Developmental Psychology
The study of YOU from womb to tomb.
We are going to study how we change
physically, socially, cognitively and morally
over our lifetimes.
Bio/Psycho
/Social
Adolescence
Bio/Psycho
Lifespan
Development!
/Social
Adulthood
& Death
Pre-Natal,
Infancy &
Childhood
We are
here
Bio
Conception!
Zygote/Embryo/Fetus
Teratogens
Reflexes/Abilities
Maturation
Brain Developmet
Infantile Amnesia
(Mods 8-9)
Psycho
(Cognitive Development)
Jean Piaget
Schemas
(assimilation/accommodation)
4 Stages!!
(Mod 9)
Social
Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive
Development
• Sensorimotor
• Preoperational
• Concrete Operational
• Formal Operational
Sensorimotor Stage
• 0-2
• Experience the world through
our senses. (put everything in
their mouths!
• Do NOT have object
permanence.
Click Mom to see a baby with no
object permanence.
Conservation
• Conservation refers to the
idea that a quantity
remains the same despite
changes in appearance and
is part of logical thinking.
Click the boy to see kids
trying to grasp
conservation.
Click the boy
to see kids
with
egocentrism.
Preoperational Stage
2-7
Have object permanence
Animism
Egocentric: cannot look at
the world through
anyone’s eyes but their
own.
• Minimal “theory of mind”
• Do NOT understand
concepts of conservation.
•
•
•
•
Mnemonics?
•SO/PECTA
Concrete Operational Stage
• Can demonstrate
concept of
conservation.
• Learn to think
logically
• Reversibility
– 5+9 = 9+5
Click the penguin to see kids try to grasp concrete logic.
Formal Operational Stage
• Abstract reasoning
• Manipulate objects
in our minds without
seeing them
• Hypothesis testing
• Trial and Error
• Metacognition
• Not every adult gets
to this stage
• What would the world
look like with no light?
• Picture God
• What way do you best
learn?
Criticisms of Piaget
• Some say he
underestimates the
abilities of children.
• InformationProcessing Model says
children to not learn in
stages but rather a
gradual continuous
growth.
• Studies show that our
attention span grows
gradually over time.
Bio/Psycho
/Social
Adolescence
Bio/Psycho
Lifespan
Development!
/Social
Adulthood
& Death
Pre-Natal,
Infancy &
Childhood
We are
here
Bio
Conception!
Zygote/Embryo/Fetus
Teratogens
Reflexes/Abilities
Maturation
Brain Developmet
Infantile Amnesia
(Mods 8-9)
Psycho
(Cognitive Development)
Jean Piaget
Schemas
(assimilation/accommodation)
4 Stages!!
(Mod 9)
Social
Do Now 
• Grab a concept map
• Complete the Piaget Review
• Have out your Piaget Packet from yesterday
(finish if you need to)
Infancy and Childhood
Social Development
Do Now
• Complete the Piaget Practice Quiz
• Read “A Father for Every Child” & “Are
Fathers Essential to Children’s Well-Being?”
(two contrasting viewpoints) and highlight
what you find interesting. Come up with two
discussion questions for the class. Be
reflective of your own experience with your
father, too.
• Think of your happy/crappy 
Bio/Psycho
/Social
Adolescence
Lifespan
Development!
Bio/Psycho
/Social
Adulthood
& Death
Pre-Natal,
Infancy &
Childhood
Social
Bio
Conception!
Zygote/Embryo/Fetus
Teratogens
Reflexes/Abilities
Maturation
Brain Developmet
Infantile Amnesia
(Mods 8-9)
We are
here
Psycho
(Cognitive Development)
Jean Piaget
Schemas
(assimilation/accommodation)
4 Stages!!
(Mod 9)
Attachment
(Harlow’s Monkey Study)
Stranger Anxiety
(Mary Ainsworth)
Attachment Deprivation
-Daycare; Father Absence
Vygotsky
3 Parenting Styles
(Mod 9)
Social Development
• Up until about a year,
infants do not mind
strange people (maybe
because everyone is
strange to them).
• At about 8-12 months ,
infants develop stranger
anxiety.
Attachment
• The most important
social construct an
infant must develop is
attachment (a bond
with a caregiver).
Factors of Attachment
• Body Contact
• Familiarity
Body Contact
• It was first assumed that infants
became attached to those who
satisfied their need for
nourishment.
Then this guy came along……..
Harry Harlow
• Harry showed that
monkeys needed
touch to form
attachment.
Click the monkey to see a video of Harlow’s
experiment.
Factors of Attachment
• Body Contact
• Familiarity
Familiarity
• Critical Periods: the
optimal period shortly
after birth when an
organism’s exposure to
certain stimuli or
experiences produce
proper development.
• Those who are deprived of
touch have trouble forming
attachment when they are
older.—Remember Genie!
Click on the monkey to see
what a baby monkey does
when he HAS attachment and
imagine what it is l ike when
he does not (like above).
Familiarity
• Lorenz discovered
that some animals
form attachment
through imprinting.
Types of Attachment
• Mary Ainsworth’s
Strange Situation.
Click picture to see clip of Ainsworth’s experiment.
Secure Attachment Predicts
Social Competence
Self - Concept
• A sense of one’s identity and self-worth.
Dad’s Matter Too
• Men are not just mobile
sperm banks!!!!
•Paternal separation
puts children at
increased risk for
various psychological
and social pathologies.
Daycare
Parenting Styles
• Authoritarian
Parents
• Permissive
Parents
• Authoritative
Parents
Practice
Description
Authoritarian
Parents impose rules and expect
obedience.
Permissive
Parents submit to children’s demands.
Authoritative
Parents are demanding but responsive to
their children.
Parenting Styles Reflection: Bring to class!
• How would you characterize the style of parenting under
which you were raised?
• What specific behavioral effects of you upbringing can you
identify in yourself?
• How about your parents’ upbringing? How would they (or
you) characterize the style of parenting used by their
parents (your grandparents?)
• Now think creatively about who you might have been had
you been raised by other parents. Prepare two brief
descriptions of how you might have developed, one for
each of the two remaining styles of parenting.