Ch. 1 Science of Human Development

Nature

• the influence of the genes that people inherit

Nurture

• environmental influences, beginning with the health, diet, and stress - of the future person’s brith parent at conception, and continuing lifelong, within family, school, community, and nation

Nature and Nurture

• both affect us

• don’t know to what extent

Adverse Childhood Experience (ACEs)

• childhood experiences that have been proven to have harmful effects on development

  • parental absence

  • maltreatment

  • neighborhood dysfunction

• physical and emotional problems in adulthood can be traced to ACEs

  • four or more ACEs can be destructive ALTHOUGH

  • sometimes people grow up normal

Critical periods

• a time when something must occur for normal development

• also the time when an abnormality might arise

  • ex.critical period for humans to grow arms and legs, hands and feet, fingers and toes, is between 28 and 54 days after conception

  • after day 54, the critical period is over

Sensitive Periods

• a time when a certain development is most likely, although it may still happen later with more difficulty

  • ex. early childhood is considered a sensitive period for language learning

  • if a child does not communicate between ages 1-3, they might later but grammar is often impaired

Social Construction and Culture

• an idea that is built on shared perceptions, not on objective reality

• many age-related terms (childhood, adolescence) are social constructions connected to biological traits but strongly influenced by social assumptions

• affects how people think and act

• cultural differences are not always wrong and inferior, nor are they always right and superior

Culture

shared beliefs, conventions, norms, behaviors and expectations

Ethnic Group

• usually have the same ancestors, and often have similar national origins, religion, and language

• social construct, not biological

• do not always share a culture

Race

• social construct

• a group of people who are regarded by themselves or by others as distinct from other groups on the basis of physical appearance, typically skin color

Plasticity

• denotes two complementary aspects of development

  • people can be molded

    • can change over time

  • people maintain a certain durability

    • new behavior is affected by what has already happened

Cross-Sectional Research

• compares people of one age with similar people of another age

  • ex. testing reading ability of children 5, 8, and 11

  • if 51% of 5 year olds were boys…

  • 51% of 8 and 11 year olds would have to be boys

  • finds norms for children at each age and would learn how reading advances over the years

Longitudinal Research

• collects data repeatedly on the same individuals over time

• pro: can tell what age range would be best to implement or change something to better in the long run

• con: data collected long ago may not be valid to use due to historical contexts

Correlation and Causation

• correlation is between two variables, if one variable is more (or less) likely to occur when the other does

• correlation does not mean causation

Correlation is positive if

both variables tend to increase together

Correlation is negative if

both variables tend to decrease together

Quantitative Research

• can be easily summarized, compared, charted, and replicated

• BUT overshadows individuality which is why we turn to…

• Qualitative

Qualitative Research

• asks questions that have no direct answer

• reports answers in narrative (not numerical) form