Chapter 30

1. Chapter 30 • Factors influencing the development of behaviour

2. Maturation-walking • normally begins at 9-15 months • linked to myelination of nerve fibres • sequence of steps is genetically programmed

3. Maturation-speech • develops through stages from birth through to 4+ years • must move through all stages • progress only possible if natural maturation level is reached • maturation provides periods of optimum “potential to learn”

4. Maturation-cognitiveabilities • Cognitive abilities involve higher mental skills that involve perception , intuition, thinking and reasoning

5. Cognitive abilities • object permanence-object still exists even if not present • egocentric thinking-thinks that environment is an extension of itself • conservation-physical properties remain the same even if shape changes • concrete operations-reversibility,classifying,sequencing • formal operations-abstract ideas+hypothesise

6. Inheritance • Development of behaviour is partly influenced by a person’s genotype. Genes code for proteins that code for structures e.g. neurotransmitters • that affect a behaviour.

7. Huntington’s chorea. Woody Guthrie was the most important American folk artist of the first half of the 20th century. This land is your land

8. Woody Guthrie was affected by the autosomal dominantallele for Huntington's Disorder and, ultimately, died from this genetic condition.  His son, Arlo Guthrie, has a 50% chance of having inherited the dominant allele from his father.

9. This disease affects about 1 in 20,000 people in Britain . Characterised by premature death of neurones.

10. Phenylketonuria Blood is routinely drawn from newborn infants for testing.Blood is obtained by "heel stick" and collected on a special blotter paper. Routine testing usually includes phenylketonuria, thyroid function, hemoglobin S (sickle cell disease), and may test for other disorders. Newborn screening programs vary from state to state(USA). Testing can be tailored to the local population, determining what routine testing should be done. Phenylketonuria (PKU) is a rare, inherited, metabolic disorder that can result inmental retardation and other neurological problems. People with this disease have difficulty breaking down and using (metabolizing) the amino acid phenylalanine.

11. Intelligence

12. Intelligence Testing This colorful assemblage was discovered in a storage area maintained by Kansas Historical Society staff. The mystery item required some curatorial sleuthing, as its purpose was not immediately evident. The kit includes a total of 11 separate pictures which portray a sequence of events from one day in a boy's life. Each illustration has a pocket for a missing image which completes the story being told by the picture. The missing object often is the focal point for characters in the illustration. For example, the first picture in the sequence shows the featured boy sitting on the edge of an unmade bed, wearing only one shoe, and reaching for an unknown item on the floor Museum curators first turned to the Internet to uncover the kit's function. A quick search found a site for the Stoelting Company, still operating in Chicago. Staff contacted Dr. David Madsen, the company's vice president for psychological testing, who confirmed suspicions that the kit was an early intelligence quotient (I.Q.) test. More specifically, Healy Test No. 2 is a "picture context instrument" designed to test cognitive abilities through non-verbal means.

13. Intelligence Testing • tests now aim to be objective and reliable • test items are intended to be culture-free or culture-fair • measurements are expressed as an intelligence quotient (mental age/chronological age x 100) • IQ test results must be interpretated cautiously

14. Twin Studies • Just over one in a hundred pregnancies produces twins. About a third of these are identical twins, with identical genes, making them genetic clones. Non-identical twins share around half their genes, so they are no more alike than ordinary brothers and sisters. In twin studies, scientists assume that both sorts of twins usually share the same environment: upbringing, diet and so on. But this is not necessarily the case.

15. Schizophrenia • Schizophrenia is a group of psychotic disorders characterized by disturbances in perception, affect, behavior and communication lasting longer than 6 months (this includes psychotic behavior). The person suffering from schizophrenia has deteriorated occupational, interpersonal and self-supportive abilities.

16. Inter-relationships between factors • behaviour influenced by inherited , maturational and environmental factors • e.g. ability to develop speech is gentically programmed but a person’s environment affects whether they have the opportunity to develop that potential