Lifespan Developmental Psychology Flashcards
This section comprises 12-14% of the Psychology GRE subject test. When finished with this deck, you should have a better understanding of the following: Nature-Nurture, Physical and Motor, Perception and Cognition, Language, Intelligence, Social and Personality, Emotion, Socialization, Family and Cultural Influences.
The life-span perspective of developmental psychology defines it as what?
the study of changes in abilities, thoughts, and behaviors that occur as one ages
Which pervasive debate in developmental psychology deals with the extent to which heredity and the environment each influence behavior?
nature vs. nurture debate
Define:
nature
As part of the nature vs. nurture debate, people who emphasize nature believe that people develop based on unique qualities inherent in their genetic code.
________ is the half of the nature vs. nurture debate that states one’s development is based entirely in the experiences and environment that person has.
Nurture
What is the difference between life-span psychologists and child psychologists?
both study development, but child psychologists focus on the earlier portion of the life-span
What is defined as the typical sequence of developmental changes for a group of people?
normative development
Describe the cross-sectional method.
this method compares groups of people of different ages on similar tasks
Describe the longitudinal method.
involves following a small group of people over a long portion of their lives, assessing change at set intervals
Describe the cohort effect.
when there are differences in the experiences of each age group as a result of growing up in different historical times
In which study method are cross-sectional groups assessed at least two times over a span of months or years?
cohort-sequential studies
What is maturation?
biological readiness
Maturationists emphasize which of the following?
- conceptualizing different learning cues and incorporating them into future interactions
- genetically programmed growth and development of the body
- learning through various social interactions over the lifetime
genetically programmed growth and development of the body
From the maturation perspective of development, what is the benefit of greater preprogrammed physiological development of the brain?
more complex conceptualization and reasoning
True or false:
Continuous development is gradual.
TRUE
One example of continuous development is social skill building.
One example of stage-oriented, or __________, learning is experiencing a growth spurt.
discontinuous
The time during which a skill or ability must develop is referred to as the __________.
critical period
What are the two divisions of culture in developmental psychology?
- collectivist
- individualist
Which type of culture promotes personal needs above the needs of the society?
individualist
Western cultures are typically viewed as individualist cultures.
What do collectivist cultures emphasize?
the needs of society, which are placed before the needs of the individual
Many Asian cultures are considered collectivist cultures.
Stages are patterns of behavior that occur in a __________.
fixed sequence
How do the developmental stages of psychology work?
each stage has a unique set of cognitive structures (or sets of mental abilities) that build on the cognitive structures established in the previous stage such that one cannot skip a step
What are the three realms of development?
- physical
- cognitive
- social
What six reflexes is the neonate equipped with?
- sucking reflex
- palmar reflex
- Babinski reflex
- head-turning (rooting) reflex
- Moro reflex
- orienting reflex
When I put my finger in a neonate’s hand and she grabs it, this exemplifies which reflex?
palmar reflex
According to the Babinski reflex, what response will an infant have to being stroked on the bottom of the foot?
the toes will splay out
When an infant’s head is suddenly moved, the infant’s limbs will splay out, they will extend their limbs, and then hug themselves. This exemplifies which infantile reflex?
the Moro reflex
What is the head-turning, or rooting, reflex?
the response elicited by touching the baby’s cheek
Which reflex is triggered by placing something in the baby’s mouth?
the sucking reflex
__________ refers to the development of learning, memory, reasoning, and problem-solving.
Cognitive development
Jean Piaget’s developmental theory is based on what concept?
a child’s attempt to reach a balance between what he encounters in the environment and what cognitive structures he brings to the situation (equilibration)
What is one way through which children attempt to reach equilibration, according to Piaget’s theory?
assimilation- understanding new information based on a pre-exisiting schema
Assimilation involves incorporating new ideas into already-existing mental representations, or __________.
schemas
What process must a child undergo when faced with information that does not easily fit into an existing schema?
accommodation
What are Piaget’s stages of development?
- sensorimotor
- pre-operational
- concrete operational
- formal operational
Reflexive reactions and circular reactions (repeated behaviors through which the infant manipulates the environment) are typical in which of Piaget’s stages of development?
sensorimotor stage
The pre-operational stage of Piaget’s theory of development is characterized by the shift to __________, the ability to use words to substitute for objects.
symbolic thinking
What two important concepts appear during Piaget’s concrete operational stage?
- reversibility
- conservation
Define:
Reversibility
This is the understanding that many mathematical and practical operations can be reversed.
If I have a set amount of water that I pour into different sized glasses, a child in the concrete operational stage of Piaget’s theory of development will understand that the amount of water has not changed just because it was arranged differently.
This demonstrates the child’s understanding of what concept?
conservation
Which stage in Piaget’s stages of development is characterized by the presence of theoretical thinking?
formal operational stage
If a toy disappears from a child’s field of view, the child will continue to look for it. This exemplifies the development of which process during the sensorimotor stage?
object permanence
The inability to see the world from anyone else’s point of view is __________.
egocentrism
If your nephew believes that his stuffed animal is alive, he is subscribing to what belief, found in Piaget’s pre-operational stage?
animism
What two abilities does a child at Piaget’s formal operational stage acquire?
- metacognition
- hypothetical reasoning
What are the six basic things to know about Piaget?
- the child’s interaction with the physical world leads to logical cognition
- he has a stage theory and going through the stages leads to qualitative changes in the way you reason
- universal: everyone develops the same way and culture has only a small role
- the mind is active
- functional part of his theory has assimilation and accommodation
- structural part of his theory has schemes and operations
What is metacognition?
the ability to recognize one’s cognitive processes and change or adapt those processes if necessary
The opposite of egocentrism, __________, develops around age 4 and allows children to understand that other people see the world differently than they do, such as being able to recognize that a fictional character in a situation may not have the same understanding of a situation as they do.
the theory of mind
How do psychologists test theory of mind?
false-belief task
Who was the theorist responsible for stressing social factors as critical for developmental processes?
Lev Vygotsky
What is internalization?
Internalization is the absorption of knowledge into the self from environmental and social contexts.
According to Vygotsky, the __________ is the range between the developed level of ability that a child displays and the potential level of ability of which the child is capable.
zone of proximal development
Vygotsky proposed that a child realizes his potential through a process that allows him to move across the zone of proximal development by being helped by a peer. Name this process.
scaffolding