HPS121 Study Guide - Final Guide: Umbilical Cord, Sexually Transmitted Infection, Primitive Reflexes
HPS121 Notes
Chapter 12 – development over the lifespan
Developmental psychology – examines biological, physical, psychological and behavioural changes that occur as we
age.
Four issues that guide developmental psychology:
1. Nature and nurture – the extent to which development is influenced by heredity (nature) and the extent to which
it is influenced by the environment (nurture), and how the both interact.
2. Sensitive and Critical Periods –
A sensitive period is an optimal age range for certain developmental experiences, but if they occur at a
different time, normal development is still possible.
A critical period is an age range during which certain developmental experiences must occur for
development to proceed normally or along a certain path.
3. Continuity vs Discontinuity – whether development is continuous and gradual or it is discontinuous, progressing
through qualitatively distinct stages.
4. Stability vs Change – whether our characteristics remain consistent as we age.
The 3 stages of Prenatal development:
Germinal stage – when the sperm fertilises a female egg. The fertilised egg is called a zygote.
Embryonic stage – the embryo develops from the end of week 2 to approx. 2 months after conception. The
placenta and umbilical cord (life-support structures) develop at the start of this stage. The placenta allows
nutrients to pass from the mother’s blood to the umbilical cord. In turn, the umbilical cord contain blood
vessels which carry these nutrients and oxygen to the embryo and transport waste products back from the
embryo to the mother.
Foetal stage – the foetus develops from week 9 after conception until birth. Muscles strengthens and other
bodily systems develop. The foetus obtains age of viability by week 27, where it is likely to survive outside the
womb in case of premature birth.
The 23rd pair of chromosome determines the baby’s sex. A genetic female’s chromosome contains two X chromosomes
(XX), and a genetic male’s chromosome contains an X and Y chromosome. The sperm determines the baby’s sex.
The Y chromosome contains the TDF gene, which triggers male sexual development. If the Y chromosome doesn’t exist
(in the case of a female) then it will trigger female sexual development.
Teratogens – external agents that cause abnormal prenatal development. That is, although the placenta prevents many
harmful substance from reaching the embryo, sometimes it fails to do so and thus negatively affecting prenatal
development in the embryo.
If the mother contracts a disease while pregnant, it may pass on to her child.
Sexually transmitted diseases can pass from mother to foetus and produce birth defects.
Mercury, lead, radiation and other environmental toxins such as drugs can also produce birth defects. FASD
disease in a newborn is caused by prenatal exposure to alcohol and involve cognitive, behavioural and/or
physical defects.
Newborns can reasonably see objects up to 30cm away, the typical distance between their eyes and their mother’s eye
when nursing. Infants can recognise their mother from another female as well recognise her voice and smell. Simple
forms of learning can also occur inside the womb, such as getting familiar with sounds that they heard while in their last
few weeks of foetus development in the womb.
Reflexes – automatic, inborn behaviours that occur in response to specific stimuli. Newborns are born with reflexes
such as the sucking reflex to help them survive.
Newborns habituate to repetitive, non-threatening stimuli and can acquire classically conditioned responses. Through
operant conditioning newborns learn that they can make things happen.
Maturation – the genetically programmed biological process that governs our growth.
Cephalocaudal principle – reflects the tendency for development to proceed in a head-to-foot direction.
Proximodistal principle – states that development begins along the innermost parts of the body and continues
towards the outermost.
The first brain areas to mature fully lie deep within the brain and regulate basic survival functions such as heartbeat and
breathing. Among the last areas to mature is the frontal cortex, which is vital to our highest level cognitive functions.
Environmental and cultural influences on physical development include diet, where a poor diet stunts general growth
and brain development, enriched environment, where the baby has the opportunity to interact with others and
manipulate objects enhances their learning. Experience can also influence basic motor development.
Biological influences sets limits on environmental influences, where for example, no infant can be toilet trained before
the nerve fibres that help regulate bladder control have biologically matured.
Piaget’s stage model (qualitative):
Schemas – organised patterns of thought and action. That is, a mental framework that guides our interaction
with the world.
Assimilation – the process by which new experiences are incorporated into existing schemas.
Accommodation – the process by which new experiences cause existing schemas to change.
Piaget’s stages of cognitive development:
Stage
Age(years)
Major characteristics
Sensorimotor
Birth to 2
Infant understands world
through sensory and
motor experiences
Achieves objects
permanence (the
understanding that an
object still exists even
when it cannot be seen)
Exhibits emergence of
significant thought
Preoperational
2-7
Child uses symbolic
thinking in the form of
words and images to
represent objects and
experiences
Symbolic thinking
enables child to engage
in pretend play
Thinking displays
egocentrism (difficulty in
viewing the world from
someone else’s
perspective),
irreversibility (difficulty
in reversing an action
mentally) and centration
(focusing on only one
aspect of the situation)
Child doesn’t understand
conservation (the
principle that properties
like volume, mass or
quantity stay the same
even though their
outward appearance
may change
Concrete operational
7-12
Child can think logically
about concrete events
Grasps concepts of
conservation and serial
ordering
Formal operational
12 plus
Adolescent can think
more logically, abstractly
and flexibly
Can form hypothesises
an systematically test
them
Cons of Piaget’s theory:
Children acquire many cognitive skills and concepts at an earlier age than Piaget believed.
Cognitive development within each stage seems to proceed inconsistently.
Culture influences cognitive development.
Cognitive development is more complex and variable than Piaget proposed.
Zone of proximal development – the difference between what a child can do independently and what they can do with
assistance from adults or more advanced peers.
Theory of mind – refers to a person’s beliefs about the mind and the ability to understand other people’s mental
states.
Emotion regulation – the process by which we evaluate and modify our emotional reactions.
Temperament – a biologically based general style of reacting emotionally and behaviourally to the environment.
Erikson’s psychosocial theory – Erikson believed that personality develops through confronting a series of eight
psychosocial stages, each stage involving a different crisis (conflict) over how we view ourselves in relation to other
people and the world. Four of these crises occur in infancy and childhood:
1. Basic trust vs basic mistrust – infant develops a basic trust or mistrust about the world based on how well their
needs are met and how much love they received, in the 1st year of birth.
2. Autonomy vs shame and doubt – during the 2nd and 3rd year children begin to express their individuality. If parents
restrict children or make harsh toilet training demands, children develop doubt and shame about their abilities
which later affect their courage to be independent.
3. Initiative vs guilt – from age 3 to 5, children display curiosity about the world. If they are given freedom, they
develop a sense of initiative and if they are held back or punished, they develop guilt and suppress their curiosity.
4. Industry vs inferiority – from age 6 until puberty, children who experience pride and encouragement in mastering
tasks develop industry – a striving to achieve – whereas, repeated failure and lack of praise leads to a sense of
inferiority.
Imprinting – a sudden biologically primed form of attachment in animals. Imprinting involves a critical period. Thus, in
some species of animals offspring must be exposed to their parents within hours of birth to form attachment.
Attachment – the strong emotional bond that occurs between children and their primary caregivers. Human infants
don’t automatically imprint on caregivers and there is no immediate critical period post birth.
The attachment process in infants and children:
Contact comfort – body contact with a comforting object; more important in fostering attachment than
is the provision of nourishment.
Psychoanalyst John Bowlby proposed that attachment in infancy develops in 3 phases:
1. Indiscriminate attachment behaviour – newborns express their emotions towards anyone and these
behaviours evoke caregiving from adults.
2. Discriminate attachment behaviour – around 3 months, infants direct their attachment to familiar
caregivers only.
3. Specific attachment behaviour – by 7 to 8 months, infants develop a meaningful attachment to specific
caregivers only.
Stranger anxiety – distress over contact with unfamiliar people.
Separation anxiety – distress over being separated from primary caregiver.
Types of attachment:
1. Securely attached – infant is happy when mother is present, distressed when mother leaves, however
happily greet her when she returns.
2. Anxious-resistant (insecurely attached) – constantly demands the mother’s attention even when she is
present, distressed when she leaves, and aren’t soothed even when she returns and may react angrily.
3. Anxious-avoidant (insecurely attached) – shows few signs of attachment, low or no distress when she
leaves and doesn’t seek contact when she returns.
Attachment deprivation – being raised without a secure attachment to a real, interactive caregiver
produces long-term social impairment. This is especially so if raised alone or entering rehabilitation at an
older age, when the brain’s neural plasticity is weaker. Prolonged attachment deprivation creates
developmental risks, but when deprived children are placed into a nurturing environment at a young
enough age, many become attached to their caretakers and grow into well-adjusted adults.
Strange situation – a procedure used to assess infant attachment.
Styles of parenting:
Warm parents communicate love and caring and hostile parents express rejection and behave as if they
don’t care about the child.
Document Summary
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