PSYC 3684 1st Edition Lecture 2 Outline of Last Lecture I. The three main themes in Developmental PsychologyOutline of Current Lecture II. Gene-Environment InterdependenceIII. The three main themes continuedIV. The Life-Span PerspectiveCurrent LectureEnvironments can influence gene expression- We call these epigenetic effectsEpigenetic EffectsEpigenome: chemical compounds that sit on our genes and regulate gene expressionExample) Meany and Colleages 2005 baby rats experiment- Some rat moms are highly nurturant of their babies and some mothers are neglectful- The rat pups that are nurtured more become better at dealing with stress later in life, they are more stress tolerant- The rat pups who were neglected had a harder time dealing with stress- Genes that regulate stress responses remained “turned on” in the nurtured rats and “turned off” for neglected ratsRisk and ResilienceMasten 2001- children born into bad situations can actually turn out just fine!Resilience: good outcomes in spit (or because) of serious threats to adaptation of development- Resilience is ‘ordinary’- Protective factors:o Biological GenesThese notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.o Psychological Positive self-viewo Social Connection to competent and caring adultsResilience Continued- Seery, Holman and Cohen Silver (2010)o Looked at relationship between negative life events and general well-being among a sample of 2,000 adultso Inverse U shaped graph for this studyo So, negative events contribute to strength and happiness to some degree, but, we have a breaking point in which too many negative events can really bring us downo Conclusion of graph is that we need to experience a moderate number of negative events to learn coping skills but not too manyPost-Traumatic Growth (PTG)- Some people actually become better at functioning than they ever were after somethingvery traumatic happens to themSeligmen and Colleagues (2011):- 17,000 adults completed online measures of traumatic events and psychological strengths- Those who experienced more trauma had more strengths- Traumatic events were defined as some of the worst possible things that can ever happen to a person (rape, torture, death of child)- “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”Universality and Context SpecificityUniversality:- Human development happens fairly similarly for all people in all places and timesContext:- Human development differs according to contexto Context: settings and circumstances that contribute to variations in human development Example: cultureThe Lifespan Perspective- Paul Baltes founded this- There are four main assumptions under this perspective- 1) Development occurs throughout the lifespan and not just in
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