chapter 5: developmental psychology 1. the study of physical, cognitive, and social change...
TRANSCRIPT
Developmental Psychology• The study of physical, cognitive, and social
change throughout the life span• Life span - conception through old age till
death• Stages of life• Prenatal,
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Infancy, Childhood,
Adulthood.Adolescence,
• Three major issues: Nature/nurture
– How much do genetic inheritance and experience influence development?
Continuity/stages
– Is development a continuous process or does it proceed through separate stages?
Stability/change
– To what extent do our personality traits persist through life?
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Social Development• Attachment - an emotional
tie with another person
• Harlow’s research with monkeys
• What is the source of attachment in monkeys?
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• Body contact/contact comfort.
• Other Harlow monkey studies
• What effect did inadequate mothering have on social development?
• Could surrogate raised females become adequate mothers?
• Critical period -
• An optimal period shortly after birth when exposure to certain experiences produces proper development
• Harlow’s monster mothers.5
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Erik Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory• Emphasizes social factors in development, rather
than sexual factors
• Life span theory - 8 stages
• Stages - genetically/biologically/maturationally determined
• Each stage - crisis/turning point
• How crisis is resolved - social environment.
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Erikson’s 8 Stages:1) Trust vs. Mistrust (1st year of life)
• “a pervasive attitude toward oneself and the world”.
• Adequate love and attention - the world is a good place. People are loving. I am lovable
• Optimism develops
• Optimism carries over to other stages
• Negative resolution - pessimism, mistrust.
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2) Autonomy vs. Shame/Doubt (2nd year)
• Express will in acceptable ways
• Terrible twos
• Feel confident/independent & learn self-control
• Must learn to express will and control impulses
• Problem for parents?
• Negative resolution - shame and doubt.
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3) Initiative vs. Guilt (3-6 years)
• Extension of second stage
• Successful resolution leads to ambition and purpose
• Child - extremely curious
• Child can take the initiative
• If initiative thwarted, guilt may develop
• Problem for parents?
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4) Industry vs. Inferiority (Elementary School)
• Must learn that success comes through work
• School age child faces learning tasks; reading, writing, arithmetic, and learning to relate to peers
• If failure is accentuated, inferiority develops
• Problems for parents and teachers?
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5) Identity vs. Role Confusion (Adolescence)
• Must begin defining self-making commitments
• Must make commitments in three areas: 1. Career direction
2. Mature adult-like relationships
3. Philosophy of life
• If direction cannot be found, confusion results.
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6) Intimacy vs. Isolation (Young Adulthood)
• Note: intimacy follows identity
• Must learn how to be close in a healthy way in both romantic encounters and friendships
• Are you mature enough to be open with others about who you are without being threatened by differences which may exist?
• Failure to develop mature intimacy leads to isolation - superficial relationships.
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7) Generativity vs. Stagnation (Middle Adulthood)
• Generous with time and attention in relation to nurturing others
• Time to give back
• Negative resolution: stagnated, self-centered
• Are so absorbed with self, they cannot reach out to others in a healthy way.
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8) Ego Integrity vs. Despair (Late Adulthood)
• Looking back on life with satisfaction leads to sense of good feeling (integrity)
• Life has been good, perhaps hard, but good. “I made the best of it.”
• Looking back, with many regrets leads to despair.
Cognitive Development
• Cognitive -
• Mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, and remembering
• Piaget’s theory of cognitive development
• Piaget - how an individual’s thinking ability changed throughout development.
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• Schema -
• A concept (mental framework) that helps us organize and interpret experience
• Example: dog schema or concept
• Assimilation -
• Interpreting one’s new experience in terms of one’s existing schemas
• Example.
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• Accommodation -
• Modifying one’s current schemas to include new information . . .
and/or creating new schemas
• Examples
• Cognitive development involves constant interaction between assimilation and accommodation.
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Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development
• Sensorimotor Stage - birth to 2 years
• Experiences world through senses and responds (motor responses)
• Examples: seeing, touching, responding
• Object permanence develops – 8 months
• Stranger anxiety noted.
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• Infants may know more than Piaget thought
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• One-month-old infants sucked on one of two pacifiers without seeing it. When they were later shown both pacifiers, they looked mostly at the one they had felt in their mouth.
• Five-month-old infants were shown one or two objects, which were then hidden behind a screen. Then an object was either removed or added through a trap door. When screen was then lifted, infants stared longer when shown a wrong number of objects.
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• Preoperational Stage - about 2 - 7 years
• Represents objects with words and mental images. Much language development
• Mental operations are mistake prone
• Lacks complex reasoning - preoperational
• Exhibits egocentrism - unable to take another’s point of view
• Does not understand conservation
• Amount remains the same even though form changes (ex. volume, mass). Example
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• Concrete Operational Stage - 7 - 11 years
• Mental operations performed concerning things which are concrete or easily visualized (shows more logical reasoning)
• Better understanding of number and math
• Difficulty thinking abstractly. Example
• Demonstrates understanding of conservation.
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