Developmental Psychology Exam I (Chapters 1-5)

Chapter 1

  • What is lifespan development?

  • The changes that happen to someone from birth to death

  • What is developmental science?

  • The systematic study of how humans grow and the underlying processes that create change over time 

  • What is plasticity (and recognize examples)?

  • A person's ability to stretch and adapt to changes in response to new experiences, learning, or injury

  • i.e., learning an instrument, learning a second language, a kid getting injured and their body adapting fast to recover faster or vice versa 

  • What is a developmental niche (and examples)?

  • The cultural and physical environment that surrounds a growing child, made up of the child's daily surroundings, family rearing customs, and parental beliefs

  • i.e., A kid who grows up in suburbs vs. an urban area, living with extended family vs. living with primary family, living with parents vs. living with adopted parents

  • What is epigenetics?

  • How your behavior and environment can change how your genes work without changing your DNA.

  • Describe the nature/nurture debate.

  • Nature is your genetics, while nurture is your environment which one is technically “more dominant”




  • Describe continuous vs. discontinuous development (know examples)

  • Continuous Development: A slow, gradual cumulative process (learning new words as an infant, growing (height))

  • Discontinuous Development: Distinct qualitative stages (object permanence, puberty)

  • Know Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecological Model, including each system and examples


  • Chronosystem: Environmental changes over time (history, time)

  • Macrosystem: Social and Cultural Values

  • Exosystem: Environment (Extended family and neighbors, School Board, parents' economic situation)

  • Mesosystem: Relations between Microsystem and Exosystem

  • Microsystem: Immediate Environment (Family, peers, school, neighborhood)

  • What does birth cohort refer to?  Recognize examples.

  • The specific time period in which a person is born into (Gen Z, millennials, Boomers, etc.)



  • How does money influence development?

  • Children in lower-income families have worse cognitive, social-behavioural, and health outcomes in part because they are poorer

  • What’s the difference between ethnicity and race?

  • Race: Categorizing people based on physical differences

  • Ethnicity: Groups that come from the same geographical regions

  • Understand the Community Cultural Wealth model (and examples)

  • Aspirational Capital: Hopes and Dreams

  • Linguistic Capital: Communication Skills

  • Familial Capital: Sense of Kinship

  • Social Capital: Friends and Communities

  • Navigational Capital: Ability to Navigate Social Institutions not made for you

  • Resistant Capital: Ability to Fight Inequality

  • Understand cultural humility, cultural competence, ethnotheory, and intersectionality (and examples).

  • Cultural Humility: A lifelong commitment to self-evaluation and self-critique while recognizing power dynamics and imbalances, with a desire to fix those power imbalances and to develop partnerships with people and groups who advocate for others (Someone not judging someone for wearing a hijab as they understand it is a religious/cultural thing not related to them)

  • Cultural Competence: the ability to understand and effectively interact with people from different cultures (Someone learning sign language in preparation for an Uber with a deaf driver)

  • Intersectionality:  shows how different social identities (such as race, gender, class, and sexuality) overlap to create unique combinations of discrimination and privilege (Someone who is black, female, and a lesbian is more oppressed than someone who is white, male, and straight)

  • Know the dimensions of cultural variation (Figure 1.7)


  • Collectivist: Families prioritize closeness, relationships, harmony, and family obligations

  • Individualistic: Families prioritize self-reliance, personal freedom, and individual achievement

Chapter 2

  • What is the scientific method? (know each part)

  • Observe

  • Question

  • Research

  • Hypothesize

  • Experiment

  • Test Hypothesis

  • Draw Conclusions

  • Report

  • Know the difference between validity and reliability (and examples)

  • Validity: The consistency of something over a period of time (or trials)

  • Reliability: How accurate the measuring of a thing is.

  • Understand everything about experimental study (and examples)

  • A scientific test where researchers actively change one variable to see its effect on another variable under controlled conditions

  • Typically there is a test group and a control group

  • Understand everything about correlational research (and examples)

  • A non-experimental scientific method used to measure the relationship between two or more variables without any manipulation by the researcher

  • Think survey asking people about their study habits

  • Understand how to study change over time (and examples)

  • They use longitudinal research: the study of the same group of people over a period of time

  • I.e.: When researchers track babies from birth until they learn to talk

  • Know the theories under the biological perspective

  • Emphasizes that psychological and behavioral development begin with roots in our brain, our genes, and innate or inborn instincts

  • I.e.: Might ask how Hugo’s lifetime of good health impacts his life and his ability to bounce back from difficulties.

  • Know the theories under the psychodynamic perspective

  • Considers how human behaviors are based on satisfying innate, biological needs for connection, protection, and love

  • I.e.: Might ask how Hugo’s earliest relationships with his family helped turn him into the positive person he is today. 

  • Know the theories under the behavioral perspective

  • Is focused on things that are measurable, such as what a person does rather than what they think or feel. (Observable actions)

  • Know the theories under the cognitive perspective

  • Try to understand how learning shapes development, and how thinking changes through the lifespan.

  • Infographic 2.1 is useful (but you should read these sections very carefully)

  • Genetic expression can take many different paths, with some paths being likely to be affected by its environment while others have a far less likely chance to be affected by the environment



Chapter 3

  • Genotypes vs phenotypes (examples)

  • Genotype is all the possible outcomes/variables of a person's genes (parents have different eye colors, which means the baby could have either eye color)

  • Phenotype is the physical observation of those genes (someone's eye color)

  • Understand the components of infographic 3.1 (genetic foundations of development)

  • Epigenome: The part of the genome that controls gene expression through chemical markers on the side of the DNA spiral and the end of chromosomes.

  • Chromosomes: The long molecules of DNA containing genetic information that are found in the nucleus of human cells.

  • Genes: Sections of DNA that create particular proteins

  • DNA: A spiral (or helix) shaped structure made up of paired chemicals that carries the genetic code.

  • Alleles: Genes that have different forms

  • Genome: The full unique set of instructions a cell needs for creating all body parts and maintaining them over a lifespan

  • What are the 3 stages of prenatal development

  • Germinal: Single-celled zygote divides and implants into the uterus.

  • Embryonic: weeks 2 through 8, the embryo develops the major parts of its body from legs to brain.

  • Fetal: Adds pounds and the organs and brain structures that will allow it to survive on its own.

  • Meiosis vs. mitosis

  • Meiosis: A special form of cell division that creates the gametes, or sperm and ova cells.

  • Mitosis: A type of cell division that creates two new identical cells.

  • What are genetic carriers?

  • Someone who has inherited one allele for a disease or trait, and does not express the disorder but can pass it on to their children.

  • Know the dominant – recessive inheritance pattern

  • Dominant inheritance pattern means that a trait will be present in the child as long as one parent has the gene for it.

  • Recessive Inheritance pattern means that a trait will only be present in the child if both parents have the gene for it.

  • Know the genetic indicators of down syndrome

  • A blood test taken during the 12th week of pregnancy

  • What hormone is salient during the birthing process?

  • Oxytocin since it helps the baby and mother form a strong bound righ out of the gate

  • What are the different types of twins?

  • Monozygotic: Twins with nearly identical DNA because they start off as a single zygote that separates into two in the first days after fertilization. (Identical Twins)

  • Dizygotic: Twins that develop when two (or more) ova are fertilized by separate sperm. (Fraternal Twins)

  • Know the different types of reflexes that are covered in your book

  • Rooting Reflex: A newborn’s cheek is touched; they will turn their head and open their mouth in preparation for nursing. Disappears by 2–3 months

  • Moro Reflex: A newborn feels as if they are falling; their arms will swing in and out suddenly. Disappears by 5–6 months

  • Palmar Grasp: If you press a newborn’s palm, their fingers will curl in. Disappears by 5–6 months

  • Plantar Grasp: If you press the sole of a newborn’s foot, their toes will curl in. Disappears by 9–10 months

  • Babinski Reflex: If you run your finger along the sole of a newborn’s foot, their toes will fan out. Disappears by 12–24 months

  • What are the cutoffs for the Apgar scores?

  • Apgar Test: a test done after birth and five minutes later to evaluate a newborn’s breathing, activity, responsiveness, and heart rate

  • 7 is average scoring for a healthy baby

  • 5 or lower is at a higher risk for medical complications and may need intensive interventions

  • What are some of the risks during pregnancy?

  • Timing

  • Dosage

  • Individual tolerance and variation

  • Both parents’ health

  • Interaction of teratogens

  • What are teratogens (and know the different types and their impacts)

  • Teratogens: Factors in a parent’s body or the environment that damage the fetus

  • Diseases, substances in environment (car exhaust, lead paint), substances (medications, alcohol), parents’ age, level of stress, depression, or anxiety

  • What is the placenta?  

  • The organ that helps support the fetus in the womb

  • Know the different types of vulnerabilities in newborns?

  •  Premature birth (less than 35 weeks)

  • Low Birthweight

  • Small for gestational age

  • What is differential susceptibility?

  • Newborns and young children vary in how much their development is shaped by their environment (fuck yeah concrete vs the ph of this soil is too high)



Chapter 4

  • Know the info in Figure 4.2

  • Vision

    • Newborns

      • Prefer faces.

      • Need about a minute to identify what they are seeing.

      • Can recognize faces from about 10–12 inches away.

    • Around 4 months

      • Infants can follow someone else’s gaze.

      • Can recognize basic emotional expressions.

      • Can move their gaze from one object to another.

      • Around 6 months

      • Color vision is still maturing.

    • Around 9 months

      • Ability to see things clearly continues to mature toward adult levels.

      • Can see objects as small as 2 mm (1/8 inch).

      • Around 3 feet away

      • Infants can see things well from about 3 feet away.

      • Can shift their gaze from close up to far away.

    • Toddlers

      • By about 2 years, vision is mature and equivalent to that of adults.

  • Hearing

    • Newborns

      • Prefer voices.

      • Can recognize the sound of voices they heard before birth.

      • Can hear most high-pitched noises as well as adults.

    • Around 6–9 months

      • Perceptual narrowing begins.

      • Infants begin to specialize in the sounds of their own community/language environment.

    • Toddlers

      • Have difficulty picking out voices in a crowded room or hearing over loud noises.

      • Hearing does not reach adult levels until about age 10.

  • Touch

    • Newborns

      • Enjoy vigorous touch.

    • Infants

      • Respond to gentle touch.

  • Smell & Taste

    • Newborns

      • Have taste and smell preferences.

    • Infants

      • Have an inborn preference for sweet smells, such as lavender.

      • Have an aversion to foul smells, such as rotten eggs.

      • Tend to avoid bitter foods.

      • Prefer sweet and savory (umami) flavors.

      • Enjoy salty flavors more than adults do.

  • How do you study an infant’s vision?

  • Using the preferential looking technique, which is just watching to see what the baby prefers to look at.



  • What is perceptual narrowing?

  • The process by which infants become less sensitive to sensory input as they grow and begin to specialize in the sights and sounds to which they are exposed more often

  • Know Figure 4.3

  • Gross Motor Skills

    •  - 0–3 months: Lifts head when lying on belly

    • 2–7 months: Rolls over from back to front

    • 3.75–9.5 months: Sits without support

    • 5.25–14 months: Crawls (not all babies crawl)

    • 7–16 months: Stands

    • 8–18 months: Walks alone

    • 14–24 months: Runs (about 6–7 months after walking)

    • About 24 months: Jumps

  •  Fine Motor Skills

    • Around 3 months: Grasps an object

    • Around 5–6 months: Reaches for and moves an object from one hand to another

    • Around 9–12 months: Uses thumb and finger to pinch/grasp or point

    • Around 12–18 months: Builds a tower of 2 blocks

    • Around 18–24 months: Builds a tower of 3 blocks

    • Around 2–2½ years: Draws lines





  • What is a baby’s first form of communication?

  • Crying/cooing

  • What is the cephalocaudal principle?

  • Physical growth and motor control proceed in a top-down pattern from the head to the toes

  • What is the proximodistal principle?

  • Physical growth and motor control start at the center of the body and move outward toward the extremities

  • What did we learn in the visual cliff experiment?

  • 3 months old and older, an infant could perceive the depth of the floor changing and hesitate or refuse to cross over in fear of falling

  • Know Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, including stages and key events (and examples)

  • Piaget’s Stages

    •  1. Sensorimotor (0–2 yrs)

      •  Learn by touching, seeing, and moving

      •  Object permanence: “If I can't see it, it still exists.”

    • 2. Preoperational (2–7 yrs)

      •   Learn through words and pretend play.

      •   Often think everything is about them.

      •   Don’t fully understand conservation yet.

    • 3. Concrete Operational (7–11 yrs)

      •   Start thinking logically.

      •   Understand conservation.

      •  Can see other people's points of view.

    • 4. Formal Operational (12+)

      •   Can think about abstract ideas.

      •   Can ask “What if?”

      •  Better at solving complex problems.

  • What is the ability to quickly learn new words?

  • Fast-mapping

  • What is habituation?

  • We become less likely to notice a stimulus that is presented over and over again.

  • Know implicit vs. explicit memory

  • Explicit Memory: conscious, intentional recall of facts and events

  • Implicit Memory: unconscious, automatic recall of skills and habits

  • What are the processes that newborns understand, and what is the nativist approach?

  • Newborns can understand the sound of their language, their caregiver(s), and they can recognize faces

  • Nativist approach is the psychological and philosophical theory that humans are born with built-in genetic programming and biological structures dedicated to core domains of knowledge, such as language and perception, rather than entering the world as a "blank slate"

  • What is synaptic pruning?

  • The brain removing unnecessary information to make room for new information (not being as good at playing guitar after not practicing in a while because the brained waned that skill to make room for new information.




  • What is myelination?

  • The lifelong process of adding myelin to axons. It speeds up communication in the brain

  • Know how different parts of a neuron are critical to different parts of communication

  • Synapse: Neurons communicating with other Neurons

  • Dendrites: Transmit information received from other cells at synapses

  • Axon: Sends information from one cell to another

  • What builds a baby’s cognitive skills?

  • everyday interactions, sensory exploration, and responsive relationships with caregivers