Development (Ch 10) Flashcards
1
Q
The 3 questions human development aims to answer
A
- Does development unfold in distinct, discontinuous stages, or it is a gradual, continuous process?
- How do nature and nurture interact to make us who we are?
- To what extent do we stay the same over time versus change?
2
Q
Interactionist approach
A
- interactionist believe that all three ideas are incorporated in human development:
- physical
- cognitive
- social-emotional
3
Q
Cross-sectional design
A
- allows researchers to examine individuals of different ages at the same point in time
- allows researched to collect data quickly and inexpensively
- disadvantage is that participants grew up in different historical contexts, so researchers cannot be certain whether differences between groups are due to age or social and political conditions (Cohort effect)
4
Q
Cohort Effect
A
-when it cannot be determined whether differences between experimental groups are due to age difference or growing up in different historical contexts (ie. different social and political conditions)
5
Q
Longitudinal design
A
- avoids the cohort effect
- repeatedly test the same group of people over a number of years
- allows researchers to look at real age-related differences
- more sensitive to developmental influences
- more costly and time consuming
- participant drop-out (selective attrition) is a problem
- still cannot be sure whether changes in intellectual ability are due to aging or are unique to particular individual (history effect)
6
Q
History effect
A
-unable to distinguish whether a change in intellectual ability is due to aging (and applicable to whole population) or whether is it unique to specific individual being researched
7
Q
Longitudinal-sequential design
A
- addresses problem of cohort and history effects
- combination of cross-sectional and longitudinal designs
- researchers repeatedly test 2 or more age cohorts as they grow older
- can compare cohorts at same age to see if they exhibit the same behaviours
- can also determine whether cohorts follow a similar developmental pattern
- costly and time consuming
8
Q
Germinal stage
A
- stage 1
- beings at conception
- lasts for two weeks
- at conception the fertilized egg is a single-celled zygote
- divides around 36 hours after conception
- by day 7, multi-celled organism (blastocyte) travels down Fallopian tubes to attach to uterine wall
- 30%-50% of blastocytes dont implant properly
9
Q
Zygote
A
-single-called fertilized egg
10
Q
Blastocyte
A
-multi-celled organism that develops around day 7
11
Q
Embryonic stage
A
- occurs around 2 weeks if implantation is successful
- now called embryo
- stage is marked by formation of the major organs: NS, heart, eyes, ears, arms, legs, teeth, palate and external genitalia.
- continues until about 8 weeks
12
Q
Duration of development of individual organs
A
- CNS: week 2-38
- Heart: 3-9
- Arms: 4-9
- Eyes: 4-38
- Legs: 4-9
- Teeth: 6-18
- Palate: 6-14
- External Genitalia: 7-38
- Ears: 4-18
13
Q
Fetal Stage
A
- determined by formation of bone cells
- around 8 weeks
- between 8-12 weeks heart beat can form
- fetus rapidly increases in size
- neural growth can be approx. 3mil neurons per minute
- neurons begin neural migration
- soon after NS forms, embryo begins to move (4-6 months)
- begins to respond to sound around 26 weeks
- sounds that fetus is regularly exposed to changes their neural networks and are retained in memory for 4m after birth
- fetus sensitive to odour/taste in amniotic fluid
- at birth infants are near sighted until at least 6 months
14
Q
Neural migration
A
- neurons move from one part of the brain to their more permanent home
- factors that interfere with neural migration (prenatal exposure to certain toxins or viruses) can increase risk of psychological disorders
15
Q
Body and brain size at birth
A
- at birth the brain will only weigh about 25% as much as an adult brain
- by age 2 it will be about 75%
- by age 4 it will be about 90%
- at birth the body will weigh about 5% as much as an adult body
- by age 2 it will be about 20%
- by age 4 about 30%
16
Q
Prenatal programming
A
- process by which events in the womb alter the development of physical and psychological health
- common factors are maternal nutrition, and teratogens (substances that can cause permanent damage)
17
Q
Teratogens
A
- Substances that can cause permanent damage during prenatal stage
- known teratogens include viruses, alcohol, nicotine, prescriptions drugs, and radiation
- viruses may have a big impact early in pregnancy and little toward the end
- developing flu in the first 4-6 months increases risk of schizophrenia for child later in life
18
Q
Maternal nutrition
A
-folic acid and vitamins used to reduce rates of abnormalities in the NS
-schizophrenia and antisocial personality disorder likely to occur if mother is malnourished
-iron deficiency can lead to infant anemia or low RBC count, which affects how well body functions and cognitive impairment, motor deficiencies and poor emotional functioning
-built in toxin detector… ie morning sickness
-most common with foods susceptible to moulds, and bitter substances (which can cause defects)
-
19
Q
Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder
A
- alcohol causes damage to central nervous system, low birth weight, physical abnormalities in the face, head, heart, and joints, intellectual disability, and behavioural problems
- in canada estimated that every 1 in 1000 children suffer from FASD
- can happen from having a single drink to excessively drinking
20
Q
Nicotine effect on prenatal environment
A
- interferes with oxygen supply to the fetus
- can lead to premature and low-birth weight babies
- increased risk for stillbirth
- doubled risk of child developing bipolar disorder
21
Q
Caffeine effect on prenatal environment
A
- studies yielded mixed results
- limited evidence that caffeine consumption leads to birth defects
- some studies suggest a link between heavy caffeine consumption and increased risk of miscarriage or low-weight baby
22
Q
Prescription drugs on prenatal development
A
- antidepressants can cause respiratory problems, increased risk of premature birth, and short-lasting effects on motor development
- safest is to avoid prescription drugs prior to pregnancy
23
Q
Early motor development
A
- children’s motor development follows a cepholocaudal trend (development processed from head downward)
- also follows a proximodistal patter (growth f=proceeds from centre of body outward)
24
Q
Major motor development milestones in infancy
A
- by 2 months, babies lying on their stomach can life their head
- by 3 months babies can grab for objects
- by 4months they can hold objects
- 6 months can sit up
- 7 months pull themselves up and hold onto furniture
- 8-9 months walking by holding on
- many take first steps before age of 1
- by 17 months often can walk on their own
25
Grasping, sucking and rooting
- grasping: if you give a newborn a finger they will grasp it tightly
- rooting: open-mouth expecting to be breast fed
- sucking: when you place something in a babies mouth
- all involuntary responses to specific stimuli
26
Fine motor skill development
- involve coordination of the actions of many smaller muscles
- training in fine motor skills actually aids kindergarteners attention showing how joined cognition and action can be
27
Vision Development
-newborn vision is only about 20-600, meaning that infants can see an object that is 20feet away as I distinctly as an adult with normal vision would see an object 600feet away
-visual acuity improves during infancy, and by 6 months, vision is 20-100.
-by age 3 or 4 child's vision is similar to adults
-newborns do not see colours very well and are best able to see black and white edges and patterns
-
28
Habituation-dishabituations
- used to determine infant's sensory abilities
- detects whether the infant notices the difference between a familiar and novel stimulus
- relies on fact that people prefer novelty and pay less attention (habituate) to a stimulus when it is repeatedly present
- babies dishabituation to new stimulus tells the researcher that the baby can discern the difference between 2 photos for example
29
Preferential looking
- another technique used to study infants' preferences for certain visual stimuli
- infant shown 2 stimuli and the researcher measures how long the infant spends gazing at each to determine which one it finds more pleasurable/interesting
- babies prefer looking at complex objects rather than simple ones
30
Critical period
- a period in which individuals are biologically most receptive to a particular kind of input from the environment
- early months of childhood are critical period for vision
31
Visual cliff
- experiment to test depth perception in babies who have learned how to crawl
- create illusion of a cliff on the floor, and mothers try to encourage babies to crawl across it to see if they detect the "cliff" or not
- mothers were able to convince 6 months old to wiggle across, but 10 month olds stopped when reaching the cliff
- revealed that by the time they can crawl, babies can perceive depth
32
Synaptic pruning
- synaptic connections that do not receive stimulation from the environment die off
- natures way of making the brain more efficient
- problems with neural pruning are associated with neurological disorders such as schizophrenia and autism
33
Neural development
- at birth brain grows new neurons and we see a proliferation in the growth of new synapses over the first 2 years of life
- after age 2 some die off
- rate of change slows down considerably by age 6
- increases again in early adolescence, then settles after
- pruning has been seen in children pre-puberty
- number of neurons (grey matter) declines in adolescence but white matter (axons and connectivity) continues to grow into our 40s
34
Musical training and the brain
- shapes the structure of the brain
- more somatosensory cortex devoted to body parts involved in musical training (ie. fingers of guitar player)
- people who have had intensive training have thicker corpus callosum (greater communication between hemispheres)
- larger cerebellums
- musical training enhances neural activity in hippocampus which is associated with learning and memory
35
Brain plasticity in children
- children's brains are more plastic and more sensitive to stimulation
- they have less myelin, which makes neural transmission more efficient but at a cost to neuroplasticity
- few neurons are myelinated at birth
- scientists have identified specific protein molecules within myelin that stop axons from sprouting and forming new connections
36
Piaget's theory of cognitive development
- when children encounter a new situation or even, they form a schema (mental representation)
- schemas provide a framework for understanding our world - building blocks of cognitive development
- when children encounter something new they first try to assimilate that experience into an already existing schema
- accommodation occurs when a certain concept doesnt quite fit into an existing schemes and a new schema has to be formed to accommodate the new information
37
Sensorimotor stage (piaget's theory)
- 0-2 years
- knowledge is though senses (tasting, seeing, smelling, touching, hearing)
- object permanence develops between 4-9 months
38
Preoperational stage (piaget's theory)
- 2-5 years
- verbal and egocentric thinking develop
- can do mentally what once could only do physically
- conservation of shape, number, liquid not possible yet
- cognitive limitations include amniotic thinking, egocentrism and lack of conservation
39
Concrete operational (piaget's theory)
- 6-11 years
- conservation of shape, number, liquid now possible
- logic and reasoning develop, but are limited to appearance and what is concretely observed
40
Formal operational (piaget's theory)
- 12+
- absrtact reasoning - principles and ideals develop
- systematic problem solving is now possible (no longer just trial and error)
- ability to think about and reflect upon one's thinking (metacognition)
- scientific reasonings
41
Object permanence
-ability to realize that objects still exist even when they are not being sensed
42
Animistic thinking
-idea that inanimate objects are alive
43
Egocentrism
- tendency to view the world from one's own perspective and not see things from another persons perspective
- use three mountains task to demonstrate this
44
Conservation
- ability to recognize that when some properties (such as shape) of an object change, other properties (such as volume) remain constant
- no apparent in pre-operational stage
- quantity doesn't change if it is rearranged
45
Vygotsky's theory of cognitive development
- emphasized how children learn through their social interactions
- social interactions occur within a particular cultural context and help children internalize the cognitive ways of their culture, including speech patterns, written language, and mental processing
- each child had a zone of proximal development
46
Zone of proximal development (Vygotsky's theory)
- A range of tasks too difficult for the child to perform alone but possible with the help of adults and more skilled peers
- eg. Learning how to play a game from someone older who knows how to play the game already. He gets less and less help until he knows all the rules
- changing level of support is called scaffolding
- gradually shift into child's independent control
47
Theory of mind
- our knowledge and ideas of how other people's minds work
- children under the age of 4 are cognitively incapable of understanding that people may believe things that aren't true
- false-belief task to explore children's theory of mind skills
48
Temptation-resistance paradigm
- create a lie-telling opportunity and then examine whether the children lie, and if it is a believably constructed lie or not
- 64% lied about their peeking
- children who demonstrated false-belief understanding were more likely to lie
- young lie tellers had a hard time keeping their story straight
- consistency between initial lie and subsequent responses was associated with higher level false-belief understanding in children 7years and older
- findings are culturally universal
49
Development of moral reasoning
- as children develop cognitive, social skills, and theory of mind, they also develop sense of right and wrong
- social and cognitive skills work together to help moral reasoning
50
Heinz Dilemma
- Kohlberg presented a moral dilemma and analyzed their responses
- Kohlberg proposed a 3-stage theory of moral reasoning
- found that moral reasoning moves from being focused on the self to being increasingly focused on others, which a basis in clear personal principles of morality and ethics
1. pre-conventional level
2. conventional level
3. post-conventional level
51
Pre-conventional level of reasoning (Kohlberg)
- responses revolves around avoiding punishment or maximizing reward
- children obey by rules because parents tell them to do so
52
Conventional level of reasoning (Kohlberg)
-responses revolve around the person valuing caring, trust, and relationship as well as social order and lawfulness
53
Post-conventional level of reasoning (Kohlberg)
- the individual acknowledges both the norm and the law, but argues that there are universal moral rules that may trump unjust or immoral local rules
- disobeying the more local rule may be necessary
- principle of civil disobedience
- individuals exhibit well-developed moral codes for which they are willing to sacrifice their lives to set right unjust and immoral laws and societies (Mahatma Gandhi, MLK Jr. etc)
54
Moral reasoning across cultures
- Kohlbergs model of reasoning applied universally for the first 2 stages
- post-conventional is more limited to western cultures (strong sense of individualism)
- many non-western cultures value group and community and so may more more likely to exhibit conventional reasoning
55
Imprinting
- animals follow and imitate the first large creature they see after birth
- newborn sees this creature as a protector
- humans dont imprint, they attach
56
Attachment
- strong emotional connection that develops early in life to keep infants close their caregivers
- relationship shapes child social and emotional development and may form the foundation for social relationship later in life
57
Separation anxiety
- distressed reaction shown by babies when they are separated from their primary caregiver
- typically shown around 9 months of ages
58
Strange situation experiment
- creates mildly stressful situations for infant to see how much the caregiver is a safe haven
- baby is left alone to interact with a stranger, then when mother returns the response is analyzed.
- 3 attachment styles were noticed:
1. secure attachment
2. insecure attachment
3. disorganized attachment
59
Attachment theory
- based on 2 assumptions:
1. A responsive and accessible caregiver must create a secure base for the child so the child can develop confidence and security exploring the work
2. Infants internalize the bonding relationship, which provides a mental model on which they build future relationships. It is a bidirectional relationship - both respond to the other
60
Secure attachment
- infants show low to moderate distress when mother leaves but are happy and initiate contact when mother returns
- return to play after being reunited
- confident in accessibility and responsiveness of caregiver providing child with foundation for play and exploration
61
Insecure attachment
- lack ability to engage in effective play and exploration
- 3 categories:
1. anxious-avoidant attachment
2. anxious-resistant attachment
3. disorganized attachment
62
Anxious-avoidant attachment
- infant shows little to no distress in separation episodes, although physiological measures suggest that the infant is indeed under stress
- when mother returns, infants tends to ignore and avoid her
- avoidance reflects expectation that a bid for more contact would be followed with rejection
- most common in western cultures
63
Anxious-resistance attachment
- infants are ambivalent
- become upset when mother leaves
- when mother returns they seek contact but reject attempts at being soothed
- infants ambivalence may reflect lack of confidence in being comforted
- 10-15% of infants are classified as this
64
Disorganized attachment
- infants show odd, confused behaviours in the strange situation
- might approach mother upon reunion, but do so with head awkwardly averted, or may freeze in place
- theory suggests infants are frightened
- often with kids who have been maltreated
- considered most insecure because the infants' fear of their attachment figure inhibits the development of a strategy for effective stress regulation.
65
Touch and comfort influencing development
- preterm babies who were touched gained more weight and left hospital sooner than premies who weren't touched
- touch therapy also used to improve motor skills in children with cerebral palsy (movement disorder caused by brain damage at birth)
- also helps autistic children with sensory, social, and basic living skills
- improves well-being, motor dexterity, sleeping in kids with other disorders
66
Temperament
- the biological tendency to behave in specific ways from the beginning of life
- 3 general categories:
1. the easy child
2. the difficult child
3. the slow to warm up child
67
The easy child temperament
- predictable in daily functions
- happy most of the time
- adaptable
- approx 40%
68
Difficult child temperament
- Unpredictable in daily functions
- unhappy most of the time
- slow to adapt to new situations
- approx 10%
69
Slow to warm up child temperament
- mildly intense in his or her reactions to new situations
- mildly irregular in family patterns
- after repeated exposure they develop an approaching style
- approx 15%
70
Social referencing
- ability to make use of social and emotional information from another person
- babies also rely on prenatal vocal information such as changes in pitch and loudness for social referencing
71
Emotional competence
- ability to control emotions and know when it is appropriate to express them
- starts as early as preschool
- the better children do in school and the fewer stressful and dysfunctional situations they have at home, the more emotionally skilled and competent they become
- by age of 9 kids learn the impact of their reactions on other peoples feelings
72
Peers
- by mid to late childhood, peers have the biggest influence
| - share equal status in terms of age, gender, skill and power
73
Gender identity
- the degree to which they perceive themselves as male or female
- babies as young as 3 or 4 display knowledge of gender
74
Gender roles
-the behaviours, attitudes, and personality traits that are typically attributed to, expected from, or preferred in boys and girls
75
Gender constancy
- understanding that being male or female is a permanent part of a person
- before 5-7 years old kids believe gender is something that can changes depending on superficial changes
76
Adolescence
- transition period between childhood and early adulthood
| - beings at age 11 and ends around 18
77
Puberty
- period when sexual maturation begins, marking the beginning of adolescence
- major hormonal changes prepare the body for reproduction
- first pituitary glands send hormonal signals to the sex glands telling them to mature
- sex glands then release sex hormones
78
Menarche
- next major change after breast development is the onset of menstruation
- often occurs by age 12
- marks beginning of fertility
79
Secular trend
-onset of menstruation has dropped from the age of 16 to 12 since the 1600's
80
Spermarche
-event that signals readiness to reproduce
-first ejaculation
0usually unexpected and occurs as nocturnal emission (wet dream)
81
Cognitive development of adolescence
- abstract reasoning and logical thinking are linked with dramatic brain development
- frontal lobes are last areas to fully develop
- frontal lobes involved in planning, attention, working memory, abstract thought, and impulse control
- onset of formal operational and scientific thinking occurs after frontal lobes have developed more fully
-growing in neural complexity (myelin and white matter)
82
Changes in brain development through adolescence
- develops more myelin around axons and more connections
- myelination proceeds from back to front
- neural synchrony (ability for certain types of brain waves to work together for coordination) increases
- abnormal neural synchrony accounts for autism and schizophrenia.
- synaptic pruning reaches final stages
83
Cortical thickness and intelligence
- in a study with mice, it was found that teen mice performed tasks much slower due to increased GABAnergic receptors in hippocampus which impairs learning
- impaired hippocampus functioning may be responsible for risky behaviour
- in teens, frontal lobes become overloaded during complex tasks
84
Social development and brain development in adolescence
- amygdala, temporal lobe, and medial prefrontal cortex are still developing (face interpretation, understanding of emotion, and theory of mind)
- teens use slightly different areas of the brain to process certain emotions
- teens more sensitive to rejection
85
Erikson's 8 stages of personality development
1: infancy. Hope, basic trust vs mistrust
2: early childhood. Will, autonomy vs. Shame and doubt
3: Play age. Purpose, initiative vs guilt
4: school age. Competence, industry vs inferiority
5: adolescence. Fidelity, identity vs identity confusion
6: young adult hood. Love, intimacy vs isolation
7: adulthood. Care, generativity vs stagnation
8: old age. Wisdom, integrity vs despair, disgust
-each shows a core strength and a crisis to resolve.
86
Emerging adulthood
-phase between adolescence and young adulthood
-ages 1825
-
87
State of emerging adulthood
1. Identity exploration (who am i?)
2. Instability (jobs, relationships, education)
3. Self-focused (going through stage of living alone)
4. Feeling in-between (between adolescence and adulthood)
5. Age of possibility (anything possible for the future)
88
Career identity
- social support from family and friends appears important in facilitating a smooth transition from college to career
- emerging adults perceive their first jobs more positively and report more satisfaction when they hold more realistic and well-informed expectations
89
Sexual identity
-first age of sexual experience varies by culture, ethnicity, and education
90
Ethnic identity
- include: Canada's First Nations, Asian Canadians, Hispanic Canadians, and African Canadian (in canada)
- sense of belonging is important
- individuals with stronger sense of self ethnic identity report higher levels of self esteem, are happier, and worry less
- study shows that immigrants adapt better to their new country when they maintain their cultural heritage from their country of origin
91
Young adulthood
- usually early 20s, though certain life transitions represent more significant markers than age does
- push people to become more engaged with the outside world
92
Cardiovascular fitness and cognition
- positive correlation between cardiovascular fitness and better cognitive scores
- people who's cardiovascular fitness improved from age 15-18 had higher intelligence than those who's cardiovascular fitness had declined
93
Marraige
- average at which Canadians marry has increased from early 20s to mid 20s to early 30s
- more people pursuing higher education
- more people living together prior to marriage
94
Parenthood
- clear marker of adulthood
- 15% never have children
- shy men likely to have children later
- shy women likely to have children earlier due to conventional personality
95
Intimacy
- ability to fuse one's identity with another's without the fear of losing it
- hard to form intimate relationships without a secure sense of identity
96
Middle adulthood
- between 40-65 years old
- challenges with sensory and physical development
- some experience loss of vision/hearing
- some experience loss of taste and smell
- brain remains quite plastic and generative
- continued learning aids neurogenesis/stress anxiety hinder it
- core strength of adulthood is care (being committed to and caring for others etc)
97
Generativity
Creation of new ideas, products, or people
| -eg. Parenting, starting a business, or creating art
98
Stagnation
-occurs when the adult becomes more self-focused than oriented toward others and does not contribute in a productive way to society or family
99
Late adulthood
-begins around age 65
100
Brain development and cognition in late adulthood
- mass and brain size decrease
- most normal cognitive decline results from frontal lobes (working memory, planning, abstract reasoning)
- declines occur in processing info and maintaining information while making decisions
- decline of fluid intelligence
- strengthening of crystallized intelligence
- exercising reduces cognitive decline
101
Wisdom
- one cognitive benefit of aging
- ability to know what matters, to live well, and to show good judgement
- comes with learning from situations
102
Dementia
- unusual loss in cognitive functions and includes memory problems and difficulty reasoning, solving problems, making decisions, and using language
- strokes and Alzheimer's can cause dementia
103
Strokes
- a stroke occurs when a blood vessel that serves the brain is blocked or ruptures
- brain tissue served by that vessel doesn't receive oxygen and nutrients and dies
- may cause little or big cognitive impairments
104
Alzheimer's disease
- degenerative disease marked by progressive cognitive decline and characterized by a collection of symptoms including: confusion, memory loss, mood swing, and eventual loss of physical function
- accounts for 60-70% of dementia
- early onset can affect people younger than 65
- only diagnosed by examining brain tissue after death
- anatomical feature is presence of patches of dead tissue in brain (especially hippocampus and cortex)
- low levels of acetylcholine inhibit memory formation
105
Personality development in late adulthood
- conflict of old age is between integrity and despair
- integrity: feeling of being whole and integrated
- core strength is wisdom
- research reveals that elderly adults who fail to accept the past with all its faults and missed opportunities are more susceptible to depression and anxiety
- elderly adults who view the world as meaningful and manageable more easily accept their life experiences
