Developmental Flashcards
1
Q
Developmental psychology
A
examines our physical, cognitive and social development across the life span, with focus on three major issues:
- Nature and nurture
- Continuity and stages
- Stability and change
2
Q
Stage theories
A
contribute a developmental perspective on the whole life span, by suggesting how people of one age think and act differently when they arrive at a later age
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For example:
- out of control 3 year olds were more likely to become troubled teens
- wildest smilers in childhood photos- most likely to enjoy enduring marriages
- responsible primary school students outlive out of control classmates
3
Q
zygote
A
- fertilized egg enters a 2 week period of rapid cell division and develops into and embryo
4
Q
Embryo
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- the developing human organism from about 2 weeks after fertilization through the second month
5
Q
Fetus
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- the developing human organism from 9 weeks after conception
- At each prenatal stage, genetic and environmental factors affect our deelopment.
- Fetuses prefer hearing their mothers native language- learning of language begins in the womb.
6
Q
teratogens
A
- agents such as viruses and drugs, can damage an embryo or fetus.
EXAMPLE: when pregnant rats drank alcohol their young offspring later displayed a liking for alcohol’s taste and odor.
7
Q
Fetal alcohol syndrome
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- physical and cognitive abnormalities in children caused by pregnant womans heavy drinking.
- EXAMPLE- in severe cases, signs include a small, out of proportion ead and abnormal facial features
8
Q
effects of stress during pregnancy
A
- If a pregnant woman experiences extreme stress, the stress hormones flooding her body may indicate a survival threat to the fetus and produce an earlier delivery.
- can result in health problems such as hypertension, heart disease, obesity, and psychiatric disorders
9
Q
Habituation
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- decreasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation
- EXAMPLE: As infants gain familiarity with repeated exposure to a stimulus, their interest wanes and they look away sooner.
10
Q
Infant brain development
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in humans the brain is immature at birth. As the child matures, the neural networks grow increasingly complex
11
Q
The brains association areas
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- those linked with thinking, memory, and language- were the lst cortical areas to develop.
12
Q
Maturation
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biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience.
13
Q
cognition
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all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing , remembering and communicating.
14
Q
Schema
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a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information
15
Q
assimilation
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we interpret & store information using existing schemas
16
Q
Accommodation
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we adjust existing schemas or create new ones that account for the new knowledge.
17
Q
Object permanence
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the awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived
18
Q
A
19
Q
Sensorimotor stage
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in piaget’s theory, the stage (from birth to nearly 2 years of age ) during which infants know the world mostly in terms of their sensory impressions and motor activities
20
Q
Cognition
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refers to all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing
21
Q
Piaget’s Theory
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The theory extends from the first days of infancy through adolescence & examines diverse topics in cognitive development such as memory, understanding of other people’s perspectives, problem solving & more
22
Q
Observations of infants
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consist of observing how the infant responds in their natural environment. No interventions are made
23
Q
Piaget’s Basic Assumptions
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- Children are mentally active from birth.
- Metaphor of a “child as scientist”, that generates hypotheses, performs experiments & draws conclusions from observations.
- Children are intrinsically motivated to learn & develop & are not dependent on external rewards or punishments that are given by adults.
- Children learn from their own experiences & are not dependent on adults’ instructions.
24
Q
New experiences can be processed through
A
- 1. Assimilation: we interpret & store information using existing schemas; or
- 2. Accommodation*: we adjust existing schemas or create new ones that account for the new knowledge.
- EX: when children drop stuff they discover gravity, and balloon they are also learning
25
Q
Main Characteristics of Piagets Theory
A
- The theory assumes developmental stages**. The order of the stages is **fixed**, they are organized in a **hierarchy, & no stage can be skipped.
- The theory is universal: the theory is valid for explaining children’s cognitive development across different cultures & societies.
- Individual differences in the rate of development are determined by both heredity & the environment.
26
Q
Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development
A
- The sensorimotor stage (birth to 2 years)
- The preoperational stage (2 to 6/7 years)
- The concrete operational stage (7 to 11 years)
- The formal operational stage (12 to 15 years & beyond)
27
Q
Sensorimotor Stage
A
- In the sensorimotor stage, babies take in the world by looking, hearing, touching, mouthing, & grasping
- Children younger than 6 months of age do not grasp object permanence** – the awareness that an object continues to exist even when it is not perceived or present (“**out of sight, out of mind”)
- Later, they will commit the A-not-B error – they’ll look for the object in the last place they found it, not in the last place it was seen
28
Q
Pre-operational stage
A
- from ages 2 to 6 or 7 years during which a child learns to use language and represent things with words an images but does not yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete logic
- For example, a 5 year old that says that the milk is too much in a tall glass that if poured in a short and wide glass would be just right
- After symbolic thinking is acquired, a new era begins
- Imitation becomes more sophisticated during this stage
- Symbolic play: “as if” play (I’m preparing food, imagining a piece of wood is a weapon). This use in object representations is very important in cognitive development
- Acquiring language: gradually, from words to sentences etc. language is the ultimate symbolic representation.
- The child is able to think about things without sensing or seeing them
- Why “pre-”? Piaget believed that during this stage children have learned symbolic thinking. But they still don’t think completely by rules of common sense
- Children are too young to perform mental operations in an efficient way.
- Mental operations-An internalized set of actions that aregoverned by logical rules, & which enable the child to mentally solve problems & reach logical conclusions before acting in the world (thinking before behaving)
- The child makes logical errors due to a few reasons:
- Animism- inanimate objects have a soul
- Magical thinking
- Centration & lack of conservation
- Egocentric thinking
29
Q
Concrete Operational Stage (Ages 7 – 11)
A
- Ages 7 to 11 during which children gain the mental operations that enable them to think logically about concrete events
- for example, they can mentally pour milk back and forth between glasses of different shapes. As well as enjoying jokes
- Conserve
- Classify and Organize - flexibly group & regroup objects into hierarchies of classes & subclasses (color, size)
- Reversibility - thinking through the steps in a problem & then go backward, returning to the starting point.
- Example: 7+5=12. How much is 12-5?
30
Q
Formal Operational Stage (Age 12 – 15)
A
- At age 12 during which people begin to think logically about abstract concepts
- for example if this then that
- The most developed stage, in which the person acquires knowledge & uses it most efficiently
- The stage signifies transition from concrete to formal thinking: the cognitive revolution
- Transition from thinking about the existing to thinking about the possible
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“The formal operational stage begins at approximately age twelve and lasts into adulthood. As adolescents enter this stage, they gain the ability to think in an abstract manner by manipulate ideas in their head, without any dependence on concrete manipulation”
(Inhelder & Piaget, 1958) - Unlike former stages, the child is able to think about ideas, not only what is caught in their senses
- Example: logic questions require us to follow a certain rule, whether our senses perceive it as correct or incorrect. A child at this stage is able to understand that.
- They no longer need the statement to be correct (value of truth) but can focus on logic rules, mainly relationships between statements.
So
- Scientific thinking develops, when the child learns to generate all possible solutions for the problem, then chooses between them.
- Former stages contained trial and error, but they were quite random. Here they are more systematic.
- Reflective thinking also develops during this stage: thinking about thinking (meta-cognition) – the adolescent can explain & replicate his way of thinking
- At this stage, the adolescent thinks about topics untouched before – society, politics, morality…
- Notice, that like in the pre-operational stage, egocentricity also exists here.
- But it is different: more related to the “I can change the world” perception, or: “nobody understands me because no one feels things the way I do”
31
Q
Centration & Lack of Conservation
A
- At this stage, the child’s thinking pattern is characterized by centration – attentiveness & concentration on one feature of an object (size, shape, weight) without having the ability to simultaneously concentrate on other features of it. Inability to concentrate on two features, the relation between them, & how changes in one feature will affect a different feature.
32
Q
mental conservation.
A
- This inability disrupts the proper functioning of mental operations, & especially the ability to understand that changes that we mentally make on objects do not necessarily change them –
33
Q
Conservation
A
- the principle that quantity remains the same despite changes in shape
- Preoperational stage- lack this
Why can’t children understand conservation at this stage?
- centration: the child focuses only on one object’s dimension (e.g., height, length)
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irreversibility: the ability to mentally reverse the activity operated.
- For example, understanding that if you spill the water from one cup to another, it doesn’t matter
34
Q
Egocentric Thinking
A
- During this stage, the child’s thinking is characterized by egocentrism (selfishness) – the inability to differentiate between my own perspective & someone else’s perspective. Meaning, inability to perceive the world from someone else’s point of view.
Egocentric thinking disturbs the proper functioning of mental operations because it brings the child to make logical errors when solving problems & reaching conclusions
Preoperational stage- have this
35
Q
Egocentrism
A
-the difficulty to perceive things from anothers point of view
36
Q
Theory of mind
A
- people’s ideas about their own an others mental state, about their theories feelings perceptions and thoughts and the behaviors this might predict
- For example-even as young as seven months babies can know what to do to make a parent do something for them
37
Q
The development of gender constancy & gender identity
A
- Gender constancy: understanding that a person’s gender remains the same despite changes in age & appearance.
- Piaget’s preoperational stage (2-7) is characterized by:
- overreliance on visual impressions – as evident in the children’s difficulty to understand conservation
- inability to conserve an object’s identity
when its’ appearance changes is highly
relevant to their concept of gender.
38
Q
Is this a boy or a girl?
A
- Research was done: one sees a naked child and then the boy in a dress or girl in female clothing’s
- Only 40% of children aged 3, 4, & (early) 5 displayed gender constancy, with girls showing more gender constancy than boys. Gender constancy depended on the child’s knowledge of the fact that genitalia constitutes a defining attribution of maleness/femaleness.
- Gender identity refers to the sense of being male, female, both, neither, and more… It usually develops over the years from 2 to 7 (preoperational stage).
- This developed sense of gender is usually accompanied by gender typing: the acquisition of behaviors & characteristics that a culture considers appropriate to one’s perceived gender.
39
Q
The return of Nature vs. Nurture: Are men & women inherently different
A
40
Q
random facts
A
- Girls tend to start talking in an earlier age, have a larger vocabulary, & show a higher level of language complexity from early childhood.
- Baby girls are more attracted to individual faces & are more likely to establish & maintain eye contact, whereas baby boys prefer looking at groups of faces.
- Baby girls are more attuned to emotional expressions; when the mothers of 12 months old babies made a fearful face as their child approached a toy the girls tended to slow their approach, whereas the boys usually disregarded them.
- Male & female brains display different developmental trajectories, with female brains developing faster than males’(this difference evens out around the age of 13).
- Environment:
- Parents will usually dress boys & girls differently & provide them with different toys.
- Parents reward daughters for dressing up, dancing, playing with dolls & generally following them around, but criticize them for running, jumping & climbing; they reward their sons for playing with blocks, but criticize them for playing with dolls or asking for help.
- Boys are punished more often & more severely.
- Studies done over the last 2-3 decades show the gap between parenting practices for girls & boys grows smaller – as well as various behavioral differences between the genders
41
Q
Lev Vygotsky- the social child
A
- Studied how children think and learn and emphasized how the child’s mind grows through interaction with the social environment
- Scaffold-in vygotsky’s theory a framework that offers children temporary support as they develop higher levels of thinking
- children learn best when their social environment presents them with something between too easy and too difficult
- The language you use is really important
- Cultural values and customs dictate what is important to learn.
Children learn from more expert members of the society.
42
Q
Autism spectrum disorder
A
- A disorder that appears in childhood and is marked by significant deficiencies in communication and social interaction and by rigidly fixated interests and repetitive behaviors
- In symptom is poor communication among brain regions that normally work together to let us take another’s viewpoint
- Basically have the viewpoint mind of a 2 month old
- Less brain activity and therefore they mirror people less
- for example yawning after seeing someone
- Connecting the dots: they lack the theory of mind
43
Q
Stranger anxiety
A
the fear of strangers that infants commonly display by about eight months of age
44
Q
Attachment
A
- body contact
- familiarity (Happens during):
- critical period- an optimal period when certain events must take place to facilitate proper development
- Secure attachment/ Insecure attachment
- Avoidant Attachment
- Anxious-ambivalent attachment
45
Q
Secure attachment
Insecure attachment
Basic Trust
A
- Secure attachment- can explore, still cling and want parent
- Insecure attachment- will avoid exploring
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Basic Trust- a sense that the world is predictable and trustworthy
- formed during infancy by appropriate experiences with responsive caregivers
46
Q
Imprinting
A
- the process by which certain animals form strong attachments during early life
47
Q
4 Types of parents
A
- authoritative-strict and will punish accordingly(ex. “Why can’t I go out?”- “Because I said so”)
- permissive- some rules but little punishment
- negligent- not present
- authoritarian- a lot of rules but not as strict, open to discuss changes in rules and is considerate of children
48
Q
Adolescence
A
transition from child to adult
begins with sexual maturation, ends with achieving status of “adult”
49
Q
Puberty and brain development
A
connection between frontal lobe and limbic system doesn’t fully develop until age 25 and this is why emotional regulation is low and impulsive behavior is high in adolescence.
50
Q
3 Types Morality
A
- Pre conventional(0-9)-self interest, follows rules to avoid punishment , want concrete reward for actions
- Conventional morality(10-25)- follow rules for social approval, or to maintain social order, has higher understanding if rewards for actions.
- Post conventional morality(25+)- actions reflect beleif in basics rights and Attica principles
51
Q
Social identity-
A
the part of our identity that comes from who we socialize with (the “you” that society perceives)
52
Q
8 Stages of psychological development
A
- Infancy- develop sense of trust/mistrust
- Toddler- autonomy/shame and doubt do things for yourself(building confidence in self)
- Pre school- Initiative/guilt-carry out plans of action and feel repercussions for actions(like guilt)
- Elementary school- competence/inferiority- gain pleasure from applying themselves and completing tasks/or feel inferior for failing
- Adolescence - identity/role confusion- refining sense of self,creating identity
- Young adult hood-intimacy/isolation- forming close relationships, Gain capacity for bigger feelings(love/hate)
- Middle adult hood- Generatively/stagnation- Sense of contributing to the world, or can feel lack of purpose
- Late adult hood- Integrity/despair- feeling accomplished with life, or feeling like it was wasted.
88
Q
Socio-emotional Selectivity theory
A
- claims older adults seek higher emotional satisfaction as they age by being more selective about their type of social networks
- older adults report:
- Better control of their emotions.
- More mellowing of feelings.
- Fewer negative emotions.
- Positive connections with friends and family.
