Infancy and Childhood Psychology Developmental Psychology The study

Infancy and Childhood Psychology

Developmental Psychology The study of YOU from womb to tomb. We are going to study how we change physically, socially, cognitively and morally over our lifetimes.

Reflexes Click on pictures to see clips of reflexes. • Inborn automatic responses. • Rooting • Sucking • Grasping • Moro • Babinski

Maturation • Physical growth, regardless of the environment. • Although the timing of our growth may be different, the sequence is almost always the same. Click to see movie of Captain Marvel and his maturation.

Parenting Styles • Authoritarian Parents • Permissive Parents • Authoritative Parents

Section 3: Parenting Styles & Social Development • Parenting Styles – Authoritarian: parents attempt to control and evaluate the behavior and attitudes of children and adolescents in accordance with a set code of conduct – Democratic/Authoritative: children and adolescents participate in decisions affecting their lives – Permissive/Laissez-Faire: children and adolescents have the final say; parents are less controlling and have a non-punishing, accepting attitude toward children (c) 2007 brainybetty. com ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 6

Schemas (“schemata”) • Concepts or mental frameworks that people use to organize and interpret information • Sometimes called schemes • A person’s “picture of the world” • Perceptual set, expectancy set • What is your schema of “mammal”

Separation Anxiety Separation anxiety peaks at 13 months of age. No matter whether the children are home or day care raised.

Insecure Attachment Harlow’s studies showed that monkeys experience great anxiety if their terry-cloth mother was removed. Harlow Primate Laboratory, University of Wisconsin

Egocentrism Piaget concluded that preschool children are egocentric. They cannot perceive things from another’s point of view. “How do you think that makes them feel? ” “I have no idea what you are talking about. ”

Accommodation • Adapting current schemas to incorporate new information • The new experience is so novel the person’s schema must be changed to accommodate it • Hmm, well I guess they both have “hair” and do give birth to live young…

Assimilation • Interpreting a new experience within the context of existing schemas • The new experience is similar to other previous experiences No problem here Uh-oh

• Social Development –Socialization: the process of learning the rules of behavior of the culture within which an individual is born and will live –How can we describe socialization? –What is the reason for socialization? –Give examples of how we learn socialization in school… (c) 2007 brainybetty. com ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 13

Cognitive Development • Conservation: • The principle that a given quantity does not change when its appearance is changed (e. g. liquid in a tall narrow glass vs. short wide glass)

Difficulties During Adolescence • Role Confusion • Anxiety • Depression • Eating Disorders: • Anorexia Nervosa • Bulimia Nervosa • Body Dysmorphic Disorder • Suicide

• End of Notes Stop

Cognitive Development • Egocentric: • A young child’s inability to understand another person’s perspective

Deprivation of Attachment What happens when circumstances prevent a child from forming attachments? In such circumstances children become: 1. Withdrawn 2. Frightened 3. Unable to develop speech

Schemas • Children view the world through schemas (as do adults for the most part). • Schemas are ways we interpret the world around us. • It is basically what you picture in your head when you think of anything.

If I teach my 3 year that an animal with 4 legs and a tail is a dog…. Assimilation • Incorporating new experiences into existing schemas. What schema would you assimilate this into? Or this? What would he call this?

Accommodation • Changing an existing schema to adopt to new information. If I tell someone from the mid-west to picture their schema of the Bronx they may talk about the ghetto areas. But if I showed them other areas of the Bronx, they would be forced to accommodate (change) their schema to incorporate their new information.

Cognitive Development • Object Permanence: • A child’s realization that an object exists even when he or she cannot see or touch it • Representational Thought: • The intellectual ability of a child to picture something in his or her mind

Concrete Operational Stage • Can demonstrate concept of conservation. • Learn to think logically Click the penguin to see kids try to grasp concrete logic.

Formal Operational Stage • What would the world look like with no light? • Picture god • What way do you best learn? • Abstract reasoning • Manipulate objects in our minds without seeing them • Hypothesis testing • Trial and Error • Metacognition • Not every adult gets to this stage

Moral Development Three Stage Theory by Lawrence Kohlberg!!!

Pre-conventional Morality • Morality based on rewards and punishments. • If you are rewarded then it is OK. • If you are punished, the act must be wrong.

Conventional Morality • Look at morality based on how others see you. • If your peers , or society, thinks it is wrong, then so do you.

Post-Conventional Morality • Based on self-defined ethical principles. • Your own personal set of ethics.

Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development • Concrete Operations: • 7 -11 years • Understands Conservation • Difficulties with abstract ideas/hypothetical concepts • Formal Operations: • 11 years-onward • Understands abstract ideas • Logical and Deductive reasoning

Adolescence AP Photo/ Jeff Chiu Many psychologists once believed that childhood sets our traits. Today psychologists believe that development is a lifelong process. Adolescence is defined as life between childhood and adulthood.

Moral Thinking 1. 2. 3. Preconventional Morality: Before age 9, children show morality to avoid punishment or gain reward. How it affects them Conventional Morality: By early adolescence social rules and laws are upheld for their own sake. What others will think Postconventional Morality: Affirms people’s agreed-upon rights or follows personally perceived ethical principles. Examines rights and values