2. MODULE 27: Nature and Nurture
• Development Psychology:
The study of patterns of growth and change that occur throughout
life.
• Nature-Nurture Issue:
The degree to which environment (nurture) and heredity (nature)
influence behavior. Developmental psychologists take an
interactionist position saying that both nature and nurture interact
to produce developmental outcomes.
-Heredity: Influences based on the genetic makeup of an individual
that influences growth and development throughout life.
-Environment: Influence of the parents, siblings, family, friends,
nutrition, schooling and all other experiences in which a child is
exposed
3. • Behavioral Geneticists:
They study the effects of genetics on heredity.
The image below shows the characteristics influences by genetic factors.
4. RELATIVE INFLUENCE
• Identical twins (Share 100% of their genetic makeup) and non-twin siblings
raised apart; similarities shown as adults show the importance of heredity.
• Adopted Children; similarities shown with biological siblings growing up in the
same family show the importance of environment
5. DEVELOPMENTAL RESEARCH TECHNIQUES
• Cross-Sectional Research:
- Compares people of different ages at the same point in time.
• Differences in the group of people
• Limitation – Cohort Effects
• Longitudinal Research:
- Traces the behavior of one or more participant as the participants age.
• Change in behavior overtime.
• Sequential Research:
- Combines cross-sectional and longitudinal approaches by taking a few different
age groups and examining them at several points in time
6. PRENATAL DEVELOPMENT
• THE BASIC OF GENETICS:
- Chromosomes:
Rod shaped structures that contain all the basic heredity information. The one-cell entity
established at conception contains 23 pairs of chromosomes and each of them contains
thousands of genes.
- Genes:
Smaller units through which genetic information is transmitted.
Composed of sequences of DNA.
-DNA
The fundamental and distinctive characteristics or qualities of someone or something,
especially when regarded as unchangeable.
7. • The Human Genome Project:
- Scientists mapped the specific location and sequence of every human gene.
-Gene Therapy:
Health-care providers inject genes directly into the patients' bloodstream to
correct diseases.
• Cloning
8. THE EARLIEST DEVELOPMENT
• Germinal Period:
• First two weeks
• Zygote: New cell formed by the union of an egg and a sperm.
• Embryonic Period:
• 2 to 8 weeks
• Embryo: Rapid growth of the zygote that has developed a heart, brain, intestinal tract
and other organs.
• Fetal Period:
• Fetus: Developing individual from 8 weeks after conception until birth.
• Movements become strong enough that the mother can feel them.
9. •Age of Viability: Point at which the fetus can survive if born prematurely.
• Prenatal age – about 22 weeks
• Sensitive Periods – Times when organisms are susceptible to certain kind of
stimulus
•Pre-term Infants: Born before 38 weeks
• At higher risk for illness, future problems, and death.
10. GENETIC
INFLUENCES ON
THE FETUS
Phenylketonuria (PKU)
• Body cannot produce enzyme
required for normal development
Sickle-Cell Anemia
• Abnormal red-blood cells.
Tay-Sachs disease
• Body is unable to break down fat.
Down Syndrome
• Extra Chromosome
This Photo by Unknown author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND.
11. PRENATAL ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES
• Tetragons: Environmental agents such as drugs, chemicals, viruses, or other factors that
produce birth defects. Such as:
• Mother's nutrition
• Mother's illness
• Mother's emotional state
• Mother's drug use
• Nicotine use
• Alcohol
- Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS)
- Fetal Alcohol Effects (FAE)
13. ALTERNATE PATHS TO CONCEPTION
In-Vitro
Fertilization
(IVF)
Gamete
Intrafallopian
Transfer (GIFT)
Zygote
Intrafallopian
Transfer (ZIFT)
14. MODULE 28: Infancy and Childhood
• Neonate: Newborn child
• Neonates' appearance:
• Mishappen Head
• Vernix: White greasy covering, for protection before birth
• Lanugo: Soft fuzz, over the entire body
• Reflexes: Unlearned, voluntary responses that occur automatically
in the presence of a certain stimuli.
• Rooting reflex
• Sucking reflex
• Gag reflex
• Startle reflex
• Babinski reflex
16. DEVELOPMENT OF THE SENSES
• Visual abilities grow rapidly after birth
• Colors
• Discriminate and produce facial expressions
• 2 & 3 Dimensional Objects
• Habituation: Decrease in the response to a stimulus that occurs after repeated presentations
of the same stimulus.
• Distinguishing sounds
• Native vs. Foreign language
• Recognize mother's voice at age of 3 days
• Distinguishing taste and smell
18. DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIAL BEHAVIOR
• Attachment: The positive emotional bond that develops between a child and a particular
individual.
• Konrad Lorenz
• Imprinting- Behavior that takes place during a critical period and involves attachment to the
first moving object that is observed
• Harry Harlow's study on attachment:
• "Wire monkey versus Cloth Monkey"
• Assessing Attachment
- Mary Ainsworth
Ainsworth Strange situation
• Securely attached children: Children who are securely attached employ the mother as a
kind of home base; they explore independently but return to her occasionally. When
she leaves, they exhibit distress, and they go to her when she returns.
19. • Avoidant children: Avoidant children do not cry when the mother leaves, and
they seem to avoid her when she returns, as if they were indifferent to her
• Ambivalent children: Ambivalent children display anxiety before they are
separated and are upset when the mother leaves, but they may show
ambivalent reactions to her return, such as seeking close contact but
simultaneously hitting and kicking her.
• Disorganized-Disoriented children: A fourth reaction is disorganized-
disoriented; these children show inconsistent and often contradictory
behavior. For example, they may approach their mother but at the same time
avoid eye contact or otherwise act in an inappropriate way.
20. • The Father's Role:
The number of fathers who are primary caregivers for their children has grown significantly
Despite behavioral differences, the nature of attachment between fathers and children compared
with that between mothers and children can be similar
• Social Relationship with Peers:
Helps children interpret the meaning of others’ behavior and develop the capacity to respond
appropriately
Helps children learn physical and emotional self-control
Enhance their social development
• Consequences of childcare outside the home:
• Play
Helps children interpret the meaning of others' behavior and develop the capacity to respond
appropriately.
• Daycare
High quality care centers can positively impact the child
Low quality childcare provides little or no gain and may become the cause for the hinderance of
development
22. • Authoritarian parents are rigid and punitive, and they value unquestioning obedience from
their children. They have strict standards and discourage expressions of disagreement.
• Permissive parents give their children relaxed or inconsistent direction and, although they are
warm, require little of them.
• Authoritative parents are firm and set limits for their children. As the children get older, these
parents try to reason and explain things to them. They also set clear goals and encourage their
children’s independence.
• Uninvolved parents show little interest in their children. Emotionally detached, they view
parenting as nothing more than providing food, clothing, and shelter for children. At their most
extreme, uninvolved parents are guilty of neglect, a form of child abuse.
• Temperament: Basic innate disposition
May bring about particular kinds of parental child-rearing styles
• Resilience: the ability to overcome circumstances that place them at high risk for psychological
or even physical harm
These children try to shape their own environment rather than being victimized by it
23. ERIKSON'S THEORY
• Psychological Development:
- Involves changes in our interactions and understanding of one another as well as in
our knowledge and understanding of ourselves as members of a society.
• Stages:
• Trust-versus-mistrust Stage
- Birth to age 1 ½ years
- Develop feelings of trust or lack of trust
• Autonomy-versus-shame-and-doubt Stage
- 1 ½ to 3 years of age
- Develop independence and self-doubt
• Initiative-versus-guilt Stage
- 3 to 6 years of age
- Conflict between independence of action and negative results of that action
• Industry-versus-inferiority Stage
- 6 to 12 years of age
- Develop positive social interactions
24. COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
• Process by which a child's understanding of the world changes as a
function of age and experience.
• Object Permanence: The awareness that objects continue to exist even if
they are out of sight.
• Principle of Conservation: The knowledge that quantity is unrelated to
the arrangement and physical appearance of objects.
28. VYGOTSKY'S
VIEW OF
COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT
• Considering culture
• Cognitive development occurs as a consequence of
social interactions in which children work with others to
jointly solve problems.
• Zone of proximal development (ZPD): the gap between
what children already are able to accomplish on their
own and what they are not quite ready to do by
themselves.
• Scaffolding – Provides support for learning
29. MODULE 29: Adolescence
• Adolescence: Developmental stage between childhood and
adulthood. A time of profound changes and occasionally,
turmoil
• Puberty: Period at which the maturation of sexual organs
occur.
• Girls:
11-12 years
Menstruation
• Boys:
13-14 years
Spermarche
30. MORAL AND COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT:
DISTINGUISHING RIGHT FROM WORNG
• Kohlberg's theory of moral development:
• Three level sequence
• Preconventional morality
• Conventional morality
• Post-conventional morality
• Pretrains to judgement, not moral behavior
• Moral development in women
32. STORMY ADOLESCENCE: MYTH OR REALITY?
- Research shows that adolescence is not a period fraught with stress and
unhappiness as once thought, but nevertheless has some strife.
• Adolescent Egocentrism: a state of self-absorption in which a teenager views the
world from his or her own point of view
Egocentrism leads adolescents to be highly critical of authority figures, unwilling
to accept criticism, and quick to fault others.
• Personal Fables: The belief that one’s experience and beliefs are unique,
exceptional, and shared by no one else. Such personal fables may make
adolescents feel invulnerable to the risks that threaten others
33. ADOLESCENT SUICIDE
Third leading cause of death for adolescents.
• School problems and self-destructive behavior
• Loss of appetite or excessive eating
• Withdrawal from friends and peers
• Sleeping problems
• Signs of depression
• Preoccupation with death
• Putting affairs in order
• Explicit announcement of suicidal thoughts
Warning signs:
34. MODULE 30: Adulthood
• Emerging Adulthood:
- Period beginning in the late teen years and extends until the mid 20s
• Early Adulthood:
- Begins around the age of 20 and last until age of 40 to 45 years
- For most people it marks the peak of physical health.
- The body becomes slightly less efficient at 25 and is more
susceptible to disease
• Menopause:
- Women stop menstruating and are no longer fertile.
- Hormone therapy (HT) with hormones estrogen and progesterone is
controversial.
35. SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT: Working At Life
• People typically launch themselves into careers, marriage, and families
• Midlife transition – Period when people may begin to question their lives
• Midlife crisis – Feelings of dissatisfaction with one's life in the face of
physical aging may bring about it.
36. MARRIAGE, CHILDREN & DIVORCE; FAMILY TIES
• Changes in marriage and divorce trends have doubled the number of single-
parent households in the United States over the last two decades
• Economic and emotional consequences for the single-parent households.
• More than one quarter of all family households are now headed by one
parent
• Before they are 18 years old, two-fifths of children will experience the
breakup of their parents’ marriages.
37. CHANGING ROLES OF MEN AND WOMEN
• Most women act simultaneously as wives, mothers and wage earners. Close to
75% women with school-age children are now employed outside the home.
• Women's "Second Shift"
• Additional work performed by women with a career and home
responsibilities.
38. PHYSICAL CHANGES IN LATE ADULTHOOD:
THE AGING BODY
• Genetic preprogramming theories of aging: Suggest that human cells have
a built-in time limit to their reproduction, and they are no longer able to
divide after a certain time.
• Wear-and-tear theories of aging: Suggest that the mechanical functions of
the body simply stop working efficiently as people age
39. COGNITIVE CHANGES: THINKING AND
TALKING ABOUT – LATER ADULTHOOD
• Fluid Intelligence: involves
information-processing skills such as
memory, calculations, and analogy
solving
Declines in late adulthood
• Crystallized Intelligence: based on
the accumulation of information,
skills, and strategies learned through
experience
Remains steady and in some cases
improves
• IQ
40. MEMORY CHANGES IN LATE ADULTHOOD
• Senility: Progressive deterioration of mental abilities including memory
loss, disorientation to time and place, and general confusion.
• Episodic Memories: the conscious recollection of a personal experience
that contains information on what has happened and where and when it
happened.
• Alzheimer's Disease: Progressive brain disorder that leads to a gradual
and irreversible decline in cognitive abilities
42. THE SOCIAL WORLD OF LATE ADULTHOOD
• Disengagement Theory of Aging: Aging is characterized by a gradual withdrawal
from the world. In this view, as people get older, they separate themselves from
others on physical, psychological, and social levels
• Activist Theory of Aging: People who age successfully are those who maintain the
interests, activities, and level of social interaction they experienced during their
earlier periods of adulthood.
• Life Review: People examine and evaluate their lives. Remembering and
reconsidering what has occurred in the past, people in late adulthood often come to
a better understanding of themselves
43. ADJUSTING TO DEATH
• Elizabeth Kübler-Ross (1969)
• Five stages of facing Impending death:
• Denial
• Anger
• Bargaining
• Depression
• Acceptance