Chapter 5 - Developing through the life span

Question 1

What does development psychology examine, and what three major issues does it focus on?

Answer 1

Development psychology examines the physical, cognitive, and social change throughout the lifespan, and the three major issues it focuses on are nature and nurture, continuity and stages, and stability and change.

Question 2

Define a Zygote.

Answer 2

A zygote is a fertilized egg; it enters a 2-week period developing into an embryo.

Question 3

Define an embryo.

Answer 3

the developing human organism after the two-week to the second month - it’s when the heartbeat starts and when limbs and body parts begin to form.

Question 4

When does a fetus begin to form?

Answer 4

A fetus begins to form at around nine-weeks to being born.

Question 5

Developmental researchers who emphasize learning and experience are supporting ______ ; those who emphasize biological maturation are supporting ______.

Answer 5

Continuity and stages

Question 6

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 ______.

Answer 6

Zygote, fetus, and embryo.

Question 7

What is a teratogen? and what does it do?

Answer 7

A teratogen is a chemical or virus that can cause harm to the embryo or fetus during prenatal development.

Question 8

What is fetal alcohol syndrome, and what are the side affects?

Answer 8

Fetal alcohol syndrome is an abnormality in children’s physical and cognitive traits. It is caused when a mother drinks heavily during her pregnancy. Signs in severe cases include a small, out-of-proportion head and abnormal facial features.

Question 9

What is Habituation, and what is an example?

Answer 9

Habituation is a decrease in responding to repeated stimulation. For example, when children receive a continuous stimulus, their interest begins to fade.

Question 10

Infants’ ____ to repeated stimulation helps developmental psychologists study what they can learn and remember.

Answer 10

Habituation

Question 11

Chemicals that the placenta isn’t able to screen out that can harm an embryo or fetus are called ____.

Answer 11

teratogen

Question 12

The biological growth process, called ____ , explains why most children begin walking by about 12 to 15 months.

Answer 12

Maturation

Question 13

Define cognition.

Answer 13

Cognition is all the mental processes: thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating.

Question 14

What is a schema, and give an example.

Answer 14

A schema is a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information. For example, people had a schema for marriages as a male and female uniting with one another, now same-sex marriage is normal. ( a mental mold of how we view things from our experiences)

Question 15

Define assimilation and how it relates to schemas.

Answer 15

Assimilation is how we interpret our new experiences in terms of our existing schemas. An example would be when a child sees a baseball for the first time and associates it with other balls.

Question 16

Define accommodation. Give an example.

Answer 16

Accommodation is the adaptation of our current schemas to incorporate new information. E.g. A child that understands a four-legged creature is a dog.

Question 17

What’re Piaget’s four major stages in cognitive development?

Answer 17

Stage 1 - The sensorimotor stage
Stage 2 - The preoperational stage
Stage 3 - The concrete operational stage
Stage 4 - The formal operational stage

Question 18

What is the sensorimotor stage?

Answer 18

The sensorimotor stage is from birth to nearly two; babies take in information through their senses and actions: looking, hearing, touching, mouthing, and grasping.

Question 19

What is object permanence, and what is an example?

Answer 19

Object permanence is the awareness that things exist, even when they aren’t visible. For example, if you hide a toy in front of a baby, it will search for it for a few seconds because the baby “knows” it’s there - object permanence forms at around eight months old.

Question 20

What is the preoperational stage in cognitive development?

Answer 20

The preoperational stage occurs around 2 to seven years old; children can represent things with words and images; however, they are still too young to perform mental operations.

Question 21

What is an example of a children’s conservation?

Answer 21

Conservation is the principle that quantity and volume remain the same, even if there are changes in shape and form.

Question 22

What is egocentrism?

Answer 22

Looking at things a particular way and having difficulties viewing them another way - preschool children are egocentric.

Question 23

What is the concrete operation stage?

Answer 23

At around seven to eleven years old, children enter the concrete operation stage, where they can solve problems and think about ideas logically.

Question 24

What is the formal operational stage in cognitive development.

Answer 24

By age twelve, kids/teens can reasonably think about abstract concepts and have the potential for mature moral reasoning.

Question 25

What is Vygotsky’s theory of scaffolding?

Answer 25

By giving your child the steps to achieve higher levels of thinking.

Question 26

What does theory of mind have to do with autism spectrum disorder?

Answer 26

Theory of mind focuses on our ability to understand our own and other persons mind; whereas an autistic person has a hard time with this ability.

Question 27

What’s the difference of attachment and imprinting?

Answer 27

Attachment is the normal process of creating emotional ties with families. In an inflexible matter, imprinting happens (only for some animals) at an early stage of their development.

Question 28

What is the critical period? What’s an example?

Answer 28

The critical period is the optimal period early in life when an organism is exposed to certain stimuli or experiences that produces normal development. A duckling would be the best example; after hatching, it is more attracted to the first thing it sees because it’s in the critical period.

Question 29

What’re the four main parenting styles?

Answer 29

Authoritarian, permissive, negligent, authoritative.

Question 30

What type of parenting is authoritarian?

Answer 30

imposing rules and expecting obedience

Question 31

What type of parenting is permissive?

Answer 31

The parenting is laid back; they make few demands, set few limits, and use little punishment.

Question 32

What type of parenting is negligent parenting?

Answer 32

The parents are uninvolved, neither demanding nor responsive.

Question 33

What type of parenting is authoritative parenting?

Answer 33

The parents are confronting; they set rules, are demanding and responsive, but are open to discussions and allow exceptions.

Question 34

An eight-month baby clinging to its parent and showing restraint toward a new person is a perfect example of ______ _______.

Answer 34

Stranger anxiety

Question 35

As teens mature, which part of their brains continues to develop?

Answer 35

frontal lobes

Question 36

What happens to the teenage brain as it develops?

Answer 36

The frontal lobes grow, brain cells increase their connections, selective pruning removes unused neurons and connections, and the myelin growth enables better communication with other brain regions.

Question 37

What happens to the teenage brain as it develops?

Answer 37

The frontal lobes grow, brain cells increase their connections, selective pruning removes unused neurons and connections, and the myelin growth enables better communication with other brain regions.

Question 38

According to Kohlberg, _______ morality focuses on self-interest, _______ morality focuses on self-defined ethical principles, and ______ morality focuses on upholding laws and social rules.

Answer 38

preconventional; postconventional; conventional.

Question 39

What is an example of identity, and social identity?

Answer 39

Identity is the sense of one’s self; Social identity is a self-concept that comes from group memberships.

Question 40

Healthy ____ _____ is followed by a capacity to build close relationships

Answer 40

identity formation

Question 41

What ages in life do westernized cultures emerge into adulthood?

Answer 41

From 18 to the mid-twenties, this is the stage in life when adolescence is no longer in the picture, but they are not yet at the stage of being a full adult.

Question 42

Adolescence is marked by the onset of _____.

Answer 42

puberty

Question 43

In Erikson’s stages, the primary task during adolescence is _______.

Answer 43

forming an identity

Question 44

Some developmental psychologists refer to the period that occurs in some western cultures from age 18 to the mid-20s and beyond as ______ _______.

Answer 44

emerging adulthood

Question 45

According to Piaget, a person who can think logically about abstractions is in the ____ _____ stage.

Answer 45

formal operations stage

Question 46

What type of physical developments does the early adulthood offer?

Answer 46

Muscular strength, reaction time, sensory keenness, and cardiac output peak is in the mid twenties.

Question 47

What happens to the physical development during middle adulthood?

Answer 47

Physical decline is a gradual, gradual decline in fertility. Menopause begins at around age 50, and for males, many things start to decline: sperm count, testosterone levels, erections, and ejaculation speed.

Question 48

What is the life expectancy worldwide?

Answer 48

age 71

Question 49

What can slow aging?

Answer 49

Exercise - it can slow aging and improve brain cell development and neural connections.

Question 50

What are some physical changes in late adulthood?

Answer 50

Telomere tips shorten, leading to aging, the immune system weakens, neural lag occurs, and stimulus traits diminish.

Question 51

Early adulthood is peak time for ______ and ______.

Answer 51

learning and memory

Question 52

What effects does aging have on memory in middle adulthood?

Answer 52

Greater decline in the ability to recall rather than recognize the memory.

Question 53

What are some causes of neurocognitive disorders? and what is it related to?

Answer 53

Alcohol abuse, a series of strokes, basically any damage to the brain. It is related to Alzheimer’s disease, and neurocognitive disorders were formerly called dementia for older adults.

Question 54

What is alzheimer’s disease? and when is it often onset?

Answer 54

Alzheimer’s disease is a neurocognitive disorder marked by neural plaques. It often occurs after age 80.

Question 55

What’re some of adulthood’s commitments?

Answer 55

Love - bonding, commitment, intimacy, and having a job that fits our interests.

Question 56

Freud defined the healthy adult as one who is able to ______ and to _______.

Answer 56

love, and work.