Psych 120General Psychology

Christopher GadeOffice: 1030A

Office hours: MW 4:30-5:30Email: gadecj@gmail.com

Class MW 1:30-4:30 Room 2240

Today’s Lecture is on Developmental Psychology!

What do developmental psychologists study? Genetics

Development and Change

Cognitive Personality and

Emotion Physical

Genetics and Development Why do developmental psychologists

study genetics? Attempt to determine heritability

Heritability: an estimate of the variance within a population that is due to heredity.

Note: This a chance for us to revisit the nature versus nurture issue.

Attempt to identify specific genes and genotypes

Chromosomes – 23 pairs of strands containing hereditary material that are located in our cells.

Genes – sections of chromosomes that control several chemical reactions that direct development.

How else do developmental psychologists study heritability?

- Sibling studies Identical (monozygotic) and fraternal (dizygotic)

twins

Siblings (similar to fraternal twins)

Adopted children

Twins reared together compared to twins reared apart

Minnesota Twin Registry (Thomas Bouchard) Sweeden Twin Research

Example of Correlation Results found in Twins Studies

Jim Lewis and Jim Springer

Divorced (Linda) Remarried (Betty) Middle ClassRomantic/affectionateSon “James Alan” Dog “Toy” WoodshopStock car racingDrinking Miller LiteChain SmokerChewed nails to the

nubMigraines

Divorced (Linda) Remarried (Betty) Middle ClassRomantic/affectionateSon “James Alan” Dog “Toy” WoodshopStock car racingDrinking Miller LiteChain SmokerChewed nails to the nubMigraines

Do these twin studies tell us everything we need to know about genetic influence?

The influence of genetics on behavior in society

The influence of experience on behavior in society

The influence of genetics and experience on society’s reaction to the individual

The influence of society’s reactions on behavior.

The circular pattern that goes on, and on, and on…

Physical Development before Birth

Fertilized Egg (sperm and the egg) 1 cell (multiplies a lot)

Zygote (0-9 days) 1 week – over 100 cells

(approximately have been reproduced.

10 days – the zygote attaches itself to the wall of the mother’s uterus.

Physical Development before Birth (cont.)

Embryo (2 weeks) Little to no movement Very little recognizable

human shape 6 weeks – first movement

Fetus (8-9 weeks) Human form

Specialized body parts A TAIL!

Much more movement

Other Milestones Before Birth

28 weeks – peak of neuron concentration Neurons are multiplying at a rate of ¼ million

neurons per minute for a short period of time during development.

33 weeks – first conclusive recognition of mother’s voice

36 weeks – can turn head and eyes in response to sounds

6 months (3rd trimester) – capable of surviving outside of the womb (probable, but not certain)

At Birth Little to no control over most muscles

Horrible visual abilities (experience and development)

23 million neurons in the brain / nervous system

Very few neural connections

Few reflexes Rooting Sucking Grasping Babinski Stepping

So What Have We Learned? We learned about

the relationship between genetics and developmental psychology.

We learned about the terminology and physical development of children before birth.

Now what? In the next two sections, we’ll discuss

the cognitive and social development of individuals after they are born.

Our main focus for the next section will be on Jean Piaget and his theories about the cognitive development of children.

Jean Piaget (1896-1980) While earning his education, Piaget

worked under Carl Jung, and didwork with Alfred Binet in hisadministration of intelligence tests.

Became interested in the cognitive development of children.

Began observing the development of his children.

From these observations, Piaget was able to establish his own terminology and theories of how “normal” children develop cognitively.

Piaget’s Theories of Intelligence Schemas – a concept, or framework, that organizes

and interprets information.

Equilibrium – a cognitive state of mind in children where there is harmony between information presented to a child and their present schemas.

Disequilibrium – a cognitive state of mind in children where new information is not in harmony with their current schemas.

Assimilation – interpreting one’s new experience in terms of one’s existing schema.

Accommodation – adapting one’s current schemas to incorporate new information.

Doggy

Doggy???

Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development

Sensorimotor stage (birth to almost2 years of age)

Preoperational stage (just before 2 years to 7 years of age)

Concrete operational stage (about 7 to 11 years of age)

Formal operational stage (11 years on)

The “Are You Smarter Than a ____ Year-Old” Game

Sensorimotor Stage Experience the world through the

senses and actions (looking, touching, mouthing, and grasping).

Object permanence 11:50-14:00

Sense of self

Stranger anxiety

Preoperational Stage Representing things with words and images

but lacking logical reasoning.

Distinguishing appearance from reality

Egocentrism

Symbolism 14:00-18:15

Language development

Concrete Operational Stage

Understanding analogies and performing arithmetical operations.

Conservation

Mathematical transformations

Formal Operational Stage

Abstract reasoning

Moral reasoning begins to develop

Note: there’s a large amount of skepticism as to whether or not this stage actually exists.

If everyone in this class studies hard, everyone in this class will earn an A. Everyone in this class studied hard.

John and his sister Sally both want to go home from school, but they only have one bike. This means that one of them will get to ride the bike home, while the other will have to walk. John rode his bike home.

Tommy can run faster than Jenny. Jenny can run faster than Mark. Mark can run faster than Beth. Who can run faster, Tommy or Beth?

What did we learn?

We learned about Jean Piaget and his theories of development.

We learned about the different stages of development drawn out by Piaget.

We had our first introduction to theories about cognitive development.

In the final portion of class… Other theories of

cognitive development.

Theories of moral development.

More terminology and ideas associated with development.

What have we discussedabout development?

Genetics

Piaget’s theories of cognitive development

What will we discuss now? Vygotsky’s

theories of cognitive development

Kohlberg’s theories of moral development

Erikson’s theories of identity development

Revisiting Piaget’s Theories of Development

Children go through different, set stages of development as they progress toward adulthood.

These stages are distinct, age specific, and cannot be sped up through adult help.

Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934)

Researched the ideas of cognitivedevelopment that were described byJean Piaget.

Agreed with the idea that a developmental process in cognitive skills does take place.

Argued against the contention that this cognitive development is set, and cannot be accelerated.

Vygotsky’s Theories of Development

Contended that cognitive development occurs through gradual and continual growth.

Believed that instead of being in different developmental stages, kids are in different “zones of proximal development”.

Proposed that through a method of instruction he termed as “scaffolding”, a child could learn cognitive concepts more quickly.

Lawrence Kohlberg (1927-1987)

Worked under the tutelage of JeanPiaget.

Chose to examine development from a moral perspective.

Argued that similar to cognitive development, children also go through stages of moral development throughout their lives.

Contended that children progress through these stages in a set order, but that people did not necessarily advance through all of these stages in their life.

The Story Of Heinz

In Europe, a woman was near death from a special kind of cancer. There was one drug that the doctors thought might save her. It was a form of radium that a druggist in the same town had recently discovered. The drug was expensive to make, but the druggist was charging ten times what the drug cost him to make. He paid 2000 for the radium and charged $20,000 for a small dose of the drug. The sick woman's husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the money, but he could only get together about $ 10,000 which is half of what it cost. He told the druggist that his wife was dying and asked him to sell it cheaper or let him pay later. But the druggist said: "No, I discovered the drug and I'm going to make money from it." So Heinz got desperate and broke into the man's store to steal the drug-for his wife. Should the husband have done that? Why, or why not?

Age Differences in Moral Development

Concerns about Kohlberg’s Theories of Moral Development

Cultural influence

Different forms of moral development Pre-Conventional - self Conventional - others Post-Conventional - combination

Gender differences in moral orientation Carol Gilligan

The difference between behavior and moral responses

Erik Erikson (1902-1994)

Born in Germany. Abandoned byhis biological father, and adoptedby his Jewish step-father.

Was an outcast in both the Jewish community (for his Nordic appearance), and at school (for being Jewish).

As a result of this teasing, he became interested in the development of a sense of self identity that children go through.

Erikson’s Research Worked under Sigmund Freud, and his

daughter Anna Freud.

Examined how a child’s sense of self identity develops throughout the life-span.

Agreed with many of Freud’s theories about development and childhood dilemmas, but he did have a few VERY important ideas that differed from Freud’s.

Believed that cultures influenced the different dilemmas and developmental phases that children experience.

Concluded that despite these differences across cultures, children progress a series of 8 (instead of 6) phases of development.

What did we learn about in today’s last section?

We concluded our examination of different theorists that study development in children.

We learned about Vygotsky’s cognitive development theory

We learned about Kohlberg’s moral development theory

We learned about Erikson’s self identity developmental theory