human development

Question 1

Nature and nurture influence human growth in which three domains

Answer 1

Physical, socio-emotional and cognitive.

Question 2

What are the 3 periods of physical growth in the prenatal period?

Answer 2

The germinal period (when sperm unites with the egg from the female) (2 weeks) if pb-> miscarriage ;

2. The embryonic period (6weeks) Most important time of physical dvlpmt of spinal cord, brain, all internal organs.
3. Fetal period

Question 3

What is spina bifida

Answer 3

a birth defect occurring during the embryonic period when spinal cord and brain don’t develop properly.

Question 4

What are the substances that can cause birth defect

Answer 4

Teratogens:
Legal drugs: Alcohol (facial malformations), nicotine (miscarriage, still birth, low birth weight, metal retardation, learning difficulties), caffeine;
Recreational drugs:cocaine (seizures), marijuana; Infections: German measles Rubella (deafness), Syphilis;
Env: radiation X-rays, mercury.

Question 5

What disorder results in abnormality such as small head, malformation of the face and limbs, heart defect, and abnormal brain development?

Answer 5

Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS)

Question 6

What are the time range for infancy and childhood?

Answer 6

Infancy (birth to 18-24 months)

Childhood (2 to 11-14 years old)

Question 7

What happens when infants’ brain are not stimulated enough?

Answer 7

Very few synaptic connections are made. Less capacity to process complex info, solve problem, develop advanced language skills.

Question 8

What are the inborn reflexes?

Answer 8

rooting reflex
sucking reflex
grasping reflex

Question 9

How is called the process of developing motor skills as a sequence of steps that usually occur within a predictable range of ages

Answer 9

maturation

Question 10

What is the dynamic systems theory of development?

Answer 10

children often achieve developmental milestones at different paces, depending on the culture in which they are raised.

Question 11

What are the senses already operational for the infant’s survival just after birth?

Answer 11

taste (sweet) to make them want to drink nutritious milk;
smell (especially for scents associated with feeding.
Hearing (at 6 months babies hear nearly as well as adults)

Question 12

What senses are poor in infants?

Answer 12

Vision (see only 8-12 inches from their head and cannot make difference bw colors, prefer high contrast patterns) (like adults at about a year)

Question 13

Describe Harlow’s finding about attachment

Answer 13

infant rhesus monkey experiment showed that the mother-as-food theory was wrong. comforting touch is critical in the socio-emotional dvlpmt of infants

Question 14

What is separation anxiety

Answer 14

when an infant are separated from their attachment figures at about 8 months of age. this increases dramatically as the infants approach their first year of life.

Question 15

What did reveal the Ainsworth’s strange situation test?

Answer 15

3 attachment styles: Secure attachment (get upset when caregiver leaves and seek the caregiver's comfort when he returns;
Avoidant attachment (do not cry when caregiver leaves and do not seek comfort when he returns) ;
ambivalent attachement : cry a great deal when caregiver leaves but when he returns there is both seek and reject caring contact.

Question 16

What future outcomes are related to secure attachment?

Answer 16

better socio-emotional functioning in childhood;
better peer relations,
successful adjustment at school.
if not: depression and behavioral pb.

Question 17

how is called the ability to understand that other people have minds and intentions

Answer 17

theory of the mind. Thus by the time they are 1 year old, they can understand another person’s intentions, another person’s mental state, another person’s beliefs and another person’s desires.

Question 18

when are infants able to read the intentions of other people?

Answer 18

in the first year of life. by the end of the 2nd year, 13-15 months they become very good at it even if they tend to view the world based only on their own perspectives.

Question 19

according to piaget what modify the way one thinks?

Answer 19

schemas (ways of thinking about how the world works).

Question 20

What are the 2 ways we use to develop a schema?

Answer 20

Assimilation (new exp. in a existing schema)

Accommodation (create a new schema or dramatically alter an existing one to include a new crucial info)

Question 21

What are Piaget’s 4 progressive complex stage of cognitive dvlpmt?

Answer 21

1. sensorimotor (birth-2 years) ->mentally represent info acquired through senses, begins to act intentionally, achieve object permanence.
2. Preoperational (2 -7 years) -> use language and represent object by image and words , egocentric thinking, think intuitively not logically, classic objects by a single feature.
3. Concrete operational (7-12 year): think logically about concrete events, achieve conservation of number, volume, mass and weight, classify object by several features
4. Formal operational (12 years and up): think logically about abstract, test hypothesis, concerned with hypothetical pb.

Question 22

Define the law of conservation

Answer 22

Even if the appearance of a substance changes in one dimension, the properties of that substance remain unchanged. impossible before stage 3.
Due to centration: a child cannot think about more than 1 aspect of a pb at a time.
It depends of the understanding that an action is reversible.

Question 23

In what ways do we have to consider Piaget’s theory more flexibly?

Answer 23

1. He underestimated the ages at which certain skills develop. (ex object permanence occurs sooner than he thought.)
2. Not really stages but trends. (sometimes children can even be at different stages simultaneously).

Question 24

What is the order of organization of language?

p135

Answer 24

phoneme
Morpheme
words
phrases
sentences.

Question 25

What is synthax

Answer 25

system of rules about how words are combined into phrases and how phrases are combined to make sentences.

Question 26

what are the level of communication of a children

Answer 26

babbling (5-7 months)
first words (end of first year)
telegraphic speech
Overregularization: aver applying regular grammar rules (sign a recognition of patterns)

Question 27

What is puberty

Answer 27

a roughly 2 year dvlpmetal period, marking the beginning of adolescence ( 8 for girls and 9-10 for boys. produced by growth spurt (hormonally driven increase in height and weight))

Question 28

What are the first changes occurring during puberty.

Answer 28

2ndary sex characteristics:
boys and girls: growth of body hair
Boys: muscle increase, voice deepen, jaws become more angular
Girls: lose baby fat on their bellies , waist become more defined, fat deposit on hips and breasts.

Primary sex characteristics: male and female external genitals and internal sex organs mature, menstruation begins and sperm dvlpe in boys.

Question 29

What environmental factors can impact puberty?

Answer 29

stressful environments and
insecure attachment -> menstruation occur earlier,
so more for girls because of their reproductive role.

Question 30

What happens in the brain during adolescence?

Answer 30

synaptic connections are refined, gray matter increase.
limbic system (motivational and emotional center of the brain) is more active than the frontal cortex (thus think less critically and engage in risky behavior more than adults)

Question 31

What are Erickson’s 8 stages of psychosocial development ? (1959)

Answer 31

1. infancy (0-2) trust vs mistrust (resolution:safety, love and reliability)
   2.toddler (2-3): autonomy vs shame and doubt (encouraged to explore)
2. Preschool (4-6) Initiative vs guilt (purpose, responsibility)
3. childhood (7-12) Industry vs inferiority (working successfully with others, assessing others’ views)
4. Adolescence (13-19) Identity vs role confusion (exploring different social roles) (include ethnic and cultural identity
5. Young adulthood (20s): intimacy vs isolation (commit to long term relationship)
6. Middle adulthood (30-50) : generatively vs stagnation (positive legacy and care for future generation)
7. Old age (60s and beyond) integrity vs despair (satisfaction and wisdom)
   Critic:

Question 32

What are kohl berg’s stages of moral reasoning? (1984)

Answer 32

Pre conventional level (solve moral dilemma in term of self interest.
conventional level (responses conform to rule of law and focus on approval or disapproval)
Post conventional level (abstract thinking that transcend laws and social expectations.)
Critics: This doesn't take into account emotional issues.