Essay 5

PSYC101_Ch_6_DevelopmentalPsychology.pptx

CH. 6 DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY

Developmental Psychology is the study of physical, emotional, cognitive and social change across the life span.

To document change, a good first step is to determine what an average person is like—in physical appearance, cognitive abilities, and so on—at a particular age. This provides a good starting point by which to compare individuals and determine if their development is occurring along a normal continuum.

Nature vs Nurture

Stability vs Change

Continuity vs Stages

Conditioning vs Modeling

Passive vs Active Processes

What is Developmental Psychology?

Developmental psychology is divided into three main domains of study:

Biological development, which development pertains to changes in body, brain, perception, motor capabilities, and health

Cognitive development, which pertains to changes in thought processes, intellectual abilities, and learning styles

Social and emotional development, which relate to the development of emotions, self-understanding, interpersonal skills, relationships, and moral reasoning

To collect information from people, researchers rely on observation, reports from others, and physiological assessments like movement tracking, eye scans, and brain waves. If possible, data collection from interviews and self-reports can be used in complex methodological designs.

Developmental psychologists compare physical, cognitive, and social statuses of people at different stages and circumstances throughout human lifespans. They do this through cross-sectional design and longitudinal design.

Cross-sectional Design:

Research design that collects information from different groups of people of different ages.

Longitudinal Design:

Research design that collects information from the same group of people across time.

Prenatal Development

Prenatal development begins with conception and ends with the birth. The process of prenatal development is best understood in three stages: germinal period, embryonic period, and fetal period.

Germinal Period:

First period of pre-natal development from conception to implantation

Teratogens, any substances ingested, consumed, or experienced by the mother that can cross the placental barrier and damage the developing organism during pregnancy, can be:

Environmental influences like mercury, radiation, and lead

Legal drugs such as alcohol, smoking and vaping (and second-hand smoke) and prescription or over-the-counter drugs

Illegal drugs such as marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamines, and opioids

Maternal factors like genetics, disease, stress, aging, and malnutrition.

The impact of teratogens on prenatal development depends on the timing of exposure. Teratogens cause the most negative outcomes when they are ingested during the sensitive period when the major systems are still being formed and are most vulnerable to damage.

Delivery:

The second stage of the process of delivery in which the fetus passes through the birth canal.

Process of Delivery:

The three-stage process of giving birth.

Prenatal Development & Birth

Babies are assessed using the APGAR Scale

at 1 minute and then again at 5 minutes after birth on the following five items:

Activity level

Pulse

Grimace (reflex response)

Appearance

Respiration

Babies can receive 0 to 2 points for each item or 10 points total.

Scores between 7 and 10 are within the normal range. Babies in the normal range will be cleaned and kept warm; it is unlikely that medical intervention will be needed.

Scores between 4 and 6 indicate some medical intervention may be needed, such as suction and oxygen. Scores below 4 mean babies are in need of immediate medical interventions to save their lives.

The primary reason for carrying out this quick and easy assessment is to provide the necessary support if the baby is experience any sort of crises especially around cardiac (i.e., heart) or pulmonary (i.e., breathing) issues.

Prenatal Development: Drug Exposure Results

Perinatal Drug Exposure Symptoms

Pregnancy complications

Prematurity

Decreased weight and length

Decreased head circumference

Small gestation age

Intraventricular hemorrhage (i.e., bleeding in the brain)

Fetal Abstinence syndrome

Still birth

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)

Increased infant mortality (i.e., death)

Life-long Symptoms:

Mental retardation

Attention deficits

Memory deficits

Hyperactivity

Difficulty with abstract concepts

Inability to manage money

Poor problem-solving skills

Difficulty learning from consequences

Immature social behavior

Inappropriately friendly to strangers

Lack of control over emotions

Poor impulse control

Poor judgment

Early Physical Development: Reflexes

Newborns come into the world with an array of reflexes that disappear within the first 6 months of life. These reflexes help newborns adapt to and engage with the world around them until their motor skills adequately develop. Several reflexes are dominant in those first few months

Reflex	Description	When Reflex Disappears
Sucking Reflex	When something touches the roof of his mouth, his lips close and he sucks.	About 2 Months
Moro Reflex	The Moro reflex is often called a startle reflex. That’s because it usually occurs when a baby is startled by a loud sound or movement. In response to the sound, the baby throws back his or her head, extends out his or her arms and legs, cries, then pulls the arms and legs back in.	About 2 Months
Crawling Reflex	When placed on her stomach, she will make crawling motions.	About 2 Months
Babinski Reflex	When the sides of her feet are stroked, she points her big toe and curls up other toes.	About 4 Months
Stepping Reflex	When supporting his weight and his feet touch the ground, he will make a walking motion.	About 3 Months
Rooting Reflex	When her cheek is stroked, she will turn her head toward the touch and open her mouth.	About 4 Months
Gag Reflex	Gag response to prevent choking.	Never Disappears

Early Physical Development: Growth Patterns

Most early physical development occurs from head to toe, using the cephalocaudal pattern of development.

For example, infants will gain the ability to hold their heads up before they can sit up without support and will sit up without support before they can walk.

The other pattern of development is the proximodistal pattern, which refers to the development of motor abilities that develop from the center outward to appendages.

In reference to motor skills, infants are able to use their core muscles to roll over before they can accurately grasp at items and before they have the digital dexterity to pick up small items

These two patterns of development are consistent across all stages of development, except an awkward period in adolescence.

Cognitive Development: Piaget

Piaget’s theory is widely accepted because it highlights the general abilities and limitations of children at stages across their lives and because of its breadth and applicability to a variety of developmental contexts.

Central to Piaget’s theory is the concept that children are mentally and physically active in their own cognitive processes (Piaget, 1969, 1973).

Children have a self-interest to organize and understand their world. They are not passive while their cognitive abilities change; instead, children are like “little scientists” undertaking breaching experiments to test out their ideas and drawing conclusions by actively engaging their social and physical environments.

Children discover many important life lessons without the assistance of others. Information is organized into cognitive schemas, or frameworks, placing information into classifications and groups

Cognitive Schemas:

Pattern of thought, based on experience, that organizes information about objects, events, and things in the world.

Children use two basic processes, assimilation and accommodation, to help organize experiences into cognitive schemas

Assimilation:

The process of integrating new information in a form to match the current schemas.

Accommodation:

The process of adapting the current schemas to match the new information or experiences.

Piaget’s theory of cognitive development suggested that children progress through their cognitive development in a series of stages (Piaget, 1969, 1973). Like all stage theories, children move through the stages in the same order and each new stage marks the advent of qualitatively different skills and abilities than in the previous stages.

Cognitive Development: Piaget Cont.

Stage of Cognitive Development	Age Range	DESCRIPTION
Sensorimotor	Birth to 2 years	During this stage, infants rely on their senses and motor abilities to help them understand their surroundings. The major achievement of the sensorimotor stage is object permanence — the understanding that objects exist even when out of sight.
Preoperational	2–7 years	In this stage, children have object permanence and begin to expand their understanding and use of objects, but they still have limited cognitive ability. Perhaps the greatest achievement of the preoperational stage is the development of symbolic thought, wherein children are able to substitute one object to for another, mentally. This manifest itself in creative play. In the preoperational stage children are severely limited in their thought processes. They are egocentric, lacking the ability to see the world from another person’s point of view. It also includes centration, the fixation on one characteristic of an object at the exclusion of other characteristics.
Concrete Operational	7–12 years	During this stage, children overcome their previous cognitive limitation and begin the development of logical thought. However, this logical reasoning does not extend to hypothetical situations. Concrete-operational children still engage in trial-and-error when problem solving.
Formal Operational	12+ years	In this final stage, the limitations in reasoning from the previous stage are overcome. Adolescents are able to reason about situations and problems using hypothetical thought.

Social and Emotional Development: Attachment

Social and emotional development includes areas such as the bond between the caregiver and child, temperament, child rearing, morality, and other social hurdles experienced in life.

Attachment is the emotional bond that connects two people together. The first important relationship children have is with their primary caregiver.

Scientific interest in attachment-bonds increased during the 1930s and 1940s after people noticed children—who were orphaned or otherwise separated from their parents—often struggled later in social environments, with other relationships, and in parenting their own children.

Initial research by Harlow and associates with orphaned rhesus monkeys demonstrated the importance of early attachment between parent and child for social development. Additional studies have examined the specific aspects of parental care that were quintessential for the development of attachment.

Based on the pivotal ideas from Harlow, John Bowlby proposed attachment theory, which was later extended by Mary Ainsworth.

Bowlby postulated that infants were not simply dependent on their mothers for survival but were innately motivated to investigate the world around them.

Infants need to have a secure base. Infants rely upon this safe-haven for encouragement in times of stress while learning on their own. The quality and process of the development of attachment shapes how infants and children view their world. These attachments to caregivers help infants and children develop internal working models setting the foundation for future relationships, as well as the development of self-identity, emotions, and self-worth.

Social and Emotional Development: Bowlby & Attachment

Secure Base:

A safe, supportive relationship that infants use to explore and understand their world.

Name	Time	Description
Pre-attachment	Birth to about 2 months	Infant does not discriminate one individual from another—no fear of strangers.
Attachment in Process	2 to about 6 months	Infant directs behavior (cues) to a specific individual. Infant is able to recognize parents but shows limited protest when separated.
Well-defined Attachment	6 months to about 3-4 years	Infant shows separation anxiety from specific individual(s), often mother and father.
Goal-directed Relationship	3-4 years and beyond	Separation protests decrease as child begins to understand caregiving schedule as well as develop skills for self-entertainment.

Bowlby’s Model of Phases Of Attachment:

Internal Working Model:

The expectations and understanding of the world formulated by the first attachment with caregivers.

Social and Emotional Development: Attachment

This diagram shows the cycle of positive attachment and cycle of disturbed attachment.

This model is important because how an infant interacts with a parent or caregiver is generalized to other people.

Source: Brian Kelley

Social and Emotional Development: Ainsworth & Attachment

Ainsworth (1973) expanded upon the ideas of Bowlby by providing empirical support for the different types of attachments that infants and children can have with caregivers. Based on her strange situation technique, Ainsworth developed descriptions for secure and insecure attachments.

Strange Situation:

The procedure developed by Ainsworth to assess different attachment styles.

Events During the Strange Situation Procedure:

Mother and infant enter research room with stranger. Stranger leaves.

Infant plays with available toys and mother responds naturally.

Stranger enters and after a few minutes mother leaves.

Infant is alone in room with stranger. The two may interact naturally.

Mother returns and stranger leaves. After a few minutes, mother leaves.

Infant is alone in room for a few minutes.

Stranger enters and interacts with infant.

Mother returns.

Social and Emotional Development: Ainsworth & Attachment

Relationship Between Types of Attachment Across Stages
	Stage 1: Attachment	Stage 2: Independence	Stage 3: Achievement	Stage 4: Altruism
Secure	Friendship, cooperation, respect, trust, affection, and love.	Self-controlled, self-assured, self-sufficient, responsible, and independent.	Accomplished, problem solver, creative, determined, and motivated.	Caring, considerate, compassionate, and empathetic.
Resistant	Attention-seeking, thrives on attention, and often clingy.	Rebellious, intimidates, manipulative, hasty, and passive aggressive.	Competitive, sensation seeking, recognition focused, conniving, and troublemaker.	Selfish, co-dependent, overindulgent, and degrading.
Avoidant	Withdrawn, rejected, lonely, overly suspicious, and alienating.	Learned helplessness, unconstrained, false confidence, more easily misguided, and irresponsible.	Under-achiever, failure-focused, apathetic, immature, doesn’t like change, and unmotivated.	Focused on self, reward, and pleasure; immediate needs outweigh long-term benefits.

Social and Emotional Development: Parenting and Family

Parenting is a complex and ever-changing concept. Quality, consistency, and type of parenting affect attachments (and their long-term outcomes). As children age, their needs change, which requires parents to adapt their parenting styles. Each parent has a different style that guides the way they interact with their children.

Four different parenting styles have been established by researchers:

Authoritative: characterized by high warmth/responsiveness and high demands

Authoritarian: characterized by low warmth/responsiveness and high demands

Permissive: characterized by high warmth/responsiveness and low demands

Rejecting–neglecting: characterized by low warmth/responsiveness and low demand

These parenting styles are based on the amount of responsiveness, demands, and control placed upon children by their parents. Parenting styles vary greatly depending upon culture, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and environment. Stressful situations such as economic hardship, physical/mental health issues, and marital conflict place pressures on parents that, in turn, alter parenting styles.

Social and Emotional Development: Temperament

Temperament is an infants’ and children’s biological predisposition to respond to the world in predictable ways.

Temperament is relatively stable over time and affects parenting style and parent–child interactions.

Thomas and Chess (1977) suggest three general temperamental characteristics to describe most infants:

“Easy babies” have easygoing temperament, quick to adjust to new experiences, establish predictable routines, are generally happy, and typically remain calm.

“Difficult babies” tend to react negatively to new experiences, show high levels of fear and distress, and have irregular routines.

“Slow-to-warm-up babies” start out somewhat difficult but over time become easier to manage over time.

Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development

Stage	Crisis to Resolve	Age Range
Basic Trust vs. Mistrust	Trusting in caregiver and own ability to cope with challenges	Infancy
Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt	Making appropriate choices and having confidence in skills	Toddlerhood
Initiative vs. Guilt	Setting and attaining goals	Preschool
Industry vs. Inferiority	Learning the rules and customs of the culture	Childhood
Identity vs. Role Confusion	Developing a coherent identity	Adolescence–Early Adulthood
Intimacy vs. Isolation	Forming close, intimate relationship bonds	Early Adulthood
Generativity vs. Stagnation	Considering the legacy left behind	Middle Adulthood
Ego Integrity vs. Despair	Reflecting back on life	Late Adulthood

Moral Development: Kohlberg

Morality, according to Lawrence Kohlberg reflects people’s sense of fairness and justice.

Moral development is the process of learning what is right/wrong, fair/unfair, or just/unjust.

Kohlberg was most interested in the development of the thought processes behind moral decision-making rather than the acquisition of “correct” moral choices.

Based on the rationale for their moral decisions, people are classified into one of three general stages of moral development:

Preconventional moral reasoning

Conventional moral reasoning

Postconventional moral reasoning

Moral Development: Kohlberg

Preconventional Moral Reasoning	Conventional Moral Reasoning	Postconventional Moral Reasoning
Kohlberg’s first stage of moral development when children focus on receiving rewards or avoiding punishments. Typical during the preschool and early elementary school years, this reflects thinking that seeks reward or the avoidance punishment. In this stage, thinking is very self-focused, reflecting the egocentrism dominant in this level of cognitive development. Children will make moral decisions to gain positive outcomes (e.g., favor from others or tangible benefits) or will make moral decisions to avoid negative outcomes (e.g., punishment or loss of admiration).	Kohlberg’s second stage of moral development when people focus on maintaining social order. This is the most common level of moral thinking. Most adults reason using the conventional moral thinking approach, which is focused on maintaining social order and laws. Through logical thought and hypothetical reasoning, people are able to move past self-centered cognitions and are better able to consider the good of society overall.	Kohlberg’s third stage of moral development when people focus on equality and the greater good. This is believed to be only achieved by a small group of adults. Interestingly, Kohlberg never officially interviewed a person who could be classified at this level. Theoretically, these thinkers have a flexible cognitive style allowing them to understand universal truths and the need to strive for a universal justice that transcends oppressive civil codes.

Teens and Young Adults

Adolescence is a time of transition between childhood and adulthood. Historically, the delineation between childhood and adulthood was clearer; however, more modern cultures, especially with a focus on extended formal education, have contributed to this in-between period as well as expanding the length of the period, creating confusion on when adulthood actually begins and how to define it.

Stages	Age Range	Description
Early Adolescence	ages 10-13	This is characterized by rapid changes in physical characteristics including hair growth under the arms and around the genitals, breast development in females and enlargement of the testicles in males. Adolescents tend to have more concrete/black-and-white thinking, often noting in the communication that some things are absolutely right or absolutely wrong. There is also a general focus on themselves where they often overestimate the amount of attention garnered by others. Often this is the age in which increased need for privacy occurs.
Middle Adolescence	ages 14-17	This is characterized in males with continued and rapid growth, often in spurts and can be uneven. Physical changes may be nearly complete for females, and most girls now have regular periods. This is often the age that interest in romantic relationships occurs and that adolescents become good thinkers, using reason to solve and understand problems, but they tend to not be able to apply those skills as effectively in managing their own behavior and understanding risk. While they have increased cognitive capabilities, they often use these new skills to rationalize their own maladaptive behaviors. This thinking process is often called the personal fable: they see themselves as special and unique.
Late Adolescence	ages 18-21 and older	This is characterized by completed physical development and grown to their full adult height. They usually have more impulse control and are likely to be better able to gauge risks and rewards accurately and establish methods to achieve those rewards. They have a stronger sense of their own individuality now and can identify their own values and may become more focused on the future and base decisions on their hopes and ideals.

Physical Growth and Development

Physical development during adolescence is characterized by the following:

Along with overt physical changes, there are a number of central nervous system (i.e., brain) changes that take place.

Rapid physical growth

Changes in sleep patterns

Change in appetite

Changes in hormones

Sexual maturation

Changes in body shape

Increases in strength and endurance

Menstruation in females

Changes in vocal sounds

Secondary sexual characteristics

Biologically based characteristics that distinguish males and females are referred to as sex differences. These characteristics include different reproductive functions and differences in hormones and anatomy.

These differences are universal, biologically determined and unchanged by social influence.

In contrast, gender is a psychological phenomenon referring to learned, sex-related behaviors and attitudes. Cultures vary in how strongly gender is linked to daily activities and in the amount of tolerance for what is perceived as cross-gender behavior.

Gender identity is an individual's sense of maleness or femaleness; it includes awareness and acceptance of one's sex.

Gender roles are patterns of behavior regarded as appropriate for males and females in a particular society. They provide the basic definitions of masculinity and femininity.

Substance Use and Abuse in Adolescence

Teens tend to seek new, exciting experiences during this period, but often lack the maturity to weigh the consequences of their decision making. Therefore, drug experimentation, which is almost universally initiated during adolescence, often results in a plethora of primary and secondary adverse events.

The average age for first use of an abused substance in 2016 was about 18.2 for inhalants, 17.4 for alcohol, 18 for nicotine, and about 19 for illicit drugs.

Initiating substance use during childhood or adolescence increases the risk of developing dependence or SUD’s (Substance Use Disorder) in the future (SAMHSA, 2014b). Research supports the notion that substance abuse is a pediatric/developmental disease. Research provides convincing evidence of the “gateway model of drug abuse.”

Gateway Model of Drug Abuse:

This model suggests the typical pattern of substance use is to start with more conventional, legal, and readily available substances (e.g., nicotine, alcohol, and inhalants) followed by a systematic elevation in the type of drug abused, like illicit drugs (e.g., marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, and ecstasy).

The majority of young people report using drugs for the first time because of sociocultural factors such as the following:

Peer pressure

Curiosity

Advertising

Movies, television, and music

Parental use

Sibling use

Cost

Access

Not perceived of as a drug

Seen as a grown-up behavior.

They continue to use drugs because of the addictive properties of drugs. Teens especially (and adults) routinely downplay the significance of the social forces that act upon them.

Even though social factors provide a strong initiating force for drug use, it is possible, even probable, that the “gateway” effect may be due, in part, to neurochemical alterations in reward systems.

Substance Use and Abuse in Adolescence Cont.

Emotions and Mental Health in Adolescence

The rapid neurobiological changes that transpire during adolescence not only elevate the risk for substance abuse problems, such changes also increase the risk for mood disorders.

As a matter of fact, adolescence is the period of highest risk for the onset of depression. Elevated risk for depression begins in the early teens and continues to rise in a linear fashion throughout adolescence.

According to a nationally representative survey of adolescents (age 13-18 years) in the US in 2010, the most common mental disorders by lifetime prevalence are anxiety (31.9%), behavior (19.1%), and mood (14.3%).

The majority of people who experience mental health issues will first experience them during adolescence.

Mental Health and Substance Use:

Unfortunately, too many adolescents deal with negative affective states by using a variety of readily available substances. While self-medicating is a common reason for teen drug use, it is also likely that teen drug use results in the development of psychological problems.

Drugs directly impact important brain centers involved in emotional arousal and control of emotions, so damage to these brain centers alone can result in the development of psychological problems, which are then further medicated with abused drugs, thus, drastically accelerating the problem.

Middle Adulthood

Early adulthood takes place generally between the ages of 21 to 35. In early adulthood, individuals may continue to add a bit of height and weight. Hormonal changes also continue to occur, often showing a gradual drop-off, but the effects are less pronounced than they were during adolescence. In terms of physical development, this period is the least dramatic.

Middle adulthood takes place between the ages of 35 and 65. In middle adulthood, individuals often start to experience more noticeable changes again but often in terms of decline. There is great variability during this time and in many ways determined by biological, social, and psychological factors.

The major development tasks that take place during middle-adult include:

Death of one or more parents and experiencing associated grief.

Launching children into their own lives.

Adjusting to home life without children (often referred to as the empty nest).

Dealing with adult children who return to live at home (known as boomerang children in the United States).

Becoming grandparents.

Preparing for late adulthood including changes in career, income, and retirement.

Redefining hobbies and interest given changes in physical abilities.

Dealing with changing health status and potential chronic illness

Acting as caregivers for aging parents or spouses (Lachman, 2004).

Aging and Older Adulthood

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of older adults is growing in the United States and is projected to be the largest segment of the population by the year 2030.

The driving force behind this trend is the fact that Baby Boomers (individuals born after WWII between 1946 and 1964) are aging and living longer than previous generations due to improved healthcare. Named the “Graying of America,” this aging of the Baby Boomer cohort will mean that older adults will soon outnumber children for the first time in our country’s history.

Older Adulthood, defined as people 65 years of age and older, older adults are projected to make up 21% of the population by 2030.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2017

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2014

Chronic Illness in Older Adulthood

According to the National Council on Aging, approximately 80% of older adults have at least one chronic illness and 68% have at least two.

Managing chronic illness is an important part of older adulthood. In addition to the physical management of chronic illness which often includes dietary changes and adherence to prescribed medication, managing one’s chronic illness often involves attention to quality of life and depression.

Individuals with chronic illnesses report lower quality of life overall than those without chronic illnesses.

Because people are living longer than ever before, researchers have changed the way they view health, looking beyond just physical markers of health and to the quality of an individual life.

In older adulthood, researchers have shown the following factors to be related to quality of life:

physical and mental ailments

social connection

exercise and physical activity

sense of purpose

Source: Bailee Robinson

Cognitive Decline in Older Adulthood

Currently, 11% of older adults have been treated for Alzheimer’s Disease or another form of dementia.

While some cognitive decline is normal in older adulthood (to include slight memory loss or slower cognitive processing), Alzheimer’s Disease and other forms of dementia are conditions marked by memory loss and difficulty thinking or problem solving that is usually progressive and interferes with everyday activities.

Dementia

is caused by changes in the brain as an individual ages and is not considered a normal part of aging.

Research on dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease has identified the main risk factors for these conditions are ones that largely cannot be controlled:

Age

Family history

Researchers have also identified other factors that may predict onset and progression of dementia:

Diet

Cholesterol

Exercise

Sleep

These have all been identified as promoting brain health and related to dementia. It appears that staying active, getting proper amounts of sleep (at least 7 hours per night), and diet are important to maintaining cognitive health.

Created by Bailee Robinson