AP Psychology: Chapter Five, Chapter Six

Developmental Psychology

Branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social change throughout the life span

Focuses of Developmental Psychology

(1) Nature and Nurture
(2) Continuity and Stages
(3) Stability and Change

Zygotes

Fertilized eggs that enter 2-week period of rapid cell division and develop into embryos

Embryo

Developing human organism from about 2 weeks after fertilization through second month; can split to form twins

Fetus

Developing human organism from 9 weeks after conception to birth

Teratogens

"Monster Maker" - Agents such as chemicals and viruses that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm (ex: alcohol)

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS)

Physical and cognitive abnormalities in children caused by a pregnant woman's heavy drinking; in severe cases, symptoms include noticeable facial misproportions

Habituation

Decreasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation; as infants gain familiarity with repeated exposure to visual stimulus, their interest wanes and they look away sooner

Maturation

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

Development of Brain

From 3-6, frontal cortex develops most; association areas last to develop; language/agility proliferate into puberty; pruning process shuts down unused links

Infantile Amnesia

Average age when conscious memory begins; starts at 3/3.5 years old

Cognition

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

Schemas

Concepts or frameworks that organize and interpret information

Assimilation

Process of interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing schemas

Accommodation (Behavior)

Process of 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 and Stranger Anxiety)

Object Permanence

Awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived

Critics of Piaget

- Baby Physics: In disbelief if object violates object permanence
- Baby Math: In disbelief when object hidden and another object is put there, revealing two instead of one objects
- Studied own kids and rich kids; not great sample size
- What about environmental factors?

Egocentrism

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

Curse of Knowledge

Adults assume things will be clear to others if clear to us (ex: assume child blocking TV is being a jerk, when in reality they genuinely believe others can see)

Preoperational Stage

In Piaget's theory, is stage (from about 2 to about 6 or 7 years old) during which child learns to use language but does not yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete logic

Conservation

In Piaget's theory, principle of concrete operational reasoning (ex: pouring equal amounts of milk into differently shaped glasses makes one appear to have more)

Theory of Mind

People's ideas about their own and others' mental states--about their feelings, perceptions, thoughts, & the behaviors these might predict

Concrete Operational Stage

In Piaget's theory, is stage of cognitive development (from about 6 to 7 to 11 years old) during which children gain mental operations that enable them to think logically about concrete events (able to understand conservation/math transformations)

Formal Operational Stage

In Piaget's theory, is stage of cognitive development (normally beginning about age 12) during which people begin to think logically about abstract concepts (ex: scientific or symbolic thinking)

Autism

Disorder marked by social deficiencies and repetitive behaviors; less mirroring activity in brain; "extreme male brain"

Autism Spectrum Disorder

Encompasses range of variations, like Asperger Syndrome (high functioning)

Systemizers vs. Empathizers (Autism)

Systemizers understand according to laws, empathizers while empathizers understanding according to empathy; males tend to be systemizers, females tend to be empathizers

Stranger Anxiety

Fear of strangers that infants commonly display beginning by about 8 months of age (greet strangers by crying and reaching for familiars)

Attachment

Emotional tie with another person; shown in young children seeking closeness to the caregiver and showing distress on separation

Parent-Infant Emotional Communication

Occurs via touch, secure base and safehaven shifts from parents to peers to partners through life; gain strength when safehaven offered from someone; NOT based on nourishment

Critical Period

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

Imprinting

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

Mere Fondness

Not quite imprinting, but familiarity is still a safety signal for children

Secure Attachment vs. Insecure Atachment

Secure attachment marked by children who show some distress when their caregiver leaves but are able to compose themselves and do something knowing that their caregiver will return; insecure attachment is marked by anxiety and avoidance of trusting relationships, and not caring when caregiver leaves and comes back, thinking they will leave again

Other Attachment Stuff

- Dymphna van den Boom found intervention programs can increase parental sensitivity and attachment security
- Those with father involved most in parenting achieved more in school
- Children's anxiety peaks at 13 months; still want love after, but can talk to strangers
- Secure attachment of parents makes parents have drive to achieve while insecure attachment makes parenting stressful

Basic Trust

(According to Erik Erikson) is sense that the world is predictable and trustworthy; said to be formed during infancy by appropriate experiences with responsive caregivers

Deprivation of Attachment

- Lower IQ
- 40% rate of anxiety symptoms
- Abuse-breeds-abuse phenomenon
- Hypersensitivity to angry faces
- Slow serotonin response
- If exposed to physical abuse, sexual abuse, or wartime atrocities, have increased physical and emotional health risks
- Higher rate of depression
- Detaching is process, NOT event

Day Care

- 4-6 year olds who spent most time in day cares (30+ hrs per week) had advanced thinking and language skills, increased aggressiveness and defiance; however, child's temperament more affected by parents' sensitivity and economic or educational level; Pulkkinen found adult monitoring of children is helpful

Self-concept

Our understanding and evaluation of who we are; behavior first cue, then at school-age second cue is gender, group membership, similarities/differences between you and others, etc., finally by 8/10 self-image stable; positive self-concept means confident, impendent, optimistic, assertive, and sociable

Authoritarian (Parenting Style)

Parents impose rules and expect obedience; less social skills and lower self-esteem

Permissive (Parenting Style)

Parents submit to their children's desires; make few demands and use little punishment; more aggressive and immature

Authoritative (Parenting Style)

Parents are both demanding and responsive; exert control by setting rules and enforcing them, but they also explain reasons for rules; with older children, encourage open discussion when making rules and allow exceptions; creates kids with highest self-esteem, self-reliance, and social competence

Predisposition (Parenting)

Competent parents and competent children share genes (have predisposition) for example

Assumption (Parenting)

All advice reflects advice-giver's values (conflicting advice); ask for unquestioning obedience from children, they won't be independent

Adolescence

Transition period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty to independence

Specifics of Adolescense

- Time of stress; peer's social approval imperative, sense of direction in flux, feeling of alienation from parents
- Time of vitality; no cares of adulthood, rewarding friendships, heightened idealism, growing sense of life's exciting possibilities

Puberty

Period of sexual maturation, during which person becomes capable of reproducing; two-year period of rapid development at 11 for girls, 13 for boys

Primary Sex Characteristics

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

Secondary Sex Characteristics

Non-reproductive sexual characteristics, such as female breasts and hips, male voice quality, and body hair

Menarche

First menstrual cycle; true beginning of puberty for females

Early Maturation for Boys

Leads to being more popular, self-assured, independent though more at risk for alcohol use, delinquency, premature sexually activity

Early Maturation for Girls

Leads to association with older adolescents and possible teasing/sexual harassment

Puberty Effects

Pruning process occurs, frontal lobes develop, growth of myelin enables better communication with other brain regions; improved judgement, impulse control, long-term planning; limbic system development explains impulsiveness, risky behaviors, emotional storms

Brain Matures Until Age of . . .

25

Moral Person

Person who thinks AND acts in moral ways

Preconventional (Moral Thinking)

(Before 9) involves self-interest; obey rules

Conventional (Moral Thinking)

(Early adolescence) involves upholding laws/rules to gain social approval and maintain social order

Postconventional (Moral Thinking)

(Adolescence and beyond) involves actions reflecting belief in basic rights and self-defined ethical principles

Moral Intuitions

Quick, automatic judgements about morality; STRONG feelings of disgust/happiness when see immoral/moral acts, respectively

Religious/Moral Reasoning . . .

Shapes forgiveness, communal life, modesty; as thinking matures, become less selfish and more caring

Delayed Gratification

Delay small gratifications for larger ones later; those who exhibit it become more socially responsible, academically successful, and productive

Erikson's Stages of Life

Terrible Image: https://imgur.com/IAjw9EO

Identity

Our sense of self; according to Erikson, adolescent's task is to solidify a sense of self by testing and integrating various roles

Social Identity

"We" aspect of our self-concept; the part of our answer to "Who am I?" that comes from our group memberships

Intimacy

In Erikson's theory is ability to form close, loving relationships; primary developmental task in late adolescence and early adulthood

Relationships

- Individualistic people have romantic relationships more often; collectivist people have more supportive relationships (don't ask me for the difference, I'm the messenger)
- First born more likely to have parent-child conflict
- Healthy relationship with parents leads to more healthy relationships with peers
- Social networking stimulates intimate self-disclosure
- Youth share parental religious/political views

Rite of Passage

When new adult works, marries, has children

Emerging Adulthood

Period from late teens to mid-twenties, bridging gap between adolescent dependence and full independence and responsible adulthood (for some people in modern cultures)

Differences between Piaget, Kohlberg, and Erikson

Piaget: Cognitive Development
Kohlberg: Moral Development
Erikson: Psychosocial Development

Kohlberg Theory Progression

Preconventional Morality -> Conventional Morality -> Postconventional Morality

Erikson Theory Progression

Basic trust -> Autonomy -> Initiative -> Competence -> Identity -> Intimacy -> Generativity -> Integrity

Piaget Theory Progression

Sensorimotor -> Preoperational -> Concrete Operational -> Formal Operational

Menopause

Time of natural cessation of menstruation; also refers to biological changes woman experiences as ability to reproduce declines

Men (Aging)

Decline in sperm count, testosterone level, speed of erection; sexual desire goes down; more prone to dying than females

Telomeres

Tips of chromosomes (Aging wears them down, leads to death)

Death-Deferral Phenomenon

People tend to die when they want (kinda) (ex: die after Christmas, not before)

Aging Consequences

Visual sharpness, muscle strength, reaction time, stamina, hearing goes down; immune system weakens, but have more antibodies; susceptible to terminal illness but not common cold; neural processing decreases

The Cure to Aging!

Exercise: slows aging, enhances memory, judgement, reduces dementia

Dementia

Caused by series of small strokes, brain tumor, or alcohol dependence; substantial loss of brain cells

Alzheimer's Disease

First, memory deteriorates, then reasoning; after 5-20 years, person becomes emotionally flat, then disoriented and disinhibited, then incontinent, and finally mentally vacant; "living death; loss of brain cells and deterioration of neurons that produce acetylcholine, vital to memory; diminished smell too

Memory of Adults vs. Teens

Equal, but adults need reminders; meaningful info easier to remember

Cross-sectional Studies

Studies in which people of different ages are compared with one another

Longitudinal Study

Research in which people are restudied and retested over a long period of time

Age Indications

Less predictor of memory/IQ, more indication of closeness to death

Midlife Transition

Divorce highest among those in 20s and high 70s/80s; 1/4 adults have midlife crisis caused by major event (ex: illness, divorce) NOT age; "midlife crisis" nonexistent

Social Clock

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

Chance Events

Don't follow social clock, like romantic attraction

Love

Most enduring when have same interests/values, share emotional/material support, and intimate self-disclosure; marriage helps too

One Divorce for Every Marriage

Reflects women's lessened economic dependence and men/women's rising expectations

Marriage Predictor

Predicts sexual satisfaction, happiness, income, health

Marital Success Formula

5:1 ratio of positive to negative interactions in marriage means successful; learn to state feelings without insulting partner

Love of Children

Lots of love at first, but declines as time, money, emotional energy absorbed

"Empty Nest Syndrome"

Parents miss children when they leave home

Life Satisfaction

Goes down as income shrinks and body deteriorates, but people over 65 have better emotional control and more positive feelings; less angry and stressed

Social Attitude vs. Temperament

Social attitudes are less stable than temperament

Life's Natural Progression

Life requires stability and change; stability is identity, enabling us to depend on others and be concerned about healthy development of children; trust in ability to change gives hope for future; allows growth (ex: shy, fearful toddler will probably open up and become stable, conscientious, agreeable, self-confident adult)

Sensation

Process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment

Perception

Process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events

Bottom-up Processing

Analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain's integration of sensory information