Dr. Reem Al-Sabah

Faculty of Medicine

Psychology 220

Science of Human Development The study of human development:

Seeks to understand how and why people change and remain the same over time.

Is a science

Studies all kinds of people

Studies change over time

Continuity and Discontinuity Continuity refers to characteristics that are stable

over time

(e.g., biological sex)

Discontinuity refers to characteristics unlike those than came before

(e.g., speaking a new language, quitting a drug)

Five Characteristics of Development

Multidirectional

Multicontextual

Multicultural

Multidisciplinary

Plasticity

PHOTODISC

What is “plasticity”?

Plasticity refers to the fact that human traits can be molded into different forms, and yet people maintain a durability of identity.

It means that some aspects of development have the capacity for change, others may not.

More About Change Over Time Butterfly effect

Sometimes a small event may culminate in a major event (e.g., one alcoholic drink at the wrong time during pregnancy).

No effect

Sometimes what seems to be a large event has little long-term impact (e.g., children in war-torn Bosnia).

The Complex Patterns of Developmental Growth

Contexts of Development HISTORICAL

In what ways do you differ from your grandparents? Great grandparents?

Cohort: group of people of the same age

Social constructions create “shoulds” (e.g., ages

one “should” marry)

Contexts of Development

SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS (SES)

A combination of income and other factors (parental education, occupation, etc.).

The impact of SES depends on many factors.

Contexts of Development CULTURE

Includes values, technologies, customs of a group of people.

In what ways does culture influence development?

PHOTODISC

Ecological Model of Human Development

Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Model of Human Development

1. Microsystem: the relationships and interactions a child has with his/her immediate surroundings.

2. Mesosystem: the connection between the structures of the child’s microsystem.

3. Exosystem: the larger social system in which the child does not function directly .

4. Macrosystem: cultural values, customs, and laws.

5. Chronosystem: the dimension of time as it relates to a child’s environments.

Three Domains of Development Biosocial = brain and body

Cognitive = thought processes, perceptual abilities, language

Psychosocial = emotions, personality, interpersonal relationships

Nature-Nurture Debate What is more important in the course of human

development, genes or social environment?

Question: How much of any characteristic, behavior, or pattern of development is the result of genes, and how much is the result of experiences?

Both nature and nurture are always involved, to varying degrees.

John Locke- 17th century British Philosopher “tabula rasa” or blank slate.

Babies' experiences get written on it.

All knowledge comes to us through our senses.

There is no built-in knowledge.

Charles Darwin Theory of evolution emphasis on heredity and

biological basis of human development.

John Watson, B. F. Skinner (Behaviorists) Human nature is completely malleable.

You can train a child into being any kind of adult regardless of his heredity.

Interactionist approach both nature and nurture interact continuously

to guide development.

Maturation

An innately determined (genetically programmed) sequence of growth and change that is relatively independent of external events

Interaction of genes and environment

(e.g., fetal development, motor development and speech development)

Note: the environment affects the rate at which children acquire the skills, not the ultimate skill level

Stages of development

What do we mean by Stages?

behavior organized around a dominant theme.

all children go through the same stages in the same order.

the order of the stages does not vary, but environmental factors may speed up or slow down development.

Critical Period crucial time periods in a person’s life when specific

events must occur if development is to proceed normally.

example: fetal development, 6-7 weeks after conception is important for development of sex organs.

It is the time of greatest vulnerability.

Each body structure has it’s own critical period.

Teratogens: substances/conditions that increase risk of prenatal abnormalities

Critical Periods in Human Development

Sensitive Period

Psychological development.

Periods that are optimal for a particular kind of development.

E.g., language acquisition, attachment.

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

A cluster of birth defects including abnormal facial characteristics, slow physical growth, and retarded mental development, caused by the mother’s drinking alcohol when pregnant

Capacities of the Newborn

Methods of studying infant perception:

Preferential looking behavior An infant’s tendency to look at some objects

more than others.

Habituation method While infants look directly at novel objects, they

soon become bored with the same object- that is they habituate.

Vision Least mature sense at birth.

Poor visual acuity, limited ability to change focus, and very near-sighted.

Binocular vision:

the ability to coordinate the two eyes to see one image

Facial preference- an inborn, unlearned preference for faces.

Perceiving Depth

Begins at 3 months, fully developed at 6 months.

The “visual cliff” experiment

infants generally respond to cues for depth by the time they are able to crawl (6-8 months).

Hearing Acute at birth

Newborn infants can detect the difference between very similar sounds (e.g. “pa” and “ba”) better than adults.

can distinguish human voice from other kinds of sounds.

Taste and Smell

Preference for sweet-tasting liquids over liquids that are salty, bitter, sour or bland

Motor Skills

Motor skill: any ability to move a part of the body

The sequence of motor skills:

Proximal-distal (from near to far). Development proceeds from center of body to extremities.

Cephalo-caudal (from head to tail). Development proceeds from the head down.

Reflexes

Reflex:

An involuntary response to a particular stimulus

Three sets of reflexes are critical for survival:

1. Reflexes that maintain oxygen supply

2. Reflexes that maintain constant body temperature

3. Reflexes that manage feeding

Learning and Memory

What’s your prediction: Can infants remember anything? For how long? What about a 1 or 2 year old?

What is your earliest memory?

Memory Even very young infants (3 months) can remember IF:

Experimental conditions are “real life”

Motivation is high

Special measures aid memory retrieval (repetition and reminders)

Example: Rovee-Collier’s mobile experiment

Mobiles and Memories

MICHAEL NEWMAN / PHOTOEDIT

Learning and Memory

Important research findings for newborns

Good memory by the time they are 3 months old

Preference for human voices over other sounds

Preference of heartbeat sounds

Preference of mother’s voice over other women’s voices

Preference of familiar stories over unfamiliar stories

The entire package of early sensation seems organized for two goals:

1. Social Interaction: to respond to familiar caregivers

2. Comfort: to be soothed amid the disturbance of infant life.

The most important experiences are perceived with all the senses at once (e.g., breast milk).