Chapter 8 Flashcards
Developmental Psychology
Branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social changes through the life-span “womb to tomb”
3 areas of focus:
Nature vs nurture
Continuity and stages
Stability and change
Nature vs Nuture
Area of focus in developmental psych
- Our biology and experiences shape who we become
Continuity and Stages
Focus of developmental psych
- Do we grow slowly and continuously (tree) or in stages (butterfly)
Stability and Change
Focus in developmental psych
- We experience both: things like temperature and emotionality are relatively stable, but we can not fully predict our future selves based on early life - our present experiences help shape our future selves
Teratrogens
substances such as drugs or viruses that slip through the placenta and damage/malform the embryo or fetus
○ Extreme stress can cause stress hormones to flood, which may be construed as a survival threat by the fetus, causing it to deliver early
Maturation
biological growth in a fixed sequence that enables orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience
Prenatal Development + newborn
○ ○ At each prenatal stage, genetic and environmental factors affect our development
- Physical development in infancy and childhood happen in generally the same order, but timing can vary
i. In the first few months, the cerebellum is the most mature part of the brain, allowing movement and sucking
Rooting reflex
an innate response in newborns - > when the cheek or mouth is touched, baby turns its head in that direction
Sucking reflex
innate response in newborns -> when roof of mouth is touched, baby automatically begins to suck; 32 weeks, preemies sometimes can’t feed
Schema
our way of viewing the world, based on concepts and our prior knowledge
○ How we use and adjust our schemas:
i. 1st, assimilation - we interpret new information in terms of our current understanding/schema
ii. 2nd, accommodation - adjust/adapt/revise our schemas to incorporate information provided by new experiences
Piaget’s Cognitive Stages Theory
Sensorimotor Stage
Pre-operational Stage
Concrete Operational Stage
Formal Operational Stage
○ Sensorimotor Stage
i. From infancy to toddlerhood (~2 years)
ii. Babies take in the world (build schema) through their senses and actions (sensory and motor)
iii. Infants develop object permanence (the awareness that an objects exists even when not visible)
Piaget Cognitive stages theory
○ Pre-operational Stage
i. From toddlerhood to early childhood (~7 years)
ii. Children pretend play and learn to use language
iii. Preschoolers are egocentric - difficulty perceiving things from another’s point of view
i. Ex: they think if they are hiding behind a corner, you don’t know that they are there; if they stand in front of the RV, they don’t realize you can’t see it; A kid asks why you are sad because they aren’t sad
iv. While egocentric, preschoolers begin to develop theory of mind (the ability to understand one’s own thoughts and emotions, and recognize those of others
v. Symbolic thinking (substitutions) occurs earlier than Piaget supposed -> children at 2.5 can’t transfer a model to real life but a 3 year old can
i. Ex: a broom is a horse, put a trashcan in a spot in a model room - identify in real room
Piaget Cognitive stages theory
○ Concrete Operational Stage
i. From early to late childhood (~7 to ~11 years)
ii. Child begins to grasp reversibility (reverse/undo actions/concepts)
i. Ex: flatten play dough can be rolled again, 2+3+5 and 5-3=2
iii. Can comprehend the mental operations of conservation (the principle that mass/volume/number stay the same despite change in container form)
Piaget Cognitive stages theory
Formal Operational Stage
i. From late childhood to adulthood
ii. Children begin to think in terms of abstract concepts and deduce consequences – theoretical stuff
iii. Piaget proposed that not all people achieve formal operational thinking
Piaget Cognitive stages theory
Lev Vygotsky’s The Social Child
○ While Piaget emphasized that a child’s mind grows through biological maturation, Vygotsky emphasized that a child’s mind grows through interaction with the social environment
i. Interactions provide temporary scaffolds (supports) enabling children to step to higher levels of learning - > zone of proximal development (ZPD) - children learn best when their social environment presents them with somethings in the sweet spot between too easy (can do themselves) and too difficult (can’t do)
ecological systems model
Bronfenbrenner suggested that a child’s development is shaped by a series of environmental factors and social influences, known as the **
Microsystem
Mesosystem
Exosystem
Macrosystem
Chronosystem
Microsystem
things that have direct contact with the individual
i. family, classmates, neighbors
Bronfenbrenner
Mesosystem
the relationships between the various groups of the microsystem
i. family microsystem and school microsystem may combine to create a supportive environment for learning
Bronfenbrenner
Exosystem
indirect factors that can influence the various microsystems
i. Dad’s workplace allows work-from-home, leaving more time to spend with child; gov’t policies shape access to healthcare
Bronfenbrenner
Macrosystem
social and cultural elements that affect a child’s development
i. Attitudes, social conditions, and cultural ideologies -> family structure, beliefs about gender roles, individualist vs collectivist society
Bronfenbrenner
Chronosystem
role of timing, the shifts and transitions at various stages of life
i. Can be predictable (school) or unpredictable (divorce); advances in phone technology has shifted how children learn and interact with peers and spend leisure time
Bronfenbrenner
attachment
(a powerful emotional tie) to their caregiver at 6-7 months
stranger anxiety
where they will greet strangers by crying and reaching for familiar caregivers - 8 months object permanence also
Psychologists Harry and Margaret Harlow
Monkeys raised for learning studies in the 1950s provided new insights regarding attachment
ii. To pit the power of a food source against the contact comfort of a blanket, the Harlow’s created two artificial mothers - a bare wire, wooden-head feeder ‘mom’ and a ‘mom’ wrapped in terry cloth
iii. The monkeys overwhelmingly liked the comfy mom
○ Contact is one piece of attachment, another is familiarity
imprinting
For goslings, ducklings, or chicks, in the hours shortly after hatching (when the first object they see is normally their mother), these animals form a rigid attachment called **
i. In 1937 Konrad Lorenz studied the attachment process with ducks. When his ‘hatchlings’ saw him, they imprinted and followed him everywhere
Temperament
an individual’s basic behavioral disposition (emotional reactivity and intensity towards people and situations); is influenced by genetics (and environment at an early age)
Adverse childhood experiences
(ACEs) - potentially traumatic events which impacts a child’s brain and health as they grow into adulthood
○ Negative experiences during childhood can have long-term or lasting negative impacts on relationships, health, and well-being throughout a person’s lifespan
‘Strange Situation’ experiments
Mary Ainsworth studied Attachment
which show that some children are securely attached and others are insecurely attached (anxious, avoidant, disorganized)
Secure attachment
children are confident when parent is visible; they become distressed when the parent leaves, and will go to the parent when the parent returns and will calm
Ainsworth
Anxious attachment
people crave acceptance but remain vigilant to signs of possible rejection. They tend to be skilled lie detectors (like poker players); they tend to cling in relationships
Ainsworth
Avoidant attachment
strong sense of independence; tend to avoid close relationships; they lack commitment and create conflict
Ainsworth
Disorganized attachment
lack trust in caregiver; crave love and belonginess, but also fear it
Ainsworth
Autism Spectrum Disorder
disorder that appears during childhood ; marked by significant deficiencies in communication and social interaction, fixated interests, and repetitive behaviors
○ Severity of the disorder is wide ranging -> some function at a high level while other struggle to use language
Diana Baumrind
parenting styles
authoritarian
permissive
negligent
authoritative
Authoritarian
impose strict rules and expect obedience, little positive affirmation; value punishment without discussion (too hard)
i. Children tend to have low self-esteem
Baumrind
Permissive
make few demands, set few rules (or rules not enforced), use little punishment (too soft)
i. Children tend to end up impulsive and egocentric
Baumrind
Negligent
inattentive; minimize investment of time, money, and effort with child (too uncaring)
i. Children tend to end up indifferent and prone to depression
Baumrind
Authoritative
set expectations and rules, but encourage discussion and allow justified exceptions (just right)
i. Children tend to be well-behaved with good self-esteem and social skills
Baumrind
Adolescence
the transition period from childhood to adulthood, beginning at puberty
○ Adolescence, as we know it, did not come about until the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when child-labor and compulsory education laws delayed the social onset of adulthood
○ The egocentric nature of childhood morphs into a heightened self-awareness during the early teen years -> teenagers feel as if they have a spotlight on them (everyone watches/notices), and reasoning is self-focused, with the notion that their experiences are wholly unique
○ Puberty follows a surge of hormones, which may intensify moods and triggers bodily changes
Pruning - teenage brain
by the end of adolescence, teenagers’ brains have fewer neural connections because those not used have decayed; but those remaining are stronger and more efficient
○ An adolescent’s brain is still a work in progress - as teens mature, the frontal lobes continue to develop
i. The continuing growth of myelin enables better communication with other brain regions -> this brings better judgement, better reasoning, increased impulse control, and long-term planning
Lawrence Kohlberg
Stages of Moral Development
Preconventional morality
Conventional morality
Post-conventional morality
Preconventional morality
( Concrete rules: focus is avoiding punishment or gaining rewards)
i. Before age 10
ii. Obedience/punishment - It’s wrong to steal/stealing is bad (no personal sense of right/wrong)
iii. Self-interest/rewards - If it leads to a reward it must be good/you’re a hero if you save her
Kohlberg
Conventional morality
(Moral Rules: focus on broader rules/ethics of society)
i. Adolescence
ii. Conformity - social rules determine what is acceptable or not
Authority (Law and order) - Moral reasoning considers societal laws
Kohlberg
Post-conventional morality
(Moral rules: choice made based on personal moral principles)
i. Adulthood (or never)
ii. Social contract - we need rules, but they are social agreements that can change if necessary
iii. Principles - we must follow our moral guidelines, which may/may not fit the law
Kohlberg
self-discipline
(the ability to control one’s impulses) - part of moral development
Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development
○ Erik Erikson contended that each stage of life has a psychosocial task that needs resolved
○ Was a Neo-Freudian who based his theory off Freud’s… but it is a life-span process focuses on social, not sexual, identity
Erikson Infancy stage
up to 1
Trust vs Mistrust
Are needs met?
Erikson Toddler stage
1-3
Autonomy vs shame and doubt
Can they do things for themselves or doubt and rely on others
Erikson Preschool stage
3-6
Initiative vs guilt
Take initiative or feel guilty for trying to be independent
Erikson Elementary stage
6 to puberty
competence vs inferiority
please in applying themselves or feel inferior or lose interest
Erikson Adolescence stage
teents to 20s
identity vs role confusion
who i am or who am i
Erikson early adulthood stage
20s to 40s
intimacy vs isolation
close relationships or alone
Erikson middle adulthood stage
40s to 60s
generativity vs stagnation
sense of meaning
Erikson late adulthood stage
60s to death
integrity vs despair
looking back, satisfaction or failure
Identity
our sense of self
James Marcia
adolescent identity
Identity diffusion
Identity foreclosure
Identity moratorium
Identity achievement
Identity diffusion
a lack of clear understanding of one’s identity, and not really working on it
marcia
Identity foreclosure
not having explored many identity options, an adolescent conforms to the identity expectations of others
marcia
Identity moratorium
(temporary halt) - the adolescent is exploring many identities and has not committed to any yet
marcia
Identity achievement
occurs in early adulthood - has committed to a sense of identity that they have chosen based on life experiences
marcia
Emerging adulthood
the period from about 18 to the mid-20s, when many in Western cultures struggle with seeking their own independence, while doing so from their parents’ home
adulthood
Adulthood spans most of one’s lifespan, and it is more difficult to generalize about adulthood stages than about early life stages
○ Muscular strength, reaction time, sensory keenness, and cardiac output are like daylight after the summer solstice - all declining quickly, but imperceptibly starting around the mid-20s
○ Aging also brings a gradual decline in fertility
i. Women tend to experience menopause within a few years of 50
ii. Men experience a drop in testosterone levels, and the effects that come along with it
○ Fluid and crystallized intelligence
○ We learned that the late-developing frontal lobes allow for growing impulsivity control in teens. Later in life, some of that impulsiveness returns as those same frontal lobes begin to atrophy (Why older people are much more blunt)
Life chances
the likelihood individuals have in sharing in the opportunities and benefits of society Ex: health, length of life, housing, education
Neurocognitive Disorders
acquired disorder marked by cognitive deficits; brain damage related to strokes, tumors, heavy drinking/smoking, Alzheimer’s, etc. formerly called dementia
Alzheimer’s
○ Deteriorating neurons that produce ACh, plaque that forms at synapse
Reading, learning, running, and lifting weights have all shown to reduce/delay symptoms
Social clock
a culture’s preferred timing for social events, such as leaving home, marriage, parenthood, and retirement
○ The dominant themes of adulthood are love and work
Freud’s View of Development
○ Freud believed that children pass through five psychosexual stages (awareness of one’s own sexuality)
○ In Freud’s view conflicts not resolved during psychosexual stages could surface as maladaptive behavior in adult years
i. At any point during the oral, anal, or phallic stages, the unresolved conflict could leave a person fixated (stalled) at that stage
Sex
the biological distinction defined as male and female
Gender
the behavioral and psychological traits associated with males and females (masculine and feminine)
Gender Identity -
our personal sense of being male, female, some combination of the two, or neither
○ Gender guides how we think about ourselves, how we interact with others, and what opportunities and constraints we face in our lives
Sexual orientation
our enduring sexual attraction towards others (either heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, or asexual)
Gender roles
specific behaviors and attitudes that a society establishes for men and women
Socialization
the interactive process through which individuals learn basic skills, values, beliefs, and behavior patterns of their society
○ Gender roles are learned through socialization
