Developmental Psych 1-5 Flashcards
Precocial species
Species develop earlier and are more mature and able to handle themselves after birth
Altricial species
Born helpless and need to mature and go through the process of growth
What type are humans, altricial or precocial?
Altricial. Infants can talk, walk or see very well, regulate their body temp, feed or defend themselves.
What is the size of a babies head compared to chimpanzees at birth?
Babies brains are 25% of their adults size at birth, and become 50% of their adult size at 3 month
Chimpanzees are 50% of their adult size at birth
Compared to apes, how in charge of their young are humans?
Compared to apes humans are less directly in charge of their young and relay more on others
What is the theory for why humans relay more on other for childcare than other Altricial species?
We walk upright, which means we have to a smaller birth canal, meaning we have to give birth to babies earlier, meaning we have more babies in a shorter period which there are more people leading many peers, many siblings and multiple caregivers.
Nature v Nurture
How much of our development is from our biology and how much of our development is from our envioroment?
Naitvism
Humans are born with innate ideas and all knowlegde comes from innate sturctures and cogntive development and brain matruataion.
Empirmicism
There are no innate structures and knowledge comes only from experiencing the world. Children are blank slates
What can be an issue with the ideas of Nature v Nuture?
Can lead to the idea that people cannot change when then actually can or the naturalistic fallacy (natural=good)
Constructivsim
Piaget, the in between of nativism and empiricism and that children’s thinking’s is biology and it’s influenced by their environment?
Core Knowledge Theory
Knowledge about specific conceptual domains are present from birth but there are signature limits. AKA Modern Nativism
Modern empiricism
Minds are like computers, born with hardware which improve with maturation and early knowledge is limited.
Quantitative Change
The beginning state and end state are fundamentally the same but improvement/growth happens over time
Qualitative Change
Beginning state and end state are fundamentally DIFFERENT in nature
Active learning
The learners is engaging with the environment to learn a skill
Passive learning
Learner is learning by watching a person perform a new skill
Global Change
Multiple domains develop simultaneously
Local Change
Different domains develop on different timelines
Development Cascade
Change in one domain may indirectly cause change within another skill. Can be positive or negative
Microgentic approach
Meaning that development doesn’t happen as all or nothing. Its more of a waxing and weaning where we learn new things and base it off our stress level we may go back to simpler methods.
Reciprocal effect
Responding to children continuously and having immersive conversation could benefit language development BUT children who
Independent vs Dependent Varaible
Independent: Hypothetical cause of behavior experiment the variable manipulated by the experimenter
Dependent: The hypothetical effect of the independent variable-NOT manipulated by the experimenter
Operational definition
The way the experimenter measures a construct and how its made observable
Gametes
Contains half genetic material of offspring, Ova in female and sperm in males
Genes and Alleles
G: Traits we have
A: Different versions of the gene
Genotype v Phenotype
G: Inherited Genetic Material
P: Observed expression of genetic material, jus because you have genotype doesn’t mean you’ll have the phenotype
Mutations
When chromosomal DNA does not copy identically from parent to offspring: Effect depend on the mutation
Polygenetic inheritance
The outcome we study are often products of more than one gene
What percent of genes to we share with our: Parent, sibling, and identical twin?
Parent: 50%, Sibling: 50% an Identical Twin: 100%
Environment-gene interaction
A person genotypes affects the environment the person chooses to experience
Germinal
- 0-2 weeks, Formation of zygote and once the egg is fertilized, the cell division begins rapidly. This stage ENDS with implantation in uterine wall
Embryonic
- 3-8 weeks, named embryo, most rapid and sensitive period, mall major body structures and organ system forming, most sensitive to Tetragons
Fetal
9 weeks- Birth
Teratogens
Agents that harm prenatal development
Issues to think about when studying effects of teratogens
Timing: when was the teratogens exposed during the babies development
Individual differences in susceptibility
Sleeper effects : may not show up til later in life
Does respond due to dosage
Cell Migration
Newly formed cells move from the place of division their final destination
Genes create proteins which determine which type of cell it will become
Cell Differenation
Newly formed stem cells are flexible and haven’t specialized yet
Apoptosis
Genetically programmed death of cells (ex: the cells between fingers die in the hand development
Support system alongside the embryo
Amniotic sac: Protective buffer
Placenta: exchange center
Umbilical cord: Tube containing the blood vessels connecting the fetus and placenta
Neurogenesis vs Synaptogenesis
Neuro: Proliferation of neurons through cell division, begins around 3 weeks and occurs rapidly between 5-25 weeks
Synapto: The process where neurons form synapse with each other, starts in embryonic stage and is rapid before and after birth and for the first 2 years of life
Synaptic pruning
When synapses are eliminated to increase the efficacy of neural communication
Myelination
Formation of myelin around axon and increases info processing abilities and begins in 3rd trimester and speeds up AFTER birth
Plasticity
Brains ability to adapt to environment input
Experience expectant plasticity vs Experience dependent plasticity
Expectant: A form of brain plasticity in which the brain adapts in response to sensory information and is nearly universal to humans
Dependent: The brain wiring occurs in response to an individuals unique personal experiences and life circumstances
Temperament type: Easy
Positive mood
Regular/rhythmic
Adaptable
Mild/moderate reactions
40% of babies
Temperament type: Difficult
Negative mood
Irregular rhythmic
Unadaptable
High intensity reactions
10% of babies
Temperament type: Slow to warm
Tend to withdraw
slow to adapt
Low to moderate reactions
Low in activity
15% of babies
Issues with Categorical Temperament
Everyone can only be assigned ONE, doesn’t allow for understanding of individuals,
Rothbart and Bates temperament
Breaks it down into three measures
Negative reactivity
Indexes infant fear
Frustration
Sadness
Low soothablity
Surgency
Measure an infants activity level and intensity of pleasure
Orienting regulation
Refers to an infant’s ability to regulate attention towards goals, and away from distressing situations
Sensation
Registration of senseory infomation from the external world by sensory receptors in the sense organ and brain
Perception
The process of organizing the interpterion sensory information
What is epigenetics
The study of looking t the environmental experiences and see why things in your DNA
What are some of the senses we are born with?
Grip: sucking thumb
Taste
Sound: Infants prefer the sound of their caregiver compared to stranger
Smell: Infants prefer the smell of their birther compared to stranger in hospital
Eyesight: Born with, but literally terrible. Like really bad
What the ways that we test infant eyesight
Preferential looking Procedure: Using boards with black and white stripe that get smaller and closer together till they look grey. Infants will favor looking at the more interesting board of stripes compared to a grey board so we can measure their eye based on how long they look at one image next to another.
Habitational Procedure: After looking at the same image, infants get bored at looking at it and their looking time will decrease, and then if you show them a fresh image their looking time will increase. By using the black and white striped boards, you can test how long it takes for the baby to see a different board the
How does eyesight develop?
Since the eyesight is based on the pupils position to the lens, the brain improves our eyesight by growing our eyes to that they are lens properly bounces light into our retina so it is not blurry anymore. When our eyes decide that it’s clear enough, our eyes stop growing (to my our eyesight better)