Life Span Development

Differential Susceptibility

the idea that people vary in how sensitive they are to particular experiences

Differentiation Model

o   Neither linear nor stage-like

o   Behavior starts globally and becomes more specialized

Canalization

Traits follow a narrow developmental path unless strongly disrupted.

Wilhelm Preyer

o   Systematic behavioral observation

o   First to use systematic behavioral observation in infants.

Growth Models

Development is continuous, gradual, and cumulative

Stage Models

o   Growth in sensorimotor, cognitive, and socio-cognitive competencies

o   Development is discontinuous, sequential, and stage-like

Funnel Models

Early development is broad and becomes more specialized over time.

Alfred Binet

o   Studied individual differences

o   Created the first intelligence test

Stanley Hall

Launched child and adolescent questionnaire studies

John B. Watson

o   Behaviorist

o   Emphasized experimental child research.

Sigmund Freud

o   Research on socialization

o   First 6 years critical to shaping development

Jean Piaget

Principles of self-regulation

Lev Vygotsky

Role of social learning in development

John Bowlby

• Attachment theory

• His student, Mary Ainsworth, furthered his study

Critical Period

A time when certain things must occur for normal development to proceed

Sensitive Period

A time when a particular development occurs most easily

Plasticity

• Human traits can be molded

• Two major implications:

  • Hope: change is possible

  • Realism: maintaining the durability of identity by building on the past

“Difference-equals-deficit” error

The mistaken belief that a deviation from some norm is necessarily inferior to behaviors or characteristics that meet the standard

Chronosystem

▪    Dimension of time

▪    Changing conditions, personal and societal, over the lifespan

Urie Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological-Systems Model

1. Chronosystem

2. Macrosystem

3. Exosystem

4. Mesosystem

5. Microsystem

6. Biosystem

Macrosystem

Cultural patterns, political philosophy, economic policy, social conditions

Mesosystem

Interaction among other systems

Exosystem

Local institutions such as school, church, or medical facilities

Microsystem

Immediate direct influence, such as family and peer group

Biosystem

Internal biology of the person

5 characteristics of development

1. Multidirectional

2. Multicontextual

3. Multidisciplinary

4. Multicultural

5. Plastic

Domains of human development

• Biosocial

• Cognitive

• Psychosocial

Biosocial development

Growth & changes in the body and the factors that affect those changes

Cognitive Development

Growth & changes in the mental processes used to obtain knowledge

Psychosocial development

Growth & changes in emotions, social skills, temperament, and personality

Psychoanalytic

o   Irrational unconscious drives and motives underlie human development

o   Emphasizes the importance of early childhood

• grand theory

Behaviorism

o   The study of observable behavior and the theory explaining the acquisition of habits and competencies

• Critics argue that behaviorism is too mechanistic

Social Learning

Learning through modeling or observation and imitation of others; may copy the observed behavior or act in the opposite way

Newer theories

• Sociocultural

• Evolutionary

Grand Theories

• Cognitive (thoughts)

• Psychoanalytic (emotions)

• Behaviorism (actions)

Accomodation

Restructuring old ideas to include new experiences

Assimilation

New experiences are reinterpreted to fit into old ideas

Jean Piaget’s cognitive theory

o   Sensorimotor (birth to 2 years) – active learning through sensory and motor abilities

o   Preoperational (2-6 years) – symbolic thinking

o   Concrete operational (6-11 years)

o   Formal operational (12 years through adulthood)

Evolutionary Theory

• Centers on shared impulses & common needs of all humanity

• survival & reproduction

Selective Adaptation

Process by which genes that enhance survival and reproductive ability are selected and, over generations, become more frequent

Genes

the basic unit for the transmission of heredity

Chromosome

DNA molecule (deoxyribonucleic acid)

Genome

full set of genes that are the instructions to make an individual member of a certain species

Allele

a variation that makes a gene different in some ways from other genes for the same characteristics

Gamete

a reproductive cell (a sperm or ovum)

Zygote

the single cell formed from the fusion of two gametes & their genetic inheritance

Genotype

an organism's entire genetic inheritance, or genetic potential

Phenotype

observable characteristic of a person, including appearance, personality, intelligence, etc.

Polygenic

affected by many genes

Multifactoral

Traits are influenced by many factors

Additive Heredity

Genes combine to shape the phenotype

Dominant-recessive heredity

Interaction of alleles in such a way that the phenotype reveals the influence of the dominant gene more than that of the recessive gene

Epigenetic influence

your environment & experiences can influence certain traits

Assisted reproductive technology

o   Applied to assist couples struggling with infertility

o   Simple methods involve medications

o   Complex methods involve in vitro fertilization (IVF)

Monozygotic (identical) twins

Originate from one zygote that splits apart very early in development

Dizygotic (fraternal) twins

• Result from fertilization of two separate ova by two separate sperm

• Have half of their genes in common and occur twice as often as monozygotic twins

Fragile X Syndrome

o   Recessive gene disorder

o   Part of the X chromosome is attached by such a thin string of molecules that it seems about to break off

Down Syndrome

o   Most common of the extra-chromosome syndromes

o   47 chromosomes instead of the usual 46, with 3 at the 21^st position

o More susceptible to heart defects, slow intellectual development, & Alzheimer’s disease by middle age

o   Thick tongue

o   Round face

o   Slanted eyes

o   Short stature

o   Muscle weakness

o   Heart abnormalities

Color Blindness

o   Males are more susceptible

• Get from the mother

• The X chromosome is bigger than Y, so if the male inherits an X with a color blindness trait, the X overpowers the Y

• Women have two X’s

o   X-Linked

Germinal Period (0-2weeks)

• Starting point of gestational stage

• Pregnancy can't be confirmed

• Implantation

• Conception occurs in the fallopian tubes

Embryonic Period (3-8 weeks)

§  About 20% of all embryos are aborted spontaneously, most often because of chromosomal development

§  Brain, arms & hands & fingers, facial features, overall appearance

§  Prenatal development is cephalocaudal

§  Major organs & body parts take shape

Fetal Period (9-birth)

§  About 5% are aborted spontaneously

§  Sex organs develop

stillbirth

baby dead on arrival

Age of Viability

·       Systems develop more fully

·     Anything born after 22 weeks has a chance of survival if given the correct care

Couvade

Levels of cortisol correlate between expectant fathers and mothers

Apgar scale (0-2)

• Color

• heart rate

• reflexes

• muscle tone

• respiratory effect

Cerebral Palsy

o   Difficulty with movement control

§  Results from brain damage

§  Anoxia might be the cause

Kangaroo Care

Mothers or fathers hold their infants to their chests, skin to skin, allowing them to feel their body heat and listen to their heartbeat

Teratogens

Any influence on the pregnant mother that increases the risk of harm to a developing embryo or fetus

pruning

the natural process where the brain removes weak or unused neural connections to make the nervous system faster and more efficient

head sparing

Biological mechanism that protects the brain when malnutrition disrupts the body's growth

experience-expectant

brain functions that require basic common experiences

experience-dependant

brain functions that depend on the particular, variable experiences to grow

prefrontal cortex

o   plays an important role in anticipation, planning, and impulse control

o   immature during infancy/ last part of brain to mature

self-righting

an infant's inborn drive to remedy a developmental defect

herd immunity

when a large enough portion of a population becomes immune to an infectious disease

affordance

o   An opportunity for action related to perceptions of how objects relate to their uses

§  Involves receiving and using information from the surrounding environment to control and regulate activities

Visual cliff studies

tested depth perception in human infants and animals

Sensorimotor period

o   Birth – 2 years (sensorimotor intelligence)

o   Beginning of age

o   Unconnected sensory and motor impressions

o   Non-symbolic

Holophrase

Single words used to express a complete meaningful thought

Naming explosion

o   A sudden increase in an infant's vocabulary

o   Begins at about 18 months

Synchrony

A coordinated, rapid, and smooth exchange of responses between a caregiver and an infant

Secure Attachment

An infant derives both comfort and confidence from the caregiver's presence

Insecure-avoidant attachment

o   Infant avoids connection with caregiver

o   Infant seems not to care about the caregiver’s presence, departure, and return

Insecure-resistant/ ambivalent attachment

• Anxiety and uncertainty

• Resists and seeks contact on reunion

Disorganized attachment

Infant shows inconsistent reactions to the caregiver’s departure and return

Universal grammar

a theory in linguistics suggesting that the human brain is born with an innate, biological blueprint for language

B. F. Skinner

• Spontaneous babbling is usually reinforced

• Well-taught infants become well-spoken children

Child-directed speech

a special, high-pitched, and melodic way of talking that adults naturally use when speaking to babies and young children

Noam Chomsky

Language is too complex to be mastered merely through step-by-step conditioning

Language Acquisition Device

a hypothetical mental capacity proposed by linguist Noam Chomsky in the 1960s that allows infants to acquire and produce language naturally

Transient Exuberance

the rapid, temporary growth of dendrites and neural connections in an infant's brain during the first two years of life