Developmental Psychology TEST 1 - Armstrong

Infancy

0-2 years old. Latin term 'Non-speaking'.

Early childhood

3-5 years old.

Middle childhood

6-12 years old - entry into school.

Puberty

Process leading to sexual maturity - Adolescence.

Development

Occurs on two levels: Qualitative and Quantitative.

Qualitative

A change in quality.

Quantitative

A change in number or amount.

Multidimensional

Development is multidimensional.

Domains of Development

Occurs across 3 domains - physical, cognitive, and social/emotional.

Gains and Losses

Involves Gains and Losses.

Plasticity

Is sometimes Plastic -- compensation.

Contexts of Development

Is influenced by different contexts -- unique combinations of personal and environmental circumstances.

Nature vs Nurture

Nature = genetics/ biology of you; Nurture = environment.

Continuous Development

Slow unfolding of differing abilities over time; not very obvious.

Discontinuous Development

More obvious changes that are less smooth and more abrupt.

Active Development

Children are active in their development, interacting with their environment.

Passive Development

Children are shaped by experience, where things happen to them.

Mechanistic Model

Development won't occur without some outside source - needs an outside influence.

Organismic Model

Development comes from inside - within the organism, motivated to explore.

Stability vs Change

Are we stable in every aspect of development or is there change?

Scientific Method Steps

1. Forming a Research Question; 2. Developing a Hypothesis; 3. Testing the Hypothesis.

Behaviorism

Learning by association - putting things together.

Classical Conditioning

Type of associative learning where two stimuli go together.

Conditioned Response

A learned response (e.g., salivation to the sound of the bell/tuning fork).

Conditioned Stimulus

A stimulus you have learned to respond to (e.g., the noise of the bell/tuning fork).

Ivan Pavlov

Known for Classical Conditioning - 'Pavlov's Dogs' experiment.

Unconditioned stimulus

a stimulus you do not have to learn to respond to (food)

Unconditioned response

response that you don't have to learn (salivation)

Operant Conditioning

another type of associative learning where you learn from a behavior and its consequence

Positive Reinforcement

adding something or presenting something after the behavior to increase the behavior

Negative Reinforcement

taking or removing something away after the behavior to increase the behavior

Negative reinforcer

the thing you want to get rid of or go away

Punishment

the only thing that stops, hinders, or gets rid of a behavior

Discipline

to teach

Positive Punishment

adding something aversive, unpleasant after a behavior to punish it

Negative Punishment

something is removed after the behavior to punish it

Social Cognitive Theory

the theory that emphasizes the importance of thought processes in learning through modeling and observational learning

Modeling

the process of learning by observing others

Jean Piaget's Cognitive-Developmental Theory

a theory that explains cognitive development through stages

Sensorimotor Stage

birth to 2 years: learning through senses and motor experiences

Preoperational Stage

2 to 7 years: the reasoning you have before you can perform operations

Operation

complex, reversible mental task

Cognitive Perspective on Child Development

focuses on how children process information differently at various stages of development

Observational Learning

learning that occurs by watching others and modeling their behavior

Reinforcement

a consequence that strengthens behavior

Aversive consequence

a negative outcome that discourages a behavior

Behavioral modeling

the process of learning behaviors by observing others' actions and consequences

Cognitive abilities

the mental skills that are involved in learning, reasoning, and problem-solving

Formal Operational

Abstractions in thought do not trip you up anymore.

Organization

The tendency to create increasingly complex ways of thinking that incorporate more and more accurate images of reality.

Schemas

Mental structures that we build as we interact with our environment; organized patterns of behavior that a person uses to think about situations and determine how to act in situations.

Adaptation

Made up of two complimentary processes: assimilation and accommodation.

Assimilation

Initial reaction/tendency to new things in our environment; the process of taking new information and trying to make it fit into already existing schemas.

Accommodation

When you alter your schemas/understandings to take in and incorporate new information.

Equilibration

The balance that forces us to stop assimilating and accommodate.

Information-Processing Theory

Involves storage and retrieval of information.

Biological Perspective on Development

Asks questions like 'do we have instinctive behaviors? What purpose do they serve? How do they help us adapt?'

Ecological Systems Theory

A contextual theory that considers all contexts that a child exists in and their impact on the child.

Microsystem

Environments where the child has direct interaction, such as family, school, and neighborhood playground.

Mesosystem

The interaction between elements of the microsystem.

Exosystem

Institutions in the community that affect the child but where the child does not exist.

Macrosystem

Cultural factors that influence the child.

Chronosystem

Changes over time that impact the child.

Sociocultural Perspective

Focuses on the social and cultural influences on development.

ZPD

Zone of Proximal Development; the difference between what a learner can do without help and what they can do with help.

Scaffolding

Support given to a learner that is tailored to their needs with the intention of helping them achieve their learning goals.

Chromosomes

Structures within cells that contain DNA and genetic information.

Zygote

A new cell formed from the union of a sperm and an ovum; a fertilized egg.

Twins

Monozygotic (one fertilized egg split) and Dizygotic (two eggs).

Dominant Traits

Traits that are expressed when at least one dominant allele is present.

Recessive Traits

Traits that are expressed only when two recessive alleles are present.

Alleles

Different forms of a gene; can be homozygous (same traits) or heterozygous (different traits).

Chromosomal Abnormalities

Genetic disorders caused by changes in chromosome structure or number.

Down Syndrome

A genetic disorder caused by the presence of an extra chromosome 21.

XYY Syndrome

A genetic condition in which a male has an extra Y chromosome.

Klinefelter Syndrome

A genetic condition in which a male has an extra X chromosome.

Turner Syndrome

A genetic condition in which a female is partly or completely missing an X chromosome.

Fragile X Syndrome

A genetic condition causing intellectual disability, behavioral issues, and various physical features.