Rousseau's View on Human Development
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Questions and Answers

Why is cross-cultural research important in understanding how to teach cooperation to children?

  • To identify the most effective teaching methods globally
  • To compare the effects of cooperation on children's academic performance
  • To understand how adults in different cultures teach cooperation (correct)
  • To develop a universal approach to teaching cooperation

    • What is a key principle of research ethics according to the CPA (2000, 2017)?

  • Respect for participant autonomy
  • Respect for the dignity of persons and peoples (correct)
  • Minimizing costs and maximizing efficiency
  • Prioritizing the interests of the researcher

    • What is a researcher's responsibility if a study could trigger reminders of distressing experiences?

  • Providing a guarantee of complete confidentiality
  • Offering a means of rectification, such as counselling (correct)
  • Informing participants of the potential risks only
  • Stopping the study immediately

    • What is required for children to participate in a research study?

    <p>Assent from the child and parental consent</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is a requirement for presenting data in research?

    <p>Maintaining participant anonymity</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the primary focus of evolutionary developmental psychology?

    <p>The timing of the appearance of characteristics that promote survival and adaptation</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is gene expression?

    <p>The activation of a gene sequence to produce proteins</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the term for the gradual elimination of a behavior through repeated nonreinforcement?

    <p>Extinction</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the study of the human genome, including the location of genes, their function, and their role in human physical and mental health?

    <p>Human genomics</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the term for an individual's unique genetic blueprint?

    <p>Genotype</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is a common health issue in infants born more than 6 weeks prematurely?

    <p>Respiratory distress syndrome</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the cut-off weight below which low birth weight infants are more likely to have long-term health issues?

    <p>1500 grams</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What was introduced in 1990 to improve outcomes for preterm neonates?

    <p>Surfactant therapy</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which group is more susceptible to the long-term effects of low birth weight?

    <p>Boys</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What strategy has been shown to reduce low birth weight rates among low-income, at-risk mothers?

    <p>Unconditional prenatal income support</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What can be observed in older infants regarding sensory modalities?

    <p>Ability to perceive and transfer information between different sensory modalities</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the nativist position on perceptual development?

    <p>That most perceptual abilities are innate</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is necessary for the development of perceptual systems, according to research with other species?

    <p>A minimum level of experience</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the significance of the first few days or weeks of a child's life in terms of visual discriminations?

    <p>During this period, a child can make visual discriminations between people or objects.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the role of experience in a newborn's ability to distinguish their mother's face from a very similar woman's face?

    <p>Experience plays a role in this ability, as the newborn must have some experience to make this distinction.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the relationship between innate abilities and experiential factors in perceptual development?

    <p>The development of perceptual skills is an interaction between innate abilities and experiential factors.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is an example of an adaptive reflex that helps newborns survive?

    <p>Sucking is an example of an adaptive reflex that helps newborns survive.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the concept of depth perception in relation to perceptual development?

    <p>Depth perception is the ability to judge the relative distances of objects.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    How can a mother's emotions impact prenatal development, and what are some potential consequences for the child?

    <p>A mother's emotions can impact prenatal development by changing body chemistry, leading to differences in hormones and other chemicals that can affect the fetus. This can result in emotional, cognitive, or behavioral disorders in childhood and adulthood.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What are teratogens, and how do they affect fetal development?

    <p>Teratogens are substances or agents that can cause birth defects or abnormal development. They can cause alterations to genomic DNA, leading to germinal mutations, affecting conception and the normal development of the embryo and fetus.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the role of mutagenic teratogens in fetal development, and what are some potential consequences of exposure?

    <p>Mutagenic teratogens, such as radiation or biological or chemical toxins, can cause alterations to genomic DNA, leading to germinal mutations, affecting conception and the normal development of the embryo and fetus. Exposure can result in infertility, implantation failure, or miscarriage.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    How can social support and counseling during pregnancy impact fetal development and infant health?

    <p>Providing social support and counseling to stressed and at-risk pregnant women can improve prenatal and infant health and development, particularly in high-risk families.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What are some potential consequences of maternal stress on fetal development, and how can they be mitigated?

    <p>Maternal stress can lead to reduced fetal growth rates, and may also impact emotional, cognitive, or behavioral development in childhood and adulthood. Providing social support and counseling can help mitigate these effects.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    How do Bronfenbrenner's Bioecological Theory and Shonkoff's Ecobiodevelopmental Theory views on human development differ?

    <p>Bronfenbrenner's Bioecological Theory emphasizes the interaction between individual and contextual variables, whereas Shonkoff's Ecobiodevelopmental Theory focuses on creating early childhood policies and interventions for health promotion and disease prevention.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What were the negative experiences faced by Indigenous children in residential schools in Canada?

    <p>Isolation, suppression of traditional language and practices, abuse, malnourishment, exposure to death and disease, and largely inadequate education and vocational training.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What are the two significant traumatic events experienced by First Nations children and their parents, according to Kevin Berube?

    <p>The residential school experience and the 'Sixties Scoop' – the removal of First Nations children for adoption into mostly non-Indigenous families by provincial child protection services.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Why is it essential to acknowledge the transgenerational impacts of colonization in Canada?

    <p>To recognize the ongoing adversities faced by Indigenous peoples and to promote healing, reconciliation, and advocacy across all levels of the socioeconomic and political spectrums.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the significance of examining the complex interactions among individual and contextual variables in human development?

    <p>It highlights the need for research that considers the complex interplay between individual and contextual factors influencing human development.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the primary goal of cross-cultural research in developmental psychology, and how does it achieve this goal?

    <p>The primary goal is to identify universal changes that occur across cultures and to improve lives. This is achieved by studying multiple cultures, identifying patterns, and comparing data to determine what is applicable globally.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is ethnography, and how does it contribute to cross-cultural research?

    <p>Ethnography is a research method that provides a detailed description of a single culture or context based on extensive observation. It contributes to cross-cultural research by providing in-depth studies of specific cultures, which can be combined to identify patterns.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What are the two main reasons why cross-cultural research is crucial in developmental psychology?

    <p>The two main reasons are identifying universal changes that occur across cultures and improving lives by generating findings that can enhance people's lives.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    How can cross-cultural research inform strategies for promoting cooperation in children?

    <p>Cross-cultural research has found that children in cultures that prioritize community over individualism are more cooperative. This knowledge can inform strategies for teaching cooperation to children.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the significance of studying multiculturalism in Canada, and how does it relate to cross-cultural research?

    <p>Canada was the first country to adopt multiculturalism as a policy, making it a significant context for studying multiculturalism. Cross-cultural research is crucial in understanding developmental patterns across different cultures and contexts.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Study Notes

    Theories of Human Development

    • Rousseau believed that humans are naturally good and seek growth experiences, and that children only need nurturing and protection to fulfill their potential.
    • Good development occurs when the environment allows a child to nurture their own development without interference, while poor outcomes arise when a child's efforts to express their inherent goodness are obstructed.

    The Study of Human Development Becomes a Science

    • The 19th century marked a significant shift in interest towards applying scientific methods to questions traditionally associated with philosophy.
    • By 1930, psychology had established itself as a key contributor to the foundations of modern human development and started influencing daily child-rearing practices.

    Darwin

    • Charles Darwin and his contemporaries believed that studying child development could shed light on human evolution.
    • They maintained comprehensive records of their children's early development, known as 'baby biographies', hoping to find evidence supporting evolutionary theory.
    • Darwin's evolutionary theory has significantly influenced modern human development, including the concept of developmental stages.

    Development in the Real World

    • Toys play a crucial role in children's development, serving as tools that aid their growth and improve physical and cognitive development.
    • Well-designed toys can enhance language and numeracy skills, foster imagination and reasoning, and promote mutual trust in friendships.

    The Continuity-Discontinuity Question

    • The study of human development considers whether development is a continuous, quantitative process of additions or a discontinuous, qualitative process involving reorganization and the emergence of new strategies, qualities, or skills.
    • Quantitative change involves a change in amount, like children growing taller with age.
    • Qualitative change involves a change in characteristic or type, representing discontinuity, such as puberty and menopause.

    Theories of Development

    • Theories of development differ primarily on whether they view development as stage-based or continuous.
    • Most theorists and researchers agree that age-related changes can be categorized into three types: universal changes, group-specific changes, and individual differences.

    Universal Changes

    • Universal changes refer to changes that occur in every individual of a species and are associated with specific ages.
    • These changes can be due to our biological nature and the genetically programmed maturation process.

    Research Methods and Designs

    • Developmental researchers use the scientific method to achieve four goals: to describe, explain, predict, and influence human development from conception to death.
    • Describing development involves stating observable changes, while explaining development is about understanding the reasons behind certain events.

    Relating Goals to Methods

    • Theories are crucial to explaining development, as they offer different perspectives on facts.
    • Ethnography provides a detailed description of a single culture or context based on extensive observation.
    • Cross-cultural research is crucial to developmental psychology to identify universal changes and improve lives.

    Research Ethics

    • The Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) has published ethical standards for practitioners, researchers, and scientists.
    • These ethical standards include respect for the dignity of persons and peoples, responsible caring, integrity in relationships, and responsibility to society.
    • Major concerns in research ethics include protection from harm, informed consent, and confidentiality.

    Infant Cry and Survival

    • The infant's irritating cry enhances the bond between the infant and caregiver, increasing the infant's survival chances.
    • The genes responsible for the irritating cry indirectly contribute to the infant's survival.

    Behaviour Genetics

    • Behaviour genetics is a field of study that examines the impact of heredity on individual differences.
    • It posits that genes influence traits or behaviours, as evident in the similarities between relatives.
    • Research has demonstrated that heredity influences a wide array of traits and behaviours, including intelligence, altruism, substance use and abuse, and hyperactivity.

    Evolutionary Psychology

    • Evolutionary psychology is a comprehensive approach that seeks to explain human behaviour by integrating all branches of psychology and life sciences.
    • It investigates the evolution of inherited cognitive and social traits through natural selection.
    • A key area of focus is the adaptation of neural networks that facilitate cognitive abilities essential for social relations and interactions.
    • Steven Pinker, a prominent proponent of evolutionary psychology, posits that the mind, akin to the body, has evolved through natural selection to perform adaptive functions and enhance survival.
    • Pinker asserts that humans possess innate patterns of thought and emotion, shaped over time by survival necessities.

    Evolutionary Developmental Psychology

    • Advocates of this perspective argue that a newborn's mind is not a blank slate, but rather genetically predisposed to learn and develop in specific ways.
    • This perspective suggests that learning is influenced by factors such as attention, memory, and maturation.
    • Bandura's theories propose that an observer's learning from a specific model is shaped by their personal goals, expectations, and self-assessments of their performance.

    Reciprocal Determinism

    • Albert Bandura introduced the concept of reciprocal determinism, a human development process based on the interaction of three factors: personal, behavioural, and environmental.
    • This model forms a triangle of bidirectional influence, suggesting that individuals are not only shaped by their circumstances but also have the ability to influence their situation.
    • In the context of children, they are actively engaged in moulding the environments that subsequently influence their behaviour and personality development.

    Self-Efficacy

    • Albert Bandura emphasized the concept of self-efficacy in relation to personal factors.
    • Self-efficacy refers to an individual's belief in their own ability to bring about a desired outcome.
    • Individuals with high self-efficacy have greater expectations for success and exhibit more effort and persistence when facing challenges.

    Pavlov's Classical Conditioning

    • Learning happens when neutral stimuli become associated with natural stimuli that elicit the same response.
    • This theory is useful in explaining how emotional responses, such as phobias, are learned.

    Skinner's Operant Conditioning Theory

    • Development involves behaviour changes that are shaped by reinforcement and punishment.
    • This theory is the basis of many useful strategies for managing and changing human behaviour.
    • However, the theory ignores hereditary, cognitive, emotional, and social factors in development.

    Cognitive Theory

    • Behaviour can be largely explained in terms of how the mind operates (e.g., memory, thinking, and problem-solving processes occur between stimulus and response).
    • Cognitive psychology has contributed to many effective therapeutic interventions.

    Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development

    • Reasoning develops in four universal stages from birth through adolescence.
    • Each stage, the child builds a different kind of scheme, which helps explain how children of different ages think about and act on the world.

    Epigenetics and Intergenerational Trauma

    • Emotional trauma can cause epigenetic modifications that can be transmitted to future generations.
    • Research suggests that interventions at the parental level can prevent or reverse the transmission of intergenerational trauma influences.
    • The epigenome might reset when environmental insults are no longer present or when we adapt to environmental challenges in a new way.

    Pregnancy Trimesters

    • Pregnancy is divided into three trimesters, each lasting approximately 3 months.
    • First trimester: From the first day of the last menstrual period (LMP) to 12 weeks after LMP.
    • Events in the first trimester:
      • Missed period
      • Breast enlargement
      • Abdominal thickening
      • Calculation of due date
      • Blood and urine tests
    • Prenatal care in the first trimester:
      • Confirmation of pregnancy
      • Monthly doctor visits
      • Blood and urine tests
      • Monthly doctor visits to monitor vital functions, uterine growth, weight gain, and sugar and protein in urine

    Second Trimester

    • Second trimester: From 12 weeks after LMP to 24 weeks after LMP.
    • Events in the second trimester:
      • Weight gain
      • "Showing" (visibility of the fetus)
      • Fetal movements felt
      • Increased appetite
    • Prenatal care in the second trimester:
      • Monthly doctor visits continue
      • Ultrasound to measure fetal growth and locate placenta
    • Serious problems in the second trimester:
      • Gestational diabetes
      • Excessive weight gain
      • Increased blood pressure
      • Rh incompatibility of mother and fetus
      • Miscarriage between 13-20 weeks
      • Premature labor after 21 weeks

    Third Trimester

    • Third trimester: From 25 weeks after LMP to the beginning of labor.
    • Events in the third trimester:
      • Weight gain
      • Breast discharge
      • Ultrasound to assess fetal position
      • Treatment of Rh incompatibility
    • Prenatal care in the third trimester:
      • Weekly doctor visits beginning at 32 weeks
      • Ultrasound to assess fetal position
      • Pelvic exams to check for cervical dilation
    • Serious problems in the third trimester:
      • Increased blood pressure
      • Bleeding
      • Premature labor
      • Bladder infection

    Turner's Syndrome

    • Turner's syndrome (XO) affects individuals who are anatomically female but exhibit stunted growth.
    • Characteristics of Turner's syndrome:
      • Higher risk of malformations in internal organs
      • 10% of individuals experience normal puberty and can conceive
      • Many others can achieve successful pregnancies with the help of donor ova

    Teratogens

    • Teratogens are agents that can harm an embryo or fetus.
    • Susceptible period: The first eight weeks of gestation, when most organ systems develop rapidly.
    • Types of teratogens:
      • Mutagenic: cause alterations to genomic DNA
      • Environmental: affect development through external factors
      • Epimutagenic: unknown category, mostly composed of epigenetic factors

    Maternal Mental Health

    • A mother's emotions can impact prenatal development.
    • Effects of maternal stress:
      • Changes in body chemistry
      • Differences in hormones and other chemicals affecting the fetus
      • Reduced fetal growth rates
    • Importance of social support and counseling for stressed and at-risk pregnant women

    Fetal Assessment and Treatment

    • Genetic testing during pregnancy:
      • Medical risks for both the mother and fetus
      • Emotional and social impacts on the mother and family
      • Privacy and confidentiality issues
    • Genetic counseling:
      • Help women understand potential outcomes and choices
      • Preconception and first-trimester screening procedures
      • Prenatal diagnostic testing (e.g., CVS, amniocentesis)
    • Ultrasound:
      • Monitors fetal growth by producing images from sound wave echoes
      • Standard part of prenatal care in Canada

    Premature Birth

    • Small-for-date neonates:
      • Generally have poorer prognoses compared to infants with weights appropriate for their gestational age
      • Low birth weight (LBW) infants show significantly less responsiveness at birth and during early life
    • Respiratory distress syndrome:
      • Characterized by severe breathing difficulties due to underdeveloped lungs
      • Treatment: Surfactant administration
    • Low birth weight (LBW) infants:
      • Most catch up to their peers within the first few years of life
      • Those weighing less than 1500 grams remain smaller and have higher rates of neonatal and long-term health issues
      • Boys are more susceptible to the long-term effects of low birth weight
    • Socioeconomic disparities:
      • Addressing disparities can help reduce low birth weight (LBW) rates among low-income, at-risk mothers

    Developing Body Systems and Motor Skills

    • Physical development follows two key patterns: the cephalocaudal pattern (development progresses from the head downward) and the proximodistal pattern (development moves from the centre of the body outward).
    • Acquisition of motor skills is dependent on brain development and significant changes in various body systems such as bones, muscles, lungs, and heart.

    Bones

    • During infancy, there are significant changes in the size, number, and composition of bones.
    • Growth in the length of long bones in the arms and legs contributes to height increase.
    • Ossification (bone hardening) starts in the final weeks of prenatal development and continues until puberty.
    • Ossification plays a significant role in motor development, e.g., an infant cannot stand if their leg bones are too soft, regardless of the development of their muscles and nervous system.

    Muscles

    • At birth, the body has all its muscle fibres, but they are small and have a high water-to-muscle ratio.
    • By the age of one, the water content in an infant's muscles equals that of an adult, and the fat-to-muscle ratio starts to decrease.

    Vision

    • Newborns have less developed visual skills compared to older children, but they are not blind.
    • An estimated 5 to 10% of babies experience some form of visual problem.
    • Visual assessments are recommended at birth and during all routine health check-ups.
    • Undetected or untreated visual problems can result in lifelong issues, potentially impacting educational achievement and quality of life.

    Visual Acuity

    • Visual acuity, the clarity of vision, is typically measured as 20/20 in adults.
    • At birth, a baby's visual acuity ranges from 20/200 to 20/400, but it improves rapidly during the first year due to synaptogenesis, synaptic pruning, and myelination.
    • Most children gradually reach adult levels of visual acuity around the age of 7.

    Visual Perception

    • Researchers use methods such as habituation, dishabituation, and operant conditioning to study infant visual perception.
    • Developmentalists suggest that the way infants look at objects can provide significant insights into what they are learning from visual information.

    Early Visual Stimulation

    • Appropriate visual stimulation during infancy is crucial for the development of normal visual perception later in life.
    • Early deprivation of visual stimulation can lead to abnormal visual development many years later.
    • Critical periods in early infancy and beyond exist when specific types of visual stimulation are necessary for the development of normal visual perception.

    Depth Perception

    • Depth perception is a crucial perceptual skill necessary for everyday tasks such as reaching for objects or judging the distance to an oncoming car.
    • Infants need depth perception for various simple tasks, like determining the distance to an object for reaching.
    • Depth perception can be judged using three types of information: binocular cues, monocular cues, and cues from motion and changing perspective.

    Explaining Perceptual Development

    • The study of perceptual development has historically been a key area of debate in the nature versus nurture discussion.
    • Nativists believe that most perceptual abilities are innate, while empiricists contend that these skills are learned.
    • Developmentalists are reevaluating the relationship between nature and nurture, and how these two factors interact to influence development.

    Developmental Milestones in Infants

    • Infants from diverse cultural backgrounds reach developmental milestones at varying ages compared to mainstream Canadian standards.
    • Indigenous children may achieve gross motor skills earlier and language skills slightly later than broader Canadian norms.
    • It's essential to measure an Indigenous child's developmental milestones against their peers within the same cultural group.

    The Infant Milestone Study

    • The University of Manitoba's psychologist Warren Eaton is conducting the ongoing Infant Milestone Study to develop Canadian and cross-cultural norms.
    • The study has tracked hundreds of babies to observe week-to-week changes as they progress towards motor skills milestones.
    • A seasonal trend has been observed, where babies born in spring reach crawling and walking milestones earlier.

    Nipissing District Developmental Screen (NDDS)

    • The NDDS is a comprehensive Canadian screening tool that assists professionals and parents in identifying aspects of a child's development that may need early intervention.
    • It screens for potential issues in critical areas such as gross motor, fine motor, vision, hearing, speech, language, communication, cognitive, social/emotional, and self-help skills.
    • The NDDS is available in English, French, and several other languages.

    Preterm Birth and Development

    • Preterm birth rate has remained steady at approximately 8 per 100 live births for the last decade.
    • Infants born before 32 weeks of gestation often lack fully developed adaptive reflexes, making survival tasks like sucking and swallowing difficult.
    • Preterm infants are at a higher risk for various health complications, including neurological impairment, cardiovascular disorders, and respiratory difficulties.
    • They are also more likely to experience long-term issues such as motor, cognitive, visual, hearing, behavioral, and growth problems.

    Developmental Progress in Preterm Infants

    • Preterm and low birth weight infants typically reach developmental milestones slower than full-term babies due to their younger maturation age.
    • If a correction is made for the baby's gestational age, most of the difference in physical development disappears.
    • By age 2 or 3, a physically normal preterm infant can usually catch up to their peers.

    Parental Influence on Preterm Infants

    • Parental responses, particularly from mothers, significantly influence the developmental progress of preterm infants.
    • The kangaroo care intervention encourages parents to increase skin-to-skin contact with their infants.

    Visual Development

    • Newborn infants have good close-up vision, which is sufficient for interacting with caregivers and nearby objects.
    • Tracking objects in the visual field is a crucial skill for infants, and it rapidly improves around 6-10 weeks.
    • Colour vision develops rapidly, and certain visual skills rely on specific visual stimulation during sensitive developmental periods.

    Hearing and Other Senses

    • Babies can hear long before they are born, and hearing abilities are well developed early on.
    • Lack of early auditory stimulation can lead to abnormal auditory development many years later.

    Depth Perception

    • Depth perception is a crucial perceptual skill necessary for everyday tasks, such as reaching for objects or judging the distance to an oncoming car.
    • Depth perception can be judged using three types of information: binocular cues, monocular cues, and motion parallax.

    Key Terms

    • adaptive reflexes: reflexes that help newborns survive, such as sucking.
    • auditory acuity: how well one can hear.
    • depth perception: ability to judge the relative distances of objects.
    • developmental milestones: near-universal, age-related events whose first appearance signals noteworthy change or growth.
    • habituation: the decline in responding that occurs as a stimulus becomes familiar.

    Implantation and Embryonic Development

    • By day 6 or 7, the blastocyst contacts the uterine wall, and by the 12th day, it is fully embedded in the uterine tissue.
    • Cells from the blastocyst's outer wall merge with uterine lining cells to form the placenta, which facilitates the transfer of oxygen, nutrients, and other substances between the mother's and baby's blood.
    • The placenta secretes hormones that halt the mother's menstrual periods and maintain the connection between the placenta and the uterus.

    The Embryonic Stage

    • The embryonic stage starts at implantation, about two weeks post-conception, and lasts until the end of the 8th week.
    • During this stage, cells begin to specialize and unite to lay the groundwork for all the body's organs.
    • The embryo's cells form a structure known as the neural tube, which will develop into the brain and spinal cord.
    • Primitive heart and kidney precursors also form during the 3rd week.

    Genetic Disorders

    • Sickle-cell disease, a recessive disorder, causes red blood cell abnormalities and is more prevalent among West African and African American infants.
    • Tay-Sachs disease, a recessive disorder, affects 1 in every 3000 babies born to couples of Eastern European Jewish descent.
    • Huntington's disease, a dominant disorder, leads to brain deterioration and impacts both psychological and motor functions.
    • A blood test can detect the Huntington's gene, enabling individuals with a parent with this disease to make informed decisions about having children.

    Sex-Linked Disorders

    • Red-green color blindness, a recessive disorder, affects 7 to 8% of men and 0.5% of women.
    • Hemophilia, a recessive disorder, affects approximately 1 in 5000 baby boys and is almost unknown in girls.
    • Fragile-X syndrome, a sex-linked disorder, affects 1 in 4000 males and 1 in 8000 females.

    Chromosomal Errors

    • Trisomy 21, also known as Down syndrome, occurs when a child has three copies of chromosome 21, leading to intellectual delay, distinctive facial features, and potential health issues.
    • The incidence of trisomy 21 in Canada averages 1 in ~750 births, and mothers over the age of 35 are at the highest risk.
    • Trisomies have also been identified in the 13th and 18th pairs of chromosomes, which are more severe than trisomy 21.

    Sex-Chromosome Anomalies

    • Klinefelter's syndrome (XXY) occurs in 1 or 2 out of every 1000 males, causing underdeveloped testes and low sperm production in adulthood.

    Maternal Infections and Babies

    • Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a viral infection that can be transmitted from mother to fetus, affecting 0.2 to 2.4% of babies.
    • HIV, the virus causing AIDS, can be transmitted from mother to fetus, and HIV-positive pregnant women who take anti-HIV drugs, give birth via Caesarean section, and feed their babies formula significantly reduce the risk of transmitting the disease to their children.

    Evolutionary Developmental Psychology

    • Both nature (genes) and nurture (environment) play a role in shaping an individual’s intelligence, personality, and social behavior.
    • Different stages of life require different behavioral responses.
    • Infants and children adapt and survive using distinct cognitive and emotional skills than those needed by adults.

    Evolutionary Prenatal Programming and Adult Health and Disease

    • Lifestyle changes later in life may be insufficient to reduce disease risk.
    • The risk of non-communicable diseases like heart disease, diabetes, and obesity may be influenced by early life factors.
    • A fetus anticipates its postnatal environment and undergoes epigenetic changes for survival based on environmental cues from its mother.
    • A mismatch between the prenatal and postnatal environments can lead to physiological adaptations that are ill-suited to the postnatal environment, contributing to lifestyle-related diseases in adulthood.

    Type 2 Diabetes in the Oji-Cree Community

    • A strong genetic effect related to a single gene variant, the G319S mutation, was discovered in the Oji-Cree community.
    • This mutation affects a specific liver protein, leading to an incidence of type 2 diabetes five times higher than in the general Canadian population.
    • The sudden increase in disease incidence may be linked to significant lifestyle changes, such as a shift from a traditional low-carbohydrate diet to a diet high in "junk food" and fats, coupled with a more sedentary lifestyle.

    Psychoanalytic Theories

    • Infants gain more physical pleasure from mouthing objects than from handling them with other body parts, aligning with psychoanalytic theories initiated by Sigmund Freud.

    Ecobiodevelopmental Theory

    • Recent developments build on earlier systems theories of development, such as Bronfenbrenner's bioecological model.
    • The ecobiodevelopmental (EBD) framework is informed by a growing body of evidence suggesting that the foundations of healthy development are biologically embedded through interactions between epigenetics and the environment.

    Information-Processing Theory

    • Human cognitive functioning—encoding, storage, and retrieval processes—changes with brain maturation and practice, causing changes in cognitive functioning.
    • This helps explain how much information people of different ages can manage at one time and how they process it.

    Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory

    • Cognitive development is strengthened through social interactions that involve speaking during guided problem-solving tasks.

    Bandura's Social-Cognitive Theory

    • People learn from models, and what is learned depends on how they interpret the situation.
    • A child's level of cognitive development affects their impressions and reactions to circumstances.

    Systems

    • This perspective provides an interdisciplinary approach to the study of human development, capturing the complexity of individual and contextual variables and their interactions.
    • It is hard to form generalizations and predictions because of the complexity of interactions among variables.

    Bronfenbrenner's Bioecological Theory

    • Human development is a product of individual and contextual variables interacting over time.
    • It highlights the need for research examining the complex interactions among individual and contextual variables.

    Shonkoff's Ecobiodevelopmental Theory

    • There is a need for a science-based approach toward creating early childhood policies, practices, and interventions aimed specifically at health promotion and disease prevention.
    • It promotes advocacy across all levels of the socioeconomic and political spectrums, with health care professionals taking on a lead role.

    Development in the Real World: Transgenerational Impacts of Colonization in Canada

    • The government ran residential schools to assimilate Indigenous children from 1880 to 1996, leading to negative experiences and transgenerational adversities among Indigenous peoples.
    • The "Sixties Scoop" removed First Nations children for adoption into mostly non-Indigenous families, contributing to ongoing transgenerational trauma.

    Lifespan Perspective

    • Due to increased life expectancy, the proportion of older adults in the population has grown, with those over 100 being one of the fastest-growing age groups in Canada.
    • A Canadian male born today can expect to live beyond 80, and a female past 84, compared to 59 and 61 years respectively for those born in 1921.
    • The lifespan perspective posits that significant changes occur at all stages of development and must be understood within their cultural and contextual framework.

    Plasticity and Aging

    • Paul Baltes, an early pioneer in developing a comprehensive theory of lifespan human development, proposed that the potential for positive change, or plasticity, in response to environmental demands exists throughout life.
    • Older adults often pursue their goals more intensely than younger ones, and they adopt strategies to maximize gains and compensate for losses.

    Domains of Development

    • Scientists studying age-related changes typically categorize these changes into three broad domains of development: physical, social, and group-specific.
    • The physical domain encompasses changes in body size, shape, and characteristics, such as an infant transitioning from crawling to walking or an older adult experiencing skin wrinkles.
    • The social domain is influenced by a social clock, which varies by culture, and shapes lives into common patterns of change.

    Group-Specific Changes

    • Group-specific changes are common to all members of a particular group, with culture being a significant group.
    • Culture influences individual development and shapes our perceptions of what constitutes normal development.

    Epigenetics and Development

    • Retirement-related phenomena are not universal but are culturally specific developmental experiences.
    • The concept of 'on-time' and 'off-time' events is significant in understanding development, with 'on-time' events occurring at culturally or cohort-expected times and causing less difficulty.

    Interactionist Model of Development

    • The interactionist model views development as the outcome of complex reciprocal interactions between various personal and environmental factors.
    • This model is exemplified in research on vulnerability and resilience, with each child born with specific vulnerabilities and protective factors.

    Predicting Development

    • Effective theories generate testable predictions or hypotheses, such as the relationship between brain changes and memory function decline.

    Influence of Theories on Development

    • Theories significantly enhance researchers' understanding of human development facts and provide valuable information to influence development.
    • Understanding the relationship between brain function and memory can be useful in assessing the impact of medical conditions on brain function.

    Research Methods

    • Descriptive methods, such as case studies and ethnography, are used to identify relationships between variables.
    • Cross-cultural research is crucial to developmental psychology, allowing researchers to identify universal changes and improve lives across cultures.

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    Related Documents

    Chapter 2.docx
    Intro & Basic Concepts.docx
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    Chapter 4.docx

    Description

    Explore Rousseau's philosophy on human development, where he believes children are naturally good and require nurturing to fulfill their potential. Learn how environmental interference can lead to poor outcomes.

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