Unit 6 Flashcards
Developmental psychology
The scientific study of the changes that occur in people as they age including physical, cognitive, and social development
Cross-sectional study
Type of study in which people of different ages are examined at the same time(s)
Longitudinal study
Study follows the same group of people over a period of time from months to many years in order to evaluate changes in those individuals
Cross sequential study
Individuals in a cross-sectional sample are tested more than once over a specified period of time
(combines longitudinal and cross-sectional)
Erik Erikson
Developmental psychologist, contended that each stage of life has its own psychosocial task, a crisis that needs resolution, to become a successful complete person
Psychosocial Stages of Development
Trust vs. Mistrust: Infant
Infants must learn that adults can be trusted
autonomy vs shame/doubt: Toddlers
As toddlers begin to explore their world, they learn that they can control their actions and act on their environment to get results
Industry vs inferiority: elementary school age
Children begin to compare themselves to their peers, develop a sense of pride and accomplishment or feeling of inferiority/inadequacy
Identity vs. Role Confusion: adolecense
An adolescent’s main task is developing a sense of self
Intimacy vs. Isolation: early adulthood
Develop and maintain successful relationships with others
Generativity vs. Stagnation: middle adulthood
Middle-aged adults begin contributing to the next generation/society or little connection to others
Ego Integrity vs. Despair: late adulthood
People in late adulthood reflect on their lives and feel either a sense of satisfaction or a sense of failure
Prenatal development
Begins with conception and ends at birth. A full-term pregnancy is typically 38 weeks
Germinal period
The stage of development that occurs from conception until 2 weeks
The fertilized egg, known as a zygote, moves toward the uterus, a journey that can take up to a week to complete. Cell division begins approximately 24 to 36 hours after conception
Placenta
Specialized organ, sustains the life of the embryo by transferring oxygen and nutrients, removing waste products, and after the initial months of gestation, secreting hormones that sustain the pregnancy
Embryonic period
The development period from implantation to 8 weeks of pregnancy, which the major organ and structures of the organism develop
Fetal period
The development time period from nine weeks after conception until the birth of the child
Fetus
Name for the developing organism from eight weeks after fertilization to the birth of the baby (Sexual differentiation)
Critical periods
Times during which certain environmental influences can have an impact on the development of the infant (Embryonic Period)
Teratrogen
Any non genetic agent that produces birth defects at exposures that commonly occur
Neonates
are born preferring sights and sounds that facilitate social responsiveness
reflexes
Infants have a set of innate (existing from birth) unlearned behavior patterns to help the infant to survive
Maturation
Biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience
Developmental norms
The normal timeline of mental and physical growth and changes that occur as an entity ages
Six motor milestones
Infant’s muscles and nervous system mature, skills emerge
Infantile amnesia
The difficulty or inability that adults have in remembering detailed or episodic memories (memories were time, place and events can be identified) from early childhood, generally prior to age 3 or 4
Stranger anxiety
Developmental situation in which infants become anxious and fearful around strangers, beginning by about 8 months of age
attatchment bond
The emotional bond between an infant and the primary caregiver, shown in young children by their seeking closeness to the caregiver and showing distress on separation
John bowlby
- Attachment theory: Children are biologically predisposed to develop attachments to caregivers as the result of genetics
Konrad lorenzze
Theorized that if attachment was important in human survival it may be important in other species
Impriting
The process by which certain animals form attachments during a critical period very early in life
Harry harlow
Psychologist, conducted studies of attachment and the importance of contact comfort (physical closeness with a caregiver) using infant Rhesus monkeys in 1950s
Mary Ainsworth
psychologist that found that attachment happens through a complex set of interactions between mothers and infants
Designed the strange situation experiments
Secure attatchment
infants explore, display high stranger anxiety, easy to calm/enthusiastic on return to the caregiver
avoidant attatchment
infants explore, low stranger anxiety, unconcerned by separation and avoid contact at return of caregiver
Anxious-Ambivalent Attachment
unwilling to explore, high stranger anxiety, upset by separation and seek and reject contact on return of the caregiver
Disorganized attachment
attachment style for an infant who shows no consistent pattern of response when its caregiver is present or absent
Temperament
The characteristics and aspects of personality that we are born with
Autoritarian parenting
Restrictive parenting style that emphasizes respect for work and effort. This style of parenting allows for little discussion or explanation of the firm controls placed on the child.
permisive parenting
Parenting style that is characterized by having few and inconsistent rules and a relaxed attitude to parenting that is more like a friend than a parent
Authoritative parenting
Parenting style that is child-centered, in that parents closely interact with their children, while maintaining high expectations for behavior and performance, as well as a firm adherence to schedules and discipline.
Neglectful parenting
parents make few demands, show low responsiveness, and communicate little with their children (may neglect/reject needs of their children)
deprivation of attatchment
Harlow conducted isolation experiments and discovered that monkeys raised in isolation without a real or artificial mother had no preference for either mother when afraid (monkeys)
Abuse-Breeds-Abuse Phenomenon
Phenomenon of maltreated children growing up to abuse their own children
cognitive development
All the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating
Jean PIaget
Developmental psychologist, initially developed children’s intelligence tests, focus on differences in thinking between adults and children
Piaget showed that young children think in strikingly different ways compared to adults
schema
concept or framework that organizes and interprets information
assimilation
Interpreting our new experience in terms of our existing schemas
accomodation
Adapting our current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information
sensorymotor stage
Birth to age 2, Infants use their senses and motor abilities to learn about the world around them
object permanence
A child’s ability to understand that objects still exist after they are no longer in sight
preoperational stage
The stage (2 to 6 or 7) during which a child learns to use language but does not yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete logic
Egocentrism
Inability on the part of a child in the preoperational stage of development to see any point of view other than their own
centration
Refers to the tendency to focus on only one aspect of a situation, problem or object
animism
The belief that objects that are inanimate (not living) have feelings, thoughts, and have the mental characteristics and qualities of living things (“are just like me”)
concrete operational stage
The stage of cognitive development (from about 6 or 7 to 11 years of age) during which children gain the mental operations that enable them to think logically about concrete events
Formal operational stage
The stage of cognitive development (normally beginning about age 12) during which people begin to think logically about abstract concepts
Lev Vygotsky
Russian developmental psychologist, developed a theory of how the child’s mind grows through interaction with the social environment
Zone of proximal development
-Range between the level at which a child can solve a problem working along with difficulty, and the level at which a child can solve a problem with the assistance of adults or more-skilled children
Scaffolding
Process in which a more skilled learner, gives help to a less skilled learner, reducing the amount of help as the less skilled learner becomes more capable(tutorias)
Sex
The biological status of being male or female or intersex
Gender
The sociocultural dimension of being biologically male or female
Gender identity
The individual’s sense (psychological) of being male or female, both, or neither from cultural and social expectations
Human sexuality
Refers to people’s sexual interest in and attraction to others, as well as their capacity to have erotic experiences and responses
sexual orientation
Refers to an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic and/or sexual attractions to men, women or both sexes
Gender roles
Set of expectations held by society about the ways in which men and women are supposed to behave based on their gender
social learning theory
Albert Bandura, Emphasizes learning through observation and imitation of models, attributes gender role development
Gender schema theory
Children develop schemas for being male or female by 9 months, once the schema is in place, children identify themselves as “boy” or “girl” and will notice other members of that schema
adolescence
: The transition period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty to independence
puberty
The period of sexual maturation, during which a person becomes capable of reproducing
Synaptic prunning
Selective removal of unnecessary neurons and connections to improve brain efficiency
adolescent egocentrism
Heightened self-consciousness, belief that others are as interested in them as they are themselves, their sense of personal uniqueness and invulnerability
imaginary audience
Attention-getting behavior-the attempt to be noticed, visible, and “onstage”
personal fable
Adolescents sense of personal uniqueness and invulnerability
Identity vs. Identity Confusion
During adolescents are faced with deciding who they are, what they are all about, and where they are going in life
identity diffusion
Adolescents have not yet experienced an identity crisis (no commitments)
Identity forclosure
Adolescents have made a commitment but have not experienced an identity crisis
Identity achivement
Adolescent has undergone an identity crisis and made a commitment
identity moratoium
State of adolescents who are in the midst of an identity crisis, not made clear commitment to an identity
emerging adulthood
Developmental phase that spans between adolescence and adulthood
menopause
For women, reproductive organs begin functioning inconsistently, decline in estrogen, end of reproduction (menstrual cycle/fertility) around the age 50
alzheimer disease
Most common type of neurocognitive disorder
Loss of brain cells and neural network connections
Deterioration of neurons that produce acetylcholine, the memory neurotransmitter
moral development
Thoughts, behaviors, and feelings regarding standards of right and wrong
Lawrence kohlberg
Sought to describe the development of moral reasoning, the thinking that occurs as we consider right and wrong, primarily concerned with justice
level 1/ preconventional morality
-stage1: Punishment and obedience orientation. People base their moral decisions on fear of punishment.
-stage2: Individualism, Instrumental purpose and exchange. Individuals pursue their own interests but let others do the same. What is right involves equal exchange
level2/ conventional morality
Stage 3: Mutual interpersonal expectations. Individuals value trust, caring & loyalty for moral judgments
Stage 4: Social Systems Morality. Moral judgments are based on understanding of the social order, law, justice and duty
level 3 postconventional morality
Stage 5: Social Contract. Individuals reason that values rights and principles that transcend the law to protect fundamental human rights and values
Stage 6: Universal ethical principles. Moral standard based on universal human rights.
Carol Gilligan
Proposed the Stages of the Ethics of Care theory for female moral development
