Developmental Psychology

Stages of Development Prenatal Infancy Toddler Early Childhood Adolescence Emerging Adulthood Early or Young Adulthood Middle Adulthood Old Age Early Adolescence: 9 to 13 years (preteen), Mid Adolescence: 13 to 15 years and Late Adolescence: 15 to 18 years Early adulthood[edit] Main article: Young adult (psychology) Early adulthood, according to theorists such as Erik Erikson, is a stage where development is mainly focused on maintaining relationships.[45] Examples include creating bond of intimacy, sustaining friendships, and ultimately making a family. Some theorists state that development of intimacy skills rely on the resolution of previous developmental stages. A sense of identity gained in the previous stages is also necessary for intimacy to develop. If this skill is not learned the alternative is alienation, isolation, a fear of commitment, and the inability to depend on others. A related framework for studying this part of the life span is that of emerging adulthood. Scholars of emerging adulthood, such as Jeffrey Arnett, are not necessarily interested in relationship development. Instead, this concept suggests that people transition after their teenage years into a period not characterized as relationship building and an overall sense of constancy with life, but with years of living with parents, phases of self-discovery, and experimentation.[46]

What is Developmental Psychology Developmental psychology is the scientific study of changes that occur in human beings over the course of their life. Originally concerned with infants and children, the field has expanded to include adolescence, adult development, aging, and the entire lifespan. This field examines change across a broad range of topics including motor skills and other psycho-physiological processes; cognitive development involving areas such as problem solving, moral understanding, and conceptual understanding; language acquisition; social, personality, and emotional development; and self-concept and identity formation.

Importance The study of human development is important not only to psychology, but also to biology, anthropology, sociology, education and history. Developmental psychology helps us to better understand how people change and grow and then apply this knowledge to helping us reach our full potential

Research Developmental psychology examines issues such as the extent of development through gradual accumulation of knowledge versus stage-like development The extent to which children are born with innate mental structures, versus learning through experience Many researchers are interested in the interaction between personal characteristics, the individual's behavior, and environmental factors including social context and their impact on development

Theories in Developmental Psychology Attachment Constructivism Ecological Psychosexual  Moral Psychosocial Cognitive Social Learning

Attachment Theory Originally developed by John Bowlby Focuses on the importance of open, intimate, emotionally meaningful relationships Attachment is described as a biological system or powerful survival impulse that evolved to ensure the survival of the infant A child who is threatened or stressed will move toward caregivers who create a sense of physical, emotional and psychological safety for the individual Attachment feeds on body contact and familiarity

Constructivism Constructivism is a paradigm in psychology that characterizes learning as a process of actively constructing knowledge Individuals create meaning for themselves or make sense of new information by selecting, organizing, and integrating information with other knowledge, often in the content of social interactions. Constructivism can occur in two ways: individual and social Individual constructivism is when a person constructs knowledge through cognitive processes of their own experiences rather than by memorizing facts provided by others Social constructivism is when individuals construct knowledge through an interaction between the knowledge they bring to a situation and social or cultural exchanges within that content

Ecological Originally formulated by Urie Bronfenbrenner Specifies 5 types of nested environmental systems with bi-directional influences within and between the systems The 5 systems are Microsystem Mesosystem Exosystem Macrosystem Chronosystem Each system contains roles, norms and rules that can powerfully shape development.

Ecological The Ecology of Human Development has had widespread influence Family Economic Political structures Since its publication in 1979, Bronfenbrenner's major statement of this theory, The Ecology of Human Development has had widespread influence on the way psychologists and others approach the study of human beings and their environments. As a result of this conceptualization of development, these environments—from the family to economic and political structures—have come to be viewed as part of the life course from childhood through to adulthood

Psychosexual Freud Believed that we all had a conscious, preconscious, and unconscious level In the conscious we are aware of our mental process The preconscious involves information that, though not currently in our thoughts, can be brought into consciousness Lastly, the unconscious includes mental processes we are unaware of

Psychosexual He believed there is tension between the conscious and unconscious, because the conscious tries hold back what the unconscious tries to express. To explain this he developed three personality structures: Id Ego Superego

Psychosexual He proposed five universal stages of development, that each are characterized by the erogenous zone that is the source of the child's psychosexual energy The first is the oral stage, which occurs from birth to 12 months of age The second is the anal stage, from one to three years of age The third is the phallic stage, which occurs from three to five years of age (most of a person’s personality forms by this age) The fourth is the latency stage, which occurs from age five until puberty Stage five is the genital stage, which takes place from puberty until adulthood l Stage (Birth to 18 months). During the oral stage, the child if focused on oral pleasures (sucking). Too much or too little gratification can result in an Oral Fixation or Oral Personality which is evidenced by a preoccupation with oral activities. This type of personality may have a stronger tendency to smoke, drink alcohol, over eat, or bite his or her nails. Personality wise, these individuals may become overly dependent upon others, gullible, and perpetual followers. On the other hand, they may also fight these urges and develop pessimism and aggression toward others. Anal Stage (18 months to three years). The child’s focus of pleasure in this stage is on eliminating and retaining feces. Through society’s pressure, mainly via parents, the child has to learn to control anal stimulation. In terms of personality, after effects of an anal fixation during this stage can result in an obsession with cleanliness, perfection, and control (anal retentive). On the opposite end of the spectrum, they may become messy and disorganized (anal expulsive). Phallic Stage (ages three to six). The pleasure zone switches to the genitals. Freud believed that during this stage boy develop unconscious sexual desires for their mother. Because of this, he becomes rivals with his father and sees him as competition for the mother’s affection. During this time, boys also develop a fear that their father will punish them for these feelings, such as by castrating them. This group of feelings is known as Oedipus Complex ( after the Greek Mythology figure who accidentally killed his father and married his mother). Later it was added that girls go through a similar situation, developing unconscious sexual attraction to their father. Although Freud Strongly disagreed with this, it has been termed the Electra Complex by more recent psychoanalysts. According to Freud, out of fear of castration and due to the strong competition of his father, boys eventually decide to identify with him rather than fight him. By identifying with his father, the boy develops masculine characteristics and identifies himself as a male, and represses his sexual feelings toward his mother. A fixation at this stage could result in sexual deviancies (both overindulging and avoidance) and weak or confused sexual identity according to psychoanalysts. Latency Stage (age six to puberty). It’s during this stage that sexual urges remain repressed and children interact and play mostly with same sex peers. Genital Stage (puberty on). The final stage of psychosexual development begins at the start of puberty when sexual urges are once again awakened. Through the lessons learned during the previous stages, adolescents direct their sexual urges onto opposite sex peers, with the primary focus of pleasure is the genitals.

Moral Piaget claimed that logic and morality develop through constructive stages. Expanding on Piaget's work Lawrence Kohlberg determined that the process of moral development was principally concerned with justice, and that it continued throughout the individual's lifetime

Moral He suggested three levels of moral reasoning; Preconventional moral reasoning Conventional moral reasoning Postconventional moral reasoning Preconventional moral reasoning is typical of children and is characterized by reasoning that is based on rewards and punishments associated with different courses of action. Conventional moral reason occurs during late childhood and early adolescence and is characterized by reasoning based on rules and conventions of society. Lastly, postconventional moral reasoning is a stage during which the individual sees society’s rules and conventions as relative and subjective, rather than as authoritative

Psychosocial Erik Erikson reinterpreted Freud’s psychosexual stages by incorporating the social aspects of it He came up with eight stages, each of which has two crisis (a positive and a negative)

Psychosocial Trust vs Mistrust Autonomy vs Shame & Doubt Initiative vs Guilt Industry vs Inferiority Identity vs Identity Diffusion Intimacy vs Isolation Generativity vs Self-Absorption Integrity vs Despair Stage one is trust versus mistrust, which occurs during infancy. Stage two is autonomy versus shame and doubt, which occurs during early childhood. Stage three is initiative versus guilt, which occurs during play age. Stage four is industry versus inferiority, which occurs during school age. Stage five is identity versus identity diffusion, which occurs during adolescence. Stage six is intimacy versus isolation which occurs during young adulthood. Stage seven is generativity versus self-absorption which occurs during adulthood. Lastly, stage eight is integrity versus despair, which occurs in old age.[8] Each stage builds upon the successful completion of earlier stages. The challenges of stages not successfully completed may be expected to reappear as problems in the future. However, mastery of a stage is not required to advance to the next stage

Trust vs Mistrust Infancy - birth to 18 months Children develop a sense of trust when caregivers provide reliability, care, and affection A lack of this will lead to mistrust

Autonomy vs Shame & Doubt Early Childhood - 2 to 3 years Children need to develop a sense of personal control over physical skills and a sense of independence Success leads to feelings of autonomy, failure results in feelings of shame and doubt

Initiative vs Guilt Preschool - 3 to 5 years Children need to begin asserting control and power over the environment Success in this stage leads to a sense of purpose Children who try to exert too much power experience disapproval, resulting in a sense of guilt

Industry vs Inferiority School Age - 6 to 11 years Children need to cope with new social and academic demands Success leads to a sense of competence, while failure results in feelings of inferiority

Identity vs Identity Diffusion Adolescence - 12 to 18 years Teens need to develop a sense of self and personal identity Success leads to an ability to stay true to self, while failure leads to role confusion and a weak sense of self

Intimacy vs Isolation Young Adulthood - 19 to 40 years Young adults need to form intimate, loving relationships with other people Success leads to strong relationships, while failure results in loneliness and isolation

Generativity vs Self-Absorption Middle Adulthood - 40 to 65 years Adults need to create or nurture things that will outlast them, often by having children or creating a positive change that benefits other people Success leads to feelings of usefulness and accomplishment, while failure results in shallow involvement in the world

Integrity vs Despair Maturity - 65 to death Older adults need to look back on life and feel a sense of fulfillment Success at this stage leads to feelings of wisdom, while failure results in regret, bitterness, and despair

Cognitive Development Jean Piaget, a Swiss theorist, posited that children learn by actively constructing knowledge through hands-on experience He suggested that the adult's role in helping the child learn was to provide appropriate materials that the child can interact with and use to construct He used Socratic questioning to get children to reflect on what they were doing, and he tried to get them to see contradictions in their explanations

Cognitive Development Piaget believed that intellectual development takes place through a series of stages, which he described in his theory on cognitive development Each stage consists of steps the child must master before moving to the next step. He believed that these stages are not separate from one another, but rather that each stage builds on the previous one in a continuous learning process.

Cognitive Development He proposed four stages: Sensorimotor Pre-operational Concrete operational Formal operational Though he did not believe these stages occurred at any given age, many studies have determined when these cognitive abilities should take place Sub-Stage Age Description 1 Simple Reflexes Birth-6 weeks "Coordination of sensation and action through reflexive behaviors".[7] Three primary reflexes are described by Piaget: sucking of objects in the mouth, following moving or interesting objects with the eyes, and closing of the hand when an object makes contact with the palm (palmar grasp). Over the first six weeks of life, these reflexes begin to become voluntary actions. For example, the palmar reflex becomes intentional grasping.[8]). 2 First habits and primary circular reactions phase 6 weeks-4 months "Coordination of sensation and two types of schemes: habits (reflex) and primary circular reactions (reproduction of an event that initially occurred by chance). The main focus is still on the infant's body".[7] As an example of this type of reaction, an infant might repeat the motion of passing their hand before their face. Also at this phase, passive reactions, caused by classical or operant conditioning, can begin.[8] 3 Secondary circular reactions phase 4–8 months Development of habits. "Infants become more object-oriented, moving beyond self-preoccupation; repeat actions that bring interesting or pleasurable results".[7] This stage is associated primarily with the development of coordination between vision and prehension. Three new abilities occur at this stage: intentional grasping for a desired object, secondary circular reactions, and differentiations between ends and means. At this stage, infants will intentionally grasp the air in the direction of a desired object, often to the amusement of friends and family. Secondary circular reactions, or the repetition of an action involving an external object begin; for example, moving a switch to turn on a light repeatedly. The differentiation between means and ends also occurs. This is perhaps one of the most important stages of a child's growth as it signifies the dawn of logic.[8] 4 Coordination of secondary circular reactions stages 8–12 months "Coordination of vision and touch—hand-eye coordination; coordination of schemes and intentionality".[7] This stage is associated primarily with the development of logic and the coordination between means and ends. This is an extremely important stage of development, holding what Piaget calls the "first proper intelligence". Also, this stage marks the beginning of goal orientation, the deliberate planning of steps to meet an objective.[8] 5 Tertiary circular reactions, novelty, and curiosity 12–18 months "Infants become intrigued by the many properties of objects and by the many things they can make happen to objects; they experiment with new behavior".[7] This stage is associated primarily with the discovery of new means to meet goals. Piaget describes the child at this juncture as the "young scientist," conducting pseudo-experiments to discover new methods of meeting challenges.[8] 6 Internalization of Schemes 18–24 months "Infants develop the ability to use primitive symbols and form enduring mental representations".[7] This stage is associated primarily with the beginnings of insight, or true creativity. This marks the passage into the preoperational stage.

Social Learning Learning is a cognitive process that takes place in a social context and can occur purely through observation or direct instruction In addition to the observation of behavior, learning also occurs through the observation of rewards and punishments, a process known as of vicarious reinforcement

Social Learning Learning is not purely behavioral; rather, it is a cognitive process that takes place in a social context. Learning can occur by observing a behavior and by observing the consequences of the behavior (vicarious reinforcement).

Social Learning Learning involves observation, extraction of information from those observations, and making decisions about the performance of the behavior (observational learning or modeling). Thus, learning can occur without an observable change in behavior. Reinforcement plays a role in learning but is not entirely responsible for learning. The learner is not a passive recipient of information. Cognition, environment, and behavior all mutually influence each other (reciprocal determinism).

Real Life http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/487/harper-high-school-part-one Using your notes from Chapter 5 & from the lecture discuss the following: What are the variables that might be a factor in the youth from Harper High School? Using Erikson’s 8 Stages identify which stage the youth are in. Discuss the implications of their environment.