Developmental Psychology There are entire classes and majors in developmental psychology in college. For the AP exam you need to know about biological development (maturation), major stage theories in development and moral development. Maturation is our development from birth to death. When a sperm fertilizes an egg, we have a zygote. After 2 weeks, you have an embryo. Embryos are more susceptible to teratogens than any other time of the pregnancy. Teratogens include drugs, alcohol and viruses. From 9 weeks to birth, you have a fetus. Much of developmental psychology focuses on children up to age 12 because so much happens and so much can go wrong. Jean Piaget was a Swiss psychologist who relied much on naturalistic observation, not experimentation. He is famous for his stages of cognitive development. In the sensorimotor stage (birth – 2 yrs), children experience the world through movement and senses (use five senses to explore the world). During the sensorimotor stage children are extremely egocentric, meaning they cannot perceive the world from others' viewpoints. One important milestone is developing object permanence. Without it, babies think that a ball actually disappears when it rolls under a chair. (It also makes peek-a-boo extra interesting!) Also, in this stage children begin to develop language. An important example is their use of schemas. A schema is a set of ideas you have about something. Children will call all four-legged animals “doggies” if they develop that schema. In the preoperational stage (2-6 years), they are very magical in their thinking (Santa Claus) and lack conservation of matter. For example, if you take a cup of water and pour it into a taller, but skinnier beaker, the child will say the later is more water. In Piaget’s concrete operational stage (age 7-11), kids can do more abstract stuff like multiply and divide. They aren’t so egocentric and they understand conservation of matter. In the formal operations stage, (over age 11) people can ask philosophical questions, make predictions and ask “What if” questions. Criticisms of Piaget generally center on the timing, not the sequence of everything above. Many critics wonder if these behaviors are instincts or are they learned. Again, here we go with the nature vs. nurture debate! Before we discuss another stage theory, lets discuss Harry Harlow’s monkey experiment. Before Harlow in the 1950s, scientists assumed that animals would form an attachment to whatever feeds it. So Harry Harlow did an experiment. He gave baby monkeys 2 mommies: a wire-mesh mother monkey with food and a soft, comfortable mother with no food. The baby monkeys chose the soft, loving monkey over the wire mesh monkey. Harlow concluded that the baby monkeys were motivated by love and comfort, not food. Harlow also did some experiments where he took their mothers away and denied the babies any kind of love and comfort. The babies would simply sit in the corner and rock back and forth. Tragically, orphanages see the same behaviors in children. (Case studies of Romanian orphanages illustrate this.) Part of how we develop depends on our parents. Parents in Latino cultures, according to MY textbook, focus on the community and the family. They focus less on the needs of the individual. Children are expected to obey and respect their elders. In middle-class American families, Diana Baumrind (1991) describes 3 distinct parenting styles. Authoritarian parents tend to be strict, punishing and unsympathetic. They value obedience from their children, not independence. Children of authoritarian parents become unfriendly, distrustful, and withdrawn. Permissive parents give their children complete freedom and provide little discipline. Their children end up immature, dependent and unhappy. A nice balance, according to Baumrind, is being authoritative. Authoritative parents are firm but flexible with the rules. They reason with their kids, but not too much. Their children become friendly, cooperative and self-reliant. Also in the development chapter is Kholberg’s stages of moral development. He had 3 stages. The first is called pre-conventional morality because people in this stage don’t follow the conventions of society. In this stage, something is moral if you can avoid punishment or it benefits you in some way. I won’t speed down Hampton because cops have been giving tickets there lately. This is the level of morality of children, authoritarian parents and many students at Sunset High School. In conventional morality, people do the right thing because society benefits and the world is a better place. I won’t speed down Hampton because the city will be safer if nobody speeds. In post-conventional morality, something is right or wrong based on universal ethical principles. Laws have limits. It might be okay to commit murder if the victim is Adolf Hitler. It might be okay to rob a bank so you can pay for your sister’s chemotherapy. Kholberg’s stages seem to be worldwide, but many collectivist cultures, like China may place more value on the community or personal purity. Erik Erikson is among the most respected developmental psychologists. Like Freud he was a psychoanalyst, but Erikson thought the ego is more important than the id. While Freud called his stages psychosexual, Erikson called his psychosocial. Erikson’s psychosocial stages don’t stop at age 12 but go on until death. While Freud’s stages focused on “tasks” like toilet training, Erikson’s stages have crises. How one deals with these crises (plural for crisis) shapes our personality. Keep in mind that Erikson himself was abandoned by his father (his mother had an affair) and he was adopted by his stepfather at age 10. The first stage is trust vs mistrust when an infant must be adequately cared for by their caregiver. Without it, one may grow up to be a mistrusting and pessimistic person. The second stage is autonomy vs shame and doubt where a child must learn to take some responsibilities for feeding, bathing and dressing themselves. If parents are overly critical, the child may feel shameful and doubt themselves, especially with toilet training. In Erikson’s third stage, Initiative vs. guilt (ages 3-6) children start to take initiatives and risks that parents may not approve of. It’s tricky as parents because you want them to try new things like cooking or making their beds, but you also want your compliments to be genuine. You want your child to take initiative but you don’t want them to feel a sense of guilt for trying and failing. In the Industry vs Inferiority (6-11) children want to be good at things. If they don’t feel industrious or useful, then they may develop a sense of inferiority. At this stage it is good for children to develop hobbies and skills at sports. Otherwise they may not develop a good self confidence. Adolescents are in the identity vs. role confusion stage. They try out different clothes, hang out with different groups (Emos or Goths? Hmmmm. . . can’t decide.) Girls date losers, nerds, sweet guys, tough guys. You’ll find many teens slightly ashamed that they are geeky, gay, or a certain race, but then go to college and join clubs to celebrate their geekiness, gayness or cultural heritage. Basically, like the humanist Carl Rogers, Erikson thought teenagers were trying to find themselves. Erikson called it identity formation, however. At around age 19, you leave adolescence and begin to make an important decision. Do you want to have a committed long-term relationship or freedom to date whomever? This stage is called intimacy vs. isolation. I think the age at which young adults get married is dependent on culture, success with birth control, and whether the individual resolves the identity vs. role confusion stage. If a 20-year old is still a 17-year old developmentally, then they won’t commit the same way as a more mature individual. Resolving the “crisis” of intimacy vs. isolation may determine how you deal with your “midlife crisis” in the next stage. The midlife crisis is a point in (usually a man’s) life where men feel old and ugly so the compensate by buying sports cars and dying their hair. It usually happens in their 40s and 50s. Many lead to affairs and divorces. The midlife crisis happens in Erikson’s generatiivity vs. self-absorption stage. In middle adulthood, the key challenge is to acquire a genuine concern for your children and grandchildren. This focus on other people can backfire, resulting into self-absorption and selfishness (like having an affair). The final stage is integrity vs. despair. It doesn’t matter if you resolve this crisis because you’ll be dead anyway. The challenge is to look back on your life and find meaning and satisfaction with your life (integrity) while not wallowing in your bitterness and resentment of your past (despair). In short, you want to die with dignity. Understanding Erikson’s stages helps me understand why dating out of your age group can be a bad idea. If you are a teenage girl dating a 20-year old, then either you are dating someone who is in a different stage than you are or you are dating a screwed up 20-year old. If you are a 22 year-old young woman dating a guy aged 37, then you need to understand his midlife crisis and how it will affect your relationship. Guys, if you are 20 and your girlfriend is 27, then you need to understand the difference. In spite of Erikson’s omission, there is a huge difference between the ages of 20 and 27, especially in terms of baby making. The movie Knocked Up wonderfully illustrates the difference between those in their early and late 20s.