Intro to Psych - Chapter 5 (Developing Through the Lifespan)
– Jean Piaget, the great child psychologist, claimed that his earliest memory was of nearly
being kidnapped at the age of 2 (in 1898).
o He remembered details such as sitting in his baby carriage, watching the nurse
defend herself against the kidnapper, scratches on the nurse's face, and a police
officer with a short cloak and a white baton chasing the kidnapper away.
o The story was reinforced by the nurse and the family and others who had heard
the story.
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Do you know why we should be suspicious about the accuracy of this
memory? Do you think that adults can remember events that happened at
age 2?
o Piaget was convinced that he remembered the event. However, it never happened.
o Thirteen years after the alleged kidnapping attempt, Piaget's former nurse wrote to
his parents to confess that she had made up the entire story.
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o Piaget later wrote: "I therefore must have heard, as a child, the account of this
story...and projected it into the past in the form of a visual memory, which was a
memory of a memory, but false"
- We’ll talk more about how our memories function in a later chapter; first, let’s look at
how our brains and bodies develop and change over time
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- Developmental Psychologists - study physical, mental, and social changes throughout life.
- INFANCY AND CHILDHOOD – BRAIN DEVELOPMENT
- Although infants may have most of their brain cells, they are not fully connected to each
other.
- May explain why earliest memories do not predate our third birthday, and why
we should be suspicious if an adult claims to remember an event that happened at
age 1 or 2.
- Of course, infants can learn (although it may not persist unless
reactivated later); In fact, exposure to language during the first 2 yrs
appears to be crucial for learning language.
- Myelinization, or development of the myelin sheath on neurons that helps them
communicate, is not fully completed in a young infant.
- Part of the reason that infants cannot fully control the lower half of their bodies
may be that the neurons in spinal cord (which carry messages from the brain to
the body) are not fully covered with myelin until the child is 2
- It’s an example of biological growth called maturation.
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- ADOLESCENCE
- Social Development
- Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development
- Erikson thought that each stage of life has its own psychosocial task, a
crisis that needs resolution.
- READ TABLE
- NOTE: Autonomy is about self-rule or control over your body
(and expressing an opinion or preference); Initiative involves
taking pride in your own actions.
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- (This child illustrates the autonomy stage; she wants to do things for herself)
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