Prelim Lesson 1 Definition and Nature of Developmental Psychology

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PRELIM LESSON 1
DEFINITION AND NATURE OF DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY
Learning Objectives:
1. To be able to define Developmental Psychology and its Nature.
2. To know the different aspects of Development
3. To be able to understand Human development from Childhood to Death.
DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY
- Developmental Psychology is the branch of psychology that studies intraindividual changes and interindividual
changes within these intraindividual changes. Its task is not only description but also explication of age-related
changes in behavior in terms of antecedent consequent relationship.
- Some developmental psychologists study developmental changes covering the life span from conception to death.
- Others cover only a segment of the life span, childhood or old age.
Developmental Psychology is a scientific discipline that attempts to:

1. Devise methods for studying organisms as they evolve over time.
2. Collect facts about individuals of different ages, backgrounds and personalities.
3. Construct a theoretical frame work that can account for the observed behaviors as well as for the changes occurring
throughout the life cycle.
ASPECTS OF DEVELOPMENT
There are four aspects of development which are closely intertwined. Each aspect of development affects the other.
1. Physical development-Physical development consists of changes in the body, brain, sensory capacities and motor skills. They
exert major influences on both intellect and personality.
2. Intellectual development-Intellectual development is the changes in mental abilities such as learning, memory, reasoning,
thinking and language are aspects of intellectual development. These changes are closely related to both motor and emotional
development. Memory also affects babies’ physical actions.
3. Personality development- Personality and Social development affect with the cognitive aspects and the physical aspects of
functioning.
4. Social development
PRINCIPLES OF DEVELOPMENT
Development follows certain principles. These principles are:
1. Development is similar for all- All children follow a similar pattern of development, with one stage leading to
next. For instance, the baby stands before he walks, or draws a circle before a square.
2. Development Proceeds at Different Rates- Even though all individuals follow much the same pattern of
development, the rate of development varies from individual to individual. Because rate of development differ, all
children of the same age do not reach the same point of physical or mental development. Nor do all individuals
decline physically or mentally at the same rate. In the same individual, different physical and mental traits develop
at different ages. Different rates of decline have likewise been observed for different physical and mental traits.
3. Development is continuous- From the moment of conception to the time of death, changes re taking place within
the individual, sometimes slowly. As a result, what happens at one stage of development varies over and influences
the following stages.
4. Development Proceeds from General to Specific Responses- In mental as well as motor responses, general
activity always precedes specific activity.
5. All Individuals are Different- Although all individuals follow a definite and predictable pattern of development
each individual has his own distinct style of doing so. Some develop in a smooth, gradual, step by-step fashion,
while others move in spurts. Some show wide swings, while others show only slight ones. Individual differences are
due partly to differences in hereditary endowment and partly to environmental influences.
6. Each Stage has characteristic Traits- Our life span is divided into a number of stages, namely, parental stage, infancy,
childhood, adolescence, adulthood and old age. Each of these stages is characterized by certain problems of adjustment.
7. Development comes from Maturation and learning-Physical traits are developed in two ways, partly from
intrinsic maturing of these traits and partly from exercise and experience of the individual. Development through
intrinsic maturity is known as Maturation and development through one's experience and exercise is termed
Learning.
8. Development follows a Familiar and Predictable Pattern- There is a particular pattern of development for each
species, animal or human. Development follows a regular genetic sequence during the prenatal period, in
progressive stages. Similarly, the postnatal period also organized development, although facts develop more quickly
than memory for abstract or theoretical thinking.
9. The global of all development is self-realization - In general, the overall goal or objective of individual
development is self-realization which is defined as the motive to achieve one's potential.
LAWS OF PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

a. Cephalocaudal Principle.
- Improvements in structure as well as in control of different areas of the body come first in the head region, then in the trunk,
and last, in the leg region. Not only do the structures in the head region develop sooner than those in the leg region, but not or
control comes first in the upper areas of the body and last in the lower areas.
b. Proximodistal Principle
- According to this principle, development proceeds from near to far-outward, from the central axis of the body toward the
extremities. Head and trunk develop before the limbs. Arms develop before the fingers. Functionally, the baby can move his
hands as unit before he can control the movement of his fingers.
Instructional Material Only
Owned by: Maja Aira M. Bumatay, RPm
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ARNOLD GESSELL’S PRINCIPLE OF DEVELOPMENT

ARNOLD GESSELL
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Arnold Lucius Gessell (21 June 1880 – 29 May 1961) was an American
psychologist, pediatrician and professor at Yale University known for his
research and contributions to the fields of child hygiene and child development.
- Gesell also spent time at schools for the mentally disabled, including
the Vineland Training School in New Jersey. Having developed an interest in the
causes and treatment of childhood disabilities, Gesell began studying at the
University of Wisconsin Medical School to better understand physiology.
- Gessell made use of the latest technology in his research. He used the newest in
video and photography advancements. He also made use of one-way mirrors
when observing children, even inventing the Gessell dome, a one-way
mirror shaped like a dome under which children could be observed without being disturbed. In his research, he
studied many children, including Kamala, the wolf girl.
- As a psychologist, Gesell wrote and spoke about the importance of both nature and nurture in child development. He
cautioned others not to be quick to attribute mental disabilities to specific causes. He believed that many aspects of
human behavior, such as handedness and temperament, were heritable. He explained that children adapted to their
parents as well as to one another.
AMALA AND KAMALA

Amala and Kamala were two "feral girls" from Bengal, India, who were
alleged to have been raised by a wolf family.
The two girls showed wolf-like behaviour typical for feral children.
They would not allow themselves to be dressed, scratched and bit
people who tried to feed them, rejected cooked food and walked on all
fours. Both girls had developed thick calluses on their palms and knees
from having walked on all fours. The girls were mostly nocturnal, had
an aversion to sunshine, and could see very well in the dark. They also
exhibited an acute sense of smell and an enhanced ability to hear. The
girls enjoyed the taste of raw meat and would eat out of a bowl on the ground. They seemed to be insensitive to cold and
heat and appeared to show no human emotions of any kind, apart from fear. At night they would howl like wolves, calling
out to their "family". They did not speak. Amala died in 1921 of a kidney infection. Kamala showed signs of mourning at
her death. After this, Kamala became more approachable. She was eventually partially house-trained and became used to
the company of other human beings. After years of hard work, she was able to walk upright a little, although never
proficiently and would often revert to all fours when she needed to go somewhere quickly, and learned to speak a few
words. She died in 1929 of tuberculosis.
Arnold Gessel has identified the following important principles of development.
1. The Cephalo-caudal Principle.
In general, structures in and around the head area develop first, and structures in and around the tail area develop last.
2. The Proximodistal Principle.
In general, the brain and nervous system and the internal organs develop earlier than the extremities and the physiological
systems associated with them.
3. The Differentiation Principle.
- In general, the development of a new organ or subsystem begins with its growth as a relatively undifferentiated mass which
nevertheless is identifiable as a separate part of the organism, and then, once this mass has grown, it differentiates into finer
and more interrelated subparts.
4. The Bilateral Principle.
- Humans have bilaterally organized bodies, with many parts appearing in pairs, one on each side. During development, each
number of a given pair of parts appears at about the same time and develops at about the same rate as the corresponding
member of the pair.
FOUNDATIONAL THEORIES OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT
HISTORICAL VIEWS OF CHILDREN AND CHILDHOOD
PLATO AND ARISTOTLE

 Believed that schools and parents had the responsibility for teaching children the
self- control that would make them effective citizens.
 Worries that too much discipline stifle children’s initiative and individuality,
making them unfit to be leaders.
 They had ideas about knowledge and how it was acquired.
 Plato argued that children are born with innate knowledge of many concrete
objects, such as animals and people, as well with knowledge of abstractions such as
courage, love, and goodness.
JOHN LOCKE (1632-1704)

- Portrayed the human infant as a tabula rasa or “blank slate” and claimed that
experience molds the infant, child, adolescent, and adult into a unique individual.
According to him, parents should instruct, reward, and discipline young children,
gradually relaxing their authority as children grow.
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JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU (1712-1778)

- Believed that newborns are endowed with innate sense of justice and morality that unfolds
naturally as children grow. During this unfolding, children move through the developmental
stages that we recognize today, which is infancy, childhood, and adolescence. He argued
that parents should be responsive and receptive to their children’s needs. Rousseau shared
Plato’s view that children begin their developmental journeys well prepared with a stockpile
of knowledge.
ORIGINS OF A NEW SCIENCE

INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION Mid-1700’s
- England was transformed from a largely rural nation relying on agriculture to an urban- oriented society organized
around factories, including textile mills that produced cotton cloth.
- Children moved with their families to cities and worked long hours in Factories, under horrendous conditions, for
little pay.Accidents were common and many children were maimed or killed.
- Enacted laws that would limit child labour and put more children in schools.
CHARLES DARWIN
- He argued that individuals within a species differ: some individuals are better adapted
to a particular environment, making them more likely to survive and to pass along their
characteristics to future generations.
- Write what became known as BABY BIOGRAPHIES.
G. STANLEY HALL (1844-1924)
 Generated theories of child development based on evolutionary theory and conducted

many studies to determine age trends in children’s beliefs about a range of topics.
 Founded the first scientific journal in English where scientists could publish findings
from child-development research.
 Founded a child-study institute at Clark University and was the first president of the
American Psychological Association
ALFRED BINET (FRANCE) 1857-1911
 Begun to devise the first mental tests known as the Binet’s Test until his collaboration
with Theodore Simon, making it the Binet-Simon Scale and was revised by Lewis
Termann.
SIGMUND FREUD (1856- 1939) Austria
 Had startled the world with his suggestion that the experiences of early childhood seemed to
account for patterns of behaviour in adulthood.
JOHN B. WATSON (1878-1958) UNITED STATES
 The founder of behaviorism, had begun to write and lecture on the importance or reward and
punishment for child-rearing practices.
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FOUNDATIONAL THEORIES OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT

5 MAJOR THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES
1. THE BIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
- Intellectual and personality development, as well as physical and motor development, are rooted in biology.
a. MATURATIONAL THEORY- One of the first biological theories is maturational theory, was proposed by Arnold
Gesell (1880-1961. According to maturational theory, child development reflects a specific and pre-arranged scheme
or plan within the body.
b. ETHOLOGICAL THEORY- view development from an evolutionary perspective. In this theory many behaviors
are adaptive; that is, they have survival value.
EXAMPLE: clinging, grasping, and crying are adaptive for infants because they elicit caregiving from adults.
Ethological theorist assume that people inherit many of these adaptive behaviors
2. THE PSYCHODYNAMIC PERSPECTIVE
- The oldest scientific perspective on child development, originating in the work of Sigmund Freud (1856-1939). Freud was a
physician who specialized in diseases of the nervous system. As Freud listened to his patients describe their problems and
their lives. He became convinced that early experiences establish patterns that endure throughout a person’s life.
3 PRIMARY COMPONENTS OF PERSONALITY
a. The ‘Id’
- A reservoir of primitive instincts and drives.
- From birth, the id presses for immediate gratification of bodily needs and wants.
- A hungry baby crying illustrates the id in action.
b. The ‘Ego’
- The practical, and rational component of personality.
- Begins to emerge during the first year of life, as infants learn that they cannot always have what they want.
- Tries to resolve conflicts that occur when the instinctive desires of the id encounter the obstacles of the real world.
- Tries to channel the id’s impulsive demands into socially more acceptable channels.
c. The ‘Superego’
- The moral agent in the child's personality.
- Emerges during the preschool years as children begin to internalize adult standards of right and wrong.
Example: if the peer left the toy unattended the id might tell the child to grab the toy and run; the superego would remind the child
that taking another's toy would be wrong.
Erik Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory
• He emphasized the psychological and social aspects of conflict rather than the
biological and physical aspects.
• He argued that the earlier stages of psychosocial development provide the
foundation for the later stages.
• In Erikson’s psychosocial theory, development consists of a sequence of stages,
each defined by a unique crisis or challenge.
For example:
The challenge for young adults is to become involved in a loving relationship. Adults who
establish this relationship experience intimacy those who don’t experience isolation.
3. THE LEARNING PERSPECTIVE
Learning theorists endorse John Locke’s view that the infant’s mind is a blank slate on which experience writes. John Watson
(1878-1958) was the first theorist to apply this approach to child development. He argued that learning determines what
children will be. For Watson, experience was all that mattered in determining the course of development.
LEARNING THEORIES
OPERANT CONDITIONING
BF Skinner studied operant conditioning, in which the consequences of a behavior determined
whether a behavior is repeated in the future. Skinner showed that two kinds of consequences were
especially influential.
2 KINDS OF CONSEQUENCES
1. REINFORCEMENT- A consequence that increases the future likelihood of the
behavior that it follows. Positive reinforcement consists of giving a reward, while
negative reinforcement consists of rewarding people by taking away unpleasant things.
2. PUNISHMENT- a consequence that decreases the future likelihood of the behavior that
it follows. Punishment suppresses a behavior by either adding something aversive by
withholding a pleasant event.
 SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEORY- Perhaps imitation makes you think of “monkey-
see, monkey- do” or simple mimicking. Early investigators had this view, too, but
research quickly showed that this was wrong. Children do not always imitate what they see around them. Instead,
children are more likely to imitate when the person they see is popular, smart, or talented.
ALBERT BANDURA (1925)- Based his cognitive theory on this more complex view of
reward, punishment, and imitation. He calls his theory “cognitive” because he believes that the
children are actively trying to understand what goes on in their world; the theory is “social”
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because, along with reinforcement and punishment, what other people do is an important source of information about the
world. He argues that experience gives children a sense of self- efficacy, beliefs about their own abilities and talents. Self-
efficacy beliefs help determine when children will imitate others.
4. THE COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENTAL PERSPECTIVE- Focuses on how children think and on how their thinking
changes as they grow. Jean Piaget (1896-1980) proposed the best known of these theories. He believed that children
naturally try to make sense of their world. That is, throughout infancy, childhood, and adolescence, youngsters want to
understand the workings of both the physical and the social world.
1. JEAN PIAGET (1925)

• Argued that children try to comprehend their world, they act like scientists in creating theories
about the physical and social worlds.
• Believed that a few critical points in development, children realize their theories have basic
flaws. When this happens, they revise their theories radically.
• According to Piaget, children’s thinking becomes more sophisticated as they develop,
reflecting the more sophisticated theories that children create.
5. The Contextual Perspective- Most developmentalists agree that the environment is an important force in
development. Traditionally, however, most theories of child development have emphasized environmental forces
that affect children directly. Examples of direct environmental influences would be a parent praising a child, an
older sibling teasing a younger one, and a nursery-school teacher discouraging girls from playing with trucks, these
direct influences are important in children's lives, but in the contextual perspective they are simply one part of a
larger system.
CULTURE
SOCIOCULTURAL THEORY (LEV VYGOTSKY)
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The larger system includes ones parents and siblings as well as important
individuals outside of the family, such as extended family, friends, and
teachers. The system also includes institutions that influence development,
such as schools, television, the workplace, and a church, temple, or
mosque. All these people and institutions fit together to form a person
Culture.
 A culture provides the context in which a child develops and thus is a
source of many important influences on development throughout
childhood and adolescence.
 The first theorists to emphasize cultural context in the children's
development was Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934), a Russian psychologist,
 Vygotsky focused on ways that adults convey to children the beliefs, customs, and skills of their culture.
 He believe that because a fundamental aim of all societies is to enable children to acquire essential cultural values
and skills, every aspect of a child’s development must be considered against this backdrop.
PRELIMS ASSIGNMENT #1
1. In your own words, make a discussion paper about the importance of Developmental Psychology in the
observation of Human development and human behavior. Use the format given.
2. What are the Measurement use in Child-Development Research?
3. What are the general designs for research?
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PRELIM LESSON 2
THEMES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT
4. To be able to understand the different themes in child and development research.
5. To know the different measurement and research design in child development research.
Different tenets in the study child development:
1. Early Development is related to Later Development but not perfectly- According to this view, there is
a continuity-discontinuity process wherein when you say continuity, children more likely to continue their
behavior since they are a child until adult, whilst discontinuity states that children’s behavior changes
over time.
2. Development is always jointly influenced by Heredity and environment- This view states that a nature
and nurture have a great influence on child’s development.
3. Children influence their own development- This view states that there are two points of view in a
child’s development, either children learn on an active or passive way on their own.
4. Development in different domains is connected- This view states that the development in different
domains is always intertwined.
Situation:
Leah and Joan are both mothers of 10-year-old boys. Their sons have many friends, but the basis for the
friendships is not obvious to the mothers. Leah believes that opposites attract: children form friendships with
peers who have complementary interests and abilities. Joan doubts this; her son seems to seek out other boys who
are near-clones of himself in their interests and abilities.
MEASUREMENT IN CHILD-DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH

SYSTEMATIC OBSERVATION
- As the name implies, systematic observation involves watching children and carefully recording what they
do or say. Two forms of systematic observation are common. In naturalistic observation, children are observed
as they behave spontaneously in some real-life situation. Of course, researchers can’t keep track of everything that
a child does. Beforehand they must decide which variables — factors that can take on different values— to
record.
In structured observation, the researcher creates a setting likely to elicit the behavior of interest. Structured
observations are particularly useful for studying behaviors that are difficult to observe naturally. Some
phenomena occur rarely, such as emergencies. An investigator using naturalistic observation to study children’s
responses to emergencies wouldn’t make much progress, because emergencies don’t occur at predetermined times
and locations. However, using structured observation, an investigator might stage an emergency, perhaps by
having a nearby adult cry for help and then observing children’s responses.
SAMPLING BEHAVIOR WITH TASKS
- When investigators can’t observe a behavior directly, an alternative is
to create tasks that are thought to sample the behavior of interest.
SELF REPORTS
- The third approach to measurement, using self-reports, is actually a
special case of using tasks to measure children’s behavior. Self-reports
are simply children’s answers to questions about the topic of interest.
When questions are posed in written form, the report is a questionnaire;
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when questions are posed orally, the report is an interview. In either format, questions are created that probe
different aspects of the topic of interest.
PHYSIOLOGICAL MEASURES.
- A final approach is less common but can be very powerful: measuring children’s physiological responses. Heart
rate, for example, often slows down when children are paying close attention to something interesting.
Consequently, researchers often measure heart rate to determine a child’s degree of attention. As another
example, the hormone cortisol is often secreted in response to stress. By measuring cortisol levels in children’s
saliva, scientists can determine when children are experiencing stress.
EVALUATING MEASURES
- After researchers choose a method of measurement, they must show that it is both reliable and valid. A measure
is reliable if the results are consistent over time. A measure of friendship, for example, would be reliable if it
yields the same results about friendship each time it is administered. A measure is valid if it really measures what
researchers think it measures.
REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLING.
- Valid measures depend not only on the method of measurement, but also on the children who are tested.
Researchers are usually interested in broad groups of children called populations. Virtually all studies
include only a sample of children, a subset of the population. Researchers must take care that their sample
really represents the population of interest. An unrepresentative sample can lead to invalid research.
GENERAL DESIGNS FOR RESEARCH
CORRELATIONAL STUDIES
- In a correlational study, investigators look at relations between variables as they exist naturally in the
world. In the simplest possible correlational study, a researcher measures two variables, then sees how they are
related. Imagine a researcher who wants to test the idea that smarter children have more friends. To test this
claim, the researcher would measure two variables for each child: the number of friends the child has and the
child’s intelligence.
A positive correlation means that larger values on one variable are associated with larger values on the second
variable; a negative correlation means that larger values on one variable are associated with smaller values on a
second variable.
EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES
- In an experiment, an investigator systematically varies the factors thought to cause a particular behavior. The
factor that is varied is called the independent variable; the behavior that is measured is called the dependent
variable.
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In a field experiment, the researcher manipulates independent variables in a natural setting so that the results are
more likely to be representative of behavior in real-world settings. Another important variation is the quasi-
experiment, which typically involves examining the impact of an independent variable by using groups that were
not created with random assignment.
DESIGNS FOR STUDYING AGE-RELATED CHANGE
LONGITUDINAL DESIGN. In a longitudinal design, the same individuals are observed or tested repeatedly at
different points in their lives. As the name implies, the longitudinal approach takes a lengthwise view of
development and is the most direct way to watch growth occur.
In a microgenetic study, a special type of longitudinal design, children are tested repeatedly over a span of days or
weeks, typically with the aim of observing change directly as it occurs.
The longitudinal approach, however, has disadvantages that frequently offset its strengths. An obvious one is cost:
The expense of keeping up with a large sample of people can be staggering. Other problems are not so obvious:
1. Practice effects: When children are given the same test many times, they may become “test-wise.”
Improvement over time that is attributed to development may actually stem from practice with a particular test.
Changing the test from one session to the next solves the practice problem but can make it difficult to compare
responses to different tests.
2. Selective attrition: Another problem is the constancy of the sample over the course of research. Some children
may drop out because they move away. Others may simply lose interest and choose not to continue. These
dropouts often differ significantly from their peers, which can distort the outcome. For example, a study might
find that memory improves between 8 and 11 years. What has actually happened, however, is that 8-year-olds
who found the testing too difficult quit the study, thereby raising the group average when children were tested as
11-year-olds.
3. Cohort effects: When children in a longitudinal study are observed over a period of several years, the
developmental change may be specific to a specific generation of people known as a cohort. For example, the
longitudinal study that I described earlier includes babies born in 1991 in the United States. The results of this
study may be general (i.e., apply to infants born in 1950 as well as infants born in 2000), but they may reflect
experiences that were unique to infants born in the early 1990s.
CROSS-SECTIONAL DESIGN
- In a cross-sectional design, developmental changes are identified by testing children of different ages at one
point in their development. Cross-sectional designs are convenient but only longitudinal designs can answer
questions about the continuity of development.
LONGITUDINAL- SEQUENTIAL
STUDIES
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Neither longitudinal nor cross-sectional studies are foolproof; each has weaknesses. Consequently, sometimes
investigators use a design that is hybrid of the traditional designs. A longitudinal-sequential study includes
sequences of samples, each studied longitudinally.
PRELIMS ASSIGNMENT
#2 GENETIC DISORDERS
4. List down at least 10 different types of Genetic Disorders, their causes, symptoms, characteristics and
what genes is affected and put a sample picture.
d. As a psychology student, how would you protect people with genetic disorders from different
stigmatizing labels from other people?
e. What are the different cultural beliefs about human conception?
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PRELIM LESSON 3
GENETIC BASES OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT
1. To be able to understand the genetic basis in child development.
2. To know the Biology of Heredity.
3. To understand cultural influences in child development.
4. To know the different Genetic Disorders and their causes.
SICKLE CELL DISEASE

When a person has sickle-cell disease, the red blood cells look like those
in the photo, long and curved like a sickle. These stiff, misshapen cells
can’t pass through small capillaries, so oxygen can’t reach all parts of the
body. The trapped sickle cells also block the way of white blood cells that
are the body’s natural defense against bacteria. As a result, people with
sickle-cell disease—including Leslie’s grandfather and many other
African Americans, who are more prone to this painful disease than other
groups—often die from infections before the age of 20.
Sickle-cell disease is inherited. Because Leslie’s grandfather
had the disorder, it apparently runs in her family. Would Leslie’s baby
inherit the disease? To answer this question, we need to examine the
mechanisms of heredity.
THE BIOLOGY OF HEREDITY
The teaspoon of semen released into the vagina during an ejaculation
contains from 200 million to 500 million sperm. Only a few hundred of
these actually complete the 6- or 7-inch journey to the fallopian tubes. If
an egg is present, many sperm simultaneously begin to burrow their way
through the cluster of
nurturing cells that
surround the egg. When a sperm like the one in the middle
photo penetrates the cellular wall of the egg, chemical
changes that occur immediately block out all other sperm.
WORLDS FIRST TUBE- BABY

For most of history, the merging of
sperm and egg took place only after
sexual intercourse. No longer. In
1978, Louise Brown captured
the world’s attention as the first test-
tube baby conceived in a laboratory
dish instead of in her mother’s
body.
NEW TECHNIQUES FOR COUPLES WHO CAN’T HAVE CHILD THROUGH

INTERCOURSE
1. IN VI-TRO FERTILIZATION- Involves mixing sperm and egg
together in a laboratory dish and then placing several fertilized eggs
in a woman’s uterus. This laboratory version of conception,
with the sperm in the dropper being placed in the dish containing the
eggs. If the eggs are fertilized, in about 24 hours they are placed in a
woman’s uterus, with the hope that they will become implanted in
the wall of her uterus.
SURROGATE MOTHERS
The sperm and egg usually come
from the prospective
parents, but sometimes
they are provided by donors.
Occasionally the fertilized egg is placed in the uterus of a surrogate
mother who carries the baby throughout pregnancy. Thus, a baby
could have as many as five “parents”: the man and woman who
provide the sperm and egg, the surrogate mother who carries the baby,
and the couple who rears the child.
CHROMOSOMES
The first 22 pairs of chromosomes are called autosomes; and the
chromosomes in each pair are about the same size. In the 23rd pair,
however, the chromosome labelled X is much larger than the
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chromosome labelled Y. The 23rd pair determines the sex of the child; hence, these two are known as these
chromosomes. An egg always contains an X 23rd chromosome, but a sperm contains either an X or a Y. When an
X-carrying sperm fertilizes the egg, the 23rd pair is XX and the result is a girl. When a Y-carrying sperm fertilizes
the egg, the 23rd pair is XY and the result is a boy.
Each chromosome
actually consists of
one molecule of deoxyribonucleic acid—DNA for short. The DNA molecule
resembles a spiral staircase. As you can see in the Figure, the rungs of the staircase
carry the genetic code, which consists of pairs of nucleotide bases: Adenine is
paired with thymine, and guanine is paired with cytosine.
The order of the nucleotide pairs is the code that causes the cell to create specify c
amino acids, proteins, and enzymes—important biological building blocks.
Each group of nucleotide bases that provides a specific set of biochemical
instructions is a gene.
A child’s 46 chromosomes include about 25,000 genes. Chromosome 1 has the
most genes (nearly 3,000) and the Y chromosome has the fewest (just over 200).
Most of these genes are the same in all people—less than 1% of genes cause
differences between people (Human Genome Project, 2003). The complete set of
genes makes up a person’s heredity and is known as the person’s genotype.
Through biochemical instructions that are coded in DNA, genes regulate the
development of all human characteristics and abilities. Genetic instructions, in
conjunction with environmental influences, produce a phenotype, an individual’s
physical, behavioural, and psychological features
SINGLE GENE INHERITANCE

How do genetic instructions produce the misshapen red blood cells of sickle-cell disease?
• Genes come in different forms that are known as alleles. In the case of red blood cells, for example, one
of two alleles can be present on chromosome 11. One allele has instructions for normal red blood cells;
the other allele has instructions.
• For sickle-shaped red blood cells. Sometimes the alleles in a pair of chromosomes are the same, which
makes them homozygous. Sometimes the alleles differ, which makes them heterozygous.
How does a genotype produce a phenotype?
• The answer is simple when a person is homozygous.
When both alleles are the same and therefore have
chemical instructions for the same phenotype, that
phenotype usually is the results.
When a person is heterozygous, the process is more

complex. Often one allele is dominant, which means
that its chemical instructions are followed whereas
instructions of the other, the recessive allele, are
ignored.
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• In the case of sickle-cell disease, the allele for normal cells is dominant and the allele for sickle-shaped
cells is recessive.
• The picture summarizes what we’ve learned about sickle-cell disease. The letter A denotes the allele for
normal blood cells, and a denotes the allele for sickle-shaped cells. In the diagram, Glenn’s genotype is
homozygous dominant because he’s positive that no one in his family has had sickle-cell disease.
• From Leslie’s family history, she could be homozygous dominant or heterozygous; in the diagram, we
assumed the latter. You can see that Leslie and Glenn cannot have a baby with sickle-cell disease.
However, their baby might be affected in another way.
• Sometimes one allele does not dominate another completely, a situation known as incomplete dominance.
• In incomplete dominance, the phenotype that results
of en falls between the phenotype associated with either allele. This
is the case for the genes that control red blood cells.
• Individuals with one dominant and
temporary, relatively mild form of the disease.
• Thus, sickle-cell trait is likely to appear when the person
exercises vigorously or is at high altitudes (Sullivan, 1987). Leslie
and Glenn’s baby would have sickle-cell trait if it inherited a
recessive gene from Leslie and a dominant gene from Glenn, as
shown in the figure.
CULTURAL INFLUENCES
WHY DO AFRICAN AMERICANS INHERIT SICKLE CELL
DISEASE?
1. Sickle-cell disease affects about 1 in 400 African
American children. In contrast, virtually no
European American children have the disorder.
Surprisingly, the sickle-cell allele has a benefit:
Individuals with this allele are more resistant to
malaria, an infectious disease that is one of the
leading causes of childhood death worldwide.
Malaria is transmitted by mosquitoes, so it is
most common in warm climates, including many
parts of Africa.
2. Compared to Africans who have alleles for normal blood cells, Africans with the sickle-cell allele are
less likely to die from malaria, which means that the sickle cell allele is passed along to the next
generation. This explanation of sickle-cell disease has two implications. First, sickle cell disease should
be found in any group of people living where malaria is common.
3. In fact, sickle cell disease affects Hispanic Americans who trace their roots to malaria-prone regions of
the Caribbean, Central America, and South America. Second, malaria is rare in the United States, which
means that the sickle-cell allele has no survival value to African Americans. Accordingly, the sickle-cell
allele should become less common in successive generations of African Americans, and research
indicates that this is happening.
4. The simple genetic mechanism responsible for sickle-cell disease, involving a single gene pair with one
dominant allele and one recessive allele, is also responsible for many other common traits, as shown in
Table 2-1. In each case, individuals with the recessive phenotype have two recessive alleles, one from
each parent. Individuals with the dominant phenotype have at least one dominant allele.
Most of the traits listed in Table 2-1 are biological and medical phenotypes. These same patterns of inheritance
that can cause serious disorders.
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GENETIC DISORDERS
Genetics can harm development in two ways. First, some disorders are inherited. Sickle-cell disease is an
example of an inherited disorder. Second, sometimes eggs or sperm have more or fewer than the usual 23
chromosomes. In the next few pages, we’ll see how inherited disorders and abnormal numbers of chromosomes
can alter a child’s development.
Inherited Disorders
- Sickle-cell disease is one of many disorders that are homozygous recessive—triggered when a child
inherits recessive alleles from both parents. Table 2-2 lists four more disorders that are commonly
inherited in this manner.
HUNTINGTONS DISEASE
• A fatal disease characterized by progressive degeneration of the nervous system.
• Huntington’s disease is caused by a dominant allele found on chromosome 4.
• Individuals who inherit this disorder develop normally through childhood, adolescence, and young
adulthood.
• However, during middle age, nerve cells begin to deteriorate, causing muscle spasms, depression, and
significant changes in personality.
• By the time symptoms of Huntington’s disease appear, adults who are affected may have already
produced children, many of whom go on to develop the disease themselves.
• Occurs once in every 10,000 births, and Huntington’s disease occurs even less frequently.
Nevertheless, adults who believe that these disorders run in their family often
want to know whether their children will inherit the disorder.
IMPROVING CHILDREN'S LIVES
GENETIC COUNSELING
Family planning is not easy for couples who fear that their children may inherit serious or even fatal diseases. The
best advice is to seek the help of a genetic counsellor before a woman becomes pregnant. With the couple’s help,
a genetic counsellor constructs a detailed family history that can be used to decide whether it’s likely that either
the man or the woman has the allele for the disorder that concerns them.
ABNORMAL NUMBER OF CHROMOSOMES

• Sometimes individuals do not receive the normal complement of 46 chromosomes. If they are born with
extra, missing, or damaged chromosomes.
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• The best example is Down syndrome, a genetic disorder that is caused by an extra 21 st chromosome and
that results in intellectual disability.
DOWN SYNDROME
Persons with Down syndrome have almond-shaped eyes and a fold over the eyelid.
The head, neck, and nose of a child with this disorder are usually smaller than
normal. During the first several months, babies with Down syndrome seem to
develop normally. Thereafter, though, their mental and behavioral development
begins to lag behind the average child’s.
CHARACTERISTICS
• A child with Down syndrome might not sit up without
help until about 1 year, not walk until 2, or not talk until 3—months or
even years behind children without Down syndrome. By childhood, motor
and mental development is substantially delayed.
• The scientific name is Trisomy 21 because
a person with the disorder has three 21st
chromosomes instead of two. But the
common name is Down syndrome,
reflecting the name of the English
physician, John Langdon Down, who
identified the disorder in the 1860s.
WHAT TO EXPECT?
• Rearing a child
Down syndrome need special programs to prepare
them for school. Educational achievements of
children with Down syndrome are likely to be
limited and their life expectancy ranges from 25
to 60 years.
Abnormal sex chromosomes can also disrupt development. Table 2-3 lists four of the more frequent disorders associated with
atypical numbers of X and Y chromosomes. Keep in mind that frequent is a relative term; although these disorders occur
more frequently than PKU or Huntington’s disease, the table shows that most are rare. Notice that no disorders consist solely
of Y chromosomes. The presence of an X chromosome appears to be necessary for life.
HEREDITY, ENVIRONMENT, AND DEVELOPMENT

BEHAVIORAL GENETICS
• The Branch of genetics that deals with inheritance of behavioral and psychological traits.
• Behavioral Genetics is complex, in part because behavioral and psychological phenotypes are complex.
• The traits controlled by single genes usually represent “either-or” phenotypes.
• Genotypes are usually associated with two or sometimes 3 well defined phenotypes.
EXAMPLE:
• A person either has normal color vision or has red-green color blindness
• A person has blood clots normally
• Has sickle cell trait or has sickle-cell disease
ENVIRONMENT
Every Non-genetic influence, from pre-natal nutrition to the people and things around us.
ADOPTED CHILDREN
Adopted children are another important source of information about heredity. Adopted
children compared with their biological parents, who provide the child’s genes, and their
adoptive parents, who provide the child's environment. If a behavior has genetic roots, then
the adopted child’s behavior should resemble their biological parents even though they have
never met them. But if the adoptive child resemble their adoptive parents, we know that
family environment affects behavior.
PSYCHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS AFFECTED BY HEREDITY
• Personality
• Mental Ability
• Psychological disorders
• Attitudes
• The number of letter sounds that children knew
• The ability to resist temptation
• Aggressive play with peers
PATHS FROM GENES TO BEHAVIOR
• The impact of heredity on a child’s development depends on the environment in which the genetic instructions are
carried out; these heredity–environment interactions occur throughout a child’s life.
• A child’s genotype can affect the kinds of experiences he or she has; children and adolescents often actively seek
environments related to their genetic makeup. Environments affect siblings differently (non-shared environmental
influence): Each child in a family experiences a unique environment.
HEREDITY AND ENVIRONMENT INTERACT DYNAMICALLY THROUGHOUT DEVELOPMENT
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A traditional but simple-minded view of heredity and environment is that heredity provides the clay of life, and
experience does the sculpting. In fact, genes and environments constantly interact to produce phenotypes
throughout a child’s development.
GENES CAN INFLUENCE THE KIND OF ENVIRONMENT TO WHICH A CHILD IS EXPOSED.
In other words, “nature” can help determine the kind of “nurturing” that a child receives. A child’s genotype can
lead people to respond to the child in a specific way.
ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES TYPICALLY MAKE CHILDREN WITHIN A FAMILY
DIFFERENT.
This view has been especially strong with regard to family environments. Some parenting practices are thought to
be more effective than others, and parents who use these effective practices are believed to have children who are,
on average, better off than children of parents who don’t use these practices.
PRELIMS ASSIGNMENT #3 FORMING A NEW LIFE
1. How conception does occurs and what causes multiple births?

2. Describe the mechanisms of heredity in normal and abnormal human development.
3. Explain how heredity and environment interact in human development.
4. Who is Gregor Mendel and what is his contribution in Genetics?
PRELIMS LESSON 4
FORMING A NEW LIFE
Learning Objectives
 Explain how conception occurs and what causes multiple births.
 Describe the mechanisms of heredity in normal and abnormal human development.
 Explain how heredity and environment interact in human development.
CONCEIVING NEW LIFE
Most people think of development as beginning on the day of birth, when the new child—squalling and thrashing
—is introduced to the world. But development begins earlier than that, when sperm and egg unite and form a new
individual. Genes mix and guide development, and both influence and are influenced by an ever-changing
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environment. Risks exist: A child might inherit a dangerous gene variant, a young woman might have difficulty
securing prenatal care, and a global pandemic might isolate and unnerve a family. But great resilience, too, exists.
Here, we examine the very beginnings of life and its influences.
CULTURAL BELIEFS ABOUT CONCEPTION
Folk beliefs about the origin of life have been common throughout history and express values and orientations
important in a culture.
- Traditional religious beliefs in Judaism, Islam, and Christianity alluded to the implanting of a seed by a
man in the fertile soil of the mother. The belief that children came from wells, springs, or rocks was
common in northern and central Europe as recently as the early 1900s.
- In the matrilineal society of the Trobrianders of New Guinea, conception is believed to occur when the
spirit of a dead person enters a woman’s body and mixes with her menstrual blood.
- The Hua of New Guinea believe conception to be the product of the mixing of menstrual blood and
semen.
- The understanding of the fertile window varies as well. Cross-cultural research indicates the Arancanians
of Chile, the Gusii of Kenya, and the Tarahumarians of Mexico believed conception to be most likely
during menstruation.
- Maria Gonds of India, the Marquesas of French Polynesia, the Lepcha of India and Nepal, the Masai of
Kenya and Tanzania, the Pukapuka of the Cook Islands, and the Baiga of India believed the ideal
conception period to be the days immediately following menstruation.
- Cosmic forces were also believed to influence conception. In early modern Europe, a baby conceived
under a new moon would be a boy; one conceived during the moon’s last quarter, a girl.
- Among the Warlpiri people of Australia, a baby conceived in a place associated with a particular spirit is
believed to have been given life by that spirit. Some Chinese families plan children around the zodiac
calendar, and pregnancy rates rise in auspicious dragon years.
- In Western countries such as the United States, beliefs about how personality might be shaped by the time
of year in which children are born persist—as the astrology sections in many newspapers and magazines
attest.
- Although our modern understanding may differ from these beliefs, most parents world-wide view
conception as a momentous event. The particular paths taken by new parents, however, varies in concert
with factors such as race, ethnicity, culture, socioeconomic status, and other individual differences.
FERTILIZATION
Fertilization, or conception, is the process by which sperm and ovum—the male and female gametes, or sex cells
—combine to create a single cell called a zygote, which then duplicates itself again and again by cell division to
produce all the cells that make up a baby. The “fertile window”— the time during which conception is possible—
is highly unpredictable. Although conception is far more likely at certain times, a woman may or may not
conceive at any time during the month.
At birth, a girl is believed to have about 2 million immature ova in her two ovaries, each ovum in its own follicle,
or small sac. In a sexually mature woman, ovulation—rupture of a mature follicle in either ovary or expulsion of
its ovum—occurs about once every 28 days until menopause. The ovum is swept along through one of the
fallopian tubes by the cilia, tiny hair cells, toward the uterus, or womb.
Sperm are produced in the

testicles (testes), or reproductive glands, of a mature male at a rate of several hundred million a day and are
ejaculated in the semen at sexual climax. Deposited in the vagina, they try to swim through the cervix, the
opening of the uterus, and into the fallopian tubes, but only a tiny fraction make it that far.
Fertilization normally occurs while the ovum is passing through the fallopian tube. If fertilization does not occur,
the ovum and any sperm cells in the woman’s body die. The sperm are absorbed by the woman’s white blood
cells, and the ovum passes through the uterus and exits through the vagina.
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MULTIPLE BIRTHS
DIZYGOTIC TWINS
Twins conceived by the union of two different ova (or a single ovum that has split) with two different sperm cells;
also called fraternal twins; they are no more alike genetically than any other siblings. This are the result of two
separate eggs being fertilized by two different sperm to form two unique individuals. Genetically, they are like
siblings who inhabit the same womb at the same time, and they can be the same or different sex. Dizygotic twins
tend to run in families and are the result of multiple eggs being released at one time. This tendency has a genetic
basis.
MONOZYGOTIC TWINS
Twins resulting from the division of a single zygote after fertilization; also called identical twins; they are
genetically similar. This are the result of a far different process. They result from the cleaving of one fertilized
egg and are generally genetically identical. They can still differ outwardly, however, because people are the result
of the interaction between genes and environmental influences.
MECHANISMS OF HEREDITY
The science of genetics is the study of heredity, the
genetic transmission of heritable characteristics from
biological parents to offspring.
THE GENETIC CODE

The “stuff” of heredity is a chemical called
deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). The double-helix
structure of a DNA molecule resembles a long,
spiraling ladder whose steps are made of pairs of
chemical units called bases (Figure 1). The bases—
adenine (A), thymine (T), cytosine (C), and guanine
(G)—are the “letters” of the genetic code, which
cellular machinery “reads.”
Chromosomes are coils of DNA that consist of smaller segments

called genes, the functional units of heredity. Each gene is located in a
specific position on its chromosome and contains thousands of bases.
The sequence of bases in a gene tells the cell how to make the proteins
that enable it to carry out specific functions. The complete sequence of
genes in the human body constitutes the human genome. Of course,
every human has a unique genome. The human genome is not meant to
be a recipe for making a particular human. Rather, the human genome
is a reference point, or representative genome, that shows the location
of all human genes.
Every cell in the normal human body except the sex cells (sperm and
ova) has 23 pairs of chromosomes—46 in all. Through a type of cell
division called meiosis, which the sex cells undergo when they are
developing, each sex cell ends up with only 23 chromosomes—one
from each pair. When sperm and ovum fuse at conception, they produce
a zygote with 46 chromosomes, 23 from the father and 23 from the
mother.
SEX DETERMINATION
Twenty-two pairs of our 23 pairs of chromosomes are autosomes, chromosomes that are not related to sexual
expression. The twenty-third pair are sex chromosomes—one from the father and one from the mother—that
govern the baby’s sex. Sex chromosomes are either X chromosomes or Y chromosomes. The sex chromosome of
every ovum is an X chromosome, but the sperm may contain either an X or a Y chromosome. The Y chromosome
contains the gene for maleness, called the SRY gene. When an ovum (X) is fertilized by an X-carrying sperm, the
zygote formed is XX, a genetic female. When an ovum (X) is fertilized by a Y-carrying sperm, the resulting
zygote is XY, a genetic male.
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PATTERNS OF GENETIC TRANSMISSION

Gregor Mendel, an Austrian monk, laid the foundation for our understanding of
patterns of inheritance. By crossbreeding strains of peas, he discovered two
fundamental principles of genetics.
 First, traits could be either dominant or recessive. Dominant traits are
always expressed, whereas recessive traits are expressed only if both copies
of the gene are recessive.
 Second, traits are passed down independently of each other.
For example, the color of your hair and your height are both hereditable traits
that are not linked. Although some human traits are inherited via simple
dominant transmission, most human traits fall along a continuous spectrum
and result from the actions of many genes in concert. Nonetheless, Mendel’s
groundbreaking work laid the foundations for our modern understanding of
genetics.
DOMINANT AND RECESSIVE INHERITANCE
Genes that can produce alternative expressions of a characteristic (such as the presence or absence of dimples) are
called alleles. Alleles are two or more alternative forms of a gene that occupy the same position on paired
chromosomes and affect the same trait.
When both alleles are the same, the person is homozygous for the characteristic; when they are different, the
person is heterozygous.
In dominant inheritance, the dominant allele is always expressed, or shows up as a trait in that person. The person
will look the same whether or not he or she is heterozygous or homozygous because the recessive allele doesn’t
show. For the trait to be expressed in recessive inheritance, the person must have two recessive alleles, one from
each parent. If a recessive trait is expressed, that person cannot have a dominant allele.
Let’s take
red hair as an example. Because red hair is a recessive trait, you must receive two recessive copies (r) of
the gene—one from each parent—in order to express red hair. Having hair that is not red (R; brown in this
example) is a dominant trait, so you will have brown hair if you receive at least one copy (R) from either parent
(Rr or RR) (Figure 4).
If you receive one copy of the red hair allele (r) and one copy of an allele for brown hair (R), you are
heterozygous (Rr or rR); if you have two copies of the allele for brown hair, you are homozygous dominant (RR).
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In both cases, you will have brown hair. If you inherited one allele for red hair from each parent, you are
homozygous recessive for this trait (rr) and will have red hair. Thus, the only situation in which you would have
red hair is if you received two recessive copies (r), one from each parent.
MULTIFACTORIAL TRANSMISSION
If you have brown hair, that is part of your phenotype, the observable characteristics through which your
genotype, or underlying genetic makeup, is expressed. In a broad sense, the term genotype refers to the genetic
makeup of an organism; in other words, it describes an organism's complete set of genes. In a more narrow sense,
the term can be used to refer to the alleles, or variant forms of a gene, that are carried by an organism. The
phenotype is the product of the genotype and any relevant environmental influences. The difference between
genotype and phenotype helps explain why a clone (a genetic copy of an individual) or even an identical twin can
never be an exact duplicate of another person.
Environmental experience modifies the expression of the genotype for most traits—a phenomenon called
multifactorial transmission. Multifactorial transmission illustrates the interaction of nature and nurture and how
they affect outcomes.
Example:
Imagine that Rio has inherited athletic talent and comes from a family of avid athletes. If his family nurtures his
talent and he practices regularly, he may become a skilled athlete. However, if he is not encouraged or not
motivated to engage in athletics, his genotype for athletic ability may not be expressed (or may be expressed to a
lesser extent) in his phenotype.
Some physical characteristics (including height and weight) and most psychological characteristics (such as
intelligence and musical ability) are products of multifactorial transmission. Many disorders (such as attention-
deficit/hyperactivity disorder) arise when an inherited predisposition (an abnormal variant of a normal gene)
interacts with an environmental factor, either before or after birth.
EPIGENESIS
Epigenesis is a mechanism that turns genes on or off and determines functions of body cells. Epigenetics explains
how early experiences can have lifelong impacts. The genes children inherit from their biological parents provide
information that guides their development. For example, how tall they could eventually become or the kind of
temperament they could have. Environmental factors, such as nutrition, smoking, sleep habits, stress, and physical
activity, can cause epigenetic changes. In turn these epigenetic changes can contribute to such common ailments
as cancer, diabetes, and heart. It may explain why one monozygotic twin is susceptible to a disease such as
schizophrenia whereas the other twin is not and why some twins get the same disease but at different ages.
GENETIC
AND CHROMOSOMAL ABNORMALITIES
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PRELIMS ASSIGNMENT #4 PRENATAL DEVELOPMENT

A. What are the early signs and symptoms of Pregnancy?
B. What are the stages of Prenatal Development?
C. What are the different milestone in Prenatal Development?
D. What are the environmental influences that affects pregnancy?
PRELIMS LESSON 5
PRENATAL DEVELOPMENT
Learning Objectives
 Describe prenatal development, including environmental influences.
 Discuss the importance of high- quality prenatal care.
For many women, the first clear (though not necessarily reliable) sign of pregnancy is a missed menstrual period.
But even before that first missed period, a pregnant woman’s body undergoes subtle but noticeable changes.
Table 3 lists early signs and symptoms of pregnancy.
During gestation, the period between conception and birth, an unborn child undergoes dramatic processes of
development. The normal range of gestation is between 37 and 41 weeks. Gestational age is usually dated from
the first day of an expectant mother’s last menstrual cycle.
CULTURAL
BELIEFS ABOUT PRENATAL DEVELOPMENT
Although our modern understanding of pregnancy differs from traditional beliefs found in much of the world,
people from all cultures share the understanding that the prenatal environment can profoundly shape the
developing human.
- Much of the research on cultural beliefs about prenatal development has been conducted in Asian
countries, where common practices during pregnancy include massage, the use of traditional healers,
medicines and herbs, taboos against the consumption of hot or cold foods, behavioral taboos, and
superstitions.
- In Chiang Mai, Thailand, women are sometimes cautioned against eating papaya, pickled foods, or more
than half a banana during pregnancy. Spicy food, too, is advised against as it is thought to be associated
with being born hairless, and coffee or tea is believed to negatively affect a child’s intelligence.
- In some areas of India, “cold” foods such as milk, yogurt, coconut, wheat, vegetables, and rice are
recommended for pregnant women and believed to guard against miscarriage.
- Alternatively, Guatemalan mothers are warned to avoid “hot” foods such as meat and beans.
- The Warlpiri aboriginal people of Australia warn pregnant mothers to avoid eating food made from
spiked animals such as anteaters, monitor lizards, or possums and are told to be careful not to harm any
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animal associated with their developing baby’s spirit, which is shaped by the geographical area in which
the child is conceived.
- Traditional beliefs for the Konya of Turkey specify mothers should eat quince if a dimpled baby is
desired or apples if they want their child to have ruddy cheeks.
- Canadian First Nations people believe it is important to eat foods such as wild meat, fish, white carrots,
potatoes, rice, and berries for the baby’s health, and also stress the importance of moderate exercise lest
the baby stick to the womb and experience a difficult labor.
STAGES OF PRENATAL DEVELOPMENT

Prenatal development takes place in three stages: germinal, embryonic, and fetal. (Table 4 gives a month-by-
month description.)
Both before and after birth, development proceeds according to two fundamental principles: Growth and motor
development occur from the top down and from the center of the body outward. The cephalocaudal principle,
from Latin, meaning “head to tail,” dictates that development proceeds from the head to the lower part of the
trunk. An embryo’s head, brain, and eyes develop earliest and are disproportionately large until the other parts
catch up. According to the proximodistal principle, from Latin, meaning “near to far,” development proceeds
from parts near the center of the body to outer ones. The embryo’s head and trunk develop before the limbs, and
the arms and legs before the fingers and toes.
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3 STAGES OF PRENATAL DEVELOPMENT

Germinal Stage (Fertilization to 2 weeks) - During the germinal stage, from fertilization to about 2 weeks of
gestational age, the zygote divides, becomes more complex, and is implanted in the wall of the uterus - Within 36
hours after fertilization, the zygote enters a period of rapid cell division and duplication (mitosis). Seventy-two
hours after fertilization, it has divided first into 16 and then into 32 cells; a day later it has 64 cells.
Embryonic Stage (2 to 8 weeks) - During the embryonic stage, from about 2 to 8 weeks, the organs and major
body systems—respiratory, digestive, and nervous—develop rapidly. This process is known as organogenesis.
This is a critical period, when the embryo is most vulnerable to destructive influences in the prenatal environment.
Fetal Stage (8 weeks to birth) - The appearance of the first bone cells at about 8 weeks signals the beginning of
the fetal stage, the final stage of gestation. During this period, the fetus grows rapidly to about 20 times its
previous length, and organs and body systems become more complex. Right up to birth, “finishing touches” such
as fingernails, toenails, and eyelids continue to develop.
ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES: MATERNAL FACTORS

A teratogen is an environmental agent, such as a virus, a drug, or radiation that can interfere with normal prenatal
development. However, not all environmental hazards are equally risky for all fetuses. An event, substance, or
process may be teratogenic for some fetuses but have little or no effect on others. Teratogens also have their most
damaging effects on systems that are developing during the time that the exposure occurs. Sometimes
vulnerability may depend on a gene either in the fetus or in the mother. The timing of exposure, dose, duration,
and interaction with other teratogenic factors also may make a difference.
Nutrition and Maternal Weight
Pregnant women typically need 300 to 500 additional calories a day, including extra protein. Weight gain
recommendations vary for pregnant mothers. Current recommendations are that women who are underweight
should gain 28 to 40 pounds, normal-weight women should gain 25 to 35 pounds, overweight women should gain
15 to 25 pounds, and obese women should gain only 11 to 20 pounds. Women carrying twins or other multiples
are advised to gain an additional 14 to 22 pounds, depending on their weight status before becoming pregnant.
Malnutrition
When expectant mothers suffer from a calorie deficit, the results can be fetal growth restriction and low birth
weight. Additionally, babies born to mothers who do not consume sufficient calories have a higher risk of death,
and surviving children may be stunted. Expectant mothers can also suffer from micronutrient deficiencies in
vitamins or minerals. For example, vitamin A and zinc deficiencies result in a higher risk of death for both child
and mother (Black et al., 2013), and babies born to mothers with a vitamin D deficiency may suffer from weak or
soft bones.
Physical Activity and Work

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends that women in low-risk pregnancies get at
least 150 minutes of moderate to intense aerobic exercise a week, making sure to drink plenty of water and to
avoid becoming overheated. Contact sports or activities that might result in a fall should be avoided. Employment
23
during pregnancy generally entails no special hazards. However, strenuous working conditions, occupational
fatigue, and long working hours may be associated with a greater risk of premature birth.
Drug Intake
Medical Drugs
- Among the medical drugs that may be harmful during pregnancy are the antibiotic tetracycline; certain barbiturates,
opiates, and other central nervous system depressants; several hormones, including diethylstilbestrol (DES) and
androgens; certain anticancer drugs, such as methotrexate; Accutane, a drug often prescribed for severe acne; drugs
used to treat epilepsy; and several antipsychotic drugs. Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and
nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as naproxen and ibuprofen, have been linked to birth defects
when taken anytime from the first trimester on. The use of antidepressants, such as Prozac, during pregnancy may
also cause harm. Mothers treated for depression during pregnancy were more likely to have low-birth-weight infants
or to have their newborns admitted to the neonatal intensive care than untreated mothers with depression. In
addition, certain antipsychotic drugs used to manage severe psychiatric disorders may have potential effects on the
fetus, including withdrawal symptoms at birth.
Opioids
- In recent years, the number of pregnant women abusing legal and illegal opioids has risen. While opioid
use has not been implicated in birth defects, it is associated with small babies, fetal death, preterm labor,
and aspiration of meconium (the earliest stool produced by babies). Moreover, babies born to drug-
addicted mothers are often addicted themselves and go through withdrawal once they are born and no
longer receiving the drug. This results in neonate abstinence syndrome, a condition in which newborns
may show sleep disturbances, tremors, difficulty regulating their bodies, irritability and crying, diarrhea,
fever, and feeding difficulties.
Alcohol
Prenatal alcohol exposure is the most common cause of intellectual disability and the leading preventable cause of
birth defects in the United States. Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) is characterized by a combination of retarded
growth, face and body malformations, and disorders of the central nervous system. FAS-related problems can
include reduced responsiveness to stimuli and slow reaction time in infancy and, throughout childhood, short
attention span, distractibility, restlessness, hyperactivity, learning disabilities, memory deficits, mood disorders,
aggressiveness, and problem behavior. Prenatal alcohol exposure is also a risk factor for development of alcohol
and psychiatric disorders in adulthood.
Nicotine
Maternal smoking during pregnancy has been identified as the single most important factor in adverse pregnancy
outcomes in both developed and developing countries. Women who smoke during pregnancy are more than 1½
times as likely as nonsmokers to bear low-birth-weight babies (weighing less than 5½ pounds at birth). Women
who smoke during pregnancy are also more like to miscarry or have birth complications, preterm babies, or babies
that die from sudden infant death syndrome.
Caffeine
Several large-scale reviews have indicated that caffeine intake under 300 milligrams a day is not associated with
an increased risk of miscarriage, stillbirth, or birth defects. However, other reviews have found a slightly
increased risk of miscarriage, stillbirth, low birth weight, and other conditions for mothers who consume caffeine
while pregnant, and there are suggestions that risk may increase with dosage.
Marijuana
Marijuana is the most commonly used recreational drug during pregnancy, and rates of women who report using
marijuana while pregnant have risen in concert with more liberal usage laws in many states. Slightly over 4
percent of pregnant women report using marijuana while pregnant. Some women cite medical concerns, including
nausea, anxiety, and pain management, as the impetus to use marijuana during pregnancy.
Cocaine
Cocaine use during pregnancy has been associated with delayed growth, placental displacement, preterm delivery,
low birth weight, small head size, and impaired neurological development. In some studies, cocaine-exposed
newborns show hypertonia (increased muscle tone and decreased flexibility) and are more excitable and irritable.
In childhood, exposure is associated with subtle language delays and problems with attention and self-regulation.
Prenatal cocaine exposure does not appear to affect global cognitive development; however, it may preferentially
affect areas of the brain involved in language and memory tasks and has been associated with declines in
academic performance in adolescence. It has also been linked to other problems in adolescence and adulthood,
including aggression, conduct disorders, greater likelihood of arrest, substance abuse, and risky sexual behaviors.
Methamphetamine
Methamphetamine is the second most commonly used illegal drug globally. Physically, prenatal
methamphetamine exposure is associated with preterm delivery, low birth weight, and reduced head
circumference. Additionally, exposure is also implicated in neonatal neurobehavioral abnormalities, such as
quality of movement, lethargy, stress, and arousal. Fortunately, many of these abnormalities appear to resolve
themselves by 1 month of age. However, prenatal exposure to methamphetamines has been associated with fetal
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brain damage to areas of the brain involved in learning, memory, and control, which are likely to have longer-
term consequences. For instance, methamphetamine exposed children are more likely to have behavioral
problems, high levels of aggression, poor academic performance, and deficits in executive functioning,
particularly if also exposed to early adversity.
Maternal Illnesses
Both prospective parents should try to prevent all infections—common colds, flu, urinary tract and vaginal
infections, as well as sexually transmitted diseases. If the mother does contract an infection, she should have it
treated promptly.
AIDS- Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a disease caused by the human immunodeficiency virus
(HIV), which undermines functioning of the immune system. If an expectant mother has the virus in her blood,
perinatal transmission may occur: The virus may cross over to the fetus’s bloodstream through the placenta during
pregnancy, labor, or delivery or, after birth, through breast milk. The biggest risk factor for perinatal HIV
transmission is a mother who is unaware she has HIV.
Rubella (German measles)- is a disease that can cause miscarriage or stillbirth and is associated with a wide
variety of birth defects in any baby that survives, including cleft palate, deafness, and heart defects. It is not the
same virus as measles and is less contagious and typically milder in nature. However, its effects on pregnancy are
catastrophic, and the earlier in the pregnancy a woman contracts rubella, the more dangerous it is for the
developing child.
Toxoplasmosis- An infection called toxoplasmosis, caused by a parasite harbored in the bodies of cattle, sheep,
and pigs and in the intestinal tracts of cats, typically produces either no symptoms or symptoms like those of the
common cold. In an expectant woman, however, especially in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy, it can
cause fetal brain damage, severely impaired eyesight or blindness, seizures, miscarriage, stillbirth, or death of the
baby. If the baby survives, there may be later problems, including eye infections, hearing loss, and learning
disabilities. To avoid infection, expectant mothers should not eat raw or very rare meat, should wash hands and all
work surfaces after touching raw meat, should peel or thoroughly wash raw fruits and vegetables, and should not
dig in a garden where cat feces may be buried. Women who have a cat should have it checked for the disease and,
if possible, should have someone else empty the litter box.
COVID-19- In late 2019, a novel, highly infectious airborne respiratory coronavirus, COVID-19, became a
pandemic, a disease that spreads across multiple countries or continents. Many coronaviruses, such as those that
cause the common cold, are relatively innocuous. However, some have been responsible for large disease
outbreaks. In previous coronavirus outbreaks, such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East
respiratory syndrome (MERS), pregnant women and their fetuses were at higher risk of death than non-pregnant
women.
The same is true for COVID-19. Pregnant women are at higher risk of complications, including preeclampsia
(dangerously high maternal blood pressure), preterm birth, stillbirth, neonatal intensive care unit admission,
severe maternal illness, and maternal death. Fortunately, evidence suggests vertical transmission of the virus, in
which the virus is passed from mother to baby prior to or during to the birthing process, rarely occurs.
MATERNAL EMOTIONAL STATE

- A mother’s self-reported stress and anxiety during pregnancy, when chronically high, has been associated
with a more active and irritable temperament in newborns, negative emotionality and impulsivity, and
behavioral disorders in early childhood. Depression may also have negative effects on development.
Some studies report depressed women are more likely to give birth to a preterm child; however, other
studies have not found this effect, and it remains controversial. Children born to depressed mothers are at
elevated risk for developmental delays as toddlers, increased incidence of both internalizing (e.g.,
depression) and externalizing (e.g., impulsive behavior and aggression) symptoms as children, and
elevated levels of violent and antisocial behaviors in adolescence
MATERNAL AGE
- The chance of miscarriage or stillbirth rises with maternal age. Women age 30 to 35 are more likely to
suffer complications due to diabetes, high blood pressure, or severe bleeding. There is also higher risk of
premature delivery, retarded fetal growth, birth defects, and chromosomal abnormalities, such as Down
syndrome. However, due to widespread screening and elective termination of affected pregnancies among
older expectant mothers, the number of affected children in many countries has remained relatively stable
over time, although this varies by region.
Outside Environmental Hazards
- Prenatal development can also be affected by air pollution, chemicals, radiation, extremes of heat and
humidity, and other environmental factors.
- Pregnant women who regularly breathe air that contains high levels of fine combustion-related particles
such as gas fumes and smoke are more likely to bear infants who are premature or undersized, have
chromosomal or developmental abnormalities, or are at risk for cognitive and psychomotor delays.
- Similarly, exposure to high concentrations of disinfection by-products is associated with low birth weight
and congenital abnormalities, and prenatal exposure to organophosphate pesticides is associated with an
increased risk of developing neurodevelopmental disorders.
- Fetal exposure to low levels of environmental toxins, such as lead, mercury, and dioxin, as well as
nicotine and ethanol, may help explain the sharp rise in asthma, ear infections, and allergies.
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- Childhood cancers, including leukemia, have been linked to pregnant mothers’ drinking chemically
contaminated groundwater and use of home pesticides.
- Infants exposed prenatally even to low levels of lead are born smaller and shorter than unexposed babies
and tend to show IQ deficits during childhood.
- In utero exposure to radiation has been linked to miscarriage, intellectual disability, small head size,
increased cancer risk, and lowered IQ. The risk of problems from the single use of medical diagnostic
procedures is low. However, in nuclear disasters such as the Chernobyl or Fukushima Daiichi nuclear
plant accidents in 1996 and 2011, respectively, where radiation exposure is high, pregnant women are
likely to be at extremely elevated risk for adverse pregnancy outcomes.
Monitoring and Promoting Prenatal Development
PRELIMS ASSIGNMENT #5 FIRST 3 YEARS

1. What are the stages of childbirth?
2. Discuss the difference between Vaginal Delivery, Caesarean Delivery and VBAC.
3. What is the difference between the Apgar Scale and Brazelton Scale?
4. What are the different complications in childbirth?
5. What is the early reflexes of a newborn infant?
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PRELIMS LESSON 6
BIRTH AND PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT DURING THE FIRST THREE
YEARS
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
 Describe the birth process.
 Describe the adjustment of a healthy newborn and the techniques for assessing its health.
 Explain potential complications of childbirth and the prospects for infants with complicated births.
 Identify factors affecting infants’ chances for survival and health.
 Discuss the patterns of physical growth and development in infancy.
 Describe infants’ motor development.
THE BIRTH PROCESS

Labor is an apt term for the process of giving birth. Birth is hard work for both mother and baby. What brings on
labor is a series of uterine, cervical, and other changes called parturition. Parturition is the act or process of
giving birth, and it typically begins about 2 weeks before delivery.
The uterine contractions that expel the fetus begin—typically about 266 days after conception—as a tightening of
the uterus. A woman may have felt false contractions (known as Braxton-Hicks contractions) at times during the
final months of pregnancy or even as early as the second trimester, when the muscles of the uterus tighten for up
to 2 minutes. In comparison with the relatively mild and irregular Braxton-Hicks contractions, real labor
contractions are more frequent, rhythmic, and painful, and they increase in frequency and intensity.
STAGES OF
CHILDBIRTH
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VAGINAL VERSUS CESAREAN DELIVERY

The usual method of childbirth is vaginal delivery. Alternatively, a cesarean delivery may be performed when
labor progresses too slowly, when the fetus is in the breech (feet or buttocks first) or transverse (lying crosswise
in the uterus) position, or when the mother is bleeding vaginally.
VBAC- Vaginal birth after cesarean section (VBAC) is the term applied to women who undergo vaginal delivery
following cesarean delivery in a prior pregnancy. Patients desiring VBAC delivery undergo a trial of labor (TOL)
or trial of labor after cesarean section.
Natural Childbirth
Method of childbirth that seeks to prevent pain by eliminating the mother’s fear through education about the
physiology of reproduction and training in breathing and relaxation during delivery.
Prepared Childbirth
Method of childbirth that uses instruction, breathing exercises, and social support to induce controlled physical
responses to uterine contractions and reduce fear and pain.
THE NEWBORN BABY

The neonatal period, the first 4 weeks of life, is a time of transition from the uterus, where a fetus is supported
entirely by the mother, to an independent existence.
SIZE AND APPEARANCE
An average neonate, or newborn, in the United States is about 20 inches long and weighs about 7½ pounds. Boys
tend to be slightly longer and heavier than girls, and a firstborn child is likely to weigh less at birth than later-
borns.
In their first few days, neonates lose as much as 10 percent of their body weight, primarily because of a loss of
fluids. They begin to gain weight again at about the 5th day and are generally back to birth weight by the 10th to
the 14th day. New babies have distinctive features, including a large head and a receding chin. Newborn infants
also have areas on their heads known as fontanels where the bones of the skull do not meet. Fontanels are covered
by a tough membrane that allows for flexibility in shape, which eases the passage of the neonate through the
vaginal canal. In the first 18 months of life, the plates of the skull gradually fuse together. Many newborns have a
pinkish cast; their skin is so thin that it barely covers the capillaries through which blood flows.
During the first few days, some neonates are very hairy because some of the lanugo, a fuzzy prenatal hair, has not
yet fallen off. Almost all new babies are covered with vernix caseosa (“cheesy varnish”), an oily protection
against infection that dries within the first few days.
“Witch’s milk,” a secretion that sometimes leaks from the swollen breasts of newborn boys and girls around the
3rd day of life, was believed during the Middle Ages to have special healing powers. Like the whitish or blood-
tinged vaginal discharge of some newborn girls, this fluid emission results from high levels of the hormone
estrogen, which is secreted by the placenta just before birth and goes away within a few days or weeks. A
newborn, especially if premature, also may have swollen genitals.
BODY SYSTEMS
- Before birth, blood circulation, respiration, nourishment, elimination of waste, and temperature regulation
are accomplished through the mother’s body. All these systems, with the exception of the lungs, are
functioning to some degree by the time a full-term birth occurs, but the mother’s own body systems are
still involved and the fetus is not yet an independent entity. After birth, all of the baby’s systems and
functions must operate on their own.
- During pregnancy, the fetus and mother have separate circulatory systems and heartbeats. The fetus gets
oxygen through the umbilical cord, which carries used blood to the placenta and returns a fresh supply.
- Once birth occurs, a newborn must start breathing for itself. Most babies start to breathe as soon as they
are exposed to air. If a neonate does not begin breathing within about 5 minutes, the baby may suffer
permanent brain injury caused by anoxia, lack of oxygen, or hypoxia, a reduced oxygen supply. Anoxia
or hypoxia may occur during delivery (though rarely so) as a result of repeated compression of the
placenta and umbilical cord with each contraction. This form of birth trauma can leave permanent brain
damage, causing intellectual disability, behavior problems, or even death.
- Many babies are born alert and ready to begin feeding. Full-term babies have a strong sucking reflex to
take in milk, as well as having their own gastrointestinal secretions to digest it.
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- During the first few days, infants secrete meconium, a stringy, greenish-black waste matter formed in the
fetal intestinal tract. When the bowels and bladder are full, the sphincter muscles open automatically; a
baby will not be able to control these muscles for many months. The layers of fat that develop during the
last 2 months of fetal life help healthy full-term infants to keep their body temperature constant after birth
despite changes in air temperature. Newborn babies also maintain body temperature by increasing their
activity when air temperature drops.
- Three or four days after birth, about half of all babies (and a larger proportion of babies born prematurely)
develop neonatal jaundice: their skin and eyeballs look yellow. The immaturity of the liver and failure to
filter out bilirubin, a by-product resulting from the breakdown of red blood cells, cause this kind of
jaundice. Usually it is not serious, does not need treatment, and has no long-term effects. However, severe
jaundice that is not monitored and treated promptly may result in brain damage.
MEDICAL AND BEHAVIORAL ASSESSMENT

THE APGAR SCALE
Is used to assess babies one minute after delivery or 5 minutes after birth. It is named after it’s develop Dr.
Virginia Apgar and helps us remember it’s five subsets: Appearance (color) Pulse (heart rate) Grimace
(reflex irritability) Activity (muscle tone) Respiration (breathing).
THE BRAZELTON SCALE

The Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale is used to assess neonates’ responsiveness to their
environment, to identify strengths and vulnerabilities in neurological functioning, and to predict future
development. The test is suitable for infants up to 2 months old.
It assesses (1) motor organization, as shown by such behaviors as activity level and the ability to bring a hand
to the mouth; (2) reflexes; (3) changes in state, such as irritability, excitability, and ability to quiet down after
being upset; (4) attention and interactive capacities, as shown by general alertness and response to visual and
auditory stimuli; and (5) indications of central nervous system instability, such as tremors and changes in skin
color.
COMPLICATIONS OF CHILDBIRTH
Low-Birth-Weight babies (LBW) weight of less than 5½ pounds (2500 grams) at birth because of prematurity or
being small- for-date.
Preterm (Premature) Infants
Infants born before completing the 37th week of gestation.
29
Small-For-Date (Small-For-Gestational Age) Infants
Infants whose birth weight is less than that of 90 percent of babies of the same gestational age, as a result of
slow fetal growth.
POSTMATURITY
Post mature babies tend to be long and thin because they have kept growing in the womb but have had an
insufficient blood supply toward the end of gestation. Possibly because the placenta has aged and become less
efficient, it may provide less oxygen. The baby’s greater size also complicates labor; the mother has to deliver
a baby the size of a normal 1-month-old.
This puts the mother at higher risk of a cesarean delivery, perineal tears, and postpartum hemorrhage, and the
neonate at greater risk of shoulder dystocia (a condition in which the baby’s shoulders become stuck behind
the mother’s pelvic bone during delivery), meconium aspiration, low Apgar scores, brain damage, and death.
STILLBIRTH
Stillbirth, the sudden death of a fetus at or after the 20th week of gestation, is a tragic union of opposites—
birth and death. Sometimes fetal death is diagnosed prenatally; in other cases, the baby’s death is discovered
during labor or delivery.
SUDDEN INFANT DEATH SYNDORME (SIDS)

Is sometimes called crib death - The sudden death of an infant under age 1 in which the cause of death
remains unexplained after a thorough investigation that includes an autopsy. The search for what causes SIDS
has been framed by the “triple risk” model. Within this framework, SIDS is the result of three overlapping
factors.
- First, there is an infant who is vulnerable in some way.
- Second, there is a critical period during which an infant is at risk.
- Third, there is an exogenous stressor.
SIDS will occur only if a vulnerable infant is exposed to a stressor during the critical period: All three factors
must co-occur.
Accidental Deaths
Although accidental deaths have declined 11 percent in the past decade, unintentional injuries are still the
fifth leading cause of death in infancy. Boys of all ages are more likely to be injured and to die from their
injuries than girls, and children from rural areas are at higher risk than those from urban areas.
PRINCIPLES OF DEVELOPMENT
As before birth, physical growth and development follow the cephalocaudal principle and the proximodistal
principle.
Cephalocaudal Principle
Principle that development proceeds in a head-to-tail direction; that is, upper parts of the body develop before
lower parts of the trunk.
Proximodistal Principle
Principle that development proceeds from within to without; that is, parts of the body near the center develop
before the extremities.
PHYSICAL GROWTH
Children grow faster during the first 3 years, especially during the first few months, than they ever will again.
This rapid growth tapers off during the 2nd and 3rd years. Boys are typically slightly taller and heavier than
girls at most ages. As a baby grows into a toddler, body shape and proportions change too; a 3-year-old
typically is slender compared with a chubby, potbellied 1-year-old. The genes an infant inherits have a strong
influence on whether the child will be tall or short, thin or stocky, or somewhere in between. This genetic
influence interacts with such environmental influences as nutrition and living conditions. Today children in
many high-income countries are growing taller and maturing at an earlier age than children did a century ago,
30
primarily because of better nutrition, improved sanitation and medical care, and the decrease in child labor.
However, many children in low-income countries still suffer from malnutrition, wasting, or stunting.
NUTRITION
SOLID FOODS
Healthy babies should consume nothing but breast milk or iron-fortified formula for the first 6 months.
Pediatric experts recommend that iron-enriched solid foods be introduced gradually during the second half of
the 1st year. Water may be introduced at this time as well. Children should be offered 2 to 3 healthy snacks a
day and can be encouraged to feed themselves and drink from a cup.
MALNUTRITION
Although infants and toddlers in the United States may eat too much, those in many low-income communities
around the world may not eat enough. Chronic malnutrition is caused by factors such as poverty, low-quality
foods, poor dietary patterns, contaminated water, unsanitary conditions, insufficient hygiene, inadequate
health care, and diarrheal diseases and other infections.
EARLY REFLEXES
When your pupils contract as you turn toward a bright light, they are acting involuntarily. Such an automatic,
innate response to stimulation is called a reflex behavior. Reflex behaviors are controlled by the lower brain
centers that govern other involuntary processes, such as breathing and heart rate.
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EARLY SENSORY CAPACITIES

The regions of the developing brain that control sensory information grow rapidly during the first few months of
life, enabling newborn infants to make fairly good sense of what they touch, see, smell, taste, and hear.
Touch and Pain
Anytime you have comforted a crying baby by cuddling them or tickled a drowsy child to wake them up, you
have made use of perhaps the most important sense in infancy: touch. Embryos will respond to touch as early as 8
to 9 weeks of pregnancy; however, these responses do not involve any conscious awareness (Humphrey, 1970). In
the second trimester of the pregnancy, fetuses begin to respond to touch, as when a pregnant mother rubs her
belly, by moving their arms, head, or mouth.
In the third trimester, response to touch becomes more robust, and fetuses also reach out to touch the uterine wall,
yawn, cross their arms, or touch themselves. By 32 weeks of gestation, all body parts are sensitive to touch, and
this sensitivity increases during the first 5 days of life.
Smell and Taste
The senses of smell and taste begin to develop in the womb. Flavors from food the mother has consumed are
found in amniotic fluid. Thus, a preference for certain tastes and smells can be developed in utero. Moreover,
flavors from the foods that the mother eats are also transmitted via breast milk. Therefore, exposure to the flavors
of healthy foods through breastfeeding may improve acceptance of healthy foods after weaning and later in life.
The taste preferences developed in infancy may last into early childhood; children offered different flavors in
early infancy later have less restricted food preferences.
Hearing
Even in the womb, fetuses respond to sound, as indexed by changes in brain activity, heart rate, or physical
movements. They respond differentially to familiar versus unfamiliar voices, live versus recorded maternal voice,
and native versus nonnative language. Auditory discrimination develops rapidly after birth. Infants as young as 2
days old are able to recognize a word they heard up to a day earlier. At 1 month, babies can distinguish sounds as
close as “ba and pa”. By 11 to 17 weeks, infants are able to both recognize and remember entire sentences after a
brief delay. By 4 months, infants’ brains are showing lateralization for language, as occurs in adults. By this age,
the left side of infants’ brains responds preferentially to speech, especially that of their native language, over other
sounds. There are even indications that infants can recognize music that is typical of their culture from a young
age and by 4 months of age prefer music typical of their cultural experiences. Because hearing is a key to
language development, hearing impairments should be identified as early as possible.
Sight Vision
It is the least developed sense at birth, perhaps because there is so little to see in the womb. Visual perception and
the ability to use visual information—identifying caregivers, finding food, and avoiding dangers—become more
important as infants become more alert and active. The eyes of newborns are smaller than those of adults, the
retinal structures are incomplete, and the optic nerve is underdeveloped. A neonate’s eyes focus best from about 1
foot away—just about the typical distance from the face of a person holding a newborn. Newborns blink at bright
lights. Their field of peripheral vision is very narrow; it more than doubles between 2 and 10 weeks and is well
developed by 3 months. The ability to follow a moving target also develops rapidly in the first months, as does
color perception.
MILESTONES OF MOTOR DEVELOPMENT

SYSTEMS OF ACTION
Increasingly complex combinations of motor skills, which permit a wider or more precise range of movement and
more control of the environment.
DENVER DEVELOPMENTAL SCREENING TEST
Screening test given to children 1 month to 6 years old to determine whether they are developing normally.
32
GROSS MOTOR SKILLS
Physical skills that involve the large muscles.
FINE MOTOR SKILLS
Physical skills that involve the small muscles and eye–hand coordination.
MOTOR
DEVELOPMENT AND PERCEPTION
DEPTH PERCEPTION
The ability to perceive objects and surfaces in three dimensions, depends on several kinds of cues that affect the
image of an object on the retina of the eye. These cues involve not only binocular coordination but also motor
control. Kinetic cues are produced by movement of the object or the observer, or both. To find out whether an
object is moving, a baby might hold their head still for a moment, an ability that is well established by about 3
months.
HAPTIC PERCEPTION
Involves the ability to acquire information by handling objects rather than just looking at them. This includes
putting objects in the mouth—a common means of exploration in infancy. The tongue’s multiple receptors are
capable of fine grained discrimination and can provide a wealth of information.
THEORIES OF MOTOR DEVELOPMENT
Here, we focus on two theoretical approaches of motor development: the ecological theory of perception and the
dynamic systems theory.
ECOLOGICAL THEORY OF PERCEPTION
Theory developed by Eleanor and James Gibson, which describes developing motor and perceptual abilities as
interdependent parts of a functional system that guides behavior in varying contexts. In this approach, locomotor
development depends on infants’ increasing sensitivity to the interaction between their changing physical
characteristics and new and varied characteristics of their environment. Babies’ bodies continually change with
age—their weight, center of gravity, muscular strength, and abilities. And each new environment provides a new
challenge for babies to master.
For example, sometimes a baby might have to make their way down a slight incline and other times might have to
navigate stairs. Instead of relying on solutions that previously worked, with experience, babies learn to
continually gauge their abilities and adjust their movements to meet the demands of their current environment.
VISUAL CLIFF
Apparatus designed to give an illusion of depth and used to assess depth perception in infants.
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DYNAMIC SYSTEMS THEORY (DST)

Esther Thelen’s theory, which holds that motor development is a dynamic process of active coordination of
multiple systems within the infant in relation to the environment.
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Prelim Lesson 1 Definition and Nature of Developmental Psychology

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Prelim Lesson 1 Definition and Nature of Developmental Psychology

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1

Developmental Psychology is a scientific discipline that attempts to:

LAWS OF PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

ARNOLD GESSELL’S PRINCIPLE OF DEVELOPMENT

AMALA AND KAMALA

PLATO AND ARISTOTLE

JOHN LOCKE (1632-1704)

JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU (1712-1778)

ORIGINS OF A NEW SCIENCE

G. STANLEY HALL (1844-1924)

 Generated theories of child development based on evolutionary theory and conducted

ALFRED BINET (FRANCE) 1857-1911

SIGMUND FREUD (1856- 1939) Austria

JOHN B. WATSON (1878-1958) UNITED STATES

FOUNDATIONAL THEORIES OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT

1. JEAN PIAGET (1925)

MEASUREMENT IN CHILD-DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH

SICKLE CELL DISEASE

WORLDS FIRST TUBE- BABY

NEW TECHNIQUES FOR COUPLES WHO CAN’T HAVE CHILD THROUGH

SINGLE GENE INHERITANCE

When a person is heterozygous, the process is more

ABNORMAL NUMBER OF CHROMOSOMES

HEREDITY, ENVIRONMENT, AND DEVELOPMENT

PRELIMS ASSIGNMENT #3 FORMING A NEW LIFE

1. How conception does occurs and what causes multiple births?

Sperm are produced in the

THE GENETIC CODE

Chromosomes are coils of DNA that consist of smaller segments

PATTERNS OF GENETIC TRANSMISSION

PRELIMS ASSIGNMENT #4 PRENATAL DEVELOPMENT

STAGES OF PRENATAL DEVELOPMENT

3 STAGES OF PRENATAL DEVELOPMENT

ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES: MATERNAL FACTORS

Physical Activity and Work

MATERNAL EMOTIONAL STATE

Monitoring and Promoting Prenatal Development

PRELIMS ASSIGNMENT #5 FIRST 3 YEARS

THE BIRTH PROCESS

VAGINAL VERSUS CESAREAN DELIVERY

THE NEWBORN BABY

MEDICAL AND BEHAVIORAL ASSESSMENT

THE BRAZELTON SCALE

SUDDEN INFANT DEATH SYNDORME (SIDS)

EARLY SENSORY CAPACITIES

MILESTONES OF MOTOR DEVELOPMENT

DYNAMIC SYSTEMS THEORY (DST)

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