PY 212: People, Theories, Prenatal Development, Pregnancy, & Birth

Lifelong development

Not just during childhood but throughout life

Multidirectional development

Gain and lose skills and relationships throughout life, not just an upward trend

Multidimensional development

Physical, social, emotional development, etc.

Multidisciplinary development

Need different theories, methodologies, and fields to piece developmental psychology all together

Multicontextual development

Individual vs generational vs cultural development, etc.

Nature

Biological inheritance and genetics determine human behavior

Nurture

Society, culture, and social processes determine human behavior

Gene-Environment Interaction/Genetics + Environmental risk

Both genetic predisposition and environmental factors influence how a person develops (ex: someone may have a predisposition to alcoholism but being around alcoholic friends/family and a society that has a big drinking culture can contribute to them developing that addiction)

Epigenetics

The way your behaviors and environment can cause changes that affect the way your genes work; turns genes "on" and "off."

Continuity

Development is a slow, gradual process (ex: language development)

Discontinuity

Skills gained in distinct stages (ex: walking)

Active

Kids actively explore their world which helps them construct new ways to think and explan their experiences (Piaget)

Passive

People are not as engaged in their development and experiences happen to them rather than them doing things themselves to shape their development

Stability vs. Change

Whether personality is rooted in tendencies from infanthood/childhood or if it changes as people age

Preformationist View

Kids = little adults; skills and abilities as adults are predetermined as a child

John Locke

Kids don’t have innate knowledge and are largely shaped by their social environment and education (tabula rasa); emphasized early development

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Kids develop according to a natural plan which unfolds in different stages (inner, biological timetable); they aren’t blank slates but could and should think for themselves; father of developmental psychology

Arnold Gesell

Studied neuromotor development in kids; believed development was activated by genes which led to maturation; also believed development unfolded in a specific sequence

Sigmund Freud

Early childhood experiences shape personality and behavior; in childhood, people become social beings and learn how to manage instincts and social expectations

Psychodynamics

Behavior influenced by unconscious processes and unresolved conflict

Conscious

Thoughts and perceptions

Preconscious

Memory and stored knowledge

Unconscious

Instincts, fears, and selfish motives

Psychosexual development

Personality develops through a series of stages; unresolved conflict during these stages could lead to personality issues in adulthood

Oral Stage

Birth to 1 year; sexual sensations centered on the mouth; pleasure derived from sucking, chewing, biting

Anal Stage

1-3 years; sexual sensations centered on the anus; high interest in feces; pleasure derived from eliminations

Phallic Stage

3-6 years; sexual sensations move to genitals; sexual desire for other-sex parent and fear of same-sex parent

Latent Stage

6 years to puberty; sexual desires repressed; focus on developing social and cognitive skills

Genital Stage

Puberty to Adulthood; reemergence of sexual desire, now directed outside the family

Behaviorism (Skinner)

Emphasizes the role of learning and observable behaviors in understanding human and animal actions; states all behaviors are learned through conditioned interaction with the environment; objective behavioral observation

Stimulus

Any object or event that elicits a response from an organism

Response

Any biological reaction or behavior resulting from the application of a stimulus

Reinforcement

Something done to increase a behavior (add something desirable or take away something aversive)

Punishment

Something done to decrease a behavior (adding something aversive or taking away something desirable)

Positive punishment

Adding something to the environment that decreases the chance of a behavior occurring

Negative punishment

Removing something from the environment that decreases the chance of a behavior occurring

Positive reinforcement

Adding something to the environment that increases the chance of a behavior occurring

Negative reinforcement

Removing something from the environment that increases the chance of a behavior occurring

Social Learning Theory (Bandura)

Learn by watching others

Reciprocal Determinism

Interplay between our personality and the way we interpret events and how they influence us; we are a product of our environment AND we influence our environment

Bobo Doll study

Kids observing aggressive behavior toward the doll were more likely to imitate that aggressive behavior, and kids observing non-aggressive behavior toward the doll were less likely to imitate that aggressive behavior

Piaget

Noticed that intellectual skills change with maturation

Sociocultural Theory (Vygotsky)

Importance of culture and interaction in development of cognitive abilities; kids are little “apprentices” that need interaction with “teachers” (adults)

Ecological Systems Theory (Bronfenbrenner)

We exist in different contexts that influence behavior and development

Microsystem

Immediate environment; family, peers, work, religion

Mesosystem

Interaction between things in the microsystem

Exosystem

Indirect but powerful influence; media, health resources, local policies

Macrosystem

Wider ideological and cultural contexts; economy, culture, laws, dominant ideologies

Chromosystem

Events and transitions and changes in the political and social contexts; divorce and remarriage, laws on gender equality

Genotype

All of the genes a person inherits

Phenotype

Features that are actually expressed

Sperm

Produced in testicles; enter through vagina and into fallopian tube to ovary

Egg/Oocyte

Immature egg cell which becomes a mature egg cell once sperm deposits genetic material; produced in ovaries

Zygote

Egg fertilized by a sperm (typically just one); travels to uterus and implants into the uterine wall

Blastocyst

100 cells; trophoblasts and embryonic discs are classified as such; fully implants into the uterine wall

Trophoblast

Type of blastocyst; outer layer of cells that becomes the placenta

Embryonic disc

Stem cells (special cells that can develop into many different types) inside the blastocyst that becomes the embryo

Embryo

A blastocyst that has implanted into the uterine wall

Placenta

Formation begins from implantation to nine weeks; provides nourishment and oxygen from the mother to the embryo via the umbilical cord

2 directions of embryonic growth

Cephalocaudal (head to tail) and proximodistal (midline outwards)

Fetal period (9 weeks until Birth)

At month 3, the fetus develops all major body parts and is 3 inches; mother experiences constipation, vaginal discharge, and frequent peeing

Fetal Period (Months 4 to 6)

Eyes develop sensitivity to light; hearing develops; respiratory system develops (sucking, swallowing, hiccupping)

Fetal period (Month 6)

Majority of neurons are developed; primitive neurons, glial cells still developing; fetus about 12 inches

Fetal period (Months 7 to 9)

Fetus preparing for birth; lungs expand and contract; muscle and bone develop; major increase in growth (length and weight)

Neural plate

Part of the outer layer of the embryo that thickens and folds, eventually becomes neural tube which becomes the brain; development starts around week 3

Neural tube

Differentiates into forebrain, midbrain, and hindbrain at week 8

Neurogenesis

Neuron formation; mostly completed after 5 months

Neural migration

Neurons moving to where they’re supposed to be; once in position, begin to develop axons and dendrites

Teratogens

Factors that contribute to birth defects; alcohol, tobacco, illicit drugs, diseases

Alcohol

Contributes to intellectual disabilities like fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD)

Tobacco

Exposes fetus to nicotine, carbon monoxide, and other dangerous chemicals; associated with low birthweight, ectopic pregnancy, and placenta issues

Cocaine

Associated with low birthweight, stillbirth, and spontaneous fetal death

Marijuana

Associated with problems with brain development

Neonatal abstinence syndrome

Fetus can become addicted and then go through withdrawals once born

German measles (rubella)

Associated with deafness, blindness, and heart and brain defects

Ectopic pregnancy

Blastocyst implants anywhere besides the uterine wall

Geriatric pregnancy

Older than 35; increased risk of high blood pressure, gestational diabetes, and c-section

Teen pregnancy

Anemia, high blood pressure

Gestational diabetes

Diabetes (too much glucose in blood) developed during pregnancy; 7% of pregnant people experience, can cause preeclampsia

Preeclampsia

Persistent high blood pressure that develops during pregnancy or the postpartum period; leakage of protein into the urine; slows the kidneys or liver; can cause seizures (eclampsia); second leading cause of U.S. maternal deaths and elading cause of fetal complications

Hypertension

High blood pressure; 8% of pregnant people experience; can cause premature birth, low birthweight, and preeclampsia

Pregnancy complications

Nausea, heartburn, gas, hemorrhoids, back pain, cramping, constipation, shortness of breath

Maternal mortality

60% of maternal deaths are preventable and usually related to bleeding, infections, and heart-related problems

Braxton-Hicks contractions

False labor

Birth

Amniotic sac breaks, baby pushed through birth canal and delivered, followed by the placenta

Epidural block

Pain relief for lower body