Some notes about development

Theoretical Issues: Ongoing Debates

• Nature versus Nurture
• Continuity versus Stages

• Stability versus Change

Prenatal development

• Germinal period

• Embryonic period

Fetal period

Early motor development

Cognitive Development

Schema –cognitive structures or patterns consisting of a number of organized ideas that grow and differentiate with experience

Assimilation – absorbing new information into existing schemas

Accommodation – adjusting old schemas or developing new ones to better fit with new information

Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development

Sensorimotor stage

Birth to about age 2
Child relies heavily on innate motor responses to stimuli
Mental representations


Object permanence

Preoperational stage

--About age 2 to age 6 or 7
--Marked by well-developed mental representation and the use of language

Egocentrism (video)




Animistic thinking




Concrete Operational Stage
--About age 7 to about age 11
--Child understands conservation but is incapable of abstract thought


Conservation

Formal Operational Stage

--From about age 12 on
--Abstract thought appears


Theory of Mind

Imprinting (Konrad Lorenz)
Harlow's attachment study
Mary Ainsworth's Strange Situation

Temperament –An individual’s characteristic manner of behavior or reaction
Socialization –The lifelong process of shaping an individual’s behavior patterns, values, standards, skills, attitudes and motives to conform to those regarded as desirable in a particular society
Most approaches to child rearing fall into one of the following four styles:
Authoritarian parents: parenting style emphasizing control and obedience
Authoritative parents: parenting style blending respect for a child's individuality with an effort to instill social values
Permissive parents: parenting style emphasizing self-expression and self-regulation

Uninvolved parents
Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages (see handout)
Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Reasoning
I. Preconventional morality
II. Conventional morality
III. Postconventional (principled) morality


Chapter 5 part 1
Chapter 5 part 2
Chapter 6 part 1
Chapter 6 part 2
Chapter 6 part 3
Chapter 7 part 1

Introduction to Psychology PowerPoints

Chapter 3 Part 1

Chapter 3 Part 2

Chapter 4

Chapter 5 Part 1

Chapter 5 Part 2

Chapter 6 Part 1

Chapter 6 Part 2

Chapter 6 Part 3

Chapter 7 Part 1

Chapter 7 Part 2

Handouts

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Newborn Videos

Brazelton Neonatal Assessment

Apgar Score

Babinski Reflex

Moro Reflex

Tonic Neck Reflex

Rooting reflex

Stepping reflex

Life's Greatest Miracle Assignment

These are the instructions you should follow if you wish to use the Life's Greatest Miracle video as the basis for one of your 10 point homework papers.

In your paper, please summarize (in your own words) two or three new things you learned, and include (briefly) any reactions you had to the material. Was there anything that surprised you, or found especially interesting? Explain.

A point of clarification--you are not required to write a paper about this video. But if you do, please make sure your paper tells me some things you learned specifically from this video--and not just general information about pregnancy and childbirth.

 

Here is the link to the program's web site.

Hopefully you were taking notes as you watched the video, but there is also a transcript available on this web page--click the word "Transcript" to see it.

Remember, it is NOT okay to copy and paste parts of the transcript to include in your paper. You need to summarize the findings/new information in your own words. But using the transcript and scanning for the parts that interested you could save you time compared to watching the video to find the right spot.

Can you see the cow?

Here it is...

Parts of the Brain (Psych Files)

Here's a link to the video we watched in class about memorizing the parts of the brain. As I said in class, the first quiz will cover chapters 1 and 2. I do not have the list of concepts ready yet, but will post that as soon  as I can.

Human Development Quiz 1

Tentative list of terms/concepts

Some articles for your 10-point mini-papers

Freud's Mind: New Details Revealed in Documents

One Man and a Baby Box (about B.F. Skinner)

Clever Hans the Math Horse 

Thriving on half a brain

More to come...

Update from Renee

First of all, a word of reassurance--there is no homework that needs to be turned in during week two. You are welcome to turn in a 10 point paper--and it is best to start turning those in sooner rather than later--but it is not required. Everyone who attended the first day of class should have received a handout about homework, but what you don't have (yet) is a list of approved articles and videos. I'm going to be adding those as soon as possible--certainly in plenty of time for you to submit a paper next week if you chose to.


In the sidebar, I will be adding links to important documents and resources. Important note to my Tuesday class--the syllabus has been updated and now includes quiz dates...


...and, to answer the inevitable question, I will be telling you more about what to expect on the first quiz. You will receive a handout of terms/concepts on which you should focus your study. Students often say that they want a "study guide". I'm not entirely sure what that means, but I'm pretty sure different students have different expectations of what a study guide would entail.


My advice:

• read the assigned chapters
• ask questions about anything you read and didn't understand
• pay close attention to the lecture. I assure you it will give you some clues as to what to expect on an upcoming quiz

And I have been known to give really blatant hints about at least a few of the items you will see on the quiz. It's "how I roll". ;-)


Bottom line: trust me. I do indeed have a plan. And please don't interrupt class to ask "what will be on the quiz"? That could throw off my concentration, and I might forget to drop one of those blatant hints. So, most importantly...