Chapter 10: Development

Question 1

Describe the three prenatal stages of development

Answer 1

1. Germinal Stage: zygote (fertilized egg), 2 week period after conception, zygote divides into millions of cells and implants itself in wall of uterus
2. Embryonic Stage: embryo (as soon as zygote is implanted in uterine wall), 2 weeks after conception to 8 weeks, embryo has legs, arms, and a beating heart
3. Fetal Stage: embryo after 9 weeks, 9 weeks until birth, fetus has skeleton and muscles (can move), brain cells and generate axons and dendrites, myelination starts happening, rapid brain growth

Question 2

Give reasons why it is advantageous for humans to be born with underdeveloped brains

Answer 2

there is an exponential growth in synaptic connections after birth, being born with underdeveloped brains gives us the ability to adapt to our environment

PRUNING: strengthen connections being used, others fade away

Question 3

Explain how the prenatal environment influences the fetus’s development

Answer 3

Teratogen: any substance that passes from the mother to unborn child and impairs development

Substances can be passed to the bay through the placenta (mercury from fish or lead in water can be passed on to the child and impair development).

We also know that the baby can hear from inside the womb and can recognize voices

Question 4

Outline the stages of Piaget’s theory of cognitive development

Answer 4

1. Sensorimotor: infant acquires information about the word by sensing it and movie around it in, construction of schemas (assimilation and accommodation), evidence of understanding object permanence,
2. Preoperational: child acquires motor skills but doesn’t understand physical properties, child begins stage by thinking egocentrically but ends with a basic understanding of others minds
3. Concrete Operational: Child can think logically about physical objects and events and understands conservation of physical properties
4. Formal Operational: child can think logically about abstract propositions and hypotheticals

Question 5

Differentiate between egocentrism and theory of mind

Answer 5

Egocentrism: failure to understand that the world appears differently to other people

Theory of Mind: understanding that the mind produces representations of the world and that these representations guide behavior

Question 6

Describe attachment and its four styles

Answer 6

Attachment: emotional bond with child and primary care givers- HARRLOW

Secure Attachment: cry when care giver leaves, stop crying upon return and want contact (parent is responsive to child’s needs)

Insecure Attachment:
1. Ambivalent Attachment: cry when caregiver leaves, could not be soothed when they returned (parent shows inconsistent response to child’s needs)

2. Disorganized Attachment: child doesn’t know how to respond when mother leaves (abusive parents)
3. Avoidant Attachment: no cry when leaves, return = no interest (mother is inattentive to child’s needs)

Question 7

Describe the four different styles of parenting behavior

Answer 7

Neglectful: low limits, low warmth (absent parents)

Authoritarian: low warmth, high limits (“because I said so” kind of parents, low communication)

Authoritative: high limits and high warmth (high expectations and good communication- have very independent kids)

Indulgent or Permissive: low limits, high warmth (warm and good communication by no expectations- not very independent kids)

Question 8

Describe Kohlberg’s three stages of the development of moral reasoning

Answer 8

Preconventional: based on consequences
Conventional: based on societal rules and laws
Postconventional: based on own standards

Question 9

Describe the determinants of sexual orientation and behavior

Answer 9

biology has a large impact on sexual orientation, identical twins have higher chance of same sexual orientation that fraternal twins, gay man brain looks similar to straight woman

Question 10

Explain how adolescents are influenced by their peers

Answer 10

In adolescence, there is more conflict between parents and kids. Adolescents like their peers and want to impress them and take negative need back from peers very seriously

Question 11

Teratogens

Answer 11

Alcohol: facial and limb abnormalities, premature birth, low birth weight, low intellectual ability, miscarriages

Tobacco: nicotine shows up in lungs of child, increase miscarries and chances that the child will be obese, low birth weight, premature birth, deprives child of oxygen, child can develop addiction, increase chances of sudden infant death

Cannabis: reduce birthweight, increase chance of needing neonatal care, disrupts normal neurological development, smaller head circumference, slower to develop language skills, behavior and attention problems

Caffeine: smallest risk, too much caffeine = low birth weight, low iron levels, irritability and insomnia

Question 12

children’s physical development

Answer 12

-can not see very far away, but trace faces very well
- motor reflexes: rooting = move anything that touches cheek to mouth, sucking = suck on any object in mouth
- Cephalocaudal Rule: motor skills from head to feet
- Proximodistal Rule: motor sills emerge in sequence from center out

Question 13

Vygotsky

Answer 13

-development comes from interaction with care takers
-idea of zone of proximal development (in a structured learning environment, we can help children take the next step in development) called scaffolding

Question 14

Assimilation

Answer 14

apply schemas to novel situation

Question 15

Accommodation

Answer 15

infants revise schemas in light of new information

Question 16

Object Permanence

Answer 16

objects exist even when not visible, develop understanding of this in sensorimotor stage

Question 17

Conservation

Answer 17

developed in concrete operational stage

Question 18

day care controversy

Answer 18

-US has no paid leave
-children spent lots of time being cared for by someone outside of family
-daycare infants = increase insecure attachment
- high quality day care = increase social and academic competence
- at the end of the day parenting is still the most important thing
-quality day care = focus on teaching, low student to teacher ratio, caregivers and sensitive and responsive, care givers are stable (low turn over)

Question 19

Harlow

Answer 19

had baby monkeys with cloth mother and and metal mother, learned that monkeys were drawn to cloth mothers, proved that we from attachment with mother for more than just food

encouraged the idea of contact from parents

Question 20

Mary Ainsworth

Answer 20

did studies on attachment

Question 21

Schanberg & Field

Answer 21

Infant Message Study- found that NICU babies that received massage gained more weight and were able to leave sooner

Question 22

Coopersmith

Answer 22

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Question 23

Gender Identity

Answer 23

how you identify your gender

Question 24

Gender Roles

Answer 24

stereotypical roles and expectations places on genders by society

Question 25

Moral Development

Answer 25

Piaget:
1. Shift from Realism to Relativism
2. Shift from Prescriptions to Principles
3. Shift from Outcomes to Intentions

Question 26

Sensorimotor:

Answer 26

1. Sensorimotor: infant acquires information about the word by sensing it and movie around it in, construction of schemas (assimilation and accommodation), evidence of understanding object permanence,

Question 27

Preoperational

Answer 27

2. Preoperational: child acquires motor skills but doesn’t understand physical properties, child begins stage by thinking egocentrically but ends with a basic understanding of others minds

Question 28

Concrete Operational:

Answer 28

3. Concrete Operational: Child can think logically about physical objects and events and understands conservation of physical properties

Question 29

Formal Operational:

Answer 29

child can think logically about abstract propositions and hypotheticals