Human Development

Key Concepts

Nature-Nurture Issue: degree to which

biology (nature) or the environment (nurture)
contributes to a person’s development.

Neuroplasticity: nervous system’s ability to

rewire its structures as a result of experience.

Developmental Psychology: studies growth &

change that occur throughout the lifespan.
Question: To what degree does biology
contribute to human development?
Question: To what degree does the
environment contribute to human
development?
 Nature-Nurture Issue

Our biology (nature) and our

environment (nurture) work together
to determine our characteristics, and
each contribute about 50%.
How Does It All Begin?
❖ Male sperm (23 chromosomes)
fertilizes a Female ovum (23
chromosomes) to create a fertilized
egg, called a “zygote”.
Meet Ziggy the Zygote
( a fertilized egg)
 Ziggy contains:

❖ All the genetic

material inherited
from your
biological parents
at the time of
conception.
 Ziggy Goes Through:

3 Stages of Prenatal Development:

1. Germinal Stage: cell division (from
conception to 14 days).
2. Embryonic Stage: formation &
development of major organs & systems
(from 2-8 weeks).
3. Fetal Stage: continued growth &
maturation (from week 9 to nine months).
 National Geographic: “Life in the
Womb”
http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=O6RLsRlhe0s
 It is extremely important that Ziggy
has a: Positive Prenatal Environment

➢ Teratogen: environmental substance

that can potentially harm the
developing organism.

➢ Sensitive period: a time in prenatal

development when genetic &
environmental agents are most likely
to cause birth defects.
Can you name some Teratogens
that would be harmful to Ziggy?
Examples of Teratogens:
Sensitive Periods
 Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

❖ Fetal Alcohol
Syndrome (FAS): a
birth condition
resulting from the
mother’s chronic
use of alcohol
during pregnancy.
It is characterized
by facial & limb
deformities &
mental retardation.
Effects of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
Prenatal Exposure to Alcohol
 Emotional Development: “Attachment”

❖ Attachment: refers to the close,

emotional bonds of affection that
develop between infants and their
caregivers.
John Bowlby : Attachment Theory

Defined attachment:
“a lasting
psychological
connectedness
between human
beings" (Bowlby,
1969, p. 194).
 Bowlby’s: Four Characteristics of
Attachment

1. Proximity Maintenance
2. Safe Haven
3. Secure Base
4. Separation Distress
How Much Impact Do Parents
Have On Their Child’s
Development?
Question: “ Would You Prefer a Cloth or Wire
Mother?”
➢ Initially psychologists believed that baby
feels connected because parent satisfies
hunger.
➢ Harry Harlow’s research with infant
monkeys challenged this belief and
changed the way we view attachment
today.
 Harry Harlow’s Research

https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=OrNBEhzjg8I
 Konrad Lorenz

• Imprinting is the primary formation of

social bonds in infant animals and
considered to be a special type learning .
• Lorenz discovered that newly hatched
goslings and ducklings followed and
became bonded to the first moving object
they encountered.
• Even at maturity, these animals tried to
court and attempted to mate with the first
moving object they bonded with.
 Imprinting
• Young bird does not instinctively
recognize adult members of it's own
species, but requires imprinting (Lorenz
1935, 1937a).
• This bond formed immediately to a
moving object and appeared to be
irreversible.
• Imprinting is restricted to very specific
and brief stages in development, often
only lasting for a few hours.
• Newly hatched ducklings and goslings
acted in peculiar ways if they were
exposed to abnormal environments
during a few critical hours after hatching.
 Imprinting
LORENZ IMPRINTING

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UIU9XH-mUI

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqZmW7uIPW4

DUCK AND DOG IMPRINTING

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGBqQyZid04
Mary Ainsworth
(Bowlby’s student)
 “Separation Anxiety”
Mary Ainsworth (1979)

❖ Separation Anxiety is emotional

distress seen in many infants when
they are separated from people with
whom they have formed an
attachment.
 Ainsworth’s Research on
“Attachment”

“The Strange Situation”- procedure that

studies patterns of attachment:
❖ Secure Attachment Style
❖ Anxious-ambivalent Attachment Style
❖ Avoidant Attachment Style
 “The Strange Situation”
(devised by Mary Ainsworth to assess the quality
of a child’s attachment to their caregiver)

http://www.youtube.
com/
watch?v=QTsewNrHUH
U
 Secure Attachment

➢ Ainsworth found that most young

children have a secure attachment,
playing and exploring comfortably
when mom is present, becoming
visibly upset when she leaves, and
calming quickly upon her return.
 Anxious-Ambivalent Attachment
(insecure-ambivalent attachment)
Some young children, however, show
anxiety even when mom is near and
protest excessively when she leaves,
but are not particularly comforted
when she returns…Ainsworth labeled
this pattern anxious-ambivalent
attachment.
 Avoidant Attachment
(Insecure-Avoidant Attachment)
➢ Finally, some young children sought
little contact with their mothers and
were not distressed when she left, a
pattern Ainsworth labeled avoidant
attachment.
 Secure Attachment Implications:

❖ Emotional regulation

❖ Increased empathy

❖ Increased sense of belonging

 Attachment Implications in
Childhood
Evidence suggests that securely attached
children:
1. Become resilient, competent toddlers,
with high self esteem.
2. In preschool, they show more
persistence, curiosity, self-reliance,
leadership, and get along better with
peers.
3. In middle childhood, they display better
social skills and have richer friendship
networks.
 Attachment Implications in
Adulthood
Adults with secure attachment can:
✓ form trusting relationships
✓ ask for what they need
✓ self-regulate their emotions
✓ are optimistic
✓ less prone to chemical & behavioral
addictions
 Science of Attachment
• https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=-47gAh9S-Fw
 What Is Your Attachment
Style?

• http://www.web-research-design.net/
cgi-bin/crq/crq.pl
 Intergenerational Transmission in
Childhood
• The parent’s security, insecurity, and/or
trauma are regularly transmitted to the
child.

• Research demonstrates that psychological

change in parents can promote change in
their children.
 Current Research on Attachment
suggests:

1) Co-created relationships of attachment

are the key context for development.

2) Pre-verbal experience makes up the core

of the developing self (personality takes
shape by 12 months, prior to the
acquisition of language).

3) The stance of the self toward experience

predicts attachment security better than
the facts of personal history themselves.
Six Domains of Human Growth Important to Well-
Being
(Professor Carol Ryff)

1. Self-acceptance.
2. Establishment of quality ties to other.
3. Sense of autonomy in thought and action.
4. Ability to manage complex environments to suit
personal needs and values.
5. Pursuit of meaningful goals and a sense of purpose
in life.
6. Continued growth and development as a person.
Piaget’s
Theory of • Jean Piaget, Swiss
Cognitive Psychologist who
Development observed infants &
children and developed
a Theory of Cognitive
Development.
• Piaget observed
children’s problem-
solving strategies to
discover the changes in
thinking they
experience.
• Piaget proposed that
cognition develops in a
Three Concepts Central to His Theory

1. Schema: a mental idea, concept or

thought

2. Assimilation: process by which an

existing schema is used to understand
something new in the environment.

3. Accommodation: process by which a

schema is changed, modified, or created
anew in order to understand something.
Sensorimoto
r Stage (0-2)
• Symbolic
Thinking: the
understanding
that an object can
be represented
with a symbol
such as bodily
gestures or
language.
• Object
Permanence: the
understanding
that an object
continues to exist
even it is not
 Object Permanence

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ue8y-
JVhjS0
Preoperational
Stage (2 to 6
or 7)
• Centration: the
child focuses on
only one aspect
or feature at a
time.
• Conservation:
the
understanding
that an object
retains its
original
properties even
though it may
look different.
 Lack of Conservation

http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=GLj0IZFLKvg&feature=related
 Egocentrism

http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=OinqFgsIbh0&feature=related
Concrete
Operations
Stage (7 to 11
or 12)
• Characterized by
logical thought
• No longer focus on
one feature of an
object
• Reduction in
egocentrism
• Sense of humor,
persuasion, &
empathy can grow
• Schemas are
limited to actual
experience or
concrete objects
• Difficulty with
abstract thinking
Formal
Operations
(12 to
adulthood)
• No longer
limited to
concrete objects
& situations.

• Can engage in
abstract
thinking and
hypothesize.

• Can imagine
future
consequences
 Formal Operations

http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=Hl7OGSf8T4Y&feature=relate
d
 Erik Erikson (1902-1994)

❖ Believed children & adults progress through

eight stages or developmental crises.
❖ At each stage, the environment & the
person’s responses to the environment
influence the development of a healthy or
unhealthy personality characteristic.
❖ Resolving earlier stages with healthy
outcomes makes it easier to resolve later
stages with positive outcomes.
 Erik Erikson: “ A Life’s Work”

http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=A0sxaU34MPE
 Autism

▪ Autism is a bio-neurological
developmental disability with onset
generally appearing before age 3.

▪ Autism affects normal brain development

in the following areas:
✓ social interaction
✓ communication skills ( verbal & non-
verbal)
✓ cognitive function
 Individuals with Autism can also
suffer from:

✓ allergies, asthma
✓ Epilepsy
✓ digestive disorders
✓ persistent viral infections
✓ feeding disorders
✓ sensory integration dysfunction
✓ sleeping disorders
 Prevalence

▪ Autism is diagnosed four times more

often in boys than girls.

▪ Its prevalence is not affected by race,

region, or socio-economic status.

▪ Autism was first diagnosed in the U.S. &

the occurrence has climbed to an
alarming one in 150 people across the
country.
 How is Autism Diagnosed?

▪ Professionals most likely to diagnose autism

are psychologists, psychiatrists,
developmental pediatricians, and school
psychologists.
▪ Autism is diagnosed based on clinical
observation and standardized tests
administered by a professional.
▪ In addition, parental interview and medical
history are taken into consideration.
 Causes

➢ According to the National Institutes of Health,

while there is most likely a genetic predisposition
to Autism, there must also be an environmental
component to autism. 

➢ The rapid rise in the rate of Autism over the last

15 years cannot be attributed solely to genetics. 

➢ No autism gene has been found to date; however,

many researchers to believe that something had to
TRIGGER a genetic vulnerability to turn on and
cause autism.

➢ Environmental & genetic research are both

important in finding answers for causes and
 VARIOUS TREATMENT OPTIONS

Early Intervention
Chelation Therapy
Behavior Modification
Dietary Intervention
Vitamins and Supplements
Sensory Integration Dysfunction
Occupational Therapy
Physical Therapy
Speech Therapy
Music Therapy
Vision Therapy
Canine Companions
Relationship Development Intervention (RDI)
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
 Outcomes

➢ Autism does not affect life expectancy

and there is no cure for Autism.
➢ Early intervention ( ages 0-3) can be
greatly improve symptoms, however.
Temple Grandin speaks of Autism

http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=fn_9f5x0f1Q
 What Autism Looks Like

http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=idOBGNTz-6E&feature=relate
d
 Wonder Dogs
(NY Times Video)

http://video.nytimes.com/
video/2012/02/02/
magazine/100000001327520/wonder-
dogs.
html?scp=1&sq=Wonder%20Dog&st=cs
e
 Diana Baumrind’s Parenting Styles

➢ Authoritarian Parents : high levels of

control & low levels of affection (force &
physical punishment to gain compliance).
➢ Authoritative Parents: moderate levels
of control (more democratic; children
included in discussion of family issues).
➢ Permissive Parent: moderate levels of
affection & low levels of control
(discipline is lax; little control over
children; few demands placed on child).