Unit 3 Flashcards
Are the eggs a female has infinite or finite?
finite
Is the sperm a male has infinite or finite?
Infinite, they continue producing sperm
What are zygotes?
Fertilized eggs
When dot he cells begin to differentiate?
When the zygote has around 100 identical cells
What occurs 10 days after conception?
The germinal stage completes and the zygote attaches to the uterine wall
What does the zygote become?
The inner cells become the embryo and the outer cells become the placenta
What is the duty of the placenta?
It transfers nutrients and oxygen from mother to the embryo
tetragens
Agents that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm
Fetal alcohol syndrome
Physical and cognitive function deficits in children caused by heavy drinking during pregnancy
Are babies born with inborn reflexes or are they learned?
Babies are born with automatic reflex responses
What are 4 inborn baby reflexes?
Rooting, sucking, startling, and grasping
Habituation
Decreasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation, as infants gain familiarity with repeated exposure to a stimulus, their interest wanes and they look away sooner
what are newborns most responsive to?
Stimulus that facilitate social responsiveness
maturation
Biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience
What are ACES and what is the effect
Adverse childhood experiences such as abuse which can slow development
What occurs in the brain from 3-6
Rapid brain growth in the frontal lobe which enable rational planning
What were the last cortical areas of the brain to develop
The associations linked with thinking, memory, and language
What type of pathways grow during puberty
Agility, language, and self control
What does pruning do?
Unused neurons and links are cut out
How does environment effect brain cortex health?
A healthy, enriched environment resulted in an enriched brain cortex
Critical period
Optimal period early in lie of an organism when exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces normal development
When can people most easily master language and grammar
Early childhood
What happens when an essential sense stimulus isn’t experienced during the critical period?
The brain cells usually assigned to that sense will die or be diverted to other uses
What specific parts develop as motor development occurs?
Fine motor skills and gross motor skills
Infantile amnesia
Forgetting most memories from before the age of 4 due to rapid neuron growth disrupting the circuits that store old memories and premature hippocampus and frontal lobes
Developmental psychology
A branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social change throughout the lifespan
What are the stages of Lawrence Kohlberg’s stages of development?
Preconventional morality, conventional morality, postconventional morality for some
What are the stages of Erik Erikson’s stages of development?
Basic trust, autonomy, initiative, competence, identity, intimacy, generativity, and integrity
What are the stages of Jean Piaget’s stages of development
Sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational
Do characteristics remain stable or change?
Some change, some remain stable
Adolescence
The transition period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty to independence
Is the period of adolescence the same for all or different?
It is different among cultures where adolescence can expand until 18, while other cultures are more independent and last until the early years of middle school
puberty
Period of sexual maturation, the time when a person becomes capable of reproducing
menarche
First menstrual period
Is sequence or timing of life stages more predictable?
sequences
What does a maturing prefrontal cortex and the growth of myelin do for teenagers?
It increases judgement, impulse control, and long-term planning, along 2with myelin growth contributing to better communication with other brain regions
What is a result of a premature emotional limbic system in teenager?
Impulsive risky behavior that is unable to make long-term plans and preventing impulsive behavior
What are the terms to describe adulthood stages?
Emerging adulthood, early adulthood, middle adulthood, and late adulthood
What abilities decrease with age?
Physical abilities such as strength, reaction time, and flexibility
How much does physical vigor effect early and middle adulthood?
It has little effect, health and exercise habits have a greater effect at this time
menopause
Time of natural cessation of menstruations when a woman’s ability to reproduce declines
What happens with men’s reproductive abilities as they age?
They slowly decline in sperm count, testosterone level, and speed of erection and ejaculation
How long do women usually outlive men?
4.4-4.7 years
Death-deferral method
People day after reaching a milestone or event
What visual senses decline with age?
Visual sharpness, depth perception, and adaptations to light-level changes
How are aging bodies more resilient and less resilient
They are less perceptible to get infected by common diseases because of various antibodies built up over time. They are more likely to get more life-threatening diseases due to the immune system weakening
What happens to the brain’s abilities as we age
Processing information becomes flower, memory regions in the brain begin to atrophy, the prefrontal cortex atrophies which leads to impulsiveness
How does exercise help aging?
It stimulates neurogenesis and neural connections which can result in greater memory and judgment
sex
Biologically influenced characteristics by which people define male, female, and intersex
gender
the attitudes, feelings, and behaviors that a given culture associates with a person’s biological sex
intersex
Possessing male and female biological sexual characteristics at birth
How many chromosomes do we get from our parents
23 from each
How many of our chromosomes are unisex?
45
What are 3 factors the average female and male differ in
Aggression, social power, and social connectedness
aggression
An physical or verbal behavior intended to harm someone physically or emotionally
Relational aggression
An act of aggression intended to harm a person’s relationship or social standing
What is the difference between male friend groups and female friend groups
Male friend groups usually consist of a lot of people with little intimate discussions, while female friends group are usually smaller and more intimate
What did Carol Gilligan suggest and how did it disrupt the idea of identity?
Psychologists believed that all children struggle to create a separate identity, but she suggested that western individualistic males struggle more than relationship-oriented females
How do female and male brains differ?
There are no striking structural sex differences, but the female brain is wired in a way that better enables social relationships
How does biology influence sexual development
Through our genetics, our differing sex chromosomes. And physiologically due to the different concentrations of sex hormones which trigger other anatomical differences
What is the female chromosome and what is the male chromosome?
XX for female, XY for male
What may occur at 7 weeks in the womb
If the embryo has a Y chromosome, a gene will become active that triggers the testes to develop and produce testosterone
testosterone
Male sex hormones that exist in a greater concentration in men which stimulates the growth of male sex organs during the fetal period and the development of male sex characteristics during puberty
Estrogen
Female sex hormones that contribute to female sex characteristics and are secreted by females more than males
What occurs at 4-5 months in the womb
Sex hormones influence the brain and its wiring
How do hormones effect puberty
Puberty is characterized by a flood of hormones that triggers dramatic physical change, rapid sexual maturation
primary sex characteristics
The body structures that make sexual reproduction possible
secondary sex characteristics
Nonreproductive sexual traits, such as breasts and body hair
spermarche
First ejaculation
role
Set of expectations about a social position defining how hose in the position ought to behave
gender roles
a set of expected behaviors, attitudes, and traits for men and for women
Are gender roles generally the same across the world for both men and women
No, different cultures have different values and roles for men and women
sexual aggression
Any physical or verbal behavior of a sexual nature that is unwanted or intended to harm someone physically or emotionally
Gender identity
Our personal sense of being male, female, neither, or some combination of male or female, regardless of whether this identity matches our sex assigned at birth, and the social affiliation that may result from this identity
Social learning theory
Theory that we learn social behavior by observing and imitating and by being rewarded or punished
Gender Typing
the acquisition of a traditional masculine or feminine role
androgyny
Displaying traditionally masculine and traditionally feminine psychological characteristics
sexuality
Our thoughts, feelings, and actions related to our physical attraction to another
asexual
Having no sexual attraction toward others
What are effects of sex hormones on 3 different parts of life?
- prenatal period, directs sexual organ development based on which one is present in excess
- puberty, sex hormones triggers adolescence
- after puberty and well into the late adult years, sex hormones facilitate sexual behavior
How do women respond to testosterone levels?
Testosterone levels affect sex drive of women. Low levels mean little drive and high levels mean high sex drive
How does testosterone effect men?
Fluctuations in testosterone levels have little effect on sexual drive in men, but testosterone varies as a response to sexual stimulation
What are the 2 stages in life where there are large hormone changes that affect sexual desire
- pubertal surge in sex hormones triggers the development of sex characteristics and sexual interest
- later life, sex hormones fall. In women this is menopause and men’s levels gradually decline
How does habituate relate to sexual stimuli?
Repeated exposure to sexual stimuli can lessen the emotional response
What factors contribute to teenage sexual risk taking?
Communication, impulsivity, alcohol use, and mass media
Social scripts
A culturally modeled guide for how to act in various situations
what are the characteristics of teens who delay having sex
High intelligence, religious engagement, father presence, and service learning participation
What differs in how women pick mates and how men pick mates
Women are choosier when selecting partners, while men pick partners that convey fertility because it might increase the chances of reproduction success rate
Sexual orientation
A person’s sexual and emotional attraction to another person and the behavior and/or social affiliation that may result from this attraction
Does the ratio of same-sex people and bisexual people vary depending on culture acceptance?
no
How do psychologists view sexual orientation?
Neither willfully chosen or willfully changed
How do women’s and men’s sexual orientation differ
For women, orientation is less strongly felt and more fluid, while men’s sexual drives and orientation is less flexible
erotic plasticity
Alternate periods of high sexual activity with periods of almost none
What are the environmental influences on sexual orientation (nurture)
There are no concrete environmental influences on sexual orientation
How does the hypothalamus differ in the brains of straight men and the brains of gay men and women
A cell cluster taken from that region is larger in straight men
How does LeVay view the cell cluster’s function
He believes it is an important part of a brain pathway engaged in sexual behavior
Brain anatomy effects sexual orientation
yes
How does the function of an area of the hypothalamus that governs sexual arousal differ in gay men and straight men
When exposed to male hormones, this area became active in gay men similar to straight women. But straight men’s hypothalamus area only becomes active when exposed to female hormones
How do trait performance differ in gay people and straight people
Gay people’s scores tend to fall in between straight men and women
What are 2 theories as to why gay genes are in the human gene pool
Kin selection and fertile females theory
When is the critical period for fetal brain development
Second trimester
What role do hormones play during the second trimester
Exposure to certain hormones can predispose the embryo to exhibit gender-atypical traits and sexual orientation. Example being a female being expose to testosterone can predispose her to have same-sex attraction
What is the older brother or fraternal birth order effect and why does it occur
Men with older brothers are more likely to be gay. The assumed reason being that male fetuses stimulates the mother to produce antibodies that become stronger with each passing boy, resulting in the preventing of the male fetus brain developing in a male typical pattern
cognition
All the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating
What are the 4 stages of Piaget’s theory
Sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational
sensorimotor stage, what age range, important milestones
- from birth to around 2 years old
- takes in the world through senses
- lack object permanence in young infants (develops around 8 months)
- able to comprehend impossible scenes (incorrect physics and math)
Preoperational stage, age range, and important milestones
- age 6 or 7
- able to represent things with words
- unable to preform mental operations
- before the age of 6, lacks concept of conservation
- parallel play and pretend play
- egocentric
- animism
- stranger anxiety
sensorimotor stage
Piaget’s theory, at which infants know the world mostly in terms of their sensory impressions and motor activities
Preoperational stage
Piaget’s theory, at which a child learns to use language but does not yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete logic
Object permanence
Awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived
conservation
The principle that properties such as mass, volume, and number remain the same despite changes in the forms of objects
Egocentric
The preoperational child’s difficulty taking another’s point of view
animism
Belief that inanimate objects are alive or have lifelike feelings and motivations
Concrete operational stage
The stage of cognitive development at which children can preform the mental operations that enable them to think logically about concrete events
Concrete operational stage, age range, important milestones
- about age 7 they enter this stage
- able to grasp complex relationship about spatial and mathematical relationships like conservation and reversing questions
- able to understand complex jokes
Formal operational stage, age range, important milestones
- around age 12
- reasoning expands to encompass abstract thinking and able to think systematically
- moral reasoning
formal operational stage
The stage of cognitive development at which people begin to think logically about abstract concepts
What changed from Piaget’s idea of development and today’s stance on it?
Piaget believed it development was discontinuous, occurring in distinct stages, while today’s researchers believe it is continuous, gradual and ongoing
What was the difference in emphasis for development with Piaget and Vygotsky
Piaget believed that the child’s mind grows through interactions with the physical environment, but Vygotsky emphasized how the mind grew through interactions with the social-cultural environment
scaffold
A framework that offers children temporary support as they develop higher levels of thinking
Zone of proximal development
The zone between what a child can and can’t do, its what a child an do with help
How is language important for social cultural mentoring
It provides the building blocks for thinking. Children and begin to think in words and use words to solve problems. Talking also helps children control their behaviors and emotions
theory of mind
people’s idea about their own and others’ mental states about their feelings, perceptions, and thoughts, and the behaviors these might predict
What occurs when adolescents reach formal operations
They are able to apply their abstract reasoning to the world around them and debate morals. Also thinking about the meaning of life and able to deduce consequences
What are 2 crucial tasks of childhood and adolescense
Discerning right from wrong and developing character
What does Johnathan Haidt believe morality is rooted in
Moral intuitions, quick gut feelings
What are adults most likely to recall
Events that occurred during their teens or twenties - reminiscence bump
How does recall and recognition fare with age
Recognition is stable with age, but recall declines with age
How does prospective memory (such as time-based tasks and habitual tasks) fare with age
Teens and young adults surpass children and 70 year olds in this task
language
Our agreed-upon systems of spoken, written, or signed words and the way we combine them to communicate meaning
What did Noam Chomsky argue about language acquisition?
He argued that language is unlearned, he also proposed that we are born with a language acquisition device that allows us to learn any human language and a predisposition for grammar
Phonemes
The smallest distinctive sound unit
Morphemes
The smallest unit that carries meaning, it may be a word or a part of a word
Grammar
the system of rules that enable us to communicate with and understand others
Semantics
Languages set of rule for deriving meaning from sounds
Syntax
Set of rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences
Universal grammar
Human’s innate predisposition to understand the principles and rules that govern grammar in all languages
Receptive language
A babies ability to understand what is said to and about them
What are babies able to do that adults aren’t
Listen to an unfamiliar language and segment spoken sounds into individual words, able able to discriminate and produce sounds and tones outside their native language
Babbling stage
Stage in speech development around 4 months old where a baby utters various sounds that are not all related to the household langauge
Productive language
2nd language stage in babies where they’re able to produce words
What occurs around 10 months in baby language
The infants babbling can be identified from the household language
One word stage
The stage in speech development around ages 1-2 during which a child speaks mostly in single words
2 word stage
Beginning around age 2 where the child speaks mostly in 2 words statements
telegraphic speech
Each speech stage where a child speaks using mostly nouns and verbs
What are the stages in baby speech development
Babbling stage, babbling resembling household language, one-word speech, 2-word speech/telegraphic speech, then complete sentences
What occurs to a child if they aren’t exposure to any type of language before 7
They miss the critical period for language and are unable to master any language
aphasia
Impairment of language usually cause by left hemisphere damage to Broca’s area or Wernicke’s area
Difference between Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area
Broca’s area impairs speech production while Wernicke’s area impair understanding of other’s speech and spoke nonsense
Linguistic Determinism
Developed by Benjamin Lee Whorf who hypothesized that language determines the way we think
linguistic relativism
The idea that language influences the way we think
Ecological systems theory
A theory of the social environment’s influence on human development, using 5 nested systems ranging from direct to indirect influences
What are the 5 systems of the ecological systems theory
Microsystems, mesosystems, exosystems, macrosystems, and chronosystems
chronosystem
Life stage and related events
macrosystem
Cultural influences
exosystem
Environments that indirectly affect a person
Mesosystem
Relationships between microsystem groups
Microsystem
Immediate, direct-contact groups
What do babies develop when away from caregivers
Separation anxiety
Stranger anxiety
The fear of strangers that infants display beginning by around 8 months old
attachment
An emotional tie with others, shown in young children by seeking closenes and showing distress on separation
What did psychologist originally believe about infant attachment
They believed that infants became attached to those who satisife their need for nourishment
What are Harry Harlow and Margaret Harlow known for?
The monkey experiment where they tested whether baby monkeys preferred a mother who provided nourishment or provided comfort
imprinting
Process by which certain animals form strong attachments during early life
When do children become attached
This occurs during a sensitive period
What is a strange situation and who pioneered it
Mary Ainsworth, a strange situation is a procedure for studying child-caregiver attachment where a child is placed in an unfamiliar envrionment while the caregiver leaves then returns, the childs reactions are observed
Secure attachment
Demonstrated by infants who comfortably explore environments in the presence of their careiver, they show temporary distress when tey leave and find comofrt in their return
insecure attachment
Demonstrated by infants who display either a clinging, anxious, or an avoidant attachment that resists closeness
temperament
A person’s characteristic emotional reactivity and intensity
Basic trust, who came up with this
Erik Erikson believed that basic trust is a sense that the world is predictable and trustworthy that is formed during infancy by appropriate experiences with response caregivers
Anxious attachment
People crave acceptance but remain alert to signs of rejection
avoidant attachment
People experience discomfort when close to others and use avoidant strategies to maintain distance from others
What are ACES
Adverse childhood experiences
Self concept
All our thoughts and feelings about ourselves in answer to the question “Who am I?”
When do people develop a self-concept
Around 12 years old
When does Charles Darwin believe self awareness begins, what experiement was done to test this
He believed that if the child can recognize themselves in the mirror. Courage and How & Damon and Hart conductive experiments and discovered that child began recognizing themselves around 15-18 months
Authoritarian parenting
Impose rules and expect obedience
Permissive parenting
Make few demands, set few limits, and use little punishment
Neglectful parenting
Unresponsive, they are carelesa nd inattentive
Authroitative
demanding and response, exert control but allow open discussion and allow exceptions
What did Erikson propose that each stage of life had
A psychosocial task, a crisis that needs resolution
Infancy psychosocial task
Trust and mistrust, to 1 years old
Toddlerhood psychosocial task
Autonomy and shame and doubt, 1-3 years old
Preschool psychosocial task
Imitative and guilt, 306 years old
Elementary school psychosocial task
Competence and inferiority, 6 years to puberty
Adolescence psychosocial task
Identity and role confusion, teen years to 20s
Young Adulthood psychosocial task
Intimacy and isolation, 20s to early 40s
Middle adulthood psychosocial task
generativity and stagnation, 40s to 60s
late adulthood psychosocial task
Integrity and despair, late 60s and older
identity
Our sense of self, the adolescent’s task is to soldifiy a sense of self by testinf and integrating various roles
how are group identities often formed
Based on how we differ from those around us
How do some adolescents forge their identity early
By adopting their parent’s values and expectations
Diffusion stage
Adolescents without a clear commitment to a particular identity and with little sense of who they are
foreclosure stage
A premature commitment to an identity with little exploration
moratorium stage
teens actively seek a meaningful identity
Achievement stage
A committed sense of self and a desire to accomplish something personally meaningful that contributes to the world beyond oneself
intimacy
The ability to form close, loving relationships, a primary developmental task in young adulthood
What is adolescence typically a time of concernign influence
Diminishing parental influence and growing peer influence
Selection effect
Adolescents seek out peers with similar attitudes, interests, and traits
Emerging adulthood
A period from about age 18 to the mid-twenties when many persons in western cultures are no longer adolescents but have not yet achieved full independence as adults
What triggers a life crisis
Major events
Social clock
The culturally preferre timing of social events such as marriage, parenthood, and retirement
What 2 aspects of life dominate adulthood
Intimacy and generativity
What changes with the amygdala as we age
It responds less actively to negative events but still responds to positive events
