Developmental

1
Developmental Psychology
By Coleen MacCracken and Megan Houck
2
Prenatal Influences on Development

• Teratogens Chemicals or agents that can harm the
  developing baby if consumed by the mother during
  pregnancy. (ex. Alcohol, Cocaine)
• Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) is caused by mothers
  who drink heavily during pregnancy, resulting in
  small malformed skulls and mental retardation.
• Fetal Alcohol Effect is caused by mothers who
  drink moderately during pregnancy, and can cause
  developmental problems later in life. (ex.
  Learning disabilities or behavioral problems.)

3
Reflexes

• Rooting Reflex When touched on the cheek, a baby
  will turn its head in the direction that it was
  touched.
• Sucking Reflex When an object is placed in the
  babys mouth, he or she will suck on it.
• Grasping Reflex When an object is placed in the
  babys palm or on their foot, they will try to
  grab it .
• Moro Reflex When the baby is startled, it will
  fling their limbs out, then quickly retract them.
• Babinski Reflex When the babys foot is stroked,
  they will spread their toes.

4
Parenting

• Authoritarian Parents Set strict rules for their
  childs behavior and apply punishments when these
  rules are violated.
• Permissive Parents Do not set clear guidelines,
  and rules that exist are frequently changing, and
  not consistent.
• Authoritative Parents Set consistent rules that
  are reasonable for their childrens behavior, and
  encourage independence, yet still enforce rules.
• Attachment Theory the relationship between the
  parent and child that affects development.
  Physical comfort is important in the formation of
  an attachment.

5
Freuds Stage Theories

• Oral Stage Infants seek pleasure through their
  mouths.
• Anal Stage Develops during toilet training, and
  if conflict occurs, a person may become
  controlling or out of control.
• Phallic Stage When the child realizes their
  gender, which may cause family conflict.
• Genital Stage When the focus of sexual pleasure
  is the genitals, and they remain in this stage
  for the rest of their life.
• Oedipus Complex When young boys resent their
  fathers relationship with their mother
• Electra complex When young girls resent their
  mothers relationship with their father.

6
Eriksons Psychosocial Stage Theory

• Trust vs. Mistrust Babies learn whether or not
  they can trust the world to fulfill their needs.
• Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt Toddlers begin to
  control their own body for the first time.
• Initiative vs. Guilt Children want to understand
  the world, and ask many questions.
• Industry vs. Inferiority The beginning of formal
  education, after preschool and kindergarten.
• Identity vs. Role Confusion When an adolescent
  is trying to discover their social identity, and
  what they are most comfortable with.
• Intimacy vs. Isolation When an adult struggles
  to balance things such as work and relationships.
• Generativity vs. Stagnation Starting to look
  critically at our life, and making sure things go
  as planned.
• Integrity vs. Despair Toward the end of our
  lives, we decide if we are satisfied or not by
  looking back on achievements.

7
Piagets Stages

• Sensorimotor Stage from birth to about 2 years
  when babies begin to experience and explore
  through their senses, and develop object
  permeance (realizing objects still exist even
  when out of sight.)
• Preoperational Stage from 2 to 7 years when
  children begin to use language and refer to the
  world through symbols.
• Concrete Operations Stage from 8 to 12 years
  when children start to think more logically and
  understand concepts of conservation (realizing
  properties of objects stay the same even when the
  form changes.)
• Formal Operations Stage 12 to adult when they
  develop abstract thinking, for example,
  hypothesis testing, and can trace their thought
  processes.

8
Moral DevelopmentKohlbergs Stage Theory

• Preconventional Decision making is based on
  avoiding punishment, and how their choices will
  affect themselves.
• Conventional Children disregard personal
  feelings and make choices based on how others
  will judge them. This is learned from parents,
  peers, and surroundings.
• Postconventinonal Makes choices by weighing the
  values of each choice, and the morality is taken
  into consideration.

9
Gender and Development

• Biopsychological Theory The nature/nurture
  combination that determines our gender role.
• Psychodynamic Theory Unconscious competition
  between young boys and their fathers for
  attention from the mother, and girls with their
  mothers for attention from the father. Soon,
  girls learn to become a woman like their mother,
  and boys become men like their fathers.
• Social-Cognitive theory The effects of society
  and thoughts about gender on role development,
  and the different ways we react to boys and
  girls.
• Gender Schema Theory We internalize messages
  about gender into cognitive rules for the manner
  in which each gender should behave.