Lecture 2

• Discussions in developmental psychology

  Picture:
• Nature


  the way you were born
• Nurture


  the way you were raised
• Critical period


  is a maturational period in which the nervous system is especially sensitive to certain environmental stimuli. If the organism does not receive the appropriate stimulus at the right time, it is impossible, to develop certain associated functions later in life.
• Critical period exapmle:

  binocular vision
• Sensitive period


  is a maturational period in which specific experiences have maximal positive or negative effects: Periods of increased plasticity under the influence of specific condition factors.
• Sensitive period example:

  language development
• Nature-nurture interactions

  1. Gene-environment interactions 2. Gene-environment correlations 3. Epigenetics
• 1. Gene–environment interaction


  People with different genes are affected differently by environmental influences
• 2) Gene–environment correlations

  1: Passive genotype-environment fit. 2: Evocative genotype-environment fit. 3: Active genotype-environment fit
• Passive genotype-environment fit


  Association between the inherited genotype of a child and environment in which the child is raised
• Evocative genotype-environment fit


  Association between genetically programmed behavior and others' reactions to that behavior (inborn characteristics evoke certain responses from environment)
• Active genotype-environment fit


  Association between an individual's genetic tendencies and the environmental niches that they actively selects
• 3) Epigenetics

  Environment-sensitive genes: Gene expression can be changed by environmental influences across the lifespan
• Erikson’s Psychosocial Development Theory


  ▪ Throughout lifespan ▪ Influenced by culture, society, and history ▪ Divided into eight stages ▪ At each stage the individual must cope with a crisis/conflict in either an adaptive or a maladaptive manner ▪ If one stage was dealt with in a maladaptive manner, the following stages could not be adequately attended, resulting in a maladapted individual ▪ Successful solution of the conflict leads to “virtues”
• Learning theories: Traditional Behaviorism


  Watson: Classical Conditioning & Skinner: Operant Conditioning
• Watson: Classical Conditioning


  • Development = learning associations • Infants learn to love their parents: associated with positive sensations of drinking milk, being rocked, and being comforted
• Skinner: Operant Conditioning


  Development = individual’s learning experiences Behavior becomes more or less probable depending on consequences: Adding or removing positive or negative stimulus →Reinforcement (incl. removing neg. stimulus) strengthens, Punishment (incl. removing pos. stimulus) weakens behavior
• Learning theories: Cognitive Behaviorism

  Social-cognitive learning theory of Bandura (1970s) ▪ Humans learn trough observational learning → Modeling [Watching and imitating what others do] ▪ Role of cognition: anticipation of consequences likely to follow behavior • Learners pay attention, construct and remember mental representations of what they saw, retrieve these representations from memory later, and use them to guide behavior ➔ active, cognitive role of learner
• Bronfenbrenner: Ecological model


  • Theory identifies five environmental systems: - Microsystem - Mesosystem - Exosystem - Macrosystem - Chronosystem • Development reflects influence of systems: • Complex: Contextual effects at any level
• Bronfenbrenner: Ecological model critics:

  • Influence of biological and cognitive factors underestimated → addition of biological influences in later versions of model
• Bronfenbrenner: Ecological model contributions:


  • Systematic examination of micro and macro dimensions of environmental systems • Attention to connections between environmental systems • Emphasis on other social contexts than family
• Theories for childhood

  1. Cognitive Development (Piaget) b) Socio-cultural theory of Vygotsky
• Theories for middle age

  1. Social clock model
• Theories for older age

  1. Selection, optimization, and compensation b) Socio-emotional selectivity
• How does cognition develop according to Piaget?

  • Universally fixed order of phases → discontinuous development • Each phase qualitatively different • Child actively contributes to own knowledge formation (‘little scientist’)
• Piaget: Developmental phases

  Sensori motor -> pre operational -> concrete operational -> formal operational
• Criticism of Piaget’s theory

  • Restricted research method -> Studied his own three children • Underestimated children’s skills • Language as product of cognitive development (not cause) • Underestimated influence of social environment • Nature-nurture interaction: Teaching promotes cognitive growth
• Socio-cultural theory of Vygotsky


  • Educator that was inspired by socialism • Children (actively) develop intellectually by interacting with their sociocultural environment • Development is a shared process (of the one who learns and the environment) • People around us (“more knowledgeable other”) enable our cognitive growth: adults make children mentally advace
• Zone of proximal development (Vygotsky)


  Gap between the child’s ability to solve a problem on its own and the potential development that he/she can make with the help of someone else
• Scaffolding (Vygotsky)


  Degree of support adapted to child’s level of ability and degree of support is reduced gradually
• Developmental tasks as social expectations


  ▪ Adult age is less determined by biological and external regulation processes compared to childhood ▪ Adults have more freedom to create their development and to adjust it [job selection, partner choice, form of living, place to live, leisure activities, etc.]
• Social clock model (Neugarten)


  • Shared societal expectations which tasks should be fulfilled in which age • These expectations create a normative time schedule for the life course • Persons compare themselves with others and the normative time schedule [on time vs off time] • Violations of normative time schedule = social disapproval • Fit with normative time schedule = social support
• Selection-Optimization-Compensation-Model

  • Psychological and behavioral processes in adapting to age-related losses and disabilities, and maintaining performance on functional tasks → Maximize gains, minimize losses, growth/maintenance of function, regulation of loss
• Successful aging

  SOC (Selection, optimizitation, compensation)
• Utilizing selection, optimization, and compensation strategies results in

  • Better physical functioning (Baltes & Lang, 1997) • Aging satisfaction (Jopp & Smith, 2006) • Higher scores on subjective well-being, positive emotions, and absence of feelings of loneliness (Freund & Baltes, 1998; 2002) • Each of the SOC components significantly and positively related to well-being indicators even after controlling for coping, personality, social desirability, intellectual functioning, and cognitive style (Freund & Baltes, 2002)
• Critique SOC


  unspecific in terms of which constructs are important for successful aging
• Socioemotional selectivity theory (Carstensen)


  • The approach of endings, due to aging or other (e.g., geographic relocations, severe illness) elicits motivational changes: • Emotionally meaningful goals are prioritized over exploration → Effects on preferences, social networks, and emotional experience → Positivity effect in cognitive processing of older adults: • Pay more attention to, better remember, and place more priority on positive than on negative information