10.1 lifespan development Flashcards
developmental psychology
the study of physical and psychological changes commonly associated with the different stage of our life
cross sectional designs
involves measuring groups of ppl at a single point in time, but that differ in their age
-have the potential confound of cohort effects-ppl that are diff ages, also developed in diff time periods
longitudinal designs
involves measuring the same group of ppl at diff points of time
-these designs are time-consuming and there is a high risk of attrition- the withdrawal of participants from a study over time
developmental stages
lifespan changes proceed through patterns of stability followed by periods of more rapid transition
sensitive periods
the points of rapid change that mark points of transition bw developmental stages
diff abilities have
diff sensitive periods
conception
sperm and ovum
germinal stage
zygote
cell division takes place
blastocyte reaches uterus
blastocyte makes its way down the fallopian tube and is implanted on the inner lining of the uterus
inner cluster of cells forms the developing embryo
the outer ring of the cells forms the developing placenta
embryonic stage
lasts 2 to 8 weeks after conception
-forms major body parts
the fetal stage
8 weeks to birth (ideally, around 40 weeks)
100,000,000 million neurons
40,000 neurons per second
maternal malnourishment
increases the risk of giving birth to lower weight newborns that are more prone to illness and deficits in mental functioning
babies born during world war II experienced a variety of serious physical and psychological problems
Teratogens
substances that negatively affects the process of development in utero
-thalidomide
Thalidomide
- pills pregnant women took
- caused severe birth defects, including blindness, deafness and limb deformities called phocomelia
fetal alcohol syndrome
-infants have both problems with mental functions and physical features
smoking and pregnancy
- lowers the amount of oxygen needed for the fetus to consume
- adds nicotine and carbon monoxide to the vulnerable fetuses environment
- smoking while pregnant is correlated with miscarriage and infant mortality, premature birth, underweight baby
preterm infants
the chance of a baby’s survival if it is born at only 25 weeks is about 50% and the babies that do survive suffer permanent damage to their brain and other organs
sudden infant death syndrome or SIDS
a syndrome in which infants die because they stop breathing
- infants and particularly preterm ones have very vulnerable respiratory systems
- exposure to 2nd hand smoke triples the risk that a baby will die of SIDS
infant sensory abilities
infants enter the world preferring their mother’s voice over other voices
- infant vision is especially well designed to facilitate interacting with their mother while breastfeeding
- infants tasting ability is about equivalent to adults, as well as their smell abilites
infant social abilities
infants imitate adults facial expressions
-in experiments that measure infants looking time to diff stimuli, babies show a preference for human faces over other comparison stimuli
newborn human babies are unusually helpless
- compared to newborn members of other species, they are able to walk and swim
- humans are born with a lot of brain development left to do
after birth, brain development continues in human infants
- myelination of axons to speed transmission of signals
- synaptogenesis (or the creation of neural connections)
- synaptic pruning (deleting unnecessary or weak neural connections)
infant reflexes
involuntary motor actions that help newborn infants adapt to life outside of the uterus
rooting reflex
stimulating the corner of an infants mouth causes the baby to move their head toward the source of the stimulation and start sucking
moro reflex
newborns react with a startle response whenever they lose support of their head
grasping reflex
touching a baby’s palm causes them to tighten their grasp with surprising strength
motor development
the road to walking alone is a bumpy, trial and error learning process
jean piaget
interest in child cognitive development
assimilation
acquiring new knowledge by relating it to what we already know
accommodation
learning by adjusting old knowledge in the face of new information
developmental milestones
achieving mastery over a particular skill
piaget’s stages of cognitive development
the sensorimotor stage
preoperational stage
concrete operations stage
formal operational stage
sensorimotor stage
birth to age 2
-all of the child’s awareness is tied to their sensory experience and they are not yet capable of any thoughts that are separate from what they can directly see, hear, taste, smell or feel
object permanence
an awareness that objects continue to exist when we are unable to directly perceive them
preoperational stage
ages 2-7
accomplishments include language acquisition and being able to think in other symbolic ways such as with numbers
children acquire an increasing ability to use their imagination, to imitate the behaviour of others and to pretend
conservation
an accomplishment of this stage that involves learning that changes in the perceptual features of a substance doesn’t change the substances volume or quantity
ex. making a liquid taller and skinnier doesn’t make it a greater volume
ex.spacing pennies out into a longer row doesn’t increase the number of pennies
interestingly, young children seem to reason better about quantities of objects and amounts of substances when the problems have to do with candy
scale errors
early in the preoperational stage, children confuse scale models of objects with the real thing
concrete operations stage
age 7 to 11
children acquire skills in thinking logically, mentally performing operations with numbers and learn how to classify objects according to size, shape, colour, etc.
transitivity
if x>y and y>z then x>z
formal operational stage
ages 11 to adulthood
children experience an increasing complexity of reasoning capacity and the ability to think about abstract concepts
the ability to adopt a scientific approach to problems also emerges at this stage
lifespan development
physical and cognitive development in utero, in infancy, and in childhood
