Lifespan Development Thesis
DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY ● Study of the patterns of growth and change that occur
throughout the lifespan ○ Physical, Cognitive, and Psychosocial Changes
● The Nature vs. Nurture debate ○ Psychologists typically take an interactionist
perspective ■ Both nature and nurture interact
PRENATAL DEVELOPMENT ● “Before birth” Development
● Environmental influences ○ Mother’s nutrition ○ Mother’s illness ○ Mother’s emotional state ○ Mother’s drug use
THE EXTRAORDINARY NEWBORN
● Reflexes ○ Unlearned (i.e., innate) automatic responses to stimuli
■ Rooting ■ Sucking ■ Gagging ■ Grasping
○ Most disappear within 4 to 5 months
ATTACHMENT ● The positive emotional bond that develops between a
child and a particular individual ● Feelings of comfort and security are the critical
components in building a positive attachment ○ See Harlow’s monkey studies
BAUMRIND’S PARENTING PRACTICES ● Authoritative is the ideal style in many cultures
○ High responsiveness: There is love, care, and affection ○ High control: There are rules, limits, and structure
● Other styles lack either control, responsiveness, or both ○ Lack of control (e.g., permissive parenting) can lead to
risky adolescent behavior ○ Lack of responsiveness (e.g., authoritarian parenting)
can produce anxious and unhappy children
ERIKSON’S PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT ● Humans enter a “crisis” at each developmental period
○ Resolution of the crisis is mostly dependent on environmental factors (e.g., interactions with parents, teachers, peers)
● Resolution of a crisis does NOT predict the resolution of following crises ○ One exception!
■ A resolution of the identity crisis in adolescence predicts the resolution of the intimacy crisis
ADOLESCENCE ● The socially constructed stage between childhood and
adulthood ● Not as “bad” as once thought
○ Research does not support the idea of a typical “adolescent rebellion”
● Frontal lobes of brain have not finished developing ○ Responsible for judgement, impulse control, planning
● Peer groups tend to become more important than family
PIAGET’S COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
Sensorimotor Stage (0 to 2 years) ● “Thinking” is sensory experience (e.g., seeing, hearing, touching, tasting) ● These infants lack object permanence
Preoperational Stage (2 to 6 years) ● One-way thinking through words and symbols; no logical reasoning ● These children are egocentric and lack conservation
Concrete Operational Stage (7 to 11 years) ● Logical thinking with tangible events and analogies ● These children aren’t able to think abstractly
Formal Operational Stage (12+ years) ● Thinking abstractly ● These people can engage in hypothetical reasoning
PIAGETIAN EGOCENTRISM
PIAGETIAN CONSERVATION
THINKING ABSTRACTLY
PIAGET’S COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT ● There are some major criticisms of Piaget’s theory
○ Many think development is continuous and therefore this discontinuous stage-like model isn’t accurate
○ Many have observed children reaching cognitive milestones long before Piaget would have argued
○ Argument for a fifth stage beyond Formal Operations ■ Postformal thought
● Emotions become more integrated with logic over time
VYGOTSKY’S COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
● Argues that cognitive development is continuous, not stage-like
● If we receive scaffolding (i.e., support) from more capable individuals within our zone of proximal development, we’re able to cognitively progress at astonishing rates
KOHLBERG’S MORAL DEVELOPMENT ● People go through three broad levels of moral reasoning
