Lectures Exam 1 Flashcards
Tabula rasa
Blank slate, meaning our development doesn’t finish at birth
Why should we care about development?
Understanding development predicts likely factors, helps us understand differences in others, and it helps us understand ourselves and others
What likely factors can development help predict?
The future (how it will impact us and how to change it), and where we should direct our resources
science of human development
Seeks to understand how and why people of all ages and circumstances change or remain the same over time.
Developmental theories
Psychoanalytic, behaviorism, cognitive, humanistic, and evolutionary
Psychoanalytic
Inner drive and motives
Behaviorism
“Anything can be learned”
Cognitive theory
Ideas and beliefs
Humanism
Universal basic needs
Evolutionary theory
Survive and reproduce
Variations of the developmental theories
- Early development versus Lifespan approach
- Nature versus Nurture
- Continuity versus Discontinuity
Early development
Early life experiences/early development key and recognizes later changes but these don’t lead to fundamentally different outcomes
Lifespan development
All phases of life taken into account and the “multis”
What are the multis?
Multidirectional, multicontextual, multicultural, plastic, and multidisciplinary
Nature v. Nurture
To what extent are developmental changes due to inborn, hereditary, and biological influences versus experiential or environmental influences?
Nature
Inborn, genetically based, not modified by the individual, low variation in the population, not affected by the environment, beneficial for survival and reproduction
Nurture
Based on experience, modified by the individual by trial
and error, high variation in the population, highly affected by the
environment, capacity to learn may be product of natural selection
How do murderers brains work differently?
Diminished fear reaction
Epigenetics
the study of how the environment influences genetic expression
Differential Susceptibility
genes make some people more susceptible to their environments than others (dandelion vs orchid)
Continuity v. Discontinuity
How does development progress?
A pine tree would be an example of what kind of development?
Developmental continuity
A butterfly is an example of what kind of development?
Developmental discontinuity
Implication of stage theories (discontinuity)
concurrence assumption, abruptness assumption, coherent organization assumption
concurrence assumption
Happens at the same time
abruptness assumption
Changes are abrupt
Coherent organization assumption
Facilitates the first two, is an assumption that there is a connection between them
Steps of the scientific method
Begin with curiosity, Develop a hypothesis, Test the hypothesis, Draw conclusions, Report the results, Replication
Should you trust a study that has been conducted only once?
No
Research methods
Data Collection, Study Designs, Assessing “Change”
Two types of data collection
Self-report and observations
Self-report
Ask individuals about their thoughts, feelings, or behaviors
Types of self-report measures
Interviews and questionnaires
Advantages of self-report measures
Often quick & efficient, Can control the information individuals receive, Often inexpensive
Disadvantages of self-report measures
Not feasible with some individuals, Some types (clinical) are expensive and may be biased, Respondents don’t have to tell you the truth
Observations
Document behaviors in natural or experimental settings
Examples of observations
Monitor children’s heart rate during fire alarm and Observe individuals in nursing homes
Advantages of observations
can observe a wide range of behavior, behaviors clearly defined, can see development naturally, inexpensive
Disadvantages of observations
cannot infer causality and don’t know why behaviors occur
Non-experimental study designs
Documenting relations between variables
Advantages of non-experimental
determine how variables are related, identify factors associated with increased risk, and study situations that cannot be controlled experimentally
Disadvantages of non-experimental
just because two variables related does not mean they always co-occur, correlations do not prove causation
Experimental study design
Manipulating one variable to determine its effect on another variable
Basic research designs for Studying Development over the Life Span
Cross-sectional research, Longitudinal research, Cross-sequential research
Cross-sectional research
Assesses multiple age groups at the same time
Longitudinal research
Follows one group over a period of time
Cross-sequential research
Follows multiple age groups over a period of time
genotype
Combination of genes an organism has (genetic makeup)
Phenotype
Physical appearance resulting from genetic make-up
Inherited abnormalities
gene disorders, chromosomal abnormalities, most recessive
Mutations
permanent alterations of genes or chromosomes that affect you in some way
Inherited Abnormalities examples
Familial Alzheimer’s and sickle cell anemia
Inherited abnormalities examples
Familial Alzheimer’s and sickle cell anemia
Mutation abnormalities example
Down syndrome
Mental health and genetics
One gene on Chromosome 6 appears to predispose individuals for schizophrenia
Environmental influences start _____ birth
Before
Things that can be in-utero influences
Teratogens (e.g., Drugs, Cigarettes, Foods), Stress, Senses (e.g., sounds, taste)
Life in utero is ____
Noisy
T/F: fetuses only hear what happens outside the womb
False, they also hear inside (mother’s heart beat, blood flow,
and digestive system)
When does the fetus begin to respond to sound?
22-24 wks
In terms of hearing, newborns prefer…
music heard prenatally to music they’ve never heard, their mother’s voice to that of an unfamiliar female, and stories they were read while still in utero
Functions of learning in utero
Practicing for life outside womb, Recognition of mother, Establishment of breast feeding, Development of brain and musculo-
skeletal system
