Chapter 4
Human Development
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Nature and Nurture Influence Development
Physical, Cognitive, and Socioemotional
Development in
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Childhood
Adolescence
Adulthood
Application: Health and Wellness
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Development
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The pattern of continuity and change that
occurs throughout the lifespan
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Physical processes
Cognitive processes
Socioemotional processes
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Development
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Nature and Nurture
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Nature – Biological Inheritance
Nurture – Environmental Experiences
Optimal experiences – Individuals take
active roles in their own development
Early Experience versus Later Experience
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Prenatal Development
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Conception: Fertilization
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Zygote – fertilized egg
Germinal Period: Weeks 1-2
Embryonic Period: Weeks 3-8
Fetal Period: Months 2-9
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Prenatal Development
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Teratogens: Agents that cause birth defects
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Rubella
Thalidomide
Heroin
Alcohol: Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS)
Effects of teratogens depend on…
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Timing of exposure
Genetic characteristics
Postnatal environment
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Physical Development
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Reflexes – genetically wired behaviors that
are crucial for survival
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Grasping
Sucking
Stepping
Startle
Few reflexes persist throughout life; most
disappear as infants develop voluntary
control over their behavior.
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Physical Development
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Perceptual and Motor Skills
Humans Infants and Imitation
Preferential Looking
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Give “choice” and measure preferences
Habituation – Decrease in responding to a
stimulus after repeated presentations
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Brain Development
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Myelination continues after birth
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Visual pathways: 6 months
Auditory pathways: 4-5 years
Dramatic increase in synaptic connections
Brain imaging techniques illuminate
developmental changes in the brain between
3-15 years postnatal
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Cognitive Development
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Jean Piaget (1896-1980)
Children actively construct their cognitive
world using…
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Schemas – concepts or frameworks that
organize information
Assimilation – incorporate new info into
existing schemas
Accomodation – adjust existing schemas to
incorporate new information
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Piaget’s Theory
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Piaget’s Theory
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Sensorimotor Stage: Birth - 2 years
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Coordinate sensations with movements
Object permanence
Preoperational Stage: 2 - 7 years
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Symbolic thinking
Egocentrism
Intuitive reasoning
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Piaget’s Theory
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Concrete Operational Stage: 7 – 11 years
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Operational thinking (e.g., conservation)
Classification skills
Logical thinking in concrete contexts
Formal Operational Stage: 11-15 years
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Lasts through adulthood
Abstract and idealistic thought
Hypothetical-deductive reasoning
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Evaluating Piaget’s Theory
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Some cognitive abilities emerge earlier than
Piaget thought
Piaget placed too much emphasis on
discrete stages and ignored individual
differences
Culture and environment also influence
development
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Socioemotional Development
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Erik Erikson (1902-1994)
Theory emphasizes lifelong development
Eight psychosocial stages of development
Each stage represents a developmental task
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Crisis that must be resolved
Personal competence or weakness
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Erikson’s Theory
First 4 Stages: Childhood
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Trust versus mistrust
Autonomy versus shame and doubt
Initiative versus guilt
Industry versus inferiority
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Erikson’s Theory
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Evaluating Erikson’s Theory
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Development is a lifelong challenge
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Adolescents more than just sexual beings
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Primary focus on case-study research
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Omitted important developmental tasks
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Infant Attachment
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The close emotional bond between an infant
and its caregiver
Typically develops during first year of life
May provide important foundation for
subsequent development
Attachment intensifies at 6-7 months
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Infant Attachment
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Harry Harlow – Infant rhesus monkeys
What matters? Nourishment or contact
Choose between two surrogate “mothers”
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Cold wire mother versus warm cloth mother
Infants preferred cloth mother across situations
Contact comfort is critical to attachment
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Infant Attachment
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Mary Ainsworth – Strange Situation
Procedure: Caregivers leave infant alone
with stranger, then return
Secure Attachment
Insecure Attachment
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Temperament
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An individual’s behavioral style or
characteristic way of responding
Three clusters of temperament
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Easy, difficult, and slow-to-warm-up
Another perspective on temperament
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Effortful control, self-regulation, and negative
affectivity
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Parenting Styles
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Authoritarian
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Parents are controlling and punitive
Correlated with lack of initiative, poor
communication skills, social incompetence
Authoritative
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Parents encourage independence with limits
Correlated with social competence, social
responsibility, and self-control
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Parenting Styles
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Neglectful
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Parents are generally uninvolved
Correlated with less social incompetence and
poor self-control
Indulgent
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Parents are involved, but place few limits
Correlated with poor social competence, lack of
respect for others, poor self-control
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Parenting Styles
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Moral Development
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Lawrence Kohlberg (1927-1987) presented
moral dilemmas and analyzed responses
Preconventional
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Conventional
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Behavior guided by punishments and rewards
Standards learned from parents and society
Postconventional
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Standards of society and abstract principles
(personal moral code)
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Moral Development
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Evaluating Kohlberg’s Theory
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Moral Reasoning ≠ Moral Behavior
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What we say and do are not always consistent
Women generally score lower than men
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Justice perspective (men)
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Focus on the rights of the individual
Care perspective (women) – Carol Gilligan
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Focus on interpersonal communication
Interconnectedness with other people
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Gender Development
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Gender influenced by nature and nurture
Biological Influences
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Androgens – primary male sex hormones
Estrogens – primary female sex hormones
Evolutionary Approach
Social Role View
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Gender Development
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Gender Roles – Expectations for how males
and females should think, feel, and act
How do social experiences and culture
influence gender development?
Traditional male and females gender roles
Gender: Nature or Nurture?
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Intersection: Friendships
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Research indicates that friendships
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Impact children’s self-esteem, well-being,
and school adjustment
Comfort with giving or receiving help
appears related to one’s number of friends
Learning to be a friend is an important
developmental skill
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Resilient Children
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Resilience – A person’s ability to recover
from or adapt to difficult times
Resilient children become capable adults
Advantages possessed by resilient children
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Individual factors
Family factors
Extrafamilial factors
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Resilient Children
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Understanding Adolescence
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Transition from childhood to adulthood
Balance positive and negative aspects
Marked by the search for identity
Roughly 75% are happy, enjoy life, believe
they can cope effectively with stress, and
value school and work
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Physical Development
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Puberty
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Testosterone (boys)
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Rapid skeletal and sexual maturation
Occurs two years earlier for girls than for boys
Genital development, height, voice changes
Estrogen (girls)
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Breast, uterine, and skeletal development
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Cognitive Development
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Piaget’s Formal Operational Stage
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Abstract, idealistic, and logical thought
Hypothetical-deductive reasoning
Adolescent Egocentrism
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The belief that others are as preoccupied with
the adolescent as he or she is
Sense of uniqueness
Sense of invincibility  risky behaviors
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Socioemotional Development
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Erikson: Psychosocial Development
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Stage 5: Identity versus identity confusion
James Marcia’s Four Identity Statuses
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Exploration and Commitment
Identity diffusion
Identity foreclosure
Identity moratorium
Identity achievement
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Socioemotional Development
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Adult Development and Aging
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Emerging Adulthood
Five Key Features
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Identity exploration
Instability
Self-focused
Feeling in-between
The age of possibilities
Health and well-being generally improves
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Physical Changes
in Adulthood
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Early Adulthood
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Middle Adulthood
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Most reach the peak of physical development
Most lose height, many gain weight
Menopause for women (late 40s or early 50s)
Late Adulthood
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Life expectancy has increased, life span has not
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Biological Theories of Aging
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Both look within our body’s cells
Cellular-Clock Theory
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Maximum # of cell divisions are possible
Predicts human life span of about 120 years
Free-Radical Theory
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Unstable oxygen molecules within cells
Cause DNA and cell damage
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Alzheimer’s Disease
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A progressive irreversible brain disorder
characterized by a gradual deterioration in
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Disease marked by pronounced
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Memory, reasoning, language
Physical functioning
Tangles (tied bundles of proteins)
Plaques (deposits in brain’s blood vessels)
Acetylcholine deficiency
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Alzheimer’s Disease
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Cognitive Development
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Early adulthood
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Marked by relative and reflective thinking
Considerable variation influenced by education
Middle adulthood
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Crystallized intelligence increases
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Our accumulated knowledge and verbal skills
Fluid intelligence begins to decline
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Our ability to reason abstractly
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Cognitive Development
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Cognitive Development
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Cognitive Development
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Cross-Sectional versus Longitudinal Research
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Studies produce slightly different findings
Peak performance for both types of intelligence
may actually occur in middle adulthood
Late Adulthood
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Speed of processing generally declines
Memories fade and retrieval skills fail
Wisdom (expert knowledge about life) might
actually increase in some individuals
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Socioemotional Development
Erikson’s Theory: Last 4 Stages
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Identity versus role confusion (adolescence)
Intimacy versus isolation
Generativity versus stagnation
Integrity versus despair
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Erikson’s Theory
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Marriage and Parenting
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Women and men are marrying later
Principles for Successful Marriages
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Nurturing fondness and admiration
Turning toward each other as friends
Giving up some power
Solving conflicts together
Parenting can  Generativity (Erikson)
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Socioemotional Development
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Midlife Crisis or Midlife Consciousness?
Research reveals that midlife
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Is not particularly tumultuous, mostly positive
Is relatively low in experienced anxiety
Adults show resilience and good coping skills
Brings few illnesses, but poor physical fitness
Awareness of gap between young and old
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Socioemotional Development
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Activity  Satisfaction and Good Health
Value Emotional Satisfaction
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Narrow Social Interactions
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Spend time with family and friends
Restrict contact with less familiar individuals
Positive Psychology and Aging
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Application:
Health and Wellness
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Development during adulthood marked by
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Coping with life’s difficulties
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Physical and psychological decline
Conscious awareness of aging
Assimilation and accommodation (Piaget)
Victor Frankl – Life Themes
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Chapter Summary
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Explain how psychologists think about
development.
Describe children’s development from prenatal
stages to adolescence.
Identify the most important changes that occur in
adolescence.
Discuss adult development and the positive
dimensions of aging.
Discuss important factors in successful adult
psychological development.
© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Chapter Summary
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Development occurs across the lifespan and
is influenced by both
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Nature – biological inheritance
Nurture – environmental experience
Physical Development
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Childhood
Adolescence
Adulthood
© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Chapter Summary
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Cognitive Development
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Childhood
Adolescence
Adulthood
Socioemotional Development
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Childhood
Adolescence
Adulthood
© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Chapter Summary
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Piaget: Cognitive Development
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Schemas, assimilation, and accommodation
Sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete
operational, and formal operational stages
Kohlberg: Moral Development
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Shift from external  internal moral code
Preconventional, conventional, and
postconventional morality
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Chapter Summary
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Erikson: Psychosocial Development
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Positive Psychology and Development
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Emphasizes lifelong development
Eight psychosocial stages (crises) of
development
Most report being happy across the life span
Coping, Life Themes, and Development
© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.