Unit 6: Developmental Psychology Flashcards
(40 cards)
Describe the development of twins.
Identical Twins: develop from a single fertilized egg, creating two genetically identical organisms (100% shared genes). Share the same set of genes, a similar prenatal environment, and usually the same family and culture after birth.
Fraternal Twins: develop from two separate fertilized eggs. Genetically no closer than brothers and sisters (50% shared genes), but they share the same prenatal environment and usually the same family and social-cultural environment after birth.
What is epigenetics?
Epigenetics: the environment acts on the surface of genes to alter their activity/
What is pruning?
After brain maturation provides us with an abundance of neural connections, experience preserves our activated connections while allowing our unused connections to degenerate in a process known as pruning. Though this pruning process is most evident in the brains of young children, growth and pruning of synapses continues throughout life.
What is gender and sex?
Gender in psychology, refers to the socially influenced characteristics by which people define MEN and WOMEN. Sex in psychology, refers to the biologically influenced characteristics by which people define male and female.
What makes us male or female?
It begins with whether our 23rd pair of chromosomes looks like XX (female) or Xy (male). Testes develop, and at seven weeks, the testes produce a flood of testosterone. Hormones then guide the development of external sex organs.
What is social learning theory?
Social Learning Theory: Theory proposed by Albert Bandura, which assumes that children learn gender roles through observation and imitation, as well as through reinforcement and punishment.
List some biological influences on personal development.
- Shared human genome
- Individual genetic variations
- Prenatal environment
- Sex-related genes, hormones, and physiology
List some psychological influences on personal development.
- Gene-environment interaction
- Neurological effect of early experiences
- Responses evoked by our own temperament, gender, etc.
- Beliefs, feelings, and expectations
What is gene-environment interaction
Genes and environment interact in that genes can influence traits, which affect environmental responses, and environment can affect gene activity.
Example: A genetic predisposition that makes a child restless and hyperactive can evoke an angry response from his parents. A stressful environment can trigger genes to manufacture neurotransmitters leading to depression.
List some social-cultural influences on personal development.
- Parental influences
- Peer influences
- Cultural individualism or collectivism
- Cultural gender norms
What is conception?
Sperm and egg unite to bring genetic material together and form one organism: the zygote (fertilized cell).
What is an embryo?
The Embyro, 2 to 8 weeks:
- This stage begins with the multicellular cluster that implants in the uterine wall.
- Milestone of the implantation stage: differentiated cells develop into organs and bones
What is a fetus?
At nine weeks (about 2 months), hands and face have developed; the embryo is now called a fetus (“offspring”). At four months, many more features develop. Milestone of the fetal stage: by six months, the fetus might be able to survive outside the womb.
What are teratogens?
Teratogens (“monster makers”) are substances such as viruses and chemicals that can damage the developing embryo or fetus (Heroin, AIDS, Smoking).
What is fetal alcohol syndrome?
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) refers to cognitive, behavioral, and body/brain structure abnormalities caused by exposure to alcohol in the fetal stage. FAS is the leading cause of mental abnormalities.
What is the reflexes that (competent) newborns are born with?
Rooting reflex: when touched on the cheek, infants turn toward touch, open mouth, and search for the nipple
Sucking reflex: infants can suck, breathe air, and swallow twice in one second
Crying reflex: important signals for parents to provide nourishment and attention
What is habituation?
A simple form of infant learning in which responsiveness decreases with repeated stimulation to a visual stimulus. For instance, when infants are repeatedly exposed to a visual or auditory stimulus, such as colors, shapes, and sounds, the stimulus becomes familiar, they lose interest, and they begin to look away sooner.
What is the sequence of motor development?
Roll-Sit-Crawl-Walk-Run
6mts - Sitting unsupported
8-9mts - Crawling
12mts - Beginning to walk
15mts - Walking independently
What are schemas?
Mental molds or conceptual frameworks for understanding our experiences. Example: Our schema for a chair is a four-legged object usually with a back that we can sit in.
What is assimilation (in psychology)?
The process of incorporating new experiences into our current understanding (schema). Example: An infant constructs a schema for a dog as a four-legged animal. The infant assimilates her new experiences with other four-legged animals and calls all four-legged animals “doggies”.
What is accommodation?
The process of adjusting or adapting a schema and modifying it. Example: The infant then learns from experience that her original schema for “dog” was too broad and she accommodates the category for dogs by distinguishing between the heads of four-legged animals.
What are Jean Piaget’s stages of cognitive development?
Sensorimotor - Birth to nearly 2 yrs
Preoperational - 2 to about 6 or 7 yrs
Concrete operational - About 7 to 11 yrs
Formal operational - About 12 through adulthood
What is the sensorimotor stage of cognitive development?
Sensorimotor Stage: (birth - 2) children experience the world through their senses and actions
a. Object permanence- (8 mo.) when an object is out of sight, it still exists
b. Stranger anxiety- (8 mo.) fear of strangers
What is the preoperational stage of cognitive development?
Preoperational Stage: (age 2 - 6) children use words and pretend play, as well as intuitive reasoning rather than logical reasoning to understand the world
a. No concept of conservation- properties (mass, volume, etc.) stay the same despite changes in the form of the object
b. Exhibit Egocentrism- children perceive things from one’s own and not another’s point of view
c. Begin to develop Theory of Mind- inferring one’s or others’ mental states (feelings, perceptions, thoughts)
