developmental psychology
the study of age-related changes in behavioural and cognitive process
4 issues in developmental psych
- nature vs nurture
- critical and sensitive period
- stability vs change
- continuous vs stage changes
3 research designs
- cross sectional: different age groups at one time (cheaper, one-shot method, cohort efect)
- longitudinal : same participants studied over time - difference over time, control for upbringing. lot of time and resources and increased drop out.
- sequential: cross sectional but follow same groups longitudinally. helps with cohort differences, more costly, complicated & increased drop-out.
define maturation
the programmed biological process that governs our growth.
cephalocaudal principle
head grows first, then the body
proximodistal principles
grow from inside to outside
three stages of prenatal development
- germinal -zygote attaches to uterus wall
- embryonic - placenta and umbilical cord develop.
3 fetal - 28 weeks = age of viability. rapid weight gain and detailing body organs and systems.
sex determination
46 chromosomes, 23 pairs.
Y androgen with TDF initiates development of testis.
prenatal development - risk factors
- maternal factors: malnutrition, stress
- teratogens: alcohol, smoke aspirin.
- disease - STI
FASD
fetal alcohol syndrome - mild to severe cognitive, behavioural and physical deficits caused by prenatal exposure to alcohol.
childhood - the brain development.
- birth weight of brain, 6 month weight of brain
- continued development of synapses
- order of brain development
birth = 25% of adult brain, 6 months = 50% of adult brain.
- synapse formation (more neurons) - infancy to early childhood. synapse pruning (less neurons, more efficient) - childhood to adolescence.
- starts with areas related to body function - brainstem; later more complex cognition - association cortexes.
Newborn sensation and perception
very near sighted - only see 20-4- cm away. – develops continually.
preferential looking procedure: infants prefer novel complex patterns over familiar simple ones.
hearing - phenome discrimination exceeds that of adult, disappears by 1 year of age.
environmental and cultural influences
consistent breastfeeding assoc with improved cognitive development
more interaction with people and objects = thrive. physical touch affects growth positively.
adolescence - physical development
puberty
brain
puberty - the brains hypothalamus signal pituitary to increase hormonal secretions. mature/produce primary sex characteristic (organs) and secondary sex characteristic (features)
the adolescent brain
new neural connections while pruning massive number of synaptic connections. prefrontal and limbic system = role in planning, coordinating behaviour behaviours that satisfy motivational goals.
adulthood - physical developments
- young adults (20-40) peak functioning.
- mid -adulthood -(40-60) visual acuity declines; physical status declines at mid-life.
- menopause - stop menstruation between 45-55, lose estrogen, and fertility, bones may be brittle, slow to heal. men’s fertility decreases after middle age also.
adulthood - brain
lose brain tissue 5-10% lost every 10 years from 40 years old. - frontal and parietal lobes mostly.
- memory, declines in late 30’s. stronger declines in recall than recognition.
use it or lose it? maintaining cognitive functioning
70% of participants maintained level of functioning btw 67-74
retain fxn = engage in more cognitively stimulating jobs and personal activities, marry spouse with greater intellectual ability, maintain high level of perceptual processing speed.
piagets stage theory of cognitive growth
sensorimotor: achieve object permanence by 8 months.
pre-operational: world represented symbolically (shoe - real & pic); pretend play, egocentrism (fails to see someone else’s perspective
concrete operational: basic mental operations, learn conservation. failr hypothetical problems
formal operational: form hypotheses and systematically test or them .
beyond piagets theory
adolescent egocentrism: overestimation of feelings, experiences - personal fable
oversensitivity to social evaluation (imaginary audience)
post-formal: accept contradictions and irreconcilable differences, spatial memory declines, recall declines more slowly than recognition.
define theory of mind
the ability to attribute mental states to oneself and others and to understand that others have their own, possibly different mental states.
describe the false belief task
test theory of mind: measures individuals understanding of others perspective.
put ball under red box, sally leaves, move it. if child says sally thinks its under red box = pass. move it = fail
scaffolding // zone of proximal development
- requires collaborative interaction between learner and learning helper.
- push to zone of proximal development - far enough so they learn, not too hard so they give up.
- learning helper provides scaffolding support as needed.
define attachment
strong emotional bond between children and primary caregivers
