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Developmental Psychology
There are entire classes and majors in developmental psychology in college. For the AP
exam you need to know about biological development (maturation), major stage theories
in development and moral development.
Maturation is our development from birth to death. When a sperm fertilizes an egg, we
have a zygote. After 2 weeks, you have an embryo. Embryos are more susceptible to
teratogens than any other time of the pregnancy. Teratogens include drugs, alcohol
and viruses. From 9 weeks to birth, you have a fetus.
Much of developmental psychology focuses on children up to age 12 because so much
happens and so much can go wrong. Jean Piaget was a Swiss psychologist who relied
much on naturalistic observation, not experimentation. He is famous for
his stages of cognitive development. In the sensorimotor stage (birth
– 2 yrs), children experience the world through movement and senses
(use five senses to explore the world). During the sensorimotor stage
children are extremely egocentric, meaning they cannot perceive the
world from others' viewpoints. One important milestone is developing
object permanence. Without it, babies think that a ball actually
disappears when it rolls under a chair. (It also makes peek-a-boo extra interesting!)
Also, in this stage children begin to develop language. An important example is their
use of schemas. A schema is a set of ideas you have about something. Children will
call all four-legged animals “doggies” if they develop that schema. In the preoperational
stage (2-6 years), they are very magical in their thinking (Santa Claus) and lack
conservation of matter. For example, if you take a cup of water and pour it into a
taller, but skinnier beaker, the child will say the later is more water. In Piaget’s concrete
operational stage (age 7-11), kids can do more abstract stuff like multiply and divide.
They aren’t so egocentric and they understand conservation of matter. In the formal
operations stage, (over age
11) people can ask
philosophical questions, make
predictions and ask “What if”
questions. Criticisms of Piaget
generally center on the timing,
not the sequence of everything
above. Many critics wonder if
these behaviors are instincts or
are they learned. Again, here
we go with the nature vs.
nurture debate!
Before we discuss another stage theory, lets discuss Harry Harlow’s monkey
experiment. Before Harlow in the 1950s, scientists assumed that animals would form
an attachment to whatever feeds it. So Harry Harlow did an experiment. He gave baby
monkeys 2 mommies: a wire-mesh mother monkey with food and a soft, comfortable
mother with no food. The baby monkeys chose the soft, loving monkey over the wire
mesh monkey. Harlow concluded that the baby monkeys were motivated by love and
comfort, not food. Harlow also did some experiments where he took their mothers away
and denied the babies any kind of love and comfort. The babies would simply sit in the
corner and rock back and forth. Tragically, orphanages see the same behaviors in
children. (Case studies of Romanian orphanages illustrate this.)
Part of how we develop depends on our parents. Parents in Latino cultures, according to
MY textbook, focus on the community and the family. They focus less on the needs of
the individual. Children are expected to obey and respect their elders. In middle-class
American families, Diana Baumrind (1991) describes 3 distinct parenting styles.
Authoritarian parents tend to be strict, punishing and unsympathetic. They value
obedience from their children, not independence. Children of authoritarian parents
become unfriendly, distrustful, and withdrawn. Permissive parents give their children
complete freedom and provide little discipline. Their children end up immature,
dependent and unhappy. A nice balance, according to Baumrind, is being authoritative.
Authoritative parents are firm but flexible with the rules. They reason with their kids,
but not too much. Their children become friendly, cooperative and self-reliant.
Also in the development chapter is Kholberg’s stages of moral development. He had
3 stages. The first is called pre-conventional morality because people in this
stage don’t follow the conventions of society. In this stage, something is moral
if you can avoid punishment or it benefits you in some way. I won’t speed
down Hampton because cops have been giving tickets there lately. This is the
level of morality of children, authoritarian parents and many students at Sunset
High School. In conventional morality, people do the right thing because
society benefits and the world is a better place. I won’t speed down Hampton
because the city will be safer if nobody speeds.
In post-conventional morality, something is right or wrong based on universal ethical
principles. Laws have limits. It might be okay to commit murder if the victim is Adolf
Hitler. It might be okay to rob a bank so you can pay for your sister’s chemotherapy.
Kholberg’s stages seem to be worldwide, but many collectivist cultures, like China may
place more value on the community or personal purity.
Erik Erikson is among the most respected developmental psychologists. Like Freud he
was a psychoanalyst, but Erikson thought the ego is more important than the id. While
Freud called his stages psychosexual, Erikson called his psychosocial. Erikson’s
psychosocial stages don’t stop at age 12 but go on until death. While Freud’s stages
focused on “tasks” like toilet training, Erikson’s stages have crises. How one deals with
these crises (plural for crisis) shapes our personality. Keep in mind that Erikson himself
was abandoned by his father (his mother had an affair) and he was adopted by his
stepfather at age 10.
The first stage is trust vs mistrust when an infant must be adequately cared for by their
caregiver. Without it, one may grow up to be a mistrusting and pessimistic
person. The second stage is autonomy vs shame and doubt where a
child must learn to take some responsibilities for feeding, bathing and
dressing themselves. If parents are overly critical, the child may feel
shameful and doubt themselves, especially with toilet training. In Erikson’s
third stage, Initiative vs. guilt (ages 3-6) children start to take initiatives
and risks that parents may not approve of. It’s tricky as parents because you want them
to try new things like cooking or making their beds, but you also want your compliments
to be genuine. You want your child to take initiative but you don’t want them to feel a
sense of guilt for trying and failing. In the Industry vs Inferiority (6-11) children want to
be good at things. If they don’t feel industrious or useful, then they may develop a sense
of inferiority. At this stage it is good for children to develop hobbies and skills at sports.
Otherwise they may not develop a good self confidence. Adolescents are in the identity
vs. role confusion stage. They try out different clothes, hang out with different groups
(Emos or Goths? Hmmmm. . . can’t decide.) Girls date losers, nerds, sweet guys, tough
guys. You’ll find many teens slightly ashamed that they are geeky, gay, or a certain
race, but then go to college and join clubs to celebrate their geekiness, gayness or
cultural heritage. Basically, like the humanist Carl Rogers, Erikson thought teenagers
were trying to find themselves. Erikson called it identity formation, however. At around
age 19, you leave adolescence and begin to make an important decision. Do you want
to have a committed long-term relationship or freedom to date whomever? This stage is
called intimacy vs. isolation. I think the age at which young adults get married is
dependent on culture, success with birth control, and whether the individual resolves the
identity vs. role confusion stage. If a 20-year old is still a 17-year old developmentally,
then they won’t commit the same way as a more mature individual. Resolving the
“crisis” of intimacy vs. isolation may determine how you deal with your “midlife crisis” in
the next stage. The midlife crisis is a point in (usually a man’s) life where men feel old
and ugly so the compensate by buying sports cars and dying their hair. It usually
happens in their 40s and 50s. Many lead to affairs and divorces. The midlife crisis
happens in Erikson’s generatiivity vs. self-absorption stage. In middle adulthood, the
key challenge is to acquire a genuine concern for your children and grandchildren. This
focus on other people can backfire, resulting into self-absorption and selfishness (like
having an affair). The final stage is integrity vs. despair. It doesn’t matter if you resolve
this crisis because you’ll be dead anyway. The challenge is to look back on your life and
find meaning and satisfaction with your life (integrity) while not wallowing in your
bitterness and resentment of your past (despair). In short, you want to die with dignity.
Understanding Erikson’s stages helps me understand why dating out of your age group
can be a bad idea. If you are a teenage girl dating a
20-year old, then either you are dating someone who is
in a different stage than you are or you are dating a
screwed up 20-year old. If you are a 22 year-old
young woman dating a guy aged 37, then you need to
understand his midlife crisis and how it will affect your
relationship. Guys, if you are 20 and your girlfriend is
27, then you need to understand the difference. In
spite of Erikson’s omission, there is a huge difference
between the ages of 20 and 27, especially in terms of
baby making. The movie Knocked Up wonderfully illustrates the difference between
those in their early and late 20s.