Overview

Developmental
Psychology
 Learning Objectives:
1 To understand what Developmental Psychology is.

2 To be familiar with the issues in developmental psychology.

3 Recognize the seven principles/characteristics of life span.

4 Differentiate three developmental research designs.

Know about the theoretical perspectives in Developmental

5
Psychology.
 DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY
A branch of psychology concerned
with changes in physical, cognitive,
psychosocial, and social functioning that
occur throughout lifespan. It focuses from
conception to death.
 DOMAINS OF DEVELOPMENT

PHYSICAL COGNITIVE PSYCHOSOCIAL

Growth of the body Patterns of changes Patterns of changes in

& the brain. in mental abilities emotions, personality,
and social relationships.
 GOALS OF HUMAN
DEVELOPMENT

1 DESCRIBE 3 PREDICT

2 EXPLAIN 4 INTERVENE
 PERIODS OF LIFESPAN

Prenatal Period conception to birth

Infancy & Toddlerhood birth-3

Early Childhood 3-6 years

Middle Childhood 6-11 years

Adolescence 11-20 years

Young Adulthood 20-40 years

Middle Adulthood 40-65 years

Late Adulthood 65 years and Over

 ISSUES IN
DEVELOPMENTAL
PSYCHOLOGY
 NATURE vs NURTURE

Hereditary Environment
(Nature) (Nurture)
Totality of nonhereditary
Inborn traits &
or experiential influence.
characteristics Starting with the prenatal
inherited from our environment in the womb
biological parents. and continuous
throughout the lifespan.
 STABILITY vs CHANGE

Takes a more
It is a result of
optimistic view that
heredity and early
later experiences can
experiences in life
produce change
 CONTINUITY vs DISCONTINUITY

View that development

View that development occurs in a series of
is a gradual, continuous distinct changes. Marked
process. Example: by the emergence of a
Height, weight, hair new phenomena that
(mostly physical could not be easily
characteristics) predicted based on past
functioning.
7 PRINCIPLES/CHARACTERISTICS
OF LIFESPAN
1 Development is lifelong.

2 Development is multidimensional

3 Development is multidirectional

Relative influences of biology & culture shift over the

4 lifespan

5 Development involves changing resource allocations

6 Development shows plasticity

7 Development is influenced by historical & cultural context

 HISTORICAL CONTEXT

A. NORMATIVE AGE-GRADED INFLUENCES

B. NORMATIVE HISTORY-GRADED
INFLUENCES

C. NONNORMATIVE INFLUENCES
DEVELOPMENTAL
RESEARCH
DESIGNS
 CROSS SECTIONAL

• designed to assess age related

differences in which people of different
ages are assessed on one occasion

• criticism: subject to cohort effects

 LONGITUDINAL
• tracks people overtime and focuses on
individual changes with age; the
researchers study the same group more
than once overtime.
• it is the only way to know whether changes
actually do occur with age
• criticism: it is prone to attrition and cross
generational effect
Note: Attrition refers to the loss of participants over time.
Cross-generational effect: relates to how different generations respond to developmental factors in different ways.
 SEQUENTIAL
• combines two approaches to minimize
the drawbacks of the separate
approaches

• tracks people of different ages overtime

• criticism: time consuming, too complex

THEORY
 What is Theory?

Theory is a set of logically related

concepts or statements that seek to
describe and explain development and
to predict the kinds of behavior that
might occur under certain conditions
 IS DEVELOPMENT ACTIVE OR REACTIVE?

I. John Locke
• A young child is a tabula rasa- a
blank slate- upon which society
writes
• How the child developed depended
entirely on experiences
• He is also the forerunner of
mechanistic model and reactive
development
 REACTIVE DEVELOPMENT
A developing child is a hungry sponge that soaks
up experiences and is shaped by this input
overtime

MECHANISTIC DEVELOPMENT
• People are like machines that react to environmental
inputs
• View human development as a series of predictable
responses to stimuli
 IS DEVELOPMENT ACTIVE OR REACTIVE?

II. Jean Jacques Rousseau

• Children are “noble

savages” who develop
according to their own
positive natural tendencies
if not corrupted by society.
 ACTIVE DEVELOPMENT
Argue that people create experiences for themselves
and are motivated to learn about the world around
them

ORGANISMIC MODEL
• Views human development as internally initiated by an
active organism and as occurring in a sequence of
qualitatively different stages
• people initiate events; they do not just react
PSYCHOANALYTIC
THEORIES
 I. PSYCHOSEXUAL THEORY- SIGMUND FREUD

STAGE AGE EROGENOUS ZONE ACTIVITIES

ORAL birth-2 y/o Mouth Sucking, biting, swallowing

ANAL 2-3 y/o Anus Toilet training

Sexual desire to opposite

PHALLIC 3-6y/o Genital Area sex parent (male & female
Oedipus Complex)

LATENCY 6 y/o - puberty None a period of socialization

Genital Area (and other

sexual intercourse (more on
GENITAL Puberty onwards prepheral erogenous
heterosexual relationships)
zones)
II. PSYCHOSOCIAL THEORY- ERIK ERIKSON
BASIC
CRISIS AGE
STRENGTH

TRUST VS
Infancy Hope
MISTRUST
AUTONOMY
VS. SHAME & Early childhood Will
DOUBT

INITIATIVE VS
Play Age Purpose
GUILT

INDUSTRY VS
School Age Competence
INFERIORITY
II. PSYCHOSOCIAL THEORY- ERIK ERIKSON
BASIC
CRISIS AGE
STRENGTH

IDENTITY VS
ROLE Adolescence Fidelity
CONFUSION

INTIMACY VS Young
Love
ISOLATION Adulthood

GENERATIVITY
Middle
VS Care
Adulthood
STAGNATION

INTEGRITY VS
Late Adulthood Wisdom
DESPAIR
LEARNING
THEORIES
 I. OPERANT CONDITIONING- B.F. SKINNER

FOUR PROCEDURES:
1. Positive Reinforcement- behavior is followed by a
favorable stimulus.
2.Negative Reinforcement- behavior is followed by a
removal of unfavorable stimulus.
3.Positive Punishment- behavior is followed by an
unfavorable stimulus.
4.Negative Punishment- behavior is followed by a
removal of favorable stimulus.
II. CLASSICAL CONDITIONING- IVAN PAVLOV

Process in which an unconditioned stimulus is

repeatedly paired with a conditioned stimulus until the
conditioned stimulus elicit a response without the
presentation of the conditioned stimulus.
II. CLASSICAL CONDITIONING- IVAN PAVLOV
Extinction- If the CS repeatedly occurs wiuthout the US,
the response would gradually weaken and eventually be
eliminated
Stimulus Generalization- CRs occur not only when
confronted by the CS during training, but also in
the face of similar stimuli (ex. Little Albert).
Stimulus Discrimination- the learned tendency to
respond to the stimulus used in training but not to
the stimulus that was not used.
 III. SOCIAL LEARNING/ SOCIAL COGNITIVE
THEORY- ALBERT BANDURA

Observational Learning- a learning by observing and

imitating models; modeling

4 PROCESSES THAT GOVERN OBSERVATIONAL

LEARNING:
1. Attentional Processes
2.Retentional/Representational Processes
3.Reproduction Processes
4.Incentive & Motivational Processes
COGNITIVE
THEORIES
I. COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT THEORY- JEAN PIAGET

3 Interrelated Processes of Cognitive Growth

1. Organization- creating categories (schemas)

2. Adaptation- handling new information in light of
what they already know
3.Assimilation
4.Accommodation
5.Equilibration- balancing cognitive structures and
new experiences
I. COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT THEORY- JEAN PIAGET

STAGE AGE FEATURES

• Coordination of sensory input of
information and motor activity.
SENSORIMOTOR
Birth-2 years • Simple Reflexes.
STAGE
• Child develop Object permanence
Child develops a representation system
PREOPERATIONAL
2-7 years and uses symbols; imitation, symbolic,
STAGE and mental imagery.
I. COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT THEORY- JEAN PIAGET

PREOPERATIONAL STAGE

2 Functions:

1. SYMBOLIC FUNCTION
⚬ Animism
⚬ Egocentrism
2. INTUITIVE FUNCTION
⚬ Centration- focus only on one salient aspect of situation and
neglect other possible relevant events.
⚬ Lack of Conservation- Inability to understand that quantities
remains constant even when they change shape.
I. COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT THEORY- JEAN PIAGET
STAGE AGE FEATURES
Child can solve problems logically about
concrete events only
CONCRETE
OPERATIONAL 7-11 years Advances: Spatial thinking,
STAGE categorization, seriation, inductive
reasoning, number & mathematics.
Able to think abstractly, deal with
hypothetical situations, and think about
FORMAL possibilities.
11 years -
OPERATIONAL
adulthood Capable of symbolic abstractions of
STAGE
algebra, literary criticism, and the use of
metaphor in literature.
 II. SOCIOCULTURAL THEORY- LEV VYGOTSKY

• social and cultural processes guide children’s cognitive

development
• Cognitive growth is a collaboration process with an adult
or more skilled peer
Zone of Proximal Development- the gap between what
children are able to do and what they are capable of doing by
themselves.
1. Scaffolding- the temporary support given to a child
in doing a task
CONTEXTUAL
THEORIES
BIOLOGICAL THEORY- URIE BROFENBRENNER
ETHOLOGICAL/
EVOLUTIONARY
THEORIES
 IMPRINTING- KONRAD LORENZ

The rapid, innate learning that involves attachment to the

first moving object seen during a critical period in early
development.
 ATTACHMENT THEORY- JOHN BOWLBY
STAGES OF ATTACHMENT

1. Pre Attachment (0-2 months)- unable to discriminate

between strangers & caregiver/s
2.Attachment in the making (2-6 months)- able to
recognize parents but don't get upset when they are gone.
3.Clear Cut Attachment (6 months-7yrs)- experiences
separation anxiety, when separated from caregivers and
experiences stranger anxiety.
4.Goal-Corrected Attachment (3-4 yrs)-understands that
when people leave they’ll come back.
 MARY AINSWORTH- A STRANGE SITUATION
1. Secure Attachment-
sometimes they cry when a
caregiver leaves, but they
quickly obtain the comfort they
need once the caregiver
returns.
2.Avoidant Attachment- infant
rarely cries when separated
from the caregiver & avoids
contact on her return- infants
reject or ignore the caregiver.
 MARY AINSWORTH- A STRANGE SITUATION
3. Ambivalent/Resistant
Attachment- infant becomes
anxious before the caregiver
leaves, it is extremely upset during
her absence, and both seeks &
resist contact on her return.
4. Disorganized/Disoriented
Attachment- Main & Solomon
(1986). After separation from the
caregiver, shows contradictory,
repetitive, or misdirected.
THANK YOU!