PSYB20 Developmental Psych Midterm1

methods, history, prenatal, and brain

What are the 4 aspects of development?

1. continuous and lifelong

2. a holistic process

3. plastic (affected by environment)

4. influenced by historical and cultural contexts

What do developmentalists try to do?

1. describe

2. explain

3. optimize

What are the 3 historical theories of development?

Original sin: kids are innately bad. need to be moulded by society (passive)

Innately pure: kids are good and society corrupts them (active)

Tabula Rasa: not innately good or bad. Experiences shape them (passive)

What are the 5 types of measurement?

1. self report (interviews, questionnaire, clinical method)

2. observational

3. case study

4. ethnography

5. psychophysiological

Cross section VS Longitudinal VS Sequential design?

Cross section is taking measures from different groups at a single point in time

Longitudinal designs track a single cohort over time, taking measurements at set intervals

Sequential designs take cohorts at staggered times and follow them longitudinally

What are the 4 ethics requirements?

Informed consent (or child assent)

protection from harm

benefits must outweigh costs

minimal risk when participating (not much more than avg day)

What are the 4 overarching debates in DevPsych?

1. continuous vs discontinuous

2. nature vs nurture

3. active vs passive (kid’s role in development)

4. segmented or holistic

What are the 3 characteristics of good theories?

1. Parsimonious (concise but explains a lot)

2. Heuristic (builds on past and can get built upon)

3. Falsifiable (can disprove using evidence)

Describe Id, Ego, and SuperEgo

Id: instinctual wants

SuperEgo: morals and guidelines from on-high

Ego: Mediates Id and SuperEgo

Describe the stages in Freud’s psychosexual theory

Oral (birth - 1)

Anal (1-3 years)

Phallic (3-6)

Latent (6-12)

Genital (12+)

Each stage represents how the child gets pleasure. Failure to gratify will lead to complexes and fixations.

Describe Erikson’s developmental theory

Trust VS mistrust (Birth - 1): rely on caregivers

Autonomy VS shame/doubt (1-3): learn to do things themselves

Initiative VS guilt (3-6): Try new things but not overstep

Industrious VS inferiority (6-12): get skills and be confident

Identity VS role confusion (12-20): figure out who you are

Intimacy VS isolation (20-40): establish meaningful relationships

Generativity VS Stagnation (40-65): meet your responsibilities

Ego Integrity VS despair (65+): reflecting on life

Each stage represents a conflict ppl go through. They must resolve the conflict (the positive option) to progress onto the next.

Who are the other 3 neo-freudians and why do we care?

Horney: challenged sex-based differences in development

Adler: Significance of siblings in early development

Sullivan: same-sex friendships prepare you for romantic relationships later on in life

Neo-Freudians downplay sexual instincts in development and highlight cultural and social factors

What is Ethology view on development?

It focuses on biological/evolutionary views on development.

• like natural selection influencing certain behaviours in infants

• based on studying humans like we do animals

Notion of “critical periods” and “sensitive periods”

Describe the Ecological Systems view on development

Microsystem: ppl you interact with frequently (mom, teacher)

Mesosystem: interactions between your microsystem

Exosystem: infrequent interactions OR directly influences microsystem

Macrosystem: directly influences exosystem (ideologies, customs, laws, etc)

Chronosystem: the time in which you grow up in also affects you

Define Mechanistic, Organismic, and Contextual world views

Mechanistic: ppl are like machines and behaviours are parts. ppl are passive agents and change due to outside influences

Organismic: ppl are more complex than the sum of their parts. ppl are active and driven by instinct/maturation. ppl are active agents

Contextual: complex interactions between person and environment. ppl are active, but so is the environment.

Describes the steps of Mitosis

1. Parent cell duplicates its 23 pairs of chromosomes

2. chromosomes pair up in the center of the cell

3. the duplicate chromosomes split off into 2 daughter cells

results in 2 copies of the parent cell

Describe the steps of Meiosis

1. Parent cell duplicates its chromosome pairs

2. the duplicate chromosomes line up as maternal and paternal

3. the maternal and paternal chromosomes cross-over

4. the pairs split off to form 2 cells

5. those 2 cells then split off again creating 4 total gametes

each gamete is unique set of 23 chromosomes

What is the difference between monozygotic and dizygotic twins

monozygote: 1 zygote turns into 2 babies. the babies have 100% of the same genes since they both came from same sperm and ovum

dizygote: 2 eggs were released at the same time and were fertilized by 2 different sperms

Compare Genotype and Phenotype

genotype: the genetic makeup someone inherits

phenotype: observable expression of genotype

what are the different kinds of relationships 2 alleles can have?

1. simple dom-recessive: the dominant allele completely dominates the relationship and wins the phenotype

2. co-dominant: 2 alleles both show equally as strongly at the same time

3. incomplete dominance: the dom fails to completely mask the recessive allele’s expression. Eg: Sickle cell trait

4. sex-based inheritance: when a trait is determined by the sex-chromosome. usually on X, so in males, the Y chromosome doesn’t have a corresponding allele and the one on the X wins out

Alleles can also just be homozygous (same type)

Explain epigenetics

our genes are fixed, but our gene expression can be modified.

the degree to which a trait is expressed can be altered by experiences.

methylation: can turn a gene OFF

but you can still pass it down to your kids bc germ cells are resistant to methylation

What are the 3 characteristics of prenatal development?

1. cephalocaudal (head down)

2. start out basic and then specialize

3. in order of importance for survival

What are the steps of the Germinal phase

goes from 0 - 2 weeks gestation

1. ovary releases egg into fallopian tube

2. within 1 day, a sperm travels up and fertilizes it

3. the sperm travels down the tube. by day 3, there’s 16-32 cells. it’s a blastocyst

4. cells will begin differentiating into embryonic disk and supporters by day 4-5

5. blastocyst will implant into uterine lining by day 8-14

only ½ zygotes will implant, and only ½ of those continue to develop

What are the 4 layers of the blastocyst's support?

ACPU:

Amnion: water balloon that encases the embryonic disk

Chorion: lining that surrounds the Amnion. it becomes placental lining

Placenta: acts as a filter between mom and baby. feeds the baby

Umbilical cord: connects placenta to baby

What are the 3 layers of the embryonic disk?

Ectoderm: becomes nervous system, hair, skin

Mesoderm: muscle, bones, circulatory system

Endoderm: lungs, digestion, urination, vital organs

Walk through the embryonic phase

rapid development especially organs (weeks 3-8)

month 1:

• heart forms and beats

• facial structures start forming

• buds appear that will become limbs

month 2:

• ears and eyes form

• basic skeletal structure forms and nubs develop

• indifferent gonads start differentiating to sex

Walk through the Fetal phase

month 3:

• fetus can kick and twist around in womb

• sex hormones get produced

month 4-6:

• refined motor activity

• bones form, skeleton gets harder

• hair starts appearing

• vernix (cheesy vaseline) and lanugo (hairy)

• basic functioning of ears,eyes, and heart

months 7-9:

• substantial weight gain

• fetus is so thicc that it goes into fetal position, head down

• less movement, sleeps more

What are teratogens? Give examples

outside agents that harm developing fetus

• Maternal disease

• Drugs

• Environmental (radiation, chemicals, pollutants)

• Maternal characteristics

What is myelination?

Glia cells are support cells for neurons.

one type of glia is oligodendrites, they coat neurons in myelin which helps signal speeds.

Myelination follows cephalocaudal and proximodistal pattern

What is synaptogenesis and synaptic pruning?

Synaptogenesis: the creation of synapses between neurons.

Synaptic pruning: eliminating and refining neurons and synapses

use it or lost it

What is perceptual narrowing and what are the 3 theories?

Babies are born citizens of the world and can distinguish pretty well (< 6months)

perpetual learner: infants have underdeveloped discrimination, need exposure to improve it

Universal: babies are born with great discrim ability. exposure to maintain, and will decline otherwise

Attunement: babies have SOME discrim abilities. can be facilitated, maintained, or decline

Describe the following:

• subcortical structures

• cerebrum

• cerebral cortex

subcortical structures are deep in the brain and do primitive tasks

cerebrum is the big chunk of brain on top

• has left and right hemispheres

cerebral cortex is the outer-most layer of cerebrum

• it’s grey matter

• gyri is the ridges, sulci is the grooves

What are the responsibilities of the left and right hemispheres?

(other than controlling the opposite side of the body)

left: language, memory, decision making, positive emotion

right: non-linguistic sounds, touch, negative emotions

Name 2 survival reflexes in newborns

sucking: when pressure is applied to mouth, they suck

rooting: when stimulated on 1 side, they turn towards it

Name the 5 primitive reflexes

babinski: stroking soles makes the toes fan out

fenching: on their backs, nudging them to one side makes their upward facing limbs extend

crawling: on their tummy, pressure on their feet makes them push off

grasping: putting something in their palms makes them grasp

walking: they'll take microsteps if you hold them upright

Enrichment VS discrimination theory on perception

enrichment: we use our knowledge to enhance our sensations to make sense of the world

discrimination: everything we need is “out there”. we just need to detect the distinct features of things to tell them apart

What is the order that our senses develop?

1. touch, smell, taste

2. hearing

3. vision

What are the 3 ways we can study perception?

1. Preferential looking (video encoding, eye tracking)

2. Habituation (and dishabituation)

3. High amplitude sucking