psych ch 9

Cognitive Development

Characterized by Piaget's concept of formal operational thinking and Kohlberg's stages of moral reasoning; emergence of adolescent egocentricity (imaginary audience, personal fable)

Theories of Cognitive Development

Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development (sensorimotor stage, preoperational stage, concrete operational stage, formal operational stage); Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory (zone of proximal development, or ZPD)

What roles do peer relationships play in children's emotional and social development?

➤Peers are important influences on children's psychosocial adjustment, especially on their self-esteem and their development of social competencies. ➤Peer relationships may also set the stage for deviant behavior.

What is puberty?

➤Puberty spans the period of physical development that begins with the appearance of secondary sex characteristics and ends with the attainment of full sexual maturity.

What reflexes do newborn babies show?

➤Reflexes include the rooting, eyeblink, sucking, Moro, palmar grasp, and Babinski reflexes.

What qualities are associated with successful aging?

➤Successful aging is associated with the ability to concentrate on what is important and meaningful, to maintain a positive outlook, and to continue to challenge oneself.

Physical Development

Attainment of full sexual maturity during puberty

Child-Rearing Influences

Genetics, peer-group influences, parenting behaviors, and parenting styles

Psychosocial Development

Marked by sometimes stormy but generally healthy adolescent-parent relationships, challenge of developing ego identity, and importance of peer relationships and emerging sexuality

Individual Differences

Temperaments (easy children, difficult children, slow-to-warm-up children); attachment styles [Secure type (Type B), insecure-avoidant type (Type A), insecure-resistant type (Type C), disorganized/disoriented type (Type D)]

Erikson's Stages of Psychosocial Development

Trust versus mistrust, autonomy versus shame and doubt, initiative versus guilt, industry versus inferiority

Psychosocial Development2

• Emerging Adulthood: Adulthood is a gradual process that extends beyond adolescence • Erikson's Stages of Psychosocial Development: Intimacy versus isolation (young adulthood), generativity versus stagnation (middle adulthood), ego integrity versus despair (late adulthood) • Coping with Age-Related Challenges: Successful aging associated with selective optimization and compensation, optimism, and self-challenge; maintaining a sense of purpose and connection to others • Death and Dying: Five stages in Kübler-Ross model (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and final acceptance)

Stages of Prenatal Development

• Germinal Stage: First 2 weeks after conception • Embryonic Stage: From about 2 weeks to about 8 weeks after conception • Fetal Stage: From about 8 weeks after conception until birth

Physical and Cognitive Development

• Physical Maturity: Reaches a peak in early twenties • Changes in Cognitive Functioning: Fluid intelligence and memory functioning affected most by aging

Infant Development

• Reflexes: Some have survival value • Sensory and Perceptual Abilities: Not a buzzing confusion • Learning Ability: Can learn and remember simple responses • Development of Motor Skills: Occurs in same sequence and about same ages in all cultures

Threats to Prenatal Development

• Teratogens: Dangerous influences to fetal health • Maternal Malnutrition: Risk of premature birth and low birth weight

What changes in cognitive development occur during adolescence?

➤Adolescents may progress to the stage of formal operations, which, according to Piaget, is denoted by the ability to engage in abstract thinking and reasoning. ➤Egocentricity in adolescence involves concepts of the imaginary audience (believing everyone else is as concerned about us as we are ourselves) and the personal fable (an exaggerated sense of uniqueness and perceptions of personal invulnerability).

What are Kohlberg's levels of moral reasoning?

➤At the preconventional level, moral judgments are based on the perceived consequences of behavior. Behaviors that avoid punishment are good; those that incur punishment from an external authority are bad. ➤At the conventional level, conformity with conventional rules of right and wrong are valued because of the need to do what others expect or because one has an obligation to obey the law. ➤At the postconventional level, moral judgments are based on the value systems the individual develops through personal reflection, such as valuing the importance of human life and the concept of justice above that of the law. Postconventional thinking does not develop until adolescence, if ever.

What are the three major styles of parenting in Baumrind's model?

➤Authoritative parents expect mature behavior, use reasoning, and set firm limits. ➤Authoritarian parents set firm limits but are overly controlling and rely on harsh styles of discipline. ➤Permissive parents have an "anything goes" style characterized by a lax approach to limit setting.

What physical and cognitive changes take place as people age?

➤Beginning in their twenties, people start to experience a gradual decline in lean body mass and muscle tissue. ➤Fluid intelligence—including rapid problem -solving ability and memory for lists of words, names, or text—tends to decline with increasing age during middle and late adulthood. ➤Crystallized intelligence remains relatively intact and may actually improve in some respects. ➤Menopause, the cessation of menstruation, is the major physical marker of middle adulthood in women. Menopause is associated with a dramatic decline in estrogen production. ➤Testosterone production in men also declines with age, but more gradually.

How do the infant's motor abilities develop during the first year?

➤During the first year, the infant acquires the ability to move its body, sit without support, turn over, crawl, and begin to stand and walk on its own.

What did Erikson believe is the major developmental challenge of adolescence?

➤Erikson believed the achievement of a sense of who one is and what one stands for (ego identity) is the major developmental challenge of adolescence. ➤Erikson coined the term identity crisis to describe a period of serious soul-searching in which adolescents attempt to come to terms with their underlying beliefs and future direction in life.

How do theorists conceptualize social and personality development during early and middle adult hood?

➤Erikson focuses on the stages of psychosocial development: intimacy versus isolation during early adulthood and generativity versus stagnation during middle adulthood. ➤Theorist Daniel Levinson focuses on the transitions through which people may need to navigate as they age.

What are the stages of psychosocial development during childhood, according to Erikson?

➤Erikson's stages are the • (a) trust versus mistrust (birth to 1 year) • (b) autonomy versus shame and doubt (ages 1 to 3) • (c) initiative versus guilt (ages 3 to 6) • (d) industry versus inferiority (ages 6 to 12).

Why did Gilligan criticize Kohlberg's theory?

➤Gilligan pointed out that Kohlberg's model was based only on the responses of males and did not take fem ale voices into account. ➤Through her own research, Gilligan concluded that females tend to adopt a care orientation, whereas males tend to adopt a justice orientation. Other researchers have found that differences in moral reasoning between men and women are less clear-cut, although women have a greater tendency to adopt a care orientation.

What are the major features associated with Piaget's and Vygotsky's stages of cognitive development?

➤In Piaget's theory, children in the sensorimotor stage, from birth to about 2 years, explore their world through their senses, motor responses, and purposeful manipulation of objects. ➤During the preoperational stage, from about 2 to 7 years of age, the child's thinking is more representational but is limited by centration, egocentricity, animistic thinking, and irreversibility. ➤The concrete operational stage, beginning around age 7 in Western cultures, is characterized by development of the principles of conservation and the ability to draw logical relationships among concrete objects or events. ➤The formal operational stage, the most advanced stage of cognitive development according to Piaget, is characterized by the ability to engage in deductive thinking, generate hypotheses, and engage in abstract thought. ➤Vygotsky focused on how children acquire knowledge of their social world. He believed this knowledge is achieved through the interaction of the child (novice) with the parent (expert) within a zone of proximal development that takes into account the child's present and potentially realizable knowledge structures.

What are the major stages of prenatal development?

➤The germinal stage is the period from conception to implantation. ➤The embryonic stage begins with implantation and extends to about the 8th week of development; it is characterized by differentiation of the major organ systems. ➤The fetal stage begins around the ninth week and continues until birth; it is characterized by continued maturation of the fetus's organ systems and dramatic increases in size.

What sensory, perceptual, and learning abilities do infants possess?

➤The newborn can detect objects visually (though not with perfect acuity) and can discriminate among different sounds, odors, and tastes. ➤The ability to respond to depth cues and to discern facial expressions develops within the first 6 months. ➤Infants are also capable of learning simple responses and retaining memories of those responses.

What are the three types of attachment styles identified by Ainsworth?

➤The secure type of infant attaches to the mother and uses her as a secure base to explore the environment. ➤ The insecure-avoidant type freely explores the environment but tends to ignore the mother. ➤The insecure-resistant type clings excessively to the mother but shows ambivalence or resistance toward her.

What are the stages of dying as identified by Kübler-Ross?

➤The stages of dying identified by Kübler-Ross are denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and final acceptance.

What are the three basic types of infant temperament identified in the New York Longitudinal Study?

➤The three types are the easy child, the difficult child, and the slow-to-warm-up child. • ➤Easy children have generally positive moods, react well to changes, and quickly develop regular feeding and sleep schedules. • ➤Difficult children have largely negative moods, react negatively to new situations and people, and have difficulty developing regular feeding and sleep schedules. • ➤Slow-to-warm-up children tend to become withdrawn when facing new situations and experience mild levels of distress.

What are some major threats to prenatal development?

➤Threats include maternal diet, maternal diseases and disorders, and use of certain medications and drugs. ➤Exposure to particular teratogens causes the greatest harm during critical periods of vulnerability.

How do theorists characterize the psychosocial challenges of late adulthood?

➤To Erikson, late adulthood is characterized by the psychosocial crisis of ego integrity versus despair (remaining meaningfully engaged in life while coming to terms with one's life versus despairing over the approaching finality of life). ➤Other theorists, such as Levinson, focus on the transitions and challenges that older adults are likely to face.

What are some of the physical and cognitive changes we can expect in later life?

➤We can expect a general decline in sensory and motor abilities, in immune system functioning, and in fluid intelligence, memory for new information, and mental processing speed. However, cognitive changes are generally not severe enough to significantly impair daily functioning. Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia are brain diseases, not normal consequences of aging.