The process of psychological development Flashcards
infancy age range
0-12 months
toddlerhood age rrange
1-3 years
childhood age range
3-12 years
adolescence age range
12-19 years
young adulthood age range
19-35 years
middle adulthood age range
35-65 years
late adulthood age range
65 + years
what are theories
simply ideas used to explain a phenomenon and while they can be supported by data this does not mean that they are neccessarily factual. They are acceptable until disporoved
how do we describe the time periods of psychological development
non-concrete and non-dogmatic
emotions
temporary feelings which arise from personal experiences usually occuring as an unconcious response
emotional development
the continuous, lifelong development of skills that allow individuals to control, express and recognise emotions in an appropriate way. the range of emotions and our knowledge pf how and when to express them become increasingly sophisticated as we age and develop
how is emotional development conceptualised
through the development of ‘theory of mind’ which refers to an individuals ability to attribute and understand mental states, beliefs, experiences and emotions of oneself and others
the skills used to develop ‘theory of mind’ are
recognising the emotions of others, assigning words to certain emotions, partipicating in imaginary play (e.g ability to act out other emotions), understanding that the expression of certain emotions may lead to consequences
attachment
the long lasting bond between two individuals
attachment theory
refers to the bond between an infant and their primary caregiver. that this attachment formed significantly impacts the infants emotional development. it has the potential to enhance or reduce their ability to express their own emotions and recognise the emotions of others throughout their lifespan
who is harry harlow
american psychologist who is best known for his maternal seperation, dependancy needs and social experiments on rhesus monkeys, he conducted several experiments to iinvestigate the factors influencing development of attachmennt between infant monkeys and their mothers
what was harry harlows most famous experiment
1958 - aimed to determine the role of food provision (breastfeeding) in the formation of infant-mother attachments
what occured in harry harlows 1958 experiment
Each cage contained two surrogate or
‘substitute’ mothers that were roughly the
same size and shape as a real rhesus monkey
mother. One of the surrogates was covered in
towel-like fabric or cloth, and the other was
left uncovered with exposed wire. A feeding
bottle was attached to one of the surrogates in the same area where a breast would be on a real mother. The infants were then assigned to one of two conditions. In half of the
monkeys’ cages, the cloth mother provided milk with a feeding bottle and in the other half’s cages, the wire mother provided milk
with the feeding bottle.
what was harlows hypothesiss
infant monkeys would prefer and become attached to the surrogate mother that provided via the feeding bottle, he believed that infant-mother attachment was based primarily on feeding
what were the findings of harlows experiment
in both conditions, infant monkeys spent significantly more time cuddling/clinging to the cloth surrogate mother, when the wire mother provided food, the infant monkeys would go to the wire mother to feed but immediatley return to the cling to the ckoth surrogate, when placed in novel/scary situations the infant monkeys woyld turn to the cloth mother for comfort, those exposed without the surrogate mother would cower in feae, sometiimes paralysed, some huddled in a ball sucking ttheir thumbs
what was the ultimate conclusion of harlows experiments
contact comfort (provided by the softness of the cloth covering) was more important than feeding in the formation of an infant rhesus monkeys attachtment to its mother
emotional development in infancy
8 weeks-smile and frown, 3-4 months express delight, fear, anger, etc 1-2 years jealousy and affection
childhood (2-puberty) emotional development
2-3 yrs temper tamtrums, label and recognise emotions in others, empathy
adolescence (puberty-18) emotional development
less emotional dependance on parents, extreme emotions, seek help with emotions
adulthood (18-65) emotional development
more empathy, managing emotions, mid-life crisis
old age 85+ emotional development
calmer, emotional wisdom, focus on positivity
observational learning
the acquisition of new behaviours as a result of observing the actions of others and the consequences of those actions
modelling
a form of learning whereby we observe the behaviour of others and then replicate it
infancy cognitive development
use senses to explore the world around them 9 months - recognise faces and sounds, imitate gestures, simple words, 12 months - speak multiple works, imitate animal sounds and associate names with objects, 18 months - understand 10-50 words
childhood cognitive development
2 yrs - 100-150 words, 10 new words learnt each day, mental imagery, memory, attention span, learning to read, later use logic and problem solving
adolesccene cognitive development
indpendance in thinking through problems and situations, think hypothetically, metacognition