Developmental Psychology Survey of Modern Psychology

Developmental Psychology

Survey of Modern Psychology

Views on Infant Learning

• Nativist – Important aspects of perception and other

cognitive processes are innate– We have built in knowledge of what sensory

inputs mean• Empiricist– All knowledge comes from experiences and our

senses– We relate sensory inputs to each other to

determine what they mean

Infants

Upon birth, humans can:• Discriminate between different tones, pitches,

and loudness– It’s suggested that newborns show a preference

for their mother’s voice

• See within a range of about four feet– Discriminate brightness, color, and follow a

moving stimulus with their eyes

Infants• Grasping reflex: – Infants close their fists tightly around objects placed in

their palms– If the object is lifted, an infant can hang on and support

his or her weight for about a minute• Rooting reflex– When an infant’s cheek is touched, their head turns

toward the stimulus while opening their mouth until the stimulus is in their mouth

– This triggers a sucking reflex

These are considered reflexes (automatic responses) but are replaced by directed responses (voluntary) with

development

Babies are cute for an evolutionary advantage

We instinctively find a rounded face, large eyes, and other baby features “cute;” this encourages us to want to protect and care for a baby even if it’s not ours. The evolution of Mickey Mouse capitalizes on this factor.

Motor Development

Linguistic Development

Age Linguistic Achievement3 months Cooing

4 months Babbling

10 months First word

18 months About 20 wordsOne word utterances

24 months About 250 wordsTwo word utterances

30 months About 500 wordsThree plus word utterances

Important Times in Development

In general, a child’s reaction to their environment depends on their age (and amount of knowledge)

• Critical Periods– Times in development when certain events have an

enormous impact– The same events have less impact if they occur earlier

or later– If they happen too late, certain milestones will not be

reached and a certain path of development is set

Important Times in Development

• Sensitive Periods– Similar to the idea of critical periods, but with less

rigid boundaries– During this time, the baby is particularly sensitive

to a particular influence• For example, attachment to parents is more easily

formed at an early age

Practice

• Some maturation will happen regardless of outside influences (due to genetics)– Some milestones cannot be reached until a certain

age; the infant’s brain and muscle tone must reach sufficient development

• Some development depends on experience as well– For example, animals raised in complete darkness do

not develop all structures of the visual system and therefore cannot see properly later on if exposed to light

Developmental Theorists

• Piaget• Freud• Mahler• Erikson• KohlbergThere is question about how accurate any of

these theorists are, but their contributions are important in a historical sense

Piaget

Piaget is considered the first theorist to say that children were not miniature adults, but were different and went through a series of psychological changes on the way to adulthood

Piaget

Believed that human development and behavior come from consistent and reliable patterns of interaction with the environment called schemas

• Schemas are goal oriented strategies that people use to explore and learn about the world and their environment

Piaget

Said that children learn through:• Adaptation: the exchange between an

individual and his or her environment– Assimilation• The incorporation of one’s environment into an

existing schema

– Accommodation• The adaptation or modification of an existing schema

to the characteristics of a new object

Ex. a “grabbing an object” schema

Piaget’s Stages

1. Sensory-Motor: birth to 2 years2. Preoperational: 2 – 7 years3. Concrete Operational: 7 – 114. Formal Operational: 11-15

Piaget: Sensory-Motor Stage Birth – 2 years

• The infant uses his or her senses and motor functions to understand the world

• Infants do not differentiate between “me” and “not me” and lack object permanence– Object permanence: the understanding that an

object exists outside of our immediate experience– Infants do not understand that a rattle continues

to exist even if he or she is not holding it


A not B effect• When a 9 month old sees an experimenter hide a

toy under a blanket on their right (A), the child will remove the blanket to retrieve the toy

• If the experimenter then hides the toy under a blanket on their left (B) (while the baby is watching) the baby will continue to search for the toy on the right

• The baby interprets location A as being part of the toy’s identity


• In the later 6 months of this stage, babies begin to form representational thoughts and can keep an object or event in their memory

• For example, understanding that the toy exists even when it’s not seen is a mental representation of that toy– At this age, a child will become angry or frustrated

if a toy is not where he or she left it

PiagetPreoperational Stage 2 – 7 Years

• Children gain a well organized mental representation of the world

• Develop a more sophisticated set of schemas called “operations”– Operations allow an internal manipulation of

ideas according to a stable set of rules• This begins at about 7 years of age

• Use of symbols, language, and speech• Understanding of past, present, and future


• Children remain egocentric – do not understand that other people have different experiences from themselves– In a study, children 4 – 7 were given a 3-D model of a

scene– While the child viewed the scene from one location, a

teddy bear was placed in different locations around the model

– When asked what the teddy bear would see, children consistently said that the bear saw the same thing they did

Egocentrism

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OinqFgsIbh0


Failure of Conservation• Equal sized glasses A and B were put side by side and

filled with the same amount of colored liquid– 4 year olds can easily say that the amounts are equal

• A new glass C is added that’s taller and narrower than the original glasses, and the liquid is poured from A to C– When asked if there is more liquid in glass B or C, children

say C because the level of higherChildren do not yet understand that the amount of liquid

is constant, even though it is being acted upon

Conservation of Number A young child will reply that there are more objects when they are spread further apart from each other

PiagetConcrete Operational 7 – 11 Years

• Children understand conservation and that changes to one aspect of a situation by be compensated for by changes to a different aspect

• Children can understand concrete operations, but lack the ability to think abstractly– Ex. 8 or 9 year olds can understand that 4 is an even

number and 4 + 1 is an odd number; 6 is even, 6 + 1 is odd

– Tend to not see the pattern that adding 1 to any even number yields an odd number

PiagetFormal Operational Stage 11 – 15 Years

• Children expand from concrete thinking to abstract or hypothetical thinking

• Can consider hypothetical possibilities

Problems with Piaget

Object Permanence and Occlusion• 4 month olds were an image of a rod that

moved back and forth behind an occluding object

A

Object Permanence and Occlusion

• After becoming habituated to the original display, babies were shown a non-occluded image– B with an unbroken moving rod– C with a broken rod

B C

Object Permanence and Occlusion

Infants spent more time looking at C than at BThis suggests that they expected the rod to be

one solid piece, even though they could not see the entire rod

Understanding of Numbers

• 6 month olds were shown two panels simultaneously with pictures of two or three simple objects

• A drum was sounded over a loudspeaker with booms in sets of two or sets of three

• When hearing “boom boom,” babies looked at the panel with two items

• When hearing “boom boom boom,” babies looked at the panel with three items

This implies that the babies connected the idea of “two” or “three” between sound and visual stimuli

Conservation of Number

• Children generally do demonstrate understand that adding an item increases the number of items in a set and that adding one and subtracting one leave the total unchanged

• Lack of conservation of number implies that a child confuses, for example, the length of a row with the number of objects in a row

Conservation of Number

• In Piaget’s research, children were asked the same questions twice very quickly, one after another

• It’s theorized that children may have believed that the experimenter did not like the child’s first answer (“they’re the same”) and therefore changed it when asked again

Egocentrism

• In a study, 2 ½ - 3 year olds were given a photograph and asked to show it to their mother, who was sitting opposite the child

• Children turned the photo so that it faced the mother, implying that they realized that she had a different viewpoint than they did

Egocentrism and Beliefs

There is evidence that a developmental change occurs between 3 and 4 ½ years of age

• In “false-belief tests” a child and teddy bear are seated in front of two boxes, one red and one green

• The child and teddy bear watch the experimenter put candy in the red box, and the experimenter shows both that the green box is empty

• The bear is taken out of the room, and the child watches the experimenter switch the candy to the green box

Egocentrism and Beliefs

• The teddy bear is brought back into the room, and the experimenter asks the child where the teddy bear will look for the candy

• At age three, children will say the green box “because that’s where it is”

• By age 4 ½ children will say that the bear will look in the red box because that’s where the bear thinks the candy is

This indicates knowledge that others have a different experience from our own, and

understanding that others may have a false belief

Conservation

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4958684466064517394#

Freud

• Believed that people go through discrete sequential psychosexual stages of development

• Moving from one state to the next was dependent upon resolving “conflicts” in the previous stage– Unsuccessful resolution would result in being stuck in that

phase (fixation) and the person would hold on to maladaptive behaviors from that phase• It would also lead to anxiety and mental illness

• Thought that people are driven by a desire for pleasure, and at different ages different points of the body were the focus for pleasure

Freud Stage 1: The Oral Stage 0 – 1 ½ Years

• Pleasure is derived from stimulation of the mouth (ex. sucking)

• Babies get pleasure from feeding or nursing, but also learn about the world by putting objects in their mouths

• The major difficulty in this phase is weaning, when a baby has less close contact with his or her mother

Freud Stage 1: The Oral Stage 0 – 1 ½ Years

Unsuccessful resolution of the oral stage would result in:

• Passivity• Immaturity• Manipulative personality

FreudStage 2: Anal Stage 1 ½ - 3 Years

• The focus of attention becomes the child’s anus• Physiologically, babies begin to gain control over

their bowels at this age and toilet training starts– The more immediately pleasurable solution for a child

is to “go” wherever and whenever

• Ideally, according to Freud, toilet training is done gradually so the child slowly learns why it’s important

FreudStage 2: Anal Stage 1 ½ - 3 Years

• Conflict in the anal stage happens if parents are either too strict or not strict enough in toilet training– Being too strict would result in an obsession with

organization or excessive neatness • “Anal – Retentive”

– Not being strict enough would result in recklessness, carelessness, defiance, and disorganization

FreudStage 3: Phallic Stage 3- 6 Years

• Attention shifts to the genitals– This is not in a sexual fashion

• Children discover that they have genitalia, and that boys and girls are different

• Children become more curious about their own, and others’, bodies


• The main conflict in the phallic stage is the Oedipus Complex– Boys want to marry their mothers (or rather, to have

possession of the mother because she fulfills needs)– As a result, the boy wants to kill his father because

the father is his obstacle to his mother; however, the father also provides for the child and is bigger and stronger, so the boy knows that he cannot actually kill his father• The boy develops “castration anxiety” fear that the father

will punish the boy


• For girls, this is more complicated– Freud said that girls realize that not only is her

father an obstacle, but she does not have a penis– Girls develop “penis envy” because of their lack of

power

• Another proposed alternative to the Oedipus Complex for girls was the Electra Complex


• Ideally, the stage is resolved by the child identifying with their same-sex parent (a boy identifies with his father, a girl identifies with her mother)– Identifying with a parent helps the child internalize morals

• For girls, lack of resolution causes striving for superiority over men or being overly seductive, flirtatious, or submissive with low self esteem

• For boys, lack of resolution causes excessive ambition and vanity

• Lack of identifying with one’s parent would lead to recklessness or immorality

FreudStage 4: Latency Stage 6-12 Years

• The child’s focus on their genitals and sexuality develops into more socially acceptable behaviors

• Pleasure is derived from the mind and activities (school, socializing, etc.)

FreudStage 5: Genital Stage 12 - adult

• (puberty through adulthood)• The person learns to accept his or her genitals

and begins to experience mature sexual feelings

• The major tasks are full separation from one’s parents and resolving conflicts from the previous stages

• The primary goal is accepting adult responsibilities

Freud - Criticisms

• Freud’s developmental theories were heavily focused on men and the male experience– For example, “penis envy” seemed to better

reflect women envying the power and social status that men had, not the penis specifically

Freud - Criticisms

Parents, especially the mother, are blamed for pathology

Margaret Mahler

Object Relations Theory• Focuses on the relationship between a mother

(or caregiver) and the infant and the effect of this relationship on the infant’s development of a sense of self

• Believes that individuals are born with a drive to build interpersonal relationships

• The individual’s sense of self and others affects all subsequent interpersonal relationships

Margaret Mahler

In Object Relations, the main developmental task is differentiating between the self and others

The three main stages of development are:1. Autistic stage: newborn – 1 month2. Symbiotic stage: 1 – 5 months3. Separation-Individuation stage: 5 – 24 months

“Object” refers not only to literal objects, but to other people

Margaret MahlerAutistic Stage newborn – 1 month

• The infant is focused entirely on him or herself• Mostly unresponsive to external stimuli• Does not perceive others as separate beings

Margaret MahlerSymbiotic Stage 1 – 5 months

• The infant begins to perceive the mother/caregiver as a “need-satisfying object”

• The infant feels unity with the mother, but begins to understand that the mother is a separate being

Margaret MahlerSeparation – Individuation Stage

The Separation-Individuation Stage is made up of four sub-stages

1.Differentiation: 5 – 9 months2.Practicing: 9 – 14 months3.Rapprochement: 14 – 24 months4.Object Constancy: after 24 months


• Differentiation Sub-Stage: 5 – 9 months– The infant’s attention shifts from being inwardly

focused to outwardly focused– The infant begins to separate from the caretaker

(for example, learning to crawl)


• Practicing Sub-Stage: 9 – 14 months– The infant continues to separate from the

caretaker– More autonomous functioning– The infant becomes more independently mobile

and more active • Ex. walking, playing, etc.


• Rapprochement Sub-Stage: 14 – 24 months– The baby begins to want to act independently– The baby moves away from his or her

mother/caregiver, but regularly comes back to make sure that the caregiver is still there


• Object Constancy Sub-Stage: after 24 months– The baby has an internalized mental

representation of his or her caregiver and understands that the caregiver continues to exist even when they are not together

Mahler and Object Relations

A transitional object is an object that the individual can mentally associate with a specific person when that person is not physically present

Ex. a “security blanket” or for adults a piece of jewelry/heirloom

Erikson

• Psychosocial Theory– Emphasizes individual’s ability to change and shape

their personalities– Believes that childhood is an important time in

development, but that development continues throughout the lifespan

– People have the ability to adapt to and change their environments

– Considers the importance of the individual’s own psychological system, but also their biology and social systems

Erikson• Each stage of development focuses on a

particular area of growth, builds on the previous stages, and paves the way for future stages

• Each stage has a psychosocial crisis which must be resolved – The crises are marked by a conflict between two

opposing personality traits– Healthy development requires a balance between the

two• Crisis resolution depends on the individual and

his or her social environment

Erikson

Trust v. Mistrust Birth to 1 yearAutonomy v. Shame and Doubt

2 – 3 years

Initiative v. Guilt 4 – 5 yearsIndustry v. Inferiority 6 – 11 yearsIdentify v. Role Confusion 12 – 18 years (adolescence)Intimacy v. Isolation 20 – 35 yearsGenerativity v. Stagnation 35 – 50 yearsEgo Integrity v. Despair 50 years and up

EriksonTrust v. Mistrust: birth – 1 year

• The infant develops a sense of trust in others through being nurtured and loved

• If an infant is not nurtured and loved, he or she will experience a high level of mistrust– This causes the child to be withdrawn later in life

EriksonAutonomy v. Shame and Doubt: 2 – 3 years

• The child begins to develop skills that allow him or her to be autonomous– i.e., motor and verbal skills

• The child becomes more confident and in control

• If a child is not provided with what he or she needs socially (ex. nurturance) he or she will feel ashamed and less confident

EriksonInitiative v. Guilt: 4 – 5 years

• The child becomes curious and moves around into new spaces to explore

• The child learns to play with others• A child who is not allowed to take initiative

will feel guilty and fearful

EriksonIndustry v. Inferiority: 6 – 11 years

• A child develops a need to do things well, work, and to provide in the future

• School and peers are important in assisting the child in his or her mastery over tasks

• If a child fails to achieve a sense of mastery, he or she will feel inferior and incompetent

EriksonIdentity v. Role Confusion: 12 – 18 years

• An adolescent begins to create his or her own identity and integrate the various components of him or herself into a whole person

• An adolescent who is unable to integrate will experience role confusion

EriksonIntimacy v. Isolation: 20 – 35 years

• The individual learns to build reciprocal relationships with others socially, sexually, and occupationally

• Individuals who do not build these relationships will feel isolated

EriksonGenerativity v. Stagnation: 35 – 50 years

• The individual develops the capacity to care and nurture

• An individual who fails at this stage will focus only on caring for him or herself

EriksonEgo Integrity v. Despair: 50+ years

• The individual learns to accept his or her own life achievements and those of significant others

• If the individual fails at this, he or she will experience despair

Kohlberg

Kohlberg

• Believed that at birth people lack all morals, ethics, and honesty; moral development is leaned from the individual’s family

• Three levels of moral development, each consisting of two stages

Kohlberg

• Pre-Conventional Level: birth – 9 years• Conventional Level: 9 – 15 years• Post-Conventional Level: 15 - adult

Kohlberg Pre-Conventional Level Birth – 9 Years

• Stage 1– Begins at school age– In this stage we behave according to social norms

to avoid punishment

• Stage 2– The individual acts according to his or her own

best interest

Kohlberg Conventional Level 9 – 15 Years

• Stage 3– The individual behaves to gain the approval of

others

• Stage 4– The individual behaves in accordance with laws

and rules

Kohlberg Post-Conventional 15 - Adult

• Stage 5– The individual begins to gain a genuine interest in

others and to understand social mutuality

• Stage 6– The individual develops autonomous morality

based on individual conscience• Kohlberg believed that no one actually reaches level 6

Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development

Level Stage Social Orientation

Pre-Conventional

1 Obedience: Avoid punishment

2 Personal reward

Conventional 3 Good boy/good girl Gain approval and avoid disapproval

4 Law and order Conformity with rules

Post-Conventional

5 Social contract

6 Universal ethical

Summary of Developmental Theorists

• Opinions differ over whether stages must happen sequentially and whether we move from one stage to another abruptly or gradually

• Opinions differ over what happens if stages are not completed in the ideal fashion

• It’s not truly possible to “prove” any one of the theories completely true or false– They largely give suggestions to guide research and

interpret behavior

Attachment

• Old theory said that infants are attached to their mothers because the mother satisfies basic physical needs– Food, warmth, physical protection, relief from

pain– This was known as the “cupboard theory”

Attachment

• John Bowlby and others said that there had to be more to attachment than fulfillment of basic needs– For example, babies show interest in strangers who

do not provide food• The new belief was that infants are born with

social needs and therefore seek contact• The mother therefore fulfills needs and provides

interaction, safety and a feeling of comfort

Attachment• Harlow conducted a study using newborn

rhesus monkeys raised without their mothers• Each monkey lived in a cage with two figures

•A “wire mother” that had a nipple to dispense milk•A “terry-cloth mother” that did not provide food but was cuddly

Harlow

• The monkeys spent significantly more time with the terry-cloth mother

• Harlow presented the monkeys with a mechanical toy that made loud noises; the monkeys rushed to the terry cloth mother and clung to “her,” suggesting that they were seeking comfort

Harlow

• Overall, Harlow concluded that babies are attached to their mothers because the mother provides comfort, not simply as a source of things

Attachment

• In further studies, Harlow isolated monkeys completely (provided food, but no terry-cloth mother figure)

• Three months of isolation had little effect, but longer periods led to major disturbances– The monkeys huddled in a corner of the cage and

rocked back and forth– When exposed to normal monkeys, they did not

engage in play and instead withdrew, rocked, and bit themselves

Attachment – Harlow continued

• Monkeys raised in isolation later on could not engage in normal interactions with other monkeys and tended to become violent

• If they had babies, they showed no ability to love or care for their offspring– In some cases, the monkeys actually abused their

babies

Attachment

What about humans?• Infants raised in relative isolation in orphanages

showed major developmental impairments– Some were desperate for love and attention– Others were apathetic to people – they did not

approach or seek comfort from other people• Other studies of people who were raised in

deprived orphanage environments show intellectual deficits, particularly in language and abstract thinking; heightened physical aggression; delinquency; indifference to others

Repairing the Damage

• Monkeys raised in isolation were later placed with monkeys younger than themselves – The younger monkeys sought contact, but would

not be physically aggressive• The older monkeys eventually adapted and

were able to play and normally interact• While monkeys who were raised in isolation

showed difficulty mothering a first child, they reacted normally to second born babies

Repairing the Damage

• Similar results have been found with humans– People who were taken out of the orphanages

eventually caught up with their peers, while those who stayed in orphanages longer did not

Attachment Styles

There are two aspects to attachment:1. Being with the caregiver brings contentment2. Being away from the caregiver evokes distress

Initially, infants cannot always differentiate their own mother from other adults. By 6 – 8 months, the infant knows who his or her mother is and becomes upset when they are separated

Ainsworth and the Strange Situation

Mary Ainsworth developed the following method of studying a baby’s attachment (generally used with 1 year olds) to his or her mother:

• A child is brought to an unfamiliar playroom and is given the chance to explore and play with the mother present

• After some time, a stranger (the experimenter) comes in, speaks to the mother, and approaches the child

Ainsworth and the Strange Situation

• The mother leaves the room briefly, leaving the child alone with the stranger

• After a few minutes, the mother returns and the stranger leaves– (In some variations, the mother leaves twice. The second

time the stranger leaves as well, leaving the child alone in the room)

The focus is primarily on how the baby responds to the mother’s returning, with some attention paid to the

baby’s behavior when the mother is absent.

Babies are said to have one of the following “attachment styles”

Attachment Styles

• Securely attached– The child explores the room while the mother is

there and may interact with the stranger– Shows some distress when the mother leaves– Is very happy and quickly consoled when the

mother returns

• People who are securely attached as children tend to be better adjusted socially as adults and have better self esteem

Attachment Styles• Anxious-Ambivalent Insecure Attachment– Does not explore/explores very little when the

mother is present– Becomes upset and panicky when the mother leaves– Acts ambivalent during the reunion

• E.g., runs to the mother to be picked up, but immediately wants to be put down

• Might push the mother away

• It is believed that these pairs interact on the mother’s terms only

• As adults, they are more likely to have difficulties in relationships and worry that their partner does not love him or her

Attachment Styles• Anxious-Avoidant Insecure Attachment

– The child is distant and aloof from the beginning of the interaction

– Shows little distress when the mother leaves the room– Ignores the mother when she comes back

• It is believed that the mother is generally disengaged from the child and often does not meet his or her needs. The child comes to feel that his or her actions have little to no impact on the mother

• As adults they are more likely to have problems with intimacy and invest little in social or emotional relationships

Attachment Styles

• Disorganized Attachment (this was added later)

– The child cries during the separation, but is not comforted by the mother when she returns

– The child may avoid her, curl up on the floor, or show stereotyped behaviors (i.e., rocking, hitting oneself)

– This is more common if the mother experienced a loss shortly before or after the child’s birth and was severely depressed

– The child is likely to act like a caretaker for his or her mother

Attachment Styles

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTsewNrHUHU

Summary of Attachment

In America, secure attachment is considered ideal and about 65% of 1 year olds are securely attached.

Which attachment style is considered healthiest depends on cultural variables and values

Summary of Attachment

• It is unclear whether the mother causes the child’s behavior entirely, or if it is a reciprocal relationship

• If a child naturally engages less, the mother may adapt and learn to engage less with her child

• More recent research has shown that babies exhibit the same attachment styles with fathers

Documents

Developmental Psychology Survey of Modern Psychology