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Welcome to the
Developmental
Psych Unit (Ch. 4,5)
(the meme sums up the whole unit)
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Learning Targets:
Discuss the interaction of nature and nurture (including cultural
variations) in the determination of behavior.
Explain the process of conception and gestation, including factors
that influence successful fetal development (e.g., nutrition, illness,
substance abuse).
Discuss maturation of motor skills.
Nature (genetics)
vs.
Nurture (environment)
How do genetic inheritance (nature) and
experience (the nurture we received)
influence our development?
Behavioral genetics
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Questions a BG would try to answer
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how is an individual’s level of aggression impacted by inheritance and
exposure to violence?
what aggressive tendencies are naturally selected?
do behavioral traits run in families?
genetics
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genotype- genetic makeup for an individual which may or may not be expressed
phenotype-observable characteristics of a trait (eye color, chin
dimple, etc)
Nature v. Nurture Debate
● NATURE- influences on behavior that are genetic or biological
● Nurture- influence of environmental factors on behavior (family,
culture, interactions with others, education, wealth, etc.)
● Most psychologists agree that both interact to
influence behavior
● Nature sets the possibilities, nurture
determines how they will be realized
Evolutionary Psychology
● study the evolution of human behavior and the mind by using
principles of natural selection
○ principle that says that the traits that lead to increased survival
will most likely be passed onto future generations
○ organism’s varied offspring compete for survival
○ certain biological and behavioral variations increase
reproductive and survival chances in the environment
○ offspring that survive are more likely to pass their genes
○ over time, population characteristics may change
Babies! (a refresher from health class)
zygotes: the fertilized egg. 2 week period of rapid development & grows into an….
embryo: weeks 2 through 8. organs are primitive, but identifiable. baby is 1 inch
long. arms, legs & face are distinct
fetus: developing human organism from 9 weeks to birth (pregnancy is 40 weeks)
age of viability: baby can survive outside mother at this
stage (24 weeks or more)
Prenatal Care
teratogens: chemicals & viruses that can cause
harm to the embryo/fetus
(“crack babies”)
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome: FAS: physical &
cognitive abnormalities in children causes by a
pregnant woman’s heavy drinking.
Newborns
Babies are born
with certain reflexes...
Rooting
Grasping
Sucking
Startle
Babinski
Newborns
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Babies are born legally blind and can only see things very close to their faces
their sense of smell is OK
born with an aversion to bitter tastes (evolutionary)
prefers the smell and sight of mom (evolutionary)
Habituation
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decreased responsiveness to an unchanging stimuli
was discovered when babies grew bored looking at the same thing
Maturation
★ is the process of learning
to cope and react in an
emotionally appropriate
way.
★ physical, intellectual, or
emotional process of
development
★ impacted by nature vs.
nurture
○ bio-psycho-social
★ Cannot speed this up
Milestones
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sitting up (5-7 months)
crawling (6-12 months)
walking (1 year)
running
fine motor skills
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picking up food
putting shapes into holes
writing & coloring
Konrad Lorenz
● Critical Period
○ The important time in
which an organism must
learn something
● Imprinting
○ Becoming attached to the
first object or person
● Attachment
○ Caring relationship
between adult and child