Childhood Learn more in childhood than any other time Change is more rapid Learning is more constant Developmental Psychology: How physical, social, emotional, moral and intellectual growth and development occur Changes that occur as you mature over the lifespan

Nature vs. Nurture Nature = hereditary traits we inherit that influence our development Nurture = development resulting from learning Goal of Developmental Psychologists: separate biological & environmental causes of behavior Ex: Is there anything you can do (i.e. diet, take special classes) to increase your intelligence?

Newborns Development = begins long before birth Ex; kicking, hiccuping and sucking one’s thumb Reflexes: inherited, automatic, coordinated movements Grasping Reflex: infants grasp whatever touches their palms Rooting Reflex: when touched around the mouth, will move towards the source of touch Allows for infant to suckle milke (suck, breathe and swallow 2X’s/second!) What this all means: Infants will grasp what is placed in their hands. Infants will attempt to suck what is placed near their mouths

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) Kills more babies than any other cause of infant death No one knows exact cause Developmental Psychologists theorize infants’ CNS fails to keep airways open during sleep (reflexively)

How Do We Measure Newborn Capabilities Cannot Speak or Understand Must take advantage of things they can do… 1. suck 2. turn their head 3. look at things 4. cry 5. smile 6. show signs of fright or surprise

Physical Development: Some Quick Info... Average weight of newborn at birth: 7.5 lbs 95% are between lbs, inches in length some infants can weigh lbs by end of the 1st year By age 2 most children are walking, talking and feeding themselves Result of both physical maturation (nature) and learning (nurture)

Maturation AgeAcquired Ability 3 months infant can lift his/her head 4 months infant learns to smile 5-6 months begins to grasp objects 8-10 months infant begins to crawl months begins to acquire a sense of balance…nerves connected to muscles have grown

How Psychologists study development… Record the ages at which thousands of infants…walk, smile, sit upright, crawl, etc…. Use this data to develop an approximate timeline for maturation If a child’s skills are not developing consistently with the timeline, they can test to determine if something is wrong.

Maturation Continued... Psychological definition for maturation = internally programmed growth as important as learning or experience... Why would this be especially important early in life? FYI: What is learning? (From a psychologists perspective) relatively permanent change in behavior resulting from responses that change as a result of experience Can you think of any examples of learning in your own life that correspond with that definition? Maturational readiness = a child’s individual readiness to master new skills Parents should avoid pushing children to achieve new skills prior to their maturational readiness…i.e. Walking & Speaking

I. Newborn Perception A. Newborns have mature perception skills Robert Fantz (1961) = showed infants different faces to discover their perception Found that infants prefer looking at human faces and patterned materials the most B. The Cliff Experiment (Gibson & Walk, 1960) Young infants seemed unafraid Infants older than 6 months refused to crawl over the visual cliff Through experience, older infants found that drop offs are dangerous Even newborns experienced increased heartrates (implying some perceptual abilities)

II. The Development of Language A. Language & Thought are closely related Both require use of symbols Child begins to think about things concretely before they speak B. Can Animals Use Language? Beatrice Gardner = raised baby chimp named Washoe: Taught Washoe to use American Sign Language for the deaf 3 ½ years = Washoe knew 87 signs/5 years = 160 signs Chimpanzees have been taught to use typewriters to communicate with humans C. Separation Factor = Chimpanzees did not apply grammatical rules Chimps failed to arrange symbols in different orders to produce new meanings

III. How Children Acquire Language A. Two sides to this debate; 1. language is a reinforced behavior 2. language is inborn B. Humans may have a “critical period” early in life to learn language C. 3 Steps to Language Acquisition: 1. one must learn to make signs (by hand or mouth) 2. must give signs meaning 3. must learn grammar

The Acquisition of Language Begins in the first months Babies: Highly Sensitive to Pitch, Intensity & Sound Very responsive to emotions &rhythms Parentese = “baby talk” Example & Purpose of Parentese Parentese & the Rhythm of Language Helps babies learn the “rhythm” of native language Mothers actually exaggerate vowels, research shows Kids vs. Pets

Language Acquisition: Year 1 Cooing and Crying: Begins in First Months 4-6 Months: Babies recognize their names – “Mommy” & “ Daddy” (words said with emotion) – Recognize consonant & vowel sounds of their language Can perceive speech sounds in other languages Become insensitive to languages later in childhood (Use it or Lose it!) 6-12 Months: familiar with sound structure of native language – Distinguish words from flow of speech – Nonsense Words, Speech that violates expectations = Receive more attention – Begin to BABBLE, endlessly repeating sounds and syllables Around 12 Months: Start to Name Things – First words represent familiar mental concepts – “mama”, “dada”, “car”, “dog”

Language Acquisition: Months End of Year 1: develop symbolic gestures – Referring to objects, describing objects, requesting food, shrugging shoulders… – Gestures are critical to language development *Parents who encourage gestures have children with larger vocabularies, better comprehension, better listening skills and lower frustration in communication Gesturing and Vocabulary: The University of Chicago Study Gesturing and Vocabulary: The University of Chicago Study

Language Acquisition: Months Months: Telegraphic Speech Develops – Two word sentences, omit “unneccesary parts of sentences” Functions of T.S.: – Locate: “here ball” – Demand: “more water” – Negate: “no want” – Describe: “big dog” – Possession: “Mama Dress” – Question: “Where mommy” *Rapid acquisition of new words – By 6, 8-14,000 words between the ages of 1-6 – About 8 new words a day – Importance of grammatical and social context (Gives Meaning)

Summarizing What We Have Learned Parents & Child Working Together to Learn Language Parents & Child Working Together to Learn Language Summary: Acquisition and Development of Language Summary: Acquisition and Development of Language Parentese Cooing & Crying Familiarization with sound structure Babble Naming Gesturing Telegraphic Speech

Piaget’s Theory & the Implications of Cognitive Development

I. Introduction to Piaget A. Philosophy = intelligence, ability to understand, grow as the child grows i.e. a 4 year old cannot understand what an 7 year old does B. Method = years playing games with, observing and questioning kids C. Conclusion = children think in a different way than older children and adults Intellectual development is both qualitative and quantitative

II. How Knowing Changes Schema: mental representations of the world Assimilation: fitting new objects into preexisting schema Accomodation: change our schema to fit the characteristics of the new object Assimilation + Accomodation = intellectual growth

III. Object Permanence A. The idea that things continue to exist even though they cannot be seen or touched Giant leap intellectually…why? Children about months) begin to understand that other people’s actions and objects are independent of them

IV. Representational Thought Intelligence is no longer limited to action Piaget thought this was the gateway to language Examples of Representational Thought: Has a child ever imitated what you said or did? What does this tell you about the complexity of the thought process? Shows influence of both nature and nurture (kids will imitate behavior they experience in their environment)

V. Conservation A. Conservation = children have trouble thinking about things in multiple dimensions (height and width), usually develops between ages of 5-7 Quantity does not change with appearance Think of play dough or two glasses of water

Egocentric = Temper Tantrums! Egocentric = seeing the world/thinking about the world from your point of view Difficulty acknowledging other perspectives Egocentrismhttp://ww w.youtube.com/watch? v=zZ8mAQPSB1E&feat ure=relatedhttp://ww w.youtube.com/watch? v=zZ8mAQPSB1E&feat ure=related

VI. PIAGET’S STAGES OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT Formal Operations 4 Concrete Operations 3 Preoperational Stage 2 Sensorimotor Stage 1

Formal Operations Concrete Operations Preoperational Sensorimotor Birth-1.5 Years, Simple motor responses to stimuli, lacks concept of object permanence years, child begins to use words to represent things that are not present, lack conservation, exhibits egocentric thinking Understands abstract ideas and hypothetical situations, capable of logical and deductive reasoning 7-11 years, begins to understand conservation, trouble with abstract ideas

VII. Emotional Development A. Attachment to certain people begins B. child cares what certain people think/feel C. Imprinting = inherited tendencies or responses that are displayed by newborn animals when they encounter new stimuli in their environment How is imprinting important for survival purposes? Demonstrates newborn sensitivity to stimuli Critical Period = time in development when an animal is best able to learn a skill or behavior Think about the plasticity of a child’s brain….What can it do that the adult brain cannot?

VIII. Human Infants & Attachment A. Infants begin to develop 6 months…can distinguish one person from another 6 months-3 years = attachment is especially strong B. Post-Attachment = separation can be traumatic Consequences = stranger anxiety & separation anxiety Psychological disorders can result if separation persists

IX. The Strange Situation (used to measure attachment) Secure Need to explore Need to be close avoidant Avoid or ignore mother when she leaves or returns resisant Not upset when mother leaves Reject her/act angrily when she returns disorganized Confused, act in contradictory ways Not upset when mother leaves, but avoid her after she returns

Authoritative Parents Set high standards and impose controls, but they are also warm and responsive to the child’s communications Set limits but adjust them when appropriate Encourage their children to strive towards their own goals

Authoritarian Parents Like authoritative parents, they set firm controls but tend to be emotionally more distant from the child Set rules without explaining the reasons behind them

Permissive Parents Permissive parents are warm and loving but undemanding

Indifferent or Uninvolved Parents These parents spend little time with their children and do little more than provide them with food and shelter…the bare minimum

Effects of Different Styles Parenting styles are usually consistent within a family – if the parents are permissive with one child they are usually permissive with the others too Research has found small but reasonably consistent links between parenting style and children’s behavior For example: Most children of authoritative parents are self-reliant, cooperate with others, and do well in school Children of authoritarian parents tend to be law- abiding but distrustful and not very independent Children of permissive parents are often socially irresponsible Children of indifferent parents tend to be impulsive and undisciplined

Abuse, Parental Conflict, and Divorce Abuse has a higher incidence of occurrence among children who are mentally or physically disadvantaged Abuse has many developmental effects: it may rob children of their childhood, create a loss of trust and feelings of guilt, may lead to antisocial behavior, depression, identity confusion, and other emotional problems

Parental Conflict and Divorce Most children who experience the divorce of their parents show a variety of academic, social, and emotional problems compared to other children Children of divorced families tend to received less attention and suffer greater economic hardship Many children in divorced families endure prolonged hostility between their parents

Social Development Socialization is the process of learning he rules of behavior of the culture in which you were born and grow up in

Socialization Cont… Children must learn what is acceptable & unacceptable Some rules are concrete Some rules allow for individual decision making Some apply to certain categories of people (i.e. Gender) Societies all have views about… What is beautiful… What is valuable… What is meaningful… What is worth striving for… THE SOCIALIZATION FORMULA: LEARN RULES + SOCIETAL EXPECTATIONS + LEARNING TO LIVE WITH OTHER PEOPLE AND YOURSELF

Erikson Erikson divided the human life span into 8 periods that he called stages At each stage of life he said people have specific tasks to master, and each generates its own social and emotional conflicts Erikson suggested that failure to master the task of a particular stage meant unfortunate consequences that would carry over to later stages

Freud said people have a psychosexual energy, which he called libido Normally, libido is focused on an infant’s mouth and “flows” to other body parts as the child grows older Freud said children go through five stages of psychosexual development, each with a characteristic sexual focus that leaves its mark on the adult personality If normal sexual development is blocked or frustrated at any stage, Freud said, part of the libido becomes fixated at that stage, that is, it continues to be preoccupied with the pleasure area associated with that stage

Moral Development Psychologists once regarded morality as a set of arbitrary, learned rule, such as driving on the right or left side of the road depending on the country Lawrence Kohlberg proposed instead that moral reasoning is a process that naturally matures through a series of stages

Kohlberg Kohlberg argued that moral reasoning should not be evaluated according to someone's decisions but according to the reasons behind them Example: the designers of the nuclear bomb Kohlberg devised a series of moral dilemmas to measure the maturity of someone’s moral judgments

Kohlberg’s Stages Kohlberg’s stages do not represent moral or immoral decisions but only moral and less moral reasons for the decision People begin at Kohlberg’s first stage and then progress through in order Few reach the highest stages but people seldom skip a stage or revert to an earlier stage