Exam 1 (Ch. 1 - Ch. 6) Flashcards
Plasticity
An openness of the brain cells (or of
the organism as a whole) to positive and negative
environmental influence; a capacity to
change in response to experience.
Cohort
A group of people born at the same
time; a particular generation of people.
Age Norms
Expectations about what people
should be doing or how they should behave at
different points in the life span.
Age Grades
Socially defined age groups or
strata, each with different statuses, roles, privileges,
and responsibilities in society
Social Clock
A personal sense of when things
should be done in life and when the individual
is ahead of or behind the schedule dictated by
age norms
Experimental Design
The holding of all other factors besides the independent variable in an experiment constant so that any changes in the dependent variable can be said to be caused by the manipulation of the independent variable
Independent Variable
The aspect of the
environment that a researcher deliberately
changes or manipulates in an experiment to see
its effect on behavior; a causal variable.
Dependent Variable
The aspect of behavior
measured in an experiment and assumed to be
under the control of, or dependent on, the independent
variable
Correlational Method
A research technique
that involves determining whether two or more
variables are related. It cannot indicate that one
thing caused another, but it can suggest that a
causal relationship exists or allow us to predict
one characteristic from our knowledge of
another.
Cross-Sectional Design
A developmental research
design in which different age groups are
studied at the same point and compared.
Longitudinal Design
A developmental research
design in which one group of subjects is studied
repeatedly over months or years.
Sequential Design
A developmental research
design that combines the cross-sectional approach
and the longitudinal approach in a single study to compensate for the weaknesses
of each
Time of Measurement Effects
In developmental
research, the effects on findings of historical
events occurring when the data for a study are
being collected (for example, psychological
changes brought about by an economic depression
rather than as a function of aging)
Cohort Effects
In cross-sectional research, the
effects on findings that the different age groups (cohorts) being compared were born at different
times and had different formative experiences.
Age Effects
In developmental research, the effects
of getting older or of developing
Practice Effects
People may come to know what researcher expects, or may become more aware of their thoughts, feelings, actions, and change behavior
Psychoanalytic Theory
The theoretical perspective
associated with Freud and his followers that
emphasizes unconscious motivations for behavior,
confl icts within the personality, and stages
of psychosexual development
Systems Theories
Theories of development
holding that changes over the life span arise
from the ongoing interrelationships between a
changing organism and a changing environment,
both of which are part of a larger,
dynamic system
Cognitive Development Theory
Well- established
psychotherapy approach that involves identifying
and changing distorted thinking and maladaptive
emotions and behavior associated
with it.
Id
A psychoanalytic term for the inborn component
of the personality that is driven by the instincts
or selfish urges.
Ego
Psychoanalytic term for the rational component
of the personality
Superego
The psychoanalytic term for the component of the personality that consists of the
individual’s internalized moral standards
Psychosexual Theory
Freud’s five stages of
development, associated with biological maturation
and shifts in the libido: oral, anal, phallic,
latency, and genital.
Repression
Removing unacceptable thoughts or
traumatic memories from consciousness, as
when a young woman who was raped has no
memory at all of having been raped (or less
drastically, engages in denial, knowing deep
down that she was raped but not accepting the
reality of it).
Displacement
Redirecting emotions to a more appropriate outlet
Oral Phase
Birth - 1 year. Obtaining oral gratification from a mother is critical to later development.
Anal Phase
1 - 3 years. Toilet training causes conflict between biological urges and society’s demands.
Phallic Phase
3 - 6 years. Resolution of the Oedipus and Electra complex results in identification with the same-sex parent and development of the superego
Latent Phase
6 - 12 years. Libido is quiet, psychic energy is focused on play with same-sex friends
Genital
12 years and older. Puberty reawakens sexual insticts
Erik Erikson
Differences with Freud:
Less emphasis on sex, more emphasis on rational ego not unconscious, development continues through adulthood
Behaviorism
A school of thinking in psychology
that holds that conclusions about human
development should be based on controlled
observations of overt behavior rather than on
speculation about unconscious motives or other
unobservable phenomena; the philosophical
underpinning of early theories of learning
Classical Conditioning
A type of learning in
which a stimulus that initially had no effect on
the individual comes to elicit a response because
of its association with a stimulus that already
elicits the response.
Operant Conditioning
Also called instrumental
conditioning, a form of learning in which freely
emitted acts (or operants) become more or less
probable depending on the consequences they
produce.
Reinforcement
Pleasant consequence that decreases the probability of a behavior
Positive Reinforcement
The process in operant
conditioning whereby a response is strengthened
when its consequence is a pleasant event.
Negative Reinforcement
The process in operant
conditioning in which a response is strengthened
or made more probable when its consequence
is the removal of an un pleasant stimulus
from the situation.
Punishment
Unpleasant consequence that decreases the probability of a behavior
Positive Punishment
The process in operant
conditioning whereby a response is weakened
when its consequence is an unpleasant event.
Negative Punishment
The process in operant
conditioning in which a response is weakened
or made less probable when its consequence is
the removal of a pleasant stimulus from the
situation.
Social Cognitive Theory
Bandura’s social learning
theory, which holds that children and adults
can learn novel responses merely by observing
the behavior of a model, making mental notes
on what they have seen, and then using these
mental representations to reproduce the model’s
behavior; more broadly, a theory emphasizing
the importance of cognitive processing of
social experiences.
Sensorimotor
Birth - 2 years. Only have innate reflexes, still exploring the world. By the end they’re capable of symbolic thought from images.
Preoperational
2 - 7 years. Develop language, solve problems. But not logical and easily fooled by perceptions
Concrete Operations
7 - 11 years. Solve practical and real-life problems but have difficulty with hypothetical and abstract problems.
Formal Operations
11 and older. Pretty much done
Sociocultural Theory
Vygotsky’s contextual
theory of development, which maintains that
cognitive development is shaped by the sociocultural
context in which it occurs and grows
out of children’s social interactions with members
of their culture
Bioecological Model
Bronfenbrenner’s model
of development that emphasizes the roles of
both nature and nurture as the developing person
interacts with a series of environmental
systems (microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem,
and macrosystem).
Microsystem
In Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological
approach, the immediate settings in which
the person functions (for example, the family)
Mesosystem
In Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological
approach, interrelationships between
microsystems or immediate environments (for
example, ways in which events in the family affect
a child’s interactions at a day care center).
Exosystem
In Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological
approach, settings not experienced directly by
individuals still infl uence their development
(for example, effects of events at a parent’s workplace
on children’s development).
Macrosystem
In Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological
approach, the larger cultural or subcultural
context of development.
Down Syndrome
A chromosomal abnormality
in which the child has inherited an extra
21st chromosome and is, as a result, mentally
retarded; also called trisomy 21.
Fragile X Syndrome
A chromosome abnormality in which one arm of the X chromosome is only barely connected to the rest of the chromosome; the most common hereditary cause of mental retardation.
Kleinfelter Syndrome
A sex chromosome abnormality
in which males inherit two or more
X chromosomes (XXY or XXXY); these males
fail to develop secondary sex characteristics and
often show defi ciencies on tests of verbal
abilities.
Turner Syndrome
A sex chromosome abnormality
in which females inherit only one
X chromosome (XO); they remain small in stature,
fail to develop secondary sex characteristics,
and may show some mental defi ciencies.
Heritability
The amount of variability in a
population on some trait dimension that is
attributable to genetic differences among those
individuals.
Concordance Rate
The percentage of cases in
which a particular attribute is present for both
members of a pair of people (for example,
twins) if it is present for one member.
Twin Studies
Method of studying genetic and environmental
infl uence in which the similarity of
identical twins is compared to that of (less genetically
similar) fraternal twins, often in studies
involving both twins reared together and twins
reared apart
Adoption Studies
Method of studying genetic
and environmental influence that involves determining
whether adopted children are more
similar to their biological parents (whose genes
they share) or adoptive parents (who shaped
their environment).
Family Studies
Study all sorts of family members with varying degrees of relatedness
Passive Gene-Environment Correlation
Type of environment provided by parents
Evocative Gene-Environment Correlation
Types of reactions a person’s behavior triggers in others
Active Gene-Environment Correlation
Types of environments we actively seek out
Epigenesis
The process through which nature
and nurture, genes and environment, jointly
bring forth development in ways that are
diffi cult to predict at the outset, according to
Gottlieb’s epigenetic psychobiological systems
perspective; in a more specifi c sense, epigenetic
effects refer to ways in which environmental
infl uences alter gene expression
Germinal Period
First phase of prenatal
development, lasting about 2 weeks from conception
until the developing organism becomes
attached to the wall of the uterus
Fetal Period
The third phase of prenatal development,
lasting from the ninth prenatal week
until birth; during this period, the major organ
systems begin to function effectively and the
fetus grows rapidly
Embryonic Period
Second phase of prenatal
development, lasting from the third through the
eighth prenatal week, during which the major
organs and anatomical structures begin to
develop.
1st Trimester
External genitals form. Reflexive breathing
2nd Trimester
Myelin production, refined movements, sensory organs
3rd Trimester
Rapid weight gain, distinguishes tone and rhythm
Low Birth Weight
Teratogens
Any disease, drug, or other environmental
agent that can harm a developing fetus.
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
A group of
symptoms commonly observed in the offspring
of mothers who use alcohol heavily during pregnancy,
including a small head, widely spaced
eyes, and mental retardation
Premature Birth
Any baby born before 37 weeks GA
Orthogenic Principle
From global & undifferentiated to specialized
Neuroplasticity
The brain’s remarkable ability
to change in response to experience throughout
the life span, as when it recovers from injury or
benefi ts from stimulating learning experiences
Developmental Norm
The age at which half of
a large group of infants or children master a skill
or display a behavior; the average age for achieving
a milestone in development.
Secular Trend
A trend in industrialized society
toward earlier maturation and greater body size.
Telomere
A stretch of DNA that forms the tip of
a chromosome and that shortens after each cell
division, possibly timing the death of cells.
Infant Vision
Blurry, but not color blind. Takes about 6 months to get to adult vision
Color Discrimination
About 4 months
Depth Perception
About 2 months
Baby Language
By 1 year, there’s no discrimination in sounds. Pick out pretty much anything
Presbyopia
Decreased ability of lens to adjust when objects are close to eye caused by thickening of lens
Presbycusis
Hearing loss for high-pitched sounds
