Final Modules Flashcards
Developmental psychology
A branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive and social development through the life span
Cross-sectional survey
Research that compares people of different ages at the same point in time
Longitudinal studies
Research that follows and retests the same people over time .
- temperament stable over time
- social attitudes less stable
Zygotes
The fertilized egg; it enters a 2-week period of rapid cell division and develops into an embryo. Less than 1/2 survive first week
Embryo
The developing human organism from about 2 weeks after fertilization through the second month
Fetus
The developing human organism from 9 weeks after conception to birth
Just after birth, the melodic ups and downs of new horns cries have tube signature of their….
Mother’s native tongue
Teratogens
Agents such as chemicals and viruses that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm.
Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS)
Physical and cognitive abnormalities in children caused by a pregnant women’s heavy drinking. In severe cases, signs include a small, out of proportion head and abnormal facial features.
Habituation
Decreasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation. As infants gain familiarity with repeated exposure to a stimulus, their interest wanes and they look away sooner.
Major issues studies by developmental psychologists
Continuity and stages
Rooting reflex
Facilitation of feeding
Maturation
Biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behaviour, relatively i influences by experience.
Ex: babies stand then walk then run
When did you have the most brain cells you will ever have?
Day you were born
Cognition
All the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating
Schemas
A concept or framework that organizes and interprets information
Assimilate
Interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing schemas
Accommodate
Adapting our current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information.
4 stages of cognitive development by piaget
Sensorimotor
Preoperational
Concrete operational
Formal operational
Sensorimotor stage
Birth till age 2
Infants know the world mostly in terms of their sensory impressions and motor activities.
-object permanence: awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived (not before 8 months)
Preoperational stage
2-6(7) years old
A child learns to use language but does not yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete logic
-no conservation (mass, volume, numbers remain the same despite changes in the forms)
-egocentric: difficulty taking another’s point of view
Concrete operational
7-11 year olds
Children gain the mental operations the enable them to think logically about concrete events.
-conservation
-mathematical transformations
Formal operational
12+ year olds
People begin to think logically about abstract concepts
-potential for mature moral reasoning
Scaffold
In Vygotskys theory, a framework that offers children temporary support as they develop higher levels of thinking.
-learn best when material is not too easy but not too hard.