Developmental Life Span Psychology - Essay Example

Lifespan Developmental Psychology Word Count 2054 Video Observation This essay is based on an observation of two in video tapes depicting the developmental stages of children. The essay outlines the observation of the author and subsequently considers different theoretical perspectives relevant to this group, childhood stage. The essay will conclude with the observers’ analyses and learning taken forward. Class Video Observation The first video contains a group of children ­– 4 girls and 2 boys, aged around two to four years old. In this room there are also three members of staff and our lecture video camera recording the interaction. The children are sitting around the table, eating ice cream, learning names and repeating words that the members of staff are saying “ice cream, chocolate, please, thank you”. Children with the encouragement of staff were generally willing to share the ice cream among each other. The staff members are helping the children during this process, taking the ice cream from the container and distributing it on the plates in the front of the children around the table. The children appear happy as they eat their ice cream and talk with each other and the staff. This is an indoor activity held large room where children and staff are interacting. This room is around 15 meters long and 10 meters wide, appearing to have sufficient amount of space for an indoor room to comfortably accommodate this group. The video has now moved to a different part of the recording where children have slept and are waking up from sleep. Some of the children have woken up and some are waking more gradually with help from the staff members. The children have been sleeping on floor mattresses and covered with blankets. One girl appeared to have dribbled on the mattress while sleeping, presumably sucking her thumb as she continues to do so while she is waking up. She appears a bit disorientated, staring into space with a blank expression, losing her physical balance and struggling to stand up. Someone was recorded saying something like, ‘she is like a drunken woman’ as this young girl wobbles while sucking her thumb at the same time. The other children are dressing up after waking. One of the boys is seen putting on his socks. The rest of the children are generally dressing up after they have been sleeping and some are playing with toys. There is another child describing objects on the wall and playing with toys on the floor. There are some posters noticed on the wall, one of them has a headline ‘Knowledge and understanding of the world’ with various objects displayed and numerous toys are scattered on the floor. Now the children are drinking and asking for more drinks. Later the children are taken to an outdoor activity/playground. Children were playing with a football, mainly just kicking the ball around the playground. One of the girls described earlier as dribbling while sleeping is also playing/taking part. She appears more withdrawn compared to the other children and not as confident in taking part in the activity. When the ball is thrown at her she grabs it with her hands and runs away from her peer group and does not want to share or throw back the ball. The second video showed a different group of children, ranging from approximately 4 to 6 years old. This group of children was a lot more verbal, very talkative and able to express themselves. The children are drawing pictures and some are talking in turns to explain what they have drawn. One of the children, while describing his picture, said ‘I don’t know what to make of it’. In this group one of the boys has drawn a picture of a person with a big belly. This boy describes it as ‘a baby is playing in my belly.’ He has drawn a big picture indicating a big belly and to have room for the baby in the stomach. One of the girls has drawn a picture but is difficult to make out what the picture is. Another child said ‘don’t touch my picture,’ while he also said something including the words ‘using energy.’ This is presumably something to do with the picture. Also in this group there is a little boy that appears withdrawn/not enthusiastic in the activity, a quiet type/shy. Most of the children generally appeared involved in the activities and appeared to have good relationships with the staff in the room. The relevant theoretical perspectives to this video observation There are many theoretical perspectives that contribute to our knowledge and understanding of child development and one of them is Piaget’s Cognitive-Developmental Theory (Bee, 2004; Berk, 2005). According to Piaget, our schemata – our internal representation of the world – develops through watching and absorbing our experiences and those of others through a process that involves ‘assimilation’ by responding to new experiences based on the existing schemata. If the new information that we come across does not fit to the existing schemata it goes through a process called ‘accommodation’ where the schemata changes and updates in light of the new information. However, anxiety can be created in this process. If our schemata is adjusted and accommodates the new experience, then the desired state of ‘equilibrium’ is restored. Therefore our schema goes through this process as we encounter new experiences/information and develop as a way of maintaining psychological equilibrium (Hutchison 2003). According to Piaget this process yields four broad stages in which children use different methods of acting on the world as the brain develops and children’s experiences expand. Piaget called these stages Sensorimotor Stage (0-2), Preoperational Stage (2-7), Concrete Operational Stage (7-11) and Formal Operational Stage (11 to adulthood). Infants in the sensorimotor stage use their sensory and motor schemes to act on the world around them. Children in the preoperational stage acquire symbolic schemes, language and fantasy and they use this in communication and thinking. Older children in the concrete operational stage begin thinking in more logical sequences. As children enter into adolescence, sometime around 11 years old, their thinking becomes logical about abstract ideas and they can begin to solve real and hypothetical problems (Bee, 2004). Having outlined Piaget’s stages of cognitive development it is now possible to consider the Preoperational Stage in relation to the video examples. Children observed at this stage were learning language skills “ice cream, please,” etc. The children in the older group were very talkative, using symbols and drawing pictures to represent their thoughts. There was evidence of thinking that lacked logic corresponding to this stage group. For example some children did not know what they had drawn or why they drew it. We also observed the fantasy and magical thinking e.g. where one little boy draws a picture explaining “is a baby playing in my belly”. Children at this stage are considered to be egocentric. They see the world as it is directly related to them and find it difficult to see things from another’s view. They are rigid in their thinking and generally easily captured by appearances. To further our understanding of child development Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934) has contributed the Sociocultural Theory. Vygotsky agrees with Piaget that children are active constructive beings but he viewed cognitive development as a socially mediated process – as dependent on the assistance that adults and more expert peers provide as children tackle new challenges (Berk, 2006). This social interaction during the video observation was evident, children were socialising and playing with each other, indoors and outside and at the same time interacting with staff who were teaching language, ways of behaving and mastering new skills. The other theoretical perspective put forward in understanding development has been that of Erik Erikson (1902-1994). Psychosocial Theory takes forward and expands Freud’s psychosexual framework. Erikson came up with eight psychosocial stages of development and two of these stages apply to the children described above. The Autonomy versus shame and doubt (1-3) Children using mental and motor skills develop walking, grasping and other physical skills that lead to free choice. Autonomy is fostered when parents permit reasonable free choice and do not force or shame the child. The other stage is Initiative versus guilt (3-6) Children learn to organise activities around some goal, become more assertive and aggressive. Through fantasy, children experiment with the kind of person they want to become. They develop with parental support a sense of purpose, ambition and responsibility. The danger is that parents will demand too much self-control, which leads to over control meaning too much guilt which can inhibit the child’s creativity and interaction with others (Bee, 2004; Berk, 2006). The stages mentioned here are applicable to the video. The young girl who loses her physical balance upon waking has perhaps not mastered her physical skills quite yet. This is reinforced by the observation that she is not confident in taking part in activities out doors etc. In the second group one girl said ‘don’t touch my picture’ with an aggressive/assertive tone, another boy appeared withdrawn and inhibited in interacting with others. These types of behaviour appear to correspond with Erikson’s psychosocial stages of development. A further theoretical perspective in understanding lifespan development is the attachment theory. Mary Ainsworth (1978) put forward a technique called the strange situation test for measuring the quality of attachment. Children can fall into different categories such as secure, avoidant, resistant and disorganised/disorientated attachment. With repeated experience, children develop internal working models in the way they interact with others and they way they see themselves. According to Bee (2006), Bowlby argued that by the age of 4 or 5, the internal working models become more generalised across relationships. These models become a property of the child and thus more resistant to change. The child then tends to impose the internal working models on new relationships, including teachers and peers. In line with this theory most of the children in the video appeared to have secure attachments, socially skilful, curious and persistent in their activities and displayed mature behaviour. There were two children that could be categorised as having avoidant attachment; one of the girls in the first video when she woke from sleep appeared in need of help and comfort but she did not reach out to anyone, instead just stayed there sucking her thumb. In the second video there is a boy that appears withdrawn and not confident. Children in this category come to learn that their attachment figure is not available when they need them and there is no point in reaching out to the attachment figure. They may appear self sufficient with general coping abilities, but inside remain insecure, have little or no trust in people and fear of getting close in case this will cause them emotional pain; therefore avoidance is the best solution (Howe, 1995). Analyses of the observer’s experience and conclusion. Direct observation of children interacting with peers and staff is a valuable experience. This observation has provided the opportunity to link theory to practice. After the observation there was a group discussion and we discovered that we all had not recorded the exact same things. Each one of us had missed something. For example there was something about a girl falling down the stairs, it was commented by a fellow student that this could indicate neglect etc. The learning from this was that we can all miss information and the need to improve our observational skills. Observational skills are a vital aspect of social work and according to Le Riche & Tanner (1998) it is observational skills that social workers need as a necessary quality for undertaking an informed measured assessment. In this exercise it is also discovered that more than one theory applies to any given problem and it highlighted the importance of good and comprehensive theoretical knowledge. It is worth mentioning here that knowledge itself, without the ability to use it and applied to practice is of little use and this is what this exercise gave us. There are many theoretical perspectives with strengths and limitations but they all contribute in building a perspective about child development. Therefore this exercise has been very useful highlighting that learning and knowledge are powerful assets in attaining a professional level and can contribute to the development of a professional with a blended combination of appropriate values, knowledge and skills and creating competent professional Social Worker. Bibliography Bee, H. L. & Boyd, D. (2004). The Developing Child. (10th Ed). Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Ainsworth, M. D., Blehar, M. C., Walter, E. and Wall, S. (1978). Patterns of Attachment. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Berk, L. E. (2005). Development Though The Lifespan. (2nd Ed). Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Berk, L. E. (2005). Infants, Children and Adolescents. (5th Ed). Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Berk, L. E. (2006). Child Development. (7th Ed). Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Howe, D. (1995). Attachment Theory for Social Worker Practice. Hampshire: Palgrave. Hutchison, E. D. (2003). Dimensions of Human Behaviour. (2nd Ed). London: Sage. Le Riche, P & Tanner, S. (1998). Observation and its Application to Social Work: Rather Like Breathing. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers. _______________________________________ Lifespan Developmental Psychology Word Count 2666 Attachment and Separation in Childhood. The strongest theoretical influence in studies of infant-parent relationship is attachment theory, particularly the work of John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth. According to their writings, the key concepts to consider are the affectional bond, attachment, and attachment behaviour. Ainsworth defines an affectional bond as a “relatively long-enduring tie in which the parent is important as unique individuals and is interchangeable with none other. In an affectional bond there is a desire to maintain closeness to the partner” (1989, p.711). An attachment is a subvariety of affectional bond in which a person’s sense of security is bound up in the relationship. When you are attached, you feel a sense of security and comfort in the presence of the other, and you can use the other as a safe base from which to explore the rest of the world (Bee, 2004, p296). What is essential in the formation of an early bond is the opportunity for the parent and infant to develop a mutual, interlocking pattern of attachment behaviours, a smooth “dance” of interaction. The baby signals her needs by crying or smiling; she looks at her parent when they look at her. The parents, in their turn, enter into this interactive dance with their own repertoire of caregiving behaviours. They pick up the baby when she cries, wait for and respond to her signals of hunger or some other need, and so on. Some researchers and theorists have called this a development of synchrony (Isabella, Belsky, & Eye, 1989; Bee, 2004, p297) Bowlby suggested three phases in the development of the infant’s attachment in childhood. According to Bowlby, the infant’s relationship with the parent begins as a set of innate signals that call the adult to the baby’s side. Over time, a true affectional bond develops, supported by new emotional and cognitive capacities as well as by a history of warm, sensitive care. Attachment signals develop in four stages. Phase one; Non-focused Orienting and signalling: Babies begin life with a set of innate behaviour patterns that orient him towards others and signal his needs. Mary Ainsworth describes these as “proximity-promoting” behaviour: they bring people closer. In the newborn’s repertoire, these behaviours include crying, making eye contact, clinging, cuddling, and responding to caregiving efforts by being soothed. At this stage, there is little evidence that the baby is attached to the parents. Nonetheless the roots of attachment are established. The baby is building up expectancies and schemas about interaction patterns with the parents as well as developing the ability to discriminate mom and dad from others in many contexts. (Bee, 2004, p298). Preattachment phase (birth to 6 weeks). Built in signals – grasping, smiling, crying and gazing into the adults eyes – help bring newborn babies into close contact with other humans. Once the adult responds, infants encourage her to remain nearby because closeness comforts them. Babies of this age recognise their own mother’s smell and voice, and they will soon recognise her face. However, they are not yet attached to her, since they do not mind being left with an unfamiliar adult. Phase two; Focuses on more than one figure. By 3 months of age, the baby begins to aim her attachment behaviour somewhat more narrowly. She may smile more at the people who regularly take care of her and may not smile readily at a stranger. The infant does not yet have a complete attachment, though. The child still favours a number of people with her “proximity-promoting” behaviours, and no one person has yet become the “safe base”. Children at this stage show no special anxiety at being separated from their parents and no fear of strangers. Attachment in the making phase (6 weeks to 6-8 months). During this phase, infants respond differently to a familiar caregiver than to a stranger. For example, the baby smiles, laughs, and babbles more freely with the mother and quiets more quickly when she picks him up. As infants interact with the parent and experience relief from distress, they learn that their own actions affect the behaviour of those around them. Babies now begin to develop a sense of trust – the expectation that the caregiver will respond when signalled – but they still do not protest when separated from her. Phase three; Secure base behaviour. Only at about 6 months of age does the baby form a genuine attachment – about the same time that he develops some preliminary understanding that objects and people continue to exist when they are out of sight (object permanence). For the first time, the infant uses the “most important” person as a safe base from which to explore the world around him – one of the key signs that an attachment exists. Because the 6 to 7 month-old begins to be able to move about the world more freely by creeping and crawling, he can move towards the caregiver as well as “come here” (proximity promoting) signals to what Ainsworth calls “proximity-seeking” behaviour, which might be thought of as “go there” behaviours. Clear-cut attachment phase (6-8 months to 18 months 2 years). Now attachment to the familiar caregiver is evident. Babies display separation anxiety – they become upset when the adult on whom they have come to rely leaves. Separation anxiety does not always occur; like stranger anxiety, it depends on infant temperament and on the current situation. But in many cultures, it increases between 2 and 15 months. Formation of a reciprocal relationship (18 months – 2 years and on). By the end of the second year, rapid growth in the representation of the language permits toddlers to understand some of the factors that influence the parent’s coming and going and to predict her return. As a result, separation protest declines. Now children start to negotiate with the caregiver, using requests and persuasion to alter her goals. For example a 2 year old asked her parents to read a story before leaving her with a baby-sitter. The extra time with her parents, along with a better understanding of where they are going help the child understand her parents’ absence. With age, children depend less on the physical proximity of caregivers and more on a sense of confidence that they will be accessible and responsive in times of need. According to Bowlby (1980), out of their experiences during these four phases, children construct an enduring affectionate tie that they use as a secure base in the parents absence. This image serves as an internal working model, or a set of expectations about the availability of the attachment figures, their likelihood of providing support during time of stress, and self interaction with those figures. The internal working model becomes vital part of personality, serving as a guide for all future close relationships (Bretherton & Munholland, 1999). With age, children constantly “update” – or revise and expand the internal working model and their cognitive, emotional, and social capacities increase, as they interact further with parents, and as they form other close bonds with adults, siblings, and friends. Fear of strangers and Separation Anxiety. Fear of strangers and separation anxiety are two forms of distress that are rare before 5 or 6 months; they appear sometime between 6 and 9 months, rise in frequency until about 12 to 16 months, and then decline after about 24 months. The research findings are not altogether consistent, but it looks as fear of strangers normally appears first, at about the same time as babies show fearful reactions in other situations. Anxiety at separation starts a bit later but continues to be visible for a longer period. Attachment behaviour in early childhood. By the age of 2 or 3, although the child’s attachment to the mother and father remains powerful, most attachment behaviours have become less continuously visible. Children at this stage are cognitively advanced enough to understand mom if she explains why she is going away and says that she will be back, so their anxiety at separation wanes. Attachment behaviours have naturally not completely disappeared. Two year olds still want to sit on mom’s or dad’s lap; they are still likely to seek some closeness or proximity when mom returns from some absence. Bowlby referred to this new form of attachment as a goal-corrected partnership. The infant’s goal, to put it simply, is always to have the attachment figure within sight of touch. The preschooler’s goal is also to be “in contact” with the parent, but “contact” no longer requires constant physical presence. The preschoolers not only understand that their mother will continue to exist when she isn’t there; he now also understands that the relationship continues to exist even when the parents are apart. This enables the toddler or preschooler to modify (correct) her goal of contact with her attachment figure by engaging in collaborative planning: agreeing on when and how the two will be together, for example, or what the child will do if he gets scared or anxious, or who the replacement security person will be. Attachment in Middle Childhood In elementary school, over attachment behaviours such as clinging and crying are even less visible, so it is easy to lose sight of the fact that children this age are still strongly attached to their parents. The elementary school child may take primary responsibility for maintaining contact with the parent (Kerns, 1996) but she wants to know that mom and dad are there when she needs them. Such a need is most likely to arise when the child faces some stressful situation, perhaps the fist day of school, an illness or upheaval in the family, or the death of a pet. Because fewer experiences are new and potentially stressful to the 7- or 8 year-old than to the preschooler, there is less need by the child for the parent (Maccobby, 1984). These changes do not, however, signify that the child’s attachment to the parent has weakened. Internal Working Models of Attachment An internal working model of attachment relationships includes such elements as the child’s confidence (or lack of it) that the attachment figure will be available or reliable, the child’s expectation of rebuff or affection, and the child’s sense of assurance that the attachment figure is a really safe base for exploration. The internal model begins to be formed late in the child’s first year of life and becomes increasingly elaborated and better established over the first 4 or 5 years. By the age of 5, most children have clear internal models of the mother (or Care giver), a self model, and a model of relationships. Once formed, such models shape and explain experiences and affect memory and attention. Children notice and remember experiences that fit their model and miss or forget experiences that don’t match it. More importantly, the model affects the child’s behaviour: The child tends to recreate, in each new relationship, the pattern with which he is familiar (Bee, 2004, p304). Bowlby argued that by the age of 4 or 5, the internal working model becomes more general, more a property of the child, more generalised across relationships, and thus more resistant to change. Because the basic structure of the model has been formed, this is not as critical of a period as the before 5 age group, but the longer the child exists in an insecure attachment model, the more difficult it becomes to change. At that point, the child tends to impose her working model on new relationships, including relationships with teachers and peers. Thus the child may “recover” from an initially insecure attachment or lose a secure one. Secure and Insecure Attachments All attachments theorists share the assumption that the fist attachment relationship is the most influential ingredient in the creation of the child’s working model. Variations in this first attachment relationship are most universally described using Mary Ainsworth’s category system (Ainsworth et al.,1978). She distinguished between secure attachment and two types of insecure attachment, which she assessed using a procedure called the strange situation. As a result of this procedure, several different types of attachments were categorized. Secure attachment – The child readily separates from the caregiver and is easily absorbed in exploration; when threatened or frightened, the child actively seeks contact and is readily consoled; the child does not avoid or resist contact if the mother initiates it. When reunited with the mother after an absence, the child greets her positively or is easily soothed if upset. The child clearly prefers mother to a stranger. Insecure/Avoidant Attachment – The child avoids contact with the mother, especially at a reunion after an absence. The child does not resist the mother’s efforts to make contact, but does not seek much contact. The child shows no preference for the mother over a stranger. Insecure/Ambivalent Attachment – The child shows little exploration and is wary of strangers. The child becomes greatly upset when separated from the mother, but is not reassured by the mother’s return or her efforts at comforting. The child both seeks and avoids contact at different times. The child may show anger towards the mother at reunion, and resists both comfort from and contact with strangers. Disorganised Attachment – The child demonstrates dazed behaviour, confusion, or apprehension. The child may show contradictory behaviour patterns simultaneously, such as moving towards the mother while keeping gaze averted (Bee, 2004, p305). Long-term consequences of secure and Insecure Attachment Children rated as securely attached to their mother in infancy are later more sociable, more positive in their behaviour towards friends and siblings, less clinging and dependent on teachers, less aggressive and disruptive, more empathetic, and more emotionally mature in their approach to school and other settings outside the home. Those with insecure attachments – particularly those with avoidant attachments – not only have less positive supportive friendships in adolescence but are also more likely to become sexually active early and practice riskier sex (O’Beirne & Moore, 1995; Bee, 2004, p308). Attachment and later development. According to psychoanalytic and ethological theories, the inner feelings of affection and security that result from a healthy attachment relationship support all aspects of psychological development. In an extensive longitudinal study consistent with this view, Alan Sroufe and his collaborators found that preschoolers who were securely attached as babies showed more elaborate make-believe play and greater enthusiasm, flexibility, and persistence in problem solving by 2 years of age. At the age of 4, these children were rated by pre-school teachers as high in self-esteem, social competence, and empathy. In contrast, teachers viewed avoidantly attached children age-mates as isolated and disconnected, and resistantly attached age-mates as disruptive and difficult. Children who had been secure infants had more favourable relationships with peers, closer friendships, and better social skills. As the child grows from infancy through to early childhood, attachment is vital to the child’s future relationship formation and has an effect upon how he or she views the world. These attachments are given their start from birth, but only begin to be differentiated by about six months old. Strong, healthy attachments with caregivers, formed primarily as the child grows from six months to approximately two years, reassure the child that there will always be someone there to watch out for him and that his needs will be met. This provides him with a strong base upon which to launch himself into the world – confident, friendly, capable of making friends and forming positive attachments. This is contrasted with the child who is not able to make such strong attachments. There are three types of insecure attachments, all of which end up with the child having difficulty in forming future positive relationships and a more fearful approach to the world. As the child begins to interact with other children, daycare workers, teachers, etc., manifestations of this attachment begin to weaken because the child depends less and less on his primary caregiver for comfort, but the attachment remains important as an innate sense of comforting presence and remains the person to whom the child will turn in times of trouble. The insecurely attached child can overcome these early issues, but this depends on many external factors as well. Bibliography Bee, H. L. & Boyd, D. (2004). The Developing Child. (10th Ed). Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Ainsworth, M. D., Blehar, M. C., Walter, E. and Wall, S. (1978). Patterns of Attachment. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Berk, L. E. (2005). Development Though The Lifespan. (2nd Ed). Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Berk, L. E. (2005). Infants, Children and Adolescents. (5th Ed). Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Berk, L. E. (2006). Child Development. (7th Ed). Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Howe, D. (1995). Attachment Theory for Social Worker Practice. Hampshire: Palgrave. Hutchison, E. D. (2003). Dimensions of Human Behaviour. (2nd Ed). London: Sage. _______________________________________ Read More