AP Psych UNIT 3

Development & Learning

Developmental Psychology

A branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social change throughout lifespan.

Prenatal, Newborn, Infant, Childhood, Adolescence, and Adulthood

What are the 6 general stages of life?

Nature vs Nurture, Continuity vs Stages, Stability vs Change

What are the three major themes in developmental psychology?

Continuity vs Stages

A theme in developmental psychology. Which parts of development are gradual and continuous, and which parts change abruptly in separate stages?

Stability vs Change

Which of our traits persist through life (= identity)? How do we change with age (= growth)?

Preconventional Morality, Conventional Morality, and Post-Conventional Morality (for some)

What are the 3 stages of Kohlberg’s Moral Development Theory?

15-20% of clinically recognized pregnancies are miscarriages. There are about 750,000 to 1,000,000 miscarriage cases annually.

How common are miscarriages?

Conception to Zygote, Embryo, and Fetus

What are the 3 main stages of prenatal development?

Stage of Conception to Zygote

When the egg and the sperm nucleus fuse, and become a fertilized egg.

Embryo Stage

When a zygote attaches to the mother’s uterine wall and the multiplied cells divide into inner cells (embryo) or outer cells (placenta).

Embryo

The early stage of developing baby from conception until major body structures/organs are formed.

Placenta

Life-link that transfers nutrients and oxygen from mother to embryo. Screens out potentially harmful substances.

Fetus Stage

When major body structures and organ begin to form, and it begins to look human (heart, stomach, limbs…)

Threshold of Viability

The earliest point in pregnancy, when a fetus has a realistic chance of surviving outside the womb (though often with issues).

Environmental Factors, and Teratogens

What are the two major factors that could influence prenatal development?

Sounds heard while inside the stomach will be familiar once born. Infant will be more comfortable with, more attuned/accustomed to, and sometimes replicating mother’s sounds (timbre, language, flow, rhythm).

How can Environmental Factors influence prenatal development?

Teratogens

Agents, such as medicine, illness, drugs, alcohol, and chemicals, that can reach the embryo/fetus dying prenatal development and cause harm.

Mother’s drug and alcohol use during child’s prenatal development can cause fetal damage by leaving chemical marks on DNA that switch genes abnormally on or off. This includes fetal alcohol syndrome.

Specifically, what does the influence of drug and alcohol use on prenatal development have to do with epigenetics?

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

Physical and cognitive function deficits in children caused by their birth mother’s heavy drinking during pregnancy. In severe cases, symptoms include small out-of-proportion head and distinct facial features.

Habituation and Reflexes (Rooting, Sucking, Startle, Grasping)

What are two of the main abilities of newborns?

Habituation

Decreasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation. As infants gain familiarity with repeated exposure to a stimulus, their interest wanes and they look away sooner.

Rooting, Sucking, Startle, and Grasping

What are the 4 main kinds of reflexes of newborns that are vital to ensure a newborn’s nervous system is functioning?

Rooting

The newborn’s reflex to search to feed when their cheek is touched.

Sucking

The newborn’s reflex to close in and feed.

Startle (aka “Moro” Reflex)

The newborn’s basic protective reflex, when arms and legs spring out, quickly followed by fist clenching and loud crying.

Grasping

The newborn’s reflex which is surprisingly strong; it helps infants stay close to their caregivers.

Babies prefer sights and sounds that facilitate social responsiveness. Babies prefer faces or face-like images. Voices alert babies more than other sounds, especially their mother’s voice, which they recognize the easiest. Babies prefer familiar scents that their mother use(d). Babies prefer to view objects from 8–12 inch distance, the same distance from a feeding newborn’s eyes to their mother’s.

What kinds of sights and sounds do babies prefer?

Maturation

The biological growth process that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively ininfluenced by experience. All “nature”, AKA, “factory installed”. “______ (nature) sets the basic course of development experience (nurture) adjusts it.”

Adverse Childhood Experiences

Traumatic or stressful events in childhood (ages 0-17) like abuse, neglect, or household dysfunction (substance abuse, mental illness, domestic violence, parental incarceration/separation) that disrupt a child's safety and stability, leading to prolonged stress (toxic stress) that can alter brain development and increase risks for serious health, mental, and behavioral problems in adulthood, though intervention and supportive environments can mitigate these lifelong impacts.

By contrasting rats in “enriched” (toy-filled) versus “impoverished” environments, they found that “impoverished” environments lead to a lack of stimulation and can slow brain and cognitive development. Impoverished rats had less brain synapse connections and a thinner cerebral cortex

What did Rosenzweig’s Rat Study reveal about cognitive development?

Critical Periods

An optimal period early in the life of an organism when exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces normal development (but failure to expose in the critical time frame may lead to a gap in knowledge and ability).

Holding Up Head, Sitting Up, Crawling, Pulling Up, Standing, Walking, Running

What are the 7 developmental milestones within the first two years of life in order?

(1–2 briefly), 3–4 months, (6 strong steady control)

When does the developmental milestones of Holding Up Head occur?

(4–6 w/ support) 6–9 months without support

When does the developmental milestones of Sitting Up occur?

6–10 months (average of 8–9)

When does the developmental milestones of Crawling occur?

7–12 months (average of 9–10)

When does the developmental milestones of Pulling Up occur?

(7–12 w/ help), 9–12 months, (13-15 unsupported)

When does the developmental milestones of Standing occur?

9–18 months (average of 12–15)

When does the developmental milestones of Walking occur?

18 months (more controlled by 2 years)

When does the developmental milestones of Running occur?

Synaptic Pruning

Shaping a functional, adaptive brain through the "use it or lose it" principle, making it more streamlined and powerful. Common during newborn/infantile development.

Adolescence

The transition from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty to independence. Can be longer or shorter in different cultures.

Puberty – The period of sexual maturation during which a person usually becomes capable of reproducing. It is the beginning of adolescence.

The underdevelopment of the prefrontal cortex, which lags behind the emotional limbic system’s development. Makes it harder for teens to curb impulsivity.

What neuroscientific argument is made to explain teenage impulsivity and reckless behavior?

Menopause

The time of natural cessation of menstruation; also refers to the biological changes a woman experiences as her ability to reproduce declines. Occurs during middle/late adulthood. During this period, women’s risk of depression increases.

Visual sharpness, distance perception, and adaption to light changes diminish. Eye pupils shrink and the lens become less transparent, so less light reaches the retina. Muscle strength, reaction time, and stamina diminish. Immune system weakens.

What changes occur to sensory ability, strength, and stamina during middle and late adulthood?

Takes more time to react, solve perceptual puzzles, and to remember names (perception, recall). Memory declines as brain regions for it degrade (inc. blood-brain barrier breakdown which begins in the hippocampus, and the decline of the prefrontal cortex). There is also the built-up loss of brain cells over many years. (note: neuroplasticity is maintained a bit!)

What cognitive abilities decline with age?

Death-Deferral Phenomenon

The death deferral phenomenon is the observed tendency for people to postpone death until after significant personal or cultural milestones, like birthdays or major holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas), with death rates dipping before the event and spiking afterward, suggesting a "will to live" or strong motivation to reach a desired date.

Cognition develops through a series of upward stages. Comprehension grows with age. Children reason differently than adults.

What are Jean Piaget’s findings on Cognition in cognitive development?

Children’s schemas are building and rebuilding constantly based on assimilation and accommodation.

What are Jean Piaget’s findings on Schemas in cognitive development?

Children often assimilate new objects into existing schemas.

What are Jean Piaget’s findings on Assimilation in cognitive development?

If new objects do not fit into a children’s existing schemas, they often accommodate by adapting their previous schema to have more guidelines and adopt a new schema to fit/assimilate that object into.

What are Jean Piaget’s findings on Accommodation in cognitive development?

Sensorimotor, Preoperational, Concrete Operational, Formal Operational

What are the four stages of Jean Piaget’s Cognitive Development Theory, which focuses mainly on individuals’ physical and mental development?

Sensorimotor Stage

From birth to 2 years old, Piaget’s stage at which infants know the world mostly in terms of their sensory impressions and motor activities. There is no Object Permanence, and therefore everything is “out of sight, out of mind.” Stranger anxiety develops at this stage.

Object Permanence

The awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived.

Stranger Anxiety

Fear/distress with unfamiliar people, signifying cognitive development and the formation of attachment to caregivers.

Preoperational Stage

From 2 to 6/7 years old, Piaget’s stage at which a child learns to use language but does not yet comprehend mental operations of complete logic. They can represent things with words and images, and use intuition rather than logical reasoning. Animism and pretend play begins in this stage, as well as the beginnings of symbolic thinking (tho this mostly occurs later). Egocentrism begins to form in this stage (ex. In hide-and-seek, the mentality that “if I can’t see them, they can’t see me.”)

Egocentrism

The preoperational child’s difficulty taking another’s point of view. Think, hide-and-seek, and “if I can’t see them, they can’t see me.” Can be seen in the preoperational stage and beyond (until grown out of).

Concrete Operational Stage

From 7 to 11 years old, Piaget’s stage at which children can perform the mental operations that enable them to think logically about concrete events, grasp concrete analogies, and perform arithmetic operations. The principle of conservation is developed in this stage.

Conservation

The principle that properties such as mass, volume, and quantity remain the same despite changes in the forms of objects. Develops at the concrete operational stage.

Formal Operational Stage

From 12 years old through to adulthood, Piaget’s stage at which people begin to think logically about abstract concepts. There is a potential for mature moral reasoning, and discussion of hypotheticals. Think about the challenge where “the rule is the feather can break glass, so when the feather hits the glass vase, what happens?” (though it goes against physics, the abstract rule must be followed).

Modern researchers believe cognitive development, like object permanence, happens much earlier and more gradually than Piaget’s distinct stages suggest

What do people think about Piaget’s theories in the present?

Scaffold and Theory of Mind

What are the main two terms studied by Lev Vygotsky, who focused on children’s social development.

Scaffold

Vygotsky’s theory of a framework that offers children temporary support as they develop higher levels of thinking. For example, by giving children new words and mentoring them, people provide a temporary _____ for a child to step to higher levels of thinking. Helps children bridge the gap in the zone of proximal development.

Zone of Proximal Development

The space between what a child is capable of doing, and what they can’t do yet.

Theory of Mind

Vygotsky’s theory on how people’s ideas about their own and other’s mental stages (about their feelings, perceptions, thoughts, and beliefs) can predict their behaviors. Many younger children struggle to understand that people can have hold different beliefs to be truth (ex. Sally-Anne Test). Preschoolers begin to develop the ability to take another’s perspective… they begin to taste, empathize, persuade, and make decisions by using the understanding of how their actions will make others feels.

Adolescents’ development of personal ideals begins, and abstract reasoning tools are applied to the world around them. They can think about the ideal possibility, and compare it to imperfect reality. They can debate human nature. They can detect hypocrisy and inconsistency. Fairness becomes equity (no longer simple equality).

What are some aspects of Reasoning during adolescent cognitive development?

Morality

Discerning right from wrong & developing character. Empathy is an important factor. (_____ emotions largely run _______, rather than _____ reasoning).

Moral Intuition

Step one of morality. Quick gut feelings, moral judgments that are quick and automatic. Emotions largely drive this—and largely drive morality (rather than moral reasoning).

Moral Action

Step two of morality. “Doing the right thing.” Acting according to your morality/moral intuition. Can depend on social influence. It can create stronger moral attitudes and encourage adolescents to do more “right” things, but can also create moral attitudes of superiority.

Delayed Gratification

The crucial ability to resist immediate small rewards for larger, more valuable rewards later, linking closely to self-control, emotional regulation, and the prefrontal cortex's function for planning and impulse control.

Personal Fable

a key part of adolescent egocentrism, where teens believe their experiences, feelings, and challenges are uniquely intense and incomprehensible to others, fostering a sense of being special, invulnerable, and separate from peers, often leading to risk-taking but also self-confidence.

Imaginary Audience

Stemming from adolescent egocentrism, it describes teens' belief that everyone is watching and judging them, fueling intense self-consciousness.

Spotlight Effect

Stemming from adolescent egocentrism, it is the broader adult version of the imaginary audience, making people feel more noticed (and judged) than they actually are, often over minor flaws. Can also be described as over-estimating other’s noticing & evaluating our appearance, performnae, and blunders (as if we presume we’re singled out by a spotlight).

Thinking, reaction time, and sensory ability diminish. Impulse control and wisdom grow. Dementia is often a factor of older age. Middle-ages and older adults also often experience the reminiscence bump, remembering more personal events from late teens/20s than other life periods, often linked to major "firsts" and identity formation.

What parts of cognitive functioning diminish versus grow with age?

Communicating meaning and information.

What is the purpose of language?

Phonemes, Morphemes, and Grammar.

What are the 3 building blocks of language?

Phonemes

A building block of language; small sound units. (Ex. the “c” “a” and “t” sounds of “cat”).

Morphemes

A building block of language; smallest language unit that carries meaning. (Ex. “ed” in “erased” signifying it was a past action).

Grammar

A building block of language; its set of rules.

Universal Grammar

Human’s built-in, innate predisposition to understand the principles and rules that govern grammar in all languages.

Language Acquisition Device

The ability to learn any human language, which humans are born with.

Receptive Language (4 months)

Begins around 4 months; a child’s ability to understand what is said to and about them. There is a slight bend towards the language they heard in the womb. At this age, they can recognize different speech sounds and read lips.

Cooing Stage (6–8 months)

Occurs around 6–8 months; a child makes mainly vowel noises. Precedes babbling stage.

Babbling Stage (6–13 months)

Occurs around 6–13 months; a child experiments with consonant-vowel combinations. Follows the cooing stage.

Productive Language (12 months)

A child’s ability to produce sounds/words that convey meaning.

“One-Word-Stage” (12 months)

Occurs around 12 months; a child speaks mostly in single words to convey an entire thought.

By 18 months, child’s rate increases from learning 1 word per week to 1 word per day.

By 18 months, how does a child’s rate of words learned increase?

“Two-Word-Stage” (18–24 months)

Occurs around 18–24 months; a child speaks in two words to convey an entire thought. “More juice.” Often, they use noun and verb combinations: “go car.”

Telegraphic Speech

A characteristic of the “two-word-stage,” in which a child speaks in short, telegraphic sentences, using mostly nouns and verbs. “Go car.”

Children’s speech undergoes rapid development into complete sentences. There is a “language explosion,” with more words and morphemes.

What happens to language development from 24 months onward?

Over-Regularization

A common occurrence during the stage of rapid language development at 24+ months. As children’s speech undergoes a language explosion, they tend to overgeneralize grammar rules. “Mom goed to the store and buyed juice.”

Genie experienced an abusive and isolated environment during childhood. Found at age 13, she struggled to fully learn how to speak and interact socially. Confirmed the existence of a critical period in language development, and exemplified the limits to complex learning later in life.

How does Genie’s case as a “feral child” exemplify the critical period in language development?

Adults lose the ability to discriminate and produce sounds/tones outside their native language, due to the lack of exposure to other languages. They lose the natural ability to segment spoken sounds into meaningful words (of unfamiliar languages).

What abilities do adults lose that babies begin with to learn language?

At the babbling stage, kids with deaf parents will start to use their hands more and eventually pick up on sign language. Early learning’s importance can be seen in deaf children of hearing non-signing parents; language is not experienced during early years, and if signing is learned later, they will never become as fluent or learn it as well.

How can language develop in a world without sound?

Motor Cortex, and Broca’s Area. Auditory Cortex, and Wernicke’s Area.

What brain regions are associated with language development?

Aphasia

A language disorder from brain damage that may impair speech, understanding, reading, and writing, but not intelligence.

“To expand language is to expand the ability to think.” Certain languages have more terms for certain emotions (English–anger, Japanese–sympathy) which affects how people feel and theiir sense of self. It can define mental categories (color). It can create gender prejudice (ex. Spanish gives gender to nouns and adjectives, Japanese does not). Notably, bilingual children exhibit enhanced social skills, can see from others’ POVs better, and exhibit less racial bias.

How can language influence thought?

Linguistic Determinism

Whorf’s hypothesis that language determines the way we think. A more extreme version of “relativism”.

Linguistic Relativism

the idea that language influences the way we think. A less extreme version of Whorf’s “determinism.”