Development
Chapter 5
Developmental Psychology
• Study of the patterns of growth and
change that occur throughout life
Developmental Psychology
Issue
Nature/Nurture
Continuity/Stages
Stability/Change
Details
How do genetic inheritance
(our nature) and experience
(the nurture we receive)
influence our behavior?
Is development a gradual,
continuous process or a
sequence of separate stages?
Do our early personality
traits persist through life, or
do we become different
persons as we age.
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Prenatal Development:
Conception to Birth
• The Earliest Development
• 9 weeks looks human
• 6 months point at which it can survive if born
prematurely
Prenatal Development:
Conception to Birth
• Prenatal Environmental Influences
– Teratogens
•
•
•
•
•
Mother’s nutrition (especially lack of folic acid)
Mother’s illness
Mother’s emotional state
Mother’s use of drugs
Alcohol
– Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS)
– Fetal alcohol effects (FAE)
• Nicotine use
The Extraordinary Newborn
• Reflexes
– Unlearned, involuntary responses that occur
automatically in the presence of certain stimuli
•
•
•
•
•
Rooting reflex
Sucking reflex
Gag reflex
Startle reflex
Swallowing reflex
The Extraordinary Newborn
• Senses
– All functional at birth, but vision is the least
developed
Early Brain Development
• Large increase in numbers of neurons
• Connections grow between the neurons
• Pruning: the connections and neurons that are not
used will die or become weakened
• Myelination
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Early Brain Development
• Experience Shapes the Brain
– brain structure and growth depends on genes and
experiences
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Early Brain Development
• Implications for Caregivers
– Early brain growth is rapid and reflects
experience…
• caressing a newborn,
• talking to a preverbal infant
– …are essential to develop that person’s full
potential
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Motor Development
First, infants begin to roll over. Next, they sit unsupported, crawl, and finally
walk. Experience has little effect on this sequence.
Profimedia.CZ s.r.o./ Alamy
Phototake Inc./ Alamy Images
Jim Craigmyle/ Corbis
Renee Altier for Worth Publishers
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Maturation and Infant Memory
The earliest age of conscious memory is
around 3½ years (Bauer, 2002).
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Cognitive Development
Piaget believed that the driving force behind intellectual
development is our biological development amidst
experiences with the environment.
Both photos: Courtesy of Judy DeLoache
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Schemas
Schemas are mental molds into which we pour our experiences.
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Assimilation and Accommodation
Bill Anderson/ Photo Researchers, Inc.
Jean Piaget with a subject
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Attachment
• Harry Harlow’s study
on attachment
– “Wire monkey versus
cloth monkey”
http://www.youtube.com
/watch?v=KlfOecrr6kI
Figure 6 of Module 28
Attachment Differences
Placed in a strange situation, 60% of children express secure attachment,
i.e., they explore their environment happily in the presence of their
mothers. When their mother leave, they show distress.
The other 30% show insecure attachment. These children cling to their
mothers or caregivers and are less likely to explore the environment.
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Secure Attachment
Relaxed and attentive caregiving becomes the backbone of secure
attachment.
Berry Hewlett
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Deprivation of Attachment
In such circumstances children become:
1.
2.
3.
Withdrawn
Frightened
Unable to develop speech
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Child-Rearing Practices
Practice
Description
Authoritarian
Parents impose rules and expect
obedience.
Permissive
Parents submit to children’s
demands.
Authoritative
Parents are demanding but
responsive to their children.
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Authoritative Parenting
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Adolescence
AP Photo/ Jeff Chiu
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Physical Development
Adolescence begins with puberty
(sexual maturation). Puberty occurs
earlier in females (11 years) than males
(13 years). Thus height in females
increases before males.
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Frontal Cortex
During adolescence, neurons in the frontal cortex grow myelin, which speeds up
nerve conduction. The frontal cortex lags behind the limbic system’s
development. Hormonal surges and the limbic system may explain occasional
teen impulsiveness.
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Cognitive Development
Adolescents’ ability to reason gives them a new
level of social awareness. In particular, they may
think about the following:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Their own thinking.
What others are thinking.
What others are thinking about them.
How ideals can be reached. They criticize society, parents, and
even themselves.
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Developing Reasoning Power
According to Piaget, adolescents can handle abstract problems.
AP/Wide World Photos
William Thomas Cain/ Getty Images
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3 Basic Levels of Moral Thinking
1.
2.
3.
Preconventional Morality:
Conventional Morality:
Postconventional Morality:
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Forming an Identity
In Western cultures, many adolescents try out different selves before settling
into a consistent and comfortable identity. Having such an identity leads to
forming close relationships.
Matthias Clamer/ Getty Images
Leland Bobble/ Getty Images
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Emerging Adulthood
Ariel Skelley/ Corbis
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Adulthood
Rick Doyle/ Corbis
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Middle Adulthood
Muscular strength, reaction time, sensory abilities and cardiac output begin to
decline after the mid-twenties. Around age 50, women go through menopause,
and men experience decreased levels of hormones and fertility.
Bettman/ Corbis
Batting performance of Willie Mays.
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Old Age: Sensory Abilities
Michael Newman/ PhotoEdit
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Aging and memory
• Normal healthy adults (even in the absence
of disease) show age-related differences in
performance on many cognitive tasks
– Working memory
– Episodic memory
– Prospective memory
– Executive functions
Short term memory
Long term memory for events
Memory for future events
A set of cognitive abilities that
control and regulate other
abilities and behaviors
It’s not all downhill
• Many cognitive functions are preserved
with age such as:
– Implicit memory
– Semantic memory
– Vocabulary
Memory without consciousness of it
Memory for facts
Vocabulary
Aging and Intelligence
fluid intelligence (ability to reason speedily) declines with age, but crystalline
intelligence (accumulated knowledge and skills) does not. We gain vocabulary
and knowledge but lose recall memory and process more slowly.
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Aging and Intelligence
A number of cognitive
abilities decline with age.
However, vocabulary
and general knowledge
increase with age.
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Adulthood’s Ages and Stages
Is the mid-life crisis real?
Neuroticism scores, 10,000 subjects
(McCrae & Costa, 1996).
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Adulthood’s Commitments
Happiness stems from working in a job that fits your interests and provides
you with a sense of competence and accomplishment.
Charles Harbutt/ Actuality
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Well-Being Across the Life Span
Well-being and people’s feelings of satisfaction are stable across the life span.
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Successful Aging
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The Later Years of Life:
Growing Old
• The Social World of Late Adulthood: Old
but Not Alone
– Activity Theory of Aging
Death and Dying
Grief is more severe if death occurs
unexpectedly. People who view their
lives with a sense of integrity (in
Erikson’s terms) see life as
meaningful and worthwhile.
Chris Steele-Perkins/ Magnum Photos
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