Introduction to Developmental Psychology and Biological Beginnings.

1. Introduction to Developmental Psychology and Biological Beginnings. Chapters 1 & 2

2. Life-span Perspective The perspective that development is lifelong, multidimensional, multidirectional, plastic, multidisciplinary, and contextual. Involves growth, maintenance, and regulation and is constructed through biological, sociocultural, and individual factors working together.

3. Development The pattern of change that begins at conception and continues through the life span. Most development involves growth, but includes declines brought on by aging, and dying. Development fits the life-span perspective.

4. Issues Driving Study of Development Nature vs. Nurture Debate as to whether all development is based off of genetic cues or is based off environmental cues Nature means it is completely genetic Nurture means it is completely environmental Continuity vs. Discontinuity Debates as to whether development occurs in nice cleans stages or in abrupt shifts Continuity means stages Discontinuity means abrupt shifts

5. Issues of Development Continued… Stability vs. Change Debates whether we simply develop into an older more mature version of ourselves or if we ultimately become a different person than what we started out as. Stability means we just mature and all our personality traits remain the same as from childhood Change means that we become someone different with different personality traits.

6. Early Developmental Theories Psychoanalytic Freud’s Psychosexual Stages of Development Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages of Development Cognitive Piaget’s Cognitive Developmental Theory Information Processing Theory Behavioral Skinner’s Operant Conditioning Bandura’s Social-Cognitive Theory

7. Psychoanalytic Theories Psychosexual (Freud) Founded that children develop based on sexual pleasure being obtained from different erogenous zones Oral, Anal, Phallic, Latency, Genital Completed at about age 16. Psychosocial (Erikson) Stated that development was based on meeting social milestones at certain ages. Stages on page 24 Believed that development continued until death.

8. Cognitive Theories Cognitive Development (Piaget) Based on the idea of schemas or fixed ideas or maps that we all posses and the shifting of these schemas to more advance ways of problem solving Four stages: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational Development is completed by about 16 Information Processing Compares humans to computers States that we have the necessary hardware at birth (brain structures etc) and the our memory strategies up-grade as we develop much like software. No date for completion of development.

9. Behavioral Theories Operant Conditioning (Skinner) Believed that all development was done because we receive rewards and punishments that encourage the development of certain behaviors Social Cognitive Theory (Bandura) Believed that development was a mixture of behavioral conditioning, environmental factors, and cognitive factors. Modeling was the major source of developmental learning. Bobo dolls.

10. The Darwin Awards Darwin theory states that future generations of species improved based on genes that were inherited because they were benificial Evolutionary psychology emphasizes the importance of adaptation, reproduction, and “survival of the fittest” in shaping behavior. Highly influenced by Darwinian theory.

11. Developmental Processes Cognitive Changes in an individual’s thought, intelligence, and language Socioemotional Changes in an individual’s relationship with other people, emotions, and personality Biological Changes in an individual’s physical nature Biopsychosocial Connecting the three into a way of looking at development from all perspectives.

12. Biological Beginnings: the Basics DNA Molecule that contains the genetic information Gene Units of hereditary information composed of DNA. Direct cells to reproduce and manufacture protiens that maintain life Chromosomes Threadlike structures that come in 23 pairs. They contain DNA

13. Basics continued . . . Fertilization is a stage of reproduction whereby an egg and a sperm fuse to create a single cell called a zygote Zygote is the cell formed through fertilization Mitosis: cellular reproduction in which a cell’s nucleus duplicates itself with two new cells being formed, each containing the same DNA as the parent cell, arranged in the same 23 pairs of chromosomes Meiosis: A specialized form of cell division that occurs to form eggs and sperm cells

14. Not so basics Genotype A person’s genetic heritage. The actual genetic makeup a person has. Phenotype The way a person’s genotype is expressed along with environmental influences The way genes are expressed when introduced to every other factor besides genetics

15. Twins and Nature vs. Nurture Twins Monozygotic Genetically identical Come from one zygote splitting in two Dizygotic Genetically the same as any sibling Come from two eggs being fertilized at the same time or near the same time. Twin studies Psychological studies conducted on twins to see what seems genetic and what seems environmental.

16. Abnormalities Chromosomal Down Syndrome 21 chromosome is triplicated Klinefelter syndrome Men have XXY instead of XY Fragile X The X chromosome becomes restricted and often breaks Turner syndrome Females have only X instead of XX Superman (XYY) Men have an extra Y chromosome. Gene-linked PKU Body cannot process phenylalonine, an amino acid Sickle-cell anemia Red blood cells are shaped like a sickle, most often found in people of African decent Huntington’s Disease Neurological disorder Tay-Sachs Disease Exclusively found in Jewish populations