MODULE 4: Intro/Lessons 1 and 2
July 2
TODAY'S MESSAGE
Module 3 assignments should have been turned in. Please let me know if you have any questions about this and keep up to speed on your gradebook for this class. You can still turn in late work for partial credit.
Today's work consists of 3 lessons so make sure you are keeping up with the class and the information.
Two services we offer here at NCVPS are the Culture Cafe and the Peer Tutoring platform Upswing. Check these out below.
TODAY'S ASSIGNMENTS:
#1. Complete the Module 4 Pre-Test. Take the pre-assessment quiz to establish how much about our topic you already know. You are required to take this pre-assessment, but don't worry. It does not impact your grade!
#2. Review the glossary and any vocabulary practice. You will be required to know the terms included for the post assessment at the end of the module.
#3. Begin lesson 1 by reviewing the notes to learn about biological development.
#4. Complete the lesson 1 practice activity.
#5. Complete the lesson 1 assignment - Biological Development.
#6. Begin lesson 2 by reviewing the notes on Piaget’s Cognitive Development. Review the information in the presentation.
#7. Complete the lesson 2 practice activity.
#3. Complete the lesson 2 assignment - Cognitive Development
TEACHER TALK 1
One of the most famous psychological experiments was done by a psychologist you will learn about in Lesson 1: Harry Harlow. He wanted to study the mechanisms by which newborn rhesus monkeys bond with their mothers. These infants were highly dependent on their mothers for nutrition, protection, comfort and socialization. What, exactly, though, was the basis of the bond?
The behavioral theory of attachment would suggest that an infant would form an attachment with the person/animal that provides food. In contrast Harlow’s explanation was that attachment develops as a result of the mother providing “tactile comfort”, suggesting that infants have a biological need to touch and cling to something for emotional comfort.
His experiments took several forms:
1. Infant monkeys reared in isolation – He took babies and isolated them from birth. They had no contact with each other or anybody else. He kept some this way for three months, some for six, some for nine and some for the first year of their lives. He then put them back with other monkeys to see what effect their failure to form attachment had on behaviour.
Results: The monkeys engaged in bizarre behavior such as clutching their own bodies and rocking compulsively. They were then placed back in the company of other monkeys. To start with the babies were scared of the other monkeys, and then became very aggressive towards them. They were also unable to communicate or socialize with other monkeys. The other monkeys bullied them. They indulged in self-mutilation, tearing hair out, scratching, and biting their own arms and legs.
Harlow concluded that privation (i.e. never forming an attachment bond) is permanently damaging. The extent of the abnormal behavior reflected the length of the isolation. Those kept in isolation for 3 months were the least affected, but those in isolation for a year never recovered the effects of privation.
2. Infant monkeys reared with surrogate mothers – 8 monkeys were separated from their mothers immediately after birth and placed in cages with access to two surrogate mothers, one made of wire and one covered in soft terry toweling cloth. Four of the monkeys could get milk from the wire mother and four from the cloth mother. The animals were studied for 165 days.
Both groups of monkeys spent more time with the cloth mother (even if she had no milk). The infant would only go to the wire mother when hungry. Once fed it would return to the cloth mother for most of the day. If a frightening object was placed in the cage the infant took refuge with the cloth mother. This surrogate was more effective in decreasing the youngsters fear. The infant would explore more when the cloth mother was present. This supports the evolutionary theory of attachment, in that it is the sensitive response and security of the caregiver that is important (as apposed to the provision of food).
The behavioral differences that Harlow observed between the monkeys who had grown up with surrogate mothers and those with normal mothers were;
a) They were much more timid.
b) They didn’t know how to act with other monkeys.
c) They were easily bullied and wouldn’t stand up for themselves.
d) They had difficulty with mating.
e) The females were inadequate mothers.
Harlow found therefore that it was social deprivation rather than maternal deprivation that the young monkeys were suffering from. When he brought some other infant monkeys up on their own, but with 20 minutes a day in a playroom with three other monkeys, he found they grew up to be quite normal emotionally and socially.
Ethics of Harlow's Study
Think back to the ethics concerns we talked about in Module 1. Harlow’s work has been criticized. His experiments have been seen as unnecessarily cruel (unethical) and of limited value in attempting to understand the effects of deprivation on human infants.
It was clear that the monkeys in this study suffered from emotional harm from being reared in isolation. This was evident when the monkeys were placed with a normal monkey (reared by a mother), they sat huddled in a corner in a state of persistent fear and depression.
In addition Harlow created a state of anxiety in female monkeys which had implications once they became parents. Such monkeys became so neurotic that they smashed their infant's face into the floor and rubbed it back and forth.
Harlow's experiment is sometimes justified as providing a valuable insight into the development of attachment and social behavior. At the time of the research there was a dominant belief that attachment was related to physical (i.e. food) rather than emotional care.
Click on the link below to see footage from these Harlow experiments.
TEACHER TALK 2
In this activity you will learn about some of the biological, cognitive, and psychosocial developments that take place from birth across the life span. As you explore, keep in mind the following questions that are on the forefront of the developmental psychology: How do innate and environmental factors interact? What relationships exist between development in one period of life and development in another? How might differences in culture and social class shape the course of development? These are all questions that came up today in Lesson 1 of Module 4. Now you will be able to see the different events that happen in our lifespan.
The site breaks it up into cognitive, biological and social events that happen in our lives.I like how this interactive site breaks up the stages by age group so you can see all that goes on in these 3 categories at each stage of a person's life.
TEACHER TALK 3
A child's cognitive development is about a child constructing a mental model of the world. Development is biologically based and changes as the child matures. Piaget believed that children go through 4 universal stages of cognitive development.
1. Sensorimotor stage (Infancy)
2. Pre-operational stage (Toddler and early childhood)
3. Concrete operational stage (Elementary and early adolescence)
4. Formal operational stage (Adolescence and adulthood).
For Piaget each child goes through the stages in the same order, and no stage can be missed out - although some individuals may never attain the later stages. There are individual differences in the rate at which children progress through stages. Piaget did not claim that a particular stage was reached at a certain age - although descriptions of the stages often include an indication of the age at which the average child would reach each stage.
Sensorimotor Stage (Birth-2 yrs)
The main achievement during this stage is object permanence - knowing that an object still exists, even if it is hidden. It requires the ability to form a mental representation (i.e. a schema) of the object.
Preoperational Stage (2-7 years)
During this stage, young children are able to think about things symbolically. This is the ability to make one thing - a word or an object - stand for something other than itself.
Thinking is still egocentric, and the infant has difficulty taking the viewpoint of others.
Concrete Operational Stage (7-11 years)
Piaget considered the concrete stage a major turning point in the child's cognitive development, because it marks the beginning of logical or operational thought. This means the child can work things out internally in their head (rather than physically try things out in the real world). Children can conserve number (age 6), mass (age 7), and weight (age 9). Conservation is the understanding that something stays the same in quantity even though its appearance changes
Formal Operational Stage (11 years and over)
The formal operational stage begins at approximately age eleven and lasts into adulthood. During this time, people develop the ability to think about abstract concepts, and logically test their thoughts.
SHOUT OUT
CONTACT ME
E-mail: christopher.watson@ncpublicschools.gov
Text anytime between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m.
NCVPS Psychology
CITATIONS
Today's Assignments (Book Icon Orange, David Peters, Wikpedia Education Program Case Studies.pdf, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license
Teacher Talk (Red Silhouette - Teacher, Ben from Openclipart, Openclipart, Creative Commons CCO 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication license)
Shout Out (callout-quote-bull-speaking-bubble, Pixabay, Pixabay, CCO Public Domain license)
Important Dates This Week (Blank Calendar Page Icon, Jackaranga, Jackaranga, GNU Free Documentation License)
Contact Me (Smart phone mobile phone, Pixabay, Pizabay, CCO Public Domain)