PSY 374 1st Edition Lecture 14OUTLINE OF LAST LECTUREI. MnemonicsII. Human Development OUTLINE OF CURRENT LECTURE I. Basic Principles of Motor DevelopmentII. Differences of temperament III. Infants perceptual abilities IV. Continuous vs. Discontinuous Theories of Development V. Stage theories of developmentVI. Piaget’s WorkVII. Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive DevelopmentCURRENT LECTUREI. Basic Principles of Motor Development-Cephalocaudal trend: head to foot direction of motor development [learn to use arms for crawling before legs]-Proximodistal trend: center-outward direction of motor development [torso develops more quickly than limbs]-Developmental norms- median age of various behaviors and abilities II. Differences of temperament -Cross sectional design- comparing groups of participants of differing ages at one point in time [easier, cheaper, and faster to complete]-Longitudinal design- observing one group of participants repeatedly over a period of time [more sensitive to developmental changes] -Temperament refers to characteristic mood, activity level, and emotional reactivity. [often considered to be a precursor to some personality characteristics]-Thomas, Chess and Birch [1970]3 basic temperamental styles:easy 40%slow to warm up 15%difficult 10%mixed 35%These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.**These tend to be stable over time-Kagan & Snidman [1991]Inhibited vs. uninhibited temperamentInhibited 15-20%Uninhibited 25-30%**Stable over time, genetically based.**Those with inhibited temperament in second year of life more likely to develop problems with anxiety during adolescence III. Infants perceptual abilities -Some ways or methodologies to study preverbal children:Preference technique and habituation technique **Babies generally:-prefer some stimuli over others-notice new or different things-Therefore, researchers can infer what differences babies can detect-Hearing- can recognize voices within 1-2 days of birth-At birth or soon after, infants can:*tell sour, sweet, and salty apart*recognize mother’s smell*experience pain, soothing touch-Vision:*2-6 months: can perceive drop-off*But: newborn vision blurry, lacks detail IV. Continuous vs. Discontinuous Theories of Development **Continuous theory:-Developmental progress smoothly and gradually from infancy to adulthood.-Children are “small adults” who lack experience-Changes are quantitative **Discontinuous theory:-Development occurs through a series of distinct stages.-Each stage is qualitatively different from others.-Must proceed through each stage in order.V. Stage theories of development-Stage- a developmental period during which characteristic patterns of behavior are exhibited and certain capacities or abilities are established.-Stage theories- have three components.*Progress through stages in order*Progress through stages related to age*Major discontinuities in developmentVI. Piaget’s Work-Cognitive development- transitions in youngster’s patterns of thinking, including reasoning, remembering and problem solving.-Children think, organize the world meaningfully than adults.-Thinking changes qualitatively throughout childhood. -Scheme- organized pattern of behavior or thinking used to deal with and interact with the world/environment. -Children actively construct their cognitive world using assimilation and accommodation.-Assimilation- involves interpreting new experiences in terms of existing schemes or abilities.-Accommodation- involves changing or modifying existing schemes or ability to understand new experiences. VII. Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development*Sensorimotor stage [0-2 years]-A major integration of sensory input [sight, sound, etc.] with motor behavior.-Child is moving toward development of symbolic thinking.-Related development by end of sensorimotor stage – language-Development of object permanence by about 18 months. *Preoperational stage [2-7 years]-Child begins this stage qualitatively different than he/she was in previous stage. He or she is now capable of symbolic thinking.-Increasing use of language.-Certain properties of thought are reflected in how children handle the conservation problem. [Conservation is the recognition or realization that if nothing is added or taken away, an amount stays the same regardless of alterations in shape or arrangement.] [Piaget used the conservation task and how kids handle it to compare the pre-operational and concrete operational stages.] *Concrete operational stage [7-11 years]-Now has the ability to verbalize, visualize and mentally manipulate objects.-Can perform elementary logical tasks, but has difficulty with true abstract thinking.*Formal operations [11-adulthood]-Thinking is characterized by greater flexibility than during middle childhood.-Ability to use logic, reasoning, and hypotheses in problem solving.-Able to think abstractly and thinks out solutions.-Decline in egocentricity.-Not everyone reaches formal operations.-And some may have it in more familiar situations but not in other. **Landmark contributions to how children think and how it changes over time.Challenges:-Piaget tended to under estimate children’s cognitive abilities. -Doesn’t say much about individual differences -Underestimated influence of culture on cognitive