204 Child and Adolescent Development Exam #1

Chapters 1-6

Cognition

The activity of knowing and the processes through which knowledge is acquired

…aka your cognitive thought processes.

Cognitive Development

changes that occur in mental abilities over the lifespan

• attention and perception

• learning, thinking, and remembering

-how your ability to decipher these cognitions change as you grow)

Piaget’s Theory

“"proposes that children progress through distinct stages of intellectual development, marked by qualitative changes in their thinking abilities, with each stage building upon the previous one, and characterized by key concepts like assimilation and accommodation, where children actively construct their understanding of the world through interactions with their environment”

-goal is to adapt to the environment and figure out the world.

Adaptation (to the environment)

adjustment to environment

Schemes

mental pattern of thought or action; organizational structures in your head

What are the 4 Stages of Development?

1. Sensorimotor Stage (Birth - 2 years)

2. Preoperational Stage (2 - 7 years)

3. Concrete Operational Stage (7 - 11 years)

4. Formal Operational Stage (11+ years)

Sensorimotor Stage (Birth - 2 years)

-Senses and motor skills

-the transition from reflexive to reflective

-development of problem-solving abilities, imitation, and object concept

-development of object permanance

Preoperational Stage (2 - 7 years)

-Symbolic function/representational insight

• one thing represents another

• language

• pretend (symbolic) play - developmentally a positive activity

• new views on symbolism (dual representation)

-deficits in preoperational thinking

• animism - attribute life/life-like qualities to inanimate objects

• egocentrism - view world from own perspective, trouble recognizing other’s pov

• lack of conversation - don’t realize properties of objects don’t change just because their appearance does

• lack of decentration - concentrate on more than one aspect of a problem at the same time

• lack of reversibility - mentally undo an action

Concrete Operational Stage (7 - 11 years)

Cognitive operations

• Internal mental activity to modify symbols to reach a logical conclusion

Conservation – capable of: 

• Decentering – taking a perspective other than the obvious

• Reversibility – if x equals y, then y equals x

Relational logic – capable of:

• Mental seriation – placing things in a logical sequence

• Transitivity – if x equals y, and y equals z, then x equals z

Limited to real or tangible aspects of experience

Formal Operational Stage (11+ years)

Hypothetic-deductive reasoning

• Ability to generate hypotheses and use deductive reasoning (general to specific)

• Allows for hypothetical thinking

• Also known as contrary-to-fact reasoning

Inductive reasoning

• Going from specific observations to generalizations

Thought is rational, systematic, and abstract

Personal and Social Implications of Formal Thought

• Thinking about what is possible in life

• Forming a stable identity

• Understanding of other’s perspectives

• Can weigh alternatives

• Questioning others

• Thinking of how the world “ought to be”

Assimiliation

putting new info into existing schemes

• new info is consistent with a file you already have

Accomodation

modify existing schemes for new info

• new info completely novel, you create a new file

Invariant Sequence

•Sequencing fixed — the stages always occur in the same order

•Individual differences entering/emerging stages — some kids will develop faster or slower than others, but the order of the stages always remains the same.

Object Permanence

objects continue to exist when they are no longer visibile

• 8-12 months of age (appears)

• 18-24 months of age (complete)

  • A-not-B-Error

Egocentrism

View the world from their own perspective, trouble recognizing other’s points of view

• we become less and less egocentric as we get older

Proximodistal Pattern

“inside-out” development; center outward growth

• internal organs followed by limbs

• trend reverses in puberty; hands + feet followed by limbs, then trunk

start prenatally and continue until you are fully grown.

Cephalocaudal Pattern

“head first” development; head downward growth

• at birth, head and legs each represent 25%of body length

  • at adulthood, head = 12%, and legs = 50%

start prenatally and continue until you are fully grown.

Growth by Age 2

at age two, you can figure they are about half of the height they’ll be fully grown; girls is true at 18 months

Growth of Muscles

gradual throughout childhood and kicks in during puberty, very noticeable in males

Growth of Neurons

most neurons in a young brain have been formed as early as before you’re born, and they continue to grow. Avoid health issues in later years

Synapses

little spaces between the neurons where communication occurs. Developing more synapses is getting smarter

• connective spaces with other neurons

Plasticity

process by which the brain reorganizes its structure and function in response to experiences, learning, or environmental stimuli. 

-children who get brain injuries are more likely to recover fully than older individuals.

Cerebral Cortex

the outer layer of your brain's surface, located on top of the cerebrum

-covers 2 hemispheres of cerebrum

Cerebral Laterization

the functional specialization of the two hemispheres of the brain, where certain cognitive processes are primarily handled by either the left or right side

-connected by the corpus callosum

-each covered by a cerebral cortex

-increases with age

Corpus callosum

-a bundle of nerve fibers that allow your brain's left and right hemispheres to communicate

Sensation

taking in information through the senses

Perception

using the brain to turn those sensations into something meaningful

Survival Reflexes

these have adaptive value and quickly turn into earned behaviors, such as breathing, sucking, swallowing

-turn into something useful ex. Rooting reflex; turns into learned behavior

Primitive Reflexes

these are not as useful and disappear after 1st year. They include the Babinski reflex (curling toes), and grasping

-don’t turn into learned behavior and can be lost over time ex. Knee reflex

What are the Infant States or Arousal?

1. Regular Sleep

2. Irregular Sleep

3. Drowsiness

4. Alert Inactivity

5. Alert Activity

6. Crying

What are the Risk Factors for SIDS?

-preterm, low-birth-weight

-poor APGAR score

-respiratory distress as newborns

-mother risk factors

-most likely to occur in winter

-sleeping on the stomach

-issues w/ arcuate nucleus (brain)

*lay baby on the back, not stomach; make sure temp in the room is okay

Infant Sensory Capabilities: Vision

-least mature sense

-detect changes in brightness (reflex)

-can see patterns

-see colors, although discrimination is good by 2-3 months

-poor activity, see as well as adults by 12 months

*is the least highly developed at birth of all the senses

Infant Sensory Capabilities: Hearing

-discriminate sounds based on loudness, duration, direction, and frequency

-prefer mother’s voice to other women

-at 3-6 months, sensitive to phonemes, even better than adults

-recognize words they hear often

-hearing loss can adversely affect development (ear inflections)

Development of Depth Perception

Use of visual cliff…

• most infants (90%) at 6.5 months (crawling) perceived depth

• 2-month-olds showed a decrease in heart rate—a sign of interest, not fear

  • experience through motor development is important

*visual cliff experiment used to study this

What is Intermodal Perception?

the ability to recognize by one sensory modality that which is familiar through another.

• Are the senses integrated at birth?

  • Yes, reaching for objects that are seen

  • looking in the direction of sounds

  • expecting to see source of sound, or to feel objects that were reached for

*coordination of one sensory channel with another

Periods of Prenatal Development: Zygote

conception through implantation (10-14 days)

• 7-10 days after conception

• tapping the mother’s blood supply through the uterine wall

• only 25% successfully implant (3/4 conceptions)

  • ectopic pregnancy = zygote implants in the fallopian tube (0 chance of baby)

Periods of Prenatal Development: Embryo

• 3rd - 8th week, organ formation, heartbeat

  3rd wk = neural tube, 4th wk = heartbeat, 7th wk = rudimentary skeleton, 8th wk = sexual dev.

• Purpose of the Placenta (Semipermeable)

  • Allowing nutrients and gasses to pass through

  •Blood cells are too large

  •Site of all metabolic transactions sustaining the embryo

  • note the beginning of both cephalocaudal (head first) and proximodistal (inside out) development

Periods of Prenatal Development: Fetus

-last 7 months of the pregnancy

-3rd month:

• movement - cannot yet be felt by the mother

• digestive system and excretory systems functioning

• the reproductive system contains immature ova or sperm cells

-4th - 6th months

• sucking, swallowing, breathing

• movements (felt by mother)

• heartburn can be heard with a stethoscope

• sweat glans functioning

• vernix (protects skin from chapping)

• lanugo (fine hair helps vernix stick to the skin)

• visual and auditory senses are functional

-7th - 9th months

• age of viability (22-28 weeks) - survival outside of the womb is possible

• weight is 4 pounds (at end of 7th month)

• 9th month - activity slows, sleep increases

• birth occurs

Purpose of the placenta:

• Site of all metabolic transactions sustaining the embryo

Semipermeable Membrane

allows nutrients and gases to pass through, blood cells are too large to pass through (some medicine can pass through which is bad)

What is the Importance of Stem Cells?

-in mammals, there are two types of stem cells:

• Embryonic stem cells

• Adult stem cells

-in the embryo, stem cells differentiate into all the specialized cells (ecto/endo/mesoderm) but also maintain the normal turnover of regenerative organs, such as blood, skin, or intestinal tissues.

-adult stem cells are frequently used in various medical therapies

-they can be artificially grown and transformed into specialized cell types with characteristics consistent with cells of various tissues (muscles/nerves)

*need them because that’s how you develop all of the different systems of your body. Stem cells can become anything—development wouldn’t be possible without them.

Period of fastest prenatal growth

-3rd month

Rate of body growth during the fetal period.

Increase in size is especially dramatic from the 9th to the 20th week.

Age of viability (22-28 weeks)

age of which a fetus can survive outside the womb (around 24 weeks)

Teratogens

any agent that can harm an embryo or fetus

-Effects of most teratogens:

• most serious when the structure is forming

• susceptibility to harm is influenced by the genetic makeup of the mother and embryo

• same defect can be caused by different teratogens

• 1 teratogen can cause different defects

• longer exposure/higher dose, more harm

• long-term effects depend on the postnatal environment

• some effects are not apparent until later in life

*anything that can damage a developing fetus; chemicals, alcohol, x-rays. They should be avoided completely

androgen spike (testosterone)

-all developing fetuses are predestined to be female. Males occur because of the androgen spike, which acts on the Y chromosome to cause the developing fetus to become male

difficulty in researching teratogens

because the experimentation isn’t easily accessible. We cannot act ethically to test this

Genotype

the genetic endowment that an individual inherits

Phenotype

how one’s genotype is expressed in observable or measurable characteristics

Gametes

reproductive cells or sex cells

Zygote

the single cell formed when a sperm fertilizes an egg

•46 chromosomes (23 from each parent)

Genes

-stretches of DNA

• Provides biological basis for development

-the basic units of heredity that determine an organism's characteristics

-produce amino acids which produce enzymes and proteins necessary for the creation and functioning of cells

-guide cell differentiation

-regulate the pace/timing of development

Expression…

• simple dominance-recessive inheritance (single gene inheritance patterns)

Chromosomes

thread-like structures located inside the nucleus of animal and plant cells

Crossing Over (Meiosis)

adjacent chromosomes break and exchange segments of genes

Reaction Range (related to PKU)

•Genotype sets a range of possible outcomes

•Environment largely influences where within the range an attribute will fall

-ex. Phenylketonuria (PKU)

• Determined by genotype

• Exposure to phenylalanine causes brain damage

• Special diet prevents brain damage

• Children usually grow out of it

*In the Restricted environment, the Reaction Range is fairly small, but in an Enriched environment, the range becomes much larger. Environment clearly makes a lot of difference, and that’s why a stimulating environment is generally a good thing for kids!

Down Syndrome

small reaction range.

most common – trisomy-21 (extra 21^st chromosome)

Determination of Sex

sex differences are determined by the 23^rd pair of chromosomes

Monozygotic Twins

develop from one zygote that splits in half—those twins will be identical

Dizygotic Twins

from two different zygotes (and two sperm) and are not identical)

Dominant and Recessive Traits

dominant + recessive, the dominant will show up in the phenotype

Observation and Experimentation

Science refers to a system of acquiring knowledge that uses _____ and ____ to describe and explain natural phenomena.

Formulating a hypothesis

“I think it might be because . . .”

Lifespan development

the study of how people grow and change from conception to death

Maturation

•biological unfolding of an individual (changes from aging)

• Species-typical biological inheritance

• Individual person’s biological inheritance

Learning

experiences producing relatively permanent changes in thoughts, feelings, and behaviors

What does it mean to say that human development is holistic

Saying it is holistic means that development is due to a combination of things, such as physical growth, cognitive aspects/variations, and psychosocial aspects/variations. All of these things go hand in hand with one another, meaning they are holistic and act as a package.

Plasticity

ability to adapt when damage occurs)

Importance of historical context(some of what makes you, you, has to do with the time your were born ex. Covid, 9/11

Psychosocial nature of Erikson’s theory

they are referred to psychosocial development because the psycho part is built in. the social part is the development we go through by social means

Essay: Eight psychosocial stages

Age	Virtues	Psychosocial Crisis	Existential Question	Favorable Outcome	Unfavorable Outcome
Infancy Under 2 years	Hope	Trust vs. Mistrust	Can I trust the world?	Faith in the environment and the future	Suspicion; fear of future events
Toddlerhood 2–4 years	Will	Autonomy vs. Shame/Doubt	Is it okay to be me?	A sense of self-control and adequacy	Feelings of shame and self-doubt
Early childhood 5–8 years	Purpose	Initiative vs. Guilt	Is it okay for me to do, move, and act?	Ability to initiate one’s own activities, be a “self-starter”	A sense of guilt and inadequacy to be on one’s own
Middle Childhood 9–12 years	Competence	Industry vs. Inferiority	Can I make it in the world of people and things?	Ability to learn how things work, to understand and organize	A sense of inferiority at understanding and organizing
Adolescence 13–19 years	Fidelity	Identity vs. Role Confusion	Who am I? Who can I be?	Seeing oneself as a unique and integrated person	Confusion over who and what one really is; not knowing “true self”
Early adulthood 20–39 years	Love	Intimacy vs. Isolation	Can I love?	Ability to make commitments to others; to love	Inability to form affectionate relationship
Middle Adulthood 40–59 years	Care	Generativity vs. Stagnation	Can I make my life count?	Concern for family and life in general	Concern only for one’s own well-being and prosperity
Late Adulthood 60 +	Wisdom	Ego Integrity vs. Despair	Is it okay to have been me?	A sense of integrity and fulfillment; willingness to face death	Dissatisfaction with life; despair over prospect of death

Essay: Down Syndrome

small reaction range.

Essay: Reaction range/PKU

PKU has a big reaction range caused by genetic factors and can be greatly influenced by the environment

Essay: Teratogens

we can’t really know what is safe and what is dangerous because we can’t experiment with this. This type of experiment would be unethical.Being wrong about which medications are safe for pregnant women can be a deadly risk to their babies. If the drug ingested is not safe, there are high chances of the baby acquiring birth defects, organ defects, and even death. Your doctor is your best source to trust on whether a medication is safe to use during pregnancy or not, however, the only way we were able to figure this out is through past experiences with them. After women have tried these medications is how we know if they are safe or not.

What is the difference between assimilation and accommodation in Piaget’s theory?

Assimilation means that you organize new information into existing schemes, whereas accommodation means you modify existing schemes for the new information. In the sense of a filing system, assimilation requires you to file new information learned into pre-existing a file you have. On the other hand, accommodation requires you to create a whole new file for the newly learned information. 

Two important processes that underlie developmental changes are _____

a) history and parenting

b) evolution and experience

c) maturation and learning

d) cognition and behavior

c) maturation and learning

Normative development consists of _____

a) changes that optimize developmental outcomes

b) changes that result from maturation

c) developmental changes that are typical of many children

d) individual variations among children

c) developmental changes that are typical of many children

The plasticity principle states that the child _____

a) responds flexibly to changes in his or her life experiences.

b) must be trained by parents to avoid consuming plastics

c) progresses predictably through developmental stages.

d) asserts his or her individuality and cannot accurately be described by generalizations that apply to all children.

a) responds flexibly to changes in his or her life experiences.

_____ is a process by which our experiences produce relatively permanent changes in our feelings, thoughts, and behaviors.

a) Maturation

b) History

c) Accommodation

d) Learning

d) Learning

Science refers to a system of acquiring knowledge that uses _____ and _____ to describe and explain natural phenomena.

a) statistics, verification

b) experimentation, common sense

c) observation, statistics

d) observation, experimentation

d) observation, experimentation

If you have conducted an experiment, and your results have not confirmed your hypothesis, your next step would be to _____.

a) draw a conclusion

b) formulate a new hypothesis

c) test your hypothesis

d)make an observation

b) formulate a new hypothesis

What is meant by the idea of interaction in the study of human development?

The idea of interaction refers to the dynamic between an individual's learning and maturation, in which these shape said individual's behavior and overall growth. Development isn't influenced by a singular factor, rather it is a cumulative effort by many that influence each other. 

At conception, all of the following events take place EXCEPT ____.

a) a sperm cell penetrates the lining of the ovum.

b) a biochemical reaction functions to repel other sperm

c) a new cell nucleus forms around the genetic material provided by father and mother.

d) crossing over begins the process of replication

d) crossing over begins the process of replication

Which of these is the correct size sequence of genetic materials, ordered from smallest to largest?

a) chromosome, DNA, gene

b) chromosome, gene, DNA

c) DNA, gene, chromosome

d) gene, chromosome, DNA

c) DNA, gene, chromosome

Through the process of meiosis, unique new combinations of genetic material are generated during ____

a) range of reaction

b) crossing over

c) miscarriage

d) genetic counseling

c) miscarriage

Monozygotic twins are the result of ____

a) two ova, each fertilized by different sperm

b) the “crossing over” phenomenon

c) a single fertilized ovum splitting into two zygotes

d) the process of mitosis

c) a single fertilized ovum splitting into two zygotes

In males, the sex chromosomes usually consist of ____.

a) one X chromosome

b) two Y chromosomes

c) two X chromosomes

d) one X and one Y chromosome

d) one X and one Y chromosome

Brown eyes are dominant over blue eyes. Suppose that two brown-eyed parents gave birth to a blue-eyed child. It may be inferred that ____.

a) a man other than the husband is the father of the child

b) the husband is the father, but the wife is not the mother

c) both parents are homozygous for brown eyes

d) both parents are heterozygous for brown/blue eyes

d) both parents are heterozygous for brown/blue eyes

Explain the difference between a genotype and a phenotype.

A genotype is a genetic endowment that an individual inherits, whereas a phenotype refers to how one's genotype is expressed in observable or measurable characteristics. In simple terms, a genotype is a genetic makeup, and a phenotype is an observable trait(s) influenced by the genotype

Explain how it is possible for dizygotic twins to be different sexes and why they are not identical.

Dizygotic twins can be of different sexes because they come from two different eggs fertilized by two different sperm. This allows for different combinations of sex chromosomes to occur, and also they only share around 50% of their DNA--so they cannot be "identical" and WILL have different traits physically.

The prenatal period lasting from conception to implantation is referred to as the _____.

a) period of cellular replication

b) embryonic period

c) period of the zygote

d) fetal period

c) period of the zygote

The proper place for the blastocyst to implant itself is at the _____.

a) interior of a fallopian tube

b) lining of the vagina

c) outside of the ovary

d) wall of the uterus

d) wall of the uterus

Typically, out of every four zygotes, _____ will fail to survive.

a) none

b) one

c) two

d) three

d) three

Of the following, the substance that typically CANNOT pass through the placenta to the developing embryo is _____

a) oxygen

b) maternal blood cells

c) sugars, proteins, and fats

d) viruses

b) maternal blood cells

The specialized cells that allow the embryo to differentiate into the ectoderm, the mesoderm, and the endoderm are called _____.

a) stem cells

b) gametes

c) conductors

d) T-Cells

a) stem cells

A teratogen is _____.

a) a tool used to extract the head of the fetus during birth

b) an instrument for assessing an Apgar rating of the newborn

c) a specially shaped delivery table at birthing centers

d) an external agent that causes developmental harm at particular times during pregnancy

d) an external agent that causes developmental harm at particular times during pregnancy

Newborns spend the greatest total time each day in which type of state of awareness?

a) Regular or irregular sleep

b) Drowsiness

c) Crying

d) Passive exploration

a) Regular or irregular sleep

Of the following, the one most consistent with the proximodistal trend of physical development would be earlier development of the _____.

trunk before the arms