PSY286 WK 1 and 2

Question 1

What are the three broad domains of development?:

Answer 1

Psycho-social, Cognitive, Physical.

Question 2

Bio ecological model:

Answer 2

Bronfenbrenner’s model of development that emphasises both nature and nurture as being fundamental to development, sits within a series of systems.

Question 3

Psychodynamic approach:

Answer 3

Behaviour is biological (Instincts) in nature with unconscious motivations.

Emphasizes emotions, motivational conflicts, and unconscious determinants of behaviour.

Question 4

Cognitive perspectives:

Answer 4

Looking more at what and how people think than at what they do.

Question 5

Systems perspective:

Answer 5

focuses on how inherited biological factors interact with the environment to influence development.

Question 6

Activity and passivity:

Answer 6

Are we shaped by our environment and genes with no control?

Or are we curious active creature orchestrating our own fate?

Question 7

Universality and Specificity:

Answer 7

Is development specific to a single culture, or is it universal?

Question 8

Continuity and discontinuity:

Answer 8

Continuity is the idea that it is a linear path of development, where stages are small continual steps over the course of a life. Discontinuity is the idea that development takes stages in steps and that each step up is a major advance in development

Question 9

Age norms:

Answer 9

Expectations of how people should act at certain ages

Question 10

Social clock:

Answer 10

An individuals sense of when things should be done or completed within in their lifespan, normally dictated by age norms.

Question 11

Life span perspective:

Answer 11

The view that development is life long and multi-directional.

Question 12

Conservation

Answer 12

Being able to conserve means knowing that a quantity doesn’t change if it’s been altered, by being stretched, cut, elongated, spread out, shrunk etc.

Question 13

Mitosis:

Answer 13

The process in which a cell duplicates itself with a full complement of 46 chromosomes.

Question 14

Meiosis:

Answer 14

The process in which reproductive cells divide to produce sperm or ova that contain on half of the 46 chromosomes.

Question 15

Chromozones.

Answer 15

Thread like structure made up of DNA and proteins that exist inside a cell. Normally 46 chromosomes (22
pairs named autosomes, plus the XY) but down syndrome have one extra, chromosome 21. Each expression of a gene is called an allele, so blue, brown, and green eyes are all Alleles of the eye colour gene.

Question 16

Dominant or recessive gene allele.

Answer 16

Where the dominant Gene will express as an observable characteristic over the recessive Gene.

Question 17

Genotype

Answer 17

The complete set of inherible genetics.

Question 18

Phenotype

Answer 18

The expression of genetic difference, eg. Blue eyes, wet ear wax etc.

Question 19

Sex linked inheritance:

Answer 19

Any abnormalities on the x chromosome from a woman will be expressed in a man. This is because he only gets one x chromosome.

In a woman she the abnormality would need to be on both x chromosomes for it to be definite.

Question 20

What two mechanisms give rise to genetic abnormalities?

Answer 20

Inheritance and mutation.

Question 21

Concordance rate:

Answer 21

The percentage of pairs of individuals studied have a particular trait, given that one has a trait. (Used in twin studies.)

Question 22

What is heritable?

Answer 22

Physiology, height etc. High heritability (Polygenic inheritance) influenced by multiple pairs of genes.
Intelligence IQ etc. 50% heritability
Personality. 40% heritability.
Psychological factors are less heritable than physical features. Generally for these genetic make up and environment account for about 50% each.

Question 23

Epigenetics:

Answer 23

The idea of how things like diet, physical activity, stress levels and environmental factors can leave a chemical coding on top of certain genes influencing their expression. These changes can be reversed in many instances, although during the foetal period development epigenetic changes can have life long effects.

Question 24

Teratogens.

Answer 24

A teratogen is anything a person is exposed to or ingests during pregnancy that’s known to cause fetal abnormalities. Can be diseases like an STI or Rubella, environmental hazards like radiation exposure or lead, or nutritional deficit such as low folate.

Question 25

Principles of teratogen effects

Answer 25

Critical periods. Teratogen effect is worse during the critical period of devel in the womb.
Dosage and duration. The greater the exposure the more likely to cause serious problems.
Genetic make-up. Susceptibility can be affected by genes.
Environment. How bad a child is affected depend on the quality of the prenatal and postnatal environment. Genetic make up, susceptibility to harm is influenced by genetic make up.