Module 1 - Developmental Psychology Flashcards
An individual answers the Heinz dilemma arguing the Heinz should not steal the drug, because ‘he might get caught and go to jail’. This reasoning is most characteristic of which of Kolberg’s stages of moral develop?
Pre-conventional morality
In the strange situation experiment, a child with an ambivalent attachment style is most likely to do what?
Be very upset when the mother leaves, and act angry and rejecting while simultaneously indicating a clear desire to be close when she returns.
What is ethology?
The study of animal behaviour from a biological and evolutionary perspective
Nature is to the ___ perspective, whereas nurture is to the ___ perspective.
Evolutionary; behavioural
What is cognition?
Mental processes
- thinking
- memory
- knowledge
Creating lesions in the brain has been shown to what?
Affect behaviour in different ways depending on the location of the lesion (surgically removing parts of the brain)
What were Wilhelm Wundt’s contributions to psychology?
‘Father of psychology’
- founded first psychology lab
- wanted to uncover the basic units of human consciousness
- used introspection (process of looking inward on ones own conscious experience) to conclude that the basic elements of consciousness are sensations (colours) and feelings
What were the two prominent early schools of thought?
Structuralism - basic elements of consciousness through introspection
Functionalism - explained psychological processes in terms of the role, or function, they serve
What are the features of the evolutionary perspective?
Psychological processes reflect the evolutionary process of natural selection.
What is the cognitive perspective?
Behaviour is the product of information processing; storage, transformation and retrieval of data
What is the difference between free will and determinism?
Free will (René Descartes) - human action follows from human intention; people choose a course of action. Determinism (Democritus) - behaviour follows lawful patterns like everything else in the universe.
What are the features of the behaviourist perspective?
Behaviour is learnt and selected by its environmental consequences.
What is the psychodynamic perspective about?
Behaviour determined by the way thoughts, feelings and wishes are connected.
Many of these mental events occur outside of conscious awareness.
These mental processes may conflict with one another.
What is psychology?
Psychology is the scientific investigation of mental processes, behaviour and the interaction between them.
Mental processes - thinking, memory, feeling
Who are the key figures in each perspective of psychology?
Humanistic - Carl Rogers Behaviourist - B. F. Skinner Cognitive - René Descartes Evolutionary - Charles Darwin Psychodynamic - Sigmund Freud
What is the humanistic perspective?
Behaviour and experience are shaped by the need to self-actualise, to fulfil one’s inner potential.
During which of Piaget’s stages of cognitive development are children first able to readily solve rational type problems, such as; ‘if Nattie is older than Katie, and Katie is older than Kirsten, which girl is the youngest?’?
Concrete operational
The idea that changes in behaviour and body occur as a result of biologically based changes that follow an orderly sequence, is referred to as what?
Maturation - nature
What is the nature versus nurture debate in developmental psychology all about?
Maturation - nature
Experience - nurture
What are the developmental differences between the 3 foetal stages?
Zygote - moves to embryonic stage when multi-cell ball attaches to uterine wall.
Embryo - (almost human) creation of organs, limbs, genes directing the process, makes become males when testosterone added.
Fetal - clear human behaviours, focus is on growth.
What is a schema?
How we group things together;
- categorising things as the same
- an organised, repeatedly exercised pattern of thought or behaviour
How do Piaget’s theories of assimilation and accommodation link into language skills?
Assimilation = overextension - application of a newly learned word to objects that are not included in the meaning of the word. Accommodation = under extension - failure to apply new word more generally.
What are accommodation and assimilation? (Piaget)
Accommodation - modification of present schemas to fit with new experience.
Assimilation - fitting something new into something you already know.
An individual’s understanding of themselves, others, and relationships, is referred to as what?
Social cognition.
Mr and Mrs Smith think that children should be seen and not hard, they stress obedience and nature behaviour in their children. Baumrind would classify the Smiths as what kind of parents?
Authoritarian.
In Harlow’s studies of infant monkeys, contact comfort referred to what?
Perceived security from a soft object leading to attachment.
Erikson’s theory of adult development is well considered because it possess a number of important features. What are these?
- Culturally sensitive
- Integrates biology, psychological experience, and culture.
- Theory has received empirical support in cross-sectional, longitudinal, and sequential studies.
What are the key features of the sensorimotor stage? (Piaget - Cognitive development)
Learns about world through sensory and motor interactions. Lacks object permanence - knowledge that object still exists after it is out of sight.
What are the key features of the concrete operational stage? (Piaget - Cognitive development)
Conservation of liquids, numbers, matter and length (acquired later in stage). Transitivity - if A>B, B>C, then A>C. Seriation - order of stimuli along a quantitative dimension, e.g. pencil lengths.
What is telegraphic speech?
The use of 2 word sentences with mainly nouns and verbs, e.g. ‘dada eat’ - between 18-24 months
What self-awareness do infants have?
6-12 months - ‘It’s another baby’ - They display approach behaviours such as smiling and making noise.
20-24 months - ‘It’s me’ - By pointing to the spot on their face, we can understand that they are aware of the mark that is on them.
What did Piaget argue about cognitive development in children?
Children develop knowledge by constructing reality out of their own experience, i.e. assimilation (fitting) and accommodation (modifying).
What are the 7 stages of development?
Prenatal - Conception - Birth Infancy - Birth - 2 Childhood - 2-12 Adolescence - 12 - 18 Young adulthood - 18 - 40 Middle adulthood - 40 - 65 Late adulthood - 65+
What is the ecological theory of perceiving meaning in infancy?
Ecological theories argue that the nervous system is wired to recognise certain dangers, and to recognise the potential ‘value’ of some stimuli without prior learning.
What do teratogens do?
Teratogens are harmful environmental agents that damage the embryo or foetus. An example is alcohol.
What are Piaget’s 4 stages of cognitive development?
Sensorimotor - 0-2 years
Pre-operational - 2-7 years
Concrete operational - 7-12 years
Formal operational - 12+ years
What are the key features of the pre-operational stage? (Piaget - Cognitive development)
Egocentrism - inability to distinguish one’s own perceptions, thoughts, and feelings from those of others. Lack conservation - knowledge that the quantitative properties of an object remain the same despite changes in appearance.
What are the features of the formal-operational stage? (Piaget - Cognitive development)
Can engage in hypothetical thought and in systematic deduction and testing of hypotheses. Can evaluate the logic of verbal statements without referring to concrete situations.
‘My mother leaves me alone in an unfamiliar setting when I am 9 months old. I freak out and begin to cry. As soon as she comes back in, I crawl to get close to her. Which attachment style am I displaying?’
Secure
Gender constancy refers to a child’s what?
Realisation that a person’s gender cannot be altered by changes in appearance or activities.
Name 9 motor milestones and their ages. (Gesell)
Chin up - 2.2 m Rolls over - 2.8 m Sits with support - 2.9 m Sits alone - 5.5 m Stands with furniture - 5.8 m Walks holding on - 9.2 m Stands alone - 11.5 m Walks alone 12.1 m Walks up steps - 17.1 m
___ of the neurons in the brain develops the ability to crawl then walk.
Myelination - fatty tissue protection around nerves called myelin
What reflexes are infants born with?
Rooting - evolutionary to find food - side of cheek
Grasping - closing fingers anytime they are touched
Babinsky - touch foot and toes fan out
Sucking - allows for feeding
What is the cephalocaudal trend?
Growing from the head down. This is because our brain needs to develop first.
What is the proximodistal trend?
Motor functions from inside out - arms will grow before the hands.
What is plasticity?
The brains ability to create new pathways - manoeuvre things around. Brain is at its greatest plasticity during childhood.
What are the 3 foetal stages and their ages?
Zygote - Conception - 2 weeks
Embryo - 2 - 8 weeks
Foetus - 8 - birth
What is presbycusis in relation to?
The inability to hear high frequency sounds - makes hearing telephone ring and high-pitched voices difficult.
How far an infants see at birth?
8-12 inches - approximate distance between a nursing infant and its mothers face.
How much sensory development will occur at ages 1-2 and 2 months?
1-2 - follows moving objects with eyes.
2 - will follow objects consciously turning head 180 degrees.
What were Gesell’s thoughts of motor development?
Development is an orderly, timed and sequential process that occurs with such regularity that it is predictable.
Children develop a theory of mind at which age?
Between 2 - 4 years of age.
What are the influences on prenatal development? (6)
- Nutrition
- Drugs and alcohol
- Stress
- Infection and teratogen - any agent in the environment that can cause a defect
- Genetics
- Fecundity - fertility and the ability to reproduce; how good the womb is
Name at least 3 developmental neurological disorders.
- VCFS - lacking in a gene
- Spinal bifida - the spine not closed - need folic acid
- Down Syndrome - extra chromosomes; shorter life expectancy
- Cerebral palsy - happens during birth; exaggeration of reflexes and movements.
What behaviours indicate stranger anxiety and separation anxiety?
Wariness and fearful responses such as crying and clinging.
What is attachment?
Social and emotional bond between infant and carer that promotes; survival - feeding/protection/health, safety - secure base, competence - independence/exploring
What were some of the complications in Harlow’s study?
Attachment not sufficient for normal social development. Need interaction for proper regulatory system to develop, communicate sounds, gestures, punish or break the attachment.
Which of Piaget’s stages of moral development suggests that morals are absolute?
Morality of constraint (stiffness).
According to Piaget’s theory, during which stage can moral rules be changed with mutual consent?
Morality of cooperation.
What are the critical issues in social development?
Attachment - and its implication for adult functioning.
Emotional development.
Socialisation - by parents and peers.
Psychosexual development.
__ __ encompasses changes in feeling, interpersonal thought, and behaviour across the lifespan.
Social development
Emotional regulation is dependent on which brain region? *
Prefrontal cortex
Name a few strategies for managing emotions. *
Talking
Changing activities or goals
Restriction of sensory input
What are the self-conscious emotions and when do they start to appear? *
Pride, shame, embarrassment
Between 18-24 months
What is emotional regulation?
Strategies used to adjust our emotional state - comfortable level of intensity.
Which basic human expressions are universal?* (7)
Happiness, interest, surprise, fear, anger, sadness, disgust*
What behaviours encourage attachment? (5)
Sucking, crying, eye-to-eye contact, smiling, cuddling
When does the peak of stranger and separation anxiety occur?
Around 6-12 months
Around 13-15 months
What is the strange situation experiment measuring? *
Attachment types *
What are the difference types of attachment? *
Secure - preference for mother over stranger, cries when mother leaves, stops on return
Insecurely attached;
- resistant/ambivalent - shows both approach and avoidance behaviours
- avoidant - ignore or avoid parent on return
- disorganised - shows confused contradictory behaviours
What are some of the behaviours from mothers indicating their different attachment style?
Secure - respond promptly to crying
Resistant - impatient with infant
Avoidant - insensitive to child’s needs
Disorganised - maltreated
What is the theory behind Bowlby’s internal working models of relationships in relation to attachment?
The mental representation you have of yourself is important for forming expectations for future relationships.
What is socialisation and how do we learn it? *
Process by which children learn the beliefs, values, skills and behaviour patterns of their society.
Transaction between genetics, parenting, siblings, peers, culture.
Which parenting style seems to have the most positive effect on cognitive and social development?
Authoritative *
Which parenting style places emphasis on obedience?
Authoritarian *
What are the characteristics of the permissive parenting style? *
Parents makes few demands, overly responsive to their child’s desires; letting their children do pretty much as they please.
Which parenting style minimised the time spent and the emotional involvement with their children?
Uninvolved *
What do sibling relationships involve?
Rivalry and conflict as well as warmth; both of which make sense from an evolutionary standpoint.
How do the terms rejected and neglected peer status differ?
Rejected - bullied or bullies themselves, show low self-esteem later in life
Neglected - may show better academic performance in school
Who do we learn most from in adolescence? *
Peers and role models
What are the three stages of Kohlberg’s Theory of Sexual identity?
Gender identity; age 2-3 1/2 - specific sex
Gender stability; 3 1/2-4 1/2 - sex is constant
Gender constancy; 4 1/2 - physical appearance does not affect gender
What are gender schemas? *
Mental presentations that associate psychological characteristics with each sex.
In what way to we treat boys and girls differently? *
Boys - more active and independent; cars, sport, science
Girls - dependence, warmth and sensitivity; house, make-believe tea parties
What is self concept?
A schema about self; guides the way we think about and remember information relevant to ourselves
How can we see when a child has started to develop self concept? What age will this occur?
The mirror task
15-24 months
At what age do we understand reciprocal interactions; smile means play and crying means being picked up and held?
3-4 months
What is a theory of mind?
Refers to concepts and beliefs we use to make sense of our own, or other’s behaviour.
What do we measure with a false-belief task?
Theory of mind
Cognition and emotion are examined in relation to what?
Moral development
What are the three stages of Kohlberg’s theory of moral reasoning?
Post-conventional; human rights taking precedent over laws
Conventional; social approval and being a dutiful citizen are important
Pre-conventional; avoiding punishment and looking out for one’s own welfare and needs
What can a mature limbic system do?
Enables exploration and independence.
Facilitates risks to survive away from families.
What do mature frontal lobes do?
Enabling cognitive control over emotional impulses.
New connections between limbic system and frontal lobes.
When does motor performance peak?*
30 years of age
Which of Piaget’s stages of cognitive development relates to adolescence?
Formal operations stage.
- abstract thinking
- deductive logic
What is metamemory?
knowledge of one’s own memory and strategies to remember
What percentage of the population experiences significant losses in cognitive function?
5%
What were the problems with Piaget’s stage theory?
Development does not appear to follow strict stages but is uneven.
Underestimated abilities of children.
Small samples.
What is post formal thought? (Neo-Piagetian)
Knowledge is relative and non-absolute; knowledge can change.
Acceptance of contradictions as part of reality; things are not straight forward.
What is the focus of the information processing theory?
Processing speed - mental quickness
Automatisation - perform tasks automatically
Knowledge base - gain knowledge with experience
Cognitive strategies - sophisticated cognitive strategies are developed
What is crystallised intelligence?
Scholastic knowledge
Name the three difference types of memory.
Short-term memory - relatively unchanged.
Working memory - manipulation of information; reversal/ordering
Long-term memory - storage unchanged, retrieval becomes more difficult
What is dementia?
NOT an inevitable part of ageing; only 1% of population suffer dementia. Dementia is a progressive and incurable disorder. It is the inability to carry out everyday activities.
Who argued that attachment resembles imprinting; it keeps the infant close to its caregiver
Bowlby
What is the importance of attachment in social development across the lifespan?
Early negative attachment style increases the probability of later problems. Resilience in the face of adversity - protective factors.
What are some protective factors when faced with adversity during adulthood? (6)
- Disrupted attachment
- Personality disturbances
- Depression
- Antisocial behaviour
- Adjustment problems
- Parenting problems
If you have a secure adult attachment, you can what?
Speak freely/openly about relationship with parents.
What happens when you have an ambivalent adult attachment?
Preoccupied with/and ambivalent (doubtful) about parents.
Dismissing the importance of attachment relationships or offer idealised generalisations about parents, but are unable to back them up is the definition of which adult attachment style?
Avoidant
Having difficulty speaking coherently about attachment figures refers to which adult attachment style?
Unresolved
Name the 8 psychosocial stages in Erikson’s psychosocial stage theory and their ages.
Basic trust vs. mistrust - Birth-18 months
Autonomy vs. shame and doubt - 1-2 years
Initiative vs. guilt - 3-6 years
Industry vs. inferiority - 7-11 years
Identity vs. identity confusion - adolescence
Intimacy vs. isolation - Early adulthood
Generativity vs. stagnation - Middle adulthood
Ego integrity vs. despair - old age
When feeling very proud of owning a fast car and living in the finest house on the block, but also feeling lonely and isolated when going home to family, this is which kind of psychosocial stage?
Generatively vs. stagnation - middle adulthood
The stage of development that coincides with adolescence, according to Erikson, is?
Identity vs identity confusion
Which model of development concludes that conflict and crisis are normal and necessary to separate adolescents from parents?
Conflict model (psychodynamic origin)
Which model of development concludes that adolescence is not a turbulent period?
Continuity model - essentially continuous with childhood and adulthood.
What are some central issues of mid adulthood?
Height of career
Leadership positions
Established family life
By actively walking each day and doing crosswords alongside volunteering and continuing to play the piano into old age, this is following which philosophy?
Use it or lose it.
In older age, memory tends to change according to what?
Last in, first out
One of the prime culprits of our negative view of old age is what?
Physical incapacity
____ area is the language part of the brain.
Broca’s
All thoughts are the result of physical processes, namely, the ___ was the position taken under _____ in the early 1600s.
CNS; British Empiricism
Psychology began in ____
Philosophy
Mental phenomenon can be explained by a combination of ___ and ___; this was the perspective by Hermann von Helmholtz.
physiology; physics
___ method compares the same group at multiple time points
Cross-sectional
Trisomy 21 is a ____ developmental disorder
genetic; extra chromosome based; life reducing
Prescription drugs, illegal drugs, nicotine, radiation and alcohol are all examples of what to the developing foetus’s nervous system?
Teratogens
Successful performance in the visual cliff task reflects good ___ development.
Motor
Metacognition is what?
The ability to think of one’s own mental functioning; thinking about thinking
The social smile begins at how many months old?
6
Girls and gentle, sensitive and weak. Boys are aggressive, unemotional and lazy. These are examples of what?
Gender schemas
Theory of mind is what?
Knowing what others know, want, feel or believe
The mean life expectancy for men is ___ and ___ for women.
78.7; 82.6
The mind maintains a distinctly “non-physical” form, meaning, that the brain can be studied so long as the “mind” remains unexplored is the fundamental underpinning of which of the following theories?
Cartesian dualism
All behaviours are complex reflexes (stimulus-response) represents the ___ approach to psychology.
Behaviourist
Empirically based psychology was invested by who?
Wilhelm Wundt
___ devised techniques in “introspection” to study perception and thought, whereas, ___ treated thinking and knowledge as instruments in the struggle to live.
Structuralism; functionalism
___ studies an animal’s natural behaviour and ___ psychology focuses on the idea that the whole is more than the sum of the parts.
Ethologists; gestalt
Socialisation is ___
the process by which children learn the beliefs, values, skills and behaviour patterns in their society
What characteristics follow the authoritarian parenting style?
Demanding and expectation of unquestioned obedience
When Samuel Morton measured 100’s of skulls, which race did he find to have the largest mean skull size?
Caucasian
The political, social and racial agenda’s behind intelligence in 1800s were related to __
Darwin’s theory of evolution, specifically “survival of the fittest”.
A __ is an unlearned response to a specific stimulus
Reflex
The __occurs when an infant fans her toes upward when her feet are touched.
Babinski reflex
The __ occurs when an infant grasps any object that touches their palm.
Grasping reflex
The __ leads an infants to suck anything that touches its lips.
Sucking reflex
The __ leads an infant to turn its mouth toward anything that touches its checks and search for something to suck.
Rooting reflex
An increased risk for psychological stress occurs for early maturing _ and late maturing _.
Girls; boys
What were some of the problems with Piaget’s stage theory?
Development does not appear to follow strict stages but is uneven; he underestimated abilities of children; small samples
What is the Seattle longitudinal study and what were the results?
Cognitive stability over 7 year intervals;
At what age does psychomotor slowing commence and at what age is psychomotor slowing often noticeable?
Mid-20s; not noticeable until the 60s
Is it more difficult to retrieve explicit or implicit memories?
Explicit
What are the 5 stages of Kugler-Ross’s stages of psychologically coping with death? Which stage appears to be universal?
Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance. Denial appears to be universal.
What emotional development occurs within the first few months of life?
Attraction to pleasant stimulation and withdrawal from unpleasant stimulation
What emotional development occurs between 6-10 weeks of age?
Social smile
At approximately 3 months of age, what emotional development occurs?
Laughter arises
What emotional development occurs between 4-6 months of age?
Angry expressions increase in intensity and frequency - purposeful
At approximately 6 months of age, what emotional development occurs?
Fear; new toys and strangers
At approximately 9 months of age, what emotional development occurs?
Initiation of emotional communication; smiling before mum. Social referencing begins
At approximately 18 months of age, what emotional development occurs?
Smile becomes a social signal
What emotional development occurs between 18-24 months of age?
Self-conscious emotions; social benefits
What emotional development occurs at 3 years of age?
Emotion with self-evaluation; pride with completing difficult tasks.
What emotional development occurs at school age?
Internalised pride and guilt
The argument over whether human behaviour is learned or biological rooted is called what?
The ynature-nurtre controversy
Sally believes that her chicken longs for freedom and independence. From a psychology perspective we can say that Sally is; delusional; anthropomorphising; an ethologist; stereotyping?
Anthropomorphising (personifying)
My sister and I have two piles of lollies of equal amounts, however, I have spread mine out and she complains that I have more. She does not yet possess what?
Conservation of number
Middle adulthood is said to occur at ages…
40-65 years
The phrase “boys become boys when testosterone is secreted, producing male sex organs” is linked to which of the prenatal stages of physical development?
Embryonic stage
A reflex is an unlearned response to a specific stimulus. The __ reflex leads an infant to turn its mouth toward anything that touches its cheeks and search for something to suck.
Rooting
Provide and example of ageism.
Employment discrimination because of an individual’s age
In general, research findings suggest that people who have satisfaction in later life tend to be characterised by three factors. What are these three factors?
High cognitive and physical functioning
active engagement in productive activity and community with others
Lack of significant disease
