Overview of Human Growth and Development

1. Overview of Human Growth and Development Erford, B. , Hays, D. , Crockett, S. ,Miller, E. (2011). Mastering the National Counselor Examination and the Counselor Preparation Comprehensive Examination. Upper Saddle, N. J.: Pearson Education, Inc.

2. Development1 • Involves the changes in human beings between conception and death. • Influenced by genetic and environmental conditions • Described within the physical, cognitive, moral, emotional, personality, and social development domains.

3. Developmental stages • Prenatal period (conception to birth) • Infancy (birth to 2 years) • Toddlerhood ( 2 – 3 years) • Early childhood (3 – 5 years) • Middle childhood ( 6 -12 years) • Adolescents (13 – 19 years) • Young adulthood (19 – 30 years) • Middle adulthood (about 30 – 60 years) • Late adulthood ( about 60 – 75 years) • Old age ( about 75+)

4. Types of Aging2 • Biological aging – metabolic changes Anabolism: the body building to peak potential and occurs from birth to an age that varies by individual. Catabolism: the body’s usually slow deterioration from peak through an individual’s death.

5. Types of Aging cont. • Psychological aging: one’s perception of personal age. E.g. one may “feel” young or “feel” old. • Social aging: how one’s chronological age is viewed within the societal or cultural context and is affected by vocation and socioeconomic status. E.g. how aged citizens are regarded in Eastern cultures vs Western cultures.

6. Categorizing theories of human development3 • Learning theories • Cognitive • Psychoanalytic (psychodynamic) • Humanistic • Ethological to study a behavioral process (e.g. aggression) in a number of unrelated animals rather than one particular animal group.) • Language Development • Physical Development • Moral Development

7. Categorizing theories of human development • Nature vs Nurture • Continuous Development • Discontinuous Development • Active and Reactive theories

8. Special Designs in Human Development Research 4 • Case study • Naturalistic study • Survey research • Correlational research • Cross-sectional design studies • Longitudinal design studies • Time-lag studies

9. The Central Nervous System5 Human development relies heavily on cognitive and physical processes, thus making development and maturation of the central nervous system critical.

10. Development of the Central Nervous System • Central nervous system: Brain and spinal cord • Peripheral nervous system: the network of nerves that connects the central nervous system to the rest of the body (e.g. fingers, arms, toes, legs) • Growth of the brains involves: the addition of new neurons and interconnectedness of these neurons and myelination (i.e. insulation of the neuron to enhance speed of neural transmissions).

11. The Brain • The hindbrain: responsible for life maintenance and survival functions (medulla oblongata, cerebellum, pons, reticular activating system) • The midbrain: connects the hindbrain and the forebrain, controls eye muscles, relays auditory and visual information to the brain’s center for higher level thinking. • The forebrain: consists of the cerebral cortex, which is responsible for higher order behavior and conscious thought (left and right hemisphere, corpus callosum, cerebral cortex –occipital lobe, parietal lobe, temporal lobe, frontal lobe)

12. Other structures in the brain • Thalamus • Limbic system • Hypothalamus • Amygdala • Hippocampus • Hemispheric specialization or lateralization

13. Genetic disorders6 • Autosomal diseases Phenylketonuria Sickle cell anemia Tay-Sachs disease • X-linked diseases • Sex chromosomal diseases Turner syndrome Klinefelter’s syndrome

14. Learning theories7 • Learning = a relatively permanent change in behavior or thinking resulting from an individual’s experiences. • Learning theorists propose that individuals observe and react to their environment. Stimulus-response theories and social learning theories.

15. Classical Conditioning • Ivan Pavlov – studies on the salivation of dogs when presented with food powder. • Classical conditioning experiments • Unconditioned Stimulus (US) – meat powder • Conditioned Stimulus (CS) – neutral –tone, bell.. • Conditioned Response (CR)

16. Establishing a classically conditioned response • Simultaneous conditioning: US and CS presented at the same time. • Delayed conditioning: CS begins first but overlaps presentation of the US – most effective • Backward conditioning: The US is presented before the CS. • Extinction • Spontaneous recovery • Stimulus generalization • Stimulus discrimination

17. John B. Watson • “father of American behaviorism” • “if you cannot observe it, it doesn’t exist” • Development involves learned associations between stimuli and responses. • “Little Albert” experiment – Watson attempted to condition a phobia into an 11-month-old infant and then attempted to decondition the phobia. • CS (white rat) w/ US (loud noise) caused UR (startled response).

18. Joseph Wolpe • Applied classical conditioning procedures to psychotherapy • The principle of reciprocal inhibition • Systematic desensitization • Other techniques based on classical conditioning: counterconditioning; aversive counterconditioning; flooding.

19. Operant Conditioning • Edward L. Thorndike – Law of Effect • B.F. Skinner – positive reinforcement; negative reinforcement; punishment • Reinforcers – primary or secondary • Reinforcement schedules

20. Social Learning • We observe and learn from what we experience in the social context by considering new information, constructing meaning from it, and using it in future interactions, frequently without receiving any overt reinforcement. • Albert Bandura • John Dollard and Neal Miller

21. Albert Bandura • Social learning theory – based on the principle that people learn through observation, imitation, and modeling. • An individual can observe a model perform some behavior, then imitate that behavior without receiving any tangible reinforcement, thereby demonstrating new learning even in the absence of a contingency.

22. Bandura cont. • Observational learning: learning through passive observation. • Modeling: demonstrating how a behavior is performed so that it may be learned and passed on. • Effective modeling: Attention; Retention; Reproduction; Motivation • Modeling more effective: observers and models are of similar demographics or have positive interpersonal attributes

23. Bandura cont. • Self-efficacy: refers to an individual’s confidence in his or her ability to perform a given behavior or accomplish a given task.

24. The Dollard and Miller Approach • Influenced by the psychoanalytic, behavioral, and social science • “Drive” or incentive theorists. Anxiety and psychological disturbances were learned from experiences. • As people develop, they form habits that allow them to respond predictably to social and other stimuli. • Three primary types of conflicts: approach-approach; approach-avoidance; avoidance-avoidance.

25. Cognitive Development8 • How individuals construct meaning from their experiences by using thought processes across various developmental levels. • Cognitive complexity is strongly related to reasoning and behavior

26. Jean Piaget’s Cognitive Development Theory • J. P. believed that growth in mental development depended on one’s ability to order and classify new information = organization • Adaptation • Assimilation • Accommodation • A schema • Equilibrium

27. Piaget’s stages of cognitive development • Sensorimotor stage (birth – 2) • Preoperational stage (2 – 7) • Concrete operational stage(7 – 11) • Formal operational stage (11+ years)

28. Lev Vygotsky’s Cognitive developmental theory • A Russian psychologist who developed a constructionist, cognitive developmental theory that integrated language as well as social and cultural influences. • Cognitive progress facilitated by language development and occurred in a social context. • Zone of proximal development • Scaffolding

29. Cognition and memory • Sensory memory • Short-term memory • Long-term memory • Encode • Retrieval theory • Interference theory • Retroactive inhibition • Proactive inhibition • Yerkes-Dodson law

30. Other important concepts in cognitive development • Cognitive dissonance • Confirmatory bias • Attribution theory • Imaginary audience • Personal fable • Intelligence; crystallized intelligence • Creativity

31. Language development9 • Learning theory: children acquire language by observing and imitating other who are using language • Nativist approach (Noam Chomsky):the human brain is genetically programmed to enable people to create and understand language. Humans have the capacity to learn any language through exposure. • Interactionist approach: a combination of learning and nativist approaches is responsible for language development through social and cultural influences.

32. Important concept of language development • Psycholinguistics • Language • Semantics • Pragmatics • Phonology • Morphology • Dialect • Bocca’s area • Wernicke’s area • Arcuate fasciculus • Milestones in early language development • Communication disorders

33. Personality development10 • Sigmund Freud – Psychosexual theory • Erik Erikson – psychosocial theory • Loevinger – ego development theory • Maslow’s humanistic theory • Ethological theories of Lorenz, Bowlby, Ainsworth, Harlow

34. Sigmund Freud (1925) • Libido • Id • Ego • Superego • Defense mechanisms: repression, regression, displacement, projection, rationalization, compensation, denial, reaction formation

35. Freud cont. • People must resolve various conflicts resulting from the psychic or libidinal energy focused within different parts of the body as one matures. • Fixation: an inability to resolve an important conflict, either due to an overgratification or undergratification of a need in any stage. • Oral stage; Anal stage; Phallic stage; Latency stage; Genital stage

36. Psychosocial theory of Erik Erikson • Focused on an individual’s learned social interactions within the environment as a key influence on ego development • Erikson believed that personality continues to evolve throughout the lifespan and that people can reconstruct their personalities at any stage of the lifespan. • Basic trust vs. distrust; Autonomy vs. sham and doubt; Initiative vs. guilt; Industry vs. inferiority; Identity vs. role confusion; Intimacy vs. Isolation; Generativity vs. stagnation; Integrity vs. Despair.

37. Ego development theory of Jane Loevinger • An ego development stage theory that explained human personality development progression and fixation: • Presocial stage • Symbiotic stage • Impulsive stage • Self-protective stage • Conformist stage • Self-awareness stage • Conscientious • Individualistic • Autonomous • Integrated

38. Humanistic theory of Abraham Maslow • Holistic and views humans as intrinsically good. • People make choices about themselves based on self-perceptions and perceived circumstances. • Hierachy of needs – humans have an innate desire for self-actualization • Physiological, belongingness, esteem, self-actualization needs. • Self-actualization needs not usually met until middle adulthood (over 60). Characteristics: acceptance of self and others, spontaneity, autonomy, creativeness, resistance to enculturation, problem centering, and continued freshness of appreciation.

39. Ethological theories of Konrad Lorenz, John Bowlby, Mary Ainsworth, Harry Harlow • Konrad Lorenz – experiments on imprinting; duck attaches to first moving object it encounters after hatching; Imprinting is irreversible and example of a critical period or sensitive period. • John Bowlby –infants being born with an innate potential for attachment. Infants have the ability to form a natural bond with a caregiver, thus enabling the infant to explore the environment without fear of abandonment. A failure to attach to a caregiver early in life is believed to affect trust and intimacy in latter development. Three stages in infants exposed to prolonged separations: protest; despair; detachment.

40. Cont. • Mary Ainsworth – four patterns of attachment: • Securely attached • Avoidantly attached • Ambivalently attached • Disorganized attachment

41. Cont. • Harry Harlow – experiments with infant rhesus monkeys placed in cages with wire surrogate mothers, one with a bottle to provide food and another with a terry cloth covering (comfort and warmth). Preferred contact comfort with the terrycloth monkey.

42. Ethological theory • Is helpful in explaining two normal developmental phenomena observed in human infants: • Stranger anxiety (6 months –fearful of presence of strangers – enhanced visual acuity, onset of object permanence, increasing cognitive awareness) • Separation anxiety (in infants 1 -2 years; extreme distress when separation from a primary caregiver occurs. Anxiety is short lived after the disappearance of the caregiver.

43. Identity development • Identity means an understanding of oneself as a separate, distinct individual and springs from a synthesis of successive identifications with other people into a consistent, coherent, and unique whole. • Student, athlete, peer/friend, family member • Normative identity • Deviant identity • Achieved identity • Ascribed identity

44. Sex role and gender role development • Sexual identity – biological features as determined by chromosomal information • Gender identity – psychosocial awareness of one’s maleness or femaleness and thus contains an environmental or cultural component • Gender roles – socially defined behaviors associated wit a particular sex • Androgyny – gender neutral concepts (everyone drives cars, cleans living areas, establishes a career) • Gender role conflict – when an individual feels anxiety and dissonance as previously held gender expectations conflict with changing gender roles.

45. Social development • Prosocial behavior • Sociodramatic play • Parten (1933) described social play categories: nonsocial activity; parallel play; associative play; cooperative play.

46. Adjustment to Aging and Death • Disengagement theory • Activity theory • Atchley (1975) proposed four stages of retirement: • Preretirement • Immediately after retirement • Periods of enchantment • Reorientation

47. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross – on Grief • Shock and denial • Anger • Bargaining and guilt • Hopelessness • Acceptance

48. Moral development • Involves an individual’s growing ability to distinguish right from wrong and to act in accordance with those distinctions. • Lawrence Kohlberg’s theory of moral development – most influential • Kohlberg – see 3 levels and 6 stages

49. Carol Gilligan Three stage theory: • Orientation to Individual Survival • Goodness as Self-Sacrifice • Morality of Nonviolence

50. Jean Piaget’s on morality • 1. Premoral stage • 2. Moral realism stage • 3. Moral relativism stage