Lecture 4 - Developing Through Lifespans (Pt. 1) Flashcards
What is conception?
The sperm and egg unite to bring genetic material together to form one organism: the zygote
What is the first stage of prenatal development?
The zygote stage
What is the zygote stage?
After the nuclei of egg and the sperm fuse, the cell divides multiple times
How long does the zygote stage take?
10-14 weeks
What is the second stage of prenatal development?
Implantation
What is implantation?
The multicellular cluster implants on the uterine wall
What is the milestone of implantation?
Differentiated cells develop into organs and bones
How long does implantation take?
2-8 weeks
What is the third stage of prenatal development?
Fetal
When does the fetal stage occur?
At 9 weeks
What is the milestone of the fetus?
By 6 months, fetus may be able to survive out of the womb
What are the dangers of prenatal development?
Teratogens and Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
What are teratogens?
Substances such as viruses and chemicals that can damage developing embryos or fetuses (“Monster Makers”)
What is Fetal Alcohol Syndrome?
Cognitive, behavioral, and body/brain structure abnormalities caused by exposure to alcohol in fetal stage
What are inborn skills?
Reflexes (responses that are inborn and did not have to be learned)
What is the rooting reflex?
When something touches a newborn’s cheek and infant turns towards the side with an open mouth
Why do infants cry when hungry?
To motivate parents to end noise and feed them
What is infancy?
Newborns growing into toddlers
What is childhood?
Toddlers growing almost into teenagers
What is maturation?
Changes that occur primarily because of the passage of time
What is maturation in developmental psychology?
Biologically-driven growth and development enabling orderly (predictably sequential) changes in behavior
What does maturation do in infancy and early childhood?
Affect brain and motor skills
How does the brain develop in the womb?
The number of neurons grow by about 750,000 new cells per minute in the middle trimester
How does the brain develop at birth?
The connections among neurons proliferate and, as we learn, we form more branches and neural networks
How does the brain develop at infancy?
The growth in neural connections takes place initially in less complex parts of brain (brainstem and limbic system), as well as motor and sensory strips
How does the brain develop at early childhood?
The neural connections proliferate in association areas, which enables advancements in frontal lobe (attention and behavior) and in thinking, memory, and language
Where does maturation take place to enable the sequence?
The body and cerebellum
What is infantile amnesia?
When the brain forms memories so differently that most people cannot recall memories for the first 3 years of life
What is a 3 month old’s learning capability?
They can learn (and recall a month later) that specific movements move specific mobiles
What is cognition?
Mental activities that help us function
Who is Jean Piaget?
A Swiss scientist who pioneered cognitive development
When did Jean Piaget publish his first paper?
12 years old
What did Jean Piaget study?
Studied children’s errors in cognition to understand how they think differently from adults
What is a schema?
A mental container we build to hold our experiences
How do infants use schemas?
As an early tool to organize experiences when making sense of the world
How is a schema assimilated?
By categorizing something new with a similar category
How is a schema accomodated?
By differentiating similar categories and putting them both in a broader schema
When does the first stage of cognitive development occur?
Birth to 2 years
What is sensorimotor?
Experiencing the world through senses and actions
When does the second stage of cognitive development occur?
2 - 6 years
What is preoperational?
Representing things (schema) with words and images, using intuitive rather than logical learning
When does the third stage of cognitive development occur?
7 - 11 years
What is concrete operational?
Thinking logically about concrete events, grasping concrete analogies and performing arithmetical operations
When does the fourth stage of cognitive development occur?
12 years - adulthood
What is formal operational?
Abstract reasoning and logic
Who was Lev Vygotsky an alternative to?
Jean Piaget
What did Lev Vygotsky study?
Studied children but focused on how they learn in the context of social communication
What did Lev Vygotsky learn regarding principle?
Children learn thinking skills by internalizing language from others and developing inner speech
What did Lev Vygotsky use as a metaphor for development?
Building on a scaffold of mentoring, language, and cognitive support
What is stranger anxiety?
When infants notice and fear new people at around 9 - 13 months
What developments correlate with time in daycare?
Advanced thinking skills and increased aggression/defiance
What is an attachment?
An emotional tie to another person
What experiment tested different attachment variations?
The “Strange Situation Procedure” by Mary Ainsworth
How does a secure attachment manifest?
The child feels distress when the mother leaves the room and seeks contact when she returns
How does an insecure (resistant) attachment manifest?
The child clings to the mother, does not explore the environment, is loudly upset at her departure and continues to remain upset when she returns
How does an insecure (avoidant) attachment manifest?
The child is seemingly indifferent to the mother’s departure and return
What is the pattern for secure attachment?
65% B, B1, B2 (easy), B3, B4 (hard)
What is the pattern for avoidant attachment?
20% A, A1 (easy), A2 (hard)
What is the pattern for resistant attachment?
10% C, C1, C2 (hard)
What is the pattern for disorganized attachment?
5-10%
What experiment did George, Kaplan, and Main conduct in 1985?
The adult attachment interview
What is Erik Erikson’s concept of basic trust?
That basic trust is established by relationships with early caregiver, which also extends into feelings of whether or not the world is trustworthy.
