Chapter 5: Developing Through the Life Span

a. Developmental psychology examines our physical, cognitive, and social

development across the life span, with a focus on three major issues:
1. Nature and Nurture
2. Continuity and Stages
3. Stability and Change
b. Prenatal Development and the Newborn
Zygote the fertilized egg; it enters a 2-week period of rapid cell
division and develops into an embryo
Embryo the developing human organism from about 2 weeks after
fertilization through the second month
Fetus the developing human organism from 9 weeks after conception
to birth
Teratogens agents, such as chemicals and viruses, that can reach the
embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm
Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS)
Habituation decreasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation. As
infants gain familiarity with repeated exposure to a visual stimulus, their
interest wanes and they look away sooner
Maturation biological growth processes that enable orderly changes
in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience
c. Cognitive Development (cognition- refers to all the mental activites
associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating.
Lev Vygosky - emphasized the role of the social environment in the
childs cognitive development
Child was a young apprentice mentored by parents and others who by
giving them new words provided a temporary scaffold from which
children can step to higher levels of thinking
Vygosky vs Piaget:
*Piaget focused on how the childs mind grows through
interaction with the physical environment.
*Vygosky focused on how the childs mind grow through
interaction with the social environment.
d. Piaget
Schemas concepts or mental molds into which we pour our
experiences
Assimilate we interpret them in terms of our current
understandings

Accommodate our schemas to incorporate information

provided by new experiences
Piagets Stages of Cognitive Development

Object permanence the awareness that objects continue to exist when

not perceived
Before about age 6, children lack the concept of Conservation the
principle that quantity remains the same despite changes in shape.
Theory of Cognitive Development
e. Social & Emotional Development: Attachment
Attachment The attachment bond is a survival impulse that keep
infants close to their caregivers.
Infants become attached to their parents/primary caregivers in order
to:
satisfy biological needs (nourishment)
provide body contact that is soft and warm
f. Attachment Differences
Mary Ainsworth designed the Strange Situation experiment children
(roughly 60%) display secure attachment they play comfortably in their
mothers presence and is distressed when she leaves, and seek contact
when she returns
insecurely attached less likely to explore their surroundings, and

when their mother leaves, cry loudly and remain upset, or seem
indifferent to her going and returning
parents sensitivity and responsiveness to the child can influence
attachment style which can also influence temperament a persons
characteristic emotional reactivity and intensity
g. Parenting Styles

h. Adolescents: neural development &behavior

frontal lobe maturation proves judgment, impulse control, and the
ability to plan for the long term delays the emotional limbic system
occasional impulsiveness, risky behaviors, emotionality; hormonal
surge at puberty, early development of limbic system, and later
maturation of frontal lobes
during the early teen years, reasoning is often self- focused may think
their private experiences are unique
i. Moral Development Kohlberg
Lawrence Kohlberg: moral thinking proceed through a series of stages

j.

PsychoSocial Development Erik Erikson

Erik Erikson theorized eight stages of life, each with its own
psychosocial task

k. Aging & Physical Change

Muscular strength, reaction time, sensory keenness, and cardiac output
crest in mid 20s and then begin to decline

Menopause in women (no equivalent in men)

Most men and women remain capable of satisfying sexual activity after
middle age
Later life: declining visual sharpness, muscle strength, reaction time,
stamina, hear and smell
** Two primary ways to study development of life span
cross-sectional studies comparing people of different ages
longitudinal studies restudying people over time
l. Aging & Memory
Recognition Memory remains strong, although recall begins to
decline, especially for meaningless information
older adults may take longer than younger adults to produce the words
and things they know
Prospective memory (remember to) remains strong when events
help trigger memories, without reminder cues, habitual tasks, such as
remembering to take medication can be especially challenging
m. Death
Greif is especially severe when the death of a loved one comes before
its expected time on the social clock
the normal range of reactions to a love ones death is wider than most
people suppose. Some cultures encourage public weeping and wailing;
others hide grief
Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance.