Chapter 5 Flashcards
What three issues have engaged developmental psychologists?
Nature and nurture. What parts of development are gradual and continuous vs abruptly occurring in distinct stages. What traits persist vs what traits change with age.
What is developmental psychology?
The study of how people develop physically, cognitively, and socially across their life span.
What is a longitudinal study?
Research that follows subjects over time and retests them.
What is a cross-sectional study?
Research that compares subjects of varying ages at the same point in time.
How do researchers who emphasize experience and learning tend to characterize development?
As a gradually unfolding process.
How do researchers who emphasize biological maturation tend to characterize development?
As a series of genetically predisposed stages.
What is a stage theory?
A theory of how people develop socially, morally, psychologically, or cognitively in stages.
What is the end of history illusion?
The assumption that one won’t change very much in the future, even if they recognize how much they have changed in the past.
What is a zygote?
A fertilized egg from conception to two weeks after fertilization.
How long does it take a zygote to develop into an embryo?
2 weeks.
How does a zygote develop into an embryo?
Rapid cell division.
How many zygotes survive their first two weeks?
Less than half.
What is an embryo?
A developing human organism during the period between two weeks and eight weeks after conception.
What is a fetus?
The developing human organism from 9 weeks after conception until its birth.
What is a teratogen?
A chemical or viral agent that can harm an embryo or fetus during development.
What is fetal alcohol syndrome?
Physical and cognitive abnormalities caused by heavy drinking during pregnancy.
How do teratogens effect development?
They can leave epigenetic marks on the baby that turn genes on or off abnormally and cause developmental issues.
What is habituation?
A decreased response after prolonged exposure to something.
Chemicals that the placenta isn’t able to screen out that can harm an embryo or fetus are called
Teratogens.
Which stage theorist is known for a theory of moral development?
Lawrence Kohlberg.
Which stage theorist is known for a theory of cognitive development?
Jean Piaget.
Which stage theorist is known for a theory of psychosocial development?
Erik Erikson.
Body organs first begin to form and function during the period of the:
Embryo.
The organs are sufficiently functional to provide a good chance of surviving and thriving during the period of the:
Fetus.
What is maturation?
Biological processes of growth taking place in an orderly sequence and relatively uninfluenced by experience.
How do researchers explore infants’ mental abilities?
Using the principle of habituation to find out what infants learn and remember.
What are some innate skills and abilities of newborns?
Being oriented towards faces, recognizing their mother’s voice and smell, reflexes that help them feed, avoid pain, hang onto their caregivers and get their attention.
From ages 3-6, where is the most rapid brain growth?
In the frontal lobes.
What are the last cortical areas to develop during development?
The brain’s association areas.
What is infantile amnesia?
The tendency to forget experiences prior to age 4 as rapid neuron growth disrupts the storage of old memories and major brain areas have yet to mature.
How does the brain develop during infancy and childhood?
Neural connections become increasingly complex with age. A pruning process weakens unused connections and strengthens frequently used ones. Infantile amnesia means that people don’t usually have conscious memories of being younger than 4.
How do motor skills develop during infancy and childhood?
In a predictable sequence, although the exact timing of each event depend on culture and individual maturation.
What is assimilation?
Interpreting new experiences to fit into our pre-existing schemas.
What is accomodation?
Adapting schemes to incorporate new information (such as by refining a schema to make it less specific).
What are Piaget’s four stages of cognitive development?
Sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational.
What age range does the sensorimotor stage correspond to?
From birth to nearly age 2.
What is the sensorimotor stage?
The stage in Piaget’s development theory between birth and nearly age 2 when an infant mostly understands the world through their senses and motor actions.
When do infants begin demonstrating object permanence?
Around eight months.
What is the preoperational stage?
The stage in Piaget’s development theory between about 2 - 6 or 7 years of age when a child learns to use language but cannot perform mental operations.
What is conservation?
The principle in Piaget’s development theory that properties such as mass/volume/number remain the same despite changes in form (such as the same amount of milk being poured into a shorter or taller glass).
What is egocentrism?
In Piaget’s theory, the difficulty preoperational children have with seeing from another’s point of view.
What is the curse of knowledge?
An egocentric bias in which someone assumes other people have the same thoughts and knowledge as themselves.
What is the concrete operational stage?
The stage in Piaget’s development theory between about 7 and 11 when children are able to reason logically about concrete events, being able to, for example, understand the principle of conservation.
What is the formal operational stage?
Starting at about age 12, the stage in Piaget’s development theory when people are able to think logically about abstract concepts
What are key milestones of the sensorimotor stage?
Object permanence, stranger anxiety.
What are key milestones of the preoperational stage?
Pretend play, egocentrism.
What are key milestones of the concrete operational stage?
Conservation and mathematical transformations.
What are key milestones of the formal operational stage?
Abstract logic, potential for mature moral reasoning.
At what cognitive developmental stage does one develop object permanence?
The sensorimotor stage.
At what cognitive developmental stage does one have difficulty taking another’s point of view?
The preoperational stage.
At what cognitive developmental stage does one become able to reverse mathematical calculations?
The concrete operational stage.
At what cognitive developmental stage does one understand that physical properties stay the same even when objects change form?
The concrete operational stage.
At what cognitive developmental stage does one enjoy imaginary play?
The preoperational stage.
At what cognitive developmental stage does one understand abstract concepts like “freedom”?
The formal operational stage.
How do today’s developmental researchers differ from Piaget?
They see development as more continuous and less abrupt, and don’t place as much emphasis on formal logic. They have uncovered conceptual abilities at earlier ages than Piaget did.
What is a scaffold?
In Vygotsky’s theory, a framework provided by a mentor that supports the development of higher levels of thinking in children.