Developmental Psych. PSYC3684Exam # 1 Study Guide Lectures: 1 - 12Main Themes in Developmental Psychology:3 Themes:1) Nature vs. Nurture2) Risk vs. Resilience3) Universality/ Context specificityNature/Nurture: considered to be the back-bone theme of Psychology- Used to be a huge debate in psychology- Now, we know that they go hand in hand with each other and that they are both very importantNature: inherited, endigenous characteristics have primary influences (genetics)Nurture: environment (social) and exogenous (external) factores have primary influencesBehavioral Genetics: - Attempts to quantify nature/nurtureo Example) how much is shyness do to nurture vs. nature?- Usually, probably around 50/50 (genes/environment)Behavioral Genetics Research Methods:- Adoption studieso Ex: compare one’s degree of shyness to their adoptive parents and to their biological parents to determine how much that trait is due to nature and how much it is due to nurture- Twin studieso Ex: compares twins Monozygotic (Identical twins): share 100% of their genes Dizygotic (Fraternal twins): share about 50%o How similar are monozygotic twins vs. dizygotic? Monozygotic twins are usually more similar because of genetic similarityCooking Example:- Mix flour, water, and salt (generic, natural ingredients)o If you fry it, it’ll be a tortilla.o If you bake it, it becomes mazza.o If you add yeast to it and bake it, it becomes bread.- Proves that genes and environment work together1) Developmental Constraints:a. Salt, flour, and water will never lead to other dinners or outcomes, just like we won’t grow wings even if we really want to2) Importance of Environment:a. Changes in environment will lead to different outcomes, even with the same genes (if you bake it, it will be different than if you fry it)3) The Complexity (futility) of trying to tease apart the two, genes & environmenta. Really hard to say how much is due to the genes (or ingredients) and how much is due to the nurture (how you prepare it)b. They are interconnected no matter whatGene-Environment Interdependence:- Idea that genes and environment are inextricably linkedo 1) Genes can influence how we react to environment gene- environment interactionso Gene-environment interactions: Ex: Caspi et all 2003: depression involves a gene-environment interaction involving 5HTT and stress- 5HTT is a gene that may influence depression- It is a serotonin transmitter If someone had a short allele AND were stressed they were more prone to depression than those who didn’tLong alleles and high stress = much less likely to get depressedShort allele and high stress = at a disadvantage2) Genes can influence the environments we experience- Gene-environment correlations, 3 kinds of them1) Passive Gene-environment correlation:- Children inherit and receive both their parents genes and the environments that go with them. Some behavioral traits have genetic influence2) Evocative gene-environment correlations:- Some genes can make children more likely to behave a certain way, which can evoke a change in reaction from someone else- For example, if a kid inherits a gene that makes him more aggressive, he might be mean to someone and cause a reaction from them.3) Active gene-environment correlation:- Children’s genotypes influence the kinds of environments they seek out, for example, if child isshy they will seek out quiet places and if one is outgoing, they will go to more social placesEgenetic EffectsEpi-genome: 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 Geneso 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- The Lifespan Perspective1) Development occurs throughout your entire life not just when you are a child2) Development is multidirectionala. Development involves the opposing and simultaneous aspects, both gains, and losses3) Development is characterized by lifelong plasticitya. Plasticity: the capacity to chance in response to positive or negative experiences4) Development is multi-contextual: impacted by various environmentsMaguire et. Al. 2000Hypothesis: structural changes in response to environmental demands even in adulthood (agreed with Baltes)- Hippocampus involved in spatial memory- Are London taxi drivers’ hippocampi larger than non-taxi drivers’?Method:- MRI’s for:o 16 male taxi