Development: Erikson and Marcia

Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development outlines eight stages of ego growth, each marked by a specific crisis that must be resolved for positive development. These stages range from trust vs. mistrust in infancy to integrity vs. despair in old age. Successful resolution of each crisis leads to positive growth and development.

Marcia expanded on Erikson’s theory, focusing on identity formation during adolescence. He described four separate identity statuses, which represent the four possible combinations of commitment and exploration. Identity confusion/diffusion occurs when adolescents neither explore nor commit to any identities. Foreclosure occurs when an individual commits to an identity without exploring options. A moratorium is a state in which adolescents are actively exploring options but have not yet made commitments. Individuals who have explored different options, discovered their purpose, and have made identity commitments are in a state of identity achievement.

Overall, both Erikson and Marcia’s theories emphasize the importance of positive resolution of developmental crises and the role of exploration and commitment in identity formation.

Attachment (Ainsworth)

Psychologist Mary Ainsworth developed the ‘Strange Situation procedure’ to study and categorize attachment in children aged 12 to 18 months. The procedure involves seven steps, including two separations and two reunions, and takes place in one room. The child’s attachment is classified into one of three styles: secure, anxious-resistant, and anxious-avoidant. A fourth category, disorganized, is sometimes observed. Ainsworth suggested that the child’s attachment style is determined by the primary caregiver’s behavior.

Mary Main later developed the Adult Attachment Interview and identified four categories of attachment in adults that correspond to those observed in the strange situation. The distribution of adult attachment styles correlates with those of the strange situation, with 70% of children and adults having secure attachment. Attachment styles also seem to be passed on to subsequent generations.

Imprinting – A Rapid, Unreinforced, Irreversible Attachment in Animals and Humans

Imprinting is a fascinating phenomenon observed in some animals and humans, where a phase-sensitive attachment is formed towards the first conspicuous object seen after birth of hatching. Konrad Lorenz’s classic experiment with Greylag geese demonstrated that imprinting consists of three stages – following response, attachment development, and sexual preference formation. Imprinting is a rapid process that can occur within minutes, and it does not require any reinforcement to happen. It also occurs during a clearly defined period known as the critical period, and once it happens, it is irreversible.

Imprinting has been observed in various species, including birds, mammals, and even humans. In humans, imprinting can occur during the early stages of life and can influence social and emotional development. For example, infants may develop an attachment towards their primary caregiver, which can shape their future relationships and social interactions.

Overall, imprinting is a fascinating and complex phenomenon that highlights the importance of early experiences in shaping an individual’s behavior and preferences.

Erik Erikson and Daniel Levinson expanded the understanding of adult development. Erikson proposed a life-span model of human development consisting of eight successive psychosocial stages, each associated with an inherent conflict of crisis that the individual must encounter and successfully resolve to proceed with development. Levinson proposed a developmental theory consisting of universal stages of phases that extend from the infancy state to the elderly state, based on biographical interviews of 40 men in America. Both theorists maintained that personality develops in a predetermined order and builds upon each previous stage, and that failure to successfully negotiate a stage can result in a reduced ability to complete further stages and therefore a more unhealthy personality and sense of self. However, Levinson’s theory is age-based rather than event-based, and his model proposed a ‘life sequence’ consisting of a series of alternating stable (structure-building) periods and cross-era transitional (structure-changing) periods, with transitional periods typically lasting 5 years.

Gender Development

Gender identity is the sense of oneself as male of female, which is different from a person’s assigned sex at birth. Gender dysphoria occurs when a person’s gender does not match their sex. Infants as young as 10 months old can form stereotypic associations between faces of women and men and gender-typed objects. By 18-24 months, most children can label gender groups and use gender labels in their speech. Children typically develop gender awareness of their own self around 18 months and declare a gender identity of male of female by age 5-6. It is normal for children to experiment with gender expression and roles. For the majority of pre-pubertal children, gender dysphoria does not persist into adolescence, with only a minority (15%) experiencing persistent gender dysphoria. (Levy, 1994; Martin, 2010; Steensma, 2011).

Piaget’s Stages of Development and Key Concepts

Piaget developed four stages of development that describe how children think and acquire knowledge. The first stage is the Sensorimotor stage, which occurs from birth to 18-24 months. In this stage, infants learn through sensory observation and gain control of their motor functions through activity, exploration, and manipulation of the environment.

The second stage is the Preoperational stage, which occurs from 2 to 7 years. During this stage, children use symbols and language more extensively, but they are unable to think logically of deductively. They also use a type of magical thinking and animistic thinking.

The third stage is the Concrete Operational stage, which occurs from 7 to 11 years. In this stage, egocentric thought is replaced by operational thought, which involves dealing with a wide array of information outside the child. Children in this stage begin to use limited logical thought and can serialise, order, and group things into classes on the basis of common characteristics.

The fourth and final stage is the Formal Operations stage, which occurs from 11 through the end of adolescence. This stage is characterized by the ability to think abstractly, to reason deductively, to define concepts, and also by the emergence of skills for dealing with permutations and combinations.

Piaget also developed key concepts, including schema, assimilation, and accommodation. A schema is a category of knowledge and the process of obtaining that knowledge. Assimilation is the process of taking new information into an existing schema, while accommodation involves altering a schema in view of additional information.

Overall, Piaget’s stages of development and key concepts provide a framework for understanding how children learn and acquire knowledge.

Mahler’s Separation-Individuation theory of child development proposes that personality development occurs in distinct stages. The first stage, the Autistic phase, occurs during the first few weeks of life, where the child is mostly sleeping and cut off from the world. The second stage, the Symbiotic phase, lasts until around six months of age, where the child sees themselves and their mother as a single unit. The third stage, Separation-Individuation, has four subphases. The first subphase, Differentiation, occurs between six to ten months, where the child begins to see themselves as an individual and experiences separation anxiety. The second subphase, Practicing, occurs between ten to sixteen months, where the child explores connections with the external world and people other than the mother. The third subphase, Rapprochement, occurs between sixteen to twenty-four months, where the child struggles to balance their desire for independence and proximity to the mother, often resulting in tantrums and the use of transitional objects. The fourth subphase, Object constancy, occurs between twenty-four to thirty-six months, where the child accepts the idea of object constancy and is more comfortable with the mother being separate for periods of time.

Attachment Theory and Harlow’s Monkeys

Attachment theory, developed by John Bowlby, suggests that children have an innate tendency to form relationships with people around them to increase their chance of survival. This attachment is different from bonding, which concerns the mother’s feelings for her infant. Children typically single out a primary caregiver, referred to as the principle attachment figure, from about 1-3 months. The quality of a person’s early attachments is associated with their adult behavior, with poor attachments leading to withdrawn individuals who struggle to form relationships and good attachments leading to socially competent adults who can form healthy relationships.

Bowlby’s attachment model has four stages: preattachment, attachment in the making, clear-cut attachment, and formation of reciprocal attachment. The time from 6 months to 36 months is known as the critical period, during which a child is most vulnerable to interruptions in its attachment. Attachments are divided into secure and insecure types, with insecure types further divided into avoidant and ambivalent types.

Harlow’s experiment with young rhesus monkeys demonstrated the importance of the need for closeness over food. The experiment involved giving the monkeys a choice between two different mothers, one made of soft terry cloth but provided no food and the other made of wire but provided food from an attached baby bottle. The baby monkeys spent significantly more time with their cloth mother than with their wire mother, showing the importance of attachment and closeness in early development.

Attachment Theory and Harlow’s Monkeys

Attachment theory, developed by John Bowlby, suggests that children have an innate tendency to form relationships with people around them to increase their chance of survival. This attachment is different from bonding, which concerns the mother’s feelings for her infant. Children typically single out a primary caregiver, referred to as the principle attachment figure, from about 1-3 months. The quality of a person’s early attachments is associated with their adult behavior, with poor attachments leading to withdrawn individuals who struggle to form relationships and good attachments leading to socially competent adults who can form healthy relationships.

Bowlby’s attachment model has four stages: preattachment, attachment in the making, clear-cut attachment, and formation of reciprocal attachment. The time from 6 months to 36 months is known as the critical period, during which a child is most vulnerable to interruptions in its attachment. Attachments are divided into secure and insecure types, with insecure types further divided into avoidant and ambivalent types.

Harlow’s experiment with young rhesus monkeys demonstrated the importance of the need for closeness over food. The experiment involved giving the monkeys a choice between two different mothers, one made of soft terry cloth but provided no food and the other made of wire but provided food from an attached baby bottle. The baby monkeys spent significantly more time with their cloth mother than with their wire mother, showing the importance of attachment and closeness in early development.

Piaget’s Stages of Development and Key Concepts

Piaget developed four stages of development that describe how children think and acquire knowledge. The first stage is the Sensorimotor stage, which occurs from birth to 18-24 months. In this stage, infants learn through sensory observation and gain control of their motor functions through activity, exploration, and manipulation of the environment.

The second stage is the Preoperational stage, which occurs from 2 to 7 years. During this stage, children use symbols and language more extensively, but they are unable to think logically of deductively. They also use a type of magical thinking and animistic thinking.

The third stage is the Concrete Operational stage, which occurs from 7 to 11 years. In this stage, egocentric thought is replaced by operational thought, which involves dealing with a wide array of information outside the child. Children in this stage begin to use limited logical thought and can serialise, order, and group things into classes on the basis of common characteristics.

The fourth and final stage is the Formal Operations stage, which occurs from 11 through the end of adolescence. This stage is characterized by the ability to think abstractly, to reason deductively, to define concepts, and also by the emergence of skills for dealing with permutations and combinations.

Piaget also developed key concepts, including schema, assimilation, and accommodation. A schema is a category of knowledge and the process of obtaining that knowledge. Assimilation is the process of taking new information into an existing schema, while accommodation involves altering a schema in view of additional information.

Overall, Piaget’s stages of development and key concepts provide a framework for understanding how children learn and acquire knowledge.

Piaget’s theory of cognitive development highlights that Preoperational children are egocentric, meaning they view the world solely from their own perspective and cannot comprehend that others may have different viewpoints. Piaget believed that cognitive development is a result of the interplay between innate abilities and environmental factors, and progresses through four distinct stages: the sensorimotor stage, Preoperational stage, concrete operational stage, and formal operational stage. While Piaget’s theory has greatly contributed to our understanding of cognitive development, it has also faced criticism over time. Other notable theories in this field include Vygotsky’s theory, Bruner’s theory, and the information-processing approach. Vygotsky’s theory, for instance, examines human development across three levels: cultural, interpersonal, and individual.

Attachment Theory and Harlow’s Monkeys

Attachment theory, developed by John Bowlby, suggests that children have an innate tendency to form relationships with people around them to increase their chance of survival. This attachment is different from bonding, which concerns the mother’s feelings for her infant. Children typically single out a primary caregiver, referred to as the principle attachment figure, from about 1-3 months. The quality of a person’s early attachments is associated with their adult behavior, with poor attachments leading to withdrawn individuals who struggle to form relationships and good attachments leading to socially competent adults who can form healthy relationships.

Bowlby’s attachment model has four stages: preattachment, attachment in the making, clear-cut attachment, and formation of reciprocal attachment. The time from 6 months to 36 months is known as the critical period, during which a child is most vulnerable to interruptions in its attachment. Attachments are divided into secure and insecure types, with insecure types further divided into avoidant and ambivalent types.

Harlow’s experiment with young rhesus monkeys demonstrated the importance of the need for closeness over food. The experiment involved giving the monkeys a choice between two different mothers, one made of soft terry cloth but provided no food and the other made of wire but provided food from an attached baby bottle. The baby monkeys spent significantly more time with their cloth mother than with their wire mother, showing the importance of attachment and closeness in early development.

The Emergence of Social Smiling in Infants

Wormann (2014) discusses the emergence of social smiling in infants, which is usually interpreted as the first positive expression directed towards a cause. This occurs when an infant with an initially expressionless face examines the face of another person, and their face and eyes light up while the corners of their mouth pull upward. The age of the first appearance of the social smile varies across cultures, ranging from the fifth to seventh week. Additionally, there are differences in its duration and frequency between the second and seventh month of life. Understanding these milestones is important for a basic understanding of normal child development.

Child Development Milestones:
4 weeks Responds to noise (either by crying, of quieting), follows an object moved in front of eyes
6 weeks Begins social smiling*
3 months Holds head steady on sitting
6 months Rolls from stomach to back, starts babbling
7 months Transfers objects from hand to hand, looks for dropped object
9 months Sits unsupported, begins to crawl
12 months Cruising (walking by holding furniture)
18 months Walks without assistance, speaks about 10-20 words
2 years Runs, climbs up and down stairs alone, makes 2-3 word sentences
3 years Dresses self except for buttons and laces, counts to 10, feeds themself well
4 years Hops on one foot, copies a cross
5 years Copies a triangle, skips

Turner syndrome often goes undetected due to its subtle symptoms, resulting in delayed diagnosis. However, early identification is crucial as it allows for treatment with growth hormone and oestrogen therapy, which can increase overall height in adulthood. Despite the common belief that women with Turner syndrome are infertile, 2 to 5 percent of patients may experience spontaneous menstruation and childbirth. This could be due to the presence of normal cell populations in the ovaries, resulting from significant 46,XX/45,X mosaicism.

Understanding Turner Syndrome

Turner syndrome is a genetic disorder that affects only females. It occurs when one of the two X chromosomes is missing of partially missing. This happens randomly and does not increase the risk of the condition in future siblings. Although X-inactivation occurs in females, having only one X chromosome can cause issues as not all genes are inactivated in the inactivated X chromosome.

The features of Turner syndrome include short stature, a webbed neck, a broad chest with widely spaced nipples, gonadal dysfunction leading to amenorrhea and infertility, congenital heart disease, and hypothyroidism. Despite these physical characteristics, girls with Turner syndrome typically have normal intelligence, with a mean full-scale IQ of 90. However, they may struggle with nonverbal, social, and psychomotor skills. It is important to understand the symptoms and effects of Turner syndrome to provide appropriate care and support for affected individuals.

Gender Development

Gender identity is the sense of oneself as male of female, which is different from a person’s assigned sex at birth. Gender dysphoria occurs when a person’s gender does not match their sex. Infants as young as 10 months old can form stereotypic associations between faces of women and men and gender-typed objects. By 18-24 months, most children can label gender groups and use gender labels in their speech. Children typically develop gender awareness of their own self around 18 months and declare a gender identity of male of female by age 5-6. It is normal for children to experiment with gender expression and roles. For the majority of pre-pubertal children, gender dysphoria does not persist into adolescence, with only a minority (15%) experiencing persistent gender dysphoria. (Levy, 1994; Martin, 2010; Steensma, 2011).

Chaining involves teaching and connecting the components of a complex task in order to teach the task as a whole. Cueing helps the learner focus on important stimuli. Extinction occurs when a conditioned response gradually disappears due to repeated presentation of the conditioned stimulus without the unconditioned stimulus. Habituation is a decrease in response to a stimulus after repeated presentation and is important in treating OCD. Shaping involves reinforcing successively closer approximations to the desired behavior to build up complex behavior, and has clinical applications in managing behavioral disturbances, learning disabilities, and substance misuse.

Delusions that originate within the mind without any external influence are known as autochthonous. This term, derived from the Greek word for from the soil, emphasizes that the idea is self-generated rather than being triggered by a sensory experience of other external factor.

The CAMDEX assessment is not effective in detecting dementia in adults with learning disabilities, whose developmental ages are typically between 2 and 10 years. However, the Dementia Questionnaire for People with Learning Disabilities (DLD) is a useful tool for early detection of dementia in this population. For individuals with Down’s syndrome, an adapted version of the CAMDEX called the CAMDEX-DS can be utilized.

Assessment of Dementia in Down’s Syndrome

Individuals with Down’s syndrome are at a higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. However, the commonly used MMSE test is not effective in assisting diagnosis in this population. Instead, two alternative tests are recommended: the Dementia Questionnaire for people with Learning Disabilities (DLD), previously known as the Dementia Questionnaire for Persons with Mental Retardation (DMR), and the Dementia Scale for Down Syndrome (DSDS). These tests are specifically designed to assess cognitive decline in individuals with Down’s syndrome and can aid in the early detection and management of dementia in this population.

Rett Syndrome: A Rare Neurodevelopmental Disorder

Rett syndrome is a neurodevelopmental disorder that is rare, affecting approximately 1 in 10,000 female births. Although it mostly affects females, there have been cases of males with the disorder. While the exact cause of the disorder is not known, it is believed to have a genetic basis, with mutations in the MECP2 gene (Xq28) being associated with the disorder. Monozygotic twins have been found to have complete concordance in cases of Rett syndrome.

The disorder has a unique presentation, with affected children experiencing a normal period of development until 6-18 months. After this period, they begin to develop problems with language, losing previously acquired speech. Purposeful hand movements are replaced with stereotypic movements, such as hand wringing, and ataxia and psychomotor retardation may occur. Other stereotypical movements, such as finger licking of biting and tapping of slapping, may also be seen. Head circumference is normal at birth, but growth begins to decelerate between 6-12 months, resulting in microcephaly. All language skills are lost, both receptive and expressive, and social skills plateau at developmental levels between 6-12 months.

Seizures are associated with Rett syndrome in 75% of those affected, and almost all affected children have abnormal EEG findings. Breathing problems, such as hyperventilation, apnea, and breath holding, are also seen. Children with Rett syndrome may live for well over a decade after the onset of the disorder, but after 10 years, many patients are wheelchair-bound with virtually no language ability. Additional features of the disorder include seizures, breath holding and hyperventilation, sleep difficulties, and issues with locomotion.

Attachment (Ainsworth)

Psychologist Mary Ainsworth developed the ‘Strange Situation procedure’ to study and categorize attachment in children aged 12 to 18 months. The procedure involves seven steps, including two separations and two reunions, and takes place in one room. The child’s attachment is classified into one of three styles: secure, anxious-resistant, and anxious-avoidant. A fourth category, disorganized, is sometimes observed. Ainsworth suggested that the child’s attachment style is determined by the primary caregiver’s behavior.

Mary Main later developed the Adult Attachment Interview and identified four categories of attachment in adults that correspond to those observed in the strange situation. The distribution of adult attachment styles correlates with those of the strange situation, with 70% of children and adults having secure attachment. Attachment styles also seem to be passed on to subsequent generations.