Psychology : Semester I : Development and Individual Differences |
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Introduction | Section 1 | Section 2 | Section 3 | Section 4 | Section 5 | Section 6 | Section 7 | Section 8 |
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Psychology : Development and Individual Differences : Section One Issues, Methods, prenatal development and infancy
How often have your heard things like "You have your mom’s eyes", "You have your dad’s sense of humor", or "You look just like one or the other parent"? One of the main issues in development is determining which has the greatest influence in development, genetics or environment. On one side of the issue are people that believe in maturation which is the unfolding of genetically influenced behaviors and characteristics. An example of this is that babies sit up before they crawl and crawl before they walk. It appears that the sequence is innate and babies appear genetically programmed to follow a specific sequence. On the other side of the debate, nurture proponents believe that the environment is more important. They look to factors such as culture, family background, nutrition and experiences at home and at school as much more influential in a child’s development. Developmental psychologists have debated this question for years and there is no clear cut answer except that both are important contributors. Development spans a lot of years and many different areas. There are two main ways development is studied. The first way is cross-sectional and this involves studying a variety of ages at a given point in time. An example of this would be studying different age groups to see what music preferences there are. The second way to study development is the longitudinal method and in this method you follow the same group of people for years. An example would be to start a program that has children learn three languages and then follow them for the next eighteen years and see what benefits or liabilities resulted.
Prenatal development begins with conception or the union of sperm and egg. The result is a fertilized egg called a zygote and it contains the genotype or the genetic composition of the future person. It also contains the blue print or phenotype, which contains the observable features of the future person. The fertilized egg begins the germinal stage of development. This stage lasts until the egg implants in the uterine wall and that signals the start of the embryonic stage which lasts until the eighth week after conception. The zygote is now called an embryo and is only about 1.5 inches long. After the eighth week the fetal stage begins and the embryo is now called a fetus. At 6 months the fetus can cry, open and close its eyes and make a fist. This stage lasts until birth. The physical development in the womb follows a plan. It is cephalocaudal, or from head to tail. It also follows the proximodistal plan or from the center, outward. The mother’s womb is a very secure place for development to take place but there are agents called teratogens, which are chemicals and viruses that can reach the developing child and cause harm. One of the most talked about teratogens is alcohol and its use during pregnancy can result in children that have fetal alcohol syndrome. Alcohol is harmful anytime during the prenatal development and it results in growth retardation, cognitive deficits, and facial deformities.
Other teratogens and what effect they have and their time of greatest impact are listed below:
Infancy begins with birth and lasts until about two years of age. The normal birth weight and height is 5.5 – 10 pounds and 14-20 inches. There are dramatic changes in the child during this stage. In physical development, height and weight are increasing faster than at any other point in time. Most infants double their birth weight by the fifth month and triple it by the end of their first year. They grow about 10 inches in the first year. During the second year, this growth continues but the pace slows. Most of these reflexes disappear over the first year…why?
Reflexes are replaced by learned behaviors.
A psychologist named Harry Harlow worked with baby monkeys to find out what was the most important thing babies needed for healthy development. He was a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and chose to work with rhesus monkeys because they are genetically similar to us. He became interested in his work because of a condition called the Marasmus syndrome that existed in orphanages. The symptoms of this condition were apathy, withdrawal and a high death rate. Harlow wanted to see what was missing from these children. He could not work with human babies so he chose a close genetic substitute, the rhesus monkey. He set up three conditions, baby monkeys with monkey mothers, surrogate wire mothers with baby monkeys and surrogate soft wire mothers with monkey babies. The results of his research demonstrated the importance of contact comfort which is the soft touch and feel of another object. His work was extended by a psychologist named Mary Ainsworth. She studied infants around the world and found out that at first they just want to be held, by anyone. By four months children form specific attachments to their main caregivers. Ainsworth talked about two types of attachment. Secure attachment means that the infant seeks proximity, contact, and interaction with the caregiver after separation. Insecure attachment means that the infant cannot be calmed or ignores the caregiver after separation. By the age of eight months, some infants develop stranger anxiety, an intense fear of strangers. These children cry and scream and reach for their parents and will not be calmed until the parent takes them. About the same time, some infants will develop separation anxiety and exhibit extreme distress when separated from their parents. As far as their senses, infant’s visual abilities are not very developed. In fact at birth, babies are legally blind. Two-month olds preferred to look at human faces rather than anything else. They also prefer to look at faces that resemble real faces and not jumbled up ones. Infants have been shown to develop depth perception by the time they crawl. Hearing is much better developed at birth. Newborns will stop and turn their heads when they hear unusual sounds. They prefer high-pitched sounds to low and they are soothed by soft voices and singing. They also respond to strong odors and wrinkle their noses. They will smile and show a licking motion to sweet smells. They also prefer sweet-tasting liquids and will not suck salty or bitter liquids.
Language development beings with crying, cooing and babbling but these are not considered true language since they do not use symbols with specific meanings. These sounds, though, are the beginnings of verbalization. Here is the sequence of language development:
Cooing and babbling are universal and it is not until the one and two word stages that unique vocal patterns and accents emerge. Language contains three basic elements: phonemes which are the sounds, morphemes which are the basic units of meaning and syntax which is the grammar of language.
Rubric for Assignment 4-1
Partial credit will be given for incomplete work
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Discussion 4-1: Which factor do you think contributes to development more - nature or nurture - and what would you do for a developing child to insure them the best start in life?
Assignment 4-1: There has been a lot of research and an equally large amount of money spent on teaching animals (especially apes) language. Research some of the work done trying to teach animals language and write a 150-200 word essay to summarize the research. What gains and losses have occurred and have we taught animals to communicate and to what extent? Please write this essay in word document and upload it to assignment 4.1 drop box.
Try this drag and drop.
Time to take a quiz on infancy. This is worth