Studies involving human development are either cross-sectional (studies observing patients at different changes to see how different variables change over time) or longitudinal (studies observing one person over. a long period of time to precisely measure the effect of development on a specific group)
Prenatal Influences on Development
Two examples of prenatal influences are genetics (whose effect should be obvious; the chromosomes you’re born with influence the development of certain traits.) The amount of influence chromosomes have on development over environment can be observed in twin studies where the subjects have an identical genome. Another example is teratogens. Teratogens are chemicals or agents which can be inhaled, ingested, or contracted in some way by the mother. One of the most common is alcohol which can cause fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) caused by severe alcoholism during pregnancy. A less severe condition caused by moderate drinking is known as fetal alcohol effect. A natural example is the virus Zika which made the news a few years ago for its devastating effects on newborns whose mothers had contracted the illness.
Motor/Sensory Development
While in the past it was understood that babies were “blank slates” research has shown babies have a specific set of reflexes, or automatic responses to certain stimuli.
Along with reflexes, humans are born with their sensory apparatus. Research has found that babies can hear before they are born, and have the same basic preferences in smell and taste that we do. The most different is sight. When we are born, hearing is the dominant sense due to baby’s poor vision (legally blind). Normally, by 12 months, sight becomes the dominant sense.
Assuming all goes according to plan, humans develop the same basic motor skills in the same sequence (commonly at different ages, however.) Our motor control develops when neurons in the brain connect with each other and become myelinated. Typically by 5 ½ months, babies can roll over, stand at 8-9 months, and walk after 15 months.
As important as nature is in development, nurture plays just as big a role in deciding how we develop. Biologist Konrad Lorenz found some infant animals imprint on individuals or even objects they see during a critical period after birth. While not so simple in humans or other complicated animals, attachment, or the relationship between child and caregiver has a profound impact on growth.
Harry Harlow- Harlow raised baby monkeys with two artificial mothers. One had a bottle for the baby to eat, and the other was wrapped in a soft blanket. The babies preferred the soft mother when scared despite not being where the food was. Without a real mother, the babies Harlow studied became stressed and frightened, giving insight into what the deprivation of attachment can do.
Mary Ainsworth- Ainsworth researched what happened when newborns were placed into a strange situation- the parents would leave them for a short while and return. There were 3 types of reactions.
Infants with secure attachments explored the environment with their parents, became distressed when they left, and went to them when they returned.
Infants with avoidant attachments resisted being held by the parents, preferring to explore. They didn’t seek comfort upon the parents return.
Infants with anxious/ambivalent attachments (resistant attachments) were ambivalent to the parents. They were extremely distressed when the parent left but resisted comfort when they came back.
There’s a lot of debate about the “right” way to raise your child. Psychologists have been looking into the scientific answer, and there doesn’t seem to be a conclusive right way, however psychological research can point parents in the right direction. Psychologist Diana Baumrind researched parenting styles and defined 3 main categories of styles.
Authoritarian parents: set strict standards for their children and provide harsh punishments. Obedience is more important than rationalisation- “Why am I in trouble?” “Because I said so.”
Permissive parents: set unclear guidelines- rules either don’t exist or often change. Punishments may not be followed through on, and rule-breaking goes ignored.
Authoritative parents: have set, consistent standards for their children that they explain thoroughly to their child. If a child breaks a rule, it often includes a discussion about why the rule was important and why they are being punished.
Authoritative parenting has shown to produce the most desirable home environment. Children in these kinds of homes are often more socially capable and perform much better academically
Nature vs Nurture is certainly important, but there’s another important debate going on in psychology; continuity versus discontinuity. Do we develop continually or do we have periods of rapid development and periods with little change? Biologically, we develop discontinuously, but what about thought? Lev Vygotsky’s concept of the zone of proximal development is one answer to this question. The zone of proximal development is the range of tasks a child is able to complete on their own. Adults can provide scaffolds to help them reach the upper end of their range encouraging further development. Stage theories are discontinuous theories by their nature. Two; Erikson’s and Freud’s are studied not because of their scientific merit but for historical reasons.
Freud proposed we go through 5 psychosexual theories (sexual being where we derive our pleasure as we grow up.) If we fail to resolve conflict in any stage, we may become fixated- (preoccupied with behaviours associated with that stage.)
Erikson was a neo-Freudian- he believed in the basics of Freud’s theory but adapted it. He felt our personality was most influenced by our experiences with other, so created the psychosocial stage theory.
Trust versus mistrust: Babies learn whether they can trust the world to provide for their needs
Autonomy versus shame and doubt: Toddlers begin to exert their will over their own body. Here, toddlers learn how to control themselves and their environment.
Initiative versus guilt: When children begin to question everything- if initiative is encouraged, children will be comfortable about being curious later on.
Industry versus inferiority: The beginning of formal education. This is where students learn to produce work that will be evaluated- children may develop what is known as an inferiority complex where they don’t feel competent that can carry on for the rest of their life.
Identity versus role confusion: At adolescence, the goal is to find what social identity we are most comfortable with. Failure to resolve this conflict may cause an identity crisis.
Intimacy versus isolation: Young adults need to try to figure out how to balance their life- how much time should go to themselves, to family, to friends and to a partner?
Generativity versus stagnation: This is where the famous midlife crisis tends to happen. Adults here question whether they are making the best life they want.
Integrity versus despair: At the end of their life, elders either look back on their life with fondness or regret.
Piaget worked for Alfred Binet, creator of the first intelligence test, and was curious about the behaviours of the children he was interviewing. He noticed that certain age groups made similar mistakes. Piaget used this information to explain how children view the world through schemata, (cognitive rules). We tend to incorporate new experience into existing schemata through assimilation. When information contradicts that schemata, it’s modified. A little girl who’s only ever seen girls wear skirts will have to adjust her schemata if she goes to a pride march and sees boys wearing skirts. Piaget described cognitive development in 4 stages.
Sensorimotor Stage (Birth to 2). Babies begin to explore the world through their senses. One of the challenges is developing object permanence- the understanding that an object exists when you can’t see it.
Pre-operational Stage (2 to 7). After developing object permanence, the child will begin to use language and can refer to the world using symbols. Children are egocentric during this stage and can’t understand other people’s perspectives.
Concrete operational (8 to 12). During this stage, children learn to think logically about complex relationships between different objects- children at this stage demonstrate knowledge of the concepts of conservation. The understanding that properties of objects don’t change when the shape does. These concepts are shown in the diagramme below.
Formal operational (12 to adulthood). Formal operational reasoning is abstract reasoning. It’s the ability to manipulate and study objects and ideas without physically seeing or holding them. An example of this type of reasoning is hypothesis testing- a child in this stage would be able to answer a question like “what would you do if you were born somewhere where language didn’t exist” despite not having a model to relate back to.
Criticism of Piaget: Information-Processing Model
Piaget’s model was imperfect- many children move through these stages at drastically different stages. His tests relied heavily on language which may have biased him towards the older children with a stronger grip on language. The information-processing model is a more continuous form of Piaget’s theory. It notes that our abilities to memorise, interpret, and perceive gradually develop as we grow up, instead of occurring at specific stages.
You can’t discuss moral development without discussing Kohlberg. His theory looked at how we reason about ethical situations and how that reasoning changes. His theory was built off of asking children a moral question (for example the Heinz dilemma- should Heinz steal medicine he can’t afford to save his wife’s life?)
Pre-conventional: People at this stage will make the best decision to avoid punishment. A pre-conventional answer to the Heinz dilemma is that he shouldn’t steal the medicine because he could go to jail.
Conventional: Moving past personal gain and loss, this stage focuses on how the choice a person makes will affect how others see them. A conventional answer to the Heinz dilemma is that Heinz should steal the drugs in order to be seen as a hero.
Post-conventional: People at this stage evaluate the rights and values involved with their decision. Self defined ethical principles can guide the decision someone makes (which can differ based on upbringing, culture, etc). A post-conventional answer to the Heinz dilemma is that he should steal the drug because his wife’s right to life outweighs the clerks right to property.
Carol Gilligan was a notable critic of Kohlberg’s work, because in his research, he only looked at boys. When he did research girls, he tended to put their responses into lower categories, implying an intense amount of bias informing his work. Gilligan’s research showed that boys have a more absolute view on what is moral while girls are more attentive to situational factors.
Biopsychologists concentrate on how nature influences gender. Children learn obvious differences between the sexes, however there are several more subtle ones. People assigned female at birth, for example have larger corpus callosums, theoretically affecting how the hemispheres coordinate and communicate.
Freud believed that gender identities begin to develop when children realise, unconsciously that they can’t compete with their same sex parent for the affections of the opposite sex parent (this theory is nearly impossible to study, which is why it has mostly been written off.)
Social and cognitive psychologists prefer to observe how society and thoughts about gender can affect role development. Boys are more often encouraged to play rough, leading to more aggressive play. Gender-schema theory states that we internalise messages about gender to form cognitive rules about how different genders should behave. If all a child sees on the TV are girls wearing makeup and being interested in fashion, they’ll internalise the idea that women should be interested in makeup and fashion.
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