Lifespan Development

The systematic physical, cognitive, and social changes in the individual occurring between conception and death

• Prenatal
• Infancy
• Childhood
• Adolescence
• Adulthood

The first two weeks of prenatal development, from conception until the zygote implants itself in the uterine wall

Lasts from the third week of prenatal development through the eighth week

The last and longest stage of prenatal development that extends from the ninth week after conception until birth

Any disease, drug, or other noxious agent that causes abnormal prenatal development

Physical and Cognitive abnormalities in children caused by pregnant women consuming large quantities of alcohol

Deficits in intelligence, attention, and motor skill

Cataracts, retarded skeletal growth, and premature delivery

Premature births, lower birth weight, abnormal reflexes, and decreased muscle tone

Retarded growth, brain damage, sluggishness, poor attention span, and heart abnormalities

Lower birth weight and less motor control

Increased risk associated with maternal influenza in 2nd trimester of pregnancy. May affect neural subplate, which guides neurons to proper location in fetal brain. Forms about 4th month of pregnancy; disappears almost entirely after birth.

During the final two months of pregnancy the fetus is capable of hearing and recognizing sounds

At birth vision is not as well developed as hearing, but newborns can follow slowly moving objects, and within a day, begin to show a preference for their mother’s face

At birth, infants have the ability both to taste and smell, making positive and negative facial expressions in response to various odors and preferring sweetness over other tastes

Although pain receptors may be less developed, the sense of touch is functional before birth

• Babies turn their heads toward a face at 9 minutes old
• By 4-6 weeks babies are smiling regularly

First “conversations” involve babies exchanging nonverbal signals with others in a rhythmic pattern

has more than twice as many nerve cells as the adult human brain

is an adaptive means of adjusting neuron number

their environment those neurons not regularly activated and strengthened will grow weak and die

• The growth of new dendrites
• The growth of the myelin sheaths around neural axons

• During the first year of life, the body almost triples in weight and increases in length by about one-third.
• After the initial growth surge, the rate of childhood growth slows to about 2 to 3 inches and 4 to 7 pounds per year.
• The ultimate height of a child is largely determined by heredity but can be influenced by environmental factors such as malnutrition.
• Basic motor skills develop from the head downward to the trunk and legs.
• Newborns also enter the world equipped with a number of reflexes. Some reflexes are referred to as survival reflexes, while the others are referred to as primitive reflexes.

Believed to be essential for survival

Believed to be holdovers from human evolutionary history that have outlived their usefulness

A deep emotional bond that an infant develops with its primary caretaker

In primates, the innate pleasure derived from close physical contact. This contributes to the infant’s first attachment.

Fear and distress displayed by infants between the ages of 7 and 9 months when separated from their primary caregiver; persists until the age of 2 or 3

Fear and distress displayed by infants between the ages of 6 or 7 months when approached by an unfamiliar person; usually subsides during the second year

A parent-infant “separation and reunion” procedure that is staged in a laboratory to test the security of a child’s attachment

Believe that they are worthy of others’ love and that people can be trusted

Believe that they are unworthy love objects, and that others cannot be relied upon

Parents who are sensitive and responsive to their children’s needs and emotional signals, and provide a great deal of contact comfort tend to foster secure attachment

The newborn’s temperament will influence the quality of the parent-child response

Attachment seems to be influenced by the ideologies of individualism and collectivism and the existence of extended families who may share in child-rearing responsibilities

• Teach by example
• Monitor use of pronouns such as he and she
• Monitor children’s entertainment
• Provide a cross-cultural and historical view of gender
• Teach children about sexism

Understanding of yourself as being male or female.

Process by which children learn the interests, traits, and behaviors associated with being masculine or feminine in their culture

Early play and toy preferences have a basis in prenatal hormones, genes, or brain organization

Play and toy preferences are based on gender schema (i.e., the knowledge, beliefs, and expectations about what it means to be male or female).

Play and toy preferences are reinforced by parents, teachers, and peers

Cognitive development consists of mental adaptations to new observations and experiences

Absorbing new information into existing cognitive structures

Modifying existing cognitive structures in response to experience and new information

Experiencing the world through actions (grasping, looking, touching, and sucking)

Representing things with words and images but having no logical reasoning

Thinking logically about concrete events; understanding concrete analogies and performing arithmetical operations

Abstract reasoning

Cognitive development is advanced by guided instruction from someone who is more mentally mature

Over language that is not directed to others but rather, is self-directed. Private Speech is part of a larger cognitive process known as internalization

A process of cognition in which people absorb knowledge from their social surroundings

The cognitive range between what a child can do on her or his own and what the child can do with the help of adults or more-skilled children

an awareness and understanding of their own cognitive processes.

Commands, threats, physical force

Verbal disapproval, ridicule, withholding love

Reasoning, explanation