PSYC-275 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, Prenatal Development, Birth Weight
Document Summary
What is development? sequence of age-related changes that occur as a person progresses from conception to death. We go through diferent types of changes: physical development - motor skills, bone structure, weight, etc. cognitive development - thought patterns and skills, problem solving, etc. social development - emotional changes, personality, etc. Examines past experiences and inluences in order to understand current behavior. Who we are is assumed to be a function of past experiences. Development begins long before the child is born. From conception, there are changes happening all of the time. In addition, many factors inluence how the child develops before birth - in fact, i am often ind myself thinking how amazing it is that any child is born healthy. Health: maternal drug taking although most introductory psychology books mention (only briely) the efects of drugs on prenatal development, they fail to mention fetal alcohol. This has a common efect of hindering the parent-infant bond.