PSYCH 223 pt 2

midterm 2 | Early Childhood and Preschool Years, Middle Childhood, Adolescence, & Early Adulthood

Obesity

body weight that is more than 20% higher than average weight for a person of a particular age and height.

• optimal strategy: have a variety of low-fat and high-nutrition foods available for preschoolers

Brain develops in 2 very important ways:

1) The number of interconnections increases:

• Facilitates the acquisition of cognitive skills

2) The amount of myelin increases:

• Facilitates the speed of neural processing

Lateralization

each hemisphere develops specialized functions (functions localized on one hemisphere)

Gross motor skills

preschool children can now engage in activities that require a high degree of coordination

• For example, they can bike, ski, and climb ladders.

Fine motor skills

involve delicate and smaller body movements (i.e. using a spoon)

Types of play

1) Sensorimotor play (12 months)

2) Constructive play (2 years)

3) First pretend play (between 15-21 months)

4) Substitute pretend play (2-3 years)

5) Sociodramatic play (preschool years)

6) Rule governed play (5 or 6 years)

Egocentrism

a belief among young children that everyone sees and experiences the world the way they do

Centration

a tendency among young children to think of the world in terms of one variable at a time

Conservation

the understanding that matter can change in appearance without changing in quantity

• Children demonstrate their understanding with 3 types of arguments:

1) Identity

2) Compensation

3) Reversibility

Long-term memory

Relatively permanent and unlimited type of memory

Short-term memory

Retention of information for up to 15-30 seconds without rehearsal of information

• Individuals can retain information longer using rehearsal

working memory

A mental “workbench” where individuals manipulate and assemble information when making decisions, problem solving, and comprehending written and spoken language

• More active in modifying information than short-term memory

Stages of cognitive development (sociocultural theory)

(1) Primitive stage: learns primarily through conditioning until language develops

(2) Naïve psychology stage: learns to use language to communicate, but still does not completely understand symbols

(3) Egocentric speech stage: uses language as a guide to solving problems

(4) Ingrowth stage: Internalization of speech routines

theory of mind

the ability to understand what others are thinking

Psychosocial development

development that captures the changes in the understanding that an individual has for themselves within the context of their society as well as the meaning that they ascribe to the behaviour of others.

Estrogens

A class of sex hormones that influence female physical sex characteristics and help regulate menstrual cycle

Androgens

A class of sex hormones that promote development of male genitals and secondary sex characteristics

• Most important androgen is testosterone

Social role theory

Psychological gender differences result from contrasting roles of women and men

Psychoanalytic theory of gender

Stems from Freud’s view that preschool children develop a sexual attraction to opposite-sex parent

• At 5-6 years old, children renounce attraction because of anxious feelings

• Identifies with same-sex parent and unconsciously adopts same-sex parent’s characteristics

Social cognitive theory of gender

Children’s gender development occurs through observation and imitation

• Rewards and punishments shape gender-appropriate behaviour

Preschoolers engage in the following types of play:

▫ Parallel play

▫ Onlooker play

▫ Associative play

▫ Co-operative play

Baumrind’s Parenting Styles

• authoritative

• permissove

• authoritarian

• neglecting/uninvolved

Moral development

change in an individual’s sense of right and wrong and in their behaviour related to moral issues.

Empathy

having an understanding of what another individual is feeling.

Hostile aggression

acting in a way to cause intentional harm to another

Emotional self-regulation

the ability to adjust the quality and intensity of emotions

Instrumental aggression

aggression that stems from the desire to reach a concrete goal

Relational aggression

nonphysical aggression that is intended to hurt another individual emotionally

Dyslexia

Difficulties in reading

• Typically apparent by 4th grade

• The most common specific learning disorder

Common communication disorders include:

▫ Language disorder

▫ Speech sound disorder

▫ Childhood-onset fluency disorder

▫ Social communication disorder

Piaget’s Concrete Operational Stage

Piaget’s third stage of cognitive development.

• Children in this stage construct schemes that allow them to think logically about objects and events in the real world.

concrete operations (4)

1) Decentration: thinking that takes more than one variable into account

2) Reversibility: having the understanding that physical actions and mental operations can be reversed

3) Inductive logic: a type of reasoning in which general principles are inferred from specific experiences

4) Deductive logic: a type of reasoning, based on hypothetical premises, that requires predicting a specific outcome from a general principle

Constructivist approach

▫ Learner centered

▫ Emphasizes the importance of students actively constructing knowledge

▫ Emphasizes importance of understanding using the guidance of the teacher

Direct instruction approach

▫ Teacher centered

▫ Emphasizes structure in which teacher has both direction and control

▫ Goal: to maximize student learning time

Industry vs. inferiority

Erikson argued that from 6-12 children focus on meeting challenges that are presented to them by parents, peers, school, and other factors in their environment.

Piaget argued that children go through 2 distinct stages of moral thought:

1) Heteronomous morality: (4-7 years) children view justice and rules as unchangeable elements of the world.

2) Autonomous morality: (10+ years) children gain an understanding that rules and laws are created by people. When judging actions they now consider the actor’s intentions and consequences

Kohlberg’s Theory

Level 1: Preconventional

• Stage 1: Heteronomous morality

• Stage 2: Individualism, instrumental purpose, and exchange

Level 2: Conventional

• Stage 3: Mutual interpersonal expectations, relationships and interpersonal conformity

• Stage 4: Social systems morality

Level 3: Postconventional

• Stage 5: Social contract or utility and individual rights

• Stage 6: Universal ethical principles

peer statuses

• Popular

• Average

• Neglected

• Rejected

• Controversial

Secular trend

a pattern of change that occurs over several generations

Primary sex characteristics

characteristics that are associated with the development of organs that are required for reproduction

Secondary sex characteristics

signs of sexual maturity that do not involve sex organs

Anorexia Nervosa

Eating disorder that involves relentless pursuit of thinness

through starvation

• Characteristics of anorexia nervosa:

• Weighing less than 85% of normal weight for their age

• Intense fear of gaining weight

• Distorted image of body shape

• Typically begins in early to middle teenage years, often after period of dieting and some type of life stress

Bulimia Nervosa

• Consistent binge-and-purge eating pattern

• Self-induced vomiting or using a laxative

• Preoccupied with food, strong fear of becoming overweight, depressed or anxious

• Typically begins in late adolescence or early adulthood

Binge eating disorder (BED)

• Frequent binge eating without compensatory purging behaviour

• Frequently overweight

• Eating in secret and feeling disgust after the episode

• Binging problem typically beginning in childhood or adolescence

Formal operational stage

the fourth stage of Piaget’s stages. Adolescents learn to reason logically about abstract concepts.

• 1) Systematic problem-solving: the process of finding a solution to a problem by testing individual factors

• 2) Hypothetico-deductive reasoning: the ability to derive conclusions from premises that are hypothetical

Postformal thinking

A type of reasoning that takes into consideration the complexity of situations that occur in real life (i.e. pragmatism)

• This is beyond formal operation thinking

Reflective Judgment

The ability to evaluate the accuracy of arguments as well as their coherence (i.e. the use of relativism and commitment).

two beliefs accompany formal operations

• Imaginary audience - belief that adolescent is alone on stage, with audience judging him/her

• Personal fable - belief that he/she is special or unique – and invulnerable

Erikson’s stage - identity vs. identity confusion

Adolescents faced with deciding who they are, what they are all about, and where they are going in life

• Questions occur throughout life, but become especially important during adolescence

Identity statuses

• Crisis – a period of identity development during which individual explores alternatives

• Commitment – personal investment in identity

• 4 statuses:

  • Identity diffusion

  • Identity foreclosure

  • Identity moratorium

  • Identity achievement

Reference groups

groups of people that an individual can compare him or herself to.

• Peers serve as an important reference group

Cliques

• Small groups (2-12 people)

• Members are usually around the same age and of the same sex

• Engage in similar activities

crowds

• Larger than a clique

• Membership based upon reputation

• Often do not spend much time together

• Defined by activities that individuals in the crowd engage in

Undersocialized delinquents

raised with little discipline or with harsh, uncaring supervision.

• Typically engage in criminal activity before adolescence

• Socialized delinquents

know and subscribe to the norms of society who are fairly typical psychologically

• Highly peer influenced

Crystallized intelligence

Individual’s accumulated information and verbal skills

• Continues to increase across life span

Fluid intelligence

• Ability to reason abstractly

• Begins to decline during middle adulthood

Emotional Intelligence

ability to use your emotions and the emotions of others effectively to solve problems

Stereotype threat

when performance suffers because of the awareness of stereotypes held by society about academic abilities

• Individuals from groups that are typically discriminated against are vulnerable to this threat

Ginzberg’s Career Choice Theory

Stages in choosing a career:

• 1) Fantasy period

• 2) Tentative period

• 3) Realistic period

Intimacy vs. isolation

Erikson believed that this spanned from postadolescence to the early 30’s

• Focus on developing intimate relationships with others

Stimulus-value-role theory

• 1) Stimulus stage: largely based on superficial characteristics

• 2) Value stage: similarity of values increases

• 3) Role stage: specific roles are defined and adopted

Adult attachment styles:

1. Secure attachment

• Positive view of relationships, easy to get close to others, not overly concerned with or stressed out about romantic relationships

2. Avoidant attachment

• Hesitant about getting involved in romantic relationships

• Once in a relationship, distance themselves from partners

3. anxious/ambivalent attachment

• Demand closeness, less trusting, more emotional, jealous, and possessive

Passionate/Romantic love

Strong components of sexuality and infatuation

• Often predominates in early part of a love relationship

Companionate love

Occurs when an individual desires to have the other person near and has a deep, caring affection for the person

• As love matures, passion gives way to affection

Sternberg’s Triangular Theory of Love

• Passion – physical and sexual attraction

• Intimacy – emotional feelings of warmth, closeness, and sharing

• Commitment – cognitive appraisal of relationship and intent to maintain relationship in the face of problems

Homogamy

tendency to marry an individual who is similar in age, race, education, religion and other (basic) demographic characteristics

What makes marriages work?

1) Establishing love maps

2) Nurturing fondness and admiration

3) Turning toward each other instead of away

4) Letting your partner influence you

5) Overcoming gridlock

6) Creating shared meaning