Development Over the Life Span

Birth ( before actually) to Death

OverviewConception to year oneCognitive developmentLearning to be goodGender developmentAdolescenceAdulthoodThe wellsprings of resilience

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Objectives

• Describe developmental psychologists and socialization

• List the 3 stages of prenatal development• Explain motor reflexes in newborns and

support with an example• Describe Types of attachment and Harlow’s

Monkey’s and Ainsworth’s babies

At the Beginning….

• Developmental psychologists- Study universal aspects of life span development as well as cultural and individual variations

• Natural life stages• Physicalogical, cognitive changes • Socialization- children learn attitudes and

behaviors expected from them in society

Prenatal development

Conception 30 Hours

6 weeks 4 months

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Prenatal development= 3 stages

• Germinal – sperm meets female ovum or egg= fertilization

• Inside single cell organism zygote• 10-14 days Zygote begins to split, cluster of

cells, attaches to uterus wall• Outer portion will be umbilical chord and

placenta• Nutrients and waste

Stage 2

• Implantation is complete• Embryonic stage- weeks 2 through 8 • 1.5 inches long • Hormone testosterone secreted; as a result

sex of baby

Stage 3

• 8 weeks on fetal stage• Now called a fetus • Develops organs and systems of the body • Neural development ( brain neurons)

substantial) • However some toxins ( tetragons) can seep

through

Agents that cross the placenta

German measles

X-rays and other radiation

Sexually transmitted diseases

Cigarette smoking

Alcohol and other drugs

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The Infants World

• Can’t survive on own; but have motor reflexes

• Automatic behaviors that are necessary for survival

• 7 categories of reflexes in the newborn baby

Physical abilitiesNewborn reflexesRootingSuckingSwallowingMoro (“startle”)BabinskiGraspingStepping

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Perceptual abilities

Visual abilitiesQuickly develops beyond initial range of eight inchesCan distinguish contrasts, shadows, and edges

Other sensesHearingTouchOlfaction

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Culture and maturation

Many aspects of development depend on customsBaby’s ability to sleep alone

Recommendation to have babies sleep on their back has caused many babies to skip crawling.

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AttachmentA deep emotional bond that an infant develops with its primary caretaker

Contact comfortIn primates, the innate pleasure derived from close physical contactThe basis of the infant’s first attachment

Tested using strange situationA parent-infant “separation and reunion” procedure that is staged in a laboratory to test the security of a child’s attachment

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Margret and Harry Harlow

• Contact comfort with rhesus monkeys• Artificial mothers• 1st has face, but just wire outside feeding tube• 2nd has face, but terry cloth around wire

feeding tube.• Scientist used to believe attached to Mom

because she feeds US! NOT TRUE• Ran to it when startled or scared

Mary Ainsworth (1973)- Strange situation

• Nature of attachment with mothers and babies• Mom brings baby into unfamiliar room with toys• After a while stranger comes in and attempts to

play with child• Mother leaves child with stranger• She then returns plays with child, stranger leaves• Leave baby by self for three minutes• 4 categories of attachment according to M.A.

Types of attachmentSecureA parent-infant relationship in which the baby is secure when the parent is present, distressed by separation, and delighted by reunion.InsecureA parent-infant relationship in which the baby clings to the parent, cries at separation, and reacts with anger or apathy to reunion.

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2 more types of attachment

• Avoidant- not caring if mother leaves the room, make little effort to seek contact upon her return, treating stranger about same as mom

• Anxious/ ambivalent- resisting contact when mom returns but protesting loudly if she leaves= cry to be picked up then demand to be put down

What causes insecure attachment?

Abandonment and deprivation in the first two years of life

Parenting that is abusive, neglectful, or erratic

Child’s genetically influenced temperament

Stressful circumstances in the family

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SUMMERIZE

• Cognitive development• Stages of development• Attachment: Harlow’s monkeys; Ainsworth’s

babies