Psych1011 WEEKS 7+8 Flashcards
Developmental Psychology
DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY
Study of how behaviour changes of the life span.
POST HOC FALLACY
False assumption that because one event occurred before another event it must have caused that event.
COHORT EFFECT
Effect observed in a sample of participants that results from individuals in the sample growing up at the same time.
- old people are bad at using computers, etc.
CROSS - SECTIONAL DESIGN
Research that examines people of different ages at a single point in time.
“Snapshot”
Don’t account for cohort effects.
LONGITUDINAL DESIGN
Research design that examines development in the same group of people on multiple occasions over time.
eg. 7-Up.
INFANT DETERMINISM
Myth that early experiences (under 3) are more influential than later experiences.
CHILDHOOD FRAGILITY
Myth that children are fragile. Actually very resilient.
GENE - ENVIRONMENT INTERACTIONS
Often the effects of genes depend on the environment and vice versa.
- violent tendencies.
GENE EXPRESSION
Environmental experiences turn genes on and off throughout development.
Activation and deactivation of genes by environmental experiences.
eg. anxiety triggered by a death in the family.
NATURE VIA NURTURE
Tendency of individuals with certain genetic predispositions to seek out and create environments that permit the expression of these predispositions.
eg. fearful children select safer environments.
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
Study how children acquire the ability to learn, think, reason, communicate, and remember.
JEAN PIAGET
Swiss psychologist
Stage theorist pioneer
Children not just mini-adults. Fundamentally different.
ASSIMILATION
Piaget.
Process of absorbing new experiences into current knowledge structures.
Eventually can’t assimilate, have to accommodate.
ACCOMMODATION
Piaget.
Altering a belief to make it more compatible with experience.
PIAGET’S STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT
Sensorimotor - birth - 2yrs.
Preoperational 2 - 7yrs.
Concrete operational 7 - 11yrs
Formal operations 11yrs +
SENSORIMOTOR
Piaget development stage.
Birth - 2 years.
Physical interactions with the world. No object permanence or deferred imitation.
PREOPERATIONAL
Piaget development stage
2 - 7 years.
Symbolic behaviour, thinks beyond here and now. Egocentric. Unable to perform mental transformations. Fail conservation tasks.
CONCRETE OPERATIONS
Piaget development stage
7 - 11 years
Able to perform mental transformations, but only on concrete physical objects. Pass conservation tasks.
FORMAL OPERATIONS
Piaget development stage
11+ years
Able to perform hypothetical and abstract reasoning.
OBJECT PERMANENCE
Understanding that objects continue to exist even when out of view.
Piaget’s sensorimotor - no object permanence.
EGOCENTRISM
Inability to see the world from others perspectives.
Piaget’s preoperational.
CONSERVATION
Piaget.
Understanding that despite a transformation in physical presentation, the amount stays the same.
(different sized cups, etc)
LEV VYGOTSKY
Russian researcher 1896-1936
Developed a theory of cognitive development that emphasised social and cultural information as the key sources of learning.
Scaffolding.
Zone of proximal development.
SCAFFOLDING
Vygotskian
Learning mechanism in which parents provide initial assistance in children’s learning, but gradually remove structure as children become more competent.
ZONE OF PROXIMAL DEVELOPMENT
Phase of learning where children can benefit from instruction.
RENE BAILLARGEON
Showed object permanence by 5 months.
THEORY OF MIND
Ability to reason about what other people know or believe.
- False belief task.
ADOLESCENCE
The transition between childhood and adulthood commonly associated with the teenage years.
Hormonal changes.
PUBERTY
Sexual maturation.
Potential to reproduce.
Timing genetically influenced.
COGNITIVE LANDMARKS OF EARLY DEVELOPMENT
- Physical reasoning. Habituation event (rotating box). Gravity.
- Classifying the world. Brown cat, brown dog.
- Self-concept and the concept of “other”. Theory of mind.
- Mathematics.
SCHEMA
Organised knowledge structure or mental model that we’ve stored in memory. Can contribute to stereotypes and make it difficult to retain new information that does not conform to our established ideas about the world.
CRYSTALLISED INTELLIGENCE
Accumulated knowledge of the world acquired over time.
FLUID INTELLIGENCE
Capacity to learn new ways of solving problems. Might decrease with time.
MENARCHE & SPERMARCHE
Menarche - onset of menstruation. Full physical maturity.
Spermache - first ejaculation. Approx 13yrs.
SECONDARY SEX CHARACTERISTICS
Sex differentiating characteristics that don’t relate directly to reproduction.
Breast enlargement, deepening voice.
PRIMARY SEX CHARACTERISTICS
Physical features such as the reproductive organs and genitals that distinguish the sexes.
TEMPERAMENT
Basic emotional style that appears early in development and is largely genetic in origin. Alexander Thomas and Stella Chess. Babies: easy 40% difficult 10% slow to warm up 15%
ATTACHMENT
Strong emotional connection we share with those whom we feel closest.
Doesn’t happen in infantile autism.
IMPRINTING
Konrad Worenz. Geese.
Goslings attach to / follow first large moving object they see after hatcing. 99% mother.
Critical period is 36 hours.
CONTACT COMFORT
Positive emotions afforded by touch. Monkeys.
STRANGER ANXIETY
A fear of strangers developing at 8 or 9 months of age.
High until 12-15 months, then reduces.
Cross cultural.
STRANGE SITUATION
Secure attachment 60% Insecure-avoidant 15-20% Insecure-anxious 15-20% Disorganised attachment 5-10% Cultural differences.
SECURE ATTACHMENT
Strange situation. 60%.
Mother leaves = upset
Mother returns = joy.
Mother is secure base.
INSECURE- AVOIDANT ATTACHMENT
Strange situation. 15-20%
Mother leaves and returns = indifferent.
INSECURE- ANXIOUS ATTACHMENT
Strange situation. 15-20%.
Mother leaves = panic
Mother returns = mixed. Reaching and squirming.
Also called anxious ambivalent.
DISORGANISED ATTACHMENT.
Stranger situation. 5-10%
Inconsistent and confused responses. Dazed.
MONO- OPERATIONAL BIAS
Drawing conclusions on the basis of only a single measure.
Shortcoming of stranger situation.
PERMISSIVE PARENTING
Parents are lenient, allowing considerable freedom.
Discipline down, affection up.
“too soft”
AUTHORITARIAN PARENTING
Strict, reduced play and freedom, increase punishment. Low affection.
“too hard”
AUTHORITATIVE PARENTING
Supportive, but clear and firm limits.
“just right”
UNINVOLVED PARENTING
Ignore both positive and negative behaviours.
Worst social and emotional adjustment.
COLLECTIVIST VS INDIVIDUALISTIC CULTURES
Collectivist, such as China. Priority on group harmony. Authoritarian does better.
Individualistic, such as USA. Priority on achievement and independence.
AVERAGE EXPECTABLE ENVIRONMENT.
Environment that provides children with basic needs for affection and discipline.
“good enough”
SOCIAL REFERENCING
Tendency of a person to look to a significant other in an ambiguous situation in order to obtain clarifying information.
Often mother or father.
SELF CONTROL
Ability to inhibit an impulse to act.
At age 4, can predict later social adjustment.
GENDER IDENTITY
Sense of being male or female. Not physical.
GENDER ROLE
A set of behaviours that tend to be associated with being male or female.
IDENTITY
Our sense of who we are and our life goals and priorities.
PSYCHOLOGICAL CRISIS
Dilemma concerning an individuals relations to other people.
Erik Erikson, 8 stages.
EMERGING ADULTHOOD
18-25
Many aspects of emotional development, identity and personality become solidified.
MIDLIFE CRISIS
Supposed phase of adulthood characterised by emotional distress about the aging process and an attempt to reclaim youth.
Mostly myth.
EMPTY- NEST SYNDROME
Alleged period of depression in mothers following the departure of their grown children from the home.
GENERATIVITY
Erik Erkinson.
A concern for establishing and guiding the next generation.
“make a difference”
INTERNAL WORKING MODEL
Related to attachment.
The way that we understand the world around us. Infants are said to develop working models of the world based on the development of a secure and attached relationship with a parent or caregiver. In such a situation, the child will develop a working model of the world as safe and secure. However, if there are problems in the relationship with the infant and caregivers, the working models developed may be negative - the world may come to be seen as dangerous, frightening, unpredictable, etc. As children get older, their working model changes to incorporate both the new ways that they are treated an their new abilities to understand the world.
