Week 3 & 4: Development Flashcards
What are the 3 stages of prenatal development?
Germinal stage: 0-2 weeks
Embryonic stage: 2-8 weeks
Fetal stage: 9 weeks - birth
What occurs during the germinal stage of prenatal development?
the one-celled zygote divides into two cells, then 4, and so on; the zygote migrates down the fallopian tube and implants itself on the wall of the uterus (about half of zygotes don’t complete this journey)
What occurs during the embryonic stage of prenatal development?
the implanted embryo continues to divide and its cells begin to differentiate; the embryo has arms, legs, a beating heart, and the beginnings of female reproductive organs (if it is a male embryo, it begins to produce testosterone, which will masculinize the sex organs)
What occurs during the fetal stage of prenatal development?
the fetus has a skeleton, muscles, fat, digestive and respiratory systems, axons and dendrites; myelination begins at this stage and continues until adulthood
A newborn’s brain is ___% of its adult size.
25%
Why are babies born with an underdeveloped brain?
- To allow the baby to pass through the birth canal
- To allow the brain to develop within the environments in which it functions, gaining the unique capacities that each environment requires and the ability to adapt
What is a teratogen, and what are some examples?
any substance that passes from mother to unborn child and impairs development; examples include mercury in fish, lead in water, paint dust in the air, alcohol, tobacco, etc.
What is Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS)?
a developmental disorder that stems from heavy alcohol use by the mother during pregnancy; children born with FAS have a variety of brain abnormalities and cognitive deficits
What evidence suggests that fetuses “listen”?
- Newborns will suck more vigorously when they hear the sound of their mother’s voice than when they hear a female stranger, suggesting they are familiar with their mother’s voice prior to birth
- Newborns who listen to strangers speaking two languages will suck more vigorously when they hear words from their mother’s native language, indicating they are already familiar withs its tempo and rhythm
- Babies’ cries are also influenced by the cadence of their mothers’ native language; for example, French newborns cry with a rising pitch and German newborns cry with a falling pitch
Define infancy
the stage of development that begins at birth and lasts between 18 and 24 months
How far can newborns see, and what is the significance of this distance?
20-30 cm - the distance between a mother’s face and a nursing infant’s eyes
How do researchers know that infants can see?
Infants habituate (respond less intensely each time a stimulus is presented) to visual stimuli
What are motor reflexes? Name some examples observed in newborns.
motor responses that are triggered by specific patterns of sensory stimulation
• Rooting reflex: causes infants to move their mouths towards any object that touches their cheek
• Sucking reflex: causes them to suck and object that enters their mouth
Reflexes present at birth seem to disappear in the first few months as infants learn to execute more sophisticated behaviour
What is the cephalocaudal rule?
“Top-to-bottom”: the tendency for motor skills to emerge in sequence from the head to the feet
What is the proximodistal rule?
“Inside-to-outside”; the tendency for motor skills to emerge in sequence from the centre to the periphery
Name some factors that influence the timing of the development of motor skills in infants
- Incentive for reaching
- Body weight
- Muscular development
- General level of activity
What is a scale error, in terms of infant development?
a disconnect between an infant’s motor and perceptual skills (ex. trying to slide down a miniature slide; they understand what to do with a slide as far as motor skills, but their ability to perceive that the slide is miniature is not coordinated with their behaviour)
What are Piaget’s four stages of cognitive development?
- Sensorimotor stage (birth to 2 years)
- Preoperational stage (2 to 6 years)
- Concrete operational stage (6 to 11 years)
- Formal operational stage (11 years and up)
What occurs during the sensorimotor stage of cognitive development?
- Infants are focused on using their ability to sense and their ability to move to acquire information about the world
- Infants construct schemas (theories about the way the world works) by exploring their environment, which allows them to predict what happens next after an action
- Assimilation: when infants apply their schemas in novel situations
- Accommodation: when infants revise their schemas in light of new information
- Object permanence: the fact that objects continue to exist even when they are not visible; does not develop until after the first few months of life
What occurs during the preoperational stage of cognitive development?
children develop a preliminary understanding of the physical world
What occurs during the concrete operational stage?
children learn how actions (operations) can transform the concrete objects of the physical world
What is conservation, when it comes to cognitive development?
the understanding that the quantitative properties of an object are invariant, despite changes in the object’s appearance (i.e. can tell that a tall, thin glass of water and a short, wide glass of water hold the same volume); develops in the concrete operational stage
What occurs in the formal operational stage of cognitive development?
children learn to reason about abstract concepts; childhood ends what formal operations begins, and people in this stage are able to reason systematically about abstract concepts (liberty, love, hypotheticals, counterfactuals, etc.)
Define egocentrism
the failure to understand that the world appears different to different people; a hallmark of the preoperational stage
Describe the false-belief task
children see a puppet named Maxi put chocolate in a cupboard and then leave the room, then a second puppet comes in and moves the chocolate to a different cupboard; before age 4-6, children typically say Maxi will look in the second cupboard for the chocolate because that is where they know it is
What is Theory of Mind?
the understanding that the mind produces representations of the world and that these representations guide behaviour; the understanding that oneself and others have minds and that these minds represent the world in different ways
List some factors that can influence the age at which a child acquires a theory of mind
- Number of siblings
- Frequency of pretend play
- Whether the child has an imaginary companion
- SES
- The child’s culture
- Language skills and how caregivers talk to the child, especially when it’s about thoughts and feelings (the most important)
What are 2 general ways that Piaget “got it wrong” about cognitive development?
- Piaget thought that children graduated from one stage to another; modern psychologists see development as a more fluid, continuous, and less step-like progression (ex. children who are making the transition between stages may perform more mature behaviours one day and less mature ones the next)
- The stages by and large happen earlier than Piaget realized (ex. when using an adapted test, even 4 month olds display a sense of object permanence)
What are the 4 main differences between Piaget’s and Vygotsky’s theories of cognitive development?
Difference 1: the period at which learning occurs
• Vygotsky: learning will occur prior to development; in order for a child to develop, learning must occur
• Piaget: development will occur prior to learning
Difference 2: stages of development
• Vygotsky did not believe there were stages of development (more continuous)
• Piaget had a strong emphasis on distinct stages
Difference 3: the construction of knowledge in development
• Vygotsky believes social interaction and participation allow the individual to develop
• Piaget believes an individual develops by themselves through their own experiences and development of schemas
Difference 4: the role of teachers/adults in child’s life
• Piaget believed their role is to support children in exploring the world so children can discover their own knowledge
• Vygotsky believed teachers/adults establish opportunities for children to learn and explore alongside them (i.e. zone of proximal development)
What is the zone of proximal development?
the range of things children cannot do by themselves but can do with guidance and instruction
What 3 skills allow children to learn from others?
- Joint attention: the ability to focus on what another person is focused on; a prerequisite for learning what others have to teach us
- Imitation: when infants/children do what they see adults do
○ Overimitation: when children imitate adults so precisely that they even copy parts of their actions that they know to be pointless (however, they don’t copy parts of their actions that they know to be wrong; ex. a child watching an adult’s hand slip when they take the lid off a jar will instead mimic the intended action of successfully removing the lid) - Social referencing: the ability to use another person’s reactions as information about how they should think about the world (ex. an infant shown a new toy will often stop and look back at their mother, to see how she reacts to it)
Define primary caregiver
the person which an infant deems as responding to their needs/cries first, best, fastest, and most often in the first 6 months of life
Define attachment
the emotional bond with a primary caregiver
Define attachment style
characteristic patterns of reacting to the presence and absence of one’s primary caregiver
What are the four attachment styles?
- Secure attachment: may or may not be distressed when their caregiver leaves the room, but respond positively when they return
- Ambivalent attachment: distressed when the caregiver leaves the room, but respond negatively to them when they return
- Avoidant attachment style: not distressed when their caregiver leaves the room and do not respond to them when they return
Disorganized attachment: show no consistent pattern of response to either their caregiver’s absence or return
What is temperament, and what is the distribution of the different types?
a biologically based pattern of attention and emotional reactivity
- About 40% of infants are easy babies who adjust easily to new situations, quickly establish routines, and are generally cheerful and easy to calm
- About 10% are difficult babies who are slow to adjust to new experiences and are likely to react negatively and intensely to novel stimuli/events
- About 15% are slow-to-warm babies who are somewhat difficult at first but then become easier over time
- The remaining 35% cannot be easily classified
What is an internal working model, and how is it impacted by attachment style?
a set of beliefs about the way relationship work; infants with different attachment styles appear to have different internal working models…
- Secure: confident that their caregivers will respond when they feel insecure
- Avoidant: confident that their caregivers will not respond
- Ambivalent: do not have a clear expectation and seem to be uncertain about whether or not their caregiver will respond
- Disorganized: appear confused about their relationship with their primary caregivers
In which 3 ways did Piaget believe that children’s moral reasoning changes as they develop?
- From realism to relativism: very young children regard moral rules as real, inviolable truths about the world, but as they mature they begin to realize that some moral rules are human inventions and that people can agree to adopt them, change them, or abandon them entirely
- From prescriptions to principles: young children think of moral rules for guidelines for specific actions in specific situations, but as they mature they come to see that rules are expressions of more general principles (ex. fairness, equity) which means that specific rules can be abandoned or modified when they fail to uphold the general principles
- From outcomes to intentions: young children tend to judge the morality of an action by its outcome rather than by the actor’s intentions, but as they mature they begin to see that the morality of an action is critically dependent on the actor’s state of mind
What were Kohlberg’s three stages of moral development?
- Preconventional stage: a stage of moral development in which the morality of an action is primarily determined by its consequences for the actor (where most children are)
- Conventional stage: a stage of moral development in which the morality of an action is primarily determined by the extent to which it conforms to social rules (where most adolescents are)
- Postconventional stage: a stage of moral development in which the morality of an action is determined by a set of general principles that reflect core values (where most adults are)
What are some problems with Kohlberg’s stages of moral development?
- The stages are not as discrete as he thought; a person may apply different thinking in different circumstances at the same stage of development
- The theory does a better job at describing the development of moral reasoning in Western societies than non-Western ones
What kind of evidence suggests that children have a moral sense?
- Toddlers are more likely to reach out to a puppet shown helping others than sabotaging them
- Infants tend to look longer at the helpful puppet than the saboteur
- When toddlers watch toys be distributed, they are surprised when one person gets more than another and prefer those who distribute toys fairly
- Toddlers will point towards an object that an adult is searching for, and will smile more when giving someone else a treat than when getting one themselves
Define adolescence
the period of development that begins with the onset of sexual maturity (about 11-14 years of age) and lasts until the beginning of adulthood (about 18-21 years of age)
What is the difference between primary and secondary sex characteristics?
Primary sex characteristics: bodily structures that change at puberty and are directly involved in reproduction
Secondary sex characteristics: bodily structures that change at puberty but are not directly involved in reproduction
List 4 ways that the brain changes during adolescence
- Just before puberty there is a marked increase in the growth rate of the tissue that connects different regions of the brain
- The number of synapses also increase before and during puberty, then begin to decrease
- The connections between Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas become stronger and denser between the ages of 4 and 17
- Synaptic proliferation (developing more synapses than are needed in adulthood as an infant/child) is followed by a period of synaptic pruning (connections not frequently used are eliminated; previously thought that this process only happened at infancy, but actually a second wave of proliferation (just before puberty) and pruning (during adolescence) also occur
What the protracted period of adolescence?
earlier in history, people reached physical maturity around the same time they were ready to take on adult responsibilities; today, however, physical maturity happens earlier and the age at which people take on adult roles and responsibilities has increased
What evidence suggests that biology/genetics play major roles in determining a person’s sexual orientation?
- Same-sex sexual activity appears to predate civilization itself and is observed in almost all mammals
- Sexual orientation varies in the same way that many other heritable traits do (ex. the identical twin of a gay man has a higher chance of also being gay than a fraternal twin would)
- There are also brain differences; straight men and gay women (gynephilic) both tend to have cerebral hemispheres of different sizes whereas the hemispheres of straight women and gay men (androphilic) tend to be the same size
- Some evidence suggests that high levels of androgens in the womb may dispose a fetus to become an androphilic adult, while other evidence suggests a mother’s immune system plays a role
- A child’s behaviour is a good predictor of their adult sexual orientation; most children go through a period (2-4 years old) in which they adamantly refuse to do anything this is stereotypically associated with the opposite gender, and children who are eager to engage in gender-non-conforming behaviour are much more likely to become gay, lesbian, or bisexual adults
What are some differences between men’s and women’s experiences of sexual orientation?
- Men’s sexual orientations are good predictors of physiological arousal to erotic stimuli (straight men are aroused by erotic pictures of women but not men, and vice-verse for gay men)
- Women’s sexual orientations are not; straight women are equally aroused by erotic pictures of women and men, while gay women are only slightly more aroused by those of women
- Men’s sexual orientations are more rigid and less fluid than women’s (they are more likely to report being exclusively heterosexual or exclusively homosexual)
- Women’s sexual orientations are more likely to depend on circumstances and shift over time
What impacts can having sex earlier have on teens?
- Lower sense of self-worth
- Higher rates of anxiety
- Depression
- Aggressiveness
- Substance abuse
What impact can comprehensive sex education have on teens?
- Delaying having sex for the first time
- Fewer number of partners
- More likely to use contraception
- Lower likelihood of pregnancy as STIs
What are Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development?
- Trust vs. Mistrust (birth to 12-18 months)
- Autonomy vs. Shame/Doubt (18 months to 3 years)
- Initiative vs. Guilt (3 to 6 years)
- Industry vs. Inferiority (6 to 12 years)
- Identity vs. Role Confusion (12 to 18 years)
- Intimacy vs. Isolation (19 to 40 years)
- Generativity vs. Stagnation (40 to 65 years)
- Ego Integrity vs. Despair (65 to death)
How do adolescent peer relationships typically evolve?
- Young adolescents initially form groups with same-sex peers
- Male cliques and female cliques begin to meet in public places and interact
- After a few years, the older members of these same-sex cliques form smaller, mixed-sex cliques which may assemble in public or in private
- Couples emerge from the small, mixed-sex group and begin romantic relationships
What are 2 psychological consequences of aging?
- The prefrontal cortex and its associated subcortical connections deteriorate more quickly than other areas of the brain, causing a noticeable decline in many cognitive tasks that require effort, initiative, or strategy
- Memory declines overall
How do older adults compensate for their decline in cognitive abilities?
- More efficient thinking
- Better at anticipating what comes next
- Equal ability to remember important words they encounter frequently
- De-differentiation of the brain (parts of the brain that used to do specific, separate tasks now work together on similar tasks)
What is Socioemotional Selectivity Theory?
younger adults are largely oriented towards the acquisition of information that will be useful to them in the future, whereas older adults are generally oriented towards information that bring emotional satisfaction in the present
How are older adults’ outlooks/motivations different than young adults’?
- Older adults attend less to information that doesn’t make them happy and are better at sustaining positive emotions
- Older adults are more willing to forego personal financial gain in order to contribute to the public good
- They are also more selective about their interactive partners, as they are oriented towards more emotionally satisfying experiences
What is haptic perception?
The perceptual (our brain’s interpretation of a sensation) experience resulting from touching an object
What are the benefits of touch for infants?
Young infants: soothing
Older infants: increases positive emotion, increases visual attention
Describe a newborn’s sense of smell
Keen; improves further over the first 3-4 days; orients toward’s mother’s scent
Describe a newborn’s sense of taste
- Prefer sweet over bitter
- Develop a preference for salty foods around 4 months
Taste is controlled by the brain stem; what does this suggest?
Suggests that reaction to taste reflects survival instincts
Describe a newborn’s hearing
- Initially less sensitive to sound than adults due to fluid in the middle ear
- Sensitivity to high-frequency sounds matches that of adults around 6 months; peaks around 5 years
- Overall sensitivity peaks at 10 years
What is sound localization? Describe the u-shaped pattern of development
As early as 10 minutes after birth, newborns turn their heads towards continuous sounds
U-shaped pattern of development: this ability disappears at 2 months and reappears around 5 months
Why can developmental comparisons across species be problematic?
- Dogs can learn words through rigorous training, but human children learn language more automatically
- Dogs may be able to do the same task as a child, but the mechanism by which they do it may be different (ex. dogs don’t blindly copy/overimitation like children do, and if they figure out a step is not necessary they will not do it)
- Dog brains show greater brain activation in response to novel words than known ones; it’s the opposite in human children
- Dogs’ brain structure is different than humans’ (ex. a larger olfactory bulb, etc.), meaning they process info differently
What are the 3 main types of motor skills developed in infancy?
Locomotion: movement through space
Postural development: bodily control
Prehension: grabbing and holding
What are some examples of locomotion developmental milestones for infants?
- Turning head while lying on stomach
- Holding head up
- Sitting alone
- Walking moving furniture
- Standing alone
- Climbing stairs
- Walking backwards
- Running
What are some examples of postural development milestones in infants?
- Rolling from back to stomach
- Lowering self into sitting position
- Gaining head control
What are some examples of prehension developmental milestones in infants?
- Grasping
- Picking up objects
- Drawing
- Throwing
- Organizing
What is the outcome of the process of cognitive development?
Schemas
What is guided participation?
A process through which children become competent in everyday activities under guidance from senior collaborators
Define developmental psychopathology
Understanding how psychological disorders develop taking into consideration developmental factors; how childhood factors and experiences affect our mental health
What are the 3 components of temperament?
- Reactivity to stimulus
- Mood
- Adaptability to change
What are the 4 core types of temperament?
- Sanguine: carefree, lively, easygoing, responsive, sociable
- Phlegmatic: even-tempered, reliable, peaceful, careful, passive
- Choleric: active, optimistic, impulsive, exciteable, aggressive, restless
- Melancholic: quiet, unsociable, pessimistic, rigid, anxious, moody
What is meant by “goodness of fit”?
The degree to which parental characteristics match the temperament of their infant
What proportion of children demonstrate secure attachment? What about the other attachment styles?
Secure: 70%
Ambivalent: 15%
Avoidant: 15%
Disorganized: >4%
In the Strange Situation, which 4 measures of the infant’s behaviour do researchers observe?
- Proximity and contact seeking
- Contact maintaining
- Avoidance of proximity and contact
- Resistance to contact and comforting
What is the caregiver sensitivity hypothesis?
differences in infants’ attachment styles are dependent on the mother’s behaviour during a critical period of development
What are the 4 different parenting styles?
- Permissive
- Authoritative
- Neglectful
- Authoritarian
What are the 5 types of childhood maltreatment, and which type makes up the largest proportion?
- Exposure to intimate partner violence (largest proportion)
- Physical abuse
- Sexual abuse
- Neglect
- Emotional maltreatment
What is developmental traumatology?
How trauma is formed by our childhood experiences; how trauma develops over the lifespan
What is resiliency?
The ability to overcome significantly adverse and/or traumatic experiences
What makes adolescence unique in terms of developmental stages?
It is clearly demarcated by a biological process (puberty); other stages are less clear
Describe how the pituitary and adrenal glands contribute to puberty
- The pituitary gland releases sex-specific hormones to the adrenal glands
- The adrenal glands release sex-specific hormones which lead to the development of secondary sex characteristics
What two developmental processes happen in the adolescent brain?
- Synaptic pruning: allows the brain to specialize (finding their passion, etc.; use it or lose it)
- Myelin formation: allows neurons to communicate more efficiently (100x faster, 30x shorter resting period)
What is the other term for myelination?
Proliferation
What part of the brain is last to develop in adolescence?
The prefrontal cortex; leads to impulsive/risky behaviours, since adolescents have more access to potentially harmful stuations than children typically do
What is the biggest social shift that occurs in the transition from childhood to adolescence?
The weight that one’s peers have on their development
Which virtues are associated with each of Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development?
Trust vs. mistrust: hope
Autonomy vs. shame/doubt: will
Initiative vs. guilt: purpose
Industry vs. inferiority: competency
Identity vs. confusion: fidelity
Intimacy vs. isolation: love
Generativity vs. stagnation: care
Integrity vs. despair: wisdom
Through what 3 mechanisms do peers influence behaviour in adolescence?
- Modelling/imitation (social participation, sharing, problem solving, compliance to adult direction, etc.)
- Reinforcement (praise, affection, compliance, self-giving)
- Punishment (ignoring, rejection, non-compliance)
What are the 3 key characteristics of friendship?
- Loyalty
- Intimacy
- Mutual affection
What are the necessary elements for friendship formation, according to Gottman?
- Common ground activity (interest in similar activities + patterns of agreement on what to do)
- Communication clarity
- Resolving conflict
- Self disclosure
What are the 3 stages of social penetration theory?
Zero disclosure: minimal, superficial conversation (high breadth, low depth)
Increasing disclosure: values, feelings, and needs (increasing depth)
High disclosure: core personality traits, inner fears, self-concept (highest depth)
What are the best predictors of friendship?
- Gender
- Race (strength depends on integration at school and in neighbourhoods)
What is Intergroup Contact Theory?
The more exposure to different groups, the more opportunity for interactions; the greater the positive interactions the better the groups get along/think of each other
The likelihood that you will have friends from a different group is directly related to the opportunities you have for interacting with that different group
What 4 revolutions set the stage for emerging adulthood?
- Technology revolution: transition from manufacturing to knowledge economy, requiring education beyond high school
- Sexual revolution: birth control, link between sexuality/pregnancy/marriage changed, delayed commitment to family and reproduction
- Women’s movement: 58% of undergrads are female, changed how young women think about and plan their lives, less pressure for “find a man”
- Youth movement: youth became venerated, young people were no longer in a rush to become an adult
Which cognitive skills peak later in life?
- Vocabulary
- Ability to process complex information
- Greater overall comprehension of information
- Ability to integrate information
- Mental math
Why do some cognitive skills improve later in life?
As we age, the branches in our neural network increase and become more complex, meaning we have a higher density neural network; the older you are, the more exposure you’ve had to vocabulary, experiences, etc.
What physical changes happen in the brain as we age?
- Decrease in volume
- Decrease in cortical thickness
- Larger ventricles
What is cortical thickness? What can causes reduced cortical thickness?
How much white matter the brain contains; when we lose grey matter it’s replaced with more efficient white matter, but when we lose white matter there is nothing to replace it
What is bilateral activation? How can it be increased?
A way to offset the consequences of decreased white matter in older age through capitalizing on integrated connections throughout the brain
Increased by keeping the brain “active” and increasing bloodflow to the brain: reading, crossword puzzles, sudoku, etc.
