Developmental psych - Lifespan development

Question 1

Developmental psych

Answer 1

Focuses on the physiological, cognitive, and social changes that occur in individuals across the lifespan

Question 2

Recall

Answer 2

Both behavioural and neuroimaging studies provide evidence that face recognition occurs early in infancy

Question 3

Longitudinal designs

Answer 3

Date from the same group of participants is collected at intervals across a long period of time

Question 4

Cross-sectional designs

Answer 4

Data is obtained simultaneously from participants of different ages in order to make age-related comparisons

Question 5

Prefrontal cortex

Answer 5

A second period of overproduction occurs in the prefrontal cortex just before adolescence, followed by about a decade of pruning

Question 6

Attachment theory

Answer 6

Strong, emotional connection that persists over time and across circumstances (Bowlby)

Question 7

Ainsworth’s strange situation

Answer 7

Secure attachment
- Approx. 65% of children
- Ex. upset when caregiver leaves, but easily comforted upon their return
Insecure-resistant (anxious-ambivalent)
- Ex. clings to caregiver, gets upset, both wants and resists comfort
Insecure-avoidant (anxious-avoidant)
- Ex. little distress when caregiver leaves, avoids the caregiver upon their return
Disorganized attachment
- Inconsistent, odd behaviours

Question 8

Factors affecting infant-caregiver attachment

Answer 8

• Caregiver sensitivity
• Infant temperament
• Environmental factors
• Cultural factors

Question 9

Erik Erikson’s psychosocial model

Answer 9

• First lifespan theory of development
• Every “stage” of identity features a developmental challenge that must be confronted in order to successfully progress
  ex: Trust vs. Mistrust (birth to 2 years): Is the world a safe place?

Question 10

Harvard study

Answer 10

• Evaluated every 2 years for 75 years
• “The clearest message that we get from this 75-year study is this: Good relationships keep us happier and healthier”

Question 11

Piaget

Answer 11

During each stage of development, children form new schemas (ways of perceiving, organizing, and thinking about how the world works)

Question 12

Accomodation

Answer 12

When our existing schemas are no longer sufficient, we experience disequilibrium and become motivated to develop new, more complex, schemas

Question 13

Equibrilium

Answer 13

Match between cognitive structures and reality

Question 14

Piaget’s stages of cognitive development

Answer 14

• Sensorimotor stage (0-2 years)
• Preoperational stage (2-6 years)
• Concrete operational stage (6-11 years)
• Formal operational stage (12+ years)

Question 15

Sensorimotor stage (0-2 years)

Answer 15

• Acquiring information only through the senses
• Forming representations of the kinds of actions that can be performed on certain objects
• Object permanence
• Moves from reaction to action

Question 16

Preoperational stage (2-6 years)

Answer 16

• Begin to think symbolically, but not logically
• development of theory of mind
  Ex. Piaget believed children at this age lacked an understanding of the law of conservation

Question 17

Concrete operational stage (6-11 years)

Answer 17

Development of more logic thinking: but reasoning is limited to concrete objects

Question 18

Formal operational stage (12+ years)

Answer 18

• Able to think and reason abstractly
• Deductive reasoning and problem solving

Question 19

Vygotsky

Answer 19

• His theory places more emphasis on sociocultural factors
  -> Zone of proximal development
  -> Scaffolding

Question 20

Zone of proximal development

Answer 20

The space between what a learner is capable of doing unsupported and what the learner cannot do even with support

Question 21

Scaffolding

Answer 21

Temporary support that adults or other competent peers offer when a person is learning a new skill or trying to accomplish a task