Developmental Psychology

• Nature vs Nurture- the way you were born vs the way you were raised
• Physical Development- focus on our physical changes over time

Prenatal Development

• Conception begins with the drop of an egg and release of 200 million sperm
• Sperm seeks out egg and attempts to penetrate eggs surface
• once sperm penetrates egg, we have a zygote
• Zygote- first stage of prenatal development; lasts about 2 weeks and consists of rapid egg division; less than half of all zygotes survive first 2 weeks; in 10 days the zygote will attach to uterine wall; outer part of zygote becomes placenta
• Embryo- develops from zygote after 2 weeks; lasts about 6 weeks; heart begins to and organs begin to develop
• Fetus- by 9 weeks; fetus by about the 6th month, the stomach and other organs have formed enough to survive outside of mother

Teratogens- chemical agents that can harm prenatal development such as alcohol, STDs and HIV

Healthy Newborns- turn head towards voices, see 8-12 inches from their faces , gaze longer at human like objects

• Reflexes- inborn automatic responses
• Rooting (cheek)- newborn infant is touched on cheek; the infant will turn its head towards the source of stimulation
• Sucking
• Grasping- if object is placed in baby's palm, the baby will try to grasp the object
• Moro (startle)- when startled, a baby will fling his/her limbs out then quickly retract them
• Babinski- baby's foot is stroked, he or she will spread their toes

Maturation- physical growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, regardless of environment

Cognition- all mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, and remembering

Cognitive Development- Jean Piaget

Schemas- ways we interpret the world around us (concepts)

Assimilation- incorporating new experiences into existing schemas

Accomodation- changing an existing schema to adapt to new information

4 Stages of Cognitive Development

• Sensorimotor (0-2)- experience world through senses; object permanence develops around 6-8 months
• Preoperational (2-7)- begins to use language to represent objects and ideas (think in symbols); egocentric- cannot look at the world through anyone's eyes but their own; conservation- quantity remains the same despite changes in appearance
• Concrete Operational (7-11)- can demonstrate concept of conservation; learn to think logically; understanding of reversibility
• Formal Operational (12+)- abstract reasoning

Social Development

• in about a year, infants develop stranger anxiety
• Attachment- a bond with a care giver
• Konrad Lorenz discovered some animals form attachment through imprinting
• Origins of Attachment- Harry Harlow and monkeys- showed monkeys needed touch or body contact to form attachment
• Critical Period- shortly after birth when an organism's exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produce proper development

3 types of Attachment

1. Secure Attachment- children show some distress when parent leaves, seek contact at the reunion, explore when parent is gone; play and greet when parent is present
2. Stranger Anxiety- fear of strangers that infants commonly display; beginning by about 8 months of age
3. Separation Anxiety- distress the infant shows when object of attachment leaves; peaks between 14-18 months

3 Parenting Styles

1. Authoritarian- strict standards for children's behavior
2. Permissive- gives freedom, lax parenting, no rules consistently
3. Authoritative- encourage independence; willing to bargain

Stage Theorists

• these psychologists believe we travel from stage to stage throughout our lives
• Siegmund Freud- we all have libido (sexual desire) that travels to different areas of our body throughout development

-Oral Stage (0-1)- seek pleasure through mouth

-Anal Stage (1-3)- libido focused on controlling and expelling waste

-Phallic Stage (3-6)- children first recognize gender

-Latency Stage (6-11)- libido is hidden; cooties stage

-Genital Stage (11+)- libido is focused on their genitals; experience sexual feelings towards others

Adolescence/ Adulthood

• Adolescence- transition period from childhood to adulthood
• Puberty- period of sexual maturation during which a person becomes capable of reproducing
• Landmarks for puberty- Menarche for girls and first ejaculation for boys
• Adulthood- all physical abilities essentially peak by mid twenties
• physical milestones- menopause- the natural ending of a woman's ability to reproduce; men do not experience anything like menopause 

Types of Intelligence

• Crystallized-accumulated knowledge and increases with age
• Fluid- ability to solve problems quickly and think abstractly 

5 Stages of Death

1. Denial
2. Anger
3. Bargaining
4. Depression
5. Acceptance

Biological School/ Nervous System

Nervous System- starts with an individual nerve cell called a neuron

Neuron Firing- resting potential: slightly negative charge; reach the threshold when enough neurotransmitters reach dendrites; finally goes into action potential (firing)

• All or None Response- idea that either the neuron fires or it doesn't- no part way firing

Types of Neurotransmitters

• Acetycholine (ACH)- deals with motor movement and memory, linked to alzheimer's
• Dopamine- deals with motor movement and alertness; lack of dopamine leads to Parkinson's; too much leads to schizophrenia
• Serotonin- involved in mood control
• Endorphins- involved in pain control; many addictive drugs
• Gaba- major inhibitory neurotransmitters
• Glutamine- immune system and brain function

Drugs

• Agonists- make neuron fire
• Antagonists- stop neural firing
• Reuptake Inhibitors- block neurotransmitters from entering the neuron

Types of Neurons

• Sensory Neurons-take info from senses to the brain
• Inter Neurons- take messages from sensory neurons to brain
• Motor Neurons- takes information from brain to rest of the body

Nervous Systems

• Central- brain and spinal cord; inter neuron
• Peripheral- all nerves not encased in bone; everything but brain and spinal cord
• Somatic- controls voluntary muscle movement; uses motor neurons
• Autonomic- controls the automatic functions of the body
• Sympathetic- fight or flight response; automatically accelerates heart rate, breathing, dilates pupils
• Parasympathetic- automatically slows down after stressful event; slows down heart rate and breathing

• Endocrine system- system of glands that secrete hormones

The Brain

Accidents- Phineas Gage Story- personality changed after accident

Lesions-removal or destruction of some parts of the brain; frontal lobotomy

• Electroencephologram (EEG)- detects brain waves through electrical waves
• Computerized Axial Tomography (CAT SCAN)- good for tumor locating but tells nothing of function
• Magnetic Resonance Imaging- more dedicated picture of brain using magnetic field to knock electrons off axis
• Positron Emmission Topography (PET SCAN)- measures how much of a chemical the brain is using

Hindbrain

structures on top of spinal cord; controls basic biological structures

• Medulla- control of blood pressure, heart rate, breathing
• Pons- involved in facial expressions;connects hind brain to mid brain to high brain
• Cerebellum- "little brain"; coordinates fine muscle movement, voluntary muscle

Mid Brain- coordinates simple movements with sensory information

• Reticular Formation- controls arousal and ability to focus

Forebrain- what makes us human; largest part of brain

• Thalamus- switchboard of brain; receives sensory signal from spinal cord and sends them to other parts of brain; every sense except smell
• Hypothalamus- controls and regulates body temp, sexual arousal, hunger, thirst, and endocrine system
• Hippocampus- involved in the processing and storage of memories
• Amygdala- involved in how we process memory; more involved with volatile emotion
• Cerebral Cortex- made up of densely backed neurons called "gray matter; divided into 2 hemispheres. Left deals with logic and sequential tasks; Right deals with spatial and creative tasks

Lobes

• Frontal- abstract thought and emotional control; contains motor cortex which sends to our body controlling muscle movements; contains Broca's area which controls muscles for producing speech
• Parietal- contains sensory cortex: receives incoming touch sensations from rest of the body; mostly made up of association areas
• Occipital- deals with vision
• Temporal- processes sound sensed by our ears; contains Wernicke's area which deals with language comprehension