Developmental Psych Flashcards
Mary Ainsworth
Devised the “strange situation” paradigm to study attachment styles
Baumrind
Studied the relationship between parental style and discipline: authoritative, authoritarian, permissive
Bowlby
Studied attachment in human children by studying kids who grew up in foster homes/ orphanages. Kids tend to be timid/ asocial. Identified stages of the attachment process
Chomsky
Linguist who suggested that children have an innate capacity for language acquisition (nativist); studied transformational grammar, focusing on syntactic transformations (changes in word order that differ with meaning).
Erik Erickson
Outlined eight stages of psychosocial development saying that development is a sequence of central life crises, emphasizes emotional development and interactions with the social environment; thought that development occurred through the resolution of conflicts covering the entire lifespan
Freud
Outlined five stages of psychosexual development; stressed the importance of the oedipal conflict in psychosexual development. Charted personality and emotional growth over the lifetime. Thought psychology and sexuality were inextricably linked
Gesell
Believed that development was primarily due to maturation
Gilligan
Suggested that males and females have different orientations toward morality
G. Stanley Hall
The founder of developmental psychology
Harlow
Used monkeys and “surrogate mothers” to study the role of contact comfort in bond formation
Kagan
conducted landmark longitudinal study to examine development trajectories of children’s temperament; temperament as a strong predictor of adult behaviors
Kohlberg
Studied moral development using “Heinz Dilemmas” (moral dilemmas)
Locke
British philosopher who suggested that infants had no predetermined tendencies, that they were blank slates (tabulas rasa) to be written on by experience
Lorenz
Studied imprinting in birds
Piaget
Outlined four stages of cognitive development
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
French philosopher who suggested that development could unfold without help from society, stated society was actually a detriment to development
Terman
Performed longitudinal study on gifted children
Tryon
Studied the genetic basis of maze-running ability in rats. “Maze-dull” vs “Maze-bright.” Selective breeding only made a difference on the particular paradigm he was running. Not “overall more intelligent”
Vygotsky
Studied cultural influence on cognitive development, said development is driven by a child’s internalization of aspects of their culture (i.e. rules, symbols, language, etc.) ; stressed the importance of the zone of proximal development.
Empricists
believe all knowledge is gained through life experience.
John Watson
Empiricist/ behaviorist; thought emotion and thought were acquired through learning; also thought only useful methods of study were those of observing objective behaviors
Nativists
believe development is biologically based and that a “blueprint” exists from birth
Psychodynamic orientation
Stress the role of the subconscious conflict in development of functioning and personality (think Freud)
Cognitive Structuralists
believe children are actively involved in their own development, constructing knowledge of the world through their experiences with the environment (think Piaget)
Gregor Mendel
Studied genes/ alleles/ heredity in pea plants (think punnet squares)
Genotype
total genetic complement/ makeup
Phenotype
total collection of expressed traits that constitute an individuals observable characteristics
Gene words
Chromosomes = DNA + proteins; 46 chromosomes, in 23 pairs; somatic cells are diploid, germ cells are haploid
Research Methods on Heredity
Family studies: con is that you can’t rule out environmental effects, twin studies: MZ (100%) or DZ (50%) twins studied, good because they are genetically similar, but again may share environment, adoption/ twin studies: are the best when done with MZ twins because they are genetically identical but have distinguishable environments
Downs Syndrome
genetic anomaly with extra 21st chromosome
PKU
degenerative disease of the N.S. lacking an amino acid, can avoid deleterious effects with strict diet
Klinefelter’s syndrome
Extra X chromosome in males (XXY), males with this are sterile and often have intellectual disabilities
Turner’s Syndrome
Females with only one X chromosome (X0), females with this fail to develop secondary sex characteristics and often have short fingers and odd shaped mouths
Zygote
a single, fertilized egg which will divide into two (and continues to divide)
Development stages in utero
Germinal period: lasts ~ two weeks from conception, zygote travels down fallopian tube and gets implanted into the uteran wall. Embryonic stage: lasts the next 8 weeks, the embryo increases in size by 2 Mil %, grows to about one inch long. Limbs appear, tail recedes, nerve cells are forming, etc. Fetal period: Begins in third month with measurable activity in fetus’ brain.
Rooting reflex
Infants automatically turn heads in direction of stimuli applied to cheek
Moro reflex
Infants react to abrupt movements of their heads by flinging out their arms, extending their fingers, bringing arms back in to hug themselves (usually disappears after 4-5 months old)
Babinski reflex
infants toes spread when soles of feet are stimulated
Grasping reflex
Infants automatically close fingers around objects placed in their hands
Schemata
Piaget says infants learn from interacting with their environment through reflexive behaviors. Organized patterns of behavior and thought are called schemata. Infants have behavioral schemata and older kids have operational schemata (more abstract)
Adaption
Occurs through assimilation and accommodation
Assimilation
The process of interpreting new information in terms of existing schema
Accommodation
The process of modifying a schema to adapt to new information that doesn’t fit into any existing schema
Piaget’s 4 stages of cognitive development
sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational
Sensorimotor stage of cognitive development
Birth- 2 years; primary and secondary circular reactions and object permanence forms
Primary circular reactions
Infant begins to coordinate separate aspects of movement; goal-oriented behavior; restricted to motions concerned with the body
Secondary circular reactions
Directed toward the manipulation of objects in the environment
Object permanence
occurs when a child realizes an object continues to exist even when they cannot perceive its existence (see it). The beginning of representational thought
Pre-Operational stage of cognitive development
2-7 Years; children have the capacity to understand the concept that objects continue to exist, even though they cannot see them, and centration, egocentrism, and conservation
Centration
The tendency to be able to focus on any one aspect of a phenomenon
Egocentrism
Cannot take on the perspective of other people and cannot understand relationships as reciprocal
Conservation
The notion that physical properties of matter (i.e. volume, quantity) do not change just because the appearance of the matter changes
Concrete Operational stage of cognitive development
7-11 Years: Child masters conservation and take perspective of others into account; still have trouble with abstract thought
Formal Operational stage of cognitive development
11- Onward: Can “think like a scientist” by making hypotheses and deductions. Understand abstract thought.
Piaget on language
Thought that stages of development of thought directed the development of language
Zone of proximal development
Refers to those skills and abilities that have not fully developed, but are in the process of developing. Child needs guidance to demonstrate these skills. (How much they improve with guidance = the zone)
Four basic components of language
Phonology, semantics, syntax, pragmatics
Categorical perception of language
The ability to distinguish between differences in sound that do not denote differences in meaning versus those differences in sound that do denote differences in meaning.
Phonology
think phoneme; the actual sound stem of language
Semantics
Learning of word meanings
Syntax
How words are put together to form sentences
Pragmatics
The actual efficient use of language
Lenneberg, Rebelsky, and Nichols (1965)
Study on babbling; it began at the same age for hearing and deaf children with hearing and deaf parents; but hearing kids keep babbling after a few months
Holophrasis/ Holophrase
When a child uses one single word to express a thought
Errors of Growth
Overregulation- generalizing some internalized rule (e.g. I runned), suggests that language acquisition may not be imitation and reinforcement, but the active application of dynamic linguistic rules
Language acquisition device (LAD)
Innate capacity for language acquisition; thought to be triggered when exposed to language; allows babies to listen and process sounds
Critical vs. sensitive periods for language acquisition
Nativists thought that there was a critical period for language acquisition from 2 y.o. until puberty. Thought that if a kid wasn’t exposed to language until after that time, they wouldn’t learn it.
Sensitive periods are more likely than critical. It’s the time when environmental input has maximal effect on development of an ability. (e.g. Genie the child who didn’t have much human contact. Could learn some stuff, but not master any of it)
Libido
Freud thinks this is present since birth; thinks that libidinal energy, and the drive to reduce it, are the underlying forces that accounted for physiological processes
Freud’s stages of psychosexual development
Oral (0-1 year), Anal (1-3 years), Phallic (Oedipal/ Electra) (3-5 years), Latency (5-puberty), Genital (puberty-adulthood)
Oral
libidinal energy centered around the mouth; fixation can lead to excessive dependency
Anal
Toilet training occurs during this time; fixation can lead to excessive orderliness or messiness
Phallic (Oedipal)
Oedipal conflict resolved during this time;
Latency
Libido is largely sublimated
Genital
If previous stages have been successfully resolved, person will enter normal heterosexual relationships
Erickson’s stages of psychosocial conflicts
1) trust v mistrust during 1st year of life; 2) autonomy v shame during 1-3 y; 3) Initiative v guild from 3-6 y; 4) Industry v inferiority from 6-12 y; 5) identity v role confusion during adolescence; 6) intimacy v isolation in young adulthood; 7) generativity v stagnation during middle age; 8) Integrity v despair in old age
Thomas and Chess
Performed studies on temperament in kids; identified three categories of infant style: easy, slow to warm up, and difficult
Research methods on temperament
1) parental reports of child’s behavior
2) Observation in naturalistic settings (at home)
3) Observations in laboratory settings
Peter Wolff
Studied crying in newborns using spectrograms. Found three styles of crying: the basic cry, which usually associated with hunger, the angry cry, which is usually associated with frustration, and the pain cry. Adults (even non-parents) physiologically respond to pain cries. Infants learn that adults respond to their crying
Social smiling
Infants smiling associated with facelike patterns. At first, any face illicits smiles, but around five months old, only familiar faces will
Fear responses
Follows a developmental course from undifferentiated to increasingly specific. At first, evoked through sudden changes in level of stimulation. Changes eventually to separation/ stranger anxiety. Then specifies to the sudden absence of a specific individual (i.e. the mother).
Bowlby’s stages of attachment
Pre-attachment (birth- couple months), discriminating between familiar and unfamiliar faces (3 mos), infant responding to mother, bond intensifies, stranger anxiety develops (9-12 mos), child protests mom’s absence, stranger anxiety (year 2), able to separate without distress (year 3)
Ainsworth attachment styles
insecure/ avoidant (type a): distressed with stranger and avoids mother upon return
secure (type b): mildly distressed during separations but greet mom positively upon return
insecure/ resistant (type c): distressed with stranger and inclined to resist physical contact with mother upon return
Kohlberg’s phases of moral development
Pre conventional (punishment and obedience and instrumental relativist stage), conventional morality (good girl nice boy and law and order), Post conventional morality (social contract orientation and universal ethical principles)
Pre conventional morality
right and wrong are defined by hedonistic consequences of an action (punishment or reward)
Split into: punishment and obedience and instrumental relativist stage (reciprocity)
Conventional morality
Based on social rules. Split into: “good girl, nice boy” seeking others approval and law-and-order orientation where morality is defined by rules
Post conventional morality
Split into: social construct orientation where morals are designed to ensure the greater good and universal ethical principles
Gender schematic processing theory
Martin and Halverson; as soon as kids are able to label themselves, they begin concentrating on those behaviors that seem to be associated with their gender and pay less attention to those they believe are associated with the opposite gender
