Lecture 9 - Development Beyond Childhood Flashcards
Physical changes in puberty
Sexual maturity and a growth spurt (5-6cm per year in childhood and 9-10cm in adolescence)
Brain development in puberty
“Remodelling of the brain” (areas affecting emotional regulation, response inhibition, planning) and increase white matter, decrease grey matter
Possible psychological changes in puberty
Risk-taking, moodiness and aggression in the transition from childhood to adulthood
Stages of adolescence
Early (11-14 years)
Middle (15-17 years)
Late (18+ years)
We are unsure when puberty ends
Erikson (1958, 1963)
Trust vs Mistrust Autonomy vs Shame Initiative vs Guilt Industry vs Inferiority Identity vs Role Confusion Intimacy vs Isolation Generativity vs. Stagnation Ego Integrity vs. Despair
Different “conflict” at each stage which must be resolved successfully (eg trust and mistrust in first year). There is an identity crisis in adolescence and psychosocial moratorium.
McAdams (2001)
Erikson outlines a more realistic perspective of personality development compared to previous theories
McCrae & Costa (1997)
There is a lack of discrete stages in Erikson’s theory
Marcia (1966) - Method
Interview technique to assess stage of identity crisis – occupational role, beliefs, values and sexuality.
Marcia (1966) - Identity ‘statuses’
- Diffusion: haven’t started thinking about it seriously (no identity crisis or commitment)
- Foreclosure: formed commitment without having explored possibilities
- Moratorium: still considering alternatives
- Achievement of identity: been through crisis and reached a solution
Meilman (1979)
Identity achievement may develop into adulthood
O’Connell (1976)
Women reported it achieved after their children went to school
Arnett (1999) quoting Socrates
Youth inclined to “contradict their parents” & “tyrannize their teachers”
Recent evidence with the idea of adolescence
Conflict with parents and risky behaviour is not experienced by all adolescents and often over-exaggerated
Laursen et al (1988)
Conflicts increase in early adolescence, intensity peaks in middle adolescence
Rossi and Rossi (1991)
Dip in closeness to parents from 10 to 16 years, recovers at 25
Rutter et al. (1976)
Only 1/6 of parents and 1/3 of adolescents reported conflicts - not as high as expected
Buchanan et al (1992)
Some longitudinal studies report negative effect when comparing mood disruptions throughout time
Young Adulthood (20-40 years)
Acquisition and utilisation of knowledge at peak
Achieve maturity
Erikson’s conflict: intimacy vs isolation
Middle Adulthood (40-64 years)
Some decline, but also intellectual stability
Peak of career achievement
Erikson’s conflict: generativity vs stagnation
Late Adulthood (64+ years)
Memory and other abilities decline; some might remain stable
Erikson’s conflict: integrity vs despair
Piaget’s formal operations (11+ yrs)
- Logic, inferential reasoning, planning, ability to think about abstract concepts, hypothetical situations
- Criticisms: limited to straightforward situations, not complexities & vagaries of real-life situations
Post-formal thinking, 3 themes (Kramer, 1983)
- Realization of “realitivistic” nature of knowledge
- Acceptance of contradiction
- Integration of contradiction into a whole concept
Vetter et al (2012)
Adolescents (12-15 yrs) performed with lower accuracy than young adults (18-22 yrs) in the Strange Stories and Eyes tasks
Willis & Schaie (1999)
Seattle Longitudinal Study – inductive reasoning, vocabulary, verbal memory, & spatial orientation peak from 40-60 years
Soederberg (2000)
Middle adults (between 40-59 years) showed no declines in cognitive abilities compared to young adults (25-39)
Older adults outperformed younger adults on vocabulary texts
Finkel et al (1998)
Significantly better performance in Middle (M = 55) than late adulthood (M = 83) on 14 cognitive abilities
Schaie et al (1998)
Decline in ages 60-67 in all tested areas except verbal recall
Salthouse (2012)
Cognitive functioning often lower several years prior to death
Role of experience
Pilots and similar careers show less evidence of cognitive decline than others of similar age
What affects cognitive decline?
- Different abilities affected more
- Relationship between physical health and cognitive ability
- Type of job
- Genetic influence/genes
