Development

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Development
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Developmental Psychology

• Developmental psychology
• The study of how organisms change over time as
  the result of biological and environmental
  influences

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Gradual versus Abrupt Change

• Continuity view vs. Discontinuity view

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Prenatal Development

• Three stages over 9 months from conception to
  birth
• Zygote (conception to 10 days)
• Rapid growth through cell division
• Embryo (approx. 10 days to 8 weeks)
• Cells specialize into specific organ systems
  through differentiation
• Fetus (8 weeks to birth)
• Considerable growth, spontaneous movement

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Prenatal Development

• Teratogens
• Substances from the environment that cause damage
  to the developing organism
• Sensitive periods when the organism is more or
  less sensitive to exposure to teratogens
• Examples
• Drugs and alcohol
• Lead
• Viruses

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Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

• Growth deficiency in the fetus and newborn (e.g.,
  head circumference, weight, height)
• Delayed development and mental retardation (mild
  to severe)
• Facial abnormalities including small head small
  upper jaw short, up-turned nose smooth and thin
  upper lip and narrow, small, and
  unusual-appearing eyes with prominent epicanthal
  folds
• Heart defects
• Limb abnormalities of joints, hands, feet,
  fingers, and toes

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Child with FAS
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Simian Crease
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Developmental Tasks of the Infant and Child

• The ability to think and reason (i.e. Cognitive
  Ability)
• The ability to speak and communicate
• The ability to form social relationships (i.e.,
  attachment)

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Cognitive Development

• Cognitive development The process by which
  thinking changes over time
• Schemas Mental structures orprograms that
  guide adeveloping childs thoughts

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Cognitive Development

• Assimilation Mental process that modifies new
  information to fit it into existing schemas.
• Learning to use Powerpoint after learning to use
  MS Word

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Cognitive Development

• Accommodation Mental process that restructures
  existing schemas so that new information is
  better understood
• E.g., Learning that a butterfly (which is a
  flying animal) is not a bird
• Learning that all things with wings that are
  above your head are not birds

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Piagets Stages of Cognitive Development
Sensorimotor
Preoperational
Concrete Operational
Formal Operational
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Piagets Stages of Cognitive Development

• Birth to about age 2
• Child relies heavily on innate motor responses to
  stimuli

Sensorimotor
Preoperational
Concrete Operational

• Sensorimotor intelligence
• Mental representations
• Object permanence

Formal Operational
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Piagets Stages of Cognitive Development

• About age 2 to age 6 or 7
• Marked by well-developed mental representation
  and the use of language

Sensorimotor
Preoperational
Concrete Operational

• Egocentrism
• Animalistic thinking
• Centration
• Irreversibility

Formal Operational
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Piagets Stages of Cognitive Development
Sensorimotor

• About age 7 to about age 11
• Child understands conservation but is incapable
  of abstract thought

Preoperational
Concrete Operational

• Conservation
• Mental operations

Formal Operational
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Piagets Stages of Cognitive Development
Sensorimotor
Preoperational
Concrete Operational

• From about age 12 on
• Abstract thought appears

Formal Operational
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Formal Operational

• Ages 12 years and up ? ability to think
  abstractly and to use deductive reasoning
• Can think logically about abstract concepts
  (e.g., love, fairness, reasons for existence)
• Can test hypotheses systematically

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Criticism of Piaget

• Development is less abrupt and more fluid (or
  continuous) than Piaget proposed
• Children are more intellectually sophisticated
  than Piaget suggests
• Findings due more to method than to childrens
  abilities

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W. W. Norton
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