Attachment Deprivation Harlow Monkey Studies Reared Monkeys in isolation or with a surrogate mother After 6 months sent back to colony Isolated monkeys showed indifference were terrified or were aggressive with other monkeys failed to form relationships with opposite sex were abusive to their offspring Attachment and Contact Comfort hypothesized that animals humans need warmth comfort as a primary need Moving doll scared the monkey who ran back to the cloth mother for protection Developmental Theories as Stage Theories Individuals must progress through stages in a particular order stages build on each other Progress is strongly related to age Development is marked by discontinuities that result in dramatic transitions Jean Piaget and Cognitive Development How a child thinks including reasoning remembering and problem solving Schemas models about how the world works Development involves two processes Assimilation how to fit new information into the present system of knowledge Accommodation existing structures don t fit so a child must develop new schemas Piaget s Stages of Cognitive Development Sensorimotor birth 2 years Infants learn through concrete motor actions by touching tasting and smelling Accomplish object permanance 6 months Develop capacity for mental imagery Organize information into categories Increasingly able to use purposeful activity Preoperational 2 7 years Gradually improve in mental images Can pretend Action Oriented Develop representational thought Have NOT mastered conservation basic properties of an object remain stable even if superficial properties change Flaws of thinking in Preoperational Children Centration focus on one central aspect of a problem and neglect other aspects Irreversibility inability to envision reversing an action Egocentrism thinking characterized by a limited ability to share another person s point of view Concrete Operations 7 11 The child performs operations on tangible objects and events Show increased flexibility in thinking Can begin to see cause and effect Masters reversibility and decentration Can retrace thoughts More successful with hierarchical constructs Formal Operations 12 up Begin to see abstract reasoning Understand metaphor and deductive reasoning Become more systematic in thinking Can discuss moral values Piaget criticized for underestimating children s abilities not focusing enough on individual differences much research still supports his theories beliefs Adolescence Adolescent growth spurt rapid growth in height and weight as the body is preparing for hormonal shifts maturation Asynchrony certain body parts grow at different speeds leading to lack of proportion Prefrontal Cortex final maturation of the prefrontal cortex takes place in late adolescence and young adulthood This area is responsible for organization planning emotional regulation and impulse control Puberty sexual functions reach maturity impacts social and emotional development Menarche first occurrence of menstruation Spermarche first occurrence of ejaculation Early maturing males have positive self concepts Early maturing females greater chance of depression anxiety eating disorders Impact of early puberty associated with obesity higher BMI Elkind Adolescent Egocentrism way of thinking the world is focused on themselves Imaginary Audience belief that everyone in the environment is concerned with the behavior appearance of him herself Personal Fable View him herself as somehow unique or heroic Invincibility Fable false sense that he she can t be harmed Storm and Stress more modulated as not as frequent as once though For issues related to finances education and career religion and politics today s adolescents are more similar to their parents Peer Relationships provide a source of social support a framework for negotiating conflict and compromise allow for social comparison define code culture Erik Erikson and Lifespan Development Theory of lifespan development Believes each stage involves a psychosocial crisis a transition which is organized around social relationships and that personality is determined by these stages Kohlberg studied moral development using the Heinz dilemma Found various stages of moral development based on responses to this and similar situations Lifespan Issues in Development Our country is getting older Living more productive lives for more years More career shifts seen in the population Intellectual Functioning and Age Fluid Intelligence basic information processing skills is more likely to decline with age Crystallized Intelligence application accumulated remains more stable Langer and Rodin study Maintaining a sense of control over one s life leads to greater psychological well being in the elderly Ways to promote Healthy Aging Promote companionship Take vitamin supplements Stay active physically and intellectually Volunteer or work Maintain positive relationships with family friends Have a positive attitude Decrease sun exposure Decrease smoking drinking Be a health care consumer ask questions Explore medication interactions Find faith Recent programs supporting the elderly and children in daycare