Development Flashcards
What are the major prenatal stages of development?
Zygote, embryo and fetus
What are teratogens?
Literally means, “Monster Maker”
These are agents, such as chemicals and viruses that can reach the embryo or fetus and cause harm during parental development
Describe the relationship between pregnancy sickness and teratogens.
Pregnancy sickness actually raises body temperature and is able to combat many teratogens.
Describe some of the core competencies that all children develop within the first few months of life?
Intimate facial expressions
Smell of mother
Recognize parents voices
Respond to touch, rocking and music
What is attachment?
A powerful survival impulse that keeps infants close to their caregivers, who are comfortable and familiar
A physical sense of touch
What is stranger anxiety and when does this typically develop?
A fear of strangers that an infant conveys, beginning at about 8 months of age.
What did Harlow’s experiments with monkeys show us about the mechanisms of attachment?
That it is actually more than just a sense of nourishment, many other things such as touch, rocking warmth etc. play into the role of attachment.
Who were John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth?
1970s – Strange Situation
Secure Attachment
Put an infant in a strange environment, when mother is present the infant plays and is happy, when she leaves the infant is distressed, and when the mother returns the baby seeks the mother
Insecure Attachment
Put an infant in a strange environment, when mother is present the infant may cling to her, afraid to explore, when she leaves the infant either is indifferent or starts to cry, and they
What are the different attachment styles?
Secure Attachment – 60%
Explore their environment happily when their mother is present. When their mother leaves the show distress
Avoidance Attachment – 20%
Avoid closeness with their mothers and show little interest in her when she returns
Anxious-ambivalent Attachment - 15%
Cling to their mothers or caregivers and are less likely to explore the environment
Disorganized Attachment – 5%
Fear of their own caregiver, often comforted by the stranger
How might these different attachment styles develop (i.e., individual differences in temperament and parenting styles)?
Based on learned expectations
If infant seeks proximity > parent responds with warmth, care and is responsive and available > Parents are dependable > Secure
If infant seeks proximity > parent responds and is overbearing and/or inconsistent > parents may not be available > Anxious
If infant seeks proximity > parent responds and is cold, uncaring and unavailable >parents are unavailable > Avoidant
What are the findings regarding attachment in orphans? What is one major physiological mechanism that is altered in these children?
Orphans have trouble trusting and relating to other people, even adoptive parents. Have a lot of stranger anxiety
How does early attachment affect our later social experiences?
Securely Attached Children - Basic Trust
The world is predictable and reliable
Easy to get close to others, no abandonment worrying
Avoidant
Fear of intimacy, uncomfortable getting close
Anxious/Ambivalent
Seek intimacy but worry that others won’t reciprocate
Parents to peers, friends become attachment figures
Peers to romantic partners, rely on them
Who was Piaget?
The father of modern developmental psychology
Cognition – All the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering and communicating
What is a schema?
A concept or framework that organizes and interprets information
What is assimilation?
Assimilate new experiences based upon existing schema
Toddler calls all 4 legged animals dogs
