Psychology Unit 1 AOS 1 Topic Test Revision

Practice flashcards covering hereditary and environmental influences, the biopsychosocial model, Piaget's stages of cognitive development, and critical periods in language acquisition.

What is the difference between development and non-developmental change?

Development involves relatively permanent changes in feelings, thoughts, and behaviors, whereas non-developmental changes are temporary or transitory.

What are the three key areas of development discussed in section 2.1?

Emotional development, Cognitive development, and Social development.

What are developmental norms?

Standards that provide an indication of the average age at which most individuals reach specific milestones in their development.

List the six stages of lifespan development according to section 2.1.4.

Infancy, Childhood, Adolescence, Early adulthood, Middle age, and Older age.

What is the difference between Heredity (Nature) and Environment (Nurture)?

Heredity (Nature) refers to the transmission of characteristics from biological parents to their offspring via genes, while Environment (Nurture) refers to the external experiences, objects, and events to which an individual is exposed throughout their life.

How do twin and adoption studies assist psychologists in understanding development?

They help researchers understand the specific influences of nature (heredity) and nurture (environment) on psychological development.

Identify the three factors that define the Biopsychosocial Model.

Biological factors, Psychological factors, and Social factors.

According to Piaget, what is a schema?

A mental idea of what something is and how to act on it.

Distinguish between Assimilation and Accommodation.

Assimilation involves fitting new information into a pre-existing schema, while Accommodation involves changing an existing schema to fit new information.

What are the age range and key milestones for the Sensorimotor Stage?

The age range is $0-2$ years; milestones include object permanence and goal-directed behaviour.

List the key characteristics associated with the Pre-operational Stage.

Occurring between $2-7$ years, this stage is characterized by symbolic thinking, egocentrism, animism, transformation, centration, and reversibility.

What are the primary accomplishments of the Concrete Operational Stage?

Occurring between $7-12$ years, key accomplishments include conservation and classification.

What cognitive developments occur during the Formal Operational Stage?

Starting from $12+$ years, individuals develop abstract thinking and idealistic thinking.

Compare sensitive periods and critical periods in development.

A sensitive period is an optimal timeframe for learning a specific skill, while a critical period is a precise window of time where exposure to certain stimuli is necessary for an ability to develop.

What is imprinting?

A type of learning where an offspring forms an attachment to the first large moving object it sees after birth or hatching.

How does the case of Genie the Wild Child contribute to our understanding of development?

It helps illustrate the role of critical and sensitive periods in language acquisition and whether language can be acquired after these periods have passed.