PSY 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Prenatal Development, Australopithecus, Developmental Psychology
Document Summary
Empiricism : knowledge (and traits) comes from experience. Vs. nativism: knowledge is innate, built in(personality and cognitive variables are fixed before birth) Stand on one for 10 seconds:4 1/2. Recognize and smile at mother or father: 4-5 months. Thinking about things that cannot be seen:2 years. We all start off as generic vertebrates. If androgens kick in around week 8, girl becomes boy. Brain development is extremely easy to disrupt in utero by teratogens esp. Then, we are all born 6 months premature. Ape brains: 200cc at birth-400 cc as adult (double) Long infancy is compromise between large brain and small hips. Infants brain has high plasticity, low functionality. One big short-circuit(although it is smarter than it seems) Different sections get myelinated at different times. Causes universal progression of skills(e. g. walking, talking, thinking) Environment shapes and tunes dendritic growth, guides neuronal pruning. Related to critical periods for language(periods outside of which learning is impossible)
