Don’t forget to write down the question and leave Psych. DMA Define maturation As men advance through middle adulthood, they experience a gradual decline in…. Don’t forget to write down the question and leave room for your answer.

Today’s Agenda Child Dev. Harlow Ainsworth Freud DMA Reminders Piaget Issues Child Dev. Harlow Ainsworth Freud Homework: Chap. 4 Test – Dec. 1st Chap. 4 Notes – Dec.1st FRQs # 3 due Wednesday Self-Experiment – due Monday, Nov. 28th Summative Test – Dec. 6th Chap. 4 Review Session – Nov. 29th, 2:15-2:45, Wheeler’s room

Please bring your chapter notes on Wednesday… You may have time to work on them 

Problems with Piaget

Development is NOT learning. Big thought: Development is NOT learning.

Issues with Piaget's study Piaget studied his own kids. (Not really an issue - his findings were applicable and are still used.) Separate stages - distinct stages may not be accurate. Ages in stages may also be off.

However, Piaget is still the basis of experiments. Shinskey & Munakata (2003) found infants had advantage searching in the dark vs. searching under a thing in the light.

One explanation - the appearance of the coverlet interferes with baby's new, tenuous ability of representing an object mentally. Another explanation is evolutionary. Searching for things in the dark is more evolutionarily advantageous than for things hidden in the light.

Scher, Amir & Tirsh (2000) findings indicate that babies with more advanced grasp of object permanence experienced significantly fewer sleep disturbances than those with lower levels of object concept. (In other words - you sleep better when you know where your stuff is.)

Social Development Stranger Anxiety Attachment fear of strangers that infants commonly display beginning by about 8 months of age Attachment an emotional tie with another person shown in young children by their seeking closeness to the caregiver and displaying distress on separation

Social Development Harlow’s Surrogate Mother Experiments Monkeys preferred contact with the comfortable cloth mother, even while feeding from the nourishing wire mother Introduction Scaring the monkey

Social Development Critical Period Imprinting an optimal period shortly after birth when an organism’s exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces proper development Imprinting the process by which certain animals form attachments during a critical period very early in life

Social Development Monkeys raised by artificial mothers were terror-stricken when placed in strange situations without their surrogate mothers.

Mary Ainsworth Researched what infants would do when placed in new situations (without parents)…

Mary Ainsworth Findings: Secure attachment Avoidant attachment Infant was confident to explore the environment (when parent was present) Became distressed when parents left. 66% Avoidant attachment Resist being held by parents & will explore environment. Do not go to parents for comfort when they return 21%

Mary Ainsworth Findings: Anxious/ambivalent attachment Ambivalent reaction to parents May show extreme stress (when parents leave) Resist being comforted by parents 12%

Freud's Stages of Development

Definition of the Unconscious According to Freud: A reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, and feelings. According to Contemporary Psychology: Information processing of which we are unaware.

Freud's concept of personality says Human personality (including emotions and strivings) arises from a conflict between our aggressive, pleasure-seeking biological impulses and the internalized social restraints against them. Personality is the result of our efforts to resolve the conflict.

This conflict centers on 3 systems

Id Urge to satisfy basic drives: Survival Reproduction Aggression Major factor of the Id is the Pleasure Principle - if the id is not restrained by reality, it seeks immediate gratification.

Superego Moral imperatives of what is right. Voice of conscious forces the ego to think about how things OUGHT TO BE. Basically the Superego is fighting the Id and therefore the Ego must balance.

Ego Seeks to gratify the Id's impulses in realistic ways. (Sometimes this is referred to as the Reality Principle.) Contains partly conscious perceptions, thoughts, judgments, and memories.

Ok, Wheeler, what the heck does this have to do with kids?

Freud's Psychosexual stages of Development Basically, Freud separated out development via the Id's focuses. When the Id's pleasure seeking energies focus on the distinct pleasure sensitive area of the body (i.e. erogenous zones) a different developmental stage is reached.

Stage Focus Oral (0-18 months) Pleasure centers on mouth: sucking, biting, etc Anal (18-36 months) Bowel and bladder elimination: coping with demands for control. Phallic (3-6 years) Genitals. Coping with incestuous feelings and gender identity. Latency (6 years - puberty) Dormant sexual feelings Genital (Puberty on) Maturation of sexual interests

Reading Assignment Please read page 577. Begin at Personality Structure. Read through page 579 and stop at Defense Mechanisms.