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.