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Psychological Development - Coggle Diagram
Psychological Development
What is lifespan development?
Why is it important?
Since people change as they age, psychologists study how the brain develops and what milestones can be reasonably achieved at which age. This helps define what is "normal".
Areas of development
Physical
involves changes in the body and its various systems ,such as developmental in the brain and nervous system
Emotional
involves changes in how an individual experiences different feelings snd how these feelings are expressed
Social
involves changes in an individuals relationships with other people and their skills in interacting with other eg maintain relationships
Cognitive
Changes in a persons mental abilities such as problem solving and decision making
What are developmental changes?
Changes that must be relatively permanent or lasting.
Nature (heredity) involves the transmission of characteristics from biological parents to their offspring via genes at the time of conception
Nurture (environment) refers to all experiences, objects and events to which we are exposed throughout our life span
Interaction: The interactionist approach is the idea that heredity and environmental factors interact to influence developmental changes
The importance of attachment
What is emotional attachment?
it is the feelings and affection that can help sustain meaningful relationships.
Ainsworth's Strange Situation Study
Aim
To investigate the emotional attachment of infants (1-2) to their primary caregiver.
procedure
Stage 1: Primary caregiver and child are in room together
Stage 2: Stranger enters room.
Stage 3: caregiver leaves room. Infant is left with stranger.
Stage 4: caregiver returns to room.
Stage 5: Stranger leaves room.
Stage 6: Both caregiver and stranger leave room. Baby is left by itself.
Stage 7: Stranger enters room
Stage 8: Stranger leaves room, caregiver returns.
results
Types of attachment
Insecure resistant: Become extremely distressed when caregiver leaves and resist comfort from stranger.
Infant seeks contact with caregiver on return but does not show joy.
Insecure avoidant
Does not seek closeness or contact with the caregiver and treats them much like a stranger. Rarely cries when or shows distress when caregiver leaves and ignores or avoids the caregiver on return.
Secure
Children who show some distress when their caregiver leaves but are able to compose themselves quickly when the caregiver returns.
conclusion]
Most children experience secure attachment when undergoing Mary Ainsworth's strange situation.
Harlow's Study with Rhesus Monkeys
Aim: To investigate whether food or close comfort was more important in the formation of attachments in rhesus monkeys.
IV: The surrogate 'mothers'
DV: emotional attachment of the monkeys
Results show that the rhesus monkeys had preferred the cloth mother over the wire mother.
Conclusion: Contact comfort is more important than feeding in the formation of infant-mother attachment in rhesus monkeys
Generalisation: Given this experiment was conduced with a different species (rhesus monkeys) it is difficult to generalise these results to the human population
Ethics: The experiment was not ethically responsible as the role of the experimenter is to protect participants (even animals) from any form of harm. In the case of Harlows monkeys, they may find it difficult to bond with other monkeys and socialise, negatively impacting their emotional development.
Procedure: Infant monkeys were kept in cages containing two surrogate mothers. The mothers were made of wire; however one was covered in a cloth whereas the other wasn't. A feeding bottle was attached to each surrogate. Four moneys were placed in cages with the feeding bottle on the cloth surrogate and a different four were in cages where the bottle was placed on the wire surrogate.
Cognitive development
What is it?
involves changes in an individual's mental abilities, such as processing of information through perception, learning, memoir, language, moral reasoning, problem solving and decision making
Piaget's 4 Stage Theory
Sensorimotor
Key Accomplishments
Goal oriented behaviour:
The action of successfully completing a sequence of actions with a particular purpose in mind.
Object permanence:
The understanding that an object is still in existence even if it cannot be seen or touched.
Description:
Throughout the sensorimotor stage, the infant explores and learns about the world primarily through their senses and motor activities.
Age range 0-2
Pre-operational
Key Accomplishments
Symbolic thinking
is the ability to use symbols such as words and pictures to represent objects that aren't physically present
egocentrism- the tendency to perceives the world solely from ones point of view.
Description
this age marks the end of infancy and is signifcant as the amount of language has occured . they become more observant and be able to recognise objects and experiences .
Concrete Operational
Key Accomplishments
Classification:
The ability to organise objects or events into categories based on common features that set them apart from other categories.
Conservation:
The understanding that certain properties can remain the same even though its appearance may change and can be applied to all forms of measurement.
Description:
During the concrete operational stage, the child develops complex and logical thinking, along with being able to visualise the consequences to an action before said action has taken place.
Age range 7-12
Formal Operational
Key Accomplishments
Abstract thinking
- a way of thinking that doesn't rely on being able to see, visualise, experience or manipulate in order to understand something.
Idealistic thinking
- the ability to envisage alternatives to current national or global issues, but sometimes without fully considering what is realistically possible.
Description
Age (12+) FInal stage of cognitive development. More complex thought processes are evident and their thinking becomes increasingly sophisticated.
Criticism
Piaget underestimates the ability of young children and doesn't take into account other factors which may influence the rate of development.
Mental Health
Behaviors
Typical behaviours
Normality is a behavior that is it is consistent with the most common behavior for that person..
atypical behaviours
behavior that is atypical or statistically uncommon within a particular culture.
adaptive behaviours
Adaptive behavior is behavior learned by people to enable them to function in their everyday lives
Maladaptive behaviours
Maladaptive behaviors are behaviors that stop you from adapting to new or difficult circumstances
Types of Normality
functional
Thoughts, feelings and behaviours are viewed as normal if the individual is able to cope with living independently
Not leaving the house for an extended amount of time
Statistical
Any behaviour/characteristics in a large group of individuals is normal
IQ scores
medical
Abnormal thoughts, feelings and behaviours have an underlying biological cause that can be diagnosed/treated.
a mental health disorder, anxiety
historical
Normal/abnormal depends on the era or period of time in which the judgement was made.
Women in the workforce is normalised today whereas it was much more abnormal 100 years ago
socio-cultural
Appropriate thoughts, feelings and behaviours are viewed as normal in a particular society and those that are inappropriate/unacceptable are considered abnormal.
shaking someones hand when you meet them
situational
Thoughts, feelings and behaviours that are considered normal in one situation/culture may be considered abnormal in another
the way you talk to your workplace boss compared to the way you talk to your sibling
Mental health Continuum
Mental health
is a state of emotional & social wellbeing in which and individual realises their own ability, can cope with normal stressors of everyday life, work productively and is able to make a contribution to their community.
Mentally healthy
is a positive state of wellbeing. It can include coping/managing stress, working productively, achieving goals and a connection to others and their community.
A
mental health problem
is a rough patch or low point. Can include distress, impairment of everyday function and is shorter in duration
A
mental disorder
is clinically diagnosed, for example schizophrenia or depression. It can include significant distress, dysfunction and a longer duration.
Biopsychosocial Model
Biological Factors
Genes, Gender, Brain Chemistry, Brain Function
Social Factors
Social Skills, Social Isolation, Stigma, Stressors, Trauma
Psychological Factors
Thinking and Reasoning, skills, learning and memory, emotional state
The 4 Ps
Perpetuating
Risk Factors that inhibit ones ability to recover from a mental illness
Precipitating
Risk Factors that trigger the onset of mental problems
Protective
Any characteristic or event that reduces the likelihood of the occurrence or recurrence of a mental disorder
Predisposing
Risk factors that increase ones vulnerability of developing a mental illness