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PSYC 1115 LECTURE > CH5 > Flashcards

CH5 Flashcards

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1
Q

what is developmental psychology?

A

branch of psychology that examines our physical, cognitive, and social development across our life span

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2
Q

what are cross-sectional studies?

A

studies that compare people of different ages at the same time

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3
Q

what are longitudinal studies?

A

studies that follow the same people across time

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4
Q

what are the three major issues that developmental psychologists explore?

A
  1. nature vs. nurture
  2. continuity and stages
  3. stability and change
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5
Q

what do researchers who emphasize experience and learning typically see development as?

A

slow, continuous shaping process

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6
Q

what do researchers who emphasize biological maturation tend to see development as?

A

sequence of genetically predisposed stages or steps

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7
Q

what is the end of history illusion?

A

people recognize they have changed but presume they will change little in the future

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8
Q

what findings in psychology support the stage theory of development?

A
  • Piaget (cognitive development)
  • Kohlberg (moral development)
  • Erikson (psychosocial development)
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9
Q

what findings in psychology support the idea of stability in personality across the life span?

A

some traits, such as temperament, exhibit remarkable stability across many years

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10
Q

what are zygotes?

A

the fertilized egg, enters a 2-week period of rapid cell division and develops into an embryo

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11
Q

what is an embryo?

A

the developing human organism from about 2 weeks after fertilization through the second month
- organs begin to form and function
- heart begins to beat

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12
Q

what is a fetus?

A

developing human organism from 9 weeks after conception to birth
- looks unmistakably human
- good chance of surviving and thriving if born prematurely after 6 months

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13
Q

when does learning of language begin?

A

in the womb

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14
Q

what are teratogens?

A

agents that can reach embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm
- chemicals, viruses

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15
Q

why does fetal damage occur in fetuses subjected to alcohol exposure?

A

alcohol has an epigenetic effect, it leaves chemical marks on DNA that switch genes abnormally on or off

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16
Q

what are some automatic reflex responses babies come equipped with after birth?

A
  • startle reflex: arms and legs spring out, quickly followed by fist clenching and loud crying
  • grasping reflex
  • babies turn toward touches on the cheek
  • withdrawing limbs to escape pain
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17
Q

what is habituation?

A

decreasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation

  • as infants gain familiarity with repeated exposure to a stimulus, their interest wanes and they look away sooner
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18
Q

how do researches explore an infant’s mental abilities?

A

they use techniques that test habituation

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19
Q

how do cross-sectional and longitudinal studies differ?

A

CS: compare different ppl of different ages at same time
LS: restudy and retest same ppl over a long period of time

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20
Q

what is maturation?

A

the orderly sequence of biological growth, sets basic course of development

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21
Q

why does infant brain size increase rapidly in the early days after birth?

A

the branching neural networks have a wild growth spurt after birth, becoming increasingly complex

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22
Q

what is synaptic pruning?

A

the amount of neural networks in the brain diminish, unused links are shutdown to strengthen used and needed neural networks

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23
Q

what is infantile amnesia?

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A

rapid neuron growth disrupts the the circuits that stored old memories, explaining why most of us consciously recall little from before age 4

24
Q

what did developmental psychologist Jean Piaget research?

Study These Flashcards
A

how cognition ties into developmental psychology

25
what did Jean Piaget's studies led him to believe about a child's mind?
They develop through a series of stages, from simple reflexes to abstract reasoning power - their minds experiences spurts of change, followed by greater stability as they move from one cognitive plateau to the next
26
what are schemas?
concepts or mental molds into which we pour our experiences
27
what is assimilation through schemas?
interpreting new experiences in terms of our current schemas/understandings
28
what is accommodation through schemas?
adjusting our schemas to incorporate information provided by new experiences
29
In Piaget's view, cognitive development consisted of what four major stages?
1. sensorimotor 2. preoperational 3. concrete operational 4. formal operational
30
what is the sensorimotor stage of Piaget's theory?
- birth to 2 yo - infants know the world mostly in terms of their sensory impressions and motor activities
31
what is object permanence?
the awareness that objects continue to exist even when not perceived
32
when do babies develop object permanence?
older than 6 months, around 8 months
33
what is preoperational stage of Piaget's theory?
- 2 - 6/7 - able to represent things with words and images but not mental operations of concrete logic - lack concept of conservation of liquid or numbers
34
what is egocentrism?
the difficulty of taking another's point of view
35
what is the concrete operational stage?
- 7-11 - children gain mental operations that enable them to think logically about concrete events - begin to grasp operations like conservation - can comprehend mathematical transformations
36
what is the formal operational stage?
- 12 - puberty - encompasses abstract thinking such as imagined realities and symbolism - can ponder hypothetical propositions and deduce consequences - systematic thinking
37
what did Lev Vygotsky's studies emphasize?
- the child's mind grows through interaction with the *social* environment - by giving children new words and mentoring them, people provide temporary scaffolds from which children can step to higher levels of thinking
38
what is a scaffold in Vygotsky's theory?
framework that offers children temporary support as they develop higher levels of thinking
39
how was language important for thinking in Vygotsky's theory?
language serves as an important asset in social mentoring as children increasingly think in words and use them to solve problems as they age
40
what is a theory of mind?
people's ideas about their own and others' mental states-about their feelings, perceptions, and thoughts, and the behaviours these might predict
41
What ages do children come to realize that others may hold false beliefs?
3 to 4.5 years old
42
what age do children show knowledge of others' beliefs?
as young as 7 months
43
why are children with autism spectrum disorder less likely to use the personal pronouns *I* and *me*?
they have difficulty reflecting on their own mental states
44
what does theory of mind have to do with autism spectrum disorder?
those with autism spectrum disorder struggle with the ability to understand their own and others' mental states
45
when do children develop stranger anxiety?
soon after object permanence develops, after about 8 months
46
what is stranger anxiety?
the fear of strangers that infants commonly display, greeting strangers with crying or reaching for familiar caregivers
47
why does stranger anxiety occur?
children who begin to develop stranger anxiety have schemas for familiar faces, and they become distressed when they cannot assimilate the new face of a stranger into the remembered schemas
48
what is caregiver-infant attachment?
an emotional tie infants have with their caregivers, they seek closeness to caregivers and show distressed when separated with them
49
what is a critical period?
an optimal period when certain events must take place to facilitate proper development
50
what is imprinting?
the process by which certain animals form strong attachments during early life
51
what distinguishes imprinting from attachment?
attachment is normal process by which we form emotional ties with important others. Imprinting occurs only in certain animals that have a critical period very early in their development during which they must form these attachments, doing so in an inflexible manner
52
what is secure attachment?
in a mother's presence, children play comfortably and happily explore their environments in her absence, they become distressed when she returns, they seek contact with her
53
what is insecure attachment?
anxiety or avoidance of trusting relationships less likely to explore surroundings, and may cling to their mothers when she leaves, they cry and remain upset or seem indifferent to her departure and return
54
who designed the strange situation experiment?
Mary Ainsworth
55

PSYC 1115 LECTURE (5 decks)

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