Introduction to Psychology

Development Ark Verma

 Development

❖ What is development?
❖ we are born with a certain set of abilities, which,
given the right kind of exposure development into
full fledged cognitive functions.
❖ An important question often asked is:
❖ “How much is the relative contribution of nature
versus nurture in the biological, social, cognitive,
emotional & personal development?”
❖ i.e. the Nature vs. Nurture Debate!
❖ Developmental Psychologists:
❖ study a person’s biological, emotional, social, personal &
cognitive development from infancy to adulthood.
 Factors Affecting Development
❖ Prenatal Influences:
❖ Parents: parents contribute towards the first steps of
development of the ‘child’ through his/her genetic
makeup!
❖ However, the genetic makeup does not manifest itself
unless the right kind of interaction with
environmental or learning influences is not provided.
❖ The child prodigy!
❖ Prenatal Development: the prenatal period extends from conception
to birth & lasts about 266 days. It consists of the following stages:
❖ Germinal Stage: refers to the first two weeks following conception
of the child.
❖ conception: occurs if one of the millions of sperm cells, penetrates
the ovum’s outer membrane. After the ovum has been penetrated
by a single sperm cell, its outer membrane changes & becomes
impenetrable to the millions of remaining sperm cells.
❖ once the ovum has been fertilised, it is called a zygote, which is a
single cell.
❖ the zygote begins a process of repeated division, and after about a
week, consists of around 150 cells. then, it attaches itself to the
wall of the uterus & the embryonic stage begins.
❖ the embryonic stage spans the 2 - 8 weeks that follow
conception; during this stage, the cells divide & begin
to differentiate into bone, muscle, & body organs.
❖ at about 21 days spinal cord & eyes appear, 24 days
heart appears, 28 days arms & legs start forming & at
about 42 days, features of the face start shaping up.
❖ towards the end of the embryonic stage, the organism
has developed a number of body organs.
❖ the fetal stage: begins two months after conceptions & lasts until birth.
❖ at the end of the fetal stage, the foetus converts into a newborn child.
❖ during this stage the foetus develops vital organs, such as lungs,
physical characteristics that are distinctively human.
❖ this is also a stage, where fetal development is highly vulnerable to the
effects of drugs & other harmful agents.
❖ the placental, an organ that connects the blood supply of the mother to
that of the foetus, acts like a filter, allowing oxygen & nutrients to pass
through while keeping out toxic or harmful substances.
❖ however certain viruses, like the HIV & drugs like nicotine, caffeine,
marijuana, cocaine & heroin can still pass through the placenta &
harmfully affect fetal development. these are called teratogens.
❖ this is also a time when, certain genetic defects can manifest.
❖ amniocentesis is a medical test done between 14 - 20 weeks of
pregnancy, & involves inserting a long needle through the mother’s
abdominal muscles into the amniotic fluid surrounding the foetus,
which can help identify any genetic anomalies.
❖ e.g. Down’s syndrome: a disease that results from an extra 21st
chromosome and cause abnormal physical traits (a fold of skin
at the corner of each eye, a wide tongue & heart defects) and
abnormal brain development, resulting in degrees of mental
retardation.
❖ besides Down’s syndrome, there are more than 450 other genetic
disorders that can now be tested & identified (Painter, 1997)
❖ Other possible influences:
❖ Drugs: researchers have reported that pregnant women who
have admitted using cocaine & other combinations of drugs
like alcohol, marijuana, or opiates have a high risk of having
infants having lower brith weight, irritability, & poor feeding
habits (Richardson & Day, 1994).
❖ children from 4 - 7 years old who had been exposed to
cocaine in the womb were more impulsive, less able to adapt
to stressful situations & had more behavioural problems in
life than did a group of children whose mothers had not used
drugs.
❖ also, such children were found to have significantly lower IQ
scores & lower scores in understanding & using language.
❖ fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS): results from a mother
drinking heavily during pregnancy, especially in the
first 12 weeks. FAS results in a combination of physical
changes, such as short stature, flattened nose & short
eye openings, also psychological deficits, such as
degrees of mental retardation & hyperactivity.
 Abilities of the newborn!
❖ Sensory abilities:
❖ at about 1 month of age, an infant can distinguish his/her mother’s faces from that
of a stranger, provided he/she hears the mother’s voice. by 3months of age, an
infant visually distinguish the mother’s face from that of a stranger (Burnham,
1993).
❖ 1 month old infants can discriminate small sound variations, such as the difference
between bah & pah. by 6 months, the infants have developed the abilities necessary
to learn language.
❖ newborns also have a well developed sense of touch & can respond by turning the
head slightly when touched.
❖ even 1 day old infants could distinguish between a citrus & a floral odour. newborns
have a preference for both sweet & salt & a dislike for bitter tasting things.
❖ by the age of 6 months, infants have developed depth perception.
❖ Motor abilities: refers to the stages of motor skills that all infants
pass through, as they acquire the muscular control necessary for
making coordinated movements.
❖ the development of early motor skills follows two general rules:
❖ the proximodistal principle states that parts closer to the center of
the infant’s body develop before parts farther away. e.g.
activities involving the trunk are mastered before those
involving arms & legs.
❖ the cephalocaudal principle states that parts of the body closer to
the head develop before parts of the body closer to the feet. e.g.
infants can lift their heads before they can control their trunks.
❖ the two principles are part of the process known as maturation.
❖ maturation refers to the developmental changes that are genetically or
biologically programmed rather than acquired through learning or
life experiences. e.g. while all children go through the same
developmental stages for crawling, sitting up etc.; they could learn to
walk faster if allowed to practice their stepping reflex earlier in life.
❖ developmental norms: refer to the average age at which children
perform various kinds of skills of exhibit abilities or behaviours. e.g.
by the age of 2 years infants have grown into toddlers who can walk
up & down stairs and use their hand to hold glasses of juice etc.
❖ importantly, infants need appropriate environmental stimulation for
development of their visual systems, learning to speak, for emotional
development & even for motor development.
❖ Emotional Development:
❖ temperament: refers to individual differences in attention, arousal & reactivity
to new or novel situations. these differences appear early, are relatively stable
& long lasting, and are influenced in large part by genetic factors.
❖ Thomas & Chess (1977) divided infants into 4 categories on basis of
temperament ratings:
❖ easy babies: happy & cheerful, regular sleeping & eating habits & adapt
quickly to new situations. about 40% of the sample.
❖ slow-to-warm-up babies: about 15% of the sample, more withdrawn,
were moody, & tended to take a long tome to adapt to new situations.
❖ difficult babies: about 10% of the sample: were fussy, fearful of new
situations & intense in their reactions.
❖ no single category babies: about 35% of the sample, and a variety of traits.
❖ researchers have concluded that the majority of infants
develop distinct temperaments very early, usually in the
first 2-3 moths of life & that these temperaments occur
largely because of genetic factors rather than learning
experiences (Bates, 2000).
❖ e.g. while about 10 - 15% caucasian babies inherit a
fearful temperament, about 40% of caucasian babies
inherit a fearless temperament.
❖ emotional development is an interaction between
temperament (nature) and positive & negative
environmental feedback (nurture) which children
receive as they explore their worlds.
❖ attachment refers to a close fundamental emotional
bond that develops between the infant & his/her
parents/caregiver.
❖ separation anxiety
❖ secure attachment is characteristic of infants who use
their parents as a safe home base from which they can
wander off and explore their environments.
❖ insecure attachment is characteristic of infants who avoid
or show ambivalence or resistance towards their parents
/caregiver.
❖ Research Methods:
❖ Longitudinal
❖ Cross-sectional
❖ Cognitive Development refers to how a person
perceives, thinks, and gains an understanding of his/
her world through the interaction and influence of
genetic & learned factors.
❖ Jean Piaget believed that children learned to understand
new things about the world using two active processes:
❖ assimilation the process by which a child uses old
methods or experiences to deal with new situations.
❖ accommodation the process by which a child changes
old methods to deal with or adjust to new situations.
❖ Piaget’s cognitive stages refer to four different stages of cognitive
development, each of which is more advances than the preceding stage
because it involves new reasoning & thinking abilities.
❖ sensorimotor stage is the first of Piaget’s cognitive stages. during this stage
infants interact with & learn about their environments by relating
sensory experiences (such as hearing & seeing) to their actions
(mouthing & grasping).
❖ object permanence refers to the understanding that objects or events
continue to exist even if they can no longer be heard, touched or seen.
❖ the concept of object permanence develops slowly over a period of
about 9 months; by the end of the sensorimotor stage, an infant will
search long & heard for lost/disappeared objects, indicating a fully
developed sense of permanence.
❖ the preoperational stage is the second of Piaget’s
cognitive development stages. during this stage,
children learn to use symbols, such as words or
mental images to solve simple problems.
❖ conservation refers to the fact that even though the
shape of some object or substance is changed, the
total amount remains the same.
❖ egocentric thinking refers to seeing & thinking of the
world only from your own viewpoint and having
difficulty appreciating someone else’s viewpoint.
❖ concrete operations stage is the third of Piaget’s stages.
during this stage, children can perform a number of
logical mental operations on concrete objects.
❖ conservation: two things made from the same
material into different shapes can be recognised as
same.
❖ classification: children can now classify material
using categories as shape & color.
❖ formal operations stage: is the fourth stage of Piaget’s
cognitive development theory. during this stage,
adolescents & adults develop the ability to think about
and solve abstract problems in a logical manner.
❖ in the formal operations stage, children will learn to
solve abstract problems in a systematical manner. e.g.
questions of good or bad.
❖ Criticisms:
❖ Piaget’s stages are not as rigid as he originally
proposed. e.g. preoperational children can also solve
some abstract problems such taller or shorter
comparisons.
❖ description vs. explanation: while Piaget’s approach
gives a good description of child behaviour, it does
not explain the cause of process.
❖ Social Development: refers to how a person develops a
sense of self or identity, develops relationships with
others, and develops the kinds of social skills important
in personal interactions.
❖ Freud’s Psychosexual Stages:
❖ the psychosexual stages are five different developmental periods, during which the
individual seeks pleasure from different areas of the body that are associated with
sexual feelings.
❖ Freud emphasized that a child’s first five years were most important to social &
personality development.
❖ Oral Stage: first 18 months of life; pleasure seeking zone is centred on the mouth.
❖ Anal Stage: 18 to 36 months, pleasure seeking zone is centred on the anus & functions
of elimination.
❖ Phallic Stage: 36 to 72 months, pleasure seeking zone in centred around the genitals.
❖ Latency Period: 72 months to puberty, a time when the child represses sexual thoughts
and engages in nonsexual activities, such as developing social & intellectual skills.
❖ Genital Stage: lasts from puberty through adulthood, is a time when the individual has
renewed sexual desires that he/she seeks to fulfill by forming relatioships with
members of opposite sex.
❖ Bandura’s Psychosocial Stages are eight developmental periods during
which an individual’s primary goal is to satisfy desires associated with
social needs: the eight periods are associated with issues of trust,
autonomy, initiative, industry, identity, intimacy, generativity, & ego
integrity.
❖ Stage 1_Trust vs Mistrust: early infancy; an infant needs much care &
attention, if parents are sensitive & caring the infant will develop
basic trust which makes it easier for him/her to trust people later in
life. if the parents neglect the child, he/she may view the world as
uncaring & learn to become mistrustful and have difficulty later.
❖ Stage 2_Autonomy vs Shame: 1 to 3 years; if the parents encourage
the child to go out & explore, the child will develop a sense of
independence or autonomy. if not, the child will develop shame &
doubt.
❖ Stage 3_Initiative vs Guilt: 3 to 5 years; if the parents encourage
initiative, the child will develop the ability to plan & initiate new
things; if they discourage initiative the child may feel guilt & be
unable t plan future.
❖ Stage 4_Industry vs Inferiority: 5 to 12 years; if the child can direct
her energy to working & completing tasks, he/she will develop a
feeling of industry/competence; if the child has difficulty in
applying her abilities in completing tasks like homework, he/she
may develop feelings of inferiority.
❖ Stage 5_ Identity vs Role confusion: adolescence; if the child will be
successful in making the transition from the impulsiveness of early
childhood to becoming more responsible, purposeful & planned;
he/she will develop confidence, else will experience role confusion.
❖ Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory: emphasizes that
importance of learning through observation, imitation
and self-reward in the development of social skills,
interactions & behaviours.
❖ Acc. to this theory, it is not necessary that you perform
any observable behaviours or receive any external
rewards in order to learn new social skills because
many of our behaviors are self-motivated or intrinsic.
❖ modeling.
❖ imitating.
❖ Some useful concepts:
❖ vulnerability: refers to psychological or
environmental difficulties that make children more at
risk for developing later personality, behavioral or
social problems.
❖ resiliency: refers to various personality, family or
environmental factors that compensate for increased
life stresses so that expected problems do not
develop.
❖ Gender Identity: refers to the individual’s subjective
experience of being a male or female.
❖ Gender Roles: are the traditional or stereotypical
behaviours, attitudes, & personality traits that parents,
peers or society at large expects us to have because we
are male/female.
❖ social role theory: emphasizes th influence of social &
cognitive processes on how we interpret, organise and use
information. Applied to gender roles, it says that mothers,
father, teachers, grandparents etc. expect, respond to &
reward different behaviours in boys than in girls.
❖ cognitive development theory: says that children develop
mental skills and interact with their environments, they
learn one set of rules for male behaviours & another for
female behaviours.