Prof's midterm overview

Question 1

1. Three key processes that shape human development (biological, cognitive, and socioemotional) and how they interact

Answer 1

Biology explains our growth in our body; weight, height. Cognitive is how our brain develops. Socioemotional is how our emotions and society affect us. All contribute to our overall growth.

Question 2

2. Resilience and characteristics of resilient children (provide examples)

Answer 2

Maintaining confidence despite going through adverse situations. Good problem solving skills and independence.

Question 3

3. Differential susceptibility

Answer 3

Children will react differently to negative life events.

Question 4

4. Four prominent issues in developmental psychology

Answer 4

Nature vs nurture, continuity vs discontinuity, stability vs change, early vs later.

Question 5

5. Research methods and designs

Answer 5

Naturalistic observation. Longitudinal research vs cross sectional.

Question 6

6. Ethological theory

Answer 6

How evolution and biology affect development.

Question 7

7. Ecological theory

Answer 7

The effects of the environment in our development - bidirectional.

Question 8

8. Evolutionary theory: natural selection and adaptive behaviour

Answer 8

NS: only the strongest will survive
AB: we need to adapt

Question 9

9. Genes (genetic code, chromosomes, DNA)

Answer 9

Genetic code is all of our genes. Chromosomes are in the nucleus which holds our DNA. DNA contains short segments of genes.

Question 10

12. Dominant-recessive genes principle

Answer 10

Sometimes one gene is dominant and one is recessive, and the dominant gene will be the one passed down.

Question 10

10. Genotypes vs. phenotypes

Answer 10

Phenotypes are our personal characteristic, genotypes are our genes.

Question 10

11. Factors that can influence gene expression

Answer 10

Hormones and stress can turn on our genes.

Question 11

13. Gene-gene interaction studies

Answer 11

Looking at how 2 or more genes interact in terms of development.

Question 12

14. Chromosomal vs. gene-linked abnormalities

Answer 12

Chromosomal: down syndrome, fragile X syndrome, Turner syndrome (missing X), XYY syndrome (extra Y).
Gene-linked: cystic fibrosis, diabetes, huntington disease, spina bifida, sickle-cell anemia.

Question 13

15. Twin and adoption studies

Answer 13

We can see the importance of genes vs environment

Question 14

16. Shared vs. nonshared environmental experiences (provide examples)

Answer 14

A shared environment could be the home of two siblings, but their school would not be shared.

Question 15

17. Heredity-environment correlations

Answer 15

Active, evocative and passive

Question 16

18. Epigenetic view (gene x environment interaction studies)

Answer 16

Genes and environment are bidirectional.

Question 17

19. Periods of prenatal development

Answer 17

Germinal, embryonic and fetal. Germinal lasts 2 weeks, cell differentiation begins; blastocyst and trophoblast. Embryonic is 2-8 weeks, cell differentiation intensifies; blastocyst now embryo. Fetal period is 7 months.

Question 18

20. Organogenesis (concept and timing)

Answer 18

Happens during the embryonic period. Is the development of organs.

Question 19

21. Neuronal migration

Answer 19

When the neural tube has closed, there is an influx of neurons being produced. All these neurons move to their respective places; the brain.

Question 20

22. Birth defects associated with failure of neural tube closure

Answer 20

Spina bifida - paralysis in the lower limbs & anencephaly - highest regions of the brain do not develop.

Question 21

23. Teratogens and hazards to prenatal development (and their timing)

Answer 21

Any threats to the child before birth; smoking, alcohol, chemicals. Most sensitive during the embryonic period.

Question 22

24. Assessing the newborn (purpose of scales)

Answer 22

NBAS, NNNS. The Apgar scale is used right after birth. Scales allow physicians to assess the health of newborns and if they need immediate care.

Question 23

25. Labels given to newborns (low-birth-weight, preterm, small-for-date…)

Answer 23

Low birth weight is an underweight baby. Preterm means it was born 3 weeks or more before the due date. Small for date means the baby is small in comparison to others, but born at the right date.

Question 24

26. Interventions for at-risk newborns

Answer 24

They would use the NNNS scale.

Question 25

27. Body growth and change patterns

Answer 25

Cephalocaudal pattern: top-down Proximodistal pattern: centre-out

Question 26

28. Environmental factors that can influence onset and duration of puberty

Answer 26

Precocious puberty - family influence and stress can affect puberty.

Question 27

29. Function of neurons and glial cells

Answer 27

Neurons send electrical signals throughout the body, and glial cells provide support to neurons.

Question 28

30. Myelination and dendritic spreading

Answer 28

Myelination is where the axon of a neuron gets a coating of fat and protein. Dendritic spreading occurs when new connections are being made.

Question 29

31. Synaptic pruning

Answer 29

Dendritic connections are eliminated because they are not being used.

Question 30

33. The brain in infancy (role of early experience)

Answer 30

Children with a deprived environment have depressed brain activity. Experience stimulates brain plasticity.

Question 31

34. Brain growth in infancy, childhood, and adolescence

Answer 31

Vast changes in infancy for the frontal, temporal and parietal lobes. The brain still grows in adolescence, but with fewer, more selective neural connections.

Question 32

35. Plasticity in the brain (understand the concept and provide examples)

Answer 32

The brain can change in structure and function. Examples include learning a language, learning music, and knowing directions.

Question 33

36. Sleep patterns in infancy

Answer 33

Children should sleep on their backs, and get 16-17 hours of sleep. Half of which is REM.

Question 34

38. Major threats to children’s health

Answer 34

The two main causes of infant death are cancer and car accidents.

Question 35

39. Benefits of exercise in childhood and adolescence

Answer 35

Exercise leads to lower levels of metabolic disease, and increased cognitive skills.

Question 36

c. Six sensorimotor stages

Answer 36

Simple reflexes, primary circular reactions (repeating actions), secondary circular reactions (repeating actions because the bring pleasure), cooperating secondary reactions (putting together the action), tertiary circular reactions (using objects) and object permanence (understanding an object is still there even if you can’t see it).

Question 37

d. Two preoperational substages (symbolic function and intuitive thought)

Answer 37

Symbolic function is that the child understands the world using symbols, words, pictures. Intuitive thought is that their thinking becomes more logistical.

Question 38

e. Three mountains task

Answer 38

Can the child understand the perspective of someone else, or only see their own perspective?

Question 39

f. Limits of preoperational thought: centration and conservation

Answer 39

Centration: only focusing on one characteristic. Conservation: If a property of an object changes it is still the same object.

Question 40

g. Core knowledge approach

Answer 40

Children have domain specific innate knowledge systems.

Question 41

h. Violations of expectations research methods

Answer 41

Children will look longer at an object that has violated their expectations. This sheds light for children having expectations and understanding them.

Question 42

i. Criticisms of Piaget’s theory

Answer 42

Doesn’t look culturally. Does not give children credit for all their knowledge.

Question 43

42. Comparison of Piaget’s and Vygotsky’s theories (specifically focus on education and teaching implications- provide examples)

Answer 43

Piaget is cognitive and Vygotsky is social. Piaget states children should be constructivist, look at the child individually, and the classroom is exploratory. Vygotsky says use ZPD, take advantage of scaffolding.

Question 44

Habit

Answer 44

scheme based on a reflex that has separated from its eliciting stimulus.

Question 45

Intentionality

Answer 45

occurs during coordination period.

Question 46

Internalization of schemes

Answer 46

infant has ability to use primitive symbols.

Question 47

Operations

Answer 47

reversible mental actions.

Question 48

Horizontal decalage

Answer 48

similar abilities do not appear at the same time within a stage.

Question 49

Hypothetical deductive reasoning

Answer 49

Deduce the best path to use to solve a problem.