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Developmental psychology > Unit 1: Fundamentals and basics of the psychology of human development > Flashcards

Unit 1: Fundamentals and basics of the psychology of human development Flashcards

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1
Q

What does the discipline of developmental psychology do?

A

describes and explains changes occurring in:
- thought
- behaviour
- reasoning
- functioning

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2
Q

What kind of influences does developmental psychology focus on?

A

biological
individual
environmental
-> across lifespan

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3
Q

What kind of perspectives are changes studied through?

A

all areas of psychology in different developmental stages

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4
Q

Which other fields address changes ?

A

Psychotherapy
Learning psychology
Psychobiology

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5
Q

What are some additional features in dev. psychology?

A

Changes normative or quasi-normative
changes related to age or life span

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6
Q

normative

A

sth that happens to vast majority of people

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7
Q

Quasi-normative

A

sth that’s very common but not inherent

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8
Q

What does idiosyncratic mean?

A

related to individuals

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9
Q

What are the objectives in developmental psychology?

A

Describe evolution of human behaviour in each stage of development
Identify processes that produce changes between stages of development

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10
Q

What does Developmental Psychology (DP) refer to?

A

periods/ stages of human development

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11
Q

Which stages are there?

A

Prenatal stage
Early childhood: 0-2
Years prior to compulsory schooling: 2-6 years
Primary school years: 6-12
Adolescence: 12-end of second decade
Maturity/adulthood: 20-65/70
Elderly/old age: from 65/70

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12
Q

Which interconnected domains are needed to study human development?

A

Biosocial development
Cognitive development
Psychosocial development

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13
Q

What’s included in biosocial development? (physical, sensorimotor)

A

Growth and changes in the body
Genetic, nutritional and health factors affecting growth and change
Acquisition of motor skills

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14
Q

What does cognitive development include?

A

development of cognitive processes and intellectual skills
development of ability to think about environment (e.g. perception, imagination and judgement)

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15
Q

Psychosocial (socioemotional) development

A

development and stability of emotions, temperament, personality and social skills
-> Large role of friends, family and larger society

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16
Q

What does the concept of growth describe?

A

Progressive change in size of body and body parts
-> quantitative

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17
Q

What does the concept of maturation describe?

A

Unfolding of genetically programmed sequence of events
-> qualitative

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18
Q

Does growth rate stay consistent? (in the individual as a whole across all stages of development)

A

No
-> Babies: rapid growth during first 2 years
-> 4-6 months: double weight
-> 1 year: triple weight
-> 2 years: quadruple weight
From 2 years until puberty: gain of 5-8 cm and 2.5-3 kg each year

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19
Q

How can the development of the body proceed?

A

Cephalocaudal
Proximodistal

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20
Q

Cephalocaudal development (growth)

A

head downwards
At birth: head 1/4 of body length
Trunk grows fastest during first year
1- adolescence: legs grow rapidly (60% increase in height)
Adolescence: legs and trunk grow rapidly

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21
Q

How much do legs and head account for during adulthood?

A

legs: 50% of height
head: 12%

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22
Q

Proximodistal development of the body

A

prenatal: chest and internal organs form first, then limbs, then hands and feet
Infancy and childhood: arms and legs grow faster than hands and feet
Just before puberty: reverses
-> hands and feet reach adult proportions first

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23
Q

What are skeletal structures during prenatal development?

A

soft cartilage
-> gradually ossify into bony material

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24
Q

Can bones support postures right after birth?

A

No

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25
Q

What does the neonate skull consist of?

A

several soft bones
-> can be compressed to pass through cervix and birth canal

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26
Q

What are the skull bones separated by?

A

fontanelles/fontanels (soft spots)

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27
Q

When is the fused cranium fully formed?

A

at around 2 years

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28
Q

Why do the structures between each bone of the cranium stay flexible for such a long time after birth?

A

to allow cranium to grow with the developing brain

29
Q

Which are the skeletal structures that ossify first?

A

skull and hands

30
Q

When is skeletal development approximately completed?

A

18

31
Q

Muscular development

A

At birth: muscle tissue 35% water
-> 18-24% total body weight
Mature shortly after birth
-> cellular fluid in muscle tissue acquires more proteins and salt

32
Q

Which direction does muscle development proceed in?

A

cephalocaudal

33
Q

What is the growth spurt?

A

the acceleration of growth in adolescence (after gradual growth in childhood)

34
Q

How does the CNS develop?

A

Begins with neural tube
-> forms brain regions and spinal cord through complex sequence of biological processes

35
Q

What did new results show regarding neuron regeneration?

A

can be formed in hippocampus and olfactory bulb

36
Q

Are synaptic connections always changing?

A

yes

37
Q

Which brain structures evolve the fastest after birth?

A

Sub-cortical responsible for consciousness and regulation of biological functions

38
Q

Which are the structures within the cerebral cortex developing the fastest?

A

Primary motor and sensory areas

39
Q

What does development of the cerebral cortex allow the neonates to do?

A

over-ride primitive reflexes

40
Q

Which environmental factors are there?

A

Physical: climate, geography, nutrition, etc.
Cultural: Social organisation, religion, etc.
Psychosocial: stimulation (how enriching is env.), education, etc.

41
Q

What principally dictates development according to traditional views?

A

The environment

42
Q

What does Gesell’s maturation theory say about development?

A

physical and psychological changes occur because they are biologically and genetically determined
-> born with developmental clock dictating developmental changes
-> Stages mainly reached because of genetic makeup

43
Q

What does behavioural genetics try to do?

A

Determine extent to which behaviour/ characteristics are influenced by genes, environment or both

44
Q

How is the main focus of behavioural genetics studied?

A

Family studies

45
Q

Whats the main assumption in family studies?

A

if genetics control characteristics
-> similarity of characteristics should increase the more genes people share

46
Q

How does a twin design work?

A

Are monozygotic twins more similar in a trait than dizygotic twins
If twins live together they should be exposed to same environment
-> similarities and differences can be attributed to genes

46
Q

How does adoption design work?

A

Focus: characteristics of adopted child (genetically unrelated to adoptive family)
Who are they more similar to?

47
Q

How can family studies help us understand the extent to which various abilities and behaviours are influenced by the environment?

A

Comparing monozygotic twins raised in same environment compared to ones raised in separate environments
-> Share 100% genes
-> Twins raised apart less similar in a trait compared to twins raised together
-> heavy environmental influence

48
Q

Which calculations are typically carried out to determine the extent to which genes and the environment account for differences?

A

Concordance rates
Correlation coefficients

49
Q

Concordance rates

A

Percentages of pairs of people in which both members display a particular trait

50
Q

Correlation coefficients

A

More suited to study variables that cant be classified into different categories
-> continous variables like weight, etc.
indicate whether scores of children on a variable relate to scores of their twins

51
Q

Whats the correlation coefficient for IQ in identical twins?

A

0.86

52
Q

How do you mathematically measure how heritable a trait is?

A

Calculating difference between correlation coefficient of monozygotic twins vs. dizygotic twins
-> heritability coefficient (H)

53
Q

Whats the formula to calculate H?

A

H = (r identical twins - fraternal twins) x 2

54
Q

H

A

ranges from 0.00 to + 1.00
-> estimates the amount of variation in an attribute due to hereditary factors

55
Q

When does genetic influence in mono- vs. dizygotic twins become observable?

A

by 18 months

56
Q

Which are some mental illnesses that are more influenced by genetics?

A

Schizophrenia
Bipolar disorder
Neurotic disorders

57
Q

Do people inherit behavioural disorders?

A

No, you inherit predispositions to develop disorders

58
Q

What did Waddington come up with?

A

Canalisation principle

59
Q

What does the canalisation principle state and what is canalisation?

A

genes influence some traits more than others
canalisation: the extent to which genes limit/ restrict development to smaller number of outcomes

60
Q

Whats an example of a highly canalised trait?

A

babbling

61
Q

Who came up with the Range-of Reaction Principle?

A

Gottesman

62
Q

What does the range-of-reaction principle say?

A

Genes don’t rigidly canalise behaviour
-> establish range of possible behaviours/traits that the subject may develop due to environment
genotype sets boundary on range of possible phenotypes

63
Q

Which perspectives about development exist?

A

continuity
discontinuity

64
Q

Continuity perspective

A

human development additive process occurring gradually
quantitative changes: subject possesses more or less of a characteristic with increasing development

65
Q

Discontinuity perspective

A

series of abrupt changes elevating the subject to more advanced level of functioning
qualitative changes: changes fundamentally different from previous stages

66
Q

What do discontinuity theorists claim?

A

We progress through developmental stages with particular sets of abilities, emotions, etc.

67
Q

What are some important examples for contributions of discontinuity perspectivists?

A

Freud’s psychosexual stages
Eriksons psychosocial stages
Piaget’s stages of development

Developmental psychology (9 decks)

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