Psyc 105 CH #11: Human Development

Psyc 105 CH #11: Human Development

1. Childhood

   • Temprament
     • Refers to the characteristic mood, activity level, and emotional reactivity. Longitudinal design: one group of participants is observed repeatedly over a long period of time. Cross-sectional design: groups of participants at differing ages are observed at a single time. Cohort effect: occurs when differences between age groups are due to the groups growing up in different time periods. Temprament is generally separated into three categories (easy children, slow-to-warm-up children, and difficult children). The temperament of a three month old is fairly accurate to the temperament of that child when they are older. Temprament is largely based on heredity. Infants can display both inhibited and in-inhibited temperament.
   • Attachment
     • Refers to the close emotional bonds that form between children and their caregivers throughout the lifetime. Separation anxiety can occur when the child is separated from someone they have attached to.
     • Theories
       • It is thought that behaviors such clinging and crying elicit a protective response in parents. The babies in turn are more attached to those who can protect them than those who offer no emotional comfort.
     • Culture
     • Patterns
       • Strange situation procedure: infants are exposed to different separation and reunion episodes to gauge the level of attachment. Most children develop secure attachments and are comfortable with their mothers around. some develop anxious-ambivalent attachments and are leery and anxious even when the mother is present. children with avoidance attachment are not concerned when the mother leaves, and generally ignores her. Children with disoriented-disorganized attachment are confused about whether to approach or avoid the mother. The type of attachment depends on the baby's temperament and the mother's sensitivity. Children develop internal working models of secure relationships that influence them whne they get older.  Children with secure attachments tend to be better off as toddlers and ssdults.
   • Personality
     • Stage theories assume that individuals progress through stages in a particular order because each stage builds off the last. Progress through these stages is related to age, and development is marked by major discontinuities that usher in new transitions in behavior. Erikson's Stage Theory: categorized the life span into eight stages that each bring on a psychosocial crisis that the person must deal with. Trust/mistrust: passes in the first year of life. Autonomy/shame/doubt: unfolds during the second and third years of life. Initaitive/guilt: lasts from ages three to six. Industry/inferiority: lasts from age six to the onset of puberty.
   • Moral Reasoning
     • Kohlberg's stage Theory: Individuals progress through three stages of moral development. Preconventional: thinks in terms of external authority. Conventional: see rules as necessary to maintain social order. Postconventional: working from a personal code of ethics.
   • Motor Development
     • Principles
       • Cephalocaudal Trend: the head to foot direction of motor development. Proximaldistal Trend: the centre outward direction of development. Maturation; the gradual unfolding of one's genetic blueprint.
     • Norms
       • Indicate the median age at which individuals display various behaviors and abilities.
     • Cultural Variations
       • A connection ahs been made between maturation and experience when looking at motor development. It is thought that babies who are given ample practice mature in this field faster than those who do not receive practice.
   • Cognitive Development
     • Habituation: gradual reduction in the strength of a response when a stimulus is presented repestedly. Dishabituation: occurs when a new stimulus elicits an increase in the strength of a habituated response.
     • Piaget's Stage Theory
       • Piaget proposed that children pass through four major stages of development. children progress through assimilation (interpreting new experiences in terms of existing mental structures) and accommodation (changing existing mental structures to explain new experiences). Sensorimotor: lasts until age two, and is characterized by the emergence of symbolic thought. Object permanence also develops. Preoperational: lasts until age seven. Conservation is the awareness of equal quantity despite different shape. Centration is the tendency to focus on just one detail of the problem. Irreversibility is the inability to imagine reversing an action. Egocentrism is the limited ability to share someone else's viewpoint. Animism is that belief that all things are living. Concrete operational: Lasts until age eleven, and is characterized by reversibility, decentration, decline of egocentrism, and gradual control of conservation. Formal operational: Lasts beyond eleven years of age. Children begin to apply their skills to abstract problems, and become more systematic when solving problems.

2. Prenatal Development

   • Development
     • Embryonic Stage
       • Lasts from two weeks to the end of the second month. Vital organs begin to form. Cell division becomes more specialized. Most miscarriages, structural birth defects occur during this time.
     • Fetal Stage
       • Lasts from two months to birth. Muscles and bones begin to form. Sex organs begin to develop. The age of viability (22-26 weeks) is the time when the baby has a good chance of surviving a premature birth.
     • Germinal Stage
       • The first phase of prenatal development, including the first two weeks after conception. The zygote implants and the placenta is formed.
   • Environmental Factors
     • Drug Use
       • Most drugs can pass through the placenta and reach the baby if taken by the mother. Sedatives, narcotics and cocaine are the most dangerous. Fetal alcohol syndrome is characterized by physical and mental complications due to the consumption of alcohol during pregnancy. Tobacco also has these effects.
     • Origins of Disease
       • Complications during pregnancy are thought to be able to program the baby's brain to be susceptible to certain illnesses later in life.
     • Illness/Toxins
       • The placenta can sift out many infectious agents, but not all. Rubella, syphilis, cholera, smallpox, and mumps can pass through and effect the baby. Mothers can also pass HIV on to their babies by giving birth, and breast feeding. Pollution and chemicals can also harm the baby.
     • Nutrition/Emotions
       • Maternal malnutrition can cause severe birth and neurological complications. anxiety and depression can result in behavioral problems in the child. The mother's emotions and traumatic events can effect the hormonal balance that keeps the fetus healthy.

3. Adolescence

   • Physiological Changes
     • Pubescence; the two year span preceding puberty, during which the changes leading to physical and sexual maturity take place. Secondary sex characteristics are characteristics that distinguish one sex from the other, but that are not vital to reproduction. Puberty is the stage when the sexual functions reach maturity, and marks the beginning of adolescence. Primary sex characteristics are traits that are vital to reproduction. Menarche is the first occurance of menstruation.
   • Neural Development
     • The growth of white matter takes place in the brain. This enhances conductivity and connectivity in the brain. synaptic pruning takes place which facilitates neural growth. This occurs most in the prefrontal cortex, and is the last area of the brain to mature.

4. Adulthood

   • Family Life
     • Adjusting to marriage Adjusting to parenthood Adjusting to the empty nest
   • Neural Changes
     • The amount of brain tissue decreases. Dementia (abnormal condition marked by cognitive deficits and memory impairments) may occur. Alzheimer's disease may also occur.
   • Physiological Changes
     • Hair thins, body fat increases, farsightedness and difficulty seeing in low light increases, hearing sensitivity decreases, menopause occurs in women.
   • Personality Development
     • Extraversion, openness, and neurotiscism decrease. Agreeableness and conscientiousness increase. Self esteem tends to decline. Erikson divided adulthood in to three stages: Early (intimacy versus isolation Middle (generativity versus self absorption) Late (integrity versus despair)
   • Cognitive Changes
     • Fluid intelligence declines. Deficits in woeking and episodic memory may occur. The speed of learning and problem solving declines.

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