Developmental Psychology Definitions Flashcards
Study of change over lifespan
You’re not the same in the different ages you are.
Heavily concerned with nature vs. nurture debate
-Mental Illness
-Athletic skills: being born with it and pursuing it.
What comes with nature vs. nurture debate:
Comes with the question of choices and decisions.
What change of life includes (6 different ones)
-Cognitive, social, aging, emotional, gender, development
In Utero
-Babies experience REM sleep and Learning!
-While that REM sleep is happening, learning is occurring.
When the fetal brain begins to develop:
During the third week of gestation
What babies learn prenatally:
Learn particular vowel sounds from mother.
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASDs)
-CNS develops throughout, rapidly in the 3rd trimester.
-Do not drink alcohol at all in this trimester.
FASD - Epigenetic Effect:
-Chemically marks DNA
-Epigenetic means environment can influence certain genes and certain markers.
FASD - Priming Effect:
-Exposed babies prefer smell and taste.
-Since the baby was exposed to the alcohol, when they come out, they prefer the smell and taste of alcohol.
-They have to wean baby off.
Brain Development (3 points)
-100 Billion neurons, few connections.
-Dendritic spreading over first 2 years.
-Rapid myelin sheath growth; neurons are firing and need to make sure they’re insulated.
Growth of Brain
-Very rapid growth in frontal lobe from 3-6 yrs.
-Pruning
-Unused connections discarded
-Overshoot the amount of connections that we need.
How do you think the environment can impact this growth?
A child exposed to more learning opportunities experiences less pruning than a child who isn’t given those experiences.
Newborn - Reflexes
-Born with some reflexes to help them survive.
-Rooting
-Sucking
-Swallowing
-Startle
-Walking
-Tonic-neck (when their head sticks out in one direction, their arm sticks out )
-Palmer grasp
-Step reflex
Newborn - Perception: Vision
-Prefer happy faces
-Prefer mother’s faces
-Can see all colors but prefer contrasting colors (helps with depth perception, recognizing shapes)
Newborn- Perception: Depth
-Visual cliff at around 6 months
-Doesn’t really grow until after 6 months.
Newborn- Perception: Other senses
-Prefer sweet
-Sensitive to Sounds
Newborn - Temperament (2 points)
-Thought to be something we are inherently born with
-Each baby is different
Newborn - Temperament: Nature vs. Nurture (3 points)
-Temperament is inheritable
-Maternal stress increases heart rate & movement.
-Tends to remain stable throughout life.
3 basic types of temperament
-Easy: happy, easily adapts to new experiences.
-Difficult: dries, does not like new experiences.
-Slow to warm.
Cognitive Development: Jean Piaget (4 points)
-Jean Piaget is the most influential
-His theories are more prominent that are used in developmental psychology.
-Applied in schools.
-Children are less competent adults.
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development: Sensorimotor Stage (4 points)
-(Birth to 2 years)
-Experience the world through senses
-Self-reflection
-Object permanence: develops at 18 months
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development: Preoperational Reasoning (4 points)
-(2 to 6 or 7 years)
-Representational thought: Pretend play, symbolic gestures.
-Conservation: weight, length, number, mass are all the same.
-Egocentrism: Difficulty perceiving things from another person’s point of view.
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development: Concrete Operational
(4 points)
-(6 or 7 to 11 or 12 years)
-Developmental logical thought: Grasp conversation, reverse problems
-Complex classification: objects can belong to more than one category.
-Decrease in egocentrism.
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development: Formal Operational (2 points)
-Capable of abstract/hypothetical thought: If/then cause/effect right/wrong
-Half of adults aren’t capable of understanding this.
Who created the attachment theory?
Mary Ainsworth (1913-1999)
-She worked with John and created an assessment to look at the different types of attachment theories.
Three attachment theories by Mary:
-Secure
-Insecure Resistant
-Insecure Avoidant
Last Theory invented by someone else:
Disorganized
Behaviors of children in Secure:
Content engaged on task.
Behaviors of children in avoidant:
Withdrawn, quiet, anxious.
Behaviors of children in ambivalent:
Anxious, not focused, insecure, asking a lot of questions.
Behaviors of children in disorganized:
Angry, depressed, not following directions, short fuse, difficulty making friends.
Parenting Styles (4 points)
Uninvolved, Permissive, Authoritarian, Authoritative.
Development of Adolescence (Teenage years) (4 points)
-Transition from childhood to adulthood.
-~10-20 years
-This time is typically when they get negative stereotypes.
-One of these reasons is because these brain areas are not fully developed such as the prefrontal cortex.
Brain Development in Adolescence: Frontal lobe, Emotional cognitive processing area.
-Frontal lobes lag behind the limbic system.
-Emotional cognitive processing area.
-Frontal lobe is not fully developed but emotional cognitive processing area is, personality is developing but emotions are strong.
-Very impulsive, heightened emotional activity.
Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex:
-(vmPFC)
-Inhibits emotional responses
-Sends projections to lower brain areas.
-Urges to do weird stuff, and you don’t act upon them because of this.
Lesioning:
-Poor judgement, impulsivity, overreacting, inability to deal with consequences, inability to plan.
Decreased function of Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex is typically seen in who?
Convicted Criminals and emotional murders.
Stages of Psychological Development (8 points)
-Trust vs Mistrust
-Autonomy vs Shame & Doubt
-Initiative vs Guilt
-Industry vs Inferiority
-Identity vs Role Confusion
-Intimacy vs Isolation
-Generativity vs Stagnation
-Integrity vs Despair
Difference with Erikson’s Psychological Development Diagram:
-Each stage, a person experiences a cycle social conscience.
Personality Development in Adolescence (5 points):
-Eager to establish independence but fear the responsibility in adulthood.
-Identity vs. Role confusion (12-18)
-Fidelity
-Identity Crisis
Personality Development (James Marica’s Identity Establishment) (4 points):
-Identity Achievement
-Foreclosure
-Moratorium
-Identity Diffusion
Moratorium:
You’re actively exploring multiple roles.
Foreclosure:
Sometimes you kind of settle on what has been given to you.
Identity Diffusion:
Completely avoid making a commitment.
Social Development (4 points):
-Peers provide a network of social and emotional support.
-Enables greater independence.
-Changes throughout adolescence.
-Technology & social media.
Young - Adulthood: Great Personality Changes
-Maturity, responsibilities, and emotional stability.
Young - Adulthood: Physical Prime & Health
-Physical prime in 20s
-Decline begins 30.
-Senses begin to decline in early adulthood.
Stage in Young - Adulthood
Intimacy vs. Isolation Stage
Young - Adulthood: Parenthood (3 points)
-You could be securing your personality but parenthood brings a new challenge.
-Breaks down certain things that you thought how the world works.
-Marital satisfaction also tends to decline.
Young -Adulthood: Cognitive Changes (5 points)
-No single correct solution to every problem.
-More practical
-Vocabulary and verbal memory increase
-Perceptual speed and mathematical computation decreases.
-Mental exercise is a necessity.
John Holland’s Theory
To define our careers, we choose majors in our personal characteristics.
Midlife (40-65): Broad Pattern of Personality Changes (3 points)
-Less self-centered.
-More comfortable in interpersonal relationships.
-Better coping/adapting
Midlife (40-65): Generativity vs. Stagnation (3 points)
-Making your mark on the world.
-Midlife crisis
-Midlife transition
Late Adulthood (65+) (4 points):
-Interact with fewer people; fewer social roles.
-Less influenced by social roles or expectations.
-Death is inevitable.
-Conflict: Ego Integrity vs. Despair
Late Adulthood: Perspectives on Aging (4 points)
-Life course theories (more environmental impacts
-Views life as a socially sequenced timeline, looking at how different things that happened in your life changed who you are and how you got to be how you are now.
-Life span theories (more individualistic)
-Looks more at intern and intra individual differences
Late Adulthood: Mind (3 points)
-Aging mind works a bit slower
-Remaining intellectually active -> high level mental functioning in old age.
-Learning skills is beneficial to memory.
The decreases in cognitive aging (7 points)
-Fluid intelligence
-Recall of information
-Working memory
-Processing Speed
-Inhibitory Functioning
-Vision
-Hearing
The increases in cognitive aging (2 points)
-Crystallized Intelligence
-Greater cognitive efficiency
What remains the same in cognitive development in late adulthood:
Recognition
Psychological well-being across lifespan in late adulthood:
Have more of a positive light in your older years, starts to shift after 55.
