lesson 12 development Flashcards

Question

how was piaget's testing problematic

Answer 1

bucketed kids into stages and like with type based personality tests, no nuance (some kids understand number conservation fast) was unfair with how he tested kids Modern psychologists see development as a more fluid, continuous, and less step-like progression than Piaget believed it to be

Answer 2

delayed development of frontal cortex cant override learned behavior to do new behavior (a not b game and persevation)

Answer 3

kids will continue to do something they learned to do even if taught a better way to do it (fragmented mind cant communicate information yet, so one module goes to a but one goes to b)

Answer 4

marshmallow test, see how long kids can hold out gratification kids who wait longer are more successful

Answer 5

the germinal stage, which is the 2-week period that begins at conception The embryonic stage is a period that starts at about the 2nd week after conception and lasts until about 8th week The fetal stage is a period that lasts from about the 9th week after conception until birth. The fetus has a skeleton and muscles that make it capable of movement

Answer 6

french babies cry with rising pitch and german babies with falling Newborns will suck a nipple more vigorously when they hear the sound of their mother’s voice than when they hear the voice of a female stranger indicating that even at birth they are already more familiar with the former. Newborns who listen to strangers speaking two languages will suck more vigorously when they hear words from their mother’s native language, indicating that they are already familiar with the tempo and rhythm of their mother’s speech

Answer 7

developmental disorder that stems from heavy alcohol use by the mother during pregnancy and children born with FAS have a variety of brain abnormalities and cognitive deficit

Answer 8

When newborns see the stimuli in Panel A, they will track the shapes with facial features (left) longer than the shapes with scrambled facial features (middle) or no facial features (right). When fetuses see the stimuli in Panel B, they are more likely to turn their heads toward the face-like configuration (left) than the other configuration (right).

Answer 9

the tendency for motor skills to emerge in sequence from the head to the feet. Infants tend to gain control over their heads first, their arms and trunks next, and their legs last. A young infant who is placed on her stomach may lift her head and her chest by using her arms for support, but she typically has little control over her legs

Answer 10

describes the tendency for motor skills to emerge in sequence from the center to the periphery. Infants learn to control their trunks before their elbows and knees, which they learn to control before their hands and feet Although motor skills develop in an orderly sequence, they do not develop on a strict timetable. Rather, the timing of these skills is influenced by many factors, such as the infant’s incentive for reaching, body weight, muscular development, and general level of activity

Answer 11

rooting reflex causes infants to move their mouths toward any object that touches their cheek, and the sucking reflex causes them to suck any object that enters their mouth. Together, these two reflexes allow newborn infants to find their mother’s nipple and begin feeding

Answer 12

When infants or young children are allowed to play with an object such as a slide or a car and are then given a miniature version of the object, they will often make a scale error by treating the miniature object as though it were the regular-sized one—for instance, they’ll try to get inside the miniature car or slide down the miniature slide

Answer 13

the process by which infants and children gain the ability to think and understand

Answer 14

theories about the way the world works

Answer 15

when infants apply their schemas in novel situations

Answer 16

which happens when infants revise their schemas in light of new information.

Answer 17

In the standard version of this task, children see a puppet named Maxi deposit some chocolate in a cupboard and then leave the room. A second puppet arrives a moment later, finds the chocolate, and moves it to a different cupboard. The children are then asked where Maxi will look for the chocolate when he returns: in the first cupboard where he initially put it, or in the second cupboard, where the children know it currently is? Most 5-year-olds realize that Maxi will search the first cupboard because Maxi did not see what the children saw —namely, that the chocolate was moved. But 3-year-olds typically claim that Maxi will look in the second cupboard. Why? Because that’s where the children know the chocolate is—and they assume that what they know, everyone knows! Children are able to give the right answer in the false-belief task somewhere between the ages of 4 and 6

Answer 18

the understanding that the mind produces representations of the world and that these representations guide behavior The age at which most children acquire a theory of mind appears to be influenced by a variety of factors, such as the number of siblings the child has, the frequency with which the child engages in pretend play, whether the child has an imaginary companion, the socioeconomic status of the child’s family, and even culture *most important, language

Answer 19

the range of things children cannot do by themselves but can do with guidance and instruction. For example, most infants cannot open a jar on their own, but they can learn to open a jar if an adult shows them how Vygotsky also noted that cultural tools, such as language and counting systems, exert a strong influence on cognitive development

Answer 20

The ability to focus on what another person is focused on, known as joint attention, is a prerequisite for learning what others have to teach us Infants are natural mimics who often do what they see adults do This tendency is known as imitation. Children imitate adults so precisely that they even copy parts of their actions that they know to be pointless, a phenomenon called overimitation The ability to use another person’s reactions as information about how they should think about the world is known as social referencing

Answer 21

the basic abilities that allow infants to learn from other members of their species and to discover things about the world that they might never discover alone

Answer 22

emotional center of the infant’s universe. Infants feel safe in the primary caregiver’s presence and will happily crawl around and explore the environment. If their primary caregiver gets a little too far away, the infant will begin to feel unsafe and will take action to close the gap, either by moving toward the primary caregiver or by crying until the caregiver moves toward them

Answer 23

an attachment

Answer 24

characteristic patterns of reacting to the presence and absence of one’s primary caregiver

Answer 25

Infants with a secure attachment style may or may not be distressed when their caregiver leaves the room, but they respond positively to her when she returns—either by acknowledging her with a glance or a smile (if the infant was not distressed) or by going to her for calming (if the infant was distressed). The majority of infants in all cultures have a secure attachment style. Infants with an ambivalent attachment style are distressed when their caregiver leaves the room, but when she returns they respond negatively to her—either by rebuffing her, or by refusing her attempts at calming. Infants with an avoidant attachment style are not distressed when their caregiver leaves the room, and they don’t respond positively or negatively when she returns—they mainly just ignore her. Infants with a disorganized attachment style show no consistent pattern of response to either their caregiver’s absence or return

Answer 26

Infants with a secure attachment style may or may not be distressed when their caregiver leaves the room, but they respond positively to her when she returns—either by acknowledging her with a glance or a smile (if the infant was not distressed) or by going to her for calming (if the infant was distressed). The majority of infants in all cultures have a secure attachment style. Infants with an ambivalent attachment style are distressed when their caregiver leaves the room, but when she returns they respond negatively to her—either by rebuffing her, or by refusing her attempts at calming. Infants with an avoidant attachment style are not distressed when their caregiver leaves the room, and they don’t respond positively or negatively when she returns—they mainly just ignore her. Infants with a disorganized attachment style show no consistent pattern of response to either their caregiver’s absence or return

Answer 27

biologically based pattern of attentional and emotional reactivity For example, difficult babies who react fearfully to novel stimuli—such as sudden movements, loud sounds, or unfamiliar people—tend to become quiet, cautious, and shy adults who avoid unfamiliar people and novel situations

Answer 28

As a result of interactions with their primary caregivers, infants develop a set of beliefs about the way relationships work

Answer 29

Very young children regard moral rules as real, inviolable truths about the world. For the young child, the rightness or wrongness of an action is like the height and weight of an object: They have an actual existence in the world and do not depend on what people think or say. That’s why young children generally don’t believe that a bad action such as hitting someone can ever be good, even if everyone agrees to allow it. But as they mature, children begin to realize that some moral rules are human inventions and that people can agree to adopt them, change them, or abandon them entirely

Answer 30

Young children think of moral rules as guidelines for specific actions in specific situations. (“Each child can play with the iPad for 5 minutes and must then pass it to the child sitting to their left.”) As they mature, children come to see that these rules are expressions of more general principles, such as fairness and equity, which means that specific rules can be abandoned or modified when they fail to uphold the general principle (“If Jason missed his turn with the iPad, then he should get two turns now.”)

Answer 31

For the young child, an unintentional action that causes great harm (“Reiko accidentally broke the iPad”) seems “more wrong” than an intentional action that causes slight harm (“Reiko got mad and broke the pencil”) because young children tend to judge the morality of an action by its outcome rather than by the actor’s intentions. As they mature, children begin to see that the morality of an action is critically dependent on the actor’s state of mind

Answer 32

a stage of moral development in which the morality of an action is primarily determined by its consequences for the actor. A person at this stage might reason: “If the husband steals the drug he could end up in jail, so he shouldn’t.

Answer 33

a stage of moral development in which the morality of an action is primarily determined by the extent to which it conforms to social rules. A person at this stage might reason: “Stealing is against the law, so the husband shouldn’t steal the drug.

Answer 34

a stage of moral development in which the morality of an action is determined by a set of general principles that reflect core values. A person at this stage might reason: “Human life is sacred, so the husband should steal the drug

Answer 35

Kohlberg asked both children and adults how they would resolve a series of “moral dilemmas” (e.g., should a poor husband steal a drug from a pharmacy to save his dying wife?)

Answer 36

Although Kohlberg got many things right, we now know that he also got a few things wrong. First, although the development of moral reasoning does seem to follow the basic trajectory described by his theory, the three stages are not as discrete as Kohlberg thought. For instance, a person might apply preconventional, conventional, and postconventional thinking in different circumstances, which suggests that the person did not “reach a stage” so much as “acquire a skill” that he or she may or may not use at a particular time. Second, Kohlberg’s theory does a better job of describing the development of moral reasoning in Western societies than in non-Western societies

Answer 37

Adolescence is the period of development that begins with the onset of sexual maturity (about 11 to 14 years of age) and lasts until the beginning of adulthood (about 18 to 21 years of age) The beginning of this growth spurt signals the onset of puberty, which is the onset of bodily changes associated with sexual maturity. These changes involve the primary sex characteristics, which are bodily structures that change at puberty and are directly involved in reproduction (e.g., girls begin to menstruate and boys begin to ejaculate), as well as the secondary sex characteristics, which are bodily structures that change at puberty but are not directly involved in reproduction (e.g., girls develop breasts and boys develop facial hair). All of these changes are caused by the increased production of hormones—specifically, estrogen in girls and testosterone in boys

Answer 38

An infant’s brain forms many more new synapses than it actually needs, and by the time children are 2 years old, they have about 15,000 synapses per neuron, which is roughly twice as many as the average adult (Huttenlocher, 1979). This early period of synaptic proliferation is followed by a period of synaptic pruning, in which the connections that are not frequently used are eliminated

Answer 39

An infant’s brain forms many more new synapses than it actually needs, and by the time children are 2 years old, they have about 15,000 synapses per neuron, which is roughly twice as many as the average adult (Huttenlocher, 1979). This early period of synaptic proliferation is followed by a period of synaptic pruning, in which the connections that are not frequently used are eliminated

Answer 40

For girls at least, the main reason appears to be diet. Young women have more body fat today than ever before, and body fat secretes estrogen, which hastens puberty. Some evidence suggests that exposure to environmental toxins that mimic estrogen may also play a role. Stress appears to be another cause of early puberty in girls Studies show that girls reach puberty earlier if they grow up in unpredictable households with high levels of conflict, in households without a biological father, or if they are victims of early sexual abuse

Answer 41

For girls at least, the main reason appears to be diet. Young women have more body fat today than ever before, and body fat secretes estrogen, which hastens puberty. Some evidence suggests that exposure to environmental toxins that mimic estrogen may also play a role. Stress appears to be another cause of early puberty in girls Studies show that girls reach puberty earlier if they grow up in unpredictable households with high levels of conflict, in households without a biological father, or if they are victims of early sexual abuse

Answer 42

So while the age at which people become physically adult has gone down, the age at which they take on adult roles and responsibilities has gone up As one researcher noted, “Isolated from adults and wrongly treated like children, it is no wonder that some teens behave, by adult standards, recklessly or irresponsibly *sex, drinking, acting out

Answer 43

Across a variety of tasks, young brains show more bilateral asymmetry in their patterns of activation than do older brains. One explanation is that older brains compensate for the declining abilities of one neural structure by calling on other neural structures for help

Answer 44

younger adults are largely oriented toward the acquisition of information that will be useful to them in the future (e.g., reading restaurant reviews), whereas older adults are generally oriented toward information that brings emotional satisfaction in the present (e.g., reading detective novels)

Answer 45

Adolescence begins with puberty, the onset of sexual maturity of the human body. Puberty now occurs earlier than ever before, and the entrance of young people into adult society occurs later. Adolescents are more likely to do things that are risky or illegal, but they rarely inflict serious or enduring harm on themselves or others. Although most people are attracted to members of the opposite sex, some are not, and research suggests that biology and genetics play key roles in determining a person’s sexual orientation. Sex education has been shown to reduce risky sexual behavior. As adolescents seek to develop their adult identities, they seek increasing autonomy from their parents and become more peer oriented, forming single-sex cliques, followed by mixed-sex cliques. Finally, they pair off as couples.

Answer 46

Performance on most cognitive tasks peaks when people are in their 20s, and older people develop a variety of strategies to compensate for their cognitive declines. Older adults are more oriented toward emotional satisfaction, which influences the way they attend to and remember information, the size and structure of their social networks, and their happiness. For most people, adulthood means leaving home, getting married, and having children. The responsibilities that parenthood entails present a significant challenge to people’s happiness

Answer 47

At a very early age, human beings develop strong emotional ties to their primary caregivers. The quality of these ties—which are indexed by either secure, avoidant, ambivalent, or disorganized attachment styles—is determined both by the caregiver’s behavior and the child’s temperament. Piaget concluded that children’s reasoning about right and wrong develops in three ways. It is initially based on inviolable truths about the world, but expands to include concepts of fairness and equity. As they mature, children begin to consider the actor’s intentions as well as the extent to which the action obeys abstract moral principles. Kohlberg outlined a theory of morality that progresses from evaluation of an action’s consequences, to determination of whether it obeys social rules, and finally to how it aligns with core values. Infants seem to have some “moral sense,” such as an affinity toward kind people and a concern with fairness

Answer 48

Infants have a limited range of vision, but they can see and remember objects that appear within it. They learn to control their bodies from the top down and from the center out. Infants slowly develop theories about how the world works. Piaget believed that these theories developed through four stages in which children learn basic facts about the world, such as the fact that objects continue to exist even when they are out of sight and the fact that objects have enduring properties that are not changed by superficial transformations. Children also learn that their minds represent objects; hence objects may not be as they appear, and others may not see them as the child does. Hearing language about thoughts and feelings helps children acquire a theory of mind. Cognitive development is also driven by social interactions and infants have several abilities that allow them to learn from others.

Answer 49

Developmental psychology studies continuity and change across the life span. The prenatal stage of development begins when a sperm fertilizes an egg, producing a zygote. The zygote, which contains chromosomes from both the egg and the sperm, develops into an embryo at 2 weeks and then into a fetus at 8 weeks. Humans are born with underdeveloped brains, which is essential to the birth process and allows for adaptation to the social and physical environment after birth. The fetal environment has important physical and psychological effects. In addition to the food a pregnant woman eats, teratogens—agents that impair fetal development—can affect the fetus. The most common teratogens are tobacco and alcohol. The fetus can hear and becomes familiar with its mother’s voice

Answer 50

Constructivism is the theory that says learners construct knowledge rather than just passively take in information