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Chapter 8: Human Development 1. Exploring Human Development Development refers to the pattern of continuity and change in human capabilities that occur throughout the course of life, involving both growth and decline. A. Research Methods in Developmental Psychology A cross-sectional design is a research design in which a group of people are assessed on a psychological variable at one point in time. One problem in cross-sectional research is cohort effects. Cohort effects are differences between individuals that may be a result of the historical and social time periods they were born into and not necessarily from their age. Longitudinal studies assess the same participants multiple times over a time period. B. How Do Nature and Nurture Influence Development? Nature refers to a person’s biological inheritance, especially his or her genes. Nurture refers to the individual’s environmental and social experiences. Understanding development requires that we take into account the contributions of both genes (nature) and the environment (nurture). One example of the role of environmental influences on genetic expression is a genetic condition called phenylketonuria (PKU). C. Do Early Experiences Rule Us for Life? A key question in developmental psychology is the extent to which childhood experiences determine aspects of later life. Both early and later experiences make significant contributions to development, according to the experts. Resilience refers to a person’s ability to recover from or adapt to difficult times. D. Nature, Nurture, and You As an active developer, you take the raw ingredients of nature and nurture and make them into the person you are. In individuals’ efforts to experience life in optimal ways, they develop life themes that involve activities, social relationships, and life goals. E. Three Major Domains of Development Physical processes involve changes in a person’s biological nature. People go through hormonal changes with puberty and menopause, through height and weight changes, and through motor skills changes. Cognitive processes involve changes in an individual’s thoughts, intelligence, and language. Socioemotional processes involve changes in an individual’s relationships with other people, in emotions, and in personality. Developmental processes are traced along the broad periods of the life span, namely: childhood, adolescence, and adulthood.

2. Physical Development A. Prenatal Physical Development Conception occurs when a single sperm cell from the male merges with the female’s ovum (egg) to produce a zygote, a single cell with 23 chromosomes from the mother and 23 from the father. The Course of Prenatal Development The germinal period occurs during the first two weeks after conception. By the end of 2 weeks, the mass of cells has attached to the uterine wall. The embryonic period occurs during the third through eighth weeks. During the third week, the neural tube starts to form and at about 21 days the eyes begin to appear. By 24 days the cells of the heart start to differentiate, and by the fourth week the arms and legs start to emerge. At five to eight weeks the heart begins beating and the face starts to form. The fetal period occurs during the second through ninth months. During this time the mother can feel the fetus move for the first time. Threats to the Fetus Teratogens are agents that cause birth defects. They can be chemicals ingested by the mother or an illness, such as rubella. Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) are a cluster of abnormalities and problems that occur in children whose mothers were moderate to heavy drinkers during pregnancy. Some abnormalities include a small head, facial characteristics such as wide-spaced eyes, a flattened nose, an undeveloped upper lip, and defective limbs and heart defects. Children with fetal alcohol syndrome often are below average in intelligence. The timing of exposure to teratogens is important, because the body part or organ that is developing during the time of exposure is very vulnerable. A preterm infant, one who is born prior to 37 weeks after conception, may be at risk for developmental difficulties. B. Physical Development in Infancy and Childhood Reflexes Newborns come into the world equipped with several genetically wired reflexes that are crucial for survival. Motor and Perceptual Skills Motor skills and perceptual skills are coupled and depend on each other. Babies are continually coordinating their movements with information they perceive through their senses to learn how to maintain their balance, reach for objects in space, and move across various surfaces and terrains. When infants are motivated to do something, they may create a new motor behavior. Researchers now realize that motor development is not determined by nature or nurture alone. Psychologists face a daunting challenge in studying infant perception. The preferential looking technique involves showing an

infant two separate objects. If the infant then shows a preference for one object over the other, we may infer that the infant can tell the objects apart. The Brain During childhood, synaptic connections increase dramatically. Brain-imaging studies show that children’s brains also undergo amazing anatomical changes. The overall size of the brain does not change very much, but local patterns within the brain change tremendously. The most rapid growth in the brain occurs in the frontal lobe, between the ages of three and six years old. C. Physical Development in Adolescence Adolescence refers to the developmental period spanning the transition from childhood to adulthood, beginning around 10 to 12 years of age and ending at 18 to 21 years of age. Among the major physical changes of adolescence are those involving puberty and the brain. Puberty The signature physical change in adolescence is puberty. Puberty is a period of rapid skeletal and sexual maturation that occurs mainly in early adolescence. The Adolescent Brain Brain-imaging studies show important changes in the brain during adolescence. These changes focus on the earlier development in the limbic system. The limbic system is a set of subcortical brain structures central to emotion, memory, and reward processing. There is also later development of the prefrontal cortex, which is concerned with reasoning and decision making. D. Physical Development in Adulthood Physical Changes in Early Adulthood Most adults reach their peak physical development during their 20s and are the healthiest then. Early adulthood, however, is also the time when many physical skills begin to decline. Physical Changes in Middle and Late Adulthood Many physical changes in the 40s or 50s, involve changes in appearance. With age some body systems are likely to show some wear and tear (e.g., physical strength declines). One way adults navigate these physical changes associated with age is selective optimization with compensation. This means that older adults match their goals with their current abilities and compensate for declines by finding alternative ways to do things that they enjoy. Biological Theories of Aging

The cellular-clock theory developed by Leonard Hayflick is based on the fact that cells can divide a maximum of 100 times and that as a person ages, his or her cells become less capable of dividing. The free-radical theory states that people age because unstable oxygen molecules called free radicals develop in their cells. They destroy DNA and other cellular structures. The hormonal stress theory states that as bodies age, the hormones that are aroused by stress tend to stay in the body longer. This situation is linked to an increased risk of heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. Aging and the Brain Researchers have discovered that adults can grow new brain cells, specifically in the hippocampus and the olfactory bulb. Even in late adulthood, the brain has remarkable repair capability. The term neurogenesis is used to describe the generation of new neurons. Changes in lateralization may provide one type of adaptation in aging adults. Lateralization is the specialization of function in one hemisphere of the brain or the other. In the physical domain across the life span, we see a dramatic pattern of growth and change in infancy, childhood, and adolescence followed by a leveling-off and decline in adulthood. 3. Cognitive Development Cognitive development refers to how intelligence, thought, and language processes change as a person grows. Cognition refers to the operation of thinking and also to our cognitive skills and abilities. A. Cognitive Development from Childhood into Adulthood The Swiss developmental psychologist Jean Piaget (1896–1980) traced cognitive development through childhood into adulthood. Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development A schema is a mental concept or framework that organizes information and provides a structure for interpreting it. Piaget described two processes responsible for how people use and adapt their schemas. Assimilation occurs when a person incorporates new information into existing knowledge. Accommodation occurs when a person adjusts his or her schema to new information. Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development Piaget’s first stage, the sensorimotor stage, lasts from birth to about 2 years of age. In this stage, infants construct an understanding of the world by coordinating sensory experiences (such as seeing and hearing) with motor (physical) actions. Object permanence is Piaget’s term for the crucial accomplishment of understanding that objects continue to exist even when they cannot directly be seen, heard, or touched. The preoperational stage, the second phase of development, occurs between two and seven years of age. The type of symbolic thinking that children are able to accomplish during this stage is limited. The child’s thought in the preoperational stage is egocentric. Hence, children cannot take another person’s mental

states into account. Preoperational thinking is intuitive. Therefore, children make judgments based on gut feelings rather than logic. Piaget’s concrete operational stage (7 to 11 years of age) involves using operations and replacing intuitive reasoning with logical reasoning in concrete situations. Individuals enter the formal operational stage of cognitive development at 11 to 15 years of age. Formal operational thought is more abstract, idealistic, and logical than thought during the concrete operational stage. Individuals can think in hypothetical possibilities. Adolescents can think more like scientists when they devise plans to solve problems. Piaget called this type of thought hypothetical-deductive reasoning. Evaluating and Expanding on Piaget’s Theory Piaget opened up a new way of looking at how children’s minds develop. An Alternative View: The Nativist Approach Nativist approaches to infant cognitive development suggest that infants bring more knowledge with them into the world than Piaget realized. An example of the nativist approach is the core knowledge approach. The core knowledge approach is a perspective on infant cognitive development that holds that babies are born with domainspecific knowledge systems. Among these knowledge systems are those involving space, number sense, object permanence, and language. A major criticism of the nativist approach is that the infant’s social immersion in the world is ignored. Vygotsky: Cognitive Development in Cultural Context Piaget did not think that culture and education play important roles in children’s cognitive development. However, researchers have found that the age at which children acquire conservation skills is related to whether their culture provides relevant practice. Lev Vygotsky took a different approach, recognizing that cognitive development is an interpersonal process that happens in a cultural context. Revisionist Views of Adolescent and Adult Cognition Researchers have also expanded on Piaget’s view of adolescent cognition. Although egocentrism has been noted as an aspect of children’s cognition, adolescent egocentrism involves the belief that others are as preoccupied with the adolescent as he or she is, that one is unique, and that one is invincible. The sense of invincibility is the most dangerous aspect of adolescent egocentrism. Just as Piaget may have underestimated infant cognition, he may have overestimated some of adolescents’ and adults’ cognitive achievements. Developmental psychologists interested in cognition have noted that cognitive changes can occur after Piaget’s formal operations stage. B. Cognitive Processes in Adulthood Although Piaget did not recognize changes in cognitive processes in adulthood, researchers have examined how these processes might change throughout adult life. Cognition in Early Adulthood Young adults begin to think differently than adolescents do. Thinking becomes more realistic, reflective, and pragmatic.

Cognition in Middle Adulthood An ongoing longitudinal study has found that middle, not early, adulthood is the period that many people reach the peak of their intellectual skills. Cognition in Late Adulthood Decline in the speed of processing is apparent in middle-aged adults and becomes more pronounced in older adults. Older adults also tend to do more poorly than younger adults in most aspects of memory. Some aspects of cognition might improve with age. One such area is wisdom, expert knowledge about the practical aspects of life. 4. Socioemotional Development in Childhood Socioemotional processes involve changes in an individual’s social relationships, emotional life, and personal qualities. A. Socioemotional Development in Infancy Temperament Temperament refers to an individual’s behavioral style and characteristic ways of responding. For infants, temperament centers on their emotionality and ways of reacting to stimuli in the environment. The three basic types of temperament in children are: (1) easy, (2) difficult, and (3) slow-to-warm-up. The easy child is usually in a positive mood and establishes regular daily routines in infancy. The difficult child reacts negatively, cries a lot, and has irregular daily routines. The difficult child is also not accepting of new experiences. The slow-to-warm-up child has a low activity level, is somewhat negative, shows low adaptability, and demonstrates a low intensity of mood. Other researchers suggest that infants be judged on effortful control or self-regulation (managing arousal and not being easily agitated) or inhibition (being shy and showing distress in new situations) and negative affectivity (inclined to frustration and sadness). Attachment A classic study by Harry Harlow demonstrates the essential importance of warm contact. This study involving infant monkeys clearly demonstrates that what the researchers described as “contact comfort,” not feeding, is crucial to the attachment of an infant to its caregiver. Infant attachment is the close emotional bond between an infant and his or her caregiver. Many developmental psychologists concur that attachment during the first year provides an important foundation for later development. Mary Ainsworth devised a way to study differences in children’s attachment, called the strange situation test, in which the caregivers leave infants alone with a stranger and then return. Reponses of children to this situation are used to classify their attachment style. Secure attachment refers to how infants use their caregivers as a secure base from which to explore their environment. Critics of the attachment theory argue that cultural differences are not accounted for by it. Another critique of attachment theory is that it may not account for temperamental differences among infants that might color the attachment relationship.

B. Erikson’s Theory of Socioemotional Development Erik Erikson’s life-span development theory states that there are eight psychosocial stages of development. According to this theory, the first four stages occur during childhood, and the last four during adolescence and adulthood. Socioemotional Development in Childhood: From Trust to Industry The trust vs. mistrust stage occurs during the first 1½ years of life. Trust develops when a baby’s basic needs of comfort, food, and warmth are met. If these needs are not met, the result is mistrust. The autonomy vs. shame and doubt stage occurs from 1½ years of age through three years of age. In this phase, children seek independence through autonomy. If the need for autonomy is not met, the child feels shame and doubt. The initiative vs. guilt stage occurs between three and five years of age. Children in this stage seek out responsibility and initiative. If the drive toward initiative is not met, feelings of guilt ensue. The industry vs. inferiority stage occurs from ages six through puberty. Children in this stage achieve industry by mastering knowledge and intellectual skills. If they do not achieve industry, they may feel inferior. Parenting and Childhood Socioemotional Development Diana Baumrind described four basic styles of interaction between parents and their children. Authoritarian parenting is a strict punitive style. The authoritarian parent firmly limits and controls the child with little verbal exchange. Authoritative parenting encourages the child to be independent but still places limits and controls on behavior. This parenting style is more collaborative. Neglectful parenting is distinguished by a lack of parental involvement in the child’s life. Children of neglectful parents might develop a sense that other aspects of the parents’ lives are more important than they are. Permissive parenting places few limits on the child’s behavior. A permissive parent lets the child do what he or she wants. The Cultural Context of Parenting Culture influences the effects of parenting on children, especially authoritarian parenting. Socioemotional Development in Adolescence: The Emergence of Identity Erikson viewed the key challenge of adolescence as identity versus identity confusion. In seeking an identity, adolescents must find out who they are, what they are all about, and where they are going in life. Adolescents who spend this time in their lives exploring alternatives can reach some resolution of the identity crisis and emerge with a new sense of self. Those who do not successfully resolve the crisis become confused, suffering what Erikson calls identity confusion. Marcia’s Theory of Identity Status James Marcia proposed the concept of identity status to describe an adolescent’s position in the development of an identity. Exploration refers to a person’s exploring various options for a career and for personal values. Commitment involves making a decision about which identity path to follow and making a personal investment in attaining that identity.

Various combinations of exploration and commitment give rise to one of four identity statuses. In identity diffusion the adolescent has neither explored nor committed to an identity. In identity moratorium the adolescent is actively exploring and trying on new roles but has not committed to a particular identity. In identity foreclosure the adolescent has committed to a particular identity but has done so without actually exploring his or her options. In identity achievement the adolescent emerges with a sense of his or her own values and principles, a sense of the kind of person he or she wishes to be, and goal commitments that provide his or her life with a feeling of purpose. Ethnic Identity within a Larger Culture Developing an identity in adolescence can be especially challenging for individuals from ethnic minority groups. Some minority adolescents face the challenges of biculturalism, meaning they have trouble identifying with their ethnic group and the ethnic identity of the majority culture. Parents and Peers Both parents and peers play a strong role in an adolescent’s development. A crucial aspect of the managerial role of parenting is effective monitoring. During adolescence, individuals spend more time with peers than they did in childhood. These peer influences can be positive or negative. For Erikson, once the issues of identity have been resolved, the young adult turns to the important domain of intimate relationships. Socioemotional Development in Emerging Adulthood According to Jeffrey Arnett, eme...