PSYCH 130 - Final Exam

nature vs. nurture

genetic factors vs. environmental factors (childhood, social, culture), both interact to shape developmental processes

plato

team nature, humans born with innate knowledge

aristotle

team nurture, knowledge acquired from experience

locke

children are born as a blank slate, strong role of parental input and discipline

rousseau

kids learn spontaneously from environment, less explicit input and instruction

Darwin

used observation to study child development, influenced attachment theory and learning mechanisms

the active child

kids shape their own development through what they pay attention to, eg. infant preference patterns

continuity vs. discontinuity

development as a continuous process vs. discontinuous stages, depends on perspective

mechanisms of change

how does change occur (neural, genetic, behavior, microbiome)

sociocultural context

circumstances influence development, Bronfrenbrenner’s Bioecological Model

Bronfrenbrenner’s Bioecological Model

kids influenced by the spheres that they live their lives in

microsystem

direct influence, parent-child, school

mesosystem

connections between people in microsystem, ex: parent teacher conference impacts school

exosystem

indirect environment and broader community

macrosystem

sociocultural values

chronosystem

changes over time in development, history

individual differences

development is universal and unique, individuals have unique genes

subjective treatment

someone always thinks they’re the favorite

objective treatment

someone is always treated like the favorite

research and children’s wellbeing

real world implications of developmental research

reliable

consistent across raters and time/number of tests

internal validity

measure what we think they are measuring

external validity

results generalized beyond the research population

cross sectional

subjects of different ages observed at the same time

longitudinal

same subjects observed over time at different ages

zygote

fertilized egg with 23 chromosomes from each parent

mitosis

cell divison resulting in 2 identical cells, 12 hours post conception

cell migration

cells move away from their point of origin

cell differentiation

cell location and genes influence what type of cell it becomes

apoptosis

programmed cell death, ex. cells between fingers die to reveal hands

embryo

3-8 weeks, inner cell mass → embryo, outer cell mass → amniotic sac and placenta

how does the inner mass become the embryo?

it folds into the ectoderm, mesoderm, and endoderm

ectoderm

hair, skin, nails

mesoderm

circulatory system, lungs, skeletal, muscular

endoderm

digestive, liver, pancreas, inner lung layers

fetus

9 weeks → birth, lots of growth

the 4th trimester

newborns need an external environment that mimics the womb, dependent on parents for survival

teratogens

enviornmental agents that can harm fetus, often during sensitive periods, dose-response relationship

fetal programming

late emergence of prenatal exposure effects

placenta

provides oxygen and nutrients to the baby and removes some waste, but not a perfect barrier

other risk factors for prenatal development

maternal age, nutrition, disease, maternal emotional state

what is life in the womb like

loud, light filtered through abdominal wall, maternal movements, umbilical cord, what mom eats seasons amniotic fluid

what can fetuses do in the womb

burping, swallowing, breathing, kicking, punching, rubbing face, sucking thumb

learning in the womb

newborns recognize rhymes/stories presented before birth, prefer familiar sounds, smells, tastes

WEIRD sample

western, educated, industrialized, rich, democratic: cultural context influences research on developmental milestones

integrated development

motor, social, learning all integrated

sensation

processing outside info via receptors in sense organs and brain

perception

organizing/interpreting sensory info about the world

motivated behavior

infants choose to touch/move, we can make inferences about their preferences

preferential looking

infants prefer looking at something over nothing, something novel over something familiar, high visual context, unique hues, motion, contours, mouth

habituation

infants respond to familiar stimuli less over time

perceptual constancy

objects perceived as constant size, shape, color despite physical differences in retinal image (evident in newborns)

object segregation

infants observe independent motion to decide whether 2 objects are separable

perceptual narrowing

babies are generalists regarding face perception at 6 months, but at 9 months are specialists for human faces

object permanence

knowing something obstructed is still there

hearing

more developed than vision at birth

taste and smell

develop prenatally, preference for mom’s smell

touch

explore objects with their mouths, eventually turns into using hands

intermodal development

combining info from 2 or more senses

reflexes

pattern of action with adaptive significance, ex. rooting, sucking/swallowing, tonic neck

motor milestones

vary across cultures

affordances

infant discovery of relationship between body and environment, drives motor development

pre-reaching

clumsy swiping motion towards object’s general vicinity

learning through habituation

less attention to what’s familiar means more attention for new things

statistical learning

detect statistically predictable patterns in environment, notice when regularity is violated

classical conditioning

forming associations with unconditioned stimuli

operant conditioning

reinforcement and punishment

observational learning

learn through other people’s behavior, imitation

rational learning

use prior experiences to make predictions

active learning

driven by action

epigenetics

gene x environment interaction leading to a change in gene expression

transcription

DNA → mRNA

translation

mRNA → protein

methylation

methyl groups added to DNA, gene expression silences

parent genotype → child genotype

parents pass down genes to children

child genotype → child phenotype

genes impact expression of traits

child environment → child phenotype

one gene develops differently in different environments

child phenotype → child environment

interests and choices shape environment

child environment → child gene expression

environment affects phenotype, not genotype

heritable

characteristics of traits influenced by genes

multifactorial

affected by genes x environment interaction

frontal lobe

executive decision making, higher order functions

parietal lobe

spatial processing, integration across senses

occipital lobe

visual processing

temporal lobe

speech, language, emotion processing, auditory info

association areas

located between sensory and motor areas, processing and integrating input

neurogenesis

birth of new neurons

migration

neurons move to their locations in the brain

myelination

glia ensheath neurons in fat to increase speed

synaptogenesis

rapid formation of neuronal connections, some redundant

synaptic pruning

glia trim down useless connections → perceptual narrowing

experience-expectant development

species has predictable experiences, brain expects input from these experiences to develop certain skills, info already precoded into brain, but vulnerable if experience doesn’t happen

experience-dependent development

experiences unique to the individual, if the experience occurs during a sensitive period, the function will develop