chapter in review
Heredity (nature) and environment (nurture) are interacting forces that are both necessary for human development. However, caregivers can only influence environment.
• The chromosomes and genes in each cell of the body carry hereditary instructions. Most characteristics are polygenic and reflect the combined effects of dominant and recessive genes.
• Maturation of the body and nervous system underlies the orderly development of motor skills, cognitive abilities, emo-tions, and language.
• Many early skills are subject to the principle of readiness.
• Prenatal development is influenced by environmental factors, such as various teratogens, including diseases, drugs, and radia-tion, as well as the mother’s diet, health, and emotions.
• During sensitive periods in development, infants are more sen-sitive to specific environmental influences.
• Early perceptual, intellectual, or emotional deprivation seri-ously retards development, whereas deliberate enrichment of the environment has a beneficial effect on infants.
• In general, environment sets a reaction range within which maturation unfolds.
• Temperament is hereditary. Most infants fall into one of three temperament categories: easy children, difficult children, and slow-to-warm-up children.
• A child’s developmental level reflects heredity, environment, and the effects of the child’s own behavior.
Although neonates will die if not cared for at birth they are far from helpless. They possess adaptive reflexes, are responsive to their senses, begin to learn immediately, and are aware of their actions.
• Infant development is strongly influenced by heredity.
However, environmental factors such as nutrition, parenting, and learning are also important.
• The human neonate has a number of adaptive reflexes, includ-ing the graspinclud-ing, rootinclud-ing, suckinclud-ing, and Moro reflexes.
• Tests in a looking chamber reveal a number of visual prefer-ences in the newborn. The neonate is drawn to bright lights and circular or curved designs.
• Infants prefer human face patterns, especially familiar faces. In later infancy, interest in the unfamiliar emerges.
• The rate of maturation varies from person to person. Also, learn-ing contributes greatly to the development of basic motor skills.
• Emotions develop in a consistent order, starting with general-ized excitement in newborn babies. Three of the basic emo-tions — fear, anger, and joy — may be unlearned.
Early social development lays a foundation for relationships with par-ents, siblings, friends, and relatives and the emotional attachment of human infants is a critical early event.
• Opportunities for social interaction increase as infants develop self-awareness and they begin to actively seek guidance from adults.
• Infant attachment is reflected by separation anxiety. The qual-ity of attachment can be classified as secure, insecure-avoidant, or insecure-ambivalent.
• Secure attachment is fostered by consistent care from parents who are sensitive to a baby’s signals and rhythms.
• High-quality day care is not harmful and can even be helpful to preschool children. Low-quality care can be risky.
• Meeting a baby’s affectional needs is as important as meeting needs for physical care.
Studies suggest that parental styles have a substantial impact on emotional and intellectual development.
• Three major parental styles are authoritarian, permissive, and authoritative (effective). Authoritative parenting appears to benefit children the most.
• Whereas mothers typically emphasize caregiving, fathers tend to function as playmates for infants. Both caregiving styles contribute to the competence of young children.
• The ultimate success of various parenting styles depends on what culture or ethnic community a child will enter.
• Parenting styles vary across cultures.
Language development proceeds from crying to cooing, then bab-bling, the use of single words, and then to telegraphic speech.
• Learning to use language is a cornerstone of early intellectual development.
• The underlying patterns of telegraphic speech suggest a bio-logical predisposition to acquire language. This innate ten-dency is augmented by learning.
• Prelanguage communication between parent and child involves shared rhythms, nonverbal signals, and turn-taking.
• Motherese or parentese is a simplified, musical style of speak-ing that parents use to help their children learn language.
The intellect of a child is less abstract than that of an adult. Jean Piaget theorized that children mature through a fixed series of cogni-tive stages by applying a combination of assimilation and accommo-dation. Lev Vygotsky emphasized the role of interactions with more competent partners.
• Piaget held that children mature through a fixed series of cognitive stages. The stages and their approximate age ranges are sensorimotor (0–2), preoperational (2–7), concrete opera-tional (7–11), and formal operations (11–adult).
• Caregivers should offer learning opportunities that are appro-priate for a child’s level of cognitive development.
• Learning principles provide an alternate explanation that assumes cognitive development is continuous; it does not occur in stages.
• Recent studies of infants under the age of 1 year suggest that they are capable of thought well beyond that observed by Piaget.
• Lev Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory emphasizes that a child’s mental growth takes place in a child’s zone of proximal devel-opment, where a more skillful person may scaffold the child’s progress. As children rely on adults to help them discover new skills and principles they learn cultural beliefs and values.
Adolescents must form their identity and values at a time when they are also dealing with puberty and transition to adulthood is occurring at ever-later ages.
• The timing of puberty can complicate the task of identity for-mation, a major task of adolescence.
• Transitioning from childhood to adulthood requires the formation of a personal identity, the major life task of adolescence.
• Identity formation is even more challenging for adolescents of ethnic descent.
• In Western industrialized societies the transition into adult-hood is further complicated as it is increasingly delayed well into the 20s.
As in other types of development, we develop morals and values as we grow through several levels.
• Lawrence Kohlberg identified preconventional, conventional, and postconventional levels of moral reasoning.
• Developing mature moral standards is also an important task of adolescence.
• Most people function at the conventional level of morality, but some never get beyond the selfish, preconventional level. Only a minority of people attain the highest, or postconventional level, of moral reasoning.
• Carol Gilligan distinguished between Kohlberg’s justice per-spective and a caring perper-spective. Mature adult morality likely involves both.
Erik Erikson identified a series of challenges that occur across the life-span. These range from a need to gain trust in infancy to the need to live with integrity in old age.
• Personal development does not end after adolescence. Periods of stability and transition occur throughout adulthood.
• We face a specific “crisis,” or psychosocial dilemma, at each life stage.
• Successful resolution of the dilemmas produces healthy devel-opment, whereas unsuccessful outcomes make it harder to deal with later crises.
Well-being during adulthood consists of six elements: self-acceptance, positive relations with others, autonomy, environmental mastery, having a purpose in life, and continued personal growth.
• Physical aging starts early in adulthood. Every adult must find ways to successfully cope with aging.
• Only a minority of people have a midlife crisis, but midlife course corrections are more common.
• Even if no crisis occurs, people tend to move through repeated cycles of stability and transition throughout adulthood.
• Intellectual declines associated with aging are limited, at least through one’s 70s. This is especially true of individuals who remain mentally active.
• Successful lives are based on happiness, purpose, meaning, and integrity.
• Ageism refers to prejudice, discrimination, and stereotyping on the basis of age. It affects people of all ages but is especially damaging to older people. Most ageism is based on stereo-types, myths, and misinformation.
Typical emotional reactions to impending death include denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance, but not necessarily in that order or in every case.
• Death is a natural part of life. There is value in understanding it and accepting it.
Positive parent-child interactions occur when parents spend enjoy-able time encouraging their children in a loving and mutually respect-ful fashion.
• Effective parental discipline tends to emphasize child man-agement techniques (especially communication), rather than power assertion or withdrawal of love.
• Consistency is also an important aspect of effective parenting.
• Effective parents allow their children to express their feelings but place limits on their behavior.
• Much misbehavior can be managed by use of I-messages and the application of natural and logical consequences.
Web Resources
For an up-to-date list of direct links to interesting sites, including those listed here, visit the student companion site for this book at www.cengage.com/psychology/coon
Human Genome Project Learn more about your human genetic heritage.
Crack Babies A photostory by Ken Kobre.
Scaffolding as a Teaching Strategy Download a paper on the appli-cation of Vygotsky’s idea of scaffolding to teaching.
A Positive Approach to Identity Formation of Biracial Children Join the debate about multiethnicity and identity formation.
Delayed Adulthood Read two articles about delayed adulthood.
Kohlberg Dilemmas Try your hand at answering several moral dilemmas.
Hospice A website of information about death, bereavement, and hospices.
Discipline: Logical & Natural Consequences Read about ways to effectively structure discipline.
Interactive Learning
Introduction to Psychology: Gateways to Mind and Behavior Book Companion Website
www.cengage.com/psyc hology/coon
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Gateway Questions
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In what ways are our senses limited?•
How does the visual system function?•
How do we perceive colors?•
How do we adjust to the dark?•
What are the mechanisms of hearing?•
How do the chemical senses operate?•
What are the somesthetic senses?•
Why are we more aware of some sensations than others?•
How can pain be reduced in everyday situations?C H A P T E R 4
Sensation and Reality
Gateway Theme
Sensory systems link us to the external world and shape the flow of information to the brain.
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