PoP wk 3

1. Human Development Across
the Life Span
(plus a little comparative)

2. Outline
• Normal Development
– Chronological
– Piagetian Stages
– Attachment
– Approaches to studying development
• Abnormal Development
– Chronological
– Pervasive Developmental Disorders
– Mental Retardation

3. Prenatal Development
• 3 phases
– germinal stage
– embryonic stage
– fetal stage
• Human development vastly differs from
other animals

4. Changes through Infancy and
Early Childhood

5. Sensory Development
• Hearing: Can recognize voices within a day
or two of birth
• Practically from birth, infants can:
– Distinguish tastes
– Recognize mother’s smell
– Experience pain, as well as soothing touch
• Vision
– Can perceive strong contrast
– Blurry

6. “Looking Tasks”
• Babies generally:
– Prefer some stimuli over others
– Notice new or different things
– Can learn to repeat rewarding activities

7. Piaget: Influential but too
simplistic?

8. Stage 1: Sensorimotor

9. Stage 2: Preoperational

10. Theory of Mind

12. Stage 3: Concrete Operational

13. Morality
Capuchin Monkeys
Infant Morality

14. • Attachments: Strong emotional ties formed to one or
more intimate companions
• How does attachment start?
– Contact comfort: warm physical contact
– Harlow’s research: newborn rhesus monkeys become
attached to soft objects
Early Emotional Development:
Attachment

15. • Separation anxiety
– Ainsworth (1979)
– The strange situation and patterns of
attachment
• Secure
• Anxious-ambivalent
• Avoidant
Early Emotional Development:
Attachment

16. Traditional Approach vs. Life-
Span Approach
• The traditional approach
emphasizes extensive change from
birth to adolescence, little or no
change in adulthood, and decline
in late old age.
• The life-span approach emphasizes
developmental change during
adulthood as well as childhood.

17. The Life-Events Approach
Contemporary Life-Events Approach: how
life events influence the individual’s
development depends on:
• The life event itself
• Mediating factors
• The individual’s adaptation to the life event
• Life-stage context
• Sociohistorical context

18. “We are an aging population
and because of this, the study of
adulthood is important. We need
to ensure that older adults have
every possible chance of
maintaining a high quality of
life.”

19. Aging Population 2000 – 2025 - 2050
Older Adults

20. The Normal Aging Brain
• Gray matter densities decrease
• White matter atrophy
– Reduced myelination, slows neural
speed
• Frontal lobes are hit hardest
• Incredible variability
– Cardiovascular health is a major
factor

21. Normal Cognitive Aging
Not affected:
• Procedural memory
• General knowledge
• Language
• Expertise & Skills
Enhanced:
• Vocabulary
• Wisdom
• Emotional regulation (e.g. lower depression)

22. Balance and Postural Sway
• The incidence of falls increases with age
– Balance becomes more of a conscience effort
• Loss of balance control may be due to:
– Decreasing ability of the central nervous system to control
movement
– Reduction of the number of cells in the cerebellum and brain stem
– Decreased capacity in using proprioceptive information

23. Is a Movement Decline
Inevitable with Age?
• Paul Spangler knew that
pacing is often an effective
way to compensate for
speed
• Until his death at age 95 yr,
he was still running
marathons

24. Changes in
perceptual processing speed
• Reaction time tasks
– press button quickly as possible every time light
flashes
• Perceptual speed accounts for >70% of
age-related variance in performance on
memory tasks

25. Creativity: Some creative
accomplishments of older adults
• George Burns: Academy Award winner, age 80
• Ghandi: Indian independence movement, age 72
• Nelson Mandela: Nobel Peace Prize at age 75
• Grandma Moses: painting at age 100
• GB Shaw: writing plays at age 93
• Strom Thurmond: US Senator, age 100
• Jesse Orosco: MLB pitcher, age 45

26. Is Decline
Inevitable with Age?
• Decline does not have to begin as early
or as abruptly as it does for many
• The decline can be avoided with
compensatory strategies, exercise, and
practice

27. Abnormal
Development

28. Prenatal Development
• Teratogens
– Environmental toxins
• Alcohol
– Fetal alcohol syndrome
• Deformities; delayed motor development; lowered
intelligence
• Nicotine
– Premature birth/low birth-weight/fetal death;
disturbed fine motor skills
• Marijuana
– Abstract thinking; perseveration

29. Childhood and Adolescence
• People often think of childhood as a
carefree and happy time – yet it can also
be frightening and upsetting
– Children of all cultures typically experience at least
some emotional and behavioral problems as they
encounter new people and situations

30. Childhood and Adolescence
• ≥ 1/5 of all children and adolescents in North
America experience a diagnosable
psychological disorder
• Major Depressive Disorder
– ~2% of children and 9% of adolescents
– 15 % of adolescents experience at least one
depressive episode
• There also are disorders that begin in birth or
childhood and persist in stable forms into
adult life.

31. The Aging Brain
• Neurons do die with age
– However, they can continue to increase in
complexity
• Dementia: Loss in mental functioning
caused by physical changes in the brain
– Fewer than 1% of those over 65 y.o. have
dementia
– About 20% over 80 y.o. have dementia

32. Alzheimer’s Disease
• Risk Factors
– Age
– Genes (ApoE4 allele)
– Gender
– Cardiovascular health
– Education
– Social interaction
– Head injury

33. Alzheimer’s Disease

34. Long-Term Disorders
That Begin in Childhood
• Pervasive developmental disorders
• Impaired social interactions/inappropriate
responses
• Mental retardation
• Impaired cognitive/emotional functioning

35. Autism Spectrum Disorders
• A cluster of disorders that emerge early in
childhood
• Characterized by problems with social
connectedness & communication
• A tendency toward ritualistic behavior

36. What Are the Features of
Autism?
• Lack of responsiveness
• Language and communication problems
• Repetitive and rigid behavior
• Strong attachment to particular objects – plastic lids,
rubber bands, buttons, water
• Unusual motor movements of people

37. Genetic syndromes associated
with Mental Retardation
Down Syndrome
• The older the mother, the higher the prevalence

38. Fragile X
Syndrome