Developmental Psychology (Modules 13-16) Flashcards
Developmental Psychology
The study of how people are continually developing – physically, cognitively and socially from infancy through old age
Three Major Issues in Developmental Psych
- Nature vs. Nurture: How do genetic inheritance (our nature) and experience (the nurture we receive) influence development?
- Continuity vs. Stages: Is development a gradual, continuous process or a sequence of separate stages?
- Stability vs. Change: Do our early personality traits persist through life, or do we become different persons as we age?
Zygote
The fertilized egg; it enters a 2-week period of rapid cell division and develops into an embryo
Embryo
The developing human organism from about 2 weeks after fertilization through the second month
Fetus
The developing human organism from 9 weeks after conception to birth
Newborns prefer their mother’s voice to their father’s immediately after birth. Why?
The fetus is responsive to sound and is exposed to the sound of its mother’s muffled voice constantly while in the womb.
Teratogens
Agents, such as chemicals and viruses, that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
Physical and cognitive abnormalities in children caused by heavy drinking while pregnant
Rooting reflex
When something touches an infant’s cheek, babies turn toward it and open their mouths
Habituation
Decreasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation. More familiarity = waning interest
Maturation
Biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience (ex. standing before walking, using nouns before adjectives)
By when do you have most of your brain cells?
Birth
Where is brain growth most rapid from ages 3-6?
Frontal lobes, which enable rational planning
What are the last areas of the brain to develop?
Association areas, responsible for thinking, memory and language
When is the average age of people’s earliest memories?
3.5 years
Who is the most famous developmental psychologist?
Jean Piaget
Cognition
All mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering and communicating
According to Piaget, what is the driving force behind our intellectual progression?
An unceasing struggle to make sense of our experiences
Schemas
Concepts/frameworks that organize and interpret information
Assimilate
Interpreting our new experience in terms of our existing schemas (ex. A moose must be a cow, because cows have four legs.)
Accommodate
Adapting our current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information (ex. Schema is modified to include “moose.”)
Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development
- Sensorimotor Stage
- Pre-operational Stage
- Concrete Operational Stage
- Formal Operational Stage
Sensorimotor Stage
Stage during which infants know the world mostly in terms of their sensory impressions and motor activities
Age Range: Birth - 2 years
Important concepts: Object Permanence
Pre-operational Stage
Stage during which a child learns to use language but does not yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete logic
Age Range: 2 years - 6 or 7 years
Important concepts: Conservation, Symbolic Thinking, Egocentrism, Theory of Mind
Conservation
Those in the pre-operational stage don’t understand conservation, the principle that quantity remains the same despite changes in shape. (Ex. The girl believes the tall, narrow glass has more milk than the shorter glass, but the volume of milk is actually the same.)
Symbolic Thinking
The ability to recognize that representations can act as symbols (Ex. using a model room with a hidden model toy to find a real toy in a real room)
Egocentrism
The pre-operational child’s difficulty to take another’s point of view; lack of sympathy (Ex. “How would YOU feel is she took your toy?”)
Theory of Mind
People’s ideas about their own and others’ mental states – about their feelings, perceptions and thoughts, and the behaviors one might predict
Concrete Operational Stage
Stage during which children gain mental operations that enable them to think logically about concrete events
Age Range: 6 to 7 years - 11 years
Formal Operational Stage
Stage during which people begin to think logically about abstract concepts
Age Range: 12 years - Adulthood
According to Vygotsky, why do children increasingly think in works and use words to solve problems by age 7?
Language provides the building blocks for thinking.
What is the difference between Piaget’s and Vygtosky’s emphasis on children’s cognitive development?
Piaget emphasized that a child’s mind grows through interaction with the physical environment while Vygotsky emphasized that a child’s mind grows through interaction with the social environment.
Stranger Anxiety
Fear of strangers that infants commonly display; marks a new ability to evaluate people as unfamiliar and possibly threatening
Attachment
Emotional tie with another person; young children seek closeness to their caregiver and show distress upon separation
Summarize Harry Harlow’s study of attachment on monkeys.
Monkeys were raised with two artificial “mothers,” one a bare wire cylinder with a bottle, the other wrapped in cloth with no bottle. Despite a lack of food source, the clothed “mother” was preferred over the wired one. This disproved the idea that infants developed attachment to those who satisfied their need for nourishment.
Besides body contact, what else is important in forming an attachment?
One person providing a safe haven when distressed and secure base from which to explore
Critical period
An optimal period shortly after birth when an organism’s exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces proper development
Lorenz’s imprinting
The process by which certain animals form attachments during a critical period very early in life
Do human children imprint?
No, but exposure contributes to familiarity and familiarity breeds content.
Describe Mary Ainsworth’s types of attachment.
Secure attachment: When placed in a strange situation, infants are likely to play comfortably and explore surroundings. Distress comes when she leaves; they cling to her upon return.
Insecure attachment: When in a strange situation and in their mother’s presence, they are less likely to explore and may cling to their mother. They are upset or indifferent when she leaves and returns.
Temperament
A person’s characteristic emotional reactivity and intensity
Erikson’s Basic Trust
A sense that the world is predictable and reliable; said to be formed during infancy by appropriate experiences with responsive caregivers
Explain two different effects on a child if they are deprived of attachment.
Children become withdrawn, frightened or even speechless. As they grow, they can likely become neglectful or aggressive.
Self-concept
Our understanding and evaluation of who we are
What is the difference between self-concept and self-esteem?
Self-concept is the understanding of who you are as a person, while self-esteem is a measure of self-worth
Parenting Styles
- Authoritarian
- Permissive
- Authoritative
Authoritarian Parenting Style
Parents impose rules and expect obedience. Ex. “Why” Because I said so.”
Permissive Parenting Style
Parents submit to their children’s desires, making few demands and little punishment
Authoritative Parenting Style
Parents are both demanding and responsive, setting and enforcing rules while explaining them and encouraging open discussion about them.
According to Baumrind, what kinds of parents do kids who have high self-esteem tend to have?
Warm, concerned authoritative parents
Adolescence
Transition period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty to independence
Puberty
Period of sexual maturation during which a person becomes capable of reproducing
Primary sex characteristics
Body structures (ovaries, testes, external genetalia) that make sexual reproduction possible
Secondary sex characteristics
Non-reproductive sexual characteristics, such as female breasts and hips, male voice quality and body hair
What are the psychological effects on girls who mature early?
It’s stressful; girls may experience teasing and sexual harassment as a result of their early maturation. Or, they may associate with other adolescents.
What happens to your neurons in your brain during adolescence?
Selective pruning occurs; unused neurons and connections are eliminated.
What lobe of the brain matures during adolescence?
Frontal
During early teens, what is reasoning like?
Self-focused, believes their private experiences are unique spectacles that cannot be understood by parents
Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development
- Preconventional Morality
- Conventional Morality
- Postconventional Morality
Preconventional Morality
Before age 9, most children’s morality focuses on self-interest, obeying rules to avoid punishment or gain concrete rewards.
Ex. “I won’t eat a cookie before my meal so I can play with my toy.”
Conventional Morality
Caring for others and upholding laws and social rules simply because they are laws and rules.
Ex. Not running a red light because it’s the law
Postconventional Morality
Actions are judged “right” because they flow from people’s rights or basic ethical principles
Ex. Civil Rights Movement sit-ins; civil disobedience
What happens to children who learn to delay gratification?
They become more socially responsible, academically successful and productive.
According to Erikson, what is the main crisis during adolescence?
Identity vs. Role Confusion; solidify a sense of self or identity
Identity
Our sense of self; according to Erikson, the adolescent’s task is to solidify a sense of self by testing and integrating various roles
Social Identity
The aspect of the communal “we” in self-concept; the part of our answer to “Who am I?” that comes from our group memberships
Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages of Development
- Trust vs. Mistrust
- Autonomy vs. Shame/Doubt
- Initiative vs. Guilt
- Industry vs. Inferiority
- Identity vs. Role Confusion
- Intimacy vs. Isolation
- Generativity vs. Self-Absorption
- Integrity vs. Despair
Trust vs. Mistrust
If needs are dependably met, infants develop a sense of basic trust.
Age: Infancy (1 year)
Autonomy vs. Shame/Doubt
Toddlers learn to exercise their will and do things for themselves, or they doubt their abilities.
Age: Toddlerhood (1-3 years)
Initiative vs. Guilt
Preschoolers learn to initiate tasks and carry out plans, or they feel guilty about their efforts to be independent.
Age: Preschool (3-6 years)
Industry vs. Inferiority
Children learn the pleasure of applying themselves to tasks, or they feel inferior.
Age: Elementary school (6 years to puberty)
Identity vs. Role Confusion
Teens work at refining a sense of self by testing roles then integrating them into an identity, or they experience confusion about themselves.
Age: Adolescence (teens to 20s)
Intimacy vs. Isolation
Young adults struggle to form close relationships and to gain the capacity for intimate love, or they feel isolated.
Age: Young adulthood (20s to early 40s)
Generativity vs. Self-Absorption
In middle age, people discover a sense of contributing to the world, usually through family and work, or they may feel a lack of purpose.
Age: Middle adulthood (40s to 60s)
Integrity vs. Despair
Reflecting on his or her life, an older adult may feel a sense of satisfaction or failure.
Age: Late adulthood
Intimacy
According to Erikson, the ability to form close, loving relationships; a primary developmental task in late adolescence and early childhood
In Western cultures, what happens to the child-parent relationship as adolescents form their identity?
Adolescents begin to pull away from their parents.
What goes hand in hand with positive parent-teen relationships?
Positive peer relations
Emerging Adulthood
Period from late teens to early 20s bridging the gap between adolescent dependence and full independence and responsible adulthood
Menopause
Natural cessation of menstruation
What happens to strength and stamina as you age?
Decline
Why is physical activity important for older adults?
Physical activity contributes to the strengthening of parts of the body that tend to decline naturally
What happens to senses as you age?
Diminish
What happens to your immune system as your age?
Weakens
What happens to neural processing as your age?
Slows
Describe how older people remember meaningful information as compared to younger people.
Older people are better at recognizing information while younger people are better at recalling.
Cross-sectional studies
A study in which people of different ages are compared with one another
Longitudinal studies
Research in which the same people are restudied and retested over a long period of time
Crystallized intelligence
Our accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase with age
Fluid intelligence
Our ability to reason speedily and abstractly; tends to decrease during late childhood
What is terminal decline of mental abilities?
The acceleration of cognitive decline when near death (within 3-4 years)
Is there really a midlife crisis for most people?
Not really’ unhappiness, job dissatisfaction, marital dissatisfaction, job loss, etc. don’t really surge during the early 40s
Social Clock
The culturally preferred timing of social events such as marriage, parenthood, and retirement
Does living together before marriage lead to less divorce?
No, a study shows that those couples who did cohabit were more likely to divorce than those that didn’t
Is there a such thing as “empty nest syndrome” for most couples when their children go off to college?
For the most part, an empty nest is a happy place; many report greater happiness and enjoyment of marriage once children leave.
