Lectures 1-5

• part of genetic endowment
• innate, genetic, maturation
• Nativist

• acquired through experience
• environmental, cultural
• Empiricist

Del & Ray deprivation study - 2 twin girls from uneducated poor parents who were reared in controlled deprivation conditions

• refers to the consistency of an observation
• is the finding replicable?

would a different observer see the same thing?

would same people act the same way if they were tested again?

whether you are measuring what you intended to measure

has to do with the design of the experiment

how you interpreted the results

whether or not your results can be generalized

• researcher inadvertently inserts opinion into the study
• do blind experiments to prevent this

participants slant results to please the experimenter or for other reasons

• when the study is designed so that one gender is favored over another
• ex. masuring girls with a scale made for boys

• ex. scheduling test on yom kippur - students might not do well bc theyre fasting
• ex. IQ tests are geared towards upper/middle class students but unfair to lower class students bc they havent been exposed to the same words/experiences

the people you choose to study

the group of people you want to generalize about

• western
• educated
• industrialized
• rich
• democratic

• using age as an independent variable = WRONG
• bc you cannot assign someone to an age
• avoid this by: using age as DV, doing age-matched designs

• because the more participants you have, the more statistical power there is
• important to have larger samples bc children are very variable

• case study - studies one child, unique opportunity but hard to generalize to other kids
• cross-sectional - 1 observation per participant, can be same age or different ages or diff ability groups, quick and easy but cant see development
• longitudinal - more than 2 observations per participants over a certain length of time, can see developmental changes but it is very expensive

concluding that development is stage-like or continuous based on too-large sampling intervals

• 0-2 weekss
• zygote implants itself into the wall of the uterus
• cell division occurs rapidly

• 2-8 weeks
• the support structures grow from cluster of cells and all the important anatomy is laid down

sac in which the baby lives

layer outside the amniotic sac

newly formed cells move to other locations

all cells are the same at first, then they begin to specialize

• 9-40 weeks/birth
• baby gets bigger and fatter
• the lungs also develop

you start to see the amnion clearly

the fetus can start to move its body parts

the mother can feel the fetus moving

embryonic period

spontaneous abortion

affects later development negatively

baby is born prematurely

substances or events that can produce birth defects

alcohol, nicotine, low nutrition, exposure to radiation

to prevent morning sickness

defects in ears

defects in arms

defects in legs

no effect

• cervix dilates and gets thinner so baby can move along (can last for 24 hours)
• pushing can last from 30min-2 hour
• delivery of baby
• delivery of placenta

38-40 weeks

5.5 pounds minimum

born 35 weeks or before

small for gestational age, born tiny

SGA because there is a higher chance of developmental systems not being fully developed

• inability to control movements or muscles
• CP babies have- brain lesions, abnormal muscle tone, mental retardation
• associated with - poor women bc they arent getting enough nutrition and with older women

genetic material that an organism inherits

observable characteristics of the genotype (behavior, looks)

every aspect of the organism and its surroundings

• aka down syndrome
• 3 chromosome #21 instead of just 2
• hypotonic/really loose muscles
• deficits in cognitive abilities, partial mental retardation

• a recessive gene on chromosome 12 that prevents breakdown of phenylalanine in food
• mother with PKU can break it down, passes it on to child while breastfeeding

you will be fine

will cause mental retardation within a year

kid will have lighter hair and eyes than other siblings who dont have it

sections of chromosomes that code for proteins

all chromosomes that arent sex chromosomes

• more common in boys because they only have one copy of an X chromosome so they cannot override a recessive gene whereas girls can
• ex. color blindness, fragile x syndrome, hemophelia

• female only has one x chromosome
• leads to delayed puberty and fertility, as well as learning disabilities

• male is born with an extra X chromosome (XXY)
• low testosterone, reduced body mass/facial hair, produce little to no sperm

• mono - identical, one egg that splits up into two, both have the same genes
• Di - fraternal, two separate eggs are fertilized by two sperm

50 days

100 days

150 days

180 days