Lecture 4 Flashcards
What is stage theory?
Development happens in stages; must complete one stage before moving on to the next.
What is habituation?
When a baby becomes used to a stimulus, they stop responding. To draw attention, introduce a new stimulus.
What is infantile amnesia?
Memory loss that occurs from 0-4 years due to rapid neuron growth.
Define social clock.
Culturally defined timeline to achieve certain milestones.
What sound preference do newborns exhibit?
Prefer mother’s voice over other stimuli.
What do newborns seem to remember regarding sounds?
Memory of sounds heard in utero.
How do prenatal experiences affect smell and taste in newborns?
If the mother eats very flavorful foods, newborns seem to remember taste and smells.
What is the state of vision in newborns?
Basically nonexistent; no visual development in utero.
What is the peak visual acuity age for children?
Age 3.
What does the visual cliff test measure?
Perception of depth in babies; perception develops around a year.
What is scale error in infants?
A baby sees a smaller version of something familiar and treats it as the larger version.
What type of growth does the brain undergo during development?
The brain grows in complexity, not size.
Which part of the brain is the slowest to develop?
Frontal lobe.
What are the characteristics of authoritarian parenting?
Very specific rules; strict punishments for breaking rules.
What is permissive parenting?
Unrestrained, not many rules; more lax with punishments.
Define negligent parenting.
Uninvolved; not interacting with the child, uncaring.
What defines authoritative parenting?
Confrontive; speaks to and listens to the child; punishment correlates with behavior.
What is attachment in child development?
Bond between child and caregiver; correlated to separation anxiety.
What is the ‘Strange situation’ experiment?
Parent leaves child in lab to observe responses to absence and return.
What characterizes secure attachment?
Child acknowledges caregiver’s return after absence.
What describes avoidant attachment?
Child is not distressed by caregiver’s absence and does not acknowledge return.
What is ambivalent/anxious attachment?
Baby is distressed by caregiver’s absence and remains stressed upon return.
What defines disorganized attachment?
No clear pattern of response to caregiver.
Who proposed the theory of temperament?
Thomas and Chess.
What are the three categories of temperament?
- Easy
- Slow to warm up
- Difficult
What is the first shift in Piaget’s moral development theory?
Realism to relativism shift.
What does the prescription to principle shift signify?
Understanding intent of the rule over merely following the letter of the law.
What are Kohlberg’s stages of moral development?
- Preconventional
- Conventional
- Postconventional
What is the focus of Piaget’s cognitive development theory?
Assimilation vs accommodation.
What is object permanence?
Understanding that objects continue to exist even when not seen; develops around 8 months.
What defines the preoperational stage in Piaget’s theory?
Children think symbolically and engage in pretend play.
What is egocentrism in children?
Inability to understand that others have different thoughts and perspectives.
What does the concrete operational stage entail?
Ability to mentally manipulate things and understand conservation.
What does the formal operational stage signify?
Ability to understand hypotheticals and process abstract ideas.
What is Vygotsky’s view on thought development?
Occurs through social interactions.
What is scaffolding in learning?
Expert helps novice learn a task, providing support that gradually decreases.
How did Vygotsky view the role of language in cognitive development?
Language is critical to cognitive development.
What is private speech?
Language spoken to oneself; preschoolers vocalize this before internalizing it.
Define theory of mind.
Understanding that others have their own thoughts and mental processes.
What is the developmental norm?
Median age at which traits tend to develop.
What are the reflexes present in newborns?
- Rooting
- Palmar
- Sucking
- Babinski
- Moro
Explain cephalocaudal development.
Control starts at the top of the body and moves down.
What is proximodistal development?
Control starts at the trunk and moves outward.
What is social referencing?
Looking to a caregiver to process a new situation.
What was the focus of Mischel et al.’s marshmallow study?
Delayed gratification and trust in researchers.
