Unit 9: Developmental Psychology

Module 45: Developmental Issues, Prenatal Development, and the Newborn

Three Major Issues in Developmental Psychology:

• Nature and nurture
  
  

• Continuity and stages
  
  

• Stability and change
  
  

Prenatal Development:

• Stages: Zygote → Embryo → Fetus
  
  

Newborns:

• Reflexes (inborn, involuntary responses ensuring survival):
  
  

  • Rooting
    
    

  • Sucking
    
    

  • Grasping
    
    

  • Startle (Moro)
    
    

• Show strong preference for human faces
  
  

• See best at 8-12 inches
  
  

• Preference for mother’s smell and voice
  
  

• Preference for novel stimuli, but habituation leads to fading attention with familiarity
  
  

Module 46: Infancy and Childhood: Physical Development

Physical Development:

• Maturation: Biological growth processes enabling personality/behavioral emergence, largely independent of experience.
  
  

Brain Development:

• Brain fully formed at birth, but neural development continues
  
  

• Learning & experience expand neural networks
  
  

• Pruning removes unused pathways, strengthens used ones
  
  

• Frontal lobes grow rapidly (ages 3-6)
  
  

Maturation and Infant Memory:

• Few reliable memories before age 3.5
  
  

• Neurological and language development required for memory
  
  

Motor Development:

• Not detailed, but maturation guides physical abilities
  
  

Module 47: Cognitive Development

Jean Piaget:

• Swiss psychologist studying child thinking
  
  

• Believed children think differently from adults
  
  

• Schemas: Concepts/frameworks for organizing information
  
  

  • Assimilation: Interpreting info using existing schemas
    
    

  • Accommodation: Modifying schemas for new info
    
    

Piaget’s Stages:

1. Sensorimotor Stage:
   
   

   • Explore via senses
     
     

   • Object permanence (8 months)
     
     

   • Stranger anxiety
     
     

2. Preoperational Stage:
   
   

   • Understand world through symbols (language)
     
     

   • Cannot perform mental operations
     
     

   • Features:
     
     

     • Pretend play
       
       

     • Egocentrism
       
       

     • Irreversibility
       
       

     • Centrism
       
       

     • Language development
       
       

     • Lacks conservation
       
       

     • Theory of Mind begins
       
       

3. Concrete Operational Stage:
   
   

   • Logical thinking about concrete events
     
     

   • Conservation, classification, math transformations
     
     

4. Formal Operational Stage:
   
   

   • Abstract reasoning, logical thinking, mature moral reasoning
     
     

Theory of Mind:

• Understand others' thoughts, beliefs, feelings are different from ours
  
  

• Impaired in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
  
  

Lev Vygotsky’s Social Development Theory:

• Social interaction important for cognitive growth
  
  

• Scaffolds: Temporary support from adults
  
  

• Zone of proximal development
  
  

• Emphasized language and cultural variation in development
  
  

Module 48: Social Development

Attachment:

• Powerful bond with caregivers
  
  

• Harlow’s Monkeys:
  
  

  • Comfort over nourishment
    
    

  • Contact comfort critical
    
    

  • Challenged advice to avoid holding children
    
    

Konrad Lorenz:

• Imprinting: Attachment formed in some animals (e.g., geese)
  
  

• Critical Period: Optimal time for attachment
  
  

Attachment Differences:

• Mary Ainsworth’s Strange Situation Test:
  
  

  • Secure attachment: Confident, relaxed exploration
    
    

  • Insecure attachment: Clingy, distressed, unadventurous
    
    

• Parenting styles influence attachment
  
  

Nature vs. Nurture:

• Is attachment due to parenting styles or temperament?
  
  

Deprivation of Attachment:

• Leads to withdrawal, anxiety, depression, substance abuse, poor neurological growth
  
  

Disruption of Attachment:

• Separation distress; younger children recover better
  
  

• Adoption after age 2 more difficult for attachment
  
  

• Foster care disrupts emotional growth
  
  

Day Care:

• High quality: No negative effects
  
  

• Poor quality: Detrimental
  
  

• More daycare: Better language/thinking, but more aggressiveness
  
  

Self-Concept:

• Identity & self-worth
  
  

• Forms around 15-18 months
  
  

Parenting Styles:

• Authoritarian: Low nurturance, high control
  
  

• Authoritative: High nurturance, moderate control
  
  

• Neglecting: Low nurturance, low control
  
  

• Permissive: High nurturance, low control
  
  

Module 49: Gender Development

Males:

• Higher suicide, ADHD, antisocial disorder, aggression, and government representation
  
  

• Larger, more competitive friend groups
  
  

Females:

• Earlier puberty, longer lifespan
  
  

• More fat, less muscle, better smell
  
  

• Higher depression, eating disorders
  
  

• More social connection, primary caregivers
  
  

Both:

• Equal in intelligence, vocabulary, happiness
  
  

Gender Typing:

• Learning traditional male/female roles, shaped by culture
  
  

Social Learning Theory:

• Learn through observation, imitation, reinforcement, or punishment
  
  

Transgender:

• Gender identity differs from birth sex (distinct from sexual orientation)
  
  

Module 50: Parents, Peers, and Early Experiences

• Roles of nature/nurture in development
  
  

Module 51: Adolescence

Puberty:

• Sexual maturation (age 11 girls, 13 boys)
  
  

• Primary & Secondary sex characteristics
  
  

• Menarche: First menstrual period
  
  

Cognitive Development:

• Neural pruning post-puberty
  
  

• Limbic system and frontal lobes still developing
  
  

• Abstract thought (Piaget’s formal operations)
  
  

Moral Development:

• Kohlberg’s Theory: Moral stages
  
  

• Haidt’s Moral Foundations: Intuition before reasoning (care, fairness, liberty, loyalty, authority, sanctity)
  
  

Module 52: Social Development

Erikson’s Identity Theory:

• Adolescents solidify sense of self
  
  

• Role testing → Positive self-concept or role confusion
  
  

• Capacity for intimacy develops
  
  

Parent vs. Peer Influence:

• Parents influence values, religion, career
  
  

• Peers influence music, clothing, attitudes
  
  

• Peer pressure peaks at age 15
  
  

Emerging Adulthood:

• Growing independence
  
  

• Longer transition to adult roles
  
  

Module 53: Sexual Development

Prenatal Development:

• X or Y determines sex at conception
  
  

• 7 weeks: Male sex organs form if Y chromosome triggers hormones
  
  

• Intersex: Atypical hormone exposure/development
  
  

Puberty:

• Primary & Secondary sex characteristics develop
  
  

• Influenced by body fat, hormone-mimicking chemicals, stress
  
  

STIs:

• 39% of sexually active 14-19-year-old females have STIs
  
  

• Condoms: 80% effective for HIV
  
  

Teen Pregnancy:

• Higher in US vs. Europe due to low communication, guilt, alcohol, media
  
  

• Predictors of restraint: High intelligence, religious engagement, father presence, service learning
  
  

Sexual Orientation:

• 3% men, 1-2% women identify as homosexual
  
  

• No environmental cause
  
  

• Biological influences:
  
  

  • Brain differences in hypothalamus
    
    

  • Higher concordance in identical twins
    
    

  • Older brother effect
    
    

  • Differences in traits: spatial ability, auditory systems, finger lengths, aggression
    
    

Module 54: Adulthood

Tasks:

• Marriage, career, family, friendships
  
  

• Strongest cognitively in 20s-30s
  
  

• Marriage/child-rearing happening later
  
  

Physical Changes:

• Gradual decline, minimized by lifestyle
  
  

• Menopause, testosterone decline
  
  

• Attitudes more impactful than changes
  
  

Social Development:

• Middle age: Transition, children leaving home
  
  

• Midlife crisis: Mostly a myth, life satisfaction stable
  
  

Love:

• Close bonds with spouses and children
  
  

• Shared values strengthen marriages
  
  

• Marrying later reduces divorce risk
  
  

• Divorce rate ~50%; cohabiting increases risk
  
  

Physical Changes:

• US life expectancy: 78.8 years
  
  

• Decline in muscle, senses, immune function
  
  

Mental Changes:

• Processing speed declines, but intelligence stable
  
  

• Crystallized intelligence increases
  
  

• Fluid intelligence decreases slowly after 75
  
  

Death and Dying:

• Grief varies, especially hard if unexpected
  
  

• Death of a child is most challenging
  
  

• Rituals/counseling don’t shorten grief