AP Psychology: Development

Developmental Psychology

The study of the physical, cognitive, and social changes throughout the lifespan.

Three Big Issues of Developmental Psychology

Nature vs Nurture, Continuity vs Stages, Stability vs Change

Nature vs Nurture

How do our genetics inheritance (our nature) and our experience in our environment (the nurture we receive) affect our development.

Continuity vs Stages

Is development a gradual continuous process like riding an escalator, or does it proceed through a sequence of separate stages, like climbing a staircase?

Stability vs Change

Do our early personality traits persist through life, or do they change significantly as we age?

Zygote

The fertilized egg; it enters a 2-week period of rapid cell division and develops into an embryo

Embryo

The developing human organism from about 2 weeks following conception through the 2nd month

Fetus

The developing human organism from 9 weeks after conception to birth

Teratogens

Chemicals or viruses that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS)

Physical and cognitive abnormalities in children caused by a pregnant woman’s drinking (often heavy drinking)

Reflexes

Sucking, grasping, and rooting (a baby’s tendency when touched on the cheek, to open its mouth and search for a nipple)

^Maturation

Biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by the environment

Cognition

All mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating

Schema

According to Piaget, a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information. The lens through which we see and interpret the world around us

Assimilation

Interpreting one’s new experiences in terms of one’s existing schemas

Accommodation

Changing or adapting one’s current schemas to incorporate new information and experiences

Habituation

Decreasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation. As infants gain familiarity with repeated exposure of a visual stimulus, their interest wanes and they look away sooner.

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)

Traumatic experiences that impact development

Sensorimotor Stage, Preoperational Stage, Concrete Operational Stage, Formal Operational Stage

Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development

Sensorimotor Stage

The first stage in Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development

Sensorimotor Stage

The stage of Piaget’s theory of Cognitive Development during which infants know the world through their senses and motor activities

Object Permanence

The awareness that things continue to exist even when they cannot be perceived

Stranger Anxiety

The fear of strangers that infants commonly display, beginning by about 8 months of age

Birth to 2 years

Time period of the Sensorimotor Stage

Preoperational Stage

The second stage of Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development

Preoperational Stage

The stage of Piaget’s theory of Cognitive Development during which a child learns to use language but does not yet comprehend concrete logic.

Egocentrism

The inability of the preoperational child to take another person’s perspective or point of view

Theory of Mind

People’s ideas about their own and other people’s mental states. Children with autism have a very hard time understanding this

2 to 7 years

Time period of the Preoperational Stage

Concrete Operational Stage

The third stage of Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development

Concrete Operational Stage

The stage of Piaget’s theory of Cognitive Development during which children gain the mental operations that allow them to logically think about concrete events

Conservation

The principle that properties such as mass, volume, and number remain the same despite changes in the forms of the objects. This is realized during the Concrete operational Stage

7 to 11 years

Time period of the Concrete Operational Stage

Formal Operational Stage

The fourth and final stage of Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development

Formal Operational Stage

The stage of Piaget’s theory of Cognitive Development during which people begin to think logically about abstract events and develop the capacity for moral reasoning

Imaginary Audience

Teenagers believe that they are always on stage and everyone is always looking and thinking about them

Personal Fable

Teenagers believe that they are unique and invulnerable, when in reality, there are other people out there that are experiencing the same things

Begins at 12 years

Timer period of the Formal Operational Stage

Vygotsky’s sociocultural Theory of Cognitive Development

Placed greater emphasis on learning as a social process. States that cognitive development arises from interactions with more knowledgeable individuals, such as parents, teachers, and peers.

Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

The gap between what a learner can do independently and what they can achieve with guidance and support. Things in this category are things that people can do with guidance and support, but not independently.

Scaffolding

The process of providing temporary support to learners as they work within their ZPD.

Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory

Provides a framework for understanding how a person’s development is influenced by their surrounding environment. It emphasizes the interconnectedness of various environmental systems and their impact on individual growth.

Microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, chronosystem

The systems that are explored in Bronfenbrenner’s theory.

Microsystem

This is the immediate environment, including family, school, peers, and neighborhood. It involves direct interactions and relationships with the person studied.

• Part of Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory

Mesosystem

This involves the interactions between different microsystems. For example, the relationship between a child’s home and school life—how they interact and indirectly impact the studied subject, but the subject is still directly involved with.

• Part of Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory

Exosystem

This consists of settings that the individual does not directly participate in, but that still have an impact on their development. For example, a parent’s workplace.

• Part of Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory

Macrosystem

This encompasses the broader cultural values, beliefs, and laws that influence all other systems

• Part of Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory

Chronosystem

This represents the dimension of time, including life transitions and historical events, and their impact on development.

• Part of Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory

Attachment

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

Imprinting

As described by Lorenz, the process by which certain animals (not humans) form attachments during a critical period early in life. It is mainly seen in birds (I.e, a newly hatched chick will follow the first moving object it sees)

Critical Period

An optimal period shortly after birth when an organism’s exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces proper development

Authoritarian

Parenting style: parents who impose rules and expect unquestioned obedience

Permissive

Parenting style: parents who submit to their children’s desires, make few demands, nad use little punishment

Authoritative

Parenting style: parents who are both demanding and responsive. They exert control not only by setting rules and enforcing them but also by explaining the reasons and, especially with older children, encouraging open discussion and allowing exceptions to the rules when appropriate.

Neglectful

Parenting style: parents are emotionally detached and provide little to no guidance or support. They may neglect their children’s basic needs.

Puberty

The period of sexual maturation, during which a person becomes capable of reproducing

Primary Sex Characteristic

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

Secondary Sex Characteristics

Nonreproductive sexual characteristics, such as female breasts and hips, male voice quality, and body hair

Menarche

The first menstrual period

Cognitive Development

An important aspect of cognitive development in teens is the ability to form moral judgements. (just type Cognitive Development)

Identity

One’s sense of self; according to Erikson, the adolescent’s takes is to solidify a sense of self by testing and integrating various roles.

Intimacy

According to Erikson, the ability to form close, loving relationships; a primary developmental task in late adolescence and early adulthood

Menopause

The time of natural cessation of menstruation and decline in the woman’s ability to reproduce

Alzheimer’s Disease

A progressive, irreversible, and fatal brain disorder characterized by gradual deterioration of memory, reasoning, language, and physical functioning

Cross-sectional Studies

Researchers test and compare people of various ages. Early studies of this type showed as significant decline in intelligence as a person aged.

Longitudinal Studies

Researchers test and retest the same group of subjects over a long period of time. Studies of this type do not show a decline in intelligence and are likely more accurate than the cross-sectional studies

Crystallized Intelligence

Measured as verbal IQ: one’s accumulated knowledge and verbal skills

This tends to increase with age

Fluid Intelligence

Measures as non-verbal IQ: one’s ability to reason speedily and abstractly; it tends to decrease with age.

Generativity vs Stagnation

According to Erikson, people in middle age discover a sense of contributing to the world, usually through family or work, or they may feel a lack of purpose

Integrity vs Despair

When reflecting on his or her life, the older adult may feel a sense of satisfaction or failure.

Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance

5 stages in response to death and dying.

Language

Our spoken, written, or signed words and the ways we combine them to communicate meaning

Phoneme

In spoken language, the smallest distinctive sound unit

Morpheme

In language, the smallest unit that carries meaning; may be a word or part of a word (like a prefix)

Grammar

A system of rules that enables us to communicate with language and understand each other.

Semantics

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

Syntax

The rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences

Babbling Stage

Beginning at 3-4 months, the stage of speech development in which the infant spontaneously utters various sounds at first unrelated to the household language

One-word Stage

The stage in speech development, from about age 1 to age 2, during which a child speaks mostly in single words

Two-word Stage

Beginning at about age 2, the stage in speech development during which a child speaks mostly two-word statements.

Telegraphic Speech

Speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram—”go car”"—using mostly nouns and verbs and omitting “auxiliary words like “the” and “a”"

Skinner and Operant Conditioning

Skinner believed that we can explain language development with familiar behavioral principles, such as association (of the sights of things with the sounds of words); imitation (of the words and the syntax modeled by others); and reinforcement (with smiles and hugs when the child says something right). In other words, NURTURE plays the biggest role in the development of language

Chomsky and Inborn Universal Grammar

While linguist Noam Chomsky agreed that we do “learn” the language in which we are raised, he pointed out that children generate all sorts of sentences they have never heard and, therefore, could not be imitating. Additionally, many of the errors young children make result from overgeneralization of grammatical rules, such as adding -ed to make the past tense (e.g. “I holded the baby” or “I runned to the store”). They are certainly not imitating parents when they make those errors. syntax seems to be particularly “hard-wired”. You will not hear children say things like, “she an apple ate”.

Critical Periods

A period during development in which a particular skill or characteristics is believed to be most readily acquired

• Are the first hours after birth critical for parent-child bonding?

• Is the first year of f life critical for developing trust?

• Is it easier to learn a language before age 10?

Some aspects of development, such as prenatal development or language development, are closely tied to this.

Germinal Period

Period of time during pregnancy - first two weeks

Embryonic Period

Period of time during pregnancy - weeks 3 through 8

Fetal Period

Period of time during pregnancy - Two months until birth

Parental Influences on Development

Nutrition, anxiety, mother’s general health, maternal age, teratogens

Teratogens

Any agent that causes a birth defect:

• Exposure to radiation

• diseases, such as rubella, AIDS

• Chemicals, such as mercury

• Drugs taken by the mother

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

Cluster of defects occurring in infants born to mothers who drink heavily during pregnancy

• It is the leading cause of mental retardation

• Can be totally prevented by abstaining from alcohol during pregnancy

Movement and Large Objects

Infants are born with an immature visual system and can only detect ____ and _____ ______

• other senses function well on day 1 for small tiny children:

  • They will orient to sounds, turn away from unpleasant odors, prefer sweet to sour tastes

• Senses are keenly attuned to people, helping the infant quickly learn to differentiate between the mother and other humans

Reflex

An automatic, unlearned response

Rooting

Turning the head and opening the mouth in the direction of a touch on the cheek

Sucking

Sucking rhythmically in response to oral stimulation

Grasping

Curling the fingers around an object

Babinski

Fanning and curling the toes when the foot is stroked

Moro

Throwing the arms out, arching back and bringing the arms together as if to hold on to something

Infant

A human that is within the first year of age

Toddler

A human from the age of 1 to age of 3

Child

A human in the age range spanning from a toddler to a teen.