Chapter 9: Human Development Flashcards
What is Development?
Development is a series of changes
Domains of Development
- Intelligence
- Memory
- Mental
- Psychosocial
Chronological Age
The number of months or years since an individual’s birth
Developmental Age
The chronological age at which most children show a particular level oh physical or metal age.
Example. The developmental age for walking without assistance is 12 months old
Normative Investigations
Research efforts designed to describe what is characteristic of a specific age or developmental stage
Longitudinal Design
The same participants are observed repeatedly, sometimes over many years
Example. Tracking the same individual over time
Cross-sectional Design
Groups of participants of different chronological ages are observed and compared at a given time
Example. Comparing babies of different ages
Advantages Of Longitudinal Design
1) Researchers can identify individual differences
2) Researchers can examine relationships early and later events and behaviours
Disadvantages of Longitudinal Design
1) Time Consuming & Costly
2) Data are easily lost (high drop-out rate)
3) Data might be contaminated
3 Ways Data Might Be Contaminated In Longitudinal Design
1) Biased Sampling
2) Practice Effects
3) Cohort Effects
Cohort
A group of people who develop in the same time period and are influenced by particular cultural and historical conditions
Cohort Effect
Are effects of cultural-historical change on the accuracy of findings
Advantages Of Cross-Sectional Design
1) Takes less time to complete
2) Less costly
3) Not subject to practice effects
Disadvantages Of Cross-Sectional Design
1) Cannot tell if important individual differences exist
2) Cannot tell if an early event has an impact on a later event
3) Cohort Effects (especially comparing two cohorts with a big age difference)
What age group does performance decline for speed of processing, working memory, and long-term memory?
Decreases the older you get
Fluid Intelligence
Your ability to process new information, learn and solve problems
Crystallized Intelligence
Is your stored knowledge, accumulated over the years
A) Which Intelligence increases with age? B) and which Intelligence decreases after early adulthood?
A) Crystallized
B) Fluid
Aging does NOT affect what types of memory?
-Semantic Memory (general knowledge)
-Episodic Memory (personal events)
Is Free Recall or Recognition affected by age?
Free Recall
Age affects which type of memory more significantly?
Age affects NEW MEMORY greater than it affects REMOTE MEMORY
Transience
The tendency to lose access to information across time
Absent-Mindedness
Failure to remember information because of insufficient attention
Misattribution
Remembering a fact correctly but attributing it to an incorrect source or context
Suggestibility
The tendency to incorporate information provided by others into your own recollection and memory representation
Memory Deficit Explanations
-Neurological changes in the brain
-Lack of organization in older adults
-Reduced ability to pay attention in older adults
Infantile/Childhood Amnesia
Inability to remember events and experiences that occurred during the first two to three years of life
Synaptogenesis
Explosion of synapse formation between neurons during early brain development
What Age Is Peak Of Level Number Of Synapses
2 to 3 years old
Synaptic Pruning
After hitting peak period of synaptic growth, the brain removes synapses it no longer needs
What Did Piaget Look For?
Qualitative differences between children and adults and tried to document the orderly progression of cognitive development from childhood to adulthood
What Is Piaget’s View
Intellectual growth involves the gradual emancipation from the here and now of the immediate, concrete present to a conception of the world in symbolic and abstract terms
What Are Piaget’s Four Stages Of Cognitive Development?
-Sensorimotor (0-2 years)
-Preoperational (2-7)
-Concrete Operations (7-11)
-Formal Operations (11+)
Beginning Sensorimotor (0-2 Years)
Coordination of sensory impressions are not yet developed
Ending Sensorimotor Stage (0-2)
Children develop long-term memory
Cerebral Cortex: Healthy vs Alzheimers
Healthy: Responsible for language and information processing
Alzheimers: Shrivels, damaging areas involved in thinking, planning and remembering
Hippocampus: Healthy vs Alzheimers
Healthy: Critical to the formation of new memories
Alzheimers: shrinks severely
Ventricles In Alzheimer Brain
Filled with cerebrospinal fluid; grows larger
Preoperational Stage (Deficiency)
children lack:
-the ability to take the perspective of another person (egocentrism)
-the concept of conservation (quantity of a substance is conserved despite changes in its shape)
What Can Children Do In Concrete Operations Stage?
-See from others’ perspective when the subjects of observation are concrete
-Tell that a given quantity remains the same not matter how its shape changes
What Are Children Capable Of In Concrete Operations Stage?
Mental Operations
Formal Operations Stage Features:
Final stage of cognitive growth
Features:
-able to think in abstract terms (deductive reasoning)
-able to ponder deep questions of truth, justice, and existence
Trust VS Mistrust
-Attachment & separation anxiety
The Strange Situation Test Results (3 types)
1) Securely attached
2) Insecurely attached-avoidant
3) Insecurely attached-ambivalent/resistant
Securely Attached Stats
70% Of Children
Insecurely Attached-Avoidant Stats
20% of children
Insecurely Attached-Ambivalent/Resistant Stats
10% Of Children
Insecure-Disorganized Attachment Type
-Abusive or neglectful parents
-Child shows unattached, dazed
Attachment Styles In Relationships (4)
-Secure
-Preoccupied
-Dismissing
-Fearful Avoidant
Characteristics Of Adolescence (4)
-Storm and Stress
-Role Confusion
-Attempts to achieve independence
-Influence from peers
Peer Relationships In Adolescence
Turning good (pro-social)
Turning evil (anti-social)
Forclosure
“I’ve made a choice without thinking”
Identity Acheivement
“I thought about it and I now know what I should do with my life”
Identity Diffusion
“I don’t know and I don’t care what I’m supposed to do with my life”
Moratorium
“I’m thinking about what I should do”
Social Development In Adulthood
1)social relationships and 2) personal accomplishments take on special priority
Generativity
Ability to generate something that an individual cares about in life, usually in the form of:
-career
-family w children
Adequate Resolution Of Crisis
Sense of wholeness, basic satisfaction with life
Inadequate Resolution Of Crisis
Feelings of futility, disappointment
Midlife
a time for reflection or reassessment
Innate Tendency Bond Is…
An adaptive trait
Romanian Children In Orphanages in 1980
Deprived of nearly all interpersonal relationships
Oxytocin
related to social behaviors, including infant/caregiver attachment
Schemes
Ways of thinking based on personal experience
Assimilation
The process by which new information is placed into an existing scheme
Research shows that very young children understand…
other people’s intentions, capabilities, and reasoning behind their actions
Accommodation
a new scheme is created or an existing one is dramatically altered to include new information that otherwise would not fit into the scheme.
“More than and less than”
Research has indicated that when children are properly motivated, they understand and can demonstrate their knowledge of more than and less than
What part of the brain becomes active when children and adolescents are asked to think about other people’s mental states?
Prefrontal Brain
Prosocial Behavior
Seeking to comfort a person who is upset
