Psy 120 Human Development • Womb to tomb • Cannot get credit for 120 and 211 at OCC • Fast paced to the very end • Jan Thompson-Wilda • 219, 847-635-1477 • 22nd year at OCC • Student Development Faculty
Psy 120 Human Development • Chapter 1—The Study of Human Development
Formal Study of Human Development • Human Development: • The scientific study of how humans develop • Main questions: How do people change throughout their lives? What characteristics remain stable?
Developmental Processes—Change and Stability • 2 kinds of change • Quantitative change—change in number or amount • Qualitative change—change in kind, structure, or organization • Despite change, there is also underlying stability
Basic Questions about Development • Which aspects of development • are universal, and which vary from one individual or group to the next? • are continuous, and which are not? • are more or less fixed (like marble) and difficult to change, and which are relatively malleable and easy to change (like clay)? • What makes development happen?
Guiding Principles • Development results from constant interplay of biology and the environment. • Development occurs in multilayered context. • Development is a dynamic, reciprocal process. • Development is cumulative. • Development occurs throughout the life-span.
Domains of Development • Physical development • Cognitive development • Social and emotional development
Description Modification Explanation Prediction Human Development Today—Goals of This Scientific Discipline
Social construction 8 periods generally agreed upon Individual differences exist, but there are particular needs and tasks that must be met at certain stages for normal development to occur Periods of the Life Span
Research Methods and Designs • Theories • Sets of statements that propose general principles of development • Predictions or Hypotheses • An educated guess that is testable by data collection and analysis
Theories of Development • Classical Theories • Psychoanalytic theory • Freud’s theory of psychosexual development • Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development • Learning theory • Behaviorism • Classical conditioning • Operant conditioning • Social learning theory • Cognitive-Developmental theory
Sigmund Freud: Psychosexual Development Erik Erikson: Psychosocial Development Psychoanalytic Perspective Psychoanalytic--development shaped by unconscious forces that motivate human behavior
Freud • Development is shaped by unconscious forces that motivate behavior • Id—pleasure principle • Ego—reality principle • Superego—conscience—shoulds, oughts • Psychosexual development • Oral • Anal • Phallic • Latency • Genital
Psychosocial Development Competing tendencies in personality (crises) Must balance positive and negative tendency at each stage These issues must be resolved for healthy ego development 8 stages Erikson
Social Learning Theory Learning Perspective Behaviorism Learning—development results from experiences in the environment
Behaviorism—Classical Conditioning • Pavlov’s experiments • A natural response to a stimulus is transferred to a second stimulus
Behaviorism—Operant Conditioning Individuals learn from operating on the environment
Classical Conditioning
Operant Conditioning • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejjZZNGfIOM&feature=related • Reinforcement—process by which a behavior is strengthened, increasing the likelihood it will be repeated • Punishment—process by which a behavior is weakened, decreasing the likelihood it will be repeated
Social Learning Theory • http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=ikTxfIDYx6Q&NR=1 • Not exactly, but cute. • This is more like it. • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZXOp5PopIA&feature=related • Albert Bandura • Modeling, or observational learning • Model is usually someone powerful or admired, similar to you, when you see the model rewarded for the behavior you are observing
Cognitive-Developmental Theory • Emphasizes changes in thinking over the lifespan • Piaget—stage theory • Sensorimotor • Preoperational • Concrete Operational • Formal Operational • Organization—the tendency to create categories • Schemes—people create these increasingly complex cognitive structures for organizing information • Adaptation—Adjustment to new information from the environment • Assimilation • Accommodation • Equilibration—constant striving for balance, equilibrium—shift from assimilation to accommodation
Theories of Development • Contemporary Theories • Ecological perspective • Sociocultural perspective • Behavioral genetics • Evolutionary perspective • Dynamic systems theory
Ecological perspective
Bronfenbrenner’s 5 Interlocking Contextual Systems • Development occurs through increasingly complex processes of regular, active, two-way interaction between the developing person and the immediate environment • The context—the ecological system—either supports or stifles growth
Sociocultural Perspective • Emphasizes the ways development involves adaptation to specific cultural demands
Behavioral Genetics • Emphasizes the inherited bases of behavior • Reciprocol influences between genes and environment
Evolutionary Perspective • Emphasizes how behavior develops as a result of adaptation to environment
Dynamic Systems Perspective • Emphasizes that all facets of development, domains, context are part of a dynamic, constantly changing system
The Scientific Study of Development • The scientific method: A systematic, step-by-step procedure for testing ideas.
Research methods • Observational research • Naturalistic observation • Participant observation • Structured observation • Self-reports • Standardized tests • Reliability • Validity
Basic Research Designs • Case studies • Correlational studies • Experiments • Groups and variables • Random assignment • Laboratory, field and natural experiments
Figure 1.3: Positive and Negative Correlations
•The Scientific Method • Studying change over time –Longitudinal research –Cross-sectional studies –Accelerated longitudinal design
Figure 1.4: Research Designs for Studies of Development
