1. Developmental psychology

2. Questions Is Nature or Nurture More Important? Does Development Happen in Stages?

3. Nature or Nurture? Nature refers to the effects of our biology, especially the influence of genes. Nurture refers to the effects of the environment.

4. Nature or Nurture? Innate Reflexes Sensory Preferences Similarity in Language Development – babbling – overregularization

5. Misconception Alert! Similarities among family members are not always the result of parenting or other aspects of the family environment.

6. Nature or Nurture? Prenatal Effects of Environment – Malnutrition – Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Environmental Interventions – Head Start – Brain development

7. Nature or Nurture? Development depends on having the right environment at the right time (critical period). The development of some abilities (e.g., vision,walking, talking) appears to follow a programmed sequence.

8. Does Development Happen in Stages? Similarity in the patterns of development across individuals Absolute vs. relative timing All-or-none vs. gradual

9. Does Development Happen in Stages? Example: Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development Children in different stages have qualitativeliy different ways of thinking.

10. Does Development Happen in Stages? Sensorimotor Stage (birth – 2 years) – voluntary control – object permanence

11. Does Development Happen in Stages? Preoperational Stage (2 -7 years) – egocentrism – symbolic thought Concrete Operational Stage (7-11 years) – hierarchical classification – conservation

12. Does Development Happen in Stages? Formal Operations Stage (11 years - adult) – Hypothetical thinking – Abstract concepts – Systematic problem solving

13. Does Development Happen in Stages? Developmental norms are more relative than absolute. Development of abilities is not all-or-none. Experience and training can affect development.