize its parents' voices.
HARRY HARLOW’S MONKEYS
• 1957 and 1963
• studied attachment;
• motherless rhesus monkeys
prefer cuddly fake moms to
wire fake moms;
• Chose wire mother only
when it dispensed food
• When a frightening stimulus
entered the room, the
monkeys would run to the
cloth mothers, whether or
not the dispensed food
• rhesus monkeys without an
attachment suffered worse
health and had no social
skills when full grown;
HARRY HARLOW'S MONKEYS
• When reunited with their monkey children, mothers
did not recognize them and in many cases tried to
harm them
• When reunited with monkey who had normal
upbringings, Harlow’s monkeys had a hard time
socializing and, for the most part, could never
exhibit totally normal social behavior
• It was once thought that feeding created the bond
between mother and infant. Harlow’s experiments
suggest that close physical contact provides the
bond between mother and infant.
HOW DOES THIS APPLY TO HUMAN
BABIES?
“We shiver through Harlow's results, but
still we make use of them.
 Babies who are deprived of physical touch and
emotional attachment were much more likely to
suffer physical, social, emotional, and intellectual
difficulties
“Orphanages, social service agencies, the birthing
industry all had critical policies altered based in part
on Harlow's findings…workers in orphanages know
it's not enough to prop a bottle; they must be held
and rocked, see and smile.”
FRUED’S VIEW OF ATTACHMENT
• A baby’s love for his mother is based on being fed:
he loves her because she has breasts. After the
child is weaned, he becomes narcissistic and then
Oedipal.
MORE ON ATTACHMENT
• Weiten, pgs. 432-435
• Attachment: the bond between an infant and its primary care giver
• developmental norms: windows at which kids will gain certain skills and exhibit
certain behaviors
• cultural variations and their significance: If a certain culture either encourages
or discourages a skill in infants (walking, independence, grabbing, etc.) the
infant will develop either more quickly or more slowly in that area.
• easy and difficult babies: babies are born with a “temperament,” which will
then transform into their “personality.” Easy babies are likely to attach more
securely and are easy going and manageable as infants. Difficult babies are
anxious and sensitive, and they have a more difficult time attaching securely.
• day care and attachment:
• High-quality daycares do not disrupt attachment. Kids who attend high-quality
daycare even have more advanced cognition than kids who stayed home with
mom.
• Children in many cultures have many care givers. For example, children in
Eastern-hemispheric, polygamous households have multiple mothers. The idea is
“It takes a village to raise a child.” Perhaps that’s why Western-hemispheric kids
can do well in high-quality daycares.
CONTINUED . . .
• culture and attachment: children in cultures that foster independence and
are reserved in nature have fewer securely attached infants than countries
that encourage early dependence in children and very responsive parenting.
EX. Germany has fewer securely attached infants than the U.S. and Japan
• evolutionary perspectives on attachment
• Why do the effects of our infant attachments stay stubbornly with us to
influence our present and future relationships? Our ability to attach to humans
is programmed into us by nature as it will impact our survival and reproductive
fitness. In order to form a family of our own, we need to know how to attach.
• Abuse and Later Attachment Issues:
• Humans: Most abusers were abused, though only 30% of abused and
neglected children become abusers themselves.
• Abused people and animals develop a sluggish serotonin response, so they
struggle to calm aggressive impulses.
• Abuse victims at risk of depression.
• Divorces:
• Disruption of attachment causes upsetness, withdrawal, and despair, which is
why courts are reluctant to move kids away from parents.
• If moved to an improved environment, most infants recover.
• Kids being “moved” after age 2 will most likely have attachment problems.
SO, WHAT CHANGES AND
WHAT STAYS THE SAME OVER
THE COURSE OF OUR LIVES?
TRANSITION VS CONTINUITY
(SPIRAL) CORNELL NOTES: HOW DO PEOPLE DEVELOP
IN VARIOUS AREAS THROUGHOUT THEIR LIFESPAN?
MODULES 14-16
•
•
•
•
•
Key Points
Critical Periods
Kinds of stage theories
Erikson’s cognitive/identity
Piaget’s cognitive
•
•
•
•
• Notes
Sensorimotor period
Preoperational period
Concrete operational period
Formal operational period
• James Marcia and Identity
• Kohlberg vs Gilligan on moral
• Diana Baumrind and
parenting
• Lev Vygotsky and social
development
Summary:
CRITICAL PERIODS
• It’s been proven through studies on feral children
that there are windows of opportunity in
connection to our development that expire.
• Example: If you don’t learn a 1st language by
puberty, you’re out of luck.
• Example: Most kids say their first word by age 1.
• Example: If you don’t attach to someone by age 22 ½, you will not be able to form secure
attachments during your lifetime.
STAGE THEORIES OF
DEVELOPMENT: PERSONALITY
• Stage theories, three components
• progress through stages in order
• progress through stages related to age
• major discontinuities in development bring about next
stage.
Most foundational theories are discontinuous, but recent researchers believe that
people can be in partial and multiple stages at once
Figure 11.10 Stage theories of development
ERIK ERIKSON
• Erik Erikson (1963)
• Eight stages of personality development spanning the
lifespan
• Psychosocial crises determining balance between
opposing polarities in personality
• There is a specific psychosocial crisis during each stage, the
outcome of which determines the balance between
opposing polarities in personality.
Gray Arrow=College
Board seems to like
these ones
Figure 11.11 Erikson’s stage theory
ADOLESCENCE: ERIKSON STAGE #5
• Is Adolescence really a “Time of Turmoil?” (Weiten pgs. 452-453)
• Research shows that teenage years are not necessarily more turbulent than
other times in life, though teens do tend to be impulsive, reckless, and
understandably more confused regarding their identity.
• Teen suicide completion is lower than that of most other age groups, though
teen suicide “attempts” are high.
• Violent crime is often committed by teens. It peaks at age 18. A fifteen year old
is more likely to commit a violent crime than a 30 year old.
• Less than 1% of violent crime committed by teens occur s at schools. People
overestimate the violence rate a schools.
• “The Search for Identity”: James Marcia (Weiten, 454) and identity
development
• Identity diffusion: adolescents don’t know who they are, but they don’t really
care. They don’t want to confront the challenge of forming an identity.
• Identity foreclosure: adolescents don’t really know who they want to be, so
they go along with what they know (society, their parents, etc.)
• Identity moratorium: adolescents delay commitment to an identity for awhile as
they actively struggle to form one. They experiment, which leads to confusion
but also toward finding an identity.
• Identity achievement: arriving at a sense of self and direction after some
consideration of alternatives. College aged people usually reach this stage.
STAGE THEORIES: COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT
• Jean Piaget’s (1920s-1980s) cognitive development
• Interaction with the environment and maturation
gradually alter the way children think. Happens
through:
• (1) Assimilation: interpreting new experiences in terms of
existing mental structures without changing them
• (2) Accommodation: changing existing mental structures to
explain new experiences
• EX. Four-legged pets are puppies. When a child encounters
a cat, he may call it a puppy (assimilation). Eventually, he’ll
realize they’re different animals and refer to the cat as a
cat (accommodation).
PIAGET CTD.: SENSORIMOTOR
• Within each stage there are characteristic thinking and reasoning
patterns, as well as milestones in development.
• 4 stages and major milestones
• Sensorimotor: (Birth-2 years) children try to coordinate sensory
input and motor responses by watching, listening, touching etc.
and learning to respond physically. Ex. “I see a button. I should
press it.”
• Evidence of the Sensorimotor Stage
• 1. The gradual appearance of symbolic thought overtakes
the child’s dependence on innate reflexes.
• Ex. A toy has been put a way, but since the child has a
mental image of the toy, she knows she can go and get it.
• 2. Key: Object permanence: the recognition that objects
continue to exist even when they are no longer visible.
• Ex. A baby sees a stuffed animal. You put it behind your
back. The baby realizes that, even though he can’t see the
stuffed animal, it still exists.
PIAGET CTD.: PREOPERATIONAL
• Preoperational: (2-7 years) children improve their use of mental
images to respond to the world by engaging in basic symbolic
thought. However, they often error in their conclusions.
• Ex. Children develop mental images of how liquid should look
in two differently shaped containers. If one container is taller
than the other, children, based on their mental images, will
mistakenly say that the taller container must contain more
liquid.
• Evidence of the Preoperational Stage:
• Errors in Conservation: awareness that physical quantities remain
constant in spite of changes in their shape or appearance.
• Centration: tendency to focus on just one feature of a problem
• Egocentrism: the limited ability to share another’s viewpoint
• Animism: the belief that all things are living, just like oneself.
Figure 11.13 Piaget’s conservation task: preoperational vs. concrete operational child
Figure 11.14 The gradual mastery of conservation
• Concrete Operational: (7-11 years) children gain the ability to
perform mental operations using symbolic thought without
making so many errors.
• Ex. Children develop mental images of how liquid should look
in two differently shaped containers. If one container is taller
than the other, children, based on their mental images, will
realize that the amount of liquid in each container is the
same, despite the different shapes.
• Evidence of the Concrete Operational Stage:
• Ex: Decentration: ability to focus on more than one feature
of a problem simultaneously
• Ex: Reversibility: ability to envision the reversing of actions
• Ex: Conservation: recognizing that amount of a substance
does not change just because appearance is changed.
PIAGET CTD.: FORMAL OPERATIONAL
• Formal Operational: (11 years-adulthood) mental operations applied
to abstract ideas and logic.
• Ex. Children will wonder why bad things happen to good people.
They will begin to solidify their views of right and wrong, and they will
begin to connect their own actions with right and wrong.
• Evidence of the Formal Operational Stage:
• Abstraction: the ability to apply operations to
abstract concepts such as justice, love, and free
will.
• Ex. A freshman English essay prompt may read,
“Discuss the topics of patience vs. rashness in
Romeo and Juliet. What are some examples of
consequences of patience and rashness in your
own life?”
Figure 11.12 Piaget’s stage theory
James Marcia:
identity development (Weiten, 454):
• Identity Foreclosure – means that the adolescent blindly accepts
the identity and values that were given in childhood by families
and significant others. The adolescent's identity is foreclosed until
they determine for themselves their true identity. The adolescent
in this state is committed to an identity but not as a result of their
own searching or crisis.
• Identity Moratorium – adolescent has acquired vague or illformed ideological and occupational commitments; he/she is
still undergoing the identity search (crisis). They are beginning to
commit to an identity but are still developing it.
• Diffusion – the state of having no clear idea of one's identity and
making no attempt to find that identity. These adolescents may
have struggled to find their identity, but they never resolved it,
and they seem to have stopped trying. There is no commitment
and no searching.
• Identity Achievement – the state of having developed welldefined personal values and self-concepts. Their identities may
be expanded and further defined in adulthood, but the basics
are there. They are committed to an ideology and have a strong
sense of ego identity. Usually happens in early 20’s.
FERAL CHILDREN: DEVELOPMENT
GONE BAD
• Children who are not raised, period, are called feral
children.
• They grow up in deprived environments and miss
many of the critical developmental windows.
• They never really catch up.
• Examples of feral children:
• Genie from California
• Wolf girls of India (Kamala and Amala)
• Victor of Aveyron
KOHLBERG’S STAGES OF MORAL
DEVELOPMENT
The breakthrough: Defined moral development on empirical evidence.
Consequencesdriven
Punishment=bad, reward=good
Also known as “Self Interest” stage
Sociallydriven
Who do I want to like me more?
Principlesdriven
Greatest good for greatest # of
people?
What will be the best for society?
Rules and laws regarded.
Is the deciding principle correct
(like justice)?
CAROL GILLIGAN
• Psychological and feministic critic of Kohlberg and
Erikson;
• believes females differ from males both in being less
concerned with viewing themselves as separate
individuals and in being more concerned with making
connections;
• women are more interdependent and men are more
independent
• BUT this social nature DOES NOT make women less
“moral.” Kohlberg claimed that mostly me reached the
highest stage of morality, which has nothing to do with
what people around you are doing, and women
therefore possessed the less mature forms of morality.
• (Myers, 158)
DIANA BAUMRIND AND PARENTING
• parenting styles
• Authoritarian: dictatorial
• Authoritative: caring with boundaries
• Permissive: push-over
• authoritative parenting leads to self-reliant,
socially competent, and warm offspring (Myers,
193)
LEV VYGOTSKY AND SOCIAL
DEVELOPMENT
• language provides the building blocks for thinking;
• children internalize their culture’s language and rely
on inner speech (especially for self-control or selfregulation).
• Zone of proximal development is the difference
between what a learner can do without help and
what he or she can do with help.
• Vygotsky stated that a child follows an adult's
example and gradually develops the ability to do
certain tasks without help. (Myers, 184-5)
IMPORTANT PEOPLE IN HUMAN
DEVELOPMENT
• Erik Erikson – psychosocial stages via psychosocial crises (basic trust, identity,
generativity, industry, integrity, etc.) (Myers, 201)
• Jean Piaget: stages of cognitive development (sensorimotor, pre-operational,
concrete operations, formal operations, assimilation vs. accommodation,
etc.) (Myers, 178)
• Lawrence Kohlberg – moral development (preconventional vs. conventional
vs. postconventional) (Myers, 199-200)
• Carol Gilligan: critic of Kohlberg and Erikson; believes females differ from
males both in being less concerned with viewing themselves as separate
individuals and in being more concerned with making connections; women
are more interdependent and men are more independent (Myers, 158)
• Lev Vygotsky – language provides the building blocks for thinking; children
internalize their culture’s language and rely on inner speech (especially for
self-control or self-regulation). Zone of proximal development is the difference
between what a learner can do without help and what he or she can do with
help. Vygotsky stated that a child follows an adult's example and gradually
develops the ability to do certain tasks without help. (Myers, 184-5)
• Diana Baumrind – parenting styles (authoritarian, authoritative, permissive);
authoritative parenting leads to self-reliant, socially competent, and warm
offspring (Myers, 193)
• James Marcia – identity development (foreclosure, moratorium, diffusion,
achievement) (Weiten, 454)