PSY100H1 Lecture Notes - Eye Contact, Gentleness, Positive Feedback
65
PSY100H1 Full Course Notes
Verified Note
65 documents
Document Summary
Prenatal and infant development progress in highly predictable ways and are largely the result of genetic programming. Of course even prenatal and infant development are affected by environmental factors. Teratogens like alcohol, viruses, drugs can cause abnormal development in the womb; many chemicals pervasive in the environment are now found in fetuses. Stress, the mother"s emotional state ---> birth weight, cognitive and physical development of the baby. Brain development (myelination, formation of connection between neurons) is also dependent on proper environmental stimulation, nutrition . Some examples of children growing up in extreme circumstances have profoundly deepened our understanding of the role of the environment in human development. Studies of children growing up in romanian and other orphanages, and other situations of neglect, very little social contact Feral children- grown up raised by animals - behave exactly like wild animals that raised them, they can never reach the level of emotional and speech responses that normal humans are like.
