1. Psychology in Everyday Life
David G. Myers and C. Nathan DeWall
Psychology in Everyday Life
Third Edition
Chapter 3
Developing Through the Life Span
Copyright © 2014 by Worth Publishers

2. Meckes/Ottawa/Eye of Science/Science Source
David M. Phillips / Science Source
(a) Sperm cells surround an egg. (b) As one sperm penetrates the egg’s jellylike outer coating, a series of events begins that will cause sperm and egg to fuse into a single cell. If all goes well, that cell will subdivide again and again to emerge 9 months later as a 100-trillion-cell human being.
Figure 3.1 Life is sexually transmitted David G. Myers and C. Nathan DeWall: Psychology in Everyday Life, Third Edition Copyright © 2014 by Worth Publishers

3. Contained in the nucleus of each cell in your body are chromosomes
Contained in the nucleus of each cell in your body are chromosomes. Each chromosome contains a coiled chain of the molecule DNA. Genes are DNA segments that, when expressed (turned on), direct the production of proteins and influence our individual biological development.
Figure 3.2 The genes: Their location and composition David G. Myers and C. Nathan DeWall: Psychology in Everyday Life, Third Edition Copyright © 2014 by Worth Publishers

4. Beginning in the womb, life experiences lay down epigenetic marks, which are often organic molecules. These molecules can block the expression of any gene in the DNA segment they affect. (From Frances Champagne, 2010.)
Figure 3.3 How environment influences gene expression David G. Myers and C. Nathan DeWall: Psychology in Everyday Life, Third Edition Copyright © 2014 by Worth Publishers

5. All: Lennart Nilsson / Albert Bonniers Publishing Company
(a) The embryo grows and develops rapidly. At 40 days, the spine is visible and the arms and legs are beginning to grow. (b) By the end of the second month, when the fetal period begins, facial features, hands, and feet have formed. (c) As the fetus enters the fourth month, its 3 ounces could fit in the palm of your hand.
Figure 3.4 Prenatal development David G. Myers and C. Nathan DeWall: Psychology in Everyday Life, Third Edition Copyright © 2014 by Worth Publishers

6. Identical twins develop from a single fertilized egg, fraternal twins from two different eggs.
Figure 3.5 Same fertilized egg, same genes; different eggs, different genes David G. Myers and C. Nathan DeWall: Psychology in Everyday Life, Third Edition Copyright © 2014 by Worth Publishers

7. When shown these two images with the same three elements, newborns spent nearly twice as long looking at the face-like image on the left (Johnson & Morton, 1991). Newborns—average age just 53 minutes in one study—seem to have an inborn preference for looking toward faces (Mondloch et al., 1999).
Figure 3.6 Newborns’ preference for faces David G. Myers and C. Nathan DeWall: Psychology in Everyday Life, Third Edition Copyright © 2014 by Worth Publishers

8. In this experiment, some rats lived alone in an environment without playthings. Others lived together in an environment enriched with playthings changed daily. In 14 of 16 repetitions of the experiment, rats in the enriched setting developed more cerebral cortex (relative to the rest of the brain’s tissue) than was found in those raised in the impoverished environment (Renner & Rosenzweig, 1987; Rosenzweig, 1984).
Figure 3.7 Experience affects brain development David G. Myers and C. Nathan DeWall: Psychology in Everyday Life, Third Edition Copyright © 2014 by Worth Publishers

9. Courtesy Judy DeLoache
Children age 18 to 30 months may fail to take the size of an object into account when trying to perform impossible actions with it. At left, a 21-month-old attempts to slide down a miniature slide. At right, a 24-month-old opens the door to a miniature car and tries to step inside (DeLoache et al., 2004).
Figure 3.8 Scale errors David G. Myers and C. Nathan DeWall: Psychology in Everyday Life, Third Edition Copyright © 2014 by Worth Publishers

10. Doug Goodman / Science Source
Infants younger than 6 months seldom understand that things continue to exist when they are out of sight. But for this older infant, out of sight is definitely not out of mind.
Figure 3.9 Object permanence David G. Myers and C. Nathan DeWall: Psychology in Everyday Life, Third Edition Copyright © 2014 by Worth Publishers

11. Bianca Moscatelli / Worth Publishers
This preoperational child does not yet understand the principle of conservation. When the milk is poured into a tall, narrow glass, it suddenly seems like “more” than when it was in the shorter, wider glass. In another year or so, she will understand that the amount stays the same even though it looks different.
Figure Piaget’s test of conservation David G. Myers and C. Nathan DeWall: Psychology in Everyday Life, Third Edition Copyright © 2014 by Worth Publishers

12. Table 3. 1 Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development David G
Table 3.1 Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development David G. Myers and C. Nathan DeWall: Psychology in Everyday Life, Third Edition Copyright © 2014 by Worth Publishers

13. Harlow Primate Laboratory
The Harlows’ infant monkeys much preferred contact with a comfortable cloth mother, even while feeding from a wire nourishing mother.
Figure The Harlows’ mothers David G. Myers and C. Nathan DeWall: Psychology in Everyday Life, Third Edition Copyright © 2014 by Worth Publishers

14. Harlow Primate Laboratory
In the Harlows’ experiments, monkeys raised with artificial mothers were terror-stricken when placed in strange situations without those mothers.
Figure Social deprivation and fear David G. Myers and C. Nathan DeWall: Psychology in Everyday Life, Third Edition Copyright © 2014 by Worth Publishers

15. Figure 3. 13 The biopsychosocial approach to development David G
Figure The biopsychosocial approach to development David G. Myers and C. Nathan DeWall: Psychology in Everyday Life, Third Edition Copyright © 2014 by Worth Publishers

16. Table 3. 2 Kohlberg’s Levels of Moral Thinking David G. Myers and C
Table 3.2 Kohlberg’s Levels of Moral Thinking David G. Myers and C. Nathan DeWall: Psychology in Everyday Life, Third Edition Copyright © 2014 by Worth Publishers

17. Table 3. 3 Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development David G
Table 3.3 Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development David G. Myers and C. Nathan DeWall: Psychology in Everyday Life, Third Edition Copyright © 2014 by Worth Publishers

18. In the 1890s, the average time between a woman’s first menstrual period and marriage, which typically marked a transition to adulthood, was about 7 years. By 1995 in industrialized countries, that gap had widened to about 12 years (Guttmacher, 1994, 2000). Although many adults are unmarried, later marriage combines with prolonged education and earlier menarche to help stretch out the transition to adulthood.
Figure Transition to adulthood is being stretched from both ends David G. Myers and C. Nathan DeWall: Psychology in Everyday Life, Third Edition Copyright © 2014 by Worth Publishers

19. (With thanks to Dr. Sandra Gibbs, Muskegon Community College, for inspiring this.)
Figure Comparing the stage theories David G. Myers and C. Nathan DeWall: Psychology in Everyday Life, Third Edition Copyright © 2014 by Worth Publishers

20. In this experiment, the ability to recall new information declined during early and middle adulthood. The ability to recognize new information did not. (From Schonfield & Robertson, 1966.)
Figure Recall and recognition in adulthood David G. Myers and C. Nathan DeWall: Psychology in Everyday Life, Third Edition Copyright © 2014 by Worth Publishers

21. The Gallup Organization asked 142,682 people worldwide to rate their lives on a ladder, from 0 (“the worst possible life”) to 10 (“the best possible life”). Age gave no clue to life satisfaction (Crabtree, 2010).
Figure Age and life satisfaction David G. Myers and C. Nathan DeWall: Psychology in Everyday Life, Third Edition Copyright © 2014 by Worth Publishers

22. Both younger and older adults report greater happiness when spending time with others. (Note: This correlation could also reflect happier people being more social.) Gallup survey data reported by Crabtree (2011).
Figure Humans are social creatures David G. Myers and C. Nathan DeWall: Psychology in Everyday Life, Third Edition Copyright © 2014 by Worth Publishers

23. In periodic lifetime surveys of more than 30,000 Germans, researchers identified 513 widowed people who had not remarried after the death of a spouse. They found that life satisfaction began to dip during the year before the spouse’s death, dropped significantly during the year of the death itself, and then eventually rebounded to nearly the earlier level (Lucas et al., 2003).
Figure Life satisfaction before, during the year of, and after a spouse’s death David G. Myers and C. Nathan DeWall: Psychology in Everyday Life, Third Edition Copyright © 2014 by Worth Publishers