PSY 2
Identify the topic that interested you the most within this module. Why was this topic interesting to you? What were the most important pieces of knowledge you gained related to this topic? Describe what else you would like to learn related to your selected topic.
— MUST BE AT LEAST 300 WORDS
— MUST CITE 3 REFERENCESIN APA STYLE
Lightfoot, C., Cole, M., & Cole, S. (2018). The development of children (8th ed.). New York: Worth Publishers. (( THIS WILL BE ONE OF THE REFERENCES))
Many raised their eyebrows when prenatal development was paired with personality, but if you ask mothers when their children started to exhibit a personality, many will say it was long before birth. Genetics plays a major role in personality. It also impact the development of an unborn child, so let’s start there.
Prenatal Development
The developing fetus develops according to its genetic code. This code is contained within the 23 pairs of chromosomes it hasone set from each parent. When the chromosomes don’t pair correctly or are damaged, missing, etc., the developing fetus is usually spontaneously aborted. However, this isn’t always the case. For example, children with Down syndrome have a chromosomal abnormality, and they typically survive well past birth.
The pairing of the chromosomes isn’t the only danger to a developing fetus. A fetus is also impacted by its mother’s age, general health, diet and nutrition, and level of stress. The fetus is also at particular risk of teratogens, which are agents that cause structural abnormality in a fetus following exposure during the pregnancy.
There is still a lot to learn about genetics and how it affects human development, and it is difficult to truly know how much environment and genetics have to do with the way a child develops. Is it nature, nurture, or both? In an attempt to make sense of it all, psychologists study identical and fraternal twins to determine the impact of genetics on development.
Stress
Most of us are well aware of how losses, frustrations, hassles, and disappointments can lead to the feeling of stress. Remember that even positive events like marriage or the birth of a child can cause stress. Change causes stress. Yet people deal with stress in different ways, and individuals may also differ in the amount of stress that they can handle. Stress affects the body. It causes bodily changes such as higher blood pressure and increased heart rate and hormone levels. Prolonged stress hinders the body’s ability to sleep and the immune system’s ability to function. It leaves the body more susceptible to a host of diseases and heart problems. The stress load on a pregnant woman is particularly important. Should a pregnant woman experience too much stress for too long, the blood levels of cortisol (a hormone secreted during stress) may negatively impact the growing fetus, predisposing attention deficits and possibly altering the fetus’s personality.
People face stress on a daily basis. Psychologists have taken an increasing interest in why some people crumble under stress while others in the same situation seem to excel and rise above it all. Those who handle and adapt to stress are exhibiting what psychologists have come to call resilience. There is no conclusive evidence about what exactly dictates how a person handles stress. There are many factors, one of which is personality types. You may have heard about Type A or Type B personalities, and those types may factor into how well a person deals with stress. Type A individuals are often in a hurry, aggressive, and highly competitive. Type B individuals are described as laid back and relatively calm. However, Type B individuals also experience stress.
Stress management is an area that has received a great deal of attention in our culture. Students taking this class often feel a degree of stress with all of the demands that family, work, school, and life make on a person. Effectively dealing with these demands will make for a smoother class experience. To do this, students should focus on coping strategies, like reminding oneself to keep things in perspective, and problem-focused strategies, like taking direct action to deal with stressors. An example of a problem-focused strategy is setting and keeping to a balanced study schedule. A good diet and plenty or rest, exercise, and recreation also help a person cope with stress.
The Newborn
Every good parent wants a healthy baby. When a baby is first born, doctors will assess his or her health using APGAR scores and the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale. These tests give an almost instant picture of how healthy a newborn is and whether or not he or she needs treatment.
When people think about the birth of a baby, they often associate crying with it. Crying is one sign that a newborn is breathing. At that point, crying is a good thing, and it reassures parents that their baby is doing okay. However, as babies get older, crying can become difficult for parents to handle. Parents should be aware that even healthy babies will spend several hours each day crying, but not all cries mean the same thing. There are different types of crying, and smart parents can help minimize the amount of time neonates spend crying by learning to differentiate between the different types. (The first four weeks after a child is born, it is considered a neonate.) When the baby isn’t crying, he or she will spend up to two-thirds of his or her time sleeping.
Physical Development
A newborn may actually lose a slight bit of weight after birth, but soon the growth boom begins. An infant’s brain will almost triple in weight in the first 24 months of life. The baby will develop by what is called the cephalocaudal principle, which means the head and torso develop faster than the arms and legs. (This is why a crawling infant in some ways resembles a bear cub.) The brain is about 90% of its adult weight by the age of 5. With all this growth going on, it is easy to understand the importance of proper nutrition for infants and young children. Between 2 and 3 years of age, a person’s activity level is higher than at any other time in his or her life. This is probably why you often hear parents referring to the terrible two’sbecause toddlers have more energy and are more active than their parents, and the parents have difficulty keeping up with them.
Motor Skills and Perception
Babies naturally seek sensation. Fortunately, for them, they enter the world with their senses largely developed. They have a great sense of smell, and they can recognize their mother by her scent. Newborns can also hear quite well, and they show a preference for stories and music they heard while still in the womb. The sense of taste is also well developedespecially for sweets. Infants also have a keen sense of touch. They respond to touch, are sensitive to heat and cold, and show preferences for softer textures. They also have a need to be touched. The sense of sight is not as well developed, but that comes along rapidly, and by the age of one, an infant can see as well as an adult. Obviously, an infant’s motor skills are not as far along as their other abilities, which is quite a blessing for parents. Imagine how many things they would otherwise be able to get into and perhaps put into their mouths!
