exam 2 - developmental psychology

Question 1

goal of developmental psych

Answer 1

study individual key stages of life and how people grow/develop at/between each

Question 2

developmental key themes (3)

Answer 2

1) nature vs nurture: how much of us is genetic vs due to our enviro
2) continuity vs stages: does development occur gradually or in clear stages?
3) stability vs change: how consistent are we when we move between stages? If we change, how can we say we’re the same person?

Question 3

developmental research methods

Answer 3

1) cross sectional studies
2) longitudinal studies

Question 4

whats a cross sectional study/when are they used? Pros/cons?

Answer 4

mix different ages at the same time; compare their responses; use for observing age related differences
pro: get info all info at one time
con: comparing dif people

Question 5

what’s a longitudinal study? when are they used? pros/cons?

Answer 5

same subjects studied at dif times in their lives; use for observing age related changes
pro: studying the same people
cons: expensive, takes years, people might drop out

Question 6

how to do research with infants?

Answer 6

eye tracking machines, measure pacifier sucking, observe head turns

Question 7

what’s habituation/how is it used?

Answer 7

when something becomes habituated, the infant is bored with it; doesn’t look at it anymore/loses interest; use for assessing memory and perception

Question 8

how did they test infant categorization? what did they conflude?

Answer 8

show a proper animal head/body image and let them get habituated; switch and put wrong heads on wrong bodies; babies stared at the head they didn’t see before vs the body; infants prioritize face over body

Question 9

what brain cells/connections are babies born with?

Answer 9

all brain cells but don’t have a lot of neural connections

Question 10

what allows for rational planning

Answer 10

frontal lobe growth spurt at 3-6 months old

Question 11

what areas develop last?

Answer 11

association

Question 12

What happens at puberty?

Answer 12

pruning process; neural pathways for language/agility stop surging

Question 13

at what age are children’s memories processed differently?

Answer 13

4 yrs

Question 14

Piaget’s theory

Answer 14

children are curious, active, intelligent, but have a dif type of logic; they intelligent but limited by cognitive development

Question 15

answer to piaget’s question: how do children incorporate new info w what they already know?

Answer 15

1) form schemas; mental representations of the world
2) assimilate; put new info into existing schemas
3) accommodate; make new schemas if things don’t fit/make sense

Question 16

assimilation vs accomodation

Answer 16

child knows what cows look like; sees a moose and ASSIMILATES moose into same schema as cow; parent corrects child; child ACCOMMODATES and makes separate schema for moose

Question 17

piaget’s 4 cognitive development stages

Answer 17

1) sensorimotor
2) preoperational
3) concrete operational
4) formal operational

Question 18

sensorimotor stage: age, description, 2 key aspects

Answer 18

• birth-2 yrs
• experience the world through sensory/motor interactions (looking, hearing, touching, mouthing, grabbing)
• key 1) lack of object permanence
• key 2) separation anxiety; after child has object permanence, they know their parent still exists but doesn’t understand time and doesn’t know when they’ll be back

Question 19

preoperational stage: age, description, 2 key aspects

Answer 19

• 2-6 years
• too young for mental operations (math), use words/pics to symbolize objects
• key 1) don’t understand conservation; that phys properties of an object stay the same (ex. amount of juice is the same in two dif cups)
• key 2) ego centrism; can’t adopt new perspective ; self centered; what they see is what everyone

Question 20

concrete operational stage: age, description, 2 key aspects

Answer 20

• 7-12 yrs
• logical reasoning/grasping idea of conservation; perspective taking/no longer egocentric; grouping/idea of subgroups, serialization, realize things can belong in 2 categories; add and subtract without counting

Question 21

what did harry harlow study?

Answer 21

attachment styles with primates; thought offspring bonded w/ mother because she was a food source

Question 22

what did harlow’s results show?

Answer 22

primates preferred cloth monkey w/o food over wire monkey w/ food; IMPORTANCE OF COMFORT AND AFFECTION

Question 23

what happens when primates are deprived of social contact?

Answer 23

1) get anxious or angry meeting others their age
2) incapable of mating after reaching sexual maturity
3) neglectful of offspring

Question 24

Who studied attachment styles in children?

Answer 24

john bowlby and his assistant mary ainsworth

Question 25

what did john bowlby realize?

Answer 25

relationship w/ primary caregiver leads to infant’s expectations of themselves (how others respond to them/if they’re worthy of love)

Question 26

what test did ainsworth come up with?

Answer 26

Strange situation test shows the quality/strength of attachment between mothers and infants (12-18 mos *DO NOT HAVE OBJECT PERMANENCE)

Question 27

What are the possible attachment styles/results of the strange situation test?

Answer 27

1) secure: cried when mom left, calm when she returned
2) avoidant: didn’t react when mom left or returned
3) anxious ambivalent: cried when mom left, did not calm down when she returned

Question 28

what 2 things cause attachment style

Answer 28

1) responsiveness of parental behavior (do they respond to your needs)
2) consistency of care (do they consistently give you what you need)

Question 29

model of self

Answer 29

expectation of whether oneself is worthy of support and love

Question 30

model of other

Answer 30

expectation of likelihood that others are reliable and will treat oneself well

Question 31

when is adult attachment style apparent

Answer 31

only during times of stress

Question 32

secure people

Answer 32

had responsive caregivers, trusting/feeling worthy and well liked, satisfying romantic relationships

Question 33

anxious ambivalent people

Answer 33

had erratic caregiver, unpredictable when they feel like they deserve love/care, fall in love easily but worry of abandonment, hypervigilante for signs of rejection

Question 34

avoidantpeople

Answer 34

had negligent caregiver, hard to trust others, independent, prefer distance > intimacy, negative emotional experiences (her friend Mark)

Question 35

coping strategies for attachment styles

Answer 35

secure: talk to partner
anxious: rumination
avoidant: distancing

Question 36

gender dif in attachment styles

Answer 36

men more likely to be avoidant; women more likely to be anxious

Question 37

why do couples often consist of anxious ambivalent and avoidant

Answer 37

men more likely avoidant, women more likely anxious, chalk it up to being a man or being a woman; these are not happy relationships

Question 38

whats the secure buffer idea

Answer 38

repeated interactions over long period can help someone change their attachment style (*only if they’re willing to change)

Question 39

how does the 4 category model differ?

Answer 39

splits anxious ambivalent into 2 more categories
1) dismissing: (+ self, - others)
2) fearful (- self, - others)

Question 40

problems w attachment styles/research

Answer 40

1) they’re just other personality variables (not mutually exclusive, can be high on many traits)
2) no tested or universal organization/format (are they continuous, flexible, 3 or 4 categories); hard to get bird’s eye view

Question 41

why did erikson disagree w freud

Answer 41

disagreed that personality was fixed by age 5. believed it kept going until mid 20s-30s

Question 42

What is erik erikson’s ego identity idea

Answer 42

• consciously experience sense of self based on interactions with social reality
• ego identity changes constantly w regards to environment

Question 43

what’s erikson’s idea of competence and social adequacy

Answer 43

• each stage has a dif aspect of mastery
• stage managed well = feel competent
• stage managed poorly = feel inadequate

Question 44

erikson’s 8 stages, psychological issue, central question

Answer 44

1) infancy, trust vs mistrust, how can i be secure?

2) early childhood, autonomy vs shame/doubt, how can i be independent?

3) childhood play age, initiative vs guilt, how can i be powerful?

4) childhood school age, industry vs inferiority, how can i be good?

5) adolescent/young adult, identity vs role confusion, who am i? how do i fit in the adult world?

6) young adult, intimacy vs isolation, how can i love?

7) mature adult, generativity vs stagnation, how can i be creative?

8) old age, ego identity vs despair, have i accomplished what i wanted?

Question 45

adolescent moral development

Answer 45

how do we learn what’s good vs bad? kohlberg thought it occurred in 3 stages

Question 46

how did kohlberg test moral development?

Answer 46

gave kids moral dilemmas; see of they say yes or no, but more interested in their reasoning

Question 47

3 stages of kohlberg’s moral reasoning

Answer 47

1) preconventional (before 9 yrs)
2) conventional morality
3) postconventional morality

Question 48

what happens in preconventional stage; what are the two substages (1 and 2)

Answer 48

obey to avoid punishment or gain reward
- stage 1) obedience and punishment orientation (whatever authority says is right)
- stage 2) individualism and exchange (Judge actions based on how well they serve an individual’s needs)

Question 49

what happens in conventional morality; what are the two substages

Answer 49

people think as members of conventional society w its values, norms, expectations
- stage 3) good interpersonal relationships (emphasize helping ppl close to them)
- stage 4) maintaining social order (prioritize obeying laws)

Question 50

what happens in postconventional morality; what are the 2 substages

Answer 50

less concerned about maintaining society for its own sake, more concerned about values of a good society
- stage 5) social contract and individual rights
- stage 6) define principles by which agreement will be most just *theoretical

Question 51

criticisms of kohlberg

Answer 51

cultural bias, gender bias (women put others’ needs before their own but are equally moral), limited by the fact that morality consists of more than just an ability to think in sophisticated matter (actions > words)

Question 52

in adulthood, what types of people do we love?

Answer 52

people who reward us, help satisfy our needs, that are like us, and we have profitable interactions with

Question 53

adulthood; attraction

Answer 53

we like physically attractive people; they are treated better in real life situations; computer dance study showed physical attractiveness was the most important predictor for the desire to date someone

Question 54

situational factors that affect attraction

Answer 54

proximity; familiarity; similarity

Question 55

what’s proximity; why does it promote attraction?

Answer 55

we like people near us; people were closer friends with next door neighbors; it increases familiarity; proximity is rewarding and distance is costly

Question 56

familiarity’s effect on attraction

Answer 56

the more we’re exposed to something, the more we like it (4 women sat in during classes; those who went more frequently were rated more highly); unfamiliar people are threats; familiar ones are predictable and comforting

Question 57

similarity’s effect on attraction

Answer 57

we like people who like us, naturally want similarity on as many dimensions as possible; reassuring to meet ppl like us; less conflict