Chapter 9

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Psychology Over the Life Span

Growing Up,Growing Older, Growing Wiser


Having Children• Do you want to have children some day? Why

or why not? • What are some reasons why people would or

wouldn’t want kids?


Getting a Start in Life• Gametes

– Sperm– Egg

• Chromosomes– XX = female– XY = male

Review• DNA exists as two long, paired strands spiraled into the famous double

helix. • The 3 billion base pairs are organized into 23 pairs of chromosomes (one

set of pair inherited from the mother and one from the father).


Stages of Developmentin the Womb

• Trimesters• Zygote

– A fertilized egg• Embryo

– 2 weeks to 8 weeks after conception• Fetus

– 8 weeks until birth


Teratogens

• Maternal illness– Chicken pox, rubella, HIV

• Alcohol and drugs– Alcohol, heroin, cocaine

• Caffeine and smoking• Diet and pollution

– Malnutrition– Too much methymercury-contain fish (such as tuna)

Maternal stressors


Vulnerability in Prenatal Development


Reflexes Present at Birth

• Withdrawal (10 days)• Stepping (2 months)• Sucking (3 months)• Rooting (3-4 months)• Palmar grasp (4 months)• Startle (5 months)• Swimming (6 months)• Tonic neck (7 months)

• Plantar (1 year)• Babinski (1 year)• Eye blink (life)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bal9fYVGv74

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nS11Yw4ZEck

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4rT5i7CPzM


Temperament

Types• Approach style• Withdrawal style• Easy• DifficultBiological factorsNurturing experiences


Physical and Motor Development Milestones

Baby’s first steps

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jr0bXVlBd3A


Infancy and Childhood

• Perceptual development– Visual perception

• Visual cliff experiment• Habituation technique

– Auditory perception


Jean Piaget

Schema

Accommodation Assimilation


Jean Piaget

• Periods of cognitive development– Sensorimotor– Preoperational– Concrete operations– Formal operations


Sensorimotor Period

• Age– 0–2 years

• Major achievements– Object permanence– Imitation


Preoperational Period


• Major achievement– Capacity for mental representation

• Egocentrism


Concrete Operations Period


• Major achievements– Can take another person’s perspective– Classifying objects– Conservation and other reversible mental

operations


Formal Operations Period

• Age– 11 years (at the earliest)

• Major achievements– Abstract concepts– Logic– Reversibility– Hypothetical thinking


Attachment

• Harlow’s monkeys– Importance of comfort contact

• Separation anxiety• Ainsworth: Strange Situation experiments

– Secure attachment– Avoidant attachment– Resistant attachment– Disorganized/disoriented attachment

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmbbfisRiwA


Adolescence: Physical developmentPuberty

• What are some of physical changes that boys and girls experience during adolescence?

• Boys and girls experience puberty earlier than in the past. Impact?

• How do the changes influence them psychologically?

• Is early versus late puberty a good or bad thing? Does it vary by gender?


Adolescence

• Cognitive development– Abstract reasoning

• Adolescent egocentrism– Imaginary audience– Peer pressure


What Behaviors Characterized the Social and Emotional Development of Adolescents?

• Conflicts with parents– Most frequent in early adolescence– Most intense in mid-adolescence

• Mood swings– Depression– Loneliness– Suicide

• Risk taking• Peer relationships

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDGevmhIN4M&feature=related


Adolescence

• Do adolescents have more problems than younger kids and older young adults?

• Is it worse for boys or girls? Do they cope differently?

• Do parents have different dating rules for boys or girls? Why or why not?


Adulthood and Aging

• The changing body– Genes– Environment– Menopause (for women)


Adulthood and Aging

• Perception– Cataracts– Hearing– Smell

• Memory– Recall of specific episodic memories– Working memory


Adulthood and Aging

• Intelligence and specific abilities– Fluid intelligence– Crystallized intelligence


EuthanasiaJack Kevorkian is an American pathologist, who is most noted for publicly

championing a terminal patient's right to die via physician-assisted suicide; This is active euthanasia (i.e., active steps are taken to short the person’s life).

Terri Schiavo suffered brain damage and became dependent on a feeding tube. In 1998, Michael Schiavo, her husband and guardian, petitioned the Pinellas County Circuit Court to remove her feeding tube. Removing the feeding tube would be passive euthanasia (i.e., steps are not taken to keep the person alive).

• Is passive or active euthanasia every justified? If so, under what circumstances?

• What moral issues does passive or active euthanasia raise? • Are any abuses possible?

Chapter 9

Technology

active euthanasia

passive euthanasia

active steps

feeding tube

girls experience puberty

persons life

physical changes

reversible mental operations