Study Guide 6 - Human Development Flashcards
Nature v. Nurture
- development is affected by our genetics and the environment
- work together to make all people alike ex) all achieve physical development at about the same rate
- make each person unique ex) differences among athletics, personality etc.
- how much each one contributes varies with the trait
Maturation
- Gesell studied motor skills in children of all ages
- determined a fixed sequence not likely to be affected by the environment
- maturation refers to natural growth in a fixed sequence, pretty independent of the environment (ex: learning to walk)
Zygote
- new cell formed after fertilization
- fathers sperm and mothers ovum
Germinal Stage
-zygote divides into many cells
Embryo
-developing baby from the 14th day after fertilization until 2nd month
Embryonic Stage
- embryo develops organs: heart, Nervous System, stomach, ovaries/testes
- at the end of this stage the embryo has eyes, ears, a nose, jaw, mouth, lips etc.
- critical period: certain kinds of growth must occur if development will be normal, if organs don’t form or form incorrectly it is permanent
Fetus
-developing baby from 3rd month until birth
Fetal stage
- organs grow and mature
- end of third month: kick, turn head
- 6th month: taste buds, breathe if born prematurely
- by 8th and 9th months can respond to light and touch, and learn
Placenta
- spongy organ that is formed from the outside layer of the zygote
- sends nutrients from mom to baby, and carries away wastes
- attempts to screen out harmful substances, but not always successful
Teratogen
- harmful external substances that invade the womb and result in birth defects
- especially damaging during embryonic stage
Rubella
- German measles
- if mom has it during 3/4th week baby has 50% chance of being blind, deaf, or mentally retarded
- rubella later in pregnancy, likelihood of one of these defects is much lower
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
-pattern of defects including mental retardation and face malformations in babies whose mothers consume alcohol during pregnancy
Newborn Vision
- vision is very blurry
- small eyes
- eye movements are slow and jerky
- pathways connecting eyes to brain are inefficient
- can see large objects close up
- like to stare at human faces and eyes
- some degree of size constancy
Newborn Depth Perception
-do not experience depth perception until about 7 months old
Newborn Hearing
- hear poorly
- can hear soft voices, turn their heads toward sound
- especially like speech sounds
- like to hear “baby talk”
Newborn Scent
- sense of smell not fully developed
- like smell of flowers
- prefer odors of mom: helps identify caregiver, important for survival
Newborn Reflexes
- babies demonstrate involuntary, unlearned motor behaviors
- reflexes evolved because they were important for survival
- most reflexes disappear after the first 4 months, and motor skills become voluntary
Rooting Reflex
-infant to turn its head toward anything that touches its cheek
Suckling Reflex
-newborn sucks on anything that touches its lips
Newborn Maturation and Experience
- as maturation increases infants’ strength they experiment with motor patterns
- motor development from a combo of maturation and experience
- ex) took about a week of trial and error for babies to learn how to crawl
Continuity v. Discontinuity
- is development gradual or in stages?
- continuity: changes children undergo occur in small steps, not as structured
- discontinuity: we progress in stages
Universality
- globally do all children develop the same way?
- evidence that children progress through a series of stages of cognitive development
- but there are cultural differences in the ages children reach stages or if they reach them at all
Stability
- do traits persist or change as we grow?
- Freud argued that personalities are fixed by the time we are 6
- Eric Erickson said that personalities are shaped throughout one’s life
Longitudinal Study
-study the same ppl over time
Cross Sectional Study
-comparison of ppl from different age groups at the same time
Piaget’s Stage Theory
- cognitive development occurs is a series of distinct stages
- all children go through the same stages, in the same order, without skipping
Sensorimotor Stage
- birth-2
- infants explore the world through their senses and motor activities
- ends when they can think past the present ex) objects exist when they aren’t present (OBJECT PERMANENCE)
- only think about the present
- current studies show that infants do think, combine sensory experiences, remember, solve simple problems, and have a sense of object permanence
Pre-Operational Stage
- 2 to 4
- use symbols to represent things that aren’t present
- play pretend
- 4 to 7
- make guesses about how the world works
- believe inanimate objects are alive (animism)
- highly egocentric, cannot see things from others perspectives
- do not realize that things are the same even if appearance changes CONSERVATION ex) moving liquid in-between glasses (IRREVERSIBILITY-cannot reverse sequence of events)
- centration: focus on only 1 aspect of a situation
Concrete Operational
- 7-11
- about real objects only
- understand and apply simple logical principles
- properties of an object remain the same despite changes in appearance (OBJECT PERMANENCE)
- appreciate other ppl’s perspective
- count, measure, add etc.
Formal Operational
- 11 and older
- think logically about abstractions, can speculate, consider “what ifs”
- can imagine other worlds
- reason about verbal and logical statements
- reflect, do science
Schema
- the generalizations that form as ppl experience the world
- organize past experiences and provide a framework for future ones
- ex) sucking schema-mental images of what can be sucked, kinds of sucking
ex) schema about being in love
Assimilation
- children take in new information and put them into existing schemas
- ex) toddler who sees a butterfly puts it into her bird schema
Accommodation
- change schemes when faced with new information that doesn’t fit into old schemas
- ex) child expands bird schema into a flying animals schema
Palmar Grasp Reflex
-if you place your finger in the palm of a baby’s hand he will grab it!
Moro Reflex
- the startle reflex
- caused by changes in movement of temperature
- throws his arms and legs to the side and then pulls them close to his chest
Babinski Reflex
-if u stroke and infants foot, his toes will extend upward
Gender Identity
-ones sense of being male or female
Gender Role
- set of expected behaviors for males and females
- role: set of behaviors and obligations we assign to certain ppl
Gender-Typing
-acquisition of traditional masculine of feminine roles
X Chromosome
- females are XX
- males are XY
- sex hormone from BOTH parents
Y Chromosome
-only in men -determines sex
Testosterone
-most important male sex hormone -both genders have it but males have more -stimulates growth of male sex organs and development of male sex traits during puberty
Social Learning Theory
- we learn social behavior by observing and imitating
- and by rewards/punishments
Gender Schema Theory
-children learn from their culture what it means to be male or female
Critique of Piaget
- changes in each stage was less consistent than Piaget thought
- ex) three year olds are not always egocentric
- children’s knowledge develops at different ages in different areas
- babies can actually think and count!
- today researchers see development as continuous
Lev Vgotsky’s Social Cultural Cognitive Theory
- children’s mind grows with social interaction
- children get ideas through interacting with parents, teachers etc. who teach them about their culture (mentors)
- menta abilities effected by language
Scaffolding
-parents can provide a scaffold children can use to step to higher levels of thinking
Attachment/Bonding
- physical touch between moms and babies help create a bond between them
- parents become attached to children and children form a deep, affectionate relationship with caregivers
