Development Flashcards
developmental psychology
the study of physical, cognitive, and emotional changes over a lifespan
phases of lifespan
infancy (and toddlerhood), childhood (3-early MS), adolescence, adulthood
themes in developmental psych-nature vs nurture
- does development happen cuz of biology or stuff we learn? both
- nature: maturation-physically driven changes, based on biology-puberty, grow teeth-can’t influence/decide these changes-genetically predisposed
nurture: learning, socialization-learning to make friends, how to act in public, share, away from parents
themes in developmental psych-continuity vs discontinuity
- does development happen gradually on a continuous path or does it happen in stages?
- most theories include stages
- ex: height, boys have growth spurts so have stages, with girls it’s more gradual and continuous
developmental psych-research methods
longitudinal data: watch first graders, keep watching same kids until they’re seniors
cross-sectional studies: watch 1st graders, 2nd grader, 3rd graders, etc., in same year-diff kids
prenatal development
zygote, embryo, fetus
prenatal development-zygote
after conception happens-fertilized egg-for about 2 weeks-zygote implants on the uterus wall, becomes an embryo
prenatal development-embryo
- 2 weeks post-conception to 8 weeks post-conception
- central NS and major organs begin to form-may see spontaneous abortion/miscarriage here if these don’t form
fetus
-week 8 to week 38-40 (full term)-at about 15 weeks, the major organs start to function-if don’t, then miscarriage-don’t tell friends until then (3 months)-can’t get abortion after this
age of viability
the age at which the fetus can survive outside the womb-about 24 weeks now-often have major developmental problems if born this early-cognitive problems too-but some kids are fine
normal weight of a newborn
7 lbs
influence on fetal development-good influences
pre-natal vitamins, special diet-good nutrition and exercise
influence on fetal development-bad influences
- stress
- terratogens: toxins (something poison to fetus)-things mom ingests (drugs and alc, cigarette smoke), things in environment (lead poisoning, lead in the air, paint thinner, hair dye, shellfish, fish with mercury, caffiene), diseases that get passed on (AIDS, rubella)
- Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (if mom ingests too much alc and gets alc poisoning, baby can have this-small physically and small and malformed brain)
- genetic info
Infancy
- infants are completely dependent on others
- lots of physical and cognitive development that needs to happen here-the more that needs to happen/the longer dependency is, the longer this stage lasts-so longer for more complex animals like chimps
- they do have reflexes and senses
- go through neuronal and motor skills development
Infancy-reflexes
- rooting (for food source, if touch cheek will turn head that direction)
- sucking (will suck on anything in mouth)
- grasping (will grasp anything in hand)
- Babinski (if touch bottom of foot, toes fan then curl back)
- stepping (support newborn under the arms and it’ll simulate walking strides-stops at about 2 mo)
- Moro (aka startle-an unexpected stimulus like loud noise causes child to throw arms and legs out then pull in and shake)
infancy-senses
- sight doesn’t work too well, can’t focus clearly beyond 1 ft. (good cuz caregiver’s face that far when holding baby), don’t see colors and lines too well-then gets better with age, then worse again oftentimes
- hearing and touch and smell work well
- sense of taste more sensitive than ours-if mom eats something new, baby nurses a few hours late, may refuse, not like it
infancy-neuronal and motor skills development
- babies born with many neurons, brains develop greatly in first few years, billions of neurons form in these years-many of these form myelin sheet-undergo myelinization, grow white matter-allows more messages to travel faster, more efficiently-kids improve memory, motor skills-can’t even turn over at birth, can run by 2
- brain at 80% of adult weight by age 4
Adolescence-physical development
- puberty-sexual maturation-about 2 yr before start to show changes, hormone levels rise, trigger changes-will take a couple of years for all the changes to happen
- primary and secondary sex characteristics
Adolescence-phys development-primary sex characteristics
- reproductive organs-born w these-ovaries and testes–>internal part, external part too
- trigger puberty, get secondary sec characteristics as a result
Adolescence-phys development-secondary sex characteristics
develop at/through puberty as a result of the hormones-breast and hip development for girls, beards and broader shoulders and deep voices for guys
Adolescence-the markers of the start of puberty
girls: menarche (1st period)
boys: first ejaculation/live sperm
Adulthood-physical development
- late 20s-early 30s: peak in phys development
- most of the noticeable changes happen later: 50s, 60s, 70s-vision starts to go, hearing loses some sensitivity, less of a sense of tase-gradual changes, learn to adapt-except w hearing, don’t notice, think everyone’s whispering, hiding things from you-reaction times get slower (bad w driving)
- adapt, do well, but later when very old changes start to become noticeable, impact daily life
- stay physically and mentally active to delay these changes, stay healthy and functioning well for longer
brain needs to _____ for cognitive development to occur
physically develop
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
worked w Alfred Binet, who was studying intelligence-Piaget had to interview kids for him, ask them home they thought the world worked-conclusion: kids think differently than adults, not just little adults w less knowledge-will take time to change brain wiring, have them stop making mistakes, taking things literally-he said cognitive dev hinged on phys dev-gotta wait until the kid’s brain grows-nature part-nurture important too, but Piaget thought nature was the most important
-he came up w assimilation, accommodating, and the 4 stages of cognitive development
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development-assimilation
how kids first start to expand their thinking on the world-little kid has a few schemas, try to take new info and fit into category you already have, your schemas-call cow “doggie” cuz only schema is “doggie”, cow also 4 legged animal so also “doggie”
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development-accommodating
get all this new info (in assimilation), broaden your base, come up with new schemas and categories cuz easier than fitting everything into your few schemas
4 stages of cogntive development
sensorimotor stage, preoperational stage, concrete operational stage,formal operational stage
4 stages of cogntive development-sensorimotor stage
Birth to 1.5-2 yrs - Babyhood
Baby learns about their world thru sense, mostly putting in mouth (senses part), after a while can physically manipulate things with muscles-push,pick things up, throw (motor part)
-gain object permanence at 9 mo and gain representational thought
4 stages of cogntive development-preoperational stage
1.5/2 to 6 or 7 yrs. - before do things mentally, you have a mental representation. Can imagine obj. but can’t imagine an obj. pushing another.
ie - imagine doll but not doll pushing block
-develop language-image of word in head and know meaning
-develop sense of self-see if recognize self when in front of a mirror
-get embarrassed when do things not supposed to
-start to have imaginary friends, can pretend
-egocentric thinking
-marker between this stage and next-principle of conservation
4 stages of cogntive development-concrete operational stage
6/7 yrs - early adolescence
Can now manipulate concrete objs, add in head, imagine someone doing some action (doll push block)
-can think of concrete things
-can think of abstract things only in concrete ways
-gets good at reversing operations, playdough ball to stick and back again
-can operate in society at certain level, like farmer in 1800s but need more school to develop beyond this stage for more complex jobs
4 stages of cogntive development-formal operational stage
Teens and beyond-some people never make it here
-think about more abstract concepts (friends because share toys but also because care about me, there for me
-solve problems, think about thinking
-Piaget says changes in thinking due to brain changes - neural pruning happening, brain/glial cells clean up/get rid of neurons not used.
Reason why HS try to teach all subjects so able to do things might need later in life
object permanence
in sensorimotor stage-understands things still exist even if not seen ~9 months
representational thought
in sensorimotor stage-can picture something in mind, can imagine it has been moved/hidden.
-relates to understanding Object Permanence
egocentric thinking
in preoperational stage-can’t put self in someone else’s shoes
only process things from your perspective
principle of conservation
marker between preoperational stage and concrete operational stage-understanding that just cuz the shape changes, doesn’t mean amount does. Ball of playdough, changed into a cylinder - don’t believe same amount. Once learn principle,then understand same.
-learn with solids first, then liquids. Some adults still have difficulty with liquids.
evaluation of Piaget’s thoery
Overall, PIaget was right-kids move through stages & stages are pretty universal.
Criticism - the stages aren’t as discrete as he said, kids can be between stages, have some parts of each, may have underestimate kid’s abilities, kids actually get obj. permanence at 4 mo. cuz Piaget said only had it if grabbed but at 4 mo can’t grab as well but will look for it.
-Same with princ. of conservation. Piaget used marbles but if used M&Ms kids would know which line had more at a younger age
-Kids do think differently than teens and adults though