For a great developmental web site, see George Madison's on-line site.
Chapter 10a exercises - Development - prenatal to puberty. NOTE: Make sure that you reword this information in YOUR words. If you just copy word for word from the book or links, the assignment will not count. In addition, if you can't find the material on the web site, try using your book.
EXERCISE 1 - The Harlow monkey study
This web site
reviews the classic study in which baby monkeys were "raised" by either
a cloth or wire "mother". Review the Experiment section (the rest doesn't
really give any information - just suggests the study was useless - which
it was not).
1. What was the experiment?
2. What were the findings?
a. Which mother did the infants prefer?
b. What behaviors did the monkeys show after being
raised in these conditions?
3. According to the book, how does this relate to attachment?
EXERCISE 2 - Pregnacy
This site goes from week 1 to week 40 and discusses what is happening
to the baby. Select 4 different time periods (no two weeks in a row!) and
tell me what is going on with the mother and the infant. If you are having
problems with that site, you might try this
one.
EXERCISE 3 - The nurture assumption - how much influence do parents
really have?
The nurture assumption
web site is devoted to Harris's book suggesting that parents have less
say in how their children turn out that we think. According to Harris,
how much of an influence do parents have on their children? What is the
main environmental influence on children and adolescents? There are a VERY
LARGE number of different sites on this web page that can help you answer
these questions. Just go through a few of them until you find one that
is relatively easy to understand.
EXERCISE 4 - The theories in practice.
Choose a children's books and relate what is in the book to one of
the areas discussed in your psych text (nature/nurture, biological development,
cognitive development, language, social development, moral development,
etc.). Describe your observations and include a discussion of how
principles from the text apply to your observation. Make sure to give examples
from the book that show how they relate to the concept you are talking
about. For example, the Winnie the Pooh books focus on a child in Piaget's
preoperational stage. So you would talk about the kinds of things found
in that stage that are also found in those books.
EXERCISE 5 - Parenting practices around the world
At this site
by Dr. Ritts, she discusses how issues of attachment, discipline, treatment
based on gender, father involvement, etc. vary around the world. Chose
a culture and summarize what you have learned. How does this culture differ
from traditional American methods of child rearing?