PSY100H1 Lecture 9: Topic 9, 10 - Development
Babies
Nature vs. Nurture?
Things that affect the development of babies:
● prenatal and infant development are affected by environmental factors: e.g.,
teratogens, stress, touch, etc.
● teratogens (e.g. alcohol, viruses drugs etc) -- abnormal development in the womb
○ interestingly, there are lots of chemicals floating around but there are zero
tested on human health
○ infants are affected by the environment before they are born
● stress mother;s emotional state affect birth weight, cognitive and physical
development
○ what influence mom’s stress?
■ family environment, neglect …
○ IQ development is affected by stress
○ other factors such as poverty
○ mom’s ability to cope
● cultural practices!
○ once we are born, our culture construct us biologically
■ our behaviour is shaped by parenting philosophy
■ e.g. research: amount of physical touch affect brain development
● parents are encouraged to touch the infants
● emotional responsiveness and grounding affect the achievement and
relationship outcomes for decades
○ parenting approach: an angry baby-- time out or calm them down?
Genie, Feral children, orphanages case
● Genie case:
○ fled with mom to the welfare office; She is verbally delayed, disconnected
from the world (developmental issue)
○ she look like 6 year-old but she is actually 13
○ physically stunted in the motor development; she only use a few words, for
most of the life she was locked in the cage - a stimulation-free, negative
experience
■ no human contact
○ she was cared for a few years and made development in language and social
skills, but her progress began to plateau
■ experimenters believed that if you are not developed by a certain time,
if would be difficult
● Feral children case:
○ raised in the wild
○ initial progress in civilization of the kids, but plateaued quickly
● Romanian orphanages
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
● these cases show that being “functionally human” is more like a skill than an innate
ability or essential quality we somehow possess; its something we learn through
practice, being bathed in language, cultural practices & affection
○ being a functional human is not a biological program.
Attachment
● attachment is the bond that develops between the caregiver and child; the emotional
connection
○ we thought motivation is the reduction of primary drives -- Drive reduction
theory
○ emotional connection formed between infants and caregivers
■ also interested in physical behaviours
● Even very young infants have highly INTERactive relationships.
○ e.g. infants 5 or 6 months develop a social smile
■ awwwweee
■ more AWWWWEEEEE
■ Dolderman is so bae!!! <3
● E.g., emotional attunement - Infants as young as 10 weeks get extremely upset
when their mothers stop showing any facial expressions of emotion
○ the implications of this are HUGE!! mom interaction with kids stone faced -
the infants get freaky
○ at first they tried to get response so they are more engaging. Then the kids
collapsed emotionally
○ kids are tracking facial emotions
● e.g., maternal depression in 1st TWO MONTHS → insecure attachment,
poor emotion regulation, learned helplessness, even depression
later in life (it's akin to early trauma....)
○ the kids knows the normal reciprocity is not here
○ later in life, they are more likely to internalize beliefs that they are useless,
experience depression
● by 8 months, infants of unresponsive mothers are developing avoidant behavioural
coping strategies
● attachment is like an emotional memory, laying the foundation for our emotional
systems, our basic sense of security and trust in others
○ you have no cognitive memories as a baby, but you are shaped emotionally
■ they guided you and become who you are
● attachment experiences build associative networks that reflect these experiences,
forming our schemas for ourselves & others
○ social networks of yourself and other
○ forms the feelings of being in relationship
■ okay or fearful?
● notice how, especially the beginning of our lives, this is non-cognitive
○ not developed theory of mind
○ mostly emotional and physical
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Harlow’s Monkeys
● what primary drives are reduced by these cloths?
○ if the cage is all wire, the physical and behavioural development are way
worse
● Challenge the early drive theory:
○ you love your mom because they feed you - reduce the primary drive
reduction for hunger
■ Behavioural drive theory suggests that infants are born with innate
drives, such as hunger and thirst, which only the caregiver, usually the
mother, can reduce.
● Harlow test this theory
○ no matter whether cloth mom or wire mom has the bottle, they don't hang out
with wire mom at all (except for a little bit of time to eat)
○ they run to cloth mom when scared
■ it’s not just running away, it is running towards the source of
security - overlaps social psychology
● e.g. our identities, beliefs, religion, stereotypes
● we create these and run towards them
○ e.g. you can make people believe in god more by
making them more insecure
● Conclusion: affection (warmth, acceptance, love, responsiveness, tough etc) may
be a fundamental aspect of our character; comfort possesses greater motivational
value than hunger.
The lasting Effects of the Early Years
● Quality of parenting
○ e.g. gentleness, making, responsiveness, encouragement, patience…
○ they are not strictly necessary, but if you have more of the positive thing, you
are more likely
● Quality of environment
○ resources, stress
● Infant temperament
○ some infants are easier to raise as compared to those with strong emotional
breakouts
● these interacts to determine how much of the stuff is going to happen
○ they intertwine and impact each other
● the consequence: they have an impact on your cognitive schemas
○ internalizing the relational experience that you had
○ self- fulfilling prophecies: if you approach your relationship with openness,
you will tend to observe the positiveness of other people
○ confirming feedback
○ affect the interpretation of the people
● they have an impact over relationships and doing well, which creates the quality of
your childhood and feedback to these things
○ intimacy behaviours and outcomes
○ achievement behavior and outcomes
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
65
PSY100H1 Full Course Notes
Verified Note
65 documents
Document Summary
Stress mother;s emotional state affect birth weight, cognitive and physical development. What influence mom"s stress? family environment, neglect . Once we are born, our culture construct us biologically. Our behaviour is shaped by parenting philosophy. E. g. research: amount of physical touch affect brain development. Parents are encouraged to touch the infants. Emotional responsiveness and grounding affect the achievement and relationship outcomes for decades. Genie case: fled with mom to the welfare office; she is verbally delayed, disconnected from the world (developmental issue) She look like 6 year-old but she is actually 13. Physically stunted in the motor development; she only use a few words, for most of the life she was locked in the cage - a stimulation-free, negative experience. She was cared for a few years and made development in language and social skills, but her progress began to plateau. Experimenters believed that if you are not developed by a certain time, if would be difficult.
