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75 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Developmental Psychology |
The study of changes in behaviour and mental processes over time and the factors that influence the course of these changes |
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Nature |
Genetics Maturation |
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Nurture |
The environment in which we live |
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Qualitative Development |
Discontinuous development - a distinct developmental phase in which organisms behave, think or respond differently from before |
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Quantitative Development |
Continuous development - involves gradual increases in thinking or behaviour. (an accumulation of many small changes) |
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Critical Periods |
Points in development when an organism is extremely sensitive to environmental input making it easier for the organism to acquire certain brain functions and behaviours |
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Imprinting |
Konrad Lorenz found that goslings will connect with whatever goose-size moving stimuli they see most often during the first 36 hours of life |
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Sensitive periods |
Term used by current psychologists to describe periods of development. Damage can be mitigated by changing environmental conditions |
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Cross-Sectional Research (advantages/disadvantages) |
compares groups of different aged people to one another at a single point in time Advantage: quicker and convenient |
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Longitudinal Research (advantages/disadvantages) |
Studies the same group of individuals over multiple time points |
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Cohort-Seguential Design |
Combines cross-sectional and longitudinal designs |
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Genes |
Basic building blocks of out biological inheritance |
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Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) |
Molecules in which genetic information is enclosed |
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Chromosomes |
Strands of DNA. Each human has 46 chromosomes, distributed in pairs |
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Chromosome - ALLELE |
Variation of a gene |
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Chromosome - HOMOZYGOUS |
Both parents contribute the same genetic material for a particular trait |
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Chromosome - HETEROZYGOUS |
Parents contribute two different alleles to offspring |
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Genotype |
The sum total of all the genes that a person inherits (homozygous,heterozygous) |
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Phenotype |
The way in which the genes are actually expressed, or observed characteristics of the genes (if trait is expressed or not) |
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Dominant Recessive |
Dominant gene effects characteristic; the recessive gene has no effect (tongue rolling) |
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Codominant |
Both of the parents genes are expressed (blood type) |
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Mixture |
A mixture of the genetic coding is expressed (blended skin colour, eye shape) |
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Discrete traits |
The product of a single gene pair |
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Polygenic traits |
Involve the combined impact of multiple genes. Most behaviours are polygenetic |
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Germinal Period |
- 0-2 weeks - Starts with conception with egg being fertilized to for a zygote - Ends when blastocyst implants in the uterus |
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Period of the Embryo |
- 3-8 weeks - All the major organs develop during this time |
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Period of the Fetus |
- 9-40 weeks - Rapid growth |
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Teratogen |
Any substance that causes damage during the prenatal period, including some diseases. Depends on dose/heredity/age of fetus
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Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) |
Neurons do not properly form networks in the brain. Results in physical and facial deformities and intellectual disabilities |
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Cephalocaudal (infant growth trends) |
Growth from the top down (head grows faster than the torso and feet) |
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Proximodistal (infant growth trends) |
Growth from the inside out (torso grows faster than the arms and fingers)
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Sensory capabilities at birth - VISION |
Can clearly see objects 7-10 inches away Good colour vision develops at about 3 months |
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Sensory capabilities at birth - HEARING |
Fluid in the ears Can recognize mothers voice shortly after birth |
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Sensory capabilities at birth - TASTE, SMELL, TOUCH |
Highly developed at birth Prefers sweet tastes (breast milk is sweet) |
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Rooting reflex |
brush cheek and baby turns head toward breast and sucks |
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Grasping |
infant grasps adults finger and holds on
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Moro |
infant is lying on blanket, slap blanket on both sides of baby. infant flings arms outward and then inward in a hugging motion |
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Babinski |
stroke sole of infants food - toes spread apart |
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Two parts of infant brain development |
Rapid development of synaptic connections Synaptic pruning: the reduction of unused neural connections |
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Myelination |
The covering of a neuron with fatty deposits that speed up transmissions of neurons (like insulation) |
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Cognitive Development |
How thinking and reasoning changes over the course of time |
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Schemas |
Mental structures we use to organize information |
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Assimilation |
Putting new information into existing schema |
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Accommodation |
Creating new schemas for new information or majorly altering schemas |
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Equilibrium |
Mental balance, or when all information is organized into schemas |
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Object permanece |
the understanding that objects exist even when they cannot be seen |
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Operant conditioning |
The use of rewards |
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Habituation |
When an infant stops responding to the same stimulus if it is presented repeatedly |
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Temperament - EASY |
babies described as cheerful, regular in routines, such as eating and sleeping, and open to novelty |
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Temperament - DIFFICULT |
babies tend to be irritable and likely to have intensely negative reactions to changes or new situations |
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Temperament - SLOW-TO-WARM-UP |
Babies are less active and less responsive that EASY and DIFFICULT babies. Tend to withdraw in the face of change, but their withdrawal is not as sharply negative as those with difficult temperaments |
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Temperament - UNIQUE |
Babies show unique blends of characteristics from the other categories. For example, a child might be cautious in new situations but have regular routines and be relatively cheerful |
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Attachment |
Emotional bond an infant feels toward his or her caregiver |
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Secure attachment (60%) |
infant is moderately upset when mom leaves and happy when she returns |
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Insecure attachment - ANXIOUS/AVOIDANT (15%) |
shows little distress at separation, little joy at reunion |
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Insecure attachment - ANXIOUS/AMBIVALENT (10%) |
strong reaction to mothers absence, mixed emotions at reunion |
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Insecure attachment - DISORGANIZED/DISORIENTED (15%) |
mixture of avoid ant and resistant behaviours |
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Authoritarian (parenting) |
Parents place a high value on conformity - Child develops low self-esteem, anxious, unhappy, angry & aggressive |
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Permissive (parenting) |
Nurturing and accepting, but avoids making demands or imposing controls of any kind - Child is impulsive, disobedient, overly dependent on adults, low initiative |
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Uninvolved (parenting) |
Emotionally detached and depressed parent who has title time and energy to spare for children - Child is anxious, poop communication skills, antisocial behaviour |
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Authoritative (parenting) |
Nuring and accepting, but sets appropriate boundaries and expectations for the child - best parenting style. Child develops high self-esteem, cooperativeness, self-control, social maturity |
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Individualistic culture |
expect people to be self-reliant and self-achieving |
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Collectivist culture |
focus's of needs of the group |
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Reciprocal socialization |
How children's behaviours affect parenting styles |
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Preoperational Period (ages 2-7) |
Operations: a child's ability to hold an idea in his or her mind and mentally manipulate it Irreversability: preschoolers think changes in relationships happen in one direction only Lack conservation: the understanding that certain properties of an object (volume and number) remain the same despite changes in the outward appearance |
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Concrete Operational Period (ages 7-12) |
-Children able to talk about more complex relationships such as categorization, and cause and effect -Reversibility and conservation are mastered |
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Scaffolding |
a mentors step-by-step assistance (apprenticeship in learning) |
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Zone of proximal development |
The gap between what a child can learn on their own and what they can learn with the help from others
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Puberty |
Development of primary and secondary sex characteristics |
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Primary sex characteristics |
Ones that are part of the reproductive system (ovaries, penis, and testes) |
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Secondary sex characteristics |
Ones that are non-reproductive but important to gender identification (deepening of voice, development of breasts) |
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Cognitive Development |
Formal operational period (Piaget): Can think about ideas conceptually without needing concrete referents. - adolescent egocentrism, personal fable, and imaginary audience |
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Social and Emotional Developement |
Erik Erikson - developed stage theory of psychosocial development - eight stages of psychosocial development across the lifespan |
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Equifinality |
Individuals may start out from different places but through their life experiences they wind up functioning in similar ways |
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Multifinality |
Individuals can start from the same point yet wind up in many different psychological places |
