PSYC1003 Final: Issues in Developmental Psychology
Issues in Developmental Psychology
Nature and
Nurture
• Nature and nurture both contribute to development, and their roles are not
easily separated because environmental events turn genes on and off.
• Nature – development follows a genetically, programmed, innate schedule,
eg: children are born with knowledge of gravity.
• This involves maturation - biologically based changes that follow an orderly
sequence, eg: language acquisition.
• Gradual maturation – gene expression that comes with age provides evidence
for things being innate but only gradually developing over time, eg: motor
developments (we crawl before we walk).
• Nurture – hildre’s deelopet is shaped their eiroet, eg:
children start learning aspects of their native language in their last trimester.
• Most behaviours are the outcomes of environmental input and some general
learning mechanisms.
• Nature experiments imply immutability, whereas nurture experiments imply a
child can do anything.
• Theoretical debates now rage on the relative contribution of nature and
nurture and how they interact.
Importance
of Early
Experience
• Early experience - critical periods central to specific types of learning that
modify future development, eg: foetal development.
• Evidence - researchers discovered toxic substances would affect the
developing foetus but only if the foetus were exposed at very specific points in
development.
Impact of
Early Abuse
or
Deprivation
• Most children will learn to speak, think, solve problems and love in ways
accepted and encouraged by their culture.
• The brain has essentially been 'programmed' by natural selection to expect a
range of input.
• The loger the hild’s eperiee is out of this rage (deprivation), the more
severe their cognitive impairments remained.
• There appears to be a direct relationship between childhood abuse and
deficits in the function and structure of the parts of the brain responsible for
behavioural and emotional control.
• Factors affecting the impact of recurrent neglect/abuse include the child's age
and stage of development; the type, severity, frequency and duration of
abuse/neglect; and the relationship between the child and abuser.
• Negative outcomes include physical health problems; behavioural, cognitive
and learning difficulties and mental health disorders.
• In conclusion = at present, humans have sensitive periods - times that are
particularly important but not definite for subsequent development.
• In some domains, such as language, these sensitive periods may actually be
critical; appropriate environmental input at certain points may be required or
further development is permanently impaired.
• In most domains, however, sensitive periods are important but not decisive.
• Deprivation studies, however, do not provide evidence for critical periods as
case histories are too unclear.
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