Week 2-Chapter 5-Chapter Review-Developing Through The Life Span

Front 1

5-1
What three issues have engaged developmental psychologists?

Back 1

-Nature and nurture: How does our genetic inheritance(nature) interact with our experiences(nurture) to influence our development?
-Continuity and stages: What part of development are gradual and continuous? What parts change abruptly in separate stages?
-Stability and change: What parts of our traits persist through life? How do we change as we age?

Front 2

5-2
What is the course of prenatal development, and how do teratogens affect that development?

Back 2

-Fertilized egg, or zygote, attach to the uterine wall ten days after conception, where cells replicate into an embryo. Outer cells become the placenta.
-Over 6 weeks embryo's organs develop.
-At 9 weeks, the embryo develops into an identifiable human.
-38 weeks, neonate is born.

-Teratogens, agents that can damage an embryo or fetus by depressing activity in the central nervous system.

Front 3

5-3
What are some newborn abilities, and how do researchers explore infants' mental abilities?

Back 3

-Newborns have automatic reflex responses enabling them to breast feeding, adjust their head to avoid suffocation, withdrawl limbs, cry.

-Researchers use habituation-decrease in responding with repeated stimuli to minus the variable of reflex response to gauge their intellect.

Front 4

5-4
During infancy and childhood, how do the brain and motor skills develop?

Back 4

-Branching neural network enable you to walk, talk, and remember.
Age 3-6, rapid frontal lobe growth enables rational planning.
-Association areas linked to thinking, memory, and language are the last cortical areas to develop.
-Pruning process occurs at puberty when pathways for learning are shut down and used elsewhere.

Front 5

5-5
From the perspective of Piaget, Vygotsky, and today's researchers, how does a child's mind develop?

Back 5

-Piaget's ideas were based on the idea that intellectual progression is a struggle to make sense of our experiences. Brains build schemas; concepts or mental molds that build stronger based on experiences. He believed that children construct their understanding of the world while interacting with it; occurs in 4 stages: Sensorimotor stage: birth-2y.o. using senses and actions. Preoperational stage: words and images, using intuition rather than logic. Concrete operational: logical thinking. Formal Operation: Abstract reasoning

Vygotsky's theories states that child's mind develops through social experiences rather than the physical environment.

-Today's researchers see development as more continuous than Piaget did, but the sequence that he discovered has been confirmed by todays researchers.

Front 6

5-6
How do parent-infant attachment bond's form?

Back 6

-Attachment bonds were originally thought to be based on the need for nourishment; but research has shown that body contact, familiarity-repeated exposure, forms the bond.

Front 7

5-7
How have psychologist's studied attachment differences, and what have they learned?

Back 7

-Strange situation experiment in which infants are isolated from their mother, and upon return observing the infants reaction; accompanied with the mother's parenting. Infants show "secure attachment" when they act comfortable in a strange location when their mother is preisent; when the mother leaves, they become distressed. Other infants show insecure attachment: infant showed anxiety and avoidance of trusting relationships, less likely to explore their surroundings, and tend to cling to their mother.

-Psychologists have learned that sensitive, responsive mothers that responded appropriately to their infants exhibited secure attachment. The opposite is true with insecure attachment.

Front 8

5-8
Does childhood neglect, abuse, and family disruption affect children's attachments?

Back 8

-Most children become normal adults after childhood trauma.
-Some do not, carrying their trauma to the next generation, abused becomes abuser. Exhibit stronger startle response and hypersensitivity to angry faces. Increased risk for health problems, psychological disorders, substance abuse, depression, criminality.

Front 9

5-9
How does daycare affect children?

Back 9

-The quality of day care has the most significance. Children require warm, supportive interactions with adults they can learn to trust; in a safe, healthy, and stimulating environment

Front 10

5-10
How do children's self concepts develop?

Back 10

-Self concept is an understanding and assessment of who they are.
-Babies own actions provide clues to the beginning of their self awareness.
-15-18 months, they identify themselves in mirrors.
-School age, self concept develops: gender, group mentorship, psychological traits, and comparison with other children. Begin to choose which traits they want, and don't want.
-8-10 y.o. self image is stable.
-

Front 11

5-11
What are three parenting styles, and how to children's traits relate to them?

Back 11

-Authoritarian-impose rules and expect obedience-children tend to have less social skills and self-esteem.
-Permissive-submit to children's desires, little or no discipline-children are aggressive and immature.
-Authoritative-balance of the two.-highest self-esteem, self reliance, and social compitence.

Front 12

5-12
How is adolescents defined, and how do physical changes mark this period?

Back 12

-Adolescents is the transition time between child and adult.
-Sexual maturity, social achievements of independent adult. Puberty-sexual maturity from hormonal change resulting in menstruation, breasts, pubic hair for women. Pubic hair, ejaculation, voice change, growth for men. Pruning process occurs, brain cell connection increases, frontal lobe continues to develop, myelin increase resulting in improved judgement, impulse control, long term planning...maturity.

Front 13

5-13
How did Piaget, Kohlberg, and later researchers describe adolescent cognitive and moral development?

Back 13

-Piaget claimed "formal operations"-when adolescents achieve intellectual summit; abstract reaoning.
-They believed moral reasoning (the thinking that occurs as we consider right and wrong) guides moral action(; new research puts more emphasis on conscious and unconscious activity
having an effect.

-Kohlbergs research of moral reasoning concluded 3 levels of thinking; preconventional, conventional, and postconventional. Critics argue postconventional is culturally limited.
Haidt believed in "moral intuition", automatic response.
-Conclusion states that thinking, feeling, and doing the right thing are stressed to adolescents as the whole moral package.

Front 14

5-14
What are the social tasks and challenges of adolescents?

Back 14

-Adolescents task is to synthesize past, present, and future possibilities into a clearer sense of self. They seek a self definition and a social identity. Seek purpose-a desire to accomplish something personally meaningful that makes a difference to the world beyond oneself.
-Challenges include; self esteem, depression.
-Intimacy is both a task and a challenge; but with success, is a source of great pleasure.

Front 15

5-15
How do parents and peers influence adolescents?

Back 15

-Parental relationship have strong influence on adolescents. Close relationships with parents often result in healthier, happier teens that do well in school.
-Peer's influence is strong, "everybody's doing it". Peer exclusion can result in low self esteem, loneliness, and depression.

Front 16

5-16
What is emerging adulthood?

Back 16

-From 18 to mid twenties, adults who have not assumed full adult responsibilities and independence. Caused by later marriage, earlier onset of puberty, weaker child-parent bonds, and absent fathers.

Front 17

5-17
What physical changes occur during middle and late adulthood?

Back 17

-Aging causes gradual decline in fertility, decreased sexual activity.
-Late adulthood-most suseptible to disease, cells die without reproduction. eyes, immune system, memory, prone to psychological disorders such as dementia and alzheimer's disease.

Front 18

5-18
How does memory change with age?

Back 18

-Older people's prospective memory remains strong when past experiences or events trigger the memory, older people use lifetime of existing knowledge. Younger people can easily retrieve memory, or answer question quickly.
-Memory decline is most rapid the last 3-4 years of life during terminal decline.

Front 19

5-19
What themes and influences mark our social journey from early adulthood to death?

Back 19

-Significant events such as such as marriage, children, loss of a loved one, and a job.
-Midlife transition (crisis)-usually triggered by event, not age.
-Social clock initiate correctly-cultural time to get a job, married, etc.
-Chance event occurs- change your life path unexpectedly-romantic relationship, relocate for new job, etc.
-Two ideas that determine successful adulthood are intimacy and generativity (love and work)
-Successful relationship-couples success usually married after 20 and are well educated-successful relationship predicts happiness, sexual satisfaction, income, and physical and mental health, happy children; better parent-child relationships. Children grow up start absorbing money, time, energy, which challeged well-being. Children eventually leave home which can be difficult or satisfying.

Front 20

5-20
Do self confidence and self satisfaction vary with life stages?

Back 20

-Middle aged-sense of identity and self-esteem. Soon aging brings life challenges,body deterioration, loss of job, memory and energy fade, family and friends die or move away, fear of death.
-65 and over-have positive feelings, fewer problems with social relationships, less intense anger, stress, and worry.
-As we get older, emotions plateau. Not as angry, not as excited.

Front 21

5-21
A loved ones death triggers what range of reactions?

Back 21

-Expected death-grieving relatively short
-Sudden, unexpected death-year or more mourning followed by mild depression.
-Death of a child-psychiatric intervention.
-Mourning is culture dependent