Annual Editions: Human Development 07/08

UNIT 1. Genetic and Prenatal Influences on DevelopmentPart A. Genetic Influences1. The Identity Dance, Gunjan Sinha, Psychology Today, March/April 2004Identical twins are clones with the same genetic profiles. Life experience, therefore, must matter if identical twins develop unlike emotions, health problems, and personalities. This article reports scientific evidence that genes have the equivalent of molecular "switches" that can be turned on or off by prenatal and postnatal environmental factors. Several unlike identical twins are described.2. The Power to Divide, Rick Weiss, National Geographic, July 2005The United States under Bush limits federal funding of research on stem cells. Some states (e.g., California) and several countries (e.g., Singapore, Korea, U.K.) are making progress in therapeutic cloning of cells needed by diabetes, heart attack patients, and others. Some people with regenerated cells are already thriving. Will ethicists allow this research to continue? Should they?3. The Age of Genetic Technology Arrives, Leon R. Kass, The American Spectator, November/December 2002The 30,000 human genes have been mapped and biotech businesses are booming. Will genetic engineering result in every baby being born without any mental or physical disabilities? Will we eliminate tumors and infections, enhance immunity, and make disease extinct? How much more memory, or years of life, will we add? Will we be fulfilled or dehumanized? Leon Kass addresses these ethical issues.4. Brave New Babies, Claudia Kalb, Newsweek, January 26, 2004Reproductive technology has made it possible for parents to have their eggs and sperm united in a lab dish. After selecting the genetic characteristics they want, the appropriate embryo (or embryos) is implanted in the mother for gestation. This practice has raised some troubling questions. Claudia Kalb addresses these questions of morality and ethics.Part B. Prenatal Influences5. Inside the Womb, J. Madeleine Nash, Time, November 11, 2002Embryonic cells, also known as stem cells, generate most of the human organ systems in the earliest weeks of prenatal development. Not only aberrant genes, but also health, stress, nutrition, and toxins (e.g., drugs) can alter the precision of stem cell transformations. Concerns for embryonic development are not yet, but should become, a political priority, argues Nash.6. The Mystery of Fetal Life: Secrets of the Womb, John Pekkanen, Current, September 2001Environment affects prenatal development. This article reviews known dangers (e.g., alcohol and drug use, viral infections) and recently discovered endocrine disrupters (e.g., chemicals in our air, food, and water). The author gives advice on exercise, nutrition, and health maintenance to optimize the physical and cognitive status of the offspring.7. The Smallest Patients, Claudia Kalb, Newsweek, October 3, 2005The health of a fetus can now be safeguarded with surgery during pregnancy. Early detection and intervention have payoffs both for baby and for parents. A mother, who is relieved of the stress, anxiety, and depression associated with a physically challenged baby, tolerates the surgery well and can go on to deliver the baby normally at term.UNIT 2. Development During Infancy and Early ChildhoodPart A. Infancy8. Four Things You Need to Know About Raising Baby, Joanna Lipari, Psychology Today, July/August 2000In this article, Joanna Lipari explains the synthesis of important aspects of areas of infant development-genetic inheritance, physical development, cognitive skills, and emotional attachment-into a new view that equates parenting behaviors to software that promotes the growth of the baby's brain (hardware). Lipari discusses attachment theory and compares "old thinking" about raising a baby with research-guided "new thinking."9. Who's Raising Baby?, Anne R. Pierce, The World & I, February 2002What happens to self-esteem and emotional/personality development when babies are rushed to do everything sooner and better than others? The author contends that parenting and infancy should be more about love of learning. Through play, babies discover their individuality and genetically driven interests. Pressuring them to conform to gender-appropriate activities (e.g., sports, ballet) or academic pursuits is miseducation.10. Reading Your Baby's Mind, Pat Wingert and Martha Brant, Newsweek, August 15, 2005This article reports earlier ages for most infancy milestones than previously reported, as evidenced by sophisticated brain imaging. The most intelligent babies are the happy ones. They learn more from loving caregivers than from TV. Cognition, language, social, and emotional skills are all enhanced by love and one-on-one attention.11. 20 Ways to Boost Your Baby's Brain Power, Alice Sterling Honig, Scholastic Parent and Child, February/March 2004This article tells how to combine loving parenting with other environmental enrichments to enhance the brain connections that are established in infancy. Language, games, responsiveness, touching, and books are all suggested for stimulating babies.Part B. Early Childhood12. Long-Term Studies of Preschool: Lasting Benefits Far Outweigh Costs, Gerald W. Bracey and Arthur Stellar, Phi Delta Kappan, June 2003This article summarizes three research studies showing the long-lasting benefits of early childhood education (e.g., higher education, career success, stable marriage, moral living) for preschool children living in poverty at the time of interventions. Each of the programs had extensive parenting involvement and encouraged attachment bonds. The authors argue that high-quality preschool today, taxpayer-funded, would reap future rewards for the United States.13. Guilt Free TV, Daniel McGinn, Newsweek, November 11, 2002A new generation of parents use television as an aid to early childhood socialization. New high-quality programs improve cognitive skills, language, self-esteem, and emotional intelligence. Some families still have anxiety about sex and violence. Kids' TV programming is improving however.14. Raising a Moral Child, Karen Springen, Newsweek Special Issue, Fall/Winter 2000Parents are held responsible for ethics and morality training during early childhood. Our culture has fewer moral role models than before and more and more aggression and violence, increasing the urgency for moral lessons. Karen Springen relays the advice of several experts on how to help preschoolers learn right from wrong.UNIT 3. Development During Childhood: Cognition and SchoolingPart A. Cognition15. A Time and a Place for Authentic Learning, Joseph S. Renzulli, Marcia Gentry, and Sally M. Reis, Educational Leadership, September 2004The process of knowing (cognition) is often lost as educators "teach to the test" to improve state-mandated achievement scores. Education rooted in cognitive science is found in schools that emphasize student thinking. The authors of this article describe authentic learning situations in which students become excited about learning in enrichment clusters.16. The New Science of Dyslexia, Christine Gorman, Time, July 28, 2003Genetic differences in brain wiring are now believed to create dyslexia. Children with dyslexia are skilled problem solvers and many achieve fame in arts and science. Reading involves separating language into phonemes, analyzing sounds, and automatically detecting them. Educational practices can improve these cognitive skills.Part B. Schooling17. The Trouble with Boys, Peg Tyre, Newsweek, January 30, 2006Gender differences in brain development trigger faster language proficiency in girls and impulsive (often creative) activity in boys. Education favors girls when the focus is on standardized testing and sitting still. Schoolin
g with hands-on learning and physical education gives boys more motivation to achieve. This article suggests a more respectful way to teach boys.18. Why We Need "The Year of Languages", Sandy Cutshall, Educational Leadership, December 2004/January 2005The future United States culture will require multilingualism to interact with the millions of earth's people who speak, for example, Chinese, Arabic, Indonesian, and Russian. Our national security is threatened by linguistic ignorance. Brain development is more receptive to language acquisition before puberty. Schools that motivate students to learn foreign languages early are an asset to world socialization efforts and peace.19. Failing Our Children: No Child Left Behind Undermines Quality and Equity in Education, Lisa Guisbond and Monty Neill, The Clearing House, September/October 2004The authors argue that the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) education act needs to be revised. They contend that the NCLB uses test, threats, and punishments. In order to achieve quality and equity, schools need more funding, cultural participation, peer supports, and positive reinforcements. A focus on brain development, memory, personality, and real learning could improve assessment and accountability.20. The Power of Teaching Students Using Strengths, Gloria Henderson, Educational Horizons, Spring 2005This teacher was taught to remediate the deficits of her students. She preferred emphasizing their strengths. She makes a strong case for strengths-based education. Ms. Henderson describes teaching with encouragement, video creations, motivation, and a focus on each individual's significance and achievement. Her students find school fun.UNIT 4. Development During Childhood: Family and CulturePart A. Family21. Raising Happy Achieving Children in the New Millennium, Alice Sterling Honig, Early Child Development and Care, Volume 163, 2000This article is packed with excellent advice on care that creates self-esteem and emotionally happy and cognitively achieving children. Alice Honig stresses the need to educate parents early, even before the birth of their child, especially if parents have experienced depression, drug abuse, or family violence. Family aids must be sensitive to different cultures.22. The Blank Slate, Steven Pinker, Discover, October 2002The author argues that family socialization and cultural constructs interact with genetics (talents, temperament) to create unique humans. It is hypocrisy to blame parenting, or schools, or peers, or television for all behaviors. Children have some inherited traits; they are not blank slates. Social progress can be made by reinforcing good traits and teaching control of bad ones.23. The Power of No, Peg Tyre, Julie Scelfo, and Barbara Kantrowitz, Newsweek, September 13, 2004Parents struggle to educate children and adolescents on the fact that happiness is not dependent on owning things. Overindulgence and a sense of entitlement contribute to poor emotional control and self-absorption. Learning to overcome challenges leads to self-esteem, a moral work ethic, and better mental health. Families spoil children with too few limits, not by saying "no."24. Parents Behaving Badly, Nancy Gibbs, Time, February 21, 2005Families want the best for their children, but often socialize them badly with educational interference. Parents defend cheating, lower motivation by expecting too much (or too little), and blame teachers for emotional upsets. The author describes hovering "helicopter parents" whose children have no self-reliance, and culture barriers that keep some parents away from schools. Both have negative consequences.25. Where Personality Goes Awry, Charlotte Huff, APA Monitor on Psychology, March 2004The nature-nurture debate has favored nature since the explosion of recent genetic research. This article indicates that family/parenting factors may contribute to personality disorders (PDs). Children who are neglected, abused, or who experience trauma, especially sexual trauma, have especially high rates of adult PDs. A genetic predisposition plus environmental stressors interact to create disorders.Part B. Culture26. When Cultures Clash, Anne Underwood and Jerry Adler, Newsweek, April 25, 2005This article describes the tragedy of an epileptic child from Loas, hurt by cultural clash. United States in the 21st century has the greatest population diversity in the world. Poor foreign-born immigrants and educated physicians often miscommunicate. Children are used as language brokers, despite their embarrassment and ignorance of medicine. Time and respect for others' beliefs are essential to better health care today.27. Brown v. Board: A Dream Deferred, Ellis Cose, Newsweek, March 17, 2004Cultural differences still exist in American education, according to Ellis Cose. The schooling of children and adolescents from African- and Hispanic-American families is not equal, nor are school resources equivalent. The anxiety and stress of minority learners will be lessened if we give them the same benefits we give upper-middle-class white students.UNIT 5. Development During Adolescence and Young AdulthoodPart A. Adolescence28. What Makes Teens Tick, Claudia Wallis, Time, May 10, 2004The cognition and brain development of adolescents as revealed by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies can account for memory, emotions, motivation, self-esteem, anxiety, depression, drug abuse, and sex. Brain structural changes are initiated by puberty hormones. Final maturation does not occur until about age 25. Both genes and environment affect physical changes in grey and white matter.29. A Peaceful Adolescence, Barbara Kantrowitz and Karen Springen, Newsweek, April 25, 2005This article presents evidence that, despite raging hormones, adolescents and families can have a peaceful friendship. A longitudinal study has identified socialization practices that unite parents and teens against peer pressures and cultural temptations. Moral and ethical character is modeled from caring, competent, connected, and confident adults.30. Jail Time Is Learning Time, Signe Nelson and Lynn Olcott, Corrections Today, February 2006The number of adolescents who enter legal courts is approximately the same as those who enter college each year. Many are incarcerated. This article describes the education of inmates who are minors in cognitive, career, and stress management skills, and English language proficiency. More than half of the minors earn their GEDs.31. Hello to College Joys: Keep Stress Off Campus, Jane E. Brody, New York Times, August 26, 2003Adolescents at schools away from home face new challenges: sex, drugs, grades, and paying bills. The "best time of their lives" becomes a time of anxiety, emotional stress, and depression. Mental health services are necessary for many students. Jane Brody gives many creative solutions for college students' problems.Part B. Young Adulthood32. How Spirit Blooms, Suzanne Clores, Body and Soul, September 2004The author reports her young adulthood identity quest, linked to career stress and cognition. This article gives an overview of Wicca, Yoga, Sufism, Shamanism, Buddhism, and Voodoo and discusses the culture of spirituality, shared by 84% of Americans. Recent genetic research suggests we inherit a predisposition to seek a higher power and moral guide. A self-transcendence scale allows the reader to explore his/her feelings of connectedness to the larger universe.33. The Battle for Your Brain, Ronald Bailey, Reason, February 2003<
BLOCKQUOTE>Neuroscience may soon provide ways to manipulate our brains. New drugs may improve memory, boost cognition, and fine-tune our emotions. Will these future enhancements be ethical? Ronald Bailey addresses this question and gives eight objections voiced by neuroethicists.34. Grow Up? Not So Fast, Lev Grossman, Time, January 24, 2005"Twixters" is a new name for young adults who put off adult responsibilities like career, marriage, family, and children. Many have huge debts from education loans and/or credit cards. They let parents help care for them as they explore options for work and love and search their souls for a meaning to life. Are they carefully choosing their moral pathways, or is growing up harder in our contemporary culture?UNIT 6. Development During Middle and Late AdulthoodPart A. Middle Adulthood35. Emotions and the Brain: Laughter, Steven Johnson, Discover, April 2003A primitive part of the human brain, the brain stem, prompts laughter. Tickling in sexually private or guarded regions (e.g., groin, waist, throat) is registered in another ancient region, the somatosensory cortex. We laugh as a form of instinctive social attachment, especially in childhood. We're often not aware that we're laughing, but our laughter is contagious and helps bond friendships and improve health.36. Alcohol's Deadly Triple Threat, Karen Springen and Barbara Kantrowitz, Newsweek, May 10, 2004Socialized gender differences exist in alcohol abuse. Men drink openly. Women drink in secret to ease stress and anxiety. Drinking in adulthood can contribute to divorce, health problems, and death. Pregnant women who drink also impair prenatal brain development and contribute to birth defects.37. How AIDS Changed America, David Jefferson, Newsweek, May 15, 2006This article chronicles 25 years of AIDS. In the 1980s there was anxiety but very little research. Gay sex was unmentionable. Silence led to death. AIDS has killed more Americans than every war from WWII to Iraq. Women and men, children, heterosexuals: 25 million and counting are HIV-positive. New viral strains are resistant to life-prolonging drug cocktails. Continuing education about this health risk is needed.38. The Myth of the Midlife Crisis, Gene Cohen, Newsweek, January 16, 2006This article, adapted from Dr. Cohen's book The Mature Mind, reveals that new imaging studies document increased brain development at midlife. Left-right hemispheric connections increase, the amygdalae respond more slowly, and dendrites interlock more densely. This results in better cognition, more creativity, mellower personality, and emotions with less anxiety, aggression, and depression.Part B. Late Adulthood39. Aging Naturally, Andrew Weil, Time, October 17, 2005Dr. Andrew Weil shares excerpts from his book Healthy Aging in this article. He believes antiaging medicine and cosmetic surgery are obstacles to graceful aging. He recommends keeping the brain and physical body strong through exercise and nutrition. Other pros are stress reduction, sleep, good sex, friends, and spiritual connectedness. Cons are risk taking, smoking and drug abuse.40. When Your Paycheck Stops, Jane Bryant Quinn, Newsweek, April 17, 2006The anxiety surrounding retirement can be alleviated by careful preretirement planning. Careers of the baby-boomers may extend well beyond 65 or 70, but eventually the paychecks will stop. This article recommends reinvesting in mutual funds over stocks, putting 401(k) plans into regular brokerage accounts, tapping one's house for cash with a reverse mortgage, and investing in long-term care insurance policies.41. Secrets of the Centenarians, Maya Pines, HHMI Bulletin, Spring 2004Centenarians, over 100 and aging well, have positive emotions, gregarious personalities, good memory and cognition, and remain independent. Researchers have found genetic materials that contribute to this vigor. The health and physical status of many centenarians resemble people 30 years younger.42. Lost & Found, Barbara Basler, AARP Bulletin, September 2005A research psychologist, Dr. Cameron Camp, has devised several activities for aged persons with Alzheimer's disease in its late stages. He has used the methods of the famous educator Maria Montessori emphasizing strengths. He discovers what each person's basic skills are and tailors activities to those that are meaningful and that call on the patient's past. Research shows validity and reliability to the method, as well as amazing patient response.43. Navigating Practical Dilemmas in Terminal Care, Helen Sorenson, Emphysema/COPD: The Journal of Patient Centered Care, Winter 2004Our physical status is more decline (after adolescence) than incline. Aging is universal, and death is inevitable. Helen Sorenson addresses the ethics and morality issues of terminal care. Trust and good communication are essential when preparing advance care directives. Each of us has choices to make about our own deaths.