Week 1, Blog Post #2

This is my third psychology class at Millersville. In one of my other psyc courses, we discussed nature vs. nurture, as mentioned in chapter one. Developmentalists try to figure out which impacts the individual more. Nature is genetic tendency or  biological predisposition. Nurture is the way a person was raised, including experiences and environmental factors such as family, friends, school and culture (p.5). I appreciated the text's explanation that not one is more important than the other. It states, "Nature always affects nurture, and then nurture affects nature". Biology as a fourth discipline, is a factor in deviant behavior. Proof that both factors: genetic variant and environment can determine a person's outcome, lies within a developmental study conducted in Dunedin, New Zealand. This developmental study assessed newborn babies' families and environments from early childhood on. The study shows mistreated children who had low MAOA, an enzyme code that affects neurotransmitters, were twice as likely to partake in criminal behavior. However, children with low MAOA, who were not mistreated, had a higher likely hood of being peaceful, law abiding adults. This proves that environmental influences are just important as biological influences. 

post 2

As I mentioned in my last post that this class will provide me with a greater understanding of human development through psychology in my field of study (social work). To continue with this blog I would like to mention about the reading for this week and empirical data & the scientific method. The process of the scientific method is a way for information and research to be found; also presented to individuals in a way of understanding the process. The scientific method starts with observations and/or curiosity of an area of study that needs more in depth explanation, then by using critical thinking skill a hypothesis is developed. A hypothesis is to know what will be tested. After that is the research stage, which is the experimenting process which is when researchers test the data and try to find a result for the public to gain a stronger understanding with a certain situation. One study that used the scientific method to understand why young infants where dying at a young age; the SIDS study. Finally after experimenting with families and there children they figured out that when the infant sleep on there stomachs it stops them from breathing. Empirical data is information based on observation or experience which allows researchers to be able to support there findings so our society understands it was a process to figure out the answer's and not based on opinion.

Week 1 Blog Post 2

As I was doing my discussion this week I went ahead and looked at the next chapter to see what we were going to be learning about. Not to my surprise it was the main theories of psychology with the famous psychologist such as Freud, Skinner, etc. Having taking two other psych classes before this I know a lot about these guys. However I always seem to come across new information or learn new things about them each time they are repeated in a course.  I feel like this is also how psychology works. In a normal everyday math class 2 + 2 is always 4 however in psychology things are always changing. New information about the brain is discovered every day because it is so complex. Every year I take a new class things are added to these theories or I am learning new information about these theorists. It’s so amazing that in a year a whole new world can basically be opened up psychology wise and I’m learning so many different things in my next course about it that’s totally different from my previous ones. That’s why psychology is so interesting to me and even though I’m not a psychology major I still choose to take psych courses as my gen. eds. rather than other courses. I’m not getting taught that the same things every year and falling asleep at the thought of opening up a history book to learn about the revolutionary war for the billionth time. Psychology gets me excited and I can’t wait to get started and dive into new information this year.

Week 1 Post 2

While reading Chapter 1, I found the studies to be the most interesting out of all the information that I had learned.  In my earlier discussion on Desire2Learn I talked about the study done with American mothers and their toddlers as well as Chinese mothers and their toddlers.  I also found the study of the sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) to be both interesting and very informative.  I thought it helped me to better understand the scientific method because of the way the scientist (Susan Beal) researched and collected her data.  This was personally really interesting because my sister just had a baby a few months ago.  The question of whether or not my sister should lay her daughter on her stomach was brought up by family members.  When my mom became a mother for the first time it was very common for mothers to lay their babies on the stomachs.  However, because of Beal’s curiosity and research she quickly discovered that, that was the primary reason for infant deaths.  Her research had found enough data to prove her point and because of that there has been a decrease in infant death.  Another reason why I found this study to be so interesting was because I just heard on the radio about a more recent research study discussing the problem with laying infants on their backs.  The problem this research study found was that because babies are being laid on their backs rather than their stomachs, they are starting to develop a soft spot on the back of their heads.  This soft spot may cause the baby to be prone to brain or head injuries as they grow up.  After hearing this I immediately called my sister to get her thoughts on this topic.  My sister however, was already aware of this topic for infants because of all the pregnancy books she had read during her pregnancy.  My sister said that when she lays my niece to take a nap she puts her on her belly because that way my sister can check up on her and then when she lays my niece down for bedtime, that is when she puts on her back.  My sister said she does this because that’s what one of her pregnancy books said to do and seems to be working.

Blog Post Number Two

While reading the chapter I noticed all the different ways and tools scientists use to understand the development of humans. And each tool has it’s own advantages, disadvantages, strengths and weaknesses. The main tools that I noticed were scientific observation, experiments, surveys, cross-sectional research, longitudinal research, and cross-sequential research. Scientific observation is a method of testing a hypothesis by unobtrusively watching and recording a participants’ behavior in a natural setting, in a laboratory, or in searches of archival data. The disadvantage of this tool is the fact that it cannot prove why people choice to do the things that they do. An experiment is a research method in which the researcher tries to determine the cause-and-effect relationship between two variables by manipulating one and then observing and recording the ensuing changes in the other. The purpose of an experiment is to determine if the independent variable affects the dependent variable.  A survey is a research method in which information is collected from a large number of people by interviews, written questionnaires, or some other means. The disadvantage of this tool is that accuracy is unattainable. People can lie, change their minds, or have difference influences that decide their answers to the survey. Cross-sectional research is a design that compares groups of people that differ in age but are similar in other important characteristics. This tool is the least expensive and quickest way to obtain results. The weakness of this tool is the fact that people may differ in other ways besides age; just because they have age in common doesn’t necessarily mean they have other things in common. Longitudinal research is a design in which the same individuals are followed over time and their development is repeatedly assessed. The disadvantage of this tool is the fact that so much effort and time are required to do the research, so it’s hard to find participants willing to do the study. Cross-sequential research is a hybrid design in which researchers first study several groups of people of different ages and then follow those groups over the years. Using this tool helps scientists untangle the differences related to age from those related to the same historical period. Reading into all the tools scientist use and how they use them as well as what can affect them really helped me grasp the understanding of how development is analyzed. There are many aspects and tools to take into understanding when learning about such a broad topic. But it interests me that so many different tools can be used to do so.

Blog Post Number One

This is the second psychology course I am taking at Millersville, in fact it’s the second psychology course I’ve taken in my entire life so most of the information I read in this chapter was all new to me. After reading the chapter I started to really think about what I’ve just learned and I’ve never realized it until the start of this class that every event in your life can effect your development either mentally or physically. From using a plastic baby bottle that contains phthalates to dealing with a parent’s divorce at a young age all effects who you are today. The science of human development seeks to understand how and why people of all ages change over time. Scientist using the scientific method and empirical sciences studies development. Which means that data and real life observations are used to understand the development of humans.  There are many factors to take into consideration when studying the development of humans like context, direction, culture, and discipline. Each can affect development in their own way.  One example that I found interesting was the study done by Brody in 2009 where he had mothers from both the United States and China read picture books with no words to their children. The Chinese mother’s tended to point out that a dandelion could be picked or smelled, while U.S. mother’s explained the dandelion using verbs and nouns, pointing out the leaves, stem and petals. Each parent raises their child in their own way, but the country they come from tends to effect how the parents choose to raise their kids, because parents tend to teach and raise children based off how they were raised and taught.

Blog Post 2

In my first blog post, I discussed the way human development is multidisciplinary. I also found the section about the idea that development is multicontextual to be very interesting. I had never learned about this concept before reading this chapter and I also found the ecological-systems approach to be very intriguing. When Bronfenbrenner developed this approach, he believed that it was important to examine the systems that systems that surround each person. I like the way the approach is broken down into three levels because it puts into perspective the amount in which these aspects of life can have an effect on a person. In addition, I was able to reflect on these levels in my own life and the effect that they have on me and my development. Bronfenbrenner later added to new systems: one that connects the other systems and the other that affects the other systems. The book includes two examples of the way different systems affect your development. In the first example, the author discusses the idea that we travel through life with a cohort of people who are going through similar circumstances. I believe that this example falls under the category of macrosystems because it refers to larger contexts such as cultural values, economic policies, and political processes. The second example is about one's socioeconomic status. I believe that this is a part of the exosystems because it is a reflection of income and education. 

Week 1 Post 1

I've taken a number of online courses but this is the first course ever that I've had to do a blog.  I'm excited to see how this blogging will benefit our learning in this psychology class.  Hopefully, bouncing ideas off of each other and just listening to what other people have to say will help us build a good learning environment with our online class.

It was hard for me to answer the discussion question whether or not developmental psychology is a subjective or objective investigation.  As a biology major, I am biased to believe that in order for a conclusion of a study to be valid, it must be based off of empirical data collected from a scientific study.  When thinking about subjective investigation, in the biology world, there is no such thing.  Biologists cannot simply look at something and make generalizations.  When reading chapter one in the textbook, we learned about different types of studies, such as observation, longitudinal research, and cross sequential research.  With those types of research studies, the investigation is subjective.  The psychologists study people by watching and recording their findings.  After studying a large number of people, the psychologist can make a generalization about a certain behavior.  In most types of biology, we cannot make generalizations and most conclusions must come about from empirical data.  When thinking about developmental psychology, I suppose a lot of it can involve subjective investigation but the biologist in me believes valid conclusions should come from empirical data.

Blog Post 1

Although this is my third psychology class at Millersville, I did not learn that human development is multidisciplinary until I read the first chapter of the textbook.  This concept really grabbed my attention and I am very surprised that this was never referenced in my other classes. Before reading this section of the chapter, I did not realize how many other disciplines are required to fully comprehend human development and that various disciplines collaborate together in order to further understand the subject. I found it interesting that each discipline is responsible for one of the three domains of development: biological, cognitive, and social; then these domains are broken down into subdivisions of age groups. I was compelled by the way scientists in a specific discipline may make a discovery that draws the attention of those of other disciplines, who then further experiment with this subject to learn more. I was not aware that scientists of various disciplines worked so closely together to explore and discover these concepts. The textbook includes an example of this in which scientists make a discovery about monkeys which then intrigues psychologists who apply the discovery to humans. The discovery is about mirror neurons which can be applied to babies, autism, schizophrenia, etc. The fact that human development is multidisciplinary demonstrates the idea that when people of different walk of life come together for a common purpose, great discoveries and achievements can be made.  

Week 1, Blog Post #1

I pulled an article from the discussion post #2, that intrigued me. I appreciated the article found by a student called Hand Gestures Could Make Kids Smarter, from Time magazine. This article intrigued me because they mention, “Our study shows that young children’s gesturing can help them think,” according to Patricia Miller, professor of psychology at San Francisco State University. I've read a few studies that have proven moving around while obtaining new information helps the mind retain the information better. In a book, called The Male Brain by Louann Brizendine, M.D. (2010), there is discussion of a process known as embodied cognition. This is when specifically a child (males more so) use muscles and the nervous system together, to learn new information. The author sates that specifically males learn by hearing a new word and then activating their sensory and movement areas of the brain, in order to "embody, learn and remember the meaning of the word". She goes onto say that when little boys squirm in their seats, this activates the part of the brain that learns math fluidly. Scientists suggest embodied cognition is a more efficient way of learning because the muscles and body parts he uses to learn the action of a verb, for instance, will stay connected to that word. It may annoy teachers, but boys who squirm, learn efficiently. I relate this back the the article's point that moving around, as in hand gesturing, stimulates the brain's ability to generate ideas. 

Week 1 Post 1

This would be my second psyc class taking. I took intro to psyc and I really enjoyed it. My teacher recommended that I take this course because she thought it would peak my interest. So while reading this first chapter it did just that. In every science course that I have taken through out my years it seems like the scientific method was always mentioned somehow, so it did not surprise me that this was one of the first things talked about. I feel like this is a basic to so many more in depth things through out the development process. It was nice to see that a lot of the main points were topics that I am already familiar with, it made the reading a lot easier for me.

The "Genetic Vulnerability" section really interested me. An interesting fact that I learned from this section was that someone is most likely to kill someone else between the ages of 15 and 25. There was a study done in New Zealand that took almost every child. This study factor how the children were treated by their parents and their variants of the MAOA gene. The study found that boys that were mistreated by their parents and had a low-MAOA were twice as likely to be more violent. This study shocked me because I never thought that someone being so violent came from having high or low levels of a gene. I always thought that it was solely the environment that they were raised in.

Week 1 Post 1

This is only my second ever Psychology class and I am so fascinated how the information from this class relates to other subjects I have already studied.  Early this year I took a Biology class and of course we talked about the scientific method, but for some reason I feel like I better understand it now then I have read about it and have seen how it applies to other topics.  In addition to that, I have also learned how empirical data relates to various subjects as well.  Not only did I learn about empirical data in this class during my first week this semester, but I literally also learned about it in both my Sociology class as well as my Statistics class.  I learned that empirical data is the information you get from research that can be measured.  Empirical data can either be qualitative or quantitative.  Qualitative is descriptive data and quantitative numerical data.  I feel like both qualitative and quantitative data are needed when trying to best describe the information you have collected.  I do however feel that since quantitative data deals with numbers it helps the researcher get their point across better since it is more catching to the reader’s eye.  After reading this chapter and learning about this information in two of my other classes, I really do see how both the scientific method as well as empirical data relates to other similar topics and how they build off of each other.  

Post Number 1

This is my second psychology class and I am a social work major which will allow me to relate human psychology to my field of study. In my first psych class we discussed about the mind and how it functions and now this class we will discuss about the human life span and development. While reading this first chapter from our text it created many thoughts to come to my mind about our society and how each of us as individuals are affected daily by life. This opening chapter allowed me to gain an understanding of how individuals I may be working with in the social work field develops and why they have certain views, values, morals...etc. 

One thing that I found really fascinating about chapter one is the multidirectional development. I never really thought about the process of how individuals change over time until putting into perspective of what our text points out about changes that happen over one’s life time. One example is a child growing and developing from the age of two to ten. Researchers have pointed out that we go through ups and downs and steady marks which not create development but changes to our body and minds. Not only is development multidirectional in changes but they are also multicontextual. Multicontextual means that not only is our body developing through changes of stages of age/ life but the area or climate around us affects how we develop.

What do you think that researchers are discovering in recent studies about our current culture and how it affects the younger generation’s development? 

Post 1 Week 1

     Throughout reading this chapter I often found myself really enjoying the stories, experiments, and quotes that were throughout. I quite a few times I found myself completely agreeing with what our author (Berger) was saying. Everything he outlined was very clear, concise, agreeable, understandable, and interesting. Berger made excellent points about why developmental science is a science but also why there are some theoretical aspects that cannot be avoided. For example the text said, "Science is needed because our lives depend on answers. ... Subjective opinions arise from emotions and upbringing, not necessarily from evidence. Scientists seek to progress from opinion to truth, from subjective to objective, from wishes to outcomes (page 4). ... [However] science cannot devise the purpose of life; we need [other things] for that. As you will learn throughout this chapter, statistics, research methods, and ethics have both scientific validity and notable limitations. Don't idealize science, and don't trash it- use it well. (page 7)". In my opinion, this is the best explanation to why we use science as much as we can while also stressing why other methods outside scientific methods are used at the limits of science.

     As I continued my reading through Chapter 1 I was very intrigued by some of the experiments that were mentioned. Specifically the work Susan Beal did on SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome) and the benefits of "back sleeping"(page 5).  I also found the experiment Brody did in 2009 involving mothers and infants from China and the U.S and picture books extremely intriguing. It would be so interesting to examine the results from that experiment. I wonder the effect of what the mothers pointed out to the infants had on their perception and thinking as they grew up (page 14). The final experiment mentioned that I found interesting was the experiment with Cheryl. Cheryl had brain damage to the part of the brain that controls balance due to an overdose. She had hardly enough balance to stand but scientists, therapists, and more specialists helped her to relearn to balance using another part of her brain (page 17). I plan to do more research on all of these interesting experiments and include them in my next blog this week. 

     How the book differentiated race, ethnic groups, and cultures was also interesting to me. I did not think of all those aspects as separate things before reading this chapter. I somewhat assumed that they were the same thing and each race had the same culture and were considered the same ethnic group. It shocked me that some of the terms referred to biological factors and others referred to some region, language, and religion (page 14-15).

     Overall, I really did enjoy reading this chapter. I can honestly say I learned a lot of information, enjoyed the authors writing styles and opinions, and can apply what I have learned.

Citation: Kathleen, Berger. The Developing Person Through the Life Span. Eighth. New York, NY: Worth Publishers, 2011. 4-17. Print.

Week 1 Post 1

I have taken countless required science cases (most against my will) and two psych classes so far and in each one the scientific method has been taught at the very beginning to start the class off. So clearly it must be important and has proven that it is. Through numerous experiments and following the steps of the scientific method many diseases have been cured. However psychology just can’t be measured by empirical data alone because every culture and person is unique just as the book outlines development is multidirectional, multicontextual, multicultural, and multidisciplinary. It’s creepy and amazing to think how no one is exactly like someone else. Even if I was born a year or even a month later then I was I would be a totally different person than I am today. If my parents raised me exactly the same way and I did all the same things I do now but was born in a different state I would also be a totally different person.  I find it fascinating how I can hardly remember what I had for dinner last night, let alone a minuet event that went on when I was two, yet this event could have totally changed the person I am today. I can’t wait to learn about how different experiences have shaped me to become the person I am and learn why people think the way they do and are the way they are.

Week 1: Part 2

For my second blog I decided to further talk about the article that I read for part 2 of the discussion. I read an article on foxnews.com that discussed Miley Cyrus' antics at the VMAs on Sunday night. I must say when I watched her performance, I thought about the younger girls in the audience and what Miley's parents would say about it. Then, I realized that it is partially the parents' fault for exposing their children to such crap. Growing up I was not allowed to watch MTV until I was about 16, if my dad caught me watching it he would yell "turn that garbage off and go find something better to do with your time!" Even today, at age 23, when I go over to my parents house, I never turn on MTV as I feel so uncomfortable doing so. I feel like parents today are not able to have the control over what their children are exposed to as mine did because of the many devices that can access the internet or television.

Back to the article, the author puts a link to the APA's article on the sexualization of girls. This article for me would seem more legitimate if the consequences of the sexualization of girls were not theories. The APA only suggests what could happen to girls, but generalizes it to all age groups of young girls. The APA lists 5 consequences: cognitive and emotional, mental and physical health, sexuality, attitudes and beliefs, and impact on others in society.

I definitely believe that the media as a huge effect on the younger generation or even my generation, but to say it has permanent developmental effects is not empirical.  Look at Jersey Shore, for example, a lot people my age seem to think the norm is to get so drunk that you do not remember the night and that "gym, tan, laundry" is a way of life, but they can grow out of that phase. The APA even states that the consequences are only theories and suggestions as to the damage the media can cause on young people.

Week 1: Post 1

Week 1.

Post 1:
This is my third psychology course, but I think this will be the most interesting for me. I am achieving a biology degree, so this course involves my field of study. As mentioned in the text, human development is multidisciplinary; it involves biological, cognitive, and social consideration. In my biology education, I have taken genetics and this field is gaining in popularity because people want to know how their genes will affect their development. Parents care about their children, so more and more are sending DNA samples to laboratories for genetic testing to catalog abnormalities.

Human development is very pliable. As mentioned in the text, nearly anything can have an effect on the developing human. The text mentioned that development is multidirectional, multicontextual, multicultural, multidisciplinary, and plastic. These make me think about my own life and how many life events have molded who I am right now. When I was about 7 years old, I had 3 hornets stuck in my hair for a period of 10 minutes. That 1/6 of an hour changed my life in the aspect that I react terribly to buzzing sounds; it is an uncontrollable reaction. I also think about how I am in my relationship with my fiance; do I act a certain way because of how my parents were or did I learn from media? Humans are exposed to things that could change them developmentally everyday. This makes me want to become more conscious about how my actions affect other people because I could have an effect on their development somehow and I do not want to have a negative effect on someone else especially if it could stay with them for life.