Kap 5; Developing through the life span

Question 1

What three issues have engaged development psychologists?

Answer 1

Utvecklingspsykologer studerar fysiologiska, kognitiva och sociala förändringar genom livet.

Three issues:

Nature/Nurture (interaction)

Continuity and Stages (gradual or abrupt change?)

Stability and Change (do traits endure or change with age?)

Question 2

What is the course of prenatal development,

and how do teratogens affect the development?

Answer 2

Livscykeln börjar vid befruktningen fär mannens och kvinnans gameter blir ett med dubbel uppsättning komosomer (en zygot).

Inner cells become the embryo.

Outer cells become the placenta.

Fetus/foster: f.r.o.m. vecka 9

Teratogens are potentially harmful agents som kan passera igenom placentan och skada embryot eller fostret som vid fetal alcohol syndrome.

Question 3

What are some newborn abilities,

and how do researchers explore infants mental abilities?

interaktion

driscrimination

habituation

novely-preference procedure

Answer 3

Bebisar föds med en sensorisk verktygslåda och reflexer som tjänar deras överlevnad och den sociala interaktionen med vuxna.

EX: De lär sig snabbt att diskriminera moderns lukt. De föredrar ljud av människor.

Att testa habituation (reaktionen på ett visst stimuli avtar ju mer organismen utsätts för stimuluset, tillvänjning)

ex: novelty-preference procedure to explore infants abilities. (tests object recognition)

Question 4

How do the brain and motor skills develop during infancy and childhood?

Answer 4

Arv och erfarenheter formar hjärnan nervceller.

Med åldern blir de neurala kopplingarna fler och alltmer komplexa.

Pruning process- hjärnan sorterar bort svaga kopplingar och stärker de mest använda.

Barndomen är viktig tid i formandet av hjärnan, men vår hjärna har förmåga att modifiera sig själv i respons till lärande genom livet.

Motor skills utvecklas i en förutsägbar sekvens, men är en funktion av mogenhet och kultur.

Question 5

From the perspectives of Piaget, Vygotsky and today’s researchers, how does a child’s mind develop?

assimilation/accomodation

Mental schemas

Piaget’s steg

Lev Vygotsky’s

Answer 5

Jean Piaget - Theory of cognitive development

assimilation (efterliknar) and accomodation (tar till sig/bestående förändring) - Children actively construct and modify their understanding of the world.

Mental schemas - antaganden om hur världen fungerar

1. Sensorimotor stage (0-2 år) - develop _obejct permanenc_e -förmåga att kunna föreställa sig objekt oavsett om de är närvarande eller inte.

2. Preoperational stage (2-7 år) - develop theory of mind -children are egocentric and unable to perform logical operations.
3. Concrete operationl stage (7-12 år) - able to comprehend the principle of conversation.
4. Formal operational stage (12-) - can reason systematically.

Research suppoprts Piaget’s sequence, but research also shows that young children are more capable and their development more continous.

Lev Vygotsky’s studies of child development - fokus på hur barnets sinne utvecklas genmo interkation med den sociala omgivningen. Enligt honom så kan föräldrar och andra caretakers till barnet stötta till högre tänkande.

Question 6

What is autism spectrum disorder (ASD)?

Answer 6

ASD - social deficiencies and repetitive behaviours

Children with ASD have an impaired theory of mind.

Cause: Genetics, abnormal brain development, prenatal environment - especially when altered by infection, drugs, or hormones - likely contribute to ASD

Question 7

How do parent-infant attachment bonds form?

Answer 7

Vid 8 månaders ålder, efter object permanence develops - infants som separaras från deras vårdnadshavare utvecklar “stranger anxiety”.

Infants får en trygg anknytning när deras vårdnadshavare tillfredsställer biologiska behov, responsiva, avspeglar osv.

Andra djur har en mer rigid form av anknytningsprocess som händer under “a critical period”.

Question 8

How have psychologists studied attachment differencies, and what have they learned?

Answer 8

Anknytning har studerats på många olika sätt som visar på att vissa barn har trygg anknytning och andra otrygg (orolig och undvikande) anknytning.

Anknytning reflekterar både deras individuella temperament and responsiveness of their parents.

I vuxna relationer tenderar anknytningsmönster från barndomen att komma fram vilket supportar Erik Erikson’s idé att basic trust formas under infancy.

Question 9

How does childhood neglect or abuse affect childrens’s attachment?

Answer 9

Most children are resiliant

severaly neglected - attachment problems

Extreme trauma - may alter the brain, effecting our stress responses or leaving epigenetic marks.

Question 10

How do children’s self-concepts develop?

Answer 10

Self-concept - understanding who we are - gradually emerges

15-18 months: children recognizes themselves in the mirror.

school age: they can describe many of their own traits

8-10 år: their self-image is stable

Question 11

What are tha four main parenting styles?

Answer 11

1. Authoritarian (coercive/tvingande)

2. Permissive (unrestraining)

3. Negligent (uninvolved)

4. Authoriative (confrontive)

Question 12

What outcomes are associated with each parenting style?

Answer 12

Authoritative - greater self-esteem, self-reliance, self-regulation and social competence.

Authoritarian - lower self-esteem, less social skills, brain that overreacts to mistakes

Permissive - greater aggression and immaturity

Negligent - poor academic and social outcomes.

HOWEVER - correlation does not equal causation

Question 13

How is adolescence deifned, and how do physical changes affect developing teens?

Answer 13

Df Adolescence - transition period from childhood to adulthood

The brain’s frontal lobes mature and myelin growth increases during adolescence and the early twenties = improved judgement, impulse control and long-term planning.

Question 14

How did Pieaget, Kohlberg, and later researchers describe adolescent cognitive and moral development?

Answer 14

Piaget - adolescents develop a capacity for formal operations = foundation for moral judgement

Lawrence Kohlberg - stage theory of moral reasoning. From morality of self-interest to upholding laws and social rules, an for some morality of universal ethical principles.

critics: postconventional level is culturally limited, from one perspective of an indivualist society.

Other researchers - morality lies in moral intuition and moral actions as well as thinking

Question 15

What are the social tasks and challenges of adolscence? 7x

Answer 15

Erik Erikson - 8 stages of psychosocial development across the life span.

He says we need to achieve the following challenges:

trust,

autonomy,

initiative,

competency,

identity,

intimacy,

generativity and integrity

Each life stage has its own psychosocial task. Solidifying one’s sense of self in adolescence means trying out different roles (social identity)

Question 16

How do parents and peers influence adolescents?

Answer 16

Adolescence - Parental influence decrease

Peer influence (jämlikar) - increases

Parents have more influence in religion, politics, education and career choice.

Question 17

What is emerging adulthood?

Answer 17

Emerging adulthood - the period 18 - 25 år

Not yet independent. Mostly found in the western cultures.

Question 18

What physical changes occur during middle and late adulthood?

Answer 18

After 25 y/o - muscular strength, reaction time, sensory abilities and cardiac output imperceptibly decline.

Menopause -end of fertility

In late adulthood - immune system weakens, chromosome types (telomeres) reducing the chances of normal genetic replication.

Question 19

How does memory change with age?

Answer 19

Recall - decline

Recognition - remains strong

Older people relay more on time management and memory cues to remember time-based and habitual tasks.

Development researchers study age-related changes such as in memory with cross-sectional studies (comparing people of different ages at one point in time) and longitudinal studies (retesting the same people over a period of years)

Terminal decline descibes the cognitive decline in the final few years of life.

Question 20

How do neurocognitive disorders and Alzheimer’s disease affect cognitive ability?

Answer 20

Neurocognitive disorders (NCDs) - cognitive deficits (Alzheimer’s, brain injury, substance abuse)

Damage of brain cells results in erosion of mental abilities that is not typical of normal aging.

Question 21

What themes and influences mark our social journey from early adulthood to death?

Answer 21

No oderly sequence of age related social stages.

Chance can determine life choices.

The social clock is a culture’s preferred timing for events such as marriage, parenthood and retirement.

Adulthood’s dominant themes are love and work (Erikson’s intimacy and generativity).

Question 22

How does our well-being change across the life span?

Answer 22

Self-confidence - strengthen

Sense of identity - strengthen

Surveys show that life satisfaction is unrelated to age until the terminal decline phase.

Positive emotions increase after 50, negative decreases. With age comes fewer extremes of emotion and mood.

Question 23

A loved one’s death triggers what range of reactions?

Answer 23

No predictable grief stages.

Bereavement therapy not significantly more effective than grieving without such aid.