Unit 3 - Development and Learning

Chronological Development

The number of years and months since birth

Lifespan Development

the field of study that examines patterns of growth, change, and stability in behavior that occur throughout the entire lifespan

Stability and Change

The question of whether early personality traits persist through life, or if we become different persons as we age.

Nature and Nurture

the longstanding controversy over the relative contributions that genes and experience make to the development of psychological traits and behaviors

Continuous Development

The idea that changes with age occur gradually, in small increments, like that of a pine tree growing taller and taller

Discontinuous Development

the idea that changes with age include occasional large shifts, like the transition from caterpillar to cocoon to butterfly

Teratogens

Agents that damage the process of development, such as drugs and viruses

Fine Motor Coordination

Activities or skills that require coordination of small muscles to control small, precise movements, particularly in the hands and face. Examples include handwriting, drawing, cutting, and manipulating small objects.

Gross Motor Coordination

Activities or skills that use large muscles to move the trunk or limbs and control posture to maintain balance. Examples include waving an arm, walking, hopping, and running.

Maturation

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

Reflexes

Simple, automatic responses to sensory stimuli, such as the knee-jerk response

Rooting Reflex

A baby's tendency, when touched on the cheek, to turn toward the touch, open the mouth, and search for a nipple

Visual Cliff

A laboratory device for testing depth perception in infants and young animals

Critical Period

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

Sensitive Period

A point in development when organisms are particularly susceptible to certain kinds of stimuli in their environments, but the absence of those stimuli does not always produce irreversible consequences

Imprinting

The process by which certain animals form attachments during a critical period very early in life

Growth Spurt

The relatively sudden and rapid physical growth that occurs during puberty. Each body part increases in size on a schedule: Weight usually precedes height, and growth of the limbs precedes growth of the torso.

Puberty

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

Primary Sex Characteristics

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

A woman's first menstrual period

Spermarche

A boy's first ejaculation.

Menopause

The time of natural cessation of menstruation; also refers to the biological changes a woman experiences as her ability to reproduce declines

Schemas

Concepts or mental frameworks that organize and interpret information.

Assimilation

Interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing schemas

Accommodation

Adapting our current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information

Sensorimotor Stage

in Piaget's theory, the stage (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

Preoperational Stage

in Piaget's theory, the stage (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

A skill in which a child is able to mentally represent an object that is not present, and a dependence on perception in problem solving.

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 capacity to think through a series of steps and then mentally reverse direction, returning to the starting point

Animism

The belief that inanimate objects have lifelike qualities and are capable of action

Theory of Mind

An awareness that other people's behavior may be influenced by beliefs, desires, and emotions that differ from one's own

Concrete Operational Stage

in Piaget's theory, the 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

Systematic Thinking

Using rational methods of solving problems

Formal Operational Stage

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

Abstract Thinking

Capacity to understand hypothetical concepts or intangible ideas like love or justice.

Hypothetical Thinking

Thinking that is based on what is possible, and not just what is real; sometimes referred to as "if-then" thinking.

Scaffolding

Support of learning that allows students to complete tasks they are not able to complete independently

Zone of Proximal Development

In Vygotsky's theory, the range between children's present level of knowledge and their potential knowledge state if they receive proper guidance and instruction

Crystallized Intelligence

Our accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; which tend to increase with age

Fluid Intelligence

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

Dementia

A slowly progressive decline in mental abilities, including memory, thinking, and judgment, that is often accompanied by personality changes

Phonemes

In language, the smallest distinctive sound unit

Morphemes

The smallest units of meaning in a language.

Semantics

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

Grammar

A set of rules that specify how the units of language can be combined to produce meaningful messages

Syntax

The arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language.

Cooing

Pleasant vowel-like noises made by infants, beginning around 2 months of age

Babbling

Stage of language development at about 4 months when an infant spontaneously utters nonsense sounds

One-Word Stage

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

Telegraphic Speech

early speech stage in which a child speaks using mostly nouns and verbs.

Overgeneralization of Language Rules

Applying a regular grammatical rule in an irregular situation. (for example: "I runned", "he hitted", "you buyed", etc.)

Ecological Systems Theory

Views a person as developing within a complex system of relationships affected by multiple levels of the surrounding environment

Microsystem

The people and objects in an individual's immediate environment

Mesosystem

In the bioecological model, the interconnections among immediate, or microsystem, settings

Exosystem

Social settings that a person may not experience firsthand but that still influence development

Macrosystem

in the bioecological model, the larger cultural and social context within which the other systems are embedded

Chronosystem

in the bioecological model, historical changes that influence the other systems

Authoritarian Parenting

style of parenting in which parent is rigid and overly strict, showing little warmth to the child

Authoritative parenting

parenting style characterized by emotional warmth, high standards for behavior, explanation and consistent enforcement of rules, and inclusion of children in decision making

Permissive Parenting

A parenting style characterized by the placement of few limits on the child's behavior.

Attachment Styles

The expectations people develop about relationships with others, based on the relationship they had with their primary caregiver when they were infants

Secure Attachment

A relationship in which an infant obtains both comfort and confidence from the presence of his or her caregiver

Insecure Attachment

Attachments marked by anxiety or ambivalence

Avoidant Attachment

Child is unresponsive to parent, does not use the parent as a secure base, and does not care if parent leaves

Anxious Attachment

Children have ambivalent reactions to parents. They may show extreme stress when parents leave, but upon return resist being comforted by parent.

Disorganized Attachment

Children show no clear pattern of behaviour in response to a caregiver's absence or presence, instead show a mix of different behaviours (avoidance, seeming dazed, frozen, confused, rocking). May be a red flag for abuse.

Temperament

Basic emotional style that appears early in development and is largely genetic in origin

Separation Anxiety

Emotional distress seen in many infants when they are separated from people with whom they have formed an attachment

Parallel Play

Action in which children play with similar toys, in a similar manner, but do not interact with each other

Pretend Play

Make-believe activities in which children create new symbolic relations, acting as if they were in a situation different from their actual one

Egocentrism

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

Imaginary Audience

Adolescents' belief that they are the focus of everyone else's attention and concern

Personal Fable

Type of thought common to adolescents in which young people believe themselves to be unique and protected from harm

Social Clock

The culturally preferred timing of social events such as marriage, parenthood, and retirement

Emerging Adulthood

A period from about age 18 to the mid-twenties, when many in Western cultures are no longer adolescents but have not yet achieved full independence as adults

Stage Theory of Psychosocial Development

The theory that in one's lifetime, they go through 8 stages with distinct conflicts between two opposing states that shape personality.

Trust v. Mistrust

Refers to a stage of development from birth to approximately 18 months of age, during which infants gain trust of their parents or caregivers if their world is planned, organized, and routine.

Autonomy v. Shame and Doubt

2nd stage in Erikson's model; toddlers must be able to exercise some independence or will be ashamed and uncertain of their abilities

Initiative v. Guilt

3rd stage in Erikson's model; preschoolers must learn to start and direct creative tasks, or they may feel guilty about asserting themselves

Industry v. Inferiority

4th stage in Erikson's model; children must master the skills valued by their society or feel inferior

Identity v. Role Confusion

5th stage in Erikson's model; adolescents must develop a sense of who they are or suffer lack of direction

Intimacy v. Isolation

6th stage in Erikson's model; young adults must form close, satisfying relationships or suffer loneliness

Generativity v. Stagnation

7th stage in Erikson's model; in middle age, adults must discover a sense of contributing to the world or they may feel a lack of purpose

Integrity v. Despair

8th stage in Erikson's model; when reflecting at the end of life, an older adult must feel a sense of satisfaction or experience feelings of having wasted one's life.

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)

Stressful or traumatic experiences, including abuse, neglect, and a range of household dysfunction, such as witnessing domestic violence or growing up with substance abuse, mental disorders, parental discord, or crime in the home.

Achievement

The final stage of identity development in which one has explored their options and use that experience to commit to an identity

Diffusion

A stage in identity development in which one is not committed to a particular identity but isn't open to exploring options.

Foreclosure

A stage in identity development in which one is committed to a identity without having explored their options.

Moratorium

A stage in identity development in which one is not committed to a particular identity and is openly exploring options.

Racial/Ethnic Identity

The sense of membership in a racial or ethnic group and the feelings that are associated with that membership

Sexual Orientation

An enduring attraction toward members of either one's own sex (homosexual orientation) or the other sex (heterosexual orientation)

Religious Identity

An aspect of identity defined by one's spiritual beliefs.

Occupational Identity

Subjective sense of capacity and effectiveness for participation in a chosen task or career.

Familial Identity

The sense of self as connected to family and others

Possible Selves (Quiz 1 Cutoff)

Representations of what we could become, what we would like to become, and what we are afraid of becoming

Behavioral perspective

An approach to the study of psychology that focuses on the role of learning in explaining observable behavior.

Classical Conditioning

a type of learning in which an organism comes to associate two unrelated stimuli.