Developing Through the Life Span

Developmental Psychology: the study of universal aspects of life-

span development as well as individual and cultural variations

Developmental Psychology

Issue Details

Nature/Nurture

How do genetic inheritance (our nature)

and experience (the nurture we receive)

influence our behavior?

Continuity/Stages

Is developmental a gradual, continuous

process or a sequence of separate stages?

Stability/Change

Do our early personality traits persist through life, or do we become

different persons as we age.

Prenatal Development and the Newborn

How, over time, did we come to be who we are? From zygote to birth, development progresses in

an orderly, though fragile, sequence.Physician and author Lewis Thomas (1979) appreciated the wonder when the first “test tube” baby was born:

“In mid-1978, the newest astonishment in medicine…was the birth on an English baby nine months after conception in a dish. The older surprise, which should still be fazing us all…This has been going on under our noses for so long we have gotten used to it…really minor technical modification …fallopian tube to a plastic container.”

In other words, a baby’s development before and after birth is a marvel of maturation (unfolding of

genetically influenced behavior and physical characteristics)

Prenatal Developmenthttp://www.medicinenet.com/fetal-development-pictures-slideshow/article.htm

The Germinal Stage begins with conception when a male sperm unites with a female ovum (egg) forming a zygote. The zygote is a fertilized single cell that begins to divide

and become increasingly diverse. At about 14 days the zygote attaches to the wall the

uterus and turns into an embryo (a and b). This is the beginning of the Embryonic Stage.

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Prenatal DevelopmentAt 9 weeks, an embryo turns into a fetus (c and d)

starting the Fetal Stage. During this stage teratogens (chemicals or viruses) can enter the placenta and harm

the developing fetus. Measles, radiation, STD’s, smoking, drugs and alcohol

can all harm the developing fetus. A woman who drinks alcohol during her pregnancy puts her child at risk of

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.

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Newborns

Infant Jaundice• During their first few days of life, more than half of all full-

term babies and as many as four out of five premature infants who are otherwise healthy develop jaundice, a yellowish discoloration of the skin and eyes. Although some babies are jaundiced at birth, most develop infant jaundice during their second or third day of life. Many mothers may not notice it until after your baby is home.

• Infant jaundice itself isn't a disease. In most cases infant jaundice occurs because your baby's liver isn't mature enough to metabolize a molecule called bilirubin, which normally forms when the body recycles old or damaged red blood cells. Newborns initially have more bilirubin than their livers can handle, and the excess causes their skin and, sometimes, the whites of their eyes to turn yellow.

• Light therapy (phototherapy). The baby may be placed under a special ultraviolet light or wrapped in a fiber-optic blanket of light. The light changes the bilirubin into a form that can be eliminated by your baby's kidneys. Newborns with jaundice typically receive phototherapy for several days.

The Competent Newborn

Infants are born with motor reflexes that aid in survival, including rooting reflex which helps them locate food.

The Competent NewbornOffspring cries are important signals for parents to

provide nourishment. In animals and humans such cries are quickly attended to and relieved.

A developmental psychologist will continue to study the process of a baby’s socialization (learning attitudes and

behaviors expected by society.)

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Contact Comforthttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlfOecrr6kI

Harlow’s studies showed that monkeys would choose the soft comfort of a terry cloth mother over that of a wire mesh

that provided food. The monkeys experience great anxiety if their terry-

cloth mother was removed.

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Cognitive Development in the Newborn

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlilZh60qdA&feature=related

Investigators study infants becoming habituated to objects over a period of

time. Infants pay more attention to new objects than habituated ones, which

shows they are learning.