Unit 6: Developmental Psychology Flashcards
developmental psychology
a branch of psych that studies physical, cognitive, and social changes throughout the lifespan
zygote
1st cell divisions. (conception to week 2)
embryo
when zygote attaches to uterine wall. Genes initiate organ formation, heartbeat, liver makes red blood cells. (week 2 to week 8)
fetus
mov felt by 4th month. more dev; sensory exp + learning. can survive after 27 weeks.
(week 8 to birth)
teratogens
agents with a harmful effect in pregnancy. e.g.
infections such as measles + STDS
environment such as pesticides + radiation
drugs/alcohol (fetal alcohol syndrome)
Moro reflex
the startle reflex found in infants
maturation
orderly sequence of biological growth process - enables routine behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience
brain development in infancy
neural networks strengthen + become more complex (enable walk/talk/remember)
brain size increases rapidly, nerve cell interconnections
pruning
during puberty, brain shut down unused neural connections formed in infancy
motor development in infancy
relatively predictable - babies roll over -> sit -> crawl -> walk
walking, bowel/bladder cntrl by age 1 usually, enabled by rapid cerebellum dev
infant memory
infantile amnesia (little stored before age 4), but unconscious recall can still happen: classical conditioning, forgotten childhood languages
afterwards, hippocampus + frontal lobe continue to mature, enabling memory encoding, storing retrieval
schema
concept/framework we use to assimilate new experiences
ex: Alexandra looks at picture books of dogs and learns the schema for dog
assimilation
the process of interpreting new experiences in terms of existing schemas (our current understandings)
ex: Alexandra sees a cat and tries to assimilate it into the schema for dog
accommodation
the process of adjusting/adapting current understanding to incorporate new information
ex: Alexandra learns to narrow her dog schema by distinguishing dogs from cats
Piaget’s stages of development
sensorimotor (0-2), preoperational (2-7), concrete operational (7-11), formal operational (12+)
sensorimotor stage (Piaget)
know the world mostly in terms of sensory impressions + motor activities
++ stranger anxiety,
XX object permanence: awareness of objects beyond perception (“out of sight out of mind”
preoperational stage (Piaget)
learning to use language BUT can’t comprehend mental operations / concrete logic
++ pretend play
++ egocentrism (difficulty taking others’ POV)
XX conservation
concrete operational stage (Piaget)
gaining mental operations that enable logical thinking about concrete ideas
++ conservation (properties remain unchanged despite changes in form of objects)
++ simple arithmetic
formal operational stage (Piaget)
beginning to think logically about abstract concepts
potential for more mature moral reasoning
theory of mind
people’s ideas about their own / other’s mental states (feelings, perceptions, thoughts)
enables ability to infer people’s emotions and subsequent behaviors
Vygotsky’s development theory
alt theory 2 Piaget that emphasized children’s interactions with SOCIAL (not physical) environment
authority provides scaffold (framework of temporary support to dev higher levels of thinking)
to bridge gap of zone of proximal development (what a child can do with help; the gap btwn what a child can or can’t do)
autism spectrum disorder
impaired theory of mind
communication deficiency / social interaction difficulty
attachment
an emotional tie with another person; shown in young children by their seeking closeness to their caregiver + showing distress upon separation
critical/sensitive period
optimal period for infant when exposure to certain stimuli and experiences produces normal development
(where attachments absent don familiarity form)
imprinting
process by which certain animals form strong attachments during early life
Harlow monkey experiments
separated infant monkeys from mothers, raised by inanimate “mother” with baby blanket
monkeys showed distress upon separation
demonstrated that attachment did not depend on source of nourishment, but rather of combo that included physical contact
Lorenz geese experiements
found that geese imprint to a variety of objects, and that imprinting is a very rigid attachment process
Ainsworth “strange situation” experiment
child placed in unfamiliar environment while caregiver leaves/returns; child’s reactions observed
demonstrated effect of abuse/neglect on child attachment
How does childhood neglect or abuse affect children’s attachments?
secure: infants comfortably plays + explores enviro. temp distress when caregiver leaves, comfort when they return.
insecure: infant displays either clinging/anxious attachment OR avoidant attachment (resists closeness)