Reflecting on Piaget’s Theory Piaget’s stage theory has been influential globally, validating a number of ideas regarding growth and development in many cultures and societies. However, today’s researchers believe the following: Development is a continuous process. Children express their mental abilities and operations at an earlier age. Formal logic is a smaller part of cognition.

© Christina Kennedy/ PhotoEdit Social Development Stranger anxiety: fear of strangers develops at around 8 months. This is the age at which infants form schemas for familiar faces and cannot assimilate a new face. Preview Question 5: How do the parent-infant attachment bonds form? © Christina Kennedy/ PhotoEdit

So how does attachment develop? Harry Harlow One of the first to study attachment http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrNBEhzjg8I Where do ethics play a role in this experiment?

Harlow Primate Laboratory, University of Wisconsin Origins of Attachment Harlow’s conclusion: infants bond with surrogate mothers because of bodily contact and not because of nourishment. Harlow Primate Laboratory, University of Wisconsin

Secure Attachment Relaxed and attentive caregiving becomes the backbone of secure attachment. Berry Hewlett

Harlow Primate Laboratory, University of Wisconsin Insecure Attachment Harlow’s studies showed that monkeys experience great anxiety if their terry-cloth mother is removed. Harlow Primate Laboratory, University of Wisconsin

Attachment Differences: Why? Why do these attachment differences exist? Factor Explanation Mother Both rat pups and human infants develop secure attachments if the mother is relaxed and attentive. Father In many cultures where fathers share the responsibility of raising children, similar secure attachments develop.

Baumrind: Child-Rearing Practices Description Authoritarian Parents impose rules and expect obedience. Permissive Parents submit to children’s demands. Authoritative Parents are demanding but responsive to their children. Preview Question 8: How do children’s self-concepts develop, and how are children’s traits related to parenting styles?

Parenting types can affect self-concept ______________: demands unquestioned obedience. Do as I say!! Tend to be unresponsive. ______________: allow children to make own decisions without supervision. Submit to children’s whims, get them what they want. Rejecting-neglecting: disengaged, vest little, give little.

Parenting types Authoritative: both demanding and responsive. Exert control by setting limits, but encouraging input from the child and negotiation of rules, particularly with older children. Encourages discussion and cooperation.

Behavioral Outcomes correlated with Parenting style Authoritarian: lacks good decision-making, tend to be moody, low self-esteem. Will cooperate with the group. Permissive: lack self-discipline and confidence; trouble making decisions. Authoritative: self-reliant, friendly and self-confident. Higher self-esteem. Feel in control of their lives.

Parental style and behavioral outcome: Correlational, so... Not necessarily causation. Perhaps temperament creates parenting style or the combination of parental temperament and children’s temperament creates parenting style. Do your parents treat your siblings differently?

Parental Influence Children heavily influence attitudes toward faith, politics and other social attitudes. (excluding sex and drug use). Parents provide children with much of their non-family environment (neighborhood, schools, friends, etc.)

Criticism of Parental Influences Recent studies of questioned the affects of child rearing on human development: generally, within extremes, other environmental influences have more power than parents: (friends, personal experiences, teachers, etc.) Which two theories fit into this social theory of development?

Authoritative Parenting Authoritative parenting correlates with social competence — other factors like common genes may lead to an easy-going temperament and may invoke an authoritative parenting style.

Crafting an essay response - Can you explain how Ainsworth’s attachment research can lead to a self-reliant child? Can you explain how Baumrind’s research in parenting styles can lead to a positive outcome in terms of self-esteem?

Adolescence is defined as a life between childhood and adulthood. AP Photo/ Jeff Chiu

Physical Development Adolescence begins with puberty (sexual maturation). Puberty occurs earlier in females (11 years) than males (13 years). Thus height in females increases before males. Preview Question 9: What physical changes mark adolescence?

Primary Sexual Characteristics During puberty primary sexual characteristics — the reproductive organs and external genitalia — develop rapidly. Ellen Senisi/ The Image Works

Secondary Sexual Characteristics Also secondary sexual characteristics—the nonreproductive traits such as breasts and hips in girls and facial hair and deepening of voice in boys develop. Pubic hair and armpit hair grow in both sexes.

Puberty Landmarks first period for girls (menarche) first ejaculation by boys (spermarche). Feelings associated?

Frontal Cortex During adolescence, neurons in the frontal cortex grow myelin, which speeds up nerve conduction. The frontal cortex lags behind the limbic system’s development. Hormonal surges and the limbic system may explain occasional teen impulsiveness. If this is true, how do you biologically explain Piaget’s formal operational stage?

Cognitive Development Adolescents’ ability to reason gives them a new level of social awareness. In particular, they may think about the following: Their own thinking. What others are thinking. What others are thinking about them. How ideals can be reached. They criticize society, parents, and even themselves. Preview Question 10: How did Piaget, Kohlberg, and later researchers describe adolescent cognitive and moral development?

Developing Morality Kohlberg (1981, 1984) sought to describe the development of moral reasoning by posing moral dilemmas to children and adolescents, such as “Should a person steal medicine to save a loved one’s life?” He found stages of moral development. AP Photo/ Dave Martin

Preconventional (Before 9) based on rewards and punishments. Will I get into trouble?

Conventional : Early adolescence, rules are rules, right and wrong. What would your friends think?

Postconventional (formal op) Postconventional (formal op). Larger universal issues of morality and right and wrong, justice and fair play enter the process. What’s right? What’s fair?

Formal Operational morality questions You go through the checkout at Harris Teeter and give a 10 dollar bill and receive change for a 20? Is cheating wrong? Do you copy homework? Do you ask for questions on a test? Would you mark that you’d given money to church/charity to receive money back on your taxes?

Social influence and expediency will change behavior that is reasoned to be moral. Have you ever cheated because you saw others cheating? Is cheating right? Why or why not? Have you ever cheated?

Kohlberg Critics There is a discrepancy between moral thought and action

cognitive dissonance: we act to reduce the discomfort we feel when two of our thoughts are inconsistent Smoking and cancer End of the world cult members

Cultural Criticisms postconventional reasoning appears mainly in Educated Western middle and upper class Males value individualism.

Interdependent/collectivist cultures respect group norms more than western individualistic cultures and therefore are less likely to post-conventional moral reason. Group cohesion more important than individual codes. African, Asia, Middle East more interdependent in thinking.

Moral Development, and Gender while men tend to make judgments based on their view of justice, women tend to make decisions based on relationships. Ex: Who chooses a movie? Who’s likely to cave first in arguments?

Other Kohlberg Complaint: Haidt’s Social Intuitionist Are there some things that are viscerally disgusting, or innately immoral? Do they require moral reasoning? Examples?

Social Intuitionist Theory Moral paradoxes

Morality and Social Influences Doing the right thing dependent on social situations Nazi concentration camp guards

Gender Bias in Kohlberg Gilligan complains that girls are more concerned with relationships and therefore develop identity through their relationships

Gilligan’s Stages of Ethic Care Approx. Age Range Stage Goal Not listed Preconventional Individual survival Conventional Self sacrifice is goodness Maybe never Postconventional Principle of nonviolence; do not hurt others or self

Erik Erikson: Social Development psychosocial task to complete at each level of development throughout our lifetimes. If we do not achieve one level, it creates problems in our lives.

Stage 1: Trust vs Mistrust

Stage 2: Autonomy vs. Shame and doubt http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqLMcyUFrSA

Stage 3: Initiative vs. Guilt http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9nZ4j1yLmk

Stage 4: Industry vs. Inferiority

Stage 5: Identity vs. role confusion

Forming an Identity In Western cultures, many adolescents try out different selves before settling into a consistent and comfortable identity. Having such an identity leads to forming close relationships. Matthias Clamer/ Getty Images Leland Bobble/ Getty Images

Parent and Peer Influence Although teens become independent of their parents as they grow older, they nevertheless relate to their parents on a number of things, including religiosity and career choices. Peer approval and relationships are also very important.

Stage 6: Intimacy vs. isolation

Stage 7: Generativity vs. stagnation http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pc6e5igbUds

Stage 8: Integrity vs. despair http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIysXLiA5s0

Marcia’s Levels of Identity Achievement Extends Erikson’s work identity determined by choices and commitments rather than social traits Marcia believed that teens fall into four categories in their search for identity

Marcia’s Stages of Development Diffused: not really searching, living day to day, no direction. Foreclosed: a little parent, unquestioning, never searched for personal identity. Moratorium: actively searching and trying on new roles routinely. Achieved: developed a separate and unique identity they feel comfortable with.

Emerging Adulthood Emerging adulthood spans ages 18-25. During this time, young adults may live with their parents and attend college or work. On average, emerging adults marry in their mid-twenties. Preview Question 12: What is emerging adulthood? Ariel Skelley/ Corbis

Adulthood Although adulthood begins sometime after a person’s mid-twenties, defining adulthood into stages is more difficult than defining the stages of childhood or adolescence. Rick Doyle/ Corbis

Physical Development The peak of physical performance occurs around 20 years of age, after which it declines imperceptibly for most of us. Preview Question 13: What physical changes occur during middle and late adulthood?

Batting performance of Willie Mays. Middle Adulthood Muscular strength, reaction time, sensory abilities and cardiac output begin to decline after the mid-twenties. Around age 50, women go through menopause, and men experience decreased levels of hormones and fertility. Bettman/ Corbis Batting performance of Willie Mays.

Old Age: Sensory Abilities After age 70, hearing, distance perception, and the sense of smell diminish, as do muscle strength, reaction time, and stamina. After 80, neural processes slow down, especially for complex tasks. Michael Newman/ PhotoEdit

Old Age: Motor Abilities At age 70, our motor abilities also decline. A 70-year-old is no match for a 20-year-old individual. Fatal accidents also increase around this age.

Cognitive Development Do cognitive abilities like memory, creativity, and intelligence decline with age the same way physical abilities do? Preview Question 14: How do memory and intelligence change with age?

Aging and Memory As we age, we remember some things well. These include recent past events and events that happened a decade or two back. However, recalling names becomes increasingly difficult.

Aging and Memory Recognition memory does not decline with age, and material that is meaningful is recalled better than meaningless material. David Myers

Aging and Intelligence It is believed today that fluid intelligence (ability to reason speedily) declines with age, but crystalline intelligence (accumulated knowledge and skills) does not. We gain vocabulary and knowledge but lose recall memory and process more slowly.

Aging and Intelligence A number of cognitive abilities decline with age. However, vocabulary and general knowledge increase with age.

Social Development Many differences between the young and old are not simply based on physical and cognitive abilities, but may instead be based on life events associated with family, relationships, and work.

Adulthood’s Ages and Stages Psychologists doubt that adults pass through an orderly sequence of age-bound stages. Mid-life crises at 40 are less likely to occur than crises triggered by major events (divorce, new marriage). Preview Question 15: What themes and influences mark our social journey from early adulthood to death? Neuroticism scores, 10,000 subjects (McCrae & Costa, 1996).

Adulthood’s Commitments Love and work are defining themes in adult life. Evolutionary psychologists believe that commitment has survival value. Parents that stay together are likely to leave a viable future generation. JLP/ Jose Pelaez/ zefa/ Corbis

Adulthood’s Commitments Happiness stems from working in a job that fits your interests and provides you with a sense of competence and accomplishment. Charles Harbutt/ Actuality

Well-Being Across the Life Span Well-being and people’s feelings of satisfaction are stable across the life span.

Successful Aging

Chris Steele-Perkins/ Magnum Photos Death and Dying The “normal” range of reactions or grief stages after the death of a loved one varies widely. Grief is more severe if death occurs unexpectedly. People who view their lives with a sense of integrity (in Erikson’s terms) see life as meaningful and worthwhile. Chris Steele-Perkins/ Magnum Photos

Reflections on Two Major Developmental Issues Continuity and Stages Researchers who view development as a slow, continuous process are generally those who emphasize experience and learning. Those with a biological perspective, on the other hand, view maturation and development as a series of genetically predisposed steps or stages. These include psychologists like Piaget, Kohlberg and Erikson.

Developmental Issues Stability and Change Lifelong development requires both stability and change. Personality gradually stabilizes as people age. However, this does not mean that our traits do not change over a lifetime. Some temperaments are more stable than others.