Read Chapter 4.
What factors impact human development? Choose one of the links in the Explore! section below and discuss it. How has your understanding of human development changed since reading this chapter?
From your reading, which topic(s) are most interesting to you?
What was the most surprising or memorable thing you learned about in this reading?
Provide a list of psychological terms that you used in your comment at the bottom of your post.
Write your response in Word or other word processor, and SAVE IT. Then, click on 'comments' right below the title of this blog post and above the picture. You will be prompted to log in. Once logged on, you can copy and paste your assignment into the box and submit.
Explore!
Jacob Clark
9-12-14
Psych
Chapter 4: development
Link explore:
I watched the youtube video of the comedian explaining what its like living with kids. My first impression was that living with kids is probably awful. How simple things like leaving the house become near impossible seems like it would drive me up a wall. There wasn't even a reflective, “oh its worth it” at the end. It just ended with more problems! So, as a young adult, i am going to put off children to i am financially stable and emotionally prepared.
Interesting Topic:
The topic i found most interesting was 4.4 how do we develop in adulthood. specifically the psychosocial stages. I find it the most interesting because it is when the “fruit”, so to speak, of our upbringing is realized. As we go through this maturation we come to the intimacy v.s. isolation psychosocial stage. It is during this time that we either form strong lasting relationships, or never really emerge from our “shell”. Thus leaving us in a dreary anti-social world.
Surprising info:
Id have to say the most surprising part was the section on gender identity. I understand that we are born with certain predispositions, but i am a firm believer that when you understand personal accountability, you understand the cards you've been dealt. you have an x and a y chromosome. You are a boy. Despite what we feel we are, sometimes we need to keep one foot in reality.
Terms:
Development, maturation, gender identity, intimacy vs isolation
I read the article from Rolling Stone called “About a Girl: Coy Mathis’ Fight to Change Gender”. I thought this was an interesting article. The part that astounded me the most is how early Coy knew she was meant to be a girl. When she was one and a half, she loved dressing up in girly costumes; while she was two, she began insisting on using only pink things and would refuse toys that were meant for boys. I never really thought that a person so young would have a gender identity so early; I guess I thought that it would come later in life, more towards adolescence. I was glad that Coy’s parents were accepting of her, instead of trying to “fix” her or ignoring her true self; rather, they fought for her rights when her school was breaking the law and discriminating her. It amazes me even more that they have two special needs children: an autistic daughter, and another daughter that has major brain damage. Despite the difficulties faced from those two children alone, they still managed to keep it together and fight for Coy’s rights. If I was in their situation, I would not know how to handle it. I would have broken down long before that. Kudos to them! In the end, Coy and her family moved to a new town, and she was accepted as she really is: a happy, bubbly little girl.
Human development is impacted by both nature and nurture. Some things, such as a newborn’s innate reflexes to find food, naturally happen as we age. Another example of this is puberty. Other parts of human development are impacted by our environments, such as a mother’s habits during pregnancy. The prenatal stage is highly impacted by the mother’s behaviors. If the mother does not take enough folic acid while pregnant, the embryo’s spinal cord and brain may not develop properly, and the baby, if it survives, could be born with serious birth defects. Also, if the mother drinks a lot while pregnant, the baby could be born with fetal alcohol syndrome, which severely impacts the baby’s development. The baby could be born with serious brain abnormalities or even limb and heart abnormalities.
My understanding of human development, especially of infancy, has changed. Before I read this chapter, I did not really know very much about infants, other than they are extremely adorable. I learned about the different types of attachment they can have, like secure attachment, the more common type, and ambivalent attachment; I also thought it was interesting to read about Harlow’s experiment with the monkeys. It appears that infants are drawn more to a mother who provides comfort than they are to one that provides food.
I thought that Erik Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development was very interesting. It really puts me into perspective; I used to work at an assisted living retirement home, so I was around elders a lot. Reading about these stages, more so about the integrity versus despair, made me wonder if some of the residents had ever resolved that problem. Some residents would make it obvious that they had, bragging about their successful children and grandchildren, but others were very bitter, so this chapter definitely had me thinking about my old job.
The most surprising thing I learned from this chapter is how much stress can effect a girl’s development. The book said that if a girl is really stressed before she begins menstruation, then her body could take that stress as a threat to her survival, so her body triggers hormonal changes that start menstruation earlier, so she can reproduce faster. I did not think that hardcore stress could have that much of an effect on a girl’s body!
Terms used: gender identity, adolescence, development, nature, nurture, innate, prenatal, embryo, fetal alcohol syndrome, secure attachment, ambivalent attachment, integrity vs. despair, Stages of Psychosocial Development, menstruation, hormonal
From the links in the explore I chose the website when you by answering some questions can know your average life-expectancy. It was really interesting to know how long I will live. No doubt it is impossible to predict exactly how long you will live. Nevertheless the different factors such as serious diseases of your first-degree relatives (ex: cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, or different types of cancer) might affect your life-expectancy. How long you spend time by driving automobiles in daily routine or how many cigarettes a person smoke every day, how the food you eat is nutritious, these all aspects has impact in your life. Eventually my life- expectancy is 84 years, which is not bad. I hope it will be close to reality. Thus, most of factors around us might impact human development.
This chapter was really fascinating. It explains how choreographed dance between nature and nurture influence an individual's development on each phase of the life span. Developmental psychology is the study which explores your changes that occur over the whole life. Now I know that the process of human development starts from few cells in prenatal period and continues until the death of a person. These changes can be grouped into 3 developmental domains: physical, cognitive and socio-emotional changes.From reading this chapter I understood the process of growing up from infants to adults through the each period of the life and how is important the role of nature and nurture.
One of the most surprising and memorable topics was about how infants and children change physically. All infants are born with innate abilities which called "infant reflexes" that help them survive in our cruel world. They includes: rooting reflex, sucking reflex and grasping reflex. Thus, Mother Nature helps new-born to survive. I did not know that a newborn can recognize and discriminate her mother's voice because a fetus starts hearing that voice inside the womb at 4.5 months. Also newborns have poor vision and can see only 8-12 inches from their head and cannot recognize the color differences. Over the 6 months their visual acuity for distant objects and ability to differ colors increases. In addition for me memorable part was about early attachment. All infants form strong connections with their caretakers. There are different types of attachment style: secure attachment, avoidant attachment and ambivalent one. To study all styles developmental psychologists created the strange- situation test, in which participants are: child, caregiver and one unfamiliar but friendly adult. The secure attachment shows that most infants are confident enough to play in an unfamiliar environment but only if a caretaker is present. The avoidant attachment style is for infants who do not look at the caregiver in unfamiliar environment even when she leaves the room. The last style happens when infants cry if caregiver leaves the room but they cannot be consoled even if she returns. The most important is that 30%/35% of children who have one of the insecure attachment have more possibility to have depressions and behavioral problems and may linked to poor outcomes of lives. Also I did not know how environment effect on adolescents during their puberty period. For example a girl who lives in a stressful environment or has insecure attachments to caregivers is likely to begin menstruating earlier than a girl in peaceful and secure environment. A girls' body responds to stress as a threat and because the body feel threatened it speeds up the need of reproduce in order to continue the girls' gene pool.
One of the most interesting parts in this chapter was about dementia which is serious declines in thinking, memory and behavior. For older adults one of the major causes is Alzheimer disease. It is very dangerous disease which can start with usual for older people symptoms such as major memory impairments but eventually can progress to more serious difficulties like forgetting daily routine. For example a patient with Alzheimer disease may forget her husband's name or even forget that she is married. Eventually, the person loses all mental capacities including memory and language.
Thus our life is the complex interplay of different aspects such as genes, hormones, family, environment, culture and so on. Each aspects play important role in human development. Mental activity and social relations change over the entire course of life.
Term used: Human development, developmental psychology, developmental domains, infant reflex, secure, avoidant and ambivalent attachments, strange- situation test, puberty, dementia.
I chose the article where it calculated how long my life expectancy would be. Obviously, it is impossible to know how long you are going to live, since freak accidents happen all of the time. But it was still interesting to see how long I would be expected to live, and all of the characteristics that built up to that. Major factors that impacted human development, or how long I would live, was genetics, and the diseases that have been passed down from family members. Like heart disease, or different types of cancers, for example. Other factors that affect life expectancy are things like smoking, driving habits (seat belt, drinking while driving), how nutritious the food you eat is, exercise, and sexual contact. Each of the things I listed are things that you are able to control yourself. So if you control these, and do the right things, then you do have a greater chance of living a longer life, simply by making better decisions in everyday activities. My life expectancy turned out to be 90.6 years. I was surprised when I read this number, because I would never expect to live this long in life. But my family does not have many diseases that have been passed down, so we are rather healthy, and by making smart decisions in my life, it makes me have a long life expectancy.
My understanding of human development has changed a lot while reading this chapter. I learned that there are a lot of factors that can easily affect how you develop and form throughout life. Both nature and nurture take place when you develop. Maturation has a big effect with both of these, which is when the infant prepares for their first voluntary movement. For example, your living environment takes a major toll on your life. Like your family, house, and food that you have can affect you in major ways. Also, the way that you are nurtured can come in effect too. By the way that you are treated while growing up. You can either become really attached to your caregiver, or could totally avoid them. I learned that these 2 stages are actually called Secure attachment, and avoidant attachment. These result usually when young, but could affect the rest of your life.
I thought that Erikson’s 8 stages of Psychosocial Development was the most interesting to me. Because it really put my life more into a perspective. It felt like i was being grouped into one of these groups as time went on, and as I grew up. I didn’t really know that we were put into groups, I thought that our age was just a number.
I thought that the most surprising part of this chapter was with the twins, and how one of them had his testes removed when he was a baby, and was now growing up as a girl. I thought that it was interesting that she felt uncomfortable as she was growing up, and started with primary sex characteristics, she knew something was wrong. Then as she started her development of secondary sexual characteristics, something had to change. And finally, her parents confessed, and she wanted to change back to a boy right away. I thought it was interesting that even when she didn’t know that she was born a boy, she knew that something wasn’t right when she was growing up as a girl, she knew her real gender identity before her parents admitted to it.
Psychological terms: genetics, maturation, nurture, nature, secure attachment, avoidant attachment, stages of psychosocial development, primary sexual characteristics, secondary sexual characteristics, gender identity
The video I watched was about a four year old girl asking a lesbian if she was a boy or a girl. Ash Beckham, the speaker, begins by saying that everyone has a metaphorical “closet”, which is simply a hard conversation to have. She then talks about her encounter with a little girl who asked if she was a boy or a girl. The speaker gives a simple answer, and the child is satisfied. They were both “real” with each other. Beckham continues by stating that no one can say that their personal tragedies are worse than another tragedy. Everyone has “hard”. Beckham says that when it comes to confrontation and facing our “hard”, people are so concerned about the reaction and it causes stress. Keeping quiet can lead to anxiety and be incredibly stressful. Ash hopes that everyone will find the strength to have that tough conversation, and she advises people to be themselves, be direct, and be unapologetic. Ash Beckham’s story and advice made me realize that everyone has their own personal struggle, but they should never be afraid to live it out.
There are many factors that impact human development, like nature and nurture during prenatal development. For example, babies in the womb that are exposed to drugs and alcohol can result in harmful consequences with the baby’s physical appearance. Other factors, like certain attachments during the infant years give way to the type of person they will grow up to be. For example, a baby that feels a secure attachment with its caregiver have nee proven to be better in developing peer relations, success at school, etc. Babies that have insecure attachments lead to poor outcomes later in life, like behavioral issues. During adolescent years, establishing gender identities and cognitive development plays a strong role in human development. There are many factors that impact human development.
My understanding of human development has greatly increased after reading this chapter. I knew the basics of infants and the importance of stimulating the baby to the outside world. I also knew about puberty and the changes that teenagers go through. I also knew that as people grow older in age, the mind isn’t as sharp as it once was. However, there were many details that I did not know within each category. For example, I did not realize that newborns had poor vision. I learned that it takes about a year for an infant to have similar visual abilities. I also did not realize that it was cognitive development that led to a more mature moral reasoning. I also learned that with adulthood comes so many psychological challenges, like the stress of finding a mate, raising a family, and the overall well-being of an adult.
The most interesting topic I read was about the different variations of attachments that babies have with their caregivers. I thought the most memorable thing in the reading was how these different variations affect the child’s behavior later in life. For example, a secure child feels sad and emotional when its caregiver leaves, but is comforted when the caregiver returns. An infant with secure attachment develop better peer relations and successful adjustment during school. However, an avoidant attachment means that the infant is indifferent to the caregiver’s absence. An ambivalent child is ridiculously upset in the absence of a caregiver, yet the baby will accept and reject comfort from the returning caregiver. Studies show that ambivalent, insecure attachments can lead to behavioral issues. Overall, this was an intriguing chapter.
Terms: Nature and nurture, prenatal development, secure attachment, avoidant attachment, ambivalent attachment, cognitive development.
I chose to explore the Scary Mommy link. This link was very interesting and there was a lot that you could explore in the link. There were a lot of different categories within the website and I chose to look at “What I didn’t know as a twenty something.” This was an article written by a woman discussing how her views of parenting changed after she had children of her own. She openly discussed how that before she had children she did not realize all of the time and work that it took to raise children. She apologized to everyone when she looked back on how she felt before having children because she had not realized all the things people with children were going through. Some of the things that she wrote were hard for me to relate to, but I guess I’m just as innocent as she was before she had kids.
There are many factors which impact human development. Humans start out as just two cells and grow into very complex structures. Many things happen during this process and there are a lot of factors that can impact how someone turns out. Some things you have no control over, such as during the germinal period, which is the very beginning of the life cycle. Sometimes things happen during this phase and a miscarriage will occur even before the mother knows she is pregnant. Next, is the embryonic period, this is when most of the physical development takes place. During this phase if anything goes wrong the organs will be improperly formed and a miscarriage is likely. The fetal period is the last phase, at this point all of the organs are developed but the baby continues to grow. The brain begins to mature during this phase. While the mother has no control over the majority of factors in human development, she does have control over what she puts in her body which can impact human development. Drugs and alcohol taken during pregnancy have a huge impact on both the mother and the baby. Drug and alcohol use have been linked to an increase of premature births and long term effects with children later in life. Alcohol has also been linked to babies being born with small heads, heart defects, and abnormal brain development.
My understanding of human development has grown a lot by reading this chapter. I better understand the many small things that have to happen in order to develop into an adult. I was fascinated by how a body continues to grow, change and develop from the initial two cells all the way until the end of life. I now have a much more in depth understanding of human development.
The most interesting topic to me was how adolescents change socially and emotionally. The main change for adolescents is the identity versus role confusion. This is where adolescents struggle with finding femininity or masculinity as well as where they belong in ethnic and cultural stances. I learned from the reading that in order to be successful during this stage you should explore different roles and try new things.
The most surprising thing that I learned in this reading was about the changes that people face even in adulthood. I was surprised to learn that as early as your 20’s to 40’s you experience a decline in your muscle mass, eyesight, hearing and bone density. I never knew this and thought that your 20’s were supposed to be the prime physical years of your life. I really enjoyed reading this chapter and learned a lot about how people develop throughout their lives.
Terms: germinal period, embryonic period, fetal period, gender identity, gender roles
Human development is an extraordinary process impacted by many things. Who we are today is partly determined by how we developed during the prenatal period, from conception to birth. Before each of us is born, we are influenced by nature (genetics and biology) and nurture (environment). Developmental psychology studies how humans change over the life span, from conception until birth. Developmental changes are grouped into three domains: physical, socio-emotional, and cognitive. Changes in each area affects, and is affected by changes in other areas and impact overall human development. Some factors that affect the prenatal development are drugs and alcohol. For example, babies whose mothers took opiates, particularly methadone have two to three times greater risk for unexplained sudden death in infancy. Also, women who drink alcohol during pregnancy are gambling with their baby’s development because alcohol can lead to a variety of defects. One of the most severe disorders is fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), which results in abnormalities such as small head, malformation of the face and limbs, heart defects, and abnormal brain development.
In the explore section I selected the link that calculated my life expectancy. In this link I had to answer a series of questions about my age, weight, health, family history, daily activities and more. Once I answered all the questions I clicked the calculate button and it estimated my life expectancy to be 86.77 years. I thought this link was pretty fun and it was interesting to see how long I’m expected to lived based on my answers. I think more and more people are living to be 80 years old due to medical advancements, so my estimate of about 86 seemed pretty fair.
My understanding of human development has changed since reading this chapter, especially about how adolescence and adults develop. I never knew that while teenagers are experiencing pubertal changes, their brains also are in an important phase of reorganization. I also never realized all the stages adults go through as they develop. One of the stages is about generativity verses stagnation. This stage is when middle-aged adults face the challenge of leaving behind a positive legacy and caring for future generations. This is just one of the many stages this chapter talks about that I never knew were part of human development.
The most interesting topic I read was how infants and children change physically. I thought it was amazing how many inborn reflexes that aid for survival we are born with. I had always thought that we were taught those skills, not that we were born with them. Some reflexes we are born with are, the rooting reflex (to open mouth for food), sucking reflex (to close mouth and suck to eat), and grasping reflex (for holding). Maturation is part of the motor skills and is a physical development in the brain and body that prepares an infant for voluntary movement, such as rolling over, sitting and walking. All these skills developed by nature, but nurture also affects the progress of the development.
The most surprising thing I learned about in this reading was the story about Brooke Greenberg, the infant who didn’t change. She was 19 years old in the picture shown in the book, and being held by her younger sister. Brooke acted and looked like a toddler and certainly didn’t have “normal” human development. I was so surprise about how something like this could happen and curious how and what caused this. She couldn’t speak, so she used sounds an infant would make. She couldn’t walk, so she traveled in a stroller. She had the bone development of a 10 year old, still had all her baby teeth and wore diapers. Finally doctors named this extremely rare case Syndrome X. After reading this chapter I have a better understanding on human development and all of the stages our body and brain go through due to nature and nurture.
Psychological terms: prenatal period, nature vs. nurture, developmental psychology, genetics, physical, socio-emotional, cognitive, fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), generativity vs. stagnation, inborn reflexes, motor skills, rooting reflex, sucking reflex, grasping reflex, maturation, Syndrome X
There are many factor that impact human development. From the germinal period to adulthood. The environment and relationships with their parents, family, and others. I think the most important development time period for a human is the prenatal period, which includes the germinal, embryonic, and the fetal period. That is when the baby develops their organs. If a baby doesn’t develop correctly then they can have serious health problems. That is why premature babies are at more risk of health issues, and development issues. I read the article about the 10 Current Psychological Studies every parent should know. I have heard of some of these theories, and even some of the theories I thought should have been quote on quote, common sense. The ten theories are couples are happier having children than not having children, your child is always worth coming first, parents should not hoover over their children, parents shouldn’t smother their children as much, not to be too strict, give their children regular bedtimes, help your children with chores, avoid too much T.V when their infants, get you children to exercise, and that its ok that each of you children are different. I found that the first 20 or so years of a person’s/humans life is the most important, because that is when they learn life skills and cognitive skills. They also develop relationship skills. It is important to know how to nurture and teach your children at all different stages. I learned about eye development, and that newborns can’t see all colors or even see clearly. I thought the sections about prenatal, and infants were really interesting. They are so young and fragile in these stages, but it is so important to help them grow and to teach them how to walk, and talk, and to help develop the senses. I thought the most memorable section was about Bruce Reimer who was born a boy, but had a sex change and didn’t know it, until he was older. It was a sad story, but it is a story you never hear about. He knew he was different even at a young age, he still had some boy characteristics. He played rougher than the other girls. At last when he discovered he was born a male, it all mad sense to him. Unfortunately his twin brother died, and he had a failed marriage, and he committed suicide. The terms I used were germinal, embryonic, fetal periods, prenatal.
There are many factors that influence how humans develop. Things that range from concepts of nature vs nurture to drugs. My views of human development have changed a little bit by reading this chapter because I have always seen a child as not being ready for survival. But in all actuality all of the little things that a child does is for survival. Smiling at the caregiver to grasping when the palm is touched. Every little thing that a child does is for its survival. The topic that I found most interesting in the chapter was the monkey experiment conducted by Harry Harlow. I think that this experiment really shined some light on what a child really needs in its upbringing. A child needs more than the essentials to live (i.e. food, water and a place to live), they need to be cared for and have an early attachment. I thought it was interesting that the monkeys reacted to stress better when they were around the cloth mother and how this was important for the baby’s socio-emotional development. Another thing that I found especially interesting was that a man’s diet and habits can contribute to a disability in a baby. Now I knew that the mother doing bad things such as taking in teratogens (such as alcohol or other drugs) can affect a baby in many harmful ways. I did not know however that a man can also contribute to the baby having a disability. So a man’s diet and habits are important too just as the mothers. With that being said I did not know that the percent of babies that show withdrawal as newborns were so high (55%-94%!). The most surprising thing to me from the reading was the baby with the botched circumcision. The doctors convinced the parents to turn one twin into a female after screwing up a circumcision. Born as Bruce then turned into “Brenda” he/she had a rough life ahead of him/her. Brenda had difficulties with being too rough and aggressive and other basic gender roles. As she reached her puberty age and was given hormones to help with female secondary sex characteristics, she felt even more uncomfortable. When told she was originally a boy Brenda wanted to go back to the man lifestyle because she thought it would make her feel “right” and help with his gender identity. After reading this story and thinking about it; I think that it would be really hard to go from a girl to a boy because of all the differences in hormones and lifestyles. I definitely think that the problems with his gender contributed to his suicide because it would have been rough to go through what he did. I watched the youtube video of the comedian about family life. I think that he was a bit excessive in his stories but then again he has to be to be funny about it. I can’t wait for a family in the future and I know it will be hard but hopefully not as chaotic as he makes it sound. I’m sure there will be some exceptions but hopefully with the right environment my children will behave well and I won’t have to chase them around in the mornings!
The psychological terms I used were; socio-emotional development, teratogens, nature vs nuture, early attachment, secondary sex characteristics, gender roles, gender identity, puberty
After reading chapter 4, I realized how much our bodies develop throughout our life. Whether it is in the prenatal period or while going through puberty, each stage is important. These developmental changes can be categorized into three groups: physical, socio-emotional and cognitive. Physical focuses on the changes of our brain, body, hormones, and our sensory/motor skills. Socio-emotional focuses on our mental progress and the ability to think and communicate better over time. Cognitive focuses on our understanding of ourselves, interacting with others, and dealing with our emotions.
The early part of this chapter discussed the many developmental changes we go through to become who we are by the time we are about twenty years old. However, it was interesting to me how important the prenatal period really is and how much the mother and father can affect the outcome after birth. We all have heard how harmful drugs, alcohol, and tobacco can be while pregnant, however there is one that was new to me. There are substances called “teratogens”, which are known to be environmental agents that cause birth defects. The signs of exposure to teratogens can be obvious at birth and also not be known until much later in a person’s life. Any amount of teratogen can be harmful to development at any stage in life.
Another interesting topic to me was Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. Piaget categorized four different stages a young child goes through while learning more about cognitive thinking. From birth-two years, the child has sensorimotor skills where they only use their senses and motor skills to look at the world. From age two until seven, the child goes through the preoperational stage where they start to think symbolically about the objects they recognize and compare to something similar. They also have no understanding of the “law of conservation” stating that the properties of a substance don’t change even if the appearance does. The child then goes through the concrete operational stage from age seven to 12, where they understand an action can be reversed. For example, a light can turn on and off by flipping a switch up and down. Finally, the formal operational stage goes from age twelve until adulthood where people can start to think more critical and find more educated answers to problems.
I also read the article from Rolling Stone about Coy Mathis and how he found his own gender identity. I was so shocked to find that even a four year boy could tell that he wasn’t what he was “supposed to be”. He decided that he was a girl and wasn’t letting anyone get in the way of that, and that is amazing. Our bodies can tell us many important things and any age in our lives and Coy proved that to many people including his family.
The psychological terms I used were: prenatal period, puberty, physical, socio-emotional and cognitive developmental groups, teratogens, Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, sensorimotor skills, preoperational stage, law of conservation, concrete operational stage, formal operational stage, gender identity.
Chapter 4 Blog Response
9/14/14
In Chapter 4 of our textbook we talked about human development. This chapter explored maturation from pre-birth to death. We discussed what happens at each stage of life, showing how the mind progresses with age. Although we talked about the stages at which the mind progresses, this also correlated with physical changes that we notice and experience as we grow older. We talked about prenatal care, and how a baby starts in the germinal stage, and also goes through the embryonic stage before it becomes a fetus, which we see at birth. We also talked about the development of children. In this section we discussed the behaviors of infants and children. Many of these are actually created for the survival of the young children. Some examples being the rooting, sucking, and grasping reflexes. In the next stage is where we see big changes in our physical appearance, this is called adolescents. Here is when we go through that awkward middle school period that we all hate to look back on. The cool thing is, is that psychology tells us why our bodies are changing and how this affects our thinking. Here we go through things like identity role vs confusion. After that stage we find ourselves in adulthood, which is the longest stage. Here our brains become fully developed, and we hit our physical peaks. This is the stage where we get married and have children or whatever else it is that adults do. This is also the stage where our hair turns grey and we get mental illnesses such as dementia. The development of a human is a complex and extremely interesting process. But what are the factors that are impacting this development?
The answer to that question is not as simple as a one-word reply, since there are thousands of things that impact our development. Many of these things happen naturally but some can be from external sources. One example in the prenatal stage of life is teratogens. Teratogens are environmental agents that can harm prenatal development. Some specific examples would be using opiates or other drugs while you are pregnant. This can change development forever; it can cause sudden infant death syndrome, or cause the baby to have fetal alcohol syndrome. In the childhood stage, sensory input is a must for developmental. Children need it to be able to understand and interpret more complex situations later on in life. Adolescents are strongly connected to hormones such as testosterone and estrogen that cause our bodies to have working reproductive organs. Development as an adult can vary according to how well of care you take of yourself. It can also be greatly affected by strong family genes, such as having heart problems or breast cancer. All of these factors have something to do with development.
I chose to explore the link that talked about how parents are crippling their children and I believe that it also ties in with my understanding of human development. Since reading this chapter, I understand more what a child needs in order to successfully develop. Knowing this information can help me to be a better parent some day. In this article they mention that we don’t let our children take risks and that we are too quick to rescue them, but if I learned anything from this chapter it’s that children learn through experience. We need to let them play, wander and explore to be able to understand and interpret their world.
What I enjoyed the most, and what I found to be the most memorable was when we talked about the prenatal development. What amazed me is that a baby is fully developed at the age of 28 weeks old. People say that it isn’t a child when it hasn’t yet been born, but how can we say that when a baby has it’s own thoughts, heartbeat, and central nervous system long before we ever see it’s face. Growth is an amazing and awe-inducing thing.
Terms: Maturation, Prenatal, Germinal Stage, Embryotic Stage, Fetus, Rooting Reflex, Grasping Reflex, Sucking Reflex, Adolescents, Development, Identity Role vs. Confusion, Dementia, Teratogens, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, SIDS, Testosterone, Estrogen.
Human development is a very interesting and impactful part of the way we live our lives. The person we grow up to be and the way we live our lives is based on the way we developed as we grew older. Human development is impacted by different things. For example, nature vs nurture during the prenatal part of life is what helps determine how we would grow up and be raised by our caregivers. If a child becomes exposed to cigarettes or alcohol while in the womb, the child has a higher chance of developing a disease or other rather harmful consequences due to the exposure of the harmful substances. Another example would be if a child grows up with a secure attachment with their caregiver has been proven to help in making it easier to create relationships, become more involved, or succeed at a sport or school. If a baby is raised with a more insecure attachment with their caregiver it creates a much more difficult to put themselves out there and become more involved with people or school. When a child grows in to their adolescent years they begin to establish gender identity and cognitive development, which is a key component in human development.
I decided to click on the link with the YouTube video about a comedian comparing people with children and people without children. The comedian talked about how differently he leaves the house than people without children leave the house. I feel like I don’t want to have children after watching the video because he makes it seem as though it is the hardest thing in the world just to walk out of your house. He never really explained the bright side of having children like most people do after telling a terrible story about children. He never mentioned having children being worth the trouble and hassle. I should wait to have children until after I believe I am ready to handle the situations that I would be put up against, whether it is financially, physically, or even mentally.
The topic I found most interesting within the reading was the way nature and nurture work as a partnership to influence and help an individual’s development throughout all the aspects of their life span. It gives information on developmental psychology, which is the study of a person’s changes that occur within their life. Human development starts even before a person is born. The life of an embryo developing into an infant and so on is all part of the process of development that we call life. The changes that occur within a person’s life can also be categorized in to three different parts: physical, cognitive, and socio-emotional.
One very surprising thing about the reading was learning about Brooke Greenberg. Brooke was a 19 year old girl who never developed in to a normal person. She remained in the state of infancy he entire life, never becoming larger. A picture in the book shows Brooke’s younger sister holding Brooke in her arms. I never believed that this could happen to a person in any circumstance. She was unable to speak normally, only making sounds that babies make when trying to communicate. She was never able to walk, had the bone development of a 10 year old child, and still had to wear a diaper. Doctors who studied Brooke’s unique case decided to name it Syndrome X. I have learned a lot about human development through reading this chapter and it helped me understand human development.
Terminology: Prenatal, Nature vs Nurture, adolescence, secure/insecure attachment, developmental psychology, physical, cognitive, socio-emotional, Syndrome X, human development
I watched the video; people with no kids don’t know. I thought this video was extremely funny! I do not have kids, but from lots of babies in my family and babysitting I know that this is true; even though I haven’t experienced it in full force. I thought it was very humorous how he kept mocking people with no kids “Oh, I’d love to start a family with you, you’d be an amazing dad” because often people are very excited to start families, and they're thinking of all of the positive things about parenting…. yet there are many negatives and hard parts to parenting that aren’t always talked about as openly. Because if you think about it, who wants to share their stories about all of their bad experiences with just anyone who asks. So when someone just asks how it’s going with their kids a response we normally hear is “it’s life changing”, and we normally take that in a positive way. The fact that your daily life will change SO much is actually kind of scary, and obviously takes a lot of time adjusting to. If leaving my dorm room was such a struggle everyday I would never make it on time; so having to get your kids to school on time, or the babysitters, and get yourself to work on time would be quite the challenge. You become responsible for multiple people when you have children. Not just yourself, and sometimes we even have trouble with just taking care of ourselves. Before watching this video having children and starting a family was something I was really looking forward to! Honestly, people have told me “don’t ever get married”, but I have never been told don’t ever have kids. I still look forward to starting a family, but this video definitely opened my eyes and I realized it will most definitely not be easy!
My understanding of human development has greatly changed; I guess before I read chapter four I never really thought about human development in depth. I learned that who we are right now was somewhat determined before we were even born! That concept is very interesting and surprising to me. We start as just two cells, and later end up a human being. I liked looking at the chart of development from 1 week to 38 weeks in the womb. It really surprised me that at just three weeks the baby already has a heart, and just two weeks later a brain!
There are 3 periods and I really enjoyed learning about what happened in each of these periods. The germinal period is a key part of human development it is when the sperm and the egg creates the zygote, the first cell of a new life. The embryonic period is very important for the devilment of the baby such as the spinal cord, brain, lungs, liver, kidneys, and sex organs. It is so important that the mother takes good care of herself and is healthy in order for these organs to develop properly. The next and last period is the fetal period. During this time no new structures develop but there are many physical changes; this is when the mother may begin to feel movement. It was very interesting to me that there have been recent studies show that father’s prenatal diet and use of drugs or alcohol can affect the baby, it affects sperm which then affects the baby. They always stress that mothers should take very good care of themselves if they are planning to become pregnant or are pregnant, but they never really mention the fathers having an affect on the baby’s health.
After a baby is born the developments are more obvious, but babies are born with good hearing, they are able to taste, but babies have very bad vision. In this chapter they actually showed what a newborn’s vision is like and how it develops. I was very surprised how poor a newborns vision is. They do not even really see color, they just see patches of grey. The baby continues to develop and change socially and emotionally. The baby/toddler learns how to interact with their parent, and most of the time becomes attached. Many young children have separation anxiety; which is common to see. When a child doesn’t want to leave their care giver. A child continues to develop and we still develop as adults and experience changes. I learned a lot abou the early stages of development.
A lot of things impact our development, but I think a great deal of impact comes from our parents or caretakers, but in the beginning during prenatal development the mother has a lot of impact on her babies development by the way she takes care of herself, also genetics can determine some of the developments. The environment we grow up in determines our development, and our early habits we obtain.
The most interesting topic to me was our prenatal development like at three weeks developing a heart, and at 5 weeks a brain! And the most surprising fact to me was about the dad’s impacting their baby’s health! It’s a change in the way prenatal care is stressed, and gives the dad some responsibility in that part!
Key Terms: Development, germinal period, embryonic period, fetal period, separation anxiety, human development
Explore Link- The link I decided to look at and read was the life expectancy test. The test said I would live to be 87. This result, however, might not be all that accurate. I say this because anything can happen to me between now and then. For example, I could develop some kind of cancer when I am older or I could be in an accident. No one has the power to decide when their time on earth is up but we do have power in how we live our lives. For example, if we watch our weight, have regular doctor visits (to check for cancer’s and diseases), be careful when driving, and exercise regularly we all have a chance of making it to our 80’s and maybe even our 90’s.
After reading this chapter I learned more about the germinal, embryonic, and fetal periods. I learned embryonic period is when all the organs and body parts develop. I also learned more how drugs and alcohol can affect a baby while in the womb. I also learned the certain times when a baby rolls over and other motor skills. I also learned about the different types of attachment. I probably wouldn’t of known that secure attachment (according to the book) is “distressed when the attachment figure leaves” them and is then comforted when their attachment figure returns. I also wouldn’t of known that avoidant attachment is not being distressed when the attachment figure leaves and basically minds his or her business when the parent returns. The last attachment was the ambivalent where the child is upset and will “seek and reject caring contact” with the caregiver.
Most interesting topic and memorable topic- I think it was interesting to read Piaget’s theory. I think the stages still today are accurate in how kids are learning and how they think. These stages each represent milestones in a person’s life because they develop new and exciting skills that will help them with any kind of situation they may face in the world. I also found the topic about marriage and having children interesting. I found it these two topic interesting because someday I hope to have a family. These two sections were very informative and even gave statistics. For example, the book mentioned how married people live longer than those who are single. The book also stated that men need women more than women need men. This surprised but at the same time it didn’t. It didn’t surprise me in the fact that I think men depend a lot on women just because their mom takes care of them for eighteen years and once they are on their own they don’t have someone pushing them to do something or someone there to tell what and what they can’t do. This, however, did surprise because women wants a man to be there to support them emotionally. Also from this reading, it talks about how if a couple is going through a rough patch, having a baby makes the situation worse. An innocent baby should not be brought into the world to solve a couple’s problem, instead, a couple should want a baby because they are ready to be a parent and can not only support the child financially but emotionally as well.
Psychological Terms- Germinal, Embryonic, Fetal, Motor Skills, Piaget’s Theory, Marriage
After reading both the textbook and the explore link, “7 Crippling Parenting Behaviors That Keep Children From Growing Into Leaders,” I have learned that there are many different factors that impact the growth of humans. The biggest impact would be parents. Parents impact us basically from the time we are born, until the time we die. This is true in many ways because when we are born we look for our mothers to watch us, feed us, play with us, etc. When we get to our teen years we start to go away from our parents and try to be our own selves, but will always come back home at night to see our parents. It extends into college years when we think we are finally away from our parents and won’t have to see them again, we have all this freedom, but then we realize we have to fend for ourselves and in a big world like this there are many barriers that block the road to success. When we face one of those road blocks we turn to our parents. Parents also impact our lives when we ourselves become parents.
Some things I learned while reading “7 Crippling Parenting Behaviors That Keep Children From Growing Into Leaders” are that parents do want the best for their kids and will do anything in order to protect them. According to Tim Elmore, the one who wrote the article, parents don’t let their kids experience risk. This can impact growth because if we never fail or get hurt then we will never learn how to react when we do take a risk. Step 2 was parents rescue too quickly. When a situation arises then parents immediately run to assist them. Instead of running real quick to help, see if the child can fix themselves. It could be as simple as a cut, going to wash it and bandage it could be the impact of the self-doing a child would need. It leads into the next step of raving too easily. Parents will tell their kids that they are the best, they are number one and encourage them to succeed in sports. This impacts human growth because when someone always thinks they are the best, someone better comes and knocks them off their high-horse, who is there to say they are number one anymore. That was 3 of the 7 steps, but those 3 I think were the most important to me.
My understanding of human development started out thinking we are born, we grow up, we get old, and we die. Now this is still true and still is my thinking of developing as a human but I have learned that there is much more into it. There are four main stages of development, sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational. The first being sensorimotor is from the time you are born to age 2. In this stage we develop by mental information that our brain is telling us, along with our senses. We also begin to act intentionally on our actions. An example being a toy we play with. When we press a button on the toy an animal pops out of the box. We develop that every action we have, even as simple as a little toy, will have a consequence or reaction. Stage two, preoperational is from age 2-7. At the early state we start to talk and make noises and by the later state we are forming words and eventually sentences. This stage is sort of like an experimental stage because we don’t think logically, we think intuitively. For example we probably know how to ride a bike, and we decide to hit a wall instead of use breaks. It would be logic to use breaks, but it is more convenient in our minds just to let the wall stop us. The next stage is concrete operational. This is age 7-12, and when we finally start using common sense. We learned from riding our bike into a wall that it isn’t logical to do so. This stage we learn that instead of risking injury running into stuff, breaks will stop us and do the job more efficiently than before. The final stage is formal operational. We can state a problem, come up with a logic explanation to it, give some detail of why it happened, and record all the events that took place in this experiment. We also become concerned with the world around us. Unlike in our earliest years when we didn’t care if it was raining out we knew we would stay inside and our parents would care for us. In the formal operational stage we care that it is raining, we have somewhere to go, so we grab the umbrella and go to the car.
All four stages of human progression are important because each one is a branch off the either. Without the first one we couldn’t begin to think of the second. This is all more detail of the idea I had first of being born, grow up, get old, and die. It isn’t as simple as that because of our growing process as humans.
Terms: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational, risk, growth, human development
There are so many initial factors that influence the development of a human. It is important to have a balanced diet, and if the mother doesn't do this there could be major consequences from the nutritional deficiencies such as malformations. Life choices not only affect the mother but the embryo/fetus as well. Teratogens are things that can also cause birth defects. Examples of these include alcohol, recreational drugs, radiation, along with many others.
I chose the video of the comedian talking about living without kids vs living with them. I found it to be extremely funny. I've grown up with little kids around the house and I could relate to a lot of the content. He tries to show the freedom of not having kids and how much easier life is. Even though the jokes were negative towards kids, it was just a stand up so I am sure he is not completely against kids. He focuses on the preoperational stage in which children are 2 to 7 years old, because his kids are in that sage. In this stage they begin to think think symbolically. He jokes about how much energy it takes out of his wife and himself just to do simple daily tasks. Never does he mention a positive about having kids. The way he describes his life with them would nearly drive me insane. I can deal with kids, but not to that extremity 24/7.
By reading this chapter, my eyes were opened to the large amounts things that influence a human being and affects their life from before birth to death. Even at old age, people are still changing. The body constantly changes. It gave me more insight into how humans start from contributing so little to developing to an individual that can do so many spectacular things. Along with that how the individual is raised and different life situations that they are put in change their body physically, mentally, psychologically, and in many more ways too.
I thought that section 4.1 was most interesting. The amount things that can have an effect on the development of a child is crazy. Some defects may not be apparent until later in life such as problems with language, behavior, emotions, attention, and reasoning. Even small exposures to teratogens can be extremely harmful. I also find it extremely interesting how they were able to link certain teratogens with some defects they can cause. An example would be that the use of marijuana has been linked to irritability, nervousness, and tremors. Another that the book lists is mercury being linked to mental retardation and blindness.
The most memorable would still be in section 4.1 with the teratogens. I researched them more online after reading the chapter. It is interesting to see what certain lifestyle choices can have effects on a human being.
Psychological terms: nutritional deficiency, malformations, embryo, fetus, teratogens, preoperational stage, development, lifestyle choices, physical, mental, psychological.
There are multiple factors that impact human development that we learn about through developmental psychology. The factors before birth include three different stages. These include the “Germinal Period”, the “Embryonic Period”, and the “Fetal Period”. During the “Germinal Period”, the sperm and the egg combine to make the cell that creates new life, called the Zygote cell. After splitting in half time after time, it soon makes a cluster of cells called the blastocyst. During this period, there aren’t very many things that could impact human development, and if it did, it would most likely result in a miscarriage. The “Embryonic Period” is extremely vital to human development, for anything that were to negatively impact the embryo would probably cause major defects in all aspects of the body. This is the time when all organs, vital and not, are created. This stage most often occurs between the third and eighth week of the pregnancy. Following the “Embryonic Period”, is the “Fetal Period”. During this time, most of the brain becomes developed and it is getting the fetus ready to live outside of the womb. A lot of the baby’s body is already developed and mostly only minor defects can happen at this time.
I chose to watch Anthony Cerniello’s video on aging. I thought it was very interesting to watch because as the time goes on and you constantly watch it, you can’t really tell a difference in the changes of her face. I went back through the video and slid the time faster forward. It was easier to tell the difference because I wasn’t necessarily watching it change as it changed like we do in day to day life. We don’t see that we look different than we looked yesterday, but over time, there is definite gradual change and development.
Before reading this chapter, I didn’t really understand how the biological mother’s habits can really effect the child’s physical and mental being. I knew that drugs, alcohol, unhealthy foods, etc., could play a role in the development of a child but I never knew why. These substances are referred to as teratogens. Teratogens, no matter how big or small, can change the child’s life. Some teratogens effect the child in the most mild ways- where they aren’t noticeable until different emotions or behaviors arise. I also didn’t know that most major defects happen in the first two months of the pregnancy.
The most interesting part of the reading was learning about the different stages of psychosocial development. There are eight main stages that Erik Erikson proposed in this theory including: infancy, toddler, preschool, childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, middle adulthood, and old age. I think all of these are crucial, but I think the most interesting one would be adolescence when one learns who they truly are and where they belong in life. The Psychosocial Crisis in this is identity versus role confusion.
I thought the most surprising part of the reading was on page 117. It stated that the father of the baby needed to watch his actions just as much as the mother needs to. Whatever the father behaves as, will affect the baby. If the father smokes or drinks, it will effect his sperm and can put a negative impact on the fetus.
Psychological Terms: developmental psychology, Germinal Period, Embryonic Period, Fetal Period, embryo, zygote, blastocyst, fetus, teratogens, infancy, toddler, preschool, childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, middle adulthood, old age, psychosocial crisis, identity
I found the large amounts of early development that take place for all children happen in a relatively short amount of time in accordance with how long we live and how quickly they learn their behaviors and how some take longer to develop than I had originally imagined. I thought that the developmental psychology of a newborn was rather interesting because the amount of things that we had already known on reflex for survival. Things like our inborn reflexes make it so we are able to survive almost immediately out of the womb.
Some of the things we know as soon as we are born is somewhat surprising and is not something that I would have looked into until reading through the passage, things like the rooting reflex, sucking reflex, and the grasping reflex are all things that help a newborn eat when feeding from the mother. I guess it never really hit me that no one ever has to really “teach” their children how to feed during nursing but it is because of reflexes that we already had coming out of the womb we were able to survive. Even the process of maturation is interesting because of the time it takes us to actually learn how to do things like our own like standing and walking, to sitting without support. Even though it is a long amount of time in the rest of the animal world I find it fascinating that most children are able to be walking around only a year after their birth. The book also states that even though newborn babies are only able to see things in very blurry shapes they still have enough vision to see in high contrast to survive because of their sensory development. It almost seems like a contradiction to say they can see in high contrast even though they cannot yet see in color but it is actually what helps them survive when it comes to feeding. All in all the development of a newborn is very interesting when it comes to how it happens in a short amount of time and what we even have when it comes to our senses as soon as we come out of the womb into the world. Terms used: Developmental psychology, inborn reflexes, maturation, sensory development.
Link Explore
I watched the youtube video about how those without children just didn’t know. First I thought that it was just a good laugh listening to how his life was with his two children and sort of waited for some of the good parts to come up saying how it was worth it and it never came. It kind of made me realize that when other people in the audience started agreeing with him that it was a normal part of human development to focus everything on your children during their childhood and your own life kind of gets put behind. He was talking about how they cannot go out anymore and with children that is a rather large truth because most of your time you are making sure that they learn, provide for them, and make sure that they are gaining skills that they can use later in life. Human development in that stage is all about the parents making sure that their children are able to survive and make sure that even when they leave them they are able to make it in the world themselves.
The factors that mainly impact human development are nature and nurture. For a perspective on how we are affected by nature we can look at the genetics that we get from our parents as well as our biology. The way that our parent’s treated themselves while we were in the womb can help change how we turned it. If parents used teratogens such as alcohol or drugs for example the child is more likely to be miscarried or born with some sort of mental or physical impairment. For nurture we look to the environment that we were raised in. A child will have a healthier cognitive development if he or she is in raised in an environment that is supportive and encouraging the child to grow. Likewise, a child that is neglected and not shown love and support from a caregiver may have a harder time developing and may experience behavioral problems later on in life. This can be seen in the case of the strange situation test. Those babies that exhibited secure attachments were much more likely to function better in childhood, as well as having better peer relations and a more successful adjustment at school. Those who exhibited insecure attachments, on the other hand, were more likely to suffer from depression and other behavior problems. I chose to explore Anthony Cerniello’s video of the aging process of his friend Danielle using 3D imaging. What it was is Cerniello gathered images of Danielle’s relatives who had facial features that most closely related her own, then by using 3D imaging showed what the aging process might look like for her from early childhood all the way to late adulthood. It was really interesting to see how it changed so subtly that you didn’t notice and then all of a sudden she went from being really young to being really old. The most interesting thing in the chapter for me was the section about how we develop within adulthood. I never really thought about how early both the brain and body start to decline, but it was interesting to learn that from an intelligence standpoint you don’t really lose the ability to learn until you 60’s it just takes longer to learn the information. The thing that was most surprising to me was the development of babies after they’re born. The most surprising part of the was the fact that when babies are born they are only able to see about 8-12 inches in front of their face, and that they were unable to see color until about 6 months. I always assumed that babies were born with fully developed vision.
Terms: Nature, Nurture, genetics, biology, teratogens, strange situation test, secure attachments, insecure attachments, cognitive.
Among the links to explore above, I chose a video from Youtube and it was called “People with no kids don’t know” and the article about gay men. First of all, I want to express my thoughts on the video from Michael McIntyre. He shared his personal life about having kids, but what we all got out of it is negative thinking about kids. Yes, they are stubborn, they don’t listen to you, but that’s not always true. There are kids that will listen to you and do as they are told. I personally believe that how kids act depends upon the way you raise and treat them. Kids are learning things as they’re growing up, so it surely will take a lot of patient to raise a kid.
Secondly, the article that I read about gay gene was rather interesting. Not because I was gay, but it was because it was well explained why gay gene exists. From my experience, I could related all of this to myself. I still remember hearing people said that being homosexual was a trend now that’s why boys and girls copied each other just to be cool rather than by biological factors. However, science has proved that gay gene or “male-loving gene does exist. Gay genes are controlled by a large number of genes just like any other genes. Gay genes are also affected by the environmental factors including having a nasal when you were little or the way that your parents treat you. The facts that study has shown that two gay men in the same family could share the gene on the tip of X chromosome.
Back to the chapter, human development depends upon the environmental and socio-cultural factors. During a prenatal development, a certain environmental agents can cause some trouble to our development and teratogen is one of them. Teratogens are substances that effect on the ability to reason, attention, or emotions. Drugs and alcohol are the most commonly used teratogens. Both father and mother can cause trouble to the potential development of the baby including disorder involving small hear, hear defects, and low birth weights. And also, sometimes infants are raised in environments that do not stimulate their brains which will effect on how much synaptic connections are made. In fact, if the brain is not stimulated, it is harder for an infant to develop.
The most interesting topic to me was the development of an infant throughout the years. As an infant, we participate in a maturation process in which we progress from moving our heads to sitting up, standing, and walking. Also that we show different reactions and emotions during that process including our thinking. There are several stages in developing our thinking which are sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational. I learned the most out of puberty section. Before reading this chapter, I thought that we were hitting puberty at the same age and there is no factors that could affect how soon or late we hit puberty. But after reading this chapter, I understand that environmental factors play a very big role in our puberty process.
Terms: genes, chromosome, human development, socio-cultural, prenatal, teratogen, synaptic, maturation, sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational, puberty.
Human development is very interesting in the way it works. There are a lot of different things that can effect human development. The two biggest factors are nature and nurture. You development through nature because it was the way your genetics were designed for you to develop. These developments are the things you are almost guaranteed to develop from birth. One of these developments was talked about when discussion inborn reflexes. These are reflexes that are automatically in our genes that we will learn to do. It says that one of these reflexes is closing the fingers around an area that was stroked on their palm. This reflex is called the grasping reflex and is thought to come from our ancestors because children always had to be carried from place to place. The other type of development is nurture. This is when the environment or the people the child is around helps to develop these new things. One big nurture development is language. Children always learn the language that is spoken around them both when still in the womb and at early child hood. The child recognizes the language and easily accepts this language, but does not except other languages as well.
I explored the Youtube video called People with No Kids Don’t Know. In this video a comedian is explaining how his life with kids is so different from life without kids. This is also explained in the having children section of the book. It talks about how just about every aspect of life will change when you have kids and can often cause strain on a marriage. The comedian also talks about his one child that will never come down stairs when it comes time to leave and that the child does not really care about them leaving. I think this is related to the strange situations test that is discussed in the book. I believe his kid is showing signs of avoidant attachment where the child does not show any distress when the attachment figure leaves.
My thoughts on human development have changed quite a bit after reading this chapter. There were several things that I did not know prior to this reading. One thing that I did not know before this chapter is about the sensory development of a child. I did not know that children prefer sweet tastes so much when they are initially born, but it does make since because of the taste of breast milk. I also did not know that children begin to hear things as early as 4 and half months in the womb. That is very early and is interesting that they are capable of listening so well by the time they are born.
The most interesting topic the reading to me was when they were talking about marriage in adulthood. It says that a lot of our time in our adult hood is spent trying to find and maintain a satisfying relationship. It is also very interesting that people that are married usually have a longer life assuming that the marriage they are in is a happy marriage. It is also very interesting that the male life increase in marriage can be explained by the wife kind of keeping track of their husband making sure they are doing the necessary things to maintain good health.
I believe that the most surprising thing that I read about in this chapter was the story about Bruce. It was interesting to hear that they thought that if they acted like the child was supposed to be a girl that the child would just fall into that place even though their genetics were designed to be a boy. I think this shows the battle between nature and nurture and that nature often times is overpowering of nurture. You learn from the story that no matter what they did even using hormones Bruce still did not like the way he was when he was a girl. You can tell from this they children develop a little of masculinity and other things that determine your gender at a very young age.
Key terms: human development, nature, nurture, inborn reflexes, grasping reflex, avoidant attachment, sensory development, hormones,
What factors impact human development? The main factors that affect human development are nature and nurture. A few ways that nature could affect human development would be if you mother drank alcohol or smoked while she was pregnant. Teratogens are substances that can cause birth defects, another thing that affects human development. I watched the youtube video when it is the comedian explaining what it is like for people with kids and those without them. I agree with him on how people think that it would be easy to have kids simply because they have not had them before and have not learned from past experiences. I already do not think that it will be easy in even the slightest way. Although I want kids someday, I need to wait until later in my life when I am ready to take on such a life changing event. The most interesting thing that I read during the chapter was the story about Bruce (Brenda) Reimer. I really found it interesting when although she had no male hormones, she still knew that something was wrong as a woman. I was surprised by this because I was surprised that she was able to tell that she was not supposed to be a girl when all the evidence pointed to her being a girl from her understanding at that point. I believe that if someone is a boy and they suffer an injury such as he was, that it will be better off just to leave him a male, so that it will not do any psychological damage like it did to him.
Terms: Human Development, psychological, hormones, teratogens, nature, nurture.
I chose to read the article from the Rolling Stone dealing with Coy Mathis and her family. The article was very long, but I did enjoy reading it. The article is ultimately about a young boy named Coy who, from the age of a year and a half, already insists on being a girl. It was crazy to think a year and a half year old child could already know and understand what was happening, and start to refer to himself as a girl. As parents, I would be unsure on what to do. I give major props to Jeremy and Kathryn for handling this the way in which they did. They allowed Coy to express herself however she wanted to around the house, and gradually let her express herself out of the house as well. Coy’s parents let her act and wear whatever she wished in her early years; however, they were weary of the major issues that may lie ahead when it came to schooling. Dealing with a transgender can be very difficult in school involving which bathroom to use, which the Mathis’ soon found out. Her parents stuck by her side through the thick and thin, supporting her and standing up for their daughter against the school board. Standing up for this type of issue in this day in age must’ve been extremely hard. I’m very glad the Mathis’ stood up for this issue instead of shying away and were able to make progress. Coy was once again granted access into the girls bathroom and able to go about her life as a young girl.
Human development is impacted by a variation of factors. Even from the embryonic period, human developments are impacted by the choices the mother makes. If the mother doesn’t consume enough nutrients, the baby may not correctly develop his or her organs. It is crucial for the mother to be aware of the choices she is making, because wrong decisions can easily impact the developments of her child. The fetal period is also important, as new structures are developing. After birth, human development is impacted by a person’s surroundings. For example, if a child has an early experience with abuse, he or she will likely be scarred for life, and could even have a future with abuse of violence. Human developments are also highly impacted by peers. An individual’s development can change depending on what they are exposed to daily. My idea of human development definitely changed after reading this chapter. I was unaware that you’re body keeps developing throughout your entire life, I guess I just thought after the age of roughly 25 you were done developing. I’ve never really thought of someone’s body developing all the way until death. This is why I found 4.4, the adulthood development section the most interesting. I actually enjoyed learning about how to find meaning later in life, and also more about dementia. The topic that most surprised me was learning about the infant attachment. I never thought of a toddler being avoidant of their mother; however, after reading this, I learned this can come from neglect as a child. Also, I found it surprising how an ambivalent child cries when the caregiver leaves, but seeks and rejects comfort when the caregivers returns. Terms: ambivalent, avoidant, transgender, dementia, embryonic period, human development
As a person is developing in their life, there are many places where things can impact development. In the earliest stages of life like during the germinal, embryonic, and fetal periods many things can go wrong. If during those stages they have a lack of food water or other necessary fluids, they may develop incorrectly. If the mother during this period smokes or drinks or is a victim of second hand smoke, that can also effect the development of the child. Other drugs such as marijuana, cocaine and other similar drugs have been linked to sudden death in infants. After being born, the development of a child is still affected by drugs and alcohol. Now there are more factors because a child may develop mentally different if they are exposed to verbal or physical abuse. When growing up, an infant may be exposed to different stimuli causing infants to develop more mentally. Another important part of developing is the society the child may have grown up in. If the child grew up in South America, they will be different than someone that grew up in New York City. The most surprising thing to me is that when we hit age twenty, out body actually starts to decline. I feel like that shouldn’t start happening until about age fifty. This makes me realize that I am very close to being in the best shape I will ever be in. In a few years I will begin to grow weaker if I don’t do something about it. I am also to the point in my life where I develop long term emotional relationships with someone. I do have a relationship with someone now so I will be adding on to that already started relationship throughout the next two years. I really enjoy learning about the ways the body changes throughout maturation. It is cool to know that our body does so much on its own without being consciously told what to do. The fact that our bodies can go from a foot long, ten pound baby to a full gown, 220 pound adult is crazy.
germinal, embryonic, and fetal periods
What factors impact human development? Human development is impacted by numerous things. We are determined by how we develop from the period of conception to birth, also know as the prenatal period. We are influenced by nature and nurture. Nature is our genetics and biology, while nurture is the environment that is around us. The developmental changes have three different domain: physical, socioemotional, and cognitive. Human development is overall impacted by changes in each area. (FAS) Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, is one of the more severe disorders that babies can suffer from. This is when the mother drinks during the pregnancy. Some of the side effects from fetal alcohol syndrome are small heads and abnormal brain development
I chose to read the link that calculated my life expectancy. I had to fill out many questions about my life and my family history of diseases. However, I got down to the bottom and I did not know the answers to some so I ended up choosing to do the shorter version. According to this calculator, I’m only going to live to the age of 80. 80 isn’t too bad of a number, but to me this isn’t an accurate calculator. We don’t know when our time is up. For all I know, I could pass away next week or when I’m 98!
I thought it was interesting reading about the different phases in prenatal development. The first phase is the germinal period. This period begins when the sperm and the egg unites. They zygotes keep dividing gradually eventually turning into blastocysts. The blastocysts then stick to the uterine wall just after 7 or 8 days. The second phase is the embryonic period. This period is when the spinal cord and all the internal organs start developing. The third and last stage is the fetal period. The fetus continues to grow, however, there are no new structures developing.
I thought it was very surprising reading about inborn reflexes. The different reflexes are rooting reflexes, sucking reflexes, and grasping. Rooting reflex happens when a baby is stroked at the corner of the mouth. Sucking reflexes happens when the baby sucks on a finger or during breast feeding. It is important for babies to have this reflex because if they were not able to suck, they would suffer from malnutrition and may need to have a feeding tube. The grasping reflex is when the baby grasps onto the mom or dad’s fingers.
List of psychological terms:
Nature vs. Nurture, prenatal period, cognitive, socioemotional, physical, FAS, inborn reflexes, germinal period, embryonic period, fetal period.
There are many factors in life that impact human development. From the link below (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFQfylQ2Jgg&feature=youtu.be&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DuFQfylQ2Jgg&app=desktop) I learned how having children impacts a person and their relationships. They no longer can just leave home; they now have to worry about bringing their children or who will take care of them while they are gone. They begin to realize their children’s needs and upbringing come before their personal needs and fun. Simple things like driving, sleeping, and putting on clothes now involve keeping their children healthy, happy and content. Having kids can be a joy, but it also puts a lot of stress on the parents. If the stress levels get to high, relationships can be damaged. Overall, whether the outcome is good or bad for the person, having children will change their life forever. Since reading this chapter, I learned more about why people act the way they do during certain periods of life and how we grow to learn about the world and how to interact with others.
From my reading, the topic I found most interesting was the section of separation anxiety. Though a person/parent might find this behavior in their child cute, it becomes anything but that after time. The physical closeness children/infants need with their caregivers is the first step in their development of socio-emotional bonds. When they cannot see their caregiver, they can suffer from three variations of separation anxiety. The first is secure attachment, a healthy attachment where an infant is comfortable anywhere as long as caregiver is within sight. When the caregiver leaves, however, they begin to cry, but upon their return they are calm and content. The second is the avoidant attachment, where the infant seems to have little interest in their caregiver and is more willing to explore unknown places. The third is ambivalent attachment, where the infant is unwilling to explore new areas and seems to have mixed feelings about the caregiver. When the caregiver leaves, the baby cries uncontrollably, but upon their return they do not cease their crying. Doctors say this can be a sign that the infant has experienced neglect and does not trust the caregiver. I think I found this interesting because I remember how upset I was when my mother would leave me when I started pre-school, and how even now after I’ve grown up find I missing my family.
The most surprising thing I learned was that children don’t necessarily know how to think logically. I guess it never occurred to me that kids cannot easily understand something like the law of conservation. The girl in the book was shown two equal size and full glasses of water. But when one glass was poured into a taller, skinnier glass she determined that this new glass contained more water because it appeared taller, even though he had just seen the water volumes were equal! I learned kids cannot imagine logical outcomes of performing certain actions on certain objects, instead they use intuitive reasoning based on superficial appearances.
Human development, relationships, separation anxiety, socio-emotional bonds, secure attachment, avoidant attachment, logic, intuitive reasoning
I chose to watch the YouTube video “People With No Kids Don’t Know” and I found it very interesting in learning about human development. The book also helped me to realize how your thought processes completely change as you grow up. It is hard for children to see in other people’s points of view because they usually don’t understand anyone’s but their own. In the video the comedian talked about how they are always late and it takes forever to get his children out the door. Kids don’t understand the concept of time as well and they don’t have much consideration for others yet because they don’t know any better. This chapter has changed my understanding of human development because I knew that is the way children act, but I didn’t really think about why. The topic most interesting to me about this reading would be about the babies’ inborn reflexes. I have always known how babies will always grab your fingers but I never thought that this is one of their natural reflexes for survival. The most surprising thing that I learned was that memory loss doesn’t occur until the ages of 60-70.
Terms: human development, inborn reflexes
A lot of factors impact human development, even things that happen to people before they are even born impact their life. Before a baby is born it goes through a lot of stages in the mothers belly. The most important period being the embryonic period because that is when the embryo develops most of its internal organs. During this stage it is important the mother gets all the necessary nutrients to the embryo such as folic acid. Another thing that effects human development is how the baby is natured and nurtured in the belly. If a pregnant mother smokes or drinks alcohol the baby make develop diseases such as fetal alcohol syndrome. Other teratogens like pollutants and harmful substances from the environment impact the child’s well being at birth or later on in life. How the parents treat their child while they are growing up also plays a huge part in how a child develops. The child could be neglected and grow up with parents and develop things like depression or the parents could spoil their kid and have them become rude with no sense of manners when they grow up. I look at the article about Anthony Cerniello’s simulation video regarding the aging process of a girl names Danielle. The video featured a slideshow of her life and how her physical appearance will change from time to time up until old age. It was neat, but also kind of scary watching Danielle’s face and other features change as she got older. After reading this chapter I understand how complex the aging process is and how little things that seem harmless can really effect the way you are when you grow up. The things I found most interesting to read about was how many different ways children can act and how fast they develop skills. The process of maturation goes by so quickly and some babies even skip the crawl stage in the maturation of learning how to walk. I also thought it was neat to read about the different attachment issues children can have. The three I read about were secure, avoidant, and ambivalent attachment were interesting because it’s weird to realize different baby’s act a certain way based on how their “attachment figure” treats them. On of the stories I was most surprised by was the boy who was raised a girl. The boys name was Bruce, and he went through a surgery that caused him to have another surgery that resulted in sexual reassignment. The parents changed his name and the rest of his gender roles and made him believe he was a girl. They even had him taking hormones to become more girly. Although “Brenda” never felt comfortable and demanded to be changed back to a boy. It was a very sad ending for Bruce, who’s name was later changed to David. But it was a surprise to see its very difficult to change a persons gender identity, even with the help of hormones. Psychological Terms: embryonic period, teratogens, maturation, secure, avoidant, and ambivalent attachment, gender roles, gender identity
Human development can be affected by many different factors. Between that changes that occur as we grow through the prenatal stages and through the rest of our lives, us, as humans undergo many physical, socio-emotional, and cognitive growth. After humans are born we must go through the proper stages of maturation, or the process of developing motor skills, and different emotional and social development. For example, while growing up all kids have different kinds of attachment to their care givers, such as, secure, avoidant, and ambivalent attachment. Also, the way a person’s ability of speech is regulated determines the rest of their development. After we go through gender identity stages our body emerges into adulthood. This development stage is determined by intimacy versus isolation which involves how a person holds relationships with others. Also, during this time period generativity versus stagnation affects development along with the development of the future.
As I watched the video about the comedian comparing people without kids to couples with kids I learned how difficult it must be in order to keep order in the household. As he talks about the struggles of how hard it is to leave the house with children compared to not having children, I think that really opened the eyes to others of how difficult of a task it is to take care of children. Although this video showed many negative aspects of children this video really demonstrated how generativity versus stagnation takes place in adulthood lives. Because of how the couple had to care for their children and have regards for their children it represents one of the many developmental stages of adulthood.
Since reading the chapter, I have learned more of the stages that occur during the human development and also what factors contribute to the development to each person individually. But the most interesting topic I read about would have to be Mary D. Salter Ainsworth’s strange-situation test, which demonstrated the different kinds of attachments kids develop. By having the parent or caregiver leave the room with the child behind with a stranger Ainsworth was able to study how the child behaved after they were gone and how they reacted. By doing this, she was able to develop the three different kind of attachment theories said above.
Also, the most surprising part of the book I read about was dementia in older adults. Dementia is a dramatic loss in mental ability which can affect people over the age of 70. The statistics of dementia are what is most surprising to me. For example, the book said 3 to 5 percent of people will develop Alzheimer’s disease by age 70 to 75 and 6.5 by 85. Looking at these stats, it is a scary thought of all the people that can be or are affected by this life altering disease and how it affects their and their loved ones daily life.
Key Words: Development, maturation, secure, avoidant, secure, and ambivalent attachment, gender identity, intimacy versus isolation, genrativity versus stagnation, dementia
Out of all the provided links I decided to watched the YouTube video. After watching that video I would not want kids. It is true that you would have to give up a lot of things to in order to have kids, your would have to make a lot of scarifies. He made life seem very miserable after having kids. It is horrible, you would not be able to do the simple things in life like just leaving the house, or sleeping at night. He did not have any thing positive to say about having kids. I would just want to wait till I am emotionally stable and then have kids. What I really liked about this video is that he added humor in it, to explain the audiences about his experiences after he had kids.
There are many factors that impact the human development like the nature and nurture. It really influences an individuals development at every phase throughout there life. Who we are today is determined by how we were during the prenatal period. The biological factors that make us who we are is nature. What type of environment we are raised in and how we respond to things that life throws at us is nurture. Like if a pregnant women decides to smoke or drink alcohol is the nurturing of that baby. It is the type of environment that the baby is growing up in.
My understand of human development has changed a lot. I understand how the little things that occurs in our life plays a huge impact on the human behavior. It is so fascinating to think that we just started out with two cells and how we develop into zygote during the germinal period, then we move on to the embryonic period where the most of the physical development occurs like the spinal cord, brain and all the internal organs like our heart, lungs, liver, kidneys and other sex organs. Then comes the finale stage the fetal period in this period our whole body continues to change physically. The fetus begins to move its muscles, the eye lids finish developing.
For me the most interesting topic was the gender identity. I did not know that at a young age you just know what role to play, It was fun to read the story of Bruce Reimer and his story in order to find his identity.
Some of the most memorable thing that I read was the story of Brooke Greenberg. She is nineteen and is froze into an infants body. She did all the normal things like a typical teenager but does not look like an nineteen year old.
Physiological terms- Nature, nurture, zygote, germinal period, embryonic period, fetal period, fetus, prenatal period.
Many factors impact human development, humans never stop developing. As baby’s humans develop in the womb, they develop for nine months then are born. Factors that impact pregnancy are nature, which are genetics and biology, also nurture which is the environment. Other things that affect a women’s pregnancy is different types of harmful substances. Some women smoke, drink alcohol/caffeine and take drugs while pregnant. By women doing this their baby can be born pre-mature, have fetal alcohol syndrome, low birth weight, still born and many more bad things can happen the child if the mom is not careful. Other bad things that can happen are the mothers can get an infection while pregnant and hurt the womb. Other factors can include environmental factors such as radiation and mercury. Some more factors that impact human development are physical and mental factors. As people grow up they have to grow mentally and physical. For example they have to get use to having sight for the first couple of months a baby does not have very strong eyesight and can also not see in color until six months of age. To develop cognitively children go through a sensorimotor stage which begins at birth, preoperational stage with begins at age two, a concrete operational stage which begins at age seven and a formal operational stage with begins at age twelve. In the first stage children get their information through their senses and motor exploration, in the second stage child being to think symbolically, in the third stage they begin to understand operations and in the fourth and final stage people can reason in sophisticated and abstract ways.
I choose the link www.scarymommy.com and it was a very different strange website. The ways some people feel about their spouses and children and put it online for the public to see. Other sections of the website could possibly be helping to parents. On the website they have different explanations of each stage of life. There is a pregnancy stage, a newborn stage, a toddler stage, a teen stage, and many more. This lady who runs the site explains how your child might act during this stage but also a way to get through the stage. This website is very different with a mixture of helpful and not so helpful things.
My understanding of human development has changed very much since reading this chapter.
There are so many different ways that people develop; emotionally, cognitively, physically, even morally. People keep developing from birth till death, they never stop. Even adults change, their mental abilities begin to decline they lose muscle and have to stop eating so much junk food. Also different people develop at different rates, girls develop sooner than boys. Other people develop slower than others maybe due to an environmental factor or a birth defect. Other people develop to a certain age and stop like Brooke, her entire life she was as developed as a baby who is nineteen months old.
The thing that surprised me the most was the story of Bruce and Brian Reimer. That he was born a boy but had difficulties during surgery and his parents made the choice to turn him into a girl even put him on hormones to make him look like a girl. In the end his parents told him that he was truly born a boy and he changed back by having more surgery, he got married and became a dad. When his marriage failed and he went broke he ended up killing himself. I was shocked to see the researchers think that if he had been a boy his entire life and developed as boy that Bruce would of most likely not killed himself in the end. It is weird how people develop can change how we turn out in the end.
Human Development, Nature, Nurture, Genetics, Biology, Environment, Still Born, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, Womb, Sensorimotor Stage, Preoperational Stage, Concrete Stage, Formal Operational Stage, and Hormones
Who we are right now is an interesting topic. We are all very different, but at the same time very similar. Our development is very similar in the womb and fundamentally the same, but can be influenced by many things in our environment. While in the womb we all go through the same stages. We have studied and know the normality of each stage. The surprising thing is that at the fetal period we can hear voices and recognize mother’s voice. This was shocking to me. Obviously we can’t remember being in the womb, but just the survival instincts that we can recognize voices in the womb, for after birth is amazing to me. In the toddler stage of life and all the way up to adolescence is in my opinion when most of our development happens. We learn so much in such a short time. We learn to walk and speak sentences and everything in between. We go from different levels of learning such as assimilation where you just modify understanding of one thing, to accommodation where you create a whole new “schema” for something you learn. As I was reading this chapter I could relate a lot of these ideals to my experiences with babies. This gave me clarity on some of the things babies do and how they think. Moving on to puberty and adolescence. Having gone through it and health classes in high school, it is a big part of our lives. This is where we become sexually mature and our psyche changes. We can now make decisions, even though a lot of the time irrational, and we learn to negotiate, critical thinking, and empathy. These are all very important to function in today’s world. We also develop moral reasoning. There are three main levels of moral reasoning: Preconventional, Conventional, Post conventional. Preconventional is when people solve the problem based in self-interest. Conventional level is when the person makes a decision based on law and order and approval or disapproval. Postconventional level is centered on complex reasoning and concern abstract principles that transcend laws and social expectations. Each Level can be used by the same person at different instances and might change as they get older. This was one of the most important theories I read in the chapter. There is a moral code that each one of us is taught. It is not written down anywhere, it is just there. Everyone follows it and it is one of the foundations I believe that makes us human. Finally, growing old is the last developmental stage. This can be the saddest or most enriching times of our life. It is defined as basically becoming at piece with our lives and the things we have done. I question that it could be in our biology to help us deal with dying. We are the only animal that can think on the level that we can and this somewhat hurts us. We can a lot of the time overthink things and become stressed and worried about it. I think this last stage helps us manage this aspect of passing away to another life, if there is one, and finding piece in ourselves.
Terms:
Fetal period, toddler stage, adolescence, assimilation, accommodation, schema, puberty, moral reasoning, Preconventional, Conventional, Postconventional,
How humans develop over their life span can be affected by many factors. What makes us who we are today has been partly determined by how we developed during the time of conception until our birth. One of the many factors that impact human development today is how well the mother takes care of herself and what nutrients she is taking during the time of her pregnancy. The book gives a great example in the beginning of the chapter that talks about the embryonic stage. This stage is considered to be the most important stage during pregnancy because major organs, the brain and the spine all begin to form. If the mother does not take any nutrient folic acid the organs, brain and spine may not develop properly. When the baby is born he/she may have birth defects. Another factor that impacts human development is alcohol and drugs. If the mother takes drugs while pregnant, the fetus may have a greater risk for sudden death in their infants. These newborns may experience withdrawals from the drugs. A mother who consumes alcohol while she is pregnant is risking their child’s life. As the fetus is developing, fetal alcohol syndrome can be a result of the mother drinking alcohol. I have heard people say that their child is precious and is absolutely perfect. But what I don’t understand is how some women who may have drank alcohol or taken drugs while pregnant are upset when their child has some birth defects such as the ones I mentioned above. I know that some problems can arise during the pregnancy or afterwards even if the mother took care of herself while she was pregnant, but I don’t believe it is fair that a mother who has had alcohol during her pregnancy should be upset.
Another factor that impacts human development is our attachment style. This starts when we are young. The book mentions three attachment styles which are secure attachment, avoidant attachment and ambivalent attachment and gives great definitions of each. The type of attachment style infants have may be determined by how they react when their mom/dad leaves and are left in the care of another person. It is also important to note that how they react when the mom/dad returns has an impact on what attachment style they have. The book states that if a parent has a secure attachment style, about 60-65% of their children will show this style.
The link that I chose was calculating my life expectancy. It was a very easy form to fill out and it asked simple questions like: my age, height, weight, if I smoked, health questions about my family history, if I am stressed, and what my diet was like. There were some questions on the form that I did not know the answer to so I left them blank. Once I calculated my life expectancy, I was very shocked to find out that my age was about 85 years. I have to say I was a little upset with this. I was thinking my expected age was going to be about 95. I know that this can change and that I may or may not live longer, however I want to live to be at least 95. I believe the reason the age I got has to do with our generation and the ones that follow. People these days are not taking care of themselves very well. Obesity has become a major problem with our generation. I have heard some people say our generation may not live past our parents. When I heard this I was really surprised. Human beings do not usually die before their parents, but our world is changing and people are starting to do things differently.
After reading the chapter, I understand that our environment and the choices we make affect how we develop. We have to set goals for ourselves that have positive outcomes and choose to live a healthy lifestyle. The topic that was most interesting to me was about the attachment styles. I have a little sister who just turned two in June and after I read about the different styles I believe that she has secure attachment style. I believe this because when my mom or dad leaves to go to work or runs an errand and I watch her, she cries. I try to calm her down and find toys for her play and after a while she settles down. Once they return, she is excited to see them and wants them to pick her up. I found this interesting because it gave me an insight on how children may react in these situations depending on the attachment style they have. The most surprising thing I learned in the chapter is that as adults we have about 60,000 words in our vocabulary.
Psychological terms: embryonic stage, secure attachment, ambivalent attachment, avoidant attachment
I watch the video on the Huffington Post website. The video was an aging simulation video. It was only five minutes but so much of Danielle, the girl that was aged, facial features changed. She started off young, and for some time nothing looked like it change, but then the next minute you could tell so much had changed. The whole video was so cool. You don’t really think about people’s facial features changing that much, because you’re usually around them everyday. When you haven’t seen someone in years you can tell some of their features have changed, but with this video you could see it in fast mode. It’s crazy how much we do change over the years.
There are many things that impact human development, during prenatal development. For example, when babies in the womb are exposed to drugs and/or alcohol it can harm the baby and can influence the physical appearance, its all nature vs. nurture. Certain attachments during the infant years of the baby can give way to the type of person they will grow up to be. If the baby has insecure attachments it can lead to poor outcomes later in life, like behavioral issues. With secure attachments it can lead to the baby having better peer relations and more successful in school. My understanding of how many things can influence a person. Even when the person is older they are still changing. And how the body is constantly changing. It was interesting how an individual is raised and/or in different life situations can change their body physically, psychologically, and mentally in so many ways.
The most interesting topic to me was about marriage during adulthood. It says we spend a lot of our adulthood trying to find and maintain a satisfying relationship. It was surprising that people that are married usually live longer, if they’re in a happy marriage. It’s crazy that marriage benefits men more than women. Also it might only be because of the women that they benefit, women make sure the men smoke less, eat healthier, and actually go to the doctor.
The most surprising thing I read was about Bruce (Brenda) Reimer. I was interesting that the parents thought that if they acted like the child was suppose to be a girl, then the child would be. It’s crazy that even though Bruce took hormones he didn’t feel comfortable being a girl. I believe that you can force someone to be someone they’re not. Because the parents did this, psychologists believe that the stress of being raised the way he was troubled him throughout his life, and it could be a contributed to why he committed suicide.
Terms: human development, prenatal development, hormones, nature, nurture
All sorts of things can impact development in human beings especially things at early ages. In the germinal period, embryonic period, and fetal period the baby is at a risky place in their life where anything can disturb growth. If the mom drinks alcohol or takes drugs it can cause the baby to be premature which would affect growing or if they don’t eat the right folic acid the baby’s spine might not develop correctly. After the baby is born, it will need constant attention and lots of love and caring so it can have maturation. The baby also needs help to talk. They will go through different stages of talking such as babbling, telegraphic speech, and overregulation. If they don’t learn how to speak at a certain age they may never fully learn to speak.
After reading this chapter I understand so much more of the development of humans. Many factors can cause us not to develop correctly, some that I didn’t even realize! Knowing what causes a good development in babies will help me when I start having kids of my own someday or my nieces or nephews.
The most interesting and surprising topic was the one about how much the baby is attached to a person such as mother or father. Secure attachment is one way a baby can be. If a person leaves the room and the baby is left alone and cries then when the person comes back into the room and picks up the baby and the baby is attached to the person it has secure attachment. The baby is happy once again when the person comes back and can continue to play. 60-65 percent of babies have this form of attachment. Another attachment is called avoidant attachment. A baby has this form of attachment when the person leaves the room and the baby continues to play happily and when the person comes back and tries to tell the baby to come to them the baby stays playing and doesn’t need them. The last form of attachment is ambivalent attachment, which means that the baby is beyond upset when the person leaves and when the person comes back the baby rejects the caring contact. It is interesting that all babies fit into one of these three categories and how certain attachments can influence how they function in childhood, how they are in peer relations, and how successful they can adjust at school.
The most memorable thing I learned from reading was how important gender roles are even at such a young age. One of the twin boys who were being circumcised had a poor procedure and the parents decided for him to become a girl and turned his name to be Brenda. Brenda wasn’t comfortable being a girl as she was more aggressive than other girls. She eventually turned back into a boy and realized how much more comfortable he was.
Terms: Secure attachment, avoidant attachment, ambivalent attachment, gender role, maturation
I chose to read about the article that explained “10 psychology studies every parent should know.” It was very interesting and I learned many new things! Some different things were that parents are happier than non-parents, avoiding harsh and strict discipline, to regular bedtimes. There was a lot of good information. Under the topic “Parents are happier than non-parents”, it explained how parents find more pleasure in caring for their children than any other activity. It was interesting because it said fathers experience more joy and pleasure than mothers do. That surprised me very much. When approaching the topic of bedtimes, a research of 11,000 children from the age of 3 to 7 concluded that kids who got more sleep had better scores in reading, math, and spatial awareness in both boys and, girls. It suggested that around the age of 3 is a sensitive period for cognitive development which makes this time period in a child’s life very important. From the article I thought the most important information to be under the topic of television viewing and exercising. In a study of 2,000 children, research concluded that children who view an extra hour of TV per day at the age of 2.5 predicted worse performance later when the children attended kindergarten. The article was very interesting and I learned many things.
After reading the chapter, I thought it was very interesting the way we develop from infants to adolescence and how we mature. I learned that there are three stages within prenatal development: the germinal period, the embryonic period, and fetal period. The first thing that caught my attention is how the environment of the mother dramatically effects the child at birth. There are many different tetrogens that can be harmful to a fetus. I thought it was quite obvious that some tetrogens are obvious at birth. It also said that some tetrogens which harm a baby pop up later on in life. I found many other things that interested me too. Harry Harlow’s experiment on early attachment especially interested me. In the experiment, Harlow placed infant rhesus monkeys in a cage with two surrogate “mothers.” One of the mothers was made of wire and provided milk through a bottle while the other “mother” was made of soft cloth, but it did not feed the monkey. The only time the monkey approached the wire mother that offered milk was when it was hungry. When the monkey wanted to feel comfortable and safe it resorted to clinging to the cloth mother. The important things to the monkeys was comfort which would explain why they would approach the soft, comfortable mother. A second part of the experiment dealt with the monkey’s choice when fear was presented. When he placed a metal robot with flashings eyes and large teeth the infant monkeys always ran to the mother that provided comfort. Very interesting. Another part of the reading which I found to be very compelling was that of the Kipsigis in western Kenya. The Kipsigi parents placed their babies in shallow holes in the ground. They thought this would teach the babies to sit upright. As well as placing them in shallow holes, the parents would march their babies around while placing their own arms under the babies’ arms, so the children could practice walking. Not surprisingly, the Kipsigi infants walked 1 to 2 months earlier than most American and European babies. I thought it was very interesting because the parents basically trained their children to walk, which was very helpful and gave them an advantage. There were many interesting topics throughout this chapter.
Terms: infants, adolescensce, tetrogens, Kipsigi, prenatal, embryonic period, fetal period, germinal period
I watched a YouTube video about how it is to live with kids, and first of all living with some kids right now would be horrible and very annoying. This video was kind of funny in a way and probably because I don’t have kids now but what they were saying was true because I’ve been around many little kids and they can get out of control. Being around all that does not have me to excited to have kids in the future but I mean I am also not ready for that yet. But this video did help me look at all the other negatives and how much work and responsibility you need to have, plus it can change a lot for you especially if you’re not ready!
What I understood about human development in this chapter was pretty interesting to me. I used to think the human development was very simple as in your mom gives birth to you, then you start growing and growing, after that you get old then you die. That’s what I used to think it was like but I’ve understood that there’s so much more to it than just what I thought. There are many steps and stages you, me, us as humans go through. For instance, the four stages of human progression which are sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational. First stage being sensorimotor means that during this period that infant is busy discovering relationships between their bodies and the environment, so they’re basically curios and just discovering. Second stage is preoperational which is during that period children use their imagination a lot you could say for example a little boy can pretend and think a brush is a hammer or some other object, so the kid is basically using an object to represent something else. The third stage is concrete operational, and during this period the children gain or begin to think logically about, I guess “concrete” things but can’t understand them as well yet. The last and fourth stage is formal operational, and during this stage you start and can think about abstract things as in maybe love. I say love because as in example in this stage you should understand what it is and that it’s more than just an emotion. All four of these stages are very important because without these stages I think us humans wouldn’t have the mentality we have but something less, as in probably nothing. Plus it’s just a process we all go through in chronological order, you can’t jump to a stage without going in order.
The most memorable thing I think I read in this chapter was the paragraph about marriage. Because I read some cool and interesting facts I did not know about. Like, people who are married love longer than people who aren’t, and people who are divorced, or were widowed. So to me that’s interesting because who would’ve thought that. Also being married seems like it is so much better than not being married just because of all the stuff that paragraph. Seems like there’s more benefits that are good to being married, but then again you have to have a healthy and good relationship in your marriage or else it would be could.
Terms: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational, human development.
Development has always been extremely interesting to me. I remember reading about Genie (the girl who was locked in a closet and neglected until 13 years old) and how she was extremely under-developed, and tested at a 1 year old level. They tried teaching her tasks and she was unable to learn how to become fluent in English because she was so scarred and had passed the prime learning stage.
I found it really interesting to see how many things actually influence successful development in children, ranging all the way from the prenatal stage; what the mother eats while she is pregnant, if she gets sick, or the environmental factors such as x-rays. To the infancy stage, where the brain develops and if there is neglect, or a lack of stimulation, it can lead to extreme problems with problem solving or even learning to speak, just like in Genie’s case.
Terms: development, prenatal
One of the factors that impacts human development are teratogens, which causes birth defects. The book talks about different types of them, and how effective to they are based on how long they are being used or how much of them are being used. When a baby is born, it can be very very obvious of any birth defects from drugs. They can also be shown when the child gets older, for example they can have a speech problem, or learning problem that can because of their parent(s) using drugs. A lot of teratogens does not have to be used, even a little bit of them can cause harm to the baby.
The book talks about infants being exposed to opiates during the prenatal development stage, 55% to 94% show symptoms of withdrawal as newborns, irritability, high-pitched crying, tremors, vomiting, diarrhea, and rapid breathing. People are more worried about what the woman is doing before and during their pregnancy and are less focused on the father, but the father has a lot to do with how the baby is going to turn out. Research has been done on them as well, but is not really talked about. They have found evidence about how behavior affects the sperm.
I chose the first link, huffingtonpost.com to discuss. From what I got from the flip, it showed how someone changes over years. I thought it was very interesting to watch how different, but same people stay looking throughout the years.
My understanding of human development after reading this chapter has changed since reading this chapter because now I know all the different types of teratogens that can effect babies while they are not even born yet like alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, and recreational drugs, etc.
I thought it was interesting learning about how when an infant just born have poor vision and can only see 8-12 inches and do not know the different colors that there are. It says that they can see high-contrast colors more than they can see the color grey. I also think it’s interesting how sometimes we forget that a little kid does not know any better and they keep asking the same question over and over again. Rowen is the two-year-old in the section infants and children change cognitively, who kept asking her dad about the book she was looking at, but her father was driving, so he couldn’t see what she was talking about. We forget sometimes that infants do not understand “putting themselves in other peoples positions” and we might get frustrated.
Something that I found surprising in this chapter was the Piaget’s Theory. I remember reading and learning about this in high school. I think it’s interesting how Jean Piaget “explored” his own three children's mental abilities. He discovered that children’s minds work in a different way than what an adults would. Jean figured out that we form new ways of thinking how the world works by assimilation meaning, we place a new experience into an existing schema, or mental representation about that information. The next one is accommodation, which means we create a new schema or dramatically alter an existing one to include new information that otherwise would not fit into the schema.
Terms: Teratogens, recreational drugs, Piagets Theory, accomodation, assimilation, cognitively, legal drugs, human development
I watched the YouTube video “people with no kids don’t know” and got the impression that raising children is an extremely chaotic period. The comedian seemed to just complain about the never-ending struggle to get things done and that just leaving the house had become an impossible task that drives him and his wife insane. This made me think about the section from chapter four where it discusses couples having children and how most couples were never prepared to raise children which puts large amounts of stress on their lives and relationship. The book suggests that couples have detailed and serious conversations about their tasks and roles in their everyday life to take care of the situations for raising their child.
Human development is affected by both nature and nurture in many different ways. The parents can affect a child before it is even born by the things they do in life such as drugs, drinking or other teratogens that they put into their bodies. This can cause developmental issues during the embryonic and fetal periods with many various birth defects as an outcome. We are naturally born with basic instincts such as crying and inborn reflexes such as rooting, grasping and sucking to ensure our survival after birth. The environment we grow up in also plays part in our development which can either be stimulating and help us grow mentally and psychologically at a faster rate or be less stimulating and develop at a slower rate than others.
Before reading this chapter I had absolutely no idea of the factors that went into human development other than getting older and our brains maturing and allowing us to learn new abilities. Now I know that the behavior of the mother and in some instances the father actually affect the development of a child during the first steps of pregnancy. I had no idea that the mothers diet or the father’s habits (smoking, drinking, ect.) had such an affect on the risks of birth defects. I also learned that infants have the basic instinct to be fed but actually preferred the comforting from a caretaker more from the infant monkey experiment with the two surrogate mothers.
Another interesting topic from this chapter was the Bruce Reimer section where he was born a male but having severe damage to his male reproductive organs was surgically made into a female. I thought it was interesting how growing up as a girl Bruce was more aggressive than other girls and felt as though she didn’t fit in with other girls and once told the truth by her parents felt relieved that she wasn’t strange or crazy but still had though gender identity issues that followed him even after being surgically changed back into a man. It was interesting how early gender identity can be shown in the early human stages of life and how different male and female brains actually are.
One of the most surprising things I learned from this chapter is that there are three different types of attachment that children can have. Growing up with many cousins that are infants I never really understood their reactions to those types of situations where they would cry when their parent would leave the room. Now I know that there are three types of attachment, which are secure attachment, avoidant attachment and ambivalent attachment. A secure attachment child will be distressed and cry when their caretaker leaves but will be quickly comforted when they return while a avoidant child will avoid their caretaker when they return and a ambivalent will both seek and reject contact when the caretaker returns. I also found it interesting how these types of attachments actually affect the child’s psychological and mental states later on in school.
Terms used: embryonic period, fetal periods, teratogens, inborn reflexes, secure attachment, avoidant attachment, ambivalent attachment, gender identity
Cassandra Rutledge
Development
The factors that can cause developmental problems are so high. The developmental problems can start before the zygote is even a fetus. The factors that can cause the problems are drugs, alcohol, teratogens, and not taking prenatal medication. The drugs and alcohol can cause developmental growth later on in life in childhood. The drugs and alcohol can also cause more risk in sudden death in infancy. Sexual diseases can also be a factor in mental development and deafness in an infant. I did not get this from the book but from prior knowledge that gonorrhea can cause blindness in an infant. I took a psychology class in high school and we went through all of the stages of life, but also I took a child development class, where I learned a ton about developmental problems.
The Website that asks are you ready is pretty accurate to what it is like to deal with a baby. For my child development class I had to send the night taking care of the mechanical baby, and it cried every two hours which caused me to fall asleep in my classes the next day. Ooops. The infant monkey experiment was quite memorable. How they gave them two "mothers", but they only went to a certain one for certain needs. This chapter reminded me a lot about my two favorite classes in high school, but also reminded me that a lot of things can go wrong in having children. This scares me because if something goes wrong during the child’s development it will most likely be my fault. I knew most of the information in the chapter due to the classes that I took in high school.
The psychology class I took, the teacher made us create our own obituary and asked use what we wanted played or done at our funerals. The reasoning for this was to have it partly done because we do not know when our last night or day on this earth will be. This prepared us for the real world because we had to also budget and find out where we were going to get half the money for the upfront costs. I enjoyed this chapter because I actually knew what the book was talking about.
Terms: zygote, fetus, developmental problems, drugs, alcohol, sexual diseases, teratogens, prenatal medication.
Intro To Psych
9-15-14
Chapter 4: Development
Chosen Link:
I chose the video on YouTube with the comedian talking about kids and living with them. When I first started watching the video the idea of having kids seemed like a nightmare. The opportunities you’ll always think you should have are gone when you have a child to take care of. Going out to eat at a certain place, making plans with friends, or even simply leaving the house you just can’t do anymore. I have always wanted to get outta college, see the world, and than have a family. This video still hasn’t changed that plan for me, but it has me really wanting to appreciate the small things in life. Lastly, the comedian does a great job comparing scenarios! Really made me laugh a lot.
Interesting Topic:
I read about the sensorimotor stage and the preoperational stage. This really was the most interesting thing I read about in chapter 4. Every stage from birth to adulthood really caught my attention was birth to 2 and age 2-7 were my favorite. In the sensorimotor stage you figure out things using your senses and traveling ability. They learn by sucking on a nipple, seeing a face, grasping a finger, and also hearing things. Once they begin to control their movements than they begin to create the very first schemas. One of the more important things you develop still knows an object still exists although the object is hidden. This is called object permanence. For example, if the parents take the toy if the baby is being bad and hide it in clear sight, than the baby would still look in that spot even though they can’t see it. In the preoperational stage you start to develop conceptual models of how the world actually works. You begin to think and imagine objects that aren’t right in front of you or in your view. Centration occurs at this level also. This is the limitation where a child can’t process and think about more than one problem or activity at a time. That is where centration comes from. AKA the child centers in on only one topic.
Most Surprising:
Adolescents develop physically such as puberty and when the brain changes during adolescence. I had no idea how much change happens in the body, and at such a young age. The books says around 10 or 12 is the adolescent growth spurt which is usually driven by hormones. The secondary sex characteristics develop at this time too. The growth of muscle mass for boys, increase in hair, thickness and color of it too, voices gradually get deeper, and jaws become more angular. The most surprising factor for me was that puberty is affected by environment. People that stress or worry more begin to experience puberty earlier than a person in a stress free environment. The brain changes during adolescence is the next paragraph that I found surprising. The brain isn’t fully developed till the mid 20s. While changing during the puberty stage, the brain is involved in the important phase of reorganization. These are the most surprising things I read in chapter 4.
Terms:
Reorganization, Adolescents, Secondary sex characteristics, puberty, hormones, sensorimotor stage, preoperational stage, schemas, centration, object permanence.
Intro To Psych
9-15-14
Chapter 4: Development
Chosen Link:
I chose the video on YouTube with the comedian talking about kids and living with them. When I first started watching the video the idea of having kids seemed like a nightmare. The opportunities you’ll always think you should have are gone when you have a child to take care of. Going out to eat at a certain place, making plans with friends, or even simply leaving the house you just can’t do anymore. I have always wanted to get outta college, see the world, and than have a family. This video still hasn’t changed that plan for me, but it has me really wanting to appreciate the small things in life. Lastly, the comedian does a great job comparing scenarios! Really made me laugh a lot.
Interesting Topic:
I read about the sensorimotor stage and the preoperational stage. This really was the most interesting thing I read about in chapter 4. Every stage from birth to adulthood really caught my attention was birth to 2 and age 2-7 were my favorite. In the sensorimotor stage you figure out things using your senses and traveling ability. They learn by sucking on a nipple, seeing a face, grasping a finger, and also hearing things. Once they begin to control their movements than they begin to create the very first schemas. One of the more important things you develop still knows an object still exists although the object is hidden. This is called object permanence. For example, if the parents take the toy if the baby is being bad and hide it in clear sight, than the baby would still look in that spot even though they can’t see it. In the preoperational stage you start to develop conceptual models of how the world actually works. You begin to think and imagine objects that aren’t right in front of you or in your view. Centration occurs at this level also. This is the limitation where a child can’t process and think about more than one problem or activity at a time. That is where centration comes from. AKA the child centers in on only one topic.
Most Surprising:
Adolescents develop physically such as puberty and when the brain changes during adolescence. I had no idea how much change happens in the body, and at such a young age. The books says around 10 or 12 is the adolescent growth spurt which is usually driven by hormones. The secondary sex characteristics develop at this time too. The growth of muscle mass for boys, increase in hair, thickness and color of it too, voices gradually get deeper, and jaws become more angular. The most surprising factor for me was that puberty is affected by environment. People that stress or worry more begin to experience puberty earlier than a person in a stress free environment. The brain changes during adolescence is the next paragraph that I found surprising. The brain isn’t fully developed till the mid 20s. While changing during the puberty stage, the brain is involved in the important phase of reorganization. These are the most surprising things I read in chapter 4.
Terms:
Reorganization, Adolescents, Secondary sex characteristics, puberty, hormones, sensorimotor stage, preoperational stage, schemas, centration, object permanence.
There are many factors that impact human development. While in the womb, some factors that have an impact are teratogens and drugs and alcohol. Teratogens are substances that cause birth defects. If exposed to teratogens for a long period of time, it is physically noticeable at birth. Sometimes the effects aren’t shown until the child grows and some of these effects include many disorders like language and attention. Drugs and alcohol also effect development in the womb. Drugs like cocaine, meth and marijuana have been proven to cause premature birth, withdrawals that result in tremors, vomiting, diarrhea, and rapid breathing, and even death. Alcohol causes many problems like heart defects, small limbs, and low birth weights.
As babies, the outside world effects development. Babies develop by the nurturing they receive from their loved ones. If a baby is nurtured well, the maturation process is successful. Some babies skip the step of crawling based on how they're nurtured. People also effect a baby’s emotional development. If someone is constantly negative and mean around a baby, it is more likely for that baby to cry often rather than a baby who is around a happier environment.
During the adolescent years, gender roles effect the development. These roles help people find their identity. Girls discover their possible love for shopping and skirts, while guys enjoy getting down and dirty fixing cars or riding a skateboard.
I chose the Huffington Post link from the Explore! section. It was a video of a person aging. I thought it was sort of creepy at first. I was watching the video and for a while it seemed like nothing was happening and the person wasn't aging. But then she noticeably began to grow. I thought it was amazing how this guy was able to put this video together to show the real aging process. The video also outlined the fact that the aging process is slow, but in the end its effects are easily shown. After reading this chapter, I find the developmental process to be quite fascinating. I never realized how much goes into our development and the endless things that can alter it.
The most interesting topic for me had to be the effects that drugs and alcohol have on a developing baby. It amazes me that expecting mothers are perfectly fine with poisoning their defenseless child. Do they not know what they’re doing? This child could be born with heart defects, be premature, or even die! It just amazes me how inconsiderate people are.
The most memorable thing I read about was the story of Bruce Reimer. He was born as a boy, but during a circumcision surgery, his penis was badly damaged. His parents decided that it would be in his best interest to turn Bruce into a girl. After surgery, Bruce became Brenda and was raised as a girl. At around age eleven she was given hormones to help her breasts to develop. Brenda became extremely self-conscious and was finally told by her parents the truth. She then made the decision to become a man once again. She had surgery to give her a penis and now went by the name David. This story fascinated me because I can never imagine being raised like that. His self identity was no where to be found. I have enough trouble accepting who I am, I can only imagine what it was like for David! What’s even more sad is that David committed suicide when he was thirty eight. I felt bad for David because not understanding who you are is a terrible thing.
The psychological terms I used were taratogens, maturation, and gender roles.
What I learned from Chapter 4 is that there are so many factors that influence the development of a human through developmental psychology. The factors that mainly impact human development are nature and nurture. How we can be affected by nature can comes from what our genetics are that we get from our parents. Another factor regarding this could be if the mother used drugs or alcohol during the pregnancy. This could cause mental or physical impairments to the child, as well as a miscarriage. When it comes to nurture, this comes from the environment that we grow up in. A child will have a healthier life if he/she is raised in a stable, encouraging environment. This would allow the child to grow healthy, physically, as well as mentally. Also, in this chapter, it explains the the three different stages that take place before birth. These are the Germinal Period, the Embryonic Period, and the Fetal Period. First, during the Germinal Period, the egg and the sperm combine to make the cell that creates the zygote cell, or the cell that creates new life. After various splits during the certain time period, it makes blastocyst. This is a thin-walled hollow structure which contains a cluster of cells from which the embryo arises. When it comes to the Embryonic Period, it is very important for human development. This stage happens mostly between the third and eighth week of the woman’s pregnancy. If anything were to happen to the embryo in a negative manner, it could very well cause defects of the body. During this stage, the organs are created. Lastly, comes the Fetal Period. This means the baby is just about ready to come out of the oven as most of the brain develops, as well as the baby’s body being developed by now, which in other words, the fetus is ready to live apart from the mother’s womb. Another part of the chapter I learned about is the different types of attachment. I learned that secure attachment basically means when the baby is distressed from the attachment figure leaving them and then being immediately comforted when the figure comes back. Another kind of attachment is ambivalent attachment where the child is very upset and will either seek or reject caring contact with the parent. The last kind of attachment is avoidant attachment, where the baby is not distressed when the attachment figure leaves and doesn’t really care when, or if at all, the parent returns.
I chose to read the link that calculated my life expectancy. I filled out questions about my life, as well as the family history of diseases. I got 82. I honestly found this calculator pointless and inaccurate, only because nobody knows when my time will be up. We don’t know what life has in for store. It was interesting to take it I guess, nonetheless.
I also watched the youtube video about how those without children just didn’t know. I can relate to this because both my sisters have five kids a piece, as well one having two extra foster children, and the other one having two children from her second husband. Fourteen total, with the oldest two being nine years old. Picture that. I know firsthand that it can be difficult for them a lot of the time, especially when they have to go somewhere. They have to constantly take care of each one, as well as teach them things they need to know, provide for them with food and shelter, and getting them ready for life once they’re all older. Human development takes place here by making the parents sure that the children are able to survive and make sure they can live on their own in the future. This ultimately was a memorable video for me to see because I can definitely relate.
Overall, everything I read in this chapter, I basically didn’t know before and found the things that I included in this blog surprising, as well as interesting.
Psychological Terms: human development, nature, nurture, developmental psychology, Germinal Period, Embryonic Period, Fetal Period, zygote cell, blastocyst, embryo, fetus, womb, organs, secure attachment, ambivalent attachment, avoidant attachment
Chapter 4
It is amazing all of the factors that go into human development. It all starts with the egg and the sperm. All of the baby’s genetics come from these single celled baby makers. After the sperm and the egg create the zygote, the cells continue to regenerate, and create a baby within 36-42 weeks. There are three stages to the pregnancy. The first is the germinal period. This is where the zygote rapidly divides, making more and more cells, and implants in the uterine wall in the first two weeks. The next stage is the embryonic period. This is where many of the organs begin to take shape; brain, spine, major organs, and bodily structures. The final stage is the fetal period, where the baby begins to finish shaping all of its features, growing in weight and length. The three stages are important, and sometimes they can be interrupted by Teratogens. Teratogens can play a huge role in the development of a baby, and the rest of the child’s life, which is why it is super important to take precautions towards them.
As a child grows older it is very important to develop physical, socio-emotional, and cognitive characteristics. This can come through maturation. Maturation can be achieved easier by a child if they are nurtured by their parents correctly. Although nature has a lot to deal with development, so does parenting (nurture). The lack of caregiving to a child can affect its emotional and cognitive development severely. These aspects are extremely important for adolescents. Adolescents start to think in logical terms rather than superficial appearances. This is the stage where a person starts to realize who they are, and having support from others is important for the development of this. From the adolescent stage is adulthood.
Adulthood is important to finding meaning in life. Some of the oppositions they face are: intimacy vs. isolation where they face committing to relationships, generativity vs. stagnation wanting to leave behind a positive legacy, and integrity vs. despair where adults search for the feeling of satisfaction with their lives. The most important part of having a successful adulthood is feeling fulfilled with the life they are living or have lived.
I decided to watch the upworthy video about the lesbian taking on the young girl in pajamas. I found this video pretty interesting. Watching the video through a psychologist perspective there are two steps to development that you can identify, the innocence of the young girl distraught by superficial appearances, and also the cognitive maturity of the woman trying to figure out and express who she was. The young girl asking if she was a man or woman, an offensive question to a gay, was only asking the question at face value, no insult intended. This shows how young children at that age cannot think cognitively. It was also interesting to see how the woman confronted who she was as a person. She decided to accept who she believed that she was, and even though it was hard, it’s crucial. This video as a whole did a good job displaying two different stages in human development.
I found the topic over gender roles interesting. I never realized how much influence there is in gender roles in our society. They are highly influential in development. Even children’s toys are affected by gender roles. I can now pinpoint many other gender role influences in society. I was surprised by the idea that once children can identify themselves in a mirror, they can begin to think cognitively and realize that their thoughts may vary from others.
Terms: sperm, egg, zygote, germinal period, embryonic period, fetal period, teratogens, maturation, gernerativity vs stagnation, intimacy vs. isolation, integrity vs. despair
Developmental psychology explores the changes that occur as we grow, and it all starts in the prenatal period and continues through all of our other stages of life. There are three different groups that we can grow through, these groups are physical, cognitive, and socio-emotional. Physical growth is the growth of the body and changes in the brain, sensory and motor skills, and our hormones. Cognitive growing is how our mental processes and abilities to think and communicate change over time. Socio-emotional growth is changes in how we understand ourselves, interact with others, and experience and regulate emotions. My understanding of human development has changed when reading this chapter because you don't realize that you are constantly growing all the time. You grow the most when you are in the womb and your first few months and at a constant pace as you get older. Another thing that I thought was interesting was when it talked about attachment. It talked about three different kinds: secure, avoidant, and ambivalent. I just thought it was interesting how infants are attached differently and I never thought of that before. The last thing that I thought was interesting was when it talked about the development of the brain and how people of different ages think and their moral reasoning and moral emotions.
I explored The video of Ash Beckham when a four year old asked her if she was a boy. Think she made a good point in her talk when she stated that everyone has closets because I think this is true. Everyone has something that they are ashamed of and don't want other people knowing. I thought it was cool how she approached the little 4 year old and told her the truth in a way that they could understand because our society needs to be more accepting of people because everyone is so judgmental and rude to others.
Something that is interesting to me from reading this chapter is that everyone grows at different paces and some people are done growing while others are still growing. This relates to me because I stopped growing when I was probably like a freshman or sophomore in high school, but my classmates where still growing even though I still stopped. It weird how our bodies know when they are supposed to stop growing, but our bodies are still constantly changing whether it be emotional or physical, or even social. We are all constantly changing over time as we get older and older.
From the reading the most memorable thing that I learned was that our growth in the womb and our prenatal period can effect us a lot in the long run. We our dependent on our mother to take care of us because we are too young to do it ourselves and so they have to be very careful when it comes to feeding us and putting certain things into our bodies or our growth will be effected a lot. Our parents have to be careful about a lot drugs or alcohol when they are pregnant because that can effect the baby by fetal alcohol syndrome and other birth defects.
Psychological terms: developmental psychology, prenatal, physical, cognitive, socio-emotional, fetal alcohol syndrome, secure attachment, avoidant attachment, ambivalent attachment, moral reasoning, and moral emotions.
A multitude of variables affect human development. As a fetus in the mother’s womb, things like environment and the mother’s diet can both hurt and help a child’s development. For instance, exposure to teratogens can cause birth defects in infants. As a child develops, other things like nature and nurture affect his or her development. Children who are well engaged as infants have healthier brain development. These children are better at problem-solving and other cognitive activities later in life. As young children age, they are affected heavily by what their parents teach them. A child who is taught to not hit people as it is mean and harmful to the victim is likely to develop strong morals.
After reading this chapter, I realize that aging is not all doom and gloom. While I was familiar with a lot of the early developmental stages in life, I only seemed to have recalled learning of all the awful things that happen later in life. I was surprised to see that many older adults find more fulfilment in their later years than they did as young adults and teenagers. It seems like once you get old everything deteriorates and the fun kind of leaves life, yet since many older people have a lot of money saved up, their older years are where the fun really begins. As long as one lives a relatively healthy lifestyle, they are unlikely to develop dementia. Simply exercising three times a week can reduce this risk, which is definitely something I will keep in mind.
I read the Washington Post article about the gay gene. I found it interesting but certainly not surprising that there is scientific evidence that people have a genetic predisposition to be gay or lesbian. I have a friend who is transgender, and knowing the environment that he grew up in, I can certainly say it was not his parents doing (they are very against the idea). It does not come off as it being his choice, either, but simply who he is. To think of him as a girl is just really foreign now. It only seems logical that there is a biological reason for him to be transgender, as there is a biological reason for me to identify as female.
Terms: dementia, cognitive, teratogens, gene, development, nature and nurture, morals, brain
15SEP14
Psych
Ch. 4
External Link
After watching the YouTube video about the comedian who was explaining what it is like to not have kids, and how much harder it is than it seems. He made a lot of points to express the fact that people who do not have kids do not understand that there are multiple things that they don’t even realize that will make the journey of raising a child extremely difficult. I found this interesting because it made me think of how some college students have children. I thought the work that I had to put into college was a lot, and barely having enough money to buy myself food is just a given for college life. But, for those that also have kids, I cannot imagine how difficult it must be. Surly grades would suffer, but the fact that you have to prepare yourself for the rest of your life, while taking care of another life seems extremely overwhelming. The video made me laugh, but also farther realize that our parents have to do so much for us, and while we are growing up, none of us realize how difficult it really is. I knew it was very hard, but watching this made me appreciate how much parents do a lot more.
Ch. 4 Summary
This chapter talks extensively about developmental psychology, and how important the process is. Prenatal Development occurs in three steps. These steps, or periods, are the Germinal Period, the Embryonic Period, and the Fetal Period. The Germinal Period has to do with the sperm meeting up with the egg and forming a Zygote that later turns into a Blastocyst. The Embryonic Period is when the spinal cord, Brain, all internal organs, and sex organs are formed. The Fetal Period results in no new structures, but the body changes physically and is when the fetus can move its muscles on it’s on, as well as it is the time that the eyes and the eyelids finish developing. Some factors that impact human development can range from what foods, and chemicals parents are exposed to that improve or harm an unborn child, to how the environment can affect how the brain develops in adolescence. One of these things that can affect an unborn child are Teratogens. These things can cause very damaging or life threatening birth defects, or can cause different disabilities later on in life such as social problems or more severe examples like autism and diseases alike. Drugs and Alcohol are another example of something that can really change the developmental process of unborn children. Things such as Fetal Alcohol Syndrome can occur which have devastating effects on children. I found this section to be very interesting because it talked about how even the father’s habits can transfer over and affect the fetus. The numbers were astonishing for how many babies have signs of withdrawal when the mother uses drugs such as opiates, marijuana, and cocaine during pregnancy. 55-94% of these babies, if the can even make it to birth, have these symptoms. This includes irritability, high-pitched crying, tremors, vomiting, diarrhea, and rapid breathing. All and all there are so many factors that can severely change the way that a fetus and newborn develops, so it is very important to research and take classes to understand what new parents are going to deal with, and how they can best prepare their child for a successful and happy life after they are born, as well as throughout their time on Earth.
Terms: Teratogens, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, Developmental Psychology, Prenatal Development, Germinal Period, Embryonic Period, Fetal Period, Zygote, Blastocyst.
From the listed links, I watch the Anthony Cerniello aging video. For the first thirty seconds I didn’t think that anything was happening. The aging was so gradual, that it reflected real aging very well. I don’t recognize aging in the people around me, but when I see old photos, even from one year ago, I can see a huge difference. It was interesting to learn how Anthony Cerniello made the video as well. By using relatives that looked similar to his friend, it really showed how genetics affects human development and maturation.
This chapter has taught me how critical nurture is to developmental psychology, even in the womb. It emphasizes the impact a caregiver has on a child’s development. Even though there are some things that the caregiver cannot control, nature does have a large effect on the developmental psychology.
The most interesting thing for me was Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development. By understanding the four stages, I think child education can be greatly impacted for the better. For example, caregivers can understand how to help teach their children during the sensorimotor stage through encouragement to explore surroundings. During the preoperational stage, children can be taught how to read and understand how to think. If the teacher or caregiver understands how the child thinks in this stage, they can teach the child in a way that the child will understand. During the concrete operational stage, children can learn to experiment with things around them. They understand how to think logically, and can use that knowledge to gain a greater understanding of the world around them. At the formal operation stage, kids can learn to do critical thinking about problems. From personal experience, sometimes children are not taught how to think critically until later in this stage. By learning how to think critically earlier, children can extend their learning farther and quicker.
The most memorable thing for me is the picture of the two brains of a 6-week old baby. My cousin, who was adopted from Russia, was recently diagnosed with fetal alcohol syndrome at the age of fourteen. Even though it was a shock to our family, it did explain a lot of the psychological behaviors that my cousin exhibited. Even though my cousin was older than my sister, I always thought she was younger by the way she behaved. She was diagnosed at such a late age, partly because they didn’t know anything about her birth mother, and there weren’t any physical abnormalities. She acted like the kids her age, until the other kids began to sociology mature, and she didn’t. When my aunt and uncle decided to track down the birth mom, it turned out that she had died from alcohol poisoning. Even though the birth mom figured that by putting her child up for adoption would fix everything, the actions she took while the baby was in the fetal and embryonic periods will impact my cousin forever. Expecting mothers should not take teratogens lightly, I have seen how much they can impact the child and the ones the love.
Psychological Terms: developmental psychology, fetal period, embryonic period, teratogens, maturation, sensorimotor stage, preoperational stage, concrete operational stage, formal operational stage.
Human development is impacted by countless factors from the time of conception until the day we die. It is weird to think that so much of our development comes during the prenatal period! We are influenced our whole lives by nature and nurture. Whether it is genetics and biology or something that happens in the real world, we are never really done developing. We are always subject to change whether it be physical appearance or change of thought. We begin our development in the germinal period. That is when we begin as a cell and then begin to divide rapidly into a ball of cells. This lasts for about two weeks. We then enter the embryonic period. This is the most important stage of our physical development of internal features. At around two months, we begin the final stage of prenatal development, the fetal period. This stage is more about our physical features externally. After birth, we continue to change both physically and mentally. We begin to mature and move away from our infant reflexes. We begin to learn, build friendships, and love. We enter adolescents and encounter puberty before finally maturing fully. (Unless you’re a guy… We just get bigger) But we all continue to grow and develop in certain aspects of life until we die. We are influenced by other people, opinions, beliefs, our thoughts, peer pressure, our surroundings, and we change while trying to reach goals in life.
The link I explored was the video “People with no kids don’t know.” I found it funny as well as informing. It shows me how much the development of another being can affect others development. In the video it happened to be how having kids changes your life. You can’t do things you could do before and it takes a lot out of you both mentally and physically. As a young adult I know kids should be out of the question until you are ready both emotionally and financially as well as being ready to commit yourself to another persons life and help them develop as well.
My understanding of human development has changed after reading this chapter. I wasn’t aware of all of the different ways we could develop and that the process actually takes a lifetime.
The topic most interesting to me in this chapter was the section on gender identity and gender roles. I find it interesting that some of the things I do and ways I behave might simply be because I am a male. Males and females learn differently and just simply experience life differently. They are given different opportunities and interact amongst each other differently. I don't feel like it will always be the same way though since men and women are now mostly open to the same things. I think the gender identity thing will vanish in the future. Not necessarily in my lifetime but I think men and women will live very similar lifestyles as society becomes more open to men and women playing the same roles.
The thing most surprising to me in this reading was the section on early to middle adulthood. It surprised me that we begin to lose muscle mass that early in our lives. I knew that it gets harder to maintain weight but i didn’t think muscle mass was lost so soon! I don’t want to grow up anymore!
Terms: Germinal Period, Embryonic Period, Fetal Period, Maturation, Infant Reflexes, Gender Identity, Gender Roles
Explore!
I watched the YouTube video, People with no kids don’t know.
After watching this video, I decided that factors that impact human development would obviously include family. This man’s children run him up the wall because they aren’t at the same mental and responsible state as he is so it appears stressful to do anything. My understanding for human development has changed slightly. I knew that we change over time, but I didn’t realize all of the factors that change us overtime, and its’ not just as we are infants, it’s as we are adults also.
I am most interested in the fact that folic acid affects the embryo’s spinal cord, while in the embryonic period, and the brain may develop improperly. It amazes me that diet so specific can affect a growing embryo. Another concept that interests me is premature born babies and what causes their premature birth. I knew the environment and the influence of drug use while pregnant, along with alcohol consumption, but I did not realize genetics and nutrition played a role in premature births. Not only does the mother’s consumption of diet, drugs and alcohol affect the fetus development during the fetal period, but the father’s diet also has an impact on the fetus development. It amazes me how infants, after birth are able to recognize their mothers voice, and then at 6 months they already have the same hearing level as adults; As infants mature, they develop more and more abilities that adults can accomplish, infants do it so fast. The concept of secure attachment, avoidant attachment and ambivalent attachment, I’m sure, was interesting to all babysitters/nannies to read since we all have gone through something along those lines. The children are all fine and dandy when the parents are around, then once they leave, the child turns distressed and disobedient. Moving out of the infant/toddler stage and in to the adolescent stage, I found it interesting that puberty is affected by the environment. Girls will start menstruating earlier if they live in a stressful environment. I always figured puberty was purely physical.
I was surprised when they stated that crawling was related to nurturing by caregivers; I always assumed that was a survival instinct. Not crawling doesn’t affect the long-term motor development. I was most surprised when the text stated that newborn babies cannot distinguish color. I knew they had bad eyesight including fuzziness and could only see 8-12 inches in front of them, but I didn’t realize it was almost, in a sense, black and white. The chart on page 123 was very helpful in grasping this concept; newborns see patches of black and white, at 2 months they see patches and start to distinguish color, at 6 months the patches become for defined and then as an adult they can see normally. What is most surprising to me is that we develop all of these abilities as young people, and then as we age, they all slowly diminish. Dementia being an example, we gain so much knowledge and mental ability, and its lost dramatically with dementia.
Terms: embryonic period, fetal period, mature, nurture, secure attachment, avoidant attachment, ambivalent attachment, puberty, dementia
I think the there are many factors that go into development. Factors of development happen even before the baby is born. There are different factors for the different stages of life. When there is a child still in the womb doing drugs, drinking alcohol, or your environment can make an impact on your baby physical with a defect or mentally. When a baby I has a negative impact mentally that could mean so many different things. Doing drugs while pregnant doesn't just affect the mother it effects the baby as well. It could cause severer damages like the baby being premature or having long term mental complications. One major thing that can happen when a mother drinks alcohol is the baby could develop Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). Which affects the child physical and mentally. Environment can cause a mother distress which can lead to complications during pregnancy or sometimes can lead to an early labor and the baby could possibly be premature at the time. Also when it comes to environment teratogens can be a factor. Teratogens are agents that can harm prenatal development (physical development).
I chose to watch the YouTube video called “People with kids don’t know” it was performed by a Michael McIntyre. I thought it was very funny and interesting to watch. He was talking about how people without kids don’t understand how there life will be different when they have kids. He gave three examples on how your life would change; leaving the house, going on car rides, and sleep. He explained his process on how he leaves the house which is being late and the kids just being kids. One kid couldn't find his shoes and the other kid always refuses to come downstairs so they always have to pretend that they are leaving without him. When you are someone who doesn't have kids you just get your stuff and go. No problems or questions asked. The second example was when you actually get to your car and start driving. Having no kids you don’t have to worry about your backseat at all and you just drive. If you have someone in the passenger you too can calmly talk about doing anything at any time, you get to listen to whatever music you want, and just only worry about you and the road. When you have kids you have to get the buckled in, you have to listen to kids music over and over again, you have to constantly check you backseats, and get to discuss the places you will get to go to. The last example he gave was sleep. How with people with no kids know exactly that they will get a good night’s sleep. He said that he and his wife tell each other good luck inside of good night since they have kids that wake up in the middle of the night.
My understanding of human development hasn't really changed due to the fact that I knew most of what the chapter is talking about. I took every childhood class my high school had to offer. So of course how a child develops is going to be taught in these classes. Anything that had to do with kids I took because I want to work with them when I get older. None of the topics really interested me because I have read this before. It may have been in a different book or taught different but I've already knew these things and I will continue to learn these since it will be a part of major. The most memorable thing that I have learned from children development is that every signal kid is different from the next. It’s so tricky to be able to tell if a child is doing things at their own pace or if there something actually wrong with their physically, emotionally, and mental development.
Key terms: Human development, Fetal alcohol syndrome, teratogens, physical development, mental development.
After reading chapter 4 I have learned an extraordinary amount of information about the life of humans. It is crazy how we were created from two cell and become what we are now. It is truly mind boggling. The overall reading was very informing and interesting at the same time. While I knew some of the things in the chapter, it really broadened my horizon of the information. It was all very interesting to me but what I found most interesting was “Erikson’s Eight Stages of Psychosocial Development”. It really showed when and why things happen in life. It is also kind of scary in a sense because I am over half way in the eight stages. It doesn’t go by how old people are supposed to live it is just the stages when things are thought changing to them. Going through and reading the stages it really makes you think about them and how life could be and was. As we all know though some things in Erikson’s Eight Stages aren’t exact but it does apply to most people.
I found that this whole chapter was interesting as I said before. I really think that everything we grow up around and everything we do in life has an impact on us in everything we do. It might not be anything noticeable, but it does affect us somehow. Knowing how we grow up and mature is intriguing to me because it teaches me about the “Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development”. I think that this tells us how our minds work as we progress in age. Our thought process obviously changes over the years, but it think that the Sensorimotor Stage (birth-2 years) is the most important in brain development. I think that the more we are exposed to when we are really young and still growing rapidly it will help us become more ready for future stage in Piaget’s stages. Another thing I found very interesting is just the whole concept of who we grow up around and how they can influence the decisions we make every day.
Terms used: Erikson’s Eight Stages of Psychosocial Development, Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development, Sensorimotor Stage
Many factors impact human development. It starts all the way back at the point of conception. This study is known as developmental psychology, or the scientific study of how humans change over the lifespan, from conception until death. There are three different phases in prenatal development that are important. They are the germinal period, embryonic period, and fetal period. These phases show all of the bodily changes that occur over the nine months that the fetus is in the womb. The time spent in the womb is extremely important to the fetus and determines their childhood and beyond. Teratogens such as drugs and alcohol cause a variety of different birth defects and potentially long-term cognitive and behavioral effects. That said, the most interesting thing for me was all of the stages of cognitive development. The way our mind processes information from the time we are born until the time we pass is amazing. As time goes on our cognitive abilities become more advanced as we experience different situations throughout our lives. We develop new skills according to what we are taught. In the first stage of this theory infants learn new information through their senses and motor skills. This is known as the sensorimotor stage. An example of this would be the sucking reflex. When we are young we are so used to sucking on a bottle we realize we can suck on other things such as a toy or even our fingers. Once we reach the last stage of this theory, the formal operational stage, we are able to reason in sophisticated ways. By this time we use critical thinking to find answers to any of our problems. The most memorable thing I learned in this chapter was how infants and children change socially and emotionally. I am taking the course Human Identity and Relationships and we are talking about this sort of thing right now. There are four different types of attachment: secure, preoccupied, fearful, and dismissing. Each style of attachment is affected by the histories and experiences brought to the child. Making caregivers in complete control of the style of attachment their child will have. Out of all the links I chose the one where it calculated your average life-expectancy. I realize that it is not possible to know exactly how long you will live, but I think it’s fascinating that we have enough knowledge in this day and age to come up with an estimate. They are many major factors that contribute and impact how long we may live for. A lot of the questions were based off prior family history. For example, this calculator asked for specifics like if we had a relative with any type of cancer, diabetes, or asthma. Other factors that impacted our results were smoking, our diet and exercise, how many sexual encounters we’ve had, and the amount of hours that we sleep. When calculating my average life expectancy I was not sure what it would be. My personal life expectancy ended up being 91.4 years. This shocked me a little. Even thinking of being that old kind of freaks me out because that’s like really old. I am grateful for having a somewhat healthy family because this provides me with a better chance of living longer. I think this information relates back to the text and how humans develop. The psychological terms I used were developmental psychology, germinal period, embryonic period, fetal period, teratogens, sensorimotor stage, formal operational stage.
Throughout the reading in this chapter, I have learned a lot about what is factored in while humans develop. From the embryonic stage to childbirth, there are many influences on the development of the child. Actions of both the mother and father will determine how the physical, cognitive, and socio-emotional domains play out. Use of drugs, alcohol, and tobacco both before and during pregnancy can have an effect on the child. Nature, our genetics and biology, and Nurture, the environment we grow up in, are what babies are influenced by throughout the development stages.
I thought it to be very surprising on how the use of drugs, alcohol, and tobacco affected the baby. More surprisingly, I found it odd that the males behavior before childbirth can also have a direct impact. It makes sense, but I had never previously thought about it. I didn’t know how harmful caffeine could be according to the book, even though it doesn’t give statistics. The amount of factors that weigh in for the healthy development of a child is overwhelming. I have learned that it is a very delicate process and all precautions should be taken in order for a more healthy life.
Psychological Terms: embryonic, development, physical, cognitive, socio-emotional, domains, nature, nurture, genetics, biology
After observing the Explore links, I chose to find out how long I will live through the life expectancy link. Surprisingly, the test showed that I would live up to 91 years old. Why did I find this surprising? My family has had several cases of lung and stomach cancers, dementia, diabetes, and depression. But, because this is an internet link, this will not judge my life or what will happen to me or how I will leave this world. This leading to what factors impact human development. According to our readings, some factors that impact humans and their development are genes, family, social ties, hormones, cultures, etc. One interesting fact I learned throughout reading about the fetus was that even if the mother would be around teratogens and breathing in secondhand smoke, it could affect the baby internally or externally. My understanding of human development was changed more than I thought it would because I realized how important it is to maintain health and happiness at a later age in life. Some elderly people love this part of their lives because it is the happiest time for them.
An interesting topic to read about was how infants and children change socially and emotionally. I will become more observant with how toddlers are attached to their caregivers whether it, secure attachment, avoidant attachment, or ambivalent attachment. The secure attachment is when the infant is distressed when the caregiver leaves and is comforted when they return. The avoidant attachment is when the infant has no reaction to the caregiver when he or she leaves. I understand it by the infant “avoiding” the caregiver. The ambivalent attachment stage is when the infant is upset with the caregiver after leaving, not wanting to be held or cared for. It is interesting to note how each infant or child can be different from family to family. I also found interest in the first stage of infant development, the sensorimotor stage. The infant has natural reflexes to things such as, sucking, grasping, or seeing a face. These factors progress the infant to reflect other important things to the external world. Infants are born to have certain motor skills in order to survive. They adapt to these skills to keep themselves healthy. These movements are, rolling over, sitting, or walking and this process is called maturation. We overlook these movements as adult because we assume that this is always a natural process, but to tie this together, it all depends on how the infant was nurtured in the womb and after birth.
The most memorable thing from the reading was learning about Brooke and her human development. She was 19 years old but still a toddler, loved shopping, and refused to do things she didn’t like. Seems just like a normal teenage girl. But, Brooke had baby teeth and wore diapers just like a toddler. She is a miracle, her human development helps scientists better understand changes throughout time and our lives. But I question, how was this rare condition developed in the womb?
Terms: Dementia, Teratogens, Secure Attachment, Avoidant Attachment, Ambivalent Attachment, Sensorimotor Stage, Maturation, Nurture, Human Development
I picked the short film about if the world was opposite and it was wrong to like men instead of the other way around. I think this has a great impact because not to many people understand what Gays go through on a daily basis. If the world was turned around they wouldn’t want people picking on them because of who they like and chose to love. They see what these people go thought every day, and see the struggles they are faced with, whether it be getting mad fun of, getting kicked or knocked down, and getting hurtful and mean text messages. The younger generation today I feel is a little more accepting of gays and their beliefs but it’s the older generation who do not believe it to be appropriate. They were raised in a different time and where never around people who felt strongly towards the other sex. With this being said I personally believe that gays have a right to love who they love, weather it be a man or a women. I don’t feel its right however to force a belief on to someone or how they feel about love. They need to have control over who they love and who they don’t.
The topic I found most interesting would be how we develop in adulthood. That our hormones that develop determine if we come out of your shell or if you don’t and cant be in a committed relationship with someone else. Our upbringing also affects these traits. I think I found it most interesting because I had to do with the video that I watched about growing up with different beliefs and how people treat you differently depending on what they believe.
The most surprising thing for me was how teens change socially and emotionally. Obviously they go through changes and try to “find themselves” but I never thought of it affecting their social ability to interact with one another.
The Explore link I chose to watch was the YouTube video called People With No Kids Don’t Know. The video showed a comedian talking about the hardships of parents and how the people without kids just have no clue as to how easy their life is compared to those with kids. I laughed so hard at the things this guy was saying because even though I am not personally a parent, I see very similar situations to when I was a kid and all the antics my sister and I used to pull. A lot of the time it wasn’t on purpose but there was always that special occasion where we knew exactly what we were doing. I see that most parents would have a difficult time with this and if I were a parent I would to. I would be so tired from all the nagging and opposition of the kids so I don’t plan on having kids for many more years. My understanding of human development has changed some after reading this chapter. For instance, I had no idea that babies don’t have great vision when they are born but they develop better vision as they grow and develop. It’s remarkable how our bodies grow and change the way they do. The fact that babies can learn to hold their heads up on their own after some learning and development is simply crazy. I know most of us never think about that but when and if we ever do, it is quite incredible. For me, the most interesting topic was about a child/baby’s reflexes. I knew babies had reflexes but I didn’t quite know to the extent. The fact that even the slightest movement around their mouths can make them search for the breast and a stroke on their hands can make them grasp is amazing! The survival instincts in babies are genius and must be an adaptation of human kind. The whole chapter was just an interesting read all around. The psychological terms I used were development, vision, reflexes, instincts, and adaptation.
PSYCH: Ch4
Many factors are included in development. Some being before babies are born. Also, anything that enhances the body in any way. such as drugs, alcohol, or any other substance. Anything like this could not only hurt you, but have a huge negative impact on the child in the womb. Effects could be mental or physical defects.
PSYCH: External Link
For this assignment I chose to do it on the article about Coy Mathis' journey to become a girl. Coy was born a male and by the time he was two years old, he knew that he did not feel comfortable living as a boy. As a young child, Coy was faced with the struggles of gender identity. By the time Coy was in kindergarten, he was living as a girl under the roof of the house, while at school, he was forced to be a boy. Eventually, his parents allowed him to leave the house as a girl and go to school the way she wanted. Coy even got to use the girls bathrooms, and everything seemed good until the Faculty decided that Coy could no longer use the girls restrooms because when she grew up, she would develop to look like a boy. After the long process of trying to get justice for Coy in being able to use whatever bathroom she felt comfortable with, they finally ruled in Coy's favor. Coy then switched schools and is now living happily as a transgender girl.
Terms: transgender, develop, gender identity, develpoment, defects
I had watched the Youtube video of the comedian talking about the obvious differences between having children to not having children. It was quite hilarious to hear his point of view because he is a parent himself. I really enjoyed seeing how us as children eventually gain motor skills and hour development of maturation. This was interesting, because it showed how vital it is during our first few months of birth and growing within the womb. In figure 4.16 it shows how the infant responds with the caretaker is away. The multiple attachment scenarios from the secure attachment where the infant must be attended to the avoidance where the infant continues to play on. I enjoyed seeing the development from the beginning of birth to the small ages.
Terms used: Maturation, avoidance attachment, secure attachment
9/15/2014
The link that interested me the most out of the group was Anthony Canielto’s Aging Simulation video. This video interested me for a variety of reasons. I am very interested in animation and film. I found that this was more important to me than the aging that one can see happen right before their eyes. Although the aging was mind-blowing to watch, I can’t imagine the amount of time it took to make each little still. I would be very interested in seeing a video like this of myself. I would be interested to see how I would be depicted as an old man.
It would be much easier to answer a question about what doesn’t impact human development rather than what does. This is because just about anything can impact human development. However these can be grouped into nature, nurture, or drugs. There are stages throughout human development. One simple change can impact another stage of development. For example if a mother exposes her child to teratogens during pregnancy it is very likely that the child will develop some sort of deformation. This is why it is important for women to remain drug free and alcohol free during pregnancy. It’s mind blowing to see a 6-week old infant’s normal brain versus that of a 6-week old infant with Fetal Alcohol syndrome (Figure 4.7 Pg.117).
My understanding of human development has changed since reading this chapter. I’ve learned that developmental changes can be categorized into three separate areas: Physical, Socio-emotional and cognitive. Physical changes are seen in size, shape, weight, etc. Socio-emotional changes are seen in the way one thinks, behaves and interacts with others. Cognitive changes are seen in learning, memory and attention.
Most surprising to me was the sensory development of infants. Apparently 2-hour old infants prefer sweet tastes rather than any other taste. This is probably due to breast milk tasting sweet. Infants can actually hear very well. Occasionally they will change their sucking pattern to hear their mother’s voice better. They can also recognize their mother’s voice. However infants have poor vision. They can usually only see about 8-12 inches from their head.
Most interesting to me was the story of Bruce Reimer. Bruce had undergone an unfortunate circumcision. His parents decided that it would be best to remove his testes and socialize him as a female. Bruce was raised as a girl, given a different name and was dressed in female clothing. He was even given female hormones to help him start developing breasts. Bruce had always wondered why he felt so miserable and embarrassed when he developed. He thought he was crazy. It all made sense when his parents finally told him that he was born a male. Feeling still masculine he decided to return to being male. This was interesting to me because it helps support that people are born with gender identity and sexual orientation versus “becoming” gay or of the opposite sex.
Psychological Terms: Aging, nature, nurture, teratogens, fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), physical change, socio-emotional change, cognitive change,
I decided to look into the website called scarymommy.com in our explore category. I’m glad that I picked this website to explore because it has a lot of developmental psychology involved! I thought it was very interesting. It reminded me of websites like totalsororitymove.com because it has tons of interesting articles! The articles on scarymommy.com are written by tons of women who are mothers. I find it amazing that these women can share what they learned through their experiences and their own personal developmental strategies. I looked around the website some more and saw the confessions page, advice page, professional help pages and more. I decided to read some of the articles that sounded interesting to me; one of them being ‘Talking Naked”. The article covered how that over years couples lose their sex lives. One night, while they were about to have sex, their child woke up and saw them. They told them that they were talking.. naked. The boy proceeded to say that they were doing it wrong because his dad still had his socks on. After the boy left all they could do was laugh, forget about the sex and they decided to enjoy a nice pizza instead. I felt that this article was great!
After reading chapter four, my understanding of development hasn’t really changed. I took developmental psychology before and this chapter really reflected what that course was about. However, I did enjoy the visuals and all of the personal stories from the book.
The story about Brooke Greenberg was very memorable. I had watched a television show about her and her crazy situation. Brooke suffers from Syndrome X which causes her to lack in ‘normal’ human development.
I also thought the passages about gender identity were very interesting. I enjoyed how they defined it as one’s beliefs as to if they are male or female. It also pointed out that gender roles are strongly influenced by the cultures that you live in. In this section, it brought up the story about David (Bruce/Brenda) Reimer. David and his twin brother, Brian, were scheduled for circumcisions. David was first to get cut and it resulted in a botched medical procedure that would cause David much emotional pain due to his gender identity and more. I actually choose the book called As Nature Made Him for my book report. This book is the entire, full and in-detail version of David’s story.
Key terms: Developmental psychology, development, personal development, Syndrome X (not a key term, but italicized in the text, gender identity and gender roles.
In the reading I learned that many factors impact human development. The article I chose was a Forbes article with the title of “7 Crippling Parenting Behaviors That Keep Children From Growing Into Leaders”. This title captured my attention because leaders are supposedly “born to lead”. The article begged to differ. The author argued that parents can ruin their child’s capability of becoming a leader. These ways, however, are not intentional. Most of the topics discussed are steps most parents take into keeping their child safe. Though I agree with the author of the article, I believe that the things she discusses are extremely difficult for parents to keep themselves from doing.
The first topic the author discusses is letting children experience risk. This section discussed the overprotection of parents. I learned from this section that if children do not experience risk as a child, that might become a phobia of theirs as an adult. The article used examples of having a skinned knee or breaking up with a boyfriend or girlfriend. I found this information useful regarding my own life. As a child I never held babies. Now it is a big fear of mine. Hopefully, a fear that will go away by time I have a child of my own, but this gave me some reasoning behind why it might be a fear of mine.
Another topic, possibly the most interesting to me, was about parents raving too easily. When parents rave, they are making their children feel special. Sometimes raving becomes excessive, and bad behavior isn’t paid attention to. Raving has many unintended consequences, because parents forget to punish their children while the children learn to cheat, lie, and much more. This topic was most interesting to me because it showed the direct relationship of a parent’s impact on a child’s behavior.
One of the things I liked about this article was when the author talked about how parents need to practice what they preach. I feel like this could be one of the hardest things to do as a parent, but it is so important to a child and their development. This means making ethical choices, being honest, being selfless, and taking ownership for your actions. As an adult it is easy to forget some of these things, but they are so important to not only benefit your child’s wellbeing but to become a better person and parent.
This article mentioned many other topics such as mistaking intelligence for maturity, rescuing your child too quickly, making things equal amongst children, and not sharing past mistakes. All of these are also very important things that I learned affect a child’s ability to someday become a great leader. This article taught me a lot about how my parent’s actions affected me, and showed me how I can better contribute to my child’s leadership potential someday. Also this article helped me better understand the reading.
The most interesting part of the reading, to me, dealt with attachment. I was unaware of how important a caregiver is to an infant to develop socio-emotional bonds, comfort, and physical closeness. The most surprising thing that I learned was that caregivers have an instinct that makes them speak in a high-pitched voice to babies, intuitively knowing that babies can hear and pay better attention to high pitched voices. I think this is amazing, because I have done the “baby voice” so many times not even knowing that babies can hear and pay attention better to that voice.
Attachment is separated into three categories: secure, avoidant, and ambivalent. After reading about these different forms and how children act with and without their attachment figure, I now have a better understanding of the different levels of attachment and how children are different in that way. Also, Paiget’s Stages of Cognitive Development showed how the stage of our development compares to our characteristics. There are four stages of cognitive development: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational.
Though I believe Piaget’s knowledge with cognitive development far exceeds mine, I am confused to why the formal operational stage begins at age twelve. To me, I feel I did not have half of the knowledge I do today at twelve. I feel as if there needs to be a stage that identifies as a learning period. I just cannot fathom that I started the last stage of development at twelve. I’m pretty sure I still played with Barbie Dolls at twelve. This chapter, along with my article, was very interesting to me because I learned about so many things affecting development that I didn’t know were even possible. I thoroughly enjoyed learning about human development, and I feel I have a way better grasp of what happens during the stages of life.
Psychological Terms: Human development, Paiget’s Stages of Cognitive Development, sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational, secure attachment, avoidant attachment, and ambivalent attachment
¬¬From the links that has been posted above, I have clicked on a several links, and watched a several videos. The video that stood out the most to me was a short film called Imagine a World Where Being “Gay” The Norm & Being “Straight” Would Be the Minority. Obviously the short film was reflecting on how life is in an opposite way. My hair is straight but I’m not, and sometimes I’m afraid to admit it because my family and my friends are not being very supportive. I can somehow relate myself to this short film, it literally stood out to me and also I had a strong connection to this short film unlike the other videos, which is why I chose to discuss about it and express some of my thoughts while discussing it. In today’s society, people’s view of homosexuality is a deadly sin that could drag you to hell, and it is unacceptable in every way. Being gay cannot be a sin because people were born that way, and they did not get a chance to choose who they will turn out to be. God made us the way he wanted and God never makes a mistake. A minority of people is having a hard time dealing with society’s judgments just because they are somewhat different from the rest. Everyone should deserve to have their own happiness, and sometimes, my definition of happiness can be different others. Whether people attract to the same gender or not they have absolutely no control over that. However, life is not always fair, the majority always wins over the minority. Back to the reading part from the book, humans develop physically through the growth of their bodies, change in brain, sensory, motor skills, and hormones. Cognitively through mental processes and abilities to think along with communicate over time. Socially and emotionally as they interact with others, and understand themselves. There are many other things that can make a minor impact on human development, we can use the environment as one example because people are different from other depend on where they live, and who they often interact with. Yet, we all know that nature and nurture have an important role in the development of gender identity, and Brenda was an example of gender identity when his parents reassign his gender. Before I read this chapter I did not know that we went through a lot of processes over time, and it could take a lifetime for us to be fully developed. The most interesting thing I have read is about preoperational stage where children think symbolically about objects, but they cannot understand it logically. The way how a two year old toddler play hide and seek by using an object to block their sight, and they think others cannot see them as long as they cannot see others. It was cute actually. The most memorable thing I learned about this reading is the relationship between a child and its caregiver. And the relationship between these two can divide into three types, secure attachment which is the child cannot be on their own if the caregiver is not present, avoidant attachment is a style for a child that could care less about the present of their caregiver, and ambivalent attachment is a style for a child with mixed feelings.
Terms: homosexuality, gender, sensory, hormones, cognitively, preoperational stage, secure attachment, avoidant attachment, ambivalent attachment.
Link explored: "People with no kids don't know"
I watched the video on the comedian speaking on the struggles that came along with having kids. Although I have no experience having my own kids and dont plan on it anytime soon; what he said was completely true. I come from a family of 4 kids, I happen to be the oldest, so I have watched my younger siblings grow and everything he said was true. The factors that impact human development from babies to adults is all nurture based. We are taught to act like civilized humans since preschool and lessons from then on stick with us for the rest of our lives. For example, I'm sure we all still remember what to do if you're on fire, if a tornado was spotted near you, if the school was in code red, etc. The reading helped me understand how we grow through multiple processes called assimilation and accommodation. I had no idea of those processes that go through in our minds, until I read the examples of each term and then it was clear to me.
The topic that interested me the most and the thing that most surprised me had to have been the story about Bruce Reimer. He was raised as a girl due to the damage caused from his routine circumcisions (which I did not even know was possible). From this story and past stories that I have heard or seen on tv shows, it seems as if the person that has had their gender identity changed still show their original gender role which is why Mr. Reimer was teased for being too rough and aggressive. It is such a terrible thing to read that he had killed himself at age 38.
Terms used:Human development, assimilation, accommodation, gender identity, and gender role.
There are many factors that impact human development. Some factors could be the choices the mother makes during pregnancy; another factor could be how one is raised like in the book “Bruce Reimer” was born as a twin with his brother. When he was born he Bruce’s penis was damaged very badly his parent thinking of their option chose to cut Bruce’s testicles and raise him as a girl this changed his gender identity as a child until he was notified the he was changed. He knew he wasn’t a girl so he decided to go back to the way he was before the whole gender identity change. The link I chose was the YouTube video Imagine A World Where Being "Gay" The Norm & Being "Straight" Would Be The Minority! In this video there was a young girl by the name of Ashley. The world Ashley lived in being Gay was the norm and Straight was not. Ashley had two mothers, they were the typical family in there world. Something was odd to Ashley because at her Uncles wedding she seemed to like a boy. She knew this wasn't the norm but she could change herself if she tried. Eventually had feeling for a boy at her school and when everyone found out she was beaten and bullied until she decided to take her life. I think the overall main idea of this story is that we are all different in our ways and just imagine if the person your bullying is actually the norm but the world doesn’t know it.
From the reading, one of the topics that caught my attention was that newborns vision is very poorly and it became better after a couple of months. I did not know this because it seemed that when I would talk to an infant they would acknowledge me but eventually from reading more I found that infant show there looking by hearing voices and facing toward what they hear. Another interesting topic I came across were the different attachments a child has or goes through. There are three main attachments presented the first one is secure attachment; this is when the child is distressed when the attachment figure leaves. The second one is avoidant attachment; this is when the child ignores the attachment when he/she or it returns. Lastly the ambivalent attachment; this is when the child cry a lot when the caregiver leaves but when the caregiver returns the child is rejecting them. These all make since now that they have names attached to them. Now I can use the terms when I’m in these situations.
The most memorable this to me while reading chapter 4 was the chart on page 118. On this chart it showed which types of things can damage a child development while in the mother’s womb and how the mother can contribute to those things.
Terms: Penis, Gay, Straight, Secure/Ambivalent/Avoidant Attachment, Gender Identity
There are many factors that impact how humans develop. One that many know of is the environment in which we grow up in. If one grows up in a highly stimulated environment, they are more likely to have a high functioning level and learning level compared to those who are not as stimulated when younger. Another is the family and friends which you are surrounded by. Your family is constantly around you when you’re younger and many choices you make are based on what your family may think because many wish not to disappoint their family. The other is your peers and they help influence what choices you make and how you act, especially in the adolescent and teen years. Another thing that impacts human development is the emotional bond you make with others. When a person has a strong bond with another human being, they feel safe, loved and protected while someone who has little to no bond with another human being is more likely to feel isolated and alone and will not interact with others. Another is in the physical developmental infants and by helping them walk and laying them on their back it impacts them because it builds muscle in these core areas of the body.
The link in the Explore! Section that I chose was the one Huffington Post about the Anthony Cerniello aging process. I found it extremely interesting how Cerniello combined Danielle’s relative’s photos in order to show the ageing process. As you grow old, you don’t see how much you age throughout your life and in this five minute video you see how you physically change and develop throughout you lifetime.
While reading this chapter a bunch of it was review from previous high school classes. One topic that I found interest was the Bruce Reimer: A Unique Case of Gender Identity. After reading about this child who had to have a sexual reassignment and then never being told about it for many years was quite unique. I thought it was interesting when I had read that even though her parents had pushed girl objects such as Barbie’s and pink things onto her and she had felt different all her life. I thought it was interesting that inside she knew something was different about herself even though she was raised to think differently. Another topic that I found interesting was the topics that had to deal with developing a moral reasoning. The first level in preconventional level where the self-interest and event outcomes determine what is moral. The next was the conventional level where that is a strict adherence to societal laws and looking for the approval of others as to what is moral. The final level is the postconventional level which is when decisions about morality depend on abstract principles and the value of all life. This particular section was interesting to me because I never thought about how we developed our morals overtime. Usually we just know that they’re there but we never think how those morals were installed into us. I also related to the second level because especially as a teen many of us do what we think our peers want us to do in order for them to like us.
Psychological Terms: postconventional, preconventional, conventional, physical development, environment, peers, adolescent, emotional development, ageing
Ricardo Garza
There are many factors that impact human development. Some of these include a healthy eating plan, non-smoking, and also keeping a healthy relationship and bonding with the child even before birth. With this in mind, we know that we should take responsibility for our actions. The mother that is pregnant is the main person to take responsibility in her position. It is her job to make sure the fetus is able to develop especially during the fetal period. This period is highly important because it is the time in which the spinal cord, brain, and all internal organs are becoming developed. As time passes and the child develops even further, consumption of certain substances can affect the development of the baby. A perfect example is a disorder called, fetal alcohol syndrome. Some of the effects are abnormalities such as heart defects and abnormal brain development.
The selection I chose was “Imagine A World Where Being "Gay" The Norm & Being "Straight" Would Be The Minority! [Short Film]”. With this short film I had the opportunity to see a world where heterosexuals were the minority. I thought this was very interesting because we finally get to see what actually happens behind closed doors for homosexuals. Finally having a good way to represent the lives of those who are judged for the sexual orientation, I learned that we should all take a step back from reality and see how we are truly treating others.
My understanding of human development has changed in the sense that I now understand why we do certain things that we do. I know that if we were raised in a particular area or certain background, we grow to relive or grow in the same patterns.
The most surprising and memorable thing that I learned from the chapter was the change in our psychosocial life. I learned that as we get older we begin to experience intimacy versus isolation. This means that we develop quality friendships and even better relationships. I learned that as we get older and change into young adults we are moving away from the anti-social life and moving into the extroverted individual.
The most interesting topic was the section entitled, Moral Reasoning and Moral Emotions. I found this particular topic to be intriguing because I learned that without moral emotions it is impossible for a human being to act in a moral state. With moral development people can form emotions. I thought this to be interesting because I initially thought that emotions were simply developed by our individual surroundings and experiences alone. I also thought this topic was interesting because it allowed me to have better insight into how we develop as humans and how our emotions and behavior have a huge impact on how we live our lives and how our decisions are made as well.
Terms: Moral state, moral emotions, extroverted, anti-social, relationships, intimacy versus isolation, psychosocial, sexual orientation, fetal alcohol syndrome, fetal period, and fetus.
There are many factors that go into developmental psychology, and a few that influence a person is the environment and genetics. The most famous argument in this area of psychology is nature vs. nurture. Watching the video of the woman named Danielle aging over time in the aging simulation video was pretty incredible. Seeing the maturation of the physical features in Danielle was subtle at first, but then had a sudden burst of change. I would very much like to see myself age in front of my own eyes, that would be truly mind blowing to me. I could see a subtle rise in her height when she began aging, and once she was out of her young adulthood, she began shrinking. It is odd that we start life not knowing anything and for some when they are near the end of their life lose everything they ever learned. It was an interesting read, but nothing that really surprised me. There is some terminology that I did learn such as teratogens. I knew alcohol, infections, caffeine, radiation, and marijuana was endangering to the fetus, but never knew the exact name for these bad environmental agents. Knowing this information will be very useful in the future in case I am ever ready to start a family of my own. I believe it always good to have at least a little bit of knowledge on certain things because it could always become a part of my life, you just never know. I can't quite remember which type of attachment I had as a young kid, but I did not know that there were three different labels: secure, avoidant, and ambivalent attachment. If I had to make an educated guess, I would guess I had a secure attachment towards my caregivers. The preoperational stage for me started off when I was very young, I have always had this crazy imagination and still do even now. Puberty is an interesting level in humans because it either hits people at a really young stage or when they least expect it. It happened to me a fairly young age, a little bit before 7th grade. I knew this because I looked at girls differently, I thought they were cute, never thought they were gross. To be completely honest, I believe I have always liked girls, even at a really young age. Whenever my siblings had friends over, I would try to be in the spotlight, but not to everyone. The only ones I wanted to notice me were the cute girls in the group. Of course I was just a cute little kid, so they would think I was adorable. What I could connect with the most throughout this reading was the identity versus role confusion section of the chapter. I literally have no idea who I will become, I am adopted and do not know anything about my biological parents. The only thing I do know is that they were both Mexican, so I am 100% Mexican. My gender role was influenced by my family, and my family is mainly made up of women. I have one brother, three sisters, and a mother. I was raised perfectly in my mind because the females in my family taught me valuable lessons about women. I got my manly side from friends and humble idols in my life since I never had a father to look up to. Ethnic identity was also a huge growing experience in my life as well. I was born into a family of no color, and grew up in a small town with a very slim percentage of non-Caucasians. After reading this entire chapter, it got me thinking about the future. The integrity versus despair aspect of life I have yet to reach, but it has sparked something in my mind that made me evaluate everything that has happened in my life so far. I don't want to grow up and look back on my life full of regret. I feel I have very minimal things to be ashamed of, and will continue to do good because I want to leave a positive legacy behind for my children and grandchildren to hear about. It's always scary to think about the future, but its not as scary when you know you are doing everything possible to make it a bright and positive future.
Terms: developmental psychology, teratogens, maturation, secure attachment, avoidant attachment, ambivalent attachment, preoperational stage, puberty, identity versus role confusion, gender roles, ethnic identity, and integrity versus despair
There are many factors that impact our development, but I learned from the reading can be grouped into three main domains. Physical change is the biological growth of the body and cognitive change deals with how our mental processes and abilities develop and evolve over time. Socio-emotional consists mostly of how we are affected and changed based on our social surroundings, it also involves how we regulate our emotions and how we see ‘ourselves’ over time.
This chapter reviewed a lot of what I was already familiar with, but also gave me a more in depth understanding. Before the reading I understood the three phases of prenatal development and the basic stages of human development after birth until death. An infant’s brains develop in two critical ways, through initial synaptic connections between neurons and then by the refining and preservation of these connections overtime by stimulants from the infant’s surroundings. Much more of the initial connections are made than the brain will ever use/refine, but this is so the brain has the best chance at healthy development in a specific environment. I knew that a lot of brain development occurs very early in infancy, but something I never thought about much was how neglect can actually physically effect the brain, stunting development and leaving it less able to process complex information than healthy stimulated brains are. Under-stimulated brains are also less likely to be able to develop advanced language kills. I wonder if this initial growth stunt has life long effects on a person’s learning abilities, or if the brain can adapt and regain some of those connections that may have been lost in infancy? More specifically though, I wonder if the physical effects of infantile neglect contribute to emotional and psychological issues later in life, I’m sure there is research showing links between these things.
There were many topics I found particularly interesting throughout this reading especially the section on gender roles and gender identity. I have always found it interesting that one of the fist questions young children ask other people is, “are you a boy or a girl?” and how they ask this with such innocent curiosity. By making connections they begin to establish ideas of what it means to be a girl or boy and by way of social environments, perceptions of gender roles form. When I was about 3 or 4 my grandma and I were in a fast food line behind a Transgender who was wearing a purse and I loudly said to my grandma, “Grandma, that’s silly, men don’t carry purses!” I never would have said something like this if I hadn’t been programed to believe that it was the woman’s role to carry a purse. Similarly my cousin was about 4 he pointed to the dolls she had in the toy chest and asked, “Grandma, were those mine when I was a girl.” I still find this incredibly intriguing on more levels than one.
Something else that interests me about human development has to do with creativity and how fearless children are in their artwork. This was not discussed in the reading, but I feel it is worth mentioning. I used to teach an after school art program and I loved how young children loved to be creative and never thought their simple drawings of stick figures or bizarre scribblings of made up creatures were ‘bad’. I think that as we get older we begin to develop insecurities that change the way we look at things, specifically those we create, weather it be a drawing, a piece of writing or even performing (theatrically or in a sport) of some kind. I find this development particularly saddening.
Something that really stuck with me from this chapter was Syndrome X, and how Brooke Greenberg had a disorder that basically “froze” her as a perpetual toddler. I didn’t even know such a thing was possible.
I watched the short film about if being gay was the norm and being “straight” was the minority. I found it to be beautiful and meaningful and it gave me as the viewer and interesting perspective. (the youtuve video comments, however were ridiculous.) I think it’s important for people to put themselves through other’s view points, I believe it helps better people’s understanding of others. I also think it aids in better forming a rounded opinion on social issues, like the one that was depicted in the film.
Psychological terms: biological growth, cognitive change, socio-emotional, prenatal development, synaptic connections, neurons, stimulants, gender roles, gender identity, evolve, insecurities, Syndrome X
While reading through chapter 4 I found many things that really intrigued me. At first while I started reading through the developmental processes of infants I thought it was all so interesting. There were things that I had never thought about, such as the different prenatal stages. The fact that in the embryonic period that babies will already start to develope body structures and than in the fetal period have most of their structure. These things are definitely not the first ideas that come to mind when I think about pregnancy. I also really liked the fact that newborns have this instinct for feeding and other inborn reflexes. I honestly could said that I never thought how babies could “know” how to do all this at a young age. When the chapter started getting into the different types of attachment really interested me. Usually we all think of the stereotypical baby that has a secure attachment to the caregiver. The fact that there are different types of attachments such as avoidant and ambivalent says a lot about nature and nurture. The most memorable part of this chapter was 4.3 when the book talked about adolescent development. I don’t know why I found it so interesting. Maybe it was because I went through these stages in the past few years or I really enjoy the idea or find out who you are but it was the most memorable part of the section. I was doing the explore section after I did the reading and watched “A 4-Year-Old Girl Asked A Lesbian If She’s A Boy. She Responded The Awesomest Way Possible.” and I was not disappointed at all. Sometimes I wonder why the innocence of young children doesn’t always transfer to young adults and I think it has a lot to do with nature and nurture. During the adolescent stage is where I really discovered part of who I am and I think maybe that is why I really liked this section. It had a lot to do with gender identity, ethnic identity, and the different levels of moral construction. I like the way the book described Preconventional, Conventional, and Postconventional moral levels. I could apply some of my own development to these different levels. I personally am very fond of diversity, and personal identity and during the adolescent stage a lot of this is finally personally determined. While reading through the adult development I was also interested but not as interested as the adolescent stages. I think it is because I have yet to really go through the adult milestones and also I feel in society we are so pressured as teenagers to “find you meaning in life” that we lose that sense of belonging because we may think we have found it as soon as we leave home for the first time. I found myself mixing the different stages during my thought process. I feel that a lot of the child stages can easily flow over into the adolescent stages, and adolescent into the adult. I believe that this is true because we are always growing, and learning about our personal selves.
Terms: Developmental, prenatal, embryonic, fetal, inborn reflexes, attachment, secure attachment, avoidable attachment, ambivalent attachment, adolescent, nature, nurture, gender identity, ethnic identity, preconventional, conventional, postconventional. adult,
Before we are even born, factors of nature AND nurture go into our development which means that from the time we are conceived in our mothers wombs, we are the product of our biological make up as well as the environment around us. For example, during the prenatal development stage legal drugs, recreational drugs, infections, and even caffeine can cause birth defects in infants or even death but on the other hand during the embryonic period of development, the time when the spinal cord, brain and internal organs are formed, one specific thing could go genetically wrong and a fetus could be miscarried or develop wrong causing lifetime damage.
For the Explore! links we were assigned, I read the article that gave a quiz to determine if you were ready for parenthood. Now that I am 20 years old, I am almost to the time in my life where I have reached adulthood and it is socially acceptable for me to start having children. The father who wrote the article really put the parenthood process in perspective, and he didn’t even mention the part every woman dreads- childbirth! I don’t think most men or women my age are intellectually developed enough on their own without having a newborn child their lives to take care of and be solely responsible for.
The things that I was most interested in from the reading would have to be the inborn reflexes that we are all born with. I was surprised to learning about the grasping reflex where infants grasp something that strokes their hands. It’s amazing how surviving instincts from prehistoric times are still evident in the development processes we go through today. Overall, the chapter was an interesting read and really made me open my eyes to all the little factors that make us the unique individuals that we all have developed into.
environment, embryonic period, spinal cord, inborn reflexes, grasping reflex
As an adoring fan of standup comedy, I opted to watch the Youtube clip featuring Michael McIntyre, going on a tangent about people who are clueless about the pains of raising children. Applying knowledge from the book, I figure that the three year-old, Aussie (Ozzy?) appears to display an avoidant detachment, as is evidenced by his apathy towards the prospect of his caregivers leaving without him. Also judging from the language McIntyre ascribes to the children, I can guess from the lack of babbling that, aside from Ozzy (Aussie?), they seem to be leaving the preoperational stage and going well into the concrete operational stage of cognitive development.
On the whole, what was really revelatory to me as far as my understanding in human development goes, is the overall precision that researchers have managed to bring to bear in terms of when certain physical and cognitive development occurs as far back as being a zygote during the germinal period of the birth cycle. Using developmental psychology, we've been able to determine astonishing concepts, such as how a child is able to process new information using methods of assimilation and accommodation, and how they are able to pick up predispositions to certain languages from within the womb just by hearing their mothers speak. That's pretty thorough. Sadly, due a series of difficult events, I'm all too aware of the effects of teratogens on prenatal development, but something that struck me as surprising was the statistics showing that most older adults were happier than their younger counterparts. In a way, I figured that the struggle to find meaning in one's life was an uphill battle, and that the majority of elderly folk had difficulty wrestling with it. Then again, it's quite possible in the environment I was raised in, that this is far more common among the older adults who usually retire to a daily grind of nothing to do, coupled with gratuitous amounts of drinking. I suppose I shall see for myself, if I too, live to deal with the challenge of integrity versus despair.
The keywords are: avoidant detachment, babbling, preoperational stage, concrete operational stage, cognitive development, zygote, germinal period, developmental psychology, assimilation, accommodation, teratogens, prenatal, and integrity versus despair.
There are many factors that impact human development. The one that stuck out to me the most was the effects of the parents using drugs and alcohol. I thought it was really interesting that if the father uses drugs or alcohol that it can affect his sperm and cause problems during prenatal development. It will obviously affect the baby’s development if the mother uses drugs and alcohol during pregnancy, but both parents should be thinking about their choices to use substances before they decide to have a child. I decided to watch the “People With No Kids Don’t Know” video clip on YouTube. I really liked that it was humorous, but still made very valid points and was full of information as well. It was very interesting and I actually watched it a few times prior to composing my blog post. I do not have any children myself, but this summer I worked at a daycare and I absolutely can’t imagine what it would be like to have someone depending on you all the time. I can’t imagine having the responsibility of raising another human at this point in my life. I like how he emphasizes how you really have no idea what parenthood is like unless you have children and how it will completely alter your life. It discussed the psychosocial development of toddlers and preschool aged children because that is the age of the speaker’s children. He talked about all the things that they do at home that make it harder for parents to do daily activities that adults without children can do. Overall it focused on middle adulthood because he focused on his (and his wife’s) experiences as parents of a three year old and six year old. I thought that the psychosocial development stages were interesting. I also took an interest in the developing into adulthood because we are officially adults and in a few short years life will be really different than it already is. I enjoyed reading about marriage and having children because I am really excited for those stages in life. The most memorable thing that I read about was the section about gender identity and the information from As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised As A Girl. I thought it was crazy how Bruce had a gender change to “Brenda” because it was the best thing for him due to his health conditions, but then after years of not fitting in his parents decided to tell him that he was born a boy. I couldn't believe that he decided to switch his gender back to a boy. This really helped enforce the idea of gender identity in my mind. Another thing that stuck out to me was cognitive development. The moral reasoning theories were memorable because I think about theories like that frequently when controversial topics come up. I really enjoyed this chapter and after reading it I feel like I understand development much better.
Terms: Human Development, Prenatal Development, Psychosocial Development, Toddler/Preschool/Middle Adulthood, Gender Identity, Cognitive Development, Moral Reasoning Theories
I chose the website that give information about my average life-expectancy when I answer some question. I think it is difficult to know my life-expectancy accurately but we can guess our life-expectancy on the basis of our life style and environment. How much I eat healthy food, how much I drink alcohol and how long I drive a car in daily routine etc, these all factors can impact and change my life. My life-expectancy is 85 years. However, I am not sure that I can live until 85years because there are else a lot of factors that affect my life-expectancy. This survey didn’t reflect the fact that my grandfather had died of stomach cancer and this factor can affect my life in the future.
After reading this chapter, I learned there are many factors that impact human development from the Germinal period to adulthood. The many factors that impact human development are nature and nurture. For example, nature factors can come from like our genetics and nurture factors can come from the environment that we are raised. The human development can be divided into 3 domains: physical, socio-emotional and cognitive.
The most interesting thing for me is about how infants and children change socially and emotionally. Infants about 8 to 12 months often show signs of distress when their attachment figure such as mother and father is disappeared. Attachment style is mainly divided into secure attachment and insecure attachment that can be divided into avoidant attachment and ambivalent attachment. In secure attachment, the child feels anxious and sad when their attachment figure leaves, but when their caregiver returns, they again feel comfortable and secure. On the other hand, in avoidant attachment, child doesn’t get upset or cry at all when the attachment figure leaves and child with ambivalent attachment may cry when caregiver disappear, yet both seek and reject caring contact from the returning caregiver. I feel interesting that infants with insecure attachment develop better peer relations and successful adjustment at school later on the contrary, those with secure attachment can raise depression and behavioral problems in the future. In my case, my mother said that when I was child, I always cried and showed anxiety as she leaves my side for a while, so she was worried about my behavior problem and social adjustment in the future. However, I have adjusted well in school until now and have had a very good relationship with people unlike her worry.
The most memorable thing for this chapter is men’s health and lifestyles influence on prenatal development. Before reading this chapter, I thought that only women’s behavior affect her baby. I learned that Men’s behavior, in other words father’s behavior, can affect his sperm, which in turns influences prenatal development. If mother and father like to drink alcohol, their baby can have fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) that results in abnormalities such as heart defects and abnormal brain development. Therefore, to make baby’s healthy development, mother and father have to sustain healthy lifestyle.
Terms: Germinal period, nature and nurture, genetics, physical, socio-emotional and cognitive, attachment figure, secure attachment, avoidant attachment, ambivalent attachment, prenatal development , sperm, fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS)
From all the of the links to choose from I chose the one that calculates how long you are supposed to live. Now obviously this is not an exact age as habits change and there are freak accidents, but to get a rough estimate of my life expectancy was cool. Its interesting to see how many different factors go into the calculation. For example, the diseases in first degree relatives is a given, but the factor of how many miles you will drive in a car in a year is kind of a curveball. It never even crossed my mind that they would factor in your average time in a car. My life expectancy ended up being 84.33 years. I hope this is accurate somewhat accurate as I would love to live that long, and if I’m lucky I may even live longer.
There are many factors that occur and contribute to our development. We start as two cells in the germinal period. Then we move on to the embryonic period. During this span of 2 months though, we develop our most important physical features such as our internal organs. This is a very important time for mothers to be paying attention to what they are consuming. During this time if a baby is not getting enough folic acid their spinal cord and brain may not form properly. The next phase is the fetal period. This a period where the “finishing” touches are being applied. The organs finish developing, along with eyelids and muscles. During these periods it is very important the mother does not use drugs or alcohol. It may lead to terrible consequences. For example, while in the womb if you are exposed to drugs or alcohol, you are much more likely to have a birth defect or in extreme cases sudden infant death syndrome, also known as SIDS.
What I found most interesting while reading this chapter was how the different attachment styles develop from such a young age and can have such a major impact on you later in life. For example, children with a secure attachment style tend to have better socio-emotional functioning, better peer relations, and successful adjustment at school. In turn, children with insecure attachments have been linked to poor outcomes later in life, such as depression and behavioral problems. I never realised that our attachment styles played such a large role, and developed when we were so young. It makes sense though, at such a young age we are very vulnerable and susceptible to what is going on around us. So it only makes sense that our attachment styles would stem from our primary caregivers and how they treated us, I just have never looked at it in that light before. I have learned a lot from this chapter and have a much better understanding on how we develop both physically and psychologically.
Key Terms: Germinal, Embryonic, Fetal, SIDS, Secure Attachment, Insecure Attachment, Socio-Emotional, Physical, Psychological
There are endless things that affect human development. These factors can be categorized into nature and nurture. Biology is the nature factor. A person’s active exploration of an environment and the feedback within their cultural context is the nurture factors. Teratogens affect our development while we are still in the womb in a negative way. These are substances that cause birth defects. A child’s development is greatly affected by the environment they grow up in. If the are in an environment that does not stimulate their brain enough synaptic connections are not made in their brain which are vital for processing complex information, problem solving, and developing advanced language skills. Children develop socially and emotionally by interacting with other people like their parents and other children.
I have always though once you hit adulthood you psychological development is mostly done. I learned that there are still many changes you go through as you grow old. Erikson’s theory that we develop through eight life stages was very interesting to me. I am especially interested in the later stages as that is what I am going through and will be looking forward to. During young adulthood we experience intimacy versus isolation. This is when we form and maintain committed relationships and friendships. During the middle age is generativity versus stagnation in which we contribute to future generations. In old age we experience integrity versus despair. In this stage we try to be honest with ourselves about if we feel our live was fulfilling so that we are ready for death.
I watched the video about if being homosexual was the norm. This was a very powerful video and really made me think about the way many homosexuals feel in our society. No person should ever have to go through life feeling like an outcast because of something they can not change about themselves. I think that a lot of times we think the people that have to deal with this problem are older. People think that homosexuals realize that the are homosexual when they are in high school at the earliest. This is not true at all. So many younger children may be having these feeling. It would be great to have children's book with happy homosexual couple and to teach kids about this at an early age. This would make homosexual children feel more comfortable and teach other kids that it is normal so they won’t bully homosexuals for being different.
Terms; development, nature, nurture, teratogens, synaptic connections, adulthood, psychological development, intimacy versus isolation, generativity versus stagnation, integrity versus despair
Explore:
One of the things I explored was the YouTube video of the comedian Michael McIntyre on how people without kids don't know. How people without kids with so much freedom on their hands looks at a family with kids and says "one day I'd like to have kids to!" while being completely oblivious to just tiring it can be. However I can tell you after watching several kids via babysitting I can tell you it's not fun and it is a lot of work. If you want kids you really have to be committed and must be well off to do so because kids are quite expensive.
Reading:
While reading chapter four I learned that human nature is influenced through both nature and nurture. As we grow and develop throughout our lives we will naturally start to do certain things, sleep, eat, etc allot of these come at birth through what is called inborn reflexes. The rest of what we learn comes from what we are taught via our parents how we talk, our manners, social behaviors all come from them. It was interesting to learn about the three attachment a child may have to their caregivers. secure, avoidant, and ambivalent attachments. If I had to choose I probably was a secure attachment as a infant.
Surprise:
I found it surprising just how much an environment can affect the growth process of someone a good example of this is girls who typically live in a higher stress environment will reach puberty at a younger age opposed to one who lives in a stable environment. After reading chapter 4 I came to reason that a lot that makes up a person is determined at a very early age. finally what I found intriguing was how as we age we change from a isolation stage to a more of intimate stage. growing up and exploring the world creating new friends, connections and ideals.
Terms Used: Secure, Avoidant, and ambivalent attachments, Inborn Reflexes, Nature, Nuture, intimacy, isolation
The link I chose was “are you ready to have babies”. In the link, a quiz was given to yourself that gave you a variety of every day occurrences. The quiz gave certain points on how you needed to run your day based on what it would be like if you had your own infant in which you would see if you were ready to have a baby. Each question I read and answered affected me more and more if I wanted to even have a child in my life. It’s a big role to play and based on my answers on the quiz I am not ready to have a child. The only time I ever see my self-having a child is when I am financially stable, have a job of my own, satisfied where I am in life and also have good time management. Once I have all my personal assets complete I would need to confront my spouse about our decision with having a kid because in the textbook, it states the babies’ arrival changes our lives in almost every respect. Research has also shown that having kids can even strain your marriage. If you don’t have the right mind set for having a kid in your life you shouldn’t start. There are numerous factors that impact human development. A human embryo just starts out as two cells which grow in to many more and so on making us into a phenomenal makeup of cells. The germinal period where the male sperm egg unites with the female egg; The embryonic period where physical development of the spinal core, brain and all internal organs take place; also the fetal period where new structures develop can all have a factor a birth defects. Theses birth defects can alter the way the being is seen, responds to tasks and even how they think. What causes all birth defects at there early periods is called teratogens. Radiation, chemicals, drugs, and maternal infections can form these teratogens. From the reading, the topic that was most interesting to me was the drugs and alcohol. How it impacted the development of a child while in the mother’s womb. The most memorable thing I learned was in the textbook there were two images of six weeks old one, which was normal, and the other that has fetal alcohol syndrome. The child with the alcohol syndrome the brain was decreased in size by almost a half!
Philological terms: human development, embryo, germinal period, embryonic period, fetal period, teratogens, alcohol syndrome.
From the provided links, I read a few articles, but the most interesting one I thought was on the, 10 Current Psychological Studies Every Parent Should Know. I also watched the video on, People With No Kids Don’t Know. I thought it was interesting to compare the two because the way the article was written; it started off comparing adults with and without children. And, the video was an actual person talking about the experiences of having children and being around people without kids. Having kids does take a toll on our psychological mind, most of it in a positive way though. I feel like some adults think having kids is too much stress and the positive doesn’t outweigh the negatives, but parents tend to show more positive emotion then adults who have not experienced having children. The most interesting section of the chapter that I read was on Piaget’s theory of the four stages of cognitive development that all children go through. My reason for this is because when I took sociology we touched on this a bit and I found it quite interesting then. I have nieces and nephews, so I like to watch them grow, and knowing these four stages it’s like doing my own research experiment. I find it fascinating to know and get to see a child develop cognitively and see how much more complex their thinking abilities become as they grow older and learn many new things. They are only old enough to go through the sensorimotor stage and the preoperational stage. As I’ve watched them grow, I can see them developing right along through the stages that will eventually lead to a mature and developed mind and body. I did not know that an infant was born with so many basic motor skills and sensory motor skills. My nephew was just born, and the little time that I was able to spend with him I was able to recognize his reflexes, gestures, and reaction to different situations. Being able to connect this information to my actual life helps to comprehend and understand it a lot more. I also want to be an OB nurse when I graduate so when I was reading how we develop in the womb, I kept that in the back of my head. I think this information will really stick with me because I find it really amazing how we start as one cell, known as a zygote, and grow into a human being. I have been around people in my family that have been pregnant, so to learn about their experiences and to read about what is actually is going on inside of them make the informational part of it a lot easier to understand. Human development is an amazing thing, and to have all this research and information on it makes it a very compelling and complex topic to learn and read about.
Psychological Terms: Emotion, cognitive development, sensorimotor stage, preoperational stage, mature, reflexes, gestures, zygote, human development.
I would say the most surprising form of development for me was Eriksons five stages of psychological development. Just because personally when I think of development I think of young children such as infant and toddlers. For example when I first thought of development, what came to mind of Pigments stages of cognitive development. But in Eriksons there is still development even at age sixty. You are learning that you have lived a satisfied life, and that you have done all that you are meant to do. And you just feel happy. Which I have totally seen this in both of my grandparents. I just find developmental psychology as a whole super interesting. The fact no matter how old you are you are going through changes. For example, going back to Erikson’s five stages: in middle adulthood you have to leave behind in the sense of just caring for yourself and what you could be. You have to focus on the future generation like if you decide to start a family. In the young adult stage that is meant for you to focus on yourself. For you to find yourself. That is usually when people will settle down and start a family. One of the younger stages that I think is really cool is infancy, because having a two year old niece and now three year old nephew I see all of this happening. Especially with my niece. She lives in Des Moines so we do not see her that often. So when we see her she is super shy and goes to my brother and sister in law a lot. But during the Iowa Hawkeye football games last season she was at our house a lot. So she last learned that she can trust us and we aren’t strangers.
Another part of development is gender roles and gender identity. Gender identity is believing whether you are a male or a female. In most cases a person is born either a male or female and they are comfortable in their own skin. There are some cases where people are not comfortable in their own skin and believe that they should’ve been born as the other gender. I actually went to high school with a girl who came out as a lesbian when we were sophomores. Then after we graduated high school, she went through a sex change and is now a male. Also like the video we watched last class, she wasn’t necessarily unhappy as a female. But once she made the transformation into a male he genuinely happier. Gender roles is basically male and females are expected to do certain things by learned activity. Like when children are younger, girls are supposed to play with dolls and the boys are supposed to play with their cars or build things with leggos. Or girls are supposed to watch princess movies and boys are supposed to watch the movies with cars and etc.
Psychological Terms: development, Erikson’s Five Stages of Development, Piagets stages of cognitive development, developmental psychology, middle adulthood, young adult stage, infancy, gender roles, gender identity,
Human development is impacted by many things in the world. Human development is impacted with many factors all of the way from the germinal period of a fetus till adulthood. For instance, in the germinal period the fetus can be influenced by such things as drugs, alcohol and teratogens. Drugs, alcohol and teratogens can have a huge impact on prenatal development. Teratogens can cause birth defects, therefore they would have a big impact on prenatal development and could greatly alter the child's life. After a child is born different factors can also have an impact on the child’s human development. There are factors that can affect the brain. When a child is born in an environment that stimulates their brain, many synaptic connections are made. Infants are born with certain reflexes that just come natural to them but most of the other reflexes are going to ones that can be impacted by day to day things. It is suggested that infants should sleep on their back instead of their stomach because research has shown that putting infants on their backs while sleeping reduces the chance of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Reducing the chance of SIDS is very important if a infant sleeps on their back they have the chance of skipping the crawling phase of development.Although the child may skip the crawling phase they will still be able to develop normally. As shown by this example, many small things can greatly affect human development.
Children, adolescent and adult development is also impacted throughout their lives. For adolescents, puberty has a huge impact on human development. Puberty brings the development of primary sex characteristics. Also an adolescent starts to develop socially and emotionally during its’ adolescent years of life. Changes in the body impacts infants, children, adolescents and adults but it mostly has an impact on adults. The reason for this is because once a person hits adult they just grow older as an adult. An adult changes goes from early adulthood to middle adulthood then from middle adulthood to old age. Many changes occur once an adult reaches the old age stage of life. For instance, as one reaches old age their intelligence and memory may start to decrease. I read Are You Ready To Have Babes? Take The Test. This article showed how much a child actually requires to raise and how it alters many different factors of the parents life, such as sleep. The article was very relatable and was very funny to read because it showed how much of a change a child can have.This chapter helped to explain that human development can be altered by many factors at any stage in life and is continuously alter as one grows older.
I found the section about sensory development of an infant to be the most interesting because a lot of the information I did not know. I didn’t know that a fetus can start hearing its’ mother's voice inside the womb at 4 ½ months. I also think that the sensory development was the most memorable thing as well because I was so intrigued by this information that was new to me.
Terms used: germinal period, teratogens, sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), primary sex characteristics
There are many factors that impact human development. Hormones, your family, culture, your genes, and someone’s actions and motivations impact human development. I watched an aging video that was done by a person named Anthony Cerniello. With the use of 3D technology and animators, she was able to create a video that showed a person when it was a baby and it progressed until she was really old. I found this video to be really fascinating. To be able to take a person when they are a baby and show the progression of how they look throughout their life is unbelievable and it showed me a different way of how human development changes over the course of a person’s life. After reading the chapter, I have gained more knowledge about what influences impact our lives as a person grows older.
There was a couple interesting topics throughout the chapter. The topic that found most interesting was Erik Erickson’s eight stages of psychosocial development. These eight stages that Erickson proposes range from when a child is born to when an adult is retired. It starts with a child in the stage of infancy, between the ages of zero and two, learning that the world is a safe place and that people will care for you. Then it goes through the toddler and preschool stages to the childhood stage where there is the issue of industry versus inferiority. Children have to learn to work with others to feel competent. Then we go through the young and middle adulthood stages where the issues of intimacy versus isolation and generativity versus stagnation arise. Adults have to learn to commit to relationships and gain a sense that they are leaving behind a legacy for future generations. Adults enter the last stage of development where they should feel that they have had a good life. The other concept that I found interesting was the way that adults act and behave because of their moral emotions and moral reasoning. There is said to be three levels of moral reasoning that adults use. Adults sometimes decide what is moral by their event outcomes and self-interest which psychologists call the preconventional level. At the conventional level people obey by the laws and do by interest of other people’s approval or disapproval. Sometimes people revolve around complex reasoning, which is referred to as the postconventional level.
There was one topic that stuck with me throughout the whole chapter and it was the idea of gender identity. At a young age children know whether they are male or female because of there biological differences. Psychologists refer to these differences as sex. As children get older, there identity is based on differences that result from socialization, which is defined as gender. Trying to define between sex and gender is not easy because male and females are so twisted together that they are hard to separate. Behaviors that are appropriate are different for males and females. These behaviors are impacted by cultural influences, learning, or expectancies. Children develop expectations from watching their peers, teachers, and parents.
Terms: sex, gender, psychosocial development, human development, gene, hormone
Development? Questions form at an early age as do meanings of life. How can one be expected to raise a child when they are a person in early development? These are the questions I began to ask myself while I was reading this chapter. As a person who has reached early adulthood and is creeping up and over middle adulthood, I have seen and experienced these changes in development. I guess the only thing I have left to look forward to now is old age. Reflecting back, my decision not to procreate stems from bad childhood experiences which I did not want to inflict the same parental guidance I so unhappily learned in my developmental years. After watching the you-tube video, people with no kids don’t know, I find my decision comforting. I honestly can not see myself as a parent having that kind of responsibility. The main factors that affect human development are nature and nurture. But after seeing the video it takes more than just those factors.
Development? Questions form at an early age as do meanings of life. How can one be expected to raise a child when they are a person in early development? These are the questions I began to ask myself while I was reading this chapter. As a person who has reached early adulthood and is creeping up and over middle adulthood, I have seen and experienced these changes in development. I guess the only thing I have left to look forward to now is old age. Reflecting back, my decision not to procreate stems from bad childhood experiences which I did not want to inflict the same parental guidance I so unhappily learned in my developmental years. After watching the you-tube video, people with no kids don’t know, I find my decision comforting. I honestly can not see myself as a parent having that kind of responsibility. The main factors that affect human development are nature and nurture. But after seeing the video it takes more than just those factors. Terms used: Development, nature, nurture.
Teratogens in the womb definitely impact human development early on. For example a teratogen can be alcohol which can cause fetal alcohol syndrome, facial malformations, mental retardation, learning difficulties. These can make the body not grow properly. Another thing that could impact human development would be nurture. If the caregiver neglect the infant they would grow up differently than a baby who is secure to its caregiver that gives lots of attention to them. Another factor that could change human development would be what you eat. For example leafy greens like spinach can prevent serious malformation of the baby’s spine and brain.
The link I chose was http://www.spring.org.uk/2013/11/10-current-psychology-studies-every-parent-should-know.php. This link tells parents some trick to know about on how to raise a child. The first advise they gave was that parents are happier than non- parents. Most people think parents aren't as happy as non-parents but really it they are because it makes them think of how to care for their children and the children make them happy. Second is what good for your children is good for you. It turns out that putting your child first is worth it and you have greater meaning and less negative feelings. The third advice was about helicopter parenting. You shouldn't hover over your child because it makes the child to have a higher change of depression. Next was about discipline. They suggest that you don’t punish using strict verbal discipline like swearing. Another advice was giving your child a bedtime. Children are still developing a lot in the brain and need sleep to help develop. The sixth advice is about chores. You should do your chores together because it makes the relationship better and not so rocky. Another thing to try is not to let your children watch too much TV. After age two they should only have two hours of TV a day and none at all before the age of two. The more hour of TV they watch is more likely to do worse in vocab, math and motor skills later in life. You should also try to let the child have lots of exercise. It has been tested that lots of exercise increases academic performance.
The most topic I thought was interesting in this chapter was about the different stages of baby’s growing in the womb. This is called the prenatal period. This really interesting to me right now because my sister is pregnant. The germinal period is conception and the zygote divides rapidly and implants into the uterus wall. This is usually when the mother doesn’t know they are pregnant yet. It really cool to see the embryonic period in person and what’s happening with the baby right now as it grow. The embryonic period is many when the brain, spine, and major organs begin to form. It’s crazy to think this all happening and it is only the size of a pea. Soon my sister’s baby will go into fetal period. This is where the baby’s brain continues to developed, body structures are refined, and the fetus grows in length and weight plus accumulates fat to prepare for birth.
The most surprising thing I learned was about how our body’s change in adulthood also. In the 20s we are in peak of fitness, but 20 to 40 s we have a steady decline of muscle mass, bone density, eyesight, and hearing. So basically somewhere in your 20’s to 40’s you are starting to old and your body is wearing off very slowly. Another interesting thing was that in this stage belly fat gets harder and harder to get off so you should exercise when you’re younger to make it not as hard later. The more physical and psychological shape you are in when you are younger the fewer significant declines will happen as you get older
Terms: prenatal period, teratogens, secure attachment, embryonic period, fetal period, germinal period, zygote
Human development can be influenced by many things, but when it comes down to the basics, it is we are who we are because of a combination of how we were raised and our genetic makeup. The Washington Post article verifies that, with the topic being "How our genes could make us gay or straight".
People stating that being gay is a "lifestyle choice" have always irked me. I am straight, and although I can see and admire the attractiveness of other females, I can't "make" myself lesbian and have sexual relations with another woman. If I can't "choose" to be gay, obviously gay and lesbian people cannot choose to be straight.
This article backs up that being straight or gay is not a choice. In fact, it may part of our genetic makeup. There is evidence that there is a gene that could be called (not a gay gene) but a male-loving gene. Genes aren't everything though, as twin studies have provided evidence that there are a variety of factors, such as environment, birth order, and hormones.
A geneticist, Dean Harmer, found out with his studies involving families with several gay males, that they all had a similar gene at the tip of the X chromosome. However, some similar studies have shown that male loving genes have appeared on other chromosomes.
In the end, the article's author Jenny Graves, a Professor of Genetics at La Trobe University, compares "gay genes" to height. It can be influenced by many different genetic factors, and also environmental factors.
The article I found interesting, but the chapter, not so much. I have already read about a lot of these topics in my previous health and psychology classes. However I did learn some new things, which is always good. I previously never really thought how an infant developed, but I think learning about it was nice. I knew that babies learning by sticking objects in their mouths, but I never knew why. In the sensorimotor stage, which is from birth to around age 2, infants learn through their senses. However until about one year of age, they can't see very well and have very limited vision, which I never thought about at all. I also thought it was interesting how if you placed a smudge of lipstick on a child's face and held them up to a mirror, you could find out if they know how to identify themselves or not.
One thing that I think that I will remember for some time is the fact that marriage is often more beneficial to men than women. Women find some emotional stability in a marriage, while men have some health benefits from their wives wanting them to not smoke and eat better. Women don't find higher satisfaction in their relationships or sex than being single, although men do. I don't know why, but that just really stuck out to me.
Terms used:
hormones, genes, chromosome, sensorimotor stage, marriage
Are you ready to have babies? Take the test. This article I read gave me a list of a step by step process on how to prepare for a child. For example, “driving with children” buy an ice cream cone, stick it in the glove department, and leave it there. Take a garden rake and take it across the sides of each door. Forget the BMW, time to get a four door wagon. I t was a funny passage, but yet almost relatable. I have three younger siblings and as I grew up, I could relate so to some of the funny things they compared to when dealing with having a baby. It makes it seem so scary. Factors that impact development could be in your first month of pregnancy. This is when the placenta begins to form, and nourish and protects the baby. If any abnormalities occur in this stage, the result usually is a miscarriage. Another impact on development is during the embryonic period. This period is the most important time for physical development. If anything goes wrong during this period the result shows birth defects or even a miscarriage as well. My understanding of human development has changed a lot since reading this this chapter. I have taken anatomy, I have learned about the cycle of birth, but there are so many other factors that are involved when the human is born. For example starting out at 2 cells, then 4, 6, 8 and so on. You then come a ball of cells, with that then the placenta is created, and you are being protected and nourished. You have so many different periods where different development occurs. Then after being a cell, you become a human. You go through many different stages, and evolve into an adult. It is an amazing part of life. From the reading the most interesting topic I read was the inborn reflexes. Infants must eat in order to grow, so when they anticipate for food, there reflex is to open there mouth. Another inborn reflex is the grasping reflex. When you put your finger on an infant’s hand, the infant automatically curls its fingers around the area. This is how babies survive their first months of life, until they have the ability to learn motor skills. The most memorable thing I remember reading was about Brooke's disease syndrome x. Brooke refused to engage in activities, as a teenager she didn't speak, she made infant sounds. Brooke could not walk, so she would travel in a stroller. Brooke family had to take care of her, her entire life. Her condition was very rare, scientist now work with the understanding of Brooke’s disease.
Terms: Syndrome x, embryonic period, inborn reflexes, morot skills, development.
There are many factors that have an impact on human development. For instance, there are physical factors such as the genes that we inherit from our parents. This factor is set in stone. There is no way to really control how you will look like due to the genes being the deciding factor in your physical appearance. There are other physical factors as well such as your lifestyle. Some people may choose to have a healthy lifestyle such as working out everyday and eating healthy while others way choose a less healthy one such as partying most nights. Disease also plays a role in as a physical factor. Some diseases can have a lasting effect on the development of humans such as HIV and the measles.
Another genre of factors that affect human growth are th social, cultural and emotional factors. This set of factors include the culture you were born into such as different religious cultures that have different ways of upbringing. It may also include gender identity. Not your sex but how you yourself identify as you grow up. The influence of role models such as parents plays an incredible role also. Bad role models may lead children to grow up faster than normal due to a natural threat response.
Finally there are economic factors. This group includes factors such as income of your parents as you grow up, the income of yourself as you get older and the effects of unemployment on your psychological state.
I read the article dealing with how our genes can make use gay or straight. This was an interesting article to read because it shows that all those people out there that think homosexuality is a choice not a predisposition are utterly wrong. I am a strong believer in gay rights and if only research like this would be more widely distributed I feel like it wouldn't be near as big of a problem as it is today. There is a genetic reason that people are attracted to the same sex. A woman's chromosome contain genes that say that she is attracted to males. That's a natural thing and important obviously for reproductive reasons. However, between 5 and 15 percent of the time, a male is born with the alleles that make a woman desire men. This causes the male to desire other males. It's completely natural. The only choice in the matter is whether or not that particular male will come out as gay or live behind closed doors trying to live a straight but unhappy life as to prevent ridicule. I though this article was incredibly interesting.
Terms: Human development, genes, lifestyle, physical factors, economic factors, social/cultural factors, sex, role models, gender identity, gay, straight, chromosome, allele, genetic predisposition
I choose to watch the video from the first link. It was the work of digital photographer, Anthony Cerniello. It shows the aging of a woman from childhood to old age. I thought that watching this video was very trippy for a number of reasons. Firstly the music was kind of odd and creepy, but more importantly it all happened so fast yet you never noticed any changes happening. That scares me because the same thing, I just now realize, is going on in my life. I don’t know when or where, but I have changed so much throughout the years. I am almost the exact opposite of myself as a middle schooler or preteen. I used to be painful shy, awkward as all get out, and depressed. Now I am none of those things. I agree with the book completely when it talks about adolescence development. It states that the primary crisis of adolescence is identity versus role confusion. I know that is one hundred percent correct in my case. As a teen I was trying to find my place in social groups and become comfortable in my own skin. It didn’t happen until about 16. Though as soon as it did I became a happy friendly guy with lots of friends. There are a lot of factors that influence development. I was most interested in the teratogens though. It’s crazy to me that a mother can so easily mess up her baby by choosing to consume some type(s) of teratogens. I had a friend in high school that got pregnant, and she smoked quite often. I asked her if smoking was bad for the baby and she had told me that if she keep it to smoking every once in a while that she would be fine. I now know that what she said probably isn’t true and it makes me sad for that baby. We have pretty much lost contact for a couple of reasons but I would like to know how the kid is doing. The fact that the lack of folic acid can result in miscarriage or birth defect like spina bifida blew my mind. What happens to the mother that is poor and doesn’t have access to this knowledge? It seems like that baby could be screwed from the start. My understanding of human devolvement has changes so much since reading this chapter. That is mainly because I had never learned about it before. In my high school psychology we had skipped this portion of the text book so this was my first exposure to the information. The most interesting thing to me was the chapter about babies. I love babies, besides the crying of course. They are so filled with that childlike wonder, because everything is new to them. It’s simply amazing to me. I also found it fascinating how we know at what ages what is happening in the baby’s head. Like how on average the baby starts to develop attachment to the care giver that sometimes doesn't stop until early adolescent. Also how between the ages of 2 to 7 children are very ego egocentric. Meaning that it is very hard to think about the feelings or emotions of others and see the world through their own actions. It’s true that some people don’t ever grow out of it, but thankfully most people are done with this stage by 7 or 8.
psychological words: Adolescence, identity versus role confusion, teratogens, spina bifida, attachment, egocentric
There are many factors that impact the human development. The human development starts from the time you form into an embryo which I think is the most important factor in the human development. The difference in two women's eating habits while they are pregnant can be the difference between an healthy baby and a unhealthy baby which later can impact the development of that baby. Also, another important factor that has to do with human development is the nature and the nurture effect. Some things we do because we are taught to do it like acting like a girl or acting like a boy or wearing this because we are females and wearing that because we are males. Other things is just in our nature to do without us being taught to do so. Other things that impact the human development are things that we do to ourselves. like drinking alcohol or doing drugs. These have a negative effect on the brain and can not only impair your own development but also if a women is pregnant can impair the baby's development as well.
The link that I chose was the link where my life expectancy was calculated. This was very interesting to me because I got to actually see what my life expectancy was even though that is not the "real" age that I will live to. What was very interesting to me was how everything that the survey asked me depended on and had some effect of my life expectancy. I didn't know all those things came into account of how long I can live. I think its weird how your life expectancy can also depend on your family and their backgrounds. Even if you live a good and healthy life if your family background is not so good then you are automatically expected to live less.
My view on human development has changed a lot during reading this chapter. I always thought of human development as going from a baby to a toddler and from a toddler to a child and so on. I never thought of the pieces that can actually impact the human development. I now see the difference between the nature and the nurturing effect that all humans have and also I think I have a better sense of all three categories of the human development which are biological, socio-emotional, and cognitive. The most interesting part of this chapter to me was the gender identity part of the chapter. This interested me a lot because that's the biological part of human development. The boy who was changed into a girl and knew something about her wasn't right goes to show that we know our own bodies even if we don't know what's wrong we know that there is something wrong. It was also interesting to know that men and women do indeed have differences when it comes to the brain. The most surprising and memorable thing that I learned in this chapter was that three types of ways children can act towards caregivers. which are, secure, avoidant, and ambivalent. memorable to me because its safe to say that all babies do not act the same and there are categories that you can put them in to know that the child is actually normal.
psychological terms: nature effect, nurture effect, biological, socio-emotional ,cognitive,
There are so many factors that going into human development. The website I decided to explore is the one with the article “Are You Ready To Have Babies? Take The Test.” I found this article very informative but also very comical at the same time. It talks about how you should practices these thing before you child arrives so you will be ready. It very comical in the fact that it pretty much only gives you negative thing to think about when it comes to your future child. I does give good insight on what are something you will have to sacrifice when your child comes. I thought the best/funniest section was the part about sleeping. Like I said before there are many factors that impact human development. These factors start even before the child is born. The two main factors of development are nature and nurture. Nature can be part of development if your mom drinks or smokes during her pregnancy. Nurture is more of how you are raised. I thought the most interesting part of this chapter was the part about the phases in prenatal development. There are three different phases to it the germinal period, embryonic period, and the fetal period. The germinal period is when the zygotes divide to create the blastocysts. During the embryonic period is when the baby starts develop organs and a spinal cord. The fetal period is just the period in which the fetus grow more. The most memorable thing in this chapter to me was the story Bruce and Brain Reimer. This story is about a child how was born a boy but during surgery there were completions so his parents decided to turn him into a girl. They gave him hormones to look like a girl and everything. His parents ended up telling him that he was born a boy so she/he decided to have surgery to become a boy again. He ended up killing himself after his wife left him. I just found it really interesting that researches think that if he developed as a boy his entire life he would not have ended up killing himself.
Terms: Human Development, Nature, Nurture, germinal period, embryonic period, fetal period and hormones.
I chose the link where you answered questions about yourself and it gave you your life expectancy. By answering some of the questions I realized how different factors can affect how long you live. For example genetics, your daily routines, nutritious aspects, and so on. Obviously just because it said that I would live to 84 does not mean I will because things like cancer or other diseases have a role in it as well as some sort of tragedies like accidents.
When I was reading I found a few things interesting especially with Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. While reading it made me think about things that I have noticed about kids while growing up and how different the Preoperational stage is compared to Concrete operational stage. I learned that things like logical thinking is more of a learned ability as you grow up. The preoperational stage is more symbolical thinking and there is not much logic. The example the book gave about how children can see 2 glasses of water that are equal then watch someone pour one into a taller more narrow glass and then be asked which glass has more water in it and still think the narrower one has more gave me a really good idea of just how people in that stage think. As children start to enter the concrete operational stage they think about things more logically and are not fooled by the different glasses that have the same amount of water in them. They are able to analyze it and realize that the glasses are different sizes so the appearance that the water amount is different is not true. Once past the concrete operational stage they move into the formal stage which is when they realize that their actions have consequences. They start to realize that if they do something it will affect the future and are able to think about things more logically, reasonably, and hypothetically. Also another interesting thing I learned about was egocentrism. Children go from viewing the world in their own experiences and understanding how others feel but their though processes revolve around their own perspectives. While reading this I thought about how when children around the age of 2 love to play peak-a-boo. All you do is cover your face or eyes but as soon as you reveal your face the toddler they automatically think it is so funny or get excited to see you even though you were there the whole time.
One of the most memorable things I learned was about the twins that both underwent the same surgery and things went wrong with one of them and they had to change the sex of Bruce from a boy to girl. This really gives an example of how it is not just environmental factors that have to do with gender because even before she knew she was actually a boy she didn’t really feel comfortable in her own skin. This gives us an idea just how much our DNA and how the biological factors of who we are do have a huge role in how we feel about ourselves and it is not just society that tells us how we should or shouldn’t be. One other thought I had while reading this chapter was how the different stages of moral development kind of tie into Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. As we grow from the Preconventional level of moral development to the highest level which is Post conventional level we start to change the way we think morally and we think more into it. It is no longer just it is a right or wrong thing, there are other factors that go into it and more logical reasoning.
Terms: egocentrism, preoperational stage, concrete operational stage, formal operational stage, preconvential level of moral development, conventional, post conventional level of moral development.
What factors impact human development? Choose one of the links (the Forbes one). How has my understanding changed?
It would appear that just about everything factors into human development. From various chemicals introduced to children in the womb, whether in the form of food, liquid, or drugs (legal/illegal), to the social influences of other people/groups on a teenager, to having children as an adult. All of these things technically are very different, but they all play a large role in human development. The other fun thing is that they all happen at different stages in life. It would appear that the book is trying to make these two very broad points: 1. Everything affects development. 2. Humans never stop developing (even if it is in a negative direction like loss of eye sight/hearing with age). I feel like I probably already knew this, but I never stopped to really think about all how development never stops. It was also interesting to look at the psychological development being linked to some biological developments. The study with the infant monkeys responding more positively to touch than being fed was astounding. I always thought that the provision of food/shelter/clothing would have more of an impact on a child than how the parent feels. The experiment seemed a little cruel, but I am not fond of monkeys anyways. Another thing I thought was incredible was that infant’s vision is not fully developed at birth. I had always assumed that was something they were born ready to do. The eyes even have the longest development time (aside from the nervous system) in the womb. Regardless of all the great information on how infants think/develop, I am still scared of them. They are much too fragile.
Another really cool section was the chart that outlined what big mental developments happened later in life. I had no idea that adults had a sense of accomplishment that dawned upon them with respect to their positive influence on the world. The whole chapter was really interesting in that manner. It’s fun to look at the development cycle from a fresh perspective instead of the one I already have after completing the first 21 years.
Terms: develop, psychological, biological, social influences, drugs, chemicals.
After reading chapter 4 of the textbook, I learned a lot about how humans develop, and what factors can affect the development. The chapter starts off with the three phases of prenatal development. It discusses the germinal period, the embryotic period, and the fetal period. The germinal period is the initial uniting of the sperm and the egg, forming a zygote. This is a very critical stage for development, and if anything abnormal occurs, it could result in a miscarriage. After the germinal period comes the embryotic period. During this time, the zygote is developing into a human. This is the time that the spinal cord, brain, and organs such as the lungs, liver, kidneys, and sex organs develop. Again, if there are any complications during this process, it could result in major birth defects, or a miscarriage. The last phase is the fetal period. During this time, there are not any new structures that develop, however the body still changes physically. The baby can begin to breathe and digest food on its own, and move its muscles also. After describing the stages of development, it goes on to talk about nature and nurture, and how it can affect prenatal development. This section discusses the harmful effects of using drugs or alcohol while pregnant. I thought this section was interesting, because it also stated that the male using drugs or alcohol could also affect the development of the child. Women that drink alcohol while they are pregnant are increasing the risk that their baby will have a birth defect. The most common birth defect that comes from the use of alcohol while pregnant is fetal alcohol syndrome, which could result in abnormalities such as a small head, the abnormal formation of the face, limbs, and abnormal brain development. In other words, it is not smart, and very risky to your baby’s health to drink or use drugs while pregnant. The chapter goes on to talk about sensory development, which describes how a child’s senses develop as the child matures. I thought it was interesting to learn that a newborn can only see about 8-12 inches from their heads and that they cannot make out differences in color. Even at two months old, they have blurry vision, and a hard time making out shapes and colors. The next interesting thing that I read in the chapter was the section about gender identity and gender roles. It is crazy to think that even at two years old, children are already deciding what it means to be a boy, and what it means to be a girl. Gender roles can be observed by watching parents, peers teachers and the media. This section goes along with the story that I read called “Coy Mathis’ Fight to Change Gender.” To me, this story was very powerful. The most bizarre thing about the story was that she knew at such a young age that she was meant to be a girl rather than a boy. She was only one and a half years old when she began playing with girl toys, and wearing girl clothes. Coy’s parents didn’t think anything of it, because she was so young, but as she got older, things got worse, and Coy began refusing to wear boy clothing, and play with boy toys. Kathryn, Coy’s mother, didn’t realize how bad things were until she tucked her child in for bed, and she began to cry. When Kathryn asked what was wrong, Coy asked when she was going to get her “girl parts.” This was the start of a transgender journey of a young child. Coy’s parents began to allow her to wear girl clothing to school, and there didn’t seem to be many problems, until the school called and brought up the issue that Coy had been using the girls bathroom. Coy’s parents didn’t seem to understand the harm in this, but the school thought that it was inappropriate to allow a “boy” to use the girls restroom. Coy’s parents ended up pulling her out of school, and after a lot of thought, they enrolled her into another school. During this process, Coy’s parents met other transgender children, and met with transgender parents to get a better understanding of the process. After reading this, I was shocked at how young Coy knew that she was born in the wrong body. I can’t imagine feeling the wrong sense of identity, much less being a parent and having to see your child go through something like that. I was surprised at how well the parents dealt with it, and even more surprised that there were several other children the same age as Coy going through the same thing.
Terms: human development, prenatal development, germinal period, embryotic period, fetal period, sperm, egg, zygote, nature, nurture, fetal alcohol syndrome, sensory development, gender identity, gender roles
I watched the video called “A 4 year-old girl asked a lesbian if she’s a boy.” This video was interesting because the speaker started out by saying we all have a closet, which is just a hard conversation to have. The speaker than goes on to talk about her experience of getting asked, “Are you a boy or a girl?” The speaker told how she just simply said, “I’m the pajamas type of girl.” After she said that the 4-year-old girl was satisfied. It was the easiest hard conversation she’s ever had with anyone because they were real with each other. She than goes on to say that everyone’s closets look the same in the dark but coming out of a closet is hard, hard is not relative, hard is hard. She made a very good point in this video and it was: we need to stop ranking our hard against everyone else’s hard to make us feel better or worse about our closets and just accept the fact that we all have hard. My view of development changed after watching this video because it made me realize that everyone has struggles but like the speaker said, no one should be afraid to live because of their struggles.
The most interesting topic from the reading to me was learning how prenatal development occurs in three phases. It’s crazy to think about how we all started out as two cells, and than nine months later we’re a human being. Prenatal development occurs in three major periods. The germinal period, the embryonic period, and the fetal period. This was the most memorable to me because it just amazes me how we grow over nine months time. The embryonic period is the most important time for physical development of the spinal cord, brain, organs, and sex organs. The fetal period is no new changes but the body continues to change physically.
There are many factors that impact human development. One example would be Nature and Nurture. Smoking, drinking or doing drugs in general can make us sick. Imagine being pregnant and doing those things. A baby can also experience the harmful effects of smoking, drinking, and doing drugs. Teratogens are also a factor in human development. These are substances that cause birth defects. My view of human development also was changed after reading the chapter. I knew the basics such as after nine months a baby is born, infants change physically, and about puberty that teenagers go through. But what I didn’t know was all the little details explained throughout the chapter. The psychological terms I used were human development, prenatal development, germinal period, embryonic period, fetal period and teratogens.
I chose to explore the Scary Mommy link. The website had a lot of great articles. to look at. This website had a lot of categories you could take a closer look at. I chose to look at the article “My HIV Child Is Playing With Your Child.” This article was written by a woman name Jenn Mosher. She discussed what it was like to raise a child that was HIV-positive. Her child was HIV-positive and she had legal protections, which means she does not have to tell you, unless you are a doctor or a dentist. The social worker was already telling her that her child was going to still out because she was Chinese. The social worker later asked if she wanted if she wanted her to stick out even more, but that did not bother her. You do not have to tell schools, churches, or daycares because HIV has never been transmitted in these situations. Her mother will take care of her when she gets cuts, and she has no worries of catching HIV. The daughter takes medication that the Chinese government pays for. Most people do not take it because it means you die to everyone you love. Her daughter might do all the things like other kids, and you still would not know she is HIV-positive.
There are many factors that impact human development. After reading this chapter, I never realized how much the human body develops throughout life. From prenatal development to becoming and infant to a child, then getting to puberty, they are all important stages in life. There are three categories: physical, socio-emotional, and cognitive. Cognitive is the understanding of ourselves, dealing with emotions, and interactions with others. Physical is the changes in the brain, body, hormones, and our motor/sensory skills. Socio-emotional is the mental progress and the ability to think/communicate.
In the first section of the chapter, it talks about the prenatal development. This topic was very interesting to me for many reasons. This topic explains to you very well the formation of a baby. The germinal period is the beginning. It is the period from conception to two weeks after the egg fertilization. After that, is the embryonic period. This is the period of two weeks to eight weeks after contraception. This is also when the brain, spine, major organs, and bodily structures begin to form. The fetal period is the next stage. This last from eight weeks until birth. The brain will continue to develop, bodily structures are more refined, and the fetus grows in length. While a mother is pregnant, she might now make very smart decisions to help the pregnancy go smoothly. Nature and nurture affect the prenatal development. I found this section to be the most surprising/memorable. When the mother is smoking, doing drugs, or drinking alcohol, It affects the growth of the baby tremendously. It can affect the amount of oxygen the baby gets while in the womb. Teratogens can cause birth defects. Some of the effects can be really obvious at birth but some are not noticeable until the child is older. Drugs and alcohol can also have a huge affect on the growth of the baby. Doing drugs not only harms the mother, but also the baby now and later on down in the later development stages. You can have a premature birth or have other complications when associating with drugs and alcohol during pregnancy. After reading this chapter, my understanding of the human development has changed. So many factors can go into the way people look at starting a new life. To have the healthiest baby possible, the mother would have to set aside all of her bad habits. My understanding has changed for the better. I now have a better understanding how all the terrible toxins, drugs, and alcohol can affect a human just in the early stages of life.
terms: physical, socio-emotional, cognitive, germinal period, embryonic period, fetal period, nature and nurture, teratogens, drugs and alcohol
Explore: I chose the Anthony Cerniello’s Aging Simulation Video and it was very intriguing. I actually watched it quite a few times. I found almost breathtaking watching Danielle, the friend, seemingly age before my very eyes. I loved Cerniello’s take on how we can not see aging but we can feel it. We can feel us aging and that is something I agreed with strongly.
I used to think that we as humans sort of just grew up and some important things had impacts on our lives. For example like where we grew up, how our parents disciplined us, and things along those lines. My understanding grew as I read that there are many different stages we go through while developing. I learned that through assimilation we begin process new information and can attach what we already know into something new. I learned that accommodation is when we completely change and alter what we learned all together. I enjoyed learning about Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development. How up until we are two years old we are learning about things through our senses and beginning to learn how things work and this stage is called Sensorimotor. After that comes Preoperational which lasts until age 7. This is when we begin to understand language but can not yet think logically. Between 7-12 we enter Concrete Operational where we can start to think logically and concrete. After age 12 we enter Formal Operational Stage. This is when we begin to understand and think logically about things and start to become concerned.
The part I found the most surprising was the meaning of life. It was true when they said people of all ages want to find the meaning of life but I found it surprising when they said it becomes sort of job for the elderly. It was interesting when they said as we get older we tend to stay away from meeting new people and begin to grow stronger relationships with people we already know.
Terms used: assimilation, accommodation, sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational stage,
So I decided to choose the link where you answer the questions and they calculate your age expectancy. I thought this was very interesting because they go through every aspect of your life such as your diet, hobbies and family history to get a number. I understand it is not 100% accurate but I got projected to live until 87 and I was very content with this. It shows how even if you have family history of bad health as long as you stay healthy and live a good lifestyle you can live longer the opposite is true also. Even if you have great health and good living if you have history of some health problems it can shorten your life expectancy.
There are many stages and factors that impact human development and they start before one is even born in the embryo. This is one of the more important stages because your health can depend on how healthy your mother was during pregnancy. I would say the next important thing is our decisions and how they effect us. We do have a certain amount of control over our development and if someone chooses to drink alcohol or smoke weed there brain may not develop as fast as someone who is sober at a young age. These are decisions that we make ourselves that also shape our developmental future. The next thing I read about that can affect human development is nature and the 'nature affect' these are things people naturally start to do over time because it is mostly the norm. Also something you are born with and really can't change is genetics these can be physical or emotional traits that you're born with.
My thoughts on human development changed quite a bit after reading this. Before I really thought human development was what we learned in health class. You go from toddler to child and from child to teen then you go through puberty. I never really thought about what we could do to effect development but it really makes sense. I also have a much better understanding of the categories in human development which are biological, socio-emotional, and cognitive.
Terms: human development,Nurture, germinal period, embryonic period, fetal period,egocentrism, preoperational stage, concrete operational stage, formal operational stage, preconvential level of moral development, conventional, post conventional level of moral development.
There are multiple things that will change how your child develops. One that was interesting that I read on http://www.spring.org.uk/2013/11/10-current-psychology-studies-every-parent-should-know.php is that if you are a parent that is always over your child they can become depressed. How you’re parents treat you can really effect your development. The book says that girls who live in a higher stress household will start there menstruating sooner than someone who doesn’t have that. With this example you are affected by what kind of environment your parents provided. What your parents do when you are in your mom’s womb can affect you also. If your mom uses a teratogen than you can experience difficulties in life. These could be physical or mental difficulties. Especially if your mom uses a teratogen when you are in the embryotic period of developing you can have serious problems. In this period you make all of your organs. The book talks about after you are born if your brain is not stimulated your brain will not develop correctly. What your parents do with you will have an affect on you. What your parents do with you and to you has a big role in how you develop.
Human development is a very important at all points in life. When you are a baby it is important that you are stimulated. When you are a teen that you find out who you are. You have to find out what your gender identity. It is very important you find out if you are a boy or a girl because that will affect you. The book gives an example of where a man named Bruce Reimer did not know his gender. He was born a boy, but he had some deformity so his parents told him he was a girl. He had to take hormones because he was showing boy behaviors. He did not feel like he was a girl. Then he was told by his parents and had some relief. As a teen you need to find out what your ethnic identity is too. When we are adults it is important to stay active mentally and physically. The book says, “Decades of research show that challenging ones brain by learning new tasks, working puzzles, reading, remaining socially active, and maintaining physical exercise at least 3 days per week is associated with a significant lower risk of dementia (Fratiglioni, Paillard-Borg & Winblad, 2004; Larson et al., 2006)” (page 149) Reading the chapter has made me have a better understanding of what affects humans development.
It was interesting to learn about the different germinal periods when you are in the womb. It makes more sense how to process works. Another thing that was that the placenta is protective, but teratogens can go through it.
One of the most surprising things I read was the story about Bruce Reimer. That would be really surprising if that were I. That was surprising to hear someone was brought up as a girl even though he was a boy. It sounds like he didn’t really accept the fact that he was a girl. That would be a really big surprise to find out you are actually a boy when you were told you were a girl.
Teratogen, Embryotic period, stimulated, Gender identity, Ethnic identity, germinal periods
The link that I have choose to watch is one introduced to us by Huffington Post, Anthony Cerniello did an amazing job explaining the aging process to us by using his friend. I found myself staring hard to see if anything had really been changing it wasn't until i looked away for a couple seconds, that i realized what was happening. I am amazed how precise he was with creating such a video. I agree with him when he says that the aging process is something you feel but cannot see, this is something we all go through without even being conscious that our bodies are making those changes.
I also watched the video “People with no kids don’t know”. I thought it was funny I currently do not have kids and don’t think I could stand having them. I honestly think I would go insane if I had to deal with that everytime I decided to leave the house. This video has shown me how big of an impact that children make in ones life and lets just say I am not ready.
The most interesting part to me was how we develop in the womb. I am intrigued by how much we depend on our mother to ensure that we develop properly. I currently do not have kids and it scares me to think that if i catch a cold or one wrong move I could hurt my baby. Babies are so fragile so every minute of one's pregnancy is important. The three phases of prenatal development are so crucial, which leads my mind to wonder how some people do not know that they are pregnant until six months. The Nature and Nurture affect is important to a child's development before and after birth. To me this seems like so much pressure to be a provider for someone,I commend those who make it look easy. The more I learn about how important children development is, the more I get freaked out.
The most surprising thing to read about was the childrens sensory development. Looking at figure 4.13 and understanding their visual abilities is crazy to think that they don’t see everything the way we see it. I did not know that their vision was so blurry, I knew they could not see as far away as an adult, but to grow up and slowly progress into clear vision would be interesting; if one were paying attention to it.
Terms used: nature, nurture, development, sensory development, three phases of prenatal development
The link that I chose for this assignment is a link that talks about whether or not parents are happier than non parents. This study claims that statistics prove that parents are happier on an everyday basis because they fins such joy tending for and caring fort their children, especially fathers that were a part of this study. The link goes further in to explain how parenting tends to fulfill the life of parents and what kind of parenting seems to bring the most joy. For instance the article speaks about how helicopter parenting may be depressing. It talks about how there is a definite difference between caring and smothering of your children. They say that being a "helicopter parent" or over parenting can have harmful side affects when used to often. After reading this article my opinion on this chapter had not changed much, however I think that it is easy for us to forget how much our emotional state of mind impacts our development and growth and our overall happiness. One of the things that I found most interesting about his chapter is how much changes or stimuli affect us even at an early age. We all learn from an early age that putting toxins like, drugs, tobacco and alcohol in our system is always destructive to our overall well being, but what is really interesting is the fact that out actions can have the same or even more damaging affect on our unborn children. I for one have witnessed many pregnant woman who continue to smoke when they are pregnant
For the Explore! link I choose the one that told you your life expectancy. It told me that I will most limey live to the age of 84. That hit me hard and made me sad. Ever since I was a child I have always wanted to live to be at least 90 years old. I did not know that the people you are related to and the things that they have had medically affects me. I knew that smoking can decrease your life expectancy and that is why I have chose not do it. I was surprised when it asked about how far you drive and who you drive with. It never occurred to me that the other person driving could affect you besides getting in an accident. I was also surprised when they asked if it was a male or female. Although this test scared me it was really interesting and I am glad that I took it. I know that later in life when I near age 84 I will think back to this and wonder if my days are coming to an end.
I thought hat how we develop starts after we are born. But we are actually partly determined by how we develop during the prenatal period, from the time of conception until birth. I also learned that as infants and children develop the brain changes in two critical ways. First myelinated axons form synapses with other neurons and second that over times and with experience, the synaptic connections are refined to preserve the most important and helpful connections. I also did not know that most girls complete puberty by the age of 16 and most boys finish by the age of 18. I was really surprised that boys take that long but then it cleared things up for me. ;) There are so many factors that I had no idea that played apart in developing the human body, like the frontal cortex not being fully developed until the early 20’s. What I found most interesting was that evolutionary speaking a 4o year old is actually quite old. Because our bodies are ready to reproduce in our teens and we peak fitness in our 20’s. The most memorable thing to me when right along with this. That was that the average life expectancy in the United States is 47 years old. That hit me hard because my mom is 46 years old and I could not imagine losing her next year. So far this has been the most interesting chapter to me because I like to find out how my body works and what affects it.
Terms used: develop, myelinated axons, synapses, neurons, synaptic connections, puberty, reproduce, evolutionary,
Human development occurs in three domains: biological, socio-emotional, and cognitive. These are all by several factors such as prenatal care, our environment in which we are cared for in, social and cognitive stimulation, the interaction of nature and nurture, gender identity and socialization, puberty, our peers and other relationships.
I read “Coy Mathi’s Fight to Change Gender” and it was such an interesting and inspiring story. I thought that it was amazing that her parents’ were so helpful and understanding throughout the entire process, trying their best to be so open minded and keep others informed and never backing down. I don’t believe in the institution of gender roles or conformity, there should be no “boy’s toys” or “girl colors”, which encloses children into a specific gender role and box in which they are fearful to step out of and be themselves, when a specific outfit or toy or color has nothing to do with gender whatsoever, it is just a social construct meant to create separation and constrict gender into only two categories, boy or girl, when there are many more than just simply that.
My understanding of human development has changed because I now see the different factors that are attributed to human development and the way that early stages in life can effect the development of your mind and body throughout the rest of your maturation and life. I never really realized that the process of forming attachments to caregivers supports social interactions and emotion regulation, and that these experiences affect the stages of cognitive development like sensorimotor stage, pre operational stage, concrete operational stage, and formal operational stage.
The topics that are most interesting to me, of course, are the topics about the differences between sex and gender, or identity versus role confusion. I do already know a lot about this specific topic, but the reading did help me understand a lot more of the information more thoroughly. I also was really interested in reading the story about Bruce/David Reimer, which is an example of the process and realization of gender identity early in prenatal development and the forces that aid in that identity which are hormonal, biological and environmental.
The most surprising thing that I learned about in this reading was learning about the stages of infantry and how there are different variations of attachment in children, secure attachment, avoidant attachment, and ambivalent attachment, that are caused by different emotional factors and the attachment they have to the caregiver. I was also surprised to learn that babies do not see the difference between colors until they are 2 months old.
Terms: maturation, secure attachment, avoidant attachment, ambivalent attachment, sensorimotor stage, pre operational stage, concrete operational stage, puberty, identity versus role confusion, gender identity, and gender roles
The factors that impact human development: Everything that goes on around them in their daily lives. When a child is in the womb all of the mother’s choices impact the fetus; all food, drinks, exercise, all choices in her daily life. As a child everything in the environment impacts them; their peers, exercise, food, home life. As an adolescent everything impacts them just like it did when they were younger and will continue to do so until they become elderly.
I decide to read “Are You Ready to have Babies? Take the Test.” I don’t have any children, but I am the oldest of four kids (19, 17, 13, 10). Being nearly 10 years apart from the youngest and coming from a divorced family sometimes I do think of him as my child. While reading this article I did see a lot of the things that I saw with him, but other things I definitely questioned. I definitely agreed with the author on the fact of the mess with toys everywhere and things smeared on the wall, but I questioned the dead fish behind the stereo… was that because of smell? Or did he (the author) have that actually happen? I am currently working at the Child Development Center and all the screaming would drive me mad if I had to be with them all day, but then again there are only ten of them when I leave for school. Now for my answer to the articles question. I think I could be mentally ready to have kids, but definitely not now or while I am in school.
I am absolutely fascinated and love babies so I mainly focused on that part of the chapter and found their use of unlearned skills interesting. For example their inborn reflexes of rooting, sucking, and grasping.
• The rooting reflex is one of the unlearned reflexes that gets the baby food. This reflex is put into play when a finger, nipple, bottle or just about anything is put either to the lips or side of the mouth of the baby. They will turn their head to the direction of whatever is enticing them and start sucking on it in hope that it will give them food.
• The sucking reflex is the unlearned reflex that is the eating reflex. This is what gets the baby his or her food. The rooting reflex gets their mouth to the food, but the sucking reflex actually gets them the food. Their mouth is already to the food but they need to suck to get it; that’s where this reflex comes in.
• The grasping reflex is the last unlearned reflex. This is reacted when something is stroked in the baby’s palm and he or she curls her fingers around the object. Scholars believe that when we evolutionized from primates we kept this trait since primates don’t carry their babes in their arms, but they hold onto the hair on the mother’s back. A baby’s grip is so strong that you can take both hands and pick them up off of a table by just their grip.
The thing I found most surprising was Figure 4.6 on page 116 it shows a picture of Amillia Sonja Taylor. This poor child was born in 2006; she was only in the womb for 21 weeks and 6 days. She weighed only 10 ounces and was only as long as a ball-point pen. It’s crazy that for only being in the womb for 21 weeks, this little baby was born. It doesn’t say if she survived or not, but it’s really sad knowing that the chances of little Amillia’s survival weren’t in her favor.
Words: Rooting reflex, Sucking reflex, Grasping reflex, Inborn Reflexes
Many factors impact human development, these include; genetics/biology and environment. There are many different periods in prenatal care that have a direct influence with the baby. The germinal period is the first major period. In this period the joining of egg and sperm forms a zygote that implants in the uterine wall in 2 weeks. The embryonic period is from two weeks to two months, is when the organ develops the embryo. The fetal period is from two months until birth. This is a time for a lot of physical growth and brain development that prepares the baby to survive outside the womb. Prenatal care is very important to the development of a baby. During pregnancy if the woman uses recreational drugs (such as cocaine or marijuana) during their pregnancy it can have lasting effects on the children. Many of these babies can be born premature and show signs of withdrawal as an infant. Not only does a woman’s behavior have an effect on the child, but so can a potential father. Both men and woman can effect a babies development with the use of alcohol. Woman who drink alcohol can make a child have a birth defect called Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. FAS can cause a serious deformity of the brain, and other abnormalities such as, small head, and heart defects. Along with physical impairments FAS babies can also have low birth weight, slight mental retardation, and behavioral and cognitive problems. If the mother smokes while pregnant the baby can be still born and have learning difficulties.
Not only can things you do while pregnant have a factor, but even after you have your child there are certain things a mom/dad should and shouldn’t do. Infants and children have to be in an environment that provides stimuli and comfort. If not, the child may be less likely to be able to solve complex problems, or be able to develop advanced language skills. The best brain development takes place in environments with rich stimulation and comforting contact with caregivers.
My understanding has changed since I read this chapter because I now understand that everything a pregnant woman does can have lasting effects on an unaware child. I also know now that a potential father’s behaviors can also have effects on an unborn child as well.
The most interesting thing to me is the case study with the monkey. They put infant monkeys in a cage with one ‘mother’ that could only feed him, and the other ‘mother’ that was just cloth. The monkey clung to the cloth in times of threat, and only went to the wire when they needed milk. In conclusion, they would rather have a mother that provided comfort than a mother that provides milk.
The most surprising thing I learned was the major psychology crisis that each stage of life has. The most interesting is the adolescence identity versus role confusion, because it makes sense.
Genetics, biology, environment, germinal period, embryonic period, fetal period, alcohol, smoking, stimulation, brain development, and attachment.
For my link explore, I read Washington Post’s post about the science behind making humans straight or gay. As a person who identifies as gay, I found the article rather interesting. As I was going through the process of really understanding my sexuality and the moral dilemma that came with it being raised in a devout Christian family, I ran into a random article that said in evolution, sometimes a homosexual gene becomes prevalent to reduce the number of population in a given species. If you really think about it, it does make sense. Maybe that was just me trying to find more positive reasons behind why I was the way I was/am. I have come a long ways since then, and I am thankfully very open and proud to be who I am. A part of me wishes there could be more funding for research on a “gay gene”. It could lead to a more equality filled world if there was scientific evidence backing up what we are trying to say and explain. The other part of me thinks that the funding should be used for research on genes that cause severe defects in humans. It is a difficult thing for me to process and essentially pick a side to be on.
Human development is impacted by an extremely wide variety of things, but ultimately nature AND nurture. Examples of nature include the rooting reflex, sucking reflex, grasping reflex and puberty. Examples of nurture are when a mother is pregnant with a child, if the mother is speaking English and French, the child will be more susceptible to listening to English and French words when born. The more a child’s brain is stimulated, the more synaptic connections are made.
One of the biggest ways my understanding of human development was reading the chapter about infants. I literally knew nothing about any reflexes or synaptic connections until I read this chapter. Infants go through extraordinary changes that I knew nothing about! It almost makes me scared to have a child now because I do not want to screw up their development. There is so much to consider when having a child if you are wanting to make sure your baby grows up in the best environment and has the best chance at a great life. Not that I didn’t think having a child was a big commitment, but we as humans really should be more careful when deciding to bring a child in to the this world.
The most surprising thing I read about in Chapter 4 was the story of the twins, Brian and David (Brenda/Bruce). It proves to me that no matter the genitalia you have, the gender you identify as, has nothing to do with what is in your pants. It makes me really excited to do my book report as I chose the book, “As Nature Made Him, The Boy Who Was Raised As A Girl”.
Psychological terms: puberty, rooting reflex, sucking reflex, grasping reflex,
I read the Huffington Post link with the video of the lady aging in front of our eyes. It was weird to see it happen in a time lapse like that, because the creator was able to make the person represented in the time lapse consistently appear the same. I used to think before reading the chapter that development of a child kind of just happened completely naturally, but since reading the chapter I now know that there is a combination of environmental factors and biological factors that go into the development of a child. Psychologists refer to the environmental factors of a child development as nurture, and the biological factors as nature. It is understood that both nurture and nature play key parts in the growth of a child.
The part that interested me the most from the reading is the experiment with the monkeys that had the option to either go to a soft cloth monkey doll or a hard metal wire monkey doll. Even though the hard, uncomforting monkey doll had food, when the real monkeys weren’t feeding they clung to the soft monkey. Also, when the monkeys were startled by the scary robot they chose to cling to the soft doll for comfort, and clinging to the doll calmed them down and even made them more aggressive towards the robot.
The most surprising part of this chapter to me was about how the vision of a child develops over time. A newborn infant has only the slightest vision of the world, it is practically blind. But, over a period of time as short as two months, the vision improves drastically, and then again from two months to six months the vision is improved significantly. Finally, by the time the child is around one year old, its vision is the level of a full grown adult.
The main thing I took away from this chapter is, how rapid children develop. We may think children grow quick in their teenage years, but the growth is dwarfed by the gains of unborn babies and infants. The speed in which children grow physically and especially mentally from unborn baby to when they are a teenager is amazing. It is a testament to how we have adapted to the fact that children need to be able to survive on their own.
Psychological terms: development, environmental, biological, nurture, nature, growth, adapt, survive
I read the article about the "10 current Psychology studies every parent should know." To me, it seemed that everything on this list were things that seem like no-brainers to me. "Putting your child first is worth it," "Helicopter parenting may be depressing," and "Regular Bedtimes" all seem pretty straight forward to me. My understanding of human development has changed because I thought everyone followed their own path of development, but I found out that everyone follows basically the same path as far as ages and their corresponding changes. The topics that are the most interesting to me are the ones about the babies because that is a period in my life that I can't remember. I can remember being a teen, I can remember being a child, but being an infant is definitely not something I remember. The most memorable thing I learned was about the Schemas. This was memorable to me because it makes complete sense to me. I have spent a lot of time around children and when they mistake one thing for something else and you correct them, they always seem so surprised, but also willing to accept this new information. I think the schemas are interesting also because it shows that even young children are capable of inductive reasoning skills.
Terms: Development, Schema
I watched the comedian talking about people without kids. I found it very funny and extremely realistic. Thinking back to my childhood and how much my mom had to put up with. My sister and I were very similar to the children in this skit. I also watched the Ted Talk about the lesbian explaining her sexuality to a four year old girl. This discusses coming out of closets and how any hard conversation is a closet, not just about sexuality. This was very interesting to me because it gives another perspective to anyone struggling with telling someone something. I also watched the youtube video about a world where being gay was the norm. This hit me harder than anything else I watched from the explore list. Putting a heterosexual into the place of a bullied homosexual was eye opening and it gave me a new respect for all struggling homosexual teens.
The most interesting topic in this reading was about child and infant development. My mom is a speech and language clinication and attended a workshop on this type of development this summer. Infants have a fundamental need to form strong connections with their caregivers. Without this connection serious cognitive development problems can occur. In this chapter a Strange-Situation Test was used. It tested the attachment style in an infant. The first type of attachment is secure attachment. This is when the child is happy to play alone and is friendly to the stranger as long as the attachment figure is present. The second type of attachment is avoidant attachment. These infants do not get upset or cry at all when their caregivers leave, and they may prefer to play with the stranger rather than the parent during their time in the playroom. Sometimes these infants also avoid their caregivers when they come back into the room. The final type of attachment is ambivalent. An infant who has this style of attachment may cry a great deal when the caregiver leaves the room, yet both seek and reject caring contact when the caregiver returns and tries to calm them down. Before reading this section I never noticed a style or significance to how a child reacts when their caregiver leaves.
The most surprising part of the reading was the story about Brenda. Brenda was born a male with severe damage to his penis. Because of this his parents decided to put him through reconstructive surgery and raise him as a girl. Along Brenda was raised as the stereotypical girl she was not happy and didn't quite fit in as well as the other girls. When told that she was actually born as a boy Brenda claimed that suddenly her life made sense. After figuring this out she immediately resumed the role as a male and felt much more comfortable in his own skin. This story was surprising to me because I believed that gender roles were taught to us through early development. The case of Brenda proves this wrong. Gender role may have something to do with how we are raised but it also is affected by our gender identity.
Psych Terms: gender identity, gender role, ambivalent attachment, secure attachment, avoidant attachment, Strange-Situation Test, cognitive development,
One of the biggest factors in our human development is how we develop while still growing in our mom’s womb. The embryonic period is the most important time for organ development. If something goes wrong during this stage, a miscarriage or birth defect can happen. It is very important for expecting mother’s to take prenatal vitamins so that their baby gets all the nutrients it needs to help prevent birth defects. Human development is also impacted our genetics (nature) and our environment (nurture). Harmful drugs can also impact human development, if used while pregnant the baby could be born with birth defects like Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. I thought it was interesting how Jean Piaget said we change how we think as we form new schemas of how the world works.
Of the links we got to choose from, I watched the video about if being homosexual was normal, and being hetero was weird and it really opened my eyes. Not that I was completely against same-sex relationships or anything, but this video makes you really think about things from a different point of view. This video had a lot of gender role changes. It starts off with Ashley being a ring bearer talking about the flower boy, and later it’s mentioned that she didn’t make the football team, but when she got a part in the play that was a boy thing to do. I really liked how the video didn’t just talk about being gay being the norm, but it showed how things would be different like the church scenes saying being a breeder was wrong, showing a hetero couple’s house vandalized and the mom not allowing her kids to walk that way, Romeo and Julio and the mom getting mad because the teacher said how it was actually about a female interest of Shakespeare. This video really got me thinking of how hard it must be for some people, especially young kids who know they gay, but are afraid of what will happen once they come out to people.
The most memorable thing I read was the section about Bruce Reimer being raised as a girl. I actually picked As Nature Made Him: A Boy Raised as a Girl for my book report so reading that was a nice preview for what is to come in my book. I couldn’t imagine having to make that decision for my child’s life, and I hope I never have too. David’s story is really cool to see how gender identity takes place really early in life, and maybe if gender idenity does take place that early, people will be more accepting of the fact that sexual orientation could too.
One of the topics that caught my eye was on how in the preoperational stage, 2-7 years old, couldn't understand that two cups that have the same amount of water will still have the same amount of water in them if one of the small cups is poured into a skinner taller glass. I honestly didn’t believe kids didn’t understand that so I went to youtube and sure enough found videos all proving the same thing. I also thought it was pretty interesting that when we are going through puberty our brain’s change too.
My understanding of human development has changed a lot actually because I didn’t know we kept developing into adulthood. I guess our bodies just changed because of age and not eating correctly. I thought that while we were growing up it was just our environment, and family who made us who we are and that was it. But now I know we never stop developing as we grow.
Terms Used: Embryonic Period, Gender Role, Preioerational Stage, Puberty, Gender Identify
The two big factors that impact human development are nature and nurture. The developmental changes are grouped into the three domains: psychical, socio-emotional, and cognitive. The part of the chapter that I found most interesting about the chapter was the affects that drugs and alcohol had on the on the developing fetuses. not only do drugs and alcohol increase infant death rates increase by two to three times, but infants even show signs of withdrawal from the drugs after they are born such as: irritability, vomiting, diarrhea, and rapid breathing. I also found it interesting that its not only the mother that can affect the the outcome of this by doing drugs or drinking too much alcohol but the father can play a role in it at conception if he is on drugs or drinking as well. A specific defect that is severe is fetal alcohol syndrome, which causes abnormalities in the brain, the face, limbs, and heart defects. FAS also causes slight mental retardation and behavioral and cognitive problems. The most memorable thing about this topic was about Brian Reimer who was the 22 month old toddler who had to go through sexual reassignment. It was memorable because we watched a video in class about someone who grew up and wanted to change their sex, but it was interesting to see it happen when the parents didn't really have a choice and Brian didn't even know it until he was older and then decided to change sex again and be a male.
Psychological terms: FAS, cognitive
I explored some of the links provided and personally found the “Are You Ready To Have Babies?” the most memorable one because it’s probably a honest article. Some people don’t realize how much having kids changes things. Even if you’re a fully developed adult, having kids still changes you and your life in many ways probably emotionally and mentally since you’re caring for another developing person. I think that article did a good job of explaining that in a realistic way.
Seems like everything affects the human development, from the environment to drinking or drugs. I learned those things don’t just affect a baby or a fetus, it affects teenagers development as well even if they are physically done growing, it doesn’t mean their brains are. I learned that it is more of a process than I ever sat and thought about, being at an age I’ve gone through a lot of those things, it’s weird to think we’ve all been through it. I didn’t really realize a lot of the skills we have like inborn reflexes that we were born with were for survival and it’s all things we don’t have to learn along with motor skills, it is something we’ve used daily but we’ve had to learn how to do it by developing as years go by.
I thought the baby development and developmental psychology were the most interesting because it’s kinda cool how cells in the womb form a large baby over a few months span. How over a few weeks, the baby develops things like the heart and brain then things like teeth and ears. I didn’t know during the fetal period that things kinda pause and nothing big happens just physical changes in the body. I also didn’t know teratogens played a part in so many births and was such a big problem by how many women still participated in those harmful activities while pregnant.
I think as a young adult the most memorable thing about the reading was how you still develop in adulthood. How relationships change as you get older is interesting because it is something I am starting to see as I head into my 20’s from teenager years. How much your body starts to decline in what we see as the best years from 20’s to 40’s, how you can’t get away with lack of sleep or staying out late like you could as a teenager or twenty year old. It’s always a good reminder to stay in good habits when it comes to exercise and eating healthy since bodies and metabolism slow down as you get older.
Terms used- Development, fetus, motor skills, teratogens, development psychology
The main factors that impact human development is the phrase known as nature vs. nurture. Nature is more about genes and heredity that are passed down from generations while nurture is more about how the environment affects someone. Nature can affect the human being by how their ancestors looked and acted. For example if the babies dad was a star athlete during high school, the child is more likely to have some sort of an athletic gene when he grows up. Also if the mother has red hair the baby is more likely to develop red hair. On the other side of nature is nurture; nurture is about how the baby is affected by his or her environment. For example if a child is raised up in a low-income environment and has no adult figures around they may have trouble with learning right from wrong. Both nature and nurture has an affect on how humans develop.
I chose the link from Huffington Post about an aging simulation video. This video was very interesting to see how we change from being a child to being old age. This video also shows how nature impacts on how we develop and age. The guy who did the video used photos of the girl’s relatives, young and old, to show how we change over time. This is an example of nature because of the use of the girl’s relative’s photos. These photos show how genes/heredity can affect how we look when we become older.
My understanding of human development has changed a little bit after reading this chapter. I took this class in high school so I knew some of this information already before reading this chapter. But I did begin to understand more about children and how they change socially, emotionally, and cognitively. I used my past experiences with working with kids at a daycare to help me understand how they grow every day.
The most interesting topic that I read was the stages of psychosocial development by Erik Erikson. I thought this was interesting because it involves all of the stages that we go through in our life. It also explains what we are going through during that time period, for example I am in the adolescence stage and I am going through identity versus role confusion and once I accomplish that and get older I can move down to the next stage of life.
The most interesting thing that I learned in this chapter was how I am only half way through the eight stages of psychosocial development. It is weird to think that I have so many more years ahead of me with many challenges that I will have to overcome to live a happy life. I was also surprised that during the twentieth century the average life expectancy was only forty-seven years old and now we live up to seventy or eighty years. This also shows how we have made a lot of improvements toward our health and our ability to live a longer and healthier life.
Psychological Terms: Nature vs. Nurture, genes, heredity, psychosocial development, and identity vs. role confusion.
After reading the chapter and the link, I became very interested in the ways a child develops based on parent interaction. One thing I found outside the reading was this:http://www.early-childhood-education-degrees.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/EffectiveParents.jpg and I drew connections between what I read, and what the diagram showed. Paying attention to how a child develops is becoming more and more important nowadays because with things like the internet, it’s easier for a child to have more influences on their development than just the nature/nurture parental influence. Some of these influences aren't so bad however, an example would be: A kid grows up in an intolerant household and is gender confused, normally they would be forced into their birth gender but with social media outlets and such, it’s easier for them to find someone to talk to without bias, essentially changing the entire early developmental stage. Another related link I found was this: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/12/131211103958.htm. It talks about how spankings at an early age can increase the chances of a child committing criminal acts; I found it interesting because I am very anti-spanking. I always find these topics to be very interesting because I'm someone who just really enjoys kids in general.
Terms I used: Development, Nature, Nurture, gender identity, developmental stages.
I watched the video on the comical guy who talks about how difficult it is to do things when you have children vs. when you don’t. He talks about how difficult it is to leave the house, how tired you are, and how you have no time to do anything you want. It makes me really want to wait to have children until I am 100% ready for them. I also think that yeah, it may be hectic at times when you’re a parent but I always have loved kids so I think the struggles you will go through with them are worth it.
The topic in the book that is most interesting to me is in the very first section, “How Do We Develop in the Womb?” It is so amazing how much we grow and change from the prenatal period, to birth, to now. It is hard to believe that we all started as two cells, 9 months later coming out as a human being, and today being grown adults. At week 1& 2 we are still in the period of dividing the zygote and the implantation of the blastocyst. At 3 weeks we are developing our central nervous system and our heart. Week 4 & 5 we are developing our eyes, heart, arms, legs, brain, and ears. Week 6 we are developing or teeth buds and 7 weeks or Palate. Week 8 & 12, we develop our external genitalia. 16-38 weeks we continue to develop in various areas, get hair and grow larger for birth. It is a truly amazing process we grow through to be the individuals we are today.
The most memorable thing I read was about the maturation process. I have 8 siblings so it has always been fun to watch them grow and start doing new things. Especially my 3 younger brothers who are 15 months and the identical twins are 6 weeks. Right now the twins are starting to lift their heads and look around at things. I have seen the 15 month old in his first year of life, progress from moving his head to sitting up, crawling, standing, and walking. It is neat how the physical development of the brain and body prepare an infant for all the movements they will be learning and doing throughout the first few years of their lives.
TERMS: Prenatal Period, Zygote, Blastocyst, Central Nervous System, Maturation.
I watched the video of Ash Beckham and how she explained what it means to be in the closet and how to come out. Her most interesting point to me was that the closet is not only a problem homosexuals face, but anyone who has a hard conversation they must have. It could be admitting that you cheated on the one you love or telling your child that their parents are getting divorced. Nearly everyone has some sort of hard conversation or challenge, and not accepting it or telling anyone about it can emotionally and physically harm the secret holder. Development starts in the germinal period, where a baby starts off as a single zygote. This cell keeps on dividing and growing into a bigger ball of cells, where it enters the embryonic period. From here and in the fetal period, the unborn baby will develop all of its organs and limbs, and then be ready for birth. Drugs and alcohol can have an effect on how the baby develops inside the womb as well as through early childhood and adolescence. These things should be avoided during pregnancy by the mother, as well as by the child while growing up and still maturing. Through childhood, the child will learn to move and speak within one or two years, and spend the rest of childhood perfecting these skills. The most surprising thing I read about was how Bruce Reimer was raised as a girl although he was male. This was due to a complication during circumcision, and doctors felt it best to undergo gender rearrangement. As he was being socialized to be a girl, he constantly felt uncomfortable and out of place. He decided to continue life as the male he was born as, but through troubles in life, he ultimately committed suicide at the age of 38. The fact that he was raised as a girl during childhood is believed to have made his ability to deal with these problems much harder, and played a role in his decision to end his life.
Key terms: Zygote, Embryonic Period, Fetal Period, Germinal Period
The human development is a very interesting topic that I read this week. There were questions that I had to question myself about, the first one is how do we develop in the womb? I have always been curious of how a human being gets developed in a women’s body. Human development goes into three domains: biological, socio-emotional, and cognitive. Steps come into play in everything we do as a society that factors into making a children is the same way. A teratogens are environmental agents with physical effects during stages that can bring long-term cognitive and behavioral effects. In section 2, there was a huge amount of information that dealt with the development of the stages that made up the skills and attachments to a newborn and young child. The rooting reflex occurs when an infant is stroked on the side of its mouth, and will open its mouth for food to come. The sucking reflex is when the newborn will automatically close its mouth around the nipple and begin to suck to eat. Another reflex is the grasping reflex, that is when the baby will close its hand when you stroke its palm and curls its fingers around the around that was touched. Learning that newborns have inborn skills and reflexes amazes me how we were actually born to survive for certain situations.
Being able to see is a skill that newborns lack. They are dependent on their caregivers to be able to trust them in protecting it from danger. Things are a blur until they reach semi-adulthood and rely on their own. Early attachment is a reaction we all go through a need to have comfort as humans. Harry Harlow believed that infants were in need of something else instead of food and did research/experiment to find what it was. For this experiment, he placed an infant rhesus monkeys into a cage. One with a wire “mother” who provided milk and the other with a cloth “mother who did not have milk. Harlow found out that the rhesus monkeys only went to the wire mother for food and stayed with the cloth mother for the rest of the time because of having comfort and for the softness. The conclusion to this experiment is that infants need more than just food from the mother and as also the mother-as-food theory was shown to be wrong. The developmental psychologist Jean Piaget investigated that children’s thinking changes as they develop over the years. Piaget’s research became the basis of his theory and transformed into stages we know today. The first stage is sensorimotor (birth-2 years) that starts with mentally represent information, realizes things still exist even when they are not there, and begins to act intentionally. Second, is preoperational (2-7 years) which involves learning use of language, think intuitively, and classifies objects by a single feature. Third, is concrete operational (7-12 years) were logically thinking comes into play, achieves number and weight, and organizes in several features. The last one is, formal operational (12 years and up) is thinking logically about abstract propositions and test hypotheses and becomes concerned about issues that matter in everyone’s daily life.
Throughout the ending of Chapter 4, they explained the detailed information about puberty, gender roles, and the level brain activity that we can go through in life. Physical changes are undergo as we get hit puberty and some of the characteristics that we have as teens. Adolescence was brought up about the time that teens go through with confronting the psychosocial conflict of identity versus role confusion. I was somewhat biased in this section because of the facts that I thought was false but was open-minded about what was “scientific” and what was my opinion about the information. Changes are an everyday battle as humans that physical activity is one of the best was to keep in shape. Cognitive abilities start to decline as we grow older, but despite the declines many elderly people thrive, reporting it to be the happiest time of their lives. I feel like that is very true because of the stress that young adults have to go through to make a life for themselves that enjoying life is somewhat impossible. Adulthood to me is kind of scaring, but knowing that everything we do is something that could benefit for us in the future. Growing old is scaring, but knowing that all of the battles that you fought is paying off by not having to work. Going back on the human development, I learned a lot of interesting topic, facts, and vocab that knowing some of this will benefit for me in the future and for my career.
Terms:human development,biological, socio-emotional,cognitive,teratogens,rooting reflex,sucking reflex,grasping reflex,sensorimotor,preoperational,concrete operational and formal operational .
The factors that impact human development are biological, socio-emotional, and cognitive. I chose the ted-x talk of the “A 4-Year-Old Girl Asked A Lesbian If She's A Boy. She Responded The Awesomest Way Possible” and it was much different than what I expected it to be, as the talk was more about how everyone had a closet to come out of and you aren’t alone in feeling the way you do. It showed how from a young age people are most generally accepting of anything. It takes time, and training to not be accepting of people just being the way that they are.
I have learned that even though people mature at different rates we all mature more or less the same way. Most of us are born with the instinct to grab on to something. We are all born with some sort of attachment to our caregivers weather it is a secure attachment, an avoidant attachment or an ambivalent attachment.
The most memorable thing I learnt was the story of Bruce Reimer, I had been told this story in high school and it has always stuck with me how much the way you are raised can determine your gender identity and adulthood. And obviously this story had not a very happy ending, but it is something that every once and a while I will think about.
Terms used: maturation, secure attachment, avoidant attachment, ambivalent attachment, gender identity
I never thought about how children develop, learn, and change over the course of infanthood into adulthood. When I was a kid I thought that growing up was a magical thing that happened over time, and I had no idea how many things could influence the development process. A child’s development can be greatly influenced even before birth. In the prenatal period the child is very much at the mother’s mercy. If she decides to smoke or drink alcohol the baby is at a very high risk for teratogens. The child can be born with fetal alcohol syndrome or have defects to the nervous system, heart, eyes, arms, and other important places in the body. Even if a mother did a perfect job as a pregnant woman she can still harm the baby after birth; if a child is neglected during the early stages of life and has limited resources for learning she could have an under developed brain. Even later on in childhood there are events in the environment that can change the average development of a child. An example would be a girl who is under a plethora of stress at a young age and she could start puberty a little earlier than normal.
It is awesome how the brain is ready to learn and pick up information right after birth to help the little person survive. For example how babies who listen to their mothers talk while in the room are more likely to pay attention to that certain language. Babies also learn to cry for attention, food, comfort, and protection. The brain is also wired to with inborn reflexes such as moving their lips when someone touches the corner of the mouth and finding food. Learning by using the senses is also a key way of survival. The most memorable part of the chapter was the story of Bruce Reimer. It would be horribly confusing to grow up as a girl and not really be a girl. If I were raised as a boy but biologically was a girl I would have problems with identity, fitting in socially, and I would hate my parents for lying to me. It is hard enough dealing with ethnic identity and social norms.
From one of the links I read about some of the do’s and don’ts of parenting plus the article also highlighted how life as a parent can be more rewarding than life without children. Some of the don’ts of parenting included not letting a child under the age of three watch TV. Apparently, watching TV at a young age can affect the child’s learning ability and performance in school. This reminded me of the development process children discussed in the book and how certain events and actions can disrupt the learning process. Another don’t was being a helicopter parent but that was more of like a no brainer for anyone to know. An intriguing don’t on the list was not to use strict discipline on the child. The article never fully explained what strict discipline meant. Is it being an army dad with strict rules to follow or did it mean cussing out the child. Discipline is a good thing to teach to children; I don’t understand how it got on the don’t list. One thing that I found interesting about the article was that parents enjoy life more than childless people. What is it about children that makes a person feel complete and satisfied?
Terms Used: prenatal, teratogens, fetal alcohol syndrome, nervous system, puberty,and inborn reflexes
Explore Link- The link I chose to explore and watch the YouTube video, “Imagine a World Where Being “Gay” The Norm & “Straight Would Be the Minority! [Short Film]”. I thought this video was incredibly interesting. I’ve never thought about this situation in this way. Reading the comments of the video, many peoples’ views were that the video was inaccurate because with no way to reproduce, humans would be extinct and many also asked why gay people couldn’t just choose to be straight. I think that being gay isn’t a choice in anyway. Chapter four talks about how many aspects of who you are as a person and the way you mature depends a lot on when you are still in the womb and into your first few years after being born. The way you develop is dependent on nature vs. nurture and the information the infant has been exposed to. With this, I think that being gay is a very natural occurrence due to what the person has been affected by in their lifetime.
After reading Chapter four and learning about how a person develops, my views of who I am have changed. Developmental psychology studies the changes that occur in an infant throughout the stages of our lives. I’ve learned that many aspects of who I am, I didn’t learn from my first few years after being born, but while I was still in my mother’s womb, or the prenatal period. From conception to birth, prenatal development occurs in three phases, germinal period, embryotic period, and fetal period. While going through these periods, infants are affected by their genetics and different aspects of the environment. A baby’s inborn reflexes and other things a baby knows instinctively to help it survive, happen naturally. The rooting reflex, sucking reflex, and grasping reflex are all examples showing how infants are born knowing these skills naturally through genetics. On the other hand, nurture is critical for developing bonds with a caregiver. Infants learn other necessities on living from what they learn when creating such bonds. Before reading the chapter, I thought a baby really only needed a caretaker for food, but I’ve learned that having someone there to comfort you is very important on how an infant develops.
I thought the section about assimilation and accommodation where interesting. I understand the material about different schemas, is like putting different information into separate boxes in our brain. During assimilation, when learning a new experience, we place this information into a box filled with things common to this experience while during accommodation, we create a whole new schema because is drastically new from anything we’ve ever learned. The example of the child yelling “dog” when they saw a cow was interesting. It’s a way of learning that I had never thought about. A child sees that a cow and dog both have four legs and are both covered in fur, and thinks that these two things are the same. After realizing that this is not true, a child must create a new schema for the new information.
Psych Terms: Nature vs. Nurture, Developmental Psychology, germinal period, embryotic period, fetal period, prenatal period, inborn reflexes, assimilation, accommodation
The development of a person is not something I think of on a day-to-day basis. Reading this chapter helped me understand the development of humans physically and psychologically. There were several topics that I found interesting, but the topic that stood out the most was Intelligence and memory. I found this topic interesting because it helped me understand what happens to the human mind when I become older. I was surprised to read that memory decline happens around the age of 60. I have a few family members and know of several people in their late 70s that can remember everything. For example, my grandma who is about 80 years old can remember what she wanted for Christmas when she was thirteen. She has also recalled past family gatherings and can remember exactly what someone was wearing. Her memory is still very sharp so to me I was very surprised by this statistic. As I continued to read I saw that people who are healthy and mentally active are more likely to remember more. I found this interesting, because it made me curious as to how someone who is healthy can remember more as to someone who isn’t as healthy does not remember as much. People who are healthy, and also mentally active can get dementia or Alzheimer’s just like someone who is their opposite.
Under the links provided I clicked on the YouTube link curious to what the video was about. I watched the video and found the comedian very funny, but also realistic. Although I do not have kids, my mom runs a daycare so I have been around kids my whole life from when I was born until currently when I go home for a weekend here and there. I found the way the kids reacted to parents when they were going to leave the house was funny. Every kid my mom has ever babysat for that I can recall has at one point or another thrown a tantrum because they did not want to go home, or made it impossible to leave. What I did notice about the comedian is that he did not talk about having any piece and quite. In the afternoon when my mom would put all the kids down for naps, there would always be that one kid who wouldn’t be tired. That kid would stay up playing, bugging my mom, or just making a lot of noise.
Terms: physically, psychologically, intelligence, memory
Alberto Sveum
The article from Forbes written about 7 detrimental parenting methods basically suggests that parent’s actions, allowances, and tendency to “rescue” their children can be a negative thing. I strongly agree with the point made in the article that coddling or building up children’s character for no real reason is not conducive to a productive child. I have read that it is far more appropriate to reward children only when they have done something truly great, not simply because “everyone is a winner.” Another interesting point made was that parents should not try to completely keep children from making mistakes and learning lessons, I think think this coincides with the whole identity issue discussed in chapter four. I could also see these trial and errors aiding children later on during stages like Erickson’s intimacy versus isolation because knowledge surrounding relationships is easily acquired by learning from mistakes, at least, that’s what I’ve found. What better way is there to find your niche than to learn life lessons the hard way?
Before this chapter was assigned, I never really considered a number of things relevant to cognitive development. I figured that while physical features developed as though they were on a timeline, more personal features came as they were revealed to the child. Piaget suggest, for instance, that children are only able to consider “concrete things” up until a certain age, I had no idea there were specific times to see such changes develop.
I found the idea that children are literally incapable of critical thinking up until a certain age quite interesting. I often ponder the idea of early childhood learning and when would be appropriate in development to discuss more big picture or complex ideas. I think of myself, and really, this idea makes sense. I could have never comprehended The Fountainhead or The Communist Manifesto as a young lad, not only for the high level vocabulary, but the critical considerations involved would have been like a foreign language to me.
Most memorable was the discussion of how children in grade school typically use blocks to do mathematics because they are incapable of using the mental imagery required for the work. I never considered that there were actual reasons for using blocks or physical objects, I just figured it was an attempt to incorporate things adolescents enjoy, like toys or building tools.
Psychological terms: development, critical thinking, cognitive development, intimacy versus isolation
I chose the link that was how long my life expectancy would be. You can never be for sure on how long you will live but this was interesting to see how long I was expected to live. Many factors are in place to see how long you will live like genetics, heart disease and cancers that could be in my family. Driving even influences my life expectancy. For example, drinking and driving, if you wear a seat belt and simply how many hours you drive on average. Eating right and exercising can also help your life expectancy. My life expectancy was 81.6 years, I wasn't really surprised by this although my family has no history of disease or cancer. I only exercise here and there and eating healthy could be better. Learning this I will try to change a few things and especially eat a lot healthier.
Factors that impact human development are nature and nurture. Nature is a theory that holds that physical and cognitive development is genetically determined. While nurture is a theory that thinks physical and cognitive development is determined by environmental factors. My understanding has changed a lot about human development because the environment and the way you are treated growing up can change how you are as a person. If you grow up in a good community, go to a good school and your parents are nice to you, you have a good chance of growing up as a nice and caring person.
The most interesting thing to me was if a pregnant women has a bad diet her baby is more likely to be born prematurely or to have a low birth weight. Low birth weight infants are 40 times more likely than normal weight babies to die before their first birthday. The most surprising thing to me was the physical development. By the first birthday, height has increased 20 to 30 inches and weight has tripled. Nature and nurture, inherited characteristics and the environment interact to determine the course of growth.
Terms used: Nature, Nurture, Genetics
Throughout the text it describes many factors that can inhibit and influence growth of a child in pre-natal and after birth. The use of drugs, legal or recreational strongly influences birth defects such as miscarriages, mental retardation, deformations, and pre-mature birth to name a few. Not only do these teratogens effect development but also diseases and infections the mother gets. My view on human development has changed in the fact that I believed that humans are helpless from birth where that is not necessarily the case with infants having many instinctive inborn reflexes such as the ability to find food when stroked at the corner of the mouth, and grasping things when the palm is stroked. I thought the strange situation experiment was interesting with finding the capability of a baby a secure, avoidant, or ambivalent in nature. I would think that at infancy a child wouldn’t reject a caregiver when they need them to survive. I found it shocking that 35-40 percent of children are actually in the category of ambivalent attachment and avoidant attachment, which have been linked to poor outcomes later in life such as depression or behavioral problems. Another interesting thing that I came across was that the father has an influence on the baby with his diet and habits which can cause disabilities in a child.
Psychological terms: teratogens, inborn reflexes, pre-natal, ambivalent attachment, avoidant attachment.
Human development is impacted by numerous factors, which can be separated into physical, socio-emotional, and cognitive domains.
Physically, human beings develop in the womb in three phases: the germinal period (when the egg and sperm meet), the embryonic period (when the embryo forms its spinal cord, brain, and internal organs), and the fetal period (when the parts of the infant’s body continues to mature).
Once a child is born, the young human being must have an array of experiences in order to stimulate the development of his/her brain, allowing him/her to continue to develop physically, socio-emotionally, and cognitively. For example, an infant should go through maturation, in which he or she develops motor skills, which are much more extensive than the inborn reflexes the child was born with for survival purposes.
The infant’s development at this point and beyond relies heavily on what he/she comes in contact with, the experiences he/she gets, and the nutrients he/she receives. Physically, these factors impact things like eyesight and more complex motor skills; socio-emotionally, the child’s attachment to its mother is impacted by comfort received by the mother; cognitively, a child may develop understanding of how things work, etcetera, through motor exploration (the sensorimotor stage). The human body and brain continue to develop throughout an individual’s life.
Eventually, the body begins to reach puberty, making the body change not only in motor ability and the like, but the form and functions of the body also change, for example, in primary sex characteristics (the maturation of male and female organs) and secondary sex characteristics (body hair, muscle mass, fat deposits, etcetera). Though virtually all human adolescents go through puberty, puberty can be triggered by one’s environment – for example, stress can induce the first menstruation in females. Additionally, adolescents develop emotionally and socially by determining “Who [they are],” which includes sexually, ethnically, and more. The conclusion can be very heavily impacted by one’s peers. Finally, cognitive development at this point is characterized by one’s reasoning and choices, and develops from the preconventional level (choosing that which is most pleasurable to him/her), to the conventional level (choosing based on others’ approval), to the postconventional level (choosing based on complex reasoning).
Even adulthood comes with changes for human beings. Physically, age steadily decreases out “muscle mass, bone density, eyesight and hearing”. Socio-emotionally, we begin forming and maintaining committed relationships (i.e. intimacy versus isolation), get extraordinarily attached to our children, and also go through integrity versus despair, in which we come to peace with death. Cognitively, age also impacts our mental abilities, including but not limited to our intelligence and memory.
Though most educated people know that human development is complex and depends on many factors, after reading this chapter, my understanding is more complete. The chapter discussed that during these prenatal periods, for example, that folic acid is critical for proper development, and teratogens, drugs, and alcohol are likely to negatively affect development. However, that much I already knew. The detail which actually further educated and interested me was that which revolved around developmental psychology, such as the extent to which children are attached to their mothers, or how adolescents determine “Who [they are]”. What I found particularly interesting was that on gender identity. Because of this, I chose to read the article “How Our Genes Make Us Gay or Straight,” which discussed possible “gay alleles” and their impact on humans evolutionarily. This article didn't focus on the emotional development aspect as much as I was hoping, but it did raise and answer the question as to, if this gene actually causes gay tendencies, why this gene hasn’t died out due to reproductive stalemates, if you will. The answer was the most memorable part of the assignment to me: possibly because sisters of gay men have more children, because they also have the “male-loving allele,” which they also pass along to their children. Simply fascinating.
Development, germinal period, embryonic period, fetal period, maturation, motor skills, inborn reflexes, sensorimotor stage, puberty, primary sex characteristics, secondary sex characteristics, preconventional level, conventional level, postconventional level, intimacy versus isolation, integrity versus despair, developmental psychology, gender identity
When watching the film “Imagine A World Where Being "Gay" The Norm & Being "Straight" Would Be The Minority!” The video was very powerful, and puts the perspective of being homosexual in a whole different point of view. When we see a homosexual person it is difficult for people who are heterosexual to look at them and see the way they look at life, especially at such a young age. As we are at a young age it’s hard for us to see in others perspectives, mainly those that our parents don’t believe in, along with the church that we believe in. By the age that boys and girls start having feelings for one another we are just able to understand that heterosexual is the norm but we cannot understand why one would like someone of the same sex. When I was watching the video I kept feeling that she is just feeling what she should be feeling but that’s exactly how all homosexual people feel when they see another homosexual person attempting to come out or someone who is being bullied. It must be very difficult for a homosexual person to have that battle with everyone against him/her, the fight is alone and difficult. The worst feeling must be when you have finally found someone that likes you and you like that person but they are too afraid to do this battle with you and won’t come out with you. This video ties into chapter 4 with the developing stages of life, we hear our mothers voice as soon as 4 months after conception, we learn at a very young age that we have a mother and a father and that’s the norm, branching out of this is very difficult for some. I find it very interesting how much the father has to do with the development of the child, I was always aware that the psychological state of the fetus during the germinal period, and the embryonic phase along with the rest of the womb phase of what the mother is putting into her body such as drugs and alcohol. There are many stages and factors that impact human development and they start before one is even born in the embryo. This is one of the more important stages because your health can depend on how healthy your mother was during pregnancy, this all ties together with not only the health of the baby but the health of the mother and father.
Terms- psychological, womb, embryo, fetus, germinal period, embryonic phase
I watched the YouTube video about people who don’t have kids and what it’s like to have kids. I wasn’t too surprised with how he talked about having children because even I know having kids isn’t a walk in the park. I was surprised however at the fact he didn’t say one good thing about his kids. It was almost as if he regretted having them. Even at the end of the video there was just more problem and downfalls to having kids.
The topics I found most interesting in my reading were the infant’s inborn reflexes, their motor skills, and their sensory development. Babies come into the world with basic motor reflexes to aid their survival. They have unlearned reflexes that help them find food. Three of the reflexes I learn about in this reading were the rooting reflex, the sucking reflex, and the grasping reflex. In the first years of life, infants go from moving their heads to sitting up, standing, and walking. Developing these motor skills can be seen as a sequence of steps that occurs within a predictable range of ages. This is called maturation. Newborns have poor vision and poor ability to see colors when they are born. Their visual abilities improve quickly over the first 6 months of life and by a year old they have the visual abilities similar to an adult.
The most memorable thing I read was about all the different things the can impact your baby’s life while in the womb. Drugs and alcohol are the most common. Little do we know there are infections and even environmental factors that affects a baby’s birth.
Key terms: Maturation,
Many factors influence human development, such as: genetics, the way in which we choose to live our lives on a daily basis (drinking, food choice, etc.), and our environment. For the explore section I watched "Anthony Cerniello's Aging Simulation Video Will Mesmerize You". I found this to be interesting and kind of odd, quite frankly, but I liked the subtle things that changed over time like skin and hair, while certain things didn't change hardly at all, like Danielle's eyes. I didn't know much at all about human development, so after reading this chapter, the big thing I took from it about understanding human development was that there are so many factors that go into our development, and it is important that we recognize these things in order to improve. The most interesting topic in this chapter to me was the section on pregnancy and how the mother's "lifestyle" affects development. Personally, I was born an In Vitro baby, which basically means I was made in a test tube. I'm also a twin, so I'm interested to learn if my prenatal development was potentially different than the average person because I'm an In Vtro twin. I found the most interesting part to be the drugs and alcohol section.
Prenatal, In Vitro, environment
In reading this chapter I learned that the three main parts of human development are physical, socio-emotional, and cognitive. Physical being the biology of how the body develops overtime. Socio-emotional being how humans interact with each other and how that changes with further development. Cognitive would be how we think and process information and how that changes over time.
I watched “A 4-Year-Old Girl Asked A Lesbian If She's A Boy. She Responded The Awesomest Way Possible.” and thought it was a very interesting video. The speaker talked about the battle of “coming out of the closet” which she defined as having a hard conversation and how all people at some point have to come out of the closet themselves. She made a point to take about how all people have their own battles and no conversation is any easier than the other. I didn’t really understand how this tied into human development but I know it would tie into gender roles/identity.
My view of human development changes as I worked to understand the importance of all aspects of development. During the maturation of the body there are important changes in the mind as well. Especially during early years, puberty, and old age.
Terms: puberty, gender roles, gender identity, maturation
Human development is an amazing processes that is impacted by many things. Who we are today is partially determined by our make up, the nature of us or genes and biology and by nurture, outside effects like teratogens. A Teratogens is the mother doing bad things that can harm the baby like alcohol or other drugs, this can created a disability in a baby. I think that the most important development time period for a human is the maturation process. I believe that its the most important because this is the time where physical development of the brain and body prepares an infant for voluntary moments. Also this is the time where their sensory development comes in and they learn to perceive the world around them by hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting and touch. The topic I found to be very interesting is how it talks about how all the little things a child dose for survival. I have never seen a child as one being ready for survival but from grasping when the palm is touched and smiling at a foumalr face. Who would have guess that ever little thing that a child does, and their reflexes are for survival
I read the article from Rolling Stone called “ About a Girl: Coy Mathies' fight to Change Gender". I thought this article was very astounding. The part that caught me the most is how early that Cory knew he wanted to be a she. I was shocked that by the age of two Coy had her mind made up and she preferred girly things and refused to play with the little boy toys like matchbox cars and Iron Man figurines that his parents got for her. Her gender identity started to correctly identify the behavior differences of how a boy and girl acted. Once she got her mind set on her behavior she began to change her actions even more. Coys gender roles started to set in place and she started to develop expectations about how a girl is portrayed and how to reinforce the gender stereotypes. I was very glad that Coys parents were accepting of her, instead of trying to correct her they let her be a little girl. I also enjoy how her parents fought for her rights in school, how they were discrimination her. If her parents were as loving and accepting as they were for Coy she might have grew up differently and had identity problems.
I really enjoyed reading a real life example of what we are learning in this chapter, it helped me connect and understand the reading more.
Human development, Teratogens, Maturation, Gender Roles, Gender Identity,
Human development is effected by many factors. One of the biggest factors in human development is the presence of teratogens. Teratogens are substances that will effect child development while in the womb. Examples of these are drugs like nicotine and cocaine, as well as alcohol. These substances will cause brain damage if used while the child is in prenatal development. This is why it is important for the mother of the child to eat healthy and avoid substances that will have negative effects. Another factor is how the child is raised. It is important that a child has a comforting caregiver that can provide for them. It was proven in an experiment by Harlow that baby monkeys prefer the comfort of a mother then be provided food from a non comfort mother. How a child attaches to its caregiver will be shown in three ways, either secure, avoidant, or ambivalent. The secure child will like the caregiver present or else it will be upset. The avoidant child will try to avoid the caregiver as much as possible. The ambivalent child will cause a fit when the caregiver is present and absent. It is proven that the secure children will do better socially and emotionally then the other types. All of these factors work together to make the child develop.
In the explore section I watched the video of the girl and how she will look in future years from composite pictures. I found it fascinating about how it is really hard to notice the changes at first and how subtle the changes from aging at the start. When she reached her teenage years it started to pick up with the changes due to puberty and then it slowed down until she was about sixty where it ended. This shows how body changes are more prevalent in the age of adolescence. The video was interesting and I think everyone should view it.
My view of human development has changed in the early cognitive human development. It turns out children are a lot more self centered then I thought. They have a belief of egocentrism, meaning that what they see and think is what they believe everyone else sees and thinks. Later in life children suffer from a different problem called conservation where they reason their answers from what they know and not logically. Both of these problems are discussed in Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development. He believed that children were fully developed cognitively at around age twelve where they can use logic to answer and learn quicker.
I thought one of the most interesting topics was the section over adolescent cognitive development. Teenagers think that they should do whatever the group does if it is moral or not, like using cigarettes. It later moves to how we think with morals and Kohlberg’s theory of moral reasoning. At first we think on self-interest, called the preconventional level. The next is the conventional level where we understand the laws and seek approval from others, which is the stage most teenagers are at. The last stage is postconventional is when people believe they have the right to break the law if t is unjust. This whole topic is interesting because people can move between each level whenever they want depending on the situation.
One of the most memorable things in the reading was the later development, as in old people. The elderly start to have cognitive decline and will lead to memory loss or worse dementia, which is extreme memory loss. Many people in the U.S. suffer from dementia. I know of two, my former English teacher and my grandfather who is in really bad shape which makes this section not only memorable, but also personal.
Psychology terms: teratogens, prenatal development, secure, avoidant, ambivalent, puberty, adolescence, egocentrism, conservation, Piaget’s Theory, Kohlberg’s Theory, preconvention, conventional, postconventional, dimentia
Many factors impact the development of humans. A very big influence is the environment you grow up in and the people around you. They greatly affect the type of person you become. For instance, if you grew up in a strongly religious family, you are more than likely to be religious throughout your life. Your family also impacts the person you become greatly. Parents and siblings are practically a model to developing kids. They watch their parents or siblings and want to be like them, and usually do act similarly to them. The society we grow up in also has a very big impact on development. It tends to define certain norms for us.
The link I choose to discuss was the video about Ash Beckham discussing coming out of the closet. I thought it was so cool how she related coming out of the closet to straight people having to tell people they care about difficult news. She said a lot of powerful things, but also made good points. My favorite quote was “Who can tell me that his coming out story is harder than telling your 5 year old you are getting a divorce? There is no harder there is just hard.” She makes such a good point here with a very powerful comparison. It is dumb to always be trying to compare your struggles with others because everyone has struggles of their own.
My understanding of human development has gotten a lot more in depth from reading this chapter. I knew a lot influenced a child growing up, but now I know even more about specifically what it can do.
The topics that interested me most in this chapter were the pages about teratogens and what the different ones can do to the mother and child. I have worked with a teen with fetal alcohol syndrome so it was weird to be able to relate what the book was saying about it the girl I worked with it. I was also interested in the section about gender identity, and the story about the twins. The fact that the doctors messed up and then just so casually thought they could change his gender identity to female was so messed up. I also really liked the beginning of the chapter, about the prenatal phases. It still amazes me how a baby develops in the uterus. I did not know that the germinal period was so short, yet so much happens during it.
The most surprising thing I learned from this reading was about dementia and Alzheimer’s. It says that 3 percent to 5 percent of people will develop Alzheimer’s disease by age 75. I had no idea this percentage was so low. My grandma had it and I have talked to a lot of friends who had grandparents also with the disease that could relate with me, so I was really surprised by that statistic.
Terms: gender identity, teratogens, dementia, germinal period
The factors that affect how we grow are known as developmental psychology and there are three main areas, Physical which has to do with the brain, growth of the body and our senses. cognitive which is our ability to think and how the brain works and socio-emotional which is how we interact with others and get to know ourselves better.
The "People with no kids don't know" video talks about how kids are very needy and disrupt the adult lives because the adults have to take care of the child's needs and the child's younger mindset causes him/her to want more immature things. It talks about how everything is harder with children even leaving the house to go anywhere because the kids will not be ready or will refuse to go. He also tries to say in the video that it can be extremely stressful for the parents to cope with the children all the time and people who don't have children should not act like they know the struggle of dealing with children.
I've always had a basic understanding of the process at which a child is born and develops and now i know in more detail how the child grows in each stage. I did not think that children who were born at 25 weeks would survive, that part was a surprise to me, it really shows how much science is evolving.
My favorite topics from this chapter is the story of Brooke Greenberg because i would've never though that such a disease could exist where the child does not mature from birth, It is mind boggling that even her mental age does not grow at all, her development is completely stopped at a standstill. The child behavior after it is born is also very interesting to me because i have always seen and noticed the different behavior of children to their attachment figure and this figure shows all the different types of scenarios that exist.
The mos surprising is definitely the case of Brooke Greenberg did not develop any communication skills and stayed at the level of making infant-like sounds even after 19 years. Her brain does not even let her learn at all.
Terms: Developmental psychology, Brooke Greenberg, cognitive, socio-ability, brain
My understanding of human development has gone from basic knowledge and understanding of what goes on to whoa, that actually happens?! For example I knew in a mother’s womb at the 3rd week mark has already developed a heart and central nervous system. I also knew that when developing from a newborn to a toddler the vision, mobility, and, language changes. But the things I learned in this chapter were really intriguing to me.
For example, one thing that stuck out to me was the section on attachment. Turns out there are more than just one type of attachment. There are three; Secure attachment, Avoidant attachment, and, ambivalent attachment. In a secure attachment the child is happy to play alone and is friendly to the stranger as long as the attachment figure is present. But as soon as the attachment leaves the child becomes whiney. In an avoidant attachment the child doesn’t get upset or cry at all when the caregiver leaves, and they may prefer to play with the stranger rather than the parent. In an ambivalent attachment the child may cry a great deal when the caregiver leaves the room, yet both seek and reject caring contact when the caregiver returns. I found this interesting because whenever I would babysit all three of these would happen and I didn’t know they had names for these different actions, I just assumed that ever kid acted different when their parent left due to their own personalities. Along with that section on attachments they had this article on an experiment scientist did on baby monkeys. They had two different types of “mothers” for the baby monkey to choose from. One of the surrogate mothers had a cloth on it but couldn’t provide milk for the baby. The other surrogate mother could provide milk but didn’t have a cloth. What the scientist found out was that the baby monkey would rather prefer and form an attachment to a surrogate mother that provides comfort over a wire surrogate mother that only provides milk. I thought that just helped to reinforce the fact attachment and comfort play a really big role in the way we develop.
Another section that stood out to me was the one on preoperational stage which is year’s two to seven. During this stage children begin to think symbolically. Off on the side of the page they show an example of this. They sit a child down and put two glasses that have the same amount of water and are the same height in front of her. They then take one of the glasses and poor the water into a taller glass and ask her which one had the most water in it. Even though extra water wasn’t poured into the taller glass than the short one, she still chooses the taller one for having the most water when really they both had the same amount. I found this really interesting because at that stage our brain is still growing and if you did this exact same experiment with the same girl but just waited a few more years, she’d be able to answer the question correctly.
Terms: preoperational stage, secure attachment, avoidant attachment, ambivalent attachment
LINK- the link I used was vismbryo.com. This website showed me what the fetus looks like at each stage/month. This helped me how the fetus starts to grow, form, and start to feed. I never would’ve thought that the process would be so simple yet complex at the same time.
What I learned in this chapter-
Human Development- is the age-related physical, interllectual, and social changes that occur throughjout a persons life.
Teratogens such as
• Cocain and heroin- can cause miscarriage, premature birth defects
• Alchole- fetal alcohol syndroime, motor development problems
• Smoking- reduces oxygen flow, increases Co2, increased odds of prematurity, low birthweight, and miscarriage.
babies-
• Start off with 100 billoion neurons
• Frontal lobe takes a few yrs to develp
• Natural born reflexes
• Gross motor skilss
• Fine motor skills come later
• Low frequency sound not as good
• Prefer to see dark color
The part that shocked me the most was that babies could only see dark colors. Also that babies cant low frequency sounds.
LINK- the link I used was vismbryo.com. This website showed me what the fetus looks like at each stage/month. This helped me how the fetus starts to grow, form, and start to feed. I never would’ve thought that the process would be so simple yet complex at the same time.
What I learned in this chapter-
Human Development- is the age-related physical, intellectual, and social changes that occur throughout a person’s life.
Teratogens such as
• Cocaine and heroin- can cause miscarriage, premature birth defects
• Alcohol- fetal alcohol syndrome, motor development problems
• Smoking- reduces oxygen flow, increases Co2, increased odds of prematurity, low birth weight, and miscarriage.
Babies-
• Start off with 100 billion neurons
• Frontal lobe takes a few yrs. to develop
• Natural born reflexes
• Gross motor skills
• Fine motor skills come later
• Low frequency sound not as good
• Prefer to see dark color
The part that shocked me the most was that babies could only see dark colors. Also that babies can’t low frequency sounds.