Developmental research
study of how people grow, mature, and change over the life span
Cross Sectional Studies
People of different ages are tested and compared
Longitudinal Studies
The same people are tested at different times to track changes related to age
Teratogens
Things that effect the development of babies
ex: alcohol, aspirin, caffeine, nicotine, marijuana
Habituation
The tendency for attention to a stimulus to wane over time
- Something you don’t notice because its been there for a long time
ex: sucking rate of babies decreases after a while
dishabituation (recovery)
Following habituation to one stimulus, the tendency for a second stimulus to arouse new interest
- Become reinterested in
ex: show baby something interesting, their sucking rate increases
Grasping reflex
In infants, an automatic tendency to grasp an object that stimulates the palm
Rooting reflex
In response to contact on the cheek, an infant’s tendency to turn toward the stimulus and open its mouth
Sucking reflex
soothing reflex of babies to suck on something
Newborn abilities (visual, cognitive, memory)
- Visual-babies look at human faces
- cognitive-babies see a sequence of events that illustrate addition or subtraction
- memory-babies can remember how to do things even after a set period of time
Schemas
In Piaget’s theory, mental representations of the world that guide the processes of assimilation and accommodation
-A mental framework of how we think the world works
Assimilation
The process of incorporating and, if necessary, changing new information to fit existing schemas
-Using the same formula in math
Accommodation
The process of modifying existing schemas in response to new information
-Modifying the formula
Piaget’s 1st stage of development: Sensorimotor
0-2 years
- Separation anxiety is a fear reaction in response to the absence of the primary caregiver.
- direct sensory and motor contact (touch, discover, motor techniques)
Piaget’s 2nd stage of development:Preoperational
2-6 years
- use of symbols to represent objects
- doesn’t reason logically
- ability to pretend
- egocentric
Piaget’s 3rd stage of development: Concrete operational
7-12 years
- ability to think logically about concrete objects
- add and subtract
- understand conservation
Piaget’s 4th stage of development:z Formal Operational
12-adult years
- ability to reason abstractly
- think in hypothetical terms
Object Permanence
Understanding that objects can exist even when they can’t be observed
Sense of self
ones perception of oneself
-self image
Theory of Mind
ability to attribute mental states(beliefs, intents, desires, pretending, knowledge) to oneself and others
-and to understand that others have beliefs, desires, intentions, and perspectives that are different from one’s own.
Conservation
logical ability to understand that things of the same amount can be conserved in small boundaries
-concrete operational stage
Egoism
treating self interest as the foundation of morality
Criticism of Piaget
-Sequence is right but its more of a gradual change
Underestimated children’s abilities
Object permanence in younger children
3-4 year olds may not be ego-centric
Underestimated the rate but not the sequence
Pace of development is more rapid at some ages than others
Depends how you test the concept
Vygotsky-proximal development
Distance between what a child can do alone and what they can do with help
