Foundations of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behavior (PSYCH1XX3)
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PSYCH 1XX3 Chapter 1: Development (Full Notes)
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Foundations of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behavior (PSYCH1XX3)
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McMaster University (mcmasteru)
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Foundations of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behavior (PSYCH1XX3)
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Chapter 1: Development
Development: Not necessarily a discrete set of phenomena, but rather ● Analytic Questions: Ask about the underlying mechanisms
a unique way to understand all phenomena in psychology that drive such changes in behaviours/processes as a
● Developmental Psychology: Concerns entire lifespan (not function of age
just during childhood during which speed, magnitude and Two types of research design are used when age is a key variable:
scope of changes to nervous system are greatest) ● Longitudinal Design: Follow the same group of individuals
○ Maturation: The biologically-timed unfolding of over a subset of their lifetime and repeatedly describe/test
changes within the individual; how that plan them, used less frequently in the real-world
unfolds is influenced by specific environmental ○ Within-subjects design
conditions that shape the genetically-determined ○ Some famous long-term studies have extended
processes more than 20 years across generations of
○ Learning: A lifetime of experiences leads to the researchers
development of enduring changes in your ○ Pro: Helps to eliminate between-subject
thoughts, feelings and behaviours + allows you to influences
permanently store new information through neural ○ Cons: Time-consuming, costly, large risk of
connections in your brain that guide strategies to selective attrition (subjects lost over time due to
respond to events and stimuli in the environment death, moving away or simply refusing to
(ie. learned processes such as avoid touching a hot continue participating, risk of attrition increases
stove, can be controlled or automatic) with length of study, results will be biased/of only
○ Interactionist Perspective: Emphasizes that most most enthusiastic participants/not representative of
of your developmental changes reflect the original population), practice effects
interaction of maturation and learning ● Cross-Sectional Design: Gather groups of individuals at the
■ Maturation affects learning because ages of interest and examine them simultaneously
essential systems must be in place ○ Involves a ‘cross-section’ of different age groups
before learning can proceed (ie. you from the same population
won’t learn to walk until you’ve ○ Pro: More convenient and cost-effective, less risk
developed muscles in your torso and of attrition (can examine differences between age
limbs and the ability to balance) groups in a single short-term study)
■ Learning affects maturation because ○ Con: Can be influenced by cohort effects
without some minimal level of input to (differences due to generational differences/same
learn from the outside world, maturation birth time and society, rather than developmental
will be absent or delayed (ie. if a child differences)
was given proper nutrition but isolated ■ Misleading to examine differences
in a dark room, they would experience between grandparents and children and
problems in developing normal vision, then attribute these changes to age alone
speech, motor and social skills) Diathesis Stress Model of Schizophrenia: Suggests that an individual
● Developmental Experiments: Even if shown through may be predisposed to schizophrenia because of genetic factors, but
experimentation that some variable affects development, that environmental factors (ie. those inducing stress) often must be
this does not mean it actually affects normal development in present to trigger the onset of schizophrenic symptoms
the real world because developmental change within a single ● Gets even more complicated when age is an additional
system may be the product of the simultaneous action of factor
many variables (there are practical limits to the number of Conception: Women are born with all the eggs they will ever have but
variables that can be controlled) men continually produce sperm cells starting at puberty, the few
Quasi Experiment: Often used in developmental research when true sperm cells (out of 200 million) that reach the mature egg/ovum
experimental design is not possible (we often can’t manipulate key (about 85,000 times their size) release a digestive enzyme that
variables like age or sex) dissolves the egg’s protective coating + allows the sperm to penetrate
● Subjects are not randomly assigned to different levels of an through, the egg’s surface then blocks out all other sperm cells from
independent variable, but instead grouped on their existing entering + projections from the egg pull the successful sperm in, the
attributes (ie. age, gender), study cannot effectively control nuclei of the sperm and egg fuse after approximately 12 hours,
for extraneous variation/confounding variables creating a unique genetic blueprint/zygote
● Ie. Sorting children into groups based on age uses this Genetic Transmission:
method, so researchers cannot make the same ‘cause and ● Typical human genetic blueprint = 23 pairs of
effect’ conclusions from the data that they can using true chromosomes; one set of 23 from each parent (46 in total,
experiments with random assignment 22 autosomes, 1 sex chromosome)
● In this method and in correlational techniques, researchers ● Each parent can produce more than 8 million different
take the world as they find it rather than attempting to genetic combinations from their sperm /ova (you are one of
manipulate variables of interest (correlations may align to the 64 trillion genetically distinct offspring your parents
form theories) could have produced)
Questions asked in Developmental Psychology: Age/the passage of ○ Monozygotic/Identical Twins: Come from same
time is central to both types of questions sperm + ovum, which formed one zygote, and
● Normative/Descriptive Questions: Ask how behaviours or then split into two separate zygotes
processes change as a function of age ○ Dizygotic/Fraternal Twins: No more genetically
○ Ie: What specific behaviours can the individual similar than any two siblings, because they come
perform at a given age?
, Chapter 1: Development
from two different sperm and ova, and start off as ● Master Gene Model of Sex Determination: Suggests the
two different zygotes from the moment of SRY gene, located on the 23rd chromosome, is chiefly
conception responsible for determining sex
■ If monozygotic twins get married with ○ Sex determination (XX or XY) in humans is
monozygotic twins their children will be thought to depend entirely on the genetic
full genetic siblings contribution of the male
● Chromosomes: Made up of a long coil of DNA containing ● Canalization Principle: A measure of the ability of a
the biochemical units of heredity population to produce the same phenotype regardless of
○ Ongoing analysis from the Human Genome variability of its environment or genotype, your genetics
Project estimate our chromosomes contain will only allow you to develop a certain range of phenotypes
between 30 000 to 40 000 genes ○ Ie. Infant Babbling: Despite cultural/language
● Genes: Segments of DNA that encode the information differences, all infants babble in the same way
needed to synthesize the ubiquitous building blocks of our ● Range-of-Reaction Principle: States that life experiences
bodies (proteins) and our interactions with the environment can produce a
● Genome: A complete set of DNA for an organism range of possible phenotypes within the boundaries set by
○ Human genome = contained within every cell of the canalization principle
your body ○ Canalization restricts the range of possible
■ You leave behind genetic information
phenotypes based on genetics (a species' gene
when your hair/skin sheds
pool dictates the lower + upper limits of traits they
● Genotype: The portion of DNA corresponding to a given
can develop) and the Range-of-Reaction principle
observable trait (phenotype), genetic blueprint
determines where you fall within that range
Genetic Expression:
(environment makes certain genes more/less likely
● Genes do not directly determine phenotypes, rather, each
to be expressed)
gene controls the production of specific proteins, which in
○ Ie. Canalization/genetics determine the range of
turn regulate the biochemical sequences of events that take
height while range-of-reaction/environmental
place within a developing organism (link between an
factors determines where one grows within that
organism’s genotype and phenotype is indirect)
range
● Many other factors interact with an organism’s genotype to
● Passive Genotype/Environment Correlations: The
determine their phenotype, especially those related to its
environment that your parents chose to raise you in was
environment (ie. temperature, nutrition, etc), the observable
influenced by their own genes, so this environment will
traits of an organism are not strictly determined by genes
likely complement your genes
● Genes usually come in pairs, with one member of each pair
● Evocative Genotype/Environment Correlations: Traits you
(allele) appearing on a chromosome transmitted by each
inherited affect how others react to and behave towards you.
parent
(genes affect your social environment, ie. natural
● The two alleles can encode the same trait (homozygous)
temperament influences how others behave towards you)
● Recessive traits require both genes of a pair to be recessive
● Active Genotype/Environment Correlations: Your genotype
for the trait to be expressed (ie. brown hair = dominant, red
influences the kinds of environments that you personally
hair = recessive)
will seek
● Polygenic Inheritance: Most of an organism’s traits are
○ The influence of each of these gene-environment
controlled by the interaction of many genes
interactions changes across the life span: Early in
○ A large set of genes can control many different
life, passive genotype influences you the most
facets of a polygenic trait/shape the development
when you cannot choose your own environment,
of the trait at different stages
active genotype begins to play a larger role in
● Codominance: Two dominant alleles both fully and equally
your development in childhood and adulthood as
expressed to produce a phenotype that is a compromise
you have more opportunities to make decisions,
between the two genes (ie. ABO blood type proteins in
the way that your inherited traits affects how
humans, in which both dominant alleles (A and B) are
others respond to you via evocative genotype can
expressed equally, leading to a blood type of AB (O is
be influential throughout your lifespan
recessive))
● Twin Studies: Monozygotic twins raised apart still have a
● Sex-Linked Inheritance: Involves genes carried on the X/Y
higher correlation for intelligence (0.72) than dizygotic
sex chromosomes
twins raised together (0.6) suggesting that genetic factors
○ X chromosome = larger + contains more genetic play a larger role than environmental factors for this trait
information than the Y chromosome + more ● Cascade Gene Model: More recent model which suggests
X-linked traits/disorders that the SRY gene is just one of many genes that interact to
■ Females rarely express X-linked produce the sex of an individual, and that both male and
recessive gene disorders in their female genetic contributions are important for determining
phenotype since they require 2 mutated the biological sex of offspring
X chromosomes in order to be affected, ● Many additional influences contribute to a human’s sex
although they can be genetic carriers phenotype
○ Y-linked disorders are more rare, but do exist and ○ Ie. Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome: Individuals
are passed down from male to male, ie. are biologically male, but are resistant to the male
nonobstructive spermatogenic failure hormones (androgens) that drive development of
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