Developing Through the Life Span

Enduring Issues

Diversity – Universality

Stability – Change

Nature – Nurture

Research Methodologies

Cross-sectionalExamining groups of subjects who are of

different ages

LongitudinalExamining the same group of subjects two or

more times as they age

Sequential Design

Research Methodologies

2000

1998

The Newborn

ReflexesRooting reflexSucking reflexSwallowing reflexGrasping reflexStepping reflex

Are responsive to human faces, voices, and touch

Newborn – Temperament Babies are born with individual differences in

personality called temperament differences

TypesEasyDifficultSlow-to-warm-up

Newborn – Temperament Babies are born with individual differences in

personality called temperament differences

TypesEasy“Spirited”Slow-to-warm-upShy

Developmental Principles

Cephalocaudal

Proximodistal

Give your best estimate of the age at which about 50% of children begin to:

1. Laugh

2. Pedal a tricycle

3. Sit without support

4. Feel ashamed

5. Walk unassisted

6. Stand on one foot for 10 seconds

7. Recognize and smile at mother/father

8. Kick ball forward

9. Think about things that cannot be seen

10. Make two-word utterances

Brain Development

Neurons present at birth Neural networks form after birth

Stimulation is key Preschool-age

Growth most rapid in frontal lobes Last areas to develop include those linked

to thinking, memory, and language

MaturationThe biological growth processes that enable

orderly changes in behaviorSets the basic course of developmentExperience adjusts course

Critical period

Physical Development

Physical Development in Adolescence Growth spurt occurs at different ages for

each sex

Sexual developmentFemales

Menarche

Males Spermarche

Physical Development in Adulthood Rate increases with time Climacteric

Women menopauseMen changes in prostate

“Use it or lose it”

Physical Development in Adulthood Primary aging

Secondary aging

Cognitive Development

Swiss psychologist Jean PiagetChildren undergo qualitative changes in

thinking as they grow older Stage theory

Invariantuniversal

Cognitive Development – Piaget

Sensorimotor stageMove from reflexive to voluntary, goal-

directed actionsObject permanenceTwo major accomplishments

Goal-directed actions Mental representation

Cognitive Development – Piaget

Preoperational StageChild becomes able to use mental

representations and language to describe, remember, and reason about the world

Egocentrism Inability to see things from another person’s

point of view Animism

Cognitive Development – Piaget

Preoperational Stage (con’t)Conservation

knowledge that certain physical attributes of an object remain unchanged even though the outward appearance of the object is altered

Cognitive Development – Piaget

Preoperational Stage (con’t)Centered Irreversibility

Cognitive Development – Piaget

Concrete Operational StageA child can attend to more than one thing at a

time and understand someone else’s point of view. (decentration)

Thinking is limited to concrete matters.

A child can understand conservation.

Cognitive Development – Piaget

Formal Operational StageAcquire the ability to think abstractlyCan formulate hypothesesCan think in terms of cause-and-effectDevelop general rules, principles

Formal Operational StageAdolescent egocentrism

Imaginary audience Personal fable

Criticisms of Piaget

Underestimated abilities

Not enough focus on social influences

Still contributed!!

Cognitive Changes An adult's thinking is more flexible and practical than

an adolescent's Adults realize that there may be several right solutions or

none at all

Some skills increase through the sixtiesVocabulary, verbal memory

Others fall off slightly after age 40Reasoning, spatial memory

Cognitive Changes

Fluid intelligence ↓reasoning, memory, information processing

Crystallized intelligence = or ↑ information, skills, problem-solving strategies

A man’s wife is ill with a rare kind of cancer. There is a drug that may save her, but it is very expensive. The pharmacist who discovered this medicine will sell it for $2,000, but the man has only $1,000. He asks the pharmacist to let him pay part of the cost now and the rest later, but the pharmacist refuses. Being desperate, the man steals the drug. Should he have done so? Why or why not?

preconventional level judge morality largely in terms of consequences

conventional level whether behavior supports and preserves the laws and rules

of society

postconventional level judge morality in terms of abstract principles and values a single rule system is only one of many possibilities some laws are inconsistent with the rights on individuals

Criticisms of Kohlberg’s Theory

Gilligan studied only malesFeminine morality emphasizes an ethic of

careKohlberg’s system focuses on rights and

justice; male ideals

May be culturally biased

Attachment

Strong emotional bond to a specific person Other species imprinting Humans attachment Seen in desire to obtain and maintain

contact

Theories of Attachment

FreudPsychoanalytic/secondary drive theory

BowlbyEthological theory

Harry HarlowResearch with rhesus monkeys

Individual Differences in Attachment

Secure

Insecure

May have long term consequences

Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory

Attachment

Fathers Daycare Parenting

Parenting Styles – Baumrind Authoritarian

Rigid control; insist on unquestioning obedience

Permissive Very supportive; few if any limits

Authoritative Firm structure and guidance; not overly controlling; engage in

give-and-take

Neglectful Little control; no limits; neglectful and inattentive; little emotional

support

Parenting + Temperament

Easy

“Spirited”

Slow-to-warm-up

Return to Attachment…

AdolescenceStorm and strife? Identity

Identity diffusion Identity foreclosure Moratorium Identity achievement

Parental Influences in Adolescence

Better relationships with parents better relationships with peers

Closeness with parents healthy, happy, do well in school

Teens in trouble tense relationships with parents

Correlation ≠ causation!

Peer Influences in Adolescence

Preschoolers will eat food peers eat even if refused prior

Teens talk, dress, and act more like peers than parents

Choose which of the following best describes your relationship with your mother when you were a child growing up. Do the same for your father.

1. Warm/Responsive: S/he was generally warm and responsive; s/he was good at knowing when to be supportive and when to let me operate on my own: our relationship was almost always comfortable, and I have no major reservations or complaints about it.

2. Cold/Rejecting: S/he was fairly cold and distant, or rejecting, not very responsive: I wasn’t her/his highest priority, her/his concerns were often elsewhere; it’s possible that s/he would just as soon not have had me.

3. Ambivalence/Inconsistent: S/he was noticeably inconsistent in her/his reactions to me, sometimes warm and sometimes not; s/he had her/his own agendas which sometimes got in the way of her/his receptiveness and responsiveness to my needs; s/he definitely loved me but didn’t always show it in the best way.

Which of the following best describes your current feelings? (Read the descriptions below and choose the one that best summarizes your feelings an behavior in romantic love relationships.)

1. Secure: I find it relatively easy to get close to others and am comfortable depending on them. I don’t often worry about being abandoned or about someone getting too close to me.

2. Avoidant: I am somewhat uncomfortable being close to others; I find it difficult to trust them completely, difficult to allow myself to depend on them. I am nervous when anyone gets too close, and often, love partners want me to be more intimate than I feel comfortable being.

3. Anxious/Ambivalent: I find that others are reluctant to get as close as I would like. I often worry that my partner doesn’t really love me or won’t want to stay with me. I want to get very close to my partner, and this sometimes scares people away.

Attachment in Adulthood

SecureSecure attachment

history

PreoccupiedResistant

attachment history

DismissingAvoidant attachment

history

Fearful/Unresolved/

DisorganizedDisorganized/

disoriented attachment history

Model of Self

Model of Other

Positive

Positive

Negative

Negative

Passing thoughts…

Life is not predictable Love and work dominate adulthood Most people retain a sense of well-being Huge range of reactions to death

Grief…letting go of myths…

Immediately expressed strong grief ≠ earlier recovery

Grief therapy/self-help groups < time + social support

Terminally ill do not go through stages of grief

Williams & Best (2004)

Males Active, adventurous,

aggressive, arrogant, autocratic, bossy, coarse, conceited, enterprising, hardheaded, loud, obnoxious, opinionated, opportunistic, pleasure-seeking, precise, quick, reckless, show-off, and tough

Females Affected, affectionate,

appreciative, cautious, changeable, charming, dependent, emotional, fearful, forgiving, modest, nervous, patient, pleasant, prudish, sensitive, sentimental, softhearted, timid, and warm

Gender Differences

Men more aggressive, dominant, forceful, independentPhysical vs. relational aggressionMore likely to hold positions of

power/leadership Women social connections Differences in interactional styles

Gender Roles The behaviors a culture expects of its men

and women

Gender Identity One’s sense of being male or female

How do we learn to be male/female?

Social Learning Theory

Gender typingTaking on a traditional masculine or feminine

role

Sexual Orientation

An enduring sexual attraction toward members of either our own sex (homosexual orientation) or the other sex (heterosexual orientation)

about 3-4% of men and 1-2% of women are exclusively homosexual, much smaller number (< 1%) are bisexual

1973: change in DSM (APA) 1993: change from World Health

Organization 1995/2001: change in Japan’s/China’s

psychiatric associations

Biology and Sexual Orientation

Same-Sex Attraction in Other Species Gay-Straight Brain Differences

Hypothalamus – emotions and sexual arousal Genetic Influences

Gay men have more homosexual relatives on their mother’s side than on their fathers

Identical twins more likely than fraternalFruit flies

Prenatal Influences

Exposure to hormones during critical period prenatally

Maternal immune systemMore older brothers = increased likelihood