Human Development

Human Development • How did I become the person I am today?

I. Nature and Nurture • developmental psychology – the study of progressive changes in behavior and abilities. • from conception to death • A. Heredity (nature) refers to the genetic transmission of physical and psychological characteristics from parents to their children • heredity also influences maturation – the physical growth and development of the body, brain, and nervous system.

1. a nucleus of every human cell contains 46 chromosomes; these hold the coded instructions of heredity. • a. Chromosomes are made up of DNA, deoxyribonucleic acid; • b. Genes are small areas of the DNA code; each of the 40,000 genes in your cells affects a particular process or personal feature. • dominant, the feature it controls will appear every time the gene is present. • recessive, it must be paired with a second recessive gene before its effect will be expressed. • - polygenic – controlled by many genes working in combination

B. Readiness – the minimum level of maturation must occur before some skills can be learned • C. Environment (nurture) refers to the sum of all external conditions that affect a person • D. Prenatal Influences • a. congenital problems- birth defects from these influences which affect the developing fetus • b. genetic disorders are inherited from parents: sickle-cell anemia, cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy, mental retardation • c. Teratogens – anything capable of causing birth defects: radiation, lead, pesticides, or PCBs • d. Healthy Pregnancies: good nutrition, relaxation, stress-reduction, avoid harmful substances, exercise, education about pregnancy and childbirth

E. Sensitive Periods – times when children are more susceptible to particular types of environmental influences • F. Deprivation and Enrichment • a. deprivation refers to a lack of normal stimulation, nutrition, comfort or love • b. enriched environments exist when environments are intentionally made more complex, intellectually stimulating and emotionally supportive • heredity and environment are both important; heredity gives each of us a variety of potentials and limitations. These in turn are affected by environmental influences, such as learning, nutrition, disease, and culture.

G. Reaction Range refers to the limits that one’s environment places on the effects of heredity • H. The Whole Person • Temperament – physical core of personality – sensitivity, irritability, distractibility, typical mood. • easy baby smiles frequently and is easily fed encourages the parent to touch, feed and sing to it • difficult • slow-to-warm-up children- restrained, shy

II. . The Newborn • Adaptive reflexes • 1. grasping reflex • 2. rooting reflex- helps baby find a bottle or breast • 3. sucking reflex – helps to obtain needed food – genetically programmed action • 4. Moro reflex – hugging motion when position is changed abruptly or startled by a loud noise.

A. Motor Development • rate varies; order is universal: sit before crawl, crawl before stand; stand before walk • B. Perceptual and Cognitive Development • mimic facial gestures and actions • seem to be trying to learn how the world works: looking, touching, tasting, exploring their surroundings

C. Emotional Development • basic emotions: anger, fear, joy, appear to be unlearned – take time to develop. • all basic human emotions appear before age 2

III. Social Development • rooted in emotional attachment and the need for physical contact • babies are social creatures • a first basic step into the social world involves becoming aware of oneself as a separate person. • infants are aware of the facial expressions of others and seek guidance from them, especially mom

A. Attachment • 1. The real core of social development is found in the emotional attachments that human babies form with their caregivers. • 2. Contact Comfort • -touching helps shape body maps in a baby’s brain that affect tactile sensitivity and motor skills. • 3. separation anxiety – crying and signs of fear – when child is left alone or with a stranger

B. Attachment Quality • 1. Securely attached have a stable and positive emotional bond. • 2. Insecure-avoidant attachment – anxious children; turn away from mom • 3. Insecure-ambivalent attachement mixed feeling: seek to be near and resist • 4. Promoting Secure attachment • accepting mothers who are sensitive to their baby’s signals and rhythms. • warm family atmosphere tends to promote secure children

C. Day Care • 1. Children in high-quality day care tend to have better relationships with their mothers and fewer behavior problems. • 2. Poor quality day care can create new behavior problems • 3. parents need to carefully evaluate and monitor the quality of day care: • a. small number of children per caregiver • b. small overall group size • c. trained caregivers • d. minimal staff turnover • e. stable day-care experience

D. Attachment and Affectional Needs • a baby’s affectional needs – needs for love and affection – are every bit as important as more obvious needs for food, water and physical care

IV. Parental Influences • A. Parenting Styles • 1. Authoritarian parents – enforce rigid rules and demand strict obedience to authority • 2. Overly permissive parents – give little guidance, allow too much freedom, or don’t hold children accountable for the actions. • 3. Authoritative parents – supply firm and consistent guidance, combined with love and affections

B. Maternal and Paternal Influences • -maternal influences – all the effects a mother has on her child. • - paternal influences – the sum of all effects a father has on his child.

V. Language Development • Language Acquisition • 1. cry • 2. cooing • 3. babbling • A. Language and the Terrible Twos • a stubborn, negative 2-yr-old is simply becoming more independent • after age 2, the child’s comprehension and use of words take a dramatic leap forward

B. Roots of Language • 1. Early Communication • adults and babies come to share similar rhythms and expectations • a system of shared signals is created; these lay a foundation for later language usage • 2. Parentese • raising the tone of voice; using short, simple sentences; repeating more • continued use of baby talk may slow language learning. • the first 7 years of life are a sensitive period in language learning.

VI. Cognitive Development • Jean Piaget • A. Sensorimotor Stage (0-2) • 1. object permanence – an understanding that objects continue to exist when they are out of sight. • 2. developments in this stage indicate that the child’s conceptions are becoming more stable. • B. Preoperational Stage(2-7) • 1. thinking is still very intuitive (little use of reason and logic) • 2. During this stage the child is egocentric – unable to take the viewpoint of other people.

C. Concrete Operational Stage Stage (7-11) • 1. Mastery of conservation –mass, weight, and volume remain unchanged • 2. time, space, and number; the child can think logically • 3. ability to reverse thoughts or mental operations.

D. Formal Operations Stage (11+) • 1. thinking is based on abstract principles, such as “democracy,” “honor,” or “correlation” • 2. gradually become able to consider hypothetical possibilities • 3. full adult intellectual ability is attained.

E. Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory • 1. interactions are most helpful when they are within the child’s zone of prozimal development

VII. Adolescence and Young Adulthood • -a person’s identity and moral values come into sharper focus • socially, the adolescent is no longer a child, yet not quite an adult • A. Puberty- a biological event • biologically, most people reach reproductive maturing in the early teens. • Timing • for boys, maturing early is generally beneficial • for girls: have less prestige among peers, have poorer self-image because there is early development of sexual features

B. The Search for Identity • identity formation is a key task of adolescence • 1. are better able to ask questions about their place in the world and about morals, values, politics, and social relationships. • 2. the search for identity frequently leads to conflict with parents • 3. Children tend to see themselves more as members of families and small friendship groups

C. Emerging Adulthood • 1. adult identity grows stronger in later college years. • 2. A period of emerging adulthood now stretches from the late teens to the mid-twenties.

VIII. Moral Development • A.Levels of Moral Development • Moral Dilemmas • 1. at the preconventional level, moral thinking is guided by the consequences of actions • 2. at the conventional level, reasoning is based on a desire to pleas others or to follow accepted rules and values. • 3. the advanced moral reasoning of the postconventional level follows self-accepted moral principles.

IX. Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory • Erik Erikson • Life span psychologists study both continuity and change in behavior during a lifetime • A. Stage 1: Trust Vs. Mistrust – first year of life • 1. dependent on others • 2. trust - babies are given warmth, touching, love, and physical care • 3. mistrust - inadequate or unpredictable care

B. Stage 2: Autonomy Vs. Shame and Doubt – 1-3 yrs. • 1. climbing, touching, exploring • 2. autonomy is gained by encouragement of new skills • 3. parents who ridicule or overprotect may cause them to doubt their abilities and feel shameful about their actions.

C. Stage 3: Initiative Vs. Guilt – 3-5 yrs. • 1. children learn to make plans and carry out tasks • 2. freedom to play, ask questions, use imagination, and choose activities. • 3. Feeling of guilt about initiating activities are formed if parents criticize severely, prevent play, or discourage questions.

D. Stage 4: Industry Vs. Inferiority – 6-12 yrs. • 1. praise for productive activities. • 2. If a child’s efforts are regarded as messy, child is, or inadequate, feeling of inferiority result.

E. Stage 5: Identity Vs. Role Confusion - adolescence • 1. mental, physical, and sexual maturation • 2. build a consistent identity • 3. Persons who fail to develop a sense of identity suffer from role confusion.

F. Stage 6: Intimacy Vs. Isolation – young adulthood • 1. share meaningful love or deep friendship with others. • 2. Intimacy - ability to care about others and to share experiences with them • 3. failure to establish intimacy with others leads to a deep sense of isolation

G. Stage 7: Generativity Vs. Stagnation – middle adulthood • 1. Generativity is expressed by caring about oneself, one’s children, and future generations • 2. failure to do this is marked by a stagnant concern with one’s own needs and comforts.

H. Stage 8: Integrity Vs. Despair – late adulthood • 1. acceptance and satisfaction. • 2. the person who has lived richly and responsibly develops a sense of integrity • 3. if previous life events are viewed with regret, the elderly person experiences despair

X. Middle (35-64) and Later Adulthood (65+) • A. Challenges of adulthood • 1. Health • 2. Work • 3. Marriage, Children, and Parents • B. Midlife Crisis • 1. Crisis of Questions :29-34 • 2. Crisis of Urgency: 35-43 • 3. Midcourse Corrections

C. Facing the Challenges of Adulthood • D. Old Age • some are active, healthy, satisfies, lucid, and alert; some are confused, child-like, or dependent. • Biological aging refers to age-related changes in physiological functioning

1. Successful Aging • a. optimism, hope, and an interest in the future • b. gratitude and forgiveness; focus on what is good in life • c. empathy; sharing the feelings of others and seeing the world through their eyes • d. connection with others; reaching out; give and receive social support

Human Development