Schacter Chapter 11 Development PDF

Development Chapter 11 1  Overview Prenatal Development Infancy and Childhood: Brain Development Motor Development Cognitive Development Social Development Moral Development Puberty, sexuality and teenage social development Adulthood and aging...

Development Chapter 11 1  Overview Prenatal Development Infancy and Childhood: Brain Development Motor Development Cognitive Development Social Development Moral Development Puberty, sexuality and teenage social development Adulthood and aging 2  Conception Conception: A sperm and an egg unite to bring genetic material together and form one organism: the zygote (the fertilized cell). Fertilization typically happens 1 to 2 days after intercourse, but can happen as much as 5 days later. 3  Prenatal Development Germinal stage: ~2-week period that begins at conception; brief lifetime of zygote Zygote: Fertilized egg that contains chromosomes from both a sperm and an egg the initial cell divides in 2, 4, 8, 16... After ~100 cells have been produced the individual cells begin to differentiate Eventually groups of cells will produce different structures 4  Prenatal Development Embryonic stage: Period that lasts from the 2nd to the 8th week Fetal stage: Period that lasts from the 9th week until birth At 5 months creation of neurons is mostly complete. Myelination starts but will not be complete until adulthood 6 month old fetuses might be able to survive outside the womb 5  Prenatal Development Teratogens are substances such as viruses and chemicals that can damage the developing embryo or fetus. 6  Prenatal Development Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) refers to cognitive, behavioural, and body/brain structure abnormalities caused by exposure to alcohol during pregnancy. Changes physical appearance Lowers intelligence Causes learning difficulties Distressingly common Especially in disadvantaged communities 7  Prenatal Development Tobacco Smoke Exposure: various chemicals found in tobacco smoke act as teratogens Lower birth weight (correlated with health difficulties) More likely to have perceptual, attentional and learning problems as children Increased risk of stillbirth and infant death Even secondhand and third-hand smoke is dangerous Exposure remains a danger during childhood 8  Prenatal Development The fetus's brain starts processing information long before birth After 6 months of development the fetus responds to sounds and even bright lights A fetus can learn to even before birth: Immediately after birth infants prefer the sound of their own mother's voice 9  Newborn Both physical and mental abilities are very limited The brain of a newborn infant is only 25% of the size of an adult brain Unlike many species, humans are born with limited instinctual knowledge and abilities 10  Newborn Reflexes are behaviours that are inborn and do not have to be learned. Reflexes to ensure that infants can feed: Rooting reflex: when something touches a newborn’s cheek, the infant turns toward that side with an open mouth. Sucking reflex: will suck on things put into their mouths Crying when hungry: extremely effective way to motivate caregiver to take actions 11  Maturation In developmental psychology, maturation refers to biologically-driven growth and development enabling orderly (predictably sequential) changes in behaviour (e.g., people sit, then crawl, then walk) Experience (nurture) can adjust the timing, but maturation (nature) sets the sequence. 12  Motor Development Development of motor abilities is dependent on maturation processes affecting both body (e.g., muscle strength) and brain (e.g., cerebellum, motor cortex). As long as the child is healthy and has sufficient opportunity to exercise, experience has little effect of this sequence and attempts at training are ineffective. 13  Jean Piaget (1896-1980) Jean Piaget is the most influential early researcher of childhood cognitive development. Piaget believed that children think in fundamentally different ways than adults. According to Piaget, cognitive development is made possible by biological development of the brain aided by learning achieved through interacting with the environment. 14  Learning About the World: Schemas A schema is a mental framework used to hold and organize information about a certain topic or category. They provide a mental framework for understanding the world. Piaget believed schema formation and adjustment plays an important role in childhood learning about the world. “Cow!” “Cow!” This child has formed a schema called “COW” which he uses to think about animals of a certain shape and size. 15 Schemas: Assimilation & Accommodation After learning about dogs and forming a “Dog” Schema she can assimilate (apply an existing schema to new information) a new experience into her schema by categorizing the cat as a “Dog” she can accommodate (update and add schemas) her animal schemas by separating cats and dogs into separate schemas. 16  Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development Piaget's theory describes cognitive development as progression through a series of age dependent stages. During each stage the child gains new mental abilities and thinking is qualitatively different at each stage. The timing of these stages is approximately the same for most healthy individuals. 17 Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development 18  Sensorimotor Stage In the sensorimotor stage (birth to age 2), babies explore the world by looking, hearing, touching, mouthing, and grasping. Piaget believed that a child at this stages has very limited knowledge of how the world works. They mainly sense and react. However, this knowledge grows rapidly. 19  Sensorimotor: Understanding of the World According to Piaget, children younger than 6 months of age do not understand object permanence: knowing that objects exist even when they are out of sight. However, recent research shows that even very young children show evidence of understanding characteristics of the world such as object permanence. 20  Preoperational Stage In Piaget's preoperational stage (2 to 6 or 7 years) children could form more sophisticated internal representations (schemas, words, etc.) but were unable to perform mental operations (transformations) on these representations. 21  Conservation Evidence for difficulty in performing mental operations comes from an inability of preoperational children to correctly perform an conservation task. Conservation refers to the ability to understand that a quantity is conserved (does not change) even when it is arranged in a different shape. The characteristics do not change despite changes in appearance. 22  Egocentrism Piaget concluded that preschool children are egocentric: They cannot understand that other people may perceive they world differently. For example, when asked to show her picture to mommy, a 2-year-old holds the picture facing her own eyes, believing that her mother can see it through her eyes. 23  Theory of Mind By ages 4-5 children start develop the ability to understand an other person’s mental state when they begin forming a theory of mind. Theory of mind refers to the ability to understand that others have their own mental representations of the world (thoughts and perspective). The false belief problem on the right probes such ability in children. 24  Autism Spectrum Disorders Autism Spectrum Disorders has been associated with difficulties in developing a theory of mind. Individuals with this disorder have difficulty in mentally mirroring the thoughts and actions of others; this difficulty has been called “mind blindness.” Children with disorders on the autism spectrum have difficulties in three general areas: establishing mutual social interaction using language and play symbolically displaying flexibility with routines, interests, and behaviour 25  Concrete Operational Stage In the concrete operational stage (ages 6 to 11) children demonstrate an ability to perform mental operations for concrete concepts (not abstract). For example, they can: grasp conservation & other concrete transformations understand simple mathematical transformations and the reversibility of operations Reversing 3 + 7 = 10 to figure out that 10 - 7 = 3 26  Formal Operational Stage During the formal operational stage (11+ years) children gain the ability to think abstractly. Like adults, they are able to use symbols and create mental simulations of the world. They are able to begin to understand abstract ideas (political, religious, etc.) and learn symbolic math (algebra). 27  Reflecting on Piaget’s Theory Although Jean Piaget’s observations and stage theory are useful, today’s researchers believe: Development is a continuous process (not stages) Children show some mental abilities and operations at an earlier age than Piaget thought, e.g., Object permanence Mental operations Formal Reasoning Formal logic is a smaller part of cognition, even for adults, than Piaget believed. 28  Culture and Cognitive Development Lev Vygotsky focused on how children learn in the context of social communication. People actively teach children about the world. Vygotsky saw development as building on a scaffold of mentoring, language, and cognitive support from parents and others. Children learn thinking skills by internalizing language from others and developing inner speech: “Put the big blocks on the bottom, not the top…” 29  Culture and Cognitive Development The ability to learn from others depends on three fundamental skills: Joint attention: Ability to focus on what another person is focused on Imitation: notice & do what another person does Social referencing: Ability to use another person’s reactions as information about the world 30  Social Development Infants develop stranger anxiety at around 8 months of age. This is one early sign of a child's attachment to their caregiver. Attachment refers to an emotional bond between and infant and a care giver. In children, attachment can appear as a desire for physical closeness to a caregiver. 31  Imprinting In some species, attachment forms through a process called imprinting. During a critical period shortly after birth the infant animal will become rigidly attached to the first moving object they see. Humans to not imprint. However, familiarity plays an important role in attachment. 32  Origins of Attachment Many lines of evidence suggest that attachment is based on physical affection and comfortable body contact, and not based on rewards such as food. Infant monkeys bond with a surrogate mother that is comfortable to hold and not to one that provides nourishment. 33  Attachment Differences: Separation The degree and style of parent-child attachment has been tested by the “strange situations” test. In this test, a child is observed as: 1) A mother and infant child are alone in an unfamiliar (“strange”) room; the child explores the room as the mother just sits 2) The mother leaves the room 3) After a few moments, the mother returns 34  Attachment Differences: Separation Secure attachment: most children (60 percent) often feel distress when mother leaves, and seek contact with her when she returns Insecure attachment (ambivalent style): clinging to mother, less likely to explore environment, and may get loudly upset with mother’s departure and is difficult to calm when she returns Insecure attachment (avoidant style): seeming indifferent to mother’s departure and return 35  Attachment: Nature or Nurture? Could these differences in attachment be due to the child's temperament (pattern of emotional reactivity)? Some infants have an “easy” temperament; they are happy, relaxed, and calm Some infants seem to be “difficult”; they are irritable, with unpredictable needs and behaviour, and intense reactions Temperament plays a role but parenting is also important. 36  Attachment: Nature or Nurture? The way the parents have interacted with the child previously affects how children react to separation. Attentive, responsive, sensitive, calm parenting is correlated with the secure attachment style. Training in sensitive responding for parents of temperamentally- difficult children led to doubled rates of secure attachment. Securely attached children do better than insecurely attached children. They have better: Academic achievement Cognitive functioning Psychological well-being Emotional adjustment 37 Separation Anxiety: Nature or Nurture? Children developed an Internal working model of relationships: beliefs about the self, the primary caregiver, and the relationship between them. A child with a secure attachment act as if they are certain that their care giver will respond when they feel insecure. A child with an insecure attachment act as if they are certain that their care giver will not respond when they feel insecure. 38 Effects of Environment on Attachment A long-term study by the National Institute for Child Health showed that attachment style is strongly influenced by maternal sensitivity and responsiveness, but not by the quality, amount, stability, or type of day care Attachment to parents will not be affected, if the parents spend sufficient time with their child and are attentive and caring 39  Attachment Later in Life Many psychologists believe that our early attachments have a strong influence on our adult relationships and our ability to build and maintain intimacy. Our attachment with our parents also influence our relationships with our children. Secure attachment at young ages is correlated with better relationship skills as an adult. The gender of the parents does not matter: Mom & Dad; Mom & Mom, Dad & Dad 40  Parenting Styles Style Response to Child’s Behavior Parents impose rules “because I said so” Authoritarian and expect obedience. Parents submit to kids’ desires, not Permissive enforcing limits or standards for child behavior. Parents enforce rules, limits, and Authoritative standards but also explain, discuss, listen, and express respect for child’s ideas and wishes. 41  Outcomes with Parenting Styles Authoritative parenting is more strongly correlated with: high self-esteem, high self-reliance & high social competence. low aggression. But are these caused by parenting style? or are parents responding to a child’s temperament or are both a function of culture ? Or genes? 42  Moral Reasoning Kohlberg sought to describe the development of moral reasoning by posing moral dilemmas to children and adolescents. For example, “Should a person steal medicine to save a loved one’s life?” 43 Kohlberg's 3 Levels of Moral Reasoning 1) Preconventional Morality (childhood): Morality of an action is primarily determined by its consequences for the actor (avoid punishment or gain reward). 2) Conventional Morality (adolescence): Morality of an action is primarily determined by the extent to which it conforms to social rules. 3) Postconventional Morality (some adults): Morality of an action is determined by a set of general principles that reflect core values decisions may differ based on context 44  Moral Intuition Jonathan Haidt believed moral decisions are often driven by moral intuition: quick, gut-feeling decisions. This intuition is not just based in moral reasoning but also in emotions such as: Disgust: We may turn away from choosing an action because it feels awful. Elevated feelings: We may get a rewarding delight from some moral behaviour such as donating to charity. 45  Moral Intuition Given a hypothetical choice to save five people from an oncoming trolley by killing one person, many people’s choice is determined not just by reasoning, but by disgust. Many people would flip a switch to make this choice, but not as many would push a person on the tracks to save five others. 46  Promoting Moral Action How can we promote moral action? Teach self-discipline: ability to resist impulses Teach people to delay gratification Promote empathy and compassion for others Provided experience serving others Teach people to evaluate social influences and refusal skills to resist immoral social pressure 47  Adolescence Adolescence is the transition period from childhood to adulthood. Period of development that begins with the onset of sexual maturity (about 11-14 years of age) and lasts until the beginning of adulthood (about 18-21 years of age) 48  Puberty Puberty is the time of sexual maturation (becoming physically able to reproduce). During puberty, increased sex hormones lead to: Primary Sex Characteristics: development of reproductive organs and external genitalia Secondary Sex Characteristics: non-reproductive sex linked traits 49  The Protraction of Adolescence The sequence of sexual maturation is predictable, but the time of onset varies. There exists considerable variation between genders, cultures, time periods/eras. Affected by: Improved diet and health Chemicals (especially those that mimic estrogen) Recently the age of puberty has decreased but the age of adulthood responsibility has increased. The exact social effects of this is not fully understood 50  Puberty Maturing early can have social advantages & costs. Tends to be more positive for boys & negative for girls. May create unrealistic expectations about the adolescent’s maturity. Timing of puberty for girls has greater emotional and behavioural influence than occurrence itself. For boys, the speed (slower=better) with which they pass through puberty may be a better predictor of negative outcomes than is the timing. 51  Brain Development Puberty is accompanied by increases in connectivity between cortical regions. In addition, the start of puberty is associated with the start of a series of substantial changes in frontal cortex. This includes synaptic pruning that makes the brain more efficient. The frontal lobes will continue to develop into the mid 20s. The emotional limbic system develops before the frontal judgment centres of the brain are sufficiently developed to guide and control those emotional impulses. This is thought to explain teenage impulsiveness observed in many cultures. 52 53  Adolescent Cognitive Development As the frontal cortex develops adolescents become capable of more abstract reasoning. They use this reasoning to: Think hypothetically about choices & their consequences plan how to pursue goals Think about the minds of others including “what do they think of me?” Think about how reality compares to ideals become critical about their parents, society & themselves 54  Peer Influences Adolescence marks a shift in emphasis from family relations to peer relations. Peer pressure forms but has less influence as we age. Adolescents form same-sex cliques that meet opposite-sex cliques in public places. Eventually, these people will form mixed-sex cliques, pair off into romantic relationships 55  Peer Influences After puberty peer influences become increasingly important in both negative & positive ways. Peers teach social skills and individuals learn to cooperate and to gain popularity. Although parents are often frustrated by peer influences they are necessary for proper social development. Adolescents make better decisions when no one is around Participants in one study played a video driving game with or without their peers in the room. The presence of peers greatly increased the number of risks taken and crashes experienced by adolescents but had little or no effect on adults. 56 Is adolescence a cultural convention? About 60% of preindustrial societies don’t even have a word for adolescence (Schlegel & Barry, 1991). When a Krobo female menstruates for the first time, older women take her into seclusion for 2 weeks and teach her about sex, birth control, and marriage. a public ceremony is held to announce her status as an adult woman 57  Sex and Gender Sex refers to a set of biological attributes and is primarily associated with physical and physiological features including genetics, hormone function, and sexual anatomy. Sex is usually categorized as female or male but there is variation in the biological attributes that comprise sex and how those attributes are expressed. Gender refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviours, expressions and identities of girls, women, boys, men, and gender diverse people. It influences how people perceive themselves and each other. Although usually conceptualized as a binary (woman/ man) there is considerable diversity in how individuals and groups understand, experience, and express it. A Cisgendered person has a gender identity that matches their sex assigned at birth 58  Sexuality Adolescent interest in sex often precedes knowledge about it. Sex education is lacking in many areas Even teens provided with education often lack basic knowledge and/or ignore advice Teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases are still common despite efforts to reduce them 59 60  Sexual Orientation ~2% of Canadians identify as homosexual or bisexual An awareness of sexual orientation usually occurs during or slightly before puberty (Males: ages 6-18; Females: ages 11-26) Men tend to me ridged in their sexual orientation than women Biology (genes, prenatal environment) plays a major role in determining orientation “Conversion” techniques do not work 61  Adulthood Adulthood: Stage of development that begins around 18 to 21 years and ends at death. Defining adulthood into stages is more difficult than defining the stages of childhood or adolescence. However, changes continue to occur. Physical Changes: physical decline sensory changes health Cognitive Changes: memory, processing seed Emotional and Social Development 62  Adult Physical Development In our mid-20’s, we reach a peak in the natural physical abilities which come with biological maturation: muscular strength cardiac output reaction time sensory sensitivity The gradual decline in later years is only partially due to age Lifestyle, diet, and exercise all play a role 63 Impact of Sensory and Motor Decline 64 Lifestyle Can Slow the Aging Process Good food and exercise can: build muscles and bones maintain telomeres – extends the lifespan of cells stimulate neurogenesis (in the hippocampus) and new neural connections improve cognition reduce the risk of dementia 65  Cognitive Decline After age 25, people show declines on some measures of cognitive performance but not others. Short-term memory declines more than long-term memory Memory for specific experiences (episodic memory) declines more than general knowledge (semantic memory). 66  Cognitive Decline Techniques for improving memory also work for elderly individuals. An elderly individual that uses a mnemonic can outperform a young person that doesn't. 67  Brain Adaptation to Aging Across a variety of tasks, older adult brains show bilateral activation and young adult brains show unilateral activation. Older brains seem to compensate for the declining abilities of one neural structure by calling on other neural structures for help. 68  Social Aspects of Aging Older adults experience much lower levels of stress, worry, and anger than younger adults do 69  Social Aspects of Aging Younger adults are oriented toward future-pertinent (useful) information while older adults focus on (positive) emotional satisfaction in the present, perhaps because of shortened futures. Older adults focus on and remember more positive experiences and emotions. 70