Chapter 5 - Developing Through The Life Span Flashcards
Developmental Psych
examines our physical, cognitive, and social development across the life span and focuses on three main issues: nature and nurture, continuity and stages, and stability and change.
Nature and Nurture
how does our genetic inheritance (nature) interact with our experiences (nurture) to influence our development?
Continuity and stages
researchers who see experience and learning as of great importance, see development as a slow continuous shaping process. Those who emphasize biological maturation see development as a sequence of genetically predisposed stages (the assumption that everyone goes through the same stages, in the same order, at the same time.
stability and change
what changes and what stays the same throughout the life span?
- temperament is one of the things that stays the same.
- social attitudes are more likely to change.
changes always happen. life requires both stability and change. stability provides our identity.
conception
when a female is born she is born with all her immature eggs. with a male, they start producing sperm once they are born. a mature egg is released and the sperm fight to connect with it. the one that wins bonds to the egg to make one cell.
Zygote
the fertilized egg; it enters a 2 week period of rapid cell division and develops into an embryo. there are 100 identical cells in the first week. then cells begin to differentiate. After 10 days, the zygote attaches to the mothers uterine wall, beginning approximately 37 weeks of the closest human relationship. the zygotes inner cells become the embryo
embryo
the developing human organism from about two weeks after fertilization through the second month. many of its outer cells become the placenta. over the next 6 weeks, the embryo organs begin to form and function. the heart begins to beat.
fetus
9 weeks after conception, an embryo is now human like. in the 6th month, organs have developed enough to give the fetus a good chance at survival if born prematurely.
teratogens
viruses and drugs that can damage the embryo or fetus
fetal alcohol syndrome
lifelong physical and mental abnormalities that result from heavy drinking by the mother. alcohol leaves a chemical mark on DNA that switch genes on and off abnormally
prenatal stress
puts a child at risk for hypertension, heart disease, obesity, and psychiatric disorders
habituation
a decrease in responding with repeated stimulation. interest fades as they become familiar with something
maturation
biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behaviour, relatively uninfluenced by behaviour.
brain development
you have your most brain cells when you are born. however neural networks develop as you walk, talk and remember things. from 3 to 6, the most rapid growth is in your frontal lobe, which enable rational planning. the association areas are the last to develop (those that are linked with thinking, memory and language). Adrenal hormones form synapses and prune unused links.
motor development
the sequence of motor development is usually universal. In the US, 25% of all babies walk by 11 months, 50% a week after their 1st bday, and 90% by 15 months. genes guide motor development
back to sleep position
babies sleep on their back to reduce the risk of smothering crib death and is later associated with crawling
maturation and the rapid development of the cerebellum
create the readiness at age 1 to walk
memory
our earliest conscious memory is at 3.5 years. by 7, childhood amnesia decreases and they can remember things better. the hippocampus and fontal lobes continue to mature into adolescence
Piaget
was intrigued to study kids wrong answers. and concluded that a Childs mind is entirely different than an adults and not a mini version of it. Piaget believed that a Childs mind develops through stages. an 8 year old can understand things that a toddler can’t. intellectual progression reflects struggle to make sense of our experiences.
schema
a concept that organizes and interprets info
assimilate
interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing schemas
accommodation
adapting to our current schemas to incorporate new info
sensorimotor stage
from birth to age 2, babies take in the world through their senses and actions through looking, hearing, touching, mouthing and grasping. young infants lack object permanence
object permanence
the awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived. by 6-8 months, this is usually developed and it unfolds gradually.
pre operational stage
2-6 or 7 years old. a child learns to use language but does not yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete knowledge. They represent things with words or images. before 6 yrs old, children lack the concept of conservation
conservation
the principle that quantity stays the same despite changes in shape
egocentrism
a child has difficulty perceiving things from another’s point of view
curse of knowledge
the assumption that if we know something than others do too
theory of mind
peoples ideas of their own and others mental states - about their feelings, perceptions and thoughts, and the behaviours these might predict. as early as 7 months show some knowledge of this. 3-4.5 years realize that others may hold false beliefs
concrete operational
age 7-11. the stage of cognitive development where children gain the mental operations that enable them to think logically about concrete events. they grasp conservation and comprehend mathematical transformations
