What is human development?
- Positive and negative changes
- physical, cognitive, social and emotional development
How is human development studied?
Cross section and longitudinal design
Physical human development
changes in the individual associated with biological or maturation changes.
Cognitive human development
– changes in the individual associated with mental abilities.
Social & Emotional human development
– changes in the individual regarding the individuals emotions and connection with others.
Cross-sectional design
– assessing a sample of individuals at one time point.
Longitudinal design
assessing a sample of individuals across multiple time points.
- At least 2 or more sessions
- Time in between sessions can vary
Cohort effects
– differences in groups assessed are a result of differences in time periods.
Germinal Stage:
- (Weeks 1 & 2)
- Conception until zygote attaches to uterine wall
- Placenta forms
Embryonic Stage:
- (Week 2 – 2 months)
- Vital organs form
- Starts to look human
Fetal Stage:
- (2 months – birth)
- Bones & muscles form
- Organs mature
Schema
– knowledge structure of the world (i.e., organization of the world)
Children process the world in what two ways?
Assimilate – interpreting new information using existing schemas (no change to schema).
Accommodate –interpreting new information by changing existing schemas.
Jean Piaget further argued that children’s mental abilities developed in what stages?
- Sensorimotor (birth – 2 years)
- Preoperational (2-7 years)
- Concrete operational (7-11 years)
- Formal operational (11 years and older)
Sensorimotor Stage
- Birth to 2 years
- Understanding how the body interacts with the environment through motor development.
- Object permanence (understanding that an object still exists even when out of sight)
Preoperational Stage
- 2 – 7 years
- Symbolic thought and mental imaging begins
- Egocentric thinking (inability to see the world from another’s perspective)
- Lack of ability to understand conservation, reversibility, centration.
Concrete operational
- 7-11 years
- Develop understanding of conservation, reversibility, decentration.
- Ability to see situations from other perspectives.
- Difficulty with abstract thinking
Formal operational
- 11 years and older
- Develops ability to think abstractly.
- Ability to think about things hypothetically to problem solve.
Social Development
- Erik Erikson argued that children had an implicit goal to separate one’s from their parents, forming one’s own identity
Erikson’s Stages of Development
- Trust vs. Mistrust – will my care giver provide for me?
- Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt – what am I capable of doing? (e.g. toilet training)
- Initiative vs. Guilt – child imitates adults in attempts to trying to be like them with goal of being assertive (“I do it”)
- Industry vs. Inferiority – children start comparing themselves to others (am I better or worse than you?)
- Identity vs. Role Confusion – adolescents start trying to figure out their identity (“who am I?”)
- Intimacy vs. Isolation – goal of the adult is to connect with others, find their mate (“will I marry someone? How do I connect with others”)
- Generativity vs. Stagnation – the goal of the adult is to feel that they have achieved something, made a difference (“am I being productive?”)
- Integrity vs. Despair – final stage in life where older adults are no longer focused on productivity and looking back on life. (“what have I accomplished?”)
Identity statuses
Marcia extended Erikson’s work and argued that it is necessary to go through a crisis to emerge with a stronger identity.
- these statuses can occur in other stages of life
Identity Crisis
- one can experience anxiety or identity crisis 0n the process of sorting out one’s identity,
- Likely to occur in Adolescents but has been known to occur in middle adulthood
Types of identity crises:
Identity deficit - When the self is not adequately defined (i.e., they don’t know who they are) - Low commitment to goals - Difficulty with major life decisions Identity conflict - Aspects of identity not compatible or in conflict - Approach with two different things - E.g., Balancing career and family
Attachment
Attachment involves forming a bond between infant and caregiver.
