Topic 7 – Development

 Development
o Age related changes – occur as individual progresses from
conception to death
o Development starts at conception – not at birth
 Predictable sequence
 Life-history theory
 Parental & Childhood Development
o Brain development
o Cognitive development
o Moral development
o Attachment

 Life History Theory

o Isn’t only true for humans but is unique for every single species
o How organisms allocate their limited energy and resources
across different aspects of life
o Somatic effort
 At adolescent some of our effort switch from somatic effort
to reproductive effort
 Every species has a time when they put in that effort and
how much
o Reproductive efforts
 Some species put all their effort into parenting and give
birth and die
 Humans invest heavily in offspring
 Some species men invest heavily in offspring where some
species men don’t
 Some species lay eggs and leave
 Mating effort
o Men bias their effort towards mating
 Parenting effort
o Women bias their effort towards parenting

 Infant Brain Development

o Plasticity – brain’s ability to change structure and function
  Change in structure – number of dendrites and connections
increases dramatically following birth
 Changes in function – newborns: high activity in thalamus
 Highly dependent on reflexes
o Infant startle reflex – parents will swaddle their
babies so that it inhibits the startle reflex
o Sucking reflex – helps babies extract milk
o Swimming reflex – they are from liquid, after
birth they are comfortable and they can swim a
little in water
 2-3 months: increased activity in cortex
 8-9 months: increased activity in the frontal cortex
 Babinski’s reflex
 Stroke the lateral aspect of the sole of the patients
foot with your thumbnail or other sharp oject
o Normally this makes someone’s foot into
flexion of all toes – this is called a negative
Babinski’s reflex
o With a positive Babinski’s reflex the great toe
and the other toes fan out
 Positive Babinski’s reflex is abnormal in
adults meaning that there are some
nerve damages
 However babies show positive Babinski’s
reflex and as they grow older it changes
to the normal one on the left
 Child Brain Development
o Synaptic Pruning – unused synapses are eliminated
 Connections peak between 6-7 years
o Neurogenesis – creation of new neurons
 Brains continues to create new neurons all the time –
primarily happens in the hippocampus
 New cells migrate to other regions of the brain and form
connections with existing cells
 Teen Brain Development
o White matter
 Myelinated (myeline makes them look white) neurons
facilitate communication between regions
  Growth increases between childhood and puberty then
slows
o Grey matter
 Information processing
 Second round of synaptic overproduction & pruning
decreases volume
o Prefrontal cortex
 Changes most pronounced and continue until mid 20’s
 High level cognitive functioning (planning, organization)
 Strengthen connection to limbic system: impulsive and
subject to peer pressure
 Cognitive Development
o Jean Piaget (1896-1980)
 Swiss developmental psychologist working with Theodore
Simon
 Interested in childhood though processes leading to
incorrect answers on IQ test
 Four stage model of cognitive development
o Stage 1 – Sensorimotor period – Birth to 2
years
 Coordination of sensory input and motor
responses; development of object
permanence
o Stage 2 – Preoperational period – 2 to 7 years
 Development of symbolic thought
marked by irreversibility, centration, and
egocentrism
o Stage 3 – Concrete Operational period – 7 to 11
years
 Mental operations applied to concrete
events; mastery of conservation,
hierarchical classification
o Stage 4 – Formal operational period – 11 years
through adulthood
 Mental operations applied to abstract
ideas; logical, systematic thinking
o Assimilation – interpreting new experiences in terms of existing
mental structures
 o Accommodation – changing existing mental structures to explain
new experiences

 Sensorimotor Period
o Birth to age two
 Dominated by innate reflexes
 Coordination between sensory input and motor
actions
 Symbolic though begins to develop
o Ex. Mental image of favourite toy
o Object permanence
 Recognition that objects continue to exist in the absence of
sensory stimulation
 Four months – no permanence
 Four to 8 months – partial permanence
 18 months – permanence mastered
 Peekaboo – are they looking for it?
 Partial permanence they move the towel
 Permanence mastered they don’t

 Preoperational period
o Ages 2 – 7
 Development of symbolic though continues
o Conservation – awareness that physical quantities remain
constant in spite of changes in shape or appearance
 When a 2 different shaped cups with the same volume
 Is there same amount of liquid?
o Yes because the shape changes but the volume
remains the same
o Characteristics of preoperational thought
 Centration – focus on one feature of a problem
 Irreversibility – inability to envision reversing an action
 Egocentrism – inability to share another’s viewpoint
 They can’t take the perspective of the other person
 Ask a girl, do you have a sister and she says yes, ask
her if her sister has a sister and she’ll say no
 Animism – belief that all things are living
 o Concrete Operational Period
 Ages 7-11: Operations performed on tangible objects
 Reversibility
 Decentration
 Decline in egocentrism
 Conservation of liquid, mass, number, area, and length
 Hierarchical classification – problems that require two level
of classification
 Can’t think abstractly
 Concrete operational children are able to know the answer
but still have a difficult time explaining why

 Formal operational Period

o Beginning at 11 years; applies operations to abstract concepts
(justice, love, free-will)
o Further development reflect changes in degree
 More systematic in problem solving, less trial and error
o Evaluating Piaget’s theory
 Sequence of stages is constant, timetable variable
 Doesn’t account for individual differences
 Evidence of mixing elements of different stages
 Piaget trying to explain that everyone must take the steps
for development not accounting for how fast or slow
 Cognitive development
o Habituation - Dishabituation paradigm
 Habituation – infant loses interest in stimulus presented
repeatedly
 Dishabituation – new stimulus elicits interest from infant
 What type of events surprise infants?
o Four month olds understand
 Add and subtract small numbers
 Objects are distinct entities
 Objects move in continuous paths
 Solid objects cannot pass through each other
 Objects cannot pass through openings smaller in size
 Objects on slopes roll down
 Theory of Mind
o The nature of mind
 Ability to recognize other minds are distinct from my own
  Ability to know other minds have different content
 Ability to anticipate the contents of other minds
 Ability to know what thoughts and desires motivate
behaviour
 Ability to recognize that not all thoughts reflect reality
o False belief task (Candy box full of crayons)
 Theory of mind develops at about four years of age
 Moral Reasoning
o Morality – ability to discern right from wrong and to behave
accordingly
o Moral judgement – how good or bad is an action?
o So what determines a person’s action is good or bad?
 The intention behind a person’s action not the
consequences
o What cognitive ability does moral reasoning require?
 Theory of mind
 Need to be a mind reader to see someone’s intention
o Lawrence Kohlberg (1927-1987)
 American psychologist who worked with Piaget
 Preconventional level
o Stage 1 – punishment orientation
 Right and wrong are determined by what
is punished
o Stage 2 – Naïve reward orientation
 Right and wrong are determined by what
is rewarded
 Conventional level
o Stage 3 – Good boy / good girl orientation
 Right and wrong are determined by close
others’ approval or disapproval
o Stage 4 – Authority orientation
 Right and wrong are determined by
society’s rules and laws, which should be
obeyed rigidly
 Postconventional level
o Stage 5 – Social contract orientation
 Right and wrong are determined by
society’s rules, which are viewed as
fallible rather than absolute
 o Stage 6 – Individual principles and conscience
orientation
 Right and wrong are determined by
abstract ethical principles that
emphasize equity and justice
 Motor Development
o Muscular coordination for physical activity
o Maturation – gradual unfolding of genetic blueprint
 Early development
 Requires environmental input
o Specialized skills develop later and require practice
 Ex. Triple axel
 Development Benchmarks
o Cephalocaudal Trend – progresses from head to foot
o Proximodistal Trend – progress from torso to limbs
o Great variation in development of benchmarks
 Search for identity
o James Marcia (SFU) – identity status determined by 2 dimensions
 Presence/ absence of a commitment to life goals/values
 Sense of crisis active questioning and exploration of
identity
 Move between identity statuses
 Identity moratorium & achievement increase with age
 Identity changes across adulthood
 “Identity crisis” can occur in midlife
 Transition During Adulthood
o Marriage
 Median age increasing since 70’s
 Median age decreased from 20’s to 70’s
o Parenthood
 Rewarding experience
 More stress
o Empty nest
 Less stress
 Marital & life satisfaction increases