Chapter 4
Developing Through
the Life Span
Developmental Psychology
• Developmental Psychologist
Study the physical, cognitive, social and
moral changes throughout the life cycle
Developmental Psychology
• Three major issues in
developmental psychology
1. Nature vs. Nurture
2. Continuity vs. Stages
3. Stability vs. Change
Prenatal Development and the
Newborn
• Zygote (Germinal Period)
Begins at fertilization and lasts for the first
two weeks
Appearance: begins
as a single cell, then
cell division begins
Prenatal Development and the
Newborn
• Embryo (Embryonic Period)
Begins at 2 weeks and goes until the 8th
week
Prenatal Development and the
Newborn
• Embryo (Embryonic Period)
– Appearance: In appearance, the
embryo is almost all head. It is about 1
inch in length. It has developed a spinal
cord and a two-lobe brain. Many of the
major organs have been formed as well
as eyes, ears, a nose, a jaw, a mouth,
and lips. It also has tiny arms with
stubby fingers, and legs with knees,
ankles, and toes.
Prenatal Development and the
Newborn
• Fetus (Fetal Period)
(Latin for “offspring” or “young ones” )
Lasts approximately 30 weeks
at 20 weeks
Prenatal Development and the
Newborn
• Fetus
– At 9 weeks it can bend fingers and toes
– At 6 months it can cry, open & close its eyes, & grasp.
The 6 month old fetus even has taste buds
– During the 6th month, organs are sufficiently formed
and functional enough to allow a prematurely born
fetus a chance of survival
– Fetuses are responsive to sound
– During the last 8-9 weeks the fetus gains ½ pound
per week
– Average birth height = 20 inches long
– Average birth weight = 7+ pounds
Prenatal Development and the
Newborn
• Teratogens:
– Harmful substances that invade the womb
– Teratogens affect fewer than 10% of fetuses
– Most damaging during a critical period (embryonic
stage)
– During the fetal period, teratogens affect the
baby’s size, behavior, intelligence, & health rather
than the formation of organs
Prenatal Development and the
Newborn
• Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS)
Physical
Features
FAS also results in impaired physical and
mental growth. FAS is now the leading
cause of mental retardation
The Competent Newborn
• William James
The Competent Newborn
• Reflex: unlearned behavior
– Rooting
– Palmar
-Moro
The Competent Newborn
• Newborns’ senses at birth
– Vision: Vision is the least developed
sense at birth. Neonates’ vision is
blurry. It is estimated that neonates
have 20/300 eyesight.
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/brain/episode1/infantvision/flash.html
The Competent Newborn
• Newborns’ senses at birth
– Vision: Infants prefer to look at objects
8 to 12 inches away (the approximate
distance between a nursing infant’s
eyes and the mother’s)
• Size constancy is present at birth
The Competent Newborn
• Vision
– Depth Perception: Doesn’t develop until
later (6 months) Infants are unable to use
monocular depth cues until about 7 months of
age.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VPaBcT1KdY
The Competent Newborn
• Hearing
Neonates hear poorly. However, they
prefer the sound of the human voice and
at 3 weeks, show preference for their
mother’s voice
They prefer high-pitched,
exaggerated, and
expressive speech
The Competent Newborn
• Taste
Infants respond to four basic tastes
(sweet, sour, salty, and bitter). But they
usually prefer sweet
The Competent Newborn
• Smell
Within days of birth, the newborn
distinguishes its mother’s odor from
that of a stranger
The Competent Newborn
These senses at
birth help the
newborn adapt
to life outside
the womb
Infancy and Childhood
• Brain Development
Within the brain, nerve cells form before birth.
After birth, the neural networks that enable us to
walk, talk, and remember have a wild growth
spurt. From ages 3-6, growth occurs most
rapidly in the frontal lobes which enable rational
planning. The association areas of the cortex,
which are linked to thinking, memory, and
language are the last brain areas to develop.
Infancy and Childhood
• Maturation
–Biological growth processes that
enable orderly changes in behavior,
relatively uninfluenced by experiences
Infancy and Childhood
–Experience has little effect on maturation.
We roll over, crawl, walk & learn to run based
largely on our genetic blueprint and no amount
of experience will change our genetic blueprint
Infancy and Childhood
• Motor Development
– As the infant’s muscles and nervous
system mature, ever more complicated
skills emerge. The sequence is universal;
the timing varies.
– Genes play a major role in maturation.
Identical twins typically begin sitting up &
walking on nearly the same day
Infancy and Childhood
Infancy and Childhood
• Infantile Amnesia
– The inability to remember clearly or
accurately the first years of life
Due to infantile
amnesia, I will not
remember this
embarrassment
Cognitive Development
• Jean Piaget
– created a theory that all humans
progress through four cognitive
developmental stages.
Cognitive Development
• Piaget’s general beliefs
– Children are ACTIVE thinkers
– Children think differently than adults
– Older children are not necessarily smarter,
their thought processes are totally different
– The child’s mind develops through a series
of stages from simple reflexes to the
abstract reasoning that is characteristic of
adults
Cognitive Development
• Schemas
– Mental images/templates that provide a
framework for understanding future
experiences. We start with a few simple
schemas and throughout life develop
more. These schemas also become
more complicated as we develop
Cognitive Development
• Assimilation
– Incorporating new information into our
existing schemas without modification
• Accommodation
– Adjusting our schemas to fit the
particulars of new experiences.
Children use accommodation when
assimilation no longer works
Cognitive Development
Other examples?
Cognitive Development
• Cognition
–All mental activities
associated with
thinking, such as
perceiving, knowing, conceiving,
remembering, reasoning, judging,
imagining, and problem solving
Cognitive Development
• Piaget’s Theory and Current Thinking
– Piaget’s theory is a stage theory
What does that mean?
Cognitive Development
• Critics today believe that
development is more continuous than
Piaget thought.
• Critics also believe that Piaget
underestimated young children’s
capabilities
Cognitive Development
• Sensorimotor Stage (0-2 years)
– During this stage, infants experience
their world through their senses
(seeing, hearing, etc) and motor
activities (grasping, sucking…)
and a combination
of the two
Cognitive Development
• Sensorimotor Stage (0-2 years)
– Object Permanence: begins to develop at
around 8 months. It is the infant’s realization
that objects continue to exist even when they
are out of the range of the senses.
Cognitive Development
• Stranger Anxiety: The distress, fear,
and unhappiness experienced
by young children when they are around
people who are unfamiliar to them.
This helps protect
babies
Cognitive Development
• Deduction:
Babies begin to use
signs to signal
events.
This is the beginning
of understanding
causality.
Cognitive Development
• Preoperational Stage (2-6)
The child learns to use language
but does not yet
comprehend the
mental operations of
concrete logic
Cognitive Development
• Preoperational Stage: This stage is
characterized by cognitive limitations such
as…
– Lack of conservation skills
– Egocentricism
– Animism
– Artificialism
– One dimentional thinking
Cognitive Development
• Preoperational Stage
– Lack of conservation skills: the child does not
understand that properties such as mass,
volume, and number remain the same even if
the object’s form changes.
Cognitive Development
• Preoperational Stage
– Egocentricism: the inability to take another
person’s point of view
(egocentricism = selfishness or conceit)
Cognitive Development
• Preoperational Stage
– Animism: the tendency to attribute life to
inanimate objects
A preoperational child
believes that this
snowman is real and
has feelings
Cognitive Development
• Preoperational Stage
– Artificialism: the idea that natural
phenomena are created by human beings.
(such as the sun is created by a man with a
match, or mountains were made by people
who piled up dirt with a shovel)
Cognitive Development
• Preoperational Stage
– One dimensional thinking: (Centration)
The preoperational child can only view the
world in one dimensional way. They can not
concentrate on two qualities of an object at
once.
Cognitive Development
• Preoperational Stage
– Pretend Play
The preoperational child begins to use
symbols to represent objects that aren’t
present
Cognitive Development
• Preoperational Stage
– Language Development
Although their language skills develop during
the preoperational stage, their communication
is often egocentric
Cognitive Development
• Concrete Operational Stage:
During this stage, children are less
egocentric, and can think logically about
concrete objects, and begin to master
conservation skills
Cognitive Development
• Concrete Operational Stage:
– Conservation Skills: Principle that
properties such as mass, volume, and
number remain the same despite changes in
their appearance
Cognitive Development
• Concrete Operational Stage:
Understanding mathematical
transformations allow the concrete
operational child to enjoy math-based
jokes that used to be over their heads.
Cognitive Development
• Formal Operational Stage (12-):
– During this stage, people begin to think
logically about abstract concepts, they can
appreciate shades of gray, isolate variables,
etc.
Cognitive Development
_____Upon seeing a glass lying on its side, Zeon
says, “Look, the glass is tired. It is taking
a nap”
_____Zoe is told that a farmer has nine cows and
six horses. The teacher asks, “Does the
farmer have more cows or more animals?”
Zoe answers, “More animals.”
_____Zelda is playing in the living room with a small
red
ball. The ball rolls under the sofa. She stares
for a
moment at the place where the ball vanished and then turns
her attention to a toy truck sitting in front of her.
Cognitive Development
• Reflecting on Piaget’s Theory
Recent research shows that young children are
more capable & their development more
continuous than Piaget believed. The cognitive
abilities that emerge at each stage have begun
developing at earlier ages. Today’s researchers
also see formal logic as a smaller part of cognition
than Piaget did. Nonetheless, studies support his
idea that human cognition unfolds basically in the
sequence he proposed.
Application
• Zala has a 4-year old brother named Zeon who
is a very finicky eater. Zeon usually spends
family dinner time whining about his food. One
evening as Zeon was complaining that he had
been given too much zucchini to eat and too
much milk to drink, Zala, had an idea how she
could convince Zeon to stop fussing. That day
in school Zala had been studying about Piaget’s
theory of cognitive development. What do you
think her idea was?
Social Development
• Stranger Anxiety
– Stranger anxiety is the distress, fear, and
unhappiness experienced by young children when
they are around individuals who are unfamiliar to
them. Stranger anxiety is a normal part of cognitive
development. Babies differentiate caregivers from
other people and display a strong preference for
familiar faces. Stranger anxiety usually begins
around 8 or 9 months of age (but can begin as early
as 6 months) and typically lasts into the 2nd year
Social Development
• Origins of Attachment
– Attachment: the attachment bond is a
survival impulse that keeps infants close to
their caregivers. Infants become attached to
their parents or primary caregivers not simply
because they gratify biological needs
(nourishment) but also because they
provide body contact that
is soft and warm
Social Development
• Body Contact (Harlow monkey studies)
– Harlow’s monkeys were raised with a
surrogate “mother”. One mother was a wire
mother that provided nourishment (milk) the
other mother did not provide nourishment but
provided contact comfort (it was covered in
terry cloth).
Social Development
• Findings of Harlow’s monkey studies
– Harlow’s monkeys sought comfort from the
terry cloth mother when anxious and only
sought out the wire mother when needing
nourishment.
Origins of Attachment
• Familiarity
– Familiarity provides another key to
attachment. In animals, attachments based
on familiarity often form during a critical period
during which an organism learns a behavior
the easiest
Origins of Attachment
• Imprinting
– Newly hatched chicks tended to
follow the first moving object,
human or animal, that caught their
attention
• Konrad Lorenz: Austrian ethnologist
who introduced the term imprinting
Social Development
• Attachment: (Bowlby)
– The tendency of human infants and young
nonhuman animals to become emotionally
close to certain individuals and to be calm
while in their presence
– Mary Ainsworth assessed this using the
“Strange Situation”
(See video clip)
Social Development
• Attachment
– Securely attached (60% of children)
has a positive parent-child relationship in
which the child displays confidence when the
parent is present, shows mild distress when
the parent leaves, and quickly reestablishes
contact when the parent returns. Sensitive
responsive parents tend to have securely
attached children
Social Development
• Attachment
– Insecurely attached
Has generally a negative parent-child
relationship in which the child fails to display
confidence when the parent is present,
sometimes shows distress when the parent
leaves, and reacts to the return by avoidance.
Insensitive, unresponsive parents have
infants who often become insecurely
attached.
Social Development
• Attachment
– Were the attachments styles that infants
formed a result of how they were raised or
a result of their temperament?
• Psychologists still do not know the answer
to this question. Research needs to be
done that controls for temperament when
studying attachment
Social Development
• Temperament
– The basic foundation of personality, usually
assumed to be biologically determined and
present early in life, including such
characteristics as energy level, emotional
responsiveness, response tempo and
willingness to explore
Social Development
• Temperament
– Difficult Babies: irregular, irritable, intense
– Easy Babies: (most common type) predictable,
react to new situations cheerfully, seldom fuss, and
generally display positive moods
– Slow-to-warm-up Babies: react warily to new
situations but eventually, and very gradually come
to enjoy them. They also have a low activity level
Social Development
• Disruption of Attachment
– Infants who experience abuse or extreme
neglect often become withdrawn, frightened,
even speechless
– Children who are prevented from forming
attachments by age 2 may be at risk for
attachment problems.
• Does Day Care Affect Attachment?
DEPRVIATION OF ATTACHMENT
• Does Day Care Affect Attachment?
– There appears to be no negative impact of
maternal employment on the child’s
development.
– Long term daycare:
• Slightly advanced thinking & language skills
• Slight increase of aggressiveness and
defiance
Social Development
• Self-Concept:
– a sense of one’s identity and personal worth
– Our self-concept develops gradually
– When does self-concept begin to emerge?
• At about 15-18 months of age, infants will
recognize themselves in a mirror.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTP01Wbsh0E&NR=1
Social Development
• Self-Concept
– When does self-concept begin to emerge?
• By school age, children start to describe
themselves in terms of their gender, group
memberships, and psychological traits.
They also compare themselves with other
children
• By age 8 or 10, children’s self-images are
quite stable.
Social Development
• Self-Concept
– What are the benefits of developing a
positive self-concept?
Students who have positive self-concept are
more confident, independent, optimistic,
assertive and sociable.
Child-Rearing Practices
• Three Types of Parenting Styles
– Authoritarian
Restrictive parenting style in which the parent
stresses OBEDIENCE. “Because I said so.”
is a common response. They do not seek or
accept any input from their children.
They try to curb the
children’s will
Child-Rearing Practices
• Effects on children
– Children tend to be unfriendly, distrustful, and
withdrawn
Child-Rearing Practices
• Three Types of Parenting Styles
– Permissive: a relaxed parenting style
in which the parent or caregiver
behaves toward the child in a nonpunishing manner. A permissive
parent tends to make few
demands, avoids exercising
control, and encourages children
to govern their own behavior.
They give their children complete
freedom and have lax discipline
Child-Rearing Practices
• Effects on Children
– Children tend to be
immature, dependent,
and unhappy. They
are also likely to have
tantrums, or ask for
help when they
encounter even
slight difficulties
Child-Rearing Practices
• Authoritative
– A collaborative parenting style in which the
parent encourages a child’s autonomy and
independence yet sill places certain limitations or
restrictions on the child’s behavior. The parent
typically explains & promotes discussion of the
reasons for such limitations or restrictions. They
allow children increasing responsibility as they
get older and are better at making decisions.
They are reasonable & rational.
Child-Rearing Practices
• Effects on Children
– Children tend to be
friendly, cooperative,
self-reliant, and socially
responsible. They
tend to have high
self-esteem and
social competence
Results for Parenting Quiz
• Permissive
(numbers1,6,10,13,14,17,19,21,24,28)
• Authoritarian
(numbers 2,3,7,9,12,16,18,25)
• Authoritative
(numbers 4,5,8,11,15,20,22,23,27,30)
Adolescence
• Adolescence
– The period of human development that starts
with puberty (10-12) and ends with
physiological maturity (19ish). During this
period major changes occur at varying rates
in sexual characteristics, body image, sexual
interest, social roles, intellectual development,
and self-concept
Adolescence
• G. Stanley Hall
– G. Stanley Hall was the first to describe
adolescence as a separate field of study. He
described the period as a time of great
“Sturm und Drang”
Adolescence
• Is Adolescence a period of Storm and
Stress?
• Margaret Mead
Adolescence
• Physical Development
– Puberty: the stage of development when the
genital
organs reach maturity
and the person
become capable of
reproduction. Puberty
follows a surge of
hormones, which may
intensify moods
Adolescence
• Primary Sexual Characteristics
Those characteristics that are directly
involved in reproduction
• Secondary Sexual Characteristics
Those characteristics not directly involved in
reproduction, such as voice quality, and the
presence of body hair, breasts and hips
Adolescence
• Menarche
– The first incidence of menstruation in a
female, marking the onset of puberty. The
age of onset varies among individual cultures.
It tends to occur earlier in Western countries.
Why may this be?
– It is a good example of the interaction
between nature and nurture
Adolescence
• Late Versus Early Maturing
– Boys
• Early Maturing: in general they are more relaxed, more
popular, more self-assured, and more independent than
other males
• Late Maturing: in general are more attention getting,
more defiant, and have lower self-esteem
– Girls
• Early Maturing: in general they are more submissive,
lower in popularity, and less satisfied with their bodies
• Late Maturing: may notice an amplification of their
existing problems
Adolescence
• Cognitive Development
– Formal Operations (Piaget)
Cognitive functions become completely
developed. The person is now capable of
abstract thinking, logical processes,
conceptualization, hypothetical thinking, and
judgment
Cows
1
Old
MacAlpine
Old
MacDonald
Old
MacManus
2
3
Goats
1
2
3
Pigs
1
2
3
Moral Development
• Lawrence Kohlberg
– A psychologist from Harvard, he did
research on moral development. He
found that moral growth begins early
and proceeds in stages. He divides our
moral development into three levels.
Each level has two stages. The
sequence of the levels do not vary.
However, the timing does.
Moral Development
Moral Development
• Preconventional Level
(birth-9 years)
Moral values reside in a person’s own
needs and wants.
This level is
characterized by a
desire to avoid
punishment or
gain reward.
Moral Development
• Preconventional
– Stage 1: Spanking Stage
The child’s moral reasoning reflects a
desire to avoid pain or punishment
– Stage 2: Lollipop Stage
The child’s morality is based on his/her desire
to get something good (You scratch my back,
I’ll scratch yours)
Moral Development
• Conventional Level (ages 9-19):
Morality of law and social rules. Moral
judgments are made to get approval by
pleasing and helping others. The primary
concern of conventional moral reasoning
is to fit in and play the role of a good
citizen
Moral Development
• Stage 3: “Good Boy/Nice Girl”
The main goal of this stage is to get
approval from others.
Moral Development
• Stage 4: “Play-by-the-rules Stage”
– Emphasis is placed on doing one’s duty,
respecting authority, and maintaining social
order. The person in this level obeys rules not
because he/she is afraid of punishment but
rather because
he/she sees a NEED
for the rules for
people to live in
harmony.
Moral Development
• Post Conventional Level
(end of adolescence, if ever)
– Morality of the abstract. Rules agreed on by
the whole society are accepted as binding, yet
looked on as subject to change. If the rules
are wrong the person will work to create
better rules
Moral Development
• Stage 5: Conviction Stage
Rules are seen as arbitrary but necessary
(so the rules are respected)
Moral Development
• Stage 6: “Love Stage”
They believe that morality is based on
justice
Moral Development
• Criticisms of Kohlberg’s Theory
– Cultural Bias: Collectivist cultures see
morality as tied in with the good of the
community, not to some personal standard.
So people in collective societies would be in
the conventional level
Moral Development
• Criticisms of Kohlberg’s Theory
– Carol Gilligan: She argued
that for women the emphasis
for moral reasoning is not
justice but rather caring
(the need to protect
enduring relationships and
fulfill human needs)
Moral Development
• Moral Action
– Moral reasoning does not always
guarantee moral behavior. Our
behavior depends on social influences.
• Example: Nazi concentration camp guards
during WWII were ordinary “moral” people
who were corrupted by a powerfully evil
situation.
Social Development
• Erik Erikson
Social Development
• Trust
vs.
Mistrust
Social Development
• Autonomy
vs.
Shame and Doubt
Social Development
• Initiative
vs.
Guilt
Social Development
• Industry
vs.
Inferiority
Social Development
• Identity
vs.
Role Confusion
Social Development
• Identity: A strong consistent sense of who
you are. In an attempt to form a sense of
identity, adolescents may engage in:
– experimentation- careers, activities, religion
– rebellion- testing parents’ limits for grooming and
fashion
Social Development
• Identity:
– Optimism and energy:
Most teenagers view the world with a fresh
perspective. They have trouble
understanding why some children go to bed
hungry and why adults tolerate pollution,
discrimination, racism, etc. Many adolescents
are willing to contribute time and effort to
make the world a better place
Social Development
• Intimacy
vs.
Isolation
Social Development
• Intimacy:
– Sharing yourself with and caring for another
person, without losing yourself in the process.
Erikson believes that you can only achieve
intimacy after you have developed a sense of
identity
Social Development
• Generativity vs.
Stagnation
Social Development
• Ego Integrity
vs.
Despair
Social Development