AP Psych - Dev. Psych

Unit 3

Developmental Psychology

A branch of psychology that studies the psychological growth and changes that occur throughout the lifespan, focusing on various factors such as cognition, emotional, and social development.

Chronological Order

The arrangement of events or developments in the order of their occurrence in time, often used in developmental psychology to track milestones across the lifespan.

Thematic Issues

Concerns in developmental psychology that explore different aspects of development across various contexts and populations.

Stability vs. Change

A thematic issue in developmental psychology concerning whether an individual's traits, characteristics, and behaviors remain consistent (stability) over time or if they evolve and transform (change) throughout the lifespan. It explores how much our early experiences and characteristics predict our later ones.

Nature vs. Nurture

A fundamental debate in psychology regarding the relative importance of genetic inheritance (nature) and environmental factors (nurture) in shaping human development and behavior.

Continuous vs. Discontinuous

A developmental psychology debate about whether development is a gradual, cumulative process (continuous, like a ramp) or occurs in distinct stages (discontinuous, like a set of stairs).

Longitudinal Study

A research method that involves observing and testing the same group of individuals repeatedly over an extended period to track developmental changes over time.

Cross-sectional Study

A research method that compares different age groups at a single point in time to infer age-related differences in development.

Teratogens

Agents, such as chemicals, viruses, or drugs, that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm, leading to birth defects or developmental abnormalities.

Factors that Influence Prenatal Development

Key factors include maternal nutrition, exposure to teratogens (drugs, alcohol, viruses), maternal stress, and environmental pollutants, all of which can significantly affect fetal growth and development.

Rooting Reflex

A newborn innate reflex where, when touched on the cheek, the baby turns its head toward the touch, opens its mouth, and searches for the nipple.

Gross Motor Skills

Large muscle movements that involve the torso, arms, and legs, such as crawling, walking, running, and jumping.

Fine Motor Skills

Small muscle movements that involve the hands, fingers, and toes, crucial for tasks like grasping objects, writing, drawing, and buttoning clothes.

Visual Cliff Experiment

A laboratory device for testing depth perception in infants and young animals, typically involving a glass-covered drop-off surface that appears as a cliff.

Critical Period

A specific time during development when an organism is most vulnerable to the absence of certain environmental stimuli or experiences, or when specific skills or abilities are most easily acquired. If a skill isn't developed during this period, it may be difficult or impossible to develop later.

Sensitive Period

A time during development when an organism is more receptive to certain kinds of environmental experiences, but unlike a critical period, the skill can still be learned later, though perhaps with more difficulty.

Imprinting

A rigid, species-specific learning process occurring during a critical period in early life, typically among certain birds, where a strong attachment is formed to the first moving object they see.

Primary Sex Characteristics

The body structures (ovaries, testes, and external genitalia) that make sexual reproduction possible.

Secondary Sex Characteristics

Non-reproductive sexual traits, such as breast and hip development in females, facial hair and deepened voice in males, and pubic and armpit hair in both sexes.

Impact on Abilities

Refers to how various developmental changes, such as aging or specific experiences, affect cognitive, physical, or social capabilities throughout the lifespan.

Crystallized Intelligence

Our accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase with age.

Fluid Intelligence

Our ability to reason speedily and abstractly; tends to decrease during late adulthood.

Dementia

A broad term for a decline in mental ability severe enough to interfere with daily life, often characterized by memory loss, communication problems, and impaired judgment.

Sensorimotor

In Piaget's theory, the first stage of cognitive development (from birth to about 2 years of age) during which infants know the world mostly in terms of their sensory impressions and motor activities.

Object Permanence

The awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived, a key developmental milestone in Piaget's sensorimotor stage.

Preoperational

In Piaget's theory, the second stage of cognitive development (from about 2 to 6 or 7 years of age) during which a child learns to use language but does not yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete logic.

Mental Symbols

The ability to use words, images, and gestures to represent objects and events that are not physically present, a hallmark of the preoperational stage.

Pretend Play

Symbolic play where children use objects or actions to represent other objects or actions, indicating the development of symbolic thought in the preoperational stage.

Conservation

The principle (which Piaget believed to be a part of concrete operational reasoning) that properties such as mass, volume, and number remain the same despite changes in the forms of objects.

Reversibility

The ability to mentally reverse an action or a series of steps, understanding that an operation can be undone or reversed to return to the original state, a characteristic of concrete operational thought.

Animism

The preoperational child's belief that inanimate objects have lifelike qualities, such as feelings and intentions.

Egocentrism

In Piaget's theory, the preoperational child's difficulty taking another's point of view.

Theory of Mind

People's ideas about their own and others' mental states—about their feelings, perceptions, and thoughts, and the behaviors these might predict. It develops during the preoperational stage.

Concrete Operational

In Piaget's theory, the third stage of cognitive development (from about 6 or 7 to 11 years of age) during which children gain the mental operations that enable them to think logically about concrete events.

Formal Operational

In Piaget's theory, the fourth and final stage of cognitive development (normally beginning about age 12) during which people begin to think logically about abstract concepts.

Abstract Thinking

The ability to consider concepts, ideas, and principles that are not concrete or tied to specific, tangible objects or events, characteristic of the formal operational stage.

Hypothetical Reasoning

The ability to think about hypothetical situations and systematically test possibilities, a key aspect of formal operational thought.

Lev Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development

Vygotsky's concept of the gap between what a learner can do independently and what they can achieve with the guidance and encouragement from a more skilled peer or adult.

Scaffolding

A teaching method in which a more knowledgeable person supports a learner by providing temporary assistance and guidance tailored to their needs, gradually reducing support as the learner gains competence.

Phonemes

The smallest distinctive sound units in a language.

Morphemes

The smallest units of meaning in a language, including prefixes and suffixes.

Semantics

The set of rules by which we derive meaning from morphemes, words, and sentences in a given language; also, the study of meaning.

Syntax

The rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences in a given language.

Cooing

Vowel-like sounds produced by infants around 2-4 months of age, often signaling contentment.

Babbling

An infant's spontaneous utterance of various sounds at about 4 months of age, not necessarily imitating adult speech, but containing many consonant-vowel combinations.

One-word

The stage of language development (roughly between 1 and 2 years old) where children use single words to convey complete thoughts (e.g., 'Mama' for 'I want Mama').

Telegraphic (Two word)

A child's early speech stage, in which a child speaks like a telegram—'go car'—using mostly nouns and verbs, and omitting 'auxiliary' words.

Overgeneralization

Applying grammar rules too broadly, often seen in young children's language acquisition (e.g., 'goed' instead of 'went', 'foots' instead of 'feet').

Ecological Systems Theory

Urie Bronfenbrenner's theory that views human development as a complex interplay between an individual and their environmental systems, including microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, and chronosystem.

Authoritarian

A parenting style characterized by strict rules, high demands, little warmth, and punitive discipline, often resulting in children who are obedient but may have lower self-esteem and social competence.

Authoritative

A parenting style characterized by setting clear rules and expectations, providing warmth and support, encouraging open communication, and using moderate discipline. This style is often associated with children who are self-reliant, socially competent, and have high self-esteem.

Permissive

A parenting style characterized by high warmth but low demands and little discipline, allowing children much freedom. This often results in children who may be aggressive, immature, and lack self-control.

Cultural Differences in Parenting

Variations in parenting practices, beliefs, and goals across different cultures, which can significantly influence child development outcomes.

Attachment

An emotional tie with another person; shown in young children by their seeking closeness to the caregiver and showing distress on separation.

Temperament

A person's characteristic emotional reactivity and intensity, largely biologically based, influencing their approach to the world and reactions to new situations.

Secure Attachment

An attachment style characterized by infants who confidently explore their environment in the presence of their caregiver, are distressed when the caregiver leaves, and are quickly comforted upon their return.

Insecure Attachment

Attachment styles (avoidant, anxious, disorganized) characterized by infants who are less likely to explore, are either indifferent to the caregiver's departure and return, or show extreme distress and resistance upon reunion.

Avoidant

An insecure attachment style where infants show little distress when the caregiver leaves and avoid or ignore them upon their return, appearing independent but internally stressed.

Anxious

Also known as ambivalent or resistant attachment, where infants are highly distressed when the caregiver leaves and resist comfort upon their return, showing a mix of clinging and angry behavior.

Disorganized

An insecure attachment style where infants display confused, dazed, or contradictory behaviors during separation and reunion, often associated with inconsistent or frightening caregiving.

Separation Anxiety

Emotional distress displayed by infants when separated from their primary caregiver, typically developing around 8-12 months of age.

Wire Monkey Experiment

Harry Harlow's classic studies demonstrating the importance of contact comfort over nourishment in the formation of attachment, using rhesus monkeys and

Microsystem

the immediate environment that directly influences an individual, including family, school, and peers.

• immediate environment

Mesosystem

the interconnections between different microsystems, such as the relationship between a child's home and school environments. It influences development through interactions across these settings.

• connections

Exosystem

a layer of environment that indirectly influences an individual, such as parents' workplaces, community services, and local government.

• indirect environment

Macrosystem

the overarching cultural and societal influences that shape an individual's development, including laws, customs, and economic conditions.

• social & cultural values

Chronosystem

the dimension of time that encompasses the changes and continuities in an individual's environment throughout their life, influencing their development.

• changes over time