Psychology Assignment: Developmental Psychology Concepts Examined

This assignment delves into several key concepts within developmental psychology. It begins by exploring the implications of a new genetic disorder, HARID disease, discussing the roles of heterozygous alleles and incomplete dominance in inheritance. The assignment then examines the relationship between genotype and phenotype, providing examples to illustrate these concepts. Further, the assignment addresses strategies for teaching gifted students, suggesting practices like using music, breaking down instructions, and employing multi-sensory approaches. The impact of divorce on a couple and their child is also explored, with a focus on collaborative divorce as a potential solution. Additionally, the assignment discusses the concept of life review and its connection to achieving integrity, referencing Erikson's work. Finally, it examines the similarities and differences in the reactions of recently widowed individuals, considering both the challenges and emotional responses they may experience.

Running head: DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY
Developmental Psychology
Name of the University:
Name of the Student:
Author Note:

1
Developmental Psychology
Q.1. A new genetic disorder called "HARID disease is found to involve heterozygous
alleles, is recessive, and is characterized by incomplete dominance. Discuss the
implications of this descriptions of this description concerning the inheritance of
this disorder.
The heterozygous allele is referred to the genetical organization, when two different alleles
are posited on the same locus of the chromosome. Having heterozygous alleles have an
advantage on the people affected by the same. The heterozygous genotype is a recessive
genotype in nature and has a higher fitness as compared to the homozygous genotype. People
affected with heterozygous alleles are characterized with overdominance of due to the single
locus. In this particular case, the heterozygote dominance lies outside of the phenotypical
range and this is responsible for the over dominance. This particular form of genetical
ordering among the humans are usually known as diploid organisms, as they have two
different alleles, and each of the allele comes from each parent, and this particular formation
results into genetic traits (Ng et al., 2016). In this case one allele is dominated by the other,
but in case of the recessive alleles, which is presented in this particular case, the alleles
express themselves, for example, having blue eyes. In such cases the individual will be
regarded as a career pf the allele, which means that the off springs of the individual are likely
to have the similar kinds of traits. Having heterozygous alleles can also result into autosomal
disorders, which are more commonly known as the birth defects.
Q.2. Discuss the relationship between genotype and phenotype. Provide an example of
each to support your analysis.
The genotype and the phenotype, though sound quite similar, but are very different in their
orientation. The genotype can be defined as the set of genes which causes a particular trait
among the people. On the other hand, phenotype is defined as the physical traits that are

2
Developmental Psychology
resulted because of the ordering in the genotype. Therefore, genotype refers to the particular
sequencing of the genes in a particular organism. It also refers to the information tat are
contained between two alleles, which then causes certain physical traits. The formation of the
genotype can only be understood, and determined under proper biological tests. Examples of
genotype can be, the genes responsible the color of the eye or the sound of someone’s voice
or the height of a person.
The phenotype refers to the expressions of the genes, or the physical and the behavioral
outcomes that are caused out of the sequencing of the genes or the genotype (Gjuvsland,
2013). Therefore, the examples, are the color of the eye or the height of the person, caused
because of the genotype.
Q.3. As an elementary school teacher, you are assigned a group of gifted
students. You are asked to develop a plan that meets their learning needs.
Describe three practices you would include in your daily activities to meet the
needs of gifted students.
To reach to the gifted children and to account the requirements of the special children, the
teachers generally follow a need based educational system, that will identify the need areas
and therefore, will specially focus on those areas. Therefore, to acquire the need based
educational system the following three strategies ae most efficient to meet the learning
requirements for these children.
 Using music and voice inflection, that is using music or varied voice inflections, to
make them understand a particular task or to make them learn about certain concepts.
Music has been proved to be one of the best ways to reach to the special kids, and to
gain their attention, and make them learn (Jennings, Caldwell, & Lerner, 2013).

3
Developmental Psychology
 Breaking down the instructions, that is while telling them to do a task or rather
making them understand about a particular task, the teacher must break down the
tasks into little tasks. This way, it is easier to make them maintain their attention and
engaging them into different activities, make them learn it better and faster (Jennings,
Caldwell, & Lerner, 2013).
 Gifted children do not learn in a conventional way and they tend to use one of their
sensory organs, more than the others. Therefore, in order to gain their attention and
sake the, involved the teachers use multi- sensory strategies, to reach to everyone
(Moore, 2014).
Q.4. Julia and Robert are 45-year-olds who have a 6-year-old daughter and are
getting divorced. How will this action most likely impact Julia and Robert? How
could collaborative divorce provide some solutions?
In the present case, Julia and Roberts, majorly, will face one particular issue, that is the
responsibility of the 6-year-old child. It is often seen that a divorce between the parents have
a huge impact on the children, and it is also seen that the child is biased to one of the parents
or is involved into wrong doings. It is also seen that the children have a very poor relationship
with both the parents. Again, another important aspect that Julia and Roberts may come
across is that who will be taking the custody of the child and on what occasions the other
parent can meet his or her child. Therefore, the collaborative divorce is one of the best
solutions, that they can avail, whereby, both of them will provided with certain ground rules
and will be following the family laws and the understanding and the decisions will be mutual
with the presence of each of their lawyer (Salava, 2014). This concludes in a basic
understanding among them and also may result into having a good and healthy relationship
between the child and the parents.
Q.5. What is a life review? How is this related to achieving integrity?

4
Developmental Psychology
Life review refers to the recollection of the memories and the past experiences that one
develops in his or her entire life. It is a developmental task, consisting the conscious
memories, resolutions made, unresolved conflicts and the hurtful or cherished past. It is also
regarded as an evaluative process that includes all the conscious experiences of the past, and
therefore concluding upon the significance of the same (Subramaniam, Woods & Whitaker,
2014).
The concept of life review developed from the much acclaimed work of Erik Erikson on
Integrity and Despair. The author was of the opinion that the life review s mainly focused
upon resoluting the conflicts one had had experienced all though his or her life and evaluate
the conducts of his or her life. It helps in the understanding of whether or not one’s life had
been meaningful, and how much worth one’s life had been. Therefore, looking back, if one
finds out that he or she has had done certain deeds which they should not have been, and may
feel guilty about that. Therefore, a life review gives us the perspective and the underlying
meaning of life and how to makes it worthwhile, thus the life reviews provide integrity.
Q.6. Jay is a recently widowed older man and Kay is a recently widowed older female.
Describe similarities and differences in their likely reactions to the loss and the
challenges that they will face.
Being a male or female widow, has a lot of factors in common. To talk about the likely
reactions, primarily, they will seem to be lost deep in their thoughts and they would come as
in despair, and an utter loneliness will prevail upon them. They will face certain challenges as
well. First, both of them have lost their partners, their life- long friends, and this emptiness
cannot be refilled by anyone. Second, they both are in need of a companion, who will
understand their perspectives and their opinions, and will be there for hours just to talk.
Third, they both will face a challenge in involving in a conversation with a stranger in a

5
Developmental Psychology
gathering. Fourth, they will be faced with a sudden loneliness, and they will be
misunderstood by their children quite often as the thinking process is not likely to be a match
(Perkins et al., 2016).

6
Developmental Psychology
References:
Gjuvsland, A. B., Vik, J. O., Beard, D. A., Hunter, P. J., & Omholt, S. W. (2013). Bridging
the genotype–phenotype gap: what does it take?. The Journal of physiology, 591(8),
2055-2066.
Jennings, J. H., Caldwell, J. S., & Lerner, J. W. (2013). Reading problems: Assessment and
teaching strategies. Pearson Higher Ed.
Moore, K. D. (2014). Effective instructional strategies: From theory to practice. Sage
Publications.
Ng, C. Y., Yeh, Y. T., Wang, C. W., Hung, S. I., Yang, C. H., Chang, Y. C., ... & Fan, W. L.
(2016). Impact of the HLA-B* 58: 01 allele and renal impairment on allopurinol-
induced cutaneous adverse reactions. Journal of Investigative Dermatology, 136(7),
1373-1381.
Perkins, J. M., Lee, H. Y., James, K. S., Oh, J., Krishna, A., Heo, J., ... & Subramanian, S. V.
(2016). Marital status, widowhood duration, gender and health outcomes: a cross-
sectional study among older adults in India. BMC public health, 16(1), 1032.
Salava, L. (2014). Collaborative divorce: The unexpectedly underwhelming advance of a
promising solution in marriage dissolution. Family Law Quarterly, 48(1), 179-196.
Subramaniam, P., Woods, B., & Whitaker, C. (2014). Life review and life story books for
people with mild to moderate dementia: a randomised controlled trial. Aging &
Mental Health, 18(3), 363-375.

7
Developmental Psychology