Development Over the Life Span
Chapter 14
©2002 Prentice Hall
Development Over the Life Span
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From conception to the first year.
Cognitive development.
Moral development.
Gender development.
Adolescence.
Adulthood.
Are Adults Prisoners of Childhood?
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From Conception to the First
Year
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Prenatal development.
The infant’s world.
Attachment.
How critical are the early years?
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Prenatal development
Conception
30 Hours
6 weeks
4 months
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Agents That Cross The Placenta
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German measles.
X-rays, other radiation, toxic chemicals.
Sexually transmitted diseases.
Cigarette smoking.
Alcohol.
Drugs other than alcohol.
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The Infant’s World.
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Physical abilities.
Social skills.
Culture and maturation.
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Physical Abilities
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Newborn Reflexes
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Rooting
Sucking
Swallowing
Moro (“startle”)
Babinski
Grasp
Stepping
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Social Skills
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Babies will turn their heads towards a face
at 9 minutes old.
By 4-6 weeks babies are smiling regularly.
Synchrony
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First conversations involve babies
exchanging nonverbal signals with others in a
rhythmic pattern.
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Culture and Maturation
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Many aspects of development depend on
cultural customs.
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Examples include an infant’s ability to sleep
alone.
Recommendation to have babies sleep on
their back has affected onset of crawling.
A a result, many babies now skip crawling.
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Attachment
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Contact comfort.
Separation and security.
What causes insecure attachment?
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Attachment
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Attachment
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A deep emotional bond that an infant
develops with its primary caretaker.
Contact Comfort
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In primates, the innate pleasure derived from
close physical contact; it is the basis of the
infant’s first attachment.
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Separation Anxiety
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Tested using the Strange Situation Test
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Secure Attachment
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A parent-infant “separation and reunion” procedure
that is staged in a laboratory to test the security of a
child’s attachment
A parent-infant relationship in which the baby is
secure when the parent is present, distressed by
separation, and delighted by reunion.
Insecure Attachment:
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A parent-infant relationship in which the baby clings
to the parent, cries at separation, and reacts with
anger or apathy to reunion.
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What Causes Separation Anxiety?
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Parenting that is truly abusive, neglectful
or erratic.
Child’s genetically influenced
temperament.
Stressful circumstances in the family.
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How Critical are the Early Years?
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During the first 15 months, there is an explosion
of new synapses in the brain. As information is
consolidated, these unnecessary synapses are
pruned away.
Media has exaggerated and oversimplified
research findings which have fostered public
alarm and worry.
The brain continues developing after the first
three years.
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Cognitive Development
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Language.
Thinking.
Moral Reasoning.
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Language
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Acquisition of speech begins in the first few months.
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They are responsive to pitch, intensity, and sound.
By 4-6 mo of age they can recognize their names and
repetitive words.
By 6 mo - 1yr, infants become familiar with sentence
structure and start babbling.
By 11mo, infants use symbolic gestures.
About 12mo , infants use words to label objects.
18-24mo, toddlers combine 2 or 3 words into
sentences, also known as telegraphic speech
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Thinking
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According to Piaget, cognitive
development consists of mental adaptations
to new observations and experiences.
Adaptation takes two forms:
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Assimilation or absorbing new information
into existing cognitive structures.
Accommodation or modifying existing
cognitive structures in response to experience
and new information.
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Adaptation
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Piaget’s Stages of Development
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Sensorimotor.
Preoperational.
Concrete Operational.
Formal Operational.
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Sensorimotor Stage (Birth - 2yrs)
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Coordinates sensory information with bodily
movements.
Major accomplishment is object permanence.
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The understanding that an object continues to
exist even when you cannot see or touch it.
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Preoperational Stage (2ys - 7yrs)
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Focused on limitations of children’s thinking.
 Children at this age could not reason.
 Children were missing operations
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Children were egocentric.
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Mental actions that are cognitively reversible.
Seeing the world from only your point of view; the
inability to take someone else’s perspective.
Children cannot grasp the concept of
conservation.
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Understanding that physical properties of objects can
remain the same even when their form changes.
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“Conservation of Liquid” Task
The critical question is always: “Why do you think so?”
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Conservation of Substance & Number
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Conservation of Substance
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Two identical balls of clay
One is deformed
“Do the two pieces have the
same amount of clay?”
Conservation of Number
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Two identical rows of pennies
One row is rearranged
“Do the two rows have the
same number of pennies?”
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Concrete Operations Stage (7 - 12 yrs)
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Children’s thinking is still grounded in
concrete experiences and concepts but
they can now understand conservation,
reversibility and cause and effect.
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Formal Operations Stage (12yrs
through adulthood)
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Teenagers are capable of abstract reasoning:
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Understanding that ideas can be compared and
classified.
Reasoning about situations not personally
experienced.
Thinking about the future.
Searching systematically for solutions to
problems.
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Evaluating Piaget’s Theory
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Stage changes are neither as clear-cut nor as
sweeping as Piaget believed.
Children sometimes understand more than Piaget
believed.
Preschoolers are not as egocentric as Piaget
thought.
Cognitive development depends on the child’s
education and culture
Piaget overestimated the cognitive skills of many
adults.
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The Infant as Intuitive Physicist
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Infants look longer at
objects that seem to
violate physical laws
than those that do not
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Surprise indicates
that their
expectations were
violated
They must know
what is physically
plausible for this to
occur
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Moral Development
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Moral reasoning.
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Kohlberg’s approach
Gilligan’s approach
Moral behavior.
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Strategies for teaching moral behavior.
Power assertion.
 Induction.
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Moral Reasoning: Kohlberg’s Theory
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Preconventional Level
 Punishment and obedience.
 Instrumental relativism.
Conventional Level
 Good boy-nice girl.
 Society-maintaining.
Postconventional Level
 Social contract.
 Universal ethical principles.
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Criticisms of Kohlberg’s Theory
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Tends to overlook educational and cultural
influences.
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Some cultural differences not reflected in this
theory.
Moral reasoning is often inconsistent
across situations.
Connection between moral reasoning and
moral behavior is often indirect.
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Moral Reasoning: Gilligan’s Theory
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Argued that men tend to base their moral
choices on abstract principles of law and
justice and women based moral decisions
on principles of compassion and caring.
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Criticism of Gilligan’s Theory
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Meta-analyses do not suggest such a difference
occurs.
Both sexes use abstract principles when resolving
abstract dilemmas and care perspectives when
resolving personal dilemmas.
Moral reasoning of either kind unrelated to
behavior.
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Moral Behavior
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In addition to cognitively understanding
right from wrong, children’s ability to
behave morally is based on the
development of moral emotions such as
shame, guilt and empathy.
Techniques used by parents include power
assertion and induction.
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Strategies for Teaching Moral Behavior
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Power assertion
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Parent uses punishment and authority to
correct child’s misbehavior.
Users tend to be authoritarian.
Induction
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Parent appeals to child’s own resources,
abilities, sense of responsibility, and feelings
for others in correcting misbehavior.
Users tend to be authoritative
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Gender Development
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Defining gender identity and gender
typing.
Influences on gender development.
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Gender Identity and Gender Typing
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Gender Identity
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The fundamental sense of being male or
female; it is independent of whether the
person conforms to social and cultural rules
of gender.
Gender Typing
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Process by which children learn the abilities,
interests, personality traits, and behaviors
associated with being masculine or feminine
in their culture.
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Influences on Gender Development
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Biological factors.
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Cognitive factors.
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Biological researchers believe that early play and toy
preferences have a basis in prenatal hormones, genes,
or brain organization.
Cognitive psychologists suggest that toy preferences
are based on gender schemas or the mental network
of knowledge, beliefs, metaphors and expectations
about what it means to be male or female.
Learning factors.
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Gender appropriate play may be reinforced by
parents, teachers, and peers.
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Adolescence
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The physiology of adolescence.
The psychology of adolescence.
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The Physiology of Adolescence
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Adolescence
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Puberty
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The age at which a person becomes capable of sexual
reproduction.
Menarche
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The period of life from puberty to adulthood.
A girl’s first menstrual period.
Spermarche
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A boy’s first ejaculation.
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Timing of puberty
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Onset of puberty depends on genetic and
environmental factors.
For example, body fat triggers the hormonal
changes.
Early versus late onset.
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Early maturing boys have more positive views of their
bodies and are more likely to smoke, binge drink, break
the law.
Early maturing females are usually socially popular but
also regarded by peer group as precocious and sexually
active. They are more likely to fight with parents, drop
out of school and have a negative body image.
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The Psychology of Adolescence
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Turmoil and adjustment.
Separation and connection.
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Turmoil and adjustment
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Extreme turmoil and problems with
adjustment are the exception rather than the
rule.
Three kinds of problems are more likely.
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Conflict with parents.
Mood swings and depression.
Higher rates of rule breaking and risky
behavior.
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Separation and Connection
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Adolescents are trying to separate from
parents but remain connected.
Individuation
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The process of developing own opinions,
values, and styles of dress and look.
Quarrels with parents represent a shift from
one-sided parental authority to a more
reciprocal adult relationship.
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Adulthood
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Stages and ages.
The transitions of life.
Old age.
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Erikson’s Eight Stages - I
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Trust vs. Mistrust
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Autonomy vs. Shame and doubt
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Toddler (1-2 years)
Initiative vs. Guilt
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Infancy (0-1 year)
Preschool (3-5 years)
Industry vs. Inferiority
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Elementary School (6-12 years)
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Erikson’s Eight Stages - II
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Identity vs. Role confusion
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Intimacy vs. Isolation
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Young adulthood (20-40 years)
Generativity vs. Stagnation
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Adolescence (13-19 years)
Middle adulthood (40-65 years)
Integrity vs. Despair
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Late adulthood (65 and older)
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Current Approaches: Adult Development
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Psychological concerns can occur at anytime in
life therefore stage theories are no longer used to
understand how adults change or stay the same.
Adults development involves the interrelations
among:
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biological changes
personality traits
personal experiences
historical events,
the particular environments in which they live, and
the friends & relationships they have.
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The Transitions of Life
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Emerging Adulthood (18-25)
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Phase of life distinctly different from
adolescence and adulthood.
In some ways an adult, in some ways not.
The Middle Years (35-65)
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Perceived by many experiencing it as the
prime of life.
Menopause:
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The cessation of menstruation and the production
of ova; it is usually a gradual process lasting up to
several years.
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Old Age
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Some types of thinking changes, others stays
the same.
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Fluid Intelligence:
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The capacity for deductive reasoning and the ability
to use new information to solve problems; it is
relatively independent of education and tends to
decline in old age.
Crystallized Intelligence
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Cognitive skills and specific knowledge of
information acquired over a lifetime; it depends
heavily on education and tends to remain stable over
the lifetime.
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Intellectual Changes Over the
Lifespan
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Some intellectual
abilities dwindle
with age.
Numerical and
verbal abilities
remain relatively
steady over the
years.
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Old Age
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Apparent senility in the elderly is often caused by
the combination of medications.
Depression and passivity are the result of loss of
meaningful activity, intellectual stimulation and
control over events.
Weakness and frailty are caused by sedentary
lifestyles.
Gerontologists estimate that only 30% of the
physical losses associated with old age are
genetically based.
The rest is environmentally of psychologically
based.
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Are Adults Prisoners of Childhood?
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Research psychologists have questioned
the psychodynamic assumption that
childhood traumas have emotional effects
that inevitably continue into adulthood.
There is considerable evidence that
disputes this claim.
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Challenging Our Assumptions
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Recovery from war: Only 20% of WWII war
orphans had problems after being adopted and
moving to the U.S. Most of these eventually
established happy lives.
Recovery from abusive or alcoholic parents:
Their children are at risk for developing these
problems, but the majority do not.
Recovery from sexual abuse: More emotional and
behavioral symptoms, but most adjust and
recover.
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