Chapter 10 Human Development

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Chapter 10Human Development
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Human Development

• Developmental Psychology
• The goal of developmental psychology is to
  understand all the factors that influence human
  development from conception to death.
• Developmental psychologists have made much
  progress by devising increasingly careful and
  sensitive ways to measure behavioral abilities.

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Module 10.1

• The Study of Early Development

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The Fetus and the Newborn

• Prenatal Development
• The growth and changes that occur before birth
  are referred to as prenatal development. There
  are identifiable stages of this period of life.

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The Fetus and the Newborn

• Prenatal Development
• Zygote Fertilized egg cell
• Blastula
• Gastrula
• Embryo 2 to 8 weeks after conception
• Fetus 8 weeks after conception until birth

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The Fetus and the Newborn

• Prenatal Development
• Prenatal brain development
• By seven weeks the hindbrain and midbrain are
  developed enough to produce movements.
• By 36 weeks those brain structures produce head
  and eye movements in response to sounds, a
  sleep-wake cycle, and REM sleep.
• The cerebral cortex is relatively inactive during
  this period.

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The Fetus and the Newborn

• Prenatal Development
• The maternal-fetal connection
• Everything that mother consumes reaches the baby
  through the placenta.
• If mothers nutrition and prenatal care are poor
  or deficient, baby will also be deprived.
• If mother drinks, uses drugs, or smokes, baby
  will receive these substances, often with serious
  consequences.

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The Fetus and the Newborn

• Prenatal Development
• Low-birth weight and premature infants
• Small and premature babies have a higher risk of
  dying in infancy.
• They are more likely to have impaired brain
  development.
• Those who survive infancy are at higher risk of
  behavioral and academic problems during
  childhood.
• Low birth weight may or may not be the cause of
  these impairments, but it definitely correlates
  with whatever factors do cause them, if it is not
  in fact the direct cause.

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The Fetus and the Newborn

• Prenatal Development
• Fetal alcohol syndrome
• If mother drinks alcohol during pregnancy, the
  baby is likely to be born with fetal alcohol
  syndrome (FAS).
• FAS is characterized by stunted growth of the
  head and body, facial, cranial and ear
  malformations, neurological damage, learning
  disabilities and mental retardation.

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• Figure 10.3
• The more alcohol a woman drinks during pregnancy,
  the more likely her baby is to have anomalies of
  the head, face, and organs. (Based on data of
  Ernhart et al., 1987)

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The Fetus and the Newborn

• Prenatal Development
• A milder version, called fetal alcohol effects
  (FAE), has also been noted.
• A child with FAE appears normal but has impaired
  academic skills and mild behavioral problems.
• The more alcohol mother drinks, and the longer
  she continues drinking, the greater the risk to
  the developing baby.
• There is no safe level of alcohol consumption
  during pregnancy.

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The Fetus and the Newborn

• Prenatal Development
• During prenatal development, growing neurons need
  persistent excitation to survive.
• Alcohol facilitates GABA, the main inhibitory
  neurotransmitter of the brain.
• This leads the neurons to self-destruct.
• Any chemicals that increase activity at
  inhibitory synapses, such as tranquilizers,
  anesthetics, and anti-depressants, should be
  avoided.

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The Fetus and the Newborn

• Prenatal Development
• Maternal smoking
• Mothers smoking also increases the probability
  that her baby will have health problems.
• Smoking (before and after birth) has been
  associated with an increased risk of SIDS.
• Conduct disorder has been found to correlate with
  mothers smoking during pregnancy more strongly
  than with fathers antisocial behavior, SES, lack
  of supervision, or use of harsh punishment by the
  parents.

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The Fetus and the Newborn

• Prenatal Development
• To maximize the chance of having a healthy baby
  with an undamaged brain, a pregnant woman should
  avoid using alcohol and tobacco, follow a
  nutritious diet, receive regular prenatal care,
  and consult with her health care provider before
  using any prescription or over-the counter
  medication.

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CONCEPT CHECK

• Why should a pregnant woman who is being treated
  for depression with medication stop taking her
  anti-depressant drugs?

They are likely to cause damage to the developing
fetus brain by increasing activity at inhibitory
synapses.
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Behavioral Capacities of the Newborn

• Newborns have little muscle control, and exhibit
  the greatest purposeful movement with their eyes
  and mouths.
• Development proceeds from the head down and from
  the midline out, and so gradually babies can move
  their trunks, limbs and fingers.

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Behavioral Capacities of the Newborn

• Newborns Vision
• Newborns have far from perfect vision, but see
  far better than was believed just a few
  generations ago
• 2-day-infants prefer to look at drawings of human
  faces.
• Infants direct their gaze at the same things that
  attract adult attention.
• As infants gain voluntary control of their arms
  and legs, and begin to crawl, a fear of heights
  develops that is almost certainly related to
  improved depth perception.

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• Figure 10.4
• Infants pay more attention to faces than to other
  patterns. These results suggest that infants are
  born with certain visual preferences. (Based on
  Fantz, 1963)

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Behavioral Capacities of the Newborn

• Newborns Vision
• Visual motor coordination develops quickly but
  must be practiced to continue being improved.
• Experiments with kittens suggest that eye
  movements must be allowed to coordinate with body
  movements for further development of all visually
  guided behavior.

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Behavioral Capacities of the Newborn

• Newborns Hearing
• In general, infants suck more vigorously when
  they hear sounds that they find stimulating.
• Some sounds (such as the human voice) are more
  stimulating than others.
• Most sounds eventually produce a decreased
  response as the infant becomes habituated to them
• Playing new sounds for an infant will increase
  responding, and may even result in a
  dishabituation, or increased responding to
  previously habituated sounds.

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• Figure 10.6
• After 5 minutes of hearing a ba sound, the
  infants sucking habituates. When a new sound,
  pa, follows, the sucking rate increases, an
  indication that infants do hear a difference
  between the two sounds. (Based on results of
  Eimas, Siqueland, Juscyk, Vigorito, 1971)

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Behavioral Capacities of the Newborn

• Newborns Learning and Memory
• Infants as young as one month old can
  discriminate between phonemes.
• Infants show a marked preference for their
  mothers voice over another womans voice.
• They showed this preference on the day of their
  birth, suggesting that they have some memory of
  her voice from before birth.

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Behavioral Capacities of the Newborn

• Newborns Learning and Memory
• Older infants (2-3 months old) show ability to
  learn responses and remember them for days
  afterwards, such as kicking their legs to make a
  mobile move.
• Nine month olds can learn to press a lever to
  move a toy train around a track, and can retain
  this memory for a fairly long time.

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Behavioral Capacities of the Newborn

• Newborns Learning and Memory
• Object Permanence
• Jean Piaget believed that infants lacked a
  concept of object permanence during the early
  months of life.
• Object permanence is the idea that objects
  continue to exist even when one cannot see them
  or otherwise sense them.
• According to Piaget, an infant does not know that
  a hidden object is still there until about 8-9
  months of age.

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Behavioral Capacities of the Newborn

• Newborns Learning and Memory
• It is not clear if Piagets inference is
  accurate. Infants who are tested differently show
  signs of having a notion of object permanence
  earlier than Piaget believed was possible.
• Infants seem to have a grasp of physical laws and
  can distinguish possible from impossible events
  (at least their reactions seem to indicate that
  they do.)
• They may also have a grasp of simple numerical
  concepts.

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• Figure 10.9
• Mean looking times of 6- and 8-month-old infants
  after they had watched either possible or
  impossible events. (From Baillargeon, 1986)

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Newborns and Young Infants

• There has been a steady advance in our ability to
  test the development and skills of very young
  human beings.
• It is clear that much more is going on in their
  brains than they can show us, and than we once
  thought.

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Module 10.2

• The Development of Thinking and Reasoning

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Jean Piagets Views of Development

• Piaget believed that the effect of any experience
  on a persons knowledge or thinking depended on
  the persons maturity combined with previous
  experiences.
• He began his psychological career administering
  IQ tests, but found that he was bored with this
  activity. He was however fascinated by the
  incorrect answers that children would give.

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Jean Piagets Views of Development

• Piaget came to believe that children think
  differently from adults, both quantitatively and
  qualitatively.
• He believed that children of different cognitive
  maturity levels react to the same experience very
  differently.
• Piaget used his own extensive observational
  studies of children to support his conclusions.

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An Overview of Piagets Theory

• Piaget believed that a child constructs new
  mental processes as he or she interacts with the
  environment.
• Behavior is based on schemata (singular -
  schema.)
• A schema is an organized way of interacting with
  objects in the world.
• New schemata are added, and old schemata are
  changed as the child matures.

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An Overview of Piagets Theory

• Adaptation of old schemata takes place through
  two processes.
• Through assimilation, a person applies an old
  schema to a new object.
• Through accommodation, a person modifies an old
  schema to fit a new object.
• People in all stages switch back and forth
  between these two strategies, but ultimately
  cognitive change is accomplished through
  accommodation.

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An Overview of Piagets Theory

• The Four Stages of Intellectual Development
• Sensorimotor Birth to 1 years of age
• Preoperational 1 to 7 years of age
• Concrete Operations 7 to 11 years of age
• Formal Operations 11 years of age and older

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An Overview of Piagets Theory

• The Sensorimotor Stage
• Piaget called the first stage the sensorimotor
  stage because at this early age behavior consists
  primarily of simple motor responses to sensory
  stimuli.
• Examples of these would be the grasping and
  sucking reflexes.
• Piaget believed that infants respond only to what
  they see and hear, not what they remember or
  imagine.

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An Overview of Piagets Theory

• The Sensorimotor Stage
• As infants progress through the sensorimotor
  stage, they seem to develop a concept of self.
• At about 1 years of age, they begin to show signs
  that they recognize themselves.
• They also begin to show self-conscious emotions
  such as embarrassment.

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An Overview of Piagets Theory

• The Preoperational Stage
• Piaget called the second stage of cognitive
  development the preoperational stage because the
  child lacks operations.
• The term operations refers to reversible mental
  processes.
• The lack of operations leads to errors in
  cognition such as egocentric thinking the child
  for example knows that he has a brother, but
  doesnt understand that he is his brothers
  brother.

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An Overview of Piagets Theory

• The Preoperational Stage
• Another example of a concept that preoperational
  children lack is conservation.
• The inability to conserve results in a failure to
  recognize that changes in shape and arrangement
  do not always signify changes in amount or number.

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• Table 10.1
• Typical Tasks Used to Measure Conservation

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An Overview of Piagets Theory

• The Concrete Operations Stage
• From about age 7 children begin to exhibit
  reversible operations and seem to understand the
  conservation of physical properties.
• According to Piaget, during the stage of concrete
  operations children can perform mental operations
  on concrete objects.
• They may however have trouble with abstract or
  hypothetical ideas.

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An Overview of Piagets Theory

• The Formal Operations Stage
• Formal Operations is Piagets term for the mental
  processes used to deal with abstract,
  hypothetical situations.
• These are processes that demand logical,
  deductive reasoning and systematic planning.
• Piaget proposed that children reach this stage
  just before adolescence (at about age 11.)
• Researchers have found that some people take
  longer to reach formal operations, and some
  people never do.

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• Table 10.2
• Summary of Piagets Stages of Cognitive
  Development

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Concept Check

• According to Piaget, in what stage would a child
  be if she could remember where a hidden object
  is, but doesnt realize that she is her sisters
  sister?

Preoperational
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• In which stage is a child who has grasping and
  sucking reflexes but cannot remember where an
  object is that has been covered for 15 seconds?

Sensorimotor
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• In which stage is a child who can think about
  concepts such as infinity and time, and has no
  difficulty with conservation and reversible
  operations?

Formal operations
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Concept Check

• In which stage is a child who can conserve mass
  and volume and remember the location of hidden
  objects, but doesnt understand the concept of
  infinity?

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An Overview of Piagets Theory

• Are Piagets Stages Distinct?
• Piaget believed that the four stages of
  intellectual development were discrete, and that
  each one represented a major reorganization in
  cognitive processes.
• More recently though researchers have shown that
  this conclusion is not entirely warranted.

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An Overview of Piagets Theory

• Are Piagets Stages Distinct?
• Preoperational children can answer different
  versions of the conservation tasks correctly.
• In general, the progression between the stages
  appears to be gradual, so that the difference
  between stages may not be one of either having
  the ability or not it may actually be that the
  younger child has the same ability but only uses
  it for simple tasks.

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• Figure 10.15
• (a) With the standard conservation-of-number
  task, preoperational children answer that the
  lower row has more items. (b) With a simplified
  task, the same children say that both rows have
  the same number of items.

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An Overview of Piagets Theory

• Implications for Education Piaget
• Children must discover certain concepts on their
  own.
• Childrens attention must be directed to key
  aspects of concepts when they are ready to learn
  those concepts.
• The teacher needs to determine the childs level
  of functioning and then teach material
  appropriate to that level.

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An Overview of Piagets Theory

• Implications for Education Vygotsky
• Lev Vygotsky was a Russian developmental
  psychologist who thought that education needed to
  meet children at their own level.
• He believed that the use of the symbolic system
  of language allowed humans to influence others
  and control our own behavior.
• Education needs to utilize this feature of
  language and take into account the childs level
  of cognitive maturity.
• He proposed the existence of a zone of proximal
  development, which is the distance between what a
  child can do alone and what a child can do with
  assistance from others.

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An Overview of Piagets Theory

• Implications for Education Vygotsky
• Vygotsky proposed the existence of a zone of
  proximal development, which is the distance
  between what a child can do alone and what a
  child can do with assistance from others.
• Instruction should occur within the zone, but
  appropriate guidance should be given whenever
  possible to bring the child to understanding of
  more sophisticated concepts.
• He compared this process to scaffolding,
  temporary supports used to construct a new
  building. These are temporary supports for the
  childs cognitive processes.

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CONCEPT CHECK

• Who would be more optimistic about the
  possibility of teaching a 5 year old to
  understand conservation of mass?

According to Vygotsky, conservation might lie
within the childs zone of proximal development
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Difficulties of Inferring Childrens Concepts

• There may be a fundamental weakness in the
  assumption made by Piaget that a child either
  has or lacks a concept.
• Concepts develop gradually and may appear using
  some methods of testing but not others.

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Difficulties of Inferring Childrens Concepts

• Distinguishing Appearance from Reality
• Do children in the early preoperational stage
  fail to distinguish appearance from reality?
• Its not entirely clear whether a childs
  inability to do so has more to do with lacking a
  concept or inadequate language skills.
• Children for example may seem to confuse a rock
  and a sponge that looks like a rock, but when
  asked to bring to an adult something to wipe up
  spilled water, they have no problem identifying
  the sponge as the correct object for that
  purpose.

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• Figure 10.16
• If an experimenter hides a small toy in a small
  room and asks a child to find a larger toy in
  the same place in the larger room, a
  21/2-year-old searches haphazardly. (a) However,
  the same child knows exactly where to look, if
  the experimenter says this is the same room as
  before, except that a machine has expanded it (b).

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• Figure 10.17
• A child sits in front of a screen covering four
  cups and watches as one adult hides a surprise
  under one of the cups.

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• Figure 10.17 (cont.)
• A child sits in front of a screen covering four
  cups and watches as one adult hides a surprise
  under one of the cups.

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• Figure 10.17 (cont.)
• Then that adult and another (who had not been
  present initially) point to one of the cups to
  signal where the surprise is hidden. Many
  4-year-olds consistently follow the advice of the
  informed adult 3-year-olds do not.

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Difficulties of Inferring Childrens Concepts

• Understanding Other Peoples Thoughts
• Are young children more cognitively egocentric
  than adults are?
• What Piaget meant by this is that a child cannot
  easily understand the perspectives of other
  people.
• Various experiments show that preschool aged
  children make errors of thought that are typical
  of egocentric thinking.
• However, adults can make the same mistakes
  according to other studies.

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CONCEPT CHECK

• Which is the clearest example of egocentric
  thinking?
• 1. An exceptionally wealthy man gives no money to
  charity.
• 2. A woman assumes that all her friends will want
  to see the same movie that she does.
• 3. At student council meeting, a student takes
  credit for someone elses ideas.

2 selfishness (1) and dishonesty (3) are not
the same as egocentrism.
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The Development of Moral Reasoning

• Childrens general powers of reasoning change
  across childhood, and so does their reasoning
  about issues of right and wrong.
• There are a number of different psychological
  frameworks to describe the changes in moral
  reasoning that occur over the lifespan.

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The Development of Moral Reasoning

• Kohlbergs Method of Evaluating Levels of Moral
  Reasoning
• Lawrence Kohlberg argued that moral reasoning
  progresses through distinct stages.
• Young children tend to equate wrongness with
  punishment.
• Young children also frequently fail to consider
  intent in judging a deed.
• He proposed that people pass through a distinct
  sequence of moral reasoning stages.

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The Development of Moral Reasoning

• Kohlbergs Method of Evaluating Levels of Moral
  Reasoning
• Kohlberg believed that people start at a low
  level of moral reasoning and progress through
  higher stages.
• He believed that these stages were roughly
  analogous to Piagets stages, but the progress
  was slower.
• He measured the maturity of an individuals moral
  reasoning by evaluating the responses given to
  moral dilemmas problems that pit one moral
  value against another.

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The Development of Moral Reasoning

• Kohlbergs Method of Evaluating Levels of Moral
  Reasoning
• Preconventional Morality 1. Punishment
  Obedience
• 2. Instrumental Relativism
• Conventional Morality 3. Interpersonal
  Concordance 4. Law
  Order Orientation
• Postconventional Morality 5. Social
  Contract Orientation
• 6. Universal Ethical
  Principles

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The Development of Moral Reasoning

• Kohlbergs Method of Evaluating Levels of Moral
  Reasoning
• Kohlberg assessed the level of moral reasoning
  using the explanation for the decision offered,
  rather than the decision itself.
• Few people are absolutely consistent in their
  moral reasoning.
• Kohlberg believed that very few people actually
  reached the highest stages.

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• TABLE 10.3 
• Responses to One of Kohlbergs Moral Dilemmas by
  People at Six Levels of Moral Reasoning
• The dilemma Heinzs wife was near death from
  cancer. A druggist had recently discovered a drug
  that might be able to save her. The druggist was
  charging 2000 for the drug, which cost him 200
  to make. Heinz could not afford to pay for it,
  and he could borrow only 1000 from friends. He
  offered to pay the rest later. The druggist
  refused to sell the drug for less than the full
  price paid in advance I discovered the drug,
  and Im going to make money from it. Late that
  night, Heinz broke into the store to steal the
  drug for his wife. Did Heinz do the right thing

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• TABLE 10.3 (cont.) 
• Responses to One of Kohlbergs Moral Dilemmas by
  People at Six Levels of Moral Reasoning
• The dilemma Heinzs wife was near death from
  cancer. A druggist had recently discovered a drug
  that might be able to save her. The druggist was
  charging 2000 for the drug, which cost him 200
  to make. Heinz could not afford to pay for it,
  and he could borrow only 1000 from friends. He
  offered to pay the rest later. The druggist
  refused to sell the drug for less than the full
  price paid in advance I discovered the drug,
  and Im going to make money from it. Late that
  night, Heinz broke into the store to steal the
  drug for his wife. Did Heinz do the right thing

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• Figure 10.19
• Learning to distinguish right from wrong is the
  development of moral reasoning. Most younger
  adolescents give answers corresponding to
  Kohlbergs earlier moral stages. By age 16 most
  are at Kohlbergs fourth and fifth stages. (Based
  on Kohlberg, 1969)

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The Development of Moral Reasoning

• Limitations of Kohlbergs Views
• Justice versus Caring Orientations
• Kohlberg based his system of reasoning on
  peoples rights.
• Carol Gilligan proposed that some people might
  reason based on what would help or hurt others,
  an orientation of caring.
• Gilligan proposed that women focus more on caring
  and men more on rights.
• Later research has shown the gender differences
  in orientation to be small.

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The Development of Moral Reasoning

• Limitations of Kohlbergs Views
• Gilligans Stages of Moral Development
• Stage Basis
• Preconventional What is helpful or harmful to
  myself?
• Conventional What is helpful or harmful to
  others?
• Postconventional What is helpful or
  harmful to myself and others?

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• Table 10.4
• Carol Gilligans Stages of Moral Development

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The Development of Moral Reasoning

• Limitations of Kohlbergs Views
• How Does Moral Reasoning Relate to Actual
  Behavior?
• Knowing what is right and doing it are not the
  same things.
• Kohlberg has been criticized for overestimating
  peoples moral behavior.
• Kohlberg has been criticized for underestimating
  peoples moral behavior.

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The Development of Moral Reasoning

• Limitations of Kohlbergs Views
• People may describe how they would engage in
  higher-level moral behavior, but actually behave
  in the manner that is characteristic of a lower
  level, where there is a more tangible benefit for
  them.
• Children may say that the reason not to do
  something is because theyd get caught, but when
  ask if theyd do it if there was no chance of
  getting caught, say they wouldnt anyway.
• Kohlbergs theory does not generalize well across
  cultures.

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Developing Cognitive Abilities

• Developing an understanding of the world is an
  enormous challenge for children.
• We should acknowledge that for us adults
  understanding the world, and how children learn
  to understand it, are daunting tasks as well.

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Module 10.3

• Social and Emotional Development

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Research Designs for Studying Development

• There are two types of research design used in
  studying human development
• A cross-sectional study compares groups of
  individuals of different ages simultaneously.
• A longitudinal study follows a single group of
  individuals as they develop.

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• Table 10.5
• Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Studies

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Research Designs for Studying Development

• Sources of bias in developmental research
• Selective attrition, or differential survival, is
  the increased probability of some kinds of
  subjects dropping out.
• Cohort effects, or bias created because groups of
  contemporaries all have the same experience,
  knowledge or behaviors.

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Concept Check

• Follow-up of a 10-year-long study of a group of
  adults with infant children who agreed to take
  parenting classes and job training in exchange
  for public assistance until gaining employment
  shows high overall levels of satisfaction.
• What type of study is this?
• What source of bias would be of great concern in
  this study?

Longitudinal study
Selective attrition
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Eriksons Ages of Human Development

• Erikson divided the human life span into eight
  ages, each with its own social and emotional
  conflicts.
• In this way he sought to provide a model of why
  people behave the way they do, given the
  decisions that they are facing according to age.

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Eriksons Ages of Human Development

• When the conflict is resolved in a positive and
  constructive manner, the person moves into the
  next stage in a psychologically healthy state.
• If the conflict is not resolved, the negative
  effects will most likely carry over into future
  stages, and have a detrimental effect on the
  challenges that are yet to be faced.

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Eriksons Ages of Human Development

• Ages 0 - 1
• The infant faces the issue
• Is my social world predictable and supportive?
• The main conflict of infancy is basic trust
  versus basic mistrust.

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Eriksons Ages of Human Development

• Ages 1 3
• The toddler asks the question
• Can I do things for myself or must I always rely
  on others to help me?
• The main conflict of toddlerhood is autonomy
  versus shame and doubt.

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Eriksons Ages of Human Development

• Ages 3 6
• The preschooler needs to figure out
• Am I a good person or a bad person?
• The main conflict of the preschool aged child is
  initiative versus guilt.

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Eriksons Ages of Human Development

• Ages 6 12
• In an expanding social world, the school-aged
  child wants to know
• Am I successful or am I worthless?
• The preadolescent faces the struggle with a sense
  of industry versus inferiority.

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Eriksons Ages of Human Development

• Adolescence
• Teenagers begin to seek independence and seek the
  answer to this fundamental question
• Who am I?
• The adolescent needs to resolve the conflict
  between a settled identity versus role confusion.

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Eriksons Ages of Human Development

• Young Adulthood
• Young adults come to terms with the importance of
  companionship and connection
• Shall I share my life with another person or
  live alone?
• The central conflict of early adulthood is that
  of intimacy versus isolation.

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Eriksons Ages of Human Development

• Middle Age
• In the middle of adulthood one wants to feel that
  they have contributed to society in some
  meaningful way
• Will I add anything of real value to the world
  as a worker and a parent?
• The conflict of middle adulthood is the desire to
  achieve generativity versus stagnation.

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Eriksons Ages of Human Development

• Old Age
• The reality that time is growing short forces
  people to face a final and profound question
• Have I lived a full and meaningful life, or have
  I squandered my time?
• As older adults we struggle to determine whether
  we have arrived at a stage of ego integrity
  versus despair.

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• Table 10.6
• Eriksons Ages of Human Development

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Infancy and Childhood

• Attachment Theory
• Attachment is a long-term feeling of closeness
  between a child and a caregiver
• Before the mid-twentieth century, developmental
  psychologists believed that feeding was the
  primary cause of attachment between mother and
  child.
• Harlows studies with newborn rhesus monkeys
  suggest that warmth and touch was even more
  important that feeding.
• He called this essential close physical
  interaction contact comfort.

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• Figure 10.25
• All the baby monkeys preferred the cloth mothers,
  regardless of which artificial mother fed them.
  The two bottom lines show hours per day spent
  with the wire mothers.

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Infancy and Childhood

• Attachment Theory
• Contact comfort is necessary but not sufficient.
• The baby monkeys who were raised by cuddly
  artificial cloth mothers had plenty of contact
  comfort, but were still unable to raise their own
  young upon reaching reproductive age.
• However, baby monkeys raised by cloth mothers and
  also interacting on a regular basis with other
  young monkeys developed normally.
• Social interaction with other individuals is also
  necessary though these individuals do not have
  to be a parent.

95
Infancy and Childhood

• Early Attachment in Humans
• Some researchers wanted to know why the quality
  of attachment between human children and their
  parents seemed to vary so much in quality.
• Mary Ainsworth devised a test called the Strange
  Situation to examine what factors might
  contribute to this variation.

96
Infancy and Childhood

• Early Attachment in Humans
• In the Strange Situation study, the following
  sequence of events was observed through a one-way
  mirror
• A mother and infant (12 to 18 months of age)
  enter a room with toys in it.
• A stranger enters the room.
• Mother leaves the room.
• Mother returns to the room.
• Mother and the stranger leave the room.
• The stranger returns to the room.
• Mother returns to the room again.

97
Infancy and Childhood

• Early Attachment in Humans
• The psychologists who observed the Strange
  Situation classified the infants responses as
  follows
• Securely attached
• Anxious or insecurely attached
• Anxious and avoidant
• Disorganized

98
Infancy and Childhood

• Early Attachment in Humans
• Uses of the Strange Situation
• Has been used with fathers as well as mothers and
  children
• As a predictor of the quality of the childs
  future relationship with parents
• Has also been used with grandparents and
  grandchildren, and even pets and their humans

99
Infancy and Childhood

• Early Attachment in Humans
• Factors to consider when interpreting the results
  of the Strange Situation study
• Parental behavior does have an effect on
  attachment.
• The effect upon parenting of the childs innate
  temperament also needs to be considered.
• A child who is born with a pleasant and calm
  temperament may elicit more affectionate
  behaviors from a parent than a less predictable
  and fussier infant.
• The study may have limited applicability across
  cultures.

100
Infancy and Childhood

• Social Development in Childhood
• The quality of a childs friendships appears to
  be of crucial importance during middle childhood
• Some children are popular and have little trouble
  making friends and gaining admirers.
• Some children are rejected, outcast and avoided
  by most other children.
• Controversial children are accepted by some peers
  and rejected by others.
• In most cases, these statuses remain consistent
  from year to year.

101
Adolescence

• Over the course of the twentieth century,
  adolescence in our society has lengthened.
• It is generally recognized to begin at puberty,
  the onset of changes that result in sexual
  maturity.
• The end of adolescence is harder to discern.
• It was customary through most of the last century
  to characterize adolescence as a period of storm
  and stress.

102
Adolescence

• The turbulence of adolescence is seen in
  moodiness, conflict with parents, and tendency to
  risky behavior.
• These trends may reflect hormonal fluctuations
  and brain maturation, but may also be culturally
  influenced.
• There are many cultures in which there is no
  adolescence, teenagers are married and working.

103
Adolescence

• The secular trend of earlier puberty, and a
  societal movement toward a lengthened education
  and postponement of marriage have influenced the
  American experience of adolescence.
• There is a tendency in this society to stereotype
  adolescents.
• Most adolescents are stable, relatively happy and
  complete this period to become well-adjusted
  adults.

104
Adolescence

• Identity Development
• Adolescence is the time of finding oneself.
• Western society offers many choices to teenagers.
• This is invigorating and yet also can cause
  anxiety.
• An adolescents concern about the future and
  achieving self-understanding has been referred to
  as the identity crisis.
• The crisis may or may not be so turbulent,
  depending on the adolescent.

105
Adolescence

• Identity Development
• James Marcia developed a set of identity statuses
  based on two major elements of identity
  development
• Whether or not one is actively exploring the
  issues of identity development crisis
• Whether or not one has made any decisions
  commitment

106
Adolescence

• Identity Development
• Those who have not given decisions any real
  thought and have no clear sense of identity are
  in identity diffusion.
• Those who have made firm decisions without giving
  them much thought are said to be in foreclosure.
• Those who are seriously considering issues but
  have not made any decisions are in a state of
  moratorium.
• Those who have explored the possibilities and
  made their own decisions are called identity
  achieved.

107
Adolescence

• Identity Development
• Marcias statuses are useful for thinking about
  the important dimensions of finding a stable
  identity.
• It is possible that identity achievement does not
  happen all at once.
• One may settle on a career well before finding a
  committed relationship.
• It is also possible or even common to rethink
  decisions later in life.

108
Adolescence

• The Personal Fable
• According to David Elkind, teenagers are
  particularly prone to harbor beliefs such as
• I am special what is true for others is not
  true for me.
• It wont happen to me!
• Nobody understands how I feel.
• Everyone cares about how I look and what I am
  wearing. also known as the imaginary
  audience.
• These beliefs may be adaptive in some situations,
  but can also lead to risk-taking behavior and
  feelings of alienation from parents and peers.

109
Adulthood

• The beginning of young adulthood is marked by
  commitments in the areas of career, relationships
  and lifestyle.
• The quality of the period known as middle age is
  influenced in part by the outcome of these early
  adult decisions.

110
Adulthood

• Job Satisfaction
• In general job satisfaction is strongly related
  to overall life satisfaction
• Most adults say they are satisfied with their
  work, but also say that they would choose a
  different job if they could start over.
• Younger workers generally report being less
  satisfied than older workers.
• Few people change jobs once they have reached
  middle age.

111

• Figure 10.29
• Psychologists propose several reasons why most
  older workers report higher job satisfaction than
  younger workers do.

112
Adulthood

• The Midlife Transition
• The midlife crisis is a dramatic expression for
  the reassessment of personal goals that many
  people experience.
• A more low-key and accurate term is midlife
  transition.
• Some abandon unrealistic goals set in youth and
  set new goals that fit with their current lives.
• Others try to fulfill some of those early life
  dreams, or set new ones.

113
Adulthood

• Old Age
• Despite the stereotypes we hold, old age is not a
  uniform experience for humans
• Some people do deteriorate rapidly, either
  physically or intellectually.
• Others remain active and alert into their 80s and
  well beyond.
• In general, the elderly in our society have been
  experiencing improved health, activity and
  intellect.

114
Adulthood

• Old Age
• A commonly voiced concern is how to maintain a
  sense of dignity and self-esteem
• The course of youth and middle age influences
  this sense.
• The amount of regret about how that time was used
  also has an effect.
• Cultural attitudes towards aging are also
  important.
• The more a culture values its elders, the easier
  it will be to maintain a sense of dignity.

115
Adulthood

• Old Age
• Elderly people generally differ from younger
  people in some of their social habits.
• They will more frequently seek the company of
  familiar people.
• The elderly will often try to retain some control
  over their lives, even when faced with failing
  health.

116
Adulthood

• The Psychology of Facing Death
• Death can occur at any age, but we usually
  associate it with the later years of life.
• The way we deal with death is in part determined
  by our culture and is also constantly evolving.
• Terror-management theory states that we cope with
  our deep fear of it by actively avoiding the
  thought of death and maintaining an optimistic
  and hopeful world-view.
• In general, even being casually reminded of
  mortality increases peoples defense of their
  belief system, whatever that may be.

117
Social and Emotional Developmental Issues

• The things that you do at an earlier age no doubt
  have some effect on your later life.
• You can change your life at any age, but the
  earlier you decide what is important to you and
  how you want to spend your limited time, the
  easier it will be to live your life in a
  satisfying and meaningful way.

118
Module 10.4

• Temperament, Family, Gender and Cultural
  Influences on Development

119
Temperament and Lifelong Development

• Temperament is a persons tendency to be active
  or inactive, outgoing or reserved
• Research suggests that temperament is stable over
  much of the lifespan.
• Kagan and his associates were able to strongly
  relate infant temperament to later levels of
  sociability.
• Genetic influences make contributions to
  temperament, although environment is also a
  factor.

120
The Family

• Research has not shown any reliable connection
  between birth order and personality or other
  qualities.
• The fact that older and younger children may
  behave in certain ways in the home is probably
  specific to that situation.
• Family size does appear to have some influence on
  childrens IQ scores, with smaller families
  showing higher IQ scores than larger ones.

121

• Figure 10.31
• Children from small families tend to score higher
  on IQ tests than children from large families.
  However, within a family of a given size, birth
  order is not related to IQ. If we combine results
  for families of different sizes, first borns have
  a higher mean score, but only because many of
  them come from small families. (Adapted from
  Rodgers et al., 2000)

122
The Effects of Parenting Style

• Diane Baumrind described four basic styles of
  parenting based on the dimensions of warmth and
  control
• Authoritative parents impose controls but show
  warmth and encouragement to the child.
• Authoritarian parents impose control but tend to
  be emotionally distant from the child.
• Permissive parents are warm but impose few
  limits.
• Uninvolved parents are distant and do little more
  than provide resources.

123
The Effects of Parenting Style

• Children of authoritative parents tend to be most
  self-reliant and cooperative.
• Children of authoritarian parents tend to be
  obedient but also distrustful and not very
  independent.
• Children of permissive parents are frequently
  socially irresponsible.
• Children of uninvolved parents tend to be
  impulsive and hard to discipline.

124
The Effects of Parenting Style

• Reasonably consistent links have been found
  between the parenting styles and child behavior.
• These results do not necessarily apply across
  ethnic groups and cultures.
• It is unclear if the parents behavior shapes the
  childrens behavior the childrens behavior
  shapes the parents, or both are true to some
  degree.

125
The Effects of Parenting Style

• The Nurture Assumption
• Studies of adopted children and their parents
  show little correlation between parenting style
  and child behavior.
• Harris and other researchers believe that
  parenting style really only influences child
  behavior at home.
• Parents exert influence mostly by controlling the
  environment in which the child is being raised.
• Harris proposes that ultimately the peer group
  will be the most influential shaping force upon
  the personality of the child.

126
Parental Employment and Child Care

• Although we tend to assume that western models
  are the norm, child-rearing practices vary
  greatly between world cultures
• Communal child rearing, use of paid help, and
  many other variations exist from our traditional
  model of the stay-at-home mother.
• In general, whether loving stay-at-home parents
  rear children or children receive high quality
  day care for part of the day, child development
  proceeds normally.

127
Nontraditional Families

• Some models of family life that are considered
  nontraditional are
• Single mothers
• Gay and lesbian couples raising children
• Mother as primary breadwinner while father stays
  at home
• Research indicates that what matters most is that
  the child has a stable, emotional relationship
  with at least one adult.

128
Parental Conflict and Divorce

• Not so long ago, divorce was an unusual outcome
  for marriage
• An estimated ¾s of African-American and over
  one-third of European-American children will
  experience the divorce of their parents.
• This may be partly explained by the reduced
  attention and increased economic hardship
  experienced by these children.

129
Parental Conflict and Divorce

• It may also be related to the prolonged exposure
  to conflict that often accompanies divorce.
• The younger the child is when the divorce occurs,
  the milder the effects generally tend to be.
• Longitudinal studies suggest an increase tendency
  to conflict with parents and other children among
  children of divorce.

130
Parental Conflict and Divorce

• During the first year after the divorce, they
  exhibit more attention seeking and pouting
  behavior, and boys tend to be more aggressive at
  home and school.
• Effects were often worse if a non-working mother
  took a job outside the home immediately
  afterwards.
• Girls frequently have problems adjusting to life
  with a stepfather, but stepsiblings in blended
  families often get along better than do
  biological siblings.

131
Parental Conflict and Divorce

• Results vary across cultures, in African-American
  families extended family members often pitch in
  to ease the burden.
• Children of all backgrounds show a variety of
  adjustment patterns, many are amazingly
  resilient.
• Should parents stay together for the childrens
  sake?
• The answer depends on the level of conflict.
  Children appear to suffer most of all, whether
  parents split up or stay together, when parents
  are constantly battling.

132
Gender Influences

• There are many interesting miscellaneous
  differences between men and women.
• People tend to have strong opinions about what
  causes these differences, but there is little
  basis for certainty about the causes.

133
Gender Influences

• Cognitive differences
• Females tend to perform better in language
  related tasks, especially language fluency.
• Males generally do better on difficult spatial
  and mathematical tasks.
• It has been proposed that male ability in spatial
  tasks is related to our early hunter-gatherer
  lifestyle, but male rats seem to exhibit this
  quality also.

134
Gender Influences

• Differences in Self-Esteem
• Males report slightly higher levels of
  self-esteem, with the most pronounced difference
  occurring at adolescence.
• Psychologists view measures of self-esteem as
  only minimally reliable and valid.
• Results of studies that examine self-esteem are
  not clearly interpretable.

135
Gender Influences

• Differences in Social Situations
• There are large and consistent differences in
  male and female play, but these are only evident
  in social contexts.
• Girls play tends to be more cooperative and
  quiet, boys tends to be more competitive and
  more likely to dissolve into disputes about
  rules.
• In unsupervised situations, boys often dominate
  and intimidate girls.

136
Gender Influences

• Male-Female Relationships
• It appears that by the time adolescence begins,
  males and females are not well prepared to
  negotiate the complexities of communication
  across sex lines
• Males are used to demanding what they want, women
  are used to cooperating.
• Males worry more about their status compared to
  other men women dont usually understand the
  importance of status.
• Women usually require expressions of sympathy
  from listeners men often fail to understand this
  need.
• These are of course generalizations, and not all
  male-female relationships are hampered by these
  issues.

137
Gender Influences

• Ethnic and Cultural Influences
• Membership in a minority group molds a persons
  development in two ways
• The customs of the group may differ significantly
  from those of other groups.
• Members of the minority group are affected by the
  attitudes of other people who may treat them
  differently or expect certain behaviors of them
  based on stereotypes.

138
Gender Influences

• Ethnic and Cultural Influences
• Acculturation is a transition from feeling
  connected to the culture of origin to feeling
  like part of the culture of a new country.
• It is a gradual process and may take more than a
  generation to complete.

139
Gender Influences

• Ethnic and Cultural Influences
• Some immigrants remain partially connected to
  their cultural heritage and develop a bicultural
  identity, alternating between memberships in two
  cultures depending on context.
• To some extent we are all multicultural, as
  varying contexts of work and our social lives may
  present us with different rules and norms to
  follow.
• However, for the immigrant or first generation
  resident of the United States, these transitions
  are more pronounced and intense.

140
Understanding and Accepting the Influences

• In our growing appreciation of the variety of
  influences on human development, we are moving
  away from a unitary view of the right or
  normal way to grow.
• We are beginning to understand the reasons for
  the differences, and appreciate the diversity of
  adaptive ways to be ones self in the world.