Human Development Across the Life Span Flashcards
Accommodation
Changing ideas to account for new experiences
ie. A child thinks 4 legged pets are puppies, they encounter a cat and realize that there are multiple different 4 legged pets and a puppy is not a cat.
Age of Viability
- The age a fetus can survive being born
- Normally between 22 - 26 weeks
Animism
- The belief all things are living
- Feature of egocentrism
Assimilation
Interpreting new experiences in relation to existing ideas
ie. A child encountering a cat with the belief that all 4 legged pets are puppies
Attachment
- The bond between an infant and caregiver
- 3 types of attachment: secure, anxious-ambivalent and avoidant
Secure Attachment
Infant is comfortable and confident when the parent is around, distressed when they leave and easily comforted by their return
Anxious-Ambivalent Attachment
Infant is anxious when the parent is near, especially upset when they leave and inconsolable even when they return
Avoidant Attachment
Infant doesn’t pay much mind to the parent and does not seem to care when they leave
Centration
- The tendency to view only one variable in an event and ignore everything else
- Seen in preoperational children
Cephalocaudal Trend
- Head-to-foot direction of motor development
- Children tend to gain control of their upper half before their lower half
Cognitive Development
Changes to children’s thinking patterns, including reasoning, memory and problem solving
Cohort Effects
Differences in generational mindset due to the time period in which one was born
Conservation
- Knowledge that quantity stays the same when a physical object changes shape or appearance
ie. clay ball to clay snake - Seen in concrete operational children
Cross-Sectional Design
A research method that involves studying multiple groups of people at once
ie. a group of 8 year olds, 10 year olds and 12 year olds
Crystallized Intelligence
- Intelligence used in problem solving using previously gained knowledge and experience
- Tends to stay stable with age
Dementia
Condition classified by multiple cognitive deficits including memory loss
Development
Age-related changes that occur beginning at conception and ending in death
Developmental Norms
The average age where people reach developmental stages
ie. average walking age
Dishabituation
A new experience increases the strength of a habituated response
ie. If you are currently not afraid of pennies but a penny-wielding clown out for blood comes after you, you may become scared and have a new opinion on pennies, even though you thought they were fine before.
Egocentrism
- Limited ability to see things from another persons viewpoint
- Seen in preoperational children
Embryonic Stage
- Second stage of prenatal development
- 2 weeks to end of second month
- Most major birth defects are due to damage to the embryo in this stage
- Most common stage for miscarriages
Family Life Cycle
-Stages that families tend to progress through
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS)
- Collection of problems associated with a mothers consumption of alcohol during pregnancy
- Microcephaly, heart defects, irritability, delayed mental and motor development
Fetal Stage
- Third stage of prenatal development
- Third month to birth
- Bones and muscles begin to form
- Fetus becomes capable of physical movements
- Sex organs develop and brain cells multiple
- Respiratory and digestive systems mature
Fluid Intelligence
- Basic information processing skills
- Tends to deteriorate with age
Gender
Socially constructed differences between femininity and masculinity
Gender Differences
Differences between sexes in average ability or behaviour
Gender Roles
Expectations on appropriate behaviour for each sex
Gender Stereotypes
Commonly held beliefs about males’ and females’ personalities, traits or abilities.
Germinal Stage
- First stage of prenatal development
- Conception - 2 weeks
- Zygote is created and begins cell multiplication
- Cell mass travels along the fallopian tubes to the uterus and implants itself in the uterine wall
- Placenta is formed
Habituation
The gradual desensitization to certain experiences due to an overexposure to it
ie. overcoming a fear of pennies because you have been exposed to pennies enough to know they are generally harmless unless they are being used as weapons by someone evil
Irreversibility
- The inability to reverse actions in ones mind
- Seen in preoperational children
Longitudinal Design
- Research method where the same subjects are studied over the course of years
- More expensive and harder to administer as some subjects move away or drop out due to loss of interest
Maturation
Physical changes that occur as one ages, determined mainly by genetics
Menarche
The first occurrence of menstration
Motor Development
Development of muscular coordination needed for movement
Object Permanence
The ability to realize that objects exist when they are out of sight
Placenta
- Provides nutrients and oxygen to the fetus from the mothers bloodstream
- Gets rid of the fetus’ waste
Prenatal Period
- Conception to birth
- Usually 9 months
Primary Sex Characteristics
- Traits necessary in reproduction
- Penis, testes and other internal structures in males
- Uterus, vagina, ovaries and other internal structures in females
Proximodistal Trend
The tendency to gain control over ones body from the inside out
ie. Gaining control of your torso before your arms
Puberty
- Stage where sexual functions reach maturity
- Marks beginning of adolescence
Pubescence
- Two year span that occurs before puberty
- Secondary sex characteristics develop
Scaffolding
Occurs when help given to a child is adjusted according to the ability level of the child
Secondary Sex Characteristics
- Sex dependent changes that occur before puberty
- Changes that don’t affect reproduction
- Breast growth and widening of hips in females
- Muscle growth and voice changes in males
Separation Anxiety
Distress shown by an infant when separated from people they’ve formed attachments with
Sex
Biological categories of male and female
Socialization
Being taught and encouraged to follow the behavioural norms expected by society
Stage
Developmental period where certain characteristics emerge and certain skills are gained
Stage Theory
- Theories based on stages
- Assumes that:
- People must progress through stages as each stage is built on the previous
- Progress through stages is related to age
- Development is marked by vast behavioural changes
Strange Situation Procedure
- Created by Mary Ainsworth
- Infants are exposed to eight separation and reunion events to measure attachment
Temperament
- General mood and attitude
- Influenced by genetics
- Easy, slow-to-warm-up and difficult
Teratogens
External influences that can damage a fetus
ie. drugs or diseases
Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)
Gap between what someone can learn alone and what they can learn with assistance
Zygote
- Single celled organism that forms when an egg is fertilized
- Becomes a BABY
Mary Ainsworth
- Created the Strange Situation Procedure
- One of the main women pioneers of psychology
- Made a lot of discoveries about attachment
John Bowlby
- Influenced by Harry Harlow
- Believed there was a biological basis for attachment
- Measured attachment in terms of adaptive value
- Believed infants were wired to act in ways that triggered affectionate and protective behaviours in adults
Alexander Thomas and Stella Chess
- Longitudinal study on temperament
- Found that temperament was generally stable throughout ones life
Jerome Kagan
- Found that infants have either an inhibited or uninhibited temperament
- These are culturally dependent
Harry Harlow
- Harlow’s Rhesus Monkeys
- Fed with either a cloth mother or a wire mother
- When the monkeys were shown a scary toy, they would run to the cloth mother for comfort, even if they were fed with a wire mother
Jay Belsky
Did research into the effects of childcare
Robbie Case
- Developed staircase model of development
- Four major stages of cognitive development
- Noted that stages may be mixed and that culture may play a role in how one develops
Juan Pascual-Leone
- Developed M-Capacity
- Increase in ability to process information is the basis for cognitive ability
- M-Capacity is the max number of mental concepts one can keep in mind at one time
Lev Vygotsky
- Developed sociocultural theory
- Cognitive development is fueled by social interaction
- Culture influences cognitive growth
- Language acquisition plays a key role
Erik Erikson
- Created Eriksons Stage Theory
- Eight stages
- First year: Trust vs Mistrust
- Second / third year: Autonomy vs Shame and Doubt
- Fourth / sixth year: Initiative vs Guilt
- Six / puberty: Industry vs Inferiority
- Adolescence: Identity vs Confusion
- Early adulthood: Intimacy vs Isolation
- Middle adulthood: Generativity vs Self-Absorption
- Late adulthood: Integrity vs Despair
Lawrence Kohlberg
- Stage Theory of Moral Development
- Preconventional Level: acts are wrong because they are punished or right because they are rewarded
- Conventional Level: rules are necessary for maintaining order and are to be followed
- Postconventional Level: development of personal code of ethics effects how one views rules and influences how much one follows them
James Marcia
- Developed four identity statuses
- Identity Diffusion: no commitment, apathy
- Identity Foreclosure: premature commitment
- Identity Moratorium: delaying commitment
- Identity Achievement: sense of self
Jean Piaget
- Stage theory of cognitive development
- 4 major stages
- Sensorimotor Period: birth - 2, developing ability to coordinate movement with sensory input
- Preoperational Period: 2 - 7, children think in terms of centration, irreversibility, egocentrism and animism and they lack conservation
- Concrete Operational Period: 7 - 11, can do mental work with physical objects and work with classification of items
