Unit 1: Fundamentals and basics of the psychology of human development

Question 1

What does the discipline of developmental psychology do?

Answer 1

describes and explains changes occurring in:
- thought
- behaviour
- reasoning
- functioning

Question 2

What kind of influences does developmental psychology focus on?

Answer 2

biological
individual
environmental
-> across lifespan

Question 3

What kind of perspectives are changes studied through?

Answer 3

all areas of psychology in different developmental stages

Question 4

Which other fields address changes ?

Answer 4

Psychotherapy
Learning psychology
Psychobiology

Question 5

What are some additional features in dev. psychology?

Answer 5

Changes normative or quasi-normative
changes related to age or life span

Question 6

normative

Answer 6

sth that happens to vast majority of people

Question 7

Quasi-normative

Answer 7

sth that’s very common but not inherent

Question 8

What does idiosyncratic mean?

Answer 8

related to individuals

Question 9

What are the objectives in developmental psychology?

Answer 9

Describe evolution of human behaviour in each stage of development
Identify processes that produce changes between stages of development

Question 10

What does Developmental Psychology (DP) refer to?

Answer 10

periods/ stages of human development

Question 11

Which stages are there?

Answer 11

Prenatal stage
Early childhood: 0-2
Years prior to compulsory schooling: 2-6 years
Primary school years: 6-12
Adolescence: 12-end of second decade
Maturity/adulthood: 20-65/70
Elderly/old age: from 65/70

Question 12

Which interconnected domains are needed to study human development?

Answer 12

Biosocial development
Cognitive development
Psychosocial development

Question 13

What’s included in biosocial development? (physical, sensorimotor)

Answer 13

Growth and changes in the body
Genetic, nutritional and health factors affecting growth and change
Acquisition of motor skills

Question 14

What does cognitive development include?

Answer 14

development of cognitive processes and intellectual skills
development of ability to think about environment (e.g. perception, imagination and judgement)

Question 15

Psychosocial (socioemotional) development

Answer 15

development and stability of emotions, temperament, personality and social skills
-> Large role of friends, family and larger society

Question 16

What does the concept of growth describe?

Answer 16

Progressive change in size of body and body parts
-> quantitative

Question 17

What does the concept of maturation describe?

Answer 17

Unfolding of genetically programmed sequence of events
-> qualitative

Question 18

Does growth rate stay consistent? (in the individual as a whole across all stages of development)

Answer 18

No
-> Babies: rapid growth during first 2 years
-> 4-6 months: double weight
-> 1 year: triple weight
-> 2 years: quadruple weight
From 2 years until puberty: gain of 5-8 cm and 2.5-3 kg each year

Question 19

How can the development of the body proceed?

Answer 19

Cephalocaudal
Proximodistal

Question 20

Cephalocaudal development (growth)

Answer 20

head downwards
At birth: head 1/4 of body length
Trunk grows fastest during first year
1- adolescence: legs grow rapidly (60% increase in height)
Adolescence: legs and trunk grow rapidly

Question 21

How much do legs and head account for during adulthood?

Answer 21

legs: 50% of height
head: 12%

Question 22

Proximodistal development of the body

Answer 22

prenatal: chest and internal organs form first, then limbs, then hands and feet
Infancy and childhood: arms and legs grow faster than hands and feet
Just before puberty: reverses
-> hands and feet reach adult proportions first

Question 23

What are skeletal structures during prenatal development?

Answer 23

soft cartilage
-> gradually ossify into bony material

Question 24

Can bones support postures right after birth?

Answer 24

No

Question 25

What does the neonate skull consist of?

Answer 25

several soft bones -> can be compressed to pass through cervix and birth canal

Question 26

What are the skull bones separated by?

Answer 26

fontanelles/fontanels (soft spots)

Question 27

When is the fused cranium fully formed?

Answer 27

at around 2 years

Question 28

Why do the structures between each bone of the cranium stay flexible for such a long time after birth?

Answer 28

to allow cranium to grow with the developing brain

Question 29

Which are the skeletal structures that ossify first?

Answer 29

skull and hands

Question 30

When is skeletal development approximately completed?

Answer 30

18

Question 31

Muscular development

Answer 31

At birth: muscle tissue 35% water -> 18-24% total body weight Mature shortly after birth -> cellular fluid in muscle tissue acquires more proteins and salt

Question 32

Which direction does muscle development proceed in?

Answer 32

cephalocaudal

Question 33

What is the growth spurt?

Answer 33

the acceleration of growth in adolescence (after gradual growth in childhood)

Question 34

How does the CNS develop?

Answer 34

Begins with neural tube -> forms brain regions and spinal cord through complex sequence of biological processes

Question 35

What did new results show regarding neuron regeneration?

Answer 35

can be formed in hippocampus and olfactory bulb

Question 36

Are synaptic connections always changing?

Answer 36

yes

Question 37

Which brain structures evolve the fastest after birth?

Answer 37

Sub-cortical responsible for consciousness and regulation of biological functions

Question 38

Which are the structures within the cerebral cortex developing the fastest?

Answer 38

Primary motor and sensory areas

Question 39

What does development of the cerebral cortex allow the neonates to do?

Answer 39

over-ride primitive reflexes

Question 40

Which environmental factors are there?

Answer 40

Physical: climate, geography, nutrition, etc. Cultural: Social organisation, religion, etc. Psychosocial: stimulation (how enriching is env.), education, etc.

Question 41

What principally dictates development according to traditional views?

Answer 41

The environment

Question 42

What does Gesell's maturation theory say about development?

Answer 42

physical and psychological changes occur because they are biologically and genetically determined -> born with developmental clock dictating developmental changes -> Stages mainly reached because of genetic makeup

Question 43

What does behavioural genetics try to do?

Answer 43

Determine extent to which behaviour/ characteristics are influenced by genes, environment or both

Question 44

How is the main focus of behavioural genetics studied?

Answer 44

Family studies

Question 45

Whats the main assumption in family studies?

Answer 45

if genetics control characteristics -> similarity of characteristics should increase the more genes people share

Question 46

How does a twin design work?

Answer 46

Are monozygotic twins more similar in a trait than dizygotic twins If twins live together they should be exposed to same environment -> similarities and differences can be attributed to genes

Question 46

How does adoption design work?

Answer 46

Focus: characteristics of adopted child (genetically unrelated to adoptive family) Who are they more similar to?

Question 47

How can family studies help us understand the extent to which various abilities and behaviours are influenced by the environment?

Answer 47

Comparing monozygotic twins raised in same environment compared to ones raised in separate environments -> Share 100% genes -> Twins raised apart less similar in a trait compared to twins raised together -> heavy environmental influence

Question 48

Which calculations are typically carried out to determine the extent to which genes and the environment account for differences?

Answer 48

Concordance rates Correlation coefficients

Question 49

Concordance rates

Answer 49

Percentages of pairs of people in which both members display a particular trait

Question 50

Correlation coefficients

Answer 50

More suited to study variables that cant be classified into different categories -> continous variables like weight, etc. indicate whether scores of children on a variable relate to scores of their twins

Question 51

Whats the correlation coefficient for IQ in identical twins?

Answer 51

0.86

Question 52

How do you mathematically measure how heritable a trait is?

Answer 52

Calculating difference between correlation coefficient of monozygotic twins vs. dizygotic twins -> heritability coefficient (H)

Question 53

Whats the formula to calculate H?

Answer 53

H = (r identical twins - fraternal twins) x 2

Question 54

H

Answer 54

ranges from 0.00 to + 1.00 -> estimates the amount of variation in an attribute due to hereditary factors

Question 55

When does genetic influence in mono- vs. dizygotic twins become observable?

Answer 55

by 18 months

Question 56

Which are some mental illnesses that are more influenced by genetics?

Answer 56

Schizophrenia Bipolar disorder Neurotic disorders

Question 57

Do people inherit behavioural disorders?

Answer 57

No, you inherit predispositions to develop disorders

Question 58

What did Waddington come up with?

Answer 58

Canalisation principle

Question 59

What does the canalisation principle state and what is canalisation?

Answer 59

genes influence some traits more than others canalisation: the extent to which genes limit/ restrict development to smaller number of outcomes

Question 60

Whats an example of a highly canalised trait?

Answer 60

babbling

Question 61

Who came up with the Range-of Reaction Principle?

Answer 61

Gottesman

Question 62

What does the range-of-reaction principle say?

Answer 62

Genes don't rigidly canalise behaviour -> establish range of possible behaviours/traits that the subject may develop due to environment genotype sets boundary on range of possible phenotypes

Question 63

Which perspectives about development exist?

Answer 63

continuity discontinuity

Question 64

Continuity perspective

Answer 64

human development additive process occurring gradually quantitative changes: subject possesses more or less of a characteristic with increasing development

Question 65

Discontinuity perspective

Answer 65

series of abrupt changes elevating the subject to more advanced level of functioning qualitative changes: changes fundamentally different from previous stages

Question 66

What do discontinuity theorists claim?

Answer 66

We progress through developmental stages with particular sets of abilities, emotions, etc.

Question 67

What are some important examples for contributions of discontinuity perspectivists?

Answer 67

Freud's psychosexual stages Eriksons psychosocial stages Piaget's stages of development