1.2 Perspectives on Nature and Nurture

Individual Differences

Differences in characteristics, influences, or developmental outcomes

3 Individual Influences on Development

Gene, Shared Environmental Influences, & Nonshared environmental influences

Shared Environmental Influences

Common experiences that work to make them similar (e.g., parenting style)

Nonshared Environmental Influences

Unique experiences to the individual that are not shared with the other members of the family (e.g., parental favoritism)

Normative Influences

Biological or environmental events that affect many or most people in a society in similar ways and events that touch only certain individuals

Different Normative Influences

Age-grade, History-graded, & Nonnormative

Normative Age Graded Influences

They are experiences and changes that are common for individuals within a specific age group such as puberty, menopause, formal schooling, retirement

Normative History-Graded Influences

They are events that are experienced by a majority of people within a specific culture or society at a similar point in history such as the COVID-19 Pandemic

Historical Generation

Group of people strongly influenced by a major historical event during their formative period

Cohorts

Group of people born at about the same time

Nonnormative Influences

Unusual events that have a major impact on individual lives because they disturbed the expected sequence of the life cycle

Different Timings of Influences

Critical Period & Sensitive Period

Imprinting

Instinctive, automatic, and irreversible 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

Predisposition Toward Learning

The readiness of an organism’s nervous system to acquire certain information during a brief critical period in early life

Critical Period

Is a specific time when a given event, or its absence, has a specific impact on development in which if it does not occur, normal development will not happen

Sensitive Period

A more extended period of time during development when an individual is particularly receptive and responsive to specific types of experiences

Sensitive Period

While optimal learning or development occurs during this time, development can still happen outside this window, although it might require more effort or be less efficient

Plasticity

Range of modifiability of performance

Issues in Human Development

1. Is Development Active or Reactive?

2. Is Development Continuous or Discontinuous?

3. Stability vs. Change

4. Nature vs. Nurture

5. Early vs. Later Experience

Active Development

People create experiences for themselves and are motivated to learn about the world around them

Organismic Model

Sees people as active, growing organisms that set their own development in motion

Jean Jacques Rousseau

According to this individual, children are born “noble savages” who develop according to their own positive natural tendencies if not corrupted by society

Reactive Development

This perspective towards development sees the developing child as a hungry sponge that soaks up experiences and is shaped by this input over time Mechanistic Model – This model sees people like machines that react to environmental input

John Locke’s Tabula Rasa

According to this individual, the child developed in either positive or negative ways, depended entirely on experiences

Continuous Development

Sees development as gradual and incremental

Quantitative Change

Continuous development sees change in this perspective like changes in number or amount, such as height, weight, or vocabulary size

Discontinuous Development

Sees development as abrupt or uneven

Qualitative Change

Discontinuous development sees change in this perspective like changes in kind, structure, or organization