DEVELOPING THROUGH THE LIFE

SPAN
LECTURE 4
 LIFE’S JOURNEY

We have already discussed the nature versus

nurture differences in shaping who we are.

Lets consider what happens over time.

• Continuity and Stages
• Stability and Change
 CONCEPTION

What are the odds?

250 million sperm approaching an egg 85,000
times its’ own size.
The probability of you becoming you
through an unbroken chain of events.
 COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

When do we become conscious?

Jean Piaget (developmental psychologist) in the 1920’s

studied children’s cognition – the mental activities
associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and
communicating.
 JEAN PIAGET

Piaget’s core ideas – our intellectual progression reflects

a struggle to make sense of our experiences.
Therefore, our maturing brains build:
Schemas – mental concepts and molds, then
Assimilate new experiences with existing schemas
Accommodate (Adjust) as we interact with the world
 4 STAGES OF
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

1. Sensorimotor: Birth to ages 18-24 months.

2. Preoperational: Toddlerhood (18-24 months) through

early childhood (age 7).

3. Concrete operational: Ages 7 to 11 years.

4. Formal operational: Adolescence to adulthood.

 4 STAGES OF
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

Sensorimotor:
• Object permanence and Stranger anxiety
Preoperational:
• Pretend Play, Egocentric, Theory of Mind
Concrete operational:
• Mathematical transformations and Conservation
Formal operational:
• Concrete thinking to Abstract thinking
JEAN PIAGET’S STAGES OF
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
 JEAN PIAGET’S
POLICY IMPLICATIONS

Discovery learning: the idea that children learn best through doing
and actively exploring.

Plowden Report
• Individual learning
• Flexibility in the curriculum
• Centrality of play in children's learning
• Use of the environment
• Learning by discovery
• Importance of the evaluation of children's progress
• Teachers should 'not assume that only what is measurable is valuable.'
 CRITICISM

• Piaget’s methods (observations and clinical interviews) are more

open to biased interpretation than other methods as he
conducted them alone and were based on his own subjectivity.
• Underestimated the cognitive abilities of the children.
• Failed to distinguish between competence (what a child is
capable of doing) and performance (what a child can show when
given a particular task).
• Schema’s (cannot be objectively measured) versus behaviorism.
• Small sample size of children studied.
 LEV VYGOTSKY

Critical of Piaget’s stages theory.

Vygotsky emphasized how the child’s mind grows through

social interactions and influence along with the
importance of language.

Development as a continual process.

 COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

How does Vietnam’s educational policies

adhere to or counter Piaget’s theory of
cognitive development?
 SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

• Origins of Attachment
• Body contact
- The power of Touch
• Familiarity
- Imprinting
• Self-concept
 THE POWER OF TOUCH

Touch of Love
Touch is one of the most fundamental ways of fostering and
communicating intimacy in a romantic relationship. One paper
proposed a sequence of 12 behaviors of increasing intimacy that
couples generally follow:

After the first three (eye-to-body contact, eye-to-eye contact, and

speaking), the remaining nine involve touching (starting with
holding hands, then kissing, and eventually sexual intimacy).
Reciprocity is Key
 THE POWER OF TOUCH

Touch
……reduces heartrate, blood pressure and cortisol levels –
all factors related to stress.
……facilitates the release of oxytocin, a hormone that
provides sensations of calm, relaxation and being at peace
with the world.

Hugging and Snuggling

 PARENTING STYLES
“Nothing has a stronger influence psychologically on their environment and
especially on their children than the unlived life of the parent.”
- Carl Jung

Authoritarian – Coercive
• Impose rules and expect obedience
Permissive – Un-restraining
• Few demands, few limits, little punishment
Negligent – Uninvolved
• Neither demanding nor responsive
Authoritative – Confrontive
• Both demanding and responsive
 COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

Developing Reasoning Power

Developing Morality
• Moral Reasoning
• Moral Intuition
 DEVELOPING MORALITY

Developing right from wrong.

• Children begin to empathize with others.

To be a moral person is to think morally

and act morally.
 MORAL REASONING

Piaget (1932) – children’s moral judgements build

on their cognitive development.
Kohlberg (1984) – describes the development of
moral reasoning. He posed moral dilemmas
(should a person steal medicine to save a loved
one’s life).
 KOHLBERG’S MORAL THINKING

The Moral Ladder

Level Focus Example
Preconventional Self-interest; obey rules to “If you save your dying
morality (before age 9) avoid punishment or gain wife you will be a hero.”
rewards.

Conventional morality Uphold laws and rules to “If you steal the drug for
(early adolescence gain social approval or her, everyone will think
maintain social order. you are a criminal.”

Postconventional Actions reflect belief in “People have a right to

morality (beyond basic rights and self- live.”
adolescence) defined ethical principles.
 MORAL INTUITION

Jonathan Haidt (2012) believes much of morality

is rooted in moral intuitions – ‘gut feelings’.

Our minds make moral judgements quickly and

automatically where feelings of disgust or of
elation trigger moral reasoning.
 MORAL INTUITION

Five Moral Foundations:

Care: cherishing and protecting others;
opposite of harm
Fairness: rendering justice according to shared rules;
opposite of cheating
Loyalty: standing with your group, family, nation;
opposite of betrayal
Respect: submitting to tradition and legitimate authority;
opposite of subversion
Purity: abhorrence for disgusting things, foods, actions;
opposite of degradation
 MORALITY

The Trolley Dilemma:

Option 1) Do nothing and allow the trolley to kill the five people
on the main track.
Option 2) Pull the lever, diverting the trolley onto the side track
where it will kill one person.

Which is the more ethical option?

What is the right thing to do?
 MORALITY

Do you agree with the following statement?

Creating a meritocratic society should be a goal where those who
work hard and play by the rules should be able to rise as far as
their effort and talents will take them?

Equality of Opportunity and a Level Playing Field.

Michael J. Sandel’s “The Tyranny of Merit”

‘Rhetoric of Rising’
 MORALITY

“Humility is a civic virtue essential to this moment because it’s a

necessary antidote to the meritocratic hubris that has driven us
apart.”
“To regard oneself as self-made and self-sufficient. This picture of
the self exerts a powerful attraction because it seems on the face of
it to be empowering – we can make it on our own, we can make it if
we try. It’s a certain picture of freedom but it’s flawed. It leads to a
competitive market meritocracy that deepens divides and corrodes
solidarity.”
- Michael J. Sandel
 MORAL ACTION

Morality involves doing the right thing and what we do also

depends on social influences.

Hannah Arendt – “The Banality of Evil”

Eichmann was not inherently evil, but merely shallow and clueless,
a ‘joiner’, he was a man who drifted into the Nazi Party, in search
of purpose and direction, not out of deep ideological belief.

“Moral action feeds moral attitudes”

 A MORAL SOLUTION

John Rawls – “Veil of Ignorance”, a thought experiment to

discover the principles that should structure a society of free, equal,
and moral people.
Principles of Justice would be chosen by parties in the original
position.
In the original position, you are asked to consider which
principles you would select for the basic structure of society,
but you must select as if you had no knowledge ahead of time
what position you would end up having in that society.
 SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

Erik Erikson (1963) proposes each stage of life has its

own psychosocial task, a crisis that needs resolution.
Trust – Autonomy – Competence – Initiative
• Who Am I?
• What do I want to do with my life?
• What values to I live by?
• What do I believe in?
 ERIKSON’S STAGES
OF PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

Stage Issue Task Description

Adolescence (teen Identity vs. role Refining a sense of self by testing
years into 20s) confusion roles and integrating them to form a
single identity, or become confused.

Young adulthood (20s Intimacy vs. Struggle to form close relationships

to early 40s) isolation and to gain capacity for intimate
love, socially isolated.

Middle adulthood Generativity vs. Discover a sense of contributing to

(40s to 60s) stagnation the world or feeling a lack of
purpose.
 FORMING AN IDENTITY

Identity (self): unifying the various selves into a

consistent and comfortable sense of who you are.
Identity (social): understanding ourselves on how we
relate to the group.
Intimacy: Our ability to form close, loving relationships.
“We humans are the ‘social animal’”
- Aristotle
 FORMING AN IDENTITY

• How do parents and peers influence your

identity?
• Who has more influence on your identity today?
• What effects does social media have on your
identity?
 SOCIAL CLOCK

Life events following a certain path of when “the

right time” to:
Leave home
Get a job
Marry and have children
Retire

“The important events of a person’s life are the

products of chains of highly improbable occurrences.”
- Joseph Traub
 SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
ADULTHOOD

Commitments
1) Intimacy (forming close relationships)
• Love (pair-bonding): sharing emotional and material
support and interests and values.
2) Generativity (being productive and supporting
future generations)
• Work: having a job that fits your interests and provides you
with a sense of competence and accomplishment is
important.
 WELL-BEING ACROSS
THE LIFE SPAN

“When you were born, you cried and the world

rejoiced. Live your life in a manner so that when you
die the world cries and you rejoice.”
- Native American proverb

“Consider, friend, as you pass by, as you are now, so

once was I. As I am now, you too shall be. Prepare,
therefore, to follow me.”
- Scottish tombstone epitaph
 HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT

Read the article and answer the following questions:

Graeber, David (August 2013). On the Phenomenon of Bullshit

Jobs: A Work Rant. Strike Magazine

1) Are bullshit jobs inevitable and necessary in modern

society?
2) In the future, how would you avoid having a bullshit job?
3) What effects would having a bullshit job be on your self-
identity and your overall mental health?