Chapter 5Developing Through the LifespanDevelopment: pPredictable changes associated with increasing age• Developmental Psychology: Focuses on human development across the lifespan• Maturation: Systematic physical growth of the body• Nature versus Nurture debate: are human beings a product of their biology or their environment/upbringing?• Most psychologists and lay-people agree that we are a product of both ourbiology and our environment• Examples: language development and toilet training (we must be taught these things, but our biology must also be ready and able to acquire thesenew skills) Growth and Development• Prenatal development: • Germinal Stage: (2 weeks) Conception, cell division and uterine implantation.Blastocyst (cells dividing): Hours after conception Implantation of blastocyst: 6 days after conception• Embryonic Stage: (2-8 weeks post conception) Major organs are formed• 5 Weeks post conception: heart beats• 8 weeks post conception: All major organs formed• Fetal Stage: (the rest of the pregnancy) (weeks 9-40) Continued growth and development of all major organs• Neonatal Period: the newborn (birth-2 wks)• Transition from womb to independent life• Weak and dependent• Rooting and Suckling Reflex: allows baby to nurse/eat• Sensory ability: can sense sound, small, taste and touch, but vision is limited (nearsighted-can only see 12 inches from face)• Sleep 16 hours a day• Infancy: (2 weeks – 2 years):• Most rapid growth of entire life in during the 1st year• 2 months: raise head, vision increases to 12 feet• 6 months: roll over, crawl, vision becomes 20/20• 1 year: walk• 2 years: toddle, exploreLanguage Development: • Infancy: Emotional/Social Development:• Neonate: surprise, pleasure,distress• 2 months: 1st social behavior (smile at caregivers)• 4-9 months: anger and separation anxiety• 2 years: more complex emotions emerge such as guilt/shame, formed strong attachments to those close to him/her• Early Childhood: 2-7 years:• Physical Development: improved small and large muscle control and coordination• Emotional/Social Dev.: full range of positive and negative emotions• Early Childhood Continued:• Play Behavior…• 2 years: solitary play• 2-5 years: parallel• 5+ years: cooperative play• Children act in sex-typed ways during this stageGrowth and Development Continued…• Middle Childhood: 7-11 years:• Physical Dev.: growth is slower, but continued improvement in strength and coordination• Formal education begins• Social Dev.: by the end of this stage, peers are becoming very important• Most friendships are same-sex• Adolescent Development:• Rapid physical growth and change• Peers become almost more important than parents • End of adolescence is unclear: Adulthood only begins when established adult relationships and adult work patterns• Adolescent Dev. Continued:• Puberty: developmental point where individual becomes physically capable of sexual reproduction• Primary Sexual Characteristics: • Girls: ovulation and menstruation: Menarche: 1st menstrual period (12 yrs, 6 months)• Boys: production of sperm cells (14 years)• Physical changes lead to increased interest in sex and sexual desire• Adolescent Dev. Continued:• Secondary Sex Characteristics: • Girls: fat accumulates in breasts (budding), breasts gradually enlarge over several years, fat accumulates in hips (broadening of hips), growth of pubic hair• Boys: testes and penis grow, shoulders broaden, voice deepens, growthof pubic and facial hair.• Adolescent Emotional and Social Dev: Peers become most influential • 3 problem areas:• 1. Parent-child conflicts: dating, behavior, social activities• 2. Mood changes: shifty moods, extreme highs and lows• 3. Risky behavior: alcohol, drugs, reckless driving, sex, increased suicide risk• Adulthood:• Early adulthood: body continues to grow and strengthen until the end ofthis stage• After early adulthood (age 25), body begins a slow decline• Middle – Older adulthood: body steadily declines (impaired vision, hearing, strength)• Adulthood: Personality Changes• Personality is stable across time, however, certain trends emerge:• ON AVERAGE: as we age we become less outgoing, less emotional and anxious, and less creative• ON AVERAGE: as we age we become more agreeable, dependable and accepting of life• Adulthood: Critical Periods:• Climacteric: period between 45-60 yrs when women lose their capacity to sexually reproduce and men’s capacity to reproduce declines• Menopause: women: Cessation of ovulation and menstruation• Men: decline in sperm cells• Both sexes have somewhat decreased sex driveHuman Attachment• Harry Harlow: (Attachment/Deprivation study)• Monkeys were reared by wire “mothers”. One mother was covered with a soft cloth, the other was not. Monkeys clung to the soft cloth mother and rejected the wire mother, even when the wire mother provided all the food. This is evidence that “contact” comfort is necessary for attachment.• Other monkeys were reared for the first 6 months of their life with no contact at all (social deprivation). Even though they were exposed to normal parenting after the 6 months, the monkeys showed severely abnormal social behavior throughout their lives. They made terrible matesand parents (some even killed their infants). This is evidence of the importance of an early attachment relationship.Human Attachment Continued• Harlow’s study applied to humans: research shows that touching and massaging infants leads to significant physical and emotional benefits• Studies on severely neglected/abused children show that they continue to have trouble forming attachments late in their lives.Stage Theories of DevelopmentPiaget• Jean Piaget: all children go through four cognitive stages at approximately the same age, regardless of the culture in which they live (Huffman, Vernoy, & Vernoy, 2000)• Sensorimotor Stage: (birth-2 years) infants develop a sense of the world through their senses and motor activity• Object Permanence: (6-9 months old) the understanding that objects continue to exist been when they are out of view• Preoperational Stage: (2-7 years) the child cannot perform logical mental functions( or operations), but does think symbolically (using words and sentences)• Egocentrism: the preoperational child is completely self-centered in his/her thinking - cannot think of
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