Developmental Psychology Exam 1 Review Guide

Nature and Nurture

theme asking which one is responsible for origin of knowledge, innate or learned

Nature

biological endowment, the genes we receive from our parents (physical appearance, personality, intellect, and mental health to specific preferences, like political attitudes and propensity for thrill-seeking)

Nurture

wide range of environments, both physical and social, that influence our development, including the womb in which we spend the prenatal period, the homes we grow up in, schools we attend, broader communities we live in, and people who we interact with

Nature and Nurture Example

critical period in language development (a period of a child’s life when easy to learn a language, learning before a certain age)

Individual Differences

genes vs. nurture

different vocab, fluency, environment, raising, twin studies

how do genes and environment interact to produce individual differences?

Individual Differences Example

Asking why some children are more shy than others when they are around new people

Research and Child Welfare

concerned with applying research to make public policy

The Active Child

how children shape their own development: exploring their own environment, experimenting

changes through own motor skills: child able to crawl, child only carried

The Sociocultural Context

how does culture influence development

motor milestones

infant/mother mortality: how to take care of their child, prenatal development = making development different through culture

Scientific Method

reliability, validity (background)

reliability

the degree to which independent measurements of a behavior under study are consistent (important type: interrater)

validity

the degree to which a test measures what it is intended to measure

internal validity

the degree to which effects observed within experiments can be attributed to the factor that the researcher is testing

external validity

the degree to which results can be generalized beyond the particulars of the research

naturalistic observation

observing all natural behavior with minimal interference, best for social interaction processes (ex: language, gender segregation)

structured observation

observation in which experimenter controls experience in a way that only a few responses are possible (ex: fendle identification)

naturalistic observation dis/advantages

ideally people don’t alter their behavior, but it takes a long time, lots of cofounding variables possible

structured observation dis/advantages

everyone has the same decision/opportunity, but not as much external validity because the choices are not natural

cross-sectional design

studying different age groups at the same time, interested in typical patterns or average change

longitudinal design

follow the same children over time, concerned with individual differences

microgenetic design

studying the same kids but over a shorter time and you see them very often (“dense sampling”), purpose is examining change when it happens

cross-sectional example

when do children start to display gender segregation?

microgenetic example

when children start to be able to pass Piaget’s conservation of liquid task, is the change sudden or gradual?

longitudinal example

preschoolers show variation in gendered behavior, with some conforming to hyper-feminine or hyper-masculine stereotypes in dress and interests, and others not. Some even violate gender norms of dress and play. Are such choices consistent over time? for example, does an individual’s level of gender conformity predict in preschool their level of gender conformity in later childhood or adolescence?

r - correlation coefficient

measuring the relationship between two variables can be measured using this

correlation

how much one variable can predict another (individual differences or variablity)

range relationships of r

\-1 to +1

correlation magnitude

how strong the relationship is

rules of correlation

positive correlation = same direction, 0=no relationship

random assignment

assigning participants to experimental and control conditions by chance, thus minimizing preexisting differences between those assigned to the different groups

can be inferred

with random assignment, causality usually

multiple regression

a statistical measure to be used when you can’t apply an experimental design, in which different independent variables are ruled out to measure causality

weeks from conception to birth

38 weeks

three stages of development

zygote, embryo, fetus

zygote stage weeks

weeks 0-2

embryo stage weeks

weeks 3-8

fetus stage week

weeks 9-38

zygote/germinal stage

massive cell division (not differentiation) and implantation into uterus (begins at 7-9 days, complete by 14 days), the fertilized egg grows, unattached to the uterine wall.

embryo stage

most rapid development/most vulnerability

cell differentiation

embryo stage: 4 weeks

hearbeat - not fully formed, circulates blood

embryo stage: 5-6 weeks

rapid brain development, movement begins/defect permanent

placenta and amniotic fluid in amniotic sac: exchange of nutrients/waste through semi-permeable membrane

placenta allows nutritions/bad to come in and waste come out

fetal stage: 9 weeks

all internal organs present, tactile stimulation

fetal stage: 10-12 weeks

heart and brain structure, “breathing”, gasping, swallowing, sucking

fetal stage: 16-20 weeks

quickening, movement felt by mother, different among mothers

fetal stage: 28 weeks

external sounds, lungs may be developed, sleep cycles, may survive on own if born

embryo stage: 8 weeks

androgens are produced

fetal experience and learning

taste and smell, hearing

taste and smell

preferences persist postnatally: scene of amniotic fluid, anise study, carrot juice experiment (5 1/2 months, Mennella et al 2001)

hearing

by 26-28 weeks: internal and external, habituation to repeated sound stimulus by 30 weeks

fetal learning: habituation

decrease in response due to repeated presentation of stimulus

fetal learning: dishabituation/recovery

rebound in response due to subsequent change in stimulus

Fetal Learning: habituation (two methods)

non-nutritive sucking, heart rate (for neonates or refuses)

non nutritive sucking (for neonates)

technique for testing newborns’ attention, sucking rate decreases during habituation, increases for dishabituation

what marks the beginnings of the embryo stage

the onset of a heartbeat

fetal experience and learning hearing example:

marie plays the violin in an orchestra. for the first 12 weeks of her pregnancy, the orchestra was playing a specific song, which has a very catchy repeated theme. After that point, they moved on to a new program. Can the baby recognize that music?

no. prenatal human cannot hear sound from outside the mother’s body at this age yet.

teratogens

agents that cause harm during pre-natal development, but can give us insight into disorders/problems: public health, window, insights, fetal programming/epigenetics

teratogens: factors that influence severity of effect

does, genetic predispositions of baby and mother, combinations, age/filming (sensitive period in prenatal development

thalidomide case

teratogens have worst effects during a sensitive period. In early 1960’s mothers used this drug not knowing that it would cross the placental barrier. Depending on what time the drug was taken, it yielded in different results.

alcohol interferes with

cell duplication and migration in neural tube, causing damage to brain

Alcohol Related Neurodevelopmental Disorder (ARND)

causes no physical symptoms but deficits in attention and hyperactivity

partial FAS

2 facial symptoms and 3 cognitive/behavioral symptoms of drinking during pregnancy

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FAS)

exposure to alcohol in the amniotic fluid, along with persistent, heavy drinking throughout pregnancy can cause

FAS features

facial abnormalities, slow growth, small head/seizures, intellectual impairment, hyper activity

lead

environmental hazard which can be stored in mothers bones and effects prematurity, LBW, brain damage, mental and motor development (lower IQ: 70-90)

syndrome face features

small eyes, smooth philtrum, thin upper lip

syndrome brain of babies

right brain: high levels, not grown as much, exposure to alcohol, less developed

fetal exposure to alcohol

the fetus’s poorer metabolism of alcohol causes it to remain in the fetus’s system for an extended period

rubella

if contacted in early pregnancy, this virus can cause major malformations, deafness, blindness, and intellectual disabilities

f virus

causes microcephaly, sensory problems, intellectual disability and seizures; growth retardation of brain and body

maternal stress

stressful event (earthquake, attack) in early pregnancy associated with higher rates of: miscarriage, preterm birth, LBW, respiratory and digestive illness, colic, sleep disturbances, irritability

stress, more generally

childhood anxiety, short attention span, hyper reactivity aggression, lower test scores (correlational)

infant mortality

death during the first year after birth: gotten worse over the past several decades

reasons for US infant mortality

majortiy=poverty, low-income mothers-to-be have no health insurance which limit access to good medical and prenatal care

improvement of US infant mortaility

2014 passage of the Affordable Care Act

4 lobes in cortex

frontal lobe, parietal lobe, occipital love, temporal love

frontal lobe

reasoning, motor control, emotion, and language

parietal lobe

sensory perception and integration, managements of taste, hearing, sight, touch, and smell

occipital lobe

visual perception: color, form, and motion

temporal lobe

processing auditory information and with the encoding of memory

neuron: 3 major components

cell body and nucleus, dendrites, axon/axon terminals (myelin sheath)

the synapse

the connections between neurons.

trillions of them, a single neuron may have thousands of synapses, foundation of brain functioning/behavior. more synapses in babies than adults

developmental processes

the series of biological changes associated with information transfer, growth, and differentiation during the life cycle of organisms

neurogenesis

complete by 18 weeks after conception (gestation)

5 stages of neural development

neuron production (or proliferation), migration, differentiation, synaptogenesis (increased connectivity), myelination, and synaptic pruning

migration

(movement to their final destinations) starts, following chemical signals. The six-layered mature structure of the cerebral cortex is formed via the orderly migration of neurons.

differentiation

the process of a neuron achieving the features that make it distinct from other body cells- forming an axon and one or more dendrites.

synaptogenesis

the creation of connections between neurons by forming synapses. It begins mid-gestation, and as connectivity progresses, axons form and reach out to numerous targets "until each neuron connects with thousands of other neurons" by birth

pruning

the process of removing synapses that are not useful or efficient, based on the specific experiences of the individual. Pruning starts around birth and is completed during adolescence, by the time sexual maturity is attained. It is thought that learning corresponds with pruning.

consequence of exuberant synaptogenesis and pruning

flexibility/malleability: =the capacity to be molded by experience, cortical plasticity

the two consequences of exuberant synaptogenesis and pruning

1\. sensitive periods/vulnerability 2. better recovery from damage (child vs. adults)

sensitive/critical period

ability can only be learned within a predetermined time window

synaptic pruning

pruning occurs at different rates in different parts of the brain

experimental design

permits one to make inferences about cause-and-effect relationships

teratogens vulnerability period during prenatal development

4 weeks after conception

newborn infants’ visual acuity

20/120 in the early weeks of life and poor enough to interfere with learning about details of objects

when do newborns see color

mostly by 2 months; better by 6 months

babies who happily crawl across the visual cliff most like have

limited crawling experience

newborns prefer toys with high contrast because

their ability to see fine details is poor

allostatic load

the wear and tear on organs from repeatedly recovering from stress

does infant stepping reflex disappear

it does not really disappear during early infancy