Chapter 4: Developing Through the Life Span Flashcards
What is developmental psychology?
A branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social change throughout the life span of humans
What three issues have engaged developmental psychologists?
- Nature and nurture
- Continuity and stages
- Stability and change
What question is being asked in the nature and nurture issue of developmental psychology?
How genetics (nature) and experience/environment (nurture) interact to influence our development
What question is being asked in the continuity and stages issue of developmental psychology?
What parts of development are gradual and continuous and what parts are in abruptly changing stages
What question is being asked in the stability and change issue of developmental psychology?
Which of our traits persist through life and what does change as we age
What are the names of the three most popular stage theorists (arguing for the existence of stages in human development) in developmental psychology?
- Lawrence Kohlberg
- Erik Erikson
- Jean Piaget
Stage theorist Lawrence Kohlberg focused on what specific type of development?
Moral development
Stage theorist Erik Erikson focused on what specific type of development?
Psychosocial development
Stage theorist Jean Piaget focused on what specific type of development?
Cognitive development
Developmental researchers who consider how biological, psychological, and social-cultural forces interact are focusing on which issue of developmental psychology?
The nature vs nurture issue
Developmental researchers who emphasize learning and experience are supporting ___________________; those who emphasize biological maturation are supporting ___________________.
Continuity; Stages
What findings in psychology support (1) the stage theory of development and (2) the idea of stability in personality across the life span?
(1) Stage theory is supported by the work of Piaget, Kohlberg, and Erikson. (2) Some traits, such as temperament, exhibit remarkable stability across many years.
What do the zygote’s inner cells become?
Embryo
What do the zygote’s outer cells become?
Placenta
How is a zygote formed?
At contraception, when one sperm cell unites with an egg to form a zygote
What are teratogens?
Teratogens are potentially harmful agents (chemicals, viruses) that can pass through the placenta and harm the developing embryo or fetus
Approximately how many cells does a human have?
37 trillion cells
Approximately how many sperm cells are racing towards the egg during conception?
250 million sperm cells
What is a zygote?
The fertilized egg
What is the first stage of prenatal development?
The zygote enters a 2-week long period of rapid cell division and develops into an embryo
What is the second stage of prenatal development?
The human organism (at this stage called an embryo) is developing from about 2 weeks after fertilization until week 9
What is an embryo?
The developing human organism from about 2 weeks after fertilization until week 9
What is the third stage of prenatal development?
The human organism (at this stage called a fetus) is further developing from week 9 after conception until birth
What is a fetus?
The developing human organism from 9 weeks after conception to birth
During what month after conception does a fetus develop its stomach, giving the fetus a good chance of surviving if born prematurely?
During the 6th month
When does the fetus begin to develop facial features, hands, and feet?
At the start of week 9 after conception
By what month after conception is the fetus responsive to sound?
By the 6th month
What is the placenta?
It is a life link between the mother and the fetus, transferring nutrients and oxygen from mother to fetus and screening out many harmful substances
What is fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS)?
Physical and cognitive abnormalities in children caused by a pregnant woman’s heavy drinking
What are signs of fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) in severe cases?
Small, out-of-proportion head and abnormal facial features
The first two weeks of prenatal development is the period of the ______________. The period of the ______________ lasts from 9 weeks after conception until birth. The time between those two prenatal periods is considered the period of the ________________.
Zygote; Fetus; Embryo
What are some newborn abilities?
Babies are born with sensory equipment and reflexes that facilitate their survival and their social interactions with adults
How do researchers explore infants’ mental abilities?
Researchers use techniques that test habituation, such as the novelty-preference procedure, to explore infant’s mental abilities
What major three reflexes do newborns have already?
- Root reflex
- Startle reflex
- Grasp reflex
What is the root reflex in babies?
When something touches their cheek, babies turn toward that touch, open their mouth, and vigorously root for a nipple
What is the startle reflex in babies?
When arms and legs spring out, quickly followed by fist clenching and loud crying
What is the grasp reflex in babies?
Strongly grasping for objects or people
What is habituation?
Decreasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation. As infants gain familiarity with repeated exposure to a stimulus, their interest wanes and they look away sooner.
How do researchers explore what fetuses see and remember?
They use the habituation effect (with repeated stimuli boredom increases and response weakens) to their advantage as they can explore whether the fetus is bored with a familiar stimuli
Infants’ _____________ to repeated stimulation helps developmental psychologists study what infants can learn and remember.
habituation
The three major issues that interest developmental psychologists are nature/nurture, stability/change, and _________/_________.
continuity / stages
Although development is lifelong, there is stability of personality over time. For example,
a. most personality traits emerge in infancy and persist throughout life.
b. temperament tends to remain stable throughout life.
c. few people change significantly after adolescence.
d. people tend to undergo greater personality changes as they age.
b
Body organs first begin to form and function during the period of the _______________; within 6 months, during the period of the ___________, organs are sufficiently functional to provide a good chance of surviving and thriving.
embryo; fetus
Chemicals that the placenta isn’t able to screen out that may harm an embryo or fetus are called _______________.
teratogens
What is maturation?
Biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience
What is pruning?
Experiences trigger a pruning process, in which unused brain connections weaken and heavily used ones strengthen
What is the timing of the development of complex motor skills (sitting, standing, walking) in newborns dependent on?
The timing depends on the individual maturation and culture
From ages 3 to 6, the most rapid brain growth is in what area?
The frontal lobes
What does the frontal lobe enable?
Rational planning
From what ages is the frontal lobe growing at its most rapid speed?
From ages 3 to 6
What was Mark Rosenzweig’s and David Krech’s rat experiment?
They put one rat group in an enriched environment with playthings and other rats and the other group was put into a solitary environment with no other rats and no playthings. They were studying the effect this environment had on their brains.
What results did Rosenzweig and Krech obtain after their rat experiment?
The rats living in the enriched environment had developed a heavier and thicker brain cortex
In Rosenzweig’s and Krech’s rat experiment, after 60 days in the enriched environment by how much did the rats’ brain weights increase?
7 to 10 percent
In Rosenzweig’s and Krech’s rat experiment, after 60 days in the enriched environment by how much did the number of synapses increase?
About 20 percent
What is a baby who is born prematurely called?
Preemies
What are preemies?
Babies that are born prematurely
What three advantages do children 10 years later show when they have had skin-to-skin contact with their mothers as preemies?
- Better sleep
- Less stress
- Better cognitive development
What is a critical period?
An optimal period early in the life of an organism when exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces normal development
What is an example of a skill that is primarily and easily learned during a critical period?
Language learning
In the United States, 25 percent of all babies walk by what age?
By 11 months of age
In the United States, 50 percent of all babies walk by what age?
Within a week after their first birthday
In the United States, 90 percent of all babies walk by what age?
By age 15 months
What creates our readiness to learn walking at about age 1?
Maturation - including the rapid development of the cerebellum
Where is the cerebellum located?
At the back of the brain
How can you reduce crib-death risk among babies?
By putting them to sleep on their back instead of stomach
The biological growth process called __________ explains why most children begin walking by about 12 to 15 months.
maturation
What are the two brain areas underlying memory?
Hippocampus and frontal lobes
What is infantile amnesia?
Describes the fact that we cannot recall memories from before the age of 4
What did Rovee-Collier realize in her home experiment?
She realized that, contrary to popular opinion in the 1960s, babies can learn
What was Rovee-Collier’s home experiment?
Her 2-month-old child was calmed by a crib mobile. Rove-Collier put an installation in place that allowed her son to kick a pedal to move the mobile. This experiment later showed that babies are capable of learning.
What is cognition?
All the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating
What is a schema?
A mental concept or framework that organizes and interprets information
The following example is a representation of what?
“Having a simple schema for dog, for example, a toddler may call all four-legged animals dogs.”
Assimilation (interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing schemas)
What is assimilation?
Interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing mental schemas
What is accommodation?
Adapting our current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information
What was the first country to legalize same-sex marriage?
The Netherlands
When did the Netherlands legalize same-sex marriage?
2001
According to Piaget, cognitive development consists of which four stages?
- Sensorimotor stage
- Preoperational stage
- Concrete operational stage
- Formal operational stage
During what ages is a child in the sensorimotor stage?
From birth to nearly age 2
What is the sensorimotor stage?
In Piaget’s theory, the stage during which infants know the world mostly in terms of their sensory impressions and motor activities
What is object permanence?
The awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived / seen
What is an example of object permanence?
When you show a child a toy and put a blanket over it. When the child still knows that the toy is there but that it is just not visible right now, the child shows object permanence.
At what age do children develop object permanence?
At around 8 months
Shown a numerically impossible outcome such as removing one of two objects behind a screen, lifting the screen up and then still having two objects there, 5-month-old infants do react how?
They stare longer at the impossible outcome
During which ages are children in the preoperational stage?
From about 2 until about age 6 or 7
What is conservation?
The principle that quantity (mass, volume, and number) remains the same despite changes in shape
Before what age do children lack the concept of conservation?
Before about age 6
What is the preoperational stage?
In Piaget’s theory, the stage during which a child learns to use language but does not yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete logic.
Conservation is part of which of Piaget’s stages?
Concrete operational stage
When milk is poured into a tall, narrow glass, to a young child it suddenly seems like “more” than when it was in the shorter, wider glass. This is an example of what?
Of a child not being able to understand the principle of conservation
At what ages do children show an egocentric worldview?
Preschool children (age 2 to 6 or 7)
What is egocentrism?
In Piaget’s theory, the preoperational child’s difficulty taking another’s point of view
What is theory of mind?
Capacity to understand other people by ascribing mental states to them
Children with autism spectrum disorder have difficulty understanding what?
That another’s state of mind differs from their own
At what age do children enter the concrete operational stage?
At age 7
What is the concrete operational stage?
In Piaget’s theory, the stage of cognitive development during which children gain the mental operations that enable them to think logically about concrete events
A child from about 2 to 6 or 7 years of age is in which of Piaget’s stages?
Preoperational
A child from about 7 to 11 years of age is in which of Piaget’s stages?
Concrete operational
A child from about 0 to 2 years of age is in which of Piaget’s stages?
Sensorimotor
A child from about 12 years of age is in which of Piaget’s stages?
Formal operational
What is the formal operational stage?
In Piaget’s theory, the stage of cognitive development during which people begin to think logically about abstract concepts
At what age do children enter the formal operational stage?
At around 12
What are the two key milestones achieved during the sensorimotor stage?
- Object permanence
- Stranger anxiety
What are the two key milestones achieved during the preoperational stage?
- Pretend play
- Egocentrism
What are the two key milestones achieved during the concrete operational stage?
- Conservation
- Mathematical transformations
What are the two key milestones achieved during the formal operational stage?
- Abstract Logic
- Potential for mature moral reasoning
What is scaffold?
A framework that offers children temporary support as they develop higher levels of thinking. For example, when infants are learning how to walk, they often start by holding onto the clothes or hands of an adult or older child, who guides them. The infant will continue to do this until they have enough skills and strength to walk on their own.
What did Russian developmental psychologist Lev Vygotsky study?
He studied how a child’s mind feeds on the language of social interaction
Object permanence, pretend play, conservation, and abstract logic are developmental milestones for which of Piaget’s stages, respectively?
Object permanence: Sensorimotor stage
Pretend play: Preoperational stage
Conservation: Concrete operational stage
Abstract logic: Formal operational stage
To which of Piaget’s stages do object permanence and stranger anxiety belong to?
Sensorimotor stage
To which of Piaget’s stages do abstract logic and mature moral reasoning belong to?
Formal operational stage
To which of Piaget’s stages do pretend play and egocentrism belong to?
Preoperational stage
To which of Piaget’s stages do conservation and mathematical transformations belong to?
Concrete operational stage
Label the following developmental phenomenon with the correct cognitive developmental stage: Thinking about abstract concepts, such as “freedom.”
Formal operational
Label the following developmental phenomenon with the correct cognitive developmental stage: Enjoying imaginary play (such as dress-up).
Preoperational
Label the following developmental phenomenon with the correct cognitive developmental stage: Understanding that physical properties stay the same even when objects change form.
Concrete operational
Label the following developmental phenomenon with the correct cognitive developmental stage: Having the ability to reverse math operations.
Concrete operational
Label the following developmental phenomenon with the correct cognitive developmental stage: Understanding that something is not gone for good when it disappears from sight, as when Mom “disappears” behind the shower curtain.
Sensorimotor
Label the following developmental phenomenon with the correct cognitive developmental stage: Having difficulty taking another’s point of view (as when blocking someone’s view of the TV).
Preoperational
What is autism spectrum disorder (ASD)?
A disorder that appears in childhood and is marked by significant deficiencies in communication and social interaction, and by rigidly fixated interests and repetitive behavior
What is the underlying source of ASD’s symptoms?
Poor communication among brain regions that normally work together to let us take another’s viewpoint
What is considered to be the most damaging medical hoax of the last 100 years?
That based on a fraudulent study in 1998 it was said that childhood vaccinations cause ASD
Who was the first person ever to receive a diagnosis of “autism”?
Donald Gray Triplett
When was the first person ever (Donald Gray Triplett) diagnosed with autism?
In 1943
ASD afflicts about how many boys for every girl?
About three boys for every girl
What is a potential treatment for ASD?
Treatment with the oxytocin hormone
What is oxytocin?
A hormone that promotes social bonding
What does theory of mind have to do with autism spectrum disorder?
Theory of mind focuses on our ability to understand our own and others’ mental states. Those with autism spectrum disorder struggle with this ability.
At what age do infants develop stranger anxiety?
After about 8 months
What is stranger anxiety?
The fear of strangers that infants commonly display
What is attachment?
An emotional tie with another person; shown in young children by their seeking closeness to their caregiver and showing distress on separation
What was the setup of Harlow’s monkey experiment?
They created two artificial mothers. One was a bare wire cylinder with a wooden head and an attached feeding bottle, the other a cylinder wrapped with terry cloth.
Why did Harlow’s monkey experiment surprise psychologists of the time?
Because it showed that attachment is not necessarily linked to nourishment as thought but rather to touch and comfort. The monkey preferred contact with the comfortable cloth mother, even while feeding from the wire nourishing mother.
What is imprinting?
The process by which certain animals form strong attachments during early life
What are three things that make a child become attached?
1) Touch
2) Offering a safe haven through words
3) Familiarity
What distinguishes imprinting from attachment?
Attachment is the normal process by which we form emotional ties with important others. Imprinting occurs only in certain animals that have a critical period very early in their development during which they must form their attachments, and they do so in an inflexible manner.
What is the strange situation experiment?
It’s an experiment where mother-infant pairs are observed at home during their first six months. Later the 1-year-old infant is observed in a strange situation (usually laboratory playroom) with and without their mothers.
Who designed the strange situation experiment?
Mary Ainsworth
What has the strange situation experiment shown?
That about 60 percent of infants and young children display secure attachment
Insecure attachment is marked by what?
By anxiety or avoidance of trusting relationships
In the strange situation experiment, the mother leaves and the infant starts crying loudly and remains upset or seems indifferent to her departure. This is a sign of what?
Insecure attachment
What kind of mothers have babies with secure attachments?
Responsive mothers (those who notice what their babies were doing and responded appropriately)
What kind of mothers have babies with insecure attachment?
Insensitive, unresponsive mothers (those who attended to their babies when they felt like it doing so but ignored them at other times)
What is temperament?
A person’s characteristic emotional reactivity and intensity
How does a father’s love and acceptance compare with a mother’s when it comes to predicting offspring health and well-being (according to 100 studies worldwide)?
A father’s love and acceptance is comparable with a mother’s love
What are the benefits of couples that share housework and child care?
They are happier in their relationships and less divorce prone
Girls with involved fathers are less likely to do what later on?
They are less likely to engage in risky sexual behavior or to befriend those who do
At what age does a child’s anxiety over separation from parents peak?
At around 13 months
Erik Erikson attributed basic trust to what?
To early parenting
What is basic trust (according to Erik Erikson)?
A sense that the world is predictable and trustworthy
When and how is basic trust formed in a child?
It is said to be formed during infancy by appropriate experiences with responsive caregivers
What are the two forms of insecure attachment?
1) Anxious attachment
2) Avoidant attachment
What is anxious attachment?
A type of insecure attachment, in which people constantly crave acceptance but remain alert to signs of possible rejection
What is avoidant attachment?
A type of insecure attachment, in which people experience discomfort getting close to others and use avoidant strategies to maintain distance from others
What effect does anxious attachment have on romantic relationships?
It creates constant concern over rejection, leading people to cling to their partners
What effect does avoidant attachment have on romantic relationships?
It decreases commitment and increases conflict
Having decided that economic growth for his impoverished country required more human capital, Romania’s Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu did what during the 1970s and 1980s?
He outlawed contraception, forbade abortion, and taxed families with fewer than five children
Affluent children are at elevated risk for what?
Substance abuse, eating disorders, anxiety, and depression
What brain chemical calms aggressive impulses?
Serotonin
Parenting styles can be described as a combination of which two traits?
1) How responsive they are
2) How demanding they are
What are the four parenting styles (according to Baumrind and Steinberg)?
1) Authoritarian
2) Permissive
3) Negligent
4) Authoritative
What are authoritarian parents?
They are coercive, impose rules, and expect obedience
What are permissive parents?
They are unrestraining, make few demands, set few limits, and use little punishment
What are negligent parents?
They are uninvolved, careless, inattentive, neither demanding nor responsive, and do not seek a close relationship with their children
What are authoritative parents?
They are confrontative, demanding and responsive, and exert control by setting rules. But, especially with older children, they encourage open discussion and allow exceptions
What is a child’s outcome after having been raised by authoritarian parents?
The child has less social skills and self-esteem, and a brain that overreacts when they make mistakes
What is a child’s outcome after having been raised by permissive parents?
The child is more aggressive and immature
What is a child’s outcome after having been raised by negligent parents?
The child has poor academic and social outcomes
What is a child’s outcome after having been raised by authoritative parents?
The child has high self-esteem, self-reliance, self-regulation, and social competence
The four parenting styles may be described as “too hard, too soft, too uncaring, and just right.” Which parenting style goes with each of these descriptions?
- Too hard: Authoritarian
- Too soft: Permissive
- Too uncaring: Negligent
- Just right: Authoritative
By age eight, how many US children get diagnosed with ASD?
1 in 68 US children
Infants differing attachment styles reflect which two things?
Their temperament and the responsiveness of their parents (or child-care providers)
What are some consequences of extreme trauma in childhood?
Altered brain, affected stress response, and epigenetic marks
What are epigenetic marks
Changes to one’s DNA
What is another word for authoritarian (parenting style)?
coercive
What is another word for permissive (parenting style)?
unrestraining
What is another word for negligent (parenting style)?
uninvolved
What is another word for authoritative (parenting style)?
confrontive
Stroke a newborn’s cheek and the infant will root for a
nipple. This illustrates:
a. a reflex.
b. nurture.
c. a preference.
d. continuity.
a
Between ages 3 and 6, the human brain experiences the greatest growth in the ____________ lobes, which enable rational planning and aid memory.
frontal
Which of the following is true of motor-skill development?
a. It is determined solely by genetic factors.
b. The sequence, but not the timing, is universal.
c. The timing, but not the sequence, is universal.
d. It is determined solely by environmental factors.
b
Why can’t we consciously recall learning to walk?
We consciously recall little from before age 4, in part because major brain areas have not yet matured
Use Piaget’s first three stages of cognitive development to explain why young children are not just miniature adults in the way they think.
Infants in Piaget’s sensorimotor stage tend to be focused only on their own perceptions of the world and may be unaware that objects continue to exist when unseen.
A child in the preoperational stage is still egocentric and incapable of appreciating simple logic, such as the reversibility of operations.
A preteen in the concrete operational stage is beginning to think logically about concrete events but not about abstract concepts.
Although Piaget’s stage theory continues to inform our understanding of children’s thinking, many researchers believe that
a. Piaget’s stages begin earlier and development is more continuous than he realized.
b. children do not progress as rapidly as Piaget predicted.
c. few children progress to the concrete operational stage.
d. there is no way of testing much of Piaget’s theoretical work.
a
An 8-month-old infant who reacts to a new babysitter by crying and clinging to his father’s shoulder is showing ____________________________.
Stranger anxiety
In a series of experiments, the Harlows found that monkeys raised with artificial mothers tended, when afraid, to cling to their cloth mother, rather than to a wire mother holding the feeding bottle. Why was this finding important?
Before these studies, many psychologists believed that infants simply became attached to those who nourished them
What is adolescence
The transition period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty to independence.
Adolescence begins with what?
Puberty
What is puberty?
The period of sexual maturation, during which a person becomes capable of reproducing
What is myelin?
Fatty tissue that forms around axons
What does myelin do?
It speeds neurotransmission and enables better communication with other brain regions
What development explains teens’ occasional impulsiveness, risky behaviors, and emotional storms— slamming doors and turning up the music
The hormonal surge and limbic system development during puberty
Teens find __________ more exciting than adults do.
Rewards
Frontal lobes continue maturing until what age?
About 25
Why were death penalties for 16- and 17-year-olds declared unconstitutional?
Because teen’s brains are immature (frontal lobes aren’t properly matured yet)
What are the three basic levels of moral thinking according to Kohlberg?
1) Preconventional
2) Conventional
3) Postconventional
What are characteristics of Kohlberg’s preconventional morality level?
Self-interest; obey rules to avoid punishment or gain concrete rewards.
What are characteristics of Kohlberg’s conventional morality level?
Uphold laws and rules to gain social approval or maintain social order.
What are characteristics of Kohlberg’s postconventional morality level?
Actions reflect belief in basic rights and self-defined ethical principles.
What morality level are you in before the age of 9?
Preconventional morality
What morality level are you in early adolescence?
Conventional morality
What morality level are you in adolescence and beyond?
Postconventional morality
Humans in the preconventional morality level are what ages?
Younger than 9
Humans in the conventional morality level are what ages?
Early adolescence
Humans in the postconventional morality level are what ages?
adolescence and beyond
“If you save your loved one, you’ll be a hero.” is an example of which morality level?
Preconventional
“If you steal the medicine, everyone will think you’re a criminal.” is an example of which morality level?
Conventional
“People have a right to live.” is an example of which morality level?
Postconventional
According to Kohlberg, _______________ morality focuses on self- interest, ________________ morality focuses on self-defined ethical principles, and __________________ morality focuses on upholding laws and social rules.
Preconventional; Postconventional; Conventional
How has Kohlberg’s theory of moral reasoning been criticized?
Kohlberg’s work reflected an individualist worldview, so his theory is less culturally universal than he supposed
What was Walter Mischell’s experiment (one of psychology’s most famous experiments)?
He gave 4-year-olds a choice between one marshmallow now, or two marshmallows when he returned a few minutes later
What was the result of Walter Mischell’s famous experiment?
Children that delayed gratification of the marshmallow went on to have higher college completion rates and incomes, and less often suffered from addiction
What are Erikson’s 8 stages of psychosocial development?
1) Infancy
2) Toddlerhood
3) Preschool
4) Elementary school
5) Adolescence
6) Young adulthood
7) Middle adulthood
8) Late adulthood
At what age are humans typically in Erikson’s infancy stage?
Up to 1 year
At what age are humans typically in Erikson’s toddlerhood stage?
1 to 3 years
At what age are humans typically in Erikson’s preschool stage?
3 to 6 years
At what age are humans typically in Erikson’s elementary school stage?
6 years to puberty
At what age are humans typically in Erikson’s adolescence stage?
Teen years into 20s
At what age are humans typically in Erikson’s young adulthood stage?
20s to early 40s
At what age are humans typically in Erikson’s middle adulthood stage?
40s to 60s
At what age are humans typically in Erikson’s late adulthood stage?
late 60s and up
What is the main issue of Erikson’s infancy stage?
Trust vs. mistrust
What is the main issue of Erikson’s toddlerhood stage?
Autonomy vs. shame and doubt
What is the main issue of Erikson’s preschool stage?
Initiative vs. guilt
What is the main issue of Erikson’s elementary school stage?
Competence vs. inferiority
What is the main issue of Erikson’s adolescence stage?
Identity vs. role confusion
What is the main issue of Erikson’s young adulthood stage?
Intimacy vs. isolation
What is the main issue of Erikson’s middle adulthood stage?
Generativity vs. stagnation
What is the main issue of Erikson’s late adulthood stage?
Integrity vs. despair
What is identity?
Our sense of self
According to Erikson, the adolescent’s task is what?
To solidify a sense of self (identity) by testing and integrating various roles
What is social identity?
The “we” aspect of our self-concept; the part of our answer to “Who am I?” that comes from our group memberships.
What is intimacy in Erikson’s theory?
The ability to form close, loving relationships
According to Erikson, what is the primary developmental task in young adulthood?
To form close, loving relationships (intimacy)
What is the selection effect, and how might it affect a teen’s decision to join sports teams at school?
Adolescents tend to select similar groups as others and to sort themselves into like-minded groups. For an athletic teen, this could lead to finding other athletic teens and joining school teams together.
What is emerging adulthood?
A period from about age 18 to mid-twenties, when many in Western cultures are no longer adolescents but have not yet achieved full independence as adults
What was the average time in years between a woman’s first menstrual period (menarche) and marriage in the 1890s?
7 years
What was the average time in years between a woman’s first menstrual period (menarche) and marriage in 2006?
14 years
Match the psychosocial development stage (I–VIII) with the issue that Erikson believed we wrestle with at that stage (a–h):
I. Infancy
a. Generativity vs. stagnation
II. Toddlerhood
b. Integrity vs. despair
III. Preschool
c. Initiative vs. guilt
IV. Elementary school
d. Intimacy vs. isolation
V. Adolescence
e. Identity vs. role confusion
VI. Young adulthood
f. Competence vs. inferiority
VII. Middle adulthood
g. Trust vs. mistrust
VIII. Late adulthood
h. Autonomy vs. shame and doubt
I. g.
II. h.
III. c.
IV. f.
V. e.
VI. d.
VII. a.
VIII. b.
How is adolescence defined?
It is the transition period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty to social independence
What effect does early maturation (puberty) have on boys and girls, respectively?
Early maturation benefits boys (though with risks), whereas girls tend to experience greater risk from early maturation
What are the physical brain changes during adolescence?
The brain’s frontal lobes mature and myelin growth increases
What does frontal lobe and myelin growth enable?
Improved judgement, impulse control, and long-term planning
How do parental and peer influences change during adolescence?
Parental influence decreases, while peer influence increases
Adolescence is marked by the onset of
a. an identity crisis.
b. puberty.
c. moral reasoning.
d. parent-child conflict.
b
According to Piaget, a person who can think logically about abstractions is in the _______________ stage.
formal operational
In Erikson’s stages, the primary task during adolescence is
a. attaining formal operations.
b. forging an identity.
c. developing a sense of intimacy with another person.
d. living independent of parents.
b
Some developmental psychologists refer to the period that occurs in some Western cultures from age 18 to the mid- twenties and beyond (up to the time of full adult independence) as __________________________.
emerging adulthood
What is menopause?
The time of natural cessation of menstruation (also refers to the biological changes a woman experiences as her ability to reproduce declines)
At what age does menopause occur?
Around age 50
Why do older people constantly ask younger people “Don’t you need better light for reading?”?
Because a 65-year-old needs three times as much light (retina receives one-third as much light) as a 20-year-old
Why do old people suffer fewer short-term ailments such as the cold or the common flu?
Because they have a lifetime’s accumulation of antibodies
What is neurogenesis?
The birth of new nerve cells
What is the reminiscence bump?
The fact that old people remember events primarily from their teens or twenties
How does the number of words recognized and number of words recalled compare between young and old people, respectively?
Old and young people are approximately equally good at recognizing words but old people are significantly worse at recalling words compared to young people
What is a better predictor of memory and intelligence than age?
Proximity to death
What is terminal decline?
The decline in cognitive abilities that occurs a couple of years before someone’s death
What is a cross-sectional study?
Research that compares people of different ages at the same point in time
What is a longitudinal study?
Research that follows and retests the same people over time
What is the social clock?
The culturally preferred timing of social events such as marriage, parenthood, and retirement
The trigger of a “midlife crisis” is not age but rather what?
It is a major event that triggers a life crisis in middle-aged adults
What effects does living together before marriage have on the success of the marriage?
They are more likely to divorce and have more marital dysfunction
What is the one indicator of marital success according to John Gottman?
At least a five-to-one ratio of positive to negative interactions
Freud defined the healthy adult as one who is able to ________ and to _________.
love; work
How is the amygdala of older people compared to younger ones?
The amygdala is less responsive to negative events at an older age
What are some of the most significant challenges of growing old?
Decline of muscular strength, reaction times, stamina, sensory keenness, cardiac output, cognition, and immune system
What are some of the most significant rewards of growing old?
Positive feelings tend to grow, negative emotions subside, and anger, stress, worry, and social-relationship problems decrease
By age 65, a person would be most likely to experience a
cognitive decline in the ability to
a. recall and list all the important terms and concepts in a chapter.
b. select the correct definition in a multiple-choice question.
c. recall their own birthdate.
d. practice a well-learned skill, such as knitting.
a
How do cross-sectional and longitudinal studies differ?
Cross-sectional studies compare people of different ages at one point in time, while longitudinal studies restudy and retest the same people over a long period of time
Freud defined the healthy adult as one who is able to love and work. Erikson agreed, observing that the adult struggles to attain intimacy and __________________.
generativity
Contrary to what many people assume,
a. older people are significantly less happy than adolescents are.
b. we become less happy as we move from our teen years into midlife.
c. positive feelings tend to grow after midlife.
d. those whose children have recently left home—the empty nesters—have the lowest level of happiness of all groups.
c
