Learning Objectives
1.
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4.
What is developmental psychology?
What agents can harm the fetus in utero?
What are the reflexes a baby is born with?
What is the difference between secure and insecure
attachment?
5. How does language develop in children?
6. What is the difference between the nativist
approach and learning approach to language?
Developmental Psychology
The study of the physical, cognitive,
and social change of humans
throughout their life cycle.
• Children, Adults, and the Elderly
• Topics revolve around maturation and the
aging process, what it affects and how it affects
chapter 3
Prenatal development
Conception
30 Hours
6 weeks
4 months
chapter 3
Agents that cross the placenta
1. German measles
2. X-rays, other radiation, and toxic
chemicals, such as lead or mercury
3. Sexually transmitted diseases
4. Cigarette smoking
5. Alcohol
•
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS): low birth
weight, smaller brain, facial deformities, lack of
coordination, mental retardation
6. Drugs other than alcohol
Newborn Reflexes
Reflex
Description
Rooting
When cheek is touched, head will turn
toward the touch and mouth will search
for something to suck
Sucking
Infant will suck on anything suckable,
finger, nipple, pacifier
Moro or “startle”
Infant throws arms and spread fingers in
response to noise or physical
disturbance
Babinski
Touch bottom of foot (outer sole), infant
will splay toes outward and then curl
them in
Grasp
Touch on palm of hand, infant will grasp
Stepping
Hold infant so feet just touch ground, will
demonstrate walking motion
chapter 3
Attachment
A deep emotional bond that an infant develops
with its primary caretaker
• Gives children a secure place to explore the world
Mary Ainsworth – Strange Situation
Securely Attached
baby is secure when the parent is
present, distressed by separation,
and delighted by reunion.
Insecurely Attached
baby clings to the parent, cries at
separation, and reacts with anger
or apathy to reunion.
Avoidant
Anxious or ambivalent
chapter 3
Attachment
Margaret and Harry Harlow
Demonstrated importance of touching in forming
attachments in Rhesus monkeys
2 artificial monkey moms:
1.
2.
wire, provided milk
terry-cloth, no milk
Contact comfort
In primates, the innate pleasure derived from close physical contact
The basis of the infant’s first attachment
chapter 3
What causes insecure attachment?
1. Abandonment and deprivation in the
first two years of life
2. Parenting that is abusive, neglectful, or
erratic
3. Child’s genetically influenced
temperament
4. Stressful circumstances in the family
chapter 3
Cognitive Development:
Language
1. Acquisition of speech begins in the first few
months.
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Crying and cooing = first parts of speech
Infants are responsive to pitch, intensity, and sound.
– Parentese – high pitch baby talk
2. By 4-6 months of age children can recognize
their names and repetitive words.
3. By 6-12 months they become familiar with
sentence structure of their own language
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Babbling starts – e.g. “baba”, “googoo”
Common gestures
Around 12 months – first word
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At 18 months speaks 3-50 words
By age 6: 8,000 – 14,000 words
4. Between 18-24 months, combine 2-3 words
into telegraphic speech
chapter 3
Cari’s Words and Signs at 18 months
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Word
Ball
Mama
Dada
Dog
Cheese
Blueberries
Bubbles
Hi
Bye
Mine
Book
Down
There
Up there
Over there
Down there
What’s that
That
Bottle
More
All Done
Uh Oh
Owe
Hot
Yes
No
Signs
1.
Eat
2.
More
3.
Milk
4.
Please
5.
Cheese
6.
All Done
7.
Hot
8.
Monkey
9.
Gorilla
10.
Elephant w/ sound
11.
Bear
12.
Airplane
13.
Hi
14.
Bye
15.
Yes
16.
No
17.
Thank you
Telegraphic Speech
• form of communication consisting of
simple two-word, noun-verb sentences
• Starts between 18 and 24 months
• “Have it”, “I want”
• “Cari down”
• “Cari ball”, “Cari book”, “Mommy shirt”
chapter 3
Cognitive Development:
The Origins of Language
The Learning Theory Approach
Language acquisition follows the basic laws
for operant conditioning
• Shaping: reinforcement of successive
approximations of words that are uttered
• Language is learned
The Nativist Approach (Noam Chomsky)
There is a genetically determined, innate mechanism
that directs the development of language
• Language is an innate skill
• Language acquisition device (LAD)
chapter 3
Language acquisition device
(LAD)
An innate module that allows young children to
develop language if they are exposed to an
adequate sampling of conversation
• Permits understanding of language
• Provides strategies and techniques for learning the
specific characteristic of a language to which a child is
exposed
Universal grammar
–core features common to all languages
• Nouns and verbs, subjects and objects, negatives
chapter 3
Evidence supporting the
Nativist Approach
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Children in different cultures go through similar
stages of linguistic development.
Children combine words in ways adults never
would.
Children learn to speak or sign correctly without
adult correction.
Children not exposed to adult language may invent
a language of their own.
Children as young as 7 months can derive simple
linguistic rules from a string of sounds.
Broca’s area is selectively activated by languages
that meet Universal Grammar requirements
Last Class in Review
• Developmental Psychology:
– The study of physical, social and cognitive changes
throughout the lifespan
• Newborn reflexes
• Attachment Theory
– Mary Ainsworth strange situation
• Insecure vs. secure attachment
– Harlow Monkey Experiment
• Contact comfort
– Language Development
• Learning Theory Approach (shaping/rewards)
• Nativist Approach (innate LAD/universal grammar)
Learning Objectives
1. What are the 4 stages of cognitive development
according to Piaget?
2. What is object permanence, egocentrism, and
conservation?
3. What is the distinction power assertion and
induction in the development of moral behavior?
4. What are the major physiological changes that girls
and boys undergo during adolescence?
5. What are the 8 stages or crises of development
over the lifespan that were proposed by Erikson?
chapter 3
Cognitive Development:
Thinking
Jean Piaget (1896-1980)
Proposed that children make mental adaptations to new
observations
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Assimilation: absorbing new information into existing cognitive
structures
Accommodation: modifying existing cognitive structures in
response to new information
The thought processes and problems solving strategies of
children are not random, they reflect the level of
maturation at each stage of development
4 stages of development: new reasoning skills depend on the
development of previous ones
1.
2.
3.
4.
Sensorimotor
Preoperational
Concrete Operations
Formal Operations
chapter 3
1
Piaget’s Stages of Development:
Sensorimotor
• Birth–2 years
• Children learn through concrete actions
• Children learn to coordinate sensory information
with bodily movements
- If I do X, Y will happen
Object permanence.
The understanding that an object continues to exist even when you
cannot see or touch it
• allows them to hold images in their mind
• allows them to use mental imagery and symbols
chapter 3
Object Permanence
The understanding that an object continues to exist even
when you cannot see or touch it
Child has not learned
object permanence
Child has learned object permanence
chapter 3
2
Piaget’s Stages of Development:
Preoperational
•Ages 2–7
• Use of symbols and language accelerates
• Pretend play
•Focused on limitations of children’s
thinking
• Lack cognitive abilities needed for abstract
thinking and mental operations
• Egocentric
– Seeing the world only from your own point of
view; not being able to see other’s points of view
• Cannot grasp concept of conservation
Egocentrism: Three Mountain Task
Seeing the world only from your own point of
view; not being able to see other’s points of view
chapter 3
Conservation
The understanding that the physical properties of
objects, can remain the same even when their form or
appearance changes.
Substance
“Do the two pieces have
the same amount of
clay?”
Number
“Do the two rows have
the same number of
pennies?”
chapter 3
3
Piaget’s Stages of Development:
Concrete operations
Ages 7–12
•Thinking is still concrete
• Tied to actual experiences
•Cognitive skills expand rapidly
• Conservation
• Reversibility
• Causation
• Mental operations
– Addition, subtraction, multiplication, division
chapter 3
4
Piaget’s Stages of Development:
Formal operations
•Ages 12–adulthood
•Capable of abstract reasoning
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Compare and classify ideas
Reason about situations not personally experienced
Think about the future
Search systematically for solutions
– Deductive and inductive reasoning
chapter 3
Your turn
At what age will
children recognize that
the two clay balls on the
right have the same
amount of clay as the
two balls on the left?
1. Ages 0-2
2. Ages 2-7
3. Ages 7-12
4. Ages 12 and over
chapter 3
Cognitive development:
Current Views
1.
Cognitive abilities develop in continuous, overlapping
waves.
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2.
Preschoolers (3-4 yrs) are not as egocentric as Piaget
thought.
•
3.
In comparison to the distinct stages Piaget proposed
Theory of Mind:a system of beliefs about how their own and other people’s
minds work and how people are affected by their beliefs and emotions
Children understand more than Piaget thought.
•
At 4 months some idea of object permanence and will notice
when objects seem to be defying the laws of physics
4.
Cognitive development is spurred by growing speed and
efficiency of information processing.
5.
Cognitive development depends on the child’s education
and culture.
•
Lev Vygotsky – culture profoundly shapes a child’s cognitive
development
How do children learn moral
reasoning?
Moral reasoning:
Learning right from wrong
Learning generosity vs. selfishness
Learning to obey rules of social conduct (norms, roles)
chapter 3
1.
Teaching moral behavior:
Parental Influences
Power assertion
Parent uses punishment and authority to correct misbehavior.
Authoritarian parenting: demanding, less responsive to
children’s real needs. Controlling, but not warm or loving.
Issue command, criticisms, and only occasional praise.
Result: Children learn to obey only when parent is present
2.
Induction
Parent appeals to child’s own resources, abilities, sense of
responsibility, and feelings for others in correcting misbehavior.
Authoritative parenting: unconditional love and acceptance,
supportive, provide boundaries, but allow freedom too. Loving,
but not over-indulgent, involved by not overly controlling.
Result: Children learn to internalize right vs. wrong
chapter 3
Gender identity and typing
Gender identity
The fundamental sense of being male or female,
independent of whether the person conforms to social and
cultural rules of gender
Gender typing
Process by which children learn the abilities, interests,
personality traits, and behaviors associated with being
masculine or feminine in their culture
chapter 3
Influences on gender
development
•By 9 months, babies can discriminate male from female faces
•By 2-3, toddlers can label themselves as a boy or girl
•By 4-5, children develop stable gender identity
• Around 3-5 yrs, children show preference for playing with same-sex
peers and toys
Biological factors
Prenatal hormones (androgens), genes  brain organization.
Cognitive factors
Gender schemas: the mental network of knowledge, beliefs, metaphors,
and expectations about what it means to be male or female.
– develops around age 5
Learning factors
Gender appropriate play may be reinforced by parents, teachers, and
peers and children may simply be conforming to the expectation and
beliefs of parents and teachers.
chapter 3
Physiology of adolescence
Adolescence
Period of life from puberty until adulthood
Puberty
The age at which a person becomes capable of sexual
reproduction
• Before puberty – girls and boys = androgens and estrogens
• After Puberty – girls > estrogen; boys > androgens
• Onset of puberty depends on genetic and environmental
factors.
E.g., body fat triggers the hormonal changes
Early vs. late onset
• Early maturing boys have more positive views of their bodies and are
more likely to smoke, binge drink, and break the law.
• Early maturing girls are usually socially popular but also regarded by
peer group as precocious and sexually active. They are more likely
to fight with parents, drop out of school, and have a negative body
image.
chapter 3
Erikson’s Stages of
Psychosocial Development
• Each stage is characterized by a crisis,
or challenge, which needs to be
resolved before moving on
• Favorable outcomes at a given stage
are “virtues”
chapter 3
Erikson’s Stages of
Psychosocial Development
1.
Trust vs. mistrust (oral-sensory)
2.
Autonomy vs. shame & doubt (muscular-anal)
3.
Initiative vs. guilt (locomotor)
4.
Industry vs. inferiority (latency)
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Infancy (birth-age 1)
Important event = feeding
DRIVE & HOPE
Toddler (ages 1-3)
Important event = toilet training
SELF-CONTROL, COURAGE, WILL
Preschool (ages 3-5)
Important event = Independence
PURPOSE
Elementary school (ages 6-12)
Important event = school
COMPETENCE
chapter 3
Erikson’s Stages of
Psychosocial Development
5.
Identity vs. role confusion (adolescence)
6.
Intimacy vs. isolation (young adulthood)
7.
Generativity vs. stagnation (middle adulthood)
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8.
Adolescence (ages 13-19)
Important event = peer relationships
DEVOTION & FIDELITY
Young adulthood (ages 20-40)
Important event = love relationships
LOVE
Middle adulthood (ages 40-65)
Important event = Parenting
CARING
Integrity vs. despair (Maturity)
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Late adulthood (ages 65 and older)
Important event = reflection and acceptance of one’s life
WISDOM
chapter 3
Your turn
At what age, according to Erikson, are
people likely to wrestle with whether they
are able to deal with the tasks facing them
in life and begin to feel a sense of
competence or inferiority to others?
1. Age 4
2. Age 7
3. Age 15
4. Age 25