Survey of Modern Psychology
Developmental Psychology
Views on Infant Learning
• Nativist
– Important aspects of perception and other
cognitive processes are innate
– We have built in knowledge of what sensory
inputs mean
• Empiricist
– All knowledge comes from experiences and our
senses
– We relate sensory inputs to each other to
determine what they mean
Infants
Upon birth, humans can:
• Discriminate between different tones, pitches,
and loudness
– It’s suggested that newborns show a preference
for their mother’s voice
• See within a range of about four feet
– Discriminate brightness, color, and follow a
moving stimulus with their eyes
Infants
• Grasping reflex:
– Infants close their fists tightly around objects placed in
their palms
– If the object is lifted, an infant can hang on and support
his or her weight for about a minute
• Rooting reflex
– When an infant’s cheek is touched, their head turns
toward the stimulus while opening their mouth until the
stimulus is in their mouth
– This triggers a sucking reflex
These are considered reflexes (automatic responses) but
are replaced by directed responses (voluntary) with
development
Babies are cute for an evolutionary advantage
We instinctively find a rounded face, large eyes, and other
baby features “cute;” this encourages us to want to protect
and care for a baby even if it’s not ours. The evolution of
Mickey Mouse capitalizes on this factor.
Motor Development
Linguistic Development
Age
Linguistic Achievement
3 months
Cooing
4 months
Babbling
10 months
First word
18 months
About 20 words
One word utterances
About 250 words
Two word utterances
About 500 words
Three plus word utterances
24 months
30 months
Important Times in Development
In general, a child’s reaction to their environment
depends on their age (and amount of knowledge)
• Critical Periods
– Times in development when certain events have an
enormous impact
– The same events have less impact if they occur earlier
or later
– If they happen too late, certain milestones will not be
reached and a certain path of development is set
Important Times in Development
• Sensitive Periods
– Similar to the idea of critical periods, but with less
rigid boundaries
– During this time, the baby is particularly sensitive
to a particular influence
• For example, attachment to parents is more easily
formed at an early age
Practice
• Some maturation will happen regardless of
outside influences (due to genetics)
– Some milestones cannot be reached until a certain
age; the infant’s brain and muscle tone must reach
sufficient development
• Some development depends on experience as
well
– For example, animals raised in complete darkness do
not develop all structures of the visual system and
therefore cannot see properly later on if exposed to
light
Developmental Theorists
• Piaget
• Freud
• Mahler
• Erikson
• Kohlberg
There is question about how accurate any of
these theorists are, but their contributions
are important in a historical sense
Piaget
Piaget is considered the first theorist to say that
children were not miniature adults, but were
different and went through a series of
psychological changes on the way to
adulthood
Piaget
Believed that human development and behavior
come from consistent and reliable patterns of
interaction with the environment called
schemas
• Schemas are goal oriented strategies that
people use to explore and learn about the
world and their environment
Piaget
Said that children learn through:
• Adaptation: the exchange between an
individual and his or her environment
– Assimilation
• The incorporation of one’s environment into an
existing schema
– Accommodation
• The adaptation or modification of an existing schema
to the characteristics of a new object
Ex. a “grabbing an object” schema
Piaget’s Stages
1.
2.
3.
4.
Sensory-Motor: birth to 2 years
Preoperational: 2 – 7 years
Concrete Operational: 7 – 11
Formal Operational: 11-15
Piaget:
Sensory-Motor Stage Birth – 2 years
• The infant uses his or her senses and motor
functions to understand the world
• Infants do not differentiate between “me” and
“not me” and lack object permanence
– Object permanence: the understanding that an
object exists outside of our immediate experience
– Infants do not understand that a rattle continues
to exist even if he or she is not holding it
Piaget:
Sensory-Motor Stage Birth – 2 years
A not B effect
• When a 9 month old sees an experimenter hide a
toy under a blanket on their right (A), the child
will remove the blanket to retrieve the toy
• If the experimenter then hides the toy under a
blanket on their left (B) (while the baby is
watching) the baby will continue to search for the
toy on the right
• The baby interprets location A as being part of
the toy’s identity
Piaget:
Sensory-Motor Stage Birth – 2 years
• In the later 6 months of this stage, babies
begin to form representational thoughts and
can keep an object or event in their memory
• For example, understanding that the toy exists
even when it’s not seen is a mental
representation of that toy
– At this age, a child will become angry or frustrated
if a toy is not where he or she left it
Piaget
Preoperational Stage 2 – 7 Years
• Children gain a well organized mental
representation of the world
• Develop a more sophisticated set of schemas
called “operations”
– Operations allow an internal manipulation of ideas
according to a stable set of rules
• This begins at about 7 years of age
• Use of symbols, language, and speech
• Understanding of past, present, and future
Piaget
Preoperational Stage 2 – 7 Years
• Children remain egocentric – do not understand
that other people have different experiences
from themselves
– In a study, children 4 – 7 were given a 3-D model of a
scene
– While the child viewed the scene from one location, a
teddy bear was placed in different locations around
the model
– When asked what the teddy bear would see, children
consistently said that the bear saw the same thing
they did
Egocentrism
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OinqFgsIbh0
Piaget
Preoperational Stage 2 – 7 Years
Failure of Conservation
• Equal sized glasses A and B were put side by side and
filled with the same amount of colored liquid
– 4 year olds can easily say that the amounts are equal
• A new glass C is added that’s taller and narrower than
the original glasses, and the liquid is poured from A to
C
– When asked if there is more liquid in glass B or C, children
say C because the level of higher
Children do not yet understand that the amount of liquid
is constant, even though it is being acted upon
Conservation of Number
A young child will reply that
there are more objects
when they are spread
further apart from each
other
Piaget
Concrete Operational 7 – 11 Years
• Children understand conservation and that
changes to one aspect of a situation by be
compensated for by changes to a different aspect
• Children can understand concrete operations, but
lack the ability to think abstractly
– Ex. 8 or 9 year olds can understand that 4 is an even
number and 4 + 1 is an odd number; 6 is even, 6 + 1 is
odd
– Tend to not see the pattern that adding 1 to any even
number yields an odd number
Piaget
Formal Operational Stage 11 – 15 Years
• Children expand from concrete thinking to
abstract or hypothetical thinking
• Can consider hypothetical possibilities
Problems with Piaget
Object Permanence and Occlusion
• 4 month olds were an image of a rod that
moved back and forth behind an occluding
object
A
Object Permanence and Occlusion
• After becoming habituated to the original display, babies were
shown a non-occluded image
– B with an unbroken moving rod
– C with a broken rod
B
C
Object Permanence and Occlusion
Infants spent more time looking at C than at B
This suggests that they expected the rod to be
one solid piece, even though they could not
see the entire rod
Understanding of Numbers
• 6 month olds were shown two panels simultaneously
with pictures of two or three simple objects
• A drum was sounded over a loudspeaker with booms in
sets of two or sets of three
• When hearing “boom boom,” babies looked at the
panel with two items
• When hearing “boom boom boom,” babies looked at
the panel with three items
This implies that the babies connected the idea of “two”
or “three” between sound and visual stimuli
Conservation of Number
• Children generally do demonstrate understand
that adding an item increases the number of
items in a set and that adding one and
subtracting one leave the total unchanged
• Lack of conservation of number implies that a
child confuses, for example, the length of a
row with the number of objects in a row
Conservation of Number
• In Piaget’s research, children were asked the
same questions twice very quickly, one after
another
• It’s theorized that children may have believed
that the experimenter did not like the child’s
first answer (“they’re the same”) and
therefore changed it when asked again
Egocentrism
• In a study, 2 ½ - 3 year olds were given a
photograph and asked to show it to their
mother, who was sitting opposite the child
• Children turned the photo so that it faced the
mother, implying that they realized that she
had a different viewpoint than they did
Egocentrism and Beliefs
There is evidence that a developmental change
occurs between 3 and 4 ½ years of age
• In “false-belief tests” a child and teddy bear are
seated in front of two boxes, one red and one
green
• The child and teddy bear watch the experimenter
put candy in the red box, and the experimenter
shows both that the green box is empty
• The bear is taken out of the room, and the child
watches the experimenter switch the candy to
the green box
Egocentrism and Beliefs
• The teddy bear is brought back into the room,
and the experimenter asks the child where the
teddy bear will look for the candy
• At age three, children will say the green box
“because that’s where it is”
• By age 4 ½ children will say that the bear will
look in the red box because that’s where the
bear thinks the candy is
This indicates knowledge that others have a
different experience from our own, and
understanding that others may have a false belief
Conservation
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4958684466064517394#
Freud
• Believed that people go through discrete sequential
psychosexual stages of development
• Moving from one state to the next was dependent
upon resolving “conflicts” in the previous stage
– Unsuccessful resolution would result in being stuck in that
phase (fixation) and the person would hold on to
maladaptive behaviors from that phase
• It would also lead to anxiety and mental illness
• Thought that people are driven by a desire for
pleasure, and at different ages different points of the
body were the focus for pleasure
Freud
Stage 1: The Oral Stage 0 – 1 ½ Years
• Pleasure is derived from stimulation of the
mouth (ex. sucking)
• Babies get pleasure from feeding or nursing,
but also learn about the world by putting
objects in their mouths
• The major difficulty in this phase is weaning,
when a baby has less close contact with his
or her mother
Freud
Stage 1: The Oral Stage 0 – 1 ½ Years
Unsuccessful resolution of the oral stage would
result in:
• Passivity
• Immaturity
• Manipulative personality
Freud
Stage 2: Anal Stage 1 ½ - 3 Years
• The focus of attention becomes the child’s anus
• Physiologically, babies begin to gain control over
their bowels at this age and toilet training starts
– The more immediately pleasurable solution for a child
is to “go” wherever and whenever
• Ideally, according to Freud, toilet training is done
gradually so the child slowly learns why it’s
important
Freud
Stage 2: Anal Stage 1 ½ - 3 Years
• Conflict in the anal stage happens if parents
are either too strict or not strict enough in
toilet training
– Being too strict would result in an obsession with
organization or excessive neatness
• “Anal – Retentive”
– Not being strict enough would result in
recklessness, carelessness, defiance, and
disorganization
Freud
Stage 3: Phallic Stage 3- 6 Years
• Attention shifts to the genitals
– This is not in a sexual fashion
• Children discover that they have genitalia, and
that boys and girls are different
• Children become more curious about their
own, and others’, bodies
Freud
Stage 3: Phallic Stage 3- 6 Years
• The main conflict in the phallic stage is the
Oedipus Complex
– Boys want to marry their mothers (or rather, to have
possession of the mother because she fulfills needs)
– As a result, the boy wants to kill his father because the
father is his obstacle to his mother; however, the
father also provides for the child and is bigger and
stronger, so the boy knows that he cannot actually kill
his father
• The boy develops “castration anxiety” fear that the father
will punish the boy
Freud
Stage 3: Phallic Stage 3- 6 Years
• For girls, this is more complicated
– Freud said that girls realize that not only is her
father an obstacle, but she does not have a penis
– Girls develop “penis envy” because of their lack of
power
• Another proposed alternative to the Oedipus
Complex for girls was the Electra Complex
Freud
Stage 3: Phallic Stage 3- 6 Years
• Ideally, the stage is resolved by the child identifying
with their same-sex parent (a boy identifies with his
father, a girl identifies with her mother)
– Identifying with a parent helps the child internalize morals
• For girls, lack of resolution causes striving for
superiority over men or being overly seductive,
flirtatious, or submissive with low self esteem
• For boys, lack of resolution causes excessive ambition
and vanity
• Lack of identifying with one’s parent would lead to
recklessness or immorality
Freud
Stage 4: Latency Stage 6-12 Years
• The child’s focus on their genitals and
sexuality develops into more socially
acceptable behaviors
• Pleasure is derived from the mind and
activities (school, socializing, etc.)
Freud
Stage 5: Genital Stage 12 - adult
• (puberty through adulthood)
• The person learns to accept his or her genitals
and begins to experience mature sexual
feelings
• The major tasks are full separation from one’s
parents and resolving conflicts from the
previous stages
• The primary goal is accepting adult
responsibilities
Freud - Criticisms
• Freud’s developmental theories were heavily
focused on men and the male experience
– For example, “penis envy” seemed to better
reflect women envying the power and social
status that men had, not the penis specifically
Freud - Criticisms
Parents,
especially the
mother, are
blamed for
pathology
Margaret Mahler
Object Relations Theory
• Focuses on the relationship between a mother
(or caregiver) and the infant and the effect of this
relationship on the infant’s development of a
sense of self
• Believes that individuals are born with a drive to
build interpersonal relationships
• The individual’s sense of self and others affects all
subsequent interpersonal relationships
Margaret Mahler
In Object Relations, the main developmental task is
differentiating between the self and others
The three main stages of development are:
1. Autistic stage: newborn – 1 month
2. Symbiotic stage: 1 – 5 months
3. Separation-Individuation stage: 5 – 24 months
“Object” refers not only to literal objects, but to
other people
Margaret Mahler
Autistic Stage newborn – 1 month
• The infant is focused entirely on him or herself
• Mostly unresponsive to external stimuli
• Does not perceive others as separate beings
Margaret Mahler
Symbiotic Stage 1 – 5 months
• The infant begins to perceive the
mother/caregiver as a “need-satisfying object”
• The infant feels unity with the mother, but
begins to understand that the mother is a
separate being
Margaret Mahler
Separation – Individuation Stage
The Separation-Individuation Stage is made up
of four sub-stages
1. Differentiation: 5 – 9 months
2. Practicing: 9 – 14 months
3. Rapprochement: 14 – 24 months
4. Object Constancy: after 24 months
Margaret Mahler
Separation – Individuation Stage
• Differentiation Sub-Stage: 5 – 9 months
– The infant’s attention shifts from being inwardly
focused to outwardly focused
– The infant begins to separate from the caretaker
(for example, learning to crawl)
Margaret Mahler
Separation – Individuation Stage
• Practicing Sub-Stage: 9 – 14 months
– The infant continues to separate from the
caretaker
– More autonomous functioning
– The infant becomes more independently mobile
and more active
• Ex. walking, playing, etc.
Margaret Mahler
Separation – Individuation Stage
• Rapprochement Sub-Stage: 14 – 24 months
– The baby begins to want to act independently
– The baby moves away from his or her
mother/caregiver, but regularly comes back to
make sure that the caregiver is still there
Margaret Mahler
Separation – Individuation Stage
• Object Constancy Sub-Stage: after 24 months
– The baby has an internalized mental
representation of his or her caregiver and
understands that the caregiver continues to exist
even when they are not together
Mahler and Object Relations
A transitional object is
an object that the
individual can
mentally associate
with a specific
person when that
person is not
physically present
Ex. a “security blanket”
or for adults a piece
of jewelry/heirloom
Erikson
• Psychosocial Theory
– Emphasizes individual’s ability to change and shape
their personalities
– Believes that childhood is an important time in
development, but that development continues
throughout the lifespan
– People have the ability to adapt to and change their
environments
– Considers the importance of the individual’s own
psychological system, but also their biology and social
systems
Erikson
• Each stage of development focuses on a
particular area of growth, builds on the previous
stages, and paves the way for future stages
• Each stage has a psychosocial crisis which must
be resolved
– The crises are marked by a conflict between two
opposing personality traits
– Healthy development requires a balance between the
two
• Crisis resolution depends on the individual and
his or her social environment
Erikson
Trust v. Mistrust
Autonomy v. Shame and
Doubt
Initiative v. Guilt
Industry v. Inferiority
Identify v. Role Confusion
Intimacy v. Isolation
Generativity v. Stagnation
Ego Integrity v. Despair
Birth to 1 year
2 – 3 years
4 – 5 years
6 – 11 years
12 – 18 years (adolescence)
20 – 35 years
35 – 50 years
50 years and up
Erikson
Trust v. Mistrust: birth – 1 year
• The infant develops a sense of trust in others
through being nurtured and loved
• If an infant is not nurtured and loved, he or
she will experience a high level of mistrust
– This causes the child to be withdrawn later in life
Erikson
Autonomy v. Shame and Doubt: 2 – 3 years
• The child begins to develop skills that allow
him or her to be autonomous
– i.e., motor and verbal skills
• The child becomes more confident and in
control
• If a child is not provided with what he or she
needs socially (ex. nurturance) he or she will
feel ashamed and less confident
Erikson
Initiative v. Guilt: 4 – 5 years
• The child becomes curious and moves around
into new spaces to explore
• The child learns to play with others
• A child who is not allowed to take initiative
will feel guilty and fearful
Erikson
Industry v. Inferiority: 6 – 11 years
• A child develops a need to do things well,
work, and to provide in the future
• School and peers are important in assisting
the child in his or her mastery over tasks
• If a child fails to achieve a sense of mastery, he
or she will feel inferior and incompetent
Erikson
Identity v. Role Confusion: 12 – 18 years
• An adolescent begins to create his or her own
identity and integrate the various components
of him or herself into a whole person
• An adolescent who is unable to integrate will
experience role confusion
Erikson
Intimacy v. Isolation: 20 – 35 years
• The individual learns to build reciprocal
relationships with others socially, sexually, and
occupationally
• Individuals who do not build these
relationships will feel isolated
Erikson
Generativity v. Stagnation: 35 – 50 years
• The individual develops the capacity to care
and nurture
• An individual who fails at this stage will focus
only on caring for him or herself
Erikson
Ego Integrity v. Despair: 50+ years
• The individual
learns to accept his
or her own life
achievements and
those of significant
others
• If the individual fails
at this, he or she
will experience
despair
Kohlberg
• Believed that at birth people lack all morals,
ethics, and honesty; moral development is
leaned from the individual’s family
• Three levels of moral development, each
consisting of two stages
Kohlberg
• Pre-Conventional Level: birth – 9 years
• Conventional Level: 9 – 15 years
• Post-Conventional Level: 15 - adult
Kohlberg
Pre-Conventional Level Birth – 9 Years
• Stage 1
– Begins at school age
– In this stage we behave according to social norms
to avoid punishment
• Stage 2
– The individual acts according to his or her own
best interest
Kohlberg
Conventional Level 9 – 15 Years
• Stage 3
– The individual behaves to gain the approval of
others
• Stage 4
– The individual behaves in accordance with laws
and rules
Kohlberg
Post-Conventional 15 - Adult
• Stage 5
– The individual begins to gain a genuine interest in
others and to understand social mutuality
• Stage 6
– The individual develops autonomous morality
based on individual conscience
•
Kohlberg believed that no one actually reaches level 6
Kohlberg’s Theory of
Moral Development
Level
Stage Social Orientation
PreConventional
1
Obedience: Avoid punishment
2
Personal reward
Conventional
3
Good boy/good girl
Gain approval and avoid disapproval
4
Law and order
Conformity with rules
5
Social contract
6
Universal ethical
PostConventional
Summary of Developmental Theorists
• Opinions differ over whether stages must happen
sequentially and whether we move from one
stage to another abruptly or gradually
• Opinions differ over what happens if stages are
not completed in the ideal fashion
• It’s not truly possible to “prove” any one of the
theories completely true or false
– They largely give suggestions to guide research and
interpret behavior
Attachment
• Old theory said that infants are attached to
their mothers because the mother satisfies
basic physical needs
– Food, warmth, physical protection, relief from
pain
– This was known as the “cupboard theory”
Attachment
• John Bowlby and others said that there had to be
more to attachment than fulfillment of basic
needs
– For example, babies show interest in strangers who do
not provide food
• The new belief was that infants are born with
social needs and therefore seek contact
• The mother therefore fulfills needs and provides
interaction, safety and a feeling of comfort
Attachment
• Harlow conducted a study using newborn
rhesus monkeys raised without their mothers
• Each monkey lived in a cage with two figures
•A “wire
mother” that
had a nipple to
dispense milk
•A “terry-cloth
mother” that did
not provide food
but was cuddly
Harlow
• The monkeys spent significantly more time
with the terry-cloth mother
• Harlow presented the monkeys with a
mechanical toy that made loud noises; the
monkeys rushed to the terry cloth mother and
clung to “her,” suggesting that they were
seeking comfort
Harlow
• Overall, Harlow concluded that babies are attached to
their mothers because the mother provides comfort,
not simply as a source of things
Attachment
• In further studies, Harlow isolated monkeys
completely (provided food, but no terry-cloth
mother figure)
• Three months of isolation had little effect, but
longer periods led to major disturbances
– The monkeys huddled in a corner of the cage and
rocked back and forth
– When exposed to normal monkeys, they did not
engage in play and instead withdrew, rocked, and
bit themselves
Attachment – Harlow continued
• Monkeys raised in isolation later on could not
engage in normal interactions with other
monkeys and tended to become violent
• If they had babies, they showed no ability to
love or care for their offspring
– In some cases, the monkeys actually abused their
babies
Attachment
What about humans?
• Infants raised in relative isolation in orphanages
showed major developmental impairments
– Some were desperate for love and attention
– Others were apathetic to people – they did not
approach or seek comfort from other people
• Other studies of people who were raised in
deprived orphanage environments show
intellectual deficits, particularly in language and
abstract thinking; heightened physical
aggression; delinquency; indifference to others
Repairing the Damage
• Monkeys raised in isolation were later placed
with monkeys younger than themselves
– The younger monkeys sought contact, but would
not be physically aggressive
• The older monkeys eventually adapted and
were able to play and normally interact
• While monkeys who were raised in isolation
showed difficulty mothering a first child, they
reacted normally to second born babies
Repairing the Damage
• Similar results have been found with humans
– People who were taken out of the orphanages
eventually caught up with their peers, while those
who stayed in orphanages longer did not
Attachment Styles
There are two aspects to attachment:
1. Being with the caregiver brings contentment
2. Being away from the caregiver evokes distress
Initially, infants cannot always differentiate their
own mother from other adults. By 6 – 8 months,
the infant knows who his or her mother is and
becomes upset when they are separated
Ainsworth and the Strange Situation
Mary Ainsworth developed the following method of
studying a baby’s attachment (generally used
with 1 year olds) to his or her mother:
• A child is brought to an unfamiliar playroom and
is given the chance to explore and play with the
mother present
• After some time, a stranger (the experimenter)
comes in, speaks to the mother, and approaches
the child
Ainsworth and the Strange Situation
• The mother leaves the room briefly, leaving the child
alone with the stranger
• After a few minutes, the mother returns and the
stranger leaves
– (In some variations, the mother leaves twice. The second
time the stranger leaves as well, leaving the child alone in
the room)
The focus is primarily on how the baby responds to the
mother’s returning, with some attention paid to the
baby’s behavior when the mother is absent.
Babies are said to have one of the following “attachment styles”
Attachment Styles
• Securely attached
– The child explores the room while the mother is
there and may interact with the stranger
– Shows some distress when the mother leaves
– Is very happy and quickly consoled when the
mother returns
• People who are securely attached as children
tend to be better adjusted socially as adults
and have better self esteem
Attachment Styles
• Anxious-Ambivalent Insecure Attachment
– Does not explore/explores very little when the
mother is present
– Becomes upset and panicky when the mother leaves
– Acts ambivalent during the reunion
• E.g., runs to the mother to be picked up, but immediately
wants to be put down
• Might push the mother away
• It is believed that these pairs interact on the mother’s
terms only
• As adults, they are more likely to have difficulties in
relationships and worry that their partner does not love
him or her
Attachment Styles
• Anxious-Avoidant Insecure Attachment
– The child is distant and aloof from the beginning of the
interaction
– Shows little distress when the mother leaves the room
– Ignores the mother when she comes back
• It is believed that the mother is generally disengaged from
the child and often does not meet his or her needs. The
child comes to feel that his or her actions have little to no
impact on the mother
• As adults they are more likely to have problems with
intimacy and invest little in social or emotional
relationships
Attachment Styles
• Disorganized Attachment
(this was added later)
– The child cries during the separation, but is not
comforted by the mother when she returns
– The child may avoid her, curl up on the floor, or show
stereotyped behaviors (i.e., rocking, hitting oneself)
– This is more common if the mother experienced a loss
shortly before or after the child’s birth and was
severely depressed
– The child is likely to act like a caretaker for his or her
mother
Attachment Styles
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTsewNr
HUHU
Summary of Attachment
In America, secure attachment is considered ideal
and about 65% of 1 year olds are securely
attached.
Which attachment style is considered healthiest
depends on cultural variables and values
Summary of Attachment
• It is unclear whether the mother causes the
child’s behavior entirely, or if it is a reciprocal
relationship
• If a child naturally engages less, the mother may
adapt and learn to engage less with her child
• More recent research has shown that babies
exhibit the same attachment styles with fathers