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Lecture 1: Nature vs Nurture How do biological forces and environmental forces act and interact to make us what we are? Nature side: development is largely a process of maturation -­‐ Influence of heredity -­‐ Universal maturational processes guided by genes -­‐ Biological predispositions -­‐ Hormones and brain growth spurts Nature = expect all children to achieve similar developmental milestones at similar times because of maturation; differences among individuals are caused by differences in genetic make-­‐up Nurture side: development is largely a process of learning -­‐ Changes in response to the environment Nurture = expect outcomes to result entirely from individuals’ life experiences NATURE NURTURE Heredity Environment Maturation Learning Genes Experience Innate/Biologically-­‐based systems Cultural Influences Developmental changes are a mixture of nature AND nurture (but to what degree?) Bio-­‐Ecological model -­‐ American Psychologist Urie Bronfenbrenner -­‐ Need to study human development in context of culture -­‐ Model describing environmental influences on development -­‐ Believed that an individual with genetic makeup and biological and psychological characteristics is embedded in a series of environmental systems that interact with one another influencing development o Direct environmental influence on the child o Complex interconnectedness amongst the systems § Microsystem: Immediate physical and social environment (e.g. parents, grandparents, child-­‐care centre) § Mesosystem: interrelationships between two or more microsystems (e.g. problems a child experiences at school may affect home life) § Exosystem: linkages involving social systems individuals do not experience directly (e.g. changes in parents’ workplace affecting home life) § Macrosystem: larger cultural context in which microsystem, mesosystem and exosystem are embedded (e.g. cultural beliefs, customs, laws etc.) Chronosystem: changes in people and their environments across time (e.g. attitudes to child-­‐rearing in 20th century compared to present Lecture 36: Cognitive Models of Hallucination: Based on thought processes that go wrong Hierarchical cognitive models of AVH consider information processing at various levels Complex cognitive processes (memory, language) Sensory inputs come in from sensory organs Look at how the top and bottom have influence on perception Bottom-­‐up Influences: Talk about problems with sensory processing that are exerting a problematic influence from the bottom up In the auditory domain, people with schizophrenia who experience AVH show numerous impairments in sensory auditory processing of fundamental acoustic cues: -­‐ Frequency (perception of pitch) -­‐ Amplitude (perception of loudness) -­‐ Duration of tones and silences It could be the case that the brain spontaneously generates sensation-­‐like experiences to compensate for impoverished sensory input Top-­‐down Influences: Therapeutic Approaches to AVH: Therapeutical approaches to reducing the frequency and severity of AVH in clinical populations include -­‐ Psychopharmacological: antipsychotic medication o Most successful/effective -­‐ Novel approaches such as Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation -­‐ Psychotherapy o Limited effectiveness Cognitive Behaviour Therapy has limited effectiveness in reducing the severity and frequency of AVH -­‐ However; CBT is useful for reducing psychological distress associated with hearing voices