Developmental Psychology
ADVERSE FACTORS AFFECTING FETAL
Prenatal Development
 Development happens quickly during the prenatal
period, which is the time between conception and
birth. This period is generally divided into three stages:
the germinal stage, the embryonic stage, and the fetal
stage.
Stage 1: The Germinal Stage
 The two-week period after conception is called
the germinal stage. Conception occurs when a sperm
cell combines with an egg cell to form a zygote. About
thirty-six hours after conception, the zygote begins to
divide quickly. The resulting ball of cells moves along
the mother’s fallopian tube to the uterus.
 Around seven days after conception, the ball of cells
starts to become embedded in the wall of the uterus.
This process is called implantation and takes about a
week to complete. If implantation fails, as is quite
common, the pregnancy terminates. One key feature of
the germinal stage is the formation of a tissue called
the placenta. The placenta has two important
functions:
 Passing oxygen and nutrients from the mother’s blood
into the embryo or fetus
 Removing waste materials from the embryo or fetus
Stage 2: The Embryonic Stage
 The embryonic stage lasts from the end of the
germinal stage to two months after conception. The
developing ball of cells is now called an embryo. In this
stage, all the major organs form, and the embryo
becomes very fragile. The biggest dangers are
teratogens, which are agents such as viruses, drugs, or
radiation that can cause deformities in an embryo or
fetus. At the end of the embryonic period, the embryo
is only about an inch long.
Stage 3: The Fetal Stage
 The last stage of prenatal development is the fetal
stage, which lasts from two months after conception
until birth. About one month into this stage, the sex
organs of the fetus begin to form. The fetus quickly
grows as bones and muscles form, and it begins to
move inside the uterus. Organ systems develop further
and start to function. During the last three months, the
brain increases rapidly in size, an insulating layer of fat
forms under the skin, and the respiratory and digestive
systems start to work independently.
Fetal Viability
 Around twenty-two to twenty-six weeks after
conception, the fetus reaches the age of viability, after
which it has some chance of surviving out-side the
womb if it is born prematurely. The chances of a
premature baby’s survival increase significantly with
each additional week it remains in the mother’s uterus.
DEVELOPMENT
Although the womb provides protection, the fetus
remains indirectly connected to the outside world through
its mother. Several factors that are linked to the mother
can harm the fetus:
 Poor nutrition
 Use of alcohol
 Smoking
 Use of certain prescription or over-the-counter drugs
 Use of recreational drugs such as cocaine, sedatives,
and narcotics
 X-rays and other kinds of radiation
 Ingested toxins, such as lead
 Illnesses such as AIDS, German measles, syphilis,
cholera, smallpox, mumps, or severe flu
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
 Mothers who drink heavily during pregnancy may
have babies with fetal alcohol syndrome. Babies with
this syndrome may have problems such as small head
size, heart defects, irritability, hyperactivity, mental
retardation, or slowed motor development. Fetal
alcohol syndrome is incurable.
Infancy and Childhood
 Babies come into the world with many innate
abilities, or abilities that are present from birth. At
birth, they possess motor reflexes such as the sucking
reflex and the grasping reflex. Newborns can also hear,
smell, touch, taste, and see, and these sensory abilities
develop quickly.
Motor Development
 Motor development also progresses quickly. Motor
development is the increasing coordination of
muscles that makes physical movements
possible. Developmental norms tell us the median
age at which babies develop specific behaviors and
abilities. Babies often deviate a fair amount from these
norms.
 Researchers used to think motor skill development
could be explained mostly by maturation, genetically
programmed growth and development. According to
this view, babies learn to sit up, pull themselves to a
standing position, and walk at particular ages because
they are hard-wired that way. However, recent research
suggests that motor development isn’t just a passive
process. Although maturation plays a large role, babies
also actively develop motor skills by moving around and
exploring their environments. Both maturation and
experience influence motor development.
It’s Not All Maturation
 Maturation plays a much greater role in the
development of early motor skills, such as crawling and
walking, than in development of later motor skills, such
as juggling or playing basketball. The development of
later motor skills depends on genetic predisposition,
exposure to good teachers, and social factors.
Cultural differences also affect how quickly motor skills
develop, although the timing and sequence of early motor
skill development remains similar across all cultures.
Temperament
 Some babies have fussy personalities, while others
have chirpy or quiet natures. These differences result
from temperament, the kind of personality features
babies are born with. Researchers generally agree that
temperament depends more on biological factors than
on environment. In the 1970s, Alexander
Thomas and Stella Chess, two researchers who
study temperament, described three basic types of
temperament: easy, slow to warm up, and difficult. In
their research, 40 percent of the children were easy,
15 percent were slow to warm up, and 10 percent
were difficult. The remaining 35 percent of the
children displayed a mixture of these temperaments:
 Easy children tend to be happy and adapt easily to
change. They have regular sleeping and eating patterns
and don’t upset easily.
 Slow-to-warm-up children tend to be less cheerful
and less adaptable than easy children. They are cautious
about new experiences. Their sleeping and eating
patterns are less regular than those of easy children.
 Difficult children tend to be glum and irritable, and
they dislike change. Their eating and sleeping patterns
are irregular.
Attachment
 Attachment is the close bond between infants and
their caregivers. Researchers used to think that infants
attach to people who feed them and keep them warm.
However, researchers Margaret and Harry Harlow
showed that attachment could not occur without
contact comfort. Contact comfort is comfort derived
from physical closeness with a caregiver.
THE HARLOWS’ BABY MONKEYS
 The Harlows raised orphaned baby rhesus monkeys
and studied their behavior. In place of its real mother,
each baby monkey had two substitute or surrogate
mothers. One “mother” had a head attached to a wire
frame, warming lights, and a feeding bottle. The other
“mother” had the same construction except that foam
rubber and terry cloth covered its wire frame. The
Harlows found that although both mothers provided
milk and warmth, the baby monkeys greatly preferred
the cloth mother. They clung to the cloth mother even
between feedings and went to it for comfort when
they felt afraid.
RESPONSIVE MOTHERING
 Psychologist Mary Ainsworth and her colleagues
found that attachment happens through a complex set
of interactions between mothers and infants. The
infants of sensitive, responsive mothers have stronger
attachments than the infants of insensitive mothers or
mothers who respond inconsistently to their infants’
needs. However, an infant’s temperament also plays a
role in attachment. Difficult infants who fuss, refuse to
eat, and sleep irregularly tax their mothers, which
makes it hard for the mothers to be properly
responsive.
ATTACHMENT STYLES
 Ainsworth devised an experiment called the Strange
Situation in order to study attachment behavior. She
asked each mother in the sample to bring her infant to
an unfamiliar room that contained various toys. After
the mother and infant had spent some time in the
room, a stranger entered the room and tried to play
with the infant. A short while later, the mother left the
room, leaving the infant with the stranger. Then the
mother returned to the room, and the stranger left. A
little later, the mother left the room again, briefly
leaving the infant alone. Finally, the mother returned
to the room.
Based on her observations of infants’ behavior in the
Strange Situation, Ainsworth described three types of
attachment patterns:
1. Secure attachment: Most infants in the sample had a
secure attachment to their mothers. These infants
expressed unhappiness when their mothers left but still
played with the stranger. When their mothers returned,
the infants looked happy. The infants displayed greater
attachment to their mothers than to the stranger.
2. Anxious-ambivalent attachment: Some infants
showed a type of insecure attachment called an anxious-
ambivalent attachment. These infants became upset
when their mothers left but resisted contact with their
mothers when they returned.
3. Avoidant attachment: Other infants showed a type of
insecure attachment called an avoidant attachment.
These infants didn’t seem upset when their mothers left
and avoided their mothers when they returned.
Researchers did not see a significant difference in the
way these infants treated their mothers and the
stranger.
CULTURE AND ATTACHMENT STYLE
 Culture can influence attachment style because
different cultures have different child-rearing practices.
Ainsworth’s research in the United States showed that
most of her white, middle-class sample of infants had
a secure attachment to their mothers. However, in
Germany, where parents encourage independence
from an early age, a much higher proportion of infants
display an avoidant attachment, according to
Ainsworth’s classification. In Japan, where infants
rarely separate from their mothers, the avoidant style
is nonexistent, although a higher proportion of
anxious-ambivalent attachments occurred than in the
United States.
Separation Anxiety
 Whether they are securely attached or not, most
babies do experience separation anxiety. Separation
anxiety is the emotional distress infants show when
they separate from people to whom they are attached.
Separation anxiety typically begins at about six to
eight months of age and reaches peak intensity when
an infant is about fourteen to eighteen months old.
Day Care
 Controversy surrounds the question of whether or not
to place children in day care. Some research has
suggested that babies have a greater chance of
developing insecure attachments if a nonparental
figure cares for them for more than twenty hours per
week. However, most of the evidence suggests that
day care doesn’t create poor attachment. Studies have
even shown that day care can have positive effects on
social development.
Gender Development
 Sex isn’t the same as gender. Sex refers to a
biological distinction between males and females. An
example of sex difference is the timing of puberty.
Because of biological processes, girls’ sexual organs
mature before those of boys. Gender refers to a
learned distinction between masculinity and femininity.
An example of gender difference is girls’ and boys’
attitudes toward dolls. Very early on, American society
teaches boys that playing with dolls is considered a
girlish thing to do. Gender stereotypes are societal
beliefs about the characteristics of males and females.
GENDER DIFFERENCES
 Some gender differences exist, although certainly not
as many as stereotypes suggest. For example, starting
in preschool, gender differences arise in play behavior.
Boys prefer playing with boys and girls with girls. Boys
prefer to play with boyish toys like trucks and girls
with girlish toys like dolls. Different people give
different answers for why this is so:
 Researchers who emphasize biological differences
between the sexes say that these preferences arise from
biological factors such as genetics and evolution,
prenatal hormones, or brain structure.
 Researchers who focus on cognitive development
believe that these preferences exist because boys and
girls develop different gender schemas or mental models
about gender.
 Researchers who study learning think that
environment produces these preferences. They point out
that almost from the moment of birth, girls and boys
receive different treatment. Gender preferences, these
researchers say, simply reflect what society teaches
children about gender.
Adolescence
 Adolescence used to be automatically associated with
trouble. Recently, however, researchers have found
that adolescence is not always so difficult, even with
all the changes that occur during this period.
Physical Changes
 Pubescence refers to the two years before puberty.
The adolescent growth spurt actually begins during
pubescence, at about age eleven in girls and about
age thirteen in boys. At this time, children get taller
and heavier and develop secondary sex
characteristics. Secondary sex characteristics are
sex-specific physical characteristics that are not
essential for reproduction. Girls develop breasts,
widened pelvic bones, and wider hips. Boys develop
facial hair, broader shoulders, and deeper voices.
 After pubescence and at the beginning of
adolescence, pubertyoccurs. Puberty is the point at
which sexual organs mature. Sexual organs include
the ovaries in girls and the penis and testes in boys.
 Menarche, or the first menstrual period, marks the
onset of puberty in girls. The average age of
menarche for American girls is about twelve and a
half. The beginning of nocturnal emissions, so-
called wet dreams, marks the onset of puberty in
boys. American boys typically begin to produce sperm
by fourteen years of age. Girls reach full sexual
maturation around age sixteen, and boys reach sexual
maturity at around eighteen.
Earlier Onset of Puberty
 Girls and boys in the United States reach puberty
earlier now than they did a few generations ago,
possibly because nutrition and medical care have
changed over the years. In Western Europe and the
United States, girls have their first menstrual periods
at around age twelve or thirteen. In poorer regions of
Africa, which lack proper nutrition and health care,
girls may not begin to menstruate until they are
between the ages of fourteen and seventeen.
VARYING MATURATION RATES
 Puberty occurs at different rates for different people.
In girls, puberty usually happens between ages ten
and fifteen and in boys between ages eleven and
sixteen. Early or late maturation can have the
following consequences:
 Early-maturing girls and late-maturing boys tend to
have more psychological and social problems than their
peers.
 In girls, a correlation exists between early maturation
and poorer school performance, earlier sexual activity,
more unwanted pregnancies, and a higher likelihood of
eating disorders.
 Both boys and girls who mature early use more
alcohol and drugs and have more problems with the law
than their peers.
Identity
 As Erik Erikson pointed out, the search for identity
marks an important step in adolescence. Adolescents
may go through an identity crisis, during which they
struggle to understand themselves and decide their
future. The psychologist James Marcia described
four identity states, based on where people stand on
the path to identity:
 Identity foreclosure happens when a person
prematurely commits to values or roles that others
prescribe.
 Identity moratorium happens when a person delays
commitment to an identity. He or she may experiment
with various values and roles.
 Identity diffusion occurs when a person lacks a
clear sense of identity but still hasn’t explored issues
related to identity development.
 Identity achievement occurs when a person  Crystallized intelligence, which is intelligence
considers alternative possibilities and commits to a based on a life span of knowledge and skills, remains
certain identity and path in life. constant or increases.
 Physical exercise and mental stimulation can form new
Adulthood connections between neurons in the brains of older
Certain experiences tend to occur in adulthood, adults.
including:  Most people’s overall sense of well-being increases as
 Marriage they get older.
 Parenthood
 The empty nest
 The midlife crisis
 Menopause (for women)
 Aging
 Not all adults go through all these experiences, and
the timing of particular experiences can vary greatly
from person to person. However, average ages for
major life events do exist. Social clocks indicate the
typical life events, behaviors, and issues for a
particular age. Each culture and historical period has a
specific social clock. A middle-class white woman living
in contemporary U.S. culture may be “off time” for
motherhood if she had her first child at age fifteen. In
another cultural context or another historical period,
however, motherhood at age fifteen may have been
“on time.”
 A midlife crisis is a time of doubt and anxiety in
middle adulthood. Research suggests, however, that
midlife crises don’t automatically happen when people
reach middle age. The empty nest refers to the time
in parents’ lives when their children have grown up
and left home. Parents who have other roles in
addition to parenting usually find this period less
difficult.
 Menopause is the gradual, permanent cessation of
menstruation and usually begins between ages forty-
five and fifty-five. Though many women suffer
uncomfortable physical symptoms during menopause,
such as hot flashes, emotional reactions to menopause
are far from universal: many women have strong
emotional reactions, while just as many others may
not. Though men don’t experience menopause, they
do experience a gradual decline in testosterone
production and sperm count as they age.
Aging
Researchers now know quite a bit about the process of
growing old. Some abilities and functions decline:
 As people age, they usually lose neurons in the brain,
but this loss rarely causes problems such as dementia,
which is a condition characterized by several significant
psychological deficits.
 Vision and hearing tend to decline as people grow
older.
 Some aspects of memory decrease in old age. This
results from a decline in the speed of mental processing.
Decrease in memory capacity is normal and is not
necessarily related to dementia.
Other abilities and functions stay the same or even
improve as people age: