Chapter 08

Human Development

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Chapter Preview
This chapter covers a lot of ground. This study guide will help focus your reading on the specific domains that will be tested on your next exam. As always, this study guide is not exhaustive; you should take this as a starting point, and read the material in the text for greater depth that will be addressed in the quizzes and exams.

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What is Development?
Pattern of continuity and change in human capabilities; different dimensions of personhood will progress in different ways over the lifespan Psychologists explore the roles of nature and nurture in human development Nature A persons biological inheritance, especially from genes Nurture Individuals environmental and social experiences People can develop beyond what our genetic inheritance and our environment give us
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Exploring Human Development

Different people show different levels of resilience Persons ability to recover from or adapt to difficult times Despite encountering adversity, a person shows signs of positive functioning

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Domains of Development
Physical processes Involve changes in an individuals biological nature Cognitive processes Involve changes in an individuals thought, intelligence, and language Socioemotional processes Involve changes in an individuals relationships with other people, changes in emotions, and changes in personality

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Prenatal Physical Development

Course of prenatal development Development from zygote to fetus is divided into three periods Germinal period (weeks 1 & 2) Embryonic period (weeks 3 through 8) Fetal period (months 2 through 9) Be sure to read your textbooks details of these stages

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Prenatal Physical Development

Threats to fetus Teratogen Agent that can penetrate the protections of the mother and cause birth defects Can include chemical substances, such as nicotine, heroin, alcohol Also include certain illnesses: Rubella, sexually transmitted diseases, HIV Preterm infant born before full term of pregnancy Risk for developmental difficulties

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Physical Development
Newborns come with genetically wired reflexes Sucking, swallowing, coughing, blinking, yawning Motor and perceptual skills depend on each other Environmental experiences play a role in motor development Preferential looking technique helps assess abilities of infants before they can communicate with language Giving an infant a choice of what object to look at

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Physical Development
Brain development is at its most accelerated early in life Infancy Branching of dendrites (see next slide) Myelination Childhood Increase in synaptic connections Pruning of unused neural connections Rapid growth in frontal lobe areas

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Dendritic Spreading

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Physical Development in Adolescence

Adolescence Developmental period spanning the transition from childhood to adulthood Begins around 10 to 12 years of age and ends at 18 to 21 years of age Characterized by dramatic physical changes Puberty Period of rapid skeletal and sexual maturation that occurs mainly in early adolescence

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Pubertal Growth Spurt

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Physical Development in Adolescence

Adolescent brain changes: Development of the amygdala Involves emotion Development of the prefrontal cortex Concerned with reasoning and decision making

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Physical Development in Adulthood

Physical changes in early adulthood Peak physical development during 20s Physical changes in middle and late adulthood Many physical changes in the 40s or 50s, involve changes in appearance

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Biological Theories of Aging

Cellular-clock theory View that cells can divide a maximum of about 100 times As we age, our cells become less capable of dividing Free-radical theory People age because unstable oxygen molecules known as free radicals are produced inside their cells Damage done by free radicals may lead to a range of disorders Hormonal stress theory Aging in the bodys hormonal system can lower resistance to stress and increase the likelihood of disease
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Aging and the Brain

Adults can grow new brain cells throughout life Evidence is limited to two areas of the brain Hippocampus and the olfactory bulb Brain has remarkable repair capability even in late childhood

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Piagets Theory of Cognitive Development

Human beings use schemas to make sense of their experience Schema Mental concept framework to organize/interpret information Two processes responsible for how people use schemas Assimilation Occurs when individuals incorporate new information into existing knowledge Accommodation Occurs when individuals adjust their schemas to new information
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Piagets Stages of Cognitive Development

Sensorimotor stage Lasts from birth to about 2 years of age Infants construct an understanding of the world by coordinating sensory experience Development of object permanence Crucial accomplishment of understanding that objects continue to exist even when they cannot directly be seen, heard, or touched

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Piagets Stages of Cognitive Development

Preoperational stage Lasts from approximately 2 to 7 years of age Beginning of limited symbolic thinking Inability to perform operations, or reversible mental representations Egocentric and intuitive thinking

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Piagets Stages of Cognitive Development

Concrete operational stage Lasts from 7 to 11 years of age Involves using operations Involves replacing intuitive reasoning Children better able to reason in multiple dimensions

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Piagets Stages of Cognitive Development

Formal operational stage Last from 11 to 15 years of age Continues through the adult years Thinking is more abstract and logical Idealistic Involves comparing how things are to how they might be Hypothetical-deductive reasoning Developing hypotheses about ways to solve a problem

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Evaluating and Expanding on Piagets Theory

Baillargeons alternative view of object permanence Documented that infants as young as 3 months of age know that objects continue to exist when hidden Infants have expectations about objects in the world that seem quite a bit more sophisticated than Piaget imagined

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Evaluating and Expanding on Piagets Theory

Vygotskys cognitive development in cultural context Recognized that cognitive development is an interpersonal process that happens in a cultural context Interactions with others provide scaffolding

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Evaluating and Expanding on Piagets Theory

Revisionist views of adolescent and adult cognition Characteristic of adolescent thinking is egocentrism Involves the belief that: Others are as preoccupied with the adolescent as he or she is One is unique One is invincible

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Cognitive Processes in Adulthood

Thinking more reflectively Becoming more skeptical Being more realistic Recognizing that thinking is influenced by emotion

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Cognitive Processes in Adulthood

Cognition in middle adulthood Crystallized intelligence Individuals accumulated information and verbal skills Fluid intelligence Ability to reason abstractly Cognition in late adulthood Number of dimensions of intelligence decline in late adulthood Some are maintained or may even increase, such as wisdom

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Socioemotional Development
Socioemotional processes Involve changes in an individuals social relationships, emotional life, and personal qualities

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Socioemotional Development in Infancy

Elements of emotional and social processes that are present very early in life Temperament Refers to an individuals behavioral style and characteristic ways of responding The easy child generally is in a positive mood The difficult child tends to be fussy and to cry frequently The slow-to-warm-up child has a low activity level Attachment Close emotional bond between an infant and his or her caregiver
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Socioemotional Development in Infancy and Childhood

Diana Baumrind studied parenting styles associated with positive and negative developmental outcomes Read your textbook descriptions of the following: Authoritarian Authoritative Permissive Neglectful

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Gender Development
Gender Refers to the broad set of characteristics of people as males and females Biology and gender development Humans normally have 46 chromosomes arranged in pairs 23rd pair may have: Two X-shaped chromosomes, which produces a female Both an X-shaped and a Y-shaped chromosome, which produces a male

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Cognitive Aspects of Gender Development

Gender schema Mental framework for understanding what it means to be male or female in ones culture Children acquire schemas through learning in the social world

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Socioemotional Experience and Gender Development

Social experience influences gender development Gender roles Involve expectations for how females and males should think, act, and feel Represent beliefs about appropriate behavior for the sexes Gender similarities hypothesis Idea that men and women are much more similar than they are different

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Moral Development
Changes that occur with age in peoples thoughts, feelings, and behaviors regarding the principles and values that guide them

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Kohlbergs Theory of Moral Development

Kohlberg used moral dilemma tasks to assess peoples level of reasoning used to make moral judgments Note, this doesnt judge their moral behavior Preconventional level Based on consequences of a behavior and on punishments or rewards from external world Conventional level Abiding by parental or societal standards Postconventional level Recognizes alternative moral courses, explores the options, and then develops an increasingly personal moral code
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Critics of Kohlberg
View does not adequately reflect concern for other people and social bonds Justice perspective theory of Kohlberg Focuses on rights of individual Independent moral decisions Care perspective theory by Gilligan Views people in terms of connectedness to others Interpersonal communication

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Death, Dying, and Grieving

Our attitudes toward death and dying are driven by our own ability to look to the future and imagine our own eventual demise Terror management theory says this awareness creates the potential for overwhelming terror Research supports the idea that cultural beliefs act as a buffer

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Kubler-Rosss Stages of Dying

Focuses on terminally ill individuals Denial Anger Bargaining Depression Acceptance

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Bonannos Theory of Grieving

Tracked individuals who have experienced bereavement, such as the loss of a spouse, over time Patterns of grief Resilience Recovery Chronic dysfunction Delayed grief or trauma

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