Development across the lifespan and Controversies Flashcards
What is Developmental Psychology
the study of how humans develop into the beings that they are
General Developmental Periods across the lifespan
Prenatal Development
Infancy & Toddlerhood
Early Childhood
Middle Childhood
Adolescence
Early Adulthood
Middle Adulthood
Late Adulthood
Nature vs. Nurture Definition
Nature: genetics (genome) what you inherent biologically
Nurture: environment, anything that occurs outside of the womb
What is the Nature vs. Nurture Debate
involves the extent to which particular aspects of behavior are a product of either inherited or acquired influences. Psychologists nowadays have come to the conclusion that our behavior is influenced by a mixture of both
How are nature and nurture influences studied
Twin Studies
Twin Studies Definition
studies conducted on identical or fraternal twins. They aim to reveal the importance of environmental and genetic influences for traits, phenotypes, and disorders.
Advantages of Twin Studies
allow disentanglement of the shared genetic and environmental factors for the trait of interest (researchers can estimate the proportion of variance in a trait due to genetics vs. environment)
Disadvantages of Twin Studies
They are not highly representative of an average child, since they live very different lives. They also often share similar living environments
Epigenetics
the study of how your behaviors and environment can cause changes that affect the way your genes work
Epigenetics and Twin Studies
Although identical twins share the same DNA, their unique experiences in life will cause some genes and not others to express themselves (this can often cause twins to look/behave differently)
Continuity
change/development is a gradual and continuous process
Theorists who support continuity
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Discontinuity
development occurs in a series of distinct stages and an individual can’t really move on to the next until they have fulfilled a stage
Theorists who support Discontinuity
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