Notes chapter 9 - Professor was Jim Cuellar and I took this in the spring of 2017. PDF

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Professor was Jim Cuellar and I took this in the spring of 2017....

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Two research methods are important in understanding how people develop.  Longitudinal design - studying a group or individual over a long period of time  Cross sectional design- comparing different groups over different time periods and ages of the subjects What is a chromosome?  23 pairs of human chromosomes  X and Y chromosomes Genotype vs. phenotype  Genotypes react differently to environmental factors  Environment participates in sculpting the expression of the genome – the phenotype.  Dominant genes will always be expressed if present ex: brown eyes, five fingers  Recessive genes will not be expressed unless they are in a pair ex: blue eyes, extra fingers  Most of the genes in each person are dormant  Experience affects which genes are turned on (and off) Epigenetics  Study of the cellular mechanisms that control gene expression and of the ways that gene expression affects health and behavior and how the environment influences this expression  Gene expression can be triggered by the activity of other genes, internal chemical changes or by external environmental factor. Prenatal development  Conception- when a sperm penetrates the ovum  Zygote- a fertilized egg  Germinal period- first two weeks after conception  Embryonic Prenatal brain development  Brain begins as a fluid filled neural tube about three weeks after conception  The neural tube is lined with stem cells  Neural stem cells divide and multiply, producing neurons and glial cells  Top of tube thickens into three bulges that form the hindbrain, midbrain, and forebrain  Hindbrain structures are first to develop  Followed by midbrain structures  Forebrain structures develop last, eventually surrounding  During peak periods of brain development, new neurons are being generated at the rate of 250,000 per minute. Embryonic period  Teratogens – any agent that causes a birth defect  Exposure to radiation  Toxic chemicals and metals  Viruses and bacteria  Painkillers and drugs (prescribed and addictive drugs)

Alcohol – Fetal alcohol syndrome: abnormal facial features, poor coordination, learning disabilities, behavior problems, and mental retardation  Mothers psychological state, unhealthy behaviors The fetal period ninth week until birth  During fetal period used connections are strengthened, while unused connections are eventually pruned or eliminated  During six-month fetus’s brain activity becomes similar to newborn babies and fetus has distinct sleep-wake cycles  At birth newborns brain is one-fourth the size of adult brain, weighing less than 1 pound  After birth: neurons grow in size and continue to develop new dendrites and interconnections with other neurons The placenta transfers nutrients and oxygen from mother to fetus and filters harmful substances from reaching the embryo or fetus Fetal alcohol syndrome is marked by a small, disproportioned head, with unusual facial features and lifelong brain abnormalities. 

Eight phases in embryonic and fetal brain development at a cellular level 1. Mitosis 2. Migration 3. Differentiation 4. Aggregation 5. Synaptogenesis 6. Neuron death 7. Synapse rearrangement 8. Myelination The 8 stages are sequential for a given neuron, but all are occurring simultaneously throughout fetal development Mitosis/Proliferation  Occurs in ventricular zone  Rate can be 250,000/min  After mitosis “daughter” cells become fixed post mitotic  During cell birth, the first stage of development  K 

Migration  Radial glia  Radial glial cells act as guide wires for the migration of neurons  Note that differentiation is going on as neurons migrate  Growth cones crawl forward as they elaborate the axons training behind them. Their extension is controlled by cues in their outside environment that ultimately direct them toward Differentiation

 Neurons become fixed and specialized  They develop processes (axons and dendrites)  They develop neurotransmitter making ability  They develop electrical conduction  Have to go to exact appropriate place Aggregation  Like neurons move together and form layers Synaptogenesis  Axons form a synapse with other neurons or tissue  As axon and dendrites begin to form, synapses for as well. In the prenatal stage, genetics determines the outlines of our neural connections Neuron death  Between 40 and 50 percent of all neurons born in embryonic and fetal development do not survive.  They fail to make optimal synapses Brain development Infancy -branching of dendrites -myelination childhood -increase in synaptic connections - “pruning” of unused neural connections -rapid growth in frontal lobe areas myelination can last up to 30 years  this stage of brain development starts in the prenatal stage, and continues to occur throughout a lifetime. In myelination, myelin is formed on axons where connections are used often. Myelin is formed on the axon to Increases the speed of impulses in the brain. Development during infancy and childhood Newborn reflexes  Rooting—turning the head and opening the mouth in the direction of a touch on the cheek  Sucking—sucking rhythmically in response to oral stimulation  Babinski—fanning and curling toes when foot is stroked  Grasping—the baby will grip your fingers so tightly that he can be lifted upright Newborn senses  Newborn infants are extremely nearsighted  Image of human face holds the newborn’s gaze longer than do other images  Optimal viewing distance for the newborn is about 6 to 12 inches  Newborns only 10 minutes old will turn their heads to continue gazing at the image of a human face as it passes in front of them, but they will not visually follow other images  Within just hours of birth, a newborn displays a preference for her mother’s voice and face over a stranger’s. Newborn competencies: Sensory abilities

Research shows that newborns prefer and attend to these visual stimuli in the environment.  Angles, circles and bulls-eyes, primary colors, black and white Ready to socialize Newborns are able to:  Imitate facial expressions (smile, stick out a tongue)  Distinguish the smell of his or her mother  Recognize voices within a day or two  Respond to touch, rocking, and music. Brain maturation  Birth to 3 branching neural networks enable walking, talking, and remembering  3 to 6 frontal lobes develop, enabling rational planning  6-13 association areas proliferate, enriching, thinking, memory, language and reading skills infant research memory: how do we demonstrate what infants know and remember? Tie a string to a baby’s leg and a mobile and they will learn quickly that their foot moves it.  Baby as a scientist: baby’s seek new information and store that information for future use Jerome Kagan—smile of assimilation (Recognition) Eric Courchesne—baby seek new information and store this information for later use. The brain becomes more active when information is unfamiliar Leslie Cohen—babies classify new information without language 

Habituation: baby’s will stop attending to an object once they are familiar with the object—which means the baby remembers the project  Dishabituation: baby’s will attend to new objects for a longer period of time than familiar objects. Physical development patterns  Cephalocaudal pattern – physical and motor skill development tends to follow a “top to bottom” sequence  Proximodistal trend – develop motor control from the center of bodies outwards Classic distinctions  Easy-adaptable, positive mood, regular habits  Slow to warm-up – low activity, somewhat slow to adapt, generally withdraw from new situations  Difficult – intense emotions, irritable, cry frequently  Average – unable to classify (1/3 of all children) Reactivity  High-reactive – infants react intensely to new experiences, strangers, and novel objects  Low-reactive – infants tend to be calmer, uninhibited, and bolder Influences:  individual differences in temperament have a genetic and biological basis 

Environmental experiences can modify a child’s basic temperament – bidirectional influences  Infant temperament can also be affected by cultural beliefs and parental behavior toward the infant. Importance of Cognitive Development in Social Development  Sense of self – rouge test – developed by 18 months  Moral sense – objects have integrity and if something changes in an object – someone had to do it and it was “wrong.”  Learning Delayed Gratification  Learning right and wrong by testing rules  Development of a conscience is dependent upon development of a Moral Sense Attachment – the emotional bond that forms between newborns and their caregivers. Stranger anxiety – the fear of strangers that infants commonly display, beginning by about 8 months. 

Piagetian terms 1. Schema: are the ways in which children try to understand the world; such as grasping items and placing them in their mouth 2. Assimilation: is when a child tries to fit the world into its existing understanding (schema) of the world 3. Accommodation: is when the child adjusts and changes it’s understanding (schema) to fit the world  Children move from assimilation to accommodation through experimentation with objects, language, and other processes in their experience/world. Sensorimotor stage: 1. Information is gained through the senses and motor actions 2. Child perceives and manipulates but does not reason 3. Symbols become internalized through language development 4. Object permanence: the understanding the objects exist independent of one’s actions or perceptions of them a. Before 6 months of age infants act as if objects removed from sight cease to exist-can be surprised by disappearance/reappearance of a face (like peek-a-boo) b. If it’s out of sight, it’s out of mind c. If I don’t see it, it’s not there Preoperational stage 2-7 years 1 Emergence of symbolic thought: ability to use words, images, and symbols to represent the world 2 Centration: tendency to focus, or center, on only one aspect of a situation, usually a perceptual aspect 3 Egocentrism: egocentric children lack the ability to consider events from another person’s point of view 4 Lack of concept of conservation

a. Two equal physical quantities remain equal even if the appearance of one is changed as long as nothing is added or subtracted b. No understanding of irreversibility 5. Animism: early in this stage (2-3) children believe inanimate objects have human qualities. 6. Theory of mind: taking the perspective of another Concrete operational stage 7-12 years 1 Understanding of mental operations leading to increasingly logical thought 2 Classification and categorization 3 Less egocentric 4 Inability to reason abstractly or hypothetically a. Example: if 2 rows of pennies, each row equally spaced, concrete operational children understand that the number of pennies in each row remains the same even when the spacing between the pennies in one row is increased. Formal operational stage 12-adulthood 1. Solves complex and hypothetical problems 2. Able to think in abstract terms Criticisms of piagets theory: Piaget underestimated the cognitive abilities of infants and young children 1 3 ½ years old Vygotsky- experience changes the brain Believed that cognitive development is strongly influenced by social and cultural factors Children are able to attain higher levels of cognitive development through the support and instruction that they receive from other people Proximal development—what a child can do by interacting with another person, but can’t do alone Critical thinking based on dialogue with others who challenge ideas Findings suggest that Piagets stages are not as universal and culture-free as some researchers has once believed. Adolescence  transitional stage between late childhood and early adulthood, during which sexual maturity is reached  adolescence is the stage that marks the transition from childhood to adulthood the adolescent brain 1 little evidence of raging hormones causing emotional problems 2 neuronal pruning surges occur 3 prefrontal cortex is the last area to experience pruning, which is responsible for executive cognitive functions, such as reasoning, planning, empathy and organizing. 4 Second wave of gray matter overproduction just prior to puberty, followed by a second round of neuronal pruning during the teenage years 5 The prefrontal cortex reaches full maturity by mid 20’s. an adolescent’s occasional impulsive, risky or immature behavior is due to a brain that has not reached full adult maturity. Women -22 men -25

Identity formation 1. Erikson: divided life span into eight psychosocial stages, each associated with a different drive and a problem or crisis to resolve 2. Outcome of each stage varies along a continuum from positive to negative 3. Identity: a person’s sense of self, including his or her memories, experiences, and the values and beliefs that guide his or her behavior. Kohlberg 1. Most influential theory of moral development was proposed who concluded that there are distinct stages of moral development 2. Kohlberg’s original belief that development of abstract thinking in adolescence naturally and invariably leads people to the formation of idealistic moral principles has not been supported 3. Moral reasoning for most people seems to be captured by Kohlberg’s first four stages 4. By adulthood, the predominant form of moral reasoning is conventional moral reasoning, reflecting the importance

****For the test: know the levels of moral reasoning**** 1. Pre conventional level: stage 1, stage 2 2. Conventional level: stage 3, stage 4 3. Post conventional level: stage 5, stage 6 Critiques: moral reasoning doesn’t always predict moral behavior -moral decision in the real world are often affected by no ration al processes -research on men Kohlberg based on ethic of individual rights and justice Gilligan developed a model of women’s moral development based on an ethic of care and responsibility Evidence suggest that both men and women used a mix of care and justice perspectives VERY FEW QUESTIONS ON ADULTHOOD AND OLD AGE...