LifeSpan Psychology- Week Three

Pregnancy, Prenatal Development, Birth, Newborn Child and Infancy

In this weeks reading from our LifeSmart text,  Chapter 3 focused on the pregnancy and prenatal development. In the beginning, it discussed the biological basis of development and how scientifically we come to be.  From here, we are shown the different complications and disorders that can arise during this time. Personally, as someone that will be looking to start a family in the next few years, I found this section to be quite unnerving.  So many things can go wrong!  After this, it is back to high school health class and we are shown the fertilization process.  Not much new information there.  Following this, the chapter goes on to describe that there are 3 stages of prenatal development: germinal, embryonic, and fetal. The germinal period is the time when the fertilized egg passes through the fallopian tube.  The embryonic period is the time of rapid development and great sensitivity.  The fetal period is when the fetus prepares itself for life outside of the womb.  The rest of the chapter focuses primarily on how different things can harm the fetus and shows how great the need is to take certain precautions (especially/mainly by the mother) when a fetus is developing.  Again, as a woman who is thinking of starting a family in the near future, this section set off my worry wart and made me incredibly uneasy as to all the things that could go wrong.  However, this chapter also showed me just what a miracle it is to become pregnant and how amazing it is that a human being can develop our of just one tiny little zygote. 

Next, we ready Chapter 4.  This chapter focuses mainly on the birthing process and the first characteristics exemplified by neonates.  This section (combined with the last few minutes of the Nova movie we watched this week) terrified me!  My sister is due to have her baby in a few weeks and I cannot fathom what she is going to go through-willingly!-for a second time. Thank goodness for modern advancement of birthing techniques!  Mothers and babies now have much better pre- and post-natal care than ever.  When I was born I was just over six weeks early.  If it wasn't for the technology available nearly 30 years ago I would not be here, and quite possibly my mother may not have been as well. 

Our final chapter of the week, Chapter 5, dealt with infancy and the different was that an infant develops during this stage. Having many nieces and nephews, as well as from working with infants it is truly amazing to watch the different physical, perceptual and cognitive developments that take place- and so quickly!- during their infancy.  The chapter goes through the different accomplishments that infants achieve during this time, as well as how they acquire information about the world around them. The section of this chapter that I found of particular interest though, was on the social and emotional development during this time.  On page 119 it states: "during infancy, emotions generate adaptive functions that help to define the meaning of a child's experiences." In other words, our emotions and emotional development help us to process and behave during certain situations.  When we are infants we are not only setting up our physical and cognitive future selves, we are also starting to develop our emotions and our future emotional responses.
Following this the chapter discussed attachment.  At my job, many children are still in the securely attached stage and exhibit a lot of distress at being separated from their parents and/or caregivers. 
Finally, the section on temperament really hit the nail on the head when it stated "Infants instantly tune in to their environment.  They give clues to their personalities so that mother's and father's responses to their child's signals must be appropriate for that child; that is, greater parental sensitivity produces more responsive infants." (pg. 124) I completely agree!  Each infant and each person for that matter is different, and must be treated as such.  My cousin Erika has fraternal twins, Caden and Brock.  While they are the same age and look very similar, they are very different.  Caden is more cuddly and prone to smiling, whereas Brock is more reserved.  At first Erika's husband found it frustrating that Brock did not like to be held and cuddled, he grew to understand that while they may be nearly the same boys, they each have differences and are each unique and wonderful.  Not holding one child to anothers standards is something that even as adults dealing with one another we need to properly learn.

LifeSpan Psychology- Week Two

Theories of Development

For our second week of class, we read Chapter Two in our LifeSmart text.  This reading was basically an overview of several different important psychologists and their specific theories regarding Lifespan Development. In my previous courses here at Trinity I have gone over many of these theories and in doing so again, I have really found which theories I find the most interesting.

Freud's psychoanalytic theory, the theory of the development of personality with an emphasis on the subconscious is very interesting to me, as are his stages of development.  Freud's stages of development include: Oral (0-1.5 yrs old), Anal (1.5-3 yrs old), Phallic (3-5 yrs old), Latency (5-12 yrs old), and the Genital Stage (12 yrs and older).  Although I am not completely convinced of his ideas on fixation, I can agree with him that we all have defense mechanisms that we use, even if they are not acknowledged.  For example, one of my defense mechanisms comes into play when I am stressed out: I bake.  In general, I enjoy cooking and baking for pleasure, however when I am stressed or worried about something and trying to avoid and defend myself against these things, I will fins myself drawn to my baking tools like a duck to water.
Another theory of his that I agree with is his argument that "at different stages of a person's development, personality is influenced by three distinct structures of the mind: the id, the ego, and the superego." (pg 30)  This argument is so obvious to me.  People battle these three structures all the time in an attempt to order to strike a compromise. 

Freud's theory is one the most interesting ones that I have studied. I was always interested in the battles that one's id and superego went through on a day to day basis. I do not really agree with all the latent sexual feelings that Freud pushes with this method, I do see strong evidence that the unconscious is important in people's development. I tend to constantly think about some of the defense mechanisms that people have. I go back to one that I have noticed in myself. When dealing with a somber topic, like death for example, I have the tendency to make jokes about whatever situation I am. I suppose it can be that subconsciously, I am afraid of the topic and I want to change it to a less serious one.

Other theorists included Erik Erikson and his theory of psychosocial theory of development, Jean Piaget's stages of cognitive development (which I have covered several times while at Trinity), Lev Vygotsky's sociocultural theory, Ivan Pavlov (and his dog), B.F Skinner and his theories on reinforcement (which I also covered in a previous blog posting), Albert Bandura's Social Cognitive Learning, Uri Brofenbrenner's Ecological Theory as well as the Developmental systems theory and contextual model.  While I believe the developmental contextual model is slightly convoluted (pg 45), I do believe it accurately portrays the exchanged between individuals and the multiple levels of their complex contexts propel development.  

Finally, we look at Maslow's hierarchy of needs.  Again, I have covered this several times while at Trinity, and each time I find it interesting.  For myself, I would place myself near the top of the self-esteem tier.  I am an adult with healthy relationships and with an occupation where children see me as a teachers aide in a classroom  I believe that after a certain age we eventually start to revert back down the hierarchy as we age, thus making different needs a priority.  

Overall, this chapter was kind of a review for me as I have already covered many of these theories.  That being said, these topics are so interesting that there is always something new to discover about them and to see them in a different context.

Lifespan Psychology- Week One

Lifespan Development

For our first week of class, I ready Chapter One in our Lifesmart text, and viewed a Words of EnCOURAGEment video on the Mobius Strip. 

As we are introduced to the subject in our text,  Lifespan Development is the way researchers look at our lives over the years. They look at not only our physiological changes, but our biological and social changes as well in their research. As I have worked with children of varying ages, I can really see how this would be similar and also how it would help us look at the different life stages.  A young baby cannot walk, however a two year old can.  A five year old may decide they do not like meat one week while loving it the next, but a twelve year old may decide to become a vegetarian.  Looking at how children change and develop through not only the eyes of a caregiver but as someone learning and researching the changes makes me see how much we all really change, not only over the course of a few years but from week to week and month to month.   

While the first chapter of the book was interesting, I really thought the video was more thought provoking.  I have heard of the Mobius strip in the context of shapes, but never as something to describe ones life.  In this video, Parker Palmer describes how everyone has two lives- the "on stage" life, where things influence you and your actions and ego comes into question and another life, "backstage".  The "backstage life is more who you really are: beliefs, intuition, values, i.e. your soul.  Palmer mentioned that you can become "centered" and try to combine the two.  This reminds me of my yoga classes a great deal.  We spend much of the class focused on being centered and looking towards our center to be who we are. I agree withe Palmer's idea that we are born whole.  However, I am not completely in agreement that we all lose touch with our souls.  I believe that our environment greatly influences us, and if we are brought up to be who we are and not be ashamed of it but rather embrace it then that is what we will do. 
When reading with and to children, I believe it is important to read literature encouraging them to be themselves.  If we don't encourage them to do so while they are young, that is the start of them losing their wholesomeness.  We all need to strive to find the balance to be who we want to be, and who we are.