Core areas of psych

Question 1

Define developmental psychology

Answer 1

The discipline that attempts to describe and explain changes that occur over time in the thought, behaviour, reasoning and functioning of a person due to biological, environmental influences

Question 2

Define sensitive period

Answer 2

Refers to a limited time window in development during the effects of experience on the brain that are unusually strong.

Question 3

What is the critical period?

Answer 3

Is where sensitive periods and their behaviour and neural substrates doesn’t develop normally

Question 4

Define Organismic

Answer 4

Children participate in their own development through interactions with the environment

Question 5

Cognitive adaptations occur through…

Answer 5

1) Assimilation - treat new objects / people/ situations like familiar ones
2) Adaptation - change how we think/behave to adapt to a new situation

Question 6

Outline mechanistic

Answer 6

Humans are like time machines/computers
Passive until stimulated by an external factor e.g. behaviourism skinners operant conditioning

Question 7

Why is it important to study developmental psychology?

Answer 7

1) Understand what typical development looks like
2) Identify children who are developing atypically/ falling behind their peers and put measures in place