Psychology 50 Introductory Psychology
Unit 2
Development – Cognitive/Motivational/Emotional Dimensions
Dr. Willis F. Overton
Spring 2001

PRACTICE QUIZ LINK

 

CONTENT LINKS:
Lecture 1:  The Mind and Consciousness
Lecture 2:  The Development of Mind, Consciousness, and Behavior
Lecture 3:   I.  The Infant as Competent Action Systems
                    II.  Piaget's Theory of the Cognitive Dimension of Mind.
Lecture 4:   I.  Cognition in Toddlerhood & Beyond
                     II.  The Role of the Environment in the Development of Mind.
Lecture 5:   I.  Development of the Affective (Emotion/Feeling) Dimension of Mind
                    II.  Erickson’s Theory of Mental (Affective/Motivational) Development 
Lecture 6:   I.  Attachment
                    II Identity, &
                    III. Moral Reasoning: 
                    Consequences of the Developing Mind

Lecture 1:  The Mind and Consciousness
Readings:  Chapter 1, pp 11-21. Mind & Mental Processes
                   Chapter 9, pp 394-396.  Consciousness

            I.  The Mind

A.  Definition:  An active system or organization of cognitive, conative, and affective meanings or understandings, along with procedures for implementing and changing these meanings.

                        B.  Analysis of Terms:

1.  Organization= Mind is a psychological organ.  Mind is ‘psyche’, the psychological person.  Mind is not directly seen but must be inferred from its products.  Later will talk about ‘MENTAL STRUCTURES’ when describing this organization.  Will see that theorists of the mind like Piaget, Freud, and Erikson will use terms like “operations,” “scheme,” “ego” and “super-ego” to label various dimensions of the organization of mind.

2.  Cognition=knowing.  Cognitive processes refer to actions involved in the construction, acquisition, maintenance, change, or implementation of meanings.  Cognitive content refers to specific meanings (concepts, facts, propositions, rules, memories).  The following are cognitive processes:

a.  Perception:   A cognitive process because it involves meanings being applied to our seeing or hearing or tasting or touching things.

b.  Memory:   A cognitive process because it involves the activity of maintaining meanings that we have.

c.  Thinking:   A cognitive process because it involves how we construct new meanings using symbols.

d.   Language:  A cognitive process because it involves how we express and communicate meanings symbolically. 

e.  Problem solving:  A cognitive process because it involves implementing meanings.  ‘Judgments’, ‘Decisions’, ‘Inferences” are also procedures for implementing meanings

3. Conation=motivation, intentions, wishes, desires, strivings, motives.

e.g. Desire may be to obtain fame and fortune, but fame and fortune are meanings that I have. 

4. Affect, Emotions, Feelings. 

Affect is the general concept that includes emotion and feelings.
Emotions are patterns of activity – biological and behavioral
Feelings are the conscious mental reflections on emotions

All meanings have an emotion and feeling associated with them.
e.g. You have a happy wish or a sad wish, you feel ‘up’ on solving a problem, or, ‘down’ on failing to solve it.

C.  Mind and Body (Brain)

1.  Dualism.
2.  Monism – Reductionistic (‘nothing but’) & Non-Reductionistic.

                        D.  Mind and Consciousness

1.  Consciousness = Awareness.  This is the fundamental characteristic of Mind.

2.  Levels of consciousness.

            a.  There can be multiple levels of consciousness ranging from the ‘basic’ awareness that non-human animals and infant humans exhibit, to the highly reflective symbolic awareness.  The text does not mention levels and the discussion in the text tends to focus on what we will call 'extended consciousness.'

                        1.) The basic level is sometimes called ‘core consciousness’ and it has the following characteristics:  Wakefulness, Attention to presented stimuli, Attention can be focused and sustained over periods of time, Background emotions flow continuously, Spontaneous behavior is purposeful (see Antonio Demasio).

                        2.) Higher levels of emotion are sometimes called ‘extended consciousness.  This involves a sense of self and a sense of objects and a sense of the relationship between the two.

            b.  Each higher level of extended consciousness is defined by the ability to reflect on each of the lower levels. (For example, you can think about yourself talking to someone else; but an infant can’t do this)

            c.  Each of the higher levels of consciousness is the outcome of the process of development to be discussed next.

2.  The Unconscious

            a.  As special mental process (Freud)
            b.  As nonconscious

E.  Functions of the Mind and Consciousness.

1.  Mediate between body and world. Thus at extended levels it a) Monitors the self and the environment and b) Controls cognition and behavior (see p. 394 of text)

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Lecture 2:  The Development of Mind, Consciousness, and Behavior:  Definitions & Explanations
Readings:  Chapter 8, pp. 354-356.  Nature of Intelligence
                   Chapter 8, pp. 375-382.  Nature and Nurture

            I.  The Nature of Development.

A.  Development is about change.  Change involves orderly sequence.  So Development is defined as relatively permanent change that moves towards some final state or final system.
            e.g., Final state of a flying machine.  Here have changes that led to the modern jet airplane.  That’s development of the airplane.
            e.g., Current organization or system called “human beings.”  Here have phylogenetic changes that have led to modern man.  Phylogenetic development.

B.  Developmental Psychology is about change of Psyche (i.e., mind and consciousness) and about changes of behavior.  These changes can occur across the life span from the time the egg is fertilized (prenatal development) through infancy, toddlerhood, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and the elderly years.

            e.g., Piaget’s theory focuses on the development of the cognitive dimension of mind from infancy through adolescence.  The final organization here is the way normal mature adults are able to think about their thinking, and make judgments and evaluations about their thinking and about their behavior.

            e.g., Erikson’s theory focuses on the development of the affective and motivational dimensions of mind, from infancy through the late elderly years.  The final organization here is the way normal mature adults integrate feelings and desires into an adapted whole personality.

            e.g., There are theories of the development of memory.  Here, the final organization is the way normal mature adults are able to recall and recognize earlier experienced events.

            e.g., There are theories of the development of walking.  Here, the final organization is the way normal 4 year olds walk.

            e.g., There are theories of the development of language.  Here, the final organization is the way normal adults understand and produce language.

            e.g., There are theories of the development of the embryo (embryogenesis).  Here, the final organization is the newborn.

            II.  Two Types of Developmental Change.

A.  Transformational Change:  This is the case where the form or organization of the thing (e.g., mind, consciousness, cognition, feelings, behavior) changes into another form or another organization.

                                    e.g., The caterpillar develops (becomes transformed into) the butterfly.

                                    e.g.,  Hydrogen and Oxygen develop into Water.

e.g.,  Water becomes transformed into ice, and water becomes transformed into steam.

e.g.,  The core consciousness of the infant becomes transformed into thinking and the extended consciousness of the toddler and this becomes transformed into the reflective thought of the child.

e.g.,  The crawling of the infant becomes transformed into the walking of the child.

1.  Transformational change involves the emergence of novelty (the new).  When a form changes sufficiently, something new emerges that was not there before.

e.g., Water is a novel system that emerges from Hydrogen and Oxygen.  Water has characteristics (e.g., wet, taste) that is not found in either of its constituent parts.

e.g., Walking is something new and, in fact, it does not use the same muscle systems that crawling used. 

e.g., Thinking arises out of the core consciousness of early infancy, but it is something different in organization then that core consciousness.  The newborn does not have thoughts or thinking.  Thinking is a novel system that emerges from action when the mind has gone through several transformations

2.  This novelty is often discussed as ‘qualitative changes in complexity’.

3.  When transformational change occurs the novel result or qualitative change is often referred to as being a ‘discontinuity’ of development and it is marked by being called a new ‘stage’ or new ‘level of organization’ (both mean the same).

4.  Piaget’s theory and Erikson’s theory, for example, focus on transformational change and they describe development in terms of stages.  Each stage marks a novel qualitative change.

B.  Variational Change.  This is the case where something (e.g., behavior) varies around some norm or average. 

e.g., The pecking behavior of the pigeon.  The pigeon pecks here and there, slower and faster.  The change in where, when, and how fast, are all variational changes.

e.g., The child’s reaching behavior as in reaching for a toy.  In early infancy at first get wide sweeps with whole body, later get more precise movements.

e.g., Child getting more and more precise at walking, after the novelty has occurred.

e.g.,  Person who gets better and better on an exam.

1.  Variational change is about a skill or ability becoming more precise and more accurate. 

2.  Nothing new emerges with respect to variational change and so it is called ‘quantitative’ or ‘additive’ change in complexity.

3.  Because nothing new emerges in variational change, the quantitative change is often referred to as the ‘continuity’ of development.

4.  Because nothing new emerges in variational change, people who study variational development rarely ever describe development in terms of stages.  In variational development the child is described as getting closer and closer to a target behavioral goal.  This is sometimes called ‘adjustment’ and often theories that focus on variational development explore the ways in which the child’s behavior adjusts to the demands of the environment. 

5.  Skinner’s theory is a good example of a theory that focuses on variational change.

            III.  Explanation of Development I:  Models of the Nature of the Person.

The background presupposition (assumption, model) the scientist has about the nature of persons and their relation to the environment will influence how development is explained.  Here are three possible models:

PERSON (Body, Mind, & Behavior)-_____________                    ENVIRONMENT

1.  The Empiricist Model

Lump of Matter                                                                                       Sculpture

Tabula Rasa (Blank Slate)                                                                        Engraver

 

2.  The Nativist Model

Steel Filing Cabinet                                                                                    Filing Clerk

 

3.  The Action Interactionist or Co-action  Model

A Living Plant                                                                                           Gardener

 

            IV.  Explanation of Development II:  The Nature—Nurture Controversy.

                        A.  This is the question of what accounts for or explains development.

                        B.  Traditionally this has been a clash of:

1.  Nature – (i.e. Biology, heredity, genes, instinct, innate factors). Generally this is the Nativists or Steel Filing Cabinet Model

versus

2.  Nurture – (i.e., Environment, learning, practice). Generally this is the Empiricists or Lump of Matter, Blank Slate Model.

C.  Classically, and still often in the popular press, characterized as a struggle between two exclusive choices.  This is often called the “Which One” question. 

                                    e.g., Which one?  Nature or nurture causes (explains) schizophrenia?

e.g., Which one?  Genes or watching violent TV caused the killing at Colombine?

e.g.,  Which one?  Brain factors or parenting style causes sexual identity?

e.g.,  Which one?  Genes or education causes intelligence?

1.  This is a scientifically useless way of approaching the issue of the explanation of the development of mind or behavior.  All of Psyche and behavior represent a complex and non-separable interweaving of both nature and nurture.  Like the ingredients of a cake cannot be separated out after the baking has occurred.

D.  Some have changed the “Which One?” Question into the “How Much?” Question.  Here people ask how much of any behavior is caused by one and how much is caused by the other factor.  Sophisticated statistical techniques are used to attempt to measure this.

1.  Although there is a group who use this approach it too is ultimately an unsuccessful approach to the explanation of the development of mind or behavior.  It fails to recognize that a gene always acts in the context of an environment and the coaction of the two transforms the outcome in ways that do not allow for a meaningful separation.  Think of mind and behavior being like snow.  Would you ever ask how much of snow is caused by water and how much is caused by temperature?  No, that would be a silly question.  We know that snow is 100% due to water and 100% due to temperature.  Snow is the outcome of the interaction of water and temp.  Think of mind and behavior in the same fashion.

E.  The Co-Action or Interaction Resolution.  Understand development according to the plant model.  Genes are necessary – no matter what environment you have – the plant is going to be a tomato plant.  However, the timing and characteristics of the environment are just as necessary.  The two factors cannot be separated to answer the Which One? or the How Much? questions.  Development is the product of the coaction between nature and nurture at every level from DNA in relation to its environment, to the genetic in relation to its environment, to the cell in relation to its environment, to the embryo in relation to its environment to the infant in relation to its environment etc. etc.

1.  Explore the How? Question.  How are specific nature factors and how are specific environmental factors related to the growth of mind and behavior.

e.g., How does a specific chromosome defect (e.g., as in down’s syndrome) relate to the growth of intelligence.  Is it related to a slowing of development?

e.g., How does parenting style relate to the growth of intelligence.  Do some styles result in faster development or slower development?

            V.  Explanation of Development III:  Action and Experience.

A.  Given the Co-actionist solution, given the acceptance of the plant model of person and behavior, the question remains:  What explains the development of mind and behavior according to the co-actionist position?  This is the question of the ‘mechanism’ (explanation) of development.

B.  To answer this must first again note that we are here primarily focused on the development of the person, the development of Psyche or mind.  Thus, our psychology is going to be primarily a person-centered or organism centered rather than a biology centered or an environment centered psychology.

C.  Given this, the answer about the mechanism of development is that it is the ACTION of the active organized system called the person, organism, or mind.  That is, the action of mind is the mechanism of its own change.  We will see that this is exactly the solution of theorists like Piaget and Erikson.

1.  Organisms develop through their own action in the world.  As organism is a an active ‘self-organizing system’

2.  The process goes like this: 

a.  Out of 9 months of coaction or interaction of BODY (genetics, physiological, neurological) and ENVIRONMENT, there emerges at birth an integrated set of action systems.  These action systems and their interrelation constitute the initial psychological organism, the basic level of mind, the level of core consciousness.  All action that is emitted by these action systems is necessarily a reflection of the nature of the current organization of Psyche.

e.g., The infant is partially a sucking organization – a sucking action system

e.g., The infant is partially a reaching organization – a reaching action system.

e.g., The infant is partially a grasping organization – a grasping action system.

e.g., The infant is partially a looking organization – a looking action system.

b.  Completely successful action of the system fulfills the need or intention of the system.  With success the system is in ‘EQUILIBRIUM’ or balance with the environment.  The system action continues and repeats itself and no change occurs.

c.  Total failure of action of the system leads to system break down (e.g., crying).  No change occurs in this situation.  System is not in equilibrium but it is so far out of balance that the system fragments.

d.  Partially successful/partially unsuccessful actions are also out of equilibrium, but variations in the original behavior brings about success and brings the system into a new balance.

e.g., the infant sucking action varies (harder and weaker) and this leads to a better draw on the nipple.

            1).  Here feedback occurs, and the system itself changes (transformation) in conformance with that feedback.  Here have development and it is explained by the action of the system.

            e.g., grasping varies and becomes smoother; same with looking; this leads to the two systems becoming integrated to form the novelty of visually directed looking.

            2).  Thus, DEVELOPMENT IS ALWAYS THE RESULT OF ACTION THAT ARISES OUT OF THE ORGANIZATION OF MIND AND RETURNS TO CHANGE THE ORGANIZATION OF MIND.

D.  Action and Experience can be used interchangeably when experience means the action of manipulating, observing, exploring the world.  Thus, development occurs through experience.

1.  Note this definition of experience is different from one that defines experience as ‘environmental input’.  There ‘experience as environmental input simply comes to be a part of ‘nurture’.  Here experience as action is both nature and nurture.

                        E.  Assimilation and Accommodation as two phases of any action or experience.

1.  Will soon discuss Piaget’s theory of development.  Piaget specifically discusses action as the mechanism of development.  Piaget uses the concepts of assimilation and accommodation to explain development.

2.  Assimilation is the phase of action that applies the current mental organization (Piaget calls the early mental organization – schemes) to the world.  As your text suggests, assimilation “modifies new environmental information to fit what is already known.”  For example, the infant will suck almost anything offered.  Thus the child turns whatever new is given to her into a ‘suckable.’  This is giving meaning to the world in terms of what is already known. (Note the knowledge here is not reflected knowledge)

3.  Accommodation is the phase of action that restructures or modifies the existing mental organization. 

4.  Assimilation is the direct application of mental organization to the world, and accommodation is the variation of action that occurs if assimilation was not completely successful.  Once one of the action variations is successful that becomes a part of the new mental organization and is used in assimilation.

5.  Every act involves both assimilation and accommodation to some extent.

            a.  Successful Behavior:  The system is in equilibrium with its environment.  The organism’s need or intention is met immediately.  Here there is much more assimilation than accommodation.

            b.  Very Unsuccessful Behavior:  Disequilibrium.  Needs and intentions not met.  Here there is assimilation and a break down of accommodation.

            c.  Partially Unsuccessful Behavior:  Slight disequilibrium.  Some work occurs on the way to success.  Here there is assimilation but when this doesn’t work completely there is more variation in the behavior and this then leads to a change in the mental organization – accommodation.

            d.  As another famous psychologist once said: “Assimilate when you can, accommodate when you must.”

6.  Development consists of the phases of action moving toward a balance called equilibrium and towards ever more adaptive forms of equilibrium, called the equilibration process.

            a.  The kind of equilibrium discussed earlier is a balance between the organism and the environment.

            b.  Second kind of equilibrium is the balance between assimilation and accommodation that is available to the organism.

                        1).  At the beginning of each major stage of mental organization there is a lack of balance.  At the beginning of any stage the phase of assimilation is dominant and there is very little variation possible in the action (i.e., little accommodation).  Thus, any stage involves a movement towards a balance or equilibrium between assimilation and accommodation. 

                        e.g.,  Newborn has only one way of grasping an object (assimilation) there is virtually no variation (accommodation) in this act.  However, by the time the infant is 1 year she can grasp (assimilate) objects in many different ways (accommodate).  Can grasp with the whole hand, with two hands, with two fingers, with feet etc.  So at 1 year there is a balance between the assimilation (grasping) and the way the grasping can be done (accommodation).

                        2.)  At the end of any stage there is an equilibrium but the cognitive reorganization that occurs in the movement to the next stage results in a new disequilibrium and the process has to be repeated again at a new level of consciousness.  The progressive movement towards increasingly flexible and adaptive forms of assimilation/accommodation equilibrium is called the equilibration process. 

                        e.g., The best of Logical thinking (concrete operational thinking) is a more adaptive than the best thinking that has no possibility of logic to it (pre-operational thought).  Thinking, however, is more adaptive than the best simple practical actions (sensori-motor action).  Sensori-motor practical action at its best; thinking at its best; logical thought at its best represents a progressive movement towards increasingly flexible and adaptive forms of assimilation/accommodation equilibrium.

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Lecture 3:       I.  The Infant as Competent Action Systems.

            II.  Piaget’s Theory of the Development of the Cognitive Dimension of Mind
Readings:  Chapter 13, all.   Physical and Cognitive Development

            

I.  Status of the Neonate (Newborn infant) as an Organization of Action Systems (Developmental Psychology doesn’t focus on simple reflexes much any more)

A.  Old Incompetent Infant Story:  Infant understood according to the lump of matter model with reflexes added.  The empiricist’s story.

B.  Newer Super-Competent Infant Story:  Infant understood according to the steel filing cabinet model.  The nativist story.

C.  Recent Action Systems Competent Infant Story:  Infant understood according to the plant model.  The co-action story. 

1.  The action systems that are available at birth are termed ‘congenital’ or ‘preadapted’ to distinguish them from ‘innate,’ which not only means present at birth, but also means explained by biology alone. 

            a.  9 months of developmental co-action between biology and environment have already occurred during the ‘prenatal’ period.  So can never say that neonate’s behavior is innate.

2.  Neonate has up and functioning three types of congenital action systems.  These will be the ground from which the infant will develop mind and consciousness and novel behaviors.  These are the neonate’s instruments for developing mind.

            a.  Sensory Systems

            Vision
            Hearing
            Olfaction
            Taste

b.  Motor Systems
            Perceptual Action (e.g., Fantz, Haith)
            Sucking --- A system, not a reflex
            Reaching

c.  Relational Systems (Systems designed to keep caregiver in proximity)

Visual:  Newborns and 8 wk olds exhibit reliable fixation preferences for schematic face over rectangular lattices.
Visual – EYE GAZE:  Infant locks eyes onto eyes of holding person
Smell:  Neonate prefers (orients towards) mother’s smell (milk pads) rather than to another’s
Auditory-Vocal: Get “PROTO-CONVERSATIONS”, i.e., turn-taking in utterances, very early (two to three months) in development.

3.  ‘Temperament’ – A fourth congenital action system

            a.  Differs from other three in that it cuts across the other three & it is about individual differences in the quality and intensity of action.

            b.  Definition:  Temperament refers to congenital dispositions that underlie and modulate the expression of activity, reactivity, emotionality, and sociability.

            e.g. ‘Easy Babies’ – Playful, adaptable, regular eating, interested in novelty, vs. ‘Difficult Babies’ and ‘Slow to Warm Up Babies’. 

II.  Piaget’s Theory of the Cognitive Dimension of Mind.

            Piaget’s explanation focuses on the cognitive dimension of mind.

Given we have neonate as an integration of organized action systems (ignore text which says ‘reflex action’), Piaget’s theory explains how, through action (assimilation/accommodation/equilibration) in the world, the organism constructs and transforms mind and consciousness.

            The discontinuous qualitative transformations of mind which exhibit novel characteristics Piaget describes as ‘stages’:

            A.  Sensori-motor Stage of Mind   (Birth – 18-24mos)

1.  Practical action, Not thinking

2.  Around beginning of 3rd  month. Through action the early congenital systems become transformed into mental organizations called ‘schemes. ’ Schemes such as the sucking scheme, the looking scheme, the grasping scheme are characterized by the first level of consciousness, a core consciousness.  Get also first beginnings of a sense of self -- termed 'ecological self'.

3.  Around 6 months.  Beginning of ‘Object Permanence’.  Object Permanence is an index that infant has a sense of ‘self’ as distinguished from ‘object’ or ‘other’ This is the clear sense of 'ecological self'.

4.  Around 10 months.  Another transformation of mind.  The novelty is a new level of consciousness that allows conscious reflection on schemes.  Here have clearer development of a ‘volitional self’ and beginning of an extended consciousness.

a.  Conscious reflection on grasping, pulling, pushing, looking, reaching means these schemes can be organized.  So have volitional intentional actions.

B.  Preoperational Stage of Mind I (Begins 18mos --[called sensori-motor stage 6 up to 2 yrs], and goes to 4 years).

1.  Next transformation.  The novelty is a new level of extended consciousness that allows reflection on organized schemes (i.e., reflections on reflections on schemes).  The mental structures that develop here are called ‘operations’.  These are simply the co ordinations of the coordinated schemes.

2.  This level of novelty is called ‘thinking’.  Thinking is defined as the manipulation of symbols.  So rather than just acting (schemes), or manipulating action (coordination of schemes), now can manipulate coordinations using symbols. 

a.  This leads to discussion of ‘symbols’ and ‘representation’ and ‘language’.  Will come back to these in next lecture.

3.  New level also leads to a new level of ‘Self’

a.  Symbolic Self:  Child recognizes self in mirror.

4.  ‘Egocentrism’ thinking about the world as if everyone shares the same perceptions and thought, or same point of view.  This appears with the beginning of thinking and gradually declines

            a.  Three mountain task as an index of egocentrism.

5.  General characteristic of pre-operational thinking:  Thinking with only islands of logic.  Fragmented thinking.  Seeing is believing.  Thinking in the immediate situation in sense of not reflecting on thinking.

C.  Preoperational Stage of Mind II (3 or 4-7)

1.  Transformation here allows level of consciousness for thinking about thinking.

2.  Child develops a ‘theory of mind’.  Idea that others have thoughts as child does.     This is the end of egocentricism.

3.  A new sense of self, the Conceptual Self.  A self that thinks about itself. 

4.  Still lacks a coherent framework (logic) within which to fit thinking.

D.  Concrete Operational Stage of Mind. (7-12).

1.  Mental operations that allow thinking about thinking become coordinated.  This gives a coherence to reflective thought and coherence = logic.  Some refer to these operations “Rules that guide reason.”

2.  Novelty at this stage is thinking that is logical.

3.  The Conservation Task is one index of concrete operational thinking.

            a.  ‘Conservation’ is defined as ability to maintain a constant (unchanging) concept in the face of perceptual change.

                        e.g., pour water from a short fat beaker into a tall thin beaker.  Amount of water remains the same (same amount concept) but it looks different.  Young child will say there is a different amount of water after the pouring, this is non-conservation.

4.  Weakness of this type of thinking is that it is about only the concrete real and fantasy world, it is not about the world of endless possibilities.

E.  Formal Operational Stage of Mind (12+)

1.  Coordination of concrete operations.

2.  Novelty is ability to think logically about logical thought.

3.  Allows one to begin from abstract principles and proceed to concrete specifics. Thought earlier could proceed only inductively (from specific particulars to abstract universals.  Now can also proceed deductively (from general principles to specific particulars.

4.  Can imagine worlds that have never been.

5.  Can perform scientific thinking of controlling all variables and manipulating one.