Human Growth and Development

Chapter 1

Nature

Influence of the genes that people inherit

Nurture

Environmental influences that affect development

Differential Susceptibility (Sensitivity)

People vary in their sensitivity to particular experiences, either due to their genetic makeup or past experiences.

Ex. Dogs, Neighborhoods, Flowers, People

Critical Period

Time when certain things must develop and cannot develop later

Sensitive Period

Time when a particular development occurs most easily and can happen later

Cohort

All persons born within a few years of one another are said to be a cohort, a group defined by the shared age of its members. (similiarly classified as a generation)

Dynamic-Systems Approach

Suggests human development is an ongoing, ever-changing interaction between body and mind and between the individual and every aspect of the environment.

Psychoanalytic Theory

Proposes that irrational, unconscious drives and motives, often originating in childhood, underlying human behavior

Sigmund Freud

• First psychoanalyst

• Proposed five psychosexual stages during which sensual satisfaction is linked to developmental needs and conflicts

• Suggested early conflict resolution determines personality patterns

Psychodynamic Theory (Erik Erikson)

• Described eight developmental stages, each characterized by a challenging developmental crisis.

• Proposed five psychosocial stages built on Freud's theory, but added three adult stages.

• Emphasized family and culture, not sexual urges.

Behaviorism (Learning Theory)

• Study of human development

• Focuses on observable behavior

• Describes the laws and processes by which behavior is learned

Classical Conditioning

Demonstrates that behaviors can be learned by associating an environmental stimulus with a naturally occurring stimulus

Ivan Pavlov

Discovered classical conditioning

Operant Conditioning

Learning process in which a particular action is followed either by something desired or something unwanted, making the action either more or less likely to be repeated

B.F. Skinner

Best known for experiments with his rats, pigeons, and his daughter

Social Learning Theory

Emphasizes that other people influence each person’s behavior

Albert Bandura

Emphasized Social learning theory

Cognitive Theory

Focuses on how people think, proposes that thoughts shape our attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors

Jean Piaget

Maintained that cognitive development occurs in four major age- related periods, or stages: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational

Piagets Periods of Cognitive Development

 Sensorimotor

 Preoperational

 Concrete operational

 Formal operational

Evolutionary Theory

 Suggests that organisms change over time as a result of changes in

heritable physical or behavioral traits

 Proposes many human impulses, needs, and actions may have

evolved to help people live and thrive over the past 200,000 years

Charles Darwin

Theorized nature works to ensure that each species does two things: survive and reproduce