Developmental Psychology: Understanding Human Growth and Change

1. Chapter 4 Developmental Psychology

2. People of different ages have diverse thoughts, needs, and wants that are important to them at that time. • For example, none of you are worried about paying the mortgage and your parents are not worried about getting clear skin to impress that cute boy/girl

3. Some psychologists devote their lives to studying the changes people go through throughout their lifetime This branch of psychology is called… Developmental Psychology • The study of how our behavior and thoughts change over time • Think of it this way … • the study of humans WOMB to TOMB

4. Before we get into developmental psychology we need to discuss one thing Chicken or the Egg?? • We will try to answer one of the major themes in psychology called the Nature vs. Nurture argument • Basically asking which is more powerful in determining behavior and traits?? Nature – the idea that your behaviors, thoughts and traits come from our genetics (we are born with them) (Biology is Destiny) Nurture – the idea that our behaviors come from our environment (we learn from our surroundings)

5. So which one is it??

6. The Nature Argument(is sometimes compelling) This guy will never be… This guy!!! Why does Brad Pitt look the way he does? Probably genes (and I don’t mean his Levi's)

7. Genes: Our Biological Blueprint More on these guys later… Another way psychologists try to answer Nature vs. Nurture is through a field called Evolutionary Psychology

8. Evolutionary Psychology: Explaining Universal Behaviors • According to EP the motivator of all behavior is the passing of one's genes to the next generation for survival • (natural selection and survival of fittest)

9. Look at our Behaviors… Can you answer these questions using evolutionary psychology? • Why do infants fear strangers when they become mobile? • Why are most parents devoted to their children? • Why do we have more phobias about spiders and snakes than electricity and nuclear weapons? Now, the big one…

10. How and why do men and women differ sexually? • There are of course real biological differences

11. Of course, there are other differences too….

12. What do men and women want?(According to Evolutionary Psychology) • Men want: • Healthy • Young • Waist 1/3 narrower than hips. • Women want: • Wealth • Security • Power

13. Behavior Genetics The study of the power and limitations of genes on who we are.

14. The Genetic Revolution If it were possible, would you want to take a genetic test telling you which diseases you are likely to suffer from later in life? If you or your spouse were pregnant, would you want the unborn child tested for genetic defects? Do you think it should be legal for employers to use genetic tests in deciding whom to hire?

15. Temperament • The aspects of a persons personality that we are born with • whether someone is shy, aggressive, easily scared • They remain relatively stable over time. • Tends to lend evidence that nature is very powerful What is your temperament??

16. Heritability • The degree to which genetic factors (heredity) can explain the differences of a given trait among a population • For example • A heritability estimate of 50% for intelligence would mean what? • That genetics explains 50% of the differences among people in IQ scores • The remaining 50% of the differences would be explained by non-genetic factors, such as environment influences

17. Now On to Nurture Environmental Influences on Behavior

18. Specific Types of Environmental Influences

19. How Much Credit (or Blame ) Do Parents Deserve? Are children clay to be molded by their parents? • It depends… • probably not when it comes to personality • Take a look at your siblings… are you alike?? • Parents effect your belief systems and values much more than your personality.

20. Peer Influence • Perhaps the biggest environmental influence, at least by your age may be….peers • “Selection effect” • we seek out people with similar interests • that may explain why we seem to conform to our peers.

21. What can happen when there is no one around to influence children?? Feral Children • Children who have been deprived of social contact or upbringing • Literally means wild or untamed • Suggests the important role nurture can play in normal human development

22. Cultural Influences on Children • Lev Vygotsky • Said that one’s thinking is influenced by one’s culture • This interaction produces a culturally specific way of thinking • Zone of Proximal Development • Vygotsky thought that if a child had an older influence, they would develop faster

23. Nature v. Nurture What do you think so far? Does Nature and Nurture interact and grow off of each other? First, how do psychologists study this question?

24. How do Psychologists Study Development?? • Cross sectional • uses people of different ages to compare how certain characteristics may change over the course of life • Can be hard when the groups have grown up in different times (math tests – computers vs. calculators) • Longitudinal • examines one group of participants over a long period of time • Costly, takes a long time, and typically lose participants over time • Biographical or retrospective studies • Looks at one person at a time through individuals memory • Good for detail, but memory may not be accurate and the information may not be generalizable

25. Lets say I wanted to see at what age people are the best at playing Halo • I could go about doing this in two ways. • If I wanted to do a cross-sectionalstudy I could take ten 5 year olds, ten 10 year olds, ten 15 year olds, and ten 20 year olds, have them all play Halo and see which group lasted the longest. • This would be a fast and easy way to do the study and MOST studies are done just like this

26. But, if I wanted to do a longitudinal study I would take ten 5 year olds, have them play halo, wait five years and test them again, wait five more years and test them again, then test them again at twenty and I would have my study. • This type of research is much more rare simply because it takes so long!!!! • So you can see that both types of research have advantages and disadvantages.

27. But lets get down to Business I am going to break developmental psychology down into Five sections or types of development • Physical • the ways our body changes from womb to tomb • Social • the ways our social needs change from womb to tomb • Cognitive • the ways our thinking and learning changes from womb to tomb • Moral • the ways we think about right and wrong changes from womb to tomb • Gender • the ways we think about what our gender means from womb to tomb

28. Genes: Their Location and Composition In the nucleus of every cell we have 46 chromosomes……

29. Chromosome Breakdown DNA Chromosomes Genes Nucleotides

30. Natural Selection at Work • 1959 Russian Fox story • 40 Males, 100 Females- mated- then kept only tamest of bunch. • Mated the tames. • 40 years later • New Breed of Fox

31. Cultural Variations • To understand how cultures effect who we are it is important to recognize our cultural norms: • an understood rule for acceptable behavior. • The do’s and don’t of a culture • Because the norms differ from culture to culture, our behavior also reflects this • Individual v. Collectivistic Cultures • How do they impact our behavior??

32. Variations over Time • Different generations of the same culture may also have differing norms and resulting behaviors. Consider the norms for dating…