ap psych sem 1

psychology

developmental psychology

a branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social change throughout the life span; nature vs. nurture, continuity and stages, stability and change

nature and nurture

how does our genetic inheritance interact with experiences to influence our development

continuity and stages

what parts of development are gradual and continuous and what parts change abruptly in separate stages

stability and change

which of our traits persist through life and how do we change as we age

stage theorists

emphasize biological maturation tend to see development as a sequence of genetically predisposed stages or steps; although process through the various stages may be quick of slow, everyone passes through the stages in the same order

life

requires both stability and change

stability

provides our identity, enabling us to depend on others and on ourselves

prenatal development

life begins at conception and continues through several stages in the womb

conception

begins with the release of an egg from the mother's ovary, then the deposited sperm approaches an egg cell, and the small number reaching the egg released digestive enzymes that eat away the egg's protective coating

how the egg is fertilized

one sperm penetrates the coating and enters through the egg's surface blocking out the other sperm; the egg nucleus and the sperm nucleus fuse (two become one)

germinal stage of prenatal development

first 10-day to 2-weeks of development when the fertilized egg (zygote) undergoes rapid cell division; one cell becomes 2, then 4, and continues to divide; then cells begin to differentiate to specialize in structure and function to become brain tissue, intestine tissue, heart, tissue, etc.

zygote becomes embryo

about 10 days after conception, the germinal stage completes as the zygote attaches to the mother's uterine wall, beginning approximately 37 weeks of the closest human relationship; then over the next 6 weeks, the embryo's organs begin to form and function and heart begins to beat

embryo becomes fetus

by 9 weeks after conception, an embryo looks unmistakably human; during the sixth month, organs such as the stomach develop enough to give the fetus a good chance of surviving and thriving if born prematurely

fetal stage

by the start of the ninth week, facial features, hands, and feet have been formed

teratogens

chemicals and viruses that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm (monster makers); ex: alcohol consumption by the mother, tobacco use by the mother, drug use by the mother, viruses contracted by the mother, certain medications taken by the mother

alcohol

reduces activity in both the mother's and baby's central nervous systems when it is in the mother's bloodstream; can affect the brain and cause dangerously low birth weight, birth defects, future behavior problems, lower iq

fetal alcohol syndrome

the most serious of all fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, marked by lifelong physical and mental abnormalities

habituation

decreasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation; as infants gain familiarity with repeated exposure to a stimulus, their interest wanes and they look away sooner

rooting reflex

when the corner of the baby's mouth is stroked or touched the baby will turn their head and their mouth to follow and root in the direction of the stroking; helps the baby find the breast or bottle to begin feeing and lasts about 4 months

sucking reflex

when the roof of the baby's mouth is touched, the baby will begin to suck

grasping reflex

stroking the palm of a baby's hand causes the baby to close their fingers in a grasp; lasts until the baby is about 5 to 6 months old

startle (moro) reflex

in response to a loud sound or sudden movement, the baby throws back their head, extend out their airms and legs, cries, then pulls the arms and legs back in; lasts until the baby is about 2 months old

babinski reflex

occurs after the sole of the foot has been firmly stroked; big toe then moves upward or toward the top surface of the foot and the other toes fan out

zygote

when one sperm cells unites with an egg

embryo

the zygote's inner cell and when the body organs begin to form and function

phonemes

smallest distinctive sound units in a language

language

spoken, written, or signed words, and the ways we combine them to communicate meaning

morphemes

smallest language units the carry meaning; usually a combination of two or more phonemes

grammar

language's set of rules that enable people to communicate; guide us in deriving meaning from sounds (semantics) and in ordering words into sentences (syntax)

noam chomsky

a linguist that has argued that language is nature's gift, an unlearned human trait, separate from other parts of human cognition; theorized that a built-in predisposition to learn grammar rules (universal grammar), helps explain why preschoolers pick up language so readily and use grammar well

universal grammar

built in predisposition to learn grammar rules

babbling stage

before nurture molds babies' speech, nature enables a wide range of possible sounds; begins at around 4 months; usually consonant-vowel pairs formed by simply bunching the tongue in front of the mouth or by opening and closing the lips

one word stage

children have already learned that sounds carry meanings, begins around their first birthday; a single inflected word may equal a sentence

two word stage

beginning about age 2, the stage in speech development during which a child speaks mostly two-word statements

critical period

an optimal period early in the life of an organism when exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces normal development

adolescence

the transition period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty to independence; time when teens crave social acceptance but often feel socially disconnected

puberty

the period of sexual maturation, during which a person becomes capable of reproducing; sequence of physical changes occur in individuals

menarche

the first menstrual period for girls

spermarche

the first ejaculation for boys

brain in puberty

brain cells increase their connections, like trees growing more roots and branches

brain in adolescence

selective pruning of unused neurons and connections

frontal lobe

develops as a teen mature; myelin continues growing and the fatty tissue that forms around axons and speeds neurotransmission enables better communication with other brain regions; this development brings improved judgement, impulse control, and long-term planning

formal operation

created by piaget; stated that adolescents apply their new abstract reasoning tools to the world around them when they achieve intellectual summit; may thin about what is ideally possible and compare that with the imperfect reality of their society, their parents, and themselves

piaget and kohlberg

proposed the moral reasoning guides moral actions

moral reasoning

children learn to empathize with others, and an ability that continues to develop in adolescence; to think morally and act accordingly; the thinking that occurs to determine right from wrong

piaget

believed that children's moral judgments build on their cognitive development and that they constructed their understanding of the world while interacting with it; heavily studied children's cognitive development

kohlberg

sought to describe the development of moral reasoning; proposed moral dilemmas; his analysis led to the three basic levels of moral thinking

preconventional morality, conventional morality, postconventional morality

kohlberg's three basic levels of moral thinking

preconventional morality

before age 9; self interest and obey rules to avoid punishment of gain concrete rewards

conventional morality

early adolescence; uphold laws and rules to gain social approval or maintain social order

postconventional morality

adolescence and beyond; actions reflect belief in basic rights and self-defined ethical principles

jonathan haidt

believed that much of our morality is rooted in moral intuitions and that the mind makes moral judgements in much the same way that it makes aesthetic judgements (quickly and automatically)

moral intuitions

quick gut feelings, or affectively laden intuitions

menopause

the time of natural cessation of menstruation; also refers to the biological changes a woman experiences as her ability to reproduce declines

telomeres

at the tip of chromosomes and wear down as individuals age; wear down is accelerated by smoking, obesity, or stress

males

more prone to dying as they are more impulsive during their adolescent years; by age 100, women outnumber them 5 to 1

genetically and physiologically

biology influences our gender psychology ...

genetically

males and females have differing sex chromosomes

physiologically

males and females have differing concentrations of sex hormones, which trigger other anatomical differences

testosterone

the main male hormone; promotes male sex organ development

flood of hormones

triggers another period of dramatic physical change during adolescence, when individuals enter puberty

primary sex characteristics

the reproductive organs and external genitalia; ovaries, testes

secondary sex characteristics

non reproductive sexual characteristics; ex: breasts, larger hips, facial hair

intersex

when individuals are born with unusual combinations of male and female chromosomes, hormones, and anatomy

early adulthood

a peak time for some types of learning and remembering

cross sectional study

research that compares people of different ages at the same point of time

longitudinal study

research that follows and retests the same people over time

neurocognitive disorder

acquired (not lifelong) disorders marked by cognitive deficits; often related to alzheimer's disease, brain injury or disease, or substance use; formerly called dementia

alzheimer's disease

a neurocognitive disorder marked by neural plaques, often with onset after age 80, and entailing a progressive decline in memory and other cognitive abilities

sexual orientation

direction of our sexual interest

homosexual orientation

enduring sexual attraction toward members of our own sex

heterosexual orientation

enduring sexual attraction toward members of the other sex

bisexual orientation

enduring sexual attraction toward both sexes

brain anatomy and genes

may influence sexual orientation

assimilation

interpreting new experiences in terms of existing schemas

accomodation

adapting current understandings 9schemas) to incorporate new information

sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational

piaget's four major stages of cognitive development

sensorimotor stage

from birth to nearly age 2; babies take in the world through their senses and actions, through looking, hearing, touching, mouthing, and grasping

object permanence

the awareness that objects continue to exist even when not perceived; young infants lack this but it unfolds gradually

preoperational stage

age 2 until age 6 or 7; a child learns to use language but does not yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete logic

mental operations

imagining an action and mentally reversing it

conservation

the principle, which piaget believed to be a part of concrete operational reasoning, that properties such as mass, volume, and number remain the same despite changes in the forms of objects; lacked by children

symbolic thinking and pretend play

appear at an earlier age that piaget supposed; discovered by judy deloache

egocentric

in piaget's theory, the preoperational child's difficulty of taking another's point of view

theory of mind

people's ideas about their own and others' mental states about their feelings, perceptions, and thoughts, and the behaviors these might predict

concrete operational

age 7 to 11; thinking logically about concrete events; grasping concrete analogies (such as conservation) and performing arithmetical operations

formal operational

age 12 through adulthood; reasoning abstractly; individuals are able to ponder hypothetical propositions and consequences

lev vygotsky

emphasized how the child's mind grows through interaction with the social environment

scaffold

a framework that offers children temporary support as they develop higher levels of thinking

telegraphic speech

early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram like "go car"; mostly using nouns and verbs

aphasia

impairment of language, usually caused by left hemisphere damage to either broca's area or to wernicke's area

broca's area

helps control language expression; an area of the frontal lobe, usually in the left hemisphere, that directs the muscle movements involved in speech

wernicke's area

a brain area involved in language comprehension and expression usually in the left temporal lobe

stranger anxiety

the fear of strangers that infants commonly display; beginning by about 8 months of age; children this age have schemas for familiar faces so when they are unable to assimilate the new face into these remembered schemas, they become distressed

attachment

an emotional tie with another person; shown in young children by their seeking closeness to their caregiver and showing distress on separation

harry and margaret harrlow

separated baby monkeys from their mothers and gave them a choice to choose a cloth mother or a wire form mother with an attached feeding bottle; monkeys preferred the comfy cloth mother even though she did not have a feeding bottle; found that attachment is not associated with nourishment

imprinting

the process by which certain animals form strong attachment during early life

konrad lorenz

explored imprinting; experimented whether ducklings would follow the first moving creature they observed; animals imprint but children do not

strange situation

a procedure for studying child-caregiver attachment; a child is placed in an unfamiliar environment while their caregiver leaves and them returns, and child's reactions are observed

mary ainswroth

carried out a strange situation experiment on children