Ch 8 Human Development The Field of Developmental Psychology Prenatal Development Human Development 10 2 12 2 02 PM Pattern of continuity continuous through out your life span and change in human capabilities that occurs throughout the lifespan What do Developmental Psychologists study Universal Characteristics of development Individual Variation Issues in Developmental Psychology Nature v Nurture effects on the you by environment o How much do inherited characteristics Nature influence our o How much do environmental factors Nurture influence our development vs development Change v Stability lifespan Stages v Continuity as we age vs o Do our personal characteristics change as we age vs o Do our personal characteristics remain stable throughout the o Do we see behavior change in discrete sudden shifts Stages o Do we see behavior change slowly along a gradual continuum Continuity as we develop Studying Development Two Developmental Research Designs Cross sectional Designs Several different age groups are studied at one time point o Advantages Cheaper Quicker o Disadvantages Less powerful Cohort effects a long period of time o Advantages Longitudinal Designs One group of participants are studied over More powerful No cohort effects characteristics of an age group effects the outcome of the experiment o Disadvantages Time and money Attrition Human Development Three Areas of Study in Development Physical Development Cognitive Development Socioemotional Development Prenatal Development Development of infant beginning with conception and ending with birth Three stages of Prenatal Development o Germinal Period First two weeks after conception Zygote the baby Massive cell division Ends with implantation into uterine wall o Embryonic Period Weeks 3 8 after conception Massive cell differentiation cell become something Nutrients through placenta o Fetal Period Months 2 9 after conception baby gets bigger Massive physical growth Ends at 40 weeks with birth At 36 to 37 baby can live outside the womb Lungs are the last thing to develop o Toxins from the mother o Teratogens Any agent that can cause a birth defect o Critical Periods birth defects Time when developing organs are most susceptible to Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders FASD A cluster of problems that appear in the children of mothers who drink alcohol heavily during pregnancy Physical abnormalities Mental abnormalities Child Development Part 1 Physical Development Human infants are mostly helpless at birth o They survive for two reasons We take care of them Why Because they re so darned cute Human infants are mostly helpless at birth o They survive for two reasons We take care of them They come equipped with survival skills known as reflexes genetically wired involuntary responses that are crucial for infant survival They are innate Child Development Physical Development The Body Cognitive Development Thinking and Remembering Socioemotional Development Relationships with others Physical Development of children Motor Development The gradual development of muscle control balance and movement Gains control over the muscles balance and movement Baby gains its muscles from the top down Six Motor Milestones Infant develops motor skills from the head down o Raising the head o Rolling over o Propped up o Sitting up o Crawling o Walking Perceptual Development The gradual development of the senses and the interpretation of sensory information Perceptual Abilities at Birth Best Smell Taste Touch Hearing Worst Vision Question Answer Question Answer Examples Why can t babies see very well when they are born Fixed lens can t squeeze the lens Poorly developed photoreceptors called cones How do babies interpret what they see They learn to interpret what they see as they gain experiences and their brains grow new connections Effects of Enriched Environment build it and they will come Visual Cliff Experiments I m going out on a limb here Learning about Size Constancy looks can be deceiving Effects of Enriched Environments Visual Cliff Experiments see the world in 3D Question Are we born with the ability to perceive depth Answer Yes but it takes experience to fear falling Size Constancy not born with it The ability to perceive an object as being the same size regardless of its size on the retina Learned with experience Cognitive Development The development of thinking problem solving and memory as we age Acquiring language Jean Piaget s Theory of Cognitive Development Skills and behaviors that allow child to interact with objects Schemas and others Assimilation Accommodation Incorporating new information into existing schemas Changing a schema to new information Piaget s 4 Stages of Cognitive Development Sensorimotor Infants construct an understanding of the world through sensory experiences and motor actions From birth 2 years old o Hallmarks Development of object permanence Gain pleasure from sensory and motor interactions Preoperational Preoperational Stage Child develops abilities for symbolic thought and pretend play but not complex logical thought From 2 7 years old o Hallmarks Language development Egocentrism Incapable of reversibility Incapable of conservation Concrete operational Concrete Operational Stage Child uses operations and replaces heuristic strategies with logical reasoning skills in concrete situations From 7 11 years old o Hallmarks Capable of conservation Capable of reversibility Creating mental sets Not good with hypothetical thinking Formal operational Formal Operational Stage Thinking about things that are not concrete making hypotheses and predictions From 11 adulthood o Hallmarks Capable of hypothetical thinking Speculation regarding the future Capable of abstract thinking Socioemotional Development Temperament Set of innate behavioral characteristics established at birth that typically prevail through adulthood Not personality Not character The Easy Child go with the flow they adapt The Difficult Child resist change trouble keeping regular The Slow to warm up Child in between Introduce change schedules slowly Infant Attachment The emotional bond between an infant and its caregiver Biological as well Mary Ainsworth The Strange Situation Experiments o Observational Conditions Mother and child playing together Stranger enters Mother leaves the room Mother returns and stranger leaves Attachment Styles o Secure moms a home base easily soothed o Anxious ambivalent clingy child o Avoidant doesn t look to0 the mother doesn t play
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