Development . . .
Psychology 110
Introduction to Psychology How is it defined?
Changes and continuities that occur
Development throughout the human lifespan as a
result of maturation or learning
When does development occur?
Current Developmental Questions . . .
Prenatal Development Threats:
Teratogens
What is the source of development? Teratogens: anything (some use the term
environmental agent) that causes damages
Are individuals’ attributes essentially the same across during the prenatal period
time or can you observe differences?
In development what matters more, childhood vs. Teratogenic effects during the germinal period
adulthood experiences? (1st 2 weeks following conception):
May lead to such serious effects results in
In what manner does development unfold? death of the organism
Is development unique to each individual or are
there common, universal similarities shared by humans?
Teratogens Continued Germinal Period
Teratogenic effects during the embryonic Fertilization Implantation
period (2-8 weeks following conception)
can cause major structural damage
Teratogenic effects during the fetal period
(8+ weeks following conception) typically
stunt growth or interfere with organ
functioning
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The Embryo at 4 Weeks The Embryo at 7 Weeks
The Fetus at 11 weeks
The Fetus at 3 months
The Fetus at 4 months The Fetus at 5 months
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The Fetus at 6 months The Fetus at 7 months
The Fetus at 8 months End of the Fetal period
Teratogens & Prenatal Development
Teratogens & Potential Harm:
Things to Consider
Dose
Heredity
Presence of other negative influences
Age of developing organism
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Fathers & Teratogens
Smoking
Environmental Hazards: radiation, chemicals,
exposure to pesticides - may result in abnormal sperm,
miscarriage, susceptibility to childhood cancers
Maternal: Paternal:
Poor Nutrition
Lack of Vitamin C has been linked to negative outcomes
Premature delivery Low birth weight
Low birth weight Increased risk of
Cocaine
Increased risk of cancer Attaches to sperm?
asthma
Increased risk of SIDS Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Decreased cognitive
skills Life Stressors
Illegal Drugs
Prescription & OTC Drugs
Cocaine Marijuana
Medical Drugs Excessive A, B6, C, D,
and K vitamins
Premature birth Related to newborn
Low birth weight startles Antibiotics –
Hormones including
Increased risk of physical Disturbed sleep streptomycin and
birth control pills
defects involving: Abnormally high- tetracycline
eyes pitched cry
bones Reduced attention to Accutane
genitals Sulfanomides
urinary tract
the environment
kidneys Aspirin
heart Barbiturates
risk of seizures
Alcohol Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
• 1 in 750 infants
Even moderate amounts of alcohol can • Slowed pre- and post-natal
produce babies who are more irritable and growth
have retarded growth • Facial and bodily
malformations
• Disorders of the central
– There is really no safe level of nervous system
alcohol consumption from the time a learning disabilities
woman even thinks about pregnancy attention deficits
hyperactivity
until breastfeeding stops
irritability
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Our Earliest Emotional
Diseases Attachments
Attachments versus other emotional bonds
Syphilis
Imprinting in non-human species
Genital Herpes
Lorenz’s work with gray goslings
AIDS Theoretical Views & Research Evidence:
Freud
Harry Harlow
John Bowlby & Mary Ainsworth
Konrad Lorenz
Ethologists like Lorenz
believe that animals,
including humans, are
biologically predisposed When
to form attachments
imprinting goes
In certain types of water wrong!
fowl, attachment is based
on imprinting which
occurs during a critical
period and is irreversible
Harlow’s Findings
Harlow’s Studies
During the late 1950s and early 1960s, Harry Baby Rhesus Monkeys preferred contact with the
Harlow (at UW-Madison) conducted a series comfortable cloth mother, even while feeding from the
nourishing wire mother
of famous experiments on the basis of
attachment
Baby Rhesus Monkeys raised by artificial mothers were
terror-stricken when placed in strange situations without
He tested whether food or contact was the their surrogate mothers
most important variable in developing
attachment Harlow’s work had an unexpected result pertaining to
parenting: motherless monkeys turned out to be
particularly terrible mothers themselves
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Mary Ainsworth’s Attachment Work
Attachment Classifications: Infants’
Why do individual differences exist in early human Responses to the Strange Situation
attachment?
Whether or not individuals received responsive,
sensitive caregiving/parenting
Strange Situation: Secure Attachment
– Experimenter escorts mother & baby to room.
Insecure Attachment
– Mother encourages baby to explore room, toys.
– Stranger enters and approaches baby Avoidant
– Mother leaves. Stranger plays with baby.
– Mother returns. Stranger leaves.
– Mother leaves. Baby is alone. Anxious-Ambivalent or Resistant
– Stranger returns. Tries to comfort/play with baby.
– Mother returns. Stranger leaves.
Disorganized
Adult Attachment Interview (AAI):
Why Attachment Status Matters Mary Main
Developed to assess adults’ state of mind with respect to
IWM (Internal Working Model) & Monotropy: attachment toward parents – more recently the Adolescent
Bowlby Attachment Interview (also called AAI) has been developed
Narrative/Interview format responses which are
What Secure Attachments Are Associated With: evaluated based on the consistency, coherency, degree of
Reliance on parent for help (18 mo)
Better liked by peers (3 yrs)
detail, and emotion tone regarding his/her parent(s)
More independent at preschool (4 yrs)
Less likely to be lonely (5-7 yrs) Associated with infant-mother classification – although
Reports greater social competence (5-7 yrs) debate rages about validity of these findings
Less problematic behavior in school
Higher sociometric ratings in school
Fewer dissociative disorders and depression Suggested to relate to adolescent & adult romantic relationship
behavioral patterns
AAI Classification Categories
Autonomous:
Coherent view of parents
Associated with secure attachment classification in infancy
Dismissing:
Minimize importance of parents
Associated with insecure-avoidant attachment classification
in infancy
Preoccupied:
Dependent or angry view of parents
Associated with insecure anxious-ambivalent or resistant
attachment classification in infancy