Chapter 8

Human Development

Ana & Elspeth

Human Development

What is development?

What are some things that change as we age?

Behavior

Emotions

Thinking

Personality

Ana & Elspeth

Developmental Psychology

When does life begin?

Process of Conception: Every 28 days egg is

released, which contains 23 chromosomes

Sperm joins the egg forming a zygote

46 chromosomes

After fertilization, during 2nd thru 8th weeks known as embryo

During next several months = fetus

Alternate Ways to Conceive Artificial insemination –

specimen of sperm is injected into woman’s uterus

In Vitro fertilization – 1978, Louise Brown, 1st “test tube” baby Means “in glass or test tube” Mother’s ovum is surgically

removed & put into a dish & fertilized with father’s sperm

When ovum grows 6-8 cells is transferred back to mother’s uterus

Surrogacy – another woman gives birth to baby and gives baby to couple Involves legal contract

Moral implications of surrogacy, or donating one’s sperm or egg(s)?

Prenatal Influences on Development Environmental factors –

Teratogens – environmental stimuli harmful to developing fetus

Diseases during pregnancy – any disease that can cross the placenta German measles = minor

effects on mother, major effects on fetus (blindness, deafness, heart disease)

Genital herpes & AIDS= can cross placenta

Drugs – legal & illegal Caffeine = can slow fetal

growth & contribute to premature birth

FAS = abnormally small head, irritability, hyperactivity & retarded motor development and cognitive development

Prenatal Development

Reflexes: Rooting – directs babies

toward the food they need

Sucking – neonates will suck on anything that touches their face

Grasping- clinging vigorously to any object placed in their hands.

Face Perception: 1st “thing” an infant sees Rx indicates infants 12-

21 days old able to imitate adult facial responses

At 3 mos, baby can identify mother’s face from other faces

At 4 mos, baby can perceive different facial expressions

Depth Perception: Gibson & Walk (1960)

Philosophical Roots

Original Sin All humans are sinful Thanks Adam & Eve! Holy Spirit can help

us become less selfish and sinful

Philosophical Roots

Innate Goodness Jean-Jacques

Rousseau (philosopher)

“Noble savage” Good people are

made unhappy and corrupted by their experiences in society.

Bad behavior is learned from others

Philosophical Roots

The Blank Slate John Locke The mind of a child is

a blank slate & adults can mold them into whatever they want them to be.

Environmental influences can explain “good” and “bad” behavior.

Child-Rearing Experts

Expert advice: Kissing the baby after it has

been fed is very likely to cause it to vomit.

Never let them sit on your lap.

Shake hands with them in the morning.

Dr. T. Berry Brazelton who seems to think that children are born into this world better people than their parents ever were.

Babies should cry 15 to 30 minutes a day for "exercise.”

“Rattle behavior" develops in 53 distinct stages.

There's the famous, strict behaviorist John Watson, who told mothers of the 1920s and 1930s only to kiss their children on the foreheads - if they must kiss at all - and anyway it was better to shake hands. Of his two sons, one committed suicide and the other had a breakdown and battled suicidal impulses for years.

Cognitive Development Infant Memory:

Infants are active processors of info Recognition is a factor of memory

PIAGET Stage theory – all humans move thru an

orderly & predictable series of changes

Assimilation- person using existing knowledge takes in new info about the environment

Accommodation- changing existing mental frameworks as a result of new experiences

Assimilation & accommodation occur simultaneously

Stages of Cog. Growth:1. Sensorimotor (birth-2) – foundation for

later symbolic thought Accomplishes:

A. Familiar with own body B. Learned events are preceded by some

cause C. Object permanence D. Capable of using thought & language

2. Preoperational (2-7) – is preoperational because it describes thought that occurs before child are capable of operations – mental manipulations & transformation of info.

Deferred imitation – imitation of actions in the absence of a model

Symbolic representation – mental picture or image

Child can mentally represent info gathered thru senses, but cannot integrate info in a logical manner

Stages of Cognitive Development2. Preoperational

Symbolic play- use of symbols to represent reality; make believe.

Conservation - physical attributes of an object remain unchanged even though outward appearance changes.

3. Concrete Operations (7-11) – characterized by development of logical thought & ability to manipulate symbols

“Sun goes to bed at night” 5 y.o.; 7 y.o. sun is inaminate and can explain why sun is not out at night

“Concrete” – child’s thinking still limited by observations of tangible events or objects

Reversibility – ability to mentally retrace actions in thoughts

4. Formal Operations (11-15) – able to think abstractly & grasp intrinsic qualities

Idealism – adolescent is freed from bonds of personal experience & able to philosophize about self & role in world.

Limitations of Piaget’s Model? Used own children (small N) Underestimated cognitive abilities of infants

& young children Stage theory Left out importance of social interactions

Information-Processing Model How people receive, represent

& process info—does this change with age? This does not, the efficiency & speed of processing info changes

What does change with age? Ability to use strategies Mnemonic devices – “King

Phillip came over for great spaghetti”

Chunking – phone numbers Clustering – grouping items to

be remembered into relevant classes

Categories : “cat” belongs to the animal category vs. car category

Attention What is the attention-span of a

3 year-old?

Moral Development Moral reasoning – a

cognitive act; a person’s judgment about appropriateness of an action based on some set of rules.

Moral behavior – actions in which a person engages

Piaget’s View on Moral Development:

1. Premoral judgment (2-5) – not aware of rules and don’t need them.

2. Moral realism (5-10) – rules are regarded as sacred & unchangeable.

Cup example

3. Autonomous morality (10 - ?) - realization that rules are made by people & people are not perfect.

Kohlberg & Moral Development Inspired by Piaget’s

work Studied boys ages 10-

16; used the interview method and presented boys with 10 hypothetical dilemmas

1. Preconventional Level (4 -10) – judge morality in terms of consequences.

2. Conventional Level (10-14) – children reason that good acts serve one’s own purpose.

3. Postconventional Level (adolescence)- morality is judged on abstract principles.

In Europe a woman was near death from a special kind of cancer. There was one drug that the doctors thought might save her. It was a form of radium that a druggist in the same town had recently discovered. The drug was expensive to make, but the druggist was charging ten times what the drug cost him to make. He paid $200 for the radium and charged $2,000 for a small dose of the drug. The sick woman’s husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the money, but he could only get together $1,000 which is half of what it cost. He told the druggist that his wife was dying and asked him to sell it cheaper or let him pay later. But the druggist said, “No, I discovered the drug, and I am going to make money from it.” So Heinz got desperate and broke into the man’s store to steal the drug for his wife.

Social & Emotional Development

Older infants (8-10 mos) demonstrates social referencing – using others’ reactions to appraise an uncertain situation or experience.

Temperament

Peron’s inborn characteristics way of responding to stimuli

Believed to be 1st manifestation of “personality”

Rx by Thomas & Chess (1977)

20 year study; 136 people from infancy to adolescence

1. Easy baby2. Difficult baby3. Slow-to-warm baby

Attachment Strong, affectional bond

between infants & caregivers Harlow’s Experiment

Monkeys Unintentional consequence

“Strange Situation” test 4 Types of attachment:1. Secure attachment – 67% of

babies; may or may not cry; when parent returns baby will acknowledge with a look, touch or sound.

2. Avoidant attachment – 20%; don’t cry; react to strangers same as caregivers; when parent returns, either avoids or slow to acknowledge.

3. Resistant attachment – 10%; before separation, seeks contact with parent; after returning, babies are angry and push parent away.

4. Disorganized attachment – 5%; when reunited with parent baby shows lack of emotion.

Adolescence

Period beginning with puberty and ending with onset of adult roles & responsibilities

Puberty – rapid spurt in growth accompanied by sexual maturation.

Physical Growth Growth spurt lasting

2-3 years Changes in height,

weight, body proportions & dev’t of secondary sex characteristics

Cognitive Development

“adolescent recklessness” – engaging in risky or dangerous behavior.

Why do teenagers engage in risky behaviors?

Rx by Arnett (1995) suggests several factors:

1. Sensation seeking – adolescents crave novel & intense experiences

2. Egocentric thinking3. Aggression

(Immortality?)

Adulthood & Aging

Physical Change: Early Adulthood – 30s;

physical changes are slow & minimal.

Middle Adulthood – 40s; age-related changes; cardiac output decreases; fx’ing of reproductive system changes greatly

Late Adulthood – 60s +; no more likely than middle adulthood to suffer from chronic illnesses

Cognitive Changes

Aging & Memory STM & retaining info > no

difference for older vs. younger

STM & processing . differences

Aging & Intelligence Most tasks of intelligence

do not decline with age, rather speed of tasks decline

Crystallized Intelligence – abilities that depend on previously learned info to make decisions or problem solve. Culturally derived; learned in school.

Fluid Intelligence – ability to form concepts, reason & identify similarities; increases with age.

Theories of Aging

Wear & Tear Theories – aging results from continual use of cells & organs in our bodies.

Genetic Theories – attribute aging to genetic programming; built-in biological clock.

Death

Types of Death Physiological – physical processes which

sustain life cease Brain – total absence of brain activity for 10

minutes. Social – process by which other people

relinquish their relationships with the deceased.