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Chapter 8
Human Development
1
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Exploring Human Development
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Child Development
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Adolescence
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Emerging Adulthood, Adult Development,
and Aging
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Development
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Pattern of continuity and change in human
capabilities that occurs through course of life
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Physical Processes
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Maturation
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Cognitive Processes
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Socioemotional Processes
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Development
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Nature & Nurture
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Nature
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Nurture
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Genetic heritage
Phenotype
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Environmental and social experiences
Genotype
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Biological inheritance, especially genes
Observable characteristics
Contributions of both nature and nurture (interaction)
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Nature, Nurture, & You
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We can develop beyond what our genetic
inheritance and our environment give us.
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Life Themes
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Seeking optimal experiences in life
Activities
Social Relationships
Life Goals
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Prenatal Development
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Conception 
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Germinal Period (Weeks 1 & 2)
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Zygote
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Fetus
Cell divisions
Attachment to uterine wall
Embryonic Period (Weeks 3 through 8)
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Intensified cell differentiation
Development of support systems
Appearance of organs
Fetal Period (Months 2 through 9)
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Fetal Period
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Development includes movement, organ
functioning, weight gain
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Threats to fetus
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Teratogen
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Preterm birth
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Agent that causes birth defect
Chemical substances: Nicotine, heroin, alcohol
Certain illnesses: Rubella, sexually transmitted diseases, HIV
Risk for developmental difficulties
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Physical Development
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Reflexes
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Motor and Perceptual Skills
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Motor skills as a convergence of nature and nurture
Motor and perceptual skills coupled and interdependent
Studying Infant Perception
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Genetically wired
Sucking, swallowing, coughing, blinking, yawning
Preferential Looking Technique
Habituation
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Brain Development
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Infancy
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Childhood
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Branching of dendrites
Myelination
Increase in synaptic connections
‘Pruning’ of unused neural connections
Rapid growth in frontal lobe areas
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Dendritic Spreading
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Cognitive Development
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Change in thought, intelligence, language process
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Jean Piaget (1896-1980)
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Children actively construct their cognitive world.
Schema
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Assimilation
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Incorporating new information into existing knowledge
Accommodation
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Mental concept framework to organize/interpret information
Adjusting schemas to new information
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Piaget’s Stages
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Sensorimotor Stage (birth to age 2)
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Coordinating sensory experiences with motor actions
Development of object permanence, as objects are no
longer “out of sight, out of mind”
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Piaget’s Stages
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Preoperational Stage (ages 2 to 7)
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Beginning of symbolic thinking
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Inability to perform operations, or reversible
mental representations
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Egocentric and intuitive thinking
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Piaget’s Stages
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Concrete Operational Stage (ages 7 to 11)
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Successful conservation task, ability to “reverse”
Ability to classify things into different sets
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Piaget’s Stages
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Formal Operational Stage (ages 11 to 15)
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Thinking about things that are not concrete
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Making predictions
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Using logic to come up with hypotheses about future
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Hypothetical-Deductive Reasoning
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Developing hypotheses about ways to solve a problem
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Evaluating Piaget’s Theory
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Underestimation of infants
Overestimation of adolescent and adults
Lack of belief in roles of culture and education
in cognitive development
Vygotsky
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Emphasis on interpersonal process in cultural context
Interactions with others provide scaffolding
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Socioemotional Development
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Temperament
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Attachment in Infancy
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Erikson’s Theory
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Parenting and Developmental Outcomes
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Divorce and Developmental Outcomes
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Moral Development
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Gender Development
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Temperament
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Behavioral style, characteristic way of responding
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Easy Child
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Difficult Child
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reacts negatively, irregular routines, slow to adapt
Slow-to-Warm-Up Child
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positive mood, regular routines, easily adapts
low activity/intensity, somewhat negative, inflexible
Also, self-regulation, inhibition, negative affectivity
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Attachment
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Close emotional bond between infant and caregiver
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Harlow’s Monkeys & Contact Comfort
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Warm contact as crucial to attachment
Ainsworth’s Strange Situation & Secure Attachment
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Caregiver as base from which to explore
May not adequately account for cultural variations
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Erikson’s Theory
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Theory of life-span development
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Four stages in childhood
Four stages in adolescence and adulthood
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Stages represent developmental tasks to master
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Two possible outcomes for each task
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Greater personal competence
Greater weakness and vulnerability
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Erikson’s Childhood Stages
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Trust vs. Mistrust (first 18 months)
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Autonomy vs. Shame & Doubt (1½ to 3 years)
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Assuming more responsibility for self
Industry vs. Inferiority (6 years to puberty)
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Developing sense of independence
Initiative vs. Guilt (3 to 5 years)
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Getting needs met
Mastering knowledge and intellectual skills
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Parenting & Development
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Authoritarian Parenting
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Authoritative Parenting
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Lack of parental involvement
Permissive Parenting
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Encouragement of independence, within limits
Neglectful Parenting
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Restrictive, punitive style
Few limits on child’s behavior
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Divorce & Development
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Children vulnerable to stress during divorce
Adjustment difficulties in 25% of children
and adolescents in divorced families
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Better adjustment predicted by certain factors
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Harmony between divorced parents
Authoritative parenting
Good schools
Easy (rather than difficult) child temperament
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Moral Development (Kohlberg)
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Changes in principles and values guiding behavior
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Preconventional Level
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Conventional Level
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Based on punishments or rewards from external world
Abiding by parental or societal standards
Postconventional Level
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Developing personal moral code reflecting community
principles or abstract principles for all humanity
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Evaluating Kohlberg’s Theory
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Moral reasoning
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Justice Perspective (Kohlberg)
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Focuses on rights of individual
Independent moral decisions
Care perspective (Gilligan)
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Moral behavior
Views people in terms of connectedness to others
Interpersonal communication
Recent studies of prosocial behavior
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Gender Development
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Gender
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Biology
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Social and psychological aspects of being male or female
Androgens
Social Experience
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Gender Roles
Gender Schema
Peers
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Resilience in Childhood
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Ability to recover from, or adapt to, difficulty
Resilient children
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Capable adults
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Individual factors
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Family factors
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Close, caring relationships
Extrafamilial factors
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Good intellectual functioning
Bonds to supportive, competent adults
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Adolescence
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Developmental period of transition from
childhood to adulthood
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From 10 to 12 years of age, to 18 to 21 years old
Ethnic, cultural, historical, gender, socioeconomic,
and lifestyle variations in life trajectories
Physical Development
Cognitive Development
Socioemotional Development
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Physical Development
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Pubertal Change
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Period of rapid skeletal and sexual maturation
Hormonal changes
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The Brain
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Testosterone in boys
Estradiol in girls
Earlier development of amygdala (emotion)
Later development of prefrontal cortex (reasoning)
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Cognitive Development
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Advance into Piaget’s formal operational state
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Adolescent egocentrism
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Belief that others are also preoccupied with adolescent
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Belief that one is unique
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Belief that one is invincible
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Socioemotional Development
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Erikson’s Theory and Identity Development
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Marcia’s Theory of Identity Status
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Exploration of options for career and personal values
Commitment to, and investment in, an identity path
Ethnic Identity
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Indentity vs. Identity Confusion (5th stage)
Biculturalism
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Socioemotional Development
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Erikson’s Theory and Identity Development
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Marcia’s Theory of Identity Status
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Exploration of options for career and personal values
Commitment to, and investment in, an identity path
Ethnic Identity
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Indentity vs. Identity Confusion (5th stage)
Biculturalism
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Adolescent Development
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Parents
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Peers
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Having close friends, but avoiding delinquent peers
Adolescence
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As effective managers
As effective monitors
Time of evaluation, decision making, and commitment
Searching for an identity
Access to legitimate opportunities for growth
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Emerging Adulthood
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Transitional period from adolescence to adulthood
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From 18 to 25 years of age
Characterized by experimentation and exploration
Key Features
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Identity exploration
Instability
Self-focus
Feeling “in between”
Age of possibilities
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Physical Development
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Early Adulthood
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Middle Adulthood
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Decline of physical skills, hearing, vision
Changes in appearance, vision
Menopause, and hot flashes, in women
Late Adulthood
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Increase in life expectancy over time
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Biological Theories of Aging
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Cellular Clock Theory
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Free-Radical Theory
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Cells less capable of dividing with age
Damage done by unstable oxygen molecules in cells
Hormonal Stress Theory
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Lowering resistance to stress, increasing risk of disease
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Aging and the Brain
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New brain cells possible throughout life
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Hippocampus
Olfactory bulb
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Repair capability (rewiring) to compensate for losses
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Changes in lateralization as adaptation
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Aging brain’s ability to grow and change
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Cognitive Development
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Early Adulthood
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Middle Adulthood
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More realistic, pragmatic thinking
Crystallized intelligence higher, fluid intelligence lower
May be a peak for many intellectual skills
Late Adulthood
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Processing speed and memory poorer, wisdom greater
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Longitudinal Changes in Six
Intellectual Abilities with Age
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Socioemotional Development
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Erikson’s Adult Stages
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Marriage
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Parenting
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Midlife Crises
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Socioemotional Aspects of Aging
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Erikson’s Adult Stages
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Intimacy vs. Isolation (early adulthood)
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Generativity vs. Stagnation (middle adulthood)
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Helping younger generation develop useful lives
Ego Integrity vs. Despair (late adulthood)
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Forming healthy and intimate relationships
Looking back and evaluating one’s life
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Marriage & Parenting
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Principles of Successful Marriages (Gottman)
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Parenting
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Nurturing fondness and admiration
Turning toward each other as friends
Giving up some power
Solving conflicts together
Benefits of actively engaged parenting
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Midlife Crises & Aging
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Midlife Crises
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Socioemotional Aspects of Aging
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Heightened awareness of finite nature of life
Importance of contributing legacy to future
Active and involved 
Satisfied and healthy
Selective about social networks
Better control of emotions
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Active Development & Aging
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Older adults as happy and satisfied
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Adult growth as a conscious process
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Life theme
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Coping with life’s difficulties (e.g., death)
Efforts to cultivate meaningful optimal experiences
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