WEEK 2:

THE DEVELOPING PERSON

DEVELOPMENT © 2016 Cengage Learning.

Prenatal Development

 This section covers:

▪ Important issues in development
▪ Prenatal development
▪ Risks during prenatal development

DEVELOPMENT © 2016 Cengage Learning.

The Biopsychosocial Framework

 Human development is a result of interacting

forces

Prenatal Development © 2016 Cengage Learning.

Biopsychosocial Framework:

 Biological forces: all genetic and health-related

factors that affect development.
 Psychological forces: all internal perceptual,
cognitive, emotional, and personality factors that
affect development.
 Sociocultural forces: interpersonal, societal,
cultural, and ethnic factors that affect
development.
 Life-cycle forces: reflect differences in how the
same event affects people of different ages.

Prenatal Development © 2016 Cengage Learning.

Nature and nurture

 Genes can be turned on or shut off by events and

items in the environment.

Prenatal Development © 2016 Cengage Learning.

Issues in Developmental Psychology

Developmental psychology explores the normal

changes in behavior that occur across the lifespan.
• Interaction of nature and nurture;
• Continuity and discontinuity in development;
• Universal and ecological development.

Prenatal Development © 2016 Cengage Learning.

Important Issues in Development

 Continuity and discontinuity

 Universal and ecological

Prenatal Development © 2016 Cengage Learning.

Prenatal Development

 Zygote, embryo, and fetus

 Ectoderm, mesoderm, and endoderm

Prenatal Development © 2016 Cengage Learning.

Atypical Development – Genetic Influences

Prenatal Development © 2016 Cengage Learning.

Atypical Development – Teratogens

DRUG POTENTIAL CONSEQUENCES

Alcohol Fetal alcohol syndrome, cognitive deficits, heart

damage, developmental delays
Aspirin Deficits in intelligence, attention, and motor
skills
Caffeine Low birth weight, decreased muscle tone

Cocaine and heroin Developmental delays, irritability in newborns

Marijuana Low birth weight, reduced motor control

Nicotine Developmental delays, possible cognitive

impairments
Prenatal Development © 2016 Cengage Learning.
Teratogens: Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS)

Prenatal Development © 2016 Cengage Learning.

Infant Mortality – no. of infants who die before 1st
birthday

Infant Mortality Rates by Country

140

120
Deaths/1000 Live Births

100

80

60

40

20

Prenatal Development © 2016 Cengage Learning.

Infancy and Childhood

 This section covers

infancy and early
childhood in terms of:
▪ Behavior
▪ Physical development
▪ Cognitive development
▪ Social and emotional
development

DEVELOPMENT © 2016 Cengage Learning.

Infant Behavior

 Activity
 Sensory function

Infancy and Childhood © 2016 Cengage Learning.

Infant Reflexes

Infancy and Childhood © 2016 Cengage Learning.

Physical Development in Infancy and Childhood

Infancy and Childhood © 2016 Cengage Learning.

Motor Milestones in Infancy and Childhood

Infancy and Childhood © 2016 Cengage Learning.

Motor milestones: TWO SIMULTANEOUS DIRECTIONS:

I. Development in the head-to-toe direction.

• Muscle control on Neck and Shoulder to raise the head to look around
• Muscles of the torso necessary for rolling and sitting, crawl
• Muscles of the legs to support the weight when standing or walking.
• Improvement in movement and coordination, demonstrated by the abilities to skip
rope, hop on one foot, and combine movements, such as throwing a ball while
running
II. Motor development begins at the midline, an imaginary line dividing our bodies in equal
halves, and proceeds outward.
• Bat at toys suspended above their cribs; Grasp any objects
• Mastery of control over the fine muscle movements of the hands and fingers
required for writing.
• Females enjoy a slight advantage in developing fine motor skills.
• In contrast, boys enter kindergarten with significantly more muscle mass than
girls of the same age and often prefer large-scale movements such as running,
climbing, and jumping

Infancy and Childhood © 2016 Cengage Learning.

Cognitive Development: Piaget and the
Discontinuity Approach
 Schemas
 Assimilation and accommodation

Infancy and Childhood © 2016 Cengage Learning.

Piaget: Cognitive Development

Cognitive abilities develop through regular stages; classic

example of the Discontinuity approach
• Cognition matures as the child increasingly uses
concepts and organizing schemas to think.
• Two types of adjustments can be made to a schema,
depending on the nature of any discrepancies between
new information and the existing category.
• In assimilation, no changes to the existing schema
are required in order to add the new instance.
• The schema must be adapted to fit the new
information, a process Piaget referred to as
accommodation.

Infancy and Childhood © 2016 Cengage Learning.

Cognitive Development: Piaget’s Stages

 Sensorimotor stage (Birth–2)

▪ Object permanence
 Preoperational stage (ages 2–6)
▪ Egocentrism
▪ Conservation
▪ Animism

Infancy and Childhood © 2016 Cengage Learning.

Piaget’s Cognitive Development
1. SENSORIMOTOR stage: Infant’s existence of the HERE and NOW

• Achievement of object permanence.

• Infants under the age of 8 months or so do not seem to be able to form clear
memories, or mental representations, for objects once they are removed from the
immediate present.
• Coincides with achieving sufficient growth in the prefrontal cortex
• Language abilities are developing
2. PREOPERATIONAL stage: Approx 2 to age 6, or the child’s preschool years.
• The stage gets its name from the notion that children are still incapable of engaging
in internal mental operations or manipulations, such as following the transformation
of objects from one form to another.
• Preoperational children have limited abilities to understand points of view other than their
own, a characteristic described by Piaget as egocentrism.
• Conservation tasks require the child to recognize that changing the form or appearance
of an object does not change its quantity.
• Animism is a tendency to believe that all things are living.

Infancy and Childhood © 2016 Cengage Learning.

Cognitive Development: Piaget’s Stages (cont’d.)

 Concrete operations (ages 6–12)

 Formal operations (after age 12)

Infancy and Childhood © 2016 Cengage Learning.

Piaget’s Cognitive Development

III. CONCRETE OPERATIONAL stage between the ages of 6 and 12

• Problems of conservation easily solved, and thinking becomes more
logical.
• The only remaining limitation is an inability to handle abstract concepts
• Piaget used the term concrete operations for this stage because he
observed that children reasoned best when allowed to engage in “hands-
on” learning.

IV. FORMAL OPERATIONAL stage

• Cognitive development matures which begins around the age of 12.
• Abstract concepts usually involve “what if” types of questions and form
the heart of scientific inquiry.
• Accompanying the ability to think abstractly is a big improvement in
problem solving.

Infancy and Childhood © 2016 Cengage Learning.

Cognitive Development: Piaget’s Stages –
Summary

Infancy and Childhood © 2016 Cengage Learning.

Criticisms of Piaget’s theory:

• Psychologists point out that individual cognitive development can be

quite variable.
• Piaget did not specify any mechanisms responsible for moving from
one stage to the next.
• Many psychologists believe that Piaget underestimated the capabilities
of young children.
• At the same time, he might have overestimated the cognitive abilities
of adolescents.
• Piaget has been criticized for viewing the developing child in relative
isolation from his or her family, community, and culture.
• On the whole, his theory serves as a useful description of how thinking
advances through the childhood and adolescence.

Infancy and Childhood © 2016 Cengage Learning.

Adolescence

 This section covers:

▪ Physical development
▪ Cognitive and moral development
▪ Social and emotional development

DEVELOPMENT © 2016 Cengage Learning.

Defining Adolescence

 The transition from childhood to adulthood

▪ Has become longer over time
• Earlier onset of puberty
• Extended education and training

Adolescence © 2016 Cengage Learning.

Physical Development: Puberty

AGE MALES FEMALES

10 Breasts buds appear

11 Testes enlarge Pubic hair appears

12 Pubic hair appears Underarm hair appears

Penis enlarges First menstruation
13 First ejaculation

14 Underarm & facial hair appears Pubic hair matures

Voice deepens
15 Penis reaches adult size Breasts mature
Pubic hair matures
Adolescence © 2016 Cengage Learning.
Physical Development: The Brain

Adolescence © 2016 Cengage Learning.

Cognition

 Abstract thought – image what could be; hypothesise

 Idealism of youth – have all the answers
 Return to egocentrism – imagines what others are
thinking
 Imaginary audience – playing to an audience
 Personal fable – belief that
they are unique, special

Adolescence © 2016 Cengage Learning.

Moral Reasoning

 Kohlberg
▪ Preconventional
▪ Conventional
▪ Postconventional
 Gilligan
▪ Gender
perspective

Adolescence © 2016 Cengage Learning.

KOHLBERG’s Development of Moral Reasoning

• Children and young adolescents are typically in the preconventional stage of

moral development.
• In this stage, children will make moral choices based on their expectations of reward and
punishment.

• Kohlberg believed that during adolescence, the majority of the population

moves to the next stage, conventional morality, and stays there.
• In this stage, rules are seen as governing moral behavior and are therefore to be followed.
• They want to do the right thing so that others will approve of their behavior.

• The final step of moral development for Kohlberg was postconventional

morality.
• Relatively few people, according to Kohlberg, attain this stage.
• In conjunction with the abstract reasoning of formal operations, the individual now
recognizes that rules are made by human beings and can therefore be flawed.
• Consequently, personal standards are used as reference points.
• The postconventional thinker is likely to evaluate laws and rules critically before complying
with them.

Adolescence © 2016 Cengage Learning.

Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages – Childhood and
Adolescence
Age Stage Description

Birth – 18 mo. Trust vs. The child views the world as a safe,
mistrust dependable place.
18 mo. – 3 years Autonomy vs. The child begins to explore.
shame & doubt
3 – 6 years Initiative vs. The child begins to act on the world.
guilt
6 – 12 years Industry vs. The child develops self-confidence.
inferiority
Adolescence Identity vs. role Teens ask “Who am I?” Failure to
confusion achieve an identity leads to role
confusion and subsequent problems.

Adolescence © 2016 Cengage Learning.

Social and Emotional Development

 Identity formation
▪ Group identity
 Family relationships

Adolescence © 2016 Cengage Learning.

Adulthood

 This section covers:

▪ Emerging adulthood
▪ Midlife
▪ Late adulthood

DEVELOPMENT © 2016 Cengage Learning.

Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages – Adulthood

Age Stage Description

Young adulthood Intimacy vs. People with clear identities form

isolation stable, intimate relationships, while
others experience feelings of
loneliness and isolation.
Middle Generativity vs. Midlife adults who find value in their
adulthood stagnation lives, even if they haven’t met their
goals, experience generativity. They
are likely to “put back” energy into
family, work, and community.
Late adulthood Integrity vs. Toward the end of life, adults who
despair feel that they have lived fully have a
sense of integrity and calm.

Adolescence © 2016 Cengage Learning.

Emerging and Early Adulthood

 Physical status
 Postformal
thought
 Relationships

Adulthood © 2016 Cengage Learning.

Middle Adulthood

 Physical and cognitive changes

 Social changes

Adulthood © 2016 Cengage Learning.

Late Adulthood

 Physical changes
 Cognition

Adulthood © 2016 Cengage Learning.

Late Adulthood (cont’d.)

 Social and emotional matters

Adulthood © 2016 Cengage Learning.

Death and Dying

 Grief – emotional reaction

to loss of loved one
 Bereavement –
experience of losing a
loved one
 Reactions to
confronting death:
▪ Impact/shock
▪ Confrontation
▪ Accommodation/
Acceptance
Adulthood © 2016 Cengage Learning.
Exercise: Blog Entry
In this exercise, Look over Erikson's stages and the
"psychosocial conflicts" that he claims are encountered by
people entering various stages of life.

Television shows are filled with people in different stages of

life Pick out one favorite characters (or real people, in the case
of talk shows) What are the everyday trials and tribulations
experienced by this character? What are his main concerns or
worries? Do they fit in with Erikson's stages of development?
Explain.

*Alternatively: Examine which stage YOU fit in with

Erikson’s theory.

Adulthood © 2016 Cengage Learning.