Exploring Lifespan Development, 4th Edition Class Notes
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1 CHAPTER 1 HISTORY, THEORY, AND RESEARCH STRATEGIES CHAPTER - AT - A - GLANCE Chapter Outline Instruction Ideas Supplements A Scientific, Applied, and Interdisciplinary Field p. 3 Learning Objective 1.1 Test Bank Items 1 – 3 (Please contact your Pearson sales representative for a wide range of video offerings available to adopters.) Basic Issues pp. 3 – 5 Continuous or Discontinuous Development? • One Course of Development or Many? • Relative Influence of Nature and Nurture? Learning Objective 1.2 Learning Activity 1.1 Test Bank Items 4 – 12, 12 1 The Lifespan Perspective: A Balanced Point of View pp. 5 – 9 Development Is Lifelong • Development Is Multidimensional and Multidirectional • Development Is Plastic • Development Is Influenced by Multiple, Interacting Forces Learning Objective 1.3 Lecture Enhancement 1.1 Learning Activities 1.2, 1.3 Ask Yourself p. 9 Test Bank Items 13 – 23 Scientific Beginnings pp. 9 – 11 Darwin: Forefather of Scientific Child Study • The Normative Period • The Mental Testing Movement Learning Objective 1.4 Learning Activity 1.2 Test Bank Items 24 – 29, 12 2 Mid - Twentieth - Century Theories pp. 11 – 15 The Psychoanalytic Perspective • Behaviorism and Social Learning Theory • Piaget’s Cognitive - Developmental Theory Learning Objective 1.5 Learning Activities 1.2, 1.4 Ask Yourself p. 15 Test Bank Items 30 – 51, 12 3 Recent Theoretical Perspectives pp. 16 – 21 Information Processing • Developmental Neuroscience • Ethology and Evolutionary Developmental Psychology • Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory • Ecological Systems Theory Learning Objective 1.6 Learning Activities 1.2, 1.4, 1.5 Ask Yourself p. 21 Test Bank Items 52 – 68 , 12 4 Comparing Theories p. 21 Learning Objective 1.7 Learning Activities 1.2, 1.4 Test Bank Items 69 , 7 1 Studying Development pp. 21 – 31 Common Research Methods • General Research Designs • Designs for Studying Development Learning Objectives 1.8 – 1.10 Lecture Enhancement 1.2 Learning Activities 1.6, 1.7 Ask Yourself pp. 25, 31 Test Bank Items 7 0 , 7 2 – 1 17 , 1 25 – 1 26 Ethics in Lifespan Research pp. 31 – 32 Learning Objective 1.11 Test Bank Items 1 18 – 12 0 BRIEF CHAPTER SUMMARY Developmental science is an interdisciplinary field of study devoted to understanding constancy and change throughout the lifespan. A ll investigators who study development share a single goal: to identify those factors that influence consistencies and transformations in people from conception to death. Theories of human development take a stance on three basic issues: (1) Is the course of development continuous or discontinuous? (2) Does one course of development characterize all people, or are there many possible courses? (3) What are the roles of nature and nurture in development? The lifespan perspective assumes that development is (1) lifelong, (2) multidimensional and multidirectional, (3) highly plastic, and (4) affected by multiple, interacting forces.
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Instructor’s Resource Manual for Berk / Exploring Lifespan Development, 4 e 2 Scientific study of human development dates back to the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution emphasized the adaptive value of physical characteristics and behavior. Sigmund Freud’s psychosexual theory and Erik Erikson’s psychosocial theory both viewed development as discontinuous (occurring in stages), but Erikson added three adult stages to Freud’s five stages of childhood. In contrast to the psychoanalytic perspective, behaviorism focused on directly observable events: stimuli and responses. Albert Bandura’s social learning theory, which emphasized modeling as a powerful source of development, remains influential. Jean Piaget, disagreeing with the behaviorists, developed a cognitive - developmental theory, based on the idea that children actively construct knowledge as they manipulate and explore their world. Recent theoretical perspectives include information processing, which views the human mind as a symbol - manipulating system; developmental neuroscience, which studies the relationship between changes in the brain and cognitive and emotional development; ethology and evolutionary developmental psychology, which are concerned with the adaptive value of behavior; Lev Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory, which focuses on how culture is transmitted through social interaction; and Urie Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory, which examines development in the context of a complex system of relationships. Research in human development, like all scientific research, begins with a hypothesis. Research methods used to study development include systematic observation; self - reports; the clinical, or case study, method, which focuses on a single individual; and ethnography, the study of a culture or social group. Investigators of human development can choose either a correlational research design, which cannot determine causality, or an experimental design, which uses dependent and independent variables to determine cause and effect. Experiments may be carried out in the field, or natural settings, or in the laboratory. To study how individuals change over time, investigators use longitudinal, cross - sectional, and sequential designs, each of which has both strengths and limitations. Conducting research with human subjects poses special ethical dilemmas, particularly for children and for older adults who are ill or cognitively impaired. LEARNING OBJECTIVES After reading this chapter, you should be able to answer the following: 1.1 What is developmental science, and what factors stimulated expansion of the field? (p. 2 ) 1.2 Identify three basic issues on which theories of human development take a stand. (pp. 3 – 5 ) 1.3 Describe the lifespan perspective on development. (pp. 5 – 9, 10 ) 1.4 Describe major early influences on the scientific study of development. (pp. 9, 11 ) 1.5 What theories influenced human development research in the mid - twentieth century? (pp. 11 – 15 ) 1.6 Describe recent theoretical perspectives on human development. (pp. 16 – 21 ) 1.7 Identify the stand taken by each major theory on the three basic issues of human development. (p. 21 ) 1.8 Describe methods commonly used in research on human development. (pp. 21 – 25, 26 ) 1.9 Distinguish between correlational and experimental research designs, noting the strengths and limitations of each. (pp. 25, 27 – 28 ) 1.10 Describe designs for studying development, noting the strengths and limitations of each. (pp. 28 – 30 ) 1.11 What special ethical concerns arise in research on human development? (pp. 31 – 32 )
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Chapter 1 History , Theory, and Research Strategies 3 LECTURE OUTLINE I. A SCIENTIFIC, APPLIED, AND INTERDISCIPLINARY FIELD (p. 3) • Developmental science is a field of study devoted to understanding constancy and change throughout the lifespan. • Research in this area is interdisciplinary and has both applied and scientific importance. II. BASIC ISSUES (pp. 3 – 5) • A theory is an orderly, integrated set of statements that describes, explains, and predicts behavior. A theory’s continued existence depends on scientific verification. • Theories of human development take a stand on three basic issues: (1) Is development continuous or discontinuous (taking place in stages )? (2) Does one course of development characterize all people, or are there many possible courses, affected by relationships between individuals and their contexts ? (3) What are the roles of genetic and environmental factors in development (the nature – nurture controversy )? III. THE LIFESPAN PERSPECTIVE: A BALANCED POINT OF VIEW (pp. 5 – 9, 10) • Modern theories recognize that both continuous and discontinuous changes occur and that development continues in adulthood as well as childhood and adolescence. • The lifespan perspective is based on the assumptions that development is (1) lifelong, (2) multidimensional and multidirectional, (3) highly plastic, and (4) affected by multiple, interacting forces. • During each major period of development, significant changes occur in three overlapping and interacting domains: physical, cognitive, and emotional/social. • At every period, development is multidimensional — affected by a blend of biological, psychological, and social forces — and multidirectional: a joint expression of growth and decline. • Plasticity in development is evident at all ages but gradually decreases. It varies greatly across individuals, depending in part on their resilience. • Development is influenced by multiple, interacting forces, including age - graded influences, history - graded influences, and nonnormative influences. IV. SCIENTIFIC BEGINNINGS (pp. 9, 11) • In the nineteenth century, Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution emphasized the adaptive value of physical characteristics and behavior. • G. Stanley Hall and his student Arnold Gesell launched the normative approach to child study, in which age - related averages are computed to represent typical development. • French psychologists Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon constructed the first successful intelligence test, sparking tremendous interest in individual differences in development. V. MID - TWENTIETH - CENTURY THEORIES (pp. 11 – 15) • The psychoanalytic perspective assumes that people move through a series of stages in which they confront conflicts between biological drives and social expectations. How these conflicts are resolved determines the person’s ability to learn, to get along with others, and to cope with anxiety. • In Sigmund Freud’s psychosexual theory, three parts of the personality — id, ego, and superego — become integrated during five stages of development. Healthy personality development depends on the quality of the early parent – child relationship. • Erik Erikson’s psychosocial theory improved on Freud’s vision, adding three adult stages and emphasizing the positive contribution of the ego to development and the importance of cultural context . • According to behaviorism, directly observable events — stimuli and responses — are the appropriate focus of study. • Albert Bandura’s social learning theory emphasizes modeling as a powerful source of development. Today, this theory is described as a social - cognitive approach. • Behaviorism and social learning theory have given rise to applied behavior analysis, which uses conditioning and modeling procedures to eliminate undesirable behaviors in children and adults. • According to Jean Piaget’s cognitive - developmental theory, children move through four broad developmental stages, each characterized by qualitatively distinct ways of thinking: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational. His theory encouraged the development of educational programs emphasizing discovery learning. • Piaget’s theory has been challenged for underestimating the competencies of infants and preschoolers, for paying insufficient attention to social and cultural influences, and for failing to recognize that important transformations occur in adulthood.
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Instructor’s Resource Manual for Berk / Exploring Lifespan Development, 4 e 4 VI. RECENT THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES (pp. 16 – 21) • Information - processing researchers view the human mind as a symbol - manipulating system through which information flows. Their view of development is one of continuous change. • Developmental cognitive neuroscience brings together researchers from psychology, biology, neuroscience, and medicine to study the relationship between changes in the brain and the developing person’s cognitive processing and behavior patterns. • Developmental social neuroscience, a complementary new area, focuses on the relationship between changes in the brain and emotional and social development. • Ethology is concerned with the adaptive, or survival, value of behavior and its evolutionary history. • A sensitive period is a time that is biologically optimal for certain capacities to emerge because the individual is especially responsive to environmental influences. • John Bowlby applied ethological theory to the development of human infant – caregiver attachment. • Evolutionary developmental psychology seeks to understand the adaptive value of species - wide cognitive, emotional, and social competencies as those competencies change with age. • Lev Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory focuses on how the culture of a social group is transmitted to the next generation through social interaction — in particular, cooperative dialogues with more knowledgeable members of society. • Urie Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory views the person as developing within a complex system of relationships affected by multiple levels of the surrounding environment — microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, and macrosystem — as well as a temporal dimension, the chronosystem. VII. COMPARING THEORIES (p. 21) • Major theoretical perspectives focus on different domains of development. • Every theory takes a stand on the basic issues of development. VIII. STUDYING DEVELOPMENT (pp. 21 – 31) • Common research methods include systematic observation, self - reports, clinical or case studies, and ethnographies. • Systematic observation — either naturalistic observation in the field or structured observations in a laboratory — provides information about actual behavior but tells us little about the reasoning behind the responses. • Self - reports include the clinical interview, in which researchers ask questions in a flexible, conversational style, and the structured interview, in which each participant is asked the same set of questions in the same way. • The clinical, or case study, method brings together a wide range of information on one person to obtain as complete a picture as possible of a single individual. • Ethnography is directed toward understanding the cultural meanings of behavior through participant observation. • Investigations of human behavior use two main types of research designs: correlational and experimental. • A correlational design reveals relationships between participants’ characteristics and their behavior or development but does not allow r esearchers to infer cause and effect. • A correlation coefficient describes how two variables are associated with each other. • An experimental design uses random assignment of participants to treatment conditions. Researchers then manipulate an independent variable and investigate the effects on a dependent variable. • Modified experimental designs include field experiments and natural, or quasi - , experiments, in which investigators compare treatments that already exist. • Designs for studying development include the longitudinal design, in which participants are studied repeatedly at different ages, and the cross - sectional design, in which groups of people differing in age are studied at the same point in time. • Problems in conducting longitudinal research include participant dropout, practice effects, and cohort effects. • The cross - sectional design also may suffer from cohort effects and does not provide evidence about development at the individual level. • To overcome some of these limitations, researchers may use sequential designs, in which they conduct several similar cross - sectional or longitudinal studies, or sequences. • Research that combines an experimental strategy with either a longitudinal or a cross - sectional approach is becoming increasingly common. IX. ETHICS IN LIFESPAN RESEARCH (pp. 31 – 32) • Ethical concerns in research are especially complex when participants are children or older adults.
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Chapter 1 History , Theory, and Research Strategies 5 • Institutional review boards (IRBs) balance the costs of the research to participants against the potential value of the study, with preference always given to participants’ interests. • The principle of informed consent requires special interpretation when participants (including young children and adults who are cognitively impaired) cannot fully appreciate the research goals and activities. • When deception and concealment are used in research, debriefing must occur after the research session is over. • Many experts believe that deception should be used with children only if the risk of harm is minimal.
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Instructor’s Resource Manual for Berk / Exploring Lifespan Development, 4 e 6 LECTURE ENHANCEMENTS LECTURE ENHANCEMENT 1.1 Individual Resilience and Social Support: A Bidirectional Relationship (p. 8 ) Objective: To consider evidence for a bidirectional relationship between individual resilience and social support, with implications for designing interventions to promote resilience. The Biology and Environment box on page 8 identifies broad factors that promote resilience, including personal characteristics, close relationships, and social support. In this review of research, Sippel et al. (2015) address how two of these factors — social support and community resources — can foster individual resilience, and how more resilient individuals, in turn, can promote a community’s capacity to provide social support. Sippel et al. cite evidence that in addition to the positive effects of social support on individuals, “[i]ndividual well - being … appears to influence the well - being of one’s support system.” In their own work, for example, they have found that community programs providing support for individual families can lead to “[m]ore cohesive, engaged families [who] can then feed back to the well - being of the community.” And in studies of military veterans and survivors of natural disasters, they find “emerging evidence of a bidirectional relationship between healthy communities and more resilient individuals.” They note, however, that this “dynamic interplay of individual and collective experience” can have either positive or negative results. For example, immediately after a natural disaster, shared distress tends to promote a feeling of solidarity and altruism. But as feelings of distress wane for most survivors, individuals who continue to experience severe trauma - related symptoms may come to be viewed as a burden, challenging the community’s perception of its own successful recovery. This paper provides some interesting avenues for a discussion of resilience. In addition to the research cited by Sippel et al., classroom discussion can draw on examples from current news reporting — considering, for example, what types of social support may be most effective in promoting resilience in refugees fleeing war zones or in survivors of terrorist attacks. Sippel, L. M., et al. (2015). How does social support enhance resilience in the trauma - exposed individual? Ecology and Society, 20 (4): 10. doi: 10.5751/ES - 07832 - 200410 LECTURE ENHANCEMENT 1.2 The “U.S. Immigrant Paradox”: Implications for Research, Policy, and Practice (p. 26 ) Objective: To consider changes in modes of adaptation for immigrant youths, and the implications of these changes for research, policy, and practice. This article examines implications of the so - called U.S. immigrant paradox in childhood and adolescence. It can be used to expand discussion of the Cultural Influences box on immigrant youths (page 26 ), which cites evidence that children who are either foreign - born (immigrated with their parents ) or first - generation ( American - born , with immigrant parents) often have more optimal developmental outcomes — in terms of both academic achievement and psychological adjustment — than their agemates who have native - born parents . These authors cite evidence that, for today’s immigrant youths, optimal modes of adaptation may include biculturalism rather than assimilation to the majority culture. T heoretical frameworks, however, have been slow to shift away from the assumption that immigrant youths will thrive as their families move toward full adoption of “American” ways. The authors suggest that bicultural models best capture optimal adaptation — for example, focusing on skills children need to coordinate their experiences across important everyday settings, such as home and school. Such models, they maintain, are more relevant to today’s immigrant families and their U.S. - born children than are the older cultural assimilation models . T o enhance in - class discussion of adaptation by immigrant youths, the instructor can use the ideas presented in this article to provide an overview of the ways in which research models may influence thinking about minority populations and, consequently, may affect policy and practice. Marks, A. K., Ejesi, K., & Coll, C. G. (2014). Understanding the U.S. immigrant paradox in childhood and adolescence. Child Development Perspectives, 8, 59 – 64. doi: 10.1111//cdep12071
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Chapter 1 History , Theory, and Research Strategies 7 LEARNING ACTIVITIES LEARNING ACTIVITY 1.1 Three Basic Issues of Human Development: What Is Your Stance? (pp. 3 – 5 ) This exercise can be used as an in - class assignment to help students express their own views on some basic issues in human development. Directions: Here are four pairs of statements relating to basic issues of human development. Read each statement carefully and select the statement in each pair that more closely reflects your own view. (1) A. Development is a continuous process in which new abilities, skills, and knowledge are added gradually. B. Development occurs at varying rates, alternating between periods of little change and periods of abrupt, rapid transformation. (2) A. All humans follow the same general sequence of development. B. Each individual has a unique course of development, depending on personal and environmental circumstances. (3) A. Children respond to the world in much the same way as adults, except that children’s thinking is less sophisticated and complex than that of adults. B. Children have unique ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving that are very different from those of adults. (4) A. An individual’s personality is mainly determined by heredity. B. An individual’s personality can be modified through influential experiences. Ask students to form small groups and discuss their answers to the following questions: (1) What is their stance on the three basic issues of human development? (2) Which theories take a stance similar to their own? (3) If students had to choose a theory that best represents their own view of development, would they choose a single theory or would they select components of several different theories? (4) Which aspects of their chosen theory (or theories) make it more attractive than the others? LEARNING ACTIVITY 1.2 Keeping a Theory/Research Notebook (pp. 5 – 21 ) Among the many theories of human development, students are likely to find some more appealing and plausible than others. Encourage students to keep a theory/research notebook in which they construct a systematic list of their theoretical likes an d dislikes. For each theory, ask students to list the concepts and principles they consider important and those they believe to be inadequate or incorrect. As students learn more throughout the course, ask them to revise their opinions periodically, noting research that supports their changing views. At the end of the course, each student should have developed a personal perspective on human development — one that may emphasize a single theory or blend aspects of a number of theories. LEARNING ACTIVITY 1.3 Factors That Promote Resilience (pp. 8 ) Ask students to think of an adult they know well, such as a family member or close family friend, who experienced and overcame significant adversity as a child or adolescent. For example, the individual might have experienced the death of a parent or sibling, experienced school or community violence, or become a teenage parent. Ask students to describe the person’ s experiences briefly and then to consider factors that may have contributed to resilience. For example, what personal characteristics does this individual possess that likely helped him or her overcome hardship? Did this person have a warm relationship with a parent, social support outside the family, or access to community resources? Using research described in the text, explain how these factors may have contributed to resilience.
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Instructor’s Resource Manual for Berk / Exploring Lifespan Development, 4 e 8 LEARNING ACTIVITY 1.4 True or False: Mid - Twentieth - Century Theories and Recent Theoretical Perspectives (pp. 11 – 21 ) Present the following exercise as an in - class activity or quiz. Directions: Read each of the following statements and indicate whether it is True (T) or False (F). _____ 1. According to Freud, in each stage of psychosexual development, parents walk a fine line between permitting too much or too little gratification of their child’s basic needs. _____ 2. Both Freud and Erikson pointed out that normal development must be understood in relation to each culture’s life situation. _____ 3. Behaviorism has been praised for acknowledging people’s contributions to their own development. _____ 4. In Piaget’s theory, as the brain develops and children’s experiences expand, they move through four broad stages, each characterized by qualitatively distinct ways of thinking. _____ 5. Research indicates that Piaget underestimated the competencies of infants and preschoolers. _____ 6. Information - processing researchers view the mind as a symbol - manipulating system through which information flows. _____ 7. Developmental neuroscience can identify relationships between changes in the brain and cognitive processing, but it has little to say about social or emotional development. _____ 8. According to Vygotsky , social interaction is necessary for children to acquire the ways of thinking and behaving that make up a community’s culture. _____ 9. The mesosystem consists of social settings that do not contain the developing person but nevertheless affect experiences in immediate settings. _____ 10. In Bronfenbrenner ’s theory, people are both products and producers of their environments . Answers: 1. T 2. F 3. F 4. T 5. T 6. T 7. F 8. T 9. F 10. T LEARNING ACTIVITY 1.5 Applying Ecological Systems Theory to a Current Issue in Child or Adult Development (pp. 19 – 21 ) Have students form small groups and ask each group to select a current issue in child or adult development that is widely discussed in the media — for example, child abuse and neglect, effects of infant child care on later adjustment, the obesity epidemic, sex education programs in schools, work – life balance for families, quality of care for older adults, or end - of - life decision making. Once each group has selected its topic, ask the groups to consider how each level of the environment may affect development in this area. Students should also consider bidirectional influences and the role of third parties.
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Chapter 1 History , Theory, and Research Strategies 9 LEARNING ACTIVITY 1.6 Research Methods and Designs: Choosing the Best Approach (pp. 21 – 25 , 27 – 30 ) Present the following scenarios to students: (a) An investigator is interested in studying whether infant child care leads to an insecure attachment bond between children and their mothers during the first year of life as well as into the preschool years. (b) An investigator is interested in studying whether a new drug is as effective as diet and exercise in lowering cholesterol levels in an adult sample. (c) An investigator is interested in determining whether sociability in children is related to school achievement and whether this relationship, if any, varies for children in preschool, elementary school, and middle school. For each scenario, ask students to answer the following questions: (1) What research method and design would you choose for this study? Why? (2) Would the results tell you anything about cause and effect? Why or why not? (3) Would this study involve any special ethical considerations? If so, what are they? LEARNING ACTIVITY 1.7 Research Designs: Comparing Cross - Sectional, Longitudinal, and Sequential Designs (pp. 28 – 30 ) Present the following exercise as an in - class activity or quiz. Directions: Each of the following statements pertains to cross - sectional, longitudinal, or sequential research designs. For each statement, determine which research design it describes. 1. The researcher studies groups of participants who differ in age at the same point in time. 2. The researcher is interested in whether frequent exposure to violent television programming in early childhood predicts aggressive and antisocial behavior in adulthood. 3. The researcher wants to investigate psychological well - being in middle adulthood for groups of participants born a decade apart. 4. Age - related changes may be distorted because of participant dropout, practice effects, and cohort effects. 5. The researcher follows a sequence of samples (two or more age groups), collecting data on them at the same points in time. 6. This design does not permit the study of individual developmental trends. Age differences may be distorted because of cohort effects. 7. To investigate age - related changes in adults’ problem - solving skills, the researcher selects three samples — adults in their thirties, adults in their fifties, and adults in their seventies — and tracks each group for five years. 8. To investigate how children of different ages process traumatic events, such as school violence, the researcher recruits children who are in grades 6, 9, and 12 in the 2016 – 2017 school year and interviews them about their responses to the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013. 9. The researcher studies the same group of participants repeatedly at different ages. Answers: 1. Cross - sectional 2. Longitudinal 3. Sequential 4. Longitudinal 5. Sequential 6. Cross - sectional 7. Sequential 8. Cross - sectional 9. Longitudinal
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Instructor’s Resource Manual for Berk / Exploring Lifespan Development, 4 e 10 ASK YOURSELF. . . CONNECT: Distinguish age - graded, history - graded, and nonnormative influences on lifespan development. Cite an example of each in Sofie’s story. (pp. 2 – 3 , 7, 9 ) Age - graded influences are events that are strongly related to age and therefore fairly predictable in when they occur and how long they last. As a baby, Sofie experienced age - graded influences when she engaged in exploratory play, crawled, and pulled herself up, as would be expected. She entered elementary school at the typical age. History - graded influences are forces unique to a particular era. For Sofie, the rise of the Nazis and World War II had a significant impact on the events of her life. Her family had to flee Germany, eventually moving to the United States. She als o lost many of her loved ones in the Holocaust. In the United States, Sofie was able to launch a teaching career in midlife, wh ich might not have been possible in another time or place. Sofie’s story also includes several nonnormative influences — irregular events that do not follow a predictable timetable. By adolescence, she had become an accomplished pianist. And although most German girls of her time married by age 20, Sofie decided to postpone marriage and childbearing in favor of attending university. At age 50, after returning to school for her teaching credential, she launched a career — not a typical path for a woman of her generation. Finally, Sofie’s struggle with cancer and her premature death represent events that were unique to her experience. APPLY: Anna, a high school counselor, devised a program that integrates classroom learning with vocational training to help adolescents at risk for school dropout stay in school and transition to work life. What is Anna’s position on stability versus plasticity in development? Explain. (pp. 5 , 6 ) Anna’s program reflects her belief that development has substantial plasticity throughout life — th at it is open to change in response to influential experiences. First, Anna takes the position that environmental influences, not just heredity, are important. Second, by devising a program for adolescents, she rejects the view that early experiences establish a lifelong pa ttern of behavior that cannot be fully overcome by later, more positive experiences. Anna, taking a more optimistic view, believes that high school students who are at risk for dropout will benefit from the program she has developed, because it will provid e positive experiences that will enable them to overcome the effects of the negative events of their first few years. REFLECT: Describe an aspect of your development that differs from a parent’s or a grandparent’s when he or she was your age. Using influences highlighted by the lifespan perspective, explain this difference in development. (pp. 5 – 7, 9 ) This is an open - ended question with no right or wrong answer. CONNECT: Although social learning theory focuses on social development and Piaget’s theory on cognitive development, each has enhanced our understanding of other domains. Mention an additional domain addressed by each theory. (pp. 13 – 15 ) Social learning theory emphasizes modeling, also known as imitation or observational learning, as a powerful source of development. From its original emphasis on social development, the theory has evolved to stress the importance of cognition, or thinking. As a result, the most recent revision of this theory is now known as a social - cognitive rather than a social learning approach. In addition to explaining children’s social development, social - cognitive theory provides insight into how, as individuals acquire attitudes, values, and convictions about themselves, they control their own learning and behavior. Piaget’s cognitive - developmental theory, best known for its emphasis on the stages of cognitive development, also explores children’s reasoning about the social world. It has sparked a wealth of research on children’s conceptions of themselves, other people, and human relationships — all aspects of the social/emotional domain. APPLY: A 4 - year - old becomes frightened of the dark and refuses to go to sleep at night. How would a psychoanalyst and a behaviorist differ in their views of how this problem developed? (pp. 11 , 13 ) According to the psychoanalytic perspective, children move through a series of stages in which they confront conflicts between biological drives and social expectations. In this view, fear of the dark reflects an unconscious motivation or deep - seated anxiety within the child. A psychoanalyst might conclude, for example, that the child’s fear really represents anxiety about nighttime separation from the parent. Once the anxiety is resolved, the fear will subside. In contrast, behaviorists look at the effects on behavior of directly observable events, not at the inner workings of the min d. From a behaviorist perspective, a child would be afraid of the dark as a result of previous negative experiences in the dark. Perhaps the child heard a sudden, loud noise at night or was frightened by the visual images of a nightmare. On the basis of these experiences, the child would be conditioned to respond fearfully to being in the dark.
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Chapter 1 History , Theory, and Research Strategies 11 REFLECT: Illustrate Bandura’s ideas by describing a personal experience in which you observed and received feedback from another person that strengthened your sense of self - efficacy — belief that your abilities and characteristics will help you succeed. (p. 14 ) This is an open - ended question with no right or wrong answer. CONNECT: Is ecological systems theory compatible with assumptions of the lifespan perspective — development as lifelong, multidirectional, highly plastic, and influenced by multiple, interacting forces? Explain. (pp. 5 – 7, 9 , 19 – 21 ) Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory , which views the person as developing within a complex system of relationships affected by multiple levels of the surrounding environment , is consistent with the assumptions of the lifespan perspective. In this view, the environment is a series of nested structures, including but also extending beyond the home, school, neighborhood, and workplace settings in which people spend their everyday lives. Each layer joins with the others to powerfully affect development. Like the lifespan perspective, ecological systems theory stresses that all relationships are bidirectional. For example, adul ts affect children’s behavior, but children’s biologically and socially influenced characteristics — their physical attributes, personalities, and capacities — also affect adults’ behavior. Further, the temporal dimension of Bronfenbrenner’s model, the chronosystem — representing the dynamic, ever - changing nature of environmental influences — underscores the lifelong plasticity of development, in which the person and the environment form a network of interdependent effects. APPLY: Mario wants to find out precisely how children of different ages recall stories. Desiree is interested in how adult – child communication in different cultures influences children’s storytelling. Which theoretical perspective has Mario probably chosen? How about Desiree? Explain. (pp. 16 – 17 , 18 – 19 ) Mario has probably chosen an information - processing perspective. Using this approach, he will likely design a flowchart to map the precise steps children use to recall stories. Then he will analyze each step separately so he can compare them in det ail as they apply to children of different ages. Desiree is more likely to choose a sociocultural perspective, focusing on how culture — the values, beliefs, customs, and skills of a social group — is transmitted to the next generation through social interaction. For example, she might compare the ways in which children in different cultures engage in storytelling with adults and older peers and how these interactions he lp them develop the storytelling skills that are valued within their culture. REFLECT: To illustrate the chronosystem in ecological systems theory, select an important event from your childhood, such as a move to a new neighborhood, a class with an inspiring teacher, or parental divorce. How did the event affect you? How might its impact have differed had you been five years younger? How about five years older? (p. 21 ) This is an open - ended question with no right or wrong answer. CONNECT: What strengths and limitations do the clinical, or case study, method and ethnography have in common? (pp. 24 – 25 ) Both the clinical method and ethnography are descriptive, qualitative techniques. Whereas the aim of the clinical method is to obtain as complete a picture as possible of a single individual’s psychological functioning, ethnography is directed towar d understanding a culture or a distinct social group. A major strength of both methods is that they yield richly detailed descriptions that offer insights into many aspects of experience and the many factors influencing development. A limitation of both methods is that investigators’ cultural values or theoretical commitments may lead them to observe selectively or misinterpret what they see. Another limitation of both methods is that findings cannot be assumed to generalize to other individuals or cultures. APPLY: A researcher wants to study the thoughts and feelings of parents on active duty in the military and those of their school - age and adolescent children. Which method should she use? Why? (p p . 23 – 24 ) The clinical interview is the method best suited to investigating this research question, because the researcher wants to learn about participants’ thoughts and feelings. The clinical interview permits individuals to display their thoughts in term s that are as close as possible to the way they think in everyday life. This method also provides a large amount of information in a fairly brief period. The researcher might also consider using a structured interview, in which each participant is asked the same set of questions in the same way. The structured interview eliminates the risk that variations in responses may reflect the manner o f interviewing rather than real differences in the way people think about a topic. However, structured interviews do not yield the same depth of information as a clinical interview.
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Instructor’s Resource Manual for Berk / Exploring Lifespan Development, 4 e 12 REFLECT: Reread the description of nonnormative influences on page 7 , and cite an example from your own life. Which method would be best suited to studying the impact of such a nonn ormative event on development? (pp. 23 – 24 ) A self - report method — either the clinical interview or the clinical, or case study, method — would be well - suited to studying the impact of a nonnormative event on development. These methods gather rich ly detailed information about an individual, including events that are unique to a single person. CONNECT: Review the study of the Family Check - Up, described on page 27 . Explain how it combines an experimental with a developmental design. What are the independent and dependent variables? Is its developmental approach longitudinal or cross - sectional? (pp. 27 – 28 ) This study used an experimental design in which researchers randomly assigned ethnically diverse, poverty - stricken families with a 2 - year - old child to either a brief intervention condition (the Family Check - Up) or a no - intervention control group. The independent variable was the Family Check - Up intervention, which consisted of three home - based sessions in which a consultant gave parents feedback about their child - rearing practices and their child’s adjustment, explored parents’ willingness to improve, and offered follow - up sessions on parenting practices and other concerns. Researchers were interested in seeing whether this intervention would lead to gains in positive parenting, which predict ed a reduction in child problem behaviors and higher academic achievement when the children reached school age. The developmental approach of the Family Check - Up study was longitudinal: The same participants were studied at different points in time to determine whether the intervention was effective. APPLY: A researcher compares older adults with chronic heart disease to those with no major health problems and finds that the first group scores lower on mental tests. Can the researcher conclude that heart disease causes a decline in intellectual functioning in late adulthood? Explain. (pp. 25 , 27 ) Because this study uses a correlational design, the researcher cannot conclude that heart disease causes declines in intellectual functioning. The study does not reveal whether heart disease is the cause of the lower mental test scores or if, instead, a third variable — for example, poor diet and lack of exercise — is causing both heart disease and declines in intellectual functioning in late adulthood. REFLECT: Suppose a researcher asks you to enroll your baby in a 10 - year longitudinal study. What factors would lead you to agree and to stay involved? Do your answers shed light on why longitudinal studies often have biased samples? (pp. 28 – 29 ) This is an open - ended question with no right or wrong answer. MEDIA MATERIALS For details on individual video segments that accompany the DVD for Exploring Lifespan Development, Fourth Edition, please see the DVD Guide for Explorations in Lifespan Development. The DVD and DVD Guide are available through your Pearson sales representative. Additional DVDs and streaming videos that may be useful in your class are listed below. They are not available through your Pearson sales representative, but you can order them directly from the distributor. (See contact information at the end of this manual.) Child Development Theorists: Freud to Erikson to Spock ... and Beyond (2009, Films Media Group, 22 min.). An introduction to major child development theorists. Educational resources are available online. Ethics in Psychological Research (2013, Insight Media/Promedian, 19 min.). The importance of ethics in psychological research, including examples of research studies that have raised ethical issues. John Bowlby: Attachment Theory Across Generations (2007, Films Media Group, 40 min.). An exploration of attachment theory. Part of the series Giants of Psychology. Educational resources are available online. Lev Vygotsky: One Man’s Legacy Through His Life and Theory (2009, PHD Lowe Productions, 3 sections, 1 hr. 53 min.). The life and work of Lev Vygotsky. A 35 - minute version is also available. Nonexperimental Research Methods in Psychology (2006, Films Media Group, 34 min.). The advantages and limitations of nonexperimental research methods, including questionnaires, interviews, and naturalistic observation . Part of the series
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Chapter 1 History , Theory, and Research Strategies 13 Understanding Psychology . Psychology Research in Context (2008, Films Media Group, 29 min.). An overview of selected principles of science that are used in psychological research. Educational resources are available online. Research Methods in the Social Sciences (2005, Films Media Group, 4 - part series, 23 – 46 min. each). An exploration of qualitative and quantitative research methods used in the social sciences. Instructor’s guides are available online. Study of the Child: Theories of Development (2007, Films Media Group, 2 - part series, 16 – 27 min. each). A survey of the theories of influential thinkers in child development.
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1 CHAPTER 2 GENETIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL FOUNDATIONS CHAPTER - AT - A - GLANCE Chapter Outline Instruction Ideas Supplements Genetic Foundations pp. 36 – 41 The Genetic Code • The Sex Cells • Boy or Girl? • Multiple Offspring • Patterns of Gene – Gene Interactions • Chromosomal Abnormalities Learning Objectives 2.1 – 2.3 Learning Activities 2.1 – 2. 2 Ask Yourself p. 41 Test Bank Items 1 – 4 1, 1 04 – 1 05 (Please contact your Pearson sales representative for a wide range of video offerings available to adopters.) Reproductive Choices pp. 41 – 45 Genetic Counseling and Prenatal Diagnosis • Adoption Learning Objective 2.4 Learning Activity 2.3 Ask Yourself p. 45 Test Bank Items 4 2 – 53 Environmental Contexts for Development pp. 45 – 53 The Family • Socioeconomic Status and Family Functioning • Poverty • Affluence • Beyond the Family: Neighborhoods and Schools • The Cultural Context Learning Objective 2.5 Lecture Enhancement 2.1 Learning Activities 2.4 – 2.5 Ask Yourself p. 53 Test Bank Items 54 – 7 9, 1 06 – 1 07 Understanding the Relationship Between Heredity and Environment pp. 53 – 58 The Question, “How Much?” • The Question, “How?” Learning Objective 2.6 Lecture Enhancement 2.2 Learning Activities 2.2, 2.6 – 2.7 Ask Yourself p. 58 Test Bank Items 80 – 1 03 , 1 08 – 1 09 BRIEF CHAPTER SUMMARY This chapter examines the foundations of development: heredity and environment. At conception, chromosomes containing genetic information from each parent combine to determine characteristics that make us human and also contribute to individual differences in appearance and behavior. Serious developmental problems often result from inheritance of harmful recessive alleles and from chromosomal abnormalities. Genetic counseling and prenatal diagnostic methods can help people make informed decisions about the best reproductive options. The environment in which human development takes place is a many - layered set of influences. The family is the first and longest - lasting context for development. Other important influences are socioeconomic status, neighborhoods, schools, cultural values and practices, and public policies affecting individuals at various stages of the lifespan. Behavioral genetics examines the contributions of nature and nurture to diversity in human traits and abilities. Researchers increasingly regard heredity and environment as inseparable and focus on examining how nature and nurture work together. Heritability estimates confirm that heredity contributes to a broad array of human traits but provide no precise information on gene – environment interaction, or how children might respond to environments designed to help them develop as far as possible. According to the concept of gene – environment correlation, our genes influence the environments to which we are exposed. Epigenesis refers to development resulting from ongoing, bidirectional exchanges between heredity and all levels of the environment. One mechanism through which these exchanges occur is methylation, a biochemical process through which environment can alter gene expression without changing the DNA sequence. Overall, development is best understood as a series of complex exchanges between nature and nurture.
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Instructor’s Resource Manual for Berk / Exploring Lifespan Development, 4e 2 LEARNING OBJECTIVES After reading this chapter, you should be able to answer the following: 2.1 What are genes, and how are they transmitted from one generation to the next? (pp. 36 – 38 ) 2.2 Describe various patterns of gene – gene interaction. (pp. 38 – 40 ) 2.3 Describe major chromosomal abnormalities, and explain how they occur. (pp. 40 – 41 ) 2.4 What procedures can assist prospective parents in having healthy children? (pp. 41 – 45 ) 2.5 Describe family functioning from the perspective of ecological systems theory, along with aspects of the environment that support family well - being and development. (pp. 45 – 53 ) 2.6 Explain the various ways heredity and environment may combine to influence complex traits. (pp. 53 – 48 ) LECTURE OUTLINE I. GENETIC FOUNDATIONS (pp. 36 – 41 ) • Heredity and environment combine to create phenotypes, which depend in part on each individual’s genotype. • The nucleus of each cell in the human body contains chromosomes, which are made up of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). • Human genes are segments of DNA along the length of the chromosome. They include both protein - coding genes and regulator genes. • The gametes, or sex cells — the sperm and ovum — are formed through meiosis and contain only 23 chromosomes, half as many as regular body cells. • When sperm and ovum unite at conception, the resulting zygote again contains 46 chromosomes. • Each human cell contains 22 matching pairs of chromosomes, called autosomes, and one pair of sex chromosomes: in females, XX; in males, XY. The sex of the new organism is determined by whether an X - bearing or a Y - bearing sperm fertilizes the ovum. • Fraternal, or dizygotic, twins result from the release and fertilization of two ova. Identical, or monozygotic, twins result when a single zygote that has started to duplicate separates into two clusters of cells. • If alleles from both parent s are alike, the child is homozygous and will display the inherited trait. If the alleles differ, the child is heterozygous, and relationships between the alleles influence the phenotype. • In dominant – recessive inheritance, one allele (called dominant ) affects the child’s characteristics, while the second allele ( recessive ) has no effect. • Heterozygous individuals with just one recessive allele are carriers of the recessive trait . • Incomplete dominance is a pattern of inheritance in which both alleles are expressed in the phenotype, resulting in a combined trait, or one that is intermediate between the two. • When a harmful allele is carried on the X chromosome, X - linked inheritance applies, and males are more likely to be affected. • Genomic imprinting is a pattern of inheritance in which alleles are imprinted, or chemically marked, in such a way that one pair member is activated, regardless of its makeup. Disruptions in imprinting are involved in several childhood cancers, in Prader - Willi syndrome, and in fragile X syndrome. • Harmful genes are created through mutation, a sudden but permanent change in a DNA segment. Germline mutation takes place in the cells that give rise to gametes. Somatic mutation, in which normal body cells mutate, can occur at any time of life. • Polygenic inheritance, in which many genes influence a characteristic, accounts for traits such as height, weight, intelligence, and personality that vary on a continuum among people. • The most common chromosomal disorder, Down syndrome, usually results when the twenty - first pair of chromosomes fails to separate during meiosis, so the new individual receives three of these chromosomes rather than two. • Abnormalities of the sex chromosomes often are not recognized until adolescence when, in some deviations, puberty is delayed.
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Chapter 2 Genetic and Environmental Foundations 3 II. REPRODUCTIVE CHOICES (pp. 41 – 45 ) • Genetic counseling and prenatal diagnosis help people make informed decisions about conceiving, carrying a pregnancy to term, or adopting a child. • Genetic counseling helps couples assess their chances of giving birth to a baby with a hereditary disorder and choose the best course of action in view of risks and family goals. • New genomewide testing methods enable genetic counselors to estimate risk for many genetic disorders. • Increasing numbers of individuals are turning to alternative methods of conception, such as donor insemination, in vitro fertilization, and surrogate motherhood. • Prenatal diagnostic methods, including amniocentesis, chorionic villus sampling , and maternal blood analysis, permit detection of developmental problems before birth and have led to advances in fetal medicine. • Advances in genetic engineering offer hope for correcting hereditary defects. • Because the availability of healthy babies has declined, adults in North America and Western Europe who choose adoption are increasingly adopting from other countries or accepting children who are past infancy or who have known developmental problems. • Adopted children and adolescents tend to have more learning and emotional difficulties than other children, a difference that increases with the child’s age at the time of adoption. However, most adopted children fare well. III. ENVIRONMENTAL CONTEXTS FOR DEVELOPMENT (pp. 45 – 53 ) • The family is the first and longest - lasting context for development. Other environmental influences include friends, neighbors, school, workplace, and community and religious organizations. • Environments that powerfully affect development include not only the microsystem but also the macrosystem, or broad social climate of society. • Contemporary researchers view the family as a network of interdependent relationships in which the behaviors of each family member affect those of others through bidirectional influences. • In addition to direct influences between family members, interaction between any two members is affected by third parties. For example, mothers and fathers who have a warm, considerate marital relationship are more likely to engage in effective coparenting. • The family is a dynamic, ever - changing system of relationships, influenced by life events, the developmental status of each family member, and historical time period. • Socioeconomic status (SES) is linked to timing of marriage and parenthood, to family size, and to child - rearing values and expectations. • Poverty affects about 15 percent of Americans. Those hit hardest are parents under age 25 with young children, ethnic minorities, women, and older adults who live alone. • Of all Western nations, the United States has the highest percentage of extremely poor children. They are more likely than others to experience lifelong poor physical health, persistent deficits in cognitive development and academic achievement, high school dropout, mental illness, and antisocial behavior. • When affluent parents fail to engage in family interaction and parenting that promote favorable development, their children are more likely than youths in general to engage in alcohol and drug use, commit delinquent acts, and report high levels of anxiety and depression. • When community life is disrupted, family violence, child abuse and neglect, adult criminal behavior, and other social problems are especially high. In contrast, s trong family ties to the surrounding social context reduce stress and enhance adjustment. • Neighborhood resources and social ties play an important part in children’s development and also affect the well - being of adults, especially older adults. • Schools affect many aspects of development through their physical environments, educational philosophies, and social life. • The macrosystem, or larger cultural context, affects all environmental contexts for development. • In the United States, central cultural values include independence, self - reliance, and the privacy of family life — one reason the public has been slow to endorse government - supported benefits for all families. • Within the United States, some people belong to subcultures with beliefs and customs that differ from those of the larger culture — for example, the African - American tradition of extended - family households. • Cultures can be compared on two broad sets of values: collectivism (which emphasizes group goals and interdependent qualities) versus individualism (which emphasizes independence ). The United States is more individualistic than most Western European countries.
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Instructor’s Resource Manual for Berk / Exploring Lifespan Development, 4e 4 • Nations attempt to solve widespread social problems through public policies designed to improve current conditions. • Compared with other industrialized nations, the United States does not rank well on key measures of children’s health and well - being. in part because of cultural values of self - reliance and privacy. • Although the U.S. aging population is financially much better off now than in the past, aging adults in the United States are less well off than those in many other Western nations , which provide more generous, government - funded income supplements to older adults . • Influential interest groups devoted to improving the well - being of children or older adults have emerged. • Researchers are collaborating with community and government agencies to enhance the social relevance of their investigations. IV. UNDERSTANDING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HEREDITY AND ENVIRONMENT (pp. 53 – 58 ) • Behavioral genetics is a field devoted to uncovering the contributions of nature and nurture to the diversity of human traits and abilities. • A growing consensus of investigators believes that the important question is how nature and nurture work together. • Heritability estimates, which mea sure the extent to which individual differences in complex traits in a specific population are due to genetic factors, are obtained from kinship studies, which compare the characteristics of family members. • Research supports a moderate role for heredity in intelligence and in personality. • Heritability estimates tend to exaggerate the role of heredity, and they can easily be misapplied, as when high heritabilities have been used to suggest a genetic basis for ethnic differences in intelligence. • Today, most researchers view development as the result of the dynamic interplay between heredity and environment. • Gene – environment interaction means that because of their genetic makeup, individuals differ in their responsiveness to qualities of the environment. • The concept of gene – environment correlation states that our genes influence the environments to which we are exposed. In passive correlation, parents provide their children with environments influenced by their own heredity. In evocative correlation, children evoke responses influenced by the child’s heredity, and these responses strengthen the child’s original style. • At older ages, active gene – environment correlation is seen in niche - picking — the tendency to actively choose environments that complement our heredity. • Accumulating evidence reveals that the relationship between heredity and environment is bidirectional: Genes affect people’s behavior and experiences, but their experiences and behavior also affect gene expression. • Epigenesis refers to development resulting from ongoing, bidirectional exchanges between heredity and all levels of the environment. • Researchers in epigenetics are beginning to clarify the precise mechanisms through which environment can alter gene expression without changing the DNA sequence. One such mechanism is methylation. • Findings from epigenetics remind us that development is best understood as a series of complex exchanges between nature and nurture.
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Chapter 2 Genetic and Environmental Foundations 5 LECTURE ENHANCEMENTS LECTURE ENHANCEMENT 2.1 Environmental Contexts for Development: What Researchers Can Learn from Studying Latino Children and Their Families (p. 50 ) Objective: To consider ways in which an understanding of how Latino children develop within their culture can contribute to an understanding of the cultural contexts within which all children develop. The authors of “Learning from Latinos” begin with the observation that two generations ago, Latino children and their familie s were assumed to have uniform cultural traits and practices, which were typically seen as deficits compared with those of whit e, middle - class families. Research since the 1960s has exposed the limitations of this older conception of child development, which viewed socialization only in terms of how well children fit into mainstream society. Today’s researchers understand that children ar e socialized within a particular cultural community with its own values and practices, which may promote both cognitive and social development. From this perspective, distinct strengths of Latino families and resulting benefits for children can be identified. “Learning from Latinos” provides context for class discussion of the text on page 50 , which deals with the ways in which cultural context affects how children are socialized and how they learn within everyday activities. For example, the text not es that Hispanic extended families in the United States are often characterized by a cooperative family structure in which grandparents actively collaborate with parents in child rearing. This type of intergenerational shared parenting — consistent with the Hispanic cultural ideal of familism, which emphasizes close family ties — is beneficial for all generations. The authors note that schools and other institutions often fail to recognize the distinct social assets that characterize Lat ino children, such as respect for adults and a commitment to serve their family by succeeding in school. They conclude that a bet ter understanding of how Latino children develop within their cultural context can promote our understanding of how all children and adolescents learn and develop within their own distinct cultural or socioeconomic groups. Fuller, B., & García Coll, C. (2010). Learning from Latinos: Contexts, families, and child development in motion. Developmental Psychology, 46 , 559 – 565. doi: 101037/a0019412 LECTURE ENHANCEMENT 2.2 The Role of DNA Methylation in Gene Expression: Examples and Implications (pp. 56 – 58 ) Objective: To consider research evidence for the role of DNA methylation in gene expression, with implications for promoting health and wellness. As described in the discussion of environmental influences on gene expression (pages 56 – 58 ), research evidence reveals a bidirectional relationship between heredity and environment. Not only do our genes affect the experiences to which we are exposed, but our experiences and behavior also influence gene expression, without actually changing the DNA sequence. One mechanism through which such effects occur is methylation — “a biochemical process triggered by certain experiences, in which a set of chemical compounds (called a methyl group) lands on top of a gene and changes its impact.” The Biology and Environment box on page 57 considers how methylation may have accounted for the consequences of exposure to the 1994 Tutsi genocide in Rwanda for both pregnant mothers and their children. Szyf and Bick’s (2013) review paper provides additional evidence for such effects. For example, the authors note “a striking resemblance” between differenc es in DNA methylation associated with child abuse and those associated with low levels of maternal care in rats. Countering the widespread belief that differences between individuals in phenotype, disease susceptibility, and behavior reflect differences in gene sequencing, these authors cite evidence that, in fact, these interindividual differences in gene sequences “do not operate alone but interact with environmental conditions to predict phenotypic outcomes.” They hope that future research into the precise mechanisms involved in methylation will eventually lead to the development of strategies for altering gene expression in a way that promotes healthy outcomes. Szyf, M., & Bick, J. (2013). DNA methylation: A mechanism for embedding early life experiences in the genome. (Special Section: Genomics) Child Development, 84 , 49 – 57. doi: 10.1111/j.1467 - 8624.2012.01793.x
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Instructor’s Resource Manual for Berk / Exploring Lifespan Development, 4e 6 LEARNING ACTIVITIES LEARNING ACTIVITY 2.1 Observing Similarities and Differences in Phenotypes Among Family Members (p p . 36 – 38 ) Ask students to think of several children and parents whom they know well and to jot down some similarities in physical characteristics (for example, height, weight, eye and hair color) and behavior (personality, interests, hobbies) between the children and their parents. Did they find that one child shows combined features of both parents, another resembles just one parent, or another is unlike either parent? Next, ask students to trace a visible genetic trait (phenotype), such as hair or eye color, through as many of their family members as possible, beginning with the youngest generation and working back. When the genetic family tree is complete, ask them to determine genotypes. Point out that for some dominant traits it is impossible to determine the genotype on the basis of the phenotype, so students will have to make inferences. For example, it may not be evident whether a dark - haired person is homozygous for dark hair or is heterozygous, with a genetic makeup consisting of a dominant dark - hair and a recessive light - hair allele. Ask students to explain what may be responsible for these differences between family members. Integrate the term s phenotype, genotype, and meiosis into the discussion. LEARNING ACTIVITY 2.2 Demonstrating Environmental Influences by Comparing Identical Twins (p. 38 ) As discussed in the text, identical, or monozygotic, twins have the same genetic makeup. Therefore, phenotypic variation of identical twins is perhaps the best evidence of the extent to which environmental influences can modify genetic expression. T o demonstrate, invite a pair of identical twins to join your class for observation and interviews. Before the visit, ask studen ts to generate a list of questions that they would like to ask each twin. These questions should be based on attributes or abilitie s that are thought to have a significant genetic component — for example, IQ, personality, interests, and talents. Students should also note any physical differences between the twins, such as height, weight, or handedness. After the visit, engage students in a discussion about similarities and differences between the twins, including ideas about how the environment may have contributed to differences. LEARNING ACTIVITY 2.3 True or False: The Pros and Cons of Reproductive Technologies (pp. 42 – 43 ) Present the following exercise as an in - class activity or quiz. Directions: Read each of the following statements and determine if it is True (T) or False (F). _____ 1. One - fourth of all couples who try to conceive discover that they are infertile. _____ 2. The success rate for donor insemination is only 30 to 40 percent. _____ 3. Each year, 1 percent of all children in developed countries are conceived through in vitro fertilization. _____ 4. The overall success rate of assisted reproductive techniques is about 70 percent. _____ 5. Because of the lack of genetic ties between parent and child, caregiving tends to be less warm for children conceived through donor insemination or in vitro fertilization. _____ 6. In the United States, doctors are not required to keep records of donor characteristics. _____ 7. Because surrogacy usually involves the wealthy as contractors for infants and the less economically advantaged as surrogates, it may promote the exploitation of financially needy women. _____ 8. Most recipients of in vitro fertilization are in their fifties and sixties. _____ 9. Most European nations allow only “altruistic” surrogacy, in which the surrogate mother has no financial gain . Answers: 1. F 2. F 3. T 4. F 5. F 6. T 7. T 8. F 9. T
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Chapter 2 Genetic and Environmental Foundations 7 LEARNING ACTIVITY 2.4 Investigating Social Indicators of the Well - Being of Children and Older Adults in the United States (pp. 47 – 48 ) According to the text, parents who are under the age of 25 and older adults who live alone are hit hardest by the effects of poverty. Further, until well into the twentieth century, the United States had few policies in place to protect its aging population. To supplement research in the text, ask students to visit two websites: Child Trends ( www.childtrends.org ) and the Federal Interagency Forum on Aging Related Statistics ( www.agingstats.gov ). Child Trends: Students should position their mouse over Data B ank and click on DataBank By Topic, then choose Poverty and Inequality and select an article to review. Ask students to briefly summarize the article, addressing the following questions: (1) What child or adolescent indicator was highlighted? (2) What trends were revealed? (3) Did the article include past research? If so, how do past and current research findings compare? (4) Is any cultural or ethnic data reported? If so, what differences or similarities did you find between different cultural or ethnic groups ? Aging Stats: Ask students to explore the site and to list key indicators of well - being among older adults. What resources are available to older people? Ask students to compare this information to the information on children, and to share their findin gs with the class. LEARNING ACTIVITY 2.5 Conducting a Survey of Attitudes Toward Government Intervention into Family Life (p. 50 ) Ask students to interview two or three friends, family members, or acquaintances, and ask the following questions: (1) Should government provide money and resources to low - income families with young children? If so, should that support come from tax dollars? (2) Should government support for older adults serve primarily as a safety net for those in dire need, or should universal programs such as Social Security and Medicare be maintained and even expanded? When students return to class with their interview responses, ask them to share their findings in class and to classify each answer on the basis of whether it reflects an emphasis on independence or on interdependence. Do students agree with the views expressed by their respondents? Why or why not?
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Instructor’s Resource Manual for Berk / Exploring Lifespan Development, 4e 8 LEARNING ACTIVITY 2.6 Matching: Understanding the Relationship Between Heredity and Environment (pp. 53 – 58 ) Present the following exercise as an in - class activity or quiz. Directions: Match each of the following terms with its correct description. _____ 1. Heritability estimates _____ 2. Kinship studies _____ 3. Gene – environment interaction _____ 4. Gene – environment correlation _____ 5. Niche - picking _____ 6. Epigenesis _____ 7. Methylation Descriptions: A. The ways in which our genes influence the environments to which we are exposed B. Measure of the extent to which individual differences in complex traits in a specific population are due to genetic factors C. The tendency to actively choose environments that complement our heredity D. Development resulting from ongoing, bidirectional exchanges between heredity and all levels of the environment E. Comparison of the characteristics of family members F. Differences resulting from individuals’ genetic makeup in their responsiveness to qualities of the environment G. A biochemical process triggered by certain experiences, in which a set of chemical compounds, called a methyl group, lands on top of a gene and changes its impact, reducing or silencing its expression Answers: 1. B 2. E 3. F 4. A 5. C 6. D 7. G LEARNING ACTIVITY 2.7 Exploring Epigenesis (pp. 56 – 58 ) Ask students to review the definition and example of epigenesis on pages 56 – 58 of the text. Next, ask them to form small groups and consider several scenarios: ( 1 ) A preschool child from an economically at - risk family has received intensive early intervention services, including academic, health, and social support. (2) A child is born to a mother who, during her pregnancy in 2015, experienced extreme hardship and danger as a migrant fleeing the Syrian conflict and attempting to reach Europe. The mother and baby have now lived in a refugee camp for over a year. (3) A child is born to a mother who experienced physical and psychological abuse during her pregnancy. She left the abusive relationship when the child was a toddler and subsequently formed a mutually supportiv e , sustained relationship with a new partner. For each scenario, ask students to discuss the likely effects of environmental factors on gene expression.
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Chapter 2 Genetic and Environmental Foundations 9 ASK YOURSELF . . . CONNECT: Referring to ecological systems theory (Chapter 1, pages 19 – 21 ), explain why parents of children with genetic disorders often experience increased stress. What factors, within and beyond the family, can help these parents support their children’s development? (p p . 39 – 41 ) Ecological systems theory views the individual as developing within a complex system of relationships affected by multiple levels of the surrounding environment. Caring for a child with a genetic disorder can be expensive, exhausting, and stressful for parents. For example, Down syndrome , the most common chromosomal disorder, is associated with intellectual disability, memory and speech problems, limited vocabulary, and slow motor development, and infants with Down syndrome are often born with eye cataracts, hearing loss, and heart and intestinal defects. From the viewpoint of ecological systems theory, factors in the mesosystem — for example, the availability of specialized infant and preschool intervention programs — can help parents of children with these disorders support their child’s development, both by providing experiences that promote the child’s physical and cognitive development and by relieving the parents of the sole burden of caring for the child. APPLY: Gilbert’s genetic makeup is homozygous for dark hair. Jan’s is homozygous for blond hair. What proportion of their children are likely to be dark - haired? Explain. (p. 38 ) Homozygous individuals inherit similar alleles from both parents, so they will always display the inherited trait. Because Gilbert can pass on only the dominant dark - hair allele, all of Gilbert and Jan’s children will have dark hair. However, because their children will also receive the recessive blond - hair allele from Jan, all of them will be heterozygous — carriers of the allele for blond hair, which they can pass on to their own children. REFLECT: Provide illustrations from our discussion, and from people you know with genetic disorders, of environmental influences on development. (pp. 40 – 41 ) This is an open - ended question with no right or wrong answer. CONNECT: How does research on adoption reveal resilience? Which factor related to resilience (see Chapter 1, page 8 ) is central in positive outcomes for adoptees? (pp. 44 – 45 ) Research shows that adopted children and adolescents tend to have more learning and emotional difficulties than other children, a difference that increases with the child’s age at time of adoption. Children adopted after infancy often have a preadoptive history of conflict - ridden family relationships, lack of parental affection, neglect and abuse, or deprived institutional rearing. But despite these risks, most adopted children fare well, and those with preexisting problems who experience sensitive parenting usually make rapid progress. Further, children with troubled family histories who are adopted at older ages generally improve in feelings of trust and affection for their adoptive parents as they come to feel loved and supported. By adolescence, adoptees’ lives are often complicated by unresolved curiosity about their roots. They may face a challenging process of defining themselves as they try to integrate aspects of their birth family and their adoptive family i nto their emerging identity. But when parents have been warm, open, and supportive in their communication about adoption, their children typically forge a positive sense of self. And as long as their parents took steps to help them learn about their her itage in childhood, young people adopted into a different ethnic group or culture generally develop identities that are healthy blends of their birth and rearing backgrounds. In general, a warm parental relationship, which is a key ingredient of resilience, contr ibutes to favorable outcomes for adoptees. APPLY: Imagine that you must counsel a couple considering in vitro fertilization using donor ova to overcome infertility. What medical and ethical risks would you raise? (pp. 42 – 43 ) The couple should be told that in vitro fertilization poses greater risks than natural conception to infant survival and heal thy development. About 26 percent of in vitro procedures result in multiple births. Most are twins, but 3 percent are triplets or higher - order multiples. Consequently, among in vitro babies, the rate of low birth weight is nearly four times as high as in the general population. Risk of pregnancy complications, miscarriage, and major birth defects also rises, due to the biological effects of in vitro techniques and the older age of many people seeking treatment. Further, in many countries, including the United States, doctors are not required to keep records of donor characteristics, though information about the child’s geneti c background might be critical in the case of serious illness.
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10 REFLECT: Suppose you are a carrier of fragile X syndrome and want to have children. Would you choose pregnancy, adoption, or surrogacy? If you became pregnant, would you opt for prenatal diagnosis? Explain your decisions. (pp. 41 – 45 ) This is an open - ended question with no right or wrong answer. CONNECT: Links between family and community foster development throughout the lifespan. Provide examples and research findings that support this idea. (pp. 48 – 49 ) Connections between family and community are vital for psychological well - being throughout the lifespan. For example, in poverty - stricken areas, community life is usually disrupted. Families move often, parks and playgrounds are in disarray, and community centers providing organized leisure - time activities do not exist. In such neighborhoods, family violence, child abuse and neglect, child and youth internalizing and externalizing difficulties, adult criminal behavior, and depression and declin es in cognitive functioning in older adults are especially high. In contrast, strong family ties to the surrounding social context — as indicated by frequent contact with friends and relatives and regular church, synagogue, temple, or mosque attendance — reduce stress and enhance adjustment. Neighborhoods offer resources and social ties that play an important part in children’s development , especially for economically disadvantaged young people. In low - income neighborhoods, in - school and after - school programs that substitute for lack of other resources by providing art, music, sports, and other enrichment activities are associated with improved academic performance and a reduction in emotional and behavior problems in elementary and middle school. During late adulthood, neighborhoods become increasingly important because people spend more time at home. Especially in the absence of nearby family members, older adults mention neighbors and nearby friends as resources they rely on most for physical and social support. APPLY: Check your local newspaper or one or two national news websites to see how often articles appear on the condition of children, families, and older adults. Why is it important for researchers to communicate with the public about the well - being of these sectors of the population? (pp. 50 – 53 ) When widespread social problems arise, such as poverty, hunger, and disease, nations attempt to solve them through devising public policies — laws and government programs designed to improve current conditions. Growing awareness of the gap between what we know and what we do to better people’s lives has led experts in developmental science to join with concerned citizens as advocates for more effective policies. Besides strong advocacy, public policies that enhance development depend on research that documents needs and evaluates programs to spark improvements. By collaborating with community and government agencies, researchers can enhance the social relevance of their investigations. And by disseminating their findings to the public through reports to government officials, websites aimed at increasing public understanding, and collaborations with the media to ensure accurate and effect ive reporting , researchers can help create the sense of immediacy about the condition of children, families, and older adults that is necessary to spur a society into action. REFLECT: Do you agree with the widespread American sentiment that government should not become involved in family life? Explain. (p. 50 ) This is an open - ended question with no right or wrong answer. CONNECT: E xplain how each of the following concepts supports the conclusion that genetic influences on human characteristics are not constant but change over time: somatic mutation (page 40 ), niche - picking (page 55 ), and epigenesis (page 56 ). Somatic mutation occurs when normal body cells mutate, an event that can occur at any time of life. The DNA defect appears in every cell derived from the affected body cell, eventually causing disease (such as cancer ) or disability. S omatic mutation provides evidence that individuals do not have a single, permanent genotype; rather, the genetic makeup of each cell can change over time. Niche - picking is the tendency to actively choose environments that complement our heredity. Infants and young children cannot do much niche - picking because adults select environments for them. In contrast, older children, adolescents, and adults, who are increasingly in charge of their environments, can express their preferences through niche - picking. This helps explain why pairs of identical twins reared apart during childhood and later reunited may find, to their surprise, that they have sim ilar hobbies, food preferences, and vocations. Epigenesis means development resulting from ongoing, bidirectional exchanges between heredity and all levels of the environment. One mechanism through which environment can alter gene expression without changing the DNA sequence is
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Chapter 2 Genetic and Environmental Foundations 11 methylation — a biochemical process triggered by certain experiences, in which a set of chemical compounds (called a methyl group) lands on top of a gene and changes its impact, reducing or silencing its expression. Methylation levels can be measure d, and they help explain why identical twins, though precisely the same in DNA sequencing, sometimes display strikingly different phenotypes with age. APPLY: Bianca’s parents are accomplished musicians. At age 4, Bianca began taking piano lessons. By age 10, she was accompanying the school choir. At age 14, she asked to attend a special music high school. Explain how gene – environment correlation promoted Bianca’s talent. (pp. 55 – 69) According to the concept of gene – environment correlation, our genes influence the environments to which we are exposed. Early in her development, Bianca probably experienced passive correlation when her parents, because of their own musical backgrounds, exposed her to musical activities, such as attending concerts and listening to classical music. Bianca’s parents also provided her first piano lessons and opportunities for other music - related experiences. Because Bianca was receptive to this abundance of musical stimulation, she undoubtedly evoked positive responses from her parents, who continued to promote her musical development — an example of evocative gene – environment correlation. As Bianca grew older, she became more active in choosing her own environments. She decided to accompany the school choir and later asked to attend a special music high school. Bianca’s inherited musical talent led her to engage in niche - picking — choosing activities and environments that complemented her genetic tendencies . In these ways, heredity and environment worked together to advance Bianca’s musical endeavors. REFLECT: What aspects of your own development — for example, interests, hobbies, college major, or vocational choice — are probably due to niche - picking? Explain. (p. 55 ) This is an open - ended question with no right or wrong answer.
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12 MEDIA MATERIALS For details on individual video segments that accompany the DVD for Exploring Lifespan Development, Fourth Edition, please see the DVD Guide for Explorations in Lifespan Development . The DVD and DVD Guide are available through your Pearson sales representative. Additional DVDs and streaming videos that may be useful in your class are listed below. They are not available through your Pearson sales representative, but you can order them directly from the distributors. (See contact information at the end of this manual.) Epigenetics: The Hidden Life of Our Genes (2009, Films Media Group, 53 min.). An exploration of the emerging field of epigenetics. Heredity & Environment: Beginnings of Life (2011, Learning Seed, 38 min.). An overview of heredity and environment, including genetic disorders and the role of prenatal counseling. Secret Life of Twins (2015, Films Media Group/BBC, 51 min.). Stories of several pairs of identical twins, from childhood to adulthood, revealing similarities and differences between them. Sperm Donor Anonymous (2015, Films Media Group, 58 min.). The efforts of donor - conceived adults to learn about their genetic heritage. Two of a Kind (2014), Films Media Group, 89 min.). Insights into epigenetics from research exploring differences between identical twins. Unlocking the Code: Genetics and Medicine (2011, Films Media Group/Open University, 50 min.). How genetic breakthroughs have improved health - care technology. Part of the series The Gene Code. Waiting on the World to Change: Poverty in Camden, New Jersey (2007, Films Media Group, 42 min.). The lives of three young residents of Camden, New Jersey. An ABC News program. What Poor Child Is This? Poverty and America’s Children (2011, Films Media Group, 86 min.). Child poverty in the United States — its causes, its agents, and its impact. Part of the series Poverty in America.
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1 CHAPTER 3 PRENATAL DEVELOPMENT, BIRTH, AND THE NEWBORN BABY CHAPTER - AT - A - GLANCE Chapter Outline Instruction Ideas Supplements Prenatal Development pp. 61 – 66 Conception • Germinal Period • Period of the Embryo • Period of the Fetus Learning Objective 3.1 Learning Activities 3.1 Ask Yourself p. 66 Test Bank Items 1 – 29 , 1 10 (Please contact your Pearson sales representative for a wide range of video offerings available to adopters.) Prenatal Environmental Influences pp. 66 – 75 Teratogens • Other Maternal Factors • The Importance of Prenatal Health Care Learning Objectives 3.2 – 3.4 Lecture Enhancement 3.1 Lecture Enhancement 3.2 Learning Activities 3.1, 3.3 – 3.5 Ask Yourself p. 75 Test Bank Items 3 0 – 6 1 , 1 11 – 1 12 Childbirth pp. 75 – 76 The Stages of Childbirth • The Baby’s Adaptation to Labor and Delivery • Assessing the Newborn’s Physical Condition: The Apgar Scale Learning Objective 3.5 Learning Activities 3.2, 3.7 Test Bank Items 6 2 – 7 0 , 1 13 Approaches to Childbirth pp. 77 – 78 Natural, or Prepared, Childbirth • Home Delivery Learning Objective 3.6 Learning Activities 3.2 Test Bank Items 7 1 – 74 Medical Interventions pp. 78 – 79 Fetal Monitoring • Labor and Delivery Medication • Cesarean Delivery Learning Objective 3.7 Learning Activit y 3.2 Ask Yourself p. 79 Test Bank Items 75 – 8 2 Preterm and Low - Birth - Weight Infants pp. 79 – 81 Preterm versus Small - for - Date Infants • Consequences for Caregiving • Interventions for Preterm Infants Learning Objective 3.8 Learning Activities 3.5 Ask Yourself p. 81 Test Bank Items 83 – 9 0 , The Newborn Baby’s Capacities pp. 81 – 88 Reflexes • States of Arousal • Sensory Capacities Learning Objectives 3.9 – 3 .10 Learning Activities 3.6 Ask Yourself p. 88 Test Bank Items 9 1 – 10 8 ,1 14 Adjusting to the New Family Unit p. 88 Learning Objective 3.1 1 Learning Activity 3.7 Test Bank Items 1 09 BRIEF CHAPTER SUMMARY The vast changes that occur during pregnancy are usually divided into three periods: (1) the germinal period, (2) the period of the embryo, and (3) the period of the fetus. Various environmental agents, or teratogens, and other maternal factors, includi ng poor nutrition and emotional stress, can damage the developing organism. Early and sustained prenatal health care is vital to ensure the health of mothers and babies. The process of childbirth naturally divides into three stages: (1) dilation and effacement of the cervix, (2) delivery of the baby, and (3) delivery of the placenta. Stress hormones produced during labor send blood to the brain and heart, prepare the baby to breathe, and arouse the infant into alertness. The Apgar Scale is used to assess the infant’s physical condition quic kly after birth. In Western nations, birth alternatives include natural, or prepared, childbirth; delivery in a family - centered, homelike birth center; or home birth. Preterm and low - birth - weight infants are at risk for many problems. Providing special infant stimulation and training parents in caregiving skills can help these infants develop favorably. Reflexes are the newborn baby’s most obvious or ga nized patterns of behavior. Throughout the day and night, newborns move in and out of five states of arousal but spend the greatest amount of time asleep. The stimulation of rapid - eye - movement
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Instructor’s Resource Manual for Berk / Exploring Lifespan Development, 4e 2 (REM) sleep is vital for growth of the central ner vous system. Crying is the first way babies communicate that they need food, comfort, or stimulation. The senses of touch, taste, smell, and hearing are well - developed at birth; vision is the least - developed of the newborn’s senses. After childbirth, all family members face challenges adapting to the new family unit. When the parents’ relationship is positive and cooperative, social support is available, and families have sufficient income, the stress caused by the birth of a baby remains manageable. LEARNING OBJECTIVES After reading this chapter, you should be able to answer the following: 3.1 List the three periods of prenatal development, and describe the major milestones of each. (pp. 61 – 66 ) 3.2 Cite factors that influence the impact of teratogens, and discuss evidence on the impact of known or suspected teratogens. (pp. 66 – 71 ) 3.3 Describe the impact of additional maternal factors on prenatal development. (pp. 71 – 72, 73 ) 3.4 Why is early and regular health care vital during the prenatal period? (pp. 73 – 75 ) 3.5 Describe the three stages of childbirth, the baby’s adaptation to labor and delivery, and the newborn baby’s appearance. (pp. 75 – 76 ) 3.6 Describe natural childbirth and home delivery, noting benefits and concerns associated with each. (pp. 77 – 78 ) 3.7 List common medical interventions during childbirth, circumstances that justify their use, and any dangers associated with each. (pp. 78 – 79 ) 3.8 Describe risks associated with preterm birth and low birth weight, along with effective interventions. (pp. 79 – 81, 82 ) 3.9 Describe the newborn baby’s reflexes and states of arousal, noting sleep characteristics and ways to soothe a crying baby. (pp. 81, 83 – 86 ) 3.10 Describe the newborn baby’s sensory capacities. (pp. 86 – 88 ) 3. 11 Describe typical changes in the family after the birth of a new baby. (p. 88 ) LECTURE OUTLINE I. PRENATAL DEVELOPMENT (pp. 61 – 66) • Conception usually takes place in one of the woman’s two fallopian tubes, where sperm and ovum unite to form the zygote. • The 38 weeks of pregnancy are usually divided into three periods: (1) the germinal period, (2) the period of the embryo, and (3) the period of the fetus. • The germinal period lasts about two weeks, from fertilization until the cell mass attaches itself to the wall of the uterus. • Implantation occurs between the seventh and ninth days, when the blastocyst burrows deep into the uterine lining. • The trophoblast forms a membrane, the amnion, that encloses the developing organism in protective amniotic fluid. • A yolk sac emerges that produces blood cells until the developing liver, spleen, and bone marrow are mature enough to take over this function. • By the end of the second week, cells of the trophoblast form a protective membrane, the chorion, which surrounds the amnion. • The placenta, which brings the embryo’s and mother’s blood close together, is connected to the developing organism by the umbilical cord. • During the period of the embryo , from implantation through the eighth week of pregnancy, the groundwork is laid for all body structures and internal organs. • In the last half of the first month, the embryonic disk forms three layers of cells — ectoderm, mesoderm, and
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Chapter 3 Prenatal Development, Birth, and the Newborn Baby 3 endoderm — which give rise to all parts of the body. • The ectoderm folds over to form the neural tube. At 3½ weeks, the top of the neural tube swells to form the brain. • During the fifth week, production of neurons begins. By the end of the second month, the embryo responds to touch and can move. • During the period of the fetus , from the ninth week to the end of pregnancy, the organism increases rapidly in size. • Prenatal development is sometimes divided into three equal time periods called trimesters. • By the middle of the second trimester, the mother can feel the movements of the fetus. • The fetus is covered with a white, cheeselike substance called vernix and with white, downy hair called lanugo. • At the end of the second trimester, most of the brain’s neurons are in place and begin rapidly forming synapses . • The age of viability, between 22 and 26 weeks, is the point at which the baby can first survive if born early. • The third trimester brings greater responsiveness to external stimulation. The fetus also receives antibodies from the mother’s blood that protect against illnesses. II. PRENATAL ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES (pp. 66 – 75) • A teratogen is any environmental agent that causes damage during the prenatal period, including drugs, tobacco, alcohol, ionizing radiation, environmental pollution, and infectious disease. • The harm done by teratogens depends on dose, heredity, other negative influences, and the age of the organism at time of exposure. • Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) refers to the range of physical, mental, and behavioral outcomes caused by prenatal alcohol exposure, including fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) (the most severe), partial fetal alcohol syndrome (p - FAS), and alcohol - related neurodevelopmental disorder (ARND). • Exposure to ionizing radiation can cause miscarriage, brain damage, physical deformities, slow physical growth, and increased risk of later problems. • In industrialized nations, potentially dangerous environmental pollutants include mercury, PCBs, lead, dioxins, and air pollution. • Infectious diseases that can affect the developing organism include rubella, the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), cytomegalovirus, herpes simplex 2, and toxoplasmosis. • Prenatal malnutrition can cause serious damage to the central nervous system and can distort the structure of other vital organs, predisposing the individual to later health problems. • When women experience severe emotional stress during pregnancy, their babies are at risk for later impaired physical and psychological well - being. • Rh factor incompatibility occurs when a mother lacks the Rh blood protein and the baby inherits the Rh - positive blood type from the father. It can usually be prevented by giving a vaccine to the Rh - negative mother. • In addition to increased risk of infertility, miscarriage, and chromosomal defects with older maternal age, birth complications rise after age 40. • Regular medical checkups throughout pregnancy helps ensure the health of the mother and fetus. III. CHILDBIRTH (pp. 75 – 76) • The process of childbirth occurs in three stages: dilation and effacement of the cervix, delivery of the baby, and delivery of the placenta . • Stress hormones produced by the force of the contractions help the baby withstand oxygen deprivation by sending a rich supply of blood to the brain and heart. They also prepare the baby to breathe and arouse the infant into alertness. • The Apgar Scale is used to assess the infant’s physical condition on the basis of five criteria: heart rate, respiratory effort, reflex irritability, muscle tone, and color. IV. APPROACHES TO CHILDBIRTH (pp. 77 – 78) • In Western nations, childbirth moved from home to hospital during the industrial revolution of the 1800s. • By the mid - twentieth century, a natural childbirth movement arose as women questioned the routine use of medical procedures during labor and delivery. • The techniques of natural, or prepared, childbirth, including relaxation and breathing techniques and the presence of a labor coach, are aimed at reducing pain and medical intervention and making childbirth a rewarding experience. • Mothers who receive social support during labor and delivery less often have instrument - assisted or cesarean deliveries or need medication to control pain, and their babies have higher Apgar scores. • Home birth is popular in certain industrialized nations but is chosen by less than 1 percent of American women. V. MEDICAL INTERVENTIONS (pp. 78 – 79)
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Instructor’s Resource Manual for Berk / Exploring Lifespan Development, 4e 4 • Medical interventions during birth are justified to prevent serious complications — for example, when an infant suffers from anoxia or is in breech position — but in other cases, they can interfere with delivery and even pose new risks. • The use of fetal monitors to track the baby’s heart rate during labor is linked to an increase in the number of instrument and cesarean deliveries. • In more than 80 percent of U.S. births, some form of medication is used to control pain during labor. • Because drugs rapidly cross the placenta, exposed newborns are at risk for respiratory distress and tend to be sleepy and withdrawn, to suck poorly during feedings, and to be irritable when awake. • Medical control over childbirth is largely responsible for the worldwide rise in cesarean delivery, which currently accounts for 33 percent of births in the United States. VI. PRETERM AND LOW - BIRTH - WEIGHT INFANTS (pp. 79 – 81, 82) • Preterm infants are born several weeks or more before their due date. Their weight may be appropriate, based on time spent in the uterus. • Small - for - date infants are below their expected weight considering length of the pregnancy. They usually have more serious problems than preterm infants. • The appearance and behavior of preterm babies can lead parents to be less sensitive in caring for them, but how well these infants develop has a great deal to do with the parent – child relationship. • Skin - to - skin “kangaroo care” fosters improved oxygenation of the baby’s body, temperature regulation, sleep, breastfeeding, alertness, and infant survival. • When preterm infants live in stressed, economically disadvantaged households, long - term, intensive intervention is necessary to promote favorable development. • Even the best caregiving environments cannot always overcome the biological risks associated with extreme preterm and low birth weight. • The United States has made less progress in reducing infant mortality than many other countries. VII. THE NEWBORN BABY’S CAPACITIES (pp. 81, 83 – 88) • Newborn reflexes are inborn, automatic responses to a particular form of stimulation. Some have survival value; others help parents and infants establish gratifying interaction. • Most newborn reflexes disappear during the first six months, due to a gradual increase in voluntary control over behavior as the cerebral cortex develops. • Newborn infants move in and out of five states of arousal throughout the day and night: rapid - eye - movement (REM) sleep, non - rapid - eye - movement (NREM) sleep, drowsiness, quiet alertness, and waking activity and crying. • In industrialized nations, the leading cause of infant mortality in the first year is sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). • Babies cry to communicate their physical needs and in response to other stimuli, such as a sudden noise. Crying typically peaks at about 6 weeks and then declines. • Techniques for soothing a crying baby include lifting the baby to the shoulder and rocking or walking or swaddling the baby snugly in a blanket. • In cultures where babies are in physical contact with their caregivers almost continuously, infants show shorter bouts of crying than American babies. • The cries of brain - damaged babies and of those who have experienced prenatal and birth complications are often shrill, piercing, and shorter in duration than those of healthy infants. • Sensitivity to touch and to pain is present at birth, as are preferences for several basic tastes and for certain odors such as the odor of the mother’s lactating breast. • Newborns can hear a wide variety of sounds. They prefer complex sounds to pure tones and listen longer to human speech than to nonspeech sounds. • Vision is the least - developed sense at birth. Newborns cannot focus their eyes well and have limited visual acuity. VIII. ADJUSTING TO THE NEW FAMILY UNIT (p. 88) • In the first weeks after a baby’s birth, the mother needs to recover from childbirth, adjust to hormonal changes, and establish the breastfeeding relationship. The father must become a part of this new threesome while supporting the mother in her recovery. • When the parents’ relationship is positive and cooperative, social support is available, and families have sufficient income, the stress caused by the birth of a baby remains manageable.
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Chapter 3 Prenatal Development, Birth, and the Newborn Baby 5 LECTURE ENHANCEMENTS LECTURE ENHANCEMENT 3.1 Pollution and Infant Health: Research Findings and Policy Implications (p. 69 – 70 ) Objective: To consider research findings on the health effects of prenatal exposure to low levels of pollution and the implications of these findings for public policy. Currie’s (2013) review of recent research on the impact of low levels of pollution is a useful supplement to the text discuss ion of prenatal exposure to environmental pollution (page s 69 – 70 ). As described in the text, even low levels of maternal exposure to pollutants during pregnancy may pose serious risks. For example, low - level prenatal exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) is linked to reduced birth weights, smaller heads, persisting attention and memory difficulties, and lower intelligence test scores in childhood. Similarly, babies with low - level exposure to lead show slightly poorer mental and motor development . Currie focuses on studies that were specifically designed to investigate the health effects of the relatively low ambient levels of pollution typically found in wealthy countries today, as compared with the much higher levels of the past. For example, “hazardous” levels of carbon monoxide (CO), as defined by the Environmental Protection Agency, rarely occur in the developed world today. “Moderate” levels, however, are far more common, and urbanization means that more people than in the past are subjected to these lower levels of pollution. On the other hand, plant closings due to economic downturns reduce pollution in the immediate vicinity, and some studies have identified an associated decline in infant mortality in these area s. As Currie observes, some researchers argue that pervasive low - level exposure to environmental pollution may help to account for rising rates of asthma, autism, and attention - deficit hyperactivity disorder in many rich countries. Her focus on efforts to identify causal effects of pollution, rather than simply documenting correlations, makes her work a valuable addit ion to class discussion of the effects of prenatal environmental pollution and of the policy implications of research findings. Currie, J. (2013). Pollution and infant health. Child Development Perspectives, 7, 237 – 242. doi: 10.1111/cdep.12047 LECTURE ENHANCEMENT 3.2 Effects of Prenatal Stress on Mothers and Infants: Evidence from Psychoneuroimmunology (pp. 71 – 72 ) Objective: To consider the adverse consequences of emotional stress during pregnancy on both mothers and infants, as well as the potential mitigating effects of prenatal support programs. As described in the text (page 71 ), when women experience severe emotional stress during pregnancy, they and their infants are at risk for a wide variety of difficulties , including miscarriage, prematurity, low birth weight, and lasting physical and psychological impairments. In this paper, Coussons - Read (2012) reviews research in psychoneuroimmunology suggesting that prenatal stress disrupts “adaptations in the maternal immune, endocrine, and nervous systems that support healthy pregnancy.” She cites evidence that prolonged stress leads to chronic activation of the body’s biological “fight or flight” response syst ems. When this activation occurs during pregnancy, it puts the health of the developing infant as well as the mother at risk. Coussons - Read notes that epigenetic studies indicate that mothers’ experience of stressful prenatal events, such as partner abuse or poverty, has enduring physiological effects on offspring. She also cites evidence that for minority women, the experience of discrimination and prejudice may exacerbate the effects of other types of prenatal stress. She calls for resear ch aimed at “developing interventions to reduce maternal stress [and] alleviate the maladaptive biological changes … associated with it,” thereby improving birth outcomes. This paper provides a context for class discussion of the Nurse – Family Partnership, described in the Social Issues: Health box on page 73 , enabling students to consider the demonstrated benefits of this prenatal social support program in light of the research findings reviewed in this paper. Coussons - Read, M. E. (2012). The psychoneuroimmunology of stress in pregnancy. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 21, 323 – 328. doi: 10.1177/0963721412453720
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