Developmental Psychology (Psychology Subject) Flashcards
Developmental psychology
The study of changes and transitions that accompany physical growth or maturation
Stages of gestation
- Zygote goes through three stages of gestation, or prenatal development
- Germinal stage (2 weeks)
- Embyronic stage (end of 2nd month)
- Fetal stage (3rd month - birth)
Neonate
*a newborn
- Behavior is reflexive
— Sucking reflex
— Head turning reflex
— Moro reflex
— Babinski reflex
— Palmar reflex
Adolescence
- Spans teen years (13-19)
- Begins with onset of puberty
- Hormones (androgen and estrogen) secreted
Nature vs. nurture
- If personality and behavior are the result of genetics or environment
- Twin studies used to examine nature and nurture combinations
Jean Piaget
- Child development, theory of child cognitive development
- Humans experience interaction between internal maturation and external experience that creates qualitative change
- This adaptation happens through assimilation (fitting new info into existing ideas) and accommodation (modification of cognitive schemata to incorporate new info)
Stages of cognitive development
- Sensorimotor (0-2); circular reactions, object permanence, representation
- Preoperational (2-7); egocentric understanding, acquiring words as symbols for things, inability to perform mental operations
- Concrete Operational (7-12); Conservation, understanding of concrete relationships
- Formal Operational (12+); Understanding abstract relationships
Moral development in children
- 4-7; imitates rule-following behavior; doesn’t question acceptance of rules
- 7-11; understands rules and follows
- 12+; applies abstract thinking to rules; can change rules if all parties agree
Freud’s personality development
- Oral (birth-18 mos)
- Anal (18 mos-3 yrs)
- Phallic (3-6)
— Oedipus complex (jealous of father, in love with mother)
— Electra complex (angry with mother, in love with father because of penis envy)
— Castration anxiety (fear of castration) - Latency (adolescence)
- Genital (adolescence-adulthood)
Lawrence Kohlberg
- Best-known theory of moral development through analyzing responses of children to nine hypothetical moral dilemmas
— Heinz dilemma - Preconventional/Premoral
— Level 1: should avoid punishment
— Level 2: should gain rewards - Conventional/Morality of Conformity
— Level 3: should gain approval
— Level 4: should follow lay and authority - Postconventional/Morality of Self-Accepted Principles
— Level 5: beyond black and white of laws, attentive to rights and social warfare
— Level 6: makes decisions based on abstract ethical principles
Erik Erikson
*best known for a development scheme that addresses the entire life span
- Viewed each stage of life as having its own unique psychosocial conflict to solve
Life span development stages
Age; stage crisis; resolution
- Birth-18 mos; trust vs. mistrust; trust
- 18 mos-3; autonomy vs. shame and doubt; independence
- 3-6 initiative vs. guilt; purpose
- 6-puberty; industry vs. inferiority; competency
- Teen years; identity vs. role confusion; sense of self
- Young adult; intimacy vs. isolation; love
- Middle age; productivity vs. stagnation; productivity and caring
- Old age; ego integrity vs. despair; wisdom and integrity
John Bowlby
- suggested infants are motivated to attach to their mothers for positive reasons (closeness) and for negative reasons (avoiding fear)
Mary Ainsworth
- studied attachment through the use of the strange situation (mother and infant playing together in lab)
- stranger anxiety, separation anxiety
- securely attached, avoidant, ambivalent
Diana Baumrind
- studied the relationship between parenting style and personality development
- authoritarian, permissive, and authoritative parents
John Watson’s behavioristic approach
Children were passively molded by environment and behavior emerges through imitation of their parents
Motor development in first two years
- largely controlled by internal, maturational factors
- interacting through attention and affection fosters physical, emotional, and intellectual development
Arnold Gessell
- an early child developmentalist
- believed nature provided only a “blueprint for development” through maturation
- environment or nurture filled in the details
Aggression in children
- if identified as aggressive at an early age, have moderate tendency to remain aggressive later in life
Sex-typed behavior
*behavior that seems typical for gender
- low during prepubescence
- highest in young adulthood
- lower again later in life
Boys and puberty
Those who reached puberty sooner rather than later shown to be psychologically and socially advantaged
Adolescents and aspirations
Most often have educational/career aspirations like their parents
Hermaphrodite/intersex
*an individual born with both male and female genitals
- most likely resulting from female fetus being exposed to a higher than normal level of testosterone
Symbolic play
- begins when children are 1-2 years old
- pretend roles, imagination, using objects to represent other things
- understands concept of having one object stand for another
Parallel play
- occurs when children are 2-3 years old
- 2 children standing next to each other and playing in similar styles, but not together
