Developmental psychology

"Process by which an organism (human) hrows and changes through it's lifespan." (Smith et al, 2003)

Most obivious - pre-ntal, infancy, childhood and become an adult.

Darwin did case studies of his own children. Many others have used their own children as a starting point, however this is anecdotal. We can't assume that these observation are generalisable to all children.

What changes and why?

Previously studied via observation, but anecdotal and lack scientific rigour.

An anecdote: an account regarded as unreliable or heresay.

Piaget blended observations and experiments in 1920s.

Naturalistic - high levels of ecological validity, however it can be hard to control for things. A lot of different contexts and set ups that cannot be controlled.

Experimental - a lot of external variables can be controlled, however you see development occuring in unnatural settings.

Looks at how children develop and why

Recently, processes of development have become key areas of study (e.g. Schaffer, 1996)

5 main domains of development.

1) physical - growth and motor development, sensory development

2) cognitive - how they learn, think, remember and solve problems

3) Psychological - development and changing relationships with family and friends and morality.

4) Emotional - children's attachments, relationships they form with others. Development of temperament, self confidence.

5) Linguistic - how child learns speech and language and how they communicate.

Prenatal - concepts through births

Infancy - Birth to 36 months

Pre-school/early childhood - 3 to 5 years old

Middle childhoods - 6 - 12 years old

Adolescence - 13 - 18 years old

Rapid changes from birth to toddlerhood:

- Physical

- Intellectual

- Social

- Emotional

3 weeks - responds to his mothers voice. Turns his head to one side and follows a moving object. Graps his mothers finger. Startled by a loud noise. Muscles are still not strong enough to keep his head upright.

2 months - Bigger and gains more control over his body. Doesn't pay attention to a rattle, instead pays attention to his mother and shows a social smile.

3 months - More aware of things. His back and neck muscles are stronger and he can sit better. Can push himself up on his stomach but sags when he stands. Doesn't reach for objects and doesn't locate strange sounds. Obvious pleasure in interacting with his mother, and has a stronger attachment to those he knows.

4 months - Stands strognly and can lift his head. Watching objects still without reaching for them. Pays attention to his rattle. Recognises his own name and turns to the speakers.

6 months - Sits alone, can reach for things and take them using both hands. He investigates everything and uses his mouth alot. Can now understand different tones of voice. He still has not developed a fear of strangers, although watches his mother leave the room.

8.5 months -  Sits well enough to lean over and pick things up without falling. Make precise movements. Can now stand well, but can't sit down. Tries to crawl, can eat and drink by himself. His mothers depature and a stranger emphasises uncertainty and has pleasure when his mother returns.

10 months -  Stand up, kneel and move about. His motor development is well advanced. Can take and return objects. He can point and find things that have been hidden. Can imitate actions. Makes noises - showing some language ability. He can now understand simple requests, like showing someone his book. Being left alone worries him and he turns away from strangers.

1 year - Walk well, carry things and can climb, stretch and reach. His motor control has increased and his behaviour is more purposeful. Interested in complictaed things like books and colouring. He understands much that is said to him. Now he can follow his mother when she leaves the room.

14 month - Carry out more accruate movements. Balance has impaired and he can run. Interested in objects and rarely puts them in his mouth. He is interested in his surroundings. Has clearly rapidly changing emotional moods. Runs after his mother if she leaves the room,

16 months -  Independent person. Interested and involved in the world around him. Securely attached to the people he knows and loves. He has learnt to communicate with other people.

Children will go through the same development at usually the same age but sometimes ages can vary between children.

1) Continuity

2) Sources of development

3) Plasticity

4) Individual differences

- Development as continuous or discontinuous

Continuous - small, gradual processes of change memory, language development. Quantitative in nature

Discontinuous -  periods of rapid growth and development; emergence of new forms of thought and behaviour. Qualittaive in nature. See a more visible range. The change from babbling to actual speech.

1) stages distinguished by qualitative changes. Transition from a child crawling to walking - use different muscles.

2) Stage transitions marked by other aspects of change. Child's increase in ability to walk changes the relationship between attachment figures because they are able to make their way to them.

3) When changes occur they are rapid. Transition from crawling to walking normally takes an average of 90 days.

4) Behavioural and physical changes are coherent. When you see a change occuring in one aspect of development often changes another aspect of development.

- Spot atypical development through the groups

a) Continuous functions - Development that increases in development - intelligence and vocabulary. We see decrease too in speech perception in infancy.

b) step/discontinuous function - the development of mobility, From birth, children are immobile then there's a jump that increases theur mobile very sudden. Abrupt transition

c) Inverted-U function - Improvement then a peak, then levels of muscular athletic ability.

d) U-shapred function - Starts good, worsens then gets better. Stepping reflex. Birth infants move feet in stepping motion, ability disappears and comes back.

- What are the contributions of genetics to our development?

- What role does the environment play in our development?

- How do nature and nurture interact with one another? What role does upbringing and culture have on our development?

Victor the wild boy - found in France, unaware of the typical human conventions - his actions were more animal-like than human. He was diagnosed with what was known as "retardation", however, it was actually due to his socialisation. He started to develop more human-like behaviours however he never learnt speech.

Devleopment psychology assess the contribution to development of:

- Nature - what are we born with? Inherited biological predisposition

- Nurture - effects of our environment (socio-cultural infleunces)

The degree to which, and the conditions under which, development is open to change and intervention.

Looking at whether or not certain factors can change our development pathways.

Early research:

- Critical periods - certain periods of time that certain development had to happen or it was never going to happen. We can disprove this with people such as Victor who developed some form of language. (Lorenz, imprinting; language development)

- Sensitive periods - periods of time where developments can be facilitated. Language developments.

- No two beings (even identical twins) are exactly alike.

How does a person come to have stable individual characteristics that make him or her different from other  people.

1) Nature/Nurture issue

2) Issue of how characteristics remain stable over time.

- Observational studies

      - Natural

      - Lack of control

- Laboratory based work

      - Control what you study

      - Less naturalistic 

Cross-sectional studies - different participants, different ages, same historical time.

Longitudinal studies (allows study of progression) - same participants, different ages, different historical time

Cohort design - different participants, same ages, different historical time.

Cohort sequential design