21 Lifespan Development 1 (chapter 12)

Question 1

what is developmental psychology

Answer 1

focus on changes of social, psychological, psychological, physical, biological and behaviour throughout our life

Question 2

4 broad perspectives to monitor change/ development

Answer 2

1) Stability/Change: e.g.,of personality or cognitive capacity
2) Continuity/Discontinuity: smooth continuous learning or jumps/stages in development

3) Critical+Sensitive periods: critical - period in which behaviour must occur to be ‘normal’(Konrad Lorenz - geese assign mother to provider during certain age), sensitive - optimal time for behaviour to develop normally
4) Nature+Nurture: environment, genetics

Question 3

Prenatal development stages

Answer 3

1. Germination stage: conception - 1st 14 days: fertilisation of egg, zygote attaches to uterus
2. Embryonic stage: weeks 2-8: forming of placenta + umbilical cord
3. Foetal stage: week 9-birth: muscles strengthen, major body systems develop, 4th month -establishes wake/sleep cycle

Question 4

premature survival?

Answer 4

22-26 weeks may live

from 28 weeks have reduced risk of development delays

Question 5

How/when is sex determined?

Answer 5

23rd chromosomal pair: xx/xy
6-8 weeks: Testes Determining Factor (TDF) on Y chromosome - develops testes: produces androgens, otherwise if no TDF gene = female

Question 6

threats to prenatal development/ period of vulnerability to organs

Answer 6

Teratogens: biohazards:
Chemicals - alcohol, nicotine, drugs etc.
Maternal Diseases: Zika virus, Rubella etc.
Maternal Characteristics (hormones): stress = cortisol etc

• child most vulnerable during embryonic stage (most change), less in germinal

Organ vulnerability periods:

• heart most vulnerable in embryonic
• genitals - foetal
• nervous system/brain - embryonic+foetal

Question 7

Foetal alcohol syndrome (FAS)

Answer 7

alcohol permanently impacts observable factors of child’s development:
spectrum of deficits depending on severity:
- smaller brain, facial/heart/limb defects, behavioural issues/ irritation

Question 8

Newborn Perceptual Abilities: old vs modern perceptions

Answer 8

William James, John Locke: tabula rasa (blank slate) - newborns have no preconceived knowledge
Now know:
- newborns can recognise familiar voices/music
- reflexes: sucking reflex, palmer grasp (holds onto things in palm), Stepping reflex (in response to being held upright), rooting reflex (head will turn when cheek stroked)
- recognition+preference of mothers face, smell, voice

Question 9

Reid et al. 2017

Answer 9

found foetuses prefer looking at faces even in womb (inter-uterine projections)

Question 10

neural pruning in babies

Answer 10

6+9 month old babies can differentiate different peoples’ faces, only 6 month olds can differentiate monkeys’ faces = attune skills to relevant things “salient information” in their environment (like spiritual sight?)

Question 11

3 rules of influences of Biology + environment in development

Answer 11

Biology: limits periods in which traits develop - eg. self restraint develops biologically late

Environment: impacts development - nurturing environment = better physical + psych growth

Biology + Environment interact: enriching environments accompany genetic caused development

Question 12

how do schemas change through development?

Building knowledge

Answer 12

Infants to adults use schemas, they just become more detailed/ store information relevant to their survival eg. child = tasty, healthy food, adult = nutritious, vitamin rich food

Question 13

what 2 processes help develop schemas?

Building knowledge

Answer 13

Assimilation: new experiences added to existing schema (reinforcing info)

Accommodation: new experience cause existing schemas to change (conflicting info)
(become more refined eg restaurant - where u eat food, not just a building with tables)

Question 14

Piaget’s stages of cognitive development

Answer 14

discontinuous development (stages)

1. Sensorimotor stage: Birth-2yrs
2. Pre-operational Stage: 2-7 yrs
3. Concrete operational stage: 7-12yrs
4. Formal Operational Stage: 12+ yrs

Question 15

Piaget’s 1st stage

Answer 15

Sensorimotor stage: Birth-2yrs.
Understand world through personal physical interactions with surroundings
- object permanence: 3 mo no search for missing object, 8 mo will search. Baillargeon 2004 - exists before 3mo but doesn’t portray through actively searching.
- language: from 1yr, single word use - requests, recognition of objects

Question 16

Piaget’s 2nd stage

Answer 16

Pre-operational Stage: 2-7 yrs
Represent world through words + mental images but lack understanding of abstract concepts e.g.,
- Conservation: how quantity is conserved despite appearance change
- Irreversibility: cannot go back one previous answers - reverse processes
- Centration: limited focus on one aspect - not objective
- Animism: will attribute lifelike qualities to inanimate objects/events
- Egocentrism: difficulty seeing scene from others’ perspective

Question 17

Piaget’s 3rd stage

Answer 17

Concrete operational stage: 7-12yrs
Understand basic abstract concepts of objects + surroundings
- can solve conservation problems as no longer struggle with irreversibility, contraption, or egocentrism
- but their thinking is bound by reality (concrete) - thinking is limited to what they have been exposed to be possible (therefore lack lawless creativity)

Question 18

Piaget’s 4th stage

Answer 18

Formal Operational Stage: 12+ yrs
Can think logically + systematically about concrete + abstract problems, form hypothesises and test them in logical manner
- more creativity/variety in problem solving - independent thinking

Question 19

Limitations to Piaget’s stages of development?

Answer 19

• order of stages is consistent across diff cultures, but the length/time of development have been shown to be earlier
• influence of culture on cog development is ignored - unlike Vigotsky
• very simplified, westernised, (Swiss) eg less individualistic
• isolates the child - not reflective of daily life - part of society w assistance from others

Question 20

Vygotsky’s Approach

Answer 20

• interplay between biology and cultural environment

- idea of Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD): what a child can do alone vs with a more advanced peer/adult

Question 21

What is Scaffolding?

Answer 21

Concept proposed by Bruner 1996 - Vygotsky approach

teacher should adapt teaching to fit with child’s personal needs

Question 22

Information Processing Approaches: continuous vs discontinuous

Answer 22

processing speed, attention span, memory - become more efficient over time (gradual) - caused by strengthened neural pathways caused by increased myelination around used neurones

Question 23

What is Metacognition?

Answer 23

Ability to reflect (recal) on own experiences/thoughts e.g. memory - knowledge of how to ride a bike but not drive a car

Question 24

What is Theory of mind?

Answer 24

Understanding mental states in self + others
3-4 yo (roughly) can recognise own states
4+ yo can recognise others

Perner 1987: 3-4 yos did not distinguish own perspective from the truth/ others - smarties/ pencils in smarties container

False Belief tasks
ability to understand others’ false perspectives in light of truth: dolls w block in box/basket task (“Sally+Anne Task”)

Broccoli/Crackers task
understanding other’s differing opinions - understand that others may like broccoli despite own preference and accommodate that