Human Development

Question 1

Summarize some developmental changes that occur in infancy

Answer 1

• changes that occur in our bodies, minds, and social functioning
• memory, problem-solving, decision making, language, and intelligence
• babies learn to focus their vision, reach out, explore, and learn about the things around them

Question 2

summarize the constructs of Piaget’s theory of cognitive development

Answer 2

• Assimilation: when we modify what we already know so that new information can fit better
• Accommodation: modifying existing schema to understand new information
  -Sensorimotor stage: age 0-2, infants use their sensory capabilities and motor skills to learn about the surrounding of the world (crawling, reaching for things, and handling objects in their mouths)
• Preoperational stage: age 2-7, start using language to explore and understand their worlds
• Formal Operational stage: age 7-11, think more logically and systematically, students need to use abstract ideas to solve problems
• concrete operational thinking: 11-adulthood, use logical principles in solving problems involving the physical worlds (cause and effect, size, and distance)

Question 3

Explain how Piaget described cognitive changes that take place during adolescence

Answer 3

• Concrete operational stage (7-11): think logically about concrete events, understand, conservation, reflects understanding that action is reversible
• formal operational stage (11+) use abstract reasoning and abstract logic, form a hypothesis and test it through deductive logic

Question 4

Describe the theories explaining language accquisition

Answer 4

• understand how to we comprehend language: surface structure and grammer
• Semantics (deep structure): vocabulary, making connections
• Extralinguistic Cues or Context: non-verbal communication, posture, eye contact, gesture
• Conversational Cooperation: Turn-taking, pausing during a conversation
• language exposure (nurture)
• genetic predisposition (nature)

Question 5

Examine the universal sequence of language development

Answer 5

• Critical period hypothesis: there are biologically determined time periods when a child must be exposed to some stimuli in order to achieve normal development (sensitive periods)
• Biology/Nurture: WHEN
• Environment/nature: WHAT

Question 6

summarize Kohlberg’s levels of moral development

Answer 6

• level 1: pre-conventional morality: obedience, and punishment, children see rules are fixed and absolute- obeying the rules
• individualism and Exchange, children account for individual points of view and judge actions based on how they serve individual needs
• level 2: Conventional Morality: Interpersonal Relationships, living up to social expectations and roles
• Maintaining social order: people consider society as a whole when making judgements. The focus is on maintaining law and order by following the rules
• level 3: Post-conventional morality: Social Contrast and Individual Rights, people begin to account for the differing values, opinions, and beliefs of other people
• universal principles: people follow these internalized principles of justice, even if they conflict with laws and rules

Question 7

Name some of the physical changes that occur across adulthood

Answer 7

• 25-30 years
• lower vision
• lower muscle strength and flexibility
• lower basal metabolic rate

Question 8

Identify some of cognitive changes that occur across adulthood

Answer 8

• lower reaction time
• lower memory for factual information
• lower recall
• higher verbal ability

Question 9

Summarize the 4 types of parenting proposed by Baumrind

Answer 9

• control and warm: clear rules, affection, good communication, positive outcomes, authoritative
• control and cold: authoritarian, exert control but in a unresponsive and even rejecting way
• no control and warm: permissive, caring but no guidance
• no control and cold: uninvolved, neglectful

Question 10

Describe how Kubler-Ross explained the stages of death

Answer 10

• denial: reactions with shock and disbelief
• anger: towards who are healthy, or toward the doctor who does not have a cure
• bargaining: may involve with negotiating god, doctor, and other powerful figures
• depression: may be due to illness, or an overwhelming sense of loss
• acceptance