Psych 202 Lecture March 5 2015 Introduction to Developmental Psychology What is developmental psychology o Study of psychological growth of individuals o Nature vs nurture Nature we unfold according to genetically predetermined processes Nurture we are a blank slate at birth and the environment determines who we are Critical periods Nature Concept o A critical period in which experience must occur for normal development o Language visual information attachment o Cataracts at birth and later removal normal seeing can never occur o Sensitive periods easier to learn i e second language Important Developmental Theories o Piaget 4 stages of cognitive development Sensorimotor birth to 2 years old Develop schemas through senses motor Object permanence develops Preoperational 2 6 years old Ages 2 7 Significant language Think symbolically Cannot perform operations mentally reversible processes like knowing that their brother has a brother Egocentric thinking Concrete operational 6 11 years old Ages 7 11 Can perform operations but concrete ask a kid don t judge a book by its cover and they take it literally Understand conservation Not abstract in thought processes Formal operational 11 years Can think abstractly hypothetically what if kind of thinking ex algebra o Kohlberg 3 levels of moral development reasoning Pre conventional Level Conventional Level Post conventional Level o Erikson psychosocial development 8 stages understand each stage but don t memorize each specific thing Trust vs Mistrust 0 1 Autonomy vs shame and doubt 1 3 Initiative vs guilt 3 6 Industry vs inferiority 6 12 am I competent or inferior at something Identity vs role confusion 12 20 Who am I people group together with others like themselves Intimacy vs isolation 20 30 capable of forming close friendships romantic relationships Generativity vs stagnation 30 65 careers am I doing something meaningful with my life work Am I giving back to people Ego identity vs despair 65 Do I feel like I lived a successful worthy life End of life crisis 3 Major Concepts of Piaget o Schema cognitive structure consisting for organized ideas theories about or models of the way the world works o Assimilation absorb new info into schemes o Accommodation adjust schemas for new information boys AND girls can be doctors Who is that in the mirror videoclip around 18 months of age kids figure out that it s them in the mirror kids and animals do this Theory of Mind videoclip need self control and awareness of others in order to tell a lie 3 year olds don t realize that they can know something that someone else doesn t know 4 year olds do realize this money in the box Piaget videoclip liquid poured into different sized glasses kids under age 8 thought taller container meant more liquid U of I studies how babies view object permanence objects continue to exist when hidden infants look longer at impossible magical event e g car going behind block on train tracks and coming out on other side Weakness of Piaget Theory o Underestimated abilities o Underestimated genetic and environmental influences Kohlberg s research dilemma a woman near death from cancer can t afford drug to help pharmacist making a lot of money on it but he won t work out a payment plan etc so husband breaks into store to steal the drug is this moral o Pre conventional birth to adolescence punishment obedience morality determined by consequences for the actor o Conventional adolescence and young adult law and order good child morality determined by extent to which it conforms to social rules e g stealing is against the law o Post conventional adulthood social contract universal ethics general principles that reflect core values e g laws aren t always moral and life is more important than money Moral Reasoning of Children videoclip kids empathize better with people of their own gender kid on way to party and not to talk to anyone see a hurt child on the way there what should they do Younger children do what they re originally told don t have their own sense of right and wrong but older kids develop their own sense of right and wrong older after age 8 Morality shaped by environment parents situation nature o Concrete thought processes associated with intellectual issues impact morality o Parents teach kids empathy and sympathy o Secure attachment promotes appropriate guilt empathy sympathy o Frontal lobes involved in morality Changing goals and roles o The socio emotional selectivity theory states that younger adults are oriented toward future pertinent useful information while older adults focus on positive emotional satisfaction in the present perhaps because of shortened futures Negatively decreases over lifetime Married men and women increase probability of living longer widowed women have a higher probability of survival than widowed men Married people are most unhappy when they have teenagers but as teens grow up happiness goes back up Social and Emotional Development The Importance of Attachment Attachment strong emotional bond with others that continues over time Lorenz and geese imprinting concept Bowlby infants have traits that elicit certain nurturing responses i e infants are cute cry when need something make us want to nurture them Harlow s research on monkeys The Harlow Monkey Studies Motion Sequence Push Play videoclip young monkey preferred softer monkey cloth monkey more important to be comforted than to have food and used cloth mother as a secure base contact comfort important for attachment Attachment and Temperament Important for Development into Adulthood Different Levels of Attachment o Ainsworth s research The Strange Situation o 3 categories Securely attached 60 video example type of attachment that we want Avoidant 20 indifferent about mother Anxious ambivalent 15 more distressed than normal but mad at parent when they return hold grudge Disorganized 5 The Strange Situation Test videoclip record how child reacts when mother leaves and then returns to room Lisa had secure attachment mom was able to comfort her distressed child