Psychology Ch 5

• a branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social change throughout the life span
• Examines how people are continually developing,

• Nature/Nurture
• Continuity/stages
• stability/change
• *Think of climbing a tree. First big branches, to the left is a tree leaves (nature) to the right is a mother & baby (nurture);  You climb up further and come to more big branches, to the left is a continuing long path (as far as the eye can see) and to the Right is a couple theatre stages; U climb to the top, to the Left you see the tree is stable n not going to fall, to the Right you are paid in change for climbing the tree.

Questions how genetic inheritance (our nature) and experience (the nurture we receive) influence our development

Questions whether development is a gradual, continuous process like riding an escalator, or does it proceed through a sequence of separate stages, like climbing rungs on a ladder?

Questions if our early personality traits persist through life, or do we become different persons as we age?

• it releases digestive enzymes that eat away its protective coating.  As soon as one sperm is welcomed, the egg's surface blocks out the others. 
• Before 1/2 a day elapses, the egg nucleus and the sperm nucleus fuse

• zygote: conception to 2 weeks
• embryo: 2 weeks to 8 weeks
• fetus: 9 weeks to birth

• the fertilized egg; it enters a 2-week period of rapid cell division and develops into an embryo
• fewer than half survive beyond the first 2 weeks
• 10 days after conception, attaches to uterine wall

• the developing human organism from about 2 weeks after fertilization through the second month
• over next 6 weeks, organs begin to form and function, heart begins to beat

• the developing human organism from 9 weeks after conception to birth
• during 6th month, organs such as stomach have developed enough to allow a prematurely born fetus a chance of survival

agents, such as chemicals and viruses, that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development (can slip through placenta) and cause harm

FAS ~ physical and cognitive abnormalities in children caused by a pregnant woman's heavy drinking. In severe cases, symptoms include noticeable facial misproportions

• formed as the zygote's outer cells attached to uterine wall
• transfers nutrients and oxygen from mother to fetus
• also screens out many potentially harmful substances

• In womb, cells are formed nearly one-quarter million per minute
• After birth, neural networks had wild growth spurt
• Ages 3 - 6 yrs: most rapid growth was in frontal lobes, enabling rational planning
• The association areas - those linked with thinking, memory, and language - are the last cortical areas to develop. As they do, mental abilities surge.

• biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience
• Sets the basic course of development; experience adjusts it

• putting babies to sleep on their back to reduce the risk of a smothering crib death
• associated with somewhat later crawling but not with later walking

a major role! Identical twins typically begin sitting up and walking on nearly the same day

• our 3rd bday
• the average age of earliest conscious memory is 3.5
• by 4 -5 yrs, childhood amnesia gives way to remember experiences
• But even into adolescence, the brain areas underlying memory continue to mature

all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating

• a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information
•  a mental structure of preconceived ideas, a framework representing some aspect of the world, or a system of organizing and perceiving new information.

interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing schemas

adapting our current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information

• developmental psychologist; intrigued by kids wrong answers
• believes a child's mind develops through a series of stages
• His core idea is that driving force behind our intellectual progression is an unceasing struggle to make sense of our experiences
• To explain how we use and adjust our schemas, proposed that we first assimilate and then accommodate

• Sensorimotor ~ birth to nearly 2 years
• Preoperational ~ 2 to about 6 or 7 yrs
• Concrete operational ~ about 7 to 11 yrs
• Formal operational ~ about 12 through adult

• in Piaget's theory, the stage (from birth to about 2 years of age) during which infants know the world mostly in terms of their sensory impressions and motor activities
• Developmental Phenomena: object permanence, stranger anxiety

• stage in Piaget's theory, the stage from about 2 yrs to 6 or 7 years of age
• during which a child learns to use language but does not yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete logic
• Developmental Phenomena: pretend play, egocentrism
• Egocentrism is characterized by preoccupation with one's own internal world.

• stage in Piaget's theory, the stage of cognitive development from about 6 or 7 yrs to 11 yrs
• during which children gain the mental operations that enable them to think logically about concrete events
• he also believe during this stage kids fully gain the mental ability to comprehend mathematical transformations

• thinking
• systematic reasoning

• stage in Piagets theory, the stage of cognitive development (normally beginning about age 12 to adult)
• during which people begin to think logically about abstract concepts
• reasoning expands from purely concrete (involving actual experience) to encompas abstract thinking (involving imagined realities and symbols)
• If this, than that

• the awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived
• By 8 months, infants begin exhibiting memory for things no longer seen

• the principle (which Piaget believed to  be a part of concrete operational reasoning) that properties such as mass, volume, and number remain the same, despite changes in the forms of objects
• *think of example of milk poured into two separate glasses: one skinny n tall, one short and wide

in Piaget's theory, the preoperational child's difficulty taking another's point of view

people's ideas about their own and others' mental states- about their feelings, perceptions, and thoughts, and the behaviors these might predict

• a disorder that appears in childhood and is marked by deficient communications, social interaction, and understanding of others' states of mind
• affects 4 boys for every girl
• ~ said to have an impaired theory of mind

Todays researchers use this term to encompass the variations in autism

• a "high-functioning" for of autism
• marked by normal intelligence, often accompanied by exceptional skill or talent in specific area, but deficient in social and communication skills (and thus an inability for form normal peer relationships)

people's tendency to seek spouses who share their interests

provides the building blocks for thinking

most children have begun walking by about 12 months

develop together

the fear of strangers that infants commonly display, beginning by about 8 months of age

• an emotional tie with another person; shown in young children by their seeking closeness to the caregiver and showing distress on separtation
• powerful survival impulse that keeps infants close to caregivers
• Contact is one key to attachment, another is familiarity

an optimal period shortly after birth when an organism's exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces proper development

the process by which certain animals form attachments during a critical period very early in life

• when a child is placed in a strange situation, say a lab playroom for example, the play comfortably in mothers presence, happily exploring. 
• When she leaves, they are distressed; when she returns, they seek contact with her.

• when a child is placed in a strange situation, say a lab playroom for example, they are less likely to explore their surroundings; they may even cling to their mother. 
• When she leaves, the either cry loudly or remain upset or seem indifferent to her departure and return
• Mary ainsworth designed the strange situation experiment

It seems to peak at around 13 months, then gradually declines

• a sense that the world is predictable and reliable
• Erik Erikson theorized securely attached kids approached life w this sense
• attributed not to environment or inborn temperament, but to early parenting
• He also theorized that infants blessed w sensitive caregivers for lifelong attitude of trust rather than fear

a neurotransmitter that calms aggressive impulses

a particular environment interacting with particular genes

• 1- Authoritarian
• 2- permissive
• 3- Authoritative

• The 'too hard' kind of parenting
• parents impose rules and expect obedience
• Ex: "Don't interrupt", "Keep your room clean", "Don't stay out late or you'll be grounded", "Why? Because I said so."
• Research indicates kids tend to have less social skills and self-esteem

• The 'too soft' kind of parenting
• Parents submit to their children's desires. They make few demands and use little punishment
• research indicates kids tend to be more aggressive and immature

• The 'just right' kind of parenting
• Parents are both demanding and responsive.
• They exert control by setting rules and enforcing them, but the also explain the reasons for rules.
• Especially with older children, they encourage open discussion and allow some exceptions to the rules
• research indicates kids w high self-esteem, self-reliance, and social competence

temperament

a person's characteristic emotional reactivity and intensity

• years spent morphing from child to adult
• starts with physical beginnings of sexual maturity and ends with the social achievement of independent adult status

• the period of sexual maturation, during which a person becomes capable of reproducing
• adolescence begins here
• follows a surge of hormones, may intensify moods and trigger a 2 yr rapid growing spurt
• usually begins about age 11 for girls and 13 for boys
• About a yr or 2 before, boys and girls often feel first stirrings of attraction toward other sex

the body structures (ovaries, testes, and external genitalia) that make sexual reproduction possible

nonreproductive sexual characteristics, such as female breasts and hips, male voice quality, and body hair

the first menstrual period

• starts with breast development, now often begins by age 10
• landmarks are first menstrual period in girls
• , usually with in year of age 12 1/2

• landmarks are first ejaculation in boys, usually about age 14
• usually occurs as nocturnal emission

the fatty tissue that forms around axons and speeds neurotransmission, enables better communication with other brain regions

• also a work in progress. As teens mature, their frontal lobs continue to develop.
• bring improved judgement, impulse control, and the ability to plan for the long term

• ... meaning younger teens whose unfinished frontal lobs aren't yet fully equipped for making long-term plans and curbing impulses
• Unless Junior slows his brain development with heavy drinking - leaving him prone to impulsivity and addiction - his frontal lobes will continue maturing until about age 25

• the thinking that occurs as we consider right and wrong
• Lawrence Kohlberg sought to describe it's development; found 3 basic levels: Preconventional, Conventional, and Postconventional morality
• He claimed these levels form a moral ladder

• A level of moral thinking by Lawrence Kohlberg
• Before age 9, most kids morality focuses on self-interest: They obey rules either to avoid punishment or to gain concrete rewards

• A level of moral thinking by Lawrence Kohlberg
• By early adolescence, morality focuses on caring for others and on upholding laws and social rules, simply because they are the laws and rules

• A level of moral thinking by Lawrence Kohlberg
• With the abstract reasoning of formal operational thought, people may reach this third moral level.
• Actions are judged "right" because they flow from people's rights or from self-defined, basic ethical principles
• Appears most in European and North American educated middle class which prizes individualism

• Our sense of self
• According to Eric Erikson, the adolescent's task is to solidify a sense of self by testing and integrating various roles

the "we" aspect of our self-concept; the part of our answer to "Who am I?" that comes from our group memberships

• Infancy to 1 yr: Trust vs. mistrust
• If needs are dependably met, infants develop a sense of basic trust

• 1 - 3 years: Autonomy (independence) vs. shame and doubt
• Toddler learn to exercise their will and do things for themselves, or they doubt their abilities

• 3 to 6 yrs: Initiative vs. guilt
• Preschoolers learn to initiate tasks and carry out plans, or they feel guilty about the efforts to be independent

• 6 yrs to puberty: industry vs. inferiority
• Children learn the pleasure of applying themselves to tasks, or they feel inferior

• teen yrs into 20's: Identity vs. role confusion
• Teenagers work at refining a sense of self by testing roles and then integrating them to form a single identity, or they become confused about who they are

• 20's to early 40's: Intimacy vs. isolation
• young adults struggle to form close relationships and to gain the capacity for intimate love, or they feel socially isolated

• 40's to 60's: Generativity vs. stagnation
• In middle age, people discover a sense of contributing to the world, usually through family and work, or they may feel a lack of purpose
• *to remember "stagnation", think of the fact that I will probably be in middle adulthood before I can hunt a stag

• late 60's and up: integrity vs. despair
• Reflecting on his or her life, an older adult may feel a sense of satisfaction or failure

• in Erikson's theory, the ability to form close, loving relationships
• a primary developmental task in late adolescence and early adulthood
• Erikson contended that adolescent identity stage is followed in young adulthood by developing capacity for intimacy

achieve a purpose - a desire to accomplish something personally meaningful that makes a difference to the world beyond oneself

for some people in modern cultures, a period from the late teens to mid twenties, bringing the gap btwn adolescent dependence and full independence and responsible adulthood

both the increased body fat (which can support pregnancy and nursing) and to weakened parent-child bonds, including absent fathers.

our accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase with age

our ability to reason speedily and abstractly; tends to decrease during late adulthood

the culturally perferred timing of social events such as marriage, parenthood, and retirement

in the last 3 or 4 years of life, the cognitive decline which accelerates

• Erik Erikson call them intimacy (forming close relationships) and generativity (being productive and supporting future generations)
• Researchers have chosen various terms - affiliation and achievement, attachment and productivity, commitment, and competence

a neural processing center for emotions, shows diminishing activity in older adults in response to negative events, but it maintains it's responsiveness to positive events

Erik Erikson... a feeling that one's life has been meaningful and worthwhile

• Stability: enables us to depend on others, provides our identity, and motivates our concern for healthy development of kids.
• Change: motivates our concern about present influences, sustains our hope for brighter future, and lets us adapt and grow with experience