Childhood and Adolescence Psychology

Curiosity We are born with a survival instinct for competence Master our environment Makes young children constantly curious, constantly experimenting Delicate instinct, can be nurtured or suppressed depending on adult response Adult disapproval gives the child a sense of failure and they remain dependent on parents Adult approval and repeated success produces more curiosity and independence

Personality Children tend to see the world in black and white terms The sensitivity and responsiveness of a baby’s nervous system are major factors in shaping personality. 3 basic categories of nervous temperament: Difficult: very active and intense Quiet, or slow to warm up: Tends to be withdrawn Easy: Most common, generally in a good mood A lot of overlap among these 3 types Nervous temperaments displayed in the first few months of life are likely to persist through the growing years, but can change by adolescence and adulthood. Children tend to see the world in black and white terms

Play Important for physical development: Child tries out various kinds of movement to develop motor skills Important for mental development: Test their creativity Learn to solve problems Explore the physical world Gain competence Helps create a child’s social persona Teaches about the ways people deal with one another (rules, rewards, and punishments)

Friends Early years: children have no choice, play with children of their parents friends or family School: children begin picking out their own friends A testing ground for how to express anger and aggression Balancing assertiveness with compromise

Discipline and Punishment Daily training that parents provide by action, word, and example to shape their child’s behavior Steer away from dangerous or unacceptable behavior toward self-control Best to reward acceptable behavior and withhold reward if behavior is unacceptable Fairness and consistency

What is adolescence? A period between childhood and adulthood where there is rapid physical and mental development Begins with puberty (sexual maturation) Most physical development is complete by age 18, but mental development is not complete until age 24 or so.

Puberty Adolescents can experience long-term psychological effects from maturing earlier or later than their peers This hits boys harder Boys who mature at an early age, become taller and stronger their peers, have an advantage Classmates admire them Think of them as more attractive Usually given leadership roles Tend to excel at sports Treated more as adults This builds self-confidence that follows them into adulthood Tend to do better in their careers and are more successful

Rules and Authority Adolescents are capable of more sophisticated ways of thinking Less rigid about their ideas Can juggle multiple abstract concepts at a time Can relate abstract concepts, relate to them, and to the world Example: the idea of conformity and individualism, how one is a conformist and an individualist Risk Taking Adolescents believe in their own ‘personal fable’: bad things will happen to other people, but not to me. Lack of experience, wishful thinking, and a need to prove themselves

Peer Pressure Conforming to the customs of a group can make a teen feel like they fit in Sense of belonging is an important need Some teens are more susceptible than others Teenage identity crises Who am I? What do I want out of life? Occurs when they are not sure who they want to be or how they want to be perceived.