PSYC 222 Developmental Psychology II

1. PSYC 222 Developmental Psychology II Overview Dean Owen, Ph.D., LPCC Spring 2011

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3. Some Fundamental Definitions Development – all the physical and psychological changes (both growth and decline) that you undergo in your lifetime.

4. Some Fundamental Definitions Developmental psychology – scientific discipline that attempts to describe and explain these changes through research. Description Explanation Prediction Control Four levels of Science

5. Some Fundamental Definitions Theory – a set of organized ideas that help to explain behaviors you observe – why is it happening? Theory is the best guess based on research – it is NOT fact. Different theories contradict each other when trying to explain the same behaviors – there is NO way to know for sure which one (if any) is correct. That’s why researchers continue to have jobs.... Theory also may help predict future behavior – if you do this, then that will happen. E = mc2

6. Some Fundamental Definitions Policy – either social or educational are based upon what the beliefs are about what is best for people – those beliefs are based on theory that is formed and refined through research.

7. Major Periods of Development 1. Prenatal

8. Major Periods of Development 2. Infancy – birth to 18-24 months

9. Major Periods of Development 3. Early childhood – end of infancy to about 6 years of age (some put Toddler in there from age 1-3, then Preschooler)

10. Major Periods of Development 4. Middle childhood – about 6-8

11. Major Periods of Development 5. Late childhood – roughly 9-11

12. Major Periods of Development 6. Adolescence – 12 or so up to 18-22 years. This is where we will begin….tamam?

13. Major Periods of Development 7. Early adulthood – 18-22 on through the 30s

14. Major Periods of Development 8. Middle adulthood – 35-45 through the 50s

15. Major Periods of Development 9. Late adulthood – 60s until death some divide this into young-old = 65-84; oldest-old = 85 and older)

16. Seven major issues or themes in developmental psychology 1. nature vs. nurture – heredity vs. environment – what roles do they play in development? Are your genetics more important, or are your life experiences the key to who you are? This is an important question for education, training, job selection, etc., etc. If intelligence is all due to heredity, then we could give up on some kids who don’t show much sign of smarts early on. On the other hand, if intelligence is shaped more by environmental events and experiences then the question become which experiences are most important and how do we present them to have the greatest impact.

17. Seven major issues or themes in developmental psychology 2. stable or open to change – are life-long patterns of behavior established early in a child’s life or are they open to change throughout life? If there were negative early effects of heredity or environment, can they be overcome through later experiences? This is strongly related to nature/nurture – the nature people hold to the early establishment of patterns, while the nurture people believe most things can be changed at later dates. The term plasticity refers to the potential for change. It used to be believed that older people were less “plastic” and that there weren’t any major changes after adolescence. Some argue that much of the important emotional development occurs in infancy, while others say that later experiences are just as important as earlier ones.

18. Seven major issues or themes in developmental psychology 3. continuous vs. discontinuous – is development like a ramp for the disabled or like a staircase? Are there dramatic changes in human development that are explained by stages (staircase) – sudden, qualitative changes ? Or the accumulation of gradual changes (a slow but continuous change) -- going from crawling to pulling up to standing to cruising to walking to running? A riddle: What crawls on 4 legs in the morning, two legs at noon and three legs in the evening?

19. Seven major issues or themes in developmental psychology 4. individual differences – how similar is development across individuals and how much is unique to an individual? “Average” is just that – data from a combination of all people, so it might not fit any particular individual exactly. Of course, an individual might face particular developmental challenges if from an abusive home, having a head injury early in life , getting cancer, not having any close friends, etc. Some people resist negative effects from things like these better than others (“resilience”) – relatively relaxed, self-confident, have a close, encouraging relationship with at least one member of the family and bonds to others beyond the family (at school or club).

20. Seven major issues or themes in developmental psychology 5. socio-cultural context– kids grow up within families (usually), but also within larger social communities (towns, regional areas, countries, churches, racial groups, etc.). The values (speak your mind vs. be seen and not heard; work vs. education; stay close to family vs. explore the world) and resources (money, books, museums, etc.) of these various socio-cultural contexts have a major impact on development. How many men have pink as a favorite color? How many girls are auto mechanics? There are socio-cultural reasons for these. How many heterosexual men walk down the street holding hands with each other? What behaviors are gender specific in the culture?

21. Seven major issues or themes in developmental psychology 6. active or passive role for the individual in development – do things just happen TOpeople or does one have some Control over his or her own development? With some exceptions, most researchers today agree that children definitely are active – curiously engaging in experiences, cooperating or refusing to in particular learning endeavors, forming concepts about the events they experience. But circumstances a person may be in (an abusive family, for example) may influence development in ways that cannot be controlled or changed by the individual.

22. Seven major issues or themes in developmental psychology 7. Interaction of developmental domains – nothing developmental operates in isolation. Developmental Domains: Physical Emotional Moral Cognitive Social A child who is physically advanced may then become socially advanced and have other changes in cognitive development. A girl whose body develops earlier than her peers may get more male attention, which could have an effect on her social and emotional development. Depending on whether or not she appreciates this increased attention, her self-esteem may be affected as well as her academic work (the cognitive area).

23. Various approaches to developmental theory Remember that researchers disagree on a lot of stuff and have divided themselves into various camps of believers. All of these theories “work” for specified conditions, but not across ALL conditions. So you can pick and choose which one you want to apply for a particular purpose. And most are still under investigation, with new research refuting or adding to the structure of the old theory. Cognitive Psycho-Social Social Learning Behavioral

24. Psychoanalytic approaches – more focused on emotion and personality rather than learning and cognitive development. Freud’sPsychosexual theory of development – psychological tension builds up from biological instincts – this tension/energy he termed libido. He theorized that there various stages of development during which the libido was centered on different parts of the body, with associated consequences (fixations) for personalities if the libido was over or under-discharged.

25. Psycho-sexual stages of development a. oral -- libido focused on mouth (pacifier stage) -- 0-1.5 years of age b. anal -- libido center is anus (toilet-training stage) -- 1.5-3 years c. phallic -- focus is the genitals -- 3-6 years d. latency -- libido is repressed, so focus is on developing socially and intellectually (6-puberty) e. genital -- sexual feelings emerge again, libido focuses on getting a mate outside the family (puberty +)

26. Personality Structure Ego Super Ego ID

27. Erik Erikson Erikson’s Psychosocial theory Erikson’s stages are based on Freud’s in that the first five match Freud’s in time of appearance, but Erikson’s are enlarged, include more things, and there are three stages beyond. They take society more into account. The theme is search for identity and the scope is the lifespan. 1902 –1994

28. Erik Erikson 8 life Stages of Psycho-social Development Stage Period 1. trust vs. mistrust Infancy 2. autonomy vs. shame and doubt Toddler (terrible twos) 3. initiative vs. guilt Preschool years 4. industry vs. inferiority Elementary School 5. identity vs. ID confusion Adolescence 6. intimacy vs. isolation Early Adulthood 7. Generativity vs Stagnation Middle Adulthood 8. integrity vs. despair = wisdom Late Adulthood

29. II. Cognitive-developmental approaches The development of the mind, of thought and reason, of language….cognitive ability. Piaget’s Cognitive Development Theory Vygotsky’s Socialcultural Cognitive theory Information Processing Theory

30. Jean Piaget Jean Piaget’s Cognitive Developmental Theory -- behavior reflects the emergence of various cognitive structures (organized ways of thinking) that influence how the child interprets experience. Piaget believed these ways of thinking emerged in stages, associated with the type of experiences children were having:  1896 – 1980

31. Jean Piaget – Cognitive Stages (SPCF) Sensorimotor (birth-1.5/2 years) – gain info from sensory experience Preoperational (1.5/2-7 years) – have symbolic thought, but no logic Concrete operational (7-11 years) – can reason logically about things they can see or at least visualize in their mind -- Formal operational (11 years and up) – can reason about abstract things People move from stage to stage as their mental structures change. Piaget believed these stages progressed in the same fashion around the world, largely unaffected by culture.

32. Lev Vygotsky Vygotsky believed culture was involved in cognitive development. His theory stressed the role of language and social interaction within particular cultures as being influential. He believed that children began interacting with adults or older peers on the margins of an adult activity (“legitimate peripheral participation”) – listening, watching, then helping a little, then taking on more responsibility, and finally assuming the full duty (“internalization”). What things children learn early on depends on what culture they grow up in – what is important in that society is generally taught to the young. What do we teach ours? 1896-1934

33. Information Processing Theory This approach is lumped with the cognitive theories in your book. It does deal with cognitive processes, but in such a different way that that it really deserves to be in a category of its own. These theories tend to adapt computer information processing as a metaphor for human cognition. These approaches deal a lot with memory. Name to remember: nobody (there isn’t a major theorist as in the other areas, but many different ones in specific areas).

34. Behavioral and Social Cognitive Theories The behavioral and environmental origins for human learning. “What is Learning??” The Great Learning Theorists include: Ivan Pavlov Respondent or “Classical” Learning B.F Skinner Operant or Instrumental Albert Bandura Social Learning Theory

35. Ivan Pavlov 1849-1936

36. B.F. Skinner 1904-1990

37. Albert Bandura Social Learning Theory…. Assimilation imitation 1925-

38. IV. Ethological Theories Human behavior is largely determined by biology and evolutionary forces deeply encoded in our genetic make-up Lorenz

39. Konrad Lorenz 1903-1989

40. Urie Bronfenbrenner ..emphasized environment more than biology. Bronfenbrenner proposed a theory that involved multiple circles of contextual influence on development, with the individual being at the center of all of them. 1917–2005

41. Questions or comments ??