LEC 7 - Lecture notes from F17 semester, Instructor Name: Dr. Benjamin Giguère PDF

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Lecture notes from F17 semester, Instructor Name: Dr. Benjamin Giguère...

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Sunday, May 2, y

Developmental Psychology- Part One- LEC 7 PSYCH*1000 Today: What does maturation mean from a psychological perspective? What is cognitive development during infancy? What is social development during infancy?

Using Critical Thinking in Interpreting Research Is there really a specific centre for each function?

- The areas of the brain are in constant interaction Cause and Effect?

- Most research with humans is done with imagery equipment - The vast majority of the time involving correlation research designs Some Examples: “Canada’s top general says military sex harassment due to “biological wiring’

- General Tom Lawson in a CBC interview in 2015 say that assaults are still a problem in the Canadian Forces because men are wired in a certain way

- Unacceptable and wrong, a failure to understanding psychological research If Paul from the Wonder Years became Marilyn Manson?

- Development of brain is influenced by culture and environment - Human development is set in a cultural environment in which it is happening

- Influenced by time and geographical location

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Sunday, May 2, y 1. Was it innate (genes) or did his environment play a role? Was that born into Paul’s genes, (born rebellion) or was it environment (child star, irregular schedule, second star) 2. How did his neurological, cognitive and social development happen? Slow progression, social changes, meeting certain people, how? 3. Did any change happen gradually, or did he go through stages as he”matured”? Marked series of steps or gradually, slowing progressing towards the idea of Marlyn Manson or planned out? What does maturation mean in this context?

• Biologically driven growth and development enabling a sequence predictable cognitive and behaviour changes

• Experience (nurture) can adjust the timing • But maturation (nature) sets the sequence • EX: Maturation in infancy (brain development and motor development) • 6 months sitting, 9 months crawling, neurological connections, walking What is cognitive development? Cognition: refers to the mental activities that help us function, including: • Figuring out how the world works • Developing models and concepts • Problem solving (Baby, ball and stick) • Storing and retrieving knowledge (Who is mom, who is dad, start using “words” to describe it) • Understanding and using language (spoken, sign, with grammar and words we can communicate in very short amount of time) • Jean Piaget (1896-1980) We don’t start out being able to think like adults, kids make “cute mistakes”, ex: calling everything that swims in the water a fish • Piaget’s Schemas - how do we start to organize our experiences of the world? Schema: A mental container that holds our experiences and organizes them according to similarities and differences

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Can schemas evolve or change? Assimilation: new experiences are absorb into an exiting schema Accommodation: new experience lead to the modification of a schema Accommodation brings children to enter a new way of looking at the world. In this case by distinguishing horses and zebras 1. Development is a combination of nature and nurture Children grow by maturation and by learning through interacting/ playing with the environment 2. Development is not one continuous progression of changes, but steps Children make leaps in cognitive abilities from one stage of development to the next A.Sensorimotor Stage (Birth nearly to 2 years old) 1)Object permanence (by the end of this stage, the human brain can track images) 2)Stranger Anxiety (Full tantrum, stranger) 3)Key developmental phenomena B. Preroperational Stage: Representing things with words and images, using intuitive rather than logical reasoning (2-7) 1)Pretend Play ( Well established roles, police) 4)Egocentrism ( Appreciate presence in the world, hard time seeing the world through other peoples eyes, brother example) 5)Key Developmental Phenomenon Theory of the mind refers to the ability to understand that others have their own thoughts and perspectives (everybody has a mind, goals, you have a mind, I have a mind, we can interact of each other.

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Sunday, May 2, y Ex: Sally and Ann Ball Test

C) Concrete Operational: Thinking logically about concrete events, grasping concrete analogies and performing arithmetical operations (7-11) 1)Conservation (Ex: Glass and Liquid, objects have certain properties and can transfer into different situations) 6)Mathematical Transformations ( 3+7 = 10, 10 - 7 = 3) D) Formal Operational :Abstract Reasoning (12 and up) 1)Abstract Logic (Rocks in a house made of glass, never experienced but can imagine and form logic) 7)Potential for mature moral reasoning

Reassessment of Jean Piaget’s cognitive development theory: I. Development is a continuous process (Steps are not as sharp as he imagined) II.Children show some mental abilities and operations at an earlier age than Piaget thought (Can form mathematical connections earlier than predicted) III.Formal logic is a smaller part of cognition than Piaget believed (Also plays an emotional regulation and social skills, really focusing on formal logic) What is social development?

- Socialization: The process by which children learns norms and values in their environment (EX: table manners) 4

Sunday, May 2, y

- Fundamental to our ability to efficiently interact with others - Crucial to socialization and to our ability to interact with others is the relationship a child has with his/her parents/ caregivers

- Attachment refers to an emotional tie to another person - In children, attachment can appear as a desire for physical closeness to a caregiver

Attachment Variation: How do infants deal with separation?

- Mary Ainsworth - The “strange situations” test - In this test, a child is observed as” - A mother and infant child are alone in an unfamiliar (strange) room - A stranger enters the room - Separation: When the mother leaves the room - Reunion: After a few moments the mother returns - Came up with three steps and reactions experienced Secure Attachment • Most children (60 percent) • Distress at seperation • Seek contact at reunion Insecure Attachment (Anxious Style) • Clinging to mother, less exploration (25-30 percent) • Distress at seperation • Remain upset at reunion Insecure Attachment (Avoidant Style)

• Seems indifferent to mother (10-15 percent) What causes different attachment styles?

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Sunday, May 2, y Is the behaviour a reaction to the way the parents have interacted with the child previously? (NURTURE) Mary Ainsworth (1913-1999) - sensitive, responsive, calm parenting is correlated with the secure attachment style Or is it a function of the child’s personality (temperament) (NATURE) Temperament refers to a person’s characteristic style and intensity of emotional reactivity

What are different styles of parenting? Styles

Response to Child’s Behaviour

Authoritarian

Parents impose rules because they said so, and expect obedience

Permissive

Parents submit to kids desires, not enforcing limits or standards for child behaviour

Authoritative

Parents enforce rules, limits and standards but also explain, discuss, listen and express respect for child’s ides and wishes

What are the outcomes of parenting styles? Authoritative: Parenting, more than the other two styles, seems to be associated with: • self-reliance • Social competence • Increased self-esteem • Decreased aggression

• Human development is typically both nature and nurture • Pop Psychology, including a lot of parenting books are full of unidirectional explanations

• e.g. anxious parents > anxious children 6

Sunday, May 2, y

• Physiological, psychological (cognitive) and social changes interact with each other

• Biopsychosocial approach is typically best suited to understand psychology, particularly from a development perspective What happens when a child is deprived of attachment? 1. Children are often surprisingly resilient 4. However, severe, prolonged deprivation or abuse may lead 5. Difficulty to forming secure attachments 6. Increased risk of anxiety and depression 7. Lowered intelligence 8. Increased aggression

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