Module 4 - Development Psychology Flashcards
Gene
the molecule on the chromosome that transmit the hereditary blueprint
Genotype
the total complement of genes that an individual inherits
Phenotype
the organisms observable characteristic (behaviour)
What part of the brain are language associated to?
the broca’s area (frontal lobe) and wernicke’s area (temporal lobe)
Area of the brain that is associated with vision?
occipital lobe (back of the brain)
Consequences if a particular are of the brain does not develop?
a brain that doesn’t develop properly in one area will cause deficits in some abilities but not others.
Percentage of dizygotic twins (fraternal) shared genes?
share 50% of their genes in common
Percentage of monozygetic twins (identical) shared genes?
share 100% of their genes in common
Concordance rate (correlation)
the proportion of pairs of individuals that share a particular attribute, given that one of the individuals has that characteristics
Direct (positive correlation)
as 1 variable increases the other variable also increases
Indirect (negative correlation)
as 1 variable increases the other variable decreases
No correlation
there is no relationship between the 2 variables compared
Does gene or environment take over time when individuals grow older?
as people get older, genes seem to have more effect while the effect of the environment seems to fade over time
How can an offspring inherit a gene when both parents does not posses visible trace of the inherited gene
(e.g. cystic fibrosis)
In order for the offspring to inherit the genes, both parents should have the recessive genes that code for the cystic fibrosis (1out of 4 offspring will be affected by cystic fibrosis)
selective breeding
used with animals to study genetic transmission of a particular behaviour
Hypothesis: If genes are the selective factor over environment (e.g. activity level)
If activity level is due to genes, then: (a) breeding active animals together should produce very active offspring, and (b) breeding inactive animals together should produce inactive offspring
polygenetic
a characteristic trait (e.g. eye colou, height, etc) which is influence by two or more genes
Maze learning rats experiment results:
Both maze dull rats and maze bright rats started at the same point, but very quickly diverged
- when dull ones were breed they tend to make errors
- whereas the bright ones tends to make less error and perform so much better
Results of Cooper and Zubek experiment
Standard conditions:
- get many more errors in the maze if the parent made more errors in the maze, whereas if parents did not make many errors it will be the same for the offspring
Improverished environment:
- If both rats are raised in this environment there is no difference between them
- which means that the maze bright rats may not have been allowed to reach their genetic potential due to it’s environment
Enriched environment:
- the rats were raised in the enriched environemnt also had no difference between their errors
- the results then clearly shows that there is a contribution between genes and environemnt to the measure of intelligence in this rats
Teratogen
an agent that causes deviations in normal development that lead to serious abnormalities or death
Critical period
a time in development when specific biological or environmental events have dramatic and irreversible effects on development
Determinants of Teratogens
1) timing
2) Effects are specific
3) Individual Differences
4) Dose-Dependent Relationship
Imprinting
precocial (mobile) birds follow the 1st moving object they encounter after hatching
Konrad Lorenz
he showed that geese would imprint on the first moving object they encountered during the critical period of 13 to 16 hours after hatching
Henry Harlow (1957-1963)
He raised monkeys in bare cages where they were partially isolated from other monkeys (could see or smell other monkeys but can not touch them)
- this resulted into blank staring of Mokeys, repetitive circling and self mutilation (increase in worringness)
Can an isolate be rehabilitated?
Yes, an isolate can be rehabilitated but it takes time
What effect does social isolation do?
increases in self directed and stereotypic behaviours (such as rocking and biting)
- effect are specific to social behaviour only and cognitive ability is unaffected
Oxana Malaya
was brought up with dogs and behaviour resulted in mimicking actions and behaviour of a dog (e.g. barking)
Critical period vs Sensitive period
Critical period
- effects are dramatic and irreversible
- sharp onset and offset points
Sensitive period
- harmful effects can be altered by later events
- effects are less dramatic
- begins and ends gradually
Sexual abuse
cases involving some form of penetration or coerced/forced masturbation where the abuser was at least 5 years older
or
any events/interaction that the younger person reported as unwanted/abusive before they were 18
Protection Notification
to protect a person under 18 yrs old from family violence
Common age of sex perperators
the people who are penetrating abuse are parents that are in age range of 20-29 to 30 to 39 yrs old
Correlation between social status and abuse
The bigger the income gap, the stronger the relation between poverty and abused (poor people tends to experience abuse more - possibly due to stress)
Shaken Baby Syndrome
a brain injury when a baby is violently shaken
Direct cost of child abuse
- medical examinations
- chronic health problems
- mental health care
- child protections
- foster care / adoption
- judical system
Indirect cost of child abuse
- special education
- juvenile deliquency
- adult criminality
- alcohol and substance abuse
- domestic violence
- public assistance
gateway drug
a drug, once tried, makes it more likely that a user will try other “harder” drugs
3 interrelated propositions for the gateway hypothesis
1) sequencing
- one substance is regulary initiated before another
2) association
- one substance increases likelihood of second substance
there is correlation for both sequencing and assoication but it does not mean that there is a cause established
3) causation
- use of first substance actually causes use of second substance
Are bonding stronger if the mother undergoes vaginal delivery or caesarian?
During normal delivery birth, the mother releases a love hormone called oxytocin which means it increases when you are in love
- this release of this hormone stimulate maternal behavior hence creating more bond with the infant stronger
Relation between oxytocin and empathy
Oxytocin is associated with things like emotion recognition and picking up feelings and mental state of other people
- people can vary in terms the amount of oxytocin they have as well as receptors that are producing this hormones
Relation between oxytocin and social competence
During an experiment:
Provided oxytocin to undergraduates: mean and women
- result showed that oxytocin did not improve their emotion (on avergae individual it will not work
But if oxytocin is provided to individuals who are depressed and self deprived
- results showed that it improve the person’s mood
Swain et al. (2008)
Brain responses when a mother listens to their own infant cry vs another baby cry
Results:
- mother who listens to their own baby and who had normal vaginal delivery would experience more brain activation in these key areas of the brain associated with empathy
Noam Chomsky
a nativist who believed that certain aspects of language were innate because of the poverty of the stimulus
What was the learning theory?
language couldn’t be learned through reward (approval) and punishment (disapproval) so it must be innate
What is innate?
our ability to learn about patterns in behaviours and language (word,grammar) etc.
Specific language impairment
result in the use of short sentences, have small vocabularies, word-finding problems, difficulty learning new words
- and about 50% go on to experience reading difficulties, develop dyslexia
What is autism?
a neural disorder characterized by qualitative deficits in social interaction, communication and imaginative ability
What effect does autism have to childrens?
language disabilities as well as trouble understanding people
statistical learning in typically developing children
they found that in typically growing children has an increase in certain brain regions when they listened to non-random syllables compared to random syllables
Statistical learning in childrens’ with autism
they found that children with autism had no increase when in any brain regions when they listened to randomly presented stimuli vs non random stimuli
Brain activation between less severely autistic children and more severe autistic children
there is less differentiation with more sever e autistic children which means that they have less brain activation than the less severely autistic children
Relation between brain activation and communication
- more brain activation, the less their impairment of communication
- more brain activation declines, the more impairment in communication
Typically developing childrens’ brain
- more activation when listening to non-random syllables
- learn about patterns and brain responds
Children with autism brain
- do not show difference in brain activation in responds to either random syllable or non-random syllables
-do not learn about pattern
Sexual Orientation
Females:
- MZ Fem = .47
- DZ Fem = .37
so maybe just a little bit of contribution for genes of sexual orientation goes in females
Males:
- MZ male = .57
- DZ male = .20
clear that there is a genetic contribution. About 3 times difference between MZ males and DZ males
How does stress affects sexuality?
Ward (1972)
- when a mother is stressed they released an adrenaline-related hormone (androstenedione) which is similar to testosterone and these hormones then bind to receptors in the brain that would be receiving testosterone including in the hypothalamus, this will then cause delay or blockage in the effect of testosterone on brain
