Developmental Psychology

Distinguish between what is meant by “nature” and “nurture” in developmental debates. What kinds of factors might be examples of each?

Distinguish between what is meant by “nature” and “nurture” in developmental debates. What kinds of factors might be examples of each?

1. Nature - refers to the biological and genetic factors that influence who we are, including traits inherited from our biological parents. Examples:

   1. Genetic traits (e.g., eye color, height)

   2. Certain personality traits that may be genetically predisposed-

2. Nurture - pertains to the environmental influences that shape an individual, including cultural, social, and experiential factors. Examples:

   1. Upbringing provided by guardians

   2. Influence of peers

   3. Cultural context and experiences

How might researchers determine whether a psychological phenomenon is nature or nurture based?

1. Researchers may determine by examining the interactions between genetic traits and environmental influences. Study factors like:

   1. The similarities between biological children and their parents versus adopted children and their adoptive families

   2. The differences among siblings raised in the same household to understand how shared environment and genetics contribute to their traits.

Role of Epigenetics in Development

Plays a crucial role in understanding how the same genotype can be expressed in different ways, leading to diverse phenotypes. It examines how environmental factors and behavior change gene expression over time.

Differences Between Epigenetics and Genetics

Genetics focuses on the fixed sequences of DNA and the inherited traits, epigenetics looks beyond to how genes are turned on or off based on environmental influences. This means that even individuals with identical genetic makeup (identical twins) can exhibit significant variability in their traits and health outcomes due to different gene expression influenced by their environments. The expression (epigenetics), not alteration of DNA.

Factors Related to Changes in the Epigenome

1. Environmental Context: Experiences and surroundings that affect how genes are expressed.

2. Life Experiences: Individual life events and stressors, such as family dynamics.

3. Health Conditions: Conditions like psychological disorders (e.g., schizophrenia) can arise from interactions between genetic predispositions and environmental factors.

Explain how teratogens impact a developing fetus. Describe the impact of a few common teratogens.

1. Impact of Teratogens on a Developing Fetus: an agent that can cause abnormalities in a fetus

2. Common Teratogens:

   1. Alcohol:

      1. Leads to Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD).

      2. Causes facial deformities, growth deficiencies, and cognitive impairments.

   2. Tobacco:

      1. Associated with low birth weight and preterm birth.

      2. Increases risk of behavioral problems and cognitive impairments.

   3. Certain Medications:

      1. Isotretinoin: Causes severe birth defects, affecting the heart and nervous system.

   4. Infections:

      1. Rubella and CMV: Can result in hearing loss, vision problems, and developmental delays.

Discuss the role of plasticity and its relationship to critical periods, pruning, and resilience?

The role of plasticity is the nervous system's ability to change. During critical periods, windows during development when the brain is particularly receptive to certain types of experiences or learning the plasticity increases for rapid changes and connections. During pruning when the brain gets rid of excess / unused connections and strengthens frequency used connections. During resilience, the ability to adapt and bounce back from challenges or trauma, plasticity allows the brain to reorganize and form new connections.

Describe schemas (schemata) and how they impact our information processing. Distinguish between assimilation and accommodation and give an example of each.

Are the framework that help us interpret or organize info. Assimilation is adding to existing schemas causing it to grow. Accommodation is the adjusting of schemas for new info and becoming more accurate.

Discuss the key characteristics of children in the sensorimotor stage of cognitive development. What is the major milestone of this stage and when does it typically occur?

The first phase of Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development. It occurs from birth to two years of age. The key characteristics are exploration through sensenses, object permanence, goal-directed behavior, symbolic thinking, imitation. The major milestone is object permanence.

Describe the key characteristics of children in the preoperational stage of cognitive development. Be sure to include the implications of the concept of conservation and egocentrism. What is theory of mind and how does this impact the social relations of young children?

The preoperational stage is the second phase of Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development. It occurs from ages 2 to 7. The key characteristics are symbolic function (Children begin to use symbols (e.g., words, images) to represent objects and experiences), egocentrism (difficulty seeing things from perspectives other than their own), lack of conservation (the idea that quantity remains the same despite changes in shape or arrangement) and intuitive thinking (relying on intuition rather than logical reasoning). Theory of the mind ability to understand that others have their own thoughts, beliefs, and perspectives that may differ from one's own. With improving it there is empathy development, improved communication, conflict resolution and friendship formation. But if not improvement the social relations in young children will cause social exclusion, misinterpretation,lack of  awareness of social norms and competition and jealousy.

Describe the new cognitive skills and age ranges associated with the concrete operational of cognitive development.

The third phase of Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. It occurs between 7 to 11 years old. The new cognitive skills are conservation, logical thinking, classification, seriation (understanding the concept of order and sequence) and reversibility.

Describe the new cognitive skills and age ranges associated with the formal operational of cognitive development.

The fourth stage of Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. It occurs from 11 years old and into adulthood. The new cognitive skills are abstract thinking, hypothetical-deductive reasoning, logical operations, metacognition (awareness of one’s own thinking processes, ex: better self regulation) and moral reasoning.

Describe stranger anxiety and hypothesize about how this might have evolutionary roots.

Stranger anxiety is a common developmental phenomenon observed in infants. It is distress or fear when an infant encounters unfamiliar people. It can be shown as crying, clinging to caregivers, or turning away from the stranger. This might have evolutionary roots as a survival mechanism (increased their chances of survival by minimizing exposure to potential threats), attachment to caregivers (enhances the likelihood of receiving care and protection), and social learning (observing their caregivers' reactions to unfamiliar individuals, they learn to gauge social cues).

Describe the three different attachment styles discussed in class. How did children with each style react to the strange situation experiment?

1. Secure Attachment (Healthy): The children would avoid the stranger and were upset by their caregivers departure.

2.  Insecure Anxious Attachment: The children would avoid the stranger and resist comfort upon caregivers return despite wanting it.

3. Insecure Anxious Attachment: The children were indifferent but anxious to the caregivers absence, were okay with the stranger and would ignore the caregivers return.

Discuss what studies conducted by the Harlows’ deepened our understanding of attachment styles.

1. Wire Mother vs. Cloth Mother Experiment: Harlow placed infant monkeys in a cage with two surrogate mothers: one made of wire that provided milk and another covered in soft cloth that offered no nourishment.The infant monkeys overwhelmingly preferred the cloth mother, spending most of their time clinging to it for comfort. This demonstrated that attachment is not solely based on the provision of food but on the emotional security and comfort provided by the caregiver.

2. Comfort in Fearful Situations: Harlow introduced a fearful stimulus, such as a mechanical teddy bear, to see how the infant monkeys reacted. The infants sought comfort from the cloth mother before exploring the unfamiliar object. This behavior illustrated the concept of a "secure base," emphasizing the importance of a caregiver’s emotional support for exploration and coping with stress.

3. Social Development: Harlow observed the social interactions of monkeys raised with a cloth mother versus those raised without any maternal contact. Monkeys raised without maternal contact exhibited severe social deficits and abnormal behaviors. This finding highlighted the long-term impact of attachment on social development and underscored the critical role of early emotional bonds in forming healthy relationships.

Discuss the cognitive development of the adolescent brain, being sure to address pruning, prefrontal cortex (and increased myelination), and the limbic system. How does this relate to risk-taking? 

Cognitive development of the adolescent brain involves significant changes in the prefrontal cortex and limbic system. The prefrontal cortex development undergoes significant growth, leading to better decision-making, impulse control, and reasoning. The increased myelination in the prefrontal cortex causes faster communication between neurons resulting in better planning and executive function. Pruning allows more efficient processing and cognitive flexibility. The limbic system governs emotions and reward processes and mature way earlier than the prefrontal cortex. This can result in heightened emotional responses and an increased sensitivity to rewards. So while the prefrontal cortex is growing and the limbic system is pruning it can contribute to risk-taking. The limbic system is more active and wanting rewards and the developing prefrontal cortex can have a hard time reining in the impulses for the reward.

Explain cognitive development through adulthood. Differentiate between crystalized and fluid intelligence and describe the characteristics of memory decline. 

1. Cognitive development in early and middle adulthood remains stable. Crystalized intelligence remains steady or improves.

2. Cognitive development in late adulthood declines. Fluid intelligence declines.

3. Crystallized Intelligence: Comprises knowledge and skills gained over a lifetime, often remaining stable or improving with age.

4. Fluid Intelligence: Involves the ability to think abstractly, reason, and solve new problems. This type of intelligence tends to decline with age, particularly in late adulthood.

5. Memory Decline characteristics: Slower information processing, increased errors in quick responses or complex reasoning, difficulty in everyday tasks.