A.

What is the relationship between heredity and environmental factors in determining

development?

Nature refers to heredity, the influence of inherited characteristics on personality, physical

growth, intellectual growth, and social interactions. Nurture refers to the influence of the
environment on all of those same things and includes parenting styles, physical surroundings,
economic factors, and anything that can have an influence on development that does not come
from within the person.

Behavioral genetics is a relatively new field of psychology that combines with biology that
seeks to determine the extent to which our behavior and the rest of our individual differences can
be attributed to the genes. Moreover, it is a field investigating the relative contributions to
development of heredity (nature) and environment (nurture). Most developmental psychologists
agree that development is a product of an interaction between nature and nurture.

For more information on the influence of genetics on behavior, go to the National Institutes of
Health Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research site at obssr.od.nih.gov.

B. How do chromosomes, genes, and DNA determine a person’s characteristics or

disorders, and what causes multiple births?

Genetics is the science of heredity. Understanding how genes transmit human characteristics and
traits involves defining a few basic terms.

Dominant genes control the expression of a trait, whereas recessive gene traits are only
expressed when paired with another recessive gene for the same trait. A dominant gene will
always be expressed in the observable trait, in this case, hair color. A person with a dominant
gene for brown hair color will have brown hair, no matter what the other gene is, because brown
is the most dominant of all the hair colors.
Some genes are less active in influencing the trait and will only be expressed in the observable
trait if they are paired with another less active gene. These genes tend to recede, or fade, into the
background when paired with a more dominant gene, so they are called recessive. Blond is the
most recessive hair color and it will only show up as a trait if that person receives a blond-hair-
color gene from each parent.

Almost all traits are the result of combinations of genes working together in a process called
polygenic inheritance.

Several genetic disorders are carried by recessive genes. Diseases carried by recessive genes are
inherited when a child inherits two recessive genes, one from each parent. Examples of disorders
inherited in this manner are cystic fibrosis (a disease of the respiratory and digestive tracts),
sickle-cell anemia (a blood disorder), Tay-Sachs disorder (a fatal neurological disorder), and
phenylketonuria (PKU), in which an infant is born without the ability to break down
phenylalanine, an amino acid controlling coloring of the skin and hair. If levels of phenylalanine
build up, brain damage can occur; if untreated, it can result in severe intellectual disabilities.

C. What happens during conception and prenatal development and what are some prenatal
hazards?

From conception to the actual birth of the baby is a period of approximately 9 months, during
which a single cell becomes a complete infant. It is also during this time that many things can
have a positive or negative influence on the developing infant.

The fertilized egg cell is called a zygote and divides into many cells, eventually forming the
baby.

Monozygotic twins are formed when the zygote splits into two separate masses of cells, each of
which will develop into a baby identical to the other. When the two masses do not fully separate,
conjoined twins occur.
Dizygotic twins are formed when the mother’s body releases multiple eggs and at least two are
fertilized, or when another ovulation occurs even though the mother has already become
pregnant.

The germinal period is the first 2 weeks of pregnancy in which the dividing mass of cells moves
into the uterus.

The embryonic period begins at 2 weeks after conception and ends at 8 weeks. The vital organs
and structures of the baby form during this period, making it a critical one when teratogens may
adversely affect the development of those developing organs and structures. Any substance such
as a drug, chemical, virus, or other factor that can cause a birth defect is called a teratogen.

One of the more common teratogens is alcohol. Consumption of alcohol during pregnancy,
particularly during the critical embryonic period, can lead to fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), a
series of physical and mental defects including stunted growth, facial deformities, and brain
damage

The fetal period is from the beginning of the 9th week until the birth of the baby. During the fetal
period, tremendous growth occurs, length and weight increase, and organs continue to become
fully functional.

D. What kind of physical changes take place in infancy and childhood?

Four critical areas of adjustment for the newborn are respiration, digestion, circulation, and
temperature regulation.

Babies come into this world able to interact with it. Infants have a set of innate (existing from
birth), involuntary behavior patterns called reflexes. Until a baby is capable of learning more
complex means of interaction, reflexes help the infant to survive. These reflexes include sucking,
rooting, Moro (startle), grasping, and stepping.
The senses, except for vision, are fairly well developed at birth. Vision is blurry and lacking in
full color perception until about 6 months of age. Gross and fine motor skills develop at a fast
pace during infancy and early childhood.

E. What are two ways of looking at cognitive development, how does language develop, and
what is autism spectrum disorder?

Piaget made significant contributions to the understanding of how children think about the world
around them; his theory shifted the commonly held view that children’s thinking was that of
“little adults” toward recognition that it was actually quite different from adult thinking.Piaget
believed that children form mental concepts or schemes as they experience new situations and
events. For example, if Sandy points to a picture of an apple and tells her child,“that’s an apple,”
the child forms a scheme for “apple” that looks something like that picture. Piaget also believed
that children first try to understand new things in terms of schemes they already possess, a
process called assimilation. The child might see an orange and say “apple” because both objects
are round. When corrected, the child might alter the scheme for apple to include “round” and
“red.” The process of altering or adjusting old schemes to fit new information and experiences is
accommodation (Piaget, 1952, 1962, 1983).

Piaget’s stages include the sensorimotor stage of sensory and physical interaction with the world,
preoperational thought in which language becomes a tool of exploration, concrete operations in
which logical thought becomes possible, and formal operations in which abstract concepts are
understood and hypothetical thinking develops.

Vygotsky stressed the importance of social and cultural interactions with other people, typically
more highly skilled children and adults. Vygotsky believed that children develop cognitively
when someone else helps them by asking leading questions and providing examples of concepts
in a process called scaffolding. In scaffolding, the more highly skilled person gives the learner
more help at the beginning of the learning process and then begins to withdraw help as the
learner’s skills improve (Rogoff, 1994).

Vygotsky also proposed that each developing child has a zone of proximal development (ZPD),
which is the difference between what a child can do alone versus what a child can do with the
help of a teacher. For example, if little Jenny can do math problems up to the fourth-grade level
on her own but with the help of a teacher can successfully work problems at a sixth-grade level,
her ZPD is 2 years. Suzi might be the same age as Jenny (and might even score the same on a
traditional IQ test), but if Suzi can only work math problems at a fifth-grade level with the help
of the teacher, Suzi’s ZPD is not as great as Jenny’s. This might be a better way of thinking
about intelligence: It isn’t what you know (as measured by traditional tests), it’s what you can
do.

The stages of language development are cooing, babbling, one-word speech (holophrases),
telegraphic speech, and whole sentences.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder, which involves impairments

in thinking, feeling, language, and social skills in relating to others.

F. How do infants and children develop personalities and form relationships with others,
and what are Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development for children?

The psychological and social development of infants and children involves the develop- ment of
personality, relationships, and a sense of being male or female. Although these processes begin
in infancy, they will continue, in many respects, well into adulthood.

The three basic infant temperaments are easy (regular, adaptable, and happy), difficult (irregular,
nonadaptable, and irritable), and slow to warm up (need to adjust gradually to change).

The emotional bond that forms between an infant and a primary caregiver is called attachment.
Attachment is an extremely important development in the social and emotional life of the infant,
usually forming within the first 6 months of the infant’s life and showing up in a number of ways
during the second 6 months, such as stranger anxiety (wariness of strangers) and separation
anxiety (fear of being separated from the caregiver). Although attachment to the mother is
usually the primary attachment, infants can attach to fathers and to other caregivers as well.

The four types of attachment are secure, avoidant (unattached), ambivalent (insecurely attached),
and disorganized–disoriented (insecurely attached and sometimes abused or neglected).

Harlow’s classic research with infant rhesus monkeys demonstrated the importance of contact
comfort in the attachment process, contradicting the earlier view that attachment was merely a
function of associating the mother with the delivery of food.
In trust versus mistrust, the infant must gain a sense of predictability and trust in caregivers or
risk developing a mistrustful nature; in autonomy versus shame and doubt the toddler needs to
become physically independent.

In initiative versus guilt, the preschool child is developing emotional and psychological
independence; in industry versus inferiority, school-age children are gaining competence and
developing self-esteem.

G. What are the physical, cognitive, and personality changes that occur in adolescence,
including concepts of morality and Erikson’s search for identity?

Adolescence is the period of life from about age 13 to the early 20s during which physical
development reaches completion. The clearest sign of the beginning of adolescence is the onset
of puberty, the physical changes in both primary sex characteristics (growth of the actual sex
organs such as the penis or the uterus) and secondary sex characteristics (changes in the body
such as the development of breasts and body hair) that occur in the body as sexual development
reaches its peak.

Adolescents engage in two kinds of egocentric thinking called the imaginary audience and the
personal fable.

In the personal fable, adolescents have spent so much time thinking about their own thoughts
and feelings that they become convinced that they are special, one of a kind, and that no one else
has ever had these thoughts and feelings before them. “You just don’t understand me, I’m
different from you” is a common feeling of teens. The personal fable is not without a dangerous
side. Because they feel unique, teenagers may feel that they are somehow protected from the
dangers of the world and so do not take the precautions that they should. This may result in an
unwanted pregnancy, severe injury or death while racing in a car, drinking (or texting) and
driving, and drug use, to name a few possibilities. “It can’t happen to me, I’m special” is a risky
but common thought.

The imaginary audience shows up as extreme self-consciousness in adolescents. They become

convinced that everyone is looking at them and that they are always the center of everyone else’s
world, just as they are the center of their own. This explains the intense self-consciousness that
many adolescents experience concerning what others think about how the adolescent looks or
behaves.
Another important aspect in the cognitive advances that occur in adolescence concerns the
teenager’s understanding of “right” and “wrong.” Kohlberg proposed three levels of moral
development: pre-conventional morality, conventional morality, and post-conventional morality.
Gilligan suggested that Kohlberg’s ideas applied more to males.

In Erikson’s identity versus role confusion crisis, the job of the adolescent is to achieve a
consistent sense of self from among all the roles, values, and futures open to him or her.

H. What are the physical, cognitive, and personality changes that occur during adulthood
and aging, including Erikson’s last three psychosocial stages, and patterns of parenting?

Adulthood begins in the early 20s and ends with death in old age. It can be divided into young
adulthood, middle adulthood, and late adulthood.

The 20s are the peak of physical health; in the 30s the signs of aging become more visible, and in
the 40s visual problems may occur, weight may increase, strength may decrease, and height
begins to decrease.

Women experience a physical decline in the reproductive system called the climacteric, ending at
about age 50 with menopause, when a woman’s reproductive capabilities are at an end. Men go
through andropause, a less dramatic change in testos- terone and other male hormones, beginning
in the 40s.

Many health problems such as high blood pressure, skin cancers, and arthritis begin in middle
age, with the most common causes of death in middle age being heart disease, cancer, and
stroke.

Reaction times slow down, but intelligence and memory remain relatively stable.
Erikson’s crisis of young adulthood is intimacy versus isolation, in which the young adult must
establish an intimate relationship, usually with a mate.

The crisis of middle adulthood is generativity versus stagnation, in which the task of the middle-
aged adult is to help the next generation through its crises, either by parenting, mentoring, or a
career that leaves some legacy to the next generation.

Baumrind proposed three parenting styles: authoritarian (rigid and uncompromising),

authoritative (consistent and strict but warm and flexible), and permissive (either indifferent and
un- concerned with the daily activities of the child or indulgent and unwilling to set limits on the
child).

Erikson’s final crisis is integrity versus despair, in which an older adult must come to terms with
mortality.