Exercises

1- Describe an aspect of your development that differs from a parent's of grandparent's when he or she was your age. Using influences highlighted by the lifespan perspective, explain this difference in development.

2- Teratogens

Using the textbook for guidance, but in your own words, what are teratogens? Identify at least five teratogens and describe their effects on the developing embryo.

Finally, what advice would you give to expectant mothers about their behaviors while pregnant, based on your new knowledge of teratogens? You may use additional sources (such as other websites) in your description and advice.

Please remember to cite your sources.

3- Please watch this brief video clip of Baillargeon's study of babies using the violation-of-expectation methodto test object permanence.

SAF - The Magic Years.m4v (YouTube Video)

You can certainly watch the entire video, but the clip you need to complete this assignment starts at minute 5:26 and ends at minute 9:05, so that is the only segment you are required to watch.

After viewing, please answer the following questions:

1. Why do you think babies of different ages respond differently to this experiment?

2. Do Baillargeon's results support or refute Piaget's theory of Sensorimotor Stages? Please offer specific support for your opinion.

4- Please watch this brief video illustrating Piaget's classic studies of conservation in the preoperational stage:

Conservation task (YouTube Video)

Give at least two reasons why Piaget says that young children cannot conserve.

5- Would you describe your own gender identity as "feminine", "masculine", or "androgynous"? What biological and social factors might have influenced your gender identity?

6- Was your adolescence a period of storm and stress or was it relatively peaceful? Why do you suppose some teenagers move through adolescence with relative ease, whereas others find it a difficult period?What made adolescence easy or difficult for you?

7- The more years of higher education and life experience a person has, the deeper and more dialectical that person's reasoning becomes. Give a specific example of how your thinking about an issue today is deeper than it was when you were younger, or before you started college.

8- Many people have inaccurate perceptions of cognitive development in middle adulthood.

Create a pamphlet on cognitive changes in middle adulthood that could be displayed in a doctor's office. Using research in the text as a guide, outline the information you would include in your pamphlet. For instance, what cognitive changes often accompany middle adulthood?

How is information processing and problem-solving affected? How can middle-aged adults maintain good cognitive health? What positive cognitive changes occur in middle adulthood?

9- Please watch this brief video on the growing "sandwich generation" in American families.

TID101 - Sandwich Generation (YouTube Video)

Couples are starting their families later, so children are often still living at home when the couples are in their 50s. More children return to live at their parent's house after finishing college.

At the same time, grandparents are living longer, with greater physical needs, so they are also moving in with their middle adult-aged children. Often the task of caring for everyone falls on the shoulders of the middle-aged woman in the household.

Briefly discuss three ways in which a middle-aged woman's social and emotional development may be uniquely stressed in this situation, and offer some suggestions on how she can avoid feeling over-burdened.

10- An elderly relative has just been widowed. List three things that might indicate that this person is at risk for having a difficult time. In a sentence or two, describe the best approach for discussing this relative's loss.