Lifespan development - physical and cognitive Flashcards
what is a critical period?
age range during which certain experiences must occur for development to proceed normally or along a certain path
sensitive period?
an optimal age range for certain experiences. if those experiences occur at another time, normal development may still be possible
what is a cross-sectional design?
compares people of different ages at the same point in time
what is a cohort?
a group of people who have shared the same historical events by virtue of their being the same age
what is the cohort effect?
differences in abilities or experiences of groups of people who were born at different points in history
what is a longitudinal design?
a study which repeatedly tests the same cohort as it grows older
what is a sequential design?
combines the cross-sectional and longitudinal approaches
what is a microgenetic design?
a longitudinal method which measures change across short time spans
what is a zygote?
a fertilised egg
what is an embryo?
develops from the end of week 2 of pregnancy through to week 8
what is a foetus?
develops from week 9 of pregnancy until birth
what is epigenetics?
study of changes in gene expression due to environmental factors and independent of the DNA
what are teratogens?
agents that can cause abnormal prenatal development
what is foetal alcohol syndrome?
a disorder of the developing foetus caused by the ingestion of alcohol by the mother during gestation. it is characterised by stunted growth, a number of physical and psychological abnormalities, and often, mental retardation.
what are foetal alcohol spectrum disorders?
a group of abnormalities that results from varying kinds of prenatal exposure to alcohol
what are reflexes?
automatic, inborn behaviours that occur in response to specific stimuli
what is cephalocaudal trajectory?
the tendency for development to proceed in a head-to-foot direction
what is proximodistal trajectory?
development begins along the innermost parts of the body and continues towards the outermost parts
what are schemas?
organised patterns of thought and action
what is assimilation?
the process by which new experiences are incorporated into existing schemas
what is accommodation?
the process by which new experiences cause existing schemas to change
what is the sensorimotor stage?
infants understand their world primarily through sensory experiences and physical (motor) interactions with objects
what are Piaget’s stages of cognitive development?
1) sensorimotor (birth to 2)
2) pre-operational (2 to 7)
3) concrete operational (7 to 12)
4) formal operational (12 on)
what is object permanence?
an object continues to exist in a particular place even when it is no longer visible
what is the pre-operational stage?
the stage in which children represent the the world symbolically through words and mental images but do not yet understand basic mental operations or rules
what is conservation?
the principle that basic properties of objects such as their volume, mass or quantity stay the same even though their outward appearance may change
what is egocentrism?
difficulty in viewing the world from someone else’s perspective
what is the concrete operational stage?
can perform basic mental operations concerning problems that involve tangible objects and situations
what is the formal operational stage?
individuals are able to think logically and systematically about both concrete and abstract problems, form hypothesis and test them in a thoughtful way
what is the zone of proximal development?
the difference between what a child can do independently and what the child can do with assistance from adults or more advanced peers.
what is metacognition?
an ability to reflect on cognitive processes such as memory
what is theory of mind?
a person’s beliefs about the ‘mind’ and the ability to understand mental states
what is puberty?
a period of rapid maturation in which the person becomes capable of sexual reproduction
what is adolescent egocentrism?
a self-absorbed and distorted view of one’s uniqueness
what is senile dementia?
dementia thatbegins after the age of 65
what are the two aims of developmental psychology?
to examine and describe the biological, social, physical and psychological changes that occur as we age and to determine what drives these changes
what are the four main issues with developmental research?
- stability vs change
- continuity vs discontinuity
- nature vs nurture
- critical and sensitive periods
what are the three stages of pregnancy?
germinal stage
embryonic stage
foetal stage
what is the age of viability?
the point in pregnancy where the foetus is likely to survive if born prematurely (around 24-27 weeks)
how many chromosomes do humans have?
46 - 23 pairs
what role do androgens play in pregnancy?
direct a male pattern of development
what determines sex of a foetus?
the TDF gene on the Y chromosome that releases androgens and direct a male pattern of development
what are some factors that may cause risk to pregnancy?
- chemicals such as alcohol, drugs or environmental toxins
- maternal diseases such as rubella or herpes
- characteristics of the mother such as age, diet and emotional state
what are some examples of babies reflexes?
- the rooting reflex
- the sucking reflex
what is the preferential looking procedure?
a procedure designed to study baby’s visual preferences. two stimuli are placed in front of the infant and the length of time they look at each stimulus is recorded
what is the visual habituation technique?
when infants are presented with the same stimuli ( one they’ve seen before) they stop looking at it. they look at novel stimuli far more intently
this shows that babies are able to discriminate between visual stimuli of different kinds
how fast does the brain grow after birth?
very fast. at birth the brain is 25% of its adult weight but by 6 months it is 50% of its adult weight.
by age 5 the brain is 90% of its adult size
what develops in the brain after birth?
the brain does not grow new neurons. instead new synaptic connections are made and pruned and axons are myelinated at different rates to increase speed of transmission
what are the names of the processes which cause the brain to change and develop?
myelination
synaptic proliferation
synaptic pruning
in what order to the parts of the brain develop?
reptile brain areas that control breathing and heart rate mature first, then develops through higher level functioning until the frontal lobe which houses the highest levels of functioning
what influence does the environment have on physical development?
- biology sets limits to environmental influences
- environmental influences can be powerful (impoverished environments can stunt growth)
- biological and environmental factors interact
what are some environmental factors that can affect physical development?
- diet
- stimulating environment such as interaction with other infants or toys
- physical touch
- culture and experience
how did Piaget propose that children thinking changes?
qualitatively - he saw them as born scientists who seek to understand the world around them
how did Piaget propose that children’s schemas changed?
- existing schema
- assimilation
- disequilibrium
- accommodation
describe each of Piaget’s stages of cognitive development (name, age, key features)
- sensorimotor stage, birth to 2:
- -> infant understands world through sensory and motor experiences
- -> achieves object permanence
- -> exhibits emergence of symbolic thought
- pre-operational stage, 2 to 7:
- -> child uses symbolic thinking in the form of words and images to represent objects and experiences
- -> symbolic thinking enables child to pretend play
- -> thinking displays egocentrism, irreversibility and centration
- concrete operational stage, 7 to 12:
- -> child can think logically about concrete events
- -> grasps concepts of conservation and serial ordering
- formal operational stage, 12 on:
- -> adolescent can think more logically, abstractly and flexibly
- -> can form hypotheses and systematically test them
what is irreversibility?
the inability to reverse an action mentally. children in the pre-operational stage struggle with this
what is centration?
focusing on only one aspect of a situation, such as the height of the liquid in a container rather than height and width to measure volume
what is animism?
attributing lifelike qualities to physical objects and natural events (children in the pre-operational stage do this a lot)
what are the key findings (strengths and weaknesses) around piagets cognitive stages of development?
- the general abilities associated with each stage occur in the same order across cultures
- children acquire many of the cognitive skills and concepts earlier than Piaget believed
- cognitive development within each stage seems to proceed inconsistently
- culture influences cognitive development
- cognitive development is more complex and variable than Piaget proposed
what do information processing approaches to development argue?
that development may take place continuously rather than in distinct stages
what are the key abilities and changes in information processing during childhood?
- information search strategies become more logical and sequential
- processing speed increases
- attention span increases
- inhibition of impulsive responses increases
- working and long term memory improve
- language becomes more advanced
how do children advance in terms of ‘theory of mind?
- metacognition increases
- they understand others false beliefs to a greater degree
- they understand the dispositions of others
what are the three stages of adulthood?
young adulthood = 20-40
middle adulthood = 40-60
late adulthood = 60+
what is menarche?
the first menstrual flow
what is spermache?
the first ejaculation
what are primary sex characteristics?
the sex organs involved in reproduction
what are secondary sex characteristics?
non-reproductive features such as bodily hair and growth caused by hormones at puberty
how is the adolescent brain changing?
neural restructuring is particularly prominent in the prefrontal cortex and limbic system. these are the areas of the brain controlling planning, emotional and motivational urges. it also includes an increase in dopamine levels which is thought to cause greater levels of pleasure seeking, adrenaline seeking and emotional fluctuation
what are some physical changes that occur during adulthood?
young adulthood = peak of physical and perceptual functioning
middle/late adulthood = metabolism slows, muscles lose flexibility, fertility drops and menopause occurs in women, bones eventually become more brittle and movement is stiffer and slower
how does the brain age?
one study found that adults between the ages of 59 and 85 lost brain tissue at a rate of 5.4% per year.
what is a personal fable?
adolescents overestimate the uniqueness and consequences of their feelings and experiences
what is the imaginary audience?
an oversensitivity to the opinions of the people around them experienced by adolescents
