child development. developmental psychology studies how people grow and change –covers the entire...
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Developmental Psychology
• Studies how people grow and change– Covers the entire life span (conception – death)
• Why is each stage important to study?
Nature vs. Nurture
• Nature• To what extent is
human behavior determined by heredity
• Nurture• To what extent is
human behavior determined by your environment
Key Terms
• Maturation• The automatic and sequential process of
development that results from genetic signals» Because of this, infants tend to sit up before
they crawl – and crawl before they walk
• Critical Period• A stage or point in development during which
a person or animal is best suited to learn a particular skill
» Research suggests that there is a critical period for language development
Physical Development
• Height & Weight• Babies grow at an
amazing rate, but most dramatic is before a baby is born
– Grows from microscopic to almost 20 inches long in just 9 months
• Motor Development
• Proceeds in stages in which babies will master one task before others
• The rate is different from infant to infant and culture to culture
Perceptual Development
• The process by which infants learn to make sense of the sights, sounds, tastes and other sensations to which they are exposed
• Remember that eye sight at this age is not fully developed
Depth Perception & The Visual Cliff
• Creates an illusion of a drop-off – like a cliff
• Found that very young infants seem unafraid when they are placed on the edge
• By 9 months, infants respond with fear (seems to be correlated to the time in which they learn to crawl as well)
Infants & Other Senses• Smell
• Newborns immediately distinguish strong odors
» Wrinkle noses at pungent odors & smile at the sweet smells
• Taste• Humans are born
with an innate sweet tooth & tend to prefer sweet tastes over salty or bitter
• Hearing• Seems to be
much more developed at birth than vision
• Respond more to high-pitched sounds, but are soothed by low-pitched sounds (like singing or humming)
Attachment• Emotional ties that form between people• Infants & children try to stay close to those
with whom they are attached• Mary Ainsworth
• Theorist who studied children around the world• Findings:
– that newborns prefer being with anybody over being alone
– By about 4 months, infants develop specific attachments to their main caregivers
– By 6 to 8 months, attachment grows much stronger and will cry/complain when they are separated
Attachment• Other key terms:
• Stranger Anxiety» Children cry and reach for their parents when
strangers are around
• Separation Anxiety» Causes infants to behave erratically when they are
separated from their main caregivers (usually mom)
• Contact Comfort» The instinctual need to touch and be touched by
something soft, such as skin or fur» Most studies done with Monkeys by Harry Harlow
• Imprinting» The process by which some animals form
immediate attachments » Studies done by Konrad Lorenz
Language Development
• Language is developed in a sequence of steps
• It is the same for nearly all children
• But it may happen at a faster or slower rate, depending on the child
• See Transparency to fill out your note sheet
• 1-5 months - Reflexive Communication• Cooing, laughing, crying at random
• 6-18 months - Babbling Stage• Verbalizes in response to others and responses
increasingly approximate human speeh
• 10-13 months - First Words• Uses words; typically to refer to objects
• 12-18 months - One Word Sentence Phase
• Vocabulary grows slowly; nouns primarily
• 18 – 24 months ~ Vocabulary Spurt• Fast-mapping facilitates rapid acquisition of new
words
• 2 years – Two word Sentence Phase• 2 – 5 years – Three word Sentence Phase• 3 years – Complete simple active
sentence structure• Sentences to tell stories that can be understood
by others & can use plurals
• 3.5 years – Expanded grammatical forms• 4 years – Uses Imaginary Speeh• 5 years – Well developed and complex
syntax• 6 years – Metalinguistic Awareness
• The ability to objectify language as a process and as a thing
Jean Piaget
• Theory of Cognitive Development
• Began career as a biologist studying how we as humans come to know things
• Became very interested in children and how they think
• Piaget identified 4 Stages of Cognitive Development
Piaget Key Terms• Conservation
• Can a child understand that there is an equal amount of liquid, even if the glasses look different?
• Even if something changes shape, it is still the same item? Ex. Water to Ice?
• Object Permanence• The understanding that
objects continue to exist even when they cannot be seen, heard or touched
• Reversibility• The awareness that
actions can be reversed
• Egocentrism• Children working
through the preoperational stage have difficulty seeing things from another’s point of view ~ they can only understand theirs
Erik Erikson
• A theorist who believed that the journey of life consisted of 8 stages
• At each stage, there is a task that must be mastered in order for healthy development