Module 2

• Psychological development


  The study of how people change physically, mentally, and socially throughout the lifespan
• Factors influencing development

  • Biological
  • Environmental
  • Social
  • Cultural
  • Behavioral
• Stages of the lifespan

  • Prenatal - Conception to Birth
  • Infancy - 0 to 2 years
  • Early Childhood - 2 to 6 years
  • Middle Childhood - 6 to 12 years
  • Adolescence - 12 to 18 years
  • Young Adulthood - 18 to 40 years
  • Middle Adulthood - 40 to 65 years
  • Late Adulthood - 65 and above
• Chromosomes


  Long, threadlike structure composed of twisted parallel strands of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)
• DNA is the basis of all heredity
• Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes
• 23rd chromosome pair


  Determines the person's sex
• XX Combination

  Female
• XY Combination

  Male
• Genotype

  Underlying genetic make-up
• Phenotype


  Physical appearance
• Conception


  1. Sperm and egg cell combine, resulting in a fertilized egg

  2. Occurs on the day of ovulation, if there's a sperm present
• Ovulation


  10 to 16 days before the period starts
• Prenatal stages

  • Germinal Period (0-2 weeks)
  • Embryonic Period (3-8 weeks)
  • Fetal Period (8 or 9 weeks-birth)
• Germinal Period


  • Zygotic period
  • Zygote undergoes rapid cell division before implanted onto the mother's wall
  • Develop into embryo
• Embryonic Period


  • Embryo in amniotic sac, receives nutrients, oxygen, and water, gets rid of the wastes
  • Umbilical Cord attaches embryo to placenta
  • Placenta is a disk-shaped tissue on uterine wall that prevents harmful substances entering embryo
• Teratogens


  • Can cause Birth Defects
  • Exposure to radiation
  • Toxic industrial chemicals
  • Diseases such as rubella, syphilis, genital herpes, and AIDS
  • Illegal drugs consumed by mother
• Fetal Period

  • Grow and Mature for life outside
  • 3rd month - can move arms, legs, mouth, and head, capable of being reflexive
  • 4th month - quickening - fetus moving
  • 5th month - brain cells are present and will develop
  • 6th month - brain activity similar to a newborn baby
• Rooting Reflex

  Turns towards the source and opens his mouth
• Sucking Reflex

  Lips evokes sucking
• Grasping Reflex

  Gripping fingers tightly
• Vision

  Least developed sense at birth
• Language Development

  Every child is born with a biological predisposition to learn language (Noam Chomsky)
• Cooing and Babbling Stage

  1. 3 months - infants begin to "coo"

  2. 5 month - babble "ba-ba-ba"
• One-word Stage

  Can understand simple commands, babies use single word as an entire sentence
• Two-word Stage


  Infants combine two words as an entire sentence