INTERACTIVE PRESENTATION SLIDES FOR INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY

Cognitive and Social Development in Infancy and Childhood

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Table of Contents

Cognitive Development and Jean Piaget

Cognitive Development: Other Views

Attachment…

Parenting Styles

Psychosocial Development and Identity Formation

Social Development and Moral Reasoning

Fact or Falsehood?

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Until the twentieth century, most people believed that a child’s mind was a miniature model of an adult’s mind.

Piaget is best known for his interest in the process of cognitive development.

Studies of monkeys raised with artificial mothers suggest that mothers bond with their infants by providing them with food.

Children with autism lack what Piaget referred to as a theory of mind.

Levels of self-esteem in children are highest among children with permissive parents.

Cognition: all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating

Cognitive Development and Jean Piaget

Jean Piaget (1896 – 1980)

Considered the father of modern

developmental psychology

Cognitive Dev. Jean Piaget

What Is This Child Thinking?

Piaget was convinced that the mind of a child develops through a series of stages

I think I will slide down this slide!

Cognitive Dev. Jean Piaget

Piaget: Cognitive Development

Piaget’s version of a Schema ▪ A concept or framework that organizes and

interprets information

▪ Conceptual framework for understanding our experiences

Piaget: Cognitive DevelopmentAssimilation

▪ Interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing schemas.

▪ Ex: The first time that a 4-year-old saw her older brother play a flute, she thought it was a large whistle.

Accommodation ▪ Adapting our current understandings (schemas) to incorporate

new information

▪ Adjusting current schemes and creating new ones to make sense of a new experience.

Piaget: Cognitive DevelopmentPiaget’s version of a Schema

Example: Infants develop a fear of strangers at about 8 months of age because they can't assimilate unfamiliar faces into their schemas.

▪Schema—concept or framework that organizes and interprets information ▪Assimilation—interpreting new

experiences in terms of existing schemas ▪Accommodation—adapting current

schemas to incorporate new information

Stage Characteristics

Sensorimotor (Birth-2 yrs)

Preoperational

(2-6 yrs)

Concrete operational

(6-11 yrs)

Formal operational (11 yrs and up)

Infant experiences world through movement and senses, develops schemas, begins to act intentionally, and shows evidence of understanding object permanence.Child acquires motor skills but does not understand conservation of physical properties. Child begins this stage by thinking egocentrically but ends with a basic understanding of other minds.

Child can think logically about physical objects and events and understands conservation of physical properties.

Child can think logically about abstract propositions and hypotheticals.

Piaget on Cognitive DevelopmentPiaget’s Four Stages of Cognitive Development

Piaget Stage 1: Sensorimotor (Birth – 2 yrs)

▪ Infants acquire information about the world by sensing it and moving around within it.

▪Object permanence—

the idea that objects continue to exist even when they are not visible

Where are you when a child doesn’t see you?

Object Permanence

Piaget Stage 2: Preoperational (2 – 7 yrs)

▪Children have a preliminary understanding of the physical world.

▪Egocentrism: the difficulty perceiving things from another’s perspective or point of view.

▪Not about being selfish and interested in one’s own pleasure.

Piaget Stage 2: Preoperational (2 – 7 yrs)

▪Egocentrism: the difficulty perceiving things from another’s perspective or point of view.

▪ Example: Four-year-old Jennifer mistakenly believes that her mother would like to receive a toy doll as a Christmas present.

Piaget Stage 2: Preoperational (2 – 7 yrs)

▪Children have a preliminary understanding of the physical world.

▪ Theory of mind—people’s ideas about their own and others’ mental states—about their feelings, perceptions, and thoughts, and the behaviors these might predict.

Perspective Taking

Piaget Stage 3: Concrete Operational (7 – 12 yrs)

The ability to think logically about events first develops during the concrete operational stage They start to comprehend mathematical transformations. ▪ Ex: The answer to 8+4 can take 5 seconds to compute. The

same with 12-4. ▪ By age 8 they can answer reverse questions instantly.

Piaget Stage 3: Concrete Operational (7 – 12 yrs)

▪ Children learn how various actions or “operations” can affect or transform “concrete” objects ▪ Conservation—the

notion that properties such as a mass, volume, and number remain the same despite changes in the shape of objects.

Which glass contains more?

Conservation

▪How does this clip illustrate Piaget’s claim that a young child’s mind is not a miniature model of the adult’s? ▪Why is Piaget’s research important? How might

we utilize his findings in the education of our children?

Video Review

Piaget Stage 4: Formal Operational (12 yrs - Adulthood) People can solve nonphysical problems; they can think logically about abstract concepts

Can babies think before they talk?

Criticisms of Piaget’s Framework

Was Piaget incorrect or do researchers today see development as more continuous than did Piaget?

What does social

development look like?

Social Development in Childhood

Attachment▪ The emotional bond

that forms between newborns and their caregivers

▪ Stranger anxiety—the fear of strangers that infants commonly display, beginning by about 8 months

How do parent-infant attachments form?

Henry and Margaret Harlow learned about attachment when they conducted experiments at the University of Wisconsin in the 1950s.

Harlow and Attachment

▪How did this experiment disprove the notion that children only become attached to their mothers because their mothers are sources of nourishment? ▪Can you think of any human situations that

support Harlow’s findings?

Video Review

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Looking time (in seconds)

Securely attached infants

Unresponsive caregiver

Responsive caregiver

bond easily with their caregivers and are apt to explore their environment independently

Insecurely attached infants

alternately cling to or ignore caregivers and are reluctant to explore their surroundings

Measuring Attachment with the Strange Situation

Strange Situation—A behavioral test developed by Mary Ainsworth that is used to determine a child’s attachment style. What happens to little Brian in this Strange Situation episode?

1. In this photo, Brian explores the playroom happily when his mother is present.

2. Brian cries when his mother leaves.

3. He is readily comforted when his mother returns.

Measuring Attachment

▪Has Gilda Morelli's research with the Efe people improved our understanding of the Strange Situation? ▪What does the video tell us about the validity of

the Strange Situation attachment test? ▪From what is shown in the video, is attachment

the same across all cultures, or is attachment culture-specific?

Video Review

Elements of Secure attachment

Providing children with a safe haven in times of stress Ex: In a pleasant but unfamiliar setting, infants use their mothers as a base from which to explore the new surroundings.

Elements of Secure attachment

Providing children with a safe haven in times of stress Responsive parenting Studies of monkeys raised with artificial mothers suggest that mother-infant emotional bonds result from bodily contact with infants

Elements of Secure attachment

Evidence based findings on the role of Temperament:

Relaxed infants develop secure attachments more readily. Difficult, emotionally intense babies, develop secure attachments less readily.

Elements of Secure insecure attachments

The child perceives her parents as:

▪ Low on emotional engagement ▪ Not trustworthy and dependable ▪ Cold and rejecting

▪ Sets limits but listens ▪ Flexible

▪ Indifference ▪ Unaware of what happens

in child’s life

▪ High behavior standards ▪ Strict punishment of

misconduct ▪ Little communication

▪ High nurturance and communication

▪ Little discipline, guidance, or control

Authoritarian

Authoritative

Neglectful/ uninvolved

PermissiveFour parenting styles

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Social Development- Child-Rearing Practices

Three explanations for correlation between authoritative parenting and social competence

High education, ample income, harmonious marriage, common genes

(3) Some third factor may be influencing both parents and child.

(1) Parent’s behavior may be influencing child.

Authoritative parents

(2) Child’s behavior may be influencing parents.

Self-reliant, Socially competent child

Authoritative parents

Authoritative parents

Self-reliant, Socially competent child

Self-reliant, Socially competent child

Social Development- Child-Rearing Practices

Authoritative: ▪ Demanding and yet sensitively responsive to their

children ▪ Children tend to have high self-esteem and are

self-reliant.

Authoritarian: ▪ Obedient and tend to have lower levels of self-

esteem. ▪ Vary between self-reliance and developing levels

of codependency.

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Parenting Styles GridCommunication

LevelCommunication

Level

Parenting Style

Warmth Discipline Expectations For Maturity

Parent-Child Child Parent

Authoritative High Moderate Moderate High High

Authoritarian Low Strict Physical

High High Low

Permissive High Rare Low Low High

Rejecting Low Low Low Low Low

Temperament and AttachmentTemperament—a person’s characteristic emotional reactivity and intensity Do babies’ temperaments change?

Babies are usually

classified as easy, difficult,

and slow-to-warm-

up.

Psychosocial Development and Identity Formation

Erik Erikson (1902 – 1984)—His landmark theory of psychosocial development stressed the importance of social and cultural influences on personality throughout the stages of life.

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Trust vs. Mistrust

▪Why do you think it is important for an infant to feel that his world is safe and reliable? ▪Do you think it is possible for infants and

children who have received inconsistent care to become healthy and well-adjusted adults? ▪What factors might improve their chances?

Video Review

Social Development and Moral ReasoningHow did 133 9-year-olds respond to a moral dilemma?

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Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development

Approximate age Stage Description of Task

Infancy Trust vs. mistrust If needs are dependably met, infants (1st year) develop a sense of basic trust. Toddler Autonomy vs. shame Toddlers learn to exercise will and (2nd year) and doubt do things for themselves, or they doubt their abilities.

Preschooler Initiative vs. guilt Preschoolers learn to initiate tasks (3-5 years) and carry out plans, or they feel guilty about efforts to be independent.

Elementary Competence vs. Children learn the pleasure of applying (6 years- inferiority themselves to tasks, or they feel puberty) inferior.

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Erikson’s Eight Psychosocial Stages

1. Basic trust vs. mistrust ! Virtue of the Hope ! Unsuccessful completion results: Dependency

2. Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt

! Virtue of the Will ! Unsuccessful completion results: Lack self confidence

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3. Initiative vs. Guilt

! Virtue of the Purpose ! Unsuccessful completion results: Lack of Self-Initiative

4. Industry vs. Inferiority

! Virtue of the Competence ! Unsuccessful completion results: Lack of self-confidence

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5. Identity vs. Identity Confusion

! Virtue of Fidelity ! Unsuccessful completion results: Role confusion ! This is the special task of the adolescent

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6. Intimacy vs. isolation

! Virtue of Love ! Unsuccessful completion results: Avoiding Intimate Rel

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Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development

Approximate age Stage Description of Task

Adolescence Identity vs. role Teenagers work at refining a sense of self by (teens into confusion testing roles and then integrating them to 20’s) form a single identity, or they become confused about who they are. Young Adult Intimacy vs. Young adults struggle to form close relation- (20’s to early isolation ships and to gain the capacity for intimate 40’s) love, or they feel socially isolated.

Middle Adult Generativity vs. The middle-aged discover a sense of contri- (40’s to 60’s) stagnation buting to the world, usually through family and work, or they may feel a lack of purpose.

Late Adult Integrity vs. When reflecting on his or her life, the older (late 60’s and despair adult may feel a sense of satisfaction or up) failure.

SLIDE DESCRIPTION CREDITSlide 1 Brain graphic NLshop/ Fotolia.com

Slide 4 Piaget Farrell Grehan/ Corbis Slide 5 Scale errors: baby trying to slide down miniature slide

and get into miniature carCourtesy of Judy DeLoache

Slide 7 Child playing peek-a-boo (hiding) Laura Dwight PhotographyChild playing peek-a-boo (revealed) Laura Dwight Photography

Slide 9 Child with animal iStockphoto/ Thinkstock

Slide 15 EEG SPL/Photo ResearchersSlide 16 Vytgotsky James V. Wertsch / Washington University

Slide 19 Boy with father (father with child (Aka of the Ituri forests)

©Barry Hewlett

Child sleeping with parents, Nenets people Maria Stenzel /National Geographic StockBaby lying down holding hands Rayes/ Thinkstock

Slide 20 Harlow's monkey (wire) Harlow Primate LabHarlow's monkeys (on soft mother) Harlow Primate LabHarlow's monkey (covering its face) Harlow Primate Lab

Slide 24 Little Brian in strange situation 1 courtesy Mary AinsworthLittle Brian in strange situation 2 courtesy Mary AinsworthLittle Brian in strange situation 3 courtesy Mary Ainsworth

Slide 27 Authoritarian--mom scolding child ThinkstockPermissive mom reading book while kids play Darrin Klimek/ ThinkstockAuthoritative mother and son talking Jupiterimages/ ThinkstockNeglectful/uninvolved-girl in corner iStockphoto/ ThinkstockMother and child Jupiterimages/ ThinkstockMother and child/homework Brand X Pictures/ Thinkstock

Photo Credits