Developmental Flashcards
Longitudinal Studies
repetitive studies of the same people over time to understand their changes
advantages
- measure age-related changes
- stronger conclusions
disadvantages
- time consuming, expensive, attrition (loss of participants)
- generational effects - generalising results over culturally-influenced time periods
- practice effects from repeated measures
- difficulties in determining the data
Cross-Sectional Design
people from different age groups are measured at the same time
advantages
- measures age-related differences
- less time consuming/expensive
disadvantages
- cohort effects: effects of societal change, third variable can confound data of the age
- hyperspecific
Genotype
genetic blueprint; DNA passed from parents to child
Phenotype
observable physical or psychological attributes
Homozygous or Heterozygous
describes allele pairs, two identical alleles are homozygous, bearing two different alleles is heterozygous
Heritability
the degree to which variation in a particular trait among individuals is due to genetic differences among those individuals
Monozygotic and Dizygotic Twins
monozygotic - twins split the zygote in two, 100% of genes are identical
dizygotic - share 50% of their genetic makeup
G x E Interactions
gene –> phenotype –> environment –> (triangle)
Limitations Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development
- overestimates adults ability, underestimates ability in children
- conservation of ideas may vary depending on the child, which is not viewable in Piaget’s lack of depth
- task demands: where to devote your attention and resources, distractor involved, level of focus
Prenatal Development
- conception to birth
- formation of a zygote in fallopian tube
- roughly 266 days for one-celled zygote to fetus
Prenatal Development - Germinal Period
- conception through implantation, 14 days
- zygote travels towards uterus
- divides and forms blastocyst
- 16 to 64 cells
Prenatal Development - Embryonic Period
- 3rd to 8th week
- formation of major organs (not functional) at 8 weeks, facial structures fuse
- blastocyst implants in uterine wall
- layers of cells differentiate and become parts of the body
Prenatal Development - Fetal Period
- from 9th week until birth (38 weeks)
- organ and brain systems begin to function
- at 6 months they are able to hear, sound level 75db, hear their mother’s voice and heartbeat are best heard
- limit of viability = 24 weeks
- more responsive
- 6 months, capable of responding to light
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS)
a cluster of abnormalities that appear in the offspring of mothers who drink alcohol heavily during pregnancy
- microcephaly, brain damage, cognitive/learning delays
- malformations of face
- congenital heart disease
- joint anomalies
Critical Period
period of time during development when certain experiences are crucial for a particular feature of development to emerge