.5 Page Each,
Guided Response: Respond in a substantive way to at least two of your peers. Include the following in your responses:
Choose at least one point from your peers responses that impacted your thinking on this subject.
Explain why and how that particular comment resonated with you or caused you to think in a different way.
Discuss how the things you named compare to the things named by other people in the class? How would you account for the similarities and differences?
Original Question, I’ll upload my response.
n this weeks required resources, you learned that while genes have a lot to say about who we are, environmental factors, particularly parental behavior, can shape the behavior of offspring on a biochemical level. In your initial post of a minimum of 450 words:
Briefly describe the research that has been done with rat mothers to illustrate this phenomenon.
Be specific about the maternal behaviors and correlated biochemical changes to their offspring. This section demonstrates that you understand what research has been conducted and what the results mean, so be sure to go beyond quoting.
Name three things from the film DNA is Not Destiny: How the Outside Gets Under the Skin (Links to an external site.): one that surprised you, one that frustrated you, and one that inspired you to look deeper into this topic.
Explain the implications of the research on parental behavior and environmental factors as they relate to human personality development. Be sure to cite all the required sources in your initial post.
Response 1 – 1/2 Page to Marciana,
She wrote:
Research Done on Rat Mothers
The research experiment that was done with rat mothers known as Lick Your Rats basically showed that rat mothers who lick, groom, and nurse their rat pups more often than others showed to have a great impact on how their rat pup grew up. Rat pups that were not taken care of as well became anxious as adults, and rat pups that were more well taken care of grew up to be calm adults. Due to the lack or nourishment and nurture, rat pups become anxious pups that do not do to well in society. Rat pups that are more nurtured and taken care of have epigenetics that typically last through adulthood. Basically, the epigenomes of a parent rats pup are formed by how she nurtures them within the very beginning of their lives.
Maternal Behaviors and Correlated Biochemical Changes
One thing that was quite surprising to me was how parents differing levels of stress had such an impact on a developing child as they were growing up. According to the video, improved social conditions can actually provide the biological bases for lives that are healthier and much more likely to thrive (Dollinoy, 2012). Healthy children basically biologically change over time with their parents stress levels, and this should be discussed more frequently so changes could possibly be made.
Something that frustrated me in this video was learning that a parents stress can affect a developing and growing child in many differing ways. Even as a newborn baby any stress endured can have lifelong behavioral problems. What frustrated me most about this is that a lot of everyday stressors are things that cannot be changed and just happen. It frustrates and saddens me that these inevitable occurrences seem to have quite the impact on a childs overall development.
In this video, something that inspired me was how similar the situation of parental stress is for both the lab rats and humans. Both rats and children were at risk for obesity, psychiatric, and health and mental health issues. This inspired me to look more into this topic and think more about how different parental stress factors and behavior can have such an impact on a developing rat, or human child. I am inspired to do research and learn more about how parental and maternal stress can have such a great impact on development.
Implications of Parental Behavior and Environmental Factors
Implications of parental behavior and environmental factors actually begin when a mother is pregnant with the child and continues all throughout their lifetime. According to Gartstein & Skinner (2018), Fetal programming is thought to transform the structure and function of tissues/organs, shaping physiological outcomes associated with adult disease. Differing epigenetic mechanisms play a huge role in fetal programming, providing the basis for either healthy results or disruption of mental and physical health. Exposure to stress is one of the main environmental factors that can have a huge impact on a developing baby. Overall, this article discussed the problem of certain epigenetics and how it can shape and alter human lives.
Explain the implications of the research on parental behavior and environmental factors as they relate to human personality development. Be sure to cite all the required sources in your initial post.
The researcher in the video identified that the amount of given stress in a household can affect the epigenome and cause long term effects on children due to a child’s social class and social environment. In addition, infant temperament attributes represent key etiological factors in the onset of developmental psychopathology, and studies elucidating their prenatal foundations expand our understanding of developmental origins of health and disease (Gartstein, M. A., & Skinner, M. K. (2018). Essentially the success of our society is pretty much based on social status and economic conditions. In the material it mention that Epigenetic mechanisms are extremely important in regards to the healthy mentally and physical development in fetus. Ultimately, as a mother you are given a motherly instinct to nurture ones off springs to the best of her abilities in all circumstances. how it can shape and alter human lives.
