Chapter 11: Human Development Across the Life Span

1. Chapter 11: Human Development Across the Life Span

2. Progress Before Birth:Prenatal Development • 3 phases • germinal stage = first 2 weeks • conception, implantation, formation of placenta • embryonic stage = 2 weeks – 2 months • formation of vital organs and systems • fetal stage = 2 months – birth • bodily growth continues, movement capability begins, brain cells multiply • age of viability

3. Figure 11.1 Overview of fetal development

4. Environmental Factorsand Prenatal Development • Maternal nutrition • Malnutrition linked to increased risk of birth complications, neurological problems, and psychopathology • Maternal drug use • Tobacco, alcohol, prescription, and recreational drugs • Fetal alcohol syndrome

5. Environmental Factorsand Prenatal Development • Maternal illness • Rubella, syphilis, mumps, genital herpes, AIDS, severe influenza • Prenatal health care • Prevention through guidance

6. The Childhood Years: Motor Development • Basic Principles • Cephalocaudal trend – head to foot • Proximodistal trend – center-outward • Maturation – gradual unfolding of genetic blueprint • Developmental norms – median age • Cultural variations

7. Easy and Difficult Babies:Differences in Temperament • Longitudinal vs. cross-sectional designs • Thomas, Chess, and Birch (1970) • 3 basic temperamental styles • easy – 40% • slow-to-warm-up – 15% • difficult – 10% • mixed – 35% • stable over time

8. Easy and Difficult Babies:Differences in Temperament • Kagan & Snidman (1991) • Inhibited vs. uninhibited temperament • inhibited – 15 - 20% • uninhibited – 25 - 30% • stable over time, genetically based

9. Figure 11.6 Longitudinal versus cross-sectional research

10. Attachment: the close emotional bond that forms between infant and caregiver • Harlow’s study of attachment in monkeys

11. Early Emotional Development: Attachment • Separation anxiety • Ainsworth (1979) • The strange situation and patterns of attachment • Secure • Anxious-ambivalent • Avoidant • Developing secure attachment • Bonding at birth • Daycare • Cultural factors • Evolutionary perspectives on attachment

12. Diagnostic criteria for 309.21 Separation Anxiety Disorder • A. Developmentally inappropriate and excessive anxiety concerning separation from home or from those to whom the individual is attached, as evidenced by three (or more) of the following: (1) recurrent excessive distress when separation from home or major attachment figures occurs or is anticipated (2) persistent and excessive worry about losing, or about possible harm befalling, major attachment figures (3) persistent and excessive worry that an untoward event will lead to separation from a major attachment figure (e.g., getting lost or being kidnapped) (4) persistent reluctance or refusal to go to school or elsewhere because of fear of separation (5) persistently and excessively fearful or reluctant to be alone or without major attachment figures at home or without significant adults in other settings (6) persistent reluctance or refusal to go to sleep without being near a major attachment figure or to sleep away from home (7) repeated nightmares involving the theme of separation (8) repeated complaints of physical symptoms (such as headaches, stomachaches, nausea, or vomiting) when separation from major attachment figures occurs or is anticipated  • B. The duration of the disturbance is at least 4 weeks.  • C. The onset is before age 18 years.  • D. The disturbance causes clinically significant distress or impairment in social, academic (occupational), or other important areas of functioning.  • E. The disturbance does not occur exclusively during the course of a Pervasive Developmental Disorder, Schizophrenia, or other Psychotic Disorder and, in adolescents and adults, is not better accounted for by Panic Disorder With Agoraphobia.  • Specify if: Early Onset: if onset occurs before age 6 years

13. Diagnostic criteria for 313.89 Reactive Attachment Disorder of Infancy or Early Childhood • A. Markedly disturbed and developmentally inappropriate social relatedness in most contexts, beginning before age 5 years, as evidenced by either (1) or (2):(1) persistent failure to initiate or respond in a developmentally appropriate fashion to most social interactions, as manifest by excessively inhibited, hypervigilant, or highly ambivalent and contradictory responses (e.g., the child may respond to caregivers with a mixture of approach, avoidance, and resistance to comforting, or may exhibit frozen watchfulness) (2) diffuse attachments as manifest by indiscriminate sociability with marked inability to exhibit appropriate selective attachments (e.g., excessive familiarity with relative strangers or lack of selectivity in choice of attachment figures)  • B. The disturbance in Criterion A is not accounted for solely by developmental delay (as in Mental Retardation) and does not meet criteria for a Pervasive Developmental Disorder.  • C. Pathogenic care as evidenced by at least one of the following: (1) persistent disregard of the child's basic emotional needs for comfort, stimulation, and affection (2) persistent disregard of the child's basic physical needs (3) repeated changes of primary caregiver that prevent formation of stable attachments (e.g., frequent changes in foster care)  • D. There is a presumption that the care in Criterion C is responsible for the disturbed behavior in Criterion A (e.g., the disturbances in Criterion A began following the pathogenic care in Criterion C).  • Specify type:  • Inhibited Type: if Criterion A1 predominates in the clinical presentation Disinhibited Type: if Criterion A2 predominates in the clinical presentation

14. Stage Theories of Development: Personality • Stage theories, three components • progress through stages in order • progress through stages related to age • major discontinuities in development • Erik Erikson (1963) • Eight stages spanning the lifespan • Psychosocial crises determining balance between opposing polarities in personality

15. Figure 11.10 Stage theories of development

16. Figure 11.11 Erikson’s stage theory

17. Stage Theories: Cognitive Development • Jean Piaget (1920s-1980s) • Assimilation/ Accommodation • 4 stages and major milestones • Sensorimotor • Object permanence • Preoperational • Centration, Egocentrism • Concrete Operational • Decentration, Reversibility, Conservation • Formal Operational • Abstraction

18. Figure 11.12 Piaget’s stage theory

19. Figure 11.13 Piaget’s conservation task

20. Figure 11.14 The gradual mastery of conservation

21. The Development of Moral Reasoning • Kohlberg (1976) • Reasoning as opposed to behavior • Moral dilemmas • Measured nature and progression of moral reasoning • 3 levels, each with 2 sublevels • Preconventional • Conventional • Postconventional

22. Figure 11.17 Kohlberg’s stage theory

23. Adolescence: Physiological Changes • Pubescence • Puberty • Secondary sex characteristics • Primary sex characteristics • Menarche • Sperm production • Maturation: early vs. late • Sex differences in effects of early maturation

24. Figure 11.19 Physical development at puberty

25. Adolescence: Neural Changes • Increasing myelinization • Synaptic pruning • Changes in prefrontal cortex

26. The Search for Identity • Erik Erikson (1968) • Key challenge - forming a sense of identity • James Marcia (1988) • 4 identity statuses • Foreclosure • Moratorium • Identity Diffusion • Identity Achievement

27. The Expanse of Adulthood • Personality development • Social development • Career development • Physical changes • Cognitive changes