Introduction to Lifespan Development

Frage	Antworten
Developmental Psychology is	A field of study seeking to explain changes in an individual's social and cognitive capabilities through observed changes
There was tension between	those who believed human perception relied on experience (Locke 1690) or an innate understanding (Rousseau 1762)
Empirical scientific testing	only started just over a century ago
First scientific observations of development	were made by Charles Darwin who conducted research into infants' sensory abilities and young children's emotions (Cairns & Cairns 2006)
It wasn't until Darwin that	childhood was viewed differently to adulthood (as separate phases). Children were always viewed as mini adults, explaining the way they were treated at the time
In the late 19th Century	child labour laws were introduced to protect children from exploitation
Today in the 21st Century	research into development effects all ages. Renningger & Sigel (2006) suggest developmentalist psychologists have influenced social policy and legislation relevant to children, families and the elderly
Three main domains of human development	Physical (neuro), social and emotional, cognitive
Physical development involves	changes in body size, proportions and appearance
Proportion at infancy	is dedicated to the head, but not so much during adulthood. 1/3 of the infant's body is given over to the brain and proportion changes during physical maturation
Other physical developments include	function of the body's systems such as the reproductive system, perceptual and motor capabilities like eyesight and hearing, physical health
Nature vs. nurture	often seen as contrasting yet they constantly interact
Feral children	brought up away from social and cultural influences often have problems with physical and motor skills such as walking on all fours
These children may also have	delayed/impoverished language and possible severe psychological/emotional problems
The extent to which a victim can be rehabilitated	depends on how long they were abused and how much they have exceeded the critical period (their age)
Each case (of feral children)	is unique and cannot be generalised to test the important of the nature/nurture interaction
Kasper Hauser (1812-1833)	German youth claimed to have grown up in isolation in a darkened cell. Appeared on the streets of Nuremberg and was able to learn language and drawing. This shows it's possible to rehabilitate the individual, however reliable psychological data is difficult to acquire.
Social Development	Sees a development in communication (what we use it for and who with), self-understanding in terms of gender and identity, ability to manage feelings and knowledge of other people, relationships and friendships become particularly important, we improve moral reasoning and behaviour.
Cognitive Development	Entails a wide variety of thought processes and intellectual abilities such as attention, memory, problem solving, imagination, creativity and building a representation of the world through language
Development is interdisciplinary	Including physical, social and cognitive aspects. Human development is fundamentally to do with biological changes, however there is debate as to how much of a person's behaviour is influenced by society, and how much is influenced by the individual themself
Stages of Life: Prenatal Period	Conception - Birth Arguably the period with the most rapid changes (from a cell to a baby)
Stages of Life: Infancy	0-2 years. Dramatic changes in body and the brain. Emergence of motor, perceptual , capabilities. Development of language, social relationships and autonomy (independence) by communicating wants and needs
Stages of Life: Early Childhood	2-6/7 years: Body becomes longer and leaner. Motor skills are refined. Development in language. Changes in relationships (increased importance of peers). Early schooling starts aged 4/5 (earlier than other countries 5/6)
Stages of Life: Middle and late childhood	5/6 - 8 (middle) 8-11/12 (late): Abilities begin to resemble those of adults. Improved athletic ability, more logical thought, advances in self-understanding, moral development, participation in organised games/rules
Stages of Life: Adolescence	11/12 - 18/19 years: Bridge between childhood and adulthood. Puberty occurs as well as abstract, idealistic and individualistic thoughts. Autonomy and independence
Stages of Life: Adulthood and Old Age	Adulthood - 18/19 - 65 Old Age - 65 - death Adulthood: Mature, logical thinking and social relationships. Gradual deterioration of physical ability. Old Age: deterioration in cognitive abilities such as memory, change in social relationships (loss of independence). There is a need for understanding this in terms of healthcare and economics.
Continuous development	A pattern of development in which abilities change in a gradual and smooth way
In continuous development, new events	build on an earlier experience. Development is therefore a gradual accumulation of abilities (quantitative)
Discontinuous development	pattern of development in which changes occur suddenly resulting in qualitatively different stages
Discontinuous development can be positive	Rutter et al (2001) found that deprived children who had been reared in institutional conditions experienced positive changes after adoption
Most contemporary theorists incorporate	a continuous model with abrupt changes such as Sigeler's 'overlapping waves' model
Psychologists are intrigued by	what extent a new ability/skill impacts other domains
Domain general development	development can have impacts on a wide range of abilities. E.g. learning backstroke may assist in serving in tennis or lifting weights above the head.
Piaget argued development is	Domain-general
Domain specific dveelopment	development of various abilities occurs independently and with little impact on other domains E.g. if a child progresses in maths this has little impact on their English
Empiricism	Development is primarily determined by environmental factors
Nativism	Development is primarily determined by inherited factors (genes)
Most contemporary theorists argue that	the environment and inherited factors influence human development, however they disagree on their importance
Environment vs. inheritance	is sometimes referred to as the nature, nurture debate. Modern developmental psychologists explore how the two interact to produce developmental variations in children.
Plomin et al (2001)	children with certain genetic characteristics were more likely to exhibit behaviour problems than children without them. And when these children with genetic dispositions live in abusive environments, they are more likely to be maltreated than other children.
Therefore a combination of	particular hereditary characteristics and a certain environment puts particular children at risk
Critical period	period of development at which specific experiences are vital in order for development to occur in a typical way
Sensitive period	A period of development at which particular experiences are important for typical development
sensitive period: if those experiences	do not occur during this period, typical development may still occur
Behaviourism	A school of psychology prominent in the early 20th century which emphasised the role of learning in behaviour.
Most work in behaviourism	was conducted with animals such as rats, dogs and pigeons rather than children.
Behaviourism: change in behaviour	are driven by experience which happens gradually and continuously
classical conditions	type of learning in which two stimuli are repeatedly presented together until individuals learn to associate a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus
Classical conditioning was first discovered	by Pavolv who found that a dog was able to learn an association between two stimuli (food and a bell, eventually just the footsteps of an approaching person triggered salivation)
Watson and Rayner (1920)	Conditioned Little Albert to fear white rats by pairing an unconditioned stimulus (a loud bang) with a neutral stimulus (the white rat) to result in a conditioned response (fear of the white rate).
The conditioned response is	the new behvaiour
With Litter Albert, stimulus generalisation occured	Meaning that the fear response was generalised to all similar stimului
Evaluation of Watson and Rayner (1920) Ecological Validity	The study lacked ecological validity. It was conducted in artificial conditions as an unrealistic account of a phobia, meaning it cannot sufficiently support the behavioural theory.
Evaluation of Watson and Rayner (1920) Consent	There are ethical implications as Little Albert was only 11 months old and couldn't give consent. He also endured some very frightening experiences and was never desentitised
Evaluation of Watson and Rayner (1920) Replication	In the 1920s there were very few ethical guidelines meaning this kind of research cannot be replicated accurately therefore reducing the reliability of the findings in their support for the behavioural theory
Operant Conditioning	type of learning which depends on the consequences of behaviour. Rewards increase the likelihood of behaviour being repeated whilst punishment decreases this likelihood.
John Watson's Behaviourist Approach (1878-1958)	studied the acquisition of irrational fears through learning. Believed strongly in the potential of a child to learn through experience. This takes an environmentalist viewpoint (nurture not nature). Argues that the developing child is extremely malleable and susceptible to the effects of environmental influences
Issues for behaviourism	Strong empirical evidence but most is acquired through animal studies / case studies. Whether or not we have a certain degree of cognition and self awareness. 'Nature theories' argue against such environmental influences
Maturational Theory (Gesell, Darwin)	Major opposition to the behavioural theory. Suggests development is predetermined by biological or maturational timetables rather than being shaped by experience (Watson). Therefore a child's to learn is largely determined by genetics. For example, our ability to control our hands develops after the control of the neck and torso
Gessell and Ames (1940)	We inherit maturational timetables in our genetic code
McGraw (1953)	Studied twins Jimmy and Johnny, one of whom was given additional motor stimulation yet development remained the same in both
Psychodynamic Approach The Psyche	For Freud the developing personality consists of three interrelated parts: Id, ego, superego
The Id	Is the animal part of the psyche governed by instinctual drives such as sex and food. It's motive is the satisfaction of desires and if it took over the psyche the person would have no empathy and be psychotic. However in development the Id is gradually controlled by the ego.
The ego	part of the psyche concerned with reality trying to balance the id with the constraints of the superego. During childhood when the ego is immature it puts things it cannot deal with into the unconscious
The psychodynamic approach assumes	a great part of your mind is the unconscious
The conscious	what you see and what you are thinking of
The preconscious	things we could be aware of if we wanted to
The unconscious	things we are unaware of and can only become aware of with help
The superego	moral part of the psyche governed by the need to behave in a way our parents would approve of. If not we are punished by anxiety and guilt. If this part took over the psyche, the person would be anxious all the time. if no superego was developed, the person would be psychopathic and like hurting people. This part of the psyche emerges when the child internalises social morals and develops a conscious.
Motives drive	behaviour
Latent motives	the unconscious forces that drive behaviour
Manifest motives	the lies we tell ourselves in order to protect us from the truth
Freud's Psychosexual stages	Oral, Anal, Phallic, Latency, Genital
Freud believed that	children go through stages of psychosexual development determined by the particular body part which matures at the time and gives the child the most pleasure.
If you don't successfully advance to the next psychosexual stage	You may become fixated in a stage which becomes part of our character when we become adults
Fixation with the mouth	can lead to eating disorders, alcoholism, smoking etc.
Anal stage	18 months - 3 years. Pleasure gained from expelling and retaining faeces. Bowel / bladder control is an important achievement. This is a time of independence and autonomy. Toilet training too late or too early can lead to anal fixation
Phallic Stage	3-5 years: Child becomes aware of their gender and preoccupied with their genital area. Oedipus complex for boys, mother is a sexual attraction and father is more powerful. This is resolved by identifying with the father (to gain some of his power). The child has castration anxiety (e.g. Little Hans). Electra complex for girls, penis envy, never fully resolved. At this stage an unconscious rivalry develops for the affection of the opposite sex parent. Fixation at this stage can lead to problems maintaining long term stable relationships.
Little Hans - Freud (1909) Example of Phallic Stage	Hans showed strong sexual urges towards his mother and had a fear of horses at the age of 3. Sexual urges were suppressed by fear of castration by his father. Freud believed the horse to be a symbol for Little Hans' father (blinkers represented spectacles and moustache). Freud advised the father to continue loving Hans until he identified with him.
Latency Stage	5-12 years (puberty): Focused on social development rather than psychosexual. Maintaining identification with same sex peers is important and the development of defence mechanisms.
Genital Stage	12-18 years (puberty -> maturity): Pleasure gained from a mature heterosexual relationships, if conflicts experienced in early childhood are resolved. Arguably by the age of 5 the adult personality is formed which is why early experiences are so important.
John Bowlby's Ethological Theory	holds that behaviour must be viewed as occurring in a particular context and as having survival value.
Lorenz	studied behaviour of ducklings following an adult of a different species due to a biologically primed form of attachment known as imprinting. This involves a critical period, the strongest period in mallard ducklings being 2 days after hatching.
Ethologist's basic method of study	is to observe children in their natural surroundings. Whilst ethologists may view elicitors such as crying as biologically based, these types of behaviour are modified by environmentally based experiences.
Ethological Research	Bowlby (1944) studied 44 juvenile thieves ages 5-16. Suggested 16 of them to be affectionless psychopaths having no conscience or guilt. Found that 86% of these 'affectionless psychopaths' experienced early and prolonged separation from their mothers which supports the maternal deprivation hypothesis. However this is simply correlation, doesn't imply causation. Accounts of separation are retrospective and therefore not reliable.
Theories of cognitive development	focus on a wide variety of thought processes and intellectual abilities such as attention, memory, problem solving, creativity and language.
Social Learning Theory	Children learn through observing and imitating others
Bandura (1963)	found that after a group of children watched an adult punch a large bobo doll they were more likely to attack and play aggressively with the doll than a group of children who hadn't observed the model. Neither the adult nor the children received any reinforcement, yet the children learned specific behaviours.
4 cognitive processes govern	how well a child will learn behaviour through observation: 1. Attention. First the child must attend to a model's behaviour. 2. Retention. The child must retain the observed behaviours in memory. 3. Reproduction. The child must have the capacity and intellect to reproduce the behaviour. 4. Motivation. The child must be motivated and have a reason to reproduce behaviour.
Constructionism Piaget	Cognition is active in the process of development and understanding the world. Piaget's theory combines genetic and social accounts. Sees children actively seeking new information. Their thinking changes quantitatively with age, different from how adults think. Children actively construct their own development by composing theories and testing them.
Sociocultural theory of cognitive development: Vygotsky	Sees development emerging from children's interactions with more skilled people, and the institutions and tools provided by their culture
Evolutionary theory of cognitive development	critical components of human evolution are in the brain changes underlying cognitive function (Cosmides & Tooby, 1987)
Jerry Fodor's Book (Modularity of Mind 1983)	argued that the cognitive functions we possess are sub-served by modules designed to process information determined by our inheritance. This means we have to wait until the body/brain are mature enough to process them.
Information Processing Approach to Cognitive Development	Begins with a stimulus and ends with an output response much like the way computers process information (Munakata 2006). This approach attempts to understand how cognitive processes such as memory, attention, problem solving develop over the lifespan.
Siegler and Alibali (2005) IP approach is characterised by 4 assumptions	1. Thinking is information processing. 2. There are processes of change underlying the processing of information. 3. cognitive development is a self-modifying process. 4. Careful task analysis is crucial (Detailed examination of how children solve a problem over a single learning episode or several occurring close in time - Siegler 2006). IP is self-modifying, adapts to learn new info and strategies for IP.
Neo-Piagetian theory of cognitive development	reinterprets Piaget's concepts from an information-processing perspective
Case (1992,1998)	divides development into stages each of which entail an increasingly sophisticated executive control structure (mental blueprint of a plan for solving problems) each with 3 components, representation, goal and a strategy for the problem.
Connectionist Models of Development Developmental Neuroscience	How far is intelligence a result of genes/environment? Twin studies are an important methodological innovation. MZ share the same genetic makeup, DZ don't. Many studies do a comparative test between the child's IQ and that of their adoptive and biological parents'. Twin studies have demonstrated the importance of genes influencing behaviour through development.
Texas adoption project (Loehiln et al. 1994)	IQ correlation with natural mother 0.44, adoptive mother .03, adoptive father .06
Minnesota Transracial Adoption Study (Scarr et al. 1993)	IQ correlation with natural mother 0.29, adoptive mother 0.14, adoptive father .08
Mark Baldwin's approach (Connectionist)	Progressive dveelopment of knowledge in childhood which takes place inn stages beginning at birth with innate motor reflexes progressing to language and logical thought. Successful progress depends on feedback from the environment. A child is both a product of social experience and biological growth.

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Introduction to Lifespan Development

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