Human Development Flashcards
History of human psychology
1700s: Darwin
- survival of the fittest and punnet squares
Early 1900s: sigmund Freud
- when the psych field really takes off
- children move from being viewed as “little adults” -> children and childhood as a distinct phase of development
1890-1900s: “first wave”
- the “child study movement” which focuses on the naturalistic observation to map human development during infancy
1917-1950: “second wave”
- statistical norms and standards were developed for measuring infants to each other
1960s- present “third wave”
- developmental psychology movement
- focuses on theory driven research and life-span development
What aspects of human development are observed
Physical
Cognitive
Psychosocial-psychological
Emotional
What is the term maturation mean for human development?
“Orderly unfolding of certain patterns of behavior”
- such as a genetic blueprint that is biologically predetermined
This sequence occurs even if the children are not encouraged to sit/crawl/walk.
- therefore exposure to repeated/advanced stimuli for these actions does not accelerate this blueprint.
What are critical periods in development
Times in the developmental sequence during which an organism must experience certain kinds of social/sensory experiences in order for normal development to take place
- if not given at the proper time, later experiences WILL NOT be able to make up for earlier deficiencies
Are to measure completely in children, but is seen in animal research
Harry Harlow
In the 1900s, produced studies that found when baby monkeys are deprived of “contact comfort” with their mothers during early development, they will have emotional and social impairment into adulthood.
- monkeys preferred the “cloth mother” over the “wired mother” even if the wired mother was the only source of food (would only spend time to feed, then goes back to cloth mother).
- also if monkeys were exposed to a fearful stimuli and clothed mother was present, the monkey would not be scared and observe the room/object, if cloth mother wasn’t present, would huddle in ball, not cling to wired mother.
- while weight gain was equal, if the monkeys only were exposure to the wired mother while growing up, would constantly have diarrhea and have a higher chance of developing illnesses.
- if monkeys were left in total isolation, would not die but would be serious mentally disturbed and stunted to the point were reintergration into monkey society was impossible.
practical and groundbreaking since it is implied that the same would happen with humans, but highly unethical and impossible to truly measure in humans.
Konrad Lorenz
Worked with goslings and ducklings to show imprinting affects on mental development
Imprinting = the process by which certain infant animals learn to follow or approach the first moving object they see
John bowlby
Developed the evolutionary perspective “monotropy” by piggybacking off Lorenz theory of imprinting
“Children are biologically hardwired to form attachments with a caregiver to aid in survival”
- child behaves in ways that elicits contact or proximity to the primary caregiver
- this especially true during the 1st 2 years
Also developed maternal deprivation theory, which says that continual disruption of attachment between infant and primary caregiver, would cause cognitive and emotional disruptions/disabilities
Mary ainsworth
“Not all forms of human attachment are created equally”
Created the strange situation test
- caregiver and stranger come into the room with the child, both leave, and then only the stranger comes back.
Helps to measure the effects of Seperation anxiety, exploration, stranger anxiety and reunion
Also developed 3 attachment styles
1) anxious-avoidant = avoids/ignores the caregiver w/ little emotion when the caregiver departs and returns. Child does not explore the room.
2) secure attachment =mExplores freely while the caregiver is present and uses the parent as a “safe base”. Once mother leaves the room and stranger enters, becomes distressed and irritated until he mother returns. Greets mother with open arms and returns to baseline with actions. Is easy to comfort.
3) anxious-resistant = explores freely when caregiver initially present, becomes irritated and distressed when mother leaves and stranger enters room. does not accept mother back when she renters the room and is difficult to comfort
Continuous versus stage development
Continuous = humans develop at a continuous stage with stimuli coming as they go.
Stages = humans go through “stages” once they have reached a certain amount of stimulation.
Behaviorism
A theory developed by B.F Skinner
Emphasizes learning and that mechanisms that govern development are constant throughout life.
- experiences and development are seen as quantitative changes
- employs that the only difference between young and older people is that older people have more experiences and therefore know more.
“Dozen Healthy infants” quote
Developed by John Watson
Piggy backs off behaviorism and states that you can take any healthy well-informed infant and turn them into any specialty you want as long as they are exposure to the proper experiences and stimuli
Essentially says anyone can be anything as long as they gain the proper experiences and stimuli
Jean Piaget
A stage theorist that views a persons manner of thinking and behaving are organized and directed during a particular period in their life.
- differences between children and adults are qualitative in nature (opposed to quantitative as seen in behaviorist).
Devolved a few key definitions
- adaptation: go through stages as you grow
- assimilation: integration of external events
- accommodation: adaption to a particular environmental event
- “schema of cognitive of development”: stepwise movement towards adaptation into the world around you
Sensorimotor stage (piaget)
Typically birth- 24 months
Infants are dependent on their sensory skills in attempting to understand their world
- interactions are a mean of building schemes in which infants try to repeat a chance event caused by their own motor activity
- object permanence is the hallmark of this stage: child understands that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be sensed ( i.e: play peak a boo with a small child and if object permanence is not present, they believe you dont exist anymore since they cant see you)
Preoperational stage (piaget)
24 months - 7 years
Child begins to use symbols (language) and understanding of tasks focused on conservation
- shows progression from centrism -> decentrism and egocentric thinking -> perspective taking.
language development and symbolic thinking is the hallmarks of this stage
Concrete observation stage (Piaget)
7-11 years
Marks the beginning of logical or operational thought. The child is mature to use logical thought, but can only think using concrete logic (doesn’t understand abstract concepts)
hallmark is the acquisition of conservation (take two glasses equal volume and size and show the child, then pour one glass into a skinny glass and ask which is more liquid, they should say they are equal)
third eye question answer = forehead almost always
