Untitled Flashcards Set

1. Zygote: “Fertilized egg.

   1. 2 weeks of rapid cell division.

   2. Cells begin to differentiate in function (neurons, etc.)”

2. Embryo: “Developing human organism consisting of inner cells of zygote.

   1. 2 weeks-2 months after conception.

   2. Outer cells form placenta”

3. Fetus: “9 weeks after conception.

4. Development of internal organs”

5. Teratogens: “Viruses, drugs, or other agents that can damage an embryo or fetus.

   1. About 4 to 5 percent of birth defects are caused by exposure to a teratogen.

   2. Thought to have the ability to affect the fetus about 10 to 14 days after conception.”

6. Jean Piaget: “Swiss developmental psychologist. 

7. Studied cognitive development.

8. Central Ideas

   1. Brain builds schemas or frameworks to understand concepts/information.

   2. When encountering new information we either assimilate or accommodate our schemas.

9. Lev Vygotsky: Cognitive development occurs through interaction with the social environment.

• Our parents provide a scaffold to our development.

1. Parents help children when the child is in the “zone of proximal development”

   1. Edge of what they can and can’t do.

• EX: Parents speak in simple words to infants and then gradually introduce new vocabulary to scaffold language development.

10. Schema: Brain builds schemas or frameworks to understand concepts/information.

11. Assimilation: Interpreting new information based on an existing schema.

12. Accommodation: Adjusting schemas to deal with new information

13. Conservation: Manipulating shape of object does not change its amount.

14. Egocentrism: Difficulty taking another’s point of view.

15. theory of mind: 

16. object permanence: Awareness that objects continue to exist, even when they are not directly perceived. 

17. sensorimotor stage: Children interact with the world through senses/actions (touch, look, hear, grasp, etc.)

• Children develop object permanence (around 7 months) 

1. Awareness that objects continue to exist, even when they are not directly perceived. - -Experience stranger anxiety

18. preoperational stage: “Pretend” play

• Lack understanding of conservation.

1. Manipulating shape of object does not change its amount.

2. Egocentrism

3. Difficulty taking another’s point of view.

19. concrete-operational stage: Understand conservation

    1. A quantity stays the same, even if it changes in shape.

    2. Perform arithmetic/basic mathematical operations.

    3. Reversibility- Child can understand operations that go in an opposite direction (addition vs. subtraction)

20. formal-operational stage: Child thinks abstractly

• Child hypothesizes

1. Understand systematic reasoning “if this...then that”

2. Child can apply deductive logic

3. Determining facts from a generalization.

Criticisms: New experiments indicate that formal operational thought (reasoning) may begin as early as 7 years old

21. Mary Ainsworth: Strange Situation Experiment

    1. Observed mother-infant pairs at home during their first six months.

    2. Later observed one-year old infants in a “strange situation” (laboratory playroom) with or without parents.

    3. Parents who are sensitive and responsive to children’s needs create securely attached children. Insensitive, unresponsive parents create insecurely attached children.

       1. Secure Attachment

          1. Strongest attachment. Infant is comfortable to explore environments in presence of caregiver, shows only temporary distress when caregiver leaves, and finds comfort when they return.

    4. Role of temperament

       1. Difficult temperament of some babies elicits negative responses in parents. Irritable/unpredictable babies are more reactive to negative parenting. 

22. Diana Baumrind:

23. Harry Harlow: Key Idea: Infants prioritize physical contact to develop. Harlow referred to this physical contact as “contact comfort”

24. Original Assumption that Harlow contradicted.

    1. Infant attachment to their caregivers exists because children needed food/nourishment to survive (evolutionary perspective). 

25. Conclusions of Harlow

    1. When forced to create an emotional attachment to a doll made of cloth, rhesus monkeys will lean on this “mother,” as a source of contact comfort. 

    2. When given the option to cling to a mother that provides food, or one that provides a sense of security, infants prefer the mother that gives them a sense of comfort and security.

    3. Human infants also require contact comfort

26. Konrad Lorenz: Key Idea: Animals form attachments based on familiarity. This tends to happen during a “critical period” for development.

• Konrad Lorenz-

1. Baby ducks, geese, and chickens imprint within the first 24 hours of their life, forming an intense bond with the first creature they observe after hatching (usually mother, but may imprint on other things--humans etc.)

2. Human children do not imprint, but do tend to attach to  things that are familiar.

27. Erik Erikson: Parenting is essential to developing secure attachment.

• Infants develop a sense of basic trust  (belief that the world is trustworthy and predictable) only if parents are sensitive and loving.

28. critical period

29. secure attachment: Strongest attachment. Infant is comfortable to explore environments in presence of caregiver, shows only temporary distress when caregiver leaves, and finds comfort when they return.

30. insecure attachment

31. relational aggression: Physical or verbal acts designed to harm social standing (passing harmful gossip, shutting people out of social situations etc.) 

32. gender role: Socialization influences our gender roles.

    1. Expected behaviors, attitudes, and traits for men and women”

33. gender identity

34. gender typing 

35. Lawrence Kohlberg: “Cognitive Psychologist 

    1. Moral reasoning, moral intuition and moral action”

36. Carol Gilligan: Women differ from men regarding formation of identity:

    1. Women are more concerned with making connections.

       1. In play, young girls tend to imitate relationships more and compete less (Maccoby/Roberts 1990)

37. identity

38. social identity

39. emerging adulthood

40. testosterone

41. primary sex characteristics: Body structures required for reproduction.

    1. Testes, ovaries

42. secondary sex characteristics: non-reproductive traits (deepening voice, facial hair etc.)

43. cross-sectional study

44. longitudinal study

45. Alzheimer’s disease