Chapter 10-Human Development Flashcards
Define developmental psychology
The study of how behaviours changes over the lifespan
What’s a cross-sectional design and what’s the major problem with it?
A design in which researchers examine people of different ages at a single point in time
Major problem is the Cohort Effect: effects due to the fact that sets of people who lived during one time period, called cohorts, can differ in some systematic way from sets of people who lived during a different time period
What is a longitudinal design
Design that examines development in the same group of people on multiple occasions over time
- examines true developmental effects
- avoids cohort effect
What are the 3 ways nature and nurture intersect in shaping our development
- Gene-Environment Interactions-situation in which the effect of genes depend on the environment in which they are expressed
- Nature via Nurture- tendency of individuals with certain genetic predispositions to seek out and create environments that permit the expression of those predispositions(fearful kids select safe environments)
- Gene Expression- activation or deactivation of genes by environmental experiences throughout development
What are the 3 stages of prenatal physical development
- Germinal Stage-zygote begins to divide, forming blastocyst, keeps growing and cells begin to take on different roles as organs of the body begin to develop-blastocyst becomes an embryo (conception to 2 weeks)
- Embryonic Stage- development of major organs& body systems develop. Spontaneous miscarriage may occur
(2nd week until 8th week) - Fetal stage- heart begins to beat, embryo becomes fetus, for rest of pregnancy fetus undergoes physical maturation(baulking up)
Sex organs and brain, tissues, bones, muscles
(9th week until delivery)
Define teratogen
An environmental factor that can exert a negative impact on prenatal development
Ex. Drugs, alcohol, x-rays
What is fetal alcohol spectrum disorder
Condition resulting in high levels of prenatal alcohol exposure , causing learning disabilities, physical growth retardation, facial malformations, and behavioural disorders
Define motor behaviour
Bodily motion that occurs as a result of self-initiated force that moves the bones and muscles
Ex. Sitting up, crawling, walking
Define menarche and spermarche
Menarche- start of menstruation
Spermarche- boys first ejaculation
Define cognitive development
Study of how children acquire the ability to learn, think, reason, communicate and remember
Define assimilation and accommodation
Piagetian process of absorbing new experience into current knowledge structures
Accommodation- piagetian process of altering a belief to make it more compatible with experience
What are Piaget’s 4 stages of cognitive development
- Sensorimotor stage- from birth to about 2, characterized by a focus on the here and now without the ability to represent experiences mentally. Kids in this stage lack object permanence(understanding that objects still exist even when out of view)
- Pre-operational stage - age 2 to 7, ability to construct mental representations of experience but not yet perform operations on them. Inability to see the world from other’s perspectives(egocentrism)
- conservation tasks
- symbolic play: pretending the floor is lava - Concrete operations Stage- age 7 to 11, ability to perform mental operations on physical events only and struggle with abstract or hypothetical situations
- Formal operations stage- doesn’t emerge until adolescents, ability to perform hypothetical reasoning beyond the here and now
Define scaffolding
Vygotskian learning mechanism in which parents provide initial assistance in children’s learning but gradually remove structure as children become more competent
Define zone of proximal development
Phase when children are receptive to learning a new skill but aren’t yet successful at it
What is theory of mind
Theory of mind: Ability to reason about what other people know or believe
-milestone for children is the ability to understand others perspectives and different from theirs
Define stranger anxiety
We are strangers, eight or nine months of age
Define temperament
Basic emotional style that appears early in development and is largely genetic origin
Define attachment (with children)
The strong emotional connection we share with those to whom we feel closest (usually parents)
Define contact comfort
Positive emotions afforded by touch
Describe the four categories infant behaviours fall into during the strange situation experiment
- Secure attachment- about 60% North American infants. Become upset when mom leaves the greets her return with joy
- Insecure-avoidant attachment- 15 to 20% of North American infants. reacts to moms departure with indifference and shows little reaction on her return
- Insecure-anxious attachment-15 to 20% of North America infants. Infant reacts to moms departure with panic, shows mixed emotional reaction on her return. Reaches for her yet squirming to get away from her after she picks him up
- Disorganized attachment- 5 to 10% of North American infants. Rarest of attachment styles. Reacts to moms departure and return with an inconsistent and confused set of responses
Define mono operation bias
Mistake of drawing conclusions on the basis of only a single measure
What are the four major parenting styles
- Permissive- will tend to be lenient with their children allowing them considerable freedom, use discipline sparingly if at all, shower children with affection
- Authoritarian-tend to be stripped, giving little opportunity for free play, punishing them, little affection
- Authoritative-combine the best features of both permissive and authoritarian worlds. Supportive of their children but set clear and firm limits
- Uniinvolved- neglectful parents, ignore their children, paying little attention to either positive or negative behaviours
Define average expectable environmental
Environment that provides basic needs for affection and discipline
Define gender identity and gender role
Gender identity refers to peoples sense of being male or female. Some people with gender identity issues, sometimes called transsexualism in adulthood, report feelings of being trapped in the body of the opposite sex
Gender role refers to a set of behaviours that tend to be associated with being male or female
Ex. Girls playing football, boys playing Barbies
