AP Psych Chapter 9

definitions found in Myers, Psychology for AP 3E textbook . Module 45 (Flashcards 1-15) Module 46 (Flashcards 16-19) Module 47 (Flashcards 20-41) Module 48 (Flashcards 42-62) Module 49 (Flashcards 63-78) Module 50 (Flashcards 79-83) Module 51 (Flashcards 84-94) Module 52 (Flashcards 95-108) Module 53 (Flashcards 109-120) Module 54 (Flashcards 121-133)

Developmental Psychology

A branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social change throughout lifespan

Three Major Issues Developmental Psychology Focuses On

1. Nature and Nurture

2. Continuity and Stages

3. Stability and Change

Nature and Nurture

We are not formed by either nature or nurture, but by their interrelationships — their interaction. Biological, psychological, and social-cultural forces interact.

NATURE: Genes predispose our shared humanity (same lifecycle) and our individual differences

NURTURE: Experiences form us.

Continuity and Stages

Stage theorists, who emphasize biological maturation tend to see development as a sequence of genetically predisposed stages or steps.

• Although progress through the various stages may be quick or slow, everyone passes through the stages in the same order.

• EX: Jean Piaget (Cognitive Development), Lawrence Kohlberg (Moral Development), Erik Erikson (Psychosocial Development)

Stability and Change

• Temperament (attitude) is stable

• Personality stabilizes as a person ages

• Social attitudes are less stable than temperament

  • Mostly affected during adolescence

Conception

One sperm cell unites with an egg cell to form a zygote

Zygote

The fertilized egg

• It enters a two week period of rapid cell division (germinal stage)

• Its inner cells develop into an embryo

• Its outer cells develop into a placenta

Embryo

The developing human organism from about two weeks after fertilization through the second month

Placenta

The life-link that transfers nutrients and oxygen to the baby in the womb

Fetus

The developing human organism from 9 weeks after conception to birth

• Responsive to sound by 6 months

Teratogens

Agents (i.e. chemicals, viruses) that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm

• Biggest reason why pregnant people are told NOT to drink or smoke, since it puts the baby’s (and their own) life at risk

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS)

Physical and cognitive abnormalities in children caused by a pregnant persons’ heavy drinking

• Signs: Small, unproportional head & abnormal facial features

Newborn Baby Abilities

• Withdraw limbs to escape pain

• Knowing how to eat, and how to react when the food is unsatisfying (aka crying)

• Startle Reflex: when arms and legs spread out, followed by fist clenching and loud crying

• Grasping Reflex: Helps infants stay close to caregivers

Habituation

Decreasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation.

As infants gain familiarity with repeated exposure to a stimulus, their interest wanes and they look away sooner.

Novelty-Preference Procedure

Babies are born with sensory equipment and reflexes that facilitate their survival and their social interactions with adults.

• EX: they quickly learn to discriminate their mother’s smell, and they prefer the sound of human voices.

Maturation

The orderly sequence of biological growth

• Relatively uninfluenced by experience

• Biological maturation (nature) sets the basic course of development; experience (nurture) adjusts it

Brain Development

1. Newborn brain is immature (newborns have the most brain cells a person will ever have)

2. Brain’s neural networks (that allow for movement & memory) have a rapid growth spurt

   • Explains why infant brains increase rapidly after in early days after birth

3. Rapid growth in frontal lobes from ages 3-6

4. Last cortical areas to develop are the brain’s association areas (linked with language, memory, and thinking)

Motor Development

• Babies first roll over, then sit unsupported and crawl before they walk

  • Motor development sequence is universal (with some exceptions) and its timing depends on genetics and culture

Infant Memory

• People have none to few conscious memories before age 4, since major parts of the brain haven’t matured yet

  • Although people may not be able to recall infant / toddler memories, the brain was still processing and storing info

Cognition

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

• What Jean Piaget spent his life studying

Jean Piaget’s Core Ideas (re: Cognitive Development)

1. Schema

2. Assimilation

3. Accommodation

• EX: 2 year old learns what a “doggy” is (schema). Baby sees a cat and calls it “doggy” (assimilation), but is told that the cat is called “cat”. After that, Baby accommodates her schema for four legged animals, and distinguishes cats from dogs.

• Grows more complex as people age / mature

Schema

A concept or framework that organizes and interprets information

• The first of Piaget’s ideas about Cognitive Development

Assimilation

Interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing schemas (a.k.a based on what we already know)

• The second of Piaget’s ideas about Cognitive Development

Accommodation

Adapting our current schemas (understandings) to incorporate new information

• The third of Piaget’s ideas about Cognitive Development

Jean Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development

1. Sensorimotor Stage

2. Preoperational Stage

3. Concrete Operational Stage

4. Formal Operational Stage

Sensorimotor Stage

FROM BIRTH TO 2 YEARS

The Cognitive Development stage in which infants know the world mostly in terms of their sensory impressions and motor activities (ex: looking, hearing, mouthing, grasping, etc.)

• From birth to 6 months, babies lack object permanence

Object Permanence

The awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived

• Part of the Sensorimotor Stage (lacking mainly with infants younger than 6 months)

  • EX: When playing Peek-a-Boo with an infant, if you cover your face, they may actually think you are not there!

Preoperational Stage

FROM 2 YEARS OLD TO 6-7 YEARS OLD

The Cognitive Development stage in which a child learns to use language but does not yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete logic (ex: using intuitive rather than logical reasoning)

• Before about age 6, children lack the concept of Conservation

• Symbolic Thinking (Pretend Play) develops during this stage

• Children during this stage are Egocentric, but develop a Theory of Mind

Conservation

The principle that properties (ex: mass, volume, and number) remain the same despite changes in shape

• EX: For a young child, when the milk is poured into a tall, narrow glass, it suddenly seems like “more” than when it was in the shorter, wider glass.

• Children develop this principle in Piaget’s Concrete Operational stage and lack it in the Preoperational stage

Symbolic Thinking (Pretend Play)

The use of symbols (e.g., words and images) and mental representations of objects or events to represent the world

• Piaget thought this skill developed in children when they were older, but research proves that children may develop it around 2 ½ to 3 years old

Egocentrism

The preoperational child’s (preschool age) difficulty in taking another person’s point of view

• EX: TV-watching preschoolers who block your view of the TV assume that you see what they see. They simply have not yet developed the ability to take another’s viewpoint.

• Apart of Piaget’s Preoperational Stage

Theory of Mind

People’s ideas about their own and others’ mental states (ex: about their feelings, perceptions, and thoughts, and the behaviors these three concepts might predict)

• EX: Children who can think about others come to understand what made a playmate angry, when a sibling will share, and what might make a parent buy a toy. They begin to tease, empathize, and persuade.

• Children begin developing this during Piaget’s Preoperational Stage

Concrete Operational Stage

FROM 7 YEARS OLD TO 11 YEARS OLD

The Cognitive Development stage in which children gain the mental operations that enable them to think logically about concrete events

• Children understand conservation in this stage

• Children understand mathematical transformations

  • 3 + 5 = 8, so 8 - 5 = 3

Formal Operational Stage

FROM 12 YEARS OLD AND ON

The Cognitive Development stage in which people begin to think logically about abstract concepts

• Children can ponder hypotheticals and their consequences (If this, then that)

• Children can now use Systematic Reasoning

• More potential for mature moral reasoning

Reflecting on Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development

Research supports the sequence Piaget proposed, but it also shows that young children are more capable, and their development is more continuous, than he believed

Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory of Cognitive Development

Lev Vygotsky studied how a child’s social interactions influences their cognitive development

• Language “provides building blocks for thinking”; Children talk to themselves and others to solve problems and control their behaviors

• Important Concepts: Scaffold and Zone of Proximal Development

Scaffold

A framework that offers children temporary support as they develop higher levels of thinking

• The framework comes from teaching children new words and mentoring them

• A part of Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory of Cognitive Development

Zone of Proximal Development

The zone between what a child can and can’t do; what a child can do with help 

• EX: When learning to ride a bike, the developmental zone is a child using training wheels

• A part of Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory of Cognitive Development

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

A disorder that appears in childhood and is marked by significant deficiencies in communication and social interaction, and by rigidly fixed interests and repetitive behaviors

• As a spectrum, people experience different severities of the disorder. Some function at a high level, while others struggle to use language.

Autistic Traits

• Difficulty inferring and remembering others’ feelings 

  • Impaired theory of mind makes it difficult to understand other’s perspectives

• Difficulty reading facial expressions

• Avoids or does not keep eye contact

• Fixed interests

• Repetitive behavior 

• Hyper / hypo-reactivity to sensory input 

Biological Influences on Autism

• Genetic influences

• Abnormal brain development

• Prenatal environment

  • Especially when altered by infection, drugs, or hormones

Stranger Anxiety

The fear of strangers that infants commonly display (Begins at 8 months)

• EX: Babies may cry when meeting strangers

Attachment

An emotional tie with another person

• Shown in young children by their seeking closeness to their caregiver and showing distress on separation

  • Powerful infant survival tool

Body Contact

Infants prefer soft, warm affection (physical touch > > >)

• Much parent-infant emotional communication occurs via touch (either soothing (snuggles) or arousing (tickles))

• FIRST STUDIED BY MARGARET AND HARRY HARLOW (they studied infant monkeys and their preferences)

Critical Period

An optimal period early in the life of an organism when exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces normal development

• Attachments based on familiarity form during this period

  • EX: For goslings, ducklings, or chicks, that period falls in the hours shortly after hatching, when the first moving object they see is normally their mother.

Imprinting

The process by which certain animals form strong attachments during early life

• EX: He wondered: What would ducklings do if he was the first

  moving creature they observed? What they did was follow him around: Everywhere that Konrad went, the ducks were sure to go.

Strange Situation

DESIGNED BY MARY AINSWORTH

A procedure for studying child-caregiver attachment; a child is placed in an unfamiliar environment while their caregiver leaves and then returns, and the child’s reactions are observed

• Infants either demonstrated secure attachment or insecure attachment

Secure Attachment

An attachment style demonstrated by infants who comfortably explore environments in the presence of their caregiver, show only temporary distress when the caregiver leaves, and find comfort in the caregiver’s return.

• These infant’s caregivers tended to be sensitive and responsive

• This was experimented on in Mary Ainsworth’s Strange Situation

Insecure Attachment

An attachment style demonstrated by infants who display either a clinging, anxious attachment or an avoidant attachment that resists closeness

• These infant’s caregivers tended to be insensitive and unresponsive

• This was experimented on in Mary Ainsworth’s Strange Situation

Temperament

A person’s characteristic emotional reactivity and intensity

• A contribution from the nature side of the nature v nurture debate

• Heredity affects temperament, temperament affects attachment style

Infant Separation Anxiety

Babies and toddlers often get clingy and cry if their caregivers leave them, even for a short time

• Peaks at 13 months, then gradually declines

Basic Trust

according to Erik Erikson, a sense that the world is predictable and trustworthy

• Said to be formed during infancy by appropriate experiences with responsive caregivers

• Early attachments during infancy are the foundation for our adult relationships and our comfort with affection and intimacy

Anxious Attachment

People who constantly crave acceptance but remain vigilant to signs of possible rejection

• An attachment style

  • In romantic relationships, this style creates constant concern over rejection, leading people to cling to their partners

Avoidant Attachment

People who experience discomfort getting close to others and try to maintain distance from others

• An attachment style

  • Decreases commitment, increases conflict

Effects of Child Abuse & Other Early Trauma

Children are very resilient, but those who are moved repeatedly, severely neglected by their parents, or otherwise prevented from forming attachments by an early age may be at risk for attachment issues

• Trauma may alter the brain, affecting our stress responses or leaving epigenetic marks

Self-Concept

All our thoughts and feelings about ourselves in answer to the question, “Who am I?”

• Develops for most children by age 12

  • At 15-18 months, kids can recognize themselves in the mirror

  • By school-age, kids can describe their own traits

  • By 8-10 years old, kids’ self-image is stable

    • Their view of themselves affects their actions

• Different from Self-Esteem (how we feel about who we are)

Four Main Parenting Styles

1. Authoritarian (coercive)

2. Permissive (unrestraining)

3. Negligent (uninvolved)

4. Authoritative (confrontive)

Authoritarian Parenting Style (coercive)

Parents who impose rules and expect obedience. Their word is final; they do not negotiate with their children

• EX: “Don’t interrupt.” “Keep your room clean.” “Don’t stay out late or you’ll be grounded.” “Why? Because I said so.”

• Associated with children who have lower self-esteem, less social skills, and a brain that overreacts to mistakes

Permissive Parenting Style (unrestraining)

Parents who make few demands, set few limits, and use little punishment

• Associated with children who are more aggressive and immature

Negligent Parenting Style (uninvolved)

Parents who are neither demanding nor responsive. They are careless, inattentive, and do not seek to have a close relationship with their children

• Associated with children with poor academics and social skills

Authoritative Parenting Style (confrontive)

Parents who are both demanding and responsive. They exert control by setting rules, but, especially with older children, they encourage open discussion and allow exceptions.

• Associated with children with higher self-esteem, self-reliance, self-regulation, and social competence

Child-Raising and Culture

Modern Western Culture: Children are encouraged to be indepedent

• Kids have their own bedrooms, go to day-care

Asian and African Cultures: Emotional Closeness is valued and a strong sense of family self is encouraged

• Emotional Closeness: Infants sleep with their mothers, spend their days close to family members

• Family Self: A feeling that what brings honors to the child honors the family, and what shames the child shames the family

Sex

In psychology, the biologically influenced characteristics by which people define male and female

Gender

In psychology, the socially influenced characteristics by which people define boy, girl, man, and woman

Similarities between Genders

• Receives 46 Chromosomes from parents

  • 23 from mom, 23 from dad

• Similar creativity, intelligence, and emotions

• Similar adaptive abilities

Differences between Genders

GIRLS

• Enters puberty about a year earlier

• Longer life-span

• Expresses emotions freely

• Twice the risk of developing depression and anxiety

• 10 times the risk of developing an eating disorder.

BOYS

• 4 times more likely to die by suicide or to develop an alcohol use disorder

• More likely to have autism spectrum disorder, color-deficient vision, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

• As an adult, more likely to have antisocial personality disorder

Aggression

Any physical or verbal behavior intended to harm someone physically or emotionally

• Men generally admit to this behavior, especially extreme physical violence

Relational Aggression

An act of aggression (physical or verbal) intended to harm a person’s relationship or social standing

• EX: Passing around hurtful gossip, shutting someone out of a social situation

• Women are slightly more likely to commit this behavior

Social Power

Men have more of it

• Their leadership style tends to be more directive, while women’s tend to be more democratic

• In their everyday behaviors and interactions, men tend to act more assertive and opinionated; women tend to act more supportive and apologetic

Contributors to Gender Bias in the Workplace

• Differences in male-female perception

  • Women are taken less seriously

• Compensation

  • Women usually receive less

• Family responsibility

  • More women are caregivers than men

Social Connectedness

Women are more interdependent, and they “tend and befriend” (look towards others for support)

Role

A set of expectations (norms) about a social position, defining how those in the position ought to behave

Gender Roles

A set of expected behaviors, attitudes, and traits for men or women

• Describes how others expect us to think, feel, and act

Gender Identity

Our sense of being male, female, some combination of the two, or neither

Social Learning Theory

The theory that we learn social behavior by observing and imitating and by being rewarded or punished

• EX: “Tatiana, you’re such a good mommy to your dolls”

• EX: “Big boys don’t cry, Armand.”

Gender Typing

The acquisition of a traditional masculine or feminine role

Androgyny

Displaying both traditional masculine and feminine psychological characteristics

• As adults, they are more adaptable. They are more flexible in their actions and in their career choices

• They tend to be more resilient and self-accepting, and they experience less depression

Transgender

An umbrella term describing people whose gender identity or expression differs from their birth-designated sex

How Early Experiences Modify The Brain

• When an infant is in an enriched environment, their brain develops faster

• Nature and Nurture work together to sculpt our synapses

  • Brain maturation provides us with an abundance of neural connections.

  • Experience—sights and smells, touches and tastes, music and movement—activates and strengthens some neural pathways while others weaken from disuse.

Pruning Process

Unused brain connections weaken and heavily used ones strengthen

• An important part of brain development in children

  • EX: If not exposed to language before turning 7, learning and mastering a language becomes near-to impossible)

Family / Parent’s Influence on Children

Family environment and parental expectations can affect children’s motivation and future success

Personality is (mostly) NOT a result of nurture

Peers’ Influence on Children

Children (tend to) try and fit in with their peers

• They’ll adopt their slang, habits, tastes, etc

Selection Effect

Kids seek out peers with similar attitudes and interests

Adolescence

The transition period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty to independence

• Barely exists in cultures where teenagers are already self-supporting

Puberty

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

Brain Changes During Adolescence

The brain’s frontal lobes mature and myelin growth increases during adolescence

In the early twenties: improved judgment, impulse control, and long-term planning

Kohlberg’s Levels of Moral Thinking

1. Preconventional morality (before age 9)

2. Conventional morality (early adolescence)

3. Postconventional morality (adolescence and beyond)

It’s very important to understand that the stage you’re in doesn’t depend on what you decide to do, it depends on why you decide to do it.

Criticism for Kohlberg’s Levels of Moral Thinking

Kohlberg’s critics have noted that his postconventional stage is culturally limited, appearing mostly among people from large societies that prize individualism

Preconventional morality (before age 9)

Self-interest in morality; obey rules to avoid punishment or gain concrete rewards

• EX: “If you save your dying wife, you’ll be a hero.”

• First Stage in Kohlberg’s Levels of Moral Thinking

Conventional morality (early adolescence)

Uphold laws and rules to gain social approval or maintain social order.

• EX: “If you steal the drug for them, everyone will think you’re a criminal.”

• Second Stage in Kohlberg’s Levels of Moral Thinking

Postconventional morality (adolescence and beyond)

Actions reflect belief in basic rights and self-defined ethical principles

• EX: “People have a right to live.”

• Third Stage in Kohlberg’s Levels of Moral Thinking

• Culturally limited stage; more prevalent in individualist or large societies

Moral Intuition

Psychologist Jonathan Haidt believes that much of our morality is rooted in “quick gut feelings, or effectively laden intuitions.”

• Emotions can dictate morality

Moral Action

Morality involves doing the right thing, and what we do also depends on social influences.

• Moral action feeds moral attitudes

Delay Gratification

Declining small rewards now for bigger rewards later

• Helps secure our future academic, vocational, and

  social success

Erik Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development

Theorist Erik Erikson (1963) contended that each stage of life has its own psychosocial task, a crisis that needs resolution

1. Infancy (Trust v Mistrust)

2. Toddlerhood (Autonomy v Shame & Doubt)

3. Preschool (Initiative v Guilt)

4. Elementary School (Competence v Inferiority)

5. Adolescence (Identity v Role Confusion)

6. Young Adulthood (Intimacy v Isolation)

7. Middle Adulthood (Generativity v Stagnation)

8. Late Adulthood (Integrity v Despair)

Infancy (Trust v Mistrust)

If needs are dependably met, infants (under 1 years) develop a sense of basic trust

• First stage in Erik Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development

Toddlerhood (Autonomy v Shame & Doubt)

Toddlers (1 to 3 years) learn to exercise their will and do things for themselves, or they doubt their abilities

• Second stage in Erik Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development

Preschool (Initiative v Guilt)

Preschoolers (3-6 years) learn to initiate tasks and carry out plans, or they feel guilty about their efforts to be independent

• Third stage in Erik Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development

Elementary School (Competence v Inferiority)

Children learn the pleasure of applying themselves to tasks, or they feel inferior

• Fourth stage in Erik Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development

Adolescence (Identity v Role Confusion)

Teenagers work at refining a sense of self by testing roles and then integrating them to form a single identity, or they become confused about who they are

• Fifth stage in Erik Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development

• Some teens form their identities early (adopt parents’ values and companies), while others adopt the identity of a peer group (ex: jocks, geeks, etc.)