Developmental Psychology Preoperational Stage

Preoperational Stage (2-7 yrs)

• Children in this stage use language, but are egocentric - believing the world revolves around them.
• Animism: Children give life to inanimate objects.
• Children do not understand the principle of conservation, meaning they believe the amount of something changes even if only the appearance does.
• Scaffolding: A process of supporting a child's learning, allowing them to take part in increasingly advanced tasks, eventually helping them master the task independently.
• Language is crucial for development in this stage, leading to self-talk, private speech, and ultimately internalizing egocentric speech as inner speech.

Behavioral Analysis

• Classical Conditioning (Ivan Pavlov): Associating a stimulus that doesn't ordinarily elicit a response with a stimulus that does.
• Operant Conditioning: Behavior is influenced by consequences.

Cognitive Advances and Declines

• Cognitive development is intertwined with physical and psychosocial development.
• Ethnic Group: People united by a shared culture, ancestry, religion, language, or origin. This creates a sense of shared identity, beliefs, and values.
• Nuclear Family: Household unit consisting of one or two parents and their children.

Life-Span Development Approach

• Development is lifelong: A continuous process influenced by previous experiences, acquiring new skills and knowledge throughout life.
• Development is Multidimensional: Includes interacting biological, psychological, and social dimensions.
• Development is Multidirectional: Individual growth in one area can lead to decline in another.
• Relatives Influences of Biology and Culture: Development is a result of biological, cultural, and individual factors.
• Observational Studies: Drawing inferences from a sample without manipulation.

Age Period of Development

• Prenatal: From conception through the implantation of the embryo in the uterine wall, ending at birth.
• Infancy and Toddlerhood: From birth to two years of age.
• Early Childhood: From two years to six years of age.
• Middle and Late Childhood: From six years of age until the onset of puberty.
• Adolescence: From the onset of puberty until eighteen.
• Emerging Adulthood: From eighteen to twenty-five.
• Early Adulthood: From twenty-five to forty-five.
• Middle Adulthood: From forty-five to sixty-five.
• Late Adulthood: From sixty-five onwards.

Attachment Theory

• Principle of Monotropy: An infant's need to form a strong attachment with one primary caregiver, typically the mother.
• Secure Base: The caregiver's presence provides security as the child explores their environment.
• Dependency: Reliance on another for basic needs, but not necessarily the same as attachment.
• True Separation Distress: Separation anxiety, signaling a special bond.
• Attachment Styles:
  • Insecure Avoidant Attachment: Child avoids contact with the parent upon reunion.
  • Secure Attachment Style: Child shows distress upon separation but easily calmed upon reunion, seeking comfort from the parent.
  • Insecure Resistant Attachment/Ambivalent: Child shows severe distress upon separation; angry and resistant to the parent's comfort upon reunion.
  • Disorganized/Disoriented Attachment: Child appears confused and contradictory upon reunion.

Object Relations Theory

• Melanie Klein: Emphasizes the importance of social (interpersonal) relationships and the role of maternal intimacy and nurturing.
• Prime Motive of Behavior: Human contact and relatedness.

Psychological Birth (Margaret Mahler)

• Process of developing a sense of separate identity from the caregiver.

Grief, Bereavement, and Mourning

• Grief: Normal reaction to loss.
• Bereavement: The state of losing a loved one.
• Mourning: The process of adapting to loss.
• Five Stages of Grief (Kubler-Ross): Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance.
• Dual Process Model of Grieving: Oscillation between grieving the loss and adapting to life without the deceased.
  • Loss Orientation: Feelings of loss and yearning for the deceased.
  • Restoration Orientation: Re-establishing roles and activities.

Death and Aging

• There is a higher risk of death for widows or widowers following the death of a spouse.
• Anticipated or prepared death can reduce the risk of death for the bereaved.
• Late Adulthood: Individual's experience with death may differ based on their level of preparation.

Explore the significant concepts of the preoperational stage of child development, focusing on egocentrism, animism, and the principle of conservation. Understand the role of scaffolding in learning and how language influences cognitive development. This quiz also touches on behavioral analysis through classical and operant conditioning.