Chapter 5
Developing Through the Lifespan
Developmental Psychology
- Examines how people are continually developing from infancy through old age
o Physically, Cognitively, and Socially
- Three major issues:
o Nature/Nurture -- genes vs. experience
o Continuity/Stages -- gradual process vs. separate stages o Stability/Change -- persistence vs. change with age
Prenatal Development
Zygote o Fertilized egg; Conception to 2 weeks Embryo o 2 to 9 weeks gestation Fetus o 9 weeks to birth
Fetuses respond to sound and newborns prefer their mother's voice to another
woman's
Learning of language begins in the womb
Fetuses adapt to sounds in their environment and display this as newborns
Infancy and Childhood
o Jean Piaget (1896 -- 1980) -- Stages of Cognitive Development !
o Development psychologist whose interest began in 1920 when he was administering
intelligence tests
o Deduced that a child's mind works differently from an adult's in systematic ways
Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development
o Sensorimotor Birth -- 2 years old - Object permanence (about 8 months of age) :The understanding that things continue to exist when they are out of sight - Stranger Anxiety
o Preoperational 2 to about 6 or 7 years old : Pretend play : Egocentrism Difficulty perceiving things from another's point of view o Theory of Mind People's ideas about their own and others' mental state Language development
o Concrete Operational 7 to 1l years old - Conservation :Principle that quantity remains the same despite shape changes Mathematical Transformations
o Formal Operational 12 through adulthood - Abstract logic Potential for mature moral reasoning
Piaget's Theory Today
Piaget's stage theory has been influential globally, validating a number of ideas regarding growth and development in many cultures and societies. o Today's researchers believe: Development is a continuous process Children may express their mental abilities and operations at an earlier age Formal logic is a smaller part of cognition than had been previously though
Origins of Attachment
Harlow's rhesus monkey (1971) o Wire vs. Cloth Monkey
: Nourishment vs. Comfort
Adolescence
Adolescents' ability to reason gives them a new level of social awareness. In particular, they may think about the following
1) Their own thinking 2) What others are thinking 3) What others are thinking 4) How ideals can be reached. They criticize society, parents, and even themselves
Lawrence Kohlberg (1927 - 1987)
Moral Reasoning
Erik Erikson (1902 -- 1994)
Psychosocial Development
Moral Dilemmas
Kohlberg (1981,1984) sought to describe the development of moral reasoning by posing moral dilemmas to children and adolescents, such as: "Should a person steal medicine to save a loved one's life?"
Kohlberg's Stages of Moral Development
1) Preconventional Morality a. Before age 9, children show morality to avoid punishment or gain reward -- emphasis on self -- interest 2) Conventional Morality a. By early adolescence, social rules and laws are upheld for their own sake, to maintain social order 3) Postconventional Morality a. Affirms people's agreed-upon rights or follows personally perceived ethical principles
Erikson's Stages of Psychosocial Development
1) Infancy (t