Developmental Psychology: Fetal Development & Attachment

Developmental Psychology Overview

• Studies how humans grow and change throughout their lives.
• Encompasses all ages, from fetus to death.
• Covers intellectual, social, emotional, and physical aspects.

Fetus Development

• By 6 weeks, the nervous system is mature enough to facilitate movements.
• Sense organs start appearing, enabling reactions to stimuli.
• A zygote takes roughly 8 weeks to develop into a fetus.
• Fetal alcohol syndrome involves malformation of the face, heart, ears, and nervous system damage.
• Malformation is caused by the mother's alcohol consumption during pregnancy.
• Neurons lacking "excitation" die off through pruning.
• Alcohol interferes with excitatory neurotransmitters and facilitates inhibitory ones.

Infancy: Motor Development

• Infants begin crawling indiscriminately around 5 months old.
• Infants learn to avoid crawling off edges, regardless of prior experience falling.
• Learning to walk requires a relearning process.

Infancy: Visual Perception

• Infants perceive the world as sights and sounds without meaning.
• Eye-movement studies reveal infants spend more time looking at things they recognize or find interesting.
• Infants pay more attention to faces than to other patterns.
• Initially, infants lack the concept of a face.
• By age 4, children can recognize faces but still struggle with features.
• Facial recognition improves gradually.
• Infants can distinguish monkey faces at 6 months old.
• The Thatcher Effect is when it is difficult to detect local feature changes in an upside-down face, despite identical changes being obvious in an upright face.
• Faces are processed holistically, recognizing the positions and relationships between features, not just individual components.

Infancy: Auditory Perception

• Infants suck more vigorously when aroused by sound.
• Habituation of sound is the decrease in response to a repeated sound.
• Dishabituation is the recovery of a habituated response when there is a change in stimulation.
• Habituation can be used to discern whether infants can differentiate between sounds.
• All sounds and accents are distinguishable to infants.
• Eventually, focus narrows to distinguishing sounds in the local language only.

Infancy: Learning

• Learning is measured by changes in sucking behavior.
• Infants suck more when hearing their mother's voice, suggesting learning before birth.
• Infants show a higher heart rate response to familiar melodies.
• Infants learn to manipulate objects, demonstrated by attaching a ribbon to their ankle.
• Infants can quickly relearn tasks, even if they've forgotten them.

Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development

• Jean Piaget (1896-1980) observed and studied his three daughters to develop his theory.
• Children solve problems differently at different ages.
• Children provide similar incorrect answers to certain questions at the same age.
• Children construct mental processes rather than merely accumulating facts.
• Piaget proposed that children go through four stages of development as they grow.
• Stage transitions are often gradual, may have a behavior blending of two stages at the same time.
• The stages are universal and follow an invariant order.
• Schema: An organized pattern that shapes our understanding of the world.
• Assimilation: Applying an old schema to new objects or problems.
• Accommodation: Modifying a schema to fit a new object or problem.
• Equilibration: Establishing harmony or balance between assimilation and accommodation.

Piaget's Stages: Sensorimotor Stage (Birth to 1.5-2 Years)

• Characterized by simple motor responses to sensory stimuli, like grasping and sucking.
• Infants lack object permanence - the understanding that objects continue to exist even when out of sight or hearing.

Piaget's Stages: Recognizing Self in Sensorimotor Stage

• Infants lack a sense of self until around 1.5 years old.
• The Rouge Test uses self-recognition experiments, with no evidence of self-concept until around 1.5 years old.

Piaget's Stages: Preoperational Stage (2-7 Years)

• Children lack "operations" of reversible mental processes.
• Includes egocentrism, Theory of Mind, appearance versus reality, and the concept of conservation.
• Children are unable to distinguish appearance and reality.

Egocentrism in Preoperational Stage

• Children view the world as centered around themselves.
• There is an inability to easily take another person's perspective or understand having different information.

Theory of Mind in Preoperational Stage

• There is an understanding that other people have minds, and each person knows some things that others do not.
• Theory of Mind gradually develops around 4 to 5 years old, and children can exercise thought in some situations but not in others.
• False Belief Task (Sally-Anne Test) example is also a demonstration of theory of mind.

Appearance vs Reality in Preoperational Stage

• Children are unable to distinguish appearance and reality.
• An example activity includes placing a white ball behind a blue filter, children will say the ball is blue.

Conservation in Preoperational Stage

• The ability to understand that objects conserve properties after change in shape or arrangement.
• Conservation includes numbers, length, volume, area, mass, etc.

Concrete Operational Stage (7-11 Years)

• Children can overcome issues from the previous stage with new thinking skills.
• The ability to perform mental operations on concrete objects is developed, with trouble with abstract ideas remaining.
• Imaginative ideas are developed.

Formal Operational Stage (11+ Years)

• Includes developing logical, deductive reasoning, and systematic planning.
• Individuals becomes more systematic and thoughtful in their approach to problem-solving.

Cognitive Development: Where Are We Now?

• According to Piaget, an individual should have grown out of the four stages.
• Egocentrism persists by expecting others to know what you know.
• Individuals fail at conservation by pouring more into the wide short class than thin tall glass.

Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development

• Is the difference between what a child can do alone and what they can do with help.
• Scaffolding: learning through guidance or help.
• 4-year-olds may not learn the concept of conservation, while a 6-year-old may learn the concept through scaffolding.

Cognitive Development: Other Influences

• Differences in environment can make a difference within each stage of development.
• Children from pottery-making families learn about conservation earlier than others.
• Western cultures encourage pursuit of individual goals.
• Chinese cultures emphasize group goals, creating less emotional expression.
• Culture affects the ability to identify emotion intensity because of lack of training.

Psychosocial Development: Erik Erikson (1902-1994)

• He believed that each stage has specific tasks to master, and that failure could lead to conflict later.
• Erikson divided human lifespan into eight periods.
• Stages of Human Development range from Infant to Older Adult, corresponding with conflict and typical questions.

Infancy & Childhood: Attachment Theory

• States that attachment is the feeling of closeness towards another person.
• Ainsworth’s Strange Situation measures attachment - Mother & infant play in a room full of toys is observed: Stranger comes in, then the mother leaves & returns a while later, the both stranger & mother both leave, the stranger returns first, then the mother returns again
• Attachment Styles: These styles tend to be stable over time.
  • Securely attached includes using mother as base of exploration, content when she returns.
  • Anxious-resistant/ ambivalent includes fluctuations between happy and angry when parent returns.
  • Anxious-avoidant includes infrequent interaction with mom

Infancy & Childhood: Attachment Theory Continued

• In Still-Face Paradigm, a parent suddenly shifts to an unresponsive expressionless face.
• Children who continue looking at parent with little sign of distress are likely to show a secure attachment.
• Attachments styles are affected genetically by different temperament, with influence over reaction to stimuli and consistence throughout life.
• Those with difficult temperament are frightened more easily, correlating with self control and impulse control.
• Parental responsiveness to infants' needs also influence attachment styles.
• Attachment styles are culturally consistent aside from some exceptions such as Japan (unusually high prevalence of "anxious attachment").

Childhood & Adolescence

• Relationships with peers become increasingly important.
• Individuals become moody and have conflict with parents in early adolescence.
• Conflict with parents decreases in late adolescence.
• Increased risk-taking behaviors (drunk driving, unprotected sex, etc.) occur.
• Impulsive, risky decisions are made more easily under peer pressure.
• Potential reasons for risky behavior:
• The prefrontal cortex is slow to mature until late teens or early 20s.
• Lack of inhibition?
• Desire for excitement.
• Identity Development is where adolescence is a time to finds oneself.
• This time in life includes "Identity Crisis" surrounding future concerns with decisions about the future & the quest for self-understanding.
• Is the time of exploration and "deciding" who they are.

Childhood & Adolescence: Marcia (1980)

• Includes a framework for Identity Status.
  • Identity Diffusion includes not giving any serious thought and lacking a clear sense of identity.
  • Identity Moratorium includes exploring, but haven't made any decisions.
  • Identity Foreclosure includes made decisions without giving some thought.
  • Identity Achievement includes made decisions after thorough explorations.

Childhood & Adolescence: Personal Fable

• Encompasses the belief of feeling special.
• Can be optimistic, but believe that they are invulnerable.
• Examples include beliefs that others may fail to realize their life ambitions, but you will realize mine.
• Feelings that other people don't understand, and a stronger feeling of noticing how you look and dress.

Early Adulthood

• Begins when one finds their first full-time job or begins their career.
• Requires self-initiation to make life-changing decisions (career, marriage, having children, etc.).
• Involves difficult and stressful events.
• Lasts until around age 40.

Middle Adulthood

• Encompasses when physical strength begins to deteriorate but is still functional.
• Individuals become more accepting of themselves.
• Less stressed about job, and kids begin to mature with less caring needed.
• Lasts until age 65.
• Individuals may go through a midlife transition, which reassesses goals, setting new ones and preparing for the rest of life.
• Midlife transitions can occur due to a tragic/emotionally taxing event (divorce, sickness, death in family, etc.)
• Some wish to pursue dreams but are hesitant to make risky decisions, causing discouragement/depression.

Late Adulthood / Old Age

• Those who are satisfied with life will experience "ego integrity," those who are not will feel "despair."
• Some deteriorate in different ways (intellect, coordination, self-care), while others remain alert and active.
• Deterioration occurs at different rates.
• The elderly will concentrate their efforts on tasks that are more relevant to their own lifestyle, and do things that they're motivated to do well.
• To avoid turning old, improve memory and cognition through physical exercise.
• Improve attention and performance with video games.

Facing Death

• Should you live everyday as if it was your last day?
• Should you plan your future to live a better life financially and in health?
• In existential psychology, the study on how people come to terms with the basic givens of human existence is studied.
• Terror management theory - Cope with fear of death by avoiding thoughts about death and by affirming a worldview that provides self-esteem, hope, and value in life
• When someone reminds you of mortality, you try your best to reduce anxiety by reassuring yourself that you still have many years to live

Facing Death: Examples

• If an individual reminds you of death, you may reaffirm your religious beliefs or views to find meaning in life.
• Should you repair damaged relationships?
• Should you do what you can to make it feel like you are in control of your own future?
• An ethical question - should an individual with limited health be kept alive?
  • As humans prolong life, more and more people must face these decisions for themselves and for their family members.

Gender Influences: Biological Differences

• Brain areas are proportionally different between genders.
• Females are better at recognizing faces and detecting emotional signals.
• Men tend to misinterpret a woman's friendliness smile for sexual interest, but this can also go the other way around.

Gender Influences: Behavioral Differences

• When giving directions, men tend to use distances, while woman use landmarks.
• Women apologize more than men - men may perceive things differently, or may perceive a situation as unimportant.
• Very often gender differences are not what they appear to be.
  • Ex: Men outperform females in math, but only in countries where men have greater economic and political power than women.
  • Ex: There are more men than women at the chess Grandmaster level, but this is due to sheer number as more boys play chess than girls.
• Males devote all energy to a single interest, whereas females are more likely to develop a variety of interests
• May be influenced by parents but also biological (Female monkeys prefer playing with dolls more than ball or cars than male monkies.
• Seems to be affected by exposure to testosterone during prenatal development.

Gender Roles

• Activities or behaviors that become social stereotypes may lead to labeling.
  • "Boys do this, Girls do that"
• Some aspects of gender roles are influenced by biology, while others are merely more like customs of society.
• Varies by differing social and cultural needs - male dominance occurs in Cultures who require hunting or fighting, more equal status in Cultures with many resources
• Gender roles are always changing, with more women in politics or leadership positions than ever!

Cultural / Ethnic Influences

• Western cultures have a tendency to be more individualistic and expressive.
• Asian cultures have a tendency to be more collectivist and restrained.
• Subcultures also influence an ethnic culture's behaviour - Northern Chinese (wheat farmers) are more independent.
  • Whereas, Southern Chinese (rice farmers) show strong collectivist and cooperative attitudes because they require sharing of irrigation system, and depend on each other for survival.

Cultural / Ethnic Influences: Acculturation

• When people learn the culture of the country they moved to, it may be stressful to learn certain customs (language, families), especially with big differences between them.
• Their future generations can experience biculturalism and partial identification with two cultures, however, that is difficult if the culture belongs to a minority group, who is widely distrusted.
• The younger you are, the easier it is for you to adapt, while maintaining some minor parts of their original culture (food, traditions, etc) -> Analogous to biracialism
• All may lead to a "cultural identity crisis," - which race/culture should one label themselves as?

Family Influences: Family Size

• Family size may influence available resources allocated to each child.
• Birth order in a family is unrelated to IQ.

Family Influences: Parenting Styles

• Parenting styles are described below.
  • (Diana Baumrind, 1971)
  • Authoritative parenting demonstrates high standards, but warm and responsive parenting.
  • Authoritarian parenting is emotionally distant and strict.
  • Permissive parenting has warmth, but is undemanding.
  • Indifferent / uninvolved parenting spends little time with the child and doesn't seem to care much.
• Different parenting styles might be more suitable/beneficial for different children.
• Indifferent parenting might produce an impulsive and out of control child whereas Authoritative parenting might be caused by a child who's behavior is already like that.
• Inconclusive for whether/not parenting styles directly affect children, or the other way around!
• Generally, it is known that children who grow up in happy and supportive family tend to develop better social skills, somehow
• Nontraditional families (Single Parents / Same Sex Parents):
  • Loss of a parent or lack of Resources or time might be bad for kids.
  • Same-sex parented children develop the same way in the grand scheme of things.
  • Although children develop the same way, they may face other difficulties in the realm of cultural acceptance.
• Parental conflicts: Conflict, divorce, and a wide-range of "results" depend on the ethnic/economic climate.

This quiz covers key concepts in developmental psychology, including the effects of alcohol on fetal development, the timing of initial fetal movements, factors influencing infant learning, and the stages of development from zygote to fetus. It also explores infant attachment styles.