chapter 5 Flashcards
real world importance of developing through the life span
- most people care about child wellbeing
- there are a lot of controversies over issues such as education, day care, spanking, sleeping styles, etc.
- the science of developmental psychology can help guide families and social groups to make healthy choices
major issues: nature and nurture
- extent of inheritance/environment influence
- twin studies/epigenetics
- gene and environment interact
- despite differences in culture or society, all humans develop according to similar patterns
major issues: stability and change
nature of traits across lifespan
- some change as we develop - e.g., cognitive skills
- some remain relatively constant - e.g., temperament becomes personality
the start of it all
you are who you are because of the improbable:
- combination of one out of a lifetime of eggs and one out 250 million sperm
- within 12 hours of finding each other, the two are merged into one
zygote = fertilized egg
- < 50% of zygotes survive past 2 weeks
- duplicate and create 100 cells in the first week
- specialization of cell function begins
period of the embryo
= happens from about 10 days to through week 8
- -> 10 days, zygote attaches to uterine wall -> embryo
- cells that will become organs begin to organize
- neural tube forms
- limb buds develop
period of the fetus
fetus - developing human organism from 9 weeks until birth
- 6 month = crucial organs have developed enough for good chances of survival
- fetus becomes responsive to sound around 6 months
- environmental stimuli are remembered - (Mom’s voice)
environmental effects on the fetus
Transfer of mother’s nutrients also include
teratogens
Chemicals or other “agents” that pass through the
placenta to the fetus and impair development
Includes prescription, over-the-counter, and illegal
drugs
Also include environmental toxins
life right after birth
Pre-programmed
reactions and
development
Automatic reflexes
Sophisticated
thought already
present
infancy and childhood
Physical Development
Cognitive Development
Socioemotional Development
Cognitive development: Jean Piaget
Cognition
Mental activities associated with
thinking, knowing, remembering,
and communicating
Foundation for thought
Naturally curious and create
theories
Develop organizations of info of the
world ->schemas
Theories go through
assimilation
accommodation
basic principles of Piaget’s theory
When children’s
theories are wrong
most of the time,
reorganization occurs
Stages = reorganization
Stages progress in same
order across all children
– no skipping
sensorimotor stage:
Birth to approximately
2 years of age
Begins with reflexive
responding and ends
with using symbolic
processing
Object permanence
emerges
preoperational stage
2 to 7 years
Use of symbols to represent objects
and events but with errors
Egocentrism: Difficulty seeing the
world from another standpoint
Animism: Inanimate objects are
“lifelike”
Centration: Concentration of one
aspect of a problem
what do you start to develop in preoperational stage?
Start to develop theory of mind
Ideas about others’ mental states, beliefs,
attitudes, knowledge
Begin to accurately predict behavior from
these assumptions
