Unit 9: Developmental Psychology Flashcards
(32 cards)
What are the 3 major issues examined by developmental psych?
Nature v. Nurture
Continuity v. Stages
Stability v. Change
Difference between nature/nurture
Nature= inheritance
Nurture= Experiences
“Nurture works on what nature provides”
What kind of development did Piaget study?
Cognitive development
What kind of development did Lawrence Kohlberg study?
Moral development
What kind of development did Erik Erikson study?
Psychosocial development
What is conception? How does it occur?
The process by which humans reproduce.
- Woman’s ovary releases a mature egg
- Men’s sperm merges w/ egg
Define zygote
A fertilized egg that enters a 2 week period of rapid cell division + develops into an embryo.
Less than 50% survive past 2 wks
What are the stages that follow a zygote in the prenatal stages of development?
- 10 days after conception, zygote attaches to mother’s uterine wall.
- Zygote inner cells become an embryo
- Zygote outer cells become placenta
- Within 6 wks the organs begin to form + function
What is FAS and its effects?
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
Caused by pregnant woman drinking alcohol
Results in physical/cognitive abnormalities in children
What is the rooting reflex?
When something touches babies cheeks, they turn toward that, open their mouth and vigorously root for a nipple.
What did psych. find about babies face preferences?
They rather stare at images that resemble a face than random things.
What did psych. find about babies face preferences?
They rather stare at images that resemble a face than random things.
What does smell have to do w/ others and their infants?
Days after birth our brain’s neural networks are stamped w/ smell of mothers body. Babies begin to prefer mother’s smell.
What is the use it or lose it pruning process?
If you don’t actively use info, unused links are shut down while others are strengthen bc they are used.
What is the back-2-sleep position and its affect on crawling/walking?
Babies that sleep on backs reduce risk of crib death by suffocation.
Makes babies crawl later than usual
No effect on walking
What is infantile amnesia and @ what age are you likely 2 remember things?
The inability to accurately recall things before 3 yrs old.
What parts of the brain are responsible for infantile amnesia?
Hippocampus and frontal lobes, they become mature enough to remember @ 3.5 years old
What are Piaget’s core ideas?
Children reason diff. than adults
Our driving force behind our intellectual progression is a never ending struggle 2 make sense of our experiences.
Define schemas
Concepts/ mental molds where we pour our experiences into.
Define assimilate
Interpret new experiences in terms of current understandings (schemas)
Define accommodate
Adjusting/ adapting current understandings 2 include new info.
How many stages of cognitive development are there according to Piaget?
4 Sensorimotor Preoperational Concrete Operational Formal Operational
Describe the sensorimotor stage
- Birth-2 yrs
- Babies take in world through senses/actions (looking hearing, etc)
Describe the preoperational stage
- 2yrs- 6/7 yrs
- Children learn 2 use language but do not yet understand mental operations of concrete logic.
