ChildPsych Test 1 Flashcards
Child Development
The process of humand evelopment from conception to 18 years of age, usually seen as involving the domins of physical, cognitive, and social and emotional development
Physicla growth ad health
the developmental domain that includes motor development and physical health and illness
Cognitive development
the developmental domain that includes thinking and reasonoing skills and language development
Domains in Child Development
Physical, Cognitive and Social
Periods of Child Development
Prenatal, Infancy and Toddlerhood, Early Childhood, Middle Childhood
Nature
the inherited or genetic characteristic of a person
Nurture
the characteristic of a person’s environment that affects development
Continuity
in child development, the idea that changes are gradual and occur little by little over time
Discontinuity
in child development, the idea that changes are dsudden nd qualitative rather than gradual and quantitative
Tabula Rasa
Litterally, “Blank Slate”, usually associated with Locke’s view that the child’s midn is a blank slate that will be written upon only by experience
Maturation
A predetermined, natural course of growth that is similar for all member of a species
psychoanalysis
a method of psychotherapy invented by Freud, in which patients describe dreams and tell the therapist whatever comes into their midns in a stream of consciousness, and in which the hterapist attempts to bring unconscious motives and emotions into consciousness
oral stage
in freuds theory, the first stage of development, which occurs duringthe first year of life, and in which pleasure is centered on the mouth and on feeding
anal stage
in freud’s theory, the stage of development when pleasure centers on the anal region of the body, usually 1-3 years of age
Phallic stage
in Freud’s theory, the third stage of development, which occurs from 3 to 6 years of age, and in which pleasure is centered on the genitals
Latency stage
in freud’s theory, the stage of psychosexual development that occurs during middle childhood, when psychosexual needs seem to subside and energies are directed toward activities outside their bodies
Genital Stage
In Freud’s theory, the final stage of psyschosexual devlopment, beginning in adolescence, in which pelasure is centerd on the genitals and is obtained from genital stimulation, as in sexual intercourse.
Psychosexual stages of Freud’s theory
Oral, Anal, Phallic, Latency, Genital
Id
That part of the psyche that contains uncounscious motives and desires
Ego
the part of the psyche that is the conscious overserer of daily activites that ego ust mediate between the demands of the id and strictures of the superego
Superego
the part of the psyche that contains the moral and ethical sense; the conscience
basic trust versus mistrust
In erickson’s theory of psychosocial development, the first stage, in which infants either learn or do not learn that people can be trusted and that the world’s safe
Autnomy versus shame and doubt
In ericksons theory, the second stage of devleopment, in which toddlers either succeed or fail in gaining a sene of themselves as independent actors
unconditional simulus
in classical conditioning, a stimulus that causes a reflexive response before any learning has taken place, for example, food causes salivation
conditioned stimulus
a previously neutral stimulus that takes on meaning thorugh the process of classical conditionioning
unconditioned response
A reflexive response that occurs before any learning has taken place; for example salivating in response to food
conditioned response
a response learned via classical conditioning
classical conditioning
the process of learning thorugh which a nuetral stimulus becomes associated with a meaningful stimlus so that the organism comes to responsd to the former as though it were the latter
behaviorists
theorists of child development who focus on processes of learning and who tend to emphasize the malleability of human behavior
operant conditioning
the process of learning in which the tendency to perfom a particular behavior is gradually strenghtened thorugh its asoociation with reinforcement
reinforcement
in operant conditioning, a stimlus that follows ap articual behavior and increase the proability of repition of that behavior; for examled, candy might be use to reward children for correct behavior
socia learning theory
a theory of devlopment in th behaviorist tradion that emphasizes malleability of human behavior through learning, with speical emphaisis on the importance of learning thorugh observation of the behavior of others.
social-cognitive theory
bandura’s name to replacesocial learning theory as a result of his more recent emphasis on slef-efficacy and a cognitive explanation of learning
cognitive devlopment theory
piaget’s theory of cognitive development in which children are active learners, consutructing their own unesrstnaidn of the world
sensorimotor stage
in piaget’s theory, the first sgae of cognitive devloment, extending from birth to 2 years of age, during whch the child experiences the world entirely through sensory activity and action
preoperational stage
in piaget’s theory, the second stage of cognitive devleopment, extending from 2 to 7 years of age
concetrete operation stage
the stage of cognitive devleopment that extends from approximately 7 to 11 years of age
formal operational stage
the final stae of cognitive devlopment, in which adolsescents becme more capable of abstract, scientific thought.
socialcultural theory
a theory of development propsed by Vygotsky that emphasizes the interaction of persons with the social and cultural aspects of their enviornment
zone of proximal development
in vygotsky’s social cultural theory, the activities and skills thata child can perforom with help from a more experiences person, but cannot master indepeendly; this is the range of activites within which learning normally occurs
scaffoldin
support provided by elders for the efforts of a child to participate in an activity that would otherwise be out of the child’s reach; as the child becomes more capable, the adults gradually withdraws suppoort, mainintning just enough to allow independent performance.
ecological system theory
Bronfendbrenner’s theory that places special emphasis on the impoact of various aspects of the enviornment on child development
microsystem
in bronfenbrenner’s theory, the immediate settings in which children’s daily interactions take palce, such as home, child care, or school
mesosystem
the interconnectiosn among the childs immediate settings or microsystems; for example, the interconnections between home and child-care settings
exosystem
the part of the environment not occupied by children but nevertheless influenctial in their expeiences, such as parents’ wprl[;aces amd spcoa; metwprls
macrosystem
the values, customs, and conditions of the larger environment that may affect the child’s daily interactions with parents and peers
chronosystem
temporal changes that ma affect the enviroments of child development
bioecological processes
the process of development are thought to be both bioological and ecological: the term bioecological emphasizes how inextrciably connected they are
ethology
branch of biology that invovles observational study of animals in their natural environment
Imprinting
a process through which the young of certain species of birds follow the first moving object they see after hatcing, usually the mother
critical period
periods of time during which specific stimluaton most occur in order for certain effects to be observed; for instance, in imprinting, young brids must see a moving object within specific period of time in order for imprinting to occur
sensitive periods
devleopmental periods when a particular type of learning proceeds most rapidly
dynamic systems theory
a theoretical perspective on human development that emphasizes the changing, self-organizing, nature of development over time
hypothesis
a proposa intended to explain observations or resuls of a scidentific study
self-reported
research methods that involve asking questions of participants to learn their thoughts, attitudes, or feelings, or to hear their reports about their own behavior or that of others
structured interveiw
a research method that involves asking the same question in the same way to each particpant in a research study
clinical interview
a research method in which the investigator uses a flexible, converstaional style of quesitoni particpant; allows for follow-up unexpected responses
naturalistic observation
a research technique that involves watching infants or children in enviornments that they normally frequent, such as homes, schools, or playgrounds
strucutred observation
a research technique that exposes all participants in a study to the sme stituaiton in order to observe their reponnses to it; especially valuable for studying behaiovr that would be rare in natural enviornment
case study
a research method that invovles intensive study ofa single individual,, or of a small number of individuals
physicological methods
assesment of heart rate, blood pressure, and other involutray activites to study physiological bases of behaivor
neuroscience mehtods
research tehcniques such as eegs and fMRIs that asssess brain devleopment and nervous system funcitoning
electocephalogram Eeg
an electrophysiological technique that involves measurement of electrical brian waves, used to inform studies of hiild development by illuminating nueral processes
event-related potentials
electro-physiological research methods that recod, by means of sensors placed on the scalpo, brian responses to specific events
magnetioecephalography
a research method that records magnetic fields in the brain in order to localie brain activity
fucnitonal magnetic resonance imaging
a psychophysiological technique in whih the brain’s magnetic properties are measured n order to study chagnes in brain activity
near infrared spectroscopy
a research technique that uses light near the infrared partr of the spectrum to meausre the volume of blood flow in the brain so as to estimate the amount of neural activity in differt parsts of the brain
raliabitliy
the constiency of results gieen by a test, wheater from one form of thetest to another or form one administartion of a test to another
validity
the extent to which ta test measures what it is designed to measrue
correlational design
design in which changes in one or more variables as they may or may not be asscoiated wit hcanges in another varable are stud9ed; for example, a study of associations between height and weigght over different ages.
experimental design
designin which one ore moindepenedent variabels are manipulated in order to observe the impact on one or more variables; especially useful of variations in the independent variables
random assignment
in experimental research, a procedure hat ensures that every participant has an equal chance of being assigned to every condition
dependent variabl
the measured variable that may change as a result of variation in the independent varables
independent variable
the variable that is altreed in order to observe the effets of this alteration on the dependent variables
longitudinal design
research design that invovles study of the same people on multiple occasions over time
cohort effects
effects associated with a particular group of people
cross-sectional design
research design that inolves comparisons between gorups of participants who differ only in age
corss-sequantial design
reasearch design that begins with two or more grouops of different ages and follows all of the mover a specified period of time; a combination of longitudinal and cross-sectional reaserch designs
microgentic design
research design in which children are studied repeatedly over a very brief period of time, in order to illuminate processes of change
ethical standards
do no harm, obtain consent from children, obtain consent from paretns, protectie privacy, provide fair incentives, explain research findings
do no harm
no procedure should be employed that could harm participating children
obtain consent from children
participating children should be told about the nature of the research in advance and should be askd to give their informed consent or assent
obtain consent from paretns
parents or otherresponsible adults should be told about the nature of the research in advance and should be asked to give their informe consent
protect privacy
researcheers hsould protect the privacy of particiaptns by keeping all information obtained through research methods confidential
provide fair incentives
reaserches ma provide incentives for participation in rearch, but these must be fair and should not be outside the range of incentives that the child normally expereicnesf
explain research finding
reserachers hsoudl report general findings to particiapting children in terms apporpirate to their understanding
