Lifespan and Developmental Flashcards
ADAPTATION (ASSIMILATION AND ACCOMMODATION):
A According to Piaget, cognitive development occurs when a state of disequilibrium brought on by a discrepancy between the person’s current understanding of the world and reality is resolved through adaptation, which entails two complementary processes: Assimilation is the incorporation of new knowledge into existing cognitive schemas, while accommodation is the modification of existing schemas to incorporate new knowledge.
ADOLESCENT EGOCENTRISM (ELKIND):
Adolescent egocentrism appears at the beginning of the formal operational stage. As defined by Elkind, its characteristics include the personal fable and the imaginary audience.
ADULT ATTACHMENT INTERVIEW:
Research using the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) has confirmed a relationship between parents’ own attachment experiences and the attachment patterns of their children. For example, children of adults classified as dismissing on the AAI often exhibit an avoidant attachment pattern in the strange situation.
ANDROGYNY:
The research has found that, for both males and females, androgyny (which combines masculine and feminine characteristics and preferences) and, to a lesser degree, masculinity were associated with higher levels of self-esteem than was femininity. Androgyny has also been linked to greater flexibility when coping with difficult situations, higher levels of life satisfaction, and greater comfort with one’s sexuality.
BEHAVIORAL INHIBITION:
Kagan (1989) found evidence of both a biological contribution and stability for the temperament trait of behavioral inhibition. His study demonstrated that children identified as either inhibited or uninhibited at 21 months of age can be similarly categorized at 5-1/2 and 7-1/2 years and that level of inhibition is related to physiological responsivity.
BILINGUALISM AND BILINGUAL EDUCATION:
BBilingualism has been linked with several benefits including higher scores on measures of cognitive flexibility, cognitive complexity, analytical reasoning, and metalinguistic awareness. Research on bilingual education has produced inconsistent results partly because the existing programs vary considerably in approach and quality. Probably the best overall conclusion that can be drawn is that, when language-minority children participate in high-quality bilingual programs, they acquire academic English and knowledge of subject matter as well as or better than those who participate in immersion (English-only) programs.
BRAIN DEVELOPMENT (CEREBRAL CORTEX, NEUROGENESIS):
The cerebral cortex is largely undeveloped at birth but shows dramatic growth during the first two years of life primarily as the result of an increase in interconnections between neurons and myelination of nerve fibers. During the first few months of life, the primary motor and sensory areas of the cortex undergo substantial development, while the prefrontal cortex continues to mature through childhood and adolescence and may not be fully developed until the early or mid-20s. By about age 30, the brain starts to gradually shrink as the result of the atrophy of neurons, and there is an acceleration of this cell death after age 60. However, there is evidence that the brain attempts to compensate for neuronal loss by forming new interconnections between neurons and neural pathways and by creating new neurons (neurogenesis) in the hippocampus and possibly other areas of the brain.
BRONFENBRENNER’S ECOLOGICAL MODEL:
Bronfenbrenner described development as involving interactions between the individual and his/her context or environment, and his ecological model describes the context in terms of five environmental systems or levels: microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, and chronosystem.
CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE:
In terms of the outcomes of child sexual abuse for male and female victims, some studies have found no consistent gender differences; but, when differences are found, the outcomes are worse for females than for males. The research has also found that the effects of sexual abuse tend to be less severe when the abuse was committed by a stranger than by a family member or other familiar person.
CHILDHOOD (INFANTILE) AMNESIA:
Studies investigating episodic (autobiographical) memory have found that adults are usually able to recall very few of the events they experienced prior to age three or four. This is referred to as childhood or infantile amnesia.
COERCIVE FAMILY INTERACTION MODEL (PATTERSON):
Patterson et al.’s coercive family interaction model proposes that children initially learn aggressive behaviors from their parents who rarely reinforce prosocial behaviors, rely on harsh discipline to control their children’s behavior, and reward their children’s aggressiveness with approval and attention and that, over time, aggressive parent-child interactions escalate. They developed the Oregon model of parent management training (PMTO) to help stop this coercive cycle by teaching parents effective parenting skills and providing parents with therapy to help them cope more effectively with stress.
COMPENSATORY PRESCHOOL PROGRAMS:
Research evaluating the effects of Head Start and other compensatory preschool programs has found that, while initial IQ test score gains produced by these programs are usually not maintained, children who attend these programs tend to have better attitudes toward school and are less likely to be retained in a grade, be placed in special education classes, and drop out of high school and more likely to attend college than their peers who do not attend such programs.
CONSERVATION:
As defined by Piaget, conservation is the ability to understand that the physical characteristics of an object remain the same, even when the outward appearance of that object changes. Conservation depends on the operations of reversibility and decentration and develops gradually during the concrete operational stage, with conservation of number occurring first, followed by conservation of liquid, length, weight, and then displacement volume.
CONTACT COMFORT (HARLOW):
Research by Harlow with rhesus monkeys indicated that an infant’s attachment to his/her mother is due, in part, to contact comfort, or the pleasant tactile sensation that is provided by a soft, cuddly parent.
CRITICAL AND SENSITIVE PERIODS:
A critical period is a time during which an organism is especially susceptible to positive and negative environmental influences. A sensitive period is more flexible than a critical period and is not limited to a specific chronological age. Some aspects of human development may depend on critical periods, but, for many human characteristics and behaviors, sensitive periods are probably more applicable.
DIVORCE AND DIMINISHED CAPACITY TO PARENT:
Divorced parents often experience emotional distress and changes in functioning that include a diminished capacity to parent. For example, custodial mothers may be uncommunicative, impatient, and less warm and loving toward their children (especially sons), and they monitor their children’s activities less closely and are less consistent but more authoritarian in terms of punishment.
DOWN SYNDROME:
Down syndrome is caused by an extra number 21 chromosome. It is characterized by intellectual disability, retarded physical growth and motor development, distinctive physical characteristics, and increased susceptibility to Alzheimer’s disease, leukemia, and heart defects.
EARLY REFLEXES:
Reflexes are unlearned responses to particular stimuli in the environment. Early reflexes include the Babinski reflex (toes fan out and upward when soles of the feet are tickled) and the Moro reflex (flings arms and legs outward and then toward the body in response to a loud noise or sudden loss of physical support).
EFFECTS OF DIVORCE ON CHILDREN (CHILD’S AGE, SLEEPER EFFECT, PARENTAL CONFLICT):
The effects of divorce are moderated by several factors including the child’s age and gender. With regard to age, preschool children exhibit the most problems immediately after the divorce, but long-term consequences may be worse for children who were in elementary school at the time of the divorce. Boys exhibit more problems than girls initially, but there may be a “sleeper effect” for girls who do not exhibit negative consequences immediately after the divorce but exhibit problems in adolescence and early adulthood. The negative consequences of divorce are reduced when the conflict between parents is minimized.
EFFECTS OF AGE ON MEMORY:
EFFECTS OF AGE ON MEMORY: Several aspects of memory show age-related declines, especially recent long-term (secondary) memory. Deficits in secondary memory are believed to be due primarily to a reduced spontaneous use of effective encoding strategies. The working memory aspect of short-term memory also exhibits substantial age-related decline.
EFFECTS OF MATERNAL EMPLOYMENT
: Research investigating the effects of maternal employment has found it to be associated with greater personal satisfaction for the working mother (especially when she wants to work) and, in terms of the children, with fewer sex-role stereotypes and greater independence. For lower-SES boys, maternal employment is associated with better performance on measures of cognitive development; but for upper-SES boys, it may result in lower scores on IQ and achievement tests.
FFECTS OF AGE ON MEMORY:
E Several aspects of memory show age-related declines, especially recent long-term (secondary) memory. Deficits in secondary memory are believed to be due primarily to a reduced spontaneous use of effective encoding strategies. The working memory aspect of short-term memory also exhibits substantial age-related decline.
