Core Concept 4-1

1. Core Concept 4-1 • Development is a process of growth and change brought about by an interaction of heredity and the environment.

2. Nature-Nurture Controversy Long-standing dispute over relative importance of nature (heredity) and nurture (environment) in their influence on behavior and mental processes

3. Nature-Nurture Controversy • John Locke-British philosopher--”tabula rasa”. • Rousseau-French philosopher--”noble savages”

4. Research on Nature-Nurture • Twin Studies-fraternal and identical twins are compared. • Adoption Studies-adopted children are compared to their biological and adoptive families.

5. Twin Studies

6. Nature-Nurture • Answer: interaction of both • We are the product of both nature and nurture. • Genes give us our potential. • Environment determines how we express our potential.

7. Examples of the Interaction of Nature and Nurture • Intelligence • Athletic ability • Personality traits • Alcoholism • Mental illnesses

8. Intelligence (IQ): Nature vs. Nurture • Unrelated children reared apart--IQ scores correlate -.01. • Unrelated children reared together--IQ scores correlate .24. • Siblings reared apart--IQ scores correlate .47. • Siblings reared together--IQ scores correlate .55

9. IQ: Nature vs. Nurture (cont’d) • Biological parents and children--IQ scores correlate .50. • Foster parents and children--IQ scores correlate .20. • Fraternal twins reared together--IQ scores correlate .50 • Identical twins reared apart--IQ scores correlate .75. • Identical twins reared together--IQ scores correlate .87.

10. Mental Retardation: Nature vs. Nurture • Many types of mental retardation are directly caused by a genetic defect. • Cultural deprivation can also lead to mental retardation.

11. Gradual vs. Abrupt Change Controversy over whether the developmental changes produced by nature and nurture occur in clearly defined “stages” or more gradually and continually.

12. Continuity View • Development is gradual and continuous • Psychological development much the same as physical growth--a gradual process.

13. Discontinuity View • Development proceeds in an uneven fashion. • Developmental Stages--periods of life initiated by distinct changes in physical or psychological functioning.

14. Gradual versus Abrupt Change Continuity view Performance Discontinuity view Age Continuity view vs. Discontinuity view

15. Core Concept 4-2 • Newborns have innate abilities; however the developing abilities of infants and children rely on learning.

16. Maturation • Process by which genetic program of development unfolds over time. • Development’s biological time schedule.

18. Core Concept 4-3 • Infants and children face important developmental tasks in the areas of language acquisition, cognition, and social relationships.

19. Cognitive Development • Thinking changes throughout childhood. • Young children do not think like adults. • Abilities of symbolic thinking and logic develop in stages. • Swiss psychologist, Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development details four stages of cognitive development.

20. Sensorimotor Stage • Birth to 2 years • Discovery of relationships between sensations and motor behavior. • Limited mental representation and object permanence

24. Preoperational Period • Ages 2 to 7 • Use of symbols to represent objects internally, especially through language • Limited use of logic as seen through egocentrism, animistic thinking, and centration.

25. Concrete Operational Period • Ages 7-11 years • Child understands logic as seen in conservation tasks • Limited by lack of abstract thinking.

26. Formal Operational Period • Ages 11 years on • Development of abstract problem solving such as hypothetical reasoning • Can think about what is possible

27. Core Concept 4-4 • Nature and nurture continue to produce changes throughout life, but in adulthood these changes include both growth and decline.