Schacter Gilbert Wegner PSYCHOLOGY Chapter 10 Development Slides

Schacter Gilbert Wegner PSYCHOLOGY Chapter 10 Development Slides prepared by: Melissa S. Terlecki, Cabrini College

Schacter Gilbert Wegner PSYCHOLOGY 10. 1 Prenatality: A Womb with a View

Developmental Psychology l Developmental psychology: the study of continuity and change across the life span.

Prenatal Development l l l Prenatal stage: from conception to birth. Zygote: a single cell that contains chromosomes from both a sperm and an egg. Germinal stage: the 2 -week period of prenatal development that begins at conception. Embryonic stage: the period of prenatal development that lasts from the 2 nd week until about the 8 th week. Fetal stage: the period of prenatal development that lasts from the 9 th week until birth. Myelination: the formation of a fatty sheath around the axons of a brain cell.

Figure 10. 1: Prenatal Development (p. 299)

Questions l What distinguishes an embryo from a zygote and a fetus?

Prenatal Environment l The placenta links the mother’s bloodstream to the developing embryo or fetus. l Teratogens: agents that damage the process of development, such as drugs and viruses. l fetal alcohol syndrome: a developmental disorder that stems from heavy alcohol use by the mother during pregnancy.

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome 300) (p.

Questions l Can a fetus learn?

Schacter Gilbert Wegner PSYCHOLOGY 10. 2 Infancy and Childhood: Becoming a Person

Infancy l Infancy: the stage of development that begins at birth and lasts between 18 and 24 mos. l l habituation occurs. Motor development: the emergence of the ability to execute physical action. l l l reflexes: specific patterns of motor response that are triggered by specific patterns of sensory stimulation. cephalocaudal rule: the “top-to-bottom” rule that describes the tendency for motor skills to emerge in sequence from the head to the feet. proximodistal rule: the “inside-to-outside” rule that describes the tendency for motor skills to emerge in sequence from the center to the periphery.

Figure 10. 2: Motor Development (p. 303)

Questions l How do newborns respond to social stimuli? l In what order do motor skills develop?

Infancy and Childhood l Cognitive development: the emergence of the ability to understand the world. l l l sensorimotor stage (birth – infancy): schemas, assimilation, accommodation, and object permanence. preoperational stage: (2 – 6 yrs. ). concrete operational stage (6 – 11 yrs. ): conservation and mental representations. formal operational stage (11 yrs. – adulthood). Childhood: the stage of development that begins at about 18 -24 mos. and lasts until adolescence.

Table 10. 1: Piaget’s Four Stages of Cognitive Development (p. 303)

Figure 10. 3: The Possible and the Impossible Event (p. 305)

Questions l How are infants like scientists when they learn about the world? l What do children come to understand at the concrete operational stage?

Discovering Other Minds l Egocentrism: the failure to understand that the world appears differently to different observers. l l false belief test. Theory of mind: the idea that human behavior is guided by mental representation, which gives rise to the realization that the world is not always the way it looks and that different people see it differently.

Figure 10. 4: The False Belief Test Across Cultures (p. 307)

Questions l What does the false belief test show? l How does language influence the child’s understanding of the mind?

Discovering our Cultures l Cultural tools exert strong influence on cognitive development (Vygotsky). l Zone of proximal development is when a child is capable of acquiring a range of skills. l At 9 – 15 mos. of age, babies can direct their attention to a point in space to which another’s eyes are directed, called joint attention.

Figure 10. 5: Twelve or Two-teen? (p. 309)

Questions l How does language influence a child’s ability to do math?

Culture and Community: Are Counting Abilities Determined in Part by Culture? l The Piraha Tribe of Brazil has an extremely simple counting system and could not perform more complex counting tasks. l Culture-specific means of expression alter our understanding of the world.

Social Development l Attachment: the emotional bond that forms between newborns and their primary caregivers. l l l ambivalent and disorganized styles of attachment. internal working model of attachment: a set of expectations about how the primary caregiver will respond when the child feels insecure. Temperaments: characteristic patterns of emotional reactivity.

Harlow’s Monkeys and Attachment (p. 311)

Figure 10. 6: Attachment Style and Memory (p. 312)

Figure 10. 7: Parents’ Attachment Styles Affect Their Children’s Attachment Styles (p. 313)

Questions l How and why do infants form attachments? l How do caregivers influence the quality of a child’s attachment?

Moral Development l Moral thinking shifts (Piaget): l l Kohlberg’s stages of moral development: l l from realism to relativism. from prescriptions to principles. from outcomes to intentions. preconventional stage: the morality of an action is primarily determined by its consequences for the actor. conventional stage: the morality of an action is primarily determined by the extent to which it conforms to social rules. postconventional stage: the morality of an action is determined by a set of general principles that reflect core values. The moral intuitionist perspective states that we have evolved to react emotionally to a small family of events that are relevant to reproduction and survival.

Questions l According to Kohlberg, how does a child’s moral thinking develop? l How do our emotions influence our moral judgments?

The Real World: The Truth About Day Care Working parents often entrust their children in daycare. l Large-scale study of the effects of day care reveal little detriment to attachment, yet interaction between a child’s experience at home and day care. l Day care itself does not increase the risk of emotional insecurity, but may when combined with the effects of having an unresponsive and/or insensitive mother, and can influence cognitive and social competence. l

Schacter Gilbert Wegner PSYCHOLOGY 10. 3 Adolescence: Minding the Gap

Adolescence l Adolescence: the period of development that begins with the onset of sexual maturity (about 11 -14 yrs. ) and lasts until the beginning of adulthood (about 18 -21 yrs. ). l l puberty: the bodily changes associated with sexual maturity. primary sex characteristics: bodily structures that are directly involved in reproduction. secondary sex characteristics: bodily structures that change dramatically with sexual maturity but that are not directly involved in reproduction. The period between childhood and adulthood has become protracted.

Early Puberty (p. 318)

Figure 10. 8: Secondary Sexual Characteristics (p. 319)

Questions l How does experience change the structure of the brain? l What does research say about the popular view of stormy adolescence?

Sexuality l Genetics play a role in sexual orientation, while parenting does not. l American teenagers typically choose to have sex.

Figure 10. 9: Heterosexuals’ Attitudes Toward Homosexuals (p. 320)

Questions l Is sexual orientation simply a choice people make?

Parents and Peers l Development of adult identity occurs (Erikson). l Involves a shift from family relations to peer relations, which is difficult. children cannot choose their parents but can choose peers. l adolescents strive for greater autonomy but parents rebel. l

Table 10. 2: Erikson’s Stages of Human Development (p. 321)

Questions l What factors contribute to parentchild conflict in adolescence?

Schacter Gilbert Wegner PSYCHOLOGY 10. 4 Adulthood: The Short Happy Future

Adulthood l l l Adulthood: the stage of development that begins around 18 -21 yrs. and ends at death. Marked changes in physical and cognitive abilities. Older adults compensate for age-related declines in memory and attention by calling on other neural structures to help out. Socioemotional selectivity theory states that younger adults rely on useful information while older adults rely on positive information. As adults age, positive affect remains relatively stable while negative affect decreases.

Figure 10. 10: Bilaterality in Older and Younger Brains (p. 325)

Figure 10. 11: Memory for Pictures (p. 325)

Figure 10. 12: Happiness and Age (p. 326)

Questions l How do we compensate for our aging brains? l Why are older people generally happier than younger people?

Adulthood and Changing Roles l Married people report being happier than unmarried people for several reasons. l Children slightly decrease parents’ happiness. l Marital satisfaction fluctuates with life events.

Figure 10. 13: ‘Til Death Do Us Part (p. 327)

Figure 10. 14: Marital Satisfaction Over the Life Span (p. 328)

Questions l Are children really bundles of joy?

Where Do You Stand: Licensing Parents l Can we outlaw reproduction by citizens or force them to be licensed to do so? l similar to adoption practices. l People have a fundamental right to reproduce. l When parenting goes bad, everyone in society pays a price.