Unit 1 Definitions Flashcards
Yeha (30 cards)
Psychological Development
An individual’s changes in functioning across multiple domains, including the lifelong growth across emotional, cognitive and social domains.
Cognitive Development
The changes in thought processes that occur as we age. This includes more sophisticated production of thought and the ability to comprehend & organise info from the internal & external environment. Eg: Learning a 2nd Language
Emotional Development
The continuous, lifelong changes in skills that allow individuals to control, express & recognise emotions in an appropriate way. Eg: Recognising your your own emotions
Social Development
The lifelong changes in skills that allow individuals to effectively & appropriately interact with others. Eg: Learning how to have convos with others
Nature (Hereditary)
The transmission of characteristics from parents via genes at the time of conception. Eg: Hair & eye colour
Hereditary factors set a ‘blueprint’ for an individuals development
Nurture (Environment)
All the experiences, objects & events to which we are exposed throughout our entire lifetime. Eg: Childhood experience
Environmental factors determine the degree to which the plan actually unfolds.
The Biopsychosocial Model
A holistic, interdisciplinary framework for understanding the human experience in terms of the influence of biological, psychological & social factors.
The model helps to explain how the interaction of the factors influence overall health, wellbeing & development. Both positively & negatively.
Biological Factors
Internal genetic &/or physiologically based factors. Eg: Sleep, disease & nutrition
The factors can be innate, like genetic predispositions passed down from one’s parents or can happen later in life.
Psychological Factors
Internal factors pertaining to an individual’s mental processes, including their cognition, emotions, thoughts, beliefs & attitudes. Eg: Coping skills & self-esteem.
Everything that individual experiences within their mind.
Social Factors
External factors relating to an individual’s interactions with others & their external environment, including their relationships & community involvement. Eg: Attachment style & education
These can include close personal relationships & an individuals experience in greater society.
Mental Wellbeing
Refers to an individual’s current psychological state involving their ability to think, process info & regulate emotions.
They may have high or low levels of mental functioning depending on: Having stable mood patterns, resilience and day-to-day function
Attachment Theory
Refers to the strength of an emotional bond between an infant & their primary caregiver.
During infancy, the quality of this bond is a direct predictors of their emotional & social outcomes later in life.
The Strange Situation
In 1971, Mary Ainsworth tested & measured the quality of infants attachments to a specific caregiver, listing common ‘signal behaviours’
Type A - Avoidant Attachment
- Infants seem indifferent to their caregiver
- Rarely cried when left alone
- Showed lil interest upon caregivers return
Caregiver is often irritable & angry rather than affectionate, insensitive to childs needs
Type B - Secure Attachment
- Protests when caregiver leaves & searchs for them
- Responds with pleasure & excitement when caregiver returns
- Explored environment when caregiver was present
Child is confident caregiver will respond to their needs appropriately.
Type C - Anxious Attachment
- Exhibits great distress when left
- Unable to be easily calmed when caregiver returns
Caregiver is often insensitive & awkward with their infants, inconsistently responding to the infants needs
Harlow’s Contact Comfort Experiment
In the 1950s/60s, Harlow investigated the development of attachment bonds of monkeys & their mums.
Piaget’s 4 Stages of Cognitive Development
Stage 1 - Sensorimotor
Stage 2 - Preoperational
Stage 3 - Concrete Operational
Stage 4 - Formal Operational
Stage 1 - Sensorimotor
Years 0 to 2
- Understand object permanence
- Ability to perform goal directed behavior
- Concrete Thinking
Stage 2 - Preoperational
Years 2 to 7
- Understands reversibility of objects
- Centration no longer occurs
- Egocentrism no longer occurs
- Mainly Concrete Thinking with signs of Symbolic Thought developing
Stage 3 - Concrete Operational
Years 7 to 12
- Ability to perform simple math
- Understands conservation
- Can classify objects
- Concrete & Symbolic Thought
Stage 4 - Formal Operational
Years 12+
- Can produce abstract thought
- Understands hypothetical scenarios
- Can produce logical thought
- C&S fully developed
Maturation
Biologically programed process of growth, which has a fixed sequence & facilitates all aspects of our development as we grow from conception to adulthood.
Our brain has a developmental map (a timeline for developmental events to occur)
Critical Periods
The narrow, rigid developmental period in which a specific skill or function must be learnt. If the skills aren’t acquired in this time they may NEVER develop or MALADAPTIVE development
Eg: First Language
