AP PSYCH REVIEWDEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY

2013-2014(7 – 9 %)

Key NamesKonrad Lorenz Lev Vygotsky Alfred BinetHarry Harlow Sigmund Freud Lawrence KohlbergMary Ainsworth Erik Erikson Carol GilliganDiana Baumrind Jean Piaget

The Basicso Developmental psychology focuses on how our behaviors and thoughts

change throughout ones lifespano The nature v. nurture debate is a BIG concept hereo Research methods

Cross-sectional participants of different age groups are compared to see how certain variables change over a lifespan

Produce quick results Must take in to account historical events that can account

for change in the results Longitudinal research

Takes place over a long period of time Looks at one group of participants over time Advantageous as it looks the development of a specific

group Prenatal influences

o Teratogens Harmful chemical agents to the developing fetus The most common is alcohol

Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) results from the mother heavily drinking during pregnancy

o Children of with FAS can have small or malformed skulls, and mental retardation

Fetal alcohol effect (FAE) results from the mother moderately drinking during pregnancy

o No symptoms of FASo May develop learning disabilities later in life

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Motor/Sensory Development (Reflexes)

The Newborn Senseso Babies can hear before birtho Babies prefer sweet tasting foodso Babies can see 8-12 inches away from birth; everything else is a bluro By 12 months a baby has the visual acuity of an adulto Babies prefer to look at symmetrical human-like objects and faces

Motor Developmento Develops as neurons in our brain connect with one another and become

myelinated Roll over 5 ½ months Stand 8 months Walk about 15 months

Parentingo Attachment Theory

Konrad Lorenz baby geese and imprinting Baby geese will imprint (attach) to their mother or

caregiver immediately after hatching critical period Harry Harlow

Raised baby monkeys with two artificial wire frame figures made to resemble mother monkey

One figure was fitted with a bottle the baby monkey could eat from and the other was wrapped in soft cloth

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When frightened the baby monkeys went to the soft cloth “mother”

Harlow’s study highlighted the importance of contact during times of fright or distress

Those “raised” by the wire frame mother alone, became stressed and frightened when placed into novel situations

Mary Ainsworth’s Strange Situation Paradigm Placed infants in novel (strange) situations

o Secure attachment 66% of cases Explored their surroundings with confidence

while the parent was present Distressed when the parent left Returned to the parent upon their return

o Avoidant attachment 21% of cases Resisted being held by the parents and

explored their surroundings Did NOT go to their parents for comfort upon

their returno Anxious/Ambivalent 12% of cases

May show extreme stress when the parents left

Resisted comforting when the parents returned

o Parenting Styles (Diana Baumrind) Authoritarian parents

Set strict standards for their children Obedient attitudes are preferred Punishment is used often Children of these tend to be distrustful of others

Permissive parents Do not set clear guidelines for their children Existing rules are constantly changing or rarely enforced Children of these tend to have emotional control issues and

dependency issues Authoritative parents

Have set and consistent standards for behavior These standards are reasonable and explained Rationales for family rules are discussed Encourage the child’s independence, but not violation of

the rules These children tend to be more socially capable and then to

perform better academically Stage Theories of Development

o Continuity v. discontinuity

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Do we develop continuously from stage to stage, OR do we have rapid periods of development followed by periods of relatively little change?

Biologically our growth is discontinuous As infants and adolescents we grow exponentially But what about in other periods of our lives?

o Lev Vygotsky’s work answers how we develop cognitively Zone of proximal development Defined as the range of tasks a child can perform independently

and those they cannot Teachers/parents provide “scaffolds” for students to help them

accomplish higher level tasks Freud’s Psychosexual Development

o Fixation = a preoccupation with the behaviors associated with any single stage

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Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages of Development

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Jean Piaget’s Cognitive Development Theory

o Concepts associated with Piageto Assimilation the child encounters new situations and tries to

make them similar to information already stored o Accommodation the child encounters new information and

creates a new category or schema for that information Ex: all four legged creatures are NOT dogs

o Criticism’s of Piageto Some children go faster through the stages than Piaget anticipatedo Information processing states development in children is more

continuous than Piaget estimated Lawrence Kohlberg’s Moral Development

o Sought to describe how our ability to reason ethical situations changes over our lifetime

o Heinz dilemma A man named Heinz makes a moral choice about whether to

steal a drug he cannot afford to save his wife’s lifeo The Stages of Moral Development

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o Criticisms of Kohlbergo Carol Gilligan pointed out how Kohlberg only studied boys

Theorized gender-based development creates differences in our moral views

Boys have more absolute views of right and wrong Girls pay more attention to the situation

Gender and Developmento Biopsychological (neuropsychological)

Concentrates on the nature element that produces our gender role

Women have larger corpus callosum’s than men This difference impacts how left and right hemisphere’s

communicate and coordinate taskso Psychodynamic theory

Gender development is reduced to a competition Young boys unconsciously compete with their fathers for the

attention of the mothers Girls similarly compete for the attention of the father Proper gender development occurs once the same sex child

realizes they cannot compete with their same sex parento Social Cognitive Theory

Concentrate on the effects society and our own thoughts about gender have on role development

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Look at how we react to boys and girls differently Boys are encouraged to engage in rough play Gender schemas are organized so that each gender is

represented by “appropriate” behaviors

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