Human Development Exam Review

Anthropology

the study of humanity. It works to understand human development through what is considered a holistic approach concerned with different dimensions of humanity.

Psychology

the study of the human mind and behaviour. It focuses on the study of the mind, how it works and how it affects behaviour 

Sociology

the study of human relations and societies. It focuses on a variety of different factors within society from religion, race, culture, and social change. 

Indigenous Wholistic Theory

theory is a whole (ecological, cyclical and relational. the circle plays an important role in Indigenous ideology

• the medicine wheel: illustrates the interconnectedness of self, individual, family community, nation, society and creation

• indigenous ideology suggests that development is closely linked to all facets and connects the circle as an image of development

• “wholeness” we are all related

Nurture

Human growth and development is primarily influenced and dependent on one’s experiences and their environment

• Ex. Experiences faced impact one’s biology and environment 

Nature

Humans grow in an orderly way and their development and traits are influenced primarily by “nature” or their genetics. 

• Ex. Genes, inherited traits 

Continuity

Growth is gradual, and occurs over years. Not something that simply happens but is rather smooth

• Ex. a child saying their first word is surprising and seems abrupt, it is actually the result of practice and growth over weeks.

Discontinuity

Development happens through stages or a sequence. Each stage has 1 task or challenge (or multiple). 

• Ex.insect → caterpillar → chrysalis → butterfly If a stage is missed, the insect won’t become a butterfly

Stability

Developmentalists who emphasize ______ believe that our personality and traits will remain the same.

• Ex. if a child does not grow up in a warm, nurturing and loving environment, their development will never be optimal

Change

Developmentalists who emphasize change believe that we are malleable and capable of change.

• Ex. Positive relationships are just as important during infancy as they are in adolescence and adulthood.

Universal

One developmental process that everyone experiences 

• Ex. Standard developmental process. Most major aspects to human life with regards to psychology and human behaviour do work in this way and are universal.

Context Specific

Developmental process is inextricably linked within the context that occurs 

• Ex. culture, history, religion, ethnicity, discrimination, etc.

Lifespan perspective

This perspective emphasizes developmental changes throughout adulthood as well as during childhood.

Normative age-graded influences

• Events that are strongly related to age and therefore fairly predictable in when they occur and how long they might last:

• Ex. most individuals walk shortly after their 1st birthday or going through around puberty from ages 12-14 (biological/physical)

• Ex. Social customs like starting school around age 6, getting your license at 16. (social/cultural)

Normative History graded influence

• Development is impacted by the historical era and what takes place during that time;

• Ex. epidemic, pandemics, technological, advancements, etc. 

• Explains why people born around the same time (called cohort) tend to be more alike such as baby boomers, gen x, millennials, gen z, etc.

• Experiences with the pandemic for adolescents is a normative history graded influence. With most children experiencing similar situations like virtual school.

Non-normative life event

• Events that might seem irregular in an individual's life;

• They happen to just one person or a few people and do not follow a predictable timetable. These events are unique to an individual.

• Ex. learning an instrument, losing a family member, moving countries or schools, etc.

• In contemporary societies nonnormative influence have become more powerful and age-graded influences less so in adult development 

Protective factors

“A characteristic at the biological, psychological, family, or community (including peers and culture) level that is associated with a lower likelihood of problem outcomes or that reduces the negative impact of a risk factor on problem outcomes.”

• Academic achievement, parent connectedness, connections to other non-parental adults, access to health services, resilience, neighborhood safety, etc.

Risk factors

“A characteristic at the biological, psychological, family, community, or cultural level that precedes and is associated with a higher likelihood of problem outcomes.”

• Poverty, abuse discrimination, political unrest, physical illness, mental illness, environmental degradation.

Life expectancy

The average number of years that a person born in a particular year can expect to live

Biological process:

changes in physical nature

• Genes inherited from parents, puberty, height, weight gain, cardiovascular decline

• Body odor from infancy to adolescence, hormonal changes 

• Development of brain, mortar skills, nutrition

Cognitive process

changes in thought, intelligence and language 

• Less development in their brains and ability of risk taking for example

• Watching a mobile swig from a crib, putting together two word sentences, memorizing a song, solving a puzzle 

• Learning new languages, education 

Socioemotional

relationships w other people, emotions and personality

• Limited emotions, with young children, much more complex emotions as well in older people 

• An infant's smile in response to parental touch, aggressive attack on a playmate, teens joy at prom, affection between people 

• Changing personalities and matured communication, thoughts, ideas, etc.

Age: Biological, chronological, psychological, social

• Identified as patterns of change that begin at conception and continues through our lives 

• The process involves biological, cognitive and socioemotional

• The three processes are inextricably intertwined for example a baby smiling in response to a parents touch depends on the biological (responsiveness to touch), cognitive (ability to understand intentional acts) and socioemotional (the act of smiling reflects positive feelings, smiling helps connect humans)

Arnold Gesell

Physical development is:

• Influenced by their genes (biology)

• Rate that they develop depends on their nervous system 

• Fixed sequences we have to go through (development on these stages)

• Viewing development as internal 

• Saw this as additional and had to be in harmony with the nervous system

Ether Thelen

Physical development is:

• External factors** 

• What you see is what you do

• Active - child learns on their own 

• Direct - Showing them how (parents, guardians, teachers) 

• Environment exploration is deeply important to the forming of a child and their brain development

Cephalocaudal Principle

• Pattern of physical development

• Development proceeds from the head downward

• Fastest growth occurs at the top of the head 

  • Then gradually moves down and the rest of the body develops 

  • Similar to sensory and motor skills development 

  • Head → neck, → shoulders → middle trunk 

Proximodistal Pattern

• Pattern of physical development

• Growth starts at the center of the body and moves out towards extremities 

• Spinal cord develops first

• Maturation of muscular control of the trunk and arms 

  • Arms develop before hands : Hands and feet before toes and fingers 

  • Finger muscles are also last to develop (control shoulders and hand first)

Fine motor skills

Involve controlling finely tuned intricate movements 

• Wiggling toes or fingers, gripping objects between thumb and fingers, buttoning shirt

Gross motor skills

Involve controlling large muscle activity (use of limbs)

• Walking, crawling, sitting independently, pulling yourself up, and standing 

• Developed first before fine motor skills

Rooting reflex

Built in reaction that occurs when the infant’s cheek is stroked or the side of mouth is touched. The infant moves their head to the side they were touched in an effort to find something to suck. 

Sucking reflex

Reaction to sucking an object placed in their mouth. This enables them to get nourishment before it is associated the nipple with food. 

Moro reflex

Startle response to a sudden noise or movement. When startled a newborn will throw its head back, arch their back or fling arms and legs. 

Lifespan & Physical development: Infancy

• Newborns lose 5-7% of their body weight in the first dew days of being outside since they were somewhat absorbed with the amniotic fluids 

• Reflexes such as sucking digesting and following develops rapidly after birth 

• Babies grow and gain about 5-6 ounces per week within the first month 

• Infants double birth weight by the 4th month and triple by the first year 

Lifespan & Physical development: Early childhood

• By the ends of preschool children lose the top heavy look

• Children get taller and slim down since the torso/trunk of their bodies lengthen but they don't really gain weight 

  • Heads and eyes seem very big for their bodies 

• AFAB growth tend to have more fat tissue, AMAB growth tends to have more tissue tissues 

• Growth patterns are individualized, and important contributors to height are:

  • Ethnic origin

  • Nutrition 

  • If people lack a proper and nutritional diet it could stunt their growth or hinder their potential or their full height 

Lifespan & Physical development: Adolescence and puberty

• Hormones in the brain are activated and physical changed then occur during the tween/teen years (sometimes earlier

• Weight, body fat and leptin are hormones that help regulate energy balances

• Weight (at birth and infancy)

  • Can determine when puberty begins especially or AFAB people

• Sexual maturation:

  • Growth of pubic hair 

  • Armpit hair 

  • Growth in height 

  • Might develop acne 

  • More and stinkier sweat 

  • More body hair overall and body hair may become darker

Lifespan & Physical development: Middle adulthood

• Loss of height and weight 

  • Men losing about ½ inch in height from 30-50, and then another ½  around 50-70

  • Women loose up to 2 inches from 25-75

• Hair thins and turns grey due to the decline in melanin

• Blood cholesterol increases

• Blood pressure rises 

• Risk of beauty rises 

• Max bone density (only declines after 50s)

Lifespan & Physical development: late adulthood

• Wrinkles 

• Hair loss

• Grey hair 

• Slowered reactions 

• Changes to physical stamina 

• Weight and muscle mass drops (“saggy look”)

• Hypertension is more likely

Androgens

Male sex hormones in puberty

Estrogen

Female sex hormones in puberty

What does the Endocrine system do?

• Secrete powerful chemicals secreted into bloodstream

• Endocrine system regulates all biological processes

• Ensures that hormonal stimulation prompts maturation and maintains reproductive capacity 

What impacts puberty in adolescence?

• Socio cultural and environmental actors 

  • Adolescents in developed areas reach puberty earlier than those in underdeveloped areas 

  • Absence of parental figures, maltreatment(etc) can impact onset of puberty 

frontal lobe

• Largest lobe of the cerebral cortex

• Responsible for behavioral traits: personality, decision making, and motor control.

• Makes sense of information about the environment, memories and emotions and uses this information to make decisions. 

• Fully develops around 25 years of age

Parietal lobe

• Integrates information from our sense to focus our attention on important things in the environment 

• Interprets sense of touch and monitors the body and its limbs 

• Receives signals from occipital lobe that reflects location of objects in our visual field 

• Left and right halves of the parietal lobe are generally responsible for information coming from respective sides of the body

Temporal lobe

• Pairs the left and right sides of the brain 

• Manage emotions

• Processing information from senses 

• Storing and retrieving memories 

• Understanding language 

Occipital lobe

• Visual processing area of the brain

• Distance and depth perception

• Colour determination

• Object and face recognition 

• Memory formation 

• Visuospatial processing 

• The ability to tell where objects are in space, including your own body parts

Bronca Area

• Small section of the left frontal lobe, behind the left eye 

• Key component of complex speech networks

• The flow of sensory information from temporal cortex 

• Reaches maturity by 18 months 

Wernicke’s area

• Comprehends language both spoken and written

• Reaches maturity by 18 months

Brain Plasticity

• The capacity one has to learn and change. Neural networks in the brain grow and are reorganized/rewired. 

• As people age brain plasticity decreases, children have high brain plasticity, with higher capabilities to learn new things 

  • An example of this is learning a new language, or playing a new instrument

Synaptic pruning

the removal of neurons and synapses it doesnt need. When an activity is unexercised

Language development rules: Phonology

the sound system of a language. A phoneme is the smallest sound unit in a language 

• The word chat has three phonemes or sounds /ch/a/t/ 

Language development rules: Morphology

the system of meaningful units involved in word formation of the smallest sound units 

• Ex. girl, has one sound unit and cannot b e broken down more, but when a suffix s is added, girls has two morphemes because the meaning of the word has changed 

Language development rules: syntax

The system that involves the way words are combined to form acceptable phrases and sentences

• The importance of word order, changing the meaning of the sentence 

• Ex. sebastian pushed the bike vs the bike pushed sebastian

Language development rules: semantics

the system that involves the meaning of words and sentences 

• Knowing the meaning of individual words such as the word orange, transportation or intelligent 

Language development rules: pragmatics

the system of using appropriate conversation and knowledge of how to effectively use language in context 

• For example using the politie language in appropriate situations like being mannerly when speaking to a teacher or taking turns in conversations involves pragmatics 

Stages of language development: early childhood

• Can produce all vowel and consonant sounds (demonstrating knowledge of syntax, semantics and morphology)

• Can use prepositions like “an”, “in”, “the”, “a”, “to be”

• Vocab development very dramatic between 18 months-6 years due to fast mapping

Stages of language development: mid to late childhood

• Increase of an average of 14,000 in grade 1 and increasing to 40,00 by grade 5

• Develop metalinguistic awareness: knowledge about the language such as knowing what predispositions are or discussion sounds of language

• the whole language approach

• the phonics approach

Stages of language development: adolescence

• Languages becomes more sophisticated due to more abstract thinking and analyzing the role words play in sentences 

  • Understanding metaphors and satire  

• Improve at writing 

  • Due to improved ability to organize ideas, can distinguish general vs specific points and can string together complex sentences

Stages of language development: adulthood and aging

• Language development in adults is dependent on their education level, social interaction and occupation 

• Vocabulary is thought to increase in adulthood until one reaches older adulthood in which it is assumed to decline due to: difficulty understanding speech cause of hearing loss, poor health, loss in memory, etc.

• Those with Alzheimer's experience difficulties finding words

what is fast mapping?

A child’s ability to make an initial connection between a word and its referent after limited exposure 

The whole language approach

beginner readers are taught to recognize whole words or entire sentences, using context to guess the morning of words 

The phonics approach

emphasizes teaching basic rules for translating written symbols into sounds (i.e. breaking down the sounds a word makes one phoneme at a time 

Explicit memory

the conscious recollection of facts and experiences 

• Ex. Birth dates of friends and family members, Important events from your life, such as your wedding, a special trip, or another notable milestone.

implicit memory

memory without conscious recollection - memory of skills and routine procedures that are performed automatically.

• Ex. singing a familiar song, typing on your computer keyboard, and brushing your teeth

short term memory

Involves retaining information for up to 30 seconds without rehearsing the information

• With repetition & rehearsal, this strengthen in childhood

• Ex. Remembering a person's name shortly after being introduced

working memory

• Interacts w/ long term memory

• Workbench where individuals manipulate information (decisions, problem solving) to eventually store it in long term memory

long term memory

• Permanent type of memory that stores huge amounts of information for long periods of time

• Becomes “autobiographical”, (remembering events through specific time and location)

• Ex. Memory of how to ride a bike, important life events, etc

shallow processing

the encoding of information on basic auditory or visual levels, based on the sound, structure or appearance of a word

• Ex. maybe you remember it by how it looked in a font or sounded 

deep processing

the semantic encoding of information based on the actual meaning associated with the word, and is connected to something meaningful or related to a personal or emotional experience 

• Ex. learning about greek leonidas, associated with lions which are a symbol of strength 

fluid intelligence

Being able to think and reason abstractly, solve problems, and generate/manipulate new information in real time.

• Ex; problem solving skills, interpreting statistics, solving puzzles, use of critical thinking, etc.

crystallized intelligence

Refers to the accumulation of knowledge, facts, and skills that are acquired throughout one’s life and as they age.

• Ex; memorizing text/vocab, recalling how to do something, remembering dates/locations, etc.

Garnder’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences

• Howard Gardner argued people have multiple intelligences and proposed 8 different types;

• He believed that Intelligence tests weren’t measuring all the different intelligences.

  • Verbal intelligence

  • Mathematical

  • Spatial intelligence

  • Musical

  • Interpersonal

  • Intrapersonal

  • Naturalist

Jean Piaget’s theory on specific stages of cognitive development

• Children construct their own knowledge in response to their experiences 

• Children learn many things on their own without the intervention of older children or adults.  

• Children are intrinsically motivated to learn and do not need rewards from adults to motivate learning.

emotional regulation

the ability to control one's emotion (can be extreme (rage, happy, sad) or subtle (feeling uneasy)) and managing their responses to adapt to certain circumstances and reach a goal

emotion coaching

Something that parents do, and have a role teaching emotional regulation Emotional coaching monitors emotions and views negative emotions as a teaching opportunity. Parents help children label their emotions and help provide tips to deal with them

emotion dismissing

denying, ignoring or changing negative emotions

emotional intelligence

Ability to understand, use and manage your emotions

emotional competence

focuses on the adaptive nature of emotional experiences. Developing skills in social context, said skills develop throughout the life

what are the emotions in infancy

crying, smiling, fear

crying

is important for communication (first cry indicates lungs have air)

• Basic cry, angry cry, and pain cry 

smiling

Smiling key for developing social skills

• Reflexive smile, and social smile

reflective smile

Does not occur in response to something and usually occurs during sleep

social smile

Occurs in response to an external stimuli (first 4-6 weeks) from caregivers voice 

fear

one of the earliest emotions

• stranger anxiety and separation anxiety

Emotional development: early childhood

Children begin to understand their emotions

• Certain situations evoke specific emotions 

• Facial expression indicates emotions 

• Emotion affects others, and influences behaviour

• Between ages 2-4 children increase the number to terms used to describe their emotions

• By 4-5 they reflect on their emotions and understand an event can bring out different emotions for different people. 

Emotional development: mid to late childhood

• There are significant changes in this stage 

• Children improve emotional understanding

  • Meaning there is marked improvement in their ability to hide their negative emotional reactions 

• They use self regulation to redirect their feelings 

  • Take deep breaths, drink water, take a walk, write about it, etc.

• Larger tendency to look at the bigger picture during an emotional reaction 

• Develop capacity for genuine empathy for others 

Emotional development: adolescence

• Can be moody, with many reporting to be unhappy.

• Moodiness is normal during this time 

• From puberty, hormones, transitioning into highschool, social media, bullying, etc. 

• But this can also be due to the brain itself, as our prefrontal cortex is not fully developed in order to control the fully developed parts of the brain that dictate emotions. 

• Meaning our emotions are fully developed but the control section of the brain

Emotional development: adulthood

• Adults are motivated by their desire to create a satisfying lifestyle

• These motivations influence their choices about life partners, careers, where they live, their peers and friends, while focusing on more emotionally meaningful goals

• Emotional regulation is impacted by their ability to make the right decision in areas of their lives

• Overall stronger control over their emotions 

  • More balance and less intense highs and lows 

• socioemotional selectivity

socioemotional selectivity theory

• Developed by laura carstensen, pertains to older adults 

• Her theory suggests that older adults become more selective about their activities and social relationships to maintain their emotional and social well being 

• Older people place higher values on emotional satisfaction, spending more time with comfortable people, who they feel happy around with stronger relationships 

• Narrowing off social interactions gives adults more positive emotional experiences and minimizes risks as they age

socialization (definition)

Socialization is a process that introduces people to social norms and customs. Helping individuals function in society, and in turn allowing society to run smoothly

Socialization: childhood

• When people are very young they tend to relate to others from their own POV

  • Ideas are centered on you

• Children are primarily concerned with their toys, their mom, their dad, their friends and home

• When playing outside of the family, children begin to develop the ability to consider other viewpoints and upbringing

• As children grow and develop their idea of relationships change from what they know at home to how to share relationships with others 

• Socialization in an individual's family lays the foundation for how a child is going to socialize and behave with others in their childhood stages

  • Their socialization or lack thereof can become very apparent

• Children are learning to

  • Consider the thoughts and feelings of others 

  • Beginning to develop social skills 

• Example: a child sharing a ball during recess and take turns jumping rope, lead them to already learning components of socialization in schooling 

Socialization: adolescence

• In teenage years adolescents continue to socially mature 

  • They learn to “give and take” as they encounter different viewpoints

• Adolescents use social skills as they develop close friendships of multiple genders and development throughout the lifetime

• Meeting new people and new personalities comes into play at helping to understand others

• By observing family members and interacting with the,, they learn how to respond to various life situations 

  • People learn what's important, what guidelines to abide by and what actions are considered acceptable 

• Young people develop socially as they adopt these beliefs and standards as their own

• Part of their socialization process includes thinking about and questioning parents standards

• By they provide answers and reasons for their standards and beliefs

  • Parents can help children understand their future roles 

Socialization: adulthood

• The adult stage of socialization relies on the interactions and experiences throughout various aspects of one’s life: friendship, partners, work life, home life, parenting, home/apartment/condo ownership 

• Workplace culture is very different from parenting culture, hence why adult’s have to be ready to change their past experiences of socialization.

• A marker of success in socialization in adulthood relies on their ability to adapt and interact with various groups 

  • Successful development in childhood and adolescence is needed for this to happen

  • If early on socialization development is stunted, it is visible in adulthood

Socialization: old age

• People who are older their opportunity for socialization lessens as individuals can't rely on previous environments to be a part of a group or community

• There is a large loss of relationships including friendships, from work, from the disness and health decline of friends and family (passing away), as well as loved ones moving away, or older person is moved away if they are unable to take care of themselves 

• Communities and groups for older groups exist for recreation center programs, exercise classes, bingo games, and social events, which encourage and promote new forms of socialization 

• Socialization in old age is possible and incredibly beneficial for individuals who are missing a sense of belonging and community in the ways they were earlier throughout their lives

How might socialization look in childhood vs adulthood vs late adulthood?

• Socialization in childhood is mostly through caregivers, teachers, peers and overall authority figures, maybe from sports, school, religious institutions, etc.

• In adulthood socialization may occur is based more in work, friendships, home life, becoming a parent and gaining more responsibilities like owning a home 

• In late adulthood towards older age there is less people interacting with one another, the relationships from adolescence and adulthood tend to dwindle and there are less experiences of socialization

primary socialization

• birth through adolescence. 

• Being guided by caregivers, teachers, coaches, religious figures, and peers

secondary socialization

• adolescence and onwards. 

• Takes places in situations and experiences that are part of our primary socialization. Instilling new norms, values, and behaviors as individuals interact with different groups and people. 

• Being guided from post-secondary schooling experiences, travel, friend groups, job opportunities and overall new experiences. 

organizational socialization

• Found specifically within institutions or organizations

• In this process an individual becomes socialized to the norms, values and practices of the institution/organization

• Being guided from workplaces, schools, government, etc. 

socioeconomic status (definition)

ones perceived social standing with complex factors that involve access to and quality of education, income, financial security, occupation, living conditions, resources, opportunities, etc.

Chess and Thomas Classification

• Involves individual differences in behavioral styles, emotions and characteristic ways in responding to certain situations

• Refers to how quickly emotion is shown, how strong it is, how long it lasts, and how soon it fades away 

• Psychiatrists Alexander Chess and Stella Thomas identified 3 basic types of temperament

  • easy child, difficult child, slow-to-warm-up child

Easy child

• Part of chess and Thomas classification for temper

• Generally positive, quickly establishes regular routine in infancy, and adapts easily to new experiences (40% of children)