Chapter 8

Development

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Nature, Nurture, and Prenatal Development

• Learning Outcomes– Compare and contrast the influence of nature

versus nurture– Describe developmental research techniques– Discuss prenatal development

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Nature, Nurture, and Prenatal Development (cont.)

• Nature-nurture issue: the issue of the degree to which environment (nurture) and heredity (nature) influence behavior– No longer a question of nature versus nurture

because both factors interact to produce developmental patterns and outcomes

– Now we ask, how and to what degree do nature and nurture produce their effects?

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Determining the Relative Influence of Nature and Nurture

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• Experimentally control genetic makeup of laboratory animals, then study environmental influences

• Identical twins (share 100% of their genetic makeup) and non-twin siblings raised apart: similarities as adults show importance of heredity

• Adopted children: similarities with biological children in same family show importance of environment

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Prenatal Development: Conception to Birth

• Basics of genetics– Chromosomes: rod-shaped structures that contain

all basic hereditary information; 23 pairs, one chromosome of each pair from the mother and one from the father• Genes

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The Extraordinary Newborn

• Reflexes: automatic, involuntary responses to incoming stimuli – Neonate born with rooting, sucking, gag, startle, &

Babinski reflexes• Sensory development: neonates can follow moving

objects within their field of vision, show some depth perception, discriminate facial expressions, recognize their mothers’ voices at 3 days old, and recognize different tastes and smells

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The Growing Child: Infancy Through Middle Childhood

• Attachment: positive emotional bond that develops between a child and a particular individual, usually a caregiver (Harlow’s research with monkeys)– Classified as secure, avoidant, ambivalent, or

disorganized-disoriented– Father’s role: nature of attachment is similar to

mother’s, but type of play/interaction may be different (fathers engage in more physical activities, while mothers are more verbal)

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The Growing Child: Infancy Through Middle Childhood (cont.)

• Child care outside the home can be beneficial, especially for children from disadvantaged homes, if it is a high-quality program

• Parenting styles– Authoritarian: rigid, punitive, demand obedience,

require a lot from their children– Permissive: relaxed or inconsistent direction, require

little from their children

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The Growing Child: Infancy Through Middle Childhood (cont.)

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– Authoritative: firm, set limits, use reasoning, explain things, encourage independence

– Uninvolved: show little interest, emotionally detached, believe parenting is only providing food, clothing, and shelter• Specific kinds of parenting styles may, in part, be

brought about by the child’s temperament (basic, innate disposition with which the child is born)

• Many psychologists believe changes in information processing (the way in which people take in, use, and store information) are how children develop their cognitive abilities– Metacognition: an awareness and understanding of

one’s own cognitive processes

The Growing Child: Infancy Through Middle Childhood (cont.)

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Physical Changes in Late Adulthood: The Aging Body

• Genetic preprogramming theories of aging: human cells have a built-in time limit to their reproduction; after a certain time they are no longer able to divide

• Wear-and-tear theories of aging: mechanical functions of the body stop working efficiently as you age

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Cognitive Changes: Thinking About – and During – Late Adulthood

• Fluid intelligence (information-processing skills such as memory, calculations, and analogy solving) shows decline in late adulthood, but crystallized intelligence (accumulation of information, skills, and strategies learned through experience) remain steady

• Memory loss is not inevitable with aging• Alzheimer’s disease: progressive brain disorder

that leads to gradual and irreversible decline in cognitive abilities

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The Social World of Late Adulthood: Old but Not Alone

• Disengagement theory of aging: aging produces a gradual withdrawal from the world on physical, psychological, and social levels

• Activity theory of aging: successful aging means maintaining the interests and activities you had during middle age

• Life review: process by which people examine and evaluate their lives

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Adjusting to Death

• Elisabeth Kubler-Ross’s five stages of dealing with one’s own impending death– Denial: resist the idea they are dying– Anger: angry at people in good health around them, at

medical professionals, at God– Bargaining: trying to postpone death– Depression: bargaining will not work; “preparatory grief”

for their own death– Acceptance: made peace with themselves; usually

unemotional and uncommunicative

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