Ch. 3 Dipietro Article: Questions And Answers

It can be said that we live in a world where there is a constant desire for perfection in the different aspects of life. Some people desire to have the picture-perfect life: loving family, dream house, career, social life, and car to name a few. In an attempt to construct a perfect life that some desire, there recently have been developments in the medical world that allow parents to know if their fetus has any chronic diseases. This ultimately allows the parents to make the decision of whether they want to keep the fetus. With the continuous advancements in the medical world, it would not be shocking to think that parents would be able to select desirable traits for the children in the future.

A critique of “Ehrlich, David E, and Donald G Rainnie. 'Prenatal Stress Alters The Development Of Socioemotional Behavior And Amygdala Neuron Excitability In Rats '.

One of the studies was conducted by Harlow in 1959 who wanted to study the mechanisms by which new-born rhesus monkeys bond with their mothers. He tested the learning theory by comparing attachment behaviour in the monkeys given wire surrogate mother producing milk with those given a soft towelling mother producing no milk.

An explanation of the potential effects on development of babies and young children of the following experiences.

Harlow’s research elucidates and analyzes emotional and social development among infants when presented with stress and/or fear. “One function of the real mother, human or subhuman, and presumably of a mother surrogate, is to provide a haven of safety for the infants in times of fear or danger“ (Harlow & Zimmerman, 503). As the former experiment showed, both surrogate mothers were available at all times during this trial. Once presented with emotional stress, an extensive percentage of the test subjects hastily rushed to the cloth mother, regardless

By 24 weeks the vital organs of the fetus are well-formed and the brain has nearly its full complement of billions of neurons. Premature or full-term, at this age, the brain faces a lot of challenges. For that reason, a controlled environment helps them manage the world around them considering that what surrounds us affects the developing brain. The environment formulates on the developing brain but does not formulate on a blank slate. This also tells about the plasticity of the brain; how a developing structure is modifiable due to experience. I could tell that the special treatment baby Elizabeth received, made a difference to her brain. It influenced her reactions, sensations, and reflexes. The experiment the doctor did with her and a toy was an example of it when the toy really captured her attention. I think the doctors did a remarkable job with her and it was wonderful to see how connected they were. It is very interesting that the intensive care unit mimics the womb and that thanks to that the babies are able to confront the world and handle all these new stimulations a little bit better. They also emphasize the skin contact with the mother so they can feel close to her and relaxed at the same time which does her good because once the mother has the baby on her breast the brain and body connect and makes them feel

The authors say that this possible maternal preference could be due to the obvious difference in parent care techniques, in which the dam nurses the pup, and the father does not, encouraging a stronger social and physical bond between mother and pup, but at this time, the correlation between nursing and potentiation is unknown. The authors then say that the fact that Prairie Voles elicit the response of maternal, not paternal potentiation supports the hypothesis that potentiation displays psychological abnormalities in pups that result from the sudden interruption of the close emotional bond — co-regulation — that is specific to the infant-mother

McLean (2016) also sustained that when children experience “complex trauma” associated with hardships such as “ante-natal exposure to alcohol”, low socio-economic status and being disregarded, they may experience difficulties in development. Lastly, Woolfolk and Margetts (2016) supported the correlation that growth is a mixture of genes and the environmental factors such as, “sleep” and “emotional wellbeing”. These factors impact on how a student will attempt

Technological advances in the past decade have allowed scientists to study the brain in ways that have led to new understanding about how young children develop. There is a new understanding of both the capabilities and the vulnerabilities of infants and young children and that understanding is has influenced the work of caregivers and teachers. During pregnancy, the basic architecture of the brain is formed. Although, certain experiences do influence the developing brain during pregnancy, such as maternal health and stress, intake of drugs and/or alcohol, and quality of maternal nutrition.

Another important part of this study was looking at how these effects occurred during different stages of prenatal development, as the “consequences of prenatal maternal stress were determined by the

A prime example of environment shaping an individual’s traits is the case of Natasha Mikhailova who was raised as a feral child. Natasha was isolated in a room for several years with dogs and cats causing her to behave like an animal. Natasha Mikhailova was a young girl who acted like an animal due to the environment she was exposed to. She would jump on people and play games that a dog would, shocking the specialists

Boyd’s experiment was used to test learned helplessness and explain its response to loud noises exposure. In this study, 96 participants were selected (61 female, 35 male) to understand the effects of stressful noises and tones. Twenty-four participants were assigned to four different groups. Each student was seated with headphones that would administer the loud uncomfortable noises. At random, loud noises would be administered to the participants. They had the choice to stop the loud via a task that involved picking the correct light. Two lights were in front of the participants, if they picked the right light, the noise would stop. If the students picked the wrong light, the noise would continue for the remaining time. There would be a controlled

The author invites the reader on his own journey to understanding how the developing brain works. He learns that to facilitate recovery, the loss of

One of the oldest arguments in the history of psychology is the Nature vs Nurture debate. This said debate is important in whether the child’s development is based only in genetics or environmental impacts. The definition of nurture refers to all the environmental variables that impact who we are. Throughout the child’s development, it is seen that the genetic influence over abstract traits of the child may exist; but, the environmental factors are the real origins of our behavior. This shows that the use of conditioning in the aspects of physical, social, and moral is crucial to the child’s development as it is the product of maturation. In the physical aspect, it shows that the deprivation of the mother while inside her womb will develop

Epidemiologist, David Barker identified the concept of developmental programming using evidence derived from many historical studies. Barker observed in a British study that the “differences in rates of death from coronary heart disease in parts of England and Wales paralleled previous differences in death rates among new born