Class one 1/16/25
Adolescent psych
Developmental science is a field of study devoted to understanding constancy and change through the lifespan
How people grow and change
Theory- an orderly integrated set of statements that describe, explain and predict some aspects of the natural world
Can use theories to make predictions
Organizing framework
Researchable
Ex Darwins theory of evolution
Describes: it describes how traits in a population vary , with some individuals having traits that make them more suited to their environment
Explains: it explains that individuals with advantageous traits are more likey to survive and reproduce, passing these traits to the next generation
Predicts: it predicts that over time, advantageous traits will become more common in the population, leading to evolutionary changes
3 Basic issues of development
Is the course of development continuous or discontinuous
Does one course of development characterize all people, or are there many possible courses
3 what are the roles of genetics and environment in development
Continuous- process of gradually augmenting the same type of skills that were there to begin with
Difference between immature and mature is one of degree (quantitative)
Discontinuous: the process in which new ways of understanding and responding to the world emerges at specific times
Stages: qualitative change in thinking feeling and behaving that characterize specific periods of development
One course of development or many
Stage theories assume that people everywhere follow the same sequence of development
Contexts: unique combinations of personal and environmental circumstances that can result in different pathways of change
Mutually influential relations between individual and contexts
Can we think of how individuals may influence their context and vice versa
Nature or nurture
Nature- genetics
Nurture- environment (social, biological physical)
Differ by level of emphasis
Stability nature plasticity nurture (generally not always)
Example
Intelligence is largely inherited (nature emphasis)
People can be shaped toward any type of person given the right environment and training (nurture emphasis)
Both nature and nurture factor in
Lifespan perspective
Development is
1 lifelong
2 multidimensional and multidirectional
3 highly plastic
4 affected by multiple interacting forces
Us life expectancy
1900- 50 years
Assumed that development stopped at adolescence
Adulthood viewed as plateau and aging as a period of decline
Today 79 years
Gains in functioning are lifelong hence new perspectives
Development
No age period is supreme in its impact on the life course
Within each period changes occurs in three broad domains
Physical, cognitive and emotional
Development is multidimensional and multidirectional
Multidimensional- affected by various forces biological psychological social
Multidirectional growth and decline gain and loss at each period
Development is plastic
Although plasticity does decrease over time it is a potential that is always present across all ages
Great variability across people
Development is influenced by multis interacting factors
Biological historical social cultural forces come together to affect the life course
Age graded influences
Events that are strongly related to age and predictable in when they occur and how long they last are (walking talking puberty driving)
History graded influences
Forces unique to a particular historical era (pandemics)
Helps explain why people born around the same time (cohorts) tend to be alike in particular ways
Non normative influences
Events that are irregular, they happen to just one person or a few people and do not follow a predictable timetable
Easier to contrast with normative influent ( eg age of starting school, driving)
Examples illness tragedy
Scientific beginnings and earlier theories
The normative period
Explosion of developmentally oriented thinking from Darwin onwards
G Stanley hall (1844-1924)
Inspired by Darwin viewed development through evolutionary lens
Development as a maturational process, a genetically determined series of events that unfold automatically
Found of the child study movement
He and his student Arnold Gesell (1880-1961)
Devised the normative approach
Measures of behavior are taken on large numbers of individuals and age related averages are computed to represent typical development
Produced detailed normative information on motor achievements social behaviors and personality characteristics of infants and children
The mental testing movement
French psychologist Alfred Binet (1857-1911) and Theodore Simon
Asked by parishioners officials to find a way to identify children with learning problems for placement in special classes
1916 adapted for us in English, Stanford Binet Intelligence scale
Quite accurate in predicting school achievement
Psychoanalytic perspective: people move through series of stages in which they confront conflicts between biological drives and social expectations
Psychosexual and psychosocial theories
Sigmund Freud (1856-1930?)
Erik Erikson (1902-1994)
Psychosexual Theory
Emphasizes how parents manage their children’s sexual and aggressive drives in the first few years is crucial for health personality development
First to stress influence of the early parent child relationship on development
Criticisms over influenced sexual feelings, may not apply to other cultures, Freud didn’t study children
Personality.
Id largest portion of the basic biological needs and desires
Ego conscious rational part of personality emerges in early infancy to redirect id’s impulse into acceptable behavior
Superego between 3-6 years conscience
Birth- 1 year oral if oral needs are not met through the sucking from breast or bottle the individual may develop such habits as thumb sucking fingernail biting overeating or smoking
1-3 years anal toddlers and preschoolers enjoy holding and releasing urine and feces. If parents toilet train before children are ready or make too few demands, conflicts about anal control may appear in the form of extreme orderliness or disorder
3-6 Phallic as preschoolers
Erik Erikson
Psychosocial theory: Erikson emphasized that in addition to mediating between id impulses and superego demands, ego makes a positive contribution to development, acquiring attitudes and skills
Eriksons psychosocial stages
0-1 trust vs mistrust virtue hope
Trust or mistrust that basic needs such as nourishment and affection will be met
1-3 early childhood autonomy vs shame doubt virtue will
Develop a sense of independence in many tasks
3-6 play age initiative vs guilt virtue purpose
Take initiative on some activities may develop guilt when falling short or boundaries aren’t respected
Contributions and limitations of the psychoanalytic perspective
Strenghts
Emphasis on understanding the individuals unique life history
Inspired new lines of research
Attachement/ relationships, child rearing practices morality gender roles
Behaviorism
Directly observable events, stimuli and responses are appropriate focus of study
John Watson (1878-1968)
BF Skinner (1904-1990)
Frequency of behavior can be increased by following a wide variety of reinforcer or decreased through punishment
Social Learning Theory
Albert Bandura (1925-2021)
Emphasizes modeling also known as imitation or observational learning
Behaviorism and social learning theory
Contributions
Applied behavioral analysis
Consists of careful observations of individual behavior and related environmental events, followed by systematic changes in those events based on procedures of conditioning and modeling
Influenced the rise of behavioral therapies
Criticism: narrow view of environmental influences, underestimate one’s own influence
Bandura later revised his view to include cognition (social- cognitive learning)
Jean Piaget (1896-1980) Cognitive development theory
Children actively construct knowledge as they manipulate and explore their world
Adaption structures of the mind develop to better fit with or represent the external world
Equilibrium balance, between internal structures and information they encounter in their everyday worlds
Contributions: emphasis on discovery learning, children as active learners
Criticisms: Underestimated capabilities, no attention to social and cultural influences, no theories into adulthood
Information processing
The human mind viewed as a symbol manipulating system through which information flows
The mind as a computer
Provides precise accounts of how people handle cognitive tasks eg executive functioning
Better at analyzing thinking than putting it back together
Developmental Neuroscience
Interdisciplinary: psychology, biology neuroscience and medicine
Utilizes advances in brain imaging and other measurements of biological markers to study development
Developmental cognitive neuroscience studies the relationship between changes in the brain and the developing person cognitive processing and behavior patterns
Relationship between eugenics and brain development
Neurological changes linked to cognitive decline in aging
Ethology and Evolutionary developmental psychology
Ethology: concerned with the adaptive or survival value of behavior and its evolutionary history
Konrad Lorenz and Niko Tingern
Imprinting
Critical period
Sensitive period
Time that is biologically optimal for certain capacities to emerge because the individual is especially response to environmental influences
Vygotskys sociocultural theory
Focuses on how culture is transmitted to the next generation
Social interaction role of experts
Less focus on children role in shaping their own development
Ecological systems theory
Urie Brofenbrenner (1917-2005)
Views person as developing within interacting systems