Midterm 2 (Human Development) Flashcards
What is Human Development?
The scientific study of age-related changes across physical, cognitive, social and behavioural domains.
What does Developmental Psychology focus on?
The study of how behaviour and mental processes change over the lifespan.
- examples of this is skills such as language and self-control development
What is the Lifespan Perspective in Human Development?
Changes that happen throughout the entire human lifespan and must be interpreted in light of culture and context that they develop in
- this is the focus of development into adulthood and recognizes the changes throughout adulthood
Define Post-hoc fallacy.
The false assumption that because one event occurred before another event, it must have caused that event.
- this fallacy leads to the beliefs that events are caused by each other when they can be found to be only correlated
True or False: Correlation equals causation.
False.
What are Bidirectional Influences in development?
This is the idea that two factors in our development play into each other. This is the idea that factor A influence factor B, however factor B will also influence factor A
What are Critical Periods in development?
Specific periods in development when an organism is especially sensitive to the presence or absence of some particular kind of experience.
What is a Sensitive Period?
A span of months or years during which a child may be particularly responsive to specific forms of experience.
Name and Describe some of the myths about early experience. Describe the realities of each ones.
- infant determinism: this is the belief that exteremely early experiences are almost always more influential than later experiences in shaping human development
- the reality of the above belief is that adult and childhood experiences are both important.Also it is thought that experiences in adulthood can off set negative experiences from childhood
- childhood fragility: this is when children can be easily damaged by experience
- the reality of the belief above are that young children are very resilient
What is the Nature-Nurture Debate?
The complex relationship and many difference factors between genes and environment.
* genetic makeup/factors can drive us to select and create particular environments, leading to the mistaken appearence of the pure effect of nature
What is Gene-Environment Interaction?
Genetic susceptibilities interact with environmental experiences.
* the impact of genes on behaviour depends on the environment in which the behaviour develops
Define Epigenome.
The sum total of inherited and acquired molecular modifications to the genome that leads to changes in gene regulation without changing the DNA sequence.
What are Cohorts?
Groups of individuals who are born within a particular span of years and share the same historical experiences at the same point in their development
What is a Cohort Effect?
An effect observed in a sample of participants resulting from individuals in the sample growing up at the same time.
- this can lead to us finding the ability to attribute differences to ages
What is Cross-sectional research design? List its advantages and disadvantages
Investigates people of different ages at a single point in time.
* Advantages: convenient
* Disadvantages: this method can not use cohorts and aging affects individually
What is Longitudinal research design? List the advantages and Disadvantages
Investigates development in the same group of people on multiple occasions over time.
* Advantages: while watching aging unfold, we can understand its process (developmental effects)
* Disadvantages: this research designs causes limited knowledge of other cohorts, this is time and resource sensitive, leads us to believe correlation is causation, takes time to study
What are the Three Stages of Prenatal Development and describe each of the processes?
- Germinal Stage - this is when the zygote begins to rapidly divides and implantation has occurred. Blastocysts are beginning to divide here
- Embryonic Stage - this is when the implantation stage ends and the foundational structures have built all of the parts of the body and the neural tube has been formed
- Fetal Stage - this is the stage from stage 9 to the process of birther. During this time, the fetal increases in size and organ systems have development
What is a Teratogen?
Environmental factors that can exert a negative impact on prenatal development.
* this includes certain illnesses, consuming drugs or alcohol, or certain conditions (depression)
* depending of the timing of exposure, it will impact the development of certain structures (such as the brain)
Define Preterm Infants.
Born live before 37 weeks (closer to the mark of 9 months rather than the “standard” 9.5 months)
What is the viability point for preterm infants?
23-25 weeks.
* this is the soonest that a child can be born prior to the nine month marker where they have a chance of survival
* these children tend to have under developed bodily systems
What are the types of Motor Behaviours?
- Reflexes
- Bodily motions resulting from self-initiated force.
What is Puberty?
Collective term for the changes that result in sexual maturity.
What are Primary sex characteristics?
Growth/development of sex organs.
What is Menarche?
The beginning of the menstrual cycle.
What is Spermarche?
First ejaculation.
What is Cognitive Development?
How we acquire the ability to learn, think, communicate, and remember over time.
Define Assimilation.
The process of using schemes to interpret events or experiences.
What is Accommodation?
Changing our schemes as a result of new information.
What are the four stages of Piaget’s Cognitive-Developmental Theory?
- Sensorimotor Stage
- Preoperational Stage
- Concrete Operational Stage
- Formal Operational Stage
What is Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory?
Complex forms of thinking have their origins in social interactions rather than in an individual’s private explorations.
What is Scaffolding?
Learning guided by an adult or more knowledgeable child who structures learning according to a zone of proximal development.
What is Theory of Mind?
The ability to reason about what other people think and believe.
What is the Personal Fable in adolescence?
Feelings of profound uniqueness and of living out a story that others are watching.
What is Attachment?
An emotional connection we share with those to whom we feel closest.
What are the types of Attachment identified in the Strange Situation?
- Secure
- Avoidant
- Ambivalent
- Disorganized/Disoriented
What is the ‘Sandwich generation’?
Middle-adults often have to help their aging parents while raising their own children.
What often emerges in school-aged children?
Best friend relationships
These relationships can be significant in the social development of children.
How are friendships often characterized in school-aged children?
Gender segregated
Boys and girls tend to form friendships primarily with their own gender.
What do adolescents seek in their relationships?
Autonomy and challenge parental authority
Conflict during this stage is considered normal.
When is peer relationship significance at its peak?
Adolescence
This is a critical time for identity formation and validation through peer groups.
What type of relationships begin to emerge during adolescence?
Romantic relationships
These relationships are important for social development.
What generally increases in adulthood regarding marriage?
Marital stability and satisfaction
This often correlates with maturation and a decline in child-rearing responsibilities.
What is the ‘sandwich generation’?
Middle-adults helping both their children and parents
This generation often faces unique challenges balancing these responsibilities.
What is the ‘empty-nest’ phenomenon?
Parents experiencing a home without children
This can lead to various emotional responses.
What is ‘failure-to-launch’?
Adult children returning to live with their parents
This creates a ‘revolving door’ effect in family dynamics.
What is the typical experience of most grandparents?
Positive experiences
Grandparents are often welcomed into their children’s lives.
How do social circles change in adulthood?
They become smaller
However, relationships can be of high quality.
What is associated with better physical and psychological outcomes?
A larger social network
Quality of relationships is also crucial.
What does Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory propose?
Personality development results from the interaction between internal drives and cultural demands
This occurs across eight stages or crises.
What is a psychosocial crisis?
A challenge faced at each stage of development
Normal development must consider cultural contexts.
What is developed during the autonomy vs. shame and doubt stage?
Will
Focus on physical/motor abilities and self-care.
What is the key focus during the initiative vs. guilt stage?
Purpose
Children learn goal-oriented behavior and assertiveness.
What is learned during the industry vs. inferiority stage?
Competence
Involves school-based skills and social/cultural skills.
What develops during the identity vs. role confusion stage?
Fidelity
This includes the development of sexual, social, and occupational identities.
What is the focus of the intimacy vs. isolation stage?
Love
This stage emphasizes the development of intimate relationships.
What is generativity vs. stagnation about?
Care
Involves raising children and caring for others.
What is reflected upon during the integrity vs. despair stage?
Wisdom
This involves self-acceptance and integration of earlier stages.
What is the idea of nature via nurture in terms of human development
- this is the idea that different biological dispositions can lead to the selection of particular environments
- this is further the idea that environment are responsible for a certain trait
Define gene expression
the process of genes turning on and off due to environmental experiences or environmental events
List the three research designs that lead to age-related changes
- cross-sectional research design
- longitudinal research designs
- cohert-sequential research design
Describe the cohort - sequential research design
- this is when several age cohorts are followed and tested through the combination of cross-sectional and longitudinal research designs
What are blastocytes
- A body of identical cells that does not yet contain a particular function
Describe the brain development
- towards the end of this process, neurons sort them selves out
- brain and spinal cord have developed
- this development happens during the embryonic stage (18th day after fertilization to the 6 month of preganency)
What is fetal alcohol spectrum disorder
- a condition resultign from high levels of prenatal alcohol exposure
What is a genetic disorder
- random errors in cell division happen during prenatal development or that are genetically passed on
