Terms/Theories Flashcards
Nuture
we are shaped by the experiences, which we encounter from birth
La Tabula Rasa
the theory that we are born with our minds as a blank slate
Nature
development is preplanned process guided by preprogrammed genetic info; predictable unfolding of events
Stage Theories
development occurs in stages; qualitative measurement
Continuity theories
development is a steady growth process; skills and behaviors do not change qualitatively
cognitive-developmental theory
the notion that one’s ability to think and process is dictated by physiological growth and interaction with the environment
information processing approach
uses the computer as a metaphor for the human mind to process info, changes in info processing capabilities and speed in relation to age
Reflex
innate response to a stimulus that is not learned
Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)
a stimulus that automatically elicits a motor response that is innate
Unconditional Response (UCR)
a motor response to a stimulus that is innate
Conditioned Stimulus (CS)
a stimulus that is paired with the innate UCS (ex: the bell (CS) elicits salivation even though the food is the UCS)
Generalization
a stimulus similar to the CS that triggers the same CR (ex: same response to a different bell tone)
Discrimination
the ability to discern similar conditioned stimuli (CS) from the original CS (no response to a similar bell tone)
Extinction
termination the CR when CS is presented without the UCS (ex: the bell is rung (CS) but no food (UCS) is present, resulting in a ‘false alarm’ that is eventually dissociated with food
Operant conditioning
learning is controlled by environment, but the associated behaviors are influenced by reinforcement and punishment
Social-learning thoery
behaviors are not only influenced by conditioning, but also through observational learning; one can replicate the behaviors of others simply by watching
Psychodynamic thoery
personality is unconscious, early experiences shape our personalities
Rationalization
creating false but plausible excuses to justify unacceptable behavior
Repression
pushing unacceptable ID impulses out of awareness and into unconscious; motivated forgetting
Reaction formation
behaving the opposite of one’s feelings
Regression
reversion to immature patterns of behavior
Projection
attributing one’s own thoughts, feelings, motives, or shortcomings to others
Displacement
shifting unacceptable feelings from the original source to a safer, substitute target
Sublimation
a useful, socially acceptable course of behavior replaces a socially unacceptable response
Intellectualization
detaching one from stressful situations by handling an issue in an unemotional manner
Denial
denying an unpleasant occurrence
ID
pleasure principle, seeks instant gratification
Ego
mediates reality and ID; tries to combine ID demands with norms of society
Superego
morality principle, personal conscience; ignores ID, only rules of moral behavior
Sociocultural theory
a bidirectional relationship exists between the child and the sociocultural environment
reciprocal determinism
child influencing the environment as much as the environment influences them
evolutionary thoery
survival of the fittest; variations exists; some have better traits; the fittest survive and reproduce
ethology
comparison of human behavior to that of other species
critical period
a behavior must occur in this time or it will never occur
sensitive period
critical period in humans
correlational research
measuring two variables to see if they are related
descriptive or observational research
obtaining data without manipulating or controlling variables
naturalistic observation
same as a field experiment
case study
one subject in depth
survey research
researching a group
interview
not anonymous and body language/reactions can be read
cross-sectional research design
examine the differences between different aged subjects at one time
longitudinal development
changes over several years in a subject; dropout can occur
sequential research design
combination of cross sectional and longitudinal
turner syndrome
female has only 1 X chromosome (X0)
Klinfelter syndrome
male has an extra X chromosome (XXY)
germinal
2 weeks after conception, implants in uterus
embryo
2-8 weeks, formation of embryo, most defects occur at this stage
fetus
8 weeks - birth, organ formation, bone and muscles form
teratogens
agents that cross the placenta to embryo causing issues; dangerous at second trimester because of organ formation
moro reflex
extension of arms with loss of support
babinski reflex
toes move by foot stimulation
proximodistal
inward out development
cephalocaudal
head to food development
menarche
menstruation occurs 11-15 years old
climateric
menopause in females caused by low estrogen levels
habituation
decreasing attention of newborns to a familiar stimulus
absolute threshold
the minimum amount of stimulus an observer needs to respond to a stimulus
visual cliff experiment
proved that infants have depth perception
size constancy
newborns preferred the larger objets even though it produced the same image on the retina at a specific distance
selective looking
young infants scan borders, older infants scan within the borders of an object
concepts
basic elements of thought
prototypes
objects that represent a natural concept
assimilation
child uses a concrete schema to relate another stimulus to (ex: sees a pony, yells dog)
accommodation
child changes thinking to recognize that the schemas aren’t parallel (ex: child determines that the pony is it’s own entity)
guided participation
adults transmit ideas and values of the culture to the children
zone of proximal development
a child’s problem solving capacity without assistance
scaffolding
providing assistance to help the child reach a point, can be adjusted based on child’s needs
social thinking
talking with others
private speech
talking to oneself out loud
inner speech
silent thoughts
rehearsal
repeating info to hold it, usually not stored in long-term memory
chunking
breaking info into groups to more easily remember it
retrieval
how is stored info accessed?
recall
more difficult, a more vague cue (ex: what did you have for breakfast two days ago)
recognition
when the cue triggers remembering, because the cue for retrieval is the info to be remembered (multiple choice questions)
deferred imitation
modeling one’s behavior based on what they observed, retrieved from memory and reenacted
transductive reasoning
no recognition of cause and effect
animistic thinking
giving lifelike characteristics to objects
conservation
volume/quantity will not change unless something is added/removed
classification
organization of items based on shared features
seriation
ordering objects from least to most amount
personal fable
“no one will understand what I feel”
imaginary audience
everyone sees the imperfection, you are the center of attention
metacognition
capacity to be aware of one’s own thinking
selective attention
focusing on one stimulus while ignoring another distracting stimulus
HOME scale
Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment; measures things such as the amount of stimulation, play materials, parental involvement
phonemes
smallest unit of sound that affects speech meaning (cat–>hat)
morphemes
the smallest unit of language that has meaning (cat to cats, where s is the morpheme)
Semantics
the study of meaning in language
syntax
grammatical rules of language
phonetics
study of sounds that are put together to form words
pragmatics
includes the social aspects of language (conversation rules, politeness)
psycholinguistics
study of mind mechanisms and language
top down processing
most complex perception; using prior knowledge and concepts
bottom up processing
least complex perception; basic info flows up to higher level
semantic overextension
using the same word incorrectly for multiple object (all four legged animals are doggies)
motherese
speech of short sentences with concrete nouns and verbs in a higher pitched voice
expansions
child speaks, mother replies questioning child;s need in a fuller sentence that is grammatically correct
recasts
child makes a statement; mother reaffirms child’s statement in a grammatically correct manner
nativist theory
language is inborn, innate
empiricist theory
tabula rasa, language is built from ground up
balanced bilingual
ability to fluently speak both languages
thoery of mind
understanding that people have mental states and the content of mental states guides their behavior
gender roles
set of expectations about appropriate activities for each sex
gender stereotypes
views about how men and women should act, feminine and masculine gender roles
gender stability
the understanding that biological sex does not change
gender constancy
one’s biological sex is not changed by appearances
gender identity
an internalized view of the self as feminine, masculine or androgynous
gender typing
socializing children about which roles are appropriate for males and which are appropriate for females in society
morality of care
basing moral decisions on the impact of actions on other peoples or on social relationships
morality of justice
basing moral decisions on the justice system in place
seperation anxiety
when preferred caregivers leave and one becomes distressed
ainsworth strange situation
distinguishing 3 categories of attachment based on the quality of the infant-caregiver interactions
clique
small collections of friends spending substantial times together, more restrictive
crowd
collection of several cliques, typically mixed sex, less restrictive
social exchange thoery
two people meet, the costs and benefits of developing a relationship are assessed, and if the benefits are greater than the costs, the two will be attracted to one another
hostile aggression
intentionally inflicting psychological or physical pain on another individual
instrumental aggression
using aggressive behavior to accomplish a goal but not hurt someone
relational aggression
form of hostile aggression that is aimed at damaging the social relationships of others
frustration-aggression hypothesis
frustration produces aggression and that aggression may be directed at the frustrater or displaced on another target like a scapegoat
altruism
selfless concern for the welfare of others, leads to helping, giving behavior
resilience
qualities an infant has who is at risk but overcomes those risks
family systems thoery
the family is a whole unit with integrated parts; members of the family adopt roles as set by society; every member influences the family system equally
beanpole family
household consisting of multiple generations
reconstituted (blended) family
family of mixed individuals as a result of remarriage
latchkey children
offspring that come home to an empty house after school because of working parents
sibling rivalry
children compete during school age year to be better than their counterpart
middle generation sandwich
adults are responsible for their parents as well as their own children
collectivist culture parenting
hispanic and Japanese parents are more authoritarian and seek success for their children
individualistic culture parenting
european american parents are more authoritative and allow for creativity and healthy risk taking, often because it encourages autonomy
neglect
failure to protect children from harm or meet the biological and medical needs
grief
the distressed response to one dying
defense mechanisms
unconscious methods used by the ego to distort realities and protect us from anxiety
self-efficacy
Bandura’s term used to define a child’s perception in their ability to succeed at a task
moratorium period
a period of time given to adolescents to explore different identities in preparation for adulthood
activity thoery
adults who remained active and connected with other people were more satisfied
disengagement theory
suggests that satisfied older adults followed a natural tendency to disengage from society and focus inward
canon-bard thoery
emotions can occur when the thalamus sends signals simultaneously to the cortex and ANS
schacheter-singer thoery
emotions occurs when physiological arousal triggers us to search for the reasons of the arousal
attribution style
the way in which an individual interprets the causes of his or her behaviors, successes, failures of others
internal locus of control
one who consistently contributes success and failure to effort and ability
external locus of control
one who contributes success and failure to the luck and task difficulty portions
learned helplessness
feeling of inability to complete a task, incompetent and low self esteem, due to parents who had high standards but low confidence in their children
positive reinforcement
reward or positive outcome if a certain behavior is conducted
negative reinforcement
negative outcome if certain behavior is conducted
escape conditioning
the subjects learns that a particular response will terminate an aversive stimulus
primary reinforcers
provides the basic needs (food, water, shelter)
secondary reinforcers
provide desired values (money, grades)
phonics approach
teaches reading to children through the associations between letters and sounds
whole language approach
having children interact with the whole book or written passages
project head start
for economically disadvantaged children to help prepare them for their future in grade school
fantasy phase
desire to be a doctor or firefighter, without any thought of how to get there
tentative phase
assessing one’s abilities and skills to self assess and see if they can do it
realistic phase
process of actually selecting a career
huntington’s disease
nervous system deterioration, dominant gene on chromosome four
PKU
pair of recessive genes, can be managed by diet
Sickle Cell Anemia
2 recessive genes, irregular RBC shape
CF
recessive gene pair, excess mucous buildup
Tay-Sachs
pair of recessive genes, nervous system deterioration
down syndrome
extra chromosome
ADHD
combination of inattention, impulsivity and hypersensitivity
Autism
no root cause, obsessive behaviors, is on a range
Alzheimer’s
caused by neurofibrillary tangles and senile plaques
