Developmental Psychology: Growth and Maturation

• Developmental psychology studies the changes in humans throughout their lifespan.
• Development includes physical, emotional, and intellectual qualitative changes.

Meaning of Development

• Development is a pattern of movement or change from conception to death.
• Biological processes involve physical changes.
• Cognitive processes involve changes in thought, intelligence, and language.
• Socio-emotional processes involve changes in relationships, emotions, and personality.

Why Study Lifespan Development

• Understanding lifespan development helps comprehend individual growth and decline.
• It elucidates developmental milestones and transitions between life stages.
• It provides insight into biology, genetics, brain function, and understanding of human life stages.

Growth and Maturation

• Growth is an increase in physical aspects over time, such as height and weight.
• Maturation refers to gene-driven biologically predetermined behavioral patterns.

Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory

• Development is explained through environmental context, including family, community, and society.
• A child's physiological attributes is the primary environment impacting development.

Layers of the Ecological System

• Microsystem: Immediate environment (family, school) with direct interactions.
• Mesosystem: Connections between microsystems (e.g., parent-teacher relationship).
• Exosystem: Indirect influences via microsystem members (e.g., parent's work schedule).
• Macrosystem: Cultural values and laws impacting all layers.
• Chronosystem: Time dimension, includes life events affecting development over time.
• Children's reactions to systems change with development.

Determinants of Development: Heredity and Environment

Heredity

• Heredity includes factors transmitted from parents to offspring from the beginning of life.
• Genetic transmission includes physical or mental traits.
• Gametes are germ cells (sperm and ovum) from reproductive organs
• During fertilization, sperm fertilizes the ovum, creating a zygote
• The zygote contains 23 chromosome pairs, one set from each parent.
• Chromosomes are divided into genes, which carry hereditary characteristics.

Nature-Nurture theory :

• This asks how much environment and heredity influence behavior.

Influence of Behavioral Geneticists and Evolutionary Psychologists

• Evolutionary psychologists identify behavior patterns from genetic inheritance.
• Genetic factors affect cognitive abilities, personality traits, sexual orientation, and psychological disorders.

Limits Set by Heredity

• Heredity defines general intelligence and physical abilities, setting an upper limit.
• Individuals cannot exceed certain physical capabilities.

Environment

• It includes all non-genetic factors affecting the individual.
• The environment includes external factors and prenatal conditions.
• Individuals continuously adapt to the environment.

MOTOR DEVELOPMENT

• Motor milestones are major developmental tasks dependent on muscle movement.
• Motor development goes from head to limbs.

Motor Development Patterns in Infants

Cephalocaudal: Growth occurs from top to bottom (head to torso) Proximodistal: Growth occurs from the center of the body to the extremities.

• Gross motor development precedes fine motor development.
• Brain connections increase coordination and balance.

Reflexes

• Reflexes are unlearned, involuntary responses to stimuli.

Common Reflexes in Newborns

• Rooting Reflex: Turning toward touch and sucking when cheek is stroked.
• Moro Reflex: Throwing out arms, fanning fingers, and crying to loud noises.
• Grasping Reflex: Closing fingers around an object when palm is stroked.
• Babinski Reflex: Fanning toes when foot is stroked.

Learning Abilities of Newborns

• Classical Conditioning: Newborns associate stimuli for survival, can learn to suck when forehead is stroked.
• Operant Conditioning: Newborns adjust behavior based on consequences, and they can learn to suck faster for visual designs or music.

COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

• Brain activity which manipulates information (words, images, sounds, forms, etc).

Habituation

• It is a decrease in response to a repeated stimulus.

Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development

• Cognitive development progresses through predictable stages from birth to adulthood.
• Children are active thinkers constructing understanding of the world through assimilation, accommodation, and equilibration.
• Adaptive behavior results from assimilation and accommodation.

Key Concepts in Piaget's Theory

• Assimilation: Incorporating new information into existing mental frameworks (schemas).
• Accommodation: Modifying existing knowledge structures with new experiences.
• Equilibration: Maintaining intellectual balance by restructuring beliefs to keep testing reality.

Sensorimotor Stage (Birth to 2 Years)

• Infants learn the relationship between their actions and the external world.
• They manipulate objects and produce effects, such as moving a toy.
• Cause and Effect Relationship: Actions are related to external events
• Object Permanence: Understanding objects exist when hidden (around 8-9 months).
• Scheme: An action sequence guided by thought; sucking scheme is adapted with practice.
• Circular Reaction: Strengthening reactions by repeating chance behaviors.

Sensorimotor Sub-Stages

• First Habit and Primary Circular Reaction (1-4 months): Coordination of sensation and schemas.
• Secondary Circular Reaction (4-8 months): Repeating object-oriented actions beyond self-preoccupation.
• Coordination of Secondary Circular Reactions (8-12 months): Intentional coordination of vision and touch.
• Tertiary Circular Reactions (12-18 months): Exploring object properties and experimenting with new behaviors.
• Internalization of Schemas (18-24 months): Using objects and forming mental representations, for object permanence.

Case Study of Lucienne

• Piaget's daughter showed a transition from external to internalized thought when retrieving a watch chain from a matchbox.
• Combining sensorimotor and internalized processes shows the move to the preoperational stage.

Preoperational Stage (2-7 Years)

• The second stage in Piaget's theory, where children think symbolically, lacking cognitive operations.
• They cannot use logic or transform, combine, or separate ideas.

Characteristics of Preoperational Stage

• Symbolic Thoughts: Representing the world with words, images, drawings.
• Symbolic Representation: Representing objects not present and recreating experiences.
• Symbolic Play: Pretending one object is another.
• Decentration: Shifting focus from self to others in play.
• Decontextualization: Using objects to substitute for each other.
• Integration: Combining play actions into complex sequences.
• Complex play demonstrates increasing cognitive abilities.

Challenges in the Preoperational Stage

• Egocentrism: Inability to distinguish own perspective from others.
• Lack of Understanding Relational Terms: Difficulty with bigger/smaller, taller/shorter.
• Seriation: Not able to order objects by size or shape.
• Principle of Conservation: Not able to understand that physical attributes remain unchanged with appearance.

Concrete Operational Stage (7-12 Years)

• Logical thought appears.
• Children apply logic to physical objects that can be seen or touched.

Cognitive Abilities in the Concrete Operational Stage

• Seriation: Arranging objects in a specific order along a dimension.
• Reversibility: Understanding changes can be undone by reversing actions
• Conservation: Understanding attributes remain unchanged despite changes in appearance.
• Logical Thought: Ability to think logically and provide reasons for actions
• Transitivity: Understanding relationships between objects.
• Spatial Understanding: Understanding space, distance, and direction, and ability to mentally rotate objects.

Limitations of Concrete Operational Stage

• Thinking is bound to concrete, physical reality, not abstract concepts.

Formal Operational Stage (Age 12 to Adulthood)

• Abstract thought emerges.

Characteristics of Formal Operational Stage

• Abstract Thinking: Manipulating ideas without reliance on concrete objects.
• Hypothetical-Deductive Reasoning: Forming theories and deducing hypotheses to test.
• Inter-Propositional Thought: Testing validity of multiple propositions.
• Idealism: Speculating about ideal characteristics of self, others, the world.
• Cognitive Distortions: Imaginary audience (believing being the center of attention) or personal fable (sense of self-importance).

Pendulum Problem

• Piaget's "pendulum problem" illustrates the emergence of formal operational thinking.
• Concrete thinkers approach the problem haphazardly.
• Formal thinkers test one variable at a time to identify the critical factor.

Limitations of Formal Operational Thought

• Reached by 40-60% of college students and adults.
• Less technically oriented cultures have lower incidence of reaching this stage.
• Individuals may not use this thinking frequently.
• Requires significant cognitive effort.
• Adolescents and adults can revert to less advanced thought.

EMERGENCE OF SELF

• Child gets understanding of their gender from patterns of grouping
• Gender Identification: Labeling oneself as boy or girl (age 2).
• Gender Stability: Understanding gender remains stable over time (age 4).
• Gender Consistency: Not understanding gender remains constant despite changes in behavior, dress, or hairstyles (age 6 or 7)

Erikson’s Psychosocial Development

• Infancy (0-1 year): Trust vs. Mistrust leading to hope.
• Early Childhood (1-3 years): Autonomy vs. Shame/Doubt leading to will.
• Play Age (3-6 years): Initiative vs. Guilt leading to purpose.
• School Age (7-11 years): Industry vs. Inferiority leading to competence.
• Adolescence (12-18 years): Identity vs. Role Confusion leading to fidelity.
• Early Adulthood (19-29 years): Intimacy vs. Isolation leading to love.
• Middle Age (30-64 years): Generativity vs. Stagnation leading to care.
• Old Age (65+ years): Ego Integrity vs. Despair leading to wisdom.

EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

• Attachment is a strong bond b/w infants and caregivers.

Ainsworth Strange Situation

• Assessment observing child's behavior when caregiver leaves/returns.
• Attachment is evaluated depending on the child's degree of attachment to the mother.

Types of Attachment Based on Reactions to Caregiver( according to Ainsworth)

• Securely Attached: Actively seek contact and comfort from caregiver. They have a home base and distressed when the caregiver leaves.
• Insecure/Avoidant: Don't cry when caregiver leaves and are slow to greet them upon return.
• Insecure/Ambivalent: Seek contact before separation, but resist/reject comfort upon return.
• Disorganized-Disoriented: Show contradictory reactions to the caregiver.

MORAL DEVELOPMENT

• Changes in reasoning about right and wrong.
• Morality is how we should treat each other with respect to justice, welfare, and rights.
• During early childhood, a child has a specific moral code.

Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development

• Three levels: pre-conventional, conventional, and post-conventional.

Pre-Conventional Level

• Individuals judge morality based on the effects produced by actions.

Stages in Pre-Conventional Level

• Punishment and Obedience Orientation: Morality based on consequences; actions leading to reward are good, and actions leading to punishment are bad.
• Naive Hedonistic Orientation: Morality is based on self-interest and what others can do in return.

Conventional Level

• Individuals judge morality based on existing social norms or rules.

Stages in Conventional Level

• Good Boy-Good Girl Orientation: Conforming to gain society’s approval.
• Social Order-Maintaining Orientation: Considering laws and orders as essential for a functional society.

Post-Conventional Level

• Morality is judged by abstract principles.

Stages in Post-Conventional Level

• Legalistic Orientation: Seeing rules as social contracts that can change.
• Universal Ethical Principle Orientation: Basing morality on universal principles of respect, justice, and equality.

ADOLESCENCE

Characteristics

• Rapid physical development influenced by heredity and nutrition.
• Gender intensification occurs.

Concerns

Identity Crisis

• Exploration of possible, real-world selves.
• Identity Diffusion, meaning a lack of clear direction.
• Delinquency involves social disapproved behaviors from an early age.

Reasons For Delinquency

• Needs not met lead to social violation
• Instant "fixes" or satisfaction of needs
• Broken homes, one or no parent
• Peer pressure
• Organized group activies

Substance Abuse

• Drug and alcohol
• Manifested by significanatly adverse reucrrent consequences
• Examples include not doing well at work, or school, neglect, recklessness
• Legal problems
• Repeated use

Eating Disorders

Anorexia Nervosa

• Involving the fear of gaining weight and refusal to maintaina normal body weight

Bulimia Nervosa

• Indiviudals engage in binge eating followed by purging

Anorexia Nervosa

• Avoiding normal diet, even if underweight and malnourished
• Distorted perception of body size and shape
• More common for female adolescents from social pressure
• starts from fitting into an ideal body image
• requires medical treatments

Bulima Nervosa

• Episode of binge eating and taking compensatroy methods
• Occurs during negative emotional states
• Compensation like self-induced vomiting and purging.
• Lack of self-control. Behavioral and cognitive therapies used for treatment

INTELLIGENCE

• David Wechler defines intelligence as the capacity to understand the world and think rationally , and use all resources avaliable in the face of challenges

Nature of Intelligence

• Single-Factor View assumes other abilities depend on the factor.
• Multifactor View means intelligence has many independent abilities.
• Thurstone’s Theory includes seven primary mental abilities.
• Modern Approach combines specific general ability and multifaceted intelligence.

Theories of Intelligence

• Spearman’s Two-Factor Theory: General and specific factors
• Thurstone’s Primary Mental Abilities: Seven distinct abilities
• Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory and Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences
• Guilford’s Structure of Intellect Model: Three dimensions of operations, contents, and produces.

G Factor Theory - Charles Spearman (1927)

• Theory postulate correlations b/w ‘g’ (general intellegence) and ‘s’ (specific abilities)
• If a student scored well in Mathematics, they also scored well in Chemistry and Physics,
• Intelligence = g + s1 + s2 + s3 + … + sn

Characteristics of ‘g’-factor

• Inborn or innate.
• General mental ability.
• Constant across all activities for any individual.
• Unique to each individual.
• Always used in every activity of a person’s daily life.
• Higher ‘g’-factor indicates a greater chance of success in life.

Characteristics of ‘s’-factor

• Acquired from the environment
• Varies from activity
• Has individuals of different degrees

Criticisms of Spearman’s Work

• Unable to explain types of music abilities b/c there are small sample sizes

Group Factor Theory

• American Psychologist Thurstone suggests that some operations have a common factor which differentiates them from other operations.

Nine Factors Identified by Thurstone

Verbal Factor (V) concerns comprehension of words and ideas, like with speakers or comedians 2. Spatial Factor (S) manipulates objects in orientation in space. 3. Numerical Factor (N) calculate numerical and arithmetic rapidly. 4. Memory Factor (M) is able to memorize quickly. Word Fluency Factor (W) think of words rapidly. 6. Inductive Reasoning Factor (RI) draw inferences, specifically and bottom-up. 7. Deductive Reasoning Factor (RD) make use of generalized results (top-down). 8. Perceptual Factor (P) ability to perceive objects accurately. 9. Problem-Solving Ability Factor (PS) solve problems independently.

Cattel’s Fluid And Crystallized Intelligence

• Two clusters: fluid (think/reaon) and crystallizal (stored knowledge)
• The speed with which one can analyze information is an example of fluid intelligence,
• Fluid Intelligence seems to decrease slowly with age
• crystallized intelligence stays level or increases
• breadth of one’s vocabulary illustrates crystallized intelligence

Multifactor Theory by j.P Guilford (SOI)

• Guilford developed a three-dimensional theory of intelligence. This outlines the topography of the structure of intellect.

• parameters- intellettual activity that takes place

• Cognition- discovery.

• Memory

• converganet thinking to reasoning Symbolic material perceived through our senses auditory-language/music. semantic verbal behavioral social

• Thinking requires the operations diverging and converging

• Memory requires retaining what you have, operations

• Decisions can be evaluative skill of operations

• Linquistic skills cognitive operatio~s

• The theory resulted in the cubical model,providing for many factors of intelligence, tests concepts like creativity in problems.

Robert Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory

-Three basic forms of intelligence: componential, experiential, and contextual, help individuals deal with environmental changes throughout their lives

Componential/Analytic Intelligence

• Critical thinking and ability of problem solving. Meta component plans Example: student solves a complex math problem through the logical equation.

Creative Intelligence

• Helps generate things and solve using experiences
• Adapting to an environment
• Example: creating a meal from unexpected elements, showing innovation.

Contextual/Practical Intelligence

• Business people with sense of time and street smart
• modify the current environment Employees introduce new ways to boost efficiency

Howard Gardner theory of intelligence

-Gardner proposed multiple potentials, which is capable of functioning independently of the others.

Linguistic Intelligence

-Write in words and use language to express and appreciate meaningful terms.

Logical-Mathematical Intelligence

• Calculate using science and math

Visual-Spatial Intelligence

• Manipulate talent to configure

Musical Intelligence

• Capacity of pitch hearing to produce skill

Bodily Kinesthetic Intelligence

• Purposeful skills of movement

Intrapersonal Intelligence

-Insight to behavior

Interpersonal Intelligence

• Relation

Naturalist Intelligence

• Recognize the nature

Existential Intelligence

-Abilities to understand worlds

intelligence test

Tests to quantify a person's level of intelligence/mental abilities, usually in two different test- individual and group

Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale

• Binet devised his test by age levels because he observed that mentally to think like nonretarded children at younger ages.
• constructed age scales, where average children of that age should find moderately difficult -Testing Range/highest level- children given levels within their range
• score expresses an increase

IQ = INTELLIGENCE QUOTIENT

MA= MENTAL AGE CA= CHRONOLOGICAL AGE

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale

_measuring intelligence in individuals. —WAIS assesses both verbal and non-verbal intelligence through a series of performance tasks, including 5 subtests that require minimal language comprehension.

Test ofWAIS

verbal ability to measure with different symbols and complete the parts

Group tests

• Presented in multiple choice format and given to respondents
• Raven's Progressive matrices

Raven's Progressive Matrices (RPM)

RPM is a non-verbal, culture-fair group test matrix identifies to complete a pattern Individuals has eductive and reproductive skill Designed to cover mental ability relating to age, sex, race, relatively has cultural bias and education

Raven’s SPM and SPM Plus each produce a single raw score as well as an indicator compared to in group popualation. Used mostly admissions test or military

emotional intelligence

It refers to an individual's ability to appraise or understand emotional states

knowing our own emotions

• Understanding our own emotions from all aspects that shape relationships. struggles to express, lacks awareness

Managing our own emotions

• Regulating behavior , nature, interaction with others
• Challenges in a work and life balance

Motivating ourselves

• Persistent in tasks, -Maintingent enthusiasm and delay gratification for long-term to succeed

Recognizing and influencing others' emotions

• Assess some mood and behavior
• Inform interpersonal interactions

Handling relationships effectively

• Interpersonal relationship/positive interactions
• Tend to excel in interpersonal dynamics

MENTAL RETARDATION

Scores

130: Very superiour intellectual 120-129 Genius Below 69 or lower indicates retardation

Consideration of deficiencies in adaptive behaviors, This includes mild, moderate, severe or profound retardation

Mild intellectual disability

Those with intellectual level will be equal to 10

• Delayed development, early life include speaking and physical activity restrictions repeating grades COMMUNIcation difficutlies minimal behavior

With support, it can lead to self awareness and independence

Moderately mentally challenged individuals

• level is similar to that of a child
• they are trainable
• show signs of almost all areas of development and learning is too slow. early diagnosis, parent help. adequate training,

Severely mentally retarded

development from birth or infancy onwards and show severe motor and speech retardation need help proper care /specialzed traing

Profound mental retardation

deficiesnecies unable to protect common dangers and or assure safe shorted lifespan

• need care

Gifted and Talented Students

The students need services/ activites to fully develop their abilities.

• Above average ability
• High levels of task commitment
• High levels of creativity

Common Characteristics

1. • Highly sensitive and unusually alert, even in infancy.
2. • Rapid learners the ability to organize thoughts quickly.
3. • Excellent memory and vivid imagination.
4. • Use of large vocabulary and complex sentence structures.

• • Advanced comprehension of words, metaphors, and abstract ideas. -Thoughts are abstract, complex, logical, and insightful.
• • Wide range of interests asking probing questions.

5. • Learn basic skills quickly lack of practice.
6. • Concerned with social and political issues and injustices.
7. -High observation power and quick response patterns. achievements extend beyond academics to various fields like human relations
8. • Keen sense of humor.
9. • Often preoccupied with their own thoughts and are daydreamer

APTITUDE

• Indicates an potential indivudal skills
• Ability to acquire something

assessment of aptitude importance

Competence strength and weaknesses Guide organizations skills to enhance the perforamcnce assess a learners ability

Aptitudes Measured:

Test

The General Aptitude Test Battery (GATB) assesses various aptitudes, including:

Aptitude Description G - General Learning Ability The ability to understand instructions, make effective.judgments, and reason V - Verbal Aptitude The ability to use words effectively N - Numerical Aptitude The ability to perform arithmetic operations accurately. S - Spatial Aptitude The ability to understand geometric forms P - Form Perception The ability to perceive details in objects Q - Clerical Perception The ability to perceive detail. K - Motor Coordination The ability to make precise movements with speed. F - Finger Dexterity The ability to move small objects with fingers and accurately. M - Manual Dexterity The ability to move hands skillfully and perform tasks.

ACHIEVEMENT TESTS

Focus: Specific educational attainments Achievement tests focus on specific educational attainments.

Uses of Achievement Tests:

Weakesses in program: reveal deficiencies allow for adjustments Education assess syllabous: assess method

individual insights level/overall guides reflect the effectiveness of the education school to ensure performance

INTEREST

selective attention to an activity or goal. standardized, Knowledge and understanding of a child’s interests are key for educational and vocational guidance.

assessment select subjects to study select professions educational counseling/train

PERSONALITY

Personality is a dynamic organization within the individual/psycho-physical systems,Allport term