CHAPTER 1

Human Development

- Scientific study of change and stability throughout the human life span.

Life span development

- concept of human development as a lifelong process, which can be studied

scientifically.

Goals of Developmental Psychology (D. E. P. I)

- describe

- explain

- predict

- intervene

Underlying processes:
1. Maturation, growth, and ageing

- genetic factors

- proximodistal trend

- cephalocaudal trend

2. Differentiation and integration

3. Learning

- association

- instrumental learning

- observation and imitation

- formal teaching

4. Socialization

5. Interaction

Developmental Psychology debates:

Nature vs. Nurture

Continuity vs. discontinuity

Stability vs. change

Domains of Development:

 Physical Development

- growth of body and brain, including patterns of change in sensory capacities,

motor skills, and health.

 Cognitive Development
- pattern of change in mental abilities, such as learning, attention, memory,
language, thinking, reasoning, and creativity.

 Psychosocial Development

- pattern of change in emotions, personality, and social relationships.

Periods of the Life Span:

- division of life span is due to social construction.

Social construction

- a concept or practice that may appear natural and obvious to those who accept it,
but that in reality is invention of a particular culture or society.

Typical Major Developments in 8 periods of Human Development:

- Prenatal Period (conception to birth)

- infancy and toddlerhood (birth to age 3)

- early childhood (3-6 yrs old)

- middle childhood (6-11 yrs old)

- adolescence (11-20 yrs old)

- emerging and young adulthood (20-40)

- middle adulthood (40-65)

- late adulthood (65 and above)

Influences on Development:

 Individual Differences

- differences in characteristics, influences, or developmental outcomes.

  Heredity

- inborn traits or characteristics inherited from the biological parents.

 Environment

- totality of nonhereditary, or experiential, influences on development.

 Maturation

- unfolding of a natural sequence of physical and behavioral changes.

Contexts of Development:

 Family

• Nuclear family - two-generational kinship, economic, and household unit

consisting of one or two parents and their children.

• Extended family - multigenerational kinship network of parents, children, and

other relatives, sometimes living together in an extended-family household.

 socioeconomic status and neighborhood

• socioeconomic status (SES) - combination of economic and social factors

describing an individual or family, including income, education, and occupation.

• Risk factors - conditions that increase the likelihood of a negative

developmental outcome (ex: impact of poverty).

 culture and race/ethnicity

• culture - a society's or group's total way of life, including customs, traditions,

beliefs, values, language, and physical products. All learned behavior passed on
from parents to children.

• ethnic group - a group united by ancestry, race, religion, language, or national

origins, which contribute to a sense of shared identity.

•ethnic gloss - overgeneralization about an ethnic or cultural group that obscures

differences within the group.
  historical context

• normative influences - characteristic of an event that occurs in a similar way for

most people in a group.

Normative Normative Non

age- history- normative
graded graded life influences
influences influences
(biological
events)
Common Ex. Characteristic
Pandemic of an unusual
event that
happens to a
particular
person or a
typical event
that happens
at unusual
time of life.

• historical generation - a group of people strongly influenced by a major historical

event during their formative period.

• cohort - a group of people born at about the same time.

Timing of Influences:

Attachment

-A strong, enduring, affectionate bond an infant shares with a significant individual,

usually the mother, who knows and responds well to the infant’s needs.

Imprinting

- instinctive form of learning in which, during a critical period in early development,

a young animal forms an attachment to the first moving object it sees, usually the
mother. (ducks)

Critical period
- specific time when a given event or its absence has a specific impact on
development.

Plasticity

- range of modifiability or performance.

Sensitive periods

- times in development when a person is particularly open to certain kinds of

experiences.

Life-Span Developmental Approach (Paul B. Baltes):

1. Development is lifelong

2. Development is multidimensional (biological, psychological, and social)

3. Development is multidirectional (as people gain in one area, they may lose in
another, sometimes at the same time)

4. Relative influences of biology and culture shift over the lifespan

5. Development involves changing resource allocations

6. Development shows plasticity

7. Development is influenced by the historical and cultural context/multicontextual.

CHAPTER 2

Basic theoretical issues:

Theory

– coherent set of logically related concepts that seek to organize, explain, and
predict ideas.

Hypotheses

– possible explanations for phenomena, used to predict the outcome of research,

educated guess.
Active vs Reactive:

Active (Jean Jacques Rousseau)

- “Noble savages”

- innate

•Organismic model

- model that views human development as internally initiated by an active organism

and as occuring in a sequence of qualitatively different stages.

- discontinuous development

Reactive (John Locke)

- “tabula rasa” or “blank slate”

- experience

•Mechanistic model

- model that views human development as a series of predictable responses to

stimuli

- continuous Development

Continuous vs. discontinuous:

Quantitative Qualitative
change change
Changes in Discontinuous
number or change in
amount, such kind,
as in height, structure, or
weight, size of organization.
vocabulary, or
frequency of
communicatio
n.
Stage theories/discontinuous development

– theories based on the idea that we progress through a pattern of distinct

stages over time. These stages are defined by the acquisition or presence of
abilities and we generally pass through them in a specified order and during
a specified age range.

Continuous perspective/development

– development is a continuous, life-long experience which does not follow

specific steps and stages, but early experiences are built upon and skilled
expanded continuously.

Asynchronous development

– the situation that arises when a child is performing at a more advanced

stage in one developmental skill and a less advanced stage in a second
developmental skill.

5 perspectives on human development:

1. Psychoanalytic

2. Learning

3. Cognitive

4. Contextual

5. Evolutionary/sociobiological

 Psychoanalytic perspective:

Psychosexual Development (reactive)

- oral stage

- anal stage

- phallic stage

- latency

- genital
Psychosocial Development (active)

- trust vs mistrust

- autonomy vs shame

- initiative vs guilt

- industry vs Inferiority

- identity vs role confusion

- intimacy vs isolation

- generativity vs stagnation

- ego integrity vs despair

 Learning perspective:

Behaviorism (reactive)

- classical conditioning (Ivan Pavlov)

- operant conditioning (b.f. Skinner)

- reinforcement

- punishment

- behavior modification therapy

Social learning/social cognitive theory (active and reactive)

• reciprocal determinism – Bandura’s term for bidirectional forces that affect

development.

• observational learning/modelling – learning through watching the behavior of

others.

• self-efficacy – sense of one’s capability to master challenges and achieve goals.

 Cognitive perspective:

Cognitive development theory (Active)

1. Sensorimotor

- object permanence
2. Preoperational

- egocentric

- play pretend

3. Concrete operational

- literal minded

- reversibility

- ability to grasp conservation

4. Formal operational

- logical thought and reasoning

- abstract thought

Cognitive Development terms:

Organization – term for the creation of categories or systems of knowledge.

Schemes – organized patterns of thought and behavior used in particular situations.

Assimilation – incorporation of new information into an existing cognitive structure.

Accommodation – term for changes in a cognitive structure to include new

information.

Equilibration – the tendency to seek a stable balance among cognitive elements,

achieved through a balance between assimilation and accommodation.

Lev Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory

- theory of how contextual factors affect children’s development

- zone of proximal development (ZPD)

- Scaffolding

 Contextual perspective:
 - View of human development that sees the individual as inseparable from the
social context.

Bioecological Theory (active)

- Urie Bronfenbrenner

1. Microsystem (the activities and interactions immediately surrounding a person)

2. Mesosystem (the connections between elements of the microsystem)

3. Exosystem (the social settings that do not immediately impact on a person, but
surround them and are important to their welfare)

4. Macrosystem (the cultural values, laws, customs, and resources available to a

person)

5. Chronosystem (dimension of time)

Sociocultural Theory (active)

- This theory can be both under cognitive and contextual perspective.

 Evolutionary/sociobiological perspective (active and reactive):

- E.O Wilson

- inspired by Charles Darwin’s survival of the fittest and natural selection.

CHAPTER 3

Forming of New Life:

• Fertilization

- union of sperm cell and egg cell

• Zygote

- one-celled organism from fertilization

• Gametes

- sperm cell
- egg cell

- sex cells

> haploids – single set of chromosomes

• Egg cell (ovum)

- largest cell in humans

- its production begins at birth

- menstruation (6-13 days)

- ovulation (14 onwards)

• Sperm cell

- Head

- Chromatin (DNA materials)

- Acrosome (for protection and penetration)

- Midsection (mitochondria = energy)

- Tail (flagellum)

- 73 million sperm per ejaculation

- 5-7 days inside women

- 15-30 minutes lifespan in outside environment

- Sperm count (number of sperm per ejaculation)

- Sperm Motility (movement of sperm)

What causes multiple births?

• Monozygotic twins (identical twins)

- the two babies come from one (mono) fertilized egg (zygote).

• Dizygotic twins (fraternal twins)

- happens when 2 eggs are fertilized.

- happens when 2 eggs are fertilized.

-Due to an accident with timing.

- A woman’s body may either release more than one egg at a time or release an
egg in a later ovulation period after a woman has already conceived once.

Factors that increase the chances of having twins naturally:

1. Genetic factors

- hyperovulation (a situation where the body releases two or more eggs during
ovulation)

2. Age (older)

3. Height (taller)

3. Weight (bigger)

Different genetic and chromosomal abnormalities:

Genetic abnormalities:

1. Tay-Sachs Disease

- a rare genetic disorder passed from parents to child.

- caused by the absence of an enzyme responsible breaking down fatty substances

- progressive (crawl/vision)

- average lifespan (4-5 yrs old)

• Cause

- presence of hexa Gene

- common in Jewish community

• Symptoms

- exaggerated startle response

- "cherry red spots" in the eyes

- loss of motor skills

- muscle weakness (can lead to paralysis)

- seizures
2. Sickle-cell anemia

- affects the shape of red blood cells, which carry oxygen to all parts of the body.

• How does it affect people?

- babies born with it may not have symptoms for several months

- when they do, symptoms include extreme tiredness or fussiness from anemia,
painfully swollen hands and feet, jaundice (yellowish skin and whites of the eyes.)

3. Cystic fibrosis

- breathing problem

4. Diabetes

- baby does not produce enough insulin, which causes abnormal metabolism of
sugar.

• Type 1

- less common (10%)

- autoimmune (hereditary)

• Type 2

- most common (90%)

- from lifestyle

Chromosomal Abnormalities:

 Down Syndrome

- an extra chromosome causes mild to severe retardation and physical

abnormalities

1. Complete Trisomy 21

- error during the formation of the egg or sperm cell results in either one having an
extra chromosome.

2. Mosaic Down Syndrome

- caused by abnormal cell division after fertilization

3. Translocation Down Syndrome

- Additional genetic material from chromosome 21 attached to another

chromosome.
 Klinefelter syndrome (XXY)

- An extra X chromosome causes physical abnormalities

- Testosterone (primary male sex hormone)

- enlarged breasts (gynecomastia)

- a man that looks like woman

 Turner Syndrome (XO)/45

- a missing X chromosome in females can cause mental retardation and sexual

underdevelopment

- wide or web-like neck

- low-set ears

- broad chest with widely spaced nipples

- high, narrow roof of the mouth (palate)

- arms that turn outward elbows

 XYY syndrome (Jacob's syndrome)

- an extra y chromosome can cause above average height.

- symptoms in a baby: weak muscle tone, delayed motor skill development, such
as with walking or crawling, and delayed or difficult speech.

 Trisomy 18 (Edward's syndrome)

- have a low birth weight, multiple birth defects and defining physical
characteristics

- John Hilton Edwards (1960)

- overlapping fingers, low-set ears, heart/lung abnormalities, decreased muscle

tone, clubfeet, small physical size

 Patau Syndrome (Trisomy 13)

- additional genetic information from chromosome 13 is present in some or all of

the body's cells.
 - Hypotelorism (abnormally decreased distance between two organs or bodily
parts)

Prenatal Diagnostic Tests:

1. Ultrasound sonography

- a prenatal medical procedure in which high frequency sound waves are

directed into the pregnant woman's abdomen

2. Fetal MRI

- Allows for detailed imaging of the developing fetus in utero. Fast sequences are
required due to fetal movement.

3. Chorionic Villus Sampling (CVS)

- a prenatal medical procedure in which a small sample of the placenta is

removed

4. Amniocentesis

- a prenatal medical procedure in which a sample of amniotic fluid is withdrawn

by syringe and tested for chromosomal or metabolic disorders.

5. Noninvasive prenatal diagnosis (NIPD)

- increasingly being explored as an alternative to such procedures as chorionic

Villus Sampling and amniocentesis.

6. In Vitro Fertilization (IVF)

- in which eggs and sperm are combined in a laboratory dish.

• ovarian stimulation

• egg retrieval

• fertilization.

• embryo culture

• embryo transfer

Prenatal Development and Birth:

Stages of Prenatal Development

- Germinal (0-2 weeks)

- Embryonic (3-8 weeks)

- Fetal (9 weeks to birth)

Germinal period

• Blastocyst

- consists of an inner mass of cells that will eventually develop into the embryo.

• Trophoblast

- an outer layer of cells that later provides nutrition and support for the embryo.

Embryonic Period

• Embryo's three layers of cells:

1. Endoderm

- inner layer of cells

- will develop into the digestive and respiratory systems.

2. Mesoderm

- middle layer of cells

- will develop into circulatory systems

3. Ectoderm

- outermost layer of cells

- will develop into nervous systems, skin parts

Life support systems for the embryo:

1. Amnion

- a bag or an envelope that contains a clear fluid in which the developing embryo
floats.

2. Umbilical cord

- contains two arteries and one vein, and connects the baby to the placenta.

3. Placenta
- consists of a disk-shaped group of tissues in which small blood vessels from the
mother and the offspring intertwine but do not join.

Organogenesis – the process of organ formation during the first two months of
prenatal development.

Fetal Period (2-7 months)

1st Trimester:

• conception to 4 weeks

- “zygote”

- less than 1/10 inch long

- the beginning of organs and systems Development

- amniotic sac envelopes the preliminary tissues of entire body

• 8 weeks

- “embryo”

- just over 1 inch long

- face is forming with rudimentary eyes, ears, mouth, and tooth buds

- arms and legs are moving

- brain is forming

- fetal heartbeat

• 12 weeks

- “fetus”

- about 3 inches long and weighs about 1 ounce

- can move arms, legs, fingers, and toes

- fingerprints
- can smile, frown, suck, and swallow

- sex is distinguishable

- can urinate

2nd Trimester:

• 16 weeks

- about 6 inches long, 4-7 ounces

- strong heartbeat

- skin is thin and transparent

- Downy hair (Lanugo) covers body

- fingernails and toenails

- coordinated movements: can roll over in amniotic fluid

• 20 weeks

- 12 inches long, close to 1 pound

- heartbeat is audible with ordinary stethoscope

- sucks thumb

- hiccups

- hair, eyelashes, eyebrows are present

• 24 weeks

- 14 inches long, 1 to 1 ½ pounds

- skin is wrinkled and covered with protective coating (vernix caseosa)

- eyes are open

- waste matter is collected in bowel

- has strong grip

3rd Trimester:

• 28 weeks

- 16 inches long, 3 pounds

- adding body fat

- very active

- rudimentary breathing

• 32 weeks

- 16½ to 18 inches long, 4-5 pounds

- periods of sleep and wakefulness

- responds to sounds

- may assume the birth position

- bones of head are soft and flexible

- iron is being stored in liver

• 36 weeks

- 19-20 inches long, 6-7½ pounds

- skin is less wrinkled

- vernix caseosa is thick

- Lanugo is mostly gone

- less active

- gaining immunities from mother

Teratogen – any agent that can potentially cause a birth defect or negatively
alter cognitive and behavioral outcomes.

• Influences of Teratogen:

1. Dose – higher dose, greater effect

2. Genetic susceptibility – severity is linked to genetics

3. Time of exposure – greater time, greater damage

• Examples of Teratogen:

1. Prescription and nonprescription drugs.

- Antidepressant (increased risk of heart defects)
- Antibiotics ( increased risk for miscarriage)

• antibiotics generally considered safe during pregnancy

1. Penicillins – amoxicillin (Axomil, larotid) and ampicillin

2. Cephalosporin – cefaclor, and cephalexin (Keflex)

3. Clindamycin (cleocin, Clinda-derm, clindagel)

2. Nonprescriptive Drugs

- Ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin)

- can cause: miscarriage, delayed onset of labor, premature closing of the fetal
ductus arteriosus (an important artery)

3. Psychoactive Drugs

• Caffeine (coffee, tea, colas, chocolate)

- 200 or more milligrams of caffeine a day had an increased risk of

miscarriage.

• Alcohol

- Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD)

- A cluster of abnormalities and problems that appear in the offspring of
mothers who drink alcohol heavily during pregnancy
- Symptoms: short palpebral fissures, flat midface, short nose, indistinct
philtrum, thin upper lips.

• Nicotine

- Preterm births and low birth weights, fetal and neonatal deaths, respiratory
problems, sudden infant death syndrome.
- SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome)

• Cocaine

- Reduced birth weight, length, and head circumference

• Methamphetamine
- High infant mortality, low birth weight, and developmental and behavioral
problems

• Heroin

- The difficulties include withdrawal symptoms, such as tremors, irritability,

abnormal crying, disturbed sleep, and impaired motor control

Environmental Influences:

1. X-ray radiation

- exposure to high doses of radiation can cause misscariage, birth defects, and
some cancers later in life.

2. Maternal Factors

- Nutrition and Maternal Weight (300-500 additional calories a day)

- physical activity and strenuous work (can prevent constipation and improve
respiration, circulation, muscle tone, and skin elasticity)

- Stress

- Direct effect (direct effect to the baby’s condition)

- Indirect effect (pregnancy-related complications)

3. Paternal Factors

- Smoker

- Advance paternal age (ages 30-49)

The birth process:

1. 1st stage

- uterine contractions are 15-20 minutes apart at the beginning and last up to a
minute

2. 2nd birth stage

- begins when the baby’s head starts to move through the cervix and the birth
canal

3. Afterbirth

- at which time placenta, umbilical cord, and other membranes are detached and
expelled.
Doula – is a caregiver who provides continuous physical, emotional, and
educational support for the mother before, during, and after childbirth.