Week 3-4: Prenatal development

Prenatal development

Developmental psychologists consider the process of human development as it relates to physical, cognitive, and psychosocial development. This lifespan development is organized into different stages based on age. Prenatal development is the process that occurs during the 40 weeks prior to the birth of a child, and is heavily influenced by genetics.There are three stages of prenatal development—germinal, embryonic, and fetal. Prenatal development is also organized into trimesters: the first trimester ends with the end of the embryonic stage, the second trimester ends at week 20, and the third trimester ends at birth.