Human Development Flashcards
Developmental Psychology
the changes over a lifetime in physiology, cognition, emotion, and social behavior
Synaptic Pruning
The neurons in the brain connect to everything and then over time the brain decides which connections are useful and which ones are not
Translation Neuroscience
seeks to identify the neural systems that are vulnerable to the effects of early life stress and build interventions that protect those systems
Teratogens
agents that harm the embryo or fetus
Motor Reflexes
born with
grasping reflex
rooting reflex
sucking reflex
Dynamic Systems Theory
the view that development is a self-organizing process, in which new forms of behavior emerge through consistent interactions between a person and cultural environmental contexts
Newborns’ visual ability
distant objects if poor but increases rapidly over the first six months, reaches adult levels around 1 year
Habituation Technique
babies will look for a longer time at objects from a new category
Salient
something this is visually attention-grabbing, or unexpected, or new as opposed to habituated
Infantile Amnesia
our brains process information differently when we’re babies, that’s why we don’t remember things
Attachment
strong, intimate, emotional connections between people that persists over time and across circumstances
Strange Situation Test
infant, caregiver, and stranger were placed in a room, the mom’s left - returned and the babies’ reactions were observed
Secure Attachment
cries when mother leaves, is comforted when mother returns
Insecure Avoidant
doesn’t notice when mother leaves or returns
Insecure Ambivalent
cries hysterically when mother leaves and cries and hits mother when she returns
Oxytocin
related to social behaviors (between mother and daughter)
Imprinting
in less cognitively advanced species, attachment can be formed very easily (ducks)
Authoritarian Parenting Style
enforcing strict standards, often with punishment - demanding, but not accepting
Permissive Parenting Style
asserting little or not authority - not demanding, but accepting
Authoritative Parenting
enforcing rules and standards but with attention to the child’s point of view - demanding and accepting
Disengaging Parenting
not demanding, not accepting - undemanding and overwhelmed by other concerns
Assimilation
the process by which new information is placed into an existing scheme
Accommodation
the process by which a new scheme is created or an existing scheme is drastically altered to include new info that otherwise would not fit into the scheme
Piaget’s theory of development
the importance of the interaction between humans and objects
Piaget’s Sensorimotor Stage
birth - 2
infants acquire info through their senses and motor skills
Object Permanence
the understanding that an object continues to exist even when it is hidden from view
The A- not -B effect
infants reach for objects where they previously found them, even when they have seen where they are hidden
Piaget’s Preoperational Stage
2 - 7 years
children think symbolically about objects
they reason based on intuition and appearance rather than logic and imagination
Egocentrism
they can’t see the world through other people’s eyes (if I can’t see them, they can’t see me)
Piaget’s Concrete Operational Stage
7 - 12 years
begin to think about and understand logical operations and they are no longer fooled by appearances, they can reason logically but not abstractly
Piaget’s Formal Operational Stage
12 - adulthood
people can think abstractly, and they can formulate and test hypotheses/abstract thoughts through deductive logic
Lev Vygotsky’s Theory
the importance of social interactions between self and environment
basically proved a lot of things about Piaget’s theory wrong
Theory of Mind
the ability to understand that other people have mental states that influence their behavior. The ability to infer what another person is feeling or thinking
Prosocial Behavior
any voluntary actions performed with the specific intent of benefiting another person
Preconventional Level
the earliest stage of moral development; people determine what is moral based on self-interest and event outcomes (he should take the food because then he’ll have it)
Conventional Level
the middle stage of moral reasoning; strict adherence to societal rules and the approval of others determines what is moral (he shouldn’t take the food because that’s stealing)
Postconventional Level
the highest stage of moral reasoning; at this level, decisions about morality depend on abstract principles and the value of all life (he should steal the food because his daughter is hungry)
Socioemotional Selectivity Theory
as people grow older, they view time as limited and therefore shift their focus to meaningful events, experiences, and goals
Erikson’s Infancy Stage
0-1 year
Basic Trust vs Mistrust
Erikson’s Early childhood stage
1-3 years
autonomy vs shame
Erikson’s Play Age Stage
3-6 years
Initiative vs guilt
Erikson’s School Age Stage
6-12 years
Industry vs Inferiority
Erikson’s Adolescence Stage
12-19 years
Identity vs Confusion
Erikson’s Early Adulthood Stage
20-25 years
Intimacy vs Isolation
Erikson’s Adulthood Stage
26-64 years
Generativity vs Stagnation
Erikson’s Old Age Stage
65 - death
Integrity vs despair
