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General Psychology: GuangDong University of Foreign Studies
Chapter 3
Chapter 3
Human Development
General Psychology: GuangDong University of Foreign Studies
Chapter 3
Heredity and Genes
• Developmental Psychology: The study of progressive
changes in behavior and abilities
• Heredity (Nature): Transmission of physical and
psychological characteristics from parents to their
children through genes
• DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid): Molecular structure,
shaped like a double helix that contains coded genetic
information
• Genes: Specific areas on a strand of DNA that carry
hereditary information
– Dominant: The gene’s feature will appear each time the gene is
present
– Recessive: The gene’s feature will appear only if it is paired with
another recessive gene
General Psychology: GuangDong University of Foreign Studies
Figure 3.2
Chapter 3
FIGURE 3.2 (Top left) Linked molecules (organic bases) make up the “rungs” on DNA’s twisted “molecular
ladder.” The order of these molecules serves as a code for genetic information. The code provides a
genetic blueprint that is unique for each individual (except identical twins). The drawing shows only a small
section of a DNA strand. An entire strand of DNA is composed of billions of smaller molecules. (Bottom left)
The nucleus of each cell in the body contains chromosomes made up of tightly wound coils of DNA. (Don’t
be misled by the drawing: Chromosomes are microscopic in size, and the chemical molecules that make up
DNA are even smaller.)
General Psychology: GuangDong University of Foreign Studies
Figure 3.3
Chapter 3
FIGURE 3.3 Gene patterns for children of brown-eyed parents, where each parent has one
brown-eye gene and one blue-eye gene. Because the brown-eye gene is dominant, one child in
four will be blue-eyed. Thus, there is a significant chance that two browneyed parents will
have a blue-eyed child.
General Psychology: GuangDong University of Foreign Studies
Chapter 3
Temperament and Environment
• Temperament: The physical “core” of personality
– Easy Children: 40%; relaxed and agreeable
– Difficult Children: 10%; moody, intense, easily
angered
– Slow-to-Warm-Up Children: 15%; restrained,
unexpressive, shy
– Remaining Children: Do not fit into any specific
category
General Psychology: GuangDong University of Foreign Studies
Chapter 3
Environment
• Environment (“Nurture”): All external conditions that
affect development
• Sensitive Periods: A period of increased sensitivity to
environmental influences; also, a time when certain
events must occur for normal development to take place
• Congenital Problem: A problem or defect that occurs
during prenatal development; “birth defect”; becomes
apparent at birth
General Psychology: GuangDong University of Foreign Studies
Chapter 3
Environment (cont'd)
• Genetic Disorder: Problem caused by inherited
characteristics
• Anything capable of causing birth defects (e.g., narcotics,
radiation, cigarette smoke, lead, and cocaine)
• Deprivation: Lack of normal stimulation, nutrition, comfort,
or love
• Enrichment: When an environment is deliberately made
more complex and intellectually stimulating
• Enriched Environments: Environments deliberately made
more novel, complex, and stimulating
General Psychology: GuangDong University of Foreign Studies
Chapter 3
The Mozart Effect: Real or Rubbish?
• Rauscher & Shaw (1998) claimed that after college
students listened to Mozart they scored higher on a
spatial reasoning test
• Original experiment done with adults; tells us nothing
about infants
• What effect would listening to other styles of music have?
• Most researchers unable to duplicate the effect
• Conclusion: Those who listened to Mozart were just
more alert or in a better mood
General Psychology: GuangDong University of Foreign Studies
Chapter 3
Newborns (Neonates) and Their Reflexes
• Grasping Reflex: If an object is placed in the infant’s
palm, she’ll grasp it automatically (all reflexes are
automatic responses; i.e., they come from nature, not
nurture).
• Rooting Reflex: Lightly touch the infant’s cheek and he’ll
turn toward the object and attempt to nurse; helps infant
find bottle or breast.
• Sucking Reflex: Touch an object or nipple to the infant’s
mouth and she’ll make rhythmic sucking movements.
• Moro Reflex: If a baby’s position is abruptly changed or if
he is startled by a loud noise, he will make a hugging
motion.
General Psychology: GuangDong University of Foreign Studies
Chapter 3
Maturation
• Physical growth and development of the body, brain, and
nervous system
• Increased muscular control occurs in patterns
– Cephalocaudal: From head to toe
– Proximodistal: From center of the body to the
extremities
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Chapter 3
Emotional and Social Development
 Social Smile: Smiling elicited by social stimuli; not
exclusive to seeing parents
– Invites parents to care for them
General Psychology: GuangDong University of Foreign Studies
Figure 3.6
Chapter 3
FIGURE 3.6 Motor development. Most infants follow an orderly pattern of motor development.
Although the order in which children progress is similar, there are large individual differences in
the ages at which each ability appears. The ages listed are averages for American children. It is
not unusual for many of the skills to appear 1 or 2 months earlier than average or several months
later (Frankenberg & Dodds, 1967; Harris & Liebert, 1991). Parents should not be alarmed if a
child’s behavior differs some from the average.
General Psychology: GuangDong University of Foreign Studies
Figure 3.8
Chapter 3
FIGURE 3.8 The traditional view of infancy holds that emotions are rapidly differentiated from an
initial capacity for excitement.
General Psychology: GuangDong University of Foreign Studies
Figure 3.9
Chapter 3
FIGURE 3.9 Infants display many of the same emotional expressions as adults do. Carroll Izard
believes such expressions show that distinct emotions appear within the first months of life. Other
theorists argue that specific emotions come into focus more gradually, as an infant’s nervous
system matures. Either way, parents can expect to see a full range of basic emotions by the end of
a baby’s first year.
General Psychology: GuangDong University of Foreign Studies
Chapter 3
Mary Ainsworth and Attachment
• Separation Anxiety: Crying and signs of fear when a
child is left alone or is with a stranger; generally appears
around 8-12 months
• Quality of Attachment (Ainsworth)
– Secure: Stable and positive emotional bond; upset by
mother’s absence
– Insecure-Avoidant: Tendency to avoid reunion with
parent or caregiver
– Insecure-Ambivalent: Desire to be with parent or
caregiver and some resistance to being reunited with
Mom
General Psychology: GuangDong University of Foreign Studies
Figure 3.10
Chapter 3
FIGURE 3.10 In the United States, about two thirds of all children from middle-class families are
securely attached. About one child in three is insecurely attached. (Percentages are approximate.
From Kaplan, 1998.)
General Psychology: GuangDong University of Foreign Studies
Chapter 3
Play and Social Skills
• Solitary Play: When a child plays alone even when with
other children
• Cooperative Play: When two or more children must
coordinate their actions
General Psychology: GuangDong University of Foreign Studies
Chapter 3
Optimal Caregiving
• Maternal Influences: All the effects a mother has on her
child
• Goodness of Fit (Chess & Thomas): Degree to which
parents and child have compatible temperaments
• Paternal Influences: Sum of all effects a father has on
his child
General Psychology: GuangDong University of Foreign Studies
Figure 3.11
Chapter 3
FIGURE 3.11 This graph shows the results of a study of child care in homes other than the child’s.
In most cases, parents paid for this care, although many of the caregivers were unlicensed. As
you can see, child care was “good” in only 9 percent of the homes. In 35 percent of the homes, it
was rated as inadequate
General Psychology: GuangDong University of Foreign Studies
Figure 3.12
Chapter 3
FIGURE 3.12 Mother-infant and father-infant interactions. These graphs show what occurred on
routine days in a sample of 72 American homes. The graph on the left records the total amount of
contact parents had with their babies, including such actions as talking to, touching, hugging, or
smiling at the infant. The graph on the right shows the amount of caregiving (diapering, washing,
feeding, and so forth) done by each parent. Note that in both cases mother-infant interactions
greatly exceed father-infant interactions.
General Psychology: GuangDong University of Foreign Studies
Chapter 3
Parenting Styles (Baumrind, 1991)
• Authoritarian Parents: Enforce rigid rules and demand
strict obedience to authority. Children are obedient and
self-controlled.
• Overly Permissive: Give little guidance. Allow too much
freedom, or don’t hold children accountable for their
actions. Children tend to be dependent and immature
and frequently misbehave.
• Authoritative: Provide firm and consistent guidance
combined with love and affection. Children tend to be
competent, self-controlled, independent, and assertive.
General Psychology: GuangDong University of Foreign Studies
Chapter 3
Types of Child Discipline
• Power Assertion: Using physical punishment or a show
of force
• Withdrawal of Love: Withholding affection; refusing to
speak to a child or threatening to leave
• Management Techniques: Combine praise, recognition,
approval, rules, and reasoning to encourage desirable
behavior
General Psychology: GuangDong University of Foreign Studies
Chapter 3
Language Acquisition
• Cooing: Repetition of vowel sounds by infants (like “oo”
and “ah”); starts at about 8 weeks
• Babbling: Repetition of meaningless language sounds
(e.g., babababa); starts at about 7 months
• Single-Word Stage: The child says one word at a time
• Telegraphic Speech: Two word sentences that
communicate a single idea (e.g., Want yogurt)
General Psychology: GuangDong University of Foreign Studies
Figure 3.13
Chapter 3
FIGURE 3.13 Infant engagement scale. These samples from a 90-point scale show various
levels of infant engagement, or attention. Babies participate in prelanguage “conversations” with
parents by giving and withholding attention and by smiling, gazing, or vocalizing.
General Psychology: GuangDong University of Foreign Studies
Figure 3.14
Chapter 3
FIGURE 3.14 This graph shows the development of turn-taking in games played by an infant and
his mother. For several months, Richard responded to games such as peek-a-boo and “handthe-toy-back” only when his mother initiated action. At about 9 months, however, he rapidly
began to initiate action in the games. Soon, he was the one to take the lead about half the time.
Learning to take turns and to direct actions toward another person underlie basic language skills.
General Psychology: GuangDong University of Foreign Studies
Chapter 3
Noam Chomsky and the Roots of Language
• Biological Disposition: Presumed readiness of ALL
humans to learn certain skills such as how to use
language
– Chomsky: Language patterns are inborn
• Parentese (Motherese): Pattern of speech used when
talking to infants
– Marked by raised voice; short, simple sentences and
repetition
General Psychology: GuangDong University of Foreign Studies
Chapter 3
Jean Piaget and Cognitive Development
• Piaget believed that all children passed through a set
series of stages during their intellectual development;
like Freud, he was a Stage Theorist.
• Transformations: Mentally changing the shape or form
of a substance; children younger than 6 or 7 cannot do
this.
• Assimilation: Application of existing mental patterns to
new situations.
• Accommodation: Existing ideas are changed to
accommodate new information or experiences.
General Psychology: GuangDong University of Foreign Studies
Chapter 3
Jean Piaget: Sensorimotor Stage
• Sensorimotor (0-2 Years): All sensory input and motor
responses are coordinated; most intellectual
development here is nonverbal.
– Object Permanence: Concept that objects still exist
when they are out of sight.
General Psychology: GuangDong University of Foreign Studies
Figure 3.16
Chapter 3
FIGURE 3.16 The panels on the left show a possible event, in which an infant watches as a
toy is placed behind the right of two screens. After a delay of 70 seconds, the toy is brought
into view from behind the right screen. In the two panels on the right, an impossible event
occurs. The toy is placed behind the left screen and retrieved from behind the right. (A
duplicate toy was hidden there before testing.) Eight-month-old infants react with surprise
when they see the impossible event staged for them. Their reaction implies that they
remember where the toy was hidden. Infants appear to have a capacity for memory and
thinking that greatly exceeds what Piaget claimed is possible during the sensorimotor period.
General Psychology: GuangDong University of Foreign Studies
Chapter 3
Jean Piaget: Preoperational Stage
• Preoperational Stage (2-7 Years): Children begin to use
language and think symbolically, BUT their thinking is
still intuitive and egocentric.
– Intuitive: Makes little use of reasoning and logic.
– Egocentric Thought: Thought that is unable to
accommodate viewpoints of others.
General Psychology: GuangDong University of Foreign Studies
Chapter 3
Jean Piaget: Concrete Operational Stage
• Concrete Operational Stage (7-11Years): Children
become able to use concepts of time, space, volume,
and number BUT in ways that remain simplified and
concrete, not abstract.
– Conservation: Mass, weight, and volume remain
unchanged when the shape or appearance of objects
changes.
– Reversibility of Thought: Relationships involving
equality or identity can be reversed.
General Psychology: GuangDong University of Foreign Studies
Chapter 3
Jean Piaget: Formal Operations
• Formal Operations Stage (11 Years and Up): Thinking
now includes abstract, theoretical, and hypothetical
ideas.
– Abstract Ideas: Concepts and examples removed
from specific examples and concrete situations.
– Hypothetical Possibilities: Suppositions, guesses, or
projections.
General Psychology: GuangDong University of Foreign Studies
Chapter 3
Lev Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory
• Children’s cognitive development is heavily influenced by
social and cultural factors.
• A child’s thinking develops through dialogues with more
capable persons
• Zone of Proximal Development: Range of tasks a child
cannot master alone even though they are close to
having the necessary mental skills; they need guidance
from a more capable partner in order to complete the
task.
• Scaffolding: Adjusting instruction so it is responsive to a
beginner’s behavior and so it supports the beginners
efforts to understand a problem or gain a mental skill
General Psychology: GuangDong University of Foreign Studies
Chapter 3
Lawrence Kohlberg and
Stages of Moral Development
• Moral Development: When we acquire values, beliefs,
and thinking abilities that guide responsible behavior
– Three Levels
– Preconventional: Moral thinking guided by
consequences of actions (punishment, reward,
exchange of favors)
– Conventional: Reasoning based on a desire to please
others or to follow accepted rules and values
– Postconventional: Follows self-accepted moral
principles
– Stage theorist, like Freud and Erikson
General Psychology: GuangDong University of Foreign Studies
Chapter 3
Erik Erikson’s Eight Stages of Psychosocial
Dilemmas
• Stage One: Trust versus Mistrust (Birth-1): Children are
completely dependent on others
– Trust: Established when babies given adequate
warmth, touching, love, and physical care
– Mistrust: Caused by inadequate or unpredictable care
and by cold, indifferent, and rejecting parents
• Stage Two: Autonomy versus Shame and Doubt (1-3)
– Autonomy: Doing things for themselves
– Overprotective or ridiculing parents may cause
children to doubt abilities and feel shameful about
their actions
General Psychology: GuangDong University of Foreign Studies
Chapter 3
Erik Erikson’s Eight Stages of Psychosocial
Dilemmas (cont'd)
• Stage Three: Initiative versus Guilt (3-5)
– Initiative: Parents reinforce via giving children
freedom to play, use imagination, and ask questions
– Guilt: May occur if parents criticize, prevent play, or
discourage a child’s questions
• Stage Four: Industry versus Inferiority (6-12)
– Industry: Occurs when child is praised for productive
activities
– Inferiority: Occurs if child’s efforts are regarded as
messy or inadequate
General Psychology: GuangDong University of Foreign Studies
Figure 3.17
Chapter 3
FIGURE 3.17 Dramatic differences in physical size and maturity are found in adolescents of the
same age. The girls pictured are all 13, the boys 16. Maturation that occurs earlier or later than
average can affect the “search for identity.”
General Psychology: GuangDong University of Foreign Studies
Erik Erikson’s Eight Stages of
Psychosocial Dilemmas (cont'd)
Chapter 3
• Stage Five (Adolescence): Identity versus Role
Confusion
– Identity: For adolescents; problems answering, “Who
am I?”
– Role Confusion: Occurs when adolescents are unsure
of where they are going and who they are
• Stage Six (Young adulthood): Intimacy versus Isolation
– Intimacy: Ability to care about others and to share
experiences with them
– Isolation: Feeling alone and uncared for in life
General Psychology: GuangDong University of Foreign Studies
Erik Erikson’s Eight Stages of
Psychosocial Dilemmas (cont'd)
Chapter 3
• Stage Seven (Middle adulthood): Generativity versus
Stagnation
– Generativity: Interest in guiding the next generation
– Stagnation: When one is only concerned with one’s
own needs and comforts
• Stage Eight (Late adulthood): Integrity versus Despair
– Integrity: Self-respect; developed when people have
lived richly and responsibly
– Despair: Occurs when previous life events are viewed
with regret; experiences heartache and remorse
General Psychology: GuangDong University of Foreign Studies
Chapter 3
Effective Parenting
• Have stable rules of conduct (consistency)
• Show mutual respect, love, encouragement, and shared
enjoyment
• Have effective communication
– I-Message: Tells children the effect their behavior had
on you (Use this)
– You-Message: Threats, name-calling, accusing,
bossing, criticizing, or lecturing (Avoid this)
General Psychology: GuangDong University of Foreign Studies
Chapter 3
Consequences
• Natural Consequences: Effects that naturally follow a
particular behavior; intrinsic effects
• Logical Consequences: Rational and reasonable effects