Development Ch11 I Cognitive development a The emergence of the ability to think and understand b Two of Piaget s observations i Cognitive development happens in stages 1 Same aged children make similar errors 2 These errors differ from those made by other aged children 3 Children actively seek knowledge they re not passive c Piaget s 4 stages of cognitive development pg 430 i Sensorimotor birth 2 years ii Preoperational 2 6 years iii Concrete Operational 6 11 years iv Formal Operational 11 years and up d Object Permanence i The idea that objects continue to exist even when they are not visible ii Piaget believed that this ability was acquired during the sensorimotor stage 1 But recent research suggests that infants may develop this ability to some degree quite early 3 5 months e Conservation i The notion that quantitative properties of an object are invariant despite changes in the object s appearance ii To understand conservation a child must recognize that the way the world appears is not necessarily the way the world really is 1 A sponge painted gray to look like a rock is still a sponge 2 A friendly adult is still a friendly adult even when wearing a scary mask f Egocentrism and Theory of Mind i Egocentrism the failure to understand that the world appears differently to different observers 1 Girl covering up her eyes ii False Belief test 1 Other people think what I think 2 In the past I thought what I think now iii Once children realize that other people have minds and those minds represent the world in different ways we say that they have a theory of mind video g Critiques of Piaget i Development may not occur in distinct stages 1 Not like graduating from kindergarten to first grade but more like change of seasons II ii Piaget underestimated young children 1 Motor skills interfered with performance on Piaget s tasks 2 Have to give infants tasks that allow them to show what they know Attachment a strong emotional bond between caregiver and child a Foundations of attachment Theory 1950s i Prevailing view Cupboard love behaviorism 1 Mom satisfies hunger 2 This enhances pleasure 3 Associate mom with pleasure 4 This is why we love mom ii Harlow s famous experiment 1 He isolated monkeys 6 12 hours after birth 2 Wire and Terrycloth mothers 3 IV Which Mother provided milk 4 DV loving behaviors aka bonding or attachment behaviors 5 Results a The monkeys loved their cloth mothers and hated their wire mothers b Source of milk was irrelevant iii Harlow s conclusions and speculations 1 Contact Comfort Infant monkeys possess literally an attachment system an innate predisposition to attach to a soft warm and furry body 2 Nursing ensures frequent intimate body contact iv Bowlbys orphans 1 During WW2 the british governemtn ecavuated children from London to protect them from the German bombings b Attachment is Adaptive i Human immaturity at birth 1 The brain the birth canal and human immaturity ii Three adaptive functions of attachement 1 Proximity maintenance a Staying near the caregiver b the essential feature of affectional bonding is that bonded partners tend to remain in proximity to one another Bowlby 1973 p 39 2 Safe Haven a Seeking out caregiver for comfort when distressed b Harlow found that exposing his infant monkeys to scary stimuli caused them to run their cloth mothers but not wire mothers for comfort III 3 Secure base a Establishing an anchor to facilitate exploration iii Ainsworth s strange Situation 1 Mother baby observer 2 Mother Baby 3 Stranger Mother Baby 4 Stranger Baby 5 Mother and baby 6 Baby alone 7 Stranger and baby 8 Mother and baby c Attachment styles i Secure 1 Happy to play explore when CG is present ii Avoidant 1 Not overtly distressed by CGS departure iii Ambivalent 1 Anxious throughout the test 2 Clins to CG wary of exploring 3 Inconsolable when CG leaves d Why the three attachment styles work i Critical question Can I count on my attachement figure to be available and responsive when needed 1 Possible answers Yes no or maybe ii Three Attachment styles 1 Secure 60 a Yes 2 Avoidant 20 a No 3 Ambivalent 15 a Maybe e Caregivers behaviors at home i All three styles were sensible responses to the infant s circumstances 1 Secure Caregivers are consistently available and responsive 2 Avoidant Caregivers deflect or rebuff infants bids for comfort 3 Anxious Ambivalent Caregivers are inconsistent sometimes unavailable sometimes intrusive Moral Development a Kohlberg s stages of moral reasoning i Preconventional 1 Self Interest or hedonistic advantages are primary 2 Heinz shouldn t steal the drug because he ll go to jail ii Conventional 1 Conforming to the rule of law or emphasizing others disapproval 2 its wrong to steal others will think he s bad iii Postconventional 1 Abstract principles and values 2 sometimes people have to break unjust laws b The moral intuitionist model i Moral dumbfounding the strong sense of wrongness in the absence of a compelling moral argument ii Moral Judgment is a 2 step process 1 Moral judgement rests on intuitions a Quick automatic gut level evalutions influenced by cultural and social factors 2 Moral reasoning happens after the moral judgement has been made to justify the judgement iii Incest disgusts us because it is wrong iv Or incest is wrong because it disgusts us c The thought of pushing someone onto the track inspires a negative emotional reaction i Leads to the judgement8