Unit 1 AOS 1 – Psychology Topic Test Revision Checklist

Jac Textbook Chapters: 2.1, 2.2, 2.5, 2.7 + Chapter 1

Development

Refers to changes in psychological characteristics, behaviour and mental processes that occur over time in an organism (human or animal).

Developmental change

A relatively permanent or lasting change in psychological characteristics, behaviour or mental processes that occurs over time.

Non-developmental change

A temporary, transient or short-term change that does not represent lasting development.

Emotional development

The development of the ability to understand, experience, express and regulate emotions.

Cognitive development

The development of mental processes such as thinking, reasoning, memory, problem-solving, language and understanding.

Social development

The development of the ability to interact with and relate to other people, including developing relationships, social skills and communication.

Developmental norms

Typical patterns or milestones of development expected to occur at particular ages or stages. They describe what is common for most people but do not mean everyone develops at exactly the same rate.

Infancy

The lifespan stage from birth to approximately 2 years of age.

Childhood

The lifespan stage following infancy and generally extending from approximately 2 years to the beginning of adolescence.

Adolescence

The lifespan stage generally beginning around puberty and continuing into the late teens or early twenties.

Early adulthood

The lifespan stage generally beginning in the late teens or early twenties and extending into approximately the 30s.

Middle age

The lifespan stage generally occurring from approximately the 40s to around the 60s.

Older age

The later lifespan stage, generally beginning around the 60s or 70s and continuing through the remainder of life.

Nature versus nurture debate

The debate about the relative influence of hereditary factors (nature) and environmental factors (nurture) on psychological development.

Heredity (Nature)

The transmission of genetic characteristics from biological parents to offspring.

Environment (Nurture)

The external influences and experiences that affect development, including family, peers, education, culture and socioeconomic circumstances.

Interaction between nature and nurture

Psychological development is influenced by an ongoing interaction between hereditary and environmental factors. Genes can influence how a person responds to their environment, while environmental experiences can influence how genetic predispositions are expressed.

Twin studies

Studies comparing twins, particularly identical and fraternal twins, to investigate the relative contributions of heredity and environment. Greater similarity between identical twins than fraternal twins can provide evidence for a hereditary influence.

Adoption studies

Studies comparing adopted individuals with their biological and/or adoptive relatives to investigate the relative contributions of heredity and environment.

Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart

Bouchard et al.'s research found substantial similarities between identical twins raised apart on a range of psychological characteristics, providing evidence for hereditary influences while also supporting the interaction of heredity and environment.

Biopsychosocial model

A model that explains psychological development as resulting from the interaction of biological, psychological and social factors.

Biological factors

Factors involving the body and biological processes that can influence development, such as genes, brain development, hormones, nutrition and physical maturation.

Psychological factors

Factors involving mental and emotional processes that can influence development, such as thoughts, emotions, learning, motivation, personality and coping.

Social factors

Factors involving interactions with other people and the wider social environment, such as family, peers, relationships, culture and education.

Schema

A mental framework or organised pattern of knowledge used to understand and respond to experiences. Schemata are units of knowledge representing aspects of the world.

Adaptation

The process through which a person adjusts their existing schemas to deal with new information or experiences. It occurs through assimilation and accommodation.

Assimilation

The process of incorporating new information into an existing schema without changing the schema itself.

Accommodation

The process of changing an existing schema to fit new information or experiences.

Equilibration

The process of achieving a balance between assimilation and accommodation. Piaget proposed that cognitive development involves continually adjusting schemas to reach equilibrium.

Sensorimotor stage

Piaget's first stage of cognitive development, occurring from approximately 0–2 years. Infants develop knowledge primarily through their senses and motor actions.

Object permanence

The understanding that an object continues to exist even when it cannot be seen, heard or touched.

Goal-directed behaviour

The ability to perform a sequence of actions with a particular purpose or goal in mind.

Pre-operational stage

Piaget's second stage of cognitive development, occurring from approximately 2–7 years. Children develop symbolic thinking but have limitations in logical reasoning.

Symbolic thinking

The ability to use symbols such as words, pictures or objects to represent things that are not physically present.

Egocentrism

The tendency to perceive the world primarily from one's own point of view and difficulty understanding another person's perspective.

Animism

The belief that inanimate objects have human-like qualities, consciousness or feelings.

Transformation

The ability to understand that an object or situation can change from one state or form into another.

Centration

The tendency to focus on only one aspect or feature of an object or situation at a time.

Reversibility

The ability to mentally reverse a sequence of events or a line of reasoning back to its starting point.

Concrete operational stage

Piaget's third stage of cognitive development, occurring from approximately 7–12 years. Children develop logical thinking but mental operations are generally limited to concrete objects or events.

Conservation

The understanding that certain properties of an object remain the same even when its appearance changes.

Classification

The ability to organise objects or events into categories based on shared characteristics.

Formal operational stage

Piaget's fourth stage of cognitive development, beginning at approximately 12 years and continuing into adulthood. It involves increasingly sophisticated abstract and logical thinking.

Abstract thinking

The ability to think about ideas, concepts or possibilities that cannot be directly seen, experienced or manipulated.

Idealistic thinking

The ability to imagine and consider ideal or perfect possibilities and compare reality with these ideals.

Criticism of Piaget – abilities may develop earlier

Research suggests some cognitive abilities may appear earlier than Piaget proposed. Baillargeon's research provided evidence that infants may demonstrate an understanding of object permanence earlier than Piaget suggested.

Criticism of Piaget – egocentrism may be overstated

Hughes' 1975 policeman doll study found children performed better on perspective-taking tasks when the task was more understandable and meaningful, suggesting Piaget may have underestimated children's abilities.

Criticism of Piaget – conservation may be affected by task wording

McGarrigle and Donaldson's 1974 research suggested younger children could demonstrate conservation when a transformation was presented as accidental rather than deliberately performed by an adult.

Criticism of Piaget – stages may not be rigid

Research suggests cognitive abilities can develop gradually rather than appearing suddenly at the boundaries of Piaget's four stages.

Criticism of Piaget – cultural influences

Piaget's theory has been criticised for not fully accounting for cultural differences in children's experiences and opportunities for cognitive development.

Criticism of Piaget – individual differences

Children do not all develop at exactly the same rate, meaning Piaget's fixed age ranges should not be treated as universal boundaries.

Sensitive period

A period during development when a person or animal is particularly responsive to certain types of environmental experiences or learning. Experiences during this period are more likely to have a strong effect, although learning can still occur outside the period.

Critical period

defined as a specific period in development during which a person (or animal) is most vulnerable to the deprivation or absence of certain environmental experiences.

Sensitive period vs critical period

A sensitive period is an optimal window when an experience has its strongest effect, but development may still occur later. A critical period is a more strictly limited window during which a particular experience is required for normal development.

Imprinting

A rapid form of learning in which a young animal develops a strong attachment to the first moving object it encounters during a specific early period of development.

Lorenz's imprinting research

Found that goslings exposed to him shortly after hatching followed him rather than their biological mother, demonstrating imprinting during an early period of development.

Genie the Wild Child

A child who experienced extreme social isolation and lack of normal language exposure during childhood. After being discovered at approximately 13 years of age, researchers studied her subsequent development, including her ability to acquire language.

Genie's relevance to critical and sensitive periods

case provided evidence that early environmental experiences are important for normal language development. Despite receiving extensive language intervention after discovery, Genie developed some language abilities but did not acquire fully normal language, supporting the idea that there may be a critical period for language acquisition.

Why Genie's case is not definitive proof of a critical period

Genie experienced multiple forms of deprivation and trauma, not simply a lack of language exposure. Her case was also a single case study, making it difficult to determine exactly which factors caused her language difficulties.

Hubel and Wiesel's research

Research with kittens showed that abnormal visual input during an early developmental period could cause lasting changes to vision, supporting the existence of critical periods.

Sensitive periods and language acquisition

Language development appears to be particularly sensitive to environmental input during childhood. Earlier exposure to language generally provides greater opportunity for typical language development, while acquiring a first language later can be more difficult.