Chapter 10 Psychology Notes Developmental Psychology Developmental Psychology to make people what they are Nature vs Nurture Gene Expression Epigenetics Studies the way behavior and cognition change across the lifespan Developmental Psychology today is interested in how the environment and our genes interact It is our psychology more determined by our genes or our life experiences Today we agree that the organism interacts with its environment and they affect each other Genetic material that determines traits is carried on genes Genes however can be turned on or off by experiences and things in the environment How do we study development Longitudinal Studies We study one group over time and see how it changes Cross Sectional Studies We compare different age groups at once Developmental Psychology Studies Everyone Experiments are done using everyone from babies to the elderly as participants We are going to follow development from birth to old age This class will focus primarily on the psychological theories of development although it is valuable to read about physical and motor development Babies are born lacking effective short term memory language theory of mind and the full perceptual capacity of an adult The first and one of the most famous theories of child cognitive development comes from Jean Piaget Piaget believed there were four stages of cognitive development for kids Babies and Children Piaget Piaget s Stages 1 Sensorimotor 2 Preoperational 3 Concrete Operations 4 Formal Operations Piaget s Stages 1 Sensorimotor 2 Preoperational o Approximately birth to two years Piaget believed that children s thought consisted entirely of experience of physical world The major milestones are developing mental representations and object permanence o Children develop language and theory of mind They start off egocentric They lack conservation Approximately ages 2 to 7 o Piaget s conservation task is where they have two glasses that are exactly the same and he shows a little kid that he is pouring the liquid straight out of the glass and into a different container that is skinner and taller and the kid says the taller glass has more liquid in it o Kids can perform concrete operations and conservation tasks However they struggle o Abstract and hypothetical thinking Piaget didn t believe everyone reached this stage 3 Concrete Operations with abstract thought 4 Formal Operations Status of Piaget s Theory It s still a descent rule of thumb but it has some major problems One the one hand children hit some milestones like object performance a bit earlier than thought Also development isn t necessarily quite as stage like as he suggested Or is it Stages vs Continuous Development There is some debate about whether development is best thought of as happening in stages or continuously There is some merit to both arguments Another popular theory of development came from Vygotsky His theory doesn t rival Piaget s per se It s more about how parents and adults contribute to learning He believed that parents and teachers provide children a highly structured learning environment Adults gradually give kids more freedom as they become more competent Zone of Proximal Development According to Vygotsky this is the time when kids are receptive to learning a skill from adults but can t perform it yet A kid must be ready to learn before they can Effects of Parents and Environment Children form early bonds with caregivers through touch Oxytocin Harlow s Monkeys The monkeys were given the option of the soft milk feeder or the bottle and the chose the soft feeder because it resembles their mother the most Vygotsky Scaffolding In the 1970 s and the 1980 Romanian orphanages were overcrowded and many children got little physical contact with adults The ones who got adopted after 6 months showed difficulties with attachment and emotional problems later Studies of attachment led to a famous theory of attachment Proposed by Mary Ainsworth She proposed four styles of attachment Her studies involved having a mother leave an infant in a room with a stranger and then Romanian Infants Attachment Styles The Strange Situation retuning Secure Attachment About 60 of infants in the U S Infant explores the room while mom is present is upset mom leaves and is happy mom comes back Insecure Avoidant Attachment About 15 25 of infants The infant explores the room when mom is there is indifferent when she leaves or returns The infant does not explore without mom s help in anxious when she leaves shows mixed reaction when she returns Also about 15 20 of us infants About 5 10 of U S infants Inconsistent and confused response Added to theory later It could be the style of parenting the temperament of the child or an interaction The strange situation isn t very reliable It doesn t always elicit consistent results Attachment is important early on but as child grows older parenting styles will affect development Baumrind identified three Disorganized Attachment What causes Attachment Styles Parenting Styles 1 Permissive 2 Authoritarian 3 Authoritative Permissive Authoritarian Lenient allow a lot of freedom rarely use discipline Show a lot of affection Strict with their children allow little freedom punish frequently Show little affection Authoritative A Fourth Style Supportive and caring but provide firm discipline Some researchers suggest adding an Uninvolved parenting style Basically neglectful Which style has the best outcome Culture and Parenting Baumrind found that the authoritative style had the best outcomes However there are limitations This is based off of a middle class white American sample In collectivistic cultures authoritarian parenting sometimes seems to predict better outcomes Among lower SES groups a combination of authoritative and authoritarian outcomes work better Does Parenting Matter Less Than We Think According to the book some researchers think parenting just needs to be good enough Average expectable environment However neglect and abuse do predict bad outcomes Also parenting matters more when kids are predisposed to psychological disturbances Are Peers More Important Than Parents It was claimed in a 1995 Psychological Review Article by Judith Harris In reality it s hard to scientifically support a claim like this It s likely that a number of factors influence whether peers or parents have more influence Nontraditional Families Although the studies are correlational kids who have two parents do have fewer