Developmental Psychology Nature vs. Nurture

Agenda Midterm Warnings Activity Due Reading Assessments Due Intro to Developmental Psychology Nature vs Nurture

Developmental Psychology Painting humans with broad brushes Cultures Genders Age What is developmental psychology? The study of patterns of growth and change across the lifespan Conception to Death

Covering Development Conception – Birth Infancy – Early Childhood Early Childhood – Adolescence Adolescence – Adulthood Adulthood – Death

A Tale of Two Babies One is Cute One is Ugly

A Tale of Two Babies The You Equation Each baby grows up and has anxiety in social situations (social anxiety disorder). Guess how much of this anxiety is due to genetics. Guess for the cute baby. Guess for the ugly baby. Write down two percentages. Think about why.

Nature-Nurture Heritability – variability among individuals that we can attribute to genes For example: Height = ~90% Are children of a depressed parent more likely to be depressed themselves? Shared Environment Shared Genes How can we disentangle environment and biology? Studying twins, siblings, parents, and adoption.

Biological Influence in Twins Jim Lewis and Jim Springer First wife named Linda Second wife named Betty Son named James Allan Dog named Toy Enjoyed woodworking Drove Chevys Heavy smokers Had tree-wrapping benches in lawns Compulsive and Neat

Twin Similarities Personality Abilities Intelligence Interests Divorce Rates Fraternal twins – 1.6 times more likely Identical twins – 5.5 times more likely Disease Fraternal twin has Alzheimer's – 30% greater risk Identical twin has Alzheimer's – 60% greater risk Self-Esteem Aggression Addiction

Nurture Influence The “Leftovers” in identical twins Adoption Studies Similarities to Biological and Adoptive parents Areas with more similarity to biological parents: Similar to (but not as extensive as) the twins list. Areas with more similarity to adoptive parents: Attitudes, values, manners, faith, politics Outcomes of Adopted Children Comparing children from parents who considered putting their children up for adoption to those who did Higher Intelligence, More Altruistic, Happier