Developmental Psychology

• A field of study devoted to the understanding Constancy & Change throughout a lifespan.
• It is Interdisciplinary.

Different views of development

• Conitinuous or Discontinuous
• Nature vs. Nurture
• Lifespan Perspective

Continous Development

A process of gradually augmenting the same types of skills that were there to begin with.

[image]

Dicontinuous Development

[image]

• A process in which new ways of understanding and responding to the world emerge at specific times.
• According to the view, infants and children have unique ways of thinking , feeling, and behaving, ones quite different from adults.
• Development takes place in STAGES
• qualitative changes in thinking, feeling, and behaving that characterize specific periods of development
• Stage theorists assume that people everywhere follow the same squence of development, but children and adults live in distinct contexts-unique combinations of  personal and environmental circumstances  that can result in different paths of change

Nature vs. Nurture

• Are genetic or environmental factors more important?
• Nature - complex forces of the physical and scoial world  that influence our biological make-up and psychological experinences.
• Nurture - complex forces of the physical and social world that influence  our biological makeup and psychological experiernces before and after birth.

Lifespan Perspective

(A Balanced Point of View)

4 assumptions make up this broader view:

·         Development is lifelong

·         no single age period is supreme on its impact on the life courses

·         each period can have equally powerful effects on future change

·         Within each period, change occurs in 3 broad domains

1.     Physical

2.     Cognitive

3.     emotional/social 

·     Development is Multidimensional and Multidirectional

·     Development is Highly Plastic

·     Development affected by multiple interacting forces

Multidimensional  vs. Multidirectional

Multidimensional

• affected by an intricate blend of biological, psychological and social forces

Plasticity

Change is possible and even likely if new experiences support it

Darwin's Theories

The Theory of Evolution

Natural Selection & Survival of the Fittest

• Certain species survive in particular environments because they have characteristics  that fit with or are adapted to, their surroundings.
• Other species die off because they are less well well-suited  to their environments.
• Individuals within a species who best meet the environments survival requirements live long enough to reproduce and pass their more beneficial characteristics to future generations.

Freud's theories

3 Parts of the Personality

Freud’s Three Parts of the Personality

Id

Ego

Superego

Id

• Largest portion of the mind
• Unconscious, present at birth
• Source of biological needs & desires

Ego

• Conscious, rational part of mind
• Emerges in early infancy
• Redirects id impulses acceptably

Superego

• The conscience
• Develops from ages 3 to 6, from interactions with caregivers

Piaget's cognitive developemental theory

• Children actively seek out knowledge
• Adaptiation to environment is made in order to achieve equilibrium
• All children move through 4 broad stages

Piaget's Stages

• Sensorimotor ---> Birth to 2 years 
• Preoperational ---> 2 to 7 years 
• Formal Operational ----> 11-Adult

Piaget's Sensorimotor Stage

Birth to 2 years

• Infants think with their eyes, ears, hands, & mouth
• Learn object permanence

Piaget's Preoperational Stage

 2 to 7 years

• Thinking lacks logic
• Learn to decenter (less ego-centric)

Piaget's Concrete Operational Stage

7 to 11 years 

• Can think logically but not abstractly

Piaget's Formal Operational Stage

 11years-Adult

• Can think abstractly

Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory

• Transmission of culture to a new generation
• Culture (Values, beliefs, customs, skills)
• Focuses on how culture is transmitted to the next generation
• Social interaction - in particular cooperative dialogues with more knowledgeable members of societ is necessary for children to acuire the wasy of thinking and behaving that make up a community's culture.

Different Types of Observation

• Naturalistic-Observation of behavior in natural context
• Strength- Reflects participants' everyday lives
• Limitation- Cannot control conditions under which participants are observed
• Structured- Observation of behavior in a laboratory, where conditions are the same for all participants
• Strength- Grants each participan an equal opportunity to display the behavior of interest
• Limitations- May not yield observations typical of participants' behavior in everyday life

Experimental Design

Experimental Design 

permits inference about cause and effect because researchers use an evenhanded procedure to assign people to two or more treatment condtions 

In an experiment, the events and behaviors of interest  are divided into 2 types:

• Independent Variable
• the variable the investigator changes or manipulates to cause change in another variable
• Dependent Variable
• the variable the investigator measures but does not manipulate, expects to be influenced by the independent variable

Random Assignment

• Researchers use unbiased procedure to assign participants to treatment conditions
• Increases chances that characteristics will be equally distributed across the treatment groups

Experimental Ethics

(Rights of Research Participants)

The Institutional Review Board (IRB) makes sure:

• Protection from harm
• Informed consent
• Privacy
• Knowledge of results
• Beneficial treatments

Gametes / Sex Cells

(Sperm & Ovum)

Gametes

• Formed through a cell division process called Meiosis
• Meiosis halves the number of chromosomes normally present in body cells (46 to 23)
• When sperm and ovum unite at concption the resulting cell, caled a Zygote will again have 46 chromosomes
• Autosomes  are the 23rd pair of chromosomes that determine sex
• XX= female
• XY= male
• 22 pairs of the chromosomes are not sex chromosomes

Chromosomes

• Rod-like structures stored in the nucleus of a cell that stores and transmit genetic information
• Genes are segments of DNA located along the chromosomes
• DNA is the substance of which genes and chromosomes are made

Chromosomal Deficits

• Down Syndrome
• Fragile-X syndrome
• XYY Syndrome
• Klinefelter Syndrome (extra X in both male and female)
• Turner Syndrome (Females missing one X)

Causes:

• Maternal Age
• 20 yrs old---> .125% of Down Syndrome
• 39 yrs old---> 1.49% chance
• 44 yrs old---> 6.25% chance
• Genetic
• Environmental
• Parent's exposer to excessive radiation

Down Syndrome

• Down Syndrome
• Problem with the 21st chromosome
• 1 in 1000 live births
• risk rises with maternal age

Fragile-X syndrome

• Fragile-X syndrome
• part of the X chromosome is attached to the rest of it by a very slim string of molecules
• caused by genetic abnormality and often produces mental deficiency
• mutation intesifies as it is passed from one generagion to the next
• Females 
•  most who carry it are normal
• 1/3 have mental deficiency
• Males
• 20% of male carriers are normal
• 33% mild intellectual disability
• 57% severe intellectual disablity

Reproductive Choices

• Genetic Counseling
• assess chance of hereditary disorders
• choos best coures of action
• risks
• family goals
• Recommended when:
• couple has had difficulties
• aware of genetic problems
• woman is over 35
• Donor insemination
• In Vitro Fertilization
• Surrogate mother
• Zygote Intrafallopian Transfer (Fertilization occurs in dish) ZIFT
• Gamete Intrafallopian Transfer (Fertilization occurs in fallopian tupe) GIFT
• Adoption

Prenatal diagnosis and fetal medicine

• Prenatal diagnosis and fetal medicine
• Amniocentesis
• small risk of miscarriage
• Chorionic villus sampling
• risk of limb deformity
• Fetoscopy
• risk of miscarriage
• Ultrasound
• Maternal blood analysis
• Preimplantation genetic diagnosis

Influences of the Family

• Children learn language, skills, and social and moral values of their culture
• Warm gratifiying family tes predict physical and psychological healthe throughout development
• Isolation and or alienation from the family is often associated with developmental problems

Influences of the Family

Direct Influence

• 2 person relationship
• When parents' requests are firm but made with warmth and affection, children ten to comply willingly, leading their parents to be warm and gentle in the future
• When parents dicipline with harshness and impatience are likely to refuse and rebel, leading to frustration in the parent and lead to an increase in punishment, which leads to more misbehavior in the child

Influences of the Family

Indirect

• When interactions between any 2 members  is affecte by others present in the setting (Third Party)
• Internalizing Difficulties (especially girls)
• feeling worried and afraid and trying to repair their parent's relationship
• Externalizing Difficulties (especially boys)
• including verbal and physical aggression

Influences of Family

Adapting to Change

• Adapting to a new birth
• different for toddlers than older children
• Taking care of an older family member
• more stressful for families with children than without

Difference in Socioeconomic Status

Affluence

Those parents in highly prestigious, well paying occupations

• often fail to engage in family interaction and parenting that promotes favorable development
• nearly as physically and emotionally unavilable to their youngsters as parents coping with serious financial strain
• often make excessive demands for achievement from their children

Difference in Socioeconomic Status

Poverty

• 13% (40 million) American's live in poverty
• 19% of US children are poor 
• 30% for hispanic children
• 32% for Native-American children
• 34% for African-American
• Nearly 50% for single mothers with preschool children and elderly women on their own
• USA has the highest % of extremely poor children in the Westernized world (nearly 8%)
• Children of Poverty are more likely to suffer from lifelong poor phyusical health, persistent deficits in cognitive development and academic achievement, highschool dropout, mental illness, and antisocial behavior

Process of conception

Zygote Period

Weeks 1 & 2

Week 1

• One-celled zygot multiplies and forms a Blastocyte
• Blastocyte- hollow fluid-filled ball, inner cells, called embryonic disk will become the new organism.
• The outer cells called trophoblast will provide protective covering.

End of week 1 / Begining of week 2

• The blastocyte burrows into the uterine lining. 60-70% of zygotes do not implant
• Divides into 2 parts, the inside becomes the embryo, and the outside becomes the placenta
• Structures that feed and protect the developing organism begin to form
• Amnion, chorion, yolk sac, placenta, and umbilical cord

Process of Conception

Embryo

Weeks 3 - 8

• Arms, legs, face, organs, muscles all develop
• heart begins beating
• sense of touch begins developing
• embryo can move
• 20% of all embryo's abort

Process of Conception

Fetus

Weeks 9-38

• Growth and Finishing
• Week 9 gentials fully formed
• 22 weeks is the earliest age of viability

Teratrogens

Environmental agent that causes damage during the prenatal period

• Prescription and non-prescription drugs
• illegal drugs
• tobacco
• alcohol
• radiation
• infectious disease

Factors affecting:

• Dosage- larger doses over longer periods of time usually have more negative effects
• Heredity- some women are better able than others to withstand harmful environments
• Other negative influences - several negative factors at once, such as other teratogens, poor nutrition, lack of medical attention
• Age- effects of Teratogens vary with age

Effects of Contractions on Baby

• Force of contractions causes the infant to produce high levels of stress hormones
• the production of stress hormones is adaptive
• helps baby withstand  oxygen deprivation by sending a rich supply of blood to the brain and heart
• prepares baby to breathe by causing the lungs to absorb any remaining fluid
• arouses the infant to alertness

Apgar Test

• Test to assess the newborns physcial condition quickly
• Five characteristics rated on a scale of 0, 1, 2
• Made at 1 minute and again 5 minutes after birth
• Score of 7 or better is indicates good physical 
• Score between 4-6 needs assistance in establishing breathing and other vital signs
• 3 or below the infant is in serious danger and requires emergency medical attention
• 2 tests are given becauswe some babies have trouble adjusting at first but do quite well after a few minutes

Labor Coaches

• A person who helps the mother during childbirth by reminding her to relax and breathe, supporting her body and offering encouragement and affection

Birth pain relieving methods

• Analgesics
• drugs used to relieve pain may be given in mild doses during labor to help the mother relax
• Anesthetics 
• stronger type of painkiller that blocks sensation
• Epidural analgesia

Kangaroo Care

• Skin-to-skin is the most readily available intervention for promoting  the survival and recovery of pre-term babies
• placing the child in a vertical postion between the mother's breasts or next to the father's chest under the parent's clothing so the parents function as a human incubator
• fosters improved oxygenation of the baby's body, temperature regulation, sleep, feeding , and infant survival
• children who were given many hours of kangaroo care in the early weeks compared to those given little or no such care score higher on measures  of mental and motor development during the first year.

Newborn Reflexes

• Rooting
• turning head in the direction of parent, for breast feeding
• Palmare Grasp
• Grasping fingers in palm
• Moro (embracing) Reflexing
• flinging arms wide and bringing them back towards their body
• Sucking
• Stepping
• looks like primitive walking, when newborns's body in a sideways or upside down orientation, with feet touching walls or ceilings, and even with legs dangling in the air
• with this exercised regularly, babies are likely to walk several weeks earlier than if not practiced

New Family Adjustment

Hormones that facilitate caregiving around the time of birth

• Oxytocin (in woman)
• Hormone wich stimulates uterine contractions, causes the breast "to let down milk", induces calm, relaxed mood, and promotes responsivesness to the baby
• Prolactin (increase in men)
• hormone that stimulates milk production in females
• Estrogens (increase in men)
• sex hormones produced in larger quanitities in women
• Androgen (drop in men)
• sex hormone hormones produced in larger quantities in men

Newborn brains

Neuron

[image]

• Neurons form Prenatally
• Synapses

• tiny gaps where fibers from different neurons come close together but do not touch
• Neurotransmitters
• neurons send messages to one another by releasing neurotransmitters which cross the synapse
• Synaptic Pruning
• neurons that are seldom stimulated soon lose their synapses that a process that returns neurons not needed at the moment to an uncommitted state so they can support future development
• Glial Cell
• when glial cells reach the brain the start to differentiate and grow into different areas of the brain
• causes the dramatic increase in brain size during the first two years
• Half the brain consists of Glial Cell
• which are responsible for Myelination
• Myelination
• the coating of neural fibers with an insulating fatty sheath called myelin that improves the efficiency of message transfer

Co-Sleeping

• 90%  of the world's population does co-sleeping
• 50% of U.S. mothers co-sleep
• cosleeping babies breastfeed 3x as long as infants who sleep alone
• can safegaurd against SIDS

Breast Feeding

Benefits:

• provides the correct balance of fat and protein 
• ensures nutritional completeness
• helps ensure healthy physical growth
• protects against many diseases
• Babies in poorer countries do better

Malnutrition

• Marasmus
• do to diet low in all essential nutrients
• usually appears in the first year when a baby's mother is too malnourished to produce enough breast milk and bottle feeding is also inadequate
• Kwashiorkor
• diet very low in protein
• usually strike after weaning between 1 & 3 years of age
• Food Insecurity
• 17% of U.S. children suffer from this
• uncertain access to enough food for a healthy active life

Classical Conditioning

See page 103

• Newborn reflexes make classical conditioning possible in a young infant
• this form of learning, a neutral stimulus is paired with a stimulus that leads to a reflexive responce
• once a baby's nervous system makes the connection between the 2 stimuli, the neutral  stimulus produces the behavior by itself
• helps infants recognize which events usually occur together in the everyday world, so they  cananticipate what is about to happen next
• as a result the environment becomes more orderly and predictable

Difference between gross and fine motor development

• Gross-motor development 
• refers to control over actions that help infants get around in the environment, such as crawling, standing and walking
• Fine-motor development
• refers to smaller movements, such as reaching and grasping
• Sequence is fairly uniform, though individual rate of motor progress differs

Types of Grasps

• Prereaching
• newborns make poorly coordinated swipes
• rarely make contact
• drops out around age 7 weeks
• Reaching 
• with two hands then one
• Ulnar grasp 3-4 months
• adjusting grip to size of object
• move objects from hand to hand 4-5 months
• Pincer Grasp 9-12 months
• end of first year infants use the thumb and index finger opposably in a well-coordinated grasp
  

Developments in Hearing

• 4-7 months 
• sense of musical phrasing
• 6-8 months
• "screen out" sounds from non-native  languages 
• 7-9 months
• recognize familiar words, natural phrasing in native language

Improvements in Vision

• supported by rapid maturation of eyes and visual centers in brain

Improvements:

• 2 months: focus and color vision
• 6 months: acuity, scanning and tracking
• 6-7 months: depth perception

Milestones in Depth Perception

Page 110-111

• 3-4 weeks: sensitivity to motion cues
• 2-3 months: sensitivity to binocular cues
• 6-7 months: sensitivity to pictorial cues and wariness of heights

Discrimination of faces

• Birth - 1 month: prefer simple, facelike patterns
• 2 - 4 months old: babies prefer their mother's face over a stranger, prefer complex facial patterns, can distinguish strange from familiare faces
• 5-12 months: can perceive emotional expressions on face

Milestones in pattern perception

• 1 month: poor contrast sensitivity, prefer single large simple pattens with high contrast
• 2-3 months: can detect detain in complex pattens, scan internal features of patterns 
• 4 months: can detect patterns even if boundaries are not really present
• 12 months: can detect objects even if 2/3 drawing is missing

Milestones in Intermodal Perception

• Birth: detect amodal sensory properties
• 3-4 months: relate speech sounds to lip movement
• 4-6 months: perceive unique face-voice pairings of unfamiliar adults