Developmental Psychology: Lifespan Perspective

Definition of Development

• Development is a pattern of movement or change
• This pattern begins at conception
• It continues throughout the human lifespan.

Life-Span Perspective (Paul Baltes)

• Development is lifelong and doesn't stop at a certain age.
• Development is multidimensional and involves biological, cognitive, and socioemotional changes.
• Development is multidirectional such some areas improve while others decline.
• Development is plastic, changeable and adaptable.
• Development is multidisciplinary and is studied across various fields.
• Development is contextual as it is influenced by historical, social, and cultural factors.
• Development involves growth, maintenance, and regulation of loss; adjusting to changes over time.
• Development involves the co-construction of biology, culture, and the individual, shaped by genetic inheritance and environment.

Goals of Developmental Psychology

• Describe: Identify when and how development occurs.
• Explain: Understand why development happens in a certain way.
• Predict: Anticipate future development patterns.
• Modify: Apply knowledge to improve outcomes.

Key Issues in Development

• Nature vs. Nurture: Debates whether development is more influenced by genetics (nature) or environment (nurture).
• Continuity vs. Discontinuity: Examines if development is a gradual process (continuity) or occurs in distinct stages (discontinuity).
• Early vs. Later Experiences: Considers if early life experiences or later events have a greater impact on development.

Major Theories of Development

• Psychoanalytic Theories cover development through resolving unconscious conflicts at different stages.

Sigmund Freud (Psychosexual Stages)

• Oral stage (birth–1.5 years) focuses on sucking and feeding.
• Anal stage (1.5–3 years) concentrates on potty training.
• Phallic stage (3–6 years) is about attachment to parents.
• Latency stage (6–puberty) involves socialization.
• Genital stage (puberty–adulthood) includes mature adult relationships.

Erik Erikson (Psychosocial Stages)

• Erikson focuses on social interactions and challenges across the lifespan.
• Trust vs. Mistrust (0-1 year).
• Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt (1-3 years).
• Initiative vs. Guilt (3-6 years).
• Industry vs. Inferiority (6-adolescence).
• Identity vs. Role Confusion (Adolescence).
• Intimacy vs. Isolation (Young adulthood).
• Generativity vs. Stagnation (Middle adulthood).
• Integrity vs. Despair (Late adulthood).

Cognitive Theories

• Jean Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development exists.
• Sensorimotor stage (0-2 years) involves learning through sensory and motor activities.
• Preoperational stage (2-6 years) means symbolic thinking but egocentric.
• Concrete Operational stage (7-11 years) is logical thinking about concrete objects.
• Formal Operational stage (12+ years) includes abstract and hypothetical thinking.
• Lev Vygotsky's Socio-Cultural Cognitive Theory emphasizes the role of social interaction in learning.
• Information Processing Theory focuses on how individuals perceive, process, and retain information.

Behavioral and Social Cognitive Theories

• Ivan Pavlov did Classical Conditioning and learning through association.
• B.F. Skinner did Operant Conditioning where behavior is shaped by reinforcement and punishment.
• Albert Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory where learning occurs through observation and modeling.

Ethological Theory

• Konrad Lorenz discovered Imprinting where some behaviors are biologically programmed to occur within a critical period.
• John Bowlby's Attachment Theory where early relationships can influence future emotional bonds.

Ecological Theory

• Urie Bronfenbrenner focused on development that is influenced by multiple environmental systems.
• Microsystem involves immediate surroundings like family or school.
• Mesosystem involves interactions between microsystems.
• Exosystem involves external environments that indirectly affect the individual.
• Macrosystem involves cultural values and societal norms.
• Chronosystem involves changes over time.
• Eclectic Theoretical Orientation uses elements from multiple theories to understand development.

Research in Developmental Psychology

• Quantitative methods produce objective data like standardized tests.
• Qualitative methods produce subjective data, like interviews or case studies.

Research Designs

• Cross-sectional designs study different age groups at one point in time.
• Longitudinal designs study the same individuals over time.
• Sequential designs are a combination of cross-sectional and longitudinal designs.

Ethical Considerations

• These include informed consent, privacy, confidentiality, and minimizing harm.
• Careers includes roles such as psychologists, counselors, therapists, researchers, and educators.

Developmental Domains

• An Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) framework identifies key domains that are essential for a child's overall growth and development.
• These domains ensure children develop holistically and reach their full potential.

The ECCD Developmental Domains

• Gross Motor is domain where involves movements of the body, trunk, and legs such as sitting, walking, climbing, jumping.
• Fine Motor is a domain that involves movements of the hands and fingers such as reaching, grasping, writing.
• Self-Help refers to the child’s ability to perform daily activities independently such as feeding, dressing, and toileting.
• Receptive Language is the ability to understand spoken words and language.
• Expressive Language is the ability to communicate thoughts and feelings with words.
• Cognitive Development involves thinking, reasoning, understanding concepts, and problem-solving; including early literacy and numeracy skills.
• Social-Emotional means the ability to interact appropriately with others based on age and cultural norms, including emotional regulation and interpersonal relationships.

The Rights of Every Child

• The right to be born, to have a name, and a nationality.
• The right to live in a peaceful community and a healthy environment.
• The right to obtain a good education and develop potential.
• The right to be protected from abuse, exploitation, neglect, violence, and danger.
• The right to express their own views.

Biological Beginnings

• Natural Selection and Adaptive Behavior are key components of the evolutionary perspective.
• Natural selection refers to when individuals best adapted to their environment survive and reproduce.
• Adaptive behavior are traits that enhance survival and reproduction.

Evolutionary Psychology

• Evolutionary Psychology focuses on how adaptation, reproduction, and survival influence behavior.
• "Fit" refers to the ability to pass on genes to future generations.
• Evolutionary Developmental Psychology notes humans have an extended childhood for brain development and social learning.
• Psychological mechanisms are domain-specific and may not always be adaptive in modern society.

Genetic Foundations of Development

• The Collaborative Gene is where chromosomes contain DNA, which holds genetic instructions.
• Genes direct cell function and development and are influenced by environmental factors.
• Humans have 46 chromosomes or 23 pairs.
• Mitosis occurs where cell division that creates identical cells/body growth.
• Meiosis where cell division forming gametes (sperm and egg), each has 23 chromosomes.
• Fertilization is when a sperm and egg unite to form a zygote with 46 chromosomes.

Genetic Principles

• Dominant-Recessive Genes is when dominant genes override recessive ones.
• Sex-Linked Genes means some disorders (like hemophilia) are linked to the X chromosome.
• Genetic Imprinting is when certain genes are activated based on parental origin.
• Polygenic Inheritance is when most traits result from multiple genes.

Chromosomal and Gene-Linked Abnormalities

• Down Syndrome is caused by an extra chromosome 21 and causes developmental delays.

Sex-Linked Abnormalities

• Klinefelter Syndrome (XXY) affects males.
• Turner Syndrome (XO) affects females.
• Fragile X Syndrome effects mental deficiency and commonly occurs in males.

Gene-Linked Disorders include

• Phenylketonuria (PKU) which affects metabolism but is managed with diet.
• Sickle-Cell Anemia which affects red blood cells and is common in African Americans.

Reproductive Challenges and Choices

• Prenatal Diagnostic Tests includes ultrasounds, fetal MRIs, chorionic villus sampling, amniocentesis, and maternal blood screening.
• Infertility is addressed with Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) such as in-vitro fertilization (IVF), Gamete Intrafallopian Transfer (GIFT), and Zygote Intrafallopian Transfer (ZIFT).
• Adoption involves the social and legal process of forming a parent-child relationship.
• Parenting strategies for adopted children should involve open communication and respect for birth heritage.

Heredity and Environment Interaction

• Nature vs. Nurture Debate is where studies of twins and adopted children help examine genetic vs. environmental influences.

Heredity-Environment Correlations

• Passive Correlation is where parents provide both genes and environment.
• Evocative Correlation is when a child’s traits elicit environmental responses.
• Active Correlation (Niche-Picking) is when children seek environments that fit their abilities.
• Shared which cover socioeconomic status, parenting style.
• Non-Shared which cover unique individual experiences within and outside the family.

The Epigenetic View

• Development can come from interactions between genetics and the environment, and genetics and behavior continue to evolve with new discoveries.

Infant Physical Development includes body growth and change

• Cephalocaudal Pattern occurs when growth goes from head to toe.
• Proximodistal Pattern occurs when growth starts from the center of the body and moves outward.
• Newborns are about 20 inches long and weigh 7.5 lbs.
• Weight loss of 5-7% is normal in the first few days of infancy.
• Weight doubles by 4 months and triples by one year.
• By age 2, children reach nearly half of their adult height.
• Brain Development has four lobes in its structure and function.
• Frontal Lobe covers movement, thinking, and personality.
• Occipital Lobe covers vision.
• Temporal Lobe relates to hearing, language, and memory.
• Parietal Lobe is spacial awareness, attention and motor control.
• Neurons process and transmit information via axons and dendrites.
• Synapses allow communication between neurons through neurotransmitters.
• Myelination or the formation of myelin sheath increases processing speed.
• The brain is highly flexible and shaped by experiences.

Sleep Patterns

• Newborns sleep 16-17 hours per day.
• By 4 months, infants develop more structured sleep-wake cycles.
• REM sleep (active sleep with eye movement) makes up half of an infant’s sleep.
• Shared sleeping varies across cultures but increases risks like SIDS.
• Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is a leading cause of infant death, most common at 2-4 months.
• SIDS risk factors include low birth weight, smoking exposure, and soft bedding.
• SIDS prevention involves use a firm mattress, back sleeping, and pacifier use.

Infant Nutrition

• These benefits include reduces risk of obesity, infections, diabetes, and SIDS.
• Breastfeeding also improves cognitive development, immunity, and bone strength.
• Breastfeeding lowers risk of childhood cancers and maternal breast cancer.
• Marasmus is when severe calorie deficiency leads to weight loss and frailty.
• Kwashiorkor is when protein deficiency causes swelling in the abdomen and feet.

Infant Sensory, Perceptual, and Motor Development

• Sensation occurs when sensory receptors detect stimuli (e.g., eyes detect light, ears detect sound waves).
• Perception is when the brain interprets sensory information (e.g., recognizing faces, understanding speech).
• Ecological View (Eleanor & James Gibson) perceives that perception is an active process that helps infants interact with their environment.
• Affordances are when objects provide opportunities for action (e.g., a spoon is for grasping and eating).

Studying Infant Perception

• Visual Preference Method (Robert Fantz) involves infants preferring patterned stimuli over plain colors.
• Habituation & Dishabituation occurs when infants lose interest in repeated stimuli but regain interest with new stimuli.
• High-Amplitude Sucking measures infant attention to sound.
• Orienting Response & Tracking observes how infants turn toward sounds and follow objects.

Vision Development

• Newborn vision is blurry around 20/600 but that improves to near-adult levels by 1 year and by 3 months, infants recognize faces, match voices to faces, and differentiate ethnic groups.
• By 4 months, infants develop color vision.
• Depth Perception from experiments reveals that infants develop awareness of depth and heights.
• Newborns can hear before birth and prefer familiar voices and native language.
• Newborns respond to touch and can feel pain.
• Newborns can differentiate odors and show preferences for sweet tastes.
• Intermodal Perception is the ability to combine information from multiple senses (e.g., matching a voice with a face).
• Intermodal perception improves significantly in the first year.

Motor Development

• Dynamic Systems Theory occurs when infants develop motor skills by perceiving and acting on stimuli.
• Motor skills emerge as solutions to movement challenges.
• Reflexes are automatic responses to stimuli (e.g., sucking, grasping, Moro reflex).
• Some reflexes disappear as voluntary control develops.

Gross Motor Development

• Posture Development are where newborns cannot control posture but improve through sensory input.
• Learning to Walk requires balance and weight shifting, usually achieved around 1 year, and by 2 years, toddlers can run, climb, and jump.
• Fine Motor Development involves precise movements (e.g., grasping, using a spoon, buttoning a shirt).
• Experience and coordination are key to mastering fine motor skills.

Infant Cognitive Development covers Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development

• Adaptation occurs when processes of development adjust to new environmental demands.
• Schemes are mental representations that organize knowledge.
• Assimilation is incorporating new information into existing schemes.
• Accommodation adjusting schemes to fit new experiences.
• Organization which group related concepts into higher-order systems.
• Equilibration occurs in the process that shifts thinking from one stage to another due to cognitive conflicts.
• Sensorimotor Stage (Birth to 2 years) occurs when infants learn through sensory experiences and motor actions.

Six Substages

• Simple reflexes.
• First habits and primary circular reactions.
• Secondary circular reactions.
• Coordination of secondary circular reactions.
• Tertiary circular reactions, novelty, and curiosity.
• Internalization of schemes.
• Object Permanence: Occurs when understanding that objects continue to exist even when not visible and causality means understanding cause-and-effect relationships.

Information-Processing Approach

• One focus is on how infants process, monitor, and manipulate information, and effective processing involves attention, memory, and thinking.
• Joint Attention requires attention, tracking another’s behavior, directing another’s attention, and reciprocal interaction.
• Joint attention is essential for early learning and social interaction.

Types of Memory

• Short-term memory: Limited capacity, temporary storage.
• Long-term memory: Relatively permanent storage.
• Implicit memory: Automatic recall of skills (e.g., riding a bike).
• Explicit memory: Conscious recall of facts and events.
• Infantile Amnesia in the inability to recall events from the first 3 years of life.

Thinking and Concept Formation

• Thinking involves manipulating and transforming information in memory, and concept formation begins as early as 3 months.
• Perceptual Categorization (3 months): Based on size, color, and movement.
• Conceptual Categorization (7-9 months): Based on deeper meanings and functions.
• Metacognition covers thinking about thinking and helps children develop learning strategies.
• Metamemory is awareness of one’s memory abilities.

Theory of Mind

• Theory of mind is understanding one’s own mental processes and those of others.
• By 18 months to 3 years involves, understanding of perceptions, emotions, and desires.
• Its also realizing that others can see, feel, and think differently.