Chapter 7

Human Development
 Is Development the
Result of Nature or Nurture?
• Developmental Psychology= study of the course
& causes of age-related changes in mental
abilities,s ocial r/s, emotions & moral
understanding over the life span.
• Philosophers
– John Locke (“tabula rasa”)
– Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 12 | 2

Motor
Development

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 12 | 3

 Stages of Prenatal Development
• Germinal stage
• Embryonic stage
• Fetal stage

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 12 | 4

 Prenatal Risks

• Role of the placenta

- Spongy organ
- Attached to mother’s uterus through an
umbilical cord
- Send nutrients and carry away waste
- Screen harmful substance

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 12 | 5

 Cont…

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 12 | 6

 Cont…
• Examples of teratogens
• Teratogen: harmful substances invade
womb
– Rubella (German measles) : blind, deaf,
intellectual disabled
– Drugs such as cocaine: premature,
underweight, delayed physical & motor
dev

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 12 | 7

 Cont…
– Alcohol and fetal alcohol syndrome:
a pattern of mental and physical defects
that can develop in a fetus in
association with high levels of alcohol
consumption during pregnancy

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 12 | 8

 Cont…

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 12 | 9

 Cont…

– Smoking: respiratory prob, irritability,

social & attention problem,
premature,underweight

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 12 | 10

 Cognitive Development
and Changes in the Brain
• Neural networks grow increasingly complex and
more efficient
• 1st few month -Early maturation of the
cerebellum: ability to suck/see mother face/hear
voice
• 6-12 months-Neurological development of the
medial temporal lobe: remember/imitate they
seen earlier/recognize picture/object
• Later childhood- Neurological development in
the frontal cortex: higher cognitive functioning
(reasoning)

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 12 | 11

 Development of Knowledge:
Piaget’s Theory
• Cognitive development proceeds through series
of distinct periods or stages.
• Schemas are the building blocks of intellectual
development.
– Constructed as child adapts to the environment
 Stages:
1) Sensorimotor
2) Preoperational
3) Concrete operational thought
4) Formal operational period

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 12 | 12

 Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive
Development:
• Sensorimotor
• Birth-2 years
• Mental activity and schemas confined to sensory
functions
• Milestone: Development of object permanence,
ability to find a hidden object
• Current view
– Infants are also thinking.
– Do have a sense of object permanence.

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 12 | 13

 Preoperational
–2-7 years
–Children cannot yet manipulate
information in logical ways
– 2-4 year: understand, create & use
symbols, use words “mummy” “cup”
–Play pretend: doctor, superhero
–Can think in images & symbols
–4-7 years: Intuitive/guesses
– eg: car slows (no leg), moon follows
us (likes us)
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 12 | 14
 Piaget’s Stages:
Concrete Operational Thought
• 7-11 years
• Ability to conserve number and amount (count,
measure, add & substract)
• Thinking no longer dominated by the
appearance of things
• Can use simple logic and perform simple mental
operations on things
– But only on real, concrete objects (eg: glass, fruits
BUT NOT freedom, justice)
• Can reason only about what is, not what
is possible

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 12 | 15

 Piaget’s Stages:
Formal Operational Period
• Over 11 years
• Adolescence
• Now Can:
– Think logically about abstract ideas
– Engage in hypothetical thinking
– Question social institutions
– Think about world as it might be and ought to be
– Think logically and systematically about symbols
and proposition
– Summary: think on complexities (eg: how to be
success than their friendships)

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 12 | 16

Culture and Cognitive Development
• Vygotsky focused on the social world of people.
• Child’s mind grows through interaction with
other minds.
• Cognitive abilities influenced by the language of
the culture.

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 12 | 17

Social and Emotional Development
• Mother-Infant Bond
– attachments.
• Social Referencing in Infants (eg: child avoid
stranger when referring that mum also fears of
strangers)
• Communication and Recognition of Feelings
(eg: smile/laugh = joy)

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 12 | 18

 Attachment

• A deep, affectionate, close, and

enduring relationship to important
figures
• Bowlby: Attachment Theory
• Harlow’s Motherless Monkeys

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 12 | 19

 Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages

First Year Trust vs. Mistrust

Autonomy vs.
Second Year
Shame and Doubt

Third – Fifth Year Initiative vs. Guilt

Sixth year – Puberty Industry vs. Inferiority
Adolescence Identify vs. Role Confusion

Early Adulthood Intimacy vs. Isolation

Middle Age Generativity vs. Stagnation

Old age Ego Integrity vs. Despair

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 12 | 20

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 12 | 21
 Parenting Styles
• Parents try to socialize their children.
• There are four distinct styles to which parents
adhere:
– Authoritarian : strict/punitive/unsympathetic
– Permissive: more affectionate/loose
discipline/freedom
– Authoritative: encouraging but limit
– Uninvolved: rejecting/neglecting
• Parenting style related to young children’s
social and emotional development.

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 12 | 22

 Risk and Resilience
• Risk factors for social and emotional
development problems
• Some children are resilient to adverse situations
– Qualities associated with resilience
– Characteristic that permits successful dev in the face
of sig. challenge
– Intelligent, self esteem, talent, faith, focused,
cheerful,persistent in completing task

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 12 | 23

 Teens and Sexual Activity
• Differences between teens who do and do not
have sex.
• Problems often associated with teenage sexual
activity:
– Academic difficulties – declined school achievement
– Sexually transmitted diseases
– Pregnancy

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 12 | 24

 Kohlberg’s Stages
of Moral Reasoning
• Preconventional Level: Stages 1 & 2
– Moral judgments tend to be selfish.
• Conventional Level: Stages 3 & 4
– Morality consists of following rules and conventions.
• Postconventional Level: Stages 5 & 6
– Moral judgments based on personal standards or
universal principles.

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 12 | 25

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 12 | 26
 Periods of Adulthood

• Early Adulthood: Ages 20-39

• Middle Adulthood: Ages 40-65
• Late Adulthood: Ages 65+

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 12 | 27

 Physical Changes
• Early Adulthood: Growth continues eg: shoulder
width, height, chest size (athletic abilities)
• Middle Adulthood: Physical changes slowly
emerge
– Loss of sensory sharpness is common
– Hearing impairment, light & vision deteriorates (less
sensitive)
– Risk of heart attack
– Fertility declines eg: menopause – estrogen and
progesterone drop

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 12 | 28

 Cont…physical changes
• Late Adulthood: Declines in physical functioning
- Shrink
- Digestive system – slow/less efficient
- Brain shrink – flow of blood to brain slow
- Bed time earlier – frequently napping
- Delayed/diminished – healthy diet & exercise

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 12 | 29

 Cognitive Changes
• Early & Middle Adulthood: Important cognitive
abilities improve.
– Thought becomes more complex and adaptive.
– Thinking becomes dialectical – knowledge is relative
not absolute
• Late Adulthood: Intellectual abilities decline
noticeably.

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 12 | 30

 Cognitive Changes (cont’d)
• Older people have the ability to think deeply
and wisely about life.
• Growing old can be associated with high levels
of wisdom.
• Loss of intellectual abilities is slow.
– Memory problems largely confined to episodic (eg:
data for appointment), not semantic memory (fact,
memory).

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 12 | 31

 Alzheimer’s Disease
• Greatest threat to cognitive abilities in late
adulthood – brain deteriorates
• Victims become emotionally flat, then
disoriented, then mentally vacant.
• Average duration from onset to death is 7 years.
• Strike about 10% over 65, >47% over 85
• Intelligent, gender & education

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 12 | 32

 Social Changes: Early Adulthood
• Transitions as Turning Points
• (eg: divorcing, fired, remarrying, losing spouse,
retiring)
• Early adulthood associated with Erikson’s
intimacy vs. isolation stage
– Nature of relationships influenced by nature of
earlier relationships with parents
– Eg: harsh treatment or positive parenting
• Major changes associated with becoming
parents (eg: baby born or emphasize on
career)

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 12 | 33

Social Changes: Middle Adulthood
• Around age 40, people go through a midlife
transition.
• A time of satisfaction and happiness often
follows midlife transition.
• More likely to strive for generativity goals.
– Erikson’s crisis of generativity
• Impact of becoming a grandparent.

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 12 | 34

 Social Changes: Late Adulthood
• Even when 65-75, most think of self as middle-
aged, not old.
• On average, life satisfaction, well-being, and
self-esteem remains the same.
• Occupational Changes
• Develop Coping Strategies
• Fewer, but more fulfilling social interactions

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 12 | 35

 Death and Dying
• With old age, increased awareness that death
is approaching
– May experience a terminal drop
• Erikson’s Crisis of Integrity vs. Despair
• Impending death does not necessarily result in
despair or depression.

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 12 | 36