Developmental Psychology

Developmental psychology: the study of YOU from womb to tomb
-we are going to study how we change physically, socially, cognitively and morally over our time

Nature vs nurture
Nature: the way you were born
Nurture: the way you were raised

Physical development: focus in our physical changes over time

Prenatal development: conception begins with the drop of an egg and the release of about 200 million sperm
-sperm seeks out the egg and attempts to penetrate the egg's surface

Once the sperm penetrates the egg-we have a fertilized egg called a zygote
-1st stage of prenatal development

• lasts about two weeks and consists of rapid cell division
• less then half of all zygotes survive first 2 weeks
• after 10 days after conception, the zygote will attach itself to the uterine wall
• outer part of the zygote becomes the placenta: structure that allows oxygen and nutrients to pass into fetus from mother's bloodstream and bodily waste to pass out to the mother (which filters nutrients)

After two weeks, the zygote developed into an embryo.

• lasts about six weeks
• heart begins to beat and the organs begin to develop

By nine weeks we have a fetus.

• the fetus but he sixth month, the stomach and other organs have formed enough to survive outside of mother

Teratogens: chemical agents that can harm the prenatal environment

• alcohol
• STDs
• HIV
• herpes

Reflexes

-inborn automatic responses

1. Rooting (cheek): when a newborn infant is touched on the cheek, the infant will run its head toward the source of stimulation
2. Grasping: if an object is placed into a baby's palm, the baby will try to grasp the object with his/her fingers
3. Moro (startle): when startled, a baby will fling his or her limbs out and then quickly retract them
4. Babinski (foot): when a baby's foot is stroked, he/she will spread their toes