Unit 9: Developmental Psychology

Child Development/Adolescence and Adulthood Objectives After you have mastered the information in this unit, you will be able to: 1. Discuss the major questions that underlie the study of human development 2. Describe how developmental psychologists study age-related changes 3. Describe the major stages of prenatal development 4. Discuss some of the threats to prenatal development 5. Explain the types of tests used to detect chromosomal and genetic defects 6. Identify and describe the reflexes that are present at birth 7. Describe how the infant develops physically during the first year of life 8. Discuss the abilities infants possess with respect to sensory processing, perception, and Learning 9. Explain how the infant’s motor abilities develop during the first year 10. Identify and explain the three basic types of infant temperament identified in the New York longitudinal Study 11. Describe the three types of attachment styles identified by Ainsworth 12. Discuss the influence of day care and internal working models 13. Summarize parenting influence on development and differentiate among the major styles of parenting in Baumrind’s model 14. Understand the role that peer relationships play in children’s emotional and social development 15. Discuss the childhood stages of psychosocial development, as proposed by Erikson 16. Understand the basic concepts of Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, including how assimilation and accommodation differ 17. Describe the major features associated with each of Piaget’s stages of cognitive development 18. Discuss the basic theme in Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development 19. Explain how information-processing theorists describe cognitive development

Vocabulary Developmental Contact comfort Formal operational Psychology Maturation Theory of Mind Nature-nurture issue Schema Temperament Interaction Assimilation Zone of proximal Identical Twins Accommodation development Fraternal Twins Sensorimotor Stage Psychosocial stages Continuity view Mental representation Adolescence Discontinuity view Object permanence Rites of Passage Developmental Stages Preoperational stage Puberty Prenatal Period Egocentrism Formal Operational Zygote Animistic thinking Stage Embryo Centration Generativity Fetus Irreversibility Selective social Placenta Concrete operational interaction Neonatal Period stage Stages of death and Attachment Conservation dying (5) Imprinting Mental operations

Outline

DEVELOPMENT  Life Span approach: o Continuity v. discontinuity (stage theorists) . Do we develop gradually or does it need specific stages to be completed in order to go to the next level o Cohort effects Unit 9: Developmental Psychology

PHYYSICAL DEVELOPMENT  Zygote – embryo – fetus  Viability – legislation  Teratogens – substance that cause birth defects o Viruses/bacteria o Mumps/measles/rubella (MMR), chicken pox, AIDS, syphilis, influenza o Alcohol (fetal alcohol syndrome) and cigarettes (low-birth rate)…cocaine and drugs o toxoplasmosis  behavioral teratology CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT  myelin sheath  motor development – lifting heads, rolling over sitting up, crawling, wlaking o grass motor: running/jumping o fine motor: drawing/playing/writing PUBERTY  rapid height and weight gains  sex characteristics… The movie o menarche – first menstruation – decreasing age of onset 11 o spermarche – first ejaculation ADULTHOOD  gradual physical decline  skin wrinkles, dries, looses elasticity, pales, spots, hair thins, brittle, and grays  loss of height and stooping, muscles and bones weaken  sensory losses – eyesight and hearing diminishes  reaction time decreases  climacteric – 2-3 yr period body readjusts to post fertile time o menopause (pre-peri) medications o male sperm (degeneration) COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT  smell taste and touch develop first  hearing and vision develop later  habituation technique –  preference technique PIAGET – 4 stages of cognitive development (not considered gospel anymore)  Sensory – motor stage (birth-2) o Assimilation and accommodation o Object permanence  Preoperational stage (2-6/7) o Egocentrism - self focused because they don’t know anything else o Animism – inanimate objects are animated o Artificialism  Concrete operational stage (6/7-11) o Conservation o Class inclusion  Formal operational stage (12-adulthood) o Hypothetical/abstract and introspection SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT  Attachment – (Ainsworth) o Secure, detached/avoidant, resistant o Stranger anxiety o Separation anxiety o Harry Harlow and theh monkeys o Temperament – Jerome Kagan – cultural . Gender issues . Play issues . Family issues (divorce, dual-working parents, single-parents, latchkey kids)  Parenting styles: o Authoritarian – parent is the boss o Authoritative/democratic – parents and children negotiate and discuss o Permissive/laissez faire (indifferent /uninvolved/neglectful) – egocentric adult/doesn’t notice o Erickson . Trust v. mistrust . Autonomy v. shame doubt . Initiative v. guilt . Industry v. inferiority . Identity v. role confusion . Intimacy v. isolation . Generativity v. stagnation . Ego integrity v. despair  MORAL o Kohlberg . Preconvention – disobedience = punishment . Conventional – rocking the boat – obey the rules -- people will approve  Rules are a duty . Post conventional – rules/laws are relative, laws can be changed o Carol Gilligan – develop morally win conjunction with the group o Death and dying o Elizabeth Kubler-Ross . Denial . Anger . Bargaining . Depressions . Acceptance