Developmental Psychology Flashcards
Lev Vygotsky
- Studied cognitive development: Asserted that the engine driving cognitive development is the child’s internalization of culture
- Stressed the importance of the zone of proximal development
Robert Tyron
Studied genetic basis of maze-running abilities in rats. Found that when breeding maze-bright and maze-dull rats only with same group members, genetic differences in running ability intensified over the generations. However, the maze-running ability did not generalize to other mazes.
Suggests that learning has a genetic basis
Lewis Terman
Performed longitudinal study on gifted children
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
French philosopher who suggested that development could unfold without help from society
Jean Piaget
Outlined four stages of cognitive development
- Sensorimotor
- Preoperational
- Concrete Operational
- Formal Operational
Konrad Lorenz
Ethologist who studied imprinting in birds
John Locke
British philosopher who suggester that infants had no predetermined tendencies - that they were blank slates (“tabula rasa”) to be written on only by experience
Lawrence Kohlberg
Studied moral development using moral dilemmas (“Heinz Dilemma”)
Harry Harlow
Used monkeys and “surrogate mothers” to study the role of contact comfort in bond formation. Monkeys preferred cloth mothers.
G. Stanley Hall
- The founder of developmental psychology - was one of the first psychologists to do empirical research on children
- One of the founders of the APA
Carol Gilligan
Suggested that males and females have different orientations towards morality: women develop a more interpersonal orientation
Arnold Gesell
Believed that development was due primarily to maturation. Development is a biological process that has a blueprint from birth. Occurs regardless of training
Sigmund Freud
- Outlined five stages of psychosexual development
2. Stressed the importance of the Oedipal conflict in psychosocial development
Erik Erikson
Outlined eight stages of psychosocial development covering the entire lifespan. Asserted that development is a series of central life crises where there is a possible favorable outcome and a possible unfavorable outcome
Noam Chomsky
Linguist who suggested that children have an innate capacity for language acquisition. The Language Acquisition Devise is triggered by exposure to language
John Bowlby
Studied attachment in human children (mostly studied children raised in institutions.
Diana Baumrind
Studied the relationship between parenting style and aggression
Mary Ainsworth
Devised the strange situation to study attachment
British Empiricist School of Thought
Belief that all knowledge is gained through experience - child’s mind is a blank slate at birth.
John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, George Berkeley, David Hume, James Mill, John Stuart Mill
Cognitive Structuralists
Jean Piaget
Children as actively involved in development
Three Main Types of Research Methods in Developmental Psychology
- Family studies (can distinguish genetics from environment)
- Twin studies
- Adoption studies
Gregor Mendel
Studied genetics by breeding pea plants. Discovered that organisms have two alleles for any given gene (one from each parent) which determines traits
Genotype
Total genetic makeup
Phenotype
Expressed genes
Haploid Cells
Sperm and egg cells are haploid, not diploid, which means that they have 23 single chromosomes instead of double chromosomes.
Gametes
Human sex cells
Conception
First stage of prenatal development
Occurs in the fallopian tubes, when the egg is fertilized
Zygote
Stage 2 of prenatal development
Fertilized egg - the gametes form a single cell that begins to divide.
Germinal Period
Stage 3 of prenatal development
Fertilized egg travels to the uterus and implants into the uterine wall. This stage lasts about 2 weeks
Embryonic Stage
Stage 4 of prenatal development
Embryo grows to approximately 1 inch in length. Develops fingers, toes, genitals, spine, and displays first motion of limbs. Stage lasts about 8 weeks
Fetal Period
Stage 5 of prenatal development
First measurable activity in the brain, grows in size. Occurs in the third month.
Rooting
Newborn reflex where infant will turn his/her head towards when a cheek is touched
Moro
Newborn reflex where infant will fling arms and extend fingers and then bring arms back and hug self when his/her head is moved abruptly
Babinksi
Infant reflex where the infant will spread toes apart when the bottom of the foot is touched
Grasping
Infant reflect where fingers will close around anything put into the hand
Sensorimotor Stage
Piaget’s first stage of cognitive development.
Birth - 2 years. Includes repetitive behaviors that mark the beginning of goal directed behavior:
1. Primary circular reactions - infant begins to coordinate separate aspects of movement
2. secondary circular reactions - behavior directed toward manipulation of objects.
Also develops object permanence - requires ability to form a mental representation of the object
Preoperational Stage
Piaget’s second stage of cognitive development.
2-7 years - marked by representational thought. Includes
1. Centration: Tendency to be only able to focus on one aspect of a phenomenon: No conservation
2. Egocentrism: No perspective taking
Concrete Operational Stage
Piaget’s third stage of cognitive development.
7-11 years. Able to complete conservation tasks, can take perspectives but have trouble with abstract thoughts
Formal Operations
Piaget’s fourth stage of cognitive development.
11-adolescence. Can think logically about abstract ideas - “child like a scientist”
Zone of Proximal Development
Lev Vygotsky
Abilities that children cannot perform alone, but can perform with assistance
Phonology
Sound stem of language - children must learn to use and recognize sounds of language and differentiate them from other sounds.
Phoneme
Smallest unit of sound. Approximately 40 phonemes in English
Semantics
Word mearnings
Syntax
How words are put together to form sentences
Pragmatics
Efficient use of language
Errors of Growth
Increase in erroneous use of language, even if the child previously used a word correctly. While this appears to be regression, it is actually a sign that the child is learning and applying grammatical rules
Fixation
Freudian term for when a child is overly indulged or frustrated during one of the psychosexual stages and a long-lasting personality pattern forms as a result
Order of Psychosexual Stages
- Oral
- Anal
- Phallic
- Latency
- Genital
Oral Stage
0-1 yr - libidinal energy is centered on the mouth. Fixation would result in excessive dependence
Anal Stage
1-3 yrs - Libidinal energy is centered around elimination or the retention of waste (potty training occurs during this stage). Fixation would result in either excessive messiness or orderliness
Phallic Stage
3-5 yrs - During this stage, the Oedipal Complex (castration anxiety) or Electra Complex (penis envy) is resolved and stage ends by person identifying with their same-sex parent
Latency Period
5-puberty. Libido is sublimated and repressed resulting from resolving the Oedipal/Electra complex in the phallic stage.
Genital Stage
Puberty - adulthood. If the previous stagers were successfully completed, the person is to enter a heterosexual relationship.
Order of Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages of Development
- Trust vs mistrust (0-1)
- Autonomy vs shame and doubt (1-3)
- Initiative vs guilt (3-6)
- Industry vs inferiority (6-12)
- Identity vs role confusion (adolescence)
- Intimacy vs isolation (young adulthood)
- Generativity vs stagnation (middle adulthood)
- Integrity vs despair (old age)
Thomas Chess
Identified three categories of infant emotional and behavioral style (temperament):
- Easy
- Slow to warm up
- Difficult
Research Methods for Temperament
- Parental report of child behavior
- Observations in a natural setting
- Observations in a lab
Bowlby’s Phases of Attachment
- Pre-attachment: Infant reacts in the same way to all adults
- At 3 months, the infant can discriminate between familiar and unfamiliar faces
- At 6 months, baby will respond specifically to and seek out the caregiver
- 9-12 months - stranger anxiety
- 2 years - separation anxiety
- 3 years - child is able to separate from the caregiver without prolonged distress
Strange Situation
Measure of attachment security - Mary Ainsworth
Types of attachment security
- Secure
- Insecure avoidant
- Insecure Resistant
(4. Insecure mixed)
Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development
I. Preconventional
1. Punishment avoidance and obedience
2. Instrumental revitalist stage (wanting to gain rewards)
—-
II. Conventional (morality of conformity)
3. Good girl, nice boy
4. Law and order
—-
III. Post-Conventional (morality of principles)
5. Social contract orientation (rules are not black and white)
6. Universal ethical principals (inner conscious)
Heinz Dilemma
Used to measure stages of moral development. Test where the participant is given hypothetical moral dilemmas - must say what they would do and why (i.e. stealing medication for sick wife)
Kohlberg’s Stages of Gender Development
- Gender labeling (2-3 years) of self
- Gender stability (3-4 years) - can predict that in the future they will still be a boy/girl
- Gender consistency (4-7 years) - understanding the permanency of gender
Martin and Halverson’s Gender Processing Theory
Building on Kohnberg’s stages. When children can label themselves, they concentrate on behavior that seems to be associated with their gender and pay less attention to behavior believed to be associated with the other gender
Parenting Styles
Diane Baumrind
- Authoritarian (high control, low warmth)
- Authoritative (high control, high warmth)
- Permissive (low control, high warmth)
- Uninvolved (low control, low warmth)
