Human Growth and Development Flashcards
Human Growth
Refers to a change in size
Human Development
Indicates a change in skill level
What is Human Development?
- The study of how people develop on physical, social, emotional, intellectual, psychological and moral levels
- Attempts to promote a better understanding of the different stages of life
- Investigating human development helps us better understand how and why people think and act the way they do
Developmental Tasks
- Adjustments that must occur throughout the life of an individual
- Can be physical, social, emotional, intellectual, psychological and/or moral
- If successfully achieved, it is likely that a person will find greater happiness and success in confronting later life adjustments or tasks
- Failure leads to unhappiness, disapproval by society and the possibility of more difficulty with adjustments or tasks
Characteristics That Affect Human Development
- Development is SIMILAR for everyone
- Development is SEQUENTIAL and builds on earlier learning development
- Development is INDIVIDUALIZED and proceeds at an individual rate
- Development is INTERRELATED: all 5 areas of development are interdependent and reinforce one another
- Development is CONTINUOUS throughout life
Physical Development
Gross (large muscle) and fine (small muscle) motor skills
Growth and maturation of senses, muscles, organs, and body systems
Contributions: nutrition, exercise, human contact, hygiene and rest
Intellectual Development
- Learning depends on brain growth and stimulation of central nervous system
- Maturation of mental processes such as learning, attention span, imagination, memory, perception, solving problems, judgement
- Development of language for young children
- Contributions: primary caregivers are supportive, nurturing, warm and sensitive- will allow brain to grow and intellect to develop
Emotional Development
- Process of developing positive feelings about oneself, family, friends, and the world at large
- Maturation and evolution of emotions, social skills, identity, personality and morals
- Learning how to handle feelings properly
- Contributions: healthy, loving environment- caregivers respond with warmth to child’s feelings, parents should accept and support the innate nature of the child and his/her temperament
Social Development
- Knowledge of how people interact, play, take turns, share or talk socially
- Ability to build relationships (make/keep friends), form intimate friendships, show leadership, and function as an individual as well as part of a team
- Starts with a secure and loving relationship with child’s primary caregivers beginning at birth
- Contributions: loving and patient caregivers, self confidence, co operation, trust
Moral Development
- Development of a sense of right and wrong
- Includes a conscience that governs thoughts, feelings and behaviour
- Concepts of justice, rights, responsibilities and fairness
- Creating positive attitude towards others in society
- Contributions: good role modelling from caregivers/immediate family
Approaches To Life-Span Development
- The Cognitive Approach
- Examines the root of understanding - The Behavioural and Social Cognitive Approach
- Focuses on observable behaviour + learning through imitation - The Psychoanalytic Approach
- Focuses on the inner person - The Bioecological Approach
- Focuses on the importance of environmental factors in human development - The Humanist Approach
- Focuses on the unique qualities of humans - The Ethological Approach
- Focuses on how our biological makeup influences our behaviour
Prenatal Development- Teratogens
Agents and conditions, including viruses, drugs, chemicals, stressors and malnutrition that impair prenatal development and lead to birth defects and premature death
Critical Period
Different parts of the brain develop at different times to prevent overload
Freud
Freuds conception of personality intailed his belief that the mind is like an iceberg.
Personality structure- id, ego, superego (3 interacting systems)
Personality development- psychosexual stages
Personality dynamics- defense mechanisms (repression, regression, react, projection etc)
Piaget
Stages: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational
Sensorimotor Characteristics: Knows the world through their movements and sensation
Preoperational Characteristics: Children begin to think symbolically and learn to use words & pictures to represent objects
Concrete Operational: Children begin to think logically about concrete events
Formal Operational: The adolescents or young adult
Erikson
Stage 1: Basic trust vs mistrust (infancy 1-2 years)
Stage 2: Autonomy vs share & doubt (early childhood 2-4 years)
Stage 3: Initative vs guilt (preschool age 4-5 years)
Stage 4: Industry vs inferiority (school age 5-12 years)
Stage 5: Identity vs isolation (early adulthood 20-40 years)
Stage 6: Intimacy vs isolation (early adulthood 20-40)
Stage 7: Generativity vs stagnation (adulthood 40-65 years)
Stage 8: Ego Integrity vs despair (maturity 65-death)
Kohlberg
Level 1- Pre-Conventional Morality Stage 1: Obedience and Punishment Stage 2: Individualism and Exchange Stage 3: Interpersonal Relationships Stage 4: Maintaining Social Order Stage 5: Social Contract and Individual Rights Stage 6: Universal Principles
Maslow
The Hierarchy Of Needs Theory
Self- Actualization: Self-fulfilment and the realization of one’s potential
Esteem: Independence, dignity, achievement, respect, reputation
Love/Belonging: Interpersonal relationships, trust and acceptance
Safety: Security, stability, and protection
Physiology: Biological requirements: food, water, shelter, exercise, sleep
Denial
Protecting oneself from an unpleasant reality by refusing to perceive it
Repression
Unconsciously preventing painful or dangerous thoughts from entering awareness
Displacement
Substituting a different target for impulses when the original would be dangerous or unacceptable
Projection
Attributing one’s own feelings, shortcomings, or unacceptable impulses on others
Reaction Formation
Preventing dangerous impulses from being expressed in behaviour by exaggerating opposite behaviour
Regression
Retreating to an earlier level of development or to earlier, less demanding habits or situations
Rationalization
Justifying your behaviour by giving reasonable and “rational” but false reasons for it
Sublimation
Working off unmet desires, or unacceptable impulses in activities that are constructive
Compensation
Counteracting real or imagined weaknesses by emphasizing desirable traits or seeking to excel in the area of weakness or in other areas
Personality Development
We use the idea of personality to explain…
The stability in a person’s behaviour over time and across situations CONSISTENTLY
The behavioural differences among people reacting to the same situation DISTINCTIVENESS
Personality refers to an individual’s unique constellation of CONSISTENT BEHAVIOUR TRAITS
Behave in a particular way in a variety of situations
Personality Development - Influences
Heredity
The qualities you’ve inherited from your family
Environment
The surroundings including friends, family, and associates at school, work, and in the community
Personality Development - McCrae and Costa’s Big 5
Extraversion- outgoing, sociable, assertive and friendly
Neuroticism- anxious, hostile, self conscious, insecure, vulnerable
Openness- to experience: associated with curiosity, flexibility, vivid fantasy, imaginativeness, artistic, sensitivity, environmental attitudes
Agreeableness- tend to be sympathetic, trusting, co operative, modest and straight forward
Conscientiousness- tend to be diligent, disciplined, well organized, punctual and dependable
Holland’s Personality Type Theory
He believed that it was important for people to select careers that match up well with their personality type
Realistic- Doing things
Investigative- Thinking/ ideas
Artistic- Creating ideas/ things
Social- Helping people
Enterprising- Managing people
Conventional- Conforming/ data
Extrovert- Like to be around people and communicate with them
Introvert- Finds satisfaction in being alone
(Most are a blend of both, but learn in one direction or the other. Both are positive types unless carried to either extreme)
The Milgram Experiment
Milgram (1963) was interested in researching how far people would go in obeying an instruction if it involved harming another person.
Stanley Milgram was interested in how easily ordinary people could be influenced into committing atrocities, for example, Germans in WWII.
Neurons
Are the nerve cells that make up the brain, and composed of a cell body, an axon, and dendrites. When neurons are lost during normal brain development and aging, none are added.
Dendrites
Called dendrites because they are not at the end. Their job is to receive stimulation/information (stimulation can be mechanical, manual or electromechanical)
If they are pressure receptors of the skin they receive mechanical stimulation
If they are between neurons their job is to receive electromechanical stimulation from the neuron in line
From there, the stimulation channels and organizes in the cell body
Cell Body
Main function of the cell body is to help centralize, organize and channel stimulation
Axon
Acts like the wire does in a plug
Called an axon because its ACTS on the next neuron in line
It’s job is to transport stimulation that was gathered by dendrites, organized by the cell body and transported in the next neuron in line
Myelin Sheath
Thin protein layer/cover that acts very much like the insulation (insulates neuron so they can send eletric signals faster and more efficiently. does on a wire plug
In children, the myelin sheath is not fully developed until the child is 6-7 years old (that’s why they can’t colour in the lines), they are not going to have fine motor skills- neuro limits
Terminal Buttons
From junctions with dendrites from other neurons
Synapse (Gap Synapse)
The gap between the terminal button and the neuron
Like an on/off switch on an overhead projector, there is something that connects the terminal to the next neuron (completes the circuit)
The chemical equivalent that is stored in the terminal button is: neurotransmitters
Neurotransmitter
A chemical substance in the body that carries a signal from one nerve cell to the other
They act like an on/off switch, when released from the terminal button they complete the circuit by going to the synapse gap and hooking up with the next neuron dendrites
There are different chemicals released from neurotransmitters each with their own psychological function
Dopamine
Controls voluntary movements and is associated with emotional arousal, learning and memory. Drugs like cocaine, heroin, opium and even alcohol increase the level of this neurotransmitter
Acetylcholine
Stimulates muscles and is associated with attention, arousal, learning and memory
Serotonin
Has profound effect on emotion, mood and anxiety. Regulates sleep, wakefulness and eating. Low amounts of this neurotransmitter is associated with conditions like depression, suicidal thoughts and OCD. Many antidepressants work by affecting the level of this neurotransmitter
Epinephrine
Also called adrenaline- a naturally occurring hormone released in response to signals from the sympathetic nervous system. Itis an excitatory neurotransmitter that contains attention, arousal, cognitive and mental focus
Norepinephrine
Also an excitatory neurotransmitter that regulates mood as well as physical and mental arousal. An increase in this neurotransmitter raises heart and blood pressure
Enkephalins
Regulates pain which allows the body to cope with pain and stay focused instead of panic
Gamma Aminobutyric Acid (GABA)
Inhibitory transmitter that slows down the activities of neurons in order to prevent them from getting over excited. When neurons get over excited it can lead to anxiety. Low levels of this can have an association with anxiety disorders
Endorphins
Hormone secreted by the body when experiencing pain. Helps to reduce pain and stress as well as promote calmness, serenity, or an elevation of mood.
Nature vs Nurture
Nurture: In the “nature vs nurture” debate, nurture. Refers to personal experiences (i.e. empiricism or behaviorism)
Nurture: Nurture refers to your childhood, or how you were brought up. Someone could be born with genes to give them a normal height, but he malnourished in childhood, resulting in stunted growth and a failure to develop as expected.
Language Acquisition
The Cerebral Cortex: Is not essential for physical surviving in the way that the brain stem structures are. It is, however,essential for human quality of life
Language Acquisition Cont’d
Speech Comprehension and Production: There are two specific areas in the cerebral cortex that govern the understanding and production of speech
Wernicke’s Area (located in the Frontal Lobe)
Speech Formation- Formulates a speech response and stimulates the motor cortex
Broca’s Areas (located in the Temporal Lobe)
Speech Understanding- Processes incoming speech and comprehends it
Interferences to these areas include:
Injury
Inadequate Early Stimulation
Language
Consists of…
A system of symbols and rules for combining these symbols in ways that can produce an almost infinite number of possible messages or meanings
3 critical properties that are essential to any language:
Symbolic- it uses sound, written signs or gestures to make a meaningful reference
Structure- rules that govern how symbols can be combined to create meaningful communication
Generative- symbols can be combined to generate an almost infinite number of messages that can have novel meaning
Syntax
Consists of…
The rules for combining symbols within a given language
Semantics
Refers of…
The rules for connecting symbols to what they represent (meaning of the combined symbols)
Phonemes
The smallest unit of sound that are recognized as seperate in a given language
Morphemes
The smaller units of meaning in a language
Ex: hat, sick, ed, un, pre
Speech Characteristics
1-3 Months: Distinguish speech from non speech sounds “cooing”
4-6 Months: Babbling contains sounds from virtually every language
7-11 Months: Babbling sounds gradually become more similar to language child is exposed to. Discriminates between words without meaning. Begins to imitate word sounds heard from others
12 Months: First recognizable words typically spoken as one-word utterances
12-18 Months: Increasing knowledge of word meaning, Begins to use words to express whole phrases or requests
12-24 Months: Vocabulary expands rapidly 50-100 words. Vague sentences appear (usually consisting of 2 words)
2-4 Years: Vocabulary expands rapidly at a rate of several hundred words every 6 months. Longer sentences which exhibit basic language syntax. Children begin to express concepts with words.
4-5 Years: Most children have learned the basic grammatical rules for combining nouns, adjectives, conjunctions and verbs into meaningful sentences
Motherese
Is the exaggerated pitch and sounds/words that primary caregivers use with infants to emphasize the learning of language and identification of objects or concepts (show and then speak)
Involves modified sounds and grammar
Parentese
Long vowels
Short clipped consonants
High pitched
Feral Children
Feral children tend to take on the characteristics of their environment. Thus a child who is raised in the wilderness might be more comfortable around animals, but a child who is abandoned in a basement might be afraid of any social interaction and any unenclosed space.
