Development Flashcards
What is developmental psychology?
The study of changes in thought, behavior, and functioning due to biological, individual, and environmental influences over the lifespan.
How is developmental psychology different from other psychology fields?
It focuses on normative changes over time, unlike psychotherapy or learning psychology, which study other aspects of change.
What are the main objectives of developmental psychology?
- Describe behavior changes at different life stages.
- Identify genetic, brain, and environmental factors that influence these changes.
What are the major life stages in developmental psychology?
• Prenatal
• Early childhood (0-2 years)
• Pre-school (2-6 years)
• Primary school (6-12 years)
• Adolescence (12-20 years)
• Adulthood (20-65 years)
• Elderly (65+ years)
What are the three domains of human development?
- Biosocial: Physical growth, motor skills, health.
- Cognitive: Thinking, memory, language, intelligence.
- Psychosocial: Emotions, personality, social interactions.
How do growth and maturation differ?
• Growth: Quantitative changes (size, height, weight).
• Maturation: Qualitative changes (brain structure, eye color, personality).
How does growth rate change across development?
• Infancy: Rapid growth (weight doubles by 6 months, triples by 1 year).
• Childhood: Steady growth (~5-8 cm and ~2.5-3 kg per year).
• Adolescence: Growth spurt, muscle and skeletal development.
What are the two directions of growth?
• Cephalocaudal: Growth from head downward (head grows first, legs grow later).
• Proximodistal: Growth from center outward (organs develop first, limbs later).
How do genes and environment influence development?
Genes determine potential traits, while the environment shapes how these traits express.
What is the twin design in behavioral genetics?
• Monozygotic twins (100% shared genes) vs. dizygotic twins (~50% shared genes).
• If monozygotic twins are more similar, genes play a strong role.
What is the adoption design in behavioral genetics?
• Resemblance to biological parents → genetic influence.
• Resemblance to adoptive parents → environmental influence.
How do concordance rates help measure genetic influence?
They measure the percentage of relatives who share a trait.
Higher rates in monozygotic twins suggest strong genetic influence.
What does heritability measure?
The proportion of trait variation due to genetics, calculated as:
H = (r identical twins − r fraternal twins) × 2
What is the heritability of intelligence over time?
• 0-1 year: No genetic influence.
• 18 months: Genetic influence appears.
• 3-15 years: Monozygotic twins remain similar, while dizygotic twins diverge.
What is the Canalization Principle?
Some traits (e.g., eye color) are strongly genetically determined, while others (e.g., intelligence, weight) are more influenced by the environment.
What is the Range-of-Reaction Principle?
Genes set a range of possible outcomes, while the environment determines where within that range a trait will fall.
What is the continuity vs. discontinuity debate?
• Continuity: Development is gradual and cumulative (e.g., learning language).
• Discontinuity: Development happens in stages with qualitative changes (e.g., Piaget’s cognitive stages).
What are examples of discontinuous theories?
• Freud’s psychosexual stages
• Erikson’s psychosocial stages
• Piaget’s cognitive development stages
What are concordance rates?
The percentage of pairs (e.g., twins) where both individuals display a trait if one has it. Higher rates in monozygotic twins suggest genetic influence.
What are correlation coefficients in behavioral genetics?
Measures how strongly two variables relate (e.g., IQ scores of twins). Higher correlation in identical twins suggests genetic influence.
What is the heritability coefficient (H)?
-A measure of how much variation in a trait is due to genes. H = (r identical twins - r fraternal twins) × 2.
-Ranges from 0 to 1 (higher = stronger genetic influence).
How does intelligence heritability change over time (Wilson, 1978)?
• 0-1 years: No genetic influence observed.
• 18 months: Genetic influence becomes noticeable.
• 3-15 years: Identical twins remain highly similar; fraternal twins become less similar.
• Conclusion: Genetic influence on IQ increases with age.
How does heritability apply to personality?
-Personality traits are moderately heritable (H ≈ 0.40), but non-shared environments (individual experiences) play a large role.
Do people inherit behavioral disorders?
No, they inherit predispositions for disorders like schizophrenia or anxiety, which may develop based on environmental factors.
