Explain using an example from your own or a friend?s life as to why you think this perspective is reasonable.
Topic: One of My Friend’s Life
Read about the different theoretical perspectives in developmental psychology andevaluate one that you think makes most
sense. Explain using an example from yourown or a friend?s life as to why you think this perspective is reasonable.
The article is in the attachment.Please read them and finish the paper.
It would be great if you would read the following three articlesand print a copy to bring to class on Tues Sept 4
Young Brains Lack Skills for Sharing
An underdeveloped prefrontal cortex makes sharing difficult for young children
ByRuth Williams
From Scientific American Mind, July 11, 2012
If a child you know refuses to share his toys, chances are he knows he is doing wrong butcannot help it. New research
published in March in
Neuron
revealsthatunderdevelopment of an impulse control center in the brain is, at least in part, thereason children who fully
understand the concept of fairness fail to act accordingly. As babies, we are inherently selfish, but as we grow, we become
better at social strategy —that is, satisfying our own needs while behaving in a manner acceptable to
others.NikolausSteinbeis of the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciencesin Leipzig, Germany, wondered how
this skill develops.Steinbeis and his team examined kids aged six to 14 performing two similar decision-making tasks that
involved sharing poker chips with an anonymous recipient (the chips were redeemable for prizes). In task one, the size of a
child’s offering carried noconsequences, but in the second task, the anonymous youngster could reject the offer, if he or she
considered it unfair, and both children would get nothing. Task two thusrequired social strategy; task one did not.In task
one, older and younger children behaved similarly. But in task two, youngerchildren both made worse offers and were more
willing to accept bad offers even thoughthey understood that these offers were unfair. Imaging the kids’ brains while they
performed the tasks revealed less activity in the younger kids’ impulse-control regions intheir prefrontal cortex, the seat
of decision making and self-control in the brain. Inaddition, independent of age, less activity in this region paralleled
less social strategy.So if a kid has trouble playing fair, it is probably not because he does not understand theconcept.
Rather he simply cannot resist the urge to grab all the cookies and run.Steinbeis points out, however, that this finding does
not excuse bad behavior. “Just because the brain is that way doesn’t mean it can’t be changed,” he says. “Education
andsetting a good example can have an enormous impact.”
Consistency and Development of Prosocial Dispositions:
Author:
Nancy Eisenberg;Ivanna K Guthrie;Bridget C Murphy;StephanieAShepard;AmandaCumberland;All authors
Publication:
Child Development, Nov. – Dec., 1999, vol. 70, no. 6, p. 1360-1372
Summary:
The issue of whether there is consistency in prosocial dispositions was examinedwith a … data set extending from ages 4 to 5
years into early adulthood (N = 32).Spontaneous prosocial behaviors observed in the preschool classroom
predictedactualprosocial behavior, other- and self-reported prosocial behavior, self-reportedsympathy, and perspective taking
in childhood to early adulthood. Prosocialbehaviors that were not expected to reflect an other-orientation (i. e., low
costhelping and compliant prosocial behavior) generally did not predict later prosocialbehavior or sympathy. Sympathy
appeared to partially mediate the relation of early spontaneous sharing to later prosocial dispositions. The results support
theview that there are stable individual differences in prosocial responding that havetheir origins in early childhood.
Affect and Attention: Infants Observed with Mothersand Peers
Author:
Lauren B Adamson;RogerBakeman
Publication:
Child Development, Jun., 1985, vol. 56, no. 3, p. 582-593
Summary:
This study documents the rate, mean duration, and mode of infants’ affectivedisplays. … Infants were observed in their homes
from 6 to 18 months playing withtheir mothers, with peers, and alone. Affect rates were higher with mothersthanpeers. With
increasing age, affect rates as well as the vocal mode increased, whilemean durations and facial and motoric modes decreased.
Affect was most likelywhen infants were engaged with mothers or peers in person play. It also occurredoften when infants
first became engaged with the same object their partner wasmanipulating; with mothers (but not peers) affect continued to be
expressedthroughout these periods of shared object play. Rates were elevated whenmothers moved objects repetitively.
Discussion focuses on how infants’ earlier-developing affective communication skills may continue to be used as they beginto
explore the world of objects and on how adults may support this integration of expressive and referential communication
