Chapter 9

Human Development

Questions We Will Be Addressing in This Chapter

What does genetic influence mean? Why should pregnant women stay away from tobacco and alcohol? How do babies think? How do infants become attached to their caregivers? What threatens adolescents self-esteem? What developmental changes occur in adulthood?
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Exploring Human Development

What does genetic influence mean?

How Does Nature and Nurture Affect Development?

Philosophical positions
John Lockes tabula rasa Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Arnold Gesell
Maturation

John B. Watson Jean Piaget

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Understanding Genetic Influence

Nature and nurture both contribute to development.
Operate together to make all people similar in some respect. Operate together to make each person unique.

Focus of behavioral geneticists

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Beginnings
Why should pregnant women stay away from tobacco and alcohol?

Prenatal Development
Begins with fertilization of egg Stages of prenatal development
Germinal stage Embryonic stage Fetal stage

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Prenatal Risks
Critical period during the embryonic stage Dangerous teratogens
Diseases Drugs Alcohol Smoking

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The Newborn
How can newborns abilities be assessed? Sensory capabilities of a newborn
Limited vision Can hear, though not perfect Preference for certain smells and tastes

Exhibits more than 20 reflexes

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Infancy and Childhood: Cognitive Development

How do babies think?

Piagets Theory
Schemas as the basic unit of knowledge How do schemas develop?
Assimilation Accommodation

Cognitive development occurs in stages

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Piagets Sensorimotor Period

Birth 2 years old Thinking is doing Develops object permanence towards end of period Current view
Infants are thinking, not just sensing and moving. Object permanence observed in young babies.
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Piagets Preoperational Period

2-4 years old
Begin to understand, create, and use symbols

4-7 years old

Begin to make intuitive guesses about the world Cannot differentiate between imagination and reality

Thinking is egocentric Lacks conservation

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Conservation of Matter: Pennies

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Conservation of Matter: Water

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Piagets Stage of Concrete Operations

7-11 years old Has developed conservation. Can use simple logic and perform simple mental operations on things.
But only on real, concrete objects.

Can reason only about what is, not what is possible.

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Piagets Stage of Formal Operational Thought

Over 11 years old. Able to think logically about abstract ideas. Can engage in hypothetical thinking.

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Evaluating Piagets Theory

Significant shifts in childrens thinking do occur with age. Children now viewed as active explorers and constructors of knowledge.
Not passive recipients of input from environment.

Inspired others to experimentally test his findings and theories.

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Modifying Piagets Theory

Stage changes less consistent and global than Piaget suggested. Knowledge and mental strategies develop at different ages in different areas. Cognitive development now viewed as occurring in rising and falling waves.

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Information Processing During Childhood

Alternative to Piagets theory Gradual quantitative changes occur in childrens mental capacities. As children become older:
Information-processing skills become better. Development of longer attention spans. Improvement in memory storage capacity.

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Culture and Cognitive Development

Vygotsky: Childs mind grows through contact with other minds.
Focus on the effects of the social world on cognitive development.

Childrens cognitive abilities influenced by:

The scripts they learn for everyday activities The language of their culture.

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Individual Variation in Cognitive Development

Role of experience and heredity Cognitive development can be:
Impaired if raised in a stimulation-deprived environment. Enhanced if parents provide both support and challenge for their childrens talents.

Programs developed to enhance childrens cognitive abilities.

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Infancy and Childhood: Social and Emotional Development

How do infants become attached to their caregivers?

Individual Temperament
Style and frequency of expressing needs and emotions. Main temperament patterns:
Easy babies Difficult babies Slow-to-warm-up babies

Influenced by both nature and nurture.

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Attachment
Bowlbys theory Harlows research involving monkeys Forming an attachment
Usually first forms attachment to the mother. Attachment to the father usually develops a little later.

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Variations in Attachment
Secure attachment Insecure attachment
Avoidant Ambivalent Disorganized

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Eriksons Psychosocial Stages

Birth - 1 year 1 - 3 years 3 - 6 years 6 - 12 years (latency period) 12 - 19 years (adolescence) 19 - 25 years (early adulthood) 25 - 50 years (adulthood) 50 years and older
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Trust vs. Mistrust Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt Initiative vs. Guilt Industry vs. Inferiority Identify vs. Role Confusion Intimacy vs. Isolation Generativity vs. Stagnation Ego Integrity vs. Despair
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Influences on Social Development

Parenting styles
Authoritarian Permissive Authoritative

Peer relationships Learning of social skills Gender roles

Biological factors Social factors
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Adolescence
What threatens adolescents self-esteem?

Changes During Adolescence

Physical changes Challenges to self-esteem Conflicts at home Sexual activity
Problems

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Forming an Identity
Changes occur in the way think about self. Personal identity may be affected by ethnic identity. Eriksons identity crisis

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Development of Moral Reasoning

Kohlbergs stages:
Preconventional Conventional Postconventional

Limitations of Kohlbergs stages

Cross-cultural research Gender differences in moral reasoning

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Adulthood
What developmental changes occur in adulthood?

Periods of Adulthood
Early adulthood
Ages 20-39

Middle adulthood
Ages 40-65

Late adulthood
Beyond age 65

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Changes During Adulthood

Physical changes Cognitive changes
Early and middle adulthood Late adulthood

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Social Changes During Adulthood

Early adulthood Middle adulthood
Midlife transition Eriksons crisis of generativity

Late adulthood

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Death and Dying

Some experience a terminal drop Eriksons crisis of ego integrity vs. despair Factors influencing longevity

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Linkages to Human Development

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End of Chapter 9

Focus on Research: What Do Infants Know About Physics?

What was the researchers question?
When and how do babies first develop knowledge about balance and gravity?

How did the researcher answer the question?

Infants saw either physically possible or physically impossible events.

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Figure 9.5: Events Demonstrating Infants Knowledge of Physics

Insert Figure 9.5: Events Demonstrating Infants Knowledge of Physics about here

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Focus on Research: What Do Infants Know About Physics? (contd)

What did the researcher find?
Three-month-old infants looked longest at one impossible event. At 6 months, infants stared intently at both impossible events.

What do the results mean?

Three-month-old babies know something about physical support. By 6 months had developed a more complete understanding about center of gravity.

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Focus on Research: What Do Infants Know About Physics? (contd)

What do we still need to know?
Does an infants tendency to stare longer at a particular sight really mean? How do babies know about physics?

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Linkages: Development and Memory

Why do we remember virtually nothing from before age of 3? Possible explanations for this infantile amnesia?

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Thinking Critically: Does Day Care Harm the Emotional Development of Infants?

What am I being asked to believe or accept?

Day care can damage the formation of a mother-infant attachment.

Is there evidence to support the claim?

Infants in day care do form attachments to their mothers. Full-time day care infants more likely to have an insecure attachment to mother.
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Thinking Critically: Does Day Care Harm the Emotional Development of Infants? (contd)
Can that evidence be interpreted another way?
Maybe other factors can explain the attachment differences.

What evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?

Day care is not necessarily harmful, must also consider other measures of emotional adjustment. Overall, infants in day care no more likely to have emotional problems or be insecurely attached.

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Thinking Critically: Does Day Care Harm the Emotional Development of Infants? (contd)

What conclusions are most reasonable?

Day care by itself does not appear to lead to insecure attachment. But poor quality day care can increase likelihood of having attachment problems.

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Figure 9.1: Motor Development

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Strange Situation Test: Secure Attachment

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Strange Situation Test: Avoidant Attachment

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Strange Situation Test: Ambivalent Attachment

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Figure 9.7: Physical Changes in Adolescence

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Figure 9.8: Mental Abilities Over the Life Span

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