Chapter 8 Development McGraw-Hill ©2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

2 Nature, Nurture, and Prenatal Development Learning Outcomes – Compare and contrast the influence of nature versus nurture – Describe developmental research techniques – Discuss prenatal development McGraw-Hill ©2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.2

3 Nature, Nurture, and Prenatal Development (cont.) Nature-nurture issue: the issue of the degree to which environment (nurture) and heredity (nature) influence behavior – No longer a question of nature versus nurture because both factors interact to produce developmental patterns and outcomes – Now we ask, how and to what degree do nature and nurture produce their effects? McGraw-Hill ©2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.3

4 Determining the Relative Influence of Nature and Nurture McGraw-Hill ©2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.4 Experimentally control genetic makeup of laboratory animals, then study environmental influences Identical twins (share 100% of their genetic makeup) and non-twin siblings raised apart: similarities as adults show importance of heredity Adopted children: similarities with biological children in same family show importance of environment

5 Prenatal Development: Conception to Birth Basics of genetics – Chromosomes: rod-shaped structures that contain all basic hereditary information; 23 pairs, one chromosome of each pair from the mother and one from the father Genes McGraw-Hill ©2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.5

6 The Extraordinary Newborn Reflexes: automatic, involuntary responses to incoming stimuli – Neonate born with rooting, sucking, gag, startle, & Babinski reflexes Sensory development: neonates can follow moving objects within their field of vision, show some depth perception, discriminate facial expressions, recognize their mothers’ voices at 3 days old, and recognize different tastes and smells McGraw-Hill ©2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.6

7 The Growing Child: Infancy Through Middle Childhood Attachment: positive emotional bond that develops between a child and a particular individual, usually a caregiver (Harlow’s research with monkeys) – Classified as secure, avoidant, ambivalent, or disorganized-disoriented – Father’s role: nature of attachment is similar to mother’s, but type of play/interaction may be different (fathers engage in more physical activities, while mothers are more verbal) McGraw-Hill ©2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.7

8 The Growing Child: Infancy Through Middle Childhood (cont.) Child care outside the home can be beneficial, especially for children from disadvantaged homes, if it is a high-quality program Parenting styles – Authoritarian: rigid, punitive, demand obedience, require a lot from their children – Permissive: relaxed or inconsistent direction, require little from their children McGraw-Hill ©2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.8

9 The Growing Child: Infancy Through Middle Childhood (cont.) McGraw-Hill ©2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.9 – Authoritative: firm, set limits, use reasoning, explain things, encourage independence – Uninvolved: show little interest, emotionally detached, believe parenting is only providing food, clothing, and shelter Specific kinds of parenting styles may, in part, be brought about by the child’s temperament (basic, innate disposition with which the child is born)

Many psychologists believe changes in information processing (the way in which people take in, use, and store information) are how children develop their cognitive abilities – Metacognition: an awareness and understanding of one’s own cognitive processes The Growing Child: Infancy Through Middle Childhood (cont.) McGraw-Hill ©2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.10

Physical Changes in Late Adulthood: The Aging Body Genetic preprogramming theories of aging: human cells have a built-in time limit to their reproduction; after a certain time they are no longer able to divide Wear-and-tear theories of aging: mechanical functions of the body stop working efficiently as you age McGraw-Hill ©2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.11

Cognitive Changes: Thinking About – and During – Late Adulthood Fluid intelligence (information-processing skills such as memory, calculations, and analogy solving) shows decline in late adulthood, but crystallized intelligence (accumulation of information, skills, and strategies learned through experience) remain steady Memory loss is not inevitable with aging Alzheimer’s disease: progressive brain disorder that leads to gradual and irreversible decline in cognitive abilities McGraw-Hill ©2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.12

The Social World of Late Adulthood: Old but Not Alone Disengagement theory of aging: aging produces a gradual withdrawal from the world on physical, psychological, and social levels Activity theory of aging: successful aging means maintaining the interests and activities you had during middle age Life review: process by which people examine and evaluate their lives McGraw-Hill ©2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.13

Adjusting to Death Elisabeth Kubler-Ross’s five stages of dealing with one’s own impending death – Denial: resist the idea they are dying – Anger: angry at people in good health around them, at medical professionals, at God – Bargaining: trying to postpone death – Depression: bargaining will not work; “preparatory grief” for their own death – Acceptance: made peace with themselves; usually unemotional and uncommunicative McGraw-Hill ©2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.14