Chapter 4: human development Flashcards
the Romanian Adoption Project to study the progress of adopted Romanian children in British Columbia
- The developmental problems encountered included a refusal to eat solid food, while other children did not seem to know when to stop eating as they had never been given more than they could eat at a single meal before.
- longer than usual to develop basic social skills
- indiscriminately friendly behaviour toward strangers
accommodation
one of two ways of acquiring knowledge, defined by Piaget as the alteration of pre-existing mental frameworks to take in new information.
allele
variation of a gene.
assimilation
one of two ways of acquiring knowledge, defined by Piaget as the inclusion of new information or experiences into pre-existing schemes.
attachment
a significant emotional connection to another person, such as a baby to a primary caregiver.
cellular clock theory
theory suggesting that we age because our cells have built-in limits on their ability to reproduce.
cephalocaudal pattern
a pattern in which growth and development proceed from top to bottom.
chromosomes
strands of DNA; each human being has 46 chromosomes, distributed in pairs.
codominance
in a heterozygous combination of alleles, both traits are expressed in the offspring.
cognitive development
changes in thinking that occur over the course of time.
cohort-sequential design
blended cross-sectional and longitudinal research, designed to look at how individuals from different age groups compare to one another and to follow them over time.
concrete operational stage
Piagetian stage during which children are able to talk about complex relationships, such as categorization and cause and effect, but are still limited to understanding ideas in terms of real-world relationships.
conservation
the realization that physical properties don’t change even when the appearance does
critical periods
points in development when an organism is extremely sensitive to environmental input, making it easier for the organism to acquire certain brain functions and behaviours.
cross-sectional design
a research approach that compares groups of different-aged people to one another.
deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)
molecules in which genetic information is enclosed.
developmental psychology
the study of changes in behaviour and mental processes over time and the factors that influence the course of those constancies and changes.
discrete trait
a trait that results as the product of a single gene pairing.
dominant trait
a trait that is expressed in a phenotype, no matter whether the genotype is homozygous or heterozygous for the trait.
egocentrism
flaws in children’s reasoning based on their inability to take another person’s perspective.
epigenetic
changes in gene expression that are independent of the DNA sequence of the gene.
formal operational stage
Piaget’s final stage of cognitive development; children become capable of reasoning and hypothetical thinking
free-radical theory
theory suggesting we age because special negatively-charged oxygen molecules become more prevalent in our body as we get older, destabilizing cellular structures and causing the effects of aging.
genotype
a person’s genetic inheritance.
habituation
the process of habituating, in which individuals pay less attention to a stimulus after it is presented to them over and over again.
heterozygous
having parents contribute two different alleles to offspring.
homozygous
having both parents contribute the same genetic material for a particular trait.
information-processing theory
a developmental theory focusing on how children learn, remember, organize, and use information from their environment.
longitudinal design
a research approach that follows the same people over a period of time by administering the same tasks or questionnaires and seeing how their responses change.
maturation
the unfolding of development in a particular sequence and time frame.
menopause
series of changes in hormonal function occurring in women during their 50s, which lead to the end of the menstrual cycle and reproductive capabilities.
miscarriage
discharge of the fetus from the uterus before it is able to function on its own.
myelination
development of fatty deposits on neurons that allow electric impulses to pass through neurons more efficiently.
object permanence
an infant’s realization that objects continue to exist even when they are outside of immediate sensory awareness.
operations
Piagetian description of children’s ability to hold an idea in their mind and mentally manipulate it.
phenotype
the observable manifestation of a person’s genetic inheritance.
placenta
a nutrient-rich structure that serves to feed the developing fetus.
polygenic trait
a trait that manifests as the result of the contributions of multiple genes.
prenatal period
the period of development from conception to birth.
preoperational stage
according to Piaget, a developmental stage during which children begin to develop ideas of objects in the external world and the ability to work with them in their mind.
primary sex characteristics
changes in body structure that occur during puberty that have to do specifically with the reproductive system, including the growth of the testes and the ovaries.
proximodistal pattern
a pattern in which growth and development proceed from the centre to the extremities.
recessive trait
a trait that is only expressed if a person carries the same two genetic alleles (e.g., is homozygous for the trait).
reciprocal socialization
the transactional relationship between parent and child.
scaffolding
developmental adjustments that adults make to give children the help that they need, but not so much that they fail to move forward.
scheme
Piaget’s proposed mental structures or frameworks for understanding or thinking about the world.
secondary sex characteristics
changes that occur during puberty and that differ according to gender, but aren’t directly related to sex.
stage
a distinct developmental phase in which organisms behave, think, or respond in a particular way that is qualitatively different from the way they responded before.
synapses
transmission points between neurons.
synaptic pruning
developmental reduction of neuronal connections, allowing stronger connections to flourish.
temperament
a biologically-based tendency to respond to certain situations in similar ways throughout a person’s lifetime.
teratogens
any environmental agent that causes damage during gestation.
theory of mind
an awareness of one’s own mental states and the mental states of others.
violation-of-expectation
an experimental approach capitalizing on infants’ and toddlers’ heightened reactions to an unexpected event.
wear-and-tear theory
theory suggesting we age because use of our body wears it out.
zone of proximal development
the gap between what a child could accomplish alone and what the child can accomplish with help from others.
zygote
a single cell resulting from successful fertilization of the egg by sperm.
Cross sectional design advantages
- Quick, easy, and straightforward
- Convenient for both researchers and participants
- Yields information about age differences
Cross sectional design disadvantages
•Cohort effects are difficult to separate from age effect •Does not explain how or when changes may have occurred—measures behaviours at only a single point in time
longitudinal design advantages
- Gives reasonably reliable information about age changes
- Gives information about the stability or instability of traits
- Gives information about the effects of early experiences
longitudinal design disadvantages
- Requires considerable time and money
- Many participants drop out over the course of study •Cohort effects are not controlled as all participants come from the same cohort
Some diseases that exert a teratogenic effect
syphilis, genital herpes, and AIDS
Smoking tobacco at any point in the pregnancy increases what?
he likelihood of a miscarriage, the baby being born with low birth weight, increased risk for cleft lip and palate, or premature birth
Exposure to alcohol affects what?
prenatal development at any point in pregnancy, but especially when brain growth is most rapid early in gestation.
how does alcohol interfere with development
interferes with the production of neurons and prevents neurons from migrating to where they are needed to form neural networks in the brain. As well, the oxygen required to metabolize alcohol uses oxygen required for cell growth.
drinking alcohol during pregnancy causes what?
it can result in fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD), a preventable lifelong disability involving a range of physical, mental, and behavioural outcomes
Reversibility
the ability of a child to mentally undo an action (e.g., seeing that 12345 can be reversed to 54321)
Decentration
the ability to use more than one property to analyze a problem
