Chapter 4- Human Development Flashcards
What is cross sectional design?
Compares groups of different aged people to one another at a single point in time
What is longitudinal design?
Studies the same group of individuals over multiple time points
Advantage and disadvantage of cross sectional design
Advantage: Easy, straightforward, convenient, and yields information about age differences
Disadvantages: assumes any changes are the result of age, cannot separate cohort effects from age effects, does not provide much explanation of how or when age-related changes may have occurred
Advantage and Disadvantage of Longitudinal Design
Advantages: observed changes are a function of time and developmental experiences
Disadvantages: takes a very long time, many participants drop out, cohort effects not controlled, expensive
What is Cohort-Sequential Design?
Combines cross-sectional and longitudinal designs. It is designed to look at both how individuals from different age groups compare to one another and to follow them over time
What is nature?
Our genetic inheritance
What is nurture?
The environment and our experiences
what is maturation?
The unfolding of development in a particular sequence and time frame
What is epigenetic?
The changes in gene expression that are independent of the DNA sequence of the gene
Critical periods
A time in development when the development of an organism is extremely sensitive to environmental input, making it easier for the organism to acquire certain brain functions and behaviours
What are genes?
Basic building blocks of our biological inheritance
What is DNA(deoxyribonucleic acid)?
Molecules in which the genetic information is enclosed
What are chromosomes?
Strands of DNA and each human has 46 chromosomes distributed in 24 pairs
What is an allele?
A variation of gene
What is homozygous?
Both parents contribute the same genetic material for a particular trait
What is heterozygous?
Parents contribute two different alleles to offspring
What is genotype?
A person’s genetic inheritance
What is phenotype?
The way in which the genes are expressed; the observed characteristics of the genes
What is a dominant trait?
A trait that is expressed in the phenotype regardless of whether the genotype is homozygous or heterozygous
What is a recessive trait?
A trait that is expressed in the phenotype only if the genotype is homozygous
What is codominance?
A phenotype expressing both traits that are coded for by a heterozygous genotype
what is germinal period?
It is the ovulation to implantation which is from 0-2 weeks
Steps:
1) Egg leaves ovary
2) Fertilized in Fallopian tube-now called zygote
3) Makes its way to uterus for implantation and growth
What is an embryo?
3-8 weeks post-conception; all the major organs develop during this time
What is a fetus?
8-40 weeks old’ rapid growth here
What is teratogens and harm done by it depends on these factors
-Teratogen is any substance including some diseases that causes damage during the prenatal period
-These factors anew dose, timing and extent of exposure, and age of the organism(zygote, embryo, or fetus)
Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) per fetal alcohol spectrum disorder(FASD)
Fetal alcohol syndrome caused by early prenatal exposure to alcohol may present serval characteristics facial features such as a short eyelid opening, a thine upper lip and a smooth philtrum( the groove between the bottom of the nose and the crease of the upper lip)
What is proximodistal?
Growth from the inside out(torso grows faster than the arms and fingers)
What is cephalocaudal?
Growth from the top down (head grows faster than the torso and feet)
What is synapses (physical development)?
Point where information is transmitted between two neurons; during development, many more connections are made between neurons than are needed.
What is synaptic pruning?
The loss of unnecessary connections between two neurons; a common event during development
What is Myelination?
The development of fatty deposits on neurons that allow electric impulses to pass through neurons more efficiently
Reflexes during physical development
Programmed reactions to certain cues that don’t require any conscious thought to perform
Rooting reflex-physical development
Touch the corner of the infant’s cheek and infant turns toward the simulation and begins to suck’ helps infant begin feeding
Grasping reflex-physical development
Press finger against infant’s palm and infant grasps finger and holds on; allows infant to hold onto caregiver for safety
Moro reflex-physical development
When infant is lying on a blanket, slap the blanket sharply on either side of the head to startle the infant and infant flights arms outward and then inward in a hugging motion’ may help infant to hold on to caregiver when support is lost
What is cognitive development
Changes in thinking that happen over time
What are the 4 theories on how babies learn
Piaget’s theory
Information processing theory
Theory of mind
Lev Vygotsky and role of sociocultural theory
Piaget’s theory —Scheme definition
Mental structures we use to understand our thinking about the world
Piaget’s theory—Assimilation definition
A way of including new information or experiences into an existing scheme
Piaget’s theory—Accommodation definition
Altering schemes to include new knowledge
Piaget’s theory—equilibrium
Balance in a mental framework
Object performance
The understanding that objects exist when they can’t be seen
Sensorimotor stage (birth to 2 years of age)
Learning through senses and motor actions
Preoperational stage ( 2-7 years)
When a child begins to develop ideas of objects in the external world and the ability to work with them in their mind
Preoperational stage—kids often get problems wrong because of:
-Egocentrism: Inability to take the perspective of another person (eg. Do you have a sister? Yes. What’s her name? Ellie. Does Ellie have a sister? No.
-Conservation: the understanding that certain properties of an object(volume and number) remain the same despite changes in the object’s outward appearance
What is concrete operational period (7-12 age)
Operations-children develop the ability to hold an idea in their minds and mental manipulate it
Children can talk about complex relationships however these discussions are limited to understanding ideas about the real world relationships
What is formal operational stage (11-12 and older)
-The final stage of Piaget’s cognitive development theory
-Children achieve ability to use hypothetical deductive reasoning and abstract thought
Information processing theory
The study of how children, learn, remember, organize and use information from their environment-a focus on what they can do
Theory of mind
An awareness of one’s own mental states and the mental states of others (most 4-5 year-olds can do)
What are two roles of adults in Lev Vygotsky- sociocultural-cultural theory
-Scaffolding->developmental adjustments that adults make to give children the help they need, but not so much that they fail to move forward.
-Zone of proximal development->the gap between what a child could accomplish alone and what a child can accomplish with the help of others
What is temperament in social and emotional development in infancy and childhood?
It is the biologically based tendencies to respond to certain situations in similar ways throughout our lifetimes
-Easy 40%—babies with easy temperaments are described as cheerful, regular in routines(eating and sleeping)&open to novelty
-Difficult 10%—babies with difficult temperaments tend to be irritable and likely to have intensely negative reactions to changes or new situations
-Slow to warm up 15%—babies are less active and responsive. They tend to withdraw in the face of change, but their withdrawal isn’t sharply negative as those with difficult temperaments
-Unique 35%—babies show unique blends of characteristics from other categories
What is attachment in social and emotional development in infancy and childhood?
A significant emotional connection to another person such as a babu to a primary caregiver
Measuring attachment-strange situation test
1) mother and baby play
2)a stranger enters and the mother leaves
3)oversee baby’s reaction
4)mother returns
5)observes baby’s reaction
6)repeat the process
What is secure (60%) attachment?
Infant is moderately upset when mom leaves and happy when she returns
What is anxious avoidant (15%) attachment?
Indifferent when mother leaves the room and when she returns
What is anxious/ambivalent/resistant (10%) attachment?
Strong reaction to mother’s absence, mixed emotions at reunion
Disorganized/disoriented(15%) attachments
Mixture of avoidant and resistant behaviours
Authoritative parental style (parental behaviour to the outcome in children)
Warm, sensitive to child’s needs, nurturing; makes reasonable demands and encourages appropriate autonomy —high self-esteem, cooperative nests, self-control, social maturity
Authoritarian parental style (parental behaviour to the outcome in children)
Cold, rejecting; makes coercive demands; frequently critical of child—low self-esteem, anxious, unhappy, often angry and aggressive
Permissive parental style (parental behaviour to the outcome in children)
Warm, accepting but overindulgent and inattentive—impulsive, disobedient, overly dependent on adults, low initiative
Uninvolved parental style (parental behaviour to the outcome in children)
Emotionally detached and depressed; little time or energy for child rearing—anxious, poor communication skills; anti-social behaviour
What is puberty and the two sex characteristics
Development of primary and secondary sex characteristics
-Primary sex characteristics is the changes in body structure that occur during puberty that have to do with the reproductive system
-Secondary sex characteristics is the changes that occur during puberty and that differ according to gender but aren’t related to sex
Kohlberg’s Stage Theory of Moral Development
—Pre-conventional
Morality centres on what you can get away with
-Reasons to steal drug( if he saves his wife, she will take care of his children)
-Reason not to steal drug (he will be caught and go to the jail)
Kohlberg’s Stage Theory of Moral Development
-Conventional
Morality centres on avoiding others’ disapproval and obeying society’s rules
-Reasons to steal drug(if he doesn’t steal the drug, people will think he’s a bad husband)
-Reasons not to steal drug(is he steals, people will think he’s a criminal, it’s against the law)
Kohlberg’s Stage Theory of Moral Development
-Post-conventional
Morality is determined by abstract ethical principles
-Reason to steal drug(the right to life is universal and takes precedence over the right to property)
-Reason to not steal drug( Laws are needed to maintain order in society; individuals can’t break laws just because they disagree with them or we will lose all social order)
Adulthood-physical development
Wrinkles
Grey, thinner hair
Vision and hearing continue to decline
Menopause
Immune system declines
Adulthood-cognitive development
Recovering information from long-term memory and ability to learn new material slows
Why do we age?
-Cellular clock theory-aging is built into our cells
-Wear-and-tear theory-the more mileage we put on our body, the quicker it wears out
-Free radical theory-we get more free radicals in our system, causing more damage and aging to our bodies
Adulthood-social and emotional development by Erikson
-Intimacy and isolation-to form intimate relationships and find love (20-30 years of age)
-Generativity and stagnation-our ability to give back to the world and provide for the future (10-65 years of age)
-Integrity and despair-our ability to face our mortality with a sense of a life well lived
Adulthood- social and emotional development by Levinson
-Early adulthood-characterized by high energy and abundance and by contradiction and stress (22-40 years of age)
-Middle adulthood-biological functioning not optimal but still sufficient for a personally satisfying and socially valuable life( 30-65 years)
