PSYU1102
Introduction to Developmental Psychology
OVERVIEW AND MAJOR THEORIES OF DEVELOPMENT
DR JOSEPHINE PAPARO
WEEK 1
Welcome!!!
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Welcome!!!
Dr Josephine Paparo
Josephine.Paparo@mq.edu.au
A/Prof Kay Bussey
Kay.Bussey@mq.edu.au
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Welcome!!!
And next
year…
A/Prof Wayne Warburton
Wayne.Warburton@mq.edu.au
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Trigger warning: Some of the content covered in this aspect
of the course may be sensitive for some students.
If you wish to seek additional emotional support, please
contact the Wellbeing Unit on 1800 CARE MQ (1800 2273 67)
available 24/7. For more information please see this link.
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The Power of Language
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OVERVIEW
Overview and link to textbook
• This week (Paparo):
o What is developmental psychology?
• Theories of development – see textbook 10.1a; 10.1b
• Early experience – see textbook 10.2a
• Physical & motor development – see textbook 10.2b; 10.2c
• Cognitive development and introduction to social cognition ***focus –
see textbook 10.3a; 10.3b
• Next week (Paparo & Bussey):
o Social/emotional development – see textbook 10.4b
o Parent child relationships and parenting ***focus – see textbook 10.4a
o Gender and moral Development – see textbook 10.4c
• Week 3 (Paparo):
o Introduction to Adolescent and Adult Development – see textbook 10.3c;
10.2d; 10.4d; 10.4e
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But first…
Source: https://tenor.com/view/kevin-hart-who-is-that-gif16430499
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A little about me…
Work with children, adolescents and families:
• ABA therapist
• Specialised anxiety research clinic (EHC)
• School Clinical Psychologist (pre-K to Year 12)
• Facilitate presentations for schools across
Metropolitan Sydney
• Outpatient community treatment setting
• High Severity Inpatient Adolescent Psychiatric Unit
• Clinical Psychologist in Private Practice
• Specialised Child, Adolescent and Family Clinical
Supervisor
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A little about me…
Work as an MQ educator:
• As well as this unit…
• Unit Convenor and Lecturer: PSYU2235/PSYX2235
– Developmental Psychology
• Lecturer: PSYU3339 – Applied Child and Adolescent
Psychology
• Unit Convenor: PSYP8906 – Working with Children
and Families
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INTRODUCTION TO
DEVELOPMENTAL
PSYCHOLOGY
What is developmental psychology?
• The study of human behaviour as a function of age
• “How and why we change”
• Change as a function of
o physical maturation
o cognitive development
o social experience
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Areas of study in developmental
psychology
• Physical development: body changes, motor skills,
puberty, physical signs of ageing
• Cognitive development: perception, language,
learning, memory, problem-solving
• Psychosocial development: personality, emotions,
gender identity, moral behaviour, interpersonal skills,
roles
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Change and continuities
•
Change: systematic changes are
orderly, patterned, and relatively
enduring (e.g., crawling to walking,
physical maturation at puberty)
o Developmental milestones
•
Continuities: refer to ways in which
we remain the same or consistent
over time (e.g., attachment from
infancy to adulthood,
temperament/personality).
Source: https://giphy.com/gifs/babycarolynnyoe-drawingVuL6Bm7Hkf2LuhjTwn
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EARLY
EXPERIENCE
Where does it all start?
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Where does it all start?
Source: https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/f5f8f097-6874-4680-ac217efb3ecde484
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Early experience: It all starts in
the womb
• Egg & Sperm – genes from mother and
father combine (Zygote)
• Blastocyst – cluster of cells start to divide and
multiply (days 5-9)
• Embryo – early stage: formation of body
structures, tissues, organs (to 8 weeks)
• Foetus – the unborn offspring: has major body
organs, though not fully developed
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VIDEO: From conception to birth
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OD1gW88Lm-Y
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Early experience: Sensitive
periods
Term comes from the study of embryology
• “Teratogens” – any agent that can cause a birth defect and
disrupt development (e.g., radiation, chemicals, nicotine, alcohol,
recreational drugs, etc)
• Timing of exposure is important in terms of impact.
Examples:
o Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder – facial anomalies,
developmental deficits
o Rubella virus – hearing loss
• Period of greatest susceptibility – “Embryonic period”
(up to 8 weeks)
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Early experience: Sensitive
periods
Is there empirical support for sensitive periods?
• Neurological development  1-3 years
o Extensive myelination of the nervous system
o Language development – early deprivation important
 Studies of Romanian orphans who were later adopted
 The “wild boy of Aveyron” (Victor)
• Development of biological systems can be acutely timing sensitive
• Later cognitive/regulatory impairments are also related to timing but also duration
• Critical and sensitive periods are useful ideas and certainly matter BUT can be an
oversimplification
o E.g. bonding
 Children who are adopted
 Children born prematurely
Need to be cautious in extrapolating animal and biological models to
humans who are adaptable and resilient
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FOUNDATIONAL
THEORIES IN
DEVELOPMENTAL
PSYCHOLOGY
We all have theories about why
children do what they do
E.g. 8 year-old Maggie has a big tantrum every
morning at 8.30am
a) It is likely to be due to her temperament – she’s just born that
way
b) It is likely to be due to the way she is being managed by
parents – she’s just being parented that way
OR MAYBE…
c) It is likely to be due to some problem she is experiencing at
school…
What are the implications of these “theories”?
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Developmental theories
• A FRAMEWORK  Organise thinking
• A LENS  Guides collection of new facts (can
also limit which facts we notice)
oDifferent theories dominate at different times
oImpact of parent’s theories: Folk psychology
 Parental locus of control and efficacy
 Representations of the child
 Discipline approaches
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Nature & nurture
• There are universal genetically determined capacities for
language, motor development (stage theorists)
• But expression is influenced by environment – what babies
need to know to survive/do well and what is valued and what
is possible
o Individual differences/cultural differences
• Nature (genes) and nurture (environment) work
together in complex ways - see different child skills
and needs in different cultures
C.F. French Documentary “Babies” (highly
recommended) Available via Kanopy (see iLearn
for instructions) *Nurture as culture specific
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Example: Motor development
Maturation: unfolding of genetically
programmed behaviour patterns
BUT environment (childrearing customs) has
an impact
• Swaddling
• Carrying on body
• “Baby” containers: seats, swings, floor
• Experience in prone: SIDS prevention
See textbook and next year in PSYU2235
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Major theories of development
• Psychoanalytic theory: Freud and Erikson
• Cognitive developmental theory: Piaget and
Kohlberg
• Social Cognitive Theory: Early behaviourist
theories through to Bandura
• Ethological theory: Attachment theories of
Ainsworth and Bowlby
• Stages of Psychosocial Development: Erikson
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COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT
Key theories of cognitive
development
Stage Theorists (Piaget, Erikson, Kohlberg)
Piaget
• Constructivist theory
• Stages
• Classic discoveries – one example
Vygotsky
• Social and cultural influences on learning
Sense of Self and Theory of Mind: SOCIAL
COGNITION
• Classic discoveries – rouge/sticker
• False Belief task
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Piaget’s theory of cognitive
development
Piaget’s revolutionary discovery:
Children’s minds are not miniature
versions of the adult mind – there are
profound differences – qualitative as
well as quantitative
• The child is active/not passive –
constructs an understanding of
the world through exploration
and experience
 maturation/nature/innate
drives
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Developmental progress
A process – equilibration – balance
between new experiences and what we
already know or think we know
• Assimilation – new information
“assimilated” into existing schemas
• Accommodation – schemas updated
to accommodate new information
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Piaget: Four main stages of
intellectual growth
• Sensori-motor intelligence (birth-2 years)
o Object permanence
• Pre-operational period (2-7 years)
o Mental representations, but pre-logical/egocentric, conservation a
challenge
• Concrete operations (7-11 years)
o Mental operations, but only for physical/concrete materials – eg.,
add/subtract
• Formal operations (11yrs…)
o Hypothetical reasoning –mental operations on abstract concepts
(e.g., algebra), hypothesise (e.g., pendulum, see-saw)
At each stage, children think in qualitatively different ways
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Some Classic
Piagetian
Discoveries
Source: https://giphy.com/gifs/PsikolojiAgi-piagetpsikolojiagi-psikoloji-J60p4r4ZOZ4JJF1n3k
Symbolic or representational
thought
• Emerging capacity from 18-24
months
o One object can represent another
- this capacity allows deferred
imitation and make-believe
play
• Preschool years (age 2-6) 
• Further gains in mental
representation
• Symbols  represent the
concrete world
• Drawing
Source: https://www.scholastic.com/parents/kidsactivities-and-printables/activities-for-kids/arts-andcraft-ideas/make-most-make-believe.html
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Object permanence
• Infants < 8 months
o Out of sight, out of mind – no
effort to retrieve hidden object
• Infants ~ 9 months-12 months
o Search… BUT where last
found – A not B effect –
object does not exist
independent of child’s actions
Source: https://www.brainkart.com/article/Piaget--S-StageTheory_29454/
• Infants 12-18 months – breakthrough
o Understand not only that objects continue to exist (independent of the
child’s interaction with them), but that they can be moved while out of
sight – invisible displacements
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VIDEO: “I sort of get it”: The A
not B error
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhHkJ3InQOE
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Conservation
• An extension of object
permanence
• The “logical” understanding that
objects have a fundamental
essence that continues to exist,
irrespective of changes in form,
presentation, appearance
• When you watch the clips think
about
o What is it the child needs to be
able to do to pass the “test”
o What is the characteristic of the
child’s thinking?
o Why can’t they get it?
o Why does it matter? What is it
the foundation for?
https://brewminate.com/what-is-it-like-to-be-a-baby-thedevelopment-of-thought/
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VIDEO: Conservation
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnArvcWaH6I
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Strengths & limitations of
Piaget’s theory
Strengths
• Landmark theory – not just miniature adults – fascinating aspects
of pre-logical thinking
• Learning as an active process – influences on education
• Processes cross domains – e.g., conservation of liquid, mass, area
Critiques (more next year)
• Stages too rigid/prescriptive
• Under-estimated children’s abilities
o Methodological issues – task demands/language
• Universality?
o Western bias? Children learn what is useful in their cultural
setting
o Many don’t reach higher levels
o Context not sufficiently considered
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Other theoretical approaches to
cognitive development
Sociocultural – Vygotsky (see babies film)
• Learning collaborative – social contexts
• Role of siblings, peers
o Scaffolding
• “Zone of proximal development”
Information Processing Approach
• Increased capacity of neural systems
o Processing of information
o Effortful to automatic (e.g., driving)
o More sophisticated memory strategies
Source:
https://twitter.com/levvy
gotsky9
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Summary:Take home messages
• Developmental Psychology: The study of human behaviour as a function of
age – “How and why we change”
• Early experience is important – there are some critical and some sensitive
periods in development
o BUT humans are adaptable and resilient as well
• Nature and nurture work together
o Reciprocal influences
• Piaget’s contribution to cognitive development and key discoveries about
how children think – e.g., object permanence, conservation
o Limitations
• Need to consider learning in a social context
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NEXT WEEK:
• Social/emotional development
• Parent child relationships and parenting
• Gender and moral development
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