Psychology 230: Unit 2 Test

play

a pleasurable activity in which children engage for its own sake; considered by Piaget and Vygotsky as “child’s work”

Piaget’s preoperational stage

the stage from 2-6 years when children can represent the world with words and images, begin to reason, perform operations, but are limited by egocentrism and a lack of conservation

operations

reversible mental actions that allow children to do mentally what they could previously only do physically

conservation

the principle that some properties of an object stay constant even when its appearance is altered

egocentrism

the inability to distinguish between one’s own perspective and someone else’s; the belief in the ubiquity of one’s own thoughts and feelings

centration

the centering of all attention on one characteristic to the exclusion of all others; this limits conservation

symbolic function substage

the period within the preoperational stage between 2 and 4 years during which a child can represent an absent object (draw)

animism

the belief that inanimate objects have lifelike qualities; defines the preoperational stage

intuitive thought substage

the period within the preoperational stage between 4 and 7 years during which children develop primitive reasoning, evidenced by questions like “Why?”

Piaget’s concrete operational stage

the stage from 7 and 11 years during which children master the use of tangible logic to solve problems

Hughes (1975)

the experiment that challenged Piaget’s 3 Mountain Model by presenting children with three tasks involving a police doll and a small boy doll:

1) "Can the policeman see the boy?”

2) Hide the boy from the policeman

3) introduce another policeman and asked to hide the boy from both

Li et al (1999)

the experiment that studied conservation by presenting children with different volumes of water and recording their predictions for container transfers

pretend play

when a toy assumes a different different role than the one it was meant for reflecting the changes children undergo in conception and thought

zone of proximal development

the point at which a child can almost perform a task but still needs assistance

more knowledgeable other

a helper in the zone of proximal development that provides instruction and scaffolding for the child

scaffolding

assistance that gradually recedes during the zone of proximal development until the child can perform the task unassisted

private speech

speech that focuses on the child and excludes other points of view

divided attention

“multitasking,” the ability to switch focus between tasks or external stimuli that develops meaningfully after age 5

selective attention

the ability to focus on a single task or stimulus while ignoring distracting information

sustained attention

the ability to stay on task for long periods of time

working memory

the component memory in which current conscious mental activity occurs

executive function

the self-regulatory process that enables adaptive responses to new situations or to reach a specific goal

autobiographical memory

one’s personal narrative in recollection of events and experiences

constructivism

when children are actively trying to understand the world around them

Theory Theory

the tendency of children to generate theories to explain everything they encounter in the absence of concrete answers

Theory of Mind

the ability to think about other people’s thoughts

vocabulary spurt

a rapid growth of vocabulary occurring between 18 and 24 months

autism

disorders characterized by disturbances in social interaction, communication, and pattern formation

Initiative vs. Guilt

Erikson’s first stage of development during which children begin trying new things. It is the conflict between a sense of accomplishment or failure

self-concept

one’s self description according to various categories

self-esteem

one’s judgement of themselves

self-control

the ability to avoid initiating a behavior until all information has been evaluated

Marshmallow test

an experiment that studied delayed gratification by presenting children with a marshmallow and were promised more later if they avoided eating it in the moment

gender

the sociocultural meaning associated with masculinity and femininity

gender idenitity

one’s sense of which gender their experience aligns with

gender roles

the learned expectations around behavior associated with being male or female

gender socialization

focuses on what young children learn about gender from society from sources like their parents and educational institutions

Social Learning Theory

the theory that behavior is learned from reinforcement or punishment for certain actions

Gender Schema Theory

the theory positing that children develop their own conceptions of the attributes associated with maleness and femaleness

Cognitive Social Learning Theory

theory that emphasizes the role of reinforcement, punishment, and imitation in the developmental process, but also proposes cognitive processes as another influence

Developmental Intergroup Theory

theory that gender stereotypes are so prevalent personally because they are also socially prevalent

transgenderism

when one identifies with a gender other than that they were assigned at birth

gender dysphoria

the distress that accompanies the conflict between one’s assigned gender and their gender identity

authoritarian parenting

parenting style in which the parent has high demands of their child but is non-responsive

permissive parenting

parenting style that has low expectations of children but high responsiveness from parents

uninvolved parenting

parenting style characterized by non-responsive, disengaged parents with few demands of their children

authoritative parenting

parenting style considered “the best” in which parents are responsive and have high demands of their children

Freud on play

this psychologist believed that children played to release repressed emotions and any distress associated with it

Piaget and Vygotsky on play

these psychologists believed that children engaged in play to develop their intellectual abilities

adverse childhood experiences

abuse, neglect, and other trauma a child experiences before turning 18 that contribute to chronic health conditions and early death

Smith (2012)

this study examined the effects of spanking and other corporal punishment and determined that it contributed to aggression, antisocial behavior, and bullying later in life

Fagot (1978)

this study demonstrated the role of social learning theory on the development of gender identity by observing parent-child interactions and noting which behaviors were reinforced (those congruent with the child’s sex) and which were punished (those incongruent with the child’s sex)

Martin and Halverson

these researchers illustrated gender schema theory by presenting children with images of members of both gender engaging in activities consistent and inconsistent with their genders and asking the children to recall them later; their findings proved children organize information about gender

Body Mass Index (BMI)

the metric of obesity measuring the relation of one’s height to their weight; negative correlation with cortical thickness

executive function

working memory, critical and creative thinking, and metacognition

metacognition

“thinking about thinking” including planning and self-regulation

working memory

the “mental workbench” used to assemble and manipulate information

attention

the ability to to inhibit irrelevant information

verbatim

“word for word,” the way children first try to learn things before transitioning to gists

gist

“fuzzy traces,” the learned ability to learn by association leading to more enduring memories

Brainerd and Reyna

researchers and that studied the fuzzy trace and concluded children learned better by association rather than memorization

Ennis

researcher who identified the dimensions of critical thinking, including argument analysis, clarifying information, value judgments, and deciding action

Winner

researcher who studied gifted children and their critical thinking capacities

precocity

a child’s mastery of an area at an earlier date than their peers

gifted child

precocious children who “march to the beat of their own drum,” require little scaffolding, and demonstrate passion without parental incentive

inductive reasoning

the logical process in which multiple premises believed to be true are combined to obtain a specific conclusion

classification

the construction of schema and the ability to use them to organize new information

seriation

the ability to of arrange items along a quantitative dimension like length or height possessed by older children

learning disability

any condition that interferes with academic performance, such as dyslexia

ADHD

a disorder characterized by inattention, hyperactivity, impulsivity, restlessness, and forgetfulness, contributing to barriers to normal functioning

IDEA

legislation guaranteeing an education to disabled students younger than 21; requires they be educated in the least restrictive environment, and evaluated fairly in accordance with their disability

Individualized Education Program

an academic plan built around a disability by teachers, parents, and the student

industry vs. inferiority

Erikson’s third stage of development in which children begin comparing themselves to others and enter the conflict between a strong self-conflict and an inferiority complex

self-concept

one’s beliefs about their personal identity including physical characteristics, traits, and behaviors

self-esteem

an evaluation of judgment of one’s own identity

self-efficacy

one’s belief in their competency to execute a specific task or meeting a certain goal

Kohlberg

this researcher studied children’s morality by posing a moral question in which a man stole for his dying wife and recording the children’s moral evaluations of his behavior

preconventional morality

the first stage of Kohlberg’s moral development model in which children focus on self-interests in moral questions

conventional morality

the second stage of Kohlberg’s moral development model in which children consider others’ reactions to their actions in moral questions

postconventional morality

the third stage of Kohlberg’s morality development model in which children begin to consider higher principles like justice in moral questions

Gilligan

this researcher criticized Kohlberg’s findings as simplistic, west-centric, and disproportionately descriptive of men, who tend to value justice over compassion

friendships

these early relationships with peers give children their first sense of belonging or rejection and help them develop communication and social skills

sociometric assessment

the metric for attraction between members of a group compiled by asking children who among them they would and would not play with—they are then sorted into popular, rejected, controversial, neglected, or average

tweens

the demographic of children between 9 and 12 that emerged as the target of advertisement and consumers of media and clothing as they become concerned with trends

society of children

the transition from familial influence to peer influence during which one’s peers teach each other and arbitrate hallmarks of popularity

popular prosocial children

children who perform well in school and are friendly

popular antisocial children

children whose popularity is derived from a standoffish attitude

withdrawn-rejected children

children unlikely to fight back to a bully

aggressive-rejected children

children who push others away as a result of their own insecurity

neglected children

unnoticed children neither liked nor disliked by their peers

average children

children whose peers rated their positively and negatively in relatively equal measure

controversial children

children strongly liked or disliked by a few peers

self-understanding

awareness of and ability to understand one's own actions and reactions

social comparison

studied in the Ruble, happens in the late to middle childhood when children compare themselves and their strengths and weaknesses.

perspective-taking

ability to assume people's prescriptive and understand their thoughts and feelings

self-esteem

how much a person values themselves. it is much a person likes, accepts, or approves of themselves

self-concept

how a person thinks/ perceives themselves

self-efficacy

belief that one can master a situation to their favor

self-regulation

the ability to manage one's behavior, emotions and thoughts

social cognition

the ability to process social interactions to understand peer relations