Developmental Psychology - Typical & Atypical Behaviour

Developmental Psychology - Typical & Atypical Behaviour

1. Differentiating Typical vs. Atypical

   • Children develop at their own pace with particular strengths and weaknesses - Typical and atypical development are mutually informative. - Requires through understanding of normal development
   • - Typical development: orderly and predictable - Normal development milestones at different ages - Provides a backdrop for evaluating atypical

2. Determining Atypical Development: Deviating from the Norm

   • Equifinity: two people showing the same symptoms, but may have developed from different sources (different pathway; same destination)
     • Multifinality: two people can have similar risk factors but very different outcomes (same pathway, different destination)
   • - Behaviors fall outside of normal or expected range of development. - Progress compared to same-aged peers = lagging behind or reaching milestones earlier. - Need to be aware of normal variations.
     • - Degree of deviation defines degree of maladaptive behavior

3. Evaluating Typical vs. Atypical

   • Discrepancies from the norm in four areas: deviance, dysfunction, distress, danger

4. Delayed vs. Disordered

   • MUST BE DISTINGUISHED Delayed: Slow in emerging, Disordered: Different in quality, form and function

5. Examples of Atypical Development (3-4 months) - Lack of responsiveness to loud noises - Absence of facial recognition - Absence of Babbling - Inability to grasp objects - Unable to track movement with eyes -Incapable of holding head up alone - Incapable of bearing weight when feet are placed against firm surface

   • Examples of Atypical Development (15 months to 2 years) - Lack of understanding of the use of everyday items - Inability to walk by the age of 18 months - A vocabulary of less than approx. 15 words by 18 months - Consistent use of "tip-toes" for walking after several months - Inability to communicate with two-word sentences by age 2 - Lack of responsiveness to verbal instruction by aged 2 - Inability to push/pull by aged 2
     • Examples of Atypical Development (3-5 years) - Lack of awareness of self as a separate person from parents - Excessive fear of being abandoned or lack of attachment - Lack of empathy/ concern for others feelings - Extreem levels of hyperactivity and inability of focus -Little or no remorse for wrong-doing - Verbal communication that makes little/no sense - Inappropriate show of emotion (laughing when sad ect)

6. Effects of Atypical Development

   • Physical: 'failure to thrive', gross and fine motor skills development. Cognitive: Raw mental ability, inability to focus. Social: Friendships, bonding with adult role models Adaptive: Independent functioning. Behavioral: can be used to form communications; temper, anger

7. Reliability & Validity

   • Reliability: If different clinicians diagnose the same person, that person should always be classified the same way
     • Validity: Etiological, predictive, construct

8. Biological: - Brain anatomy and structural abnormalities - Neurons, neurotransmitters and chemical imbalance - Temperament/ behavioral inhibition - Genetics and heritability

   • Nature vs. Nurture = NO, Nature VIA Nurture = YES
   • Biological: Interventions Drug therapies: - Agonists: increase action of neurotransmitters - Antagonists: inhibit action of neurotransmitter * can cause withdrawal, tolerance and side effects For adults - Electroconvulsive therapy - Psychosurgery (rare and banned in some countries)

9. Behavioral: Maladaptive learning processes - Operant conditoning: positive or negative reinforcement, punishment - Classical conditioning: Pavlov's salivating Dogs - Observational learning: Bandura's Bobo Doll Experiment

   • Behavioral: Interventions If behavior is learnt then surely it can be 'unlearned' - Principles of operant conditioning in treatment - Systematic desensitisation - Flooding * many can't remember a conditioning incident * Phobias: many common phobias are to stimuli rarely encountered, they tend to run in families

10. Cognitive: - Biased thought processes lead to maladaptive behavior - Piaget: limitations in reasoning at some stages of development result in faulty logic and inaccurate assumptions - Social cognition: Elkind (personal fables), Bandura (Recipocity)

    • Cognitive: Interventions - Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) - Focus on the 'here and now' - Recognising, understanding and changing dysfunctional thoughts, emotions and behaviouts - 'Unlearn' patters by creating new experiences - Cognitive restructuring (adapted based on age): challenging cognitive distortions, identify key fearful thoughts or beliefs that trigger those thoughts, rehearsal, thought records

11. Psycho-Dynamic: Freud: - Conflict between unconscious desires and conscious behaviors/actions - Id, Ego & Superego - Fixations in psychosexual stages - Defence mechanisms Erikson: - Psychosocial stages

    • Psychodynamic: Interventions Freudian Psychoanalysis: - Hypnosis - Free association (Freudian slip) - Interpretation of dreams - Transference

12. Attachment/ Parenting

    • Familial - family unit: boundaries, roles, rules, hierarchy, climate, equilibrium. Interventions based on CBT
    • Bowlby (Attachment): - Lorenz's imprinting - Harlow's monkey's - Secure, anxious/resistant, avoidant attachments Baumrind (Parenting Styles): - Permissive, Uninvolved, Authoritarian, Authoritative Interventions: Based on CBT