Continuing and Distance Education
Introductory Psychology 1023
Lecture 2: Human Development
Reading: Chapter 10
Six months gestation: Nervous
system and crucial internal organs
Last three months: Body weight,
surface features (hair, skin)
Basic Developmental Questions

Maturation vs. learning; hair color is canalized
(high nature); writing is not (high learning)
• Example: Nature-Nurture debate over intelligence
• Example: Cultural variation in child-rearing practice

Continuity vs. discontinuity; Stages occur in
sequence, rapid transition, behavior organized
• locomotion, butterflys, sexual maturity, swim badges
• at what age do these transitions happen?
• Example: Does cognitive development occur in a
stages?
Jean Piaget’s Theory


Coherent problem-solving underlies
children’s thought and progresses through a
series of stages
Schemas, are mental frameworks that allow
children to adapt to their environment
 Assimilation: New information fits existing
schemas: bang spoons and sticks on pots;
 Accommodation: New information does not fit -schema must change: squeeze “Teddy” but not the
dog
Stages of development

Sensorimotor: birth to age 2; reflexive
actions are used to provide sensations
• egocentrism, object permanence, and
representational thought by 2

Pre-operational: age 2 to 7;
representational thought and verbal
communication
• intentional experimentation with objects and language
through play
• Conservation: physical properties of objects can
remain the same even when form or appearance
changes
Concrete operational stage




Age 7 until 12; children can manipulate
internal representations
Conservation of liquid quantity experiment:
children now pass
Conservation of volume: Flubber or sillyputty
Concept of identity: A girl in boy’s clothes
is still a girl
Formal-operational stage



11 or 12 years of age onward; children can
manipulate abstract concepts
Second-order relations: They can
understand relationships between relations,
e.g., division and multiplication are
opposite
Algebra, geometry, ven-diagrams
Moral Development

Kohlberg’s model: Should you steal medicine for
a sick friend?
• Preconventional morality age 7-10: Punishment and
obedience; TROUBLE
• Conventional morality age 10-16: Social rules
internalized, conscience; SHOULD’NT
• Post-conventional morality 16+: Internal moral
principles outweigh social rules; SHOULD

Problems: Care and compassion are important
too, inconsistent responding, reasoning is
unrelated to behavior
Maasi in africa: Attachment theory is cross-cultural
Young infants need caregivers for
contact, security, and distress
resolution




Separation anxiety: distress when left alone
Distress when strangers or other threats are
around
Social referencing
Categories of infant caregiver relationships
can be described from how children depend
on and act within relationships
Patterns in Infancy: Ainsworth’s
Strange Situation




Three patterns which differ on proximityseeking and distress resolution
Avoidant (A): No distress or proximityseeking, no distinction between mother and
stranger
Secure (B): Distress resolved, proximityseeking
Resistant (C): Distress not resolved,
ambivalent proximity-seeking