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The Developing Person

Chapter 4: The Developing Person
Major Issues
• Nature/Nurture: Are we "born that way" (genetics) or "raised that way" (experience)?
• Continuity/Stages: Do we gradually become grown up (like escalator), or go through distinct steps (like elevator)?
• Stability/Change: Do personality traits persist through life, or change?

Prenatal Development and the Newborn

Conception

sperm
egg

Prenatal Development

zygote (fertilized egg)
embryo (2 weeks to 8 weeks gestation)
fetus (8 weeks gestation onward)
[pic]

[pic]teratogens: substances harmful to prenatal development
viruses
drugs
tobacco
alcohol
At least one of every five pregnant women uses alcohol and/or other drugs. (Substance Abuse and the American Woman, Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, Columbia University, June 5, 1996)
Characteristics of fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS):
1. Growth retardation
children are born small and generally stay small.
2. Facial defects
Small head - known as microcephaly
Small eyes, these may look wide set.
Mid-face defects --flattening of the cheekbones, lack of definition between the nose and lip,pugnose, small chin, extra skin in the middle part of eye.
3. Some central nervous system defects
Attention problems
Seizures
Learning disabilities
Hearing problems

Each year more than 5,000 are born with FAS and nearly 50,000 babies are born with Fetal Alcohol Effects (FAE), a condition characterized by symptoms similar to but less severe than FAS. (Public Health Education Information Sheet, March of Dimes, 1992)
FAS is the leading known cause of mental retardation, surpassing both Spina Bifida and Down's Syndrome. (Journal of the American Medical Association, 1991).
Some experts believe that between 1/3 and 2/3 of all special education children have been irreversibly affected by alcohol in some way.
The latest estimate for the U.S. is a rate of 19.5 per 10,000 live births, although estimates run as high as 30 per 10,000 - about...