1. Developmental Psychology
Conception, Infancy, and Childhood

2. Agenda
Grades
Conception and Development
Infancy

3. The Conception Lottery
The odds of your sperm meeting your egg
1egg
Only about 1 out of 5000 get released.
200 million sperm released
The odds of you surviving the first two weeks: Less than half.
Think about this the next time you feel unlucky.

4. Pregnancy (Module 28) Zygote Embryo Fetus Fertilized Egg
Conception – Two Weeks
Rapid cell division
Embryo
Attaches to uterine wall
Outer cells become placenta; Inner cells become embryo
Two weeks – 9 weeks
Organs develop
Fetus
9 weeks onward
Organs can be formed enough to survive during 6th month.

5. Environmental Effects In Utero
Zygote  Embryo  Fetus
Sounds
Nutrition and Health
Psychological State
Increased Stress -> Increased Emotionability
Teratogens
Environmental agents that produce birth defects
Drugs, Alcohol, Nicotine
Viruses

6. Babies and Bacon The Blank Slate
According to Bacon’s theory, what should babies be able to do at birth?
Babies are more complicated than assumed
For example: Nursing
Technology

7. Early Reflexes
Reflexes
Startle
Rooting
Grasping
Sucking
Aid survival

8. Newborn Senses Abilities and Preferences Smell Hearing Vision Taste
Aid in survival, security-seeking, creating social bonds
Smell
Prefers mother
Acquired within days
Hearing
Vision
Prefer novel stimuli and faces (especially the mother’s)
Taste
Sweet and Sour

9. Cognitive Development
All neurons are essentially present at birth.
23 billion
Neural Networks
Memory
Emphasis at birth:
Walking
Talking
Memory (specifically automatic memory)
Emphasis from 3-6:
Frontal Lobe

10. Organizing Information
Schemas
Assimilation
Interpret new information based on schemas
“Dog”
Accommodation
Change schemas based on new information
Children vs Adults
Dogs, Cars, Schemas in Self and Groups

11. Theory of Cognitive Development
Jean Piaget
Children’s understanding of the world follows a predictable pattern
Knowledge acquired
Nature of understanding
Stages of cognition
Maturation through interaction with environment
Build upon one another
Order is universal, Timing varies
Process is more continuous than stage-based

12. Sensorimotor Stage Birth – Two years
Experience the world through senses and actions
Neural Development
Interest in new stimuli
Object Permanence
Peek-a-boo
Marker
Around 9 months

13. Sensorimotor Stage Underestimated infant thought
Life lived, not thought about
Notices inconsistencies, unusual actions
Physics
Doll, Car
Visual Cliff

14. Preoperational Stage 2-7 years
Children begin representing their environment using words and images
Language usage
Begin using intuitive reasoning
Principle of Conservation

15. Preoperational Stage Egocentrism
Difficulty taking others’ perspectives
Thinking and communicating from his/her point of view
Telephone example
“There are two boxes. Sue puts the ball in the left box and leaves the room. Sam takes the ball and puts it in the right box. Which box will Sue look in when she returns?”
Importance of language

16. Formal Operational Stage
6-12 years
Children can think logically about concrete events
Mastering arithmetical operations
Reversibility
4+4=8, 8-4=4
Analogies, Figures of Speech
Enjoy wordplay jokes
Lack of abstract thinking

17. Formal Operations 12-Adulthood Characterized by abstract thought
If x=y and y=z, what can you say about x and z?
Pendulum Problem
Thinking about hypothetical situations.
Not everyone fully develops formal operations
Even fewer use this thinking frequently

18. Socio-Affective Development
Social Needs vs Biological Needs
Harlow’s Monkeys
Wire vs. Cloth
Attachment
Emotional bond between child and caretaker
Most important attachments are formed during early childhood.
Caretaker as a “base”

19. Attachment Styles Measuring Attachment Ainsworth’s Strange Situation
Mother and toddler in a waiting room with toys
Watch while together
Watch while separated
Watch when reunited
Securely Attachment
Avoidant Attachment
Ambivalent Attachment

20. Attachment Effect of Attachment? Attachment and Culture
Predicts Adult Attachment
Hazan and Shaver
Secure – Seek and desire close relationships
Anxious-Ambivalent – Wants relationships but is uncomfortable being close to people.
Dismissive Avoidant – Comfortable without many close relationships
Fearful Avoidant – Desires relationships, but fears bad outcomes
Predicts several well-being outcomes
Attachment and Culture
Where do you think secure is the most common?
Asia, North Germany exceptions