Lifespan Development - Chapter 10 Flashcards
Developmental Psychology
Developmental psychology is the study of human physical, cognitive, social, and behavioral characteristics across the lifespan
Principles of Growth & Development
Continuous sequential process from conception to death
During the first year, growth is very rapid
Growth levels off during the preschool and elementary-school years
Growth is rapid in early adolescence
Physical Growth Trends
Proximodistal trend
Cephalocaudal trend
Epiphyses
Research Design in Developmental Psychology
Cross-sectional design
Longitudinal design
Nature Nurture Influences
Both are important in shaping development It’s not an “either-or” issue any longer Gene-environment interaction
Impact of genes on behaviour depends on the environment where behaviour develops
Gene-Environment Interaction
The impact of genes on behaviour depends on the environment in which the behaviour develops
Nature via Nurture
Genetic predispositions can drive us to select and create particular environments, leading to the mistaken appearance of a pure effect of nature
Gene Expression
Some genes “turn on” only in response to specific environmental events
Historical/cultural and societal contexts
Transmission of patterns of beliefs, values, customs and skills to younger generations - reflective of historic and cultural contexts
Domains of Development
Physical domain - considered to involve:
Physical changes - height, weight, strength, etc.
Neurological development
Gross motor skills
Fine motor skills
Sensory development
Cognitive domain – considered to involve:
Intellectual - thinking, acquiring new knowledge, attention, memory, reasoning, and problem-solving skills
Language domain - often considered to be within the Cognitive domain
Expressive language (speaking)
Receptive language (understanding what others are saying)
Verbal and non-verbal
Social-Emotional domain - considered to involve:
Sense of belonging
Interactions with others (navigate social interactions - for example, cooperation)
Forming relationships - family, friends, community
Being able to use and understand social skills and social cues
Experience, express, and manage own emotions
Understand the emotions of others
Prenatal Development (stages)
Period of Zygote (Weeks 0-2)
Conception (sperm fertilizes ovum).
Zygote attaches to uterine wall.
Embryonic Stage (Weeks 3 - 8)
Prenatal Brain Development
Between day 18 and approximately 180 days (6 months), neurons grow at an incredible rate
Up to 250,000 neurons per minute at times
Factors Affecting Prenatal Development
Alcohol consumption, smoking, drugs, and chicken pox durning pregnancy
Preemies (preterm infants)
Preterm infants are born earlier than 36 weeks.
Children born at 25 weeks have a little better than 50% chance of surviving.
However, because fetal development happens quickly, children born at 30 weeks have a 95% chance of survival.
Supports for New Parents of Preemie
Kangaroo Care
Infants Brain Development
Myelination begins prenatally and accelerates through infancy and childhood, and then continues gradually for several decades
Synaptic Development (2 key processes)
Synaptogenesis - the forming of new synaptic connections.
Synaptic pruning the loss of weak nerve cell connections
Infants - Sensory Development
Human infants are born almost completely helpless and require extended care as they develop their senses, strength, and coordination.
Newborns will imitate the facial expressions of others.
Infants Motor Development
Infants are born with a large set of automatic motor behaviors (reflexes)
Sucking and rooting reflexes are essential for feeding
Cognition
Activity of knowing and the mental processes used to acquire knowledge and solve problems
Cognitive Development
Changes that occur in mental skills and abilities over the course of life
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Stage-like theory, domain-general
Children construct their knowledge
Cognitive structures or concepts used to identify and interpret objects, events, information in environments, an organized ways of making sense of experience
Example of Cognitive Schema
Assimilating a new rattle - playing with the new rattle in the same way the child played with other rattles
Accommodating a new rattle – may initially play with the rattle in the same way as with previous rattles, but if the rattle makes a different noise the child will adapt his/her play with the rattle to make the new noise
Piaget’s Four Stages of Cognitive Development
Sensorimotor (0-2)
Preoperational (2-7)
Concrete Operation (7-11)
Formal Operational (11 - adulthood)
Object Permanence
Understanding that objects continue to exist when they are not in sensory or motor contact with the object, as revealed by retrieval of hidden objects
May be present within first few months
Power of Peek-a-boo
Significant with cognitive support
Through play, infants can play out the comings and goings of people that he/she has come to recognize and depend upon.
An infant can also gain understanding that he can hide from an adult, although he still thinks that if he can’t see the adult, the adult can’t see him (he will put his hands over his eyes to hide).
Preoperational State - Egocentrism
Focus only on their own viewpoint or perspective
Unable to think about others’ symbolic viewpoints from one’s own as in three mountains problem - if they see cows when looking at the model, they feel the child opposite also sees cows.
Preoperational State - Conservation
Children at the preoperational stage cannot yet conserve - they think certain physical characteristics of objects remain the same, even when their outward appearance changes
Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory of Development
Cognitive development is inseparable from social and cultural contexts
Cognitive development occurs the support of more knowledgeable others in a child’s world - MKOs
Scaffolding
As the child develops the skill, the scaffolding gets less until the child can do the skill independently
Social and emotional development
a lifelong process (from birth to death) that in significantly important to helping people across the lifespan learn to understand, express, and manage their emotions, and to form and maintain healthy relationships with others.
Social Cognition
Thinking people have and demonstrate about the thoughts, feelings, motives, and behaviours of themselves and other people
Self awareness/self concept
One’s perceptions of one’s unique attributes or traits - a combination of physical and psychological attributes
Development of the self
Begins at birth
Significant development during toddlers’ development
Rouge test
-Most 12-month olds touch the mark on the mirror
-Most 15-month olds touch the mark on their face; indicating they recognize the infant in the mirror as themselves.
Social and Emotional Development - Infants
“social single” - 4 weeks
Stranger anxiety (begins 8-9 months)
Experience diverse emotions
Development of the self-awareness (ability to recognize ones individuality)
Social and Emotional Development - Attachment
Attachment describes a close reciprocal emotional relationship between two people; people we feel closest to across the lifespan.
Not a trait or skill
This sense of security also extends to relationships across the life span. With development, this security shifts in emphasis of need.
Attachment Styles
Attachment Styles were not created by Bowly in his original conceptualization of attachment
They were created by Mary Ainsworth
-Type A → Secure
-Type B → Insecure avoidant
-Type C → Insecure anxious ambivalent
Solomon and Geotge conceptualized the 4th style of parenting
- Type D → Disorganised
IMPORTANT
Assessing Attachment Security - The problem
that the strange situation has inherent problems. Research indicates the strange situation is not an appropriate measure of attachment and not culturally relevant.
Social and Emotional Development - Childhood
Generally preschool and school age children are much better able to regulate their emotions and understand the emotions of others.
Differences in children’s social and emotional development can be influenced by culture, trust in relationships, and biological factors (temperament).
Adolescence
Transition between childhood and adulthood
Spans 12 – 25 years of age
Adolescence - Emotional Development
Capacity to regulate emotions is still developing
more effective regulation of emotions
Adolescence - Social Development
Adolescence identity crisis
Curiosity, questioning, and exploration
Peer groups
Romantic relationships
Adolescence - Moral Development
Begins in childhood - children belgian to learn right and wrong by observing which behaviors are punished or rewarded
the increase in cognitive development, and abstract reasoning
