Human Development - Introduction to Psychology | PSYC 1310, Study notes of Psychology

Download Human Development - Introduction to Psychology | PSYC 1310 and more Study notes Psychology in PDF only on Docsity! Human Development 7 Major Stages of Development: Prenatal Conception – Birth Infancy Birth – 2 years Childhood 2 – 12 years Adolescence 12 – 18 years Young Adulthood 18 – 40 years Middle Adulthood 40 – 65 years Late Adulthood 65 years and over Lifespan development needs to be taken into account as people deal with different changes at different ages, and we‟re all living longer now Equifinality- different initial conditions lead to similar effects Multifinality- similar initial conditions lead to different effects Genetic Information The Gene: The basic unit of genetic instructions Genes are short segments of chromosomes, molecules of DNA that hold the genetic instructions for every cell in our body Chromosome- threadlike strand of DNA in the nucleus of cells that carry genes and functions of heredity Every cell of a normal human has 23 pairs of chromosomes, one of each pair coming from the mother and one from the father It is the 23rd pair of chromosomes that determines a person‟s sex In a female, there are two X-shaped chromosomes (XX) In a male, there is one X-shaped chromosome and one smaller Y-shaped chromosome (XY) The Y chromosome leads to development of a male, so the sex of the zygote is determined by which sperm (X or Y) fertilizes the egg Critical periods: developmental time window when we are more or less reactive to a situation/influence (in prenatal, called critical; once born, called sensitive periods because a problem less likely to have devastating effects) Maternal Malnutrition: increases risk for birth defects/complications Teratogens: substances that can produce birth defects Maternal drug use: most drugs cross placental membranes and the unborn offspring can become damaged and/or dependent Narcotics: ↑ in chance of early death due to prematurity, birth defects, respiratory problems, and addiction Cocaine: many defects including heart problems & brain seizures Alcohol: (Fetal Alcohol Syndrome) includes microcephaly (small head), heart defects, irritability, hyperactivity, mental retardation, etc. Smoking: reduces oxygen & nutrient flow to fetus; includes increased risk for miscarriage, still birth, pre-maturity, and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome Maternal illness: disease/sickness affects the unborn child depending on the type of illness and time of contraction (stage) Herpes and AIDS can be transmitted to the offspring during birth (Herpes via lesion contact; AIDS via blood contact) Herpes: microcephaly, paralysis, deafness, blindness, brain damage & possibly death in newborns AIDS: 30% of AIDS mothers pass the disease; progress is rapid in infants and death occurs usually within the 1st year Development is an orderly, predictable & gradual process Newborns can distinguish mother‟s voice in 1st week of life Motor Development: progression of muscular coordination Cognitive Development: transitions from lower to higher forms of thinking (reasoning, prob. solving, memory, etc.) Cephalocaudal Trend: gain control of upper body 1st Proximodistal Trend: gain control of torso „fore extremities Bursts of growth punctuate lengthy periods of no growth Maturation: gradual unfolding of genotype into phenotype Newborns have poor visual acuity Eye muscles must develop to control lens curvature (focus) 20/20 vision can be attained by age 6 months Visual Cliff: clear platform over real drop off; research using this method suggests that depth perception begins to evolve around 6 months Developmental Norms: average ages for development of different abilities, behaviors and physical growth Longitudinal Study: conducted over a long period of time with same sample(s) Cross-sectional Study: conducted at one point in time comparing different samples of differing ages Temperament: characteristic mood, activity level & emotional reactivitiy established between 2-3 months which remains relatively stable Reciprocal determinism: temperament interacts with parent attitude/perception to create the environment that promotes or detracts from attachment Attachment: close, emotional bonds which develop between infant & caregiver Secure: happy around caregiver, upset when not Insecure (2 subtypes): Anxious: anxious around caregiver, lose it when not Ambivilent: uninterested around caregiver, not upset when not Mary Ainsworth came up with the Strange Situation to measure attachment. Put kids in a room with a “stranger” and see how they act. Bowlby: idea that babies are biologically programmed to produce behaviors that parents are programmed to love Piaget‟s (1896-1980) Stage Theory: development occurs through Assimilation: incorporating new experience into existing mental schema; And, Accomodation: changing existing mental schema to explain new experience Piaget identified 4 stages of cognitive development thru observing his own kids: 1) Sensorimotor: {0-2}coordination of senses & abilities a) Object permanence: still exist when out of sight 2) Preoperational: {2-7}rise of symbolic thought a) Egocentrism: inability to take another‟s view b) Animism: belief that all things are living 3) Concrete Operational: {7-11} development of mental operations (images of objects/real events) a) Conservation: quantity of substance remains same even when changing shape or form (number, mass, length, area, volume) b) Decentration: focus on 1 aspect of a problem c) Reversability: able to foresee reversal of action 4) Formal Operational: {11-on} develop ability to think abstractly and systematically (logic) Piaget‟s Assimilation & Accommodation: Consistent input falls into line with existing cognitive knowledge structures Inconsistent input requires the adjustment of old cognitive knowledge structures or creation of new cognitive structures Vygotsky‟s Sociocultural Theory: Child isn‟t island, but part of a social network Kids actively try to construe meaning from society First, directive interaction is where they get meaning. Then, preschool kids engage in private speech. Then, they move to inner speech (not voiced). Speech and activity merge –advanced cognition. Here, cultural context is what gives the world meaning. Vygotsky‟s system advocates for inter-dependent learning – team approach. Scaffolding: a skilled person provides a platform for a child to learn and then helps less until the child masters the task Parenting Styles Authoritarian Parents are demanding, expect unquestioned obedience, are not responsive to their children‟s desires, and communicate poorly with their children Authoritative Parents are demanding but set rational limits for their children and communicate well with their children Permissive Parents make few demands and are overly responsive to their child‟s desires, letting their children do pretty much as they please Uninvolved Parents minimize both the time they spend with the children and their emotional involvement with them, doing little more than providing for basic needs An authoritative parenting style seems to have the most positive effect on cognitive and social development as children are the most independent, happy, self-reliant, and academically successful of the four parenting styles Kohlberg‟s Theory of Moral Development: developing a sense of right/wrong 3 Levels, 6 Stages 1. Preconventional Level: a) Punishment Orientation: determined by what‟s punished b) Reward Orientation: determined by what‟s rewarded 2. Conventional Level: c) Good Boy/Good Girl Orientation: significant other‟s dis/approval d) Authority Orientation: societal law/rules to be obeyed 3. Postconventional Level: e) Social Contract Orientation: societal laws/rules which are negotiated to bring the greatest good and protection from anarchy f) Individual Principles/Conscience Orientation: abstract ethical principles emphasizing equity/justice/spirituality Carol Gilligan‟s Criticisms of Kohlberg: Moral conflicts are concerned with justice, caring and relationships. Gender differences exist in resolutions: She said females tend to place more emphasis on caring and social relationships (people are similar and compassion for others is necessary), whereas males tend toward lone justice approach (people are different and must do right: if not, punish them). There is no reason to think that caring and relationships should not be the basis of morality just because the male version was forced on the world for centuries. But, critics of Gilligan say research doesn‟t support the idea that Kohlberg misses gender issues and that she perpetuates gender stereotypes of females as primarily nurturers and males as logical and unfeeling. Social Clock: individual‟s own developmental schedule (what you to have done, by when) based largely on culture Family Life Cycle: beginning family, childbearing family, families w/ (pre)schoolers & teenagers, families as “launching centers”, families in middle years/late years. Adjustment to Marriage/Parenthood/Empty Nest is a gradual process Aging can result in decline of cognitive and physical functioning of older adults Biological theories of aging: Free-radical theory- unstable oxygen molecules ricochet around damaging DNA and other structures leading to disorders such as cancer, arthritis, etc. Cellular clock theory- Hayflick‟s (‟77) view that cells can divide a maximum of about 100x & that as we age, they become less capable of dividing. Says the upper limit on lifespan is 120 years. Major personality changes can occur, it usually remains somewhat stable, evolving subtly during life. Major changes may be related to damage. Adjustment to aging varies widely with personal attitude, culture, family/social support, financial resources, health impairments, government policies, etc. Gerontology: studies aging processes -changes and continuity in cognition, personality, and adjustment during adulthood and late life Acquisition- initial learning phase Extinction- disappearance or weakening of a conditioned response Spontaneous Recovery- reappearance of extinguished response after a period of stimulus absence (rest) Stimulus Generalization- demonstration of a CR to stimuli that resemble the CS Stimulus Discrimination- lack of CR to stimuli that resemble the CS -These apply to Classical and Operant Conditioning! Classical conditioning is important for survival Conditioned taste aversion: -becoming physically sick after eating/drinking a specific item, produces a physical reaction the next time the item is presented; usually this is adaptive -used in stemming coyote attacks on sheep -important implications for radiation/chemotherapy Once well-established, conditional responses can last years. Phobias and taste aversions can be established in one trial and then last for a lifetime. However, extinction can occur. Higher Order Conditioning- a CS functions as a UCS for the purposes of conditioning a new CS E.g.: A light is paired with a shock, such that the light alone elicits a fear response (e.g., adrenaline, jump). Later a bell is paired with the light, but never with the shock. As the light continues to be paired with the shock, eventually the bell elicits a fear response. Words, looks, or static environmental stimuli, can all become CS’s. Happens with emotions and words, where emotional experiences tied to a word (e.g., Love) can later be elicited by other words. Ex. I love you! = feeling of well being. “Sweety,” “Pooky,” etc., come to elicit similar feelings. The same is true of negative words and negative emotions. Higher-order conditioning is implicated in addiction, where withdrawal, originally elicited by lack of drug, comes to be elicited by a dealer, drug- taking environment, paraphernalia, internal state, etc. Emit- a voluntary response Reinforcement- an event occurring after a response which increases the chances of that response occurring again Reinforcement contingency- circumstances determining what responses lead to which consequences Shaping- reinforcing successively closer approximations to a target behavior (Operant) extinction- disappearance or weakening of a response because it is no longer followed by a reinforcer (Operant) spontaneous recovery- reappearance of a previously reinforced behavior without having had any subsequent reinforcement post extinction Positive reinforcement- response is increased due to presentation of pleasurable stimulus after the response Negative reinforcement- response is increased due to the removal of an unpleasant stimulus after the response Punishment- response is decreased due to either the presentation of an unpleasant stimulus (positive punishment) or the removal of a pleasant stimulus after the response (negative punishment) Punishment side effects- suppression of desired activity triggering strong emotional responses often leads to aggression Punishment Rules- apply it quickly after the behavior use only the lowest effective level always be consistent give an explanation for the punishment reinforce alternative desired behaviors use physical punishment rarely and carefully Escape learning- acquisition of a response that decreases or ends an unpleasant stimulus Consequences and learning: did you just now behave in a manner consistent with previous reinforcement of writing down white fonted material? Avoidance learning- acquisition of a response that prevents an unpleasant stimulus from occurring Schedules of Reinforcement (cont) Fixed interval- reinforcement after fixed amount of time has passed. This produces a scalloped effect on a graph. The rate of responding increases gradually through the interval until reinforcement, and then get a response pause . The higher the reinforcer value, the longer the pause. (e.g., most pay days; FI 1 day – going to the mailbox will be reinforced with finding mail, but only once daily) Variable interval- reinforcement after a variable, unpredictable amount of time has passed (lower rates of responding, but steady; e.g., checking your e- mail or answering machines) Concurrent Schedules of Reinforcement – Often we engage in a variety of different behaviors at any particular moment, each of which may be operating on a different schedule of reinforcement. Mowrer’s 2 Factor Theory- where a classically conditioned fear paired with operantly conditioned response produces an avoidance of fearful stimuli (very resistant to extinction) Phobia- irrational fear of a specific objects or situation Systematic Desensitization: gradual exposure of people to the objects or situations they fear, either imaginally or in vivo (in life). Based on two-factor theory: it is the process of extinction (classical conditioning), facilitated by teaching by eliminating the avoidance response (operant conditioning). Counterconditioning: weakening a conditioned response by associating a fear- provoking stimulus with a new response incompatible with fear Learned Helplessness: when punishment is delivered inconsistently or without reference to the organism’s behavior, they learn to become helpless and apathetic, and thus, giving up completely or not responding to punishment Supersitious behavior: behavior learned by coincidental association with reinforcement. AKA: Noncontingent reinforcement- response strengthened by a reinforcer that was not truly produced by the response. Wear your lucky socks for every game! Habit: related to superstitious behavior, when the “manner” of behavior doesn’t matter in the reinforcement contingency. Cats & levers. Observational learning- learning that occurs by watching another organism model a behavior, so that the behavior can then be demonstrated Basic Processes of Observational Learning- attention is required mental retention is required reproduction must be possible motivation must exist Latent Learning: learning that occurs, but is not demonstrated until there is motivation to do so Vicarious Reinforcement/Punishment: watch it happen to someone else (check out Bandura’s Bobo doll study) Insight Learning: organism develops a sudden understanding of the solution to a problem