Lifespan Chapters 1-4

What is Nature vs. Nurture?

interaction of biological predispositions and environmental influences; genetic influence vs. experience & environmental influence

What is Heredity?

the transmission of genetic characteristics from parents to children (OPP social environment)

What is Continuity?

continuous change

What is Discontinuity?

abrupt changes

What is Universal Development?

normative developments that all individuals display

What is Context-specific Development?

developmental outcomes that vary from person to person

Define: There are interindividual differences in intraindividual change

Differences between people (changes & memory) and how individuals change within themselves over time; study the variability among individuals and the inter individual differences that occur through a lifespan and don’t focus on the average rate of change

What is Interindividual?

between individuals

What is Intraindividual?

within people

What is a Cohort?

history graded influences on development, biological and environmental influences associated with a particular historical moment; people are products of the social times in which they live

What is a Theory?

an organized set of ideas that is designed to explain development

What are the perspectives?

psychodynamic, behavioral, cognitive, contextual, humanistic, evolutionary, life-span

What is the purpose of theories?

ground and guide research

What is the Psychodynamic theory?

series of conflicts throughout the lifespan and how they solve them through the lifespan

What theories did Freud & Erikson study?

Psychosocial & Psychoanalytic Theory

What is the Behavioral theory?

all behaviors are learned through interaction with the environment; social learning influences a persons behavior; focuses on causes of behavior

Who developed the Behaviorism theory?

Watson & Skinner

Who developed the Social Learning Theory?

Bandura

What is the Cognitive Developmental Theory?

changes in the cognitive process and abilities through four different stages of learning

What is the Cognitive Neuroscience Approach?

discovers the biological foundations of the human mind; internal aspects of an individual are more important than external factors

What is the Information Processing Theory?

humans actively process the information they receive from their senses (take in, use, and store information)

What is the Humanistic Perspective?

aspects of development that are unique to humans; universal vs. context-specific

What is Self-Actualization?

full realization of human potential

What is the Contextual Perspective?

development is affected by their internal and external environments

What did Brofenbrenner study?

Nurture; the bioecological approach

What is the Bioecological Approach?

development is inseparable from environmental context; interconnected systems (microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem); the relationships children have with parents and caregivers impacts their development & work, school, and community settings, broader social cultural, and policy conditions

What did Vygotsky study?

sociocultural theory, child in context, social interactions, differences, emphasis on cultural influences

What is the Evolutionary Perspective?

personality and individual differences have evolved to provide adaptive advantage for survival and reproduction

Who studied the Evolutionary Perspective?

Charles Darwin & Konrad Lorenz

What is the Lifespan Perspective?

development is lifelong across biological, sociocultural and psychological factors

What is Operant Conditioning?

consequences of a behavior determine whether it is repeated; positive & negative reinforcement

What is the Social Learning Theory?

experience drives development; learning occurs by observing and imitating the behavior of others

What is Self-Efficacy?

one’s beliefs about one’s abilities and talents

What is a Multidirectionality?

growth and decline

What is Plasticity?

skills can be learned or improved

What is Historical Context?

time and culture

What is a Microsystem?

where children spend the most time (family, school, classrooms, friends)

What is a Mesosystem?

interaction between different microsystems (homework with parents, emails to teachers, parent teacher conferences)

What is a Exo-system?

something that doesn’t directly reflect the individual (neighborhood, parents work environment)

What is a Macrosystem?

broad, all-encompassing influences that impact the child and all the systems that surround the child

What is the Scientific Method?

process of posing and answering questions using careful, controlled techniques that includes systematic, orderly observation and the collection of data

What are the steps of the Scientific Method?

identify questions of interest, formulate an explanation (hypothesis), carry out research to test hypothesis

What is Correlational Research?

identify whether an association or relationship between two factors exists

What is Positive Correlation?

same direction, more of one more of the other

What is Negative Correlation?

opposite directions, one up, one down

What is No Assocation?

change in one variable, no change in the other

What is Experimental Research?

purpose is to discover causal relationships between factors; introduce changes in a controlled environment in order to asses consequences

What are the types of Correlational Research?

naturalistic observation, case studies, survey research

What are Longitudinal Studies?

observations of people of one cohort repeatedly over time

What are Cross-Sectional Studies?

groups of children who differ in age studied at the same point in time

What are Genes?

basic units of genetic information; determines the nature and and functions of every cell in the body; made up of DNA

What is a Genotype?

an organism’s genetic inheritance (genetic potential); unique for each organism

What is a Phenotype?

observable characteristics of a person (appearance, personality, intelligence); influenced (connected) by genome (genotype) interactions with multiple aspects of the environment.

What is a Dominant Traint?

trait expressed when two competing traits are present

What is a Recessive Trait?

trait within an organism that is present, but is not expressed

What is Homozygous Condition?

child received both dominant and recessive traits

What is Heterozygous Condition?

child received two different forms of a gene for a given trait; dominant trait will be expressed

What is Behavioral Genetics?

Studies the inheritance of behavior and psychological traits

What is Polygenetic Inheritance?

When many genes affect the phenotype of a physical, psychological, or behavior trait

What is Dizygotic or Fraternal?

twins from two different eggs fertilized by two different sperm; no more genetically similar than other siblings

What is Monozygotic or Identical?

twins from the union of one egg and one sperm that splits in two soon after conception; are genetically identical

What is Epigenetics?

alteration of gene expression

What is Teratogen?

an agent that causes abnormal prenatal development

What is Classical Conditioning?

learning that happens unconsciously; automatic conditioned response is paired with a specific stimulus creating a behavior

What is Habituation?

decrease in the response to a stimulus that occurs after repeated presentations of the same stimulus

What is Synaptic Pruning?

neurons get eliminated when they are not used

What is the Pincer Grasp?

with thumb and finger

What is the Visual Cliff Experiment?

examines the depth perception of infants; Gibson & Walker (1960); 2 mo. olds show interest not fear compared to 7 mo. olds; understanding od depth perception due to increasing mobility of infant; motor development and sensory input strongly linked

What are Schemes?

organized patterns of functioning that adapt and change with mental functioning

What is Assimilation?

the process in which people understand an experience in terms of their current stage of cognitive development and thinking; transform NEW information to fit current thinking or existing scheme

What is Accommodation?

changes in existing ways of thinking that occur in response to encounters with new stimuli or events; modify current concept of create new concept

What is Object Permenence?

understanding that objects exist independently of oneself'; developed around 8 months old

What are the limitations of Piaget’s Model?

Infants and young children are more competent than He recognized; doesn’t explain how changes occurs; doesn’t acknowledge variability in children’s behaviors; He underestimates the social world

What is the Core Knowledge Hypothesis?

infants are born with rudimentary knowledge of the world, which is elaborated based on experiences

What is Mental Hardware?

mental and neural structures that are innate and allow the mind to operate

What is Mental Software?

mental programs that are the basis for performing particular tasks; complexity increases with age

What is Memory?

mental capacity to encode, store, and retrieve information; indication that learning has persisted over time

What is Infantile Amnesia?

profound memory loss for events in first 1-2 years; early memories tend to be big events

What is Motherese/ Infant-directed Speech?

slow with exaggerated changes in pitch and volume, exaggerated facial gestures; cross-cultural; infants prefer to listen to this type of speech b/c helps segment words

What are Phonemes?

unique sounds used to create words

What is a Universal Listener?

born able to distinguish between world’s languages

What is a Specialized Listener?

by 10-12 months focus onwhat they hear in their environment

What do Emotions include?

feelings, physiological reactions, cognitions (thoughts), goals

What are Basic Emotions?

universal emotions such as joy, anger, fear, interest, disgust, distress, sadness and surprise

What is the last basic emotion to emerge?

at 6-7 months of age Fear emerges

What is Stranger Anxiety?

fretful reaction to being approached by unfamiliar person; result of improved cognitive skills; memory develops; ability. to anticipate and predict events increased

What is Separation Anxiety?

fretful reaction when separated from persons to whom they are attached; universal across cultures; begins about 7-8 months; pearks around 14 months

What are Complex Emotions?

self-conscious emotions that emerge in the 2nd and 3rd years, and depend in part on cognitive development

What are Secondary Emotions?

emotion fueled by other emotions; embarassment, shame, guilt, envy, pride

What is Social Referencing?

the use of other’s emotional expressions to gain information about an ambiguous situation (7-10 mo- look to parents; 12 months- reference strangers)

What is Attachment?

an enduring socio emotional relationship; based on need for safety and security; provides foundation for healthy intimiate relationships

What does Attachment Security promote?

prosocial behavior, empathy, self-esteem, positive emotional well-being

What is Secure Attachment Type?

may be upset/happy upon return; will seek comfort from their parent or caregiver

What is Avoidant Attachment Type?

not upset/ignored upon return; the child develop independence & self reliance when their parents/caretaker doesn’t show care

What is Resistant/Ambivalent Attachment Type?

become attached to the caregiver; upset/upset upon return or passively reject the parent by refusing comfort

What is Disorganized-Disoriented Attachment Type?

mix of behaviors (avoidance or resistance); lack of clear attachment behavior; confused or apprehensive in presence of caregiver

What is Motor Development?

growth in the ability of children to use their bodies and physical skills

What is Fine Motor Development?

the ability to make movements using the small muscles in our hands and wrists

What are the limitations in the Pre-operational Stage?

Egocentrism, Centration, Appearance as reality

What is Egocentrism?

difficulty thinking about others’ minds’; 3 Mountains Problem