Psych-CHAPTER 11

Developmental psychology

The scientific study of how people change physically, cognitively, socially, and emotionally from infancy through old age

Maturation

A series of biological growth processes that enable orderly growth, relatively independent of experience

Cross-sectional design

A methodological approach to studying development that compares participants of different age groups to one another, similarities vs. differences (ex. adolescents vs. young adulthood)

Longitudinal design

Tracks participants across time and compares each participant at different time points in their lives

Sequential design

Tracks multiple age groups across time and compares different age groups to one another, as well as compares participants to themselves at different time points

Zygote

A fertilized egg, formed by a union of sperm and egg (conception to 2 weeks)

Embryo

An unborn, developing offspring, identified in humans between the 2nd and 8th weeks of pregnancy (2-8 weeks)

Fetus

An unborn, developing offspring, beginning of brain development (week 9-birth)

Neural tube

A tubular structure formed early in the embryonic stage from which the brain and spinal cord develop into three parts (brainstem/cerebellum/spinal cord, midbrain, and forebrain)

Down syndrome

A developmental disorder caused by an extra copy of a chromosome, it causes intellectual disabilities/delays in motor development/increased risks for health problems

Teratogens

Environmental agents that can interfere with healthy fetal development (ex. lead, carbon monoxide, pesticides, alcohol, x rays, cigarette smoke, diseases)

Fetal alcohol syndrome

A developmental disorder that affects children whose mothers consumed alcohol during pregnancy, causes psychological problems and physical abnormalities)

Motor development

Changes in the ability to coordinate and perform bodily movements, develop from the head to the feet and from the center outwards

Jean Piaget

A developmental psychologist, he investigated how children’s thinking changes as they develop and how it changes their ability to understand the world

Cognitive development

Changes in all of the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating

Schemas

Concepts or mental models that represent our experiences, they change how we think, assimulation

Sensorimotor stage

(birth-2 years), children develop knowledge through senses and actions but cannot yet think using symbols, mostly language and object permanence

Preoperational stage

(2-7 years), the child masters the use of symbols but struggles to see situations from multiple perspectives or to imagine how situations can change, children classify objects but only according to a single feature

Concrete operational stage

(7-12 years), the child becomes capable of using multiple perspectives and their imagination to solve complex problems, but only concrete objects or events (logical thinking)

Formal operational stage

(12+ years), Adolescents become able to reason about abstract problems and hypothetical propositions (thinking through things, thinking systematically)

Object permanence

The awareness that objects continue to exist even when they are temporarily out of sight (ex. not gone, under a blanket)

Social referencing

A process of using others’ facial expressions for information about how to react to a situation (ex. a mother gets upset when a child falls, the child will get upset)

Imprinting

Establishes early attachment by attaching to the first moving object an organism sees

Attachment

The strong, emotional bond between and infant and a caregiver

Harry Harlow

Attachment is needed for survival because it provides comfort and security

Symbolic representation

The use of words, sounds, gestures, visual images, or objects to stand for other things

Operations

In childhood, the manipulation of schemas (imagining how puzzle pieces might fit together, performing mental math)

Conservation

The idea that the physical properties of an object (mass, volume, number) remain constant despite superficial changes in the object’s shape or form

Egocentrism

The difficulty that preoperational children have with thinking about how objects or situations are perceived by other people (ex. a child doesn’t like brocoli, they think that nobody else does)

Theory of mind

The understanding that everybody has minds that represent the world in different ways that represent and predict how others will behave

Sociocultural view of development

The child’s mind grows through social interaction with knowledgable others (family, siblings, teachers)

Scaffolding

Actively challenging and supporting children as they attempt things that are beyond their capabilities, demonstrating and outlining actions, shows what kids can do and what they need support with

Authoritarian parents

Low on responsiveness/highly demanding/low warmth, and often explain things “because I said so”

Children become obedient and respectful, show worse academically, and low self-esteem

Authoritative parents

Very responsive/very demanding

Children become self-reliant/curious/happy, high academic achievement, problem-solving, reduced risk of depression

Permissive parents

High responsiveness, low demands, let kids do what they want

Children have high self-confidence and low self control, they lack purpose and risk substance abuse

Disengaged parents

Not responsive, not demanding, not warm, meet basic needs

Children perform low academically, have a high rate of depression, risk unhealthy behaviors, struggle with mental health

Primary sex characteristics

Body structures that make sexual reproduction possible (ovaries, testes)

Secondary sex characteristics

Nonreproductive body structures (hips, torsos, voices, and body hair)

What are Kohlberg’s three levels of moral reasoning?

Proconventional stage, conventional stage, postconventional stage

Preconventional stage

A period in moral development in which people make moral judgements based on self-interest like avoiding punishments and gaining rewards (punishment vs. reward)

Conventional stage

A period in moral development in which people make moral judgements based on caring for others and upholding social rules and roles (social approval)

Postconventional stage

A period in moral judgement in which people make moral judgements based on ideals and broad moral principles and what is ethically right (working past rules, social ideals, and laws and doing what is ethically right), very few people think at this stage

Infancy

(0-0.5 years), trust vs. mistrust (attachment to caregivers and trusting their environment)

Early childhood

(1.5-3 years), autonomy vs. shame and doubt (thinking through things and deciding on doing things, but unsure and may need help)

Preschool

(3-6 years), initiative vs. guilt (deciding on tasks is purposeful and directive, guilt is not keeping up with peers or expectations)

School age

(6 years-puberty), competence vs. inferiority (you have the ability to be successful, but you can’t keep up with others)

Adolescence

Identity vs. role confusion (who we are and what we do/who we spend time with)

Adulthood

Intimacy vs isolation (will I be loved and can I love, or will I lose myself)

Middle age

Productivity vs. stagnation (growing a family and advancing in career, not happy and not knowing where to go next)

Later years

Integrity vs. despair (feeling proud and happy with what you have done and still maintaining relationships, feeling hopeless because of missed opportunities and unfilled goals)

Social identity

A sense of identity that is rooted in a group

Emerging adulthod

The period between adolescence and adulthood (18-25) when people finish school and establish their lives, time of the reminiscences bump)

Social clock

A set of norms that govern timing of life milestones that can cause pressure when they don’t align (ex. marrige, parenthood, and retirement)

Secure attachment

Upset when seperated from parents, happy and comforted when parent comes back, then recovers and can resume normal activity

Insecure avoidant attachment

You can’t tell how the child feels when they are seperated from their parents and there is little distress or notice when the parent leaves

Insecure ambival attachment

Parent leaves child and the parent has a tantrum and can’t be calmed down, when the parent comes back the child won’t play and is inconsolable