Developmental Psyc Flashcards
Define psychology.
“…the study of mind, behaviour, and the
relationship between them…”
4 key characteristics of psychology.
- Scientific study of behaviour
- Strong theoretical underpinnings
- Strong research basis
- Emphasis on empirical evidence
What are the 4 goals of psychology?
- Describe behaviour
- Explain behaviour
- Predict behaviour
- Change behaviour
What are the 3 interdependent domains of developmental psychology?
- Physical development (including neural dev)
- Cognitive dev (including intellectual dev)
- Social dev (including emotional dev)
What are the typical age range for sensorimotor stage in Piaget’s theory of cognitive development?
Birth to nearly 2 years
What are the typical age range for preoperational stage in Piaget’s theory of cognitive development?
About 2 to 6 years
What are the typical age range for concrete operational stage in Piaget’s theory of cognitive development?
About 7 to 11 years
What are the typical age range for formal operational stage in Piaget’s theory of cognitive development?
About 12 through adulthood
Describe the sensorimotor stage in Piaget’s theory of cognitive development.
Experiencing the world through senses and actions (looking, touching, mouthing).
Schemas: simple reflexes (sucking, grasping), interactions with people and objects
What is the developmental phenomena at the sensorimotor stage in Piaget’s theory?
- Object permanence
- Stranger anxiety
Describe the preoperational stage in Piaget’s theory of cognitive development.
Representing things with words and images but lacking logical reasoning.
Employ mental symbols (symbolic, fantasy play, deferred imitation, drawing)
What is the developmental phenomena at the preoperational stage in Piaget’s theory?
- Pretend play
- Egocentrism
- Language development
Describe the concrete operational stage in Piaget’s theory of cognitive development.
Thinking logically about concrete events; grasping concrete analogies and performing arithmetical operations
What is the developmental phenomena at the concrete operational stage in Piaget’s theory?
- Conservation
- Mathematical transformations
Describe the formal operational stage in Piaget’s theory of cognitive development.
Abstract reasoning, deductive reasoning
What is the developmental phenomena at the formal operational stage in Piaget’s theory?
- abstract logic
- potential for moral reasoning
Examples of newborn primitive reflexes.
- Tonic neck reflex
- Grasp reflex
- Step reflex
- Crawl reflex
What does object permanence mean?
The awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived
What does egocentrism mean in Piaget’s developmental psyc theory?
- The inability of the preoperational child to take another’s point of view
What does theory of mind mean in psychology? When does it normally develop in human-being?
Capacity to understand other people by ascribing mental states to them.
Usually develops around 4-5 years.
Autism is a condition that is marked by impaired ______________ (an ability in thinking)
Theory of mind
What does conservation mean in Piaget’s developmental psyc theory?
Ability to recognise thata given quantity, weight or volume remains the same despite changes in shape, length, or position
What are the key criticisms of Piaget’s theory?
- Development thought to be more continuous than stage-like
- Abilities were underestimated
- Did not explain cultural differences in abilities
- Neglected the role of emotion
What is an “information processing approach” in dev psyc?
It assumes gradual changes in mental capacity rather than stages
What 2 major areas of cognition does “Information Processing Approach” provides insights of?
Attention and memory
Why is it important to study and understand normal child development?
- Parents/health professionals/educators can understand how to work with someone of a particular developmental stage.
- So we understand when things go wrong with development
- To understand the factors impacting development in order to promote and assist development
What is the optimal time frame for certain experiences called?
Sensitive period.
What is the period called, of an age range which certain experiences MUST occur for development to proceed normally or along a certain path?
Critical period
What is developmental psychology about?
“Science of human development seeks to
understand how and why people- all kinds of people, everywhere- change and remain the same over time”
What does it mean when we say the domains of dev psyc are interdependent?
Changes in one are likely to cause change in others.
What are the 5 developmental big issues?
- Nature and nurture
- Sensitive and critical periods
- Stability and change
- Continuity and discontinuity
- Normative vs non-normative events
What does epigenetics mean?
The study of how your behaviors and environment can cause changes that affect the way your genes work, and it can be pass on to the next generations.
Describe Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory’s view on how relationships between individual and their environment work.
The relationship is bi-directional.
What are the 5 systems of the Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory?
- Microsystem
- Mesosystem
- Exosystem
- Macrosystem
- Chronosystem
What does microsystem refer to in Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory?
Most immediate surroundings (e.g.,
example, family, friends, teachers)