Developmental Psychology Concepts

Developmental Psychology Study Notes

• Developmental psychology studies age-related changes in behavior, thinking, emotions, and social relationships. It aims to identify factors influencing development and explain how these factors interact.

Basic Issues in the Study of Development

• History of child-rearing advice: Historically, advice was often loose and based on tradition, with parish priests, family elders, and local figures providing guidance. This changed in the early 20th century with the rise of child-rearing experts like Freud and later Spock. Parents increasingly turn to the internet for information today.

• Early 20th-century experts: John Watson advocated strict schedules and discipline, while Dr. Spock emphasized affection and avoiding conflicts. Modern views generally consider Watson's approach emotionally cold and Spock's overly permissive.

• Key issues: Attachment and resilience are critical for healthy development. A disruptively attached child is not destined for a problematic life; the capacity to attach can occur later. Resilience describes the ability to adapt to adversity. Life progresses through different stages from birth to death within a societal context influencing notions of shame and fear.

• Adverse events: A child's Adverse Events Scale can help document experiences. The capacity to anticipate and predict outcomes is vital in planning for a child's future and understanding developmental changes. This includes the concept of the 'Personal Fable', a cognitive distortion that teens experience, often making them believe they are invulnerable to danger.

More Specific Issues in Development

• Perspective-taking: The ability to understand other's emotions and viewpoints.

• Stages: Development often occurs in a sequence with simple behaviors preceding more complex ones.

• Biological development: The brain is not fully formed at birth; the frontal lobe—responsible for higher functions—matures later. The hindbrain, in contrast, is largely developed at birth. This means developmental changes continue throughout childhood and adolescence.

• First communication steps: Eye contact, mimicking, and turn-taking are initial steps in communication, followed by cooing, babbling, and the use of one-word holophrases. Later, telegraphic speech (two-word phrases) and neologisms (made-up words) emerge. There are three main goals in studying child development that help us understand the factors which influence development (universal, individual differences, and environmental influences).

Defining Child Development

• Definition: Developmental psychology describes orderly and relatively enduring changes in physical structures, thoughts, and behaviors over time.

• Progression: Development typically progresses from simple to complex behaviors, with functional advantages in later skills.

Perspectives on Development (Nature vs. Nurture)

• Nature: Hereditary traits, including physical characteristics and a predisposition toward certain behaviors (e.g., addiction).

• Nurture: Environmental factors shaping biological and psychological experience (e.g., language development is affected by the child's immediate and cultural environment).

• Idealists/rationalists: Believe some knowledge is innate or inborn (Plato, Descartes)

• Empiricists: Believe the mind is a blank slate which is shaped by experience (John Locke).

• Prenatal factors: Stress, trauma, maternal diet, substance use (e.g., thalidomide, malnutrition) are significant factors that affect prenatal development.

• Postnatal factors: Abuse, neglect, postnatal depression, intergenerational trauma negatively affect a developing child.

Aslin's Model of Environmental Influence

• Maturation: Purely genetic (e.g., eye color).

• Maintenance: Requires environmental input to sustain a skill (e.g., swimming).

• Facilitation: Experience accelerates skill development with no lasting benefit (e.g., early language exposure).

• Attunement: Experience leads to lasting benefits (e.g., reading proficiency).

• Induction: Purely environmental; behavior only develops if exposed (e.g., piano playing).

The Ecological Perspective (Bronfenbrenner)

Bronfenbrenner's theory emphasizing that the environments affecting child development are dynamic and complex.

• Microsystem: Direct interactions (e.g., parent-child interactions).

• Mesosystem: Relationships between social agents (e.g., teacher-parent dynamics).

• Exosystem: External factors indirectly affecting the child (e.g., parent's job).

• Macrosystem: The child's culture, economy, politics, etc.

• Chronosystem: The timing of events in history or the child's life.

Vulnerability and Resilience

• Vulnerability: Characteristics that increase susceptibility to harm (e.g., social class, gender).

• Resilience: Ability to withstand challenges and adversity, influenced by temperament, upbringing, and genetic traits.

Prenatal Development and Newborn

• Conception: The fertilization of an ovum by sperm, leading to a zygote.

• Stages of development: Germinal, embryonic, and fetal stages.

• Germinal stage: Zygote divides and implants in the uterine wall.

• Embryonic stage: Organogenesis, development of the placenta and umbilical cord, and the start of major organ and body part development occur; crucial for initial formation.

• Fetal stage: Continued organ refinement, including the nervous system, and major growth. By the 25th week, the fetus responds to sound through heart rate changes, head turns, and body movements.

• Atypical development: Chromosomal, genetic, and autosomal impairments result in specific disorders. Teratogens, including maternal illness and substance abuse, can cause deviations from typical prenatal development.

Birth and Early Infancy

• Stages of labor: Dilation, delivery, and afterbirth.

• Apgar score: A quick assessment of a newborn's health performed immediately at birth and again at 5 minutes; heart rate, respiratory effort, muscle tone, reflex irritability, and color indicate the newborn's state.

• Early reflexes: Adaptive reflexes (essential for survival like sucking) and primitive reflexes (presence and purpose not yet fully understood) are observed in newborns.

• Behavioral states: Newborns cycle through different states of consciousness (deep sleep, active sleep, quiet awake, crying/fussing). Crying often signifies diverse needs.

• Physical and cognitive abilities: Motor skills develop gradually, with cephalocaudal (head-down) and proximodistal (trunk-outward) progression. Perceptual skills are already developed and significant aspects like taste, smell, and visual focus on a target or object demonstrate this advanced perceptual capacity. Babies are evident learners at this age, exhibiting classical and operant conditioning.

• Temperament: Inborn personality dispositions influencing behaviors (activity level, soothability, fearfulness, sociability).

• Early emotions: Newborns express interest, distress, disgust, half-smiles, and progressively develop stronger emotions.

• Infant health needs Adequate nutrition, healthcare, and immunizations are critical for a healthy newborn. Diarrhea is a leading cause of death in infants.

Physical Development

• Brain development: The hindbrain develops first, followed by the midbrain and medulla. The brains' cortex develops later and primarily governs cognitive functions.
• Growth patterns: There are patterns of development, growth spurts, and phases that need to be considered when observing children's development.
• Bone development: Bones form through ossification.
• Muscle development: Muscles become thicker and longer, and the strength difference between sexes is largely due to hormones.
• Body usage: Activities like running, swimming, etc., involve the interaction of various body systems. This includes increased efficiency in the cardiovascular system from improved heart rate and lung size.

Defining Personality

• Personality: Relatively enduring patterns of reacting and interacting with others and the environment; defining personality through characteristics and understanding the biological and learning theory.
• Big Five: Five major dimensions of adult personality, applicable to children but with additional traits.
• Genetic/Biological explanations: Innate response patterns, physiological processes, persistence of temperamental qualities, interaction of temperament and environment.
• Learning explanations: Reinforcement patterns, classical and operant conditioning, observational learning, and cognitive elements influence a child's emerging personality.
• Psychoanalytic explanations: Interaction between inborn characteristics and environment, stage-like development, psychosexual (Freud) and psychosocial (Erikson) stages.

Psychosocial Development

• Erikson's eight psychosocial stages: Each stage centered on a unique crisis, offering both turmoil and potential growth: Trust vs. Mistrust, Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt, Initiative vs. Guilt, Industry vs. Inferiority, Identity vs. Role Confusion (Marcia), Intimacy vs. Isolation, Generativity vs. Stagnation, Integrity vs Despair. The concepts of crisis and commitment help to understand the stages of identity achievement. Marcia expanded on Erikson's role confusion with clear categories of identity statuses.
• Attachment theory: Bowlby's four stages of attachment: Preattachment, Attachment, Clear-cut Attachment, and Formation of Reciprocal Relationships, which demonstrate developmental changes in attachment from birth to adulthood.

The Ecology of Development (Bronfenbrenner's Bioecological Theory)

• Dynamic interplay: Bronfenbrenner's theory stresses the interaction of environmental systems with the developing child, including microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, and chronosystem.
• Parenting styles (Baumrind): Examining factors like warmth, expectations, control, and communication.

This quiz explores key concepts in developmental psychology, focusing on resilience, cognitive development, and the contributions of influential psychologists such as Freud and Spock. Test your understanding of childhood development pathways and the interplay between mental health and resilience. Ideal for students of psychology and educators.