CH 11 - Concise Development FCs

Developmental Psychology?

Developmental Psychology:

Study of continuity and change across the life span (prenatal → adulthood).

Prenatal Development

Germinal Stage (0-2 wks)?

Germinal Stage (0-2 wks):

Zygote divides, implants in uterus; forms placenta.

Embryonic Stage (2-8 wks)?

Embryonic Stage (2-8 wks):

Cells differentiate; organs form; sex organs begin to develop; testosterone shapes male embryos.

-Arms, legs, and beating heart

Fetal Stage (9 wks-birth)?

Fetal Stage (9 wks-birth):

Movement begins; brain forms axons/dendrites; myelination starts.

Myelination?

Myelination:

Formation of a fatty sheath around neurons → faster, insulated neural communication.

Underdeveloped Brain Advantage:?

Underdeveloped Brain Advantage:

Allows humans to pass through birth canal + adapt to postnatal environment.

Placenta Function?

Placenta Function:

Connects bloodstream of mother and fetus; filters but allows some substances (teratogens).

Teratogen?

Teratogen:

Any harmful substance passing through placenta that impairs development (e.g., alcohol, tobacco, mercury).

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS)?

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS):

Brain abnormalities, cognitive deficits due to maternal alcohol use.

Intrauterine Growth Restriction (IUGR)?

Intrauterine Growth Restriction (IUGR):

Poor maternal nutrition → small, underweight infants; higher adult illness risk.

Fetal Learning?

Fetal Learning:

Fetuses recognize mother's voice; heart rate increases when hearing it → early language sensitivity.

Infancy: Perceiving and Acting

Infancy Period?

Infancy Period: Birth to 18-24 months.

Habituation?

Habituation:Decreased response with repeated exposure — used to test infant cognition.

Preferential Looking?

Preferential Looking: Infants fixate longer on novel/interesting stimuli → used to infer visual discrimination.

Imitation:?

Imitation: Newborns mimic facial gestures (tongue, lips) — early form of social learning.

Motor Reflexes?

Motor Reflexes: Automatic responses — rooting (turns toward touch), sucking (object in mouth).

Motor Development?

Motor Development: Acquisition of movement skills (reaching, grasping, crawling, walking).

Cephalocaudal Principle?

Cephalocaudal Principle: "Head-to-toe" — control develops from head → trunk → legs.

Proximodistal Principle?

Proximodistal Principle: "Inside-to-outside" — control develops from core → limbs → fingers/toes.

Scale Errors?

Scale Errors: Children treat mini-objects as real (e.g., try to sit in toy chair) → perception-action disconnect.

Cognitive Development — Piaget

Schemas?

Schemas: Mental models/frameworks for understanding the world.

Assimilation?

Assimilation: Applying existing schemas to new information.

Accommodation?

Accommodation: Adjusting schemas to fit new experiences.

Sensorimotor Stage (0-2 yrs)?

Sensorimotor Stage (0-2 yrs): Experience through senses/movement; develop object permanence (objects exist when unseen).

Object Permanence Example:?

Object Permanence Example: Peekaboo is entertaining because infants think hidden objects cease to exist.

Preoperational Stage (2-6 yrs)?

Preoperational Stage (2-6 yrs): Symbolic thought (language, pretend play); egocentrism; lacks conservation.

Egocentrism?

Egocentrism: Belief that others see and know what you do (e.g., 3-year-olds fail false-belief tasks).

Conservation?

Conservation: Understanding quantity/volume remains constant despite appearance (e.g., tall vs. wide glass).

Concrete Operational Stage (6-11 yrs)?

Concrete Operational Stage (6-11 yrs): Logical thought about tangible objects; understands conservation and reversibility.

Formal Operational Stage (11+ yrs)?

Formal Operational Stage (11+ yrs): Abstract, hypothetical reasoning; can think about thinking (metacognition).

Critiques of Piaget:?

Critiques of Piaget: Development is more continuous, occurs earlier, and varies by culture.

Vygotsky's View?

Vygotsky's View: Cognitive development results from social interaction and culture, not just physical environment.

Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)?

Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD): Range of tasks a child can do with help but not alone.

Scaffolding?

Scaffolding: Adult guidance that helps a child master new skills gradually.

Cultural Tools?

Cultural Tools: Language, counting systems, and symbols shape thought (e.g., number naming in English vs. Chinese).

Play as Learning?

Play as Learning: Play promotes cultural learning and self-regulation — "little apprentices," not "little scientists."

Joint Attention?

Joint Attention: Infant looks where adult looks — "I see what you see."

Imitation?

Imitation: Children copy even unnecessary steps (overimitation) but not errors.

Social Referencing?

Social Referencing: Using another's emotional reaction to guide behavior ("Is this toy safe?").

Attachment & Bonding

Attachment?

Attachment: Emotional bond with primary caregiver; critical for survival and emotional development.

Harlow's Monkeys?

Harlow's Monkeys: Preferred comfort (cloth mother) over food (wire mother) → attachment ≠ nourishment.

Ainsworth's Strange Situation?

Ainsworth's Strange Situation: Assesses attachment styles based on caregiver departure/return behavior.

Attachment Styles:

Secure: ?

Avoidant: ?

Ambivalent: ?

Disorganized: ?

Secure: Distress → comforted by return.

Avoidant: Indifferent.

Ambivalent: Distressed, resists soothing.

Disorganized: Confused/inconsistent (often linked to trauma).

Temperament?

Temperament: Biologically based emotional reactivity — influences attachment quality.

Internal Working Model?

Internal Working Model: Child's expectations about how relationships work, based on early attachment.

Parenting Styles (Baumrind):

Authoritative (best): ?

Authoritarian: ?

Permissive: ?

Neglectful: ?

Parenting Styles (Baumrind):

Authoritative (best): Warm, firm.

Authoritarian: Cold, strict.

Permissive: Warm, lax.

Neglectful: Cold, lax.

Moral Development

Piaget's Stages of Morality:

Realism → ?

Prescriptions → ?

Outcomes → ?

Piaget's Stages of Morality:

Realism → Relativism (rules absolute → flexible)

Prescriptions → Principles (specific → general)

Outcomes → Intentions (harm judged by intent).

Kohlberg's Stages:

Preconventional: ?

Conventional: ?

Postconventional: ?

Kohlberg's Stages:

Preconventional: Avoid punishment, seek reward.

Conventional: Obey laws/rules.

Postconventional: Guided by abstract principles (justice, rights).

Critiques of Kohlberg:?

Critiques of Kohlberg: Western bias; ignores caring and relationships (Gilligan).

Moral Sense (Bloom)?

Moral Sense (Bloom): Infants prefer "helpful" over "harmful" puppets → innate morality.

Adolescence

Adolescence Definition?

Adolescence Definition: Onset of sexual maturity (~11-14) to adulthood (~18-21).

Puberty?

Puberty: Hormonal changes — primary sex traits (reproductive organs) & secondary traits (hair, voice, breasts).

Early Puberty (Females)?

Early Puberty (Females): Linked to diet, stress, father absence → higher depression/delinquency risk.

Protracted Adolescence?

Protracted Adolescence: Earlier puberty, later adulthood → longer dependency phase.

Myth of Raging Hormones?

Myth of Raging Hormones: Adolescents not significantly moodier than children.

Peer Influence?

Peer Influence: Adolescents turn to peers for identity, support, and autonomy.

Clique Evolution?

Clique Evolution: Same-gender → mixed → couples (Erikson: identity formation).

Gender & Sexuality

Gender Identity?

Gender Identity: Sense of being male/female develops ~2-3 years; solidifies by ~6-7 (gender constancy).

Sex-Typing?

Sex-Typing: Differential treatment based on gender; parents reinforce stereotypes (e.g., science talk more with boys).

Sex-Role Stereotypes?

Sex-Role Stereotypes: Beliefs about gender-appropriate behavior; peak around age 6-7, then relax.

Sexual Orientation?

Sexual Orientation: Biologically influenced; appears early; observed in other mammals.

Gynephilic vs. Androphilic?

Gynephilic vs. Androphilic: Attracted to women vs. men; brain hemisphere differences correspond to orientation.

Orientation Stability?

Orientation Stability: Men's orientation more fixed; women's more fluid.

Conversion Therapy?

Conversion Therapy: No scientific support for changing sexual orientation.

Adulthood

Physical Decline?

Physical Decline: Begins ~26-30; reduced muscle mass, elasticity, senses, and neural function.

Cognitive Decline?

Cognitive Decline: Working and episodic memory decrease faster than semantic memory.

De-Differentiation?

De-Differentiation: Brain regions less specialized — compensate by working together.

Socioemotional Selectivity Theory?

Socioemotional Selectivity Theory: Motivation shifts from future knowledge to emotional satisfaction with age.

Emotional Focus?

Emotional Focus: Older adults attend to positive over negative experiences.

Relationships & Happiness?

Relationships & Happiness: Marriage increases happiness (esp. for men); kids reduce short-term happiness but increase later satisfaction.

Erikson's Psychosocial Stages?

Erikson's Psychosocial Stages: Eight crises from trust vs. mistrust → integrity vs. despair; success leads to resilience.

Older Adults' Social Networks?

Older Adults' Social Networks: Fewer but more emotionally close relationships; higher life satisfaction

Most children are at the -------- stage, which is a stage of moral development in which the morality of an action is primarily determined by its consequences for the actor. A person at this stage might reason: “If the husband steals the drug he could end up in jail, so he shouldn’t.”

Most adolescents are at the -------- stage, which is a stage of moral development in which the morality of an action is primarily determined by the extent to which it conforms to social rules. A person at this stage might reason: “Stealing is against the law, so the husband shouldn’t steal the drug.”

Most adults are at the -------- stage, which is a stage of moral development in which the morality of an action is determined by a set of general principles that reflect core values. A person at this stage might reason: “Saving a person is more important than being honest, so the husband should steal the drug.”

Most children are at the preconventional stage, which is a stage of moral development in which the morality of an action is primarily determined by its consequences for the actor. A person at this stage might reason: “If the husband steals the drug he could end up in jail, so he shouldn’t.”

Most adolescents are at the conventional stage, which is a stage of moral development in which the morality of an action is primarily determined by the extent to which it conforms to social rules. A person at this stage might reason: “Stealing is against the law, so the husband shouldn’t steal the drug.”

Most adults are at the postconventional stage, which is a stage of moral development in which the morality of an action is determined by a set of general principles that reflect core values. A person at this stage might reason: “Saving a person is more important than being honest, so the husband should steal the drug.”

Object permanence?

object permanence, which refers to the understanding that objects exist even when they are not visible. Piaget noted that in the first few months of life, infants act as though objects stop existing the moment they are out of sight

Conservation?

Conservation: The understanding that many of the physical properties of an object are conserved (i.e., not changed) by changes in the object's appearance.

Water cup example - wide cup volume fits in skinny tall cup

Egocentrism?

Egocentrism is the failure to understand that the world appears different to different people. It is a hallmark of the preoperational stage, and it reveals itself in a variety of interesting ways.

False believe task:

In the standard version of this task, children see a puppet named Maxi deposit some chocolate in a cupboard and then leave the room. A second puppet arrives a moment later, finds the chocolate, and moves it to a different cupboard. The children are then asked where Maxi will look for the chocolate when he returns: in the first cupboard where he initially put it, or in the second cupboard, where the children know it currently is?

Most 5-year-olds realize that Maxi will search the first cupboard because Maxi did not see what the children saw — namely, that the chocolate was moved. But 3-year-olds typically claim that Maxi will look in the second cupboard

Why?

In the standard version of this task, children see a puppet named Maxi deposit some chocolate in a cupboard and then leave the room. A second puppet arrives a moment later, finds the chocolate, and moves it to a different cupboard. The children are then asked where Maxi will look for the chocolate when he returns: in the first cupboard where he initially put it, or in the second cupboard, where the children know it currently is?

Most 5-year-olds realize that Maxi will search the first cupboard because Maxi did not see what the children saw — namely, that the chocolate was moved. But 3-year-olds typically claim that Maxi will look in the second cupboard

Because that’s where the children know the chocolate is — and they assume that what they know, everyone knows! Egocentrism

Vygotsky - zone of proximal development?

He noted that between the things a child can do and the things a child cannot do lies a zone of proximal development, which refers to the range of things children cannot do by themselves but can do with guidance and instruction.

-For example, most infants cannot open a jar on their own, but they can learn to open a jar if an adult shows them how.