Psychology Over the Life Span PDF

Psychology Over the Life Span Introduction to Psychology Asst. Prof. Atanas Kirjakovski 1  Conception Every normal human being is 23 pairs of chromosomes, one member of each pair coming from an egg (X) and the...

Psychology Over the Life Span Introduction to Psychology Asst. Prof. Atanas Kirjakovski 1  Conception Every normal human being is 23 pairs of chromosomes, one member of each pair coming from an egg (X) and the other from a sperm (X or Y). A chromosome is a strand of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) in the nucleus of the cell. MATURATION: The developmental process that produces genetically programmed changes in the body, brain, or behavior with increasing age. 7  Zygote, Embryo, Fetus ZYGOTE: A fertilized egg (ovum). EMBRYO: A developing baby from the point where the major axis of the body is present until all major structures are present, spanning from about 2 weeks to 8 weeks after conception. FETUS: A developing baby during the final phase of development in the womb, from about 8 weeks after conception until birth. 8  Learning in the Womb Fetuses are active nearly from the start, at first with automatic movements, such as the heart beating, and then with large-scale coordinated behaviors. Fetuses become sensitive to both sound and light after 20 to 25 weeks of gestation (we test this using fetoscope). Sometime between 25 and 34 weeks, fetuses can distinguish between human speech and other sorts of sounds, after 33 weeks pay more attention to music that to nonmusical sounds. There is some research that claims the way fetuses behave in the womb predicts children’s behavior after birth. For example, fetuses that had more variable heart rates later develop into more linguistically able toddlers and demonstrate more sophisticated forms of play. 9  Teratogens and Stressors TERATOGEN: Any external agent, such as a chemical, virus, or type of radiation, that can cause damage to the zygote, embryo, or fetus. Maternal illness: The development of the brain can be disrupted if the mother catches a virus, such as chicken pox or rubella. Alcohol and drugs: If the woman drinks enough alcohol during pregnancy, the baby may be born with fetal alcohol syndrome. Cocaine use can affect father’s sperm. Caffeine and smoking: Excessive amounts of caffeine (three or more cups of coffee a day, according to one study) can lead to miscarriage or low birth weight. Mother’s smoking during pregnancy may increase the chance that her baby will die from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Diet and pollution: A mother’s poor diet can lead her infant to have fewer brain cells than normal and can increase the risk that the child will develop a host of psychological disorders—including schizophrenia. Other environmental pollutants, as well as X rays and similar types of radiation, can produce birth defects and cancer as well as behavioral difficulties (such as in paying attention). Maternal stress may affect the fetus by altering various biological factors such as maternal blood flow and increased maternal cortisol levels. 10  Newborns The human brain is not fully developed at birth— perhaps because the baby’s head would not fit through the birth canal. A baby is not a blank slate. Babies are born sensitive to the range of frequencies of women’s voices and have a relatively sensitive sense of smell. Infants also come equipped with a wide range of reflexes. A reflex is an inborn and automatic response to a stimulus, an action that does not require thought. From their earliest hours, babies show the makings of individual personalities. In particular, they demonstrate differences in temperament, in their inclinations to engage in a certain style of behavior. 11 Physical and Motor Development In general, control progresses from the head down the trunk to the arms and finally to the legs; at the same time, control extends out from the center of the body to the periphery (hands, fingers, toes). By the age of 2, the typical child has good control over all the limbs. In spite of their limitations in actually making movements, infants have sophisticated brain systems that control movement. 12 Perceptual and Cognitive Development Even younger babies can see depth, as evident from the visual cliff experiments (as early as 6-month-old). Other techniques for examining infants’ visual perception measure the amount of time they spend looking at stimuli. For example, the habituation technique. Face preference in early period (2 to 5 days), whole-object perception develops around (2 to 3 months). Sound preference for consonant tones (as early as 4-month-old). 13  Language Acquisition Behaviorist, nativist, interactionist theories. LANGUAGE ACQUISITION DEVICE (LAD): An innate mechanism, hypothesized by Chomsky, that contains the grammatical rules common to all languages and allows language acquisition. CHILD-DIRECTED SPEECH (CDS): Speech by caregivers to babies that relies on short sentences with clear pauses, careful enunciation, exaggerated intonation, and a high-pitched voice. 14  Language Acquisition Infants are surprisingly sophisticated in their ability to draw distinctions among spoken sounds. However, this general facility with drawing distinctions is only temporary. At about age 2 do children typically start putting words together into the simplest sentences, two-word utterances such as “Go dog” (telegraphic speech). OVEREXTENSION: An overly broad use of a word to refer to a new object or situation. For example, a child learns the word “dog” for the family pet. Later, the child starts to refer to all four-legged, furry animals as "dog." This may include cats, rabbits, and even squirrels. UNDEREXTENSION: An overly narrow use of a word to refer to a new object or situation. Suppose a child has a favorite stuffed bear toy and learns the word "bear" to refer to this specific toy. Later, when the child encounters other types of bears – like a real bear at the zoo, a bear in a picture book, or even a different bear toy – they don't use the word "bear" for these. OVERREGULARIZATION ERROR: A mistake that occurs in speech when the child applies a newly learned rule even to cases where it does not apply. For example, in English, the regular way to form the past tense is by adding “-ed” to the end of the verb. Instead of saying “I went to the park,” a child might say, “I goed to the park.” CRITICAL PERIOD: A narrow window of time when a certain type of learning or some aspect of development is possible. 15 Milestones in Language Acquisition 16 Cognitive Development — Piaget’s Theory The gradual transition from infant to adult mental capacity is known as cognitive development. Piaget believed that babies begin with very simple, innate schemas, mental structures that organize sensory and perceptual input and connect it to the appropriate responses. ASSIMILATION: In Piaget’s theory, the process that allows the use of existing schemas to organize and interpret new stimuli and respond appropriately. ACCOMMODATION: The process that results in schemas’ changing or the creation of new schemas, as necessary to cope with a broader range of situations. OBJECT PERMANENCE: The understanding that objects continue to exist when they cannot be immediately perceived. 17 Cognitive Development — Piaget’s Theory 18 Preoperational Conservation — Piaget’s Theory CONSERVATION: The Piagetian principle that certain properties, such as amount or mass, remain the same even when the appearance of the material or object changes, provided that nothing is added or removed. EGOCENTRISM: In Piaget’s theory, the inability to take another person’s point of view. 19  Beyond Piaget’s Theory Researchers have shown that infants have capacities beyond those claimed by Piaget. Piaget’s theory sometimes underestimates the sophistication of young children’s conceptions of the world. A serious challenge to the theory is the finding that children do not master all abilities that should require the same logical operations at the same age. The theory does not address the fact that many children do not enter the period of formal operations until high school, and some individuals never enter it at all. 20 Social and Emotional Development ATTACHMENT: An emotional bond that leads a person to want to be with someone else and to miss him or her when separated. The preference to seek comfort from something soft is an innate rather than a learned characteristic of mammals. A major shift in the nature of attachment, usually occurring between 6 months and 2 years, is characterized by separation anxiety, which is fear of being away from the primary caregiver. TYPES OF ATTACHMENT: Secure attachment, avoidant attachment, resistant (ambivalent) attachment, disorganized/disoriented attachment. 21 Moral Development — Kohlberg’s Theory Kohlberg theory is based on findings from his studies of how men and boys responded to moral dilemmas. Kohlberg identified three general levels of moral development: - The preconventional level, which focuses on the role of an authority figure who defines what correct action is; good behaviors are rewarded and bad ones are punished. - The conventional level, which focuses on the role of rules that maintain social order and allow people to get along. A child reasoning at this level wants to be viewed as a “good person” by friends and family and tries to follow the Golden Rule. - The postconventional level (also called the principled level), which focuses on the role of abstract principles that govern the decision to accept or reject specific rules. 23 Physical Development in Adolescence PUBERTY: The time when hormones cause the sex organs to mature and secondary sexual characteristics, such as breasts for women and a beard for men, to appear. There is a trend for puberty to occur at an earlier age today than previously. Many factors have been proposed to explain this: nutrition, stress, additives in food, chemical pollutants. ADOLESCENCE: The period between the onset of puberty and, roughly, the end of the teenage years. 24 Sociocognitive and Emotional Developments The major cognitive development of adolescence, achieved by some but not all adolescents, is the ability to reason abstractly. The ability to think systematically about abstractions allows people to reason about a host of topics, ranging from concepts such as justice and politics, to relationships and the causes of human behavior, to the rules that underlie algebra and geometry. The enhanced cognitive abilities of adolescents allow them to take other points of view easily—and allow them to see themselves as they imagine others see them. Some adolescents experience conflict with parents, show extreme mood swings, and are prone to taking risk. 25  The Changing Body Changes in the sensory organs (especially the eyes and ears) and the brain can markedly impair perception in older adults. Some declines in visual perception have nothing to do with the physical condition of the eyes but rather reflect changes in how the brain functions. Semantic memory remains relatively intact into very old age; episodic memory is preserved up to point. Impaired frontal lobe functioning is probably also responsible for difficulties older adults have with tasks involving working memory and strategizing. 26  Cognition in Aging Cognitive abilities remain relatively stable through most of adulthood, but signs of a decline in some abilities begin to appear by age 50. This decline in abilities is related to changes in the brain. Fluid intelligence, which involves reasoning in novel ways and the ability to figure out new solutions, and crystallized intelligence, which involves using previously stored knowledge as a basis of reasoning are affected differently by aging. Longitudinal studies show decline in fluid intelligence, but crystalized might be actually increase with age. 27