Chapter 10- Human Development Flashcards
Developmental psychology
Study of how behavior changes over the life span.
Nature vs nurture
Both play powerful roles in development. Interconnected. Nature and nurture sometimes interact over course of development
Gene-environment interaction
Many case the effects of genes depend on the environment and vice versa
Nature via nurture
Tendency of individuals with certain genetic predispositions to seek out and create environments that permit the expression of those predispositions
Gene expression
Activation or deactivation of genes by environmental experiences throughout development
The mystique of early experience
Early life experiences effect development but so does later experience. Children are resilient and can bounce back
Epigenetics
Whether genes are active is regulated day by day and moment by moment environments conditions
Cross sectional design
Research design that examines people of different ages at a single point in time
Cohort effect
Effect observed in a sample of participants that results from individuals in the sample growing up at the same time. Sets of people who lived in different times can differ in some systematic way from sets of people who lived during a different time period
Longitudinal design
Research design that examines development in the same group of people on multiple occasions over time
Developmental effects
Changes over time within individuals as consequence of growing older
Attrition
Participants dropping out of the study before it is completed
Post hoc fallacy
False assumption that because one event occurred before another event it must have caused that event
Physical and motor development
The form and structure of the body including the brain undergo radical changes throughout the life span.
Prenatal
Before birth
Zygote
Fertilized egg
Blastocyst
Ball of identical cells early in pregnancy that haven’t yet begun to take on any specific function in a body part
Embryo
Second to eight week of prenatal development, during which limbs, facial features, and major organs of the body take form
Fetus
Period of prenatal development from ninth week until birth after all major organs are established and physical maturation( bulking up) is the primary change
Teratogen
An environmental factor that can exert a negative impact on prenatal development
Fetal alcohol syndrome
Condition resulting from high levels of prenatal alcohol exposure, causing learning disabilities, physical physical growth retardation, facial malformations, and behavioral disorders
Reflexes
Infants are born with a large set of automatic motor behaviors- or reflexes- that are triggered by specific types of stimulation. Reflexes fulfill important survival needs. Sucking reflex and rooting reflex: eating
Motor behaviors
Bodily motion that occurs as a result of self initiated force that moves the bones and muscles. Babies learn this through trial and error
Adolescence
Transition b/w childhood to adulthood. Teenage years
Puberty
The achievement of sexual maturation resulting in the potential to reproduce
Primary sex characteristics
A physical feature such as the reproductive organs and genitals that distinguish the sexes
Secondary sex characteristic
A sex differentiating characteristic that doesn’t relate directly to reproduction such as breast enlargement in women and deepening voices in men
Menarche
Start of menstruation
Spermarche
Boy’s first ejaculation
Menopause
Termination of menstruation marking the end of a woman’s reproductive potential
Cognitive development
Study of how children acquire the ability to learn, think, reason, communicate, and remember
Stage like changes in understanding
Sudden spurts in knowledge followed by periods of stability
Continuous
Gradual changes in understanding
Domain general
Propose that changes in children’s cognitive skills affect most or all areas of cognitive function in tandem
Domain specific
Propose that children’s cognitive skills develop independently and at different rates across different domains, such as reasoning,language, and counting
Assimilation
Piagetian process of absorbing new experience into current knowledge structures
Accommodation
Piagetian process of altering a belief to make it more compatible with experience
