Into the perennial debate regarding the relative effects of "nature" vs. "nurture" in the development of a child, author Judith Harris has injected a radical notion and stirred up quite a controversy. What is her assertion and why has her work been so soundly criticized? You will have to work your way through the site below to find the answers.
Is parenting more difficult now than ever before? Use the site below to summarize the "social context" argument that parenting is different and more difficult now than in previous generations.
You are no doubt aware that a labor process precedes childbirth--indeed some of you may have already experienced this phenomenon. But do you know what triggers labor? Read the information at the site below, and be prepared to explain in your own words one theory of this triggering process. Do you think we now fully understand the triggering mechanism? Why or why not?
One of the more interesting debates in human development is the opposing viewpoint on moral development taken by Lawrence Kohlberg and Carol Gilligan (and others). From information you can glean from the site below, examine both sides of the issue and make a determination for yourself which theory is the most useful in understanding and assisting young people with the moral dilemmas they often find themselves in today.
Teenage suicide is a major concern, and prevention is extremely important. But how can we tell the difference between the normal swings of mood and behavior that often accompanies adolescence and true predictors of teenage lethality? Use information from the site below to help you understand differences between normal and predictive behavior; then, address prevention concerns--what can reasonably be done to reduce the rate of teen suicide?
