Chapter 9

Big 3 questions
• nature vs nurture
• stability vs change
• universal vs unique

Research across the lifespan

• cross-sectional study
• we look at different groups of people at the same time
• longitudinal study
• follow a group of people over time
• conception
• sperm have 23 chromosomes
• chromosomes are made of dna. smaller strips of dna make genes.
• genes create proteins
• functional unit of dna
• ova have 23 chromosomes
• humans have about 25k genes
• occurs when a sperm fuses into an ovum
• fertilized zygote
• 23 pairs of chromosomes
• 3 stages of prenatal development
• zygote stage
• begins with conception, ends with implantation
• implantation zygote embeds part of itself into the lining of uterus
• 2 weeks (4 weeks pregnant)
• embryonic stage
• 2 weeks to 8-10 weeks
• first organ system is brain
• by end of stage all organ systems are present
• teratogens
• cause birth defects
• alcohol
• fetal alcohol effects (FAE)
• some medications
• bipolar
• schizophrenia
• many drugs of abuse
• heavy metals
• stress
• some diseases
• fetal stage
• week 10-40
• age of viability
• prenatal age at which if the baby was born there is at least a 50%
chance that it makes it to its first birthday
• 27 weeks
• used to be 22 weeks
• preemie
• prior to 37 weeks
• lungs are last organ to develop
• what do fetuses learn? or can they learn?
• they can
• sound of mothers voice
• smell of mother
• birth
• rates of still born births vary by ethnicity
• sensory abilities
• vision
• least developed sense
• red/white/black
• visually acuity
• functionally blind bond the end of their arms
• 20/400
• blind beyond the end of arms
• 6-9 months for it to develop
• hearing
• babies hear higher pitches better than lower
• parentheses
• slow high pitched
• best developed sense at birth
• babies hear higher pitches
• taste
• sweet tastes (sugar)
• motor abilities
• all reflexes
• sucking reflex
• rooting reflex
• swimming reflex
• stepping
• brain development
• skull is much larger than your brain
• birth-3
• brain triples in weight
• depends on environment you grow up in
• motor development
• cephalocaudal
• from the head towards the feet
• proximodistal
• form the midline towards the edges
• cognitive development
• schema
• a concept or a mental representation that helps make sense of the world
• piaget
• accommodation
• when you create a new schema to account for new information
• assimilation
• you fit new information into existing schema
• theory of cognitive development
• universal theory
• sensory motor stage
• 1st stage
• 0-2
• use sense and motor abilities to learn about the world
• lack objects permanence
• pre-operational stage
• 2nd stage
• 2-7
• language abilities
• key challenge
• pretend play
• conservational tasks
• theory of mind
• egocentric
• formal operational
• logic thought/arguments
• only about concrete ideas/objects
 • transitive inference
• reversibility
• concrete operational
• 3rd stage
• 7-11
• formal operation
• 4th stage
• abstract thought
• vygotsky’s scaffolding theory
• zone of proximal developmet
• psychological development
• attachment
• an emotional bond between 2 people (infant/caregiver
• critical period
• a key time in development when deprivation can have lifelong
consequences
• john bowlby
• mary ainsworth
• strange situation
• secure attachment
• insecure avoidant
• insecure resistant
• parenting styles
• how do your parents deal with rules/discipline
• how much warmth do they express

• friends
• imaginary friends
• normal from 3-8
• children
• typically have just a couple friends
• teenage years
• more friends
• “best friend” is important
• adolescence
• puberty
• 2nd time in life when brain gets bathed in hormones
• weight gain
• menarche
• spermmarche
• secondary sex characteristics
• brain changes
• pruning
• lose about 20% of the synapses in your brain
• myelination
• age 10 all emotional centers in brain are fully developed
• logical/rational parts of brain aren’t fully myelinated until 25-27
years old
• cognitive
• imaginary audience
• feel that everyone is focused on them
• personal fable
• moral development
• pre conventional
• rules are inviolate
• rewards
• avoid punishment
• conventional
• duty/honor
• social contract
• post conventional
• universal ethics that are more important than laws
• exceptions to moral rules
• psychosocial development
• erikson theory
• identity is by 8 stages of social conflicts
• infancy
• first 18 months of life
• trust(hope) vs mistrust(despair/anger)
• adolescence
• 12-18
• identity vs role confusion
• fidelity
• emerging adulthood
• physical age (adult)
• psychological/social progress less clear?
• young adulthood
• 20-40
• physical development peaks, then plateaus 30ish
• cognitive development
• early career
• social development
• major life milestones with smaller social networks
• middle adulthood
• 40-60
• menopause
• no menstrual cycles for 12 straight months
• cognitive development
• peaks
• divorce
• late adulthood
• 60-??
• positive experience if stays engaged
• death
• 5 stages of grief
• science behind these stages don’t work