Human Development

1
Human Development

• Ch 10 11

2
Developmental Psychology

• Study of how people grow and change throughout
  the lifespan (over time)
• Study different ages and different types of
  development (physical, cognitive, social)
• Longitudinal and cross-sectional methods of study
• Issues to deal with
• Heredity v. Environment
• Stages or Continuous Development

3
Nature V. Nurture

• Kinship studies used to learn about the influence
  of heredity on development
• Maturation automatic and sequential process of
  development that results from genetic signals
• Critical period readiness, stage or point in
  development in which a person is best suited to
  learn a particular skill or behavior pattern
• Ex language acquisition

4
Influences of Nurture

• Influences of environment found in following
  factors
• Nutrition
• Family background
• Culture
• Learning experiences in the home, school,
  community
• Most think maturation plays a central role in
  development and environment plays important role
  as well

5
Stages V. Continuity

• Does development occur primarily in stages or as
  a continual process?
• Stage period or a level in the development
  process that is distinct from other levels
  (sitting, crawling, standing, walking, running)
• Maturational theorists believe most development
  occurs in stages
• Continuous development can occur almost unnoticed
  (growth from age 2-11)

6
Cognitive Development

• Studying the development of peoples thought
  processes
• Jean Piaget
• 2 ways to organize new info
• Assimilation place new info into categories that
  already exist (different breeds of dogs are all
  dogs)
• Accommodation change brought about because of
  new information (dog is NOT cat, need new
  category)

7
Piagets Stages of Cognitive Dev

• Ages not the same for all but order is
• Sensorimotor Stage (birth-2)
• Preoperational Stage (2-7)
• Concrete-Operational Stage (7-11)
• Formal-Operational Stage (11 on up)

8
Sensorimotor Stage

• Learning to coordinate sensation and perception
  with motor activity
• Relationship between their physical movements and
  the results they sense and perceive
• Object permanence something continues to exist
  even when cant be seen/touched (occurs because
  infant can hold an idea in his/her mind)
• 8 mos to 1 year

9
Preoperational Stage

• Children begin to use words and symbols
  (language) to represent objects
• One-dimensional thinking
• Can only see one aspect of situation at a time
• NO Conservation key properties of substances
  stay the same even if shape/arrangement changes
• Egocentrism inability to see another persons
  point of view
• Artificialistic and Animalistic (think natural
  events like rain are made by people and think
  objects are alive and conscious like the sun/moon)

10
Concrete-Operational Stage

• Begin to show signs of adult thinking but are
  only logical when thinking about specific
  objects, not abstract ideas
• Concrete experiences ground their thinking
• 2-dimensional thinking (get conservation)
• Less egocentric than before
• can see world from anothers point of view

11
Formal-Operational Stage

• Represents cognitive maturity
• Think abstractly
• Ideas can be compared and classified like objects
  can
• Capable of dealing with hypothetical situations
• Realize they may be able to control the outcome
  of a situation in many different ways
• Try another approach when one fails
• Think ahead, imagining the results of different
  actions before taking such actions

12
Where do you stand in Piagets Theory? Why?
13
Criticism of Piagets Theory

• Current research shows that preschoolers are less
  egocentric than Piaget suggests
• Several cognitive skills appear to develop more
  continuously than Piaget thought
• Piagets theories are still taught and are the
  basis for many educational choices

14
Kohlbergs Theory of Moral Development

• Morals personal beliefs of right and wrong
• Moral Dilemmas situations where there is not an
  easy answer/solution
• Examples of moral dilemmas
• Kohlberg thought there were stages of moral
  development
• Not all people reach the highest stage
• 3 levels and 2 stages in each level

15
Kohlbergs Stages

• Preconventional Level (up to 9 yrs old)
• Base judgments on consequences of behavior
• Stage 1 believe what is good is what helps you
  avoid punishment
• Stage 2 good is what satisfies a persons needs

16

• Conventional Level
• Judgments made in terms of whether an act
  conforms to conventional standards of right and
  wrong
• Standards from religion, family, and society in
  general
• Stage 3 good is what meets ones needs and the
  expectations of others (most 13 yr olds)
• Stage 4 judgments made on what will maintain the
  social order (most 16 yr olds)

17

• Postconventional Level
• Moral judgments reflect personal values, not
  conventional standards
• Stage 5 recognizes that laws represent
  agreed-upon procedures, laws have value, and they
  should not be violated WITHOUT good reason but
  they cannot bind a person in exceptional
  circumstances
• Stage 6 judgments made with regard to values of
  human life, justice, and dignity as moral and
  good
• Rely on own conscience
• Rarely occurs before adolescence and is found
  mostly in adulthood
• Not all people reach this level

18
Where do you stand in Kohlbergs Theory? Why?
19
Criticism of Kohlbergs Theory

• Gender bias females do not reason the same way
  as males (how girls should behave vs. how boys
  should) and this is not accounted for in the
  theory
• Girls really do think through situations the same
  way as boys but they choose to deal with them in
  an empathetic way more often than boys
• Kohlberg did begin to adjust his theory shortly
  before his death (1987)

20
Identity Formation

• According to Eric Erikson, the main task of
  adolescence is identity formation (see p.
  332-333)
• Identity vs. Role Diffusion
• Seek to identify own beliefs, values, life goals
• Choosing and developing a commitment to a
  particular role or occupation in life
• Involve developing own beliefs about politics and
  religion
• Identity crisis turning point in persons
  development when person examines own values and
  makes/changes decisions about life roles

21
James Marcia

• Studied the different ways that adolescents
  handle commitment and cope with identity crisis
• 4 categories to identity status
• Dont stay in just one category
• Dont move through all in particular order
• Sometimes dont move through all of them

22
Marcias categories

• Identity Moratorium
• time out from making commitments/decisions
• May experiment with options
• Identity Foreclosure
• Make commitment that shuts out other
  possibilities
• Commitment based on expectations/suggestions of
  others
• Adopt a system of beliefs and a plan without
  closely examining whether it is right for them

23

• Identity Diffusion
• No commitment
• No soul searching
• Wander about without goals or interests and seem
  to live from crisis to crisis
• Identity Achievement
• Explore options
• Committed themselves to occupational directions
• Experienced an identity crisis but came out with
  set of beliefs or with a life plan
• Sets goals and is working toward them

24
Where do you stand in Marcias theory? Why?
25
Gender and Identity Formation

• Males and females experience it differently
• Culture involved too
• Today since more women are working outside the
  home, identity formation is much more similar
  than that of males
• There is still a concern that women need to learn
  to balance work and family life since women still
  bear the most of the responsibility for rearing
  children and taking care of the home

26
Ethnicity and Identity Formation

• Many times more complicated for adolescents in
  ethnic minority groups
• 2 sets of cultural values those of their ethnic
  group and those of the larger society
• Prejudice and discrimination also contribute to
  problems adolescents face
• Bi-cultural backgrounds can also be challenge in
  identity formation