Developmental Psychology The stages...

Infancy - Childhood

Adolescence

Adulthood – young, middle, late stages

Heredity vs. Environment Debate Think: What traits do you share with your parents?

Where do these traits come from? There is the tabula rasa/environment view and the maturation and heredity view. Both must be taken into account. Consider the following: Learning to -crawl and walk -talk -read -take turns

Nature vs. Nurture... If a 10 year old steals a car, should his mom and dad be legally responsible? Debate... Watch Nurture-Argument http:// Nurture-Argument

Stage Development vs. Continuous Development What makes more sense to you?

Infant Development Interesting Fact: On average, babies in Uganda walk after about 10 months. Babies in Canada walk after one year.

Infant Development Voluntary and Involuntary Responses of Infants Baby reflexes: grasping, breathing, sneezing, blinking, rooting, eliminating... These types of reflexive responses change with maturation... Moro (startle) reflex: Y&NR=1 Y&NR=1 Babinski Reflex:

Motor Development 2 types – gross motor development and fine motor development These gross movements come from large muscle groups and whole body movement. Fine motor skills are skills that involve a refined use of the small muscles controlling the hand, fingers, and thumb.

Perceptual Development Newborn visual acuity is 20/400 to 20/800  20/200 or worse defines legal blindness in adults Newborn visual acuity is 20/400 to 20/800  20/200 or worse defines legal blindness in adults By 6 months, infant visual acuity is 20/25 By 1 year, infant visual acuity is at adult levels (20/20)

20/20 ?? – The Snellen Chart Vision Testing "Normal" vision is 20/20. This means that the test subject sees the same line of letters at 20 feet that a normal person sees at 20 feet. 20/40 vision means that the test subject see as 20 feet what a normal person sees at 40 feet. 20/15 vision is better than 20/20. A person with 20/15 vision can see objects at 20 feet that a person with 20/20 vision can only see at 15 feet. Levels of Vision 20/20 - Normal vision. Fighter pilot minimum. Required to read the stock quotes in the newspaper, or numbers in the telephone book. 20/40 - Able to pass Driver's License Test in all 50 States. Most printed material is at this level. 20/200 - Legal blindness. Able to see STOP sign letters.

Baby Vision!!

Eye Development The improvements in contrast sensitivity is due to the elongation and tighter packing of cones in the retina and is associated with development of the visual cortex

Face #1

Face #2

Face #3

Perceptual Development Newborns know about (and prefer to look at) faces In experiments, newborn infants have shown a preference for looking at faces (after prolonged human contact post 15 weeks) (e.g., Batki et al 2000). The babies are pretty discriminating, too. For example, they show a preference for faces with open eyes. And, given a choice between fearful and smiling faces, newborns look longer at happy faces (Farroni et al 2007).

Which face what a baby prefer?

The Visual Cliff By the time infants learn to crawl, they will typically avoid crossing over the glass portion! P277 & 282 readings and questions!