Chapter 12 - Development over the lifespan Flashcards
Developmental Psychology
• Study changes in biological, physical, psychological, & behavioural processes over time
Relative contributions of genes and environment?
• Critical & Sensitive Periods
Critical period =
age where experiences must occur
Sensitive periods =
optimal age range
Developmental Research Designs
- cross sectional
- longitudinal
- sequential
Cross-sectional
• Compare different ages at same time
Measure different ages at same time:
- 2020: survey 10 year-olds, 20 year-olds, 30 year-olds
Issues with cross-sectional
- Different cohorts grew up in different time periods
- Different experiences, cultural changes, environmental changes
• Technology; growing up in depression; access to higher
education
Longitudinal
• Test same cohort at different times
Test same cohort at different times:
• 2000: survey 10 year-olds
• 2010: 20 year-olds
• 2020: 30 year-olds
Issues with longitudinal research
- Time-consuming
- People drop out
- Changes generalizable to all people, just this group?
Sequential
• Test several cohorts as they age
Test several cohorts as they age:
• 2000: survey 10 year-olds, 20 year-olds, 30-year-olds
• 2010: survey 10 year-olds, 20 year-olds, 30-year-olds
• 2020: survey 10 year-olds, 20 year-olds, 30-year-olds
What sequential research help avoid ? T6
Helps avoid the issues of both cross-sectional and longitudinal designs
Germinal Stage
- Conception to 2 weeks
- Sperm +ovum (egg cell) → zygote (fertilized egg)
- Zygote attaches to uterine wall 10 – 14 days after conception
Embryonic Stage
• 2nd - 8th week post conception • Life-support structures: - Placenta - Umbilical cord • Organs and systems begin to form
Fetal Stage
- 9 weeks post conception
- Muscles strengthen, systems, develop
- Eyes open by 24 weeks
- reaches age of viability by 28 weeks
Prenatal development involves the following 3 stages
- germinal stage
- germinal stage
- Fetal stage
Genetics and sex determination
- 23rd chromosome = X or Y
- Females = XX
- Males = XY
Y chromosome contains TDF
testis determining factor
- Initiates development of testes
* Testes secrete androgens
Critical period for TDF ?
6-8 weeks
• Insufficient androgen activity = female
Teratogens
• Environmental agents that may cause abnormal fetal development
Sexually transmitted diseases
• Can pass from mother to fetus and produce brain damage, blindness, and/or deafness
Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD)
- Involve a range of mild to severe cognitive, behavioural, and physical deficits caused by prenatal exposure to alcohol
- FAS involves a cluster of severe developmental abnormalities
Children who suffer from fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS)look different?
YES
Children who suffer from fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) have brains that are
underdeveloped compared with
those of normal children
Maternal malnutrition
• Miscarriage, premature birth, stillbirth, impaired brain development
Maternal stress (stress hormones)
• Premature birth, infant irritability, attentional deficits
William James (1890) Suggested that the newborn’s world is
- “Buzzing, blooming confusion”
* That is, that they are passive, disorganized, and have an empty mind
Was William James right ?
NO,
- Tactile, auditory, and chemical perceptual systems stimulated in the womb and operational at birth
Visual system not stimulated until birth
• 20/800 at birth to 20/100 by 6 months
Visual system develops in a ________ fashion
Continuous
When does he visual system develop?
3-4 months
Preferential looking procedure measured?
• Measure how long infant looks at a stimulus
Results from preferential looking procedure?
- Newborns look longer at stimuli they find interesting
* Determine when ‘detail’ becomes interesting
Preferential looking to
determine preference for types of
visual stimuli
Tactile, auditory, & chemical perceptual senses operating at
birth
Newborns will orient towards significant stimuli such as
source of sounds, tactile stimuli,
odours
Newborn Learning
- Habituation
- Discriminate sounds
- Acquire classically conditioned responses
- observational learning
- Imitate adult facial expressions
Audition sensory perception
- sound localization
- phoneme discrimination
- music perception
Sound localization
U-shaped function, disappears at 4 months then reappears at 6 months
Phoneme discrimination
- Exceeds that of any adult
- disappears by 1 year of age
Music perception
Shoes similar response of consonant and dissonant patterns as adults
Maturation development
Biologically programmed
Proximodistal principle
Development is from innermost to outer
- arms develop before fingers
Cephalocaudal principle
- Development is from head to foot
* Head is large - growth proceeds towards lower body
At birth the brain is ___% of the adult weight
25%
At 6 months the brain is ___% of the adult weight
50%
How does the weight of the Brian increase for a newborn?
Cells become larger and neural networks form
Most skills follow
stage-like sequences
Does the age for acquiring skills vary?
YES
For sequence, does it vary>?
NO
An example of something that has a U-shaped function
Stepping reflex
Visual deprivation can permanently damage
Visual abilities
General Principles of environmental and cultural influences
- Biology sets limits on environmental influences
- Environmental influences can be powerful
- Biological & environmental factors interact
Piaget’s Stage Model
- Brain builds schemas to achieve understanding
* Schemas are modified to create equilibrium between environment & understanding
Assimilation
• New experiences incorporated into existing schemas
Accommodation
• New experiences cause existing schemas to change
Cognitive development
- Patients stage model
- assimilation
- accommodation
Piaget’s Stage Theory stages
1) sensorimotor stage
2) peroperational stage
3) concrete operational stage
4) formal operational stage
Sensorimotor Stage
- Birth to 2 years
- Understand world through sensory experiences & physical interactions with objects
- Begin to acquire language
- object permanence
Object Permanence
- Understanding that objects
- Continue to exist even when they can no longer be seen
- About 8 months
Preoperational Stage
• Ages 2-7
• World represented symbolically through words and mental images
- Symbolic thinking enables pretend play
- Child does not understand conservation
- Thinking displays irreversibility, centration, animism, egocentrism
- Preoperational children’s thinking also reflects egocentrism
Preoperational Stage involves :
- Conservation of Volume (kids dont understand volume properly)
- Egocentrism
Egocentrism
•Difficulty viewing the world from someone else’s perspective
Concrete Operational Stage
- Ages 7-12
- Easily perform basic mental operations involving tangible problems and situations
- Have difficulty with problems that require abstract reasoning
Formal Operational Stage
- Develops around 11 or 12
- Think logically about concrete & abstract problems
- Form & test hypotheses
Assessment of Piaget’s Stage Theory
• Cognitive abilities associated with four stages of develop in same order across cultures (Universality principle)
• Development within each stage proceeds
inconsistently
Do children acquire cognitive skills earlier then paigets believed?
YES
In piagets stage theory, does culture influence cognitive development
YES
Vygotsky: The Social Context of Cognitive Development
Zone of proximal development
Zone of proximal development
• Difference between what child can do independently & what he /she can do with assistance
Zone of proximal development provides insight into
cognitive abilities that are in
process of maturation
Information-Processing
- Development is continual and gradual
- Not stage-like
- Cognitive growth occurs as information processing abilities gradually become more efficient
As children age:
- Information-search strategies improve
- Information-processing speed quickens
- Memory capabilities improve
- Metacognition develops
Theory of Mind
•Refers to a person’s beliefs about the mind and the ability to understand other people’s mental states;
- That is, we have theories about the contents of other people’s ’ minds
When do we develop a sense of self
18 months
- display basic emotions
At age 2 we learn ..
Rules and performance standards
- display guilt
Temperament
- Biologically based style of behavioural & emotional reactions
- Relatively stable but predictions are difficult
Research suggests that in terms of tempermanent
- Extreme temperamental styles can predict some behaviours in future
- Different genetic profiles for dopamine receptor among aggressive & non-aggressive children
Erik Erickson’s theory
- 8 major psychosocial stages
- ‘Crisis’ to be resolved
- Various crises are relevant at specific ages
- Each stage creates new opportunities
Is personality fixed in childhood ?
NO
Themes / patterns that emerge early in childhood =
Important later in life
Erik ericksons theory
First year Basic trust vs. basic mistrust 1–2 : Autonomy vs. shame and doubt 3–5 : Initiative vs. guilt 6–12 : Industry vs. inferiority 12–20 : Identity vs. role confusion 20–40 : Intimacy vs. isolation 40–65 : Generativity vs. stagnation 65+ : Integrity vs. despair
Social-emotional development involves
Attachment and imprinting
Attachment
• Strong emotional bond between children & primary caregivers
Imprinting
• Biologically primed form of attachment
Harry Harlow (1958)
• Contact comfort more important than
nourishment in fostering attachment
Attachment process
- Indiscriminate attachment behaviour (newborns)
- Discriminate attachment behaviour (3months)
- Specific attachment behaviour (7-8months)
Types of Attachment
- 6-7 to 18 months
* Distress over contact with unfamiliar people
Indiscriminate attachment
Baby cries and smiles towards anyone’s, these behaviour evoke caregiving from any adult
Discriminate attachment
3 months old, direct behaviours towards familiar adults
Specific attachment behaviour
Around 7 or 8 months develop first meaningful attachment.
Separation anxiety
- 12-16 months to 2-3 years
- Distress over being separated from primary caregiver
- Shows similar pattern across cultures
Goal-corrected partnership
- Age 3-4
- Share feelings
emerges in which children and caregivers can describe their feelings to each other and maintain their relationships whether they are together or apart.
Strange Situation Test
- Mother plays with baby (12-18 months old) - stranger enters
- Mother leaves
- Stranger leaves - baby alone • Mother returns
Secure Attachment
- Explore & react positively to strangers
- Distressed when mother leaves
- Happy when mother returns
Two types of insecure attachment
- Anxious-resistant
* Anxious-avoidant
Anxious-resistant
- Fearful when mother present
- Demand attention
- Distressed when mother leaves
- Not soothed when she returns
Anxious-avoidant
- Show few signs of attachment
* Seldom cries when mother leaves •Doesn’t seek contact upon mother’s return
Consequences of Attachment
- Secure infants are better socially adjusted
* Nonsecure infants more behavioural problems
Prolonged attachment deprivation = long-term risks
- Not all in deprived environments at risk resilience
* Placed in nurturing environment at early age = well-adjusted
The Daycare Controversy
• Attachment
High quality care did not impact attachment to parents
The Daycare Controversy
• Social Behaviour
• No significant differences
The Daycare Controversy
• Cognitive Performance
- No significant differences
* High quality daycare associated with better performance
Styles of Parenting
• Determined along 2 dimensions
- Warmth vs. hostility
* Restrictiveness vs. permissiveness
Authoritative parenting
Warmth/ acceptance + restrictiveness
Authoritarian parenting
Hostility/rejection + restrictiveness
Neglectful parenting
Permissive + hostility / rejection
Indulgent parenting
Permissive + warmth /acceptance
Authoritative Parents
- Controlling but warm
* Most positive childhood outcomes
Authoritarian Parents
- Exert control but cold, unresponsive, or rejecting
* Poorer self-esteem, popularity, school performance
Indulgent Parents
- Warm and caring, don’t provide guidance and discipline
* Children immature, self-centered
Neglectful Parents
- Not warm, No rules of guidance
* Most negative developmental outcomes
Gender Identity
•Sense of ‘femaleness’ or ‘maleness’ (2-3 years of age)
Gender Constancy
•Understanding one’s sex is permanent (6-7 years of age)
Sex-typing
- Involves treating others differently based on whether they are female or male
- From infancy onward, girls and boys are viewed and treated differently
Kohlberg’s Stage Theory
- Analyzed responses to ethical dilemmas
* 3 levels with 2 substages each
Kohlberg’s Stage Theory levels :
Level 1: Preconventional Reasoning
Level 2: Conventional Reasoning
Level 3: Postconventional Reasoning
Level 1: Preconventional Reasoning
- Judgments of ‘right’ & ‘wrong’ based on actual or anticipated punishments & reward
- Judgments not based on internalized moral values
Level 2: Conventional Reasoning
- Moral judgments based on conformity to expectations of social groups
- Person adopts other people’s values
Level 3: Postconventional Reasoning
- Moral judgments based on general principles; following one’s conscience
- Principles have been internalized & are part of person’s value system
Criticisms of Kohlberg’s theory
- Western cultural bias
- Gender bias
- Emphasis on ‘thinking’ not ‘behaviour’
Carol Gilligan
- Kohlberg’s theory emphasized ‘justice’
* Women place value on ‘caring’
Conclusion to Kohlberg’s theory
- Moral development occurs within social context
* Cognitive + behavioural components
What influences internal regulatory mechanism – (conscience)
- Internalizing societal values from parents
- Temperament
- Learning
- Attachment
- Emotional regulation
Prefrontal cortex involved in some aspects of moral decisions?
YES
Damage to prefrontal cortex area associated with
abnormal judgments of right and wrong
The Adolescent Brain
• Cortical white matter within the frontal cortex
increases, especially in areas for impulse control and abstract thought
In adolescent brains, non-myelinated grey matter in the frontal cortex peaks at around
- 11 years for female
* 12 years for male
The Adolescent Brain
• These changes reflect the
pruning of unnecessary cells by maturation and experience
- This maturation of neural networks permits more-efficient communication between brain regions
- Corpus callosum increases 10%
Adolescent Egocentrism
- Overestimation of uniqueness of feelings, experiences (personal fable)
- Oversensitivity to social evaluation (imaginary audience)
In adolescent cognitive dev., there is an increase in
abstract reasoning abilities
• More flexible, creative thinking
When adolescents attain formal operational thought they can use
deductive reasoning to solve scientific problems systematically
Changes in Adulthood
• Post-formal operational thinking
- Is the fourth and final stage of cognitive development
- Allows for new and more complex ways people can reason logically about opposing points of view
- Accept contradictions and irreconcilable differences
Changes in Information Processing and memory
- Perceptual speed
- Memory for new information
- Spatial memory
- Recall
- Changes to prospective memory – less clear
Crystallized Intelligence Peak in
middle adulthood and then decline
Fluid Intelligence Begins to decline in
early adulthood
Cross sectional studies suggest wisdom
increases with age
Adolescent Social-Emotional and Personality Development
• Identity Diffusion
- No identity crisis yet; uncommitted to a role
• Foreclosure
- Adopting a role without going through identity crisis
• Moratorium
- Current identity crisis; not resolved
• Identity Achievement
- Gone through identity crisis; successfully resolved
Erickson’s stages for transition to adulthood
- Intimacy versus Isolation (early adulthood)
- Generativity versus Stagnation (middle adulthood)
- Integrity versus Despair (late adulthood)
Birth of children dramatically changes the way couples
spend their time
Marital satisfaction
- Decreases first few years after the first child is born
* Typically increases after children have left home
Establishing a Career
• Growth stage
- Formation of initial interests
• Exploration stage
- Tentative ideas about a preferred career
• Establishment phase
- People begin to make their mark
• Maintenance stage
- Careers become more stable
• Decline stage
- Investment in work decreases
