Lifespan Development for Non-Majors Exam 2

behavior genetics

studies contributions of heredity (genes) and environment to differences in human traits and abilities.

twin and adoption studies

research approaches used to investigate how much traits and behavior are associated with genetic versus environmental influences.

passive heredity-environment correlation

parents pass down genes and create an environment that matches their children’s genetic traits.

• children inherit genetic tendencies from their parents,

• parents provide an environment that matches their own genetic tendencies

example: musically inclined parents usually have musically inclined children and they are likely to provide an environment rich in music for their children

evocative heredity-environment correlation

a child’s genetic traits cause people to respond to them in certain ways.

• child’s genetic tendencies elicit stimulation from the environment that supports a particular trait

• genes evoke environmental support

example: a happy, outgoing child elicits smiles and friendly responses from others

active (niche-picking) heredity-environment correlation

children choose environments and activities that match their genetic interests and talents.

• children actively seek out “niches” in their environment that reflects their own interests and talents and thus in accord with their genotype

examples: libraries, sports fields, and a store with musical instruments are examples of environmental niches children might seek out if they have intellectual interests in books, talent in sports, or musical talents, respectively

epigenetic view

development is shaped by the interaction between genes and the environment.

epigenetic view from family

• attachments to parents and siblings can be lifelong and serve as models for relationships in the wider world.

• family effects can be direct or indirect.

• parenting and relationships affect emotional and social development.

epigenetic view from SES (socioeconomic status)

• a combined indicator involving years of education, occupational prestige/skill, and income. These factors overlap but are not identical

• family income, education, and job status affect access to resources and opportunities

lower SES

associated with earlier parenting, larger family size, greater emphasis on obedience/politeness/neatness, more commands/criticism/punishment, and slower cognitive development.

Higher SES

associated in the slide comparison with later parenting, smaller family size, greater emphasis on curiosity/happiness/initiative, more stimulation/language/warmth/praise/freedom, and faster cognitive development. These are broad group-level patterns, not rules about every family.

epigenetic view from culture and subculture

• culture shapes family interaction and community settings.

• a subculture is a group whose beliefs and customs differ from those of the larger culture.

• beliefs, values, and traditions shape behavior and development.

epigenetic view from poverty

• earlier onset, greater depth, and longer duration are associated with more damaging effects

• include poorer lifelong physical health, cognitive/academic deficits, high-school dropout, mental illness, and antisocial behavior.

• can increase stress and limit access to education, healthcare, and other resources.

epigenetic view from affluence

• material wealth and advanced education do not guarantee supportive parenting

• possible risks including less emotional closeness and supervision, fewer serious consequences for misbehavior, poor academic achievement, substance use, anxiety, and depression.

• provides more resources but doesn’t always guarantee positive development.

epigenetic view from neighborhoods and schools

• disrupted community life, frequent moves, disordered parks/playgrounds, and lack of organized activities can undermine development

• strong family ties to the surrounding social context can reduce stress and improve adjustment.

• safe communities and good schools support healthy development.

nutrition

• breastfeeding is recommend during the first six months and,

• as foods are introduced, balancing protein, fiber, vitamins, and healthy fats while keeping sugar low.

harmful eating patterns

• skipping breakfast

• eating on the run

• consuming empty calories

• consuming excessive sugar.

anorexia nervosa

• self-starvation driven by a compulsive fear of gaining weight.

• untreated illness can be fatal.

bulimia nervosa

• compensatory behavior intended to prevent weight gain, such as vomiting, laxative use, excessive exercise, or fasting

• guilt, shame, and depression.

binge eating disorder (BED)

• repeatedly eating unusually large amounts of food while feeling unable to stop, without regularly trying to compensate afterward.

• binge episodes at least weekly for three months or longer without compensatory behaviors; associated with social-adjustment problems and severe emotional distress.

obesity

• condition involving excess body fat, influenced by genetics, environment, and socioeconomic factors.

• describe genetic, environmental, and socioeconomic factors as contributors

exercise

• in childhood/adolescence: supports large-muscle development and coordination; linked in the slides to lower later osteoporosis risk, fewer depressive symptoms, and higher academic achievement

• in adulthood: associated with lower incidence of major depression/anxiety and other chronic disease, prevention of muscle loss, and longevity.

substance

• smoking is tied to cancers and heart disease

• binge drinking to low academic achievement, fatal car accidents, and depression; adolescent marijuana use is linked in the slides to poor brain development.

sleep

• possible functions of sleep: recovery, memory, brain plasticity, and growth

• infant sleep predicts executive function at age four

• longer sleep: associated with better social skills/peer acceptance

• less sleep: poorer school readiness

• sleep problems are related to later alcohol use.

motor development

• learning and refining movement skills.

• mastering a skill requires active coordination of several components

• infants adapt movement by exploring possible ways to perform a task.

four contributors to a new skill

1. central nervous system development

2. the body’s movement capacities

3. the child’s goals

4. environmental supports.

reflex

• involuntary, nearly nearly immediate responses to stimulation

• helps infants respond adaptively to the environment.

• breathing, blinking, swallowing, and stepping.

rooting reflex

when the cheek is stroked, the infant turns toward the touched side.

sucking reflex

• sucking in response to an object placed in the mouth

• supports feeding before the infant has learned an association between nipple and food.

moro reflex

• startle response to sudden, intense noise or movement:

• the infant arches the back, throws the head back, and extends/flings the arms and legs.

• begins to disappear around 3–4 months

• absence or persistence may indicate a problem involving the brain or spinal cord.

grasping reflex

• touch to the palms or feet elicits a tight grasp.

• diminishes by the end of the third month, allowing more voluntary grasping.

gross-motor skills

large-muscle activities, such as crawling, standing, walking, running, jumping, hopping, catching, throwing, swinging, and riding.

fine-motor skills

finely, tuned movements, such as reaching, grasping, dressing, eating, drawing, and writing.

infancy fine-motor milestone

• 9 months 3 weeks; range 7–15 months: plays pat-a-cake

• 11–12 months; range 10–19 months: builds a two-cube tower

• 14 months; range 10–21 months: scribbles vigorously

early-childhood gross-motor progression

• Ages 2–3: jumps, hops, throws and catches with a rigid upper body; pushes a riding toy with feet and little steering.

• Ages 3–4: jumps/hops with more upper-body flexion; throws/catches with slight upper-body involvement; pedals and steers a tricycle.

• Ages 4–5: gallops and skips; throws with increased body rotation.

• Ages 5–6: mature throwing and catching; rides a bicycle with training wheels.

middle childhood (gross-motor skills and fine-motor skills)

• gross-motor skills improve in include flexibility, balance, agility, and force.

• fine-motor skills improve in handwriting and drawing details.

adulthood and aging (gross-motor skills and fine-motor skills)

• gross-motor movements may become slower, increasing fall risk.

• fine-motor skills usually change less, but conditions like carpal tunnel can affect them.

sensation

• detecting information through the senses.

• when information interacts with sensory receptors: eyes, ears, tongue, nostrils, and skin

perception

Interpreting what you sense.

habituation

• reduced response after repeated stimulation

• responding less to something after experiencing it repeatedly.

dishabituation

• recovery of a response after a change

• responding again when a familiar stimulus changes.

intermodal perception

• combining information from different senses, like seeing a person's lips move while hearing them speak.

• ability to experience multisensory input as an integrated whole.

• develops rapidly in the first year and helps infants process their physical and social world

vision at birth

• least developed sense.

• newborns initially focus best at close range and track interesting objects

vision in old age

close-up vision, night vision, motion judgment, and depth perception may decline.

hearing at birth

• develops before birth.

• newborns recognize voices, prefer their mother’s voice, and can distinguish speech sounds.

hearing with age

hearing may begin declining around age 40, especially for high-pitched sounds.

touch

babies respond to touch, use it to explore objects, recognize textures and shapes, and are sensitive to pain.

taste and smell

newborns prefer sweet tastes, recognize familiar smells, and can identify their mother by smell. smell often declines more than taste with age.

piaget’s view

• children actively build knowledge as they grow and think differently at different stages.

• intelligence is active, and constructive

• children’s mistakes can reveal the structure of their thinking at a particular developmental stage

• later thinking builds on earlier structures.

schema

• a mental framework used to organize knowledge.

• an action or mental representation that organizes knowledge

assimilation

• using existing knowledge to understand something new.

• interpreting a new experience using an existing schema.

accomodation

• changes schemas to include new information.

• changing existing knowledge to understand something new.

sensorimotor stage (birth-2 years)

• babies learn through their senses and movements.

• infants build schemes through sensory and motor exploration and develop object permanence

object permanence: knowing something still exists even when you can’t see it.

A-not-B error: baby looks for an object where it was previously found instead of where it was moved.

mental representation: thinking about something that isn’t present.

deferred imitation: copying an action after some time has passed.

make-believe play: pretending that something is real.

preoperational stage

• children use words, images, and drawings but show egocentrism, intuitive reasoning, animistic thinking, magical thinking, centration, and irreversibility.

symbolic function: thinking about objects that aren’t present.

egocentrism: difficulty seeing another person’s point of view.

collective monologues: children talk alongside each other without truly connecting their conversations.

intuitive thought: asking many questions and using basic reasoning.

animistic thinking: believing nonliving things are alive.

magical thinking: believing thoughts or human purposes cause physical events.

conservation: understanding that appearance changes don’t change the amount of something.

centration: focusing on only one feature of a situation.

irreversibility: difficulty mentally reversing an action.

concrete operational stage (7–11 years)

children think logically about real, concrete situations.

• decentration: considering multiple features at once.

• reversibility: understanding that an action can be mentally reversed.

• seriation: arranging things in order, such as shortest to tallest.

• transitive inference: figuring out relationships between items, such as if A is taller than B and B is taller than C, then A is taller than C.

formal operational stage (12 years and older)

adolescents can think abstractly, logically, and about hypothetical situations.

• hypothetical-deductive reasoning: creating possible explanations and testing them systematically.

• propositional thought: judging whether statements are logical without needing real examples.

• adolescent egocentrism: feeling unusually self-conscious or believing others focus heavily on you.

• imaginary audience: believing everyone is watching or judging you.

• personal fable: believing your experiences are unique or that you are invulnerable.

critiques of piaget

• violation-of-expectation method: studies what babies know by seeing if they stare longer at surprising events.

• continuous development: thinking may improve gradually rather than in separate stages.

• culture and experience: thinking skills depend on culture, practice, guidance, and education. people may think better about familiar tasks, and schooling can help develop abstract thinking.

sociocultural cognitive theory

zone of proximal development (ZPD)

scaffolding

dialogue

private speech

inner speech

adult cognitive development:

adults may develop more practical, flexible, and context-aware thinking and become better at considering emotions.

piaget versus vygotsky

piaget: children learn by exploring and thinking independently. their thinking develops through stages.

vygotsky: children learn through social interaction, culture, language, and guidance from others.

piaget = stages; vygotsky = social learning.

information-processing theory

• explains how people take in, remember, and use information as their thinking skills improve.

• People manipulate information, monitor it, and develop strategies. Attention, memory, thinking, and metacognition become more efficient and sophisticated, enabling new behaviors and abilities.

processing speed

how quickly and efficiently someone takes in and processes information. it affects memory, language, and other abilities.

selective attention

focusing on important information while ignoring distractions.

divided attention

paying attention to multiple tasks at once.

sustained attention

staying focused for a long time.

executive attention

planning, staying on track, noticing mistakes, and correcting them.

joint attention

two people focusing on the same thing.

media multitasking

using multiple forms of media while doing another task, which can reduce focus and learning.

attention in late adulthood

sustained attention usually stays stable, selective attention changes very little, and divided attention declines the most, especially during difficult tasks.

memory

• keeping information over time and being able to remember it.

• memories can be inaccurate because we fill in gaps using past experiences.

infant memory / rovee-collier paradigm

• babies can remember experiences.

• 6-month-olds remembered for 1 week, while 18-month-olds remembered for 13 weeks.

infantile amnesia

• difficulty remembering events from before age 3.

• possible reasons include brain development, language development, and developing a sense of self.

implicit memory

remembering how to do things without consciously thinking about it

explicit memory

consciously remembering facts and experiences.

short-term memory

holds information for about 15–30 seconds without rehearsal.

working memory

a mental workspace for using and organizing information to solve problems, make decisions, and understand language.

long-term memory

stores information for a long time, with a very large capacity.

episodic memory

remembering personal events and when and where they happened.

semantic memory

remembering facts and general knowledge about the world.

memory in childhood/adolescence

• working and long-term memory capacities develop substantially; knowledge keeps growing.

• younger children are more likely to develop false memories.

memory in old age

• processing and retrieving memories can become slower, and finding words may take longer.

• normal age-related changes are different from changes caused by diseases.

executive function

mental skills that control attention, memory, and behavior to help you reach a goal.

inhibition

resisting impulses and ignoring distractions to stay focused.

stroop effect

difficulty ignoring an automatic response to focus on the correct answer (e.g., naming the ink color of a word instead of reading the word).

cognitive flexibility

changing your thinking or approach when a situation changes.

planning

thinking ahead, checking progress, and changing your strategy when needed.

executive function in adolescence

• these skills continue improving during adolescence.

• risk-taking may be influenced by impulsivity and social rewards, not just weak executive function.

• teens also differ from one another.

metacognition

thinking about and monitoring your own thinking.

social cognition

how we think about and understand other people and social situations.

theory of mind

understanding that other people have their own beliefs, feelings, desires, and intentions.

around age 1

babies recognize that people act intentionally and can influence each other.

around age 2

children better understand other people's emotions and desires.

around age 3

children understand that thinking happens in the mind but focus more on desires than beliefs.

around age 4

children understand that beliefs and desires influence behavior and that someone can have a false belief.

false-belief task

tests whether a child understands that someone else can believe something that is different from reality or what the child knows.

factors supporting theory of mind

language: talking about thoughts and feelings.

executive function: controlling impulses and planning.

make-believe play: pretending and imagining different perspectives.

social interaction: talking and interacting with other people.