Transcript Chapter 2: Psychology As a Science

Chapter 3: Human Development
Chapter Outline
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Understanding how we develop
How is developmental psychology investigated?
Before we are born
Infancy
Childhood
Adolescence
Adulthood
Developmental Psychopathology
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Understanding How We Develop:
Questions that Guide Developmental Research
Nature vs. nurture
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Qualitative (stages) vs.
quantitative
(continuous change)
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Critical and
sensitive periods
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How Is Developmental Psychology
Investigated?
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Cross-Sectional Research—Compares groups of
different-aged people to one another at a single
point in time.
Longitudinal Research—Studies the same group of
individuals over multiple time points.
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Advantages and Disadvantages of Each
Design
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Cross-sectional design
 Advantage: Quicker and convenient
 Disadvantage: Cannot control for outside
variables
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Longitudinal design
 Advantage: Eliminates outside variables
 Disadvantage: Takes a very long time, $$$
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Cohort-Sequential Design
 Combines cross-sectional and longitudinal designs
 Designed
to look at both how individuals from
different age groups compare to one another and
also follow them over time.
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Before We Are Born:
The Prenatal Period
 Genes: basic building blocks of our biological
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inheritance
Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA): molecules in
which genetic information is enclosed
Chromosomes: strands of DNA; each human being
has 46 chromosomes, distributed in pairs
Allele: variation of a gene
Homozygous: both parents contribute the same
genetic material for a particular trait
Heterozygous: parents contribute two different
alleles to offspring
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Genotype and Phenotype
 Genotype—the sum total of all the genes that a
person inherits
 Phenotype—the way in which the genes are actually
expressed, or observed characteristics of the genes
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Patterns of Genetic Inheritance
 We have two genes for everything (one from mom
and one from dad)
 Homozygous genes are alike
 Show
inherited trait
 Heterozygous genes are not alike
 Genes
duke it out to see which trait will appear.
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Genotype versus Phenotype
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Ways Genes Interact
in Heterozygous Relationships
Dominant Recessive
 Dominant gene effects characteristic; the
recessive gene has no effect (tongue rolling)
2. Codominant
 Both of the parents’ genes are expressed (blood
type)
3. Mixture
 A mixture of the genetic coding is expressed
(blended skin colour, eye shape, etc.)
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To Make Things Even More Complicated
 Only a few of our traits are discrete traits
 the
product of a single gene pair
 Most human traits are polygenic traits
 involve
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the combined impact of multiple genes
most behaviours are polygenetic
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3 Stages of Prenatal Development
 Germinal Period
 0-2
weeks
 Starts with egg being fertilized to form a zygote
 Ends when blastocyst implants in the uterus
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3 Stages of Prenatal Development
 Period of the Embryo
 3-8
weeks
 All the major organs
develop during this
time
 Period of the Fetus
 9-40
weeks
 Rapid growth
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What Is a Teratogen?
 A teratogen is any substance that causes damage
during the prenatal period, including some diseases.
 The harm done by teratogens depends on:
 Dose
 Heredity
 Age of fetus
Critical Period: if teratogens are taken during this
time it is particularly bad
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Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) or Fetal Alcohol
Spectrum Disorder (FASD)
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Infant Development
Overview
 Physical Development
 Growth trends
 Development of the senses
 Motor development (reflexes)
 Brain development
 Cognitive Development
 How babies learn
Piaget’s sensorimotor stage
 Information-processing and conditioning
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 Social and Emotional Development
 Temperament
 Attachment
 Parenting styles
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Two Growth Trends of Infants
 Cephalocaudal: growth from the top down (head
grows faster than the torso and feet)
 Proximodistal: growth from the inside out (torso
grows faster than the arms and fingers)
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Sensory Capabilities at Birth
 Vision is the least developed sense at birth
 Can
clearly see objects 7 or 10 inches away
 Good colour vision develops at about 3 months
 Hearing is poorly developed for first few days after
birth
 Fluid in the ears
 Can recognize mother’s voice shortly after birth
 Taste, smell, and touch are highly developed at birth
 Prefers sweet taste (breast milk is sweet)
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Infant Motor Development
 Reflexes: programmed physical reactions to certain
cues that do not require any conscious thought to
perform.
 Rooting reflex: brush cheek and baby turns head
toward breast and sucks; this reflex helps
newborns to eat
 Other reflexes include grasping, Moro, and
Babinski
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Two Parts of Infant Brain Development
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Rapid development of synaptic connections.
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Synaptic pruning is the reduction of unused
neural connections.
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Myelination
 Myelination: the covering of neurons with fatty
deposits that speed up transmissions of neurons
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Piaget’s Cognitive Developmental Theory
 How children learn
 Schemas:
mental structures we use to organize
information
 Assimilation: putting new information into existing
schema
 Accommodation: creating new schemas for new
information or majorly altering schemas
 Equilibrium: mental balance, or when all
information is organized into schemas
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How Do Infants Learn?
 Sensorimotor Period (birth to 2 years of age): we
learn through our senses and our motor actions
 This explains why infants put everything in their
mouths! They are learning about the object
 During this period, infants develop object
permanence—the understanding that objects
exist even when they cannot be seen.
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Information Processing Theory
 Use operant conditioning and habituation to test for
learning and remembering
 Operant conditioning is the use of rewards
 Habituation is when an infant stops responding to
the same stimulus if it is presented repeatedly
 It has been found that cognitive development
involves fewer qualitative changes and more
quantitative changes than Piaget believed
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Baby Math
 At 5 months old, babies
know that 1 + 1 = 2
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Social and Emotional Development
 Temperament: biologically based tendencies to
respond to certain situations in similar ways
throughout our lifetimes
 Easy: Babies with easy temperaments are
described as cheerful, regular in routines, such as
eating and sleeping, and open to novelty.
 Difficult: Babies with difficult temperaments tend
to be irritable and likely to have intensely negative
reactions to changes or new situations.
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Social and Emotional Development
 Temperament (cont):
 Slow-to-warm-up.
Babies in this category are
less active and less responsive than babies in the
other two categories. In general, they tend to
withdraw in the face of change, but their
withdrawal is not as sharply negative as those with
difficult temperaments.
 Unique: Babies in this category show unique
blends of characteristics from the other categories.
For example, a child might be cautious in new
situations but have regular routines and be
relatively cheerful.
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Definition of Attachment
 Emotional bond an infant feels toward his or her
caregiver.
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Measuring Attachment
 Strange Situation Test
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Mother and baby play
A stranger enters and the mother leaves
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Mother returns
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Observe baby’s reaction
Observe baby’s reaction
Repeat process
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Types of Attachment
 Secure attachment (60%): infant is
moderately upset when mom leaves and happy
when she returns.
 Insecure attachment (40%)
Anxious/avoidant (15%): shows little distress
at separation, little joy at reunion
 Anxious/ambivalent (10%): strong reaction to
mother’s absence, mixed emotions at reunion
 Disorganized/disoriented (15%): mixture of
avoidant and resistant behaviours
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Attachment Styles
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Parenting Styles
Classification of
Parenting Styles
Authoritative
Accepting,
Authoritarian
responsive
Indulgent
Rejecting,
unresponsive
Neglectful
Demanding,
controlling
Undemanding,
uncontrolling
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Parenting Styles
 Authoritarian: Parents place a high value on
conformity
 Permissive: Nurturing and accepting, but avoids
making demands or imposing controls of any kind
 Uninvolved: Emotionally detached and depressed
parent who has little time and energy to spare for
children
 Authoritative: Nurturing and accepting, but sets
appropriate boundaries and expectations for the
child
 Best parenting style!
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Childhood Development
Overview
 Physical Development
 Motor
skills
 Brain development
 Cognitive Development
 Piaget’s cognitive developmental theory
 Vygotstky’s social cultural theory
 Emotional Development
 Kohlberg’s moral development
 Gilligan’s theory of moral development
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Physical Growth in Childhood
 Physical Growth
 Gross
and fine motor skills improve dramatically
 Association areas of the brain continue to develop:
 Myelination and synaptic pruning continue
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Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development in
Childhood
 Preoperational Period (ages 2-7): Children
have mental images in their head that allow them to
solve logical problems (however, they often get
these problems wrong).
 Kids often get problems wrong because of:
Centration: they can only think about one thing
at a time; usually they focus on the appearance
of something
Irreversability: preschoolers think changes in
relationships happen in one direction only
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Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development in
Childhood
 Concrete Operational Period (ages 7-12):
Children use logic to solve problems in their head.
However, these problems are limited to concrete
objects.
 Kids begin to get problems correct because of:
Decentration: they can think about more than
one aspect of a problem at the same time
Reversibility and conservation are mastered
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Theory of Mind
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Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory
 Social interaction is vital to children’s learning
and development
 Children learn best in zone of proximal
development
 Children learn best when a parent or teacher
helps them (called scaffolding)
 Scaffolding is teaching to the zone of proximal
development
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Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development
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Three Stages of Moral Development
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Adolescence
 Physical Development
 Puberty:
development of primary and secondary
sex characteristics
Primary sex characteristics: ones that are part of
the reproductive system (ovaries, penis, and
testes)
Secondary sex characteristics: ones that are nonreproductive but important to gender
identification (deepening of voice, development
of breasts)
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Primary and Secondary Sex Characteristics
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Adolescent Growth Spurt
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Adolescence
 Cognitive Development
 Formal
operational period (Piaget): Can think
about ideas conceptually without needing concrete
referents
 adolescent egocentrism, personal fable, and
imaginary audience
 Emotional Development
 Identity and role confusion (Erikson): adolescents
need to discover their own identity
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First Nations Youth Suicide
 Aboriginal youth identity development is less difficult
if there are healthy images of personal and cultural
ideals
 First Nations youth suicide is related to band support
of their own culture and heritage
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Adulthood
 Why do we age?
 Cellular
clock theory: aging is built into our cells
 Wear-and-tear theory: the more mileage we put on
our body, the quicker it wears out
 Free radical theory: we get more free radicals in our
system, causing more damage and aging to our
bodies
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Physical and Cognitive Changes in Adulthood
 Wrinkles
 Grey hair
 Weight change
 Slower metabolism
 More farsighted
 Less sensitive to high-
frequency sounds
 Become shorter
• Immune system
declines
• Vision and hearing
continue to decline
• Learning new
information and
recovering memories
can take longer
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Erikson’s Adulthood Stages
 Intimacy and isolation: to
form intimate relationships and
find love
 Generativity vs.
stagnation: our ability to give
back to the world and provide
for the future
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 Integrity and despair: our
ability to face our mortality with
a sense of a life well lived.
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Developmental Psychopathology
 Developmental psychopathology is the study of
how problematic behaviours evolve as a function of a
person’s genetics and early experiences
 Risk factors: biological and environmental factors
that contribute to problematic outcomes
 Resilience: the ability to recover from or avoid the
serious effects of negative circumstances
 Resilience is due to biological, psychological, or
environmental factors that help buffer against or
negate the impact of risk factors
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Conduct Disorder
 Conduct disorder is characterized by a number of
emotional and behavioural problems, including
frequent rule-breaking, trouble following the limits
imposed by authority figures, bullying and fighting,
and cruelty
Oppositional defiant disorder: less severe than conduct
disorder
 Externalizing behaviours: defying authority, breaking
rules, and fighting, blaming others
 Internalizing behaviours: fearful responses, crying, or
withdrawal
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Risk Factors for Commission of Violent Crimes During
Adolescence or Adulthood
 Family violence
 Family
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 Multiple clinical
dysfunction/conflict
Family distress
Childhood exposure to
violence
Childhood maltreatment
Childhood neglect
Childhood adversity
Substance abuse
Hyperactivity
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disorders
Risky behaviour
Gun availability/risk
Antisocial parent
Gang membership
Peer violence
Personality disorder
Academic failure
Social incompetence
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Many Roads—Many Outcomes
 Equifinality: individuals may start out from
different places but through their life experiences
they wind up functioning in similar ways
OR the opposite theory
 Multifinality: individuals can start from the same
point yet wind up in many different psychological
places
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