Developmental Psychology Exam 1

Pituitary Gland

"master gland", releases hormones from all other endocrine glands, especially Growth Hormone.

List three practical (non-cognitive) ways to enhance memory and five methods for improving encoding and consolidation of memories when learning new material.

. The 3 things are with your brain is not in isolation. You need sleep, nutrition, and your physical activity. 1. Pay attention, 2. Organize and Make connections, 3. Use Strategies that enrich and elaborate, 4. Customize your learning strategies, and 5. Overlearn.

Describe the three sensitive periods when experience most affects the visual system

1. In visually normal development, expected normal visual input needs to be there, and changes will not occur if this development is blocked. 2. There is a sensitive period of damage; there's a period when abnormal or absent visual input is likely to lead to permanent deficits in vision. 3. There is a sensitive period of recovery when the visual system has the potential to recover from damage.

List five qualifying factors to be kept in mind when considering the research comparing the strengths and weaknesses of older vs younger adults.

1. Most of the research is based on cross-sectional studies that compare age groups, which suggests that the age differences detected could be related to factors other than age. 2. Declines observed, typically do not become apparent until we reach our 70s. 3. Difficulties in remembering affect elderly people more noticeably as they continue to age and are most severe among the oldest elderly people. 4. Not all older people experience these difficulties. 5. Not all kinds of memory tasks cause older people difficulty.

In general, about how many years of training and experience does it take to become expert in a field?

10 years.

Apgar

10-point newborn assessment

Explain "Genes do not determine anything...."

3% of the human genome consists of what has traditionally been defined by genes: stretches of DNA that make mRNA, and then proteins. Genes and environment interact and co-act to influence development and behavior.

Extinction

A behavior no longer enforced or ignored. No attention to it leaves it to be ignored.

Zygote

A fertilized egg.

Anencephaly

A lethal defect in which the main portion of the brain above the brain stem fails to develop.

Scaffolding

A more skilled person giving structured help to a less-skilled person but gradually reduces the help as the less-skilled learner becomes more competent.

Terminal Drop

A rapid decline of intellectual abilities within a few years of death.

Theory

A set of concepts and propositions intended to describe and explain certain phenomena.

Sensitive Period

A small time interval where skills can be picked up quicker and stimuli are more affected.

Critical Period

A time during which the developing organism is especially sensitive to environmental influences, positive or negative.

Emerging Adulthood

A transitional experience between ages 25-40 years old. This distinct phase involves youth spending years getting educated, and gathering wealth. This time enables identity exploration, job changes, new relationships, self-focus, free of large obligations, feel like they are limitless.

Menarche

A woman's first menstruation, to which some can produce a fertilized egg. The process of shedding the lining of the uterus, in preparation to support a fertilized egg.

What are the two related meanings of discontinuity in development?

Abrupt and Qualitative

Age grade

Age grade examples: At 18, you can vote, can begin to act as an adult. At 65, we can retire, use Medicare, Social Security.

Teratogen

An agent that can harm a fetus.

2nd Psychosexual Stage

Anal Stage: 1-3 years.

Sternberg's Triarchic Theory Part 3

Analytic components, selecting mental processes that will lead to success, thinking critically, and analytically, which includes planning, evaluating, analyzing, monitoring, comparing, and contrasting, filtering information.

Basic Question for Correlational Designs

Are these two variables correlated?

Orthogenetic principle

As growth proceeds, the single cells becomes organized, or integrated into functioning systems. Think of a new employee who ends up being the CEO/stem cell.

Discuss the following hypotheses about why racial and ethnic group differences in IQ scores exist: bias in testing, motivational factors, genetic differences among groups, and environmental differences among groups

Asian American and European Americans have scored higher intellectually. Black kids do well with verbal tasks. Hispanics do well with non-verbals. These are because of biases, motivational factors, genetic and environmental differences.

2nd Psychosocial Stage

Autonomy vs. shame and doubt, 1-3 years.

Bandura and Theories

Bandura was nurture, active, continuous, and context-specific

Basal Ganglia and Cerebellum

Basal Ganglia and Cerebellum are important with the formation of procedural memories.

Neuron

Basic unit of the Nervous system.

Explain why IQ scores and creativity scores do not correlate well

Because intelligent ideas and creative ideas are not both always useful. Creative ideas are not always useful. IQ scores test convergent thinking, and creativity involves divergent thinking.

Active Gene-Environment Correlations

Being shy and not choosing to AVOID people.

Debriefing

Being told before and after an experiment

Nonshared Environmental Influences

Being treated differently by parents, peers, undergoing different life crises, or being affected differently by the same events.

Telomeres

Biological branches that shorten with every cell division. Less you have, closer to death you are. Theoretically.

Describe three phases of exploratory behavior that occur as infants create the sensory environments that meet their needs and contribute to their development.

Birth to 4 months: infants explore the immediate surroundings, like caregivers, looking and listening and they learn a bit more about objects by mouthing them and watching them move. 5-7 months: once the ability to voluntarily grasp objects has developed, babies pay far closer attention to objects with their eyes as well as their hands. 8-9 months: after most begin to crawl, infants extend their explorations into the larger environment and carefully examine the objects they encounter on their journeys, learning about properties.

Describe some research supported differences in abilities between girls and boys. Explain how these may be caused by the interaction of nature and nurture.

Boys are more often exposed to footballs then women, for the nurture side of it. A greater upper body muscular mass is the nature element. Dexterity is where women excel, due to exposure and less upper body focus. Research generally supports this.

Central Nervous System Structure

Brain and Spinal Cord.

Brofenbrenner and Theories

Brofenbrenner had equal nature and nurture, active, continuous and discontinuous, context specific.

What kind of conclusion can be drawn from research utilizing experimental method that cannot be drawn from research utilizing correlational method?

Causation in the experimental research, whereas there is only correlation (ideally) in the correlational method.

Cephalocaudal Principle

Cephalocaudal Principle, growth occurs from head to tail direction. Cephalo means head, caudal means tail. (Think height).

Apply the workings of the cephalocaudal principle and the proximodistal principle of development to human motor development (i.e., what develops when).

Cephalocaudal happens first, infants can lift their heads before they can control their trunks enough to sit, and they can sit before they can control their legs. Now, the proximodistal principle occurs. Activities in the trunk are mastered before the arms and legs. Picking up a bottle is an example of the proximodistal principle.

Cognitive Development

Changes and continuities in perception, language, learning, memory, problem solving, and mental processes.

1st Hypothesis on Learning in Childhood

Changes in basic capacities: more neural advances, so more working space for manipulating information and an ability to process information faster.

2nd Hypothesis on Learning in Childhood

Changes in memory strategies: they have learned and consistently used effective methods for putting information into long-term memory and retrieving it when needed

Systems Theory

Changes over the lifespan arise from ongoing transactions in which a changing organism and a changing environment affect one another.

Constructivism

Children actively construct their own understanding of the world based on their experiences.

What is the defining feature of concrete operational thought?

Children can think logically and use logical deduction about concrete items now.

Adrenarche

Circulation of adrenal hormones contributes partly to secondary sexual characteristics

Describe any five teratogens and their impact on the developing embryo and fetus.

Cocaine, cigarette smoke, Thalidomide, Alcohol, Meth.

Convergent Thinking

Combining thoughts to get to THE single correct answer.

Divergent Thinking

Coming up with a variety of ideas or solutions when there is no single or correct answer.

Shared Environmental Influences

Common experiences to make twins similar, like a common parenting style, exposure to the same school, toys, friends.

Explain the differences in how constructivists and nativists view sensation and perception. How Gibson's ecological theory of perception distinct from the constructivist and the nativist views of perception?

Constructivists believe it all comes down through nurture, our interactions that we choose to engage. We need to see and interpret what we are seeing. Nativists believe that infants come equipped with a basic set of capabilities. Experience is not needed to be able to interpret things. Perception does not need interpretation.

Competence

Continued success and proficiency.

Executive control processes:

Control processes that run the show, guide the selection, organize, manipulate, and interpret information throughout.

Peripheral Nervous System Structure

Cranial and peripheral nerves.

Sternberg's Triarchic Theory Part 2

Creative, effectively dealing with novel problems and automating responses to familiar problems, like creating, inventing, discovering, and imagining

Is creativity or intelligence more stable during adolescence? Support your answer by describing related research.

Creativity by elaborating on ideas does increase with age. Creative feelings include curiosity, imagination, and willingness to take calculated risks. Adolescents do have to put their creativity on hold to get some more academic progress. Some nurturing environments can aid in creativity.

What amount of alcohol drinking during pregnancy appears to be safe?

Depends on the mother's physiology, how much alcohol you consume at once, how much daddy drank can show some genetic predispositions, poor parenting.

Goals of Life-Style Development

Description, Prediction, Explanation, Optimization. Description involves the detailed mentioning and process. Prediction uses the description to lead to further results, to then have explanations clarify it all. Optimization is making the best out of what has been developing.

Dialectical thinking

Detecting paradoxes and inconsistencies among ideas and trying to reconcile Dialectical thinking

Baltes' 7 Key Assumptions

Development is a lifelong process, Development is multidirectional, Development involves a gain and loss, Development has a lifelong plasticity, Development is shaped by its historical and cultural contexts, Development is multiply influenced, and Development must be studied by multiple disciplines.

Bandura's Reciprocal Determinism

Development occurs through a continuous reciprocal interaction among the person and the environment.

Selective attention

Directly focusing on one thing while ignoring something else.

Fraternal Twins

Dizygotic twins because two eggs are involved. When 2 ova are released at about the same time. Fraternal twins are no more alike when compared to siblings. More common than identical twins.

Lev Vygotsky Sociocultural Theory

Each culture provides certain children with certain tools of thought and kids develop their minds through their social interactions with knowledgeable members of the culture.

Nature/Nurture Extremes

Either that it is ALL maturation, biological, and genes OR it is all peers, teachers, environment, social scenarios. They fuel each other. Nature has heredity, maturation, genetics, and predispositions. Nurture has environment, learning, experiences, cultural influences.

Autobiographical memory:

Episodic memories of personal events are key ingredients of present and future experiences or events that form us into who we are.

Erikson and Theories

Erikson was equal with nature and nurture, active, discontinuous, and universal.

Freud and Theories

Freud was more nature, passive, discontinuous, and universal.

7th Psychosocial Stage

Generativity vs. Stagnation, 40-65 years.

3rd Darwinian Argument

Genes that aid their bearers in adapting to their environment will be passed to future generations more frequently than genes that do not. Natural Selection: The idea that "nature" selects or allows to survive and reproduce.

Genotype

Genetic make up.

5th Psychosexual Stage

Genital Stage, 12+.

Name the three phases into which embryologists divide the prenatal period and describe how these phases fit into the trimesters into which most parents and obstetricians divide the prenatal period.

Germinal, Embryonic, Fetal. It goes by the first 3 months, the second 3 months, and the last 3 months.

Case Study Strengths and Weaknesses

Good for categorizing what is normally atypical. It is not very generalizable

Experimental Method Strengths and Weaknesses

Good for manipulating the IV to discover its connection for the DV and it has good control over extraneous variables. It may not always be allowed due to some ethical reasons.

Synaptogenesis

Growth of synapses.

Describe the four main methods used to study infant perception

Habituation: Same stimulus is repeatedly represented until the infant grows bored with what is now familiar; the stimulus is now a HABIT. Preferential looking: Two stimuli are shown to an infant to determine which one they prefer, which would be inferred by the one they looked at longer. Evoked potentials: Electrical activity in different parts of the brain is measured to see what is evoked in the brain. Operant Conditioning: Infants are conditioned to reliably respond to a certain way to a certain stimulus.

Describe Howard Gardner's conceptualization of intelligence, including describing his eight intelligences.

He asks HOW you are smart, with Linguistic intelligence, how well do you speak, logical mathematical skills, how well do you problem solve, musical intelligence, are you sensitive to sound recognition, spatial intelligence, can you see and transform what is there? Bodily Kinesthetic language, perform, fix, or create knowing the body, Interpersonal intelligence, sensitivities to moods, motivations, Intrapersonal intelligence, understanding one's own feelings and inner life. Naturalist intelligence, expertise in the natural world of plants and animals.

Describe the 5 main components of the life-span developmental model of health.

Health is a lifelong process. Health is determined by both genetic and environmental influences. Health and its study are multidimensional. Changes in health involve both gains and losses. Health occurs in a sociohistorical process. (Think social economic status).

Hippocampus

Helps make episodic memories.

Controversy with Genetic Research

How would it feel to tell a woman to abort her child because it has a high risk of being very ill? This biology work could tell us so much, BUT what do you tell the people and how easily to separate nature from nurture?

5th Psychosocial Stage

Identity vs. Role confusion, 12-20 years.

3rd Hypothesis on Learning in Childhood

Increased knowledge about memory: Older children know more about memory (like how long they must study to learn things, which strategies best fit tasks, etc.)

4th Hypothesis on Learning in Childhood

Increased knowledge about the world: The knowledge or expertise makes material to be learned more familiar, and familiar material is easier to learn and remember than unfamiliar material.

Name seven effects of maternal smoking during pregnancy. How does maternal smoking cause these effects?

Increased risk of miscarriage, premature, growth retardation, and small size, respiratory problems, cleft lips, cleft palates, CNS impairment, and later health problems such as Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

4th Psychosocial Stage

Industry vs. Inferiority, 6-12 years.

Sex-Linked

Influenced by sex-linked 23rd chromosomes

3rd Psychosocial Stage

Initiative vs. Guilt, 3-6 years.

8th Psychosocial Stage

Integrity vs. Despair, 65+ years.

Define intelligence according to the psychometric approach. State the goals of the psychometric approach.

Intelligence is a trait or set of traits that characterizes some people to a greater extent than others. The goals of the approach are to identify these traits precisely and to measure them, so the differences could be described.

three characteristics of a good theory.

Internal Consistence, Falsifiable, and Supported by Data.

6th Psychosocial Stage

Intimacy vs. Isolation, 20-40 years.

When does the brain complete its development?

It does not.

Compare the heritability of intelligence and temperament/personality

It does well with nonshared environmental experiences. Intelligence is heritable, but it can grow from personal experiences.

Describe the information processing approach to cognition and memory

It emphasizes the basic mental processes involved in attention, perception, memory and decision making.

Piaget using "stage" titles

It happens at very specific time intervals, for a limited window.

State Piaget's general description of cognition

It is active, nature focused, and continuous.

Correlational Methods Strengths and Weaknesses

It is good at seeing the "real world" correlations. It lacks control over extraneous variables.

Explain how tools, especially language, influence thought

It is the ultimate tool to communicate and master. Effective use of speech is excellent for problem solving.

Describe the main events of the fetal period, including their timing.

It lasts from the 9th week until the baby is out. It covers the rest of first trimester, all of the middle, and all of the final trimester. Critical period for brain development. Organ systems from embryonic period continue to grow. 3rd month pregnancy, sexual organs appear, bones and muscles develop. End of first trimester has the legs kicking, arms moving, fists clenched. 1st trimester has nervous system, digestive system, and other systems of the body aligned. 2nd trimester has sensory organs set up by its end. There are more refined movements in this term. Age of Viability: when the survival outside the uterus is possible if brain and respiratory system work. (24 weeks, generally). 3rd trimester has fetus weight gain. Myelin is made and increased in size. Neurons connect with one another to establish memory, vision, and motor behavior. Brain development really expands.

for a species to evolve, what must be true of the genetic make-up of a species?

It must be favorable to nature and last through adaptive environments. It may enhance survival, but it all depends on the environment.

Ethical Characteristics

It must meet all of these criteria: it must allow the participants to freely consent, debrief them afterward if they are not told anything in advance or are deceived, protect them from harm, treating any information they provide as confidential.

Developmental quotient (DQ):

It summarizes how well or poorly an infant performs in comparison with a large norm group of infants and toddlers the same age.

Explain the importance of object permanence and describe the path from lack of object permanence to full understanding of object permanence

It's the fundamental idea asking if things can exist. Since infants rely on their senses so much this concept becomes very profound at this stage. Object permanence develops past 4-8 months as an out of sight, out of mind idea. By the first year's end, they have a better idea of where things could be, even if out of sight.

Explain the importance of object permanence and describe the path from lack of object permanence to full understanding of object permanence.

It's the fundamental idea asking if things can exist. Since infants rely on their senses so much this concept becomes very profound at this stage. Object permanence develops past 4-8 months as an out of sight, out of mind idea. By the first year's end, they have a better idea of where things could be, even if out of sight.

Metamemory

Knowledge of memory and to monitoring and regulating memory processes. It's knowing what your memory limits are.

Anoxia

Lack of oxygen during birth.

4th Psychosexual Stage

Latent Stage, 6-12 years.

Describe typical changes in vision that can be expected with aging and discuss how these changes may affect daily activities.

Lens hardening, which means it takes longer for light to come in. This disables a lot of night activities, especially driving. Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) causes vision to blur and fade. Changes in the retina lead to danger with a loss of peripheral vision. Do not drive.

Anterograde amnesia

Loss of information and details after the accident. You cannot make new memories.

Retrograde amnesia

Loss of information and details prior to the accident

Explain the poor correlation between DQ scores in infancy and children's later IQ

Main reason being because the infant tests and IQ tests tap qualitatively different kinds of abilities. Infant skills are more sensory and motor skills, where IQ tests more of abstract abilities like verbal reasoning and problem solving.

Evidence-Based Practice

Medicine based on scientific evidence.

Scientific Method

Method and attitude, a belief that investigators should allow their systematic observations to determine their merits of thinking. It is a process of generating ideas and testing them by making observations.

Molecular Genetics vs. Behaviorial genetics

Molecular genetics is the analysis of particular genes and their effects. Behavioral genetics studies do not tell us which genes are responsible when they find a heritable gene.

Identical Twins

Monozygotic twins, resulting from one fertilized ovum divides to form two or more genetically identical twins.

Rhythmic Stereotypes

Moving in a pattern, repetitive rocking, swaying, bouncing.

Cross-modal perception

Multisensory integration. This capacity is required in children's games that involve feeling objects hidden in a bag and identifying them by touch alone.

Epigenetics Effects

Nature and nurture co-acting to bring forth particular developmental outcomes. Environmental factors like diet, stress, and alcohol will affect gene expression. These effects are altered in ways that can impact health.

Name the four major theoretical viewpoints about human development and name one major theorist or researcher associated with each.

Nature vs. Nurture, Activity-Passivity, Continuity-Discontinuity, and Universality-Context Specificity. Freud was more nature, passive, discontinuous, and universal. Erikson was equal with nature and nurture, active, discontinuous, and universal. Skinner was nurture, passive, continuous, and context specific. Bandura was nurture, active, continuous, and context-specific. Piaget was more nature, active, and discontinuous, universal. Brofenbrenner had equal nature and nurture, active, continuous and discontinuous, context specific.

Myelination

Neurons becoming encased in this protective substance that speeds transmission. You want your body to alert yourself of the environment and potential dangers immediately.

2 rival interpretation for correlational studies.

No random assignment and can suggest but not firmly establish a variable CAUSING another.

Describe the main events of the embryonic period, including their timing.

Occurs within the 3rd to 8th week after conception. Every major organ takes shape and form this organ form process is called organogenesis. The outer layer becomes the amnion, a watertight membrane that fills with fluid that cushions and protects the embryo, and the chorion, a membrane that surrounds the amnion and attaches villi to the uterine lining for nourishment. Chorion becomes the lining for the placenta: "feeding tube." It protects the child from some dangers. The neural tube is now being made. The bottom of the tube becomes the spinal cord. "Lumps" emerge at the top of the tube and form the forebrain, midbrain, and hindbrain. The lower part of the stem develop the earliest and are the most important. They regulate digestion, respiration, elimination, sleep-wake states, and permit simple motor reactions. Watch for Spina Bifida. Eat Folate. 4 weeks after conception, tiny heart beats. Eyes, ear, nose, and mouth rapidly take shape. Primitive nervous system kicks in. Sexual differentiation happens within weeks 7 and 8. Testosterone gets secreted.

Describe the selective optimization with compensation framework and explain its usefulness in compensating for declines in memory and problem-solving ability.

Older adults suggest goal-focused, selective, and emphasize quality ideas over quantity. Older adults focus on selection (focus on a limited set of goals and the skills to achieve them), optimization (practice those skills to keep them sharp), and compensation (develop ways around the need for other skills).

Describe the change in form perception that appears to happen around 2 months

One month-ers look to find the outer contours of forms, like faces. At 2 months, the child explores the interior of the feature, like chin, hairline, dimples. They look as if they want to know what certain facial landmarks are. The kids get better at redirecting their attention.

1st Psychosexual Stage

Oral Stage: Birth to 1 year.

What important cognitive achievement emerges toward the end of the sensorimotor period?

Overcoming the A-not-B error after 12-18 months. By the end of month 24, object permanence is finally gone.

Crossing Over

Pairs of chromosomes lining up and exchanging tail ends. This increases the odds of more distinct sperm or ova that an individual can produce.

Spina Bifida

Part of the spinal cord is not fully encased in the protective covering of the spinal column.

Discuss the importance of personal significance, distinctiveness, emotional intensity, and life phase of an event in adult autobiographical memory.

Personal significance has very little to no ability to affect recalling a personal event. Distinctiveness has been associated with better recall. Interactions involving very negative or very positive emotional responses are recalled better than neutral events. Life is recalled the most at ages 15-25 because it was so instrumental to molding individuals.

Discuss four differing cultural practices surrounding birth (include Western industrial cultures).

Peruvian women standing upright for pregnancy. Kenya, dad stop hunting to support his wife. A midwife delivers the baby. The placenta is buried in goat enclosure and the baby is washed in cold water and given a mixture of hot ash and boiled herbs to vomit amniotic fluid. Northern India, a Dai is hired by the woman's mother-in-law. Dai offers no emotional support and discourages crying in pain. The baby is believed to be polluted, so its hair gets shaved. Lastly, Namibia, women labor by themselves. Western cultures are hooked up, laying down, and separated from most friends and families. Western families are far more successful.

3rd Psychosexual Stage

Phallus Stage, 3-6 years.

Discuss the strengths of Piaget's theory, noting features that remain fairly well supported by the research in this field

Piaget is a giant in his field because of the questions he asked. Piaget showed us that infants and children are active in their own development, and they use accommodation and assimilation to resolve cognitive equilibrium. Piaget also was correct in his basic description of cognitive development.

Piaget and Theories

Piaget was more nature, active, and discontinuous, universal

What is most likely to influence whether or not a person experiences declines in intellectual performance in old age?

Poor health, unstimulating life cycle, low social status, sedentary living. These factors. Use it or lose it.

Positive vs. Negative Enforcement

Positive reinforcement adds something to encourage a behavior, whereas negative reinforcement removes something to encourage a behavior.

Describe the causes and effects of fetal anoxia during birth

Potential causes are if the cord becomes pinched or tangled, and therefore sedatives reach the mother which ultimately affect the baby's breathing. If the baby is in breech presentation (feet first). Cesarean section can help prevent anoxia from a breech presentation. Severe anoxia can lead to cerebral palsy.

Sternberg's Triarchic Theory Part 1

Practical, high adaptability, shape environment to their strengths and weaknesses, "street smarts" or common sense, It depends on the sociocultural context.

Couvade

Pregnancy symptoms experienced by fathers.

Name the two leading causes of death during the first year of life.

Premature birth and low birth weight.

Name three ways that preoperational thought is limited relative to concrete operational thought

Preoperational children can only classify items with one classification. These kids have much more egocentrism (preoperational). Perceptual salience: understanding is driven by how things look versus logical derivations.

Define proliferation, migration, and differentiation of neurons and describe what happens during each of those phases

Proliferation of neurons involves multiplying at a fast rate; it happens for 11 weeks. 100 billion neurons by the end of this stage. Glial cells are also made in proliferation. Migration: neurons relocate for their functions, like brain stem and thalamus, first at cerebral cortex. Once a neuron reaches its "home," it begins to communicate with the surrounding neurons. Differentiation: It alters to what it needs to be. If a neuron needs to be auditory, it will differentiate into an auditory neuron.

Heritability

Proportion of all the variability in the trait within a large sample of people that can be linked to genetic differences among those individuals.

3 Critical Features of True Experiments

Random Assignment: making sure the assignment of people to the experiment or control truly IS random. Manipulation of the Independent Variable: The control group and experimental group will have to have different experiences to know that manipulating the IV did something. Experimental Control: all factors other than the IV. Controlling for unwanted variables.

Describe the hypothetical-deductive approach to problem solving.

Reasoning from general ideas or rules to their specific implications.

Summarize newborn capabilities that promote healthy adaptation to the world outside the womb, including reflexes and behavioral states

Reflexes, functional senses, capacity to learn, patterns of sleeping and waking.

Gist

Remembering the general points. As memory increases, we get better with this.

Synaptic pruning

Removal of unnecessary synapses.

Amygdala

Responsible for emotionally charged responses.

Name (with age ranges) Piaget's four stages of cognitive development

Sensorimotor stage: 0-2 years. Preoperational stage: 2-7 years. Concrete Operations: 7-11. Formal Operations: 11+.

Name and describe the three memory stores proposed by Atkinson and Shiffrin

Sensory Register, Short Term, Long Term

Skinner and Theories

Skinner was nurture, passive, continuous, and context specific.

Describe how three generations of people might be affected by prenatal environmental factors such as maternal smoking.

Smoking will be allowed as a more casual activity, and second hand smoking may do more prenatal harm.

Indicate how culture and social interaction affect thought in Vygotsky's theory

Social interaction can aid through the zone of proximal development. Guided participation also helps greatly. Scaffolding also helps. Vygotsky believed in social learning.

2nd Darwinian Argument

Some genes aid adaptation more than others do. People with strength and intelligence adapt to the environment more successfully than the weak and stupid.

Describe the infant behaviors that are best connected to later intelligent behaviors.

Speedy processing comes off as smart. The personality characteristics of getting bored of the same thing, seeks novel experiences, and soaks up information rapidly. These connect to later intelligent behaviors and responses.

Developmental Stage

Stage is a distinct phase of development characterized by a particular set of abilities, motives, emotions, and behaviors that form a coherent pattern.

Which taste has little loss of acuity across the lifespan?

Sweet

Development

Systematic changes and continuities in the individual that occur between conception and death. "Womb to tomb."

Performance

Temporary success and proficiency

Discuss risk and resilience, including damaging effects that are irreversible and the Werner and Smith findings about the outcomes of at-risk infants.

Thalidomide is irreversible with removing limbs. Resilience is to bounce back, as risk is the apparent or unknown dangers. 2 big results: effects of prenatal and perinatal complications decrease over time. Outcomes of early risk depend on the quality of the postnatal environment. Personal resources and supportive postnatal environments help against risk factors.

Age of Viability

The age to where a fetus can survive on his own. (Near 24 weeks)

Ethnocentrism

The belief that one's own culture is superior

What is childhood (infantile) amnesia? Discuss the possible causes, including limited working memory, undeveloped language skills and fuzzy-trace theory.

The black hole to which very young childhood memories fall into. They may not have enough space in their working memory to hold enough room for the encoding process. Lack of language skills also develop to being able to describe events in youth. Memories increase with language. Children store verbatim and gist events separately. Ultimately, this discourages kids from using verbatim because it takes up more brain space, so to speak. The consolidation phase of memory lacks.

Describe the processes of synaptogenesis and synaptic pruning and explain their relationship to plasticity of the developing human brain.

The brain is at its most plastic when it is the most responsive, and it can then develop in a variety of ways. Synaptogenesis occurs by developing a large sum of neurons, which will have experience prune the excessive neurons (synaptic pruning). Highly adaptable brain (high plasticity), can bounce back quicker from damage, but it is highly sensitive to damage.

Explain how brain changes during adolescence influence teens' behavior, including such things as synaptogenesis, synaptic pruning, myelination, reward systems, and changes in levels of neurotransmitters.

The brain's gray matter does an inverted U-pattern. There is an increased synaptogenesis just before puberty followed by a period of heightened pruning of synapses. The white matter increases linearly, through a progression of myelination in adolescence. To get reward, an adolescent may make idiotic decisions. The frontal lobe is the last area to become myelinated. Dopamine peaks in adolescence.

Phenotype

The characteristic or trait the person has. Height, hair color are examples.

What is the most likely outcome for a zygote with the wrong number of chromosomes?

The chromosomes are spontaneously aborted; chromosome abnormalities are the main cause of pregnancy loss.

Dominant vs. Recessive

The dominate trait wins and gets expressed.

Gene-environment interaction

The effects of our genes depend on what kind of environment we experience and how we respond to the environment depends on what genes we have.

Semanrche

The first male ejaculation, which typically happens around 13.

Describe the Flynn Effect and what factors might account for this finding

The idea that today's teens are smarter than their parents and grandparents. This is not due to genetic influence but environmental impacts. Children are better educated nowadays, improved nutrition, and living conditions being better affects this too.

What is the underlying key to doing research on infant perception?

The key is to find some behavior that an infant can control and then use that behavior as an entry into what babies can perceive.

How does postpartum depression in mothers affect their infants?

The kids were less attached to their mothers during infancy and are less responsive with their mothers at age 5, negativity at age 5 and high chance of depression at age 16.

Hayflick Limit

The maximum lifespan of a species; how much cells can divide and what that maximum limit is.

Concordance Rates and Impact

The percentage of pairs of people studied in which if one member displays the trait, the other one does too. If their rates are higher for more genetically related trait, the trait is heritable, as opposed to a lower rated genetic trait.

Describe the visual cliff paradigm. What does it tell us about infant perception? What motor skill is necessary before infants fear the visual cliff?

The perception of falling was too much for 33/36 kids, even with mom encouraging them. Yet, there was a slower heart rate on the deeper side than the shallow side. The child has not learned the fear of a drop off. Crawling.

Where in the adult brain, is brain loss greater with aging? Where is it less with aging?

The prefrontal cortex, losing neurons.

Metaphor for the Human Brain

The processing power of a computer

Proximodistal principle

The proximodistal principle of growth can be seen during the prenatal period, when the chest and internal organs form before the arms, hands, fingers. Think muscular strength from a gym.

Describe the research on neuroplasticity in older adults (page 283, Application 9.1, IQ Training of Aging Adults). What does it suggest about why some intellectual skills decline with aging?

The research advocates that the brain can have neuroplasticity, unless of Alzheimer's or other brain disorders. You can teach an old dog new tricks. These skills decline with aging from disuse

Plasticity

The responsiveness to an individual's experiences

Overimitate

The result of overacting.

Meta-Analysis

The results of multiple studies asking the same question can be synthesized to produce overall conclusions with this method.

Heart of the Scientific Method

Theories make hypotheses, and those are tested through observations to learn.

Explain why poorer performance on tests of formal operational thinking does not mean that older adults have regressed to immature modes of thought (at least 3 reasons).

There is a cohort effect because the average older adult today has had less formal schooling comparatively. Older adults tend to perform as well as younger college students on tests of formal operations. Necessary knowledge just needs to be reminded among the older populations. Older people run into different issues than younger people, due to less exposure to the school world. Age, education, and motivation are big. Older adults do better on daily tasks.

1st Darwinian Argument

There is genetic variation in a species. Basically, some members of a species has different genes that others in the same species.

Define adolescent egocentrism and describe Elkind's two types of adolescent egocentrism

There is the imaginary audience, who the person believes is so busy judging one individual. There is also the personal fable. This is the tendency to think that you and your beliefs are unique. You become someone who is a special snowflake.

Protections from harm

They are not harmed.

Describe the factors that contribute to expertise in adulthood.

They can size up a situation quickly, they recognize similarities and differences between old and new problems quickly, they can almost automatically recall the correct information from long term memory; it relies on domain specific knowledge. Their knowledge base is more organized.

Describe typical changes in hearing that can be expected with aging and discuss how these changes may affect daily activities

They start in the inner ear. Presbycusis is a danger. Men working in loud, noisy jobs can be detrimental, because of high frequency sounds with s, z, and ch consonants.

Myelin

Thick neural material to enhance neural connections more rapidly.

Explain how an infant conceived through in vitro fertilization could wind up with five "parents".

Through in-vitro fertilization, there is a sperm donor, an egg donor, a surrogate mother, and a caregiving mother and father.

1st Psychosocial Stage

Trust vs. Mistrust, birth to 1 year.

Twin Studies

Twin studies showed that identical twins separated were identical in how they acted too, not just biology. It has 3 limits.

David Wechsler

WPPSI-III, WISC-IV, WAIS-IV

Gene-Environment Correlation

Ways in which a person's genes and his environment or experiments are systematically related. 3 types: passive, active, and evocative.

Post formal thought

Ways of thinking beyond the complexity of the formal operations stage.

Summarize the Schai, et al, findings related to changes in intellectual functioning as people age.

When a person was born has at least as much influence on intellectual functioning as age does. Young adults outperformed older adults, yet on numerical ability, people that were older did better. Different age groups had particular strengths. Young and middle-aged can look forward to better intellectual functioning in old age than their grandparents. Fluid intelligence declines sooner than crystalized intelligence. Remember, new situations are harder for older folk. Remaining cognitively stimulated at work can deter the loss of fluid intelligence. Decline in intellectual abilities are not universal.

In what situations are adults more likely to use concrete operational thought than formal operational thought?

When you want to worry less about your ego, or appearance, or reputation. Concrete Operations were used in less familiar areas.

Wisdom

Wisdom is a constellation of rich factual knowledge about life, combined with procedural knowledge such as strategies for giving advice and handling conflicts.

Define wisdom and describe the attributes (e.g. cognitive style) of people who demonstrate wisdom.

Wisdom is a constellation of rich factual knowledge about life, combined with procedural knowledge such as strategies for giving advice and handling conflicts. A wise person is someone who can combine successful intelligence with creativity to solve problems that require balancing multiple interests or perspectives. Age is NOT a predictor for being wise.

Explain the workings of the memory system, from first exposure to information or an event to eventual retrieval of this information from memory.

You encode the information first, by getting it into the system. Next, the information gets consolidated, keeping the idea suitable for longer storage. Storage is the next time, which refers to holding information for long term usage. Lastly, there is retrieval: the process of getting information out when needed.

Which two groups of drivers have more accidents per mile according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety?

Young drivers between 16-24 and elderly drivers, NOT middle-aged drivers.

What are three properties of patterns that capture the young infant's attention?

Young infants pay attention to patterns that have a large amount of light-dark transition, or contour; they are responsible to sharp boundaries between light and dark areas. Pastel colors often do not do it. Infants are interested in displays that are dynamic. Quicker movement happens to draw attention. Lastly, young infants seem to be attracted to patterns that are moderately complex. A clear pattern: like a checkerboard is ideal.

Evocative Gene-Environment Correlations

a dad smiling back at my smiling face.

Fluid intelligence

ability to solve novel problems

Equilibration

achieving mental stability where our internal thoughts are consistent with evidence we are receiving from the outside world. Example: calling this creature a cat and then having a veterinarian call this thing a cat. Equilibration puts it all together.

Elaboration

actively creating meaningful links between items to be remembered. It is adding something to the items, in the form of either words or images.

Guided participation

actively participating in culturally relevant activities with the aid and support of their parents and other knowledgeable guides.

Resveratrol

antioxidant in grapes, red wine and peanuts

Seriation

arrange items mentally along a quantifiable dimension

Patricia Bauer

autobiographical memory

Habituation (2nd way for memory capabilities)

based on the continued repetition and learning NOT to respond to a particular stimulus. Example: not reacting to the light turning on.

Long Term

believed to relatively permanent and seemingly unlimited store of information.

Chronosystem

capturing the idea that people and environments and the relations between the two change over time and unfold in particular patterns or sequences over a lifetime.

Psychosocial development

changes and carryover in interpersonal life, like motives, emotions, personality traits, interpersonal skills and relationships, and roles in family and society.

Reciprocal Determinism

children determine how others respond toward them as much as they are influenced by others. In other words, we affect our environment as much as our environment affects us. The interaction is complex.

Organization

classifying items into meaningful groups. Chunking: 52434657 becomes 524-346-57

Mesosystems

consists of the interrelationalships between two or more microsystems. Teenagers from Mexican groups hanging with Chinese teenagers seeing each other.

Explicit Memory (More)

deliberate effortful recollection of events

Explicit Memory

deliberate, effortful.

Atkinson & Shiffrin

described three memory stores

Sensation

detection and transmission of sensory information

First Limit

do the findings generalize to the singleton children.

Activity/Passivity

do we consciously seek to change?

Egocentrism

failing to see other people's perspectives.

Babinski reflex

fanning of toes when bottom of foot is stroked

Stereotype Threat

fear that a group will be judged to have the qualities associated with negative stereotypes.

Static thought

focus on end states rather than changes

Operant Condition (3rd way for memory capabilities)

focused on the reinforcement of the memory. Example: shaking the mobile (baby bed).

Brainerd & Reyna

fuzzy-trace theory

Sensory Register

gathering the sensory data around us (lasts only seconds).

Semantic Memory

general facts.

Species heredity

genes that all have in common. A universality exists.

Nature/Nurture

genetics or environment

Physical Development

growth of body and its organs, with the functioning of the brain, physical aging signs, and motor abilities.

Thyroid Gland

helps with nervous system development. It helps to metabolize food into usable nutrients. Thyroid deficiency can lead to intellectual problems & slow physical growth.

Retinitis pigmentosa

hereditary disorder causing loss of peripheral vision

Short Term

holds limited amount of information, perhaps 5 to 7 items, for a short time.

Visual-spatial memory

holds visual information like colors and shapes.

Blastocyst

hollow ball of 150 cells the size of a pin's head.

Second Limit

identical twins could be more psychologically similar than fraternal twins, even if they are separated at birth, because they shared a prenatal environment than fraternal twins.

Last Limit

identical twins get treated identically

Microsystem

immediate physical and social environment in which the person interacts face to face with other people and influences and is affected by them. Example: Joe hanging with his buddy, Jimbob

Cumulative deficit hypothesis

impoverished environments inhibit intellectual growth, and these negative effects accumulate over time.

The Id

impulse, selfishness, desire

Perception

interpretation of sensory information

Assimilation

interpreting new experiences in terms of existing schemas. Example: we know it meows, so by seeing a furry tail, I am assimilating that piece of information.

Context/Universal

is it always going to happen or is it just in certain contexts?

Continuity/Discontinuity

is it gradual or abrupt?

Adoption Study

it asks if children are more similar to their adoptive parents or biological parents. Which has more weight here: environmental or biological influence? The prenatal environment the mother provided has some weight. Researchers must also be careful to note that some adoption agencies but the adopted kids in similar environments to their original homes. Last limit: adoptive homes are above-average environments.

Crystallized intelligence

knowledge acquired through life experience.

Paul Baltes

laid out seven key assumptions of the lifespan perspective

Macrosystem

larger cultural in which the microsystem, macrosystem, and exosystem are embedded. Culture is often defined as the shared understanding of people, with beliefs and practices concerning the nature of humans.

Exosystem

linkages involving social settings that individuals do not experience directly. Example: a parent's policy on a curfew.

elaboration

meaningful linking of items to be learned

Family Studies

measure quality of family interactions to see how similar or different environments for the kids will be.

Phonological memory

memory that holds auditory information

Intelligence quotient (IQ):

mental age divided by chronological age. The average score is 100.

Ego

middle ground between Id and Superego.

Imitation (1st way for memory capabilities)

mimicking the aspect that they have recalled. Example: sticking out your tongue.

Superego

morality, considerate, compassionate

Presbycusis

most common age-related hearing loss

Polygenic Inheritance

multiple pairs of genes affect multiple gene factors. Height, weight, intelligence, personality, susceptibility to cancer.

Transitivity

necessary relations among elements in a series

Implicit Memory

nicknamed procedural memory is accidental, and without awareness

G Stanley Hall

often cited as the founder of developmental psychology

Progesterone

pregnancy hormone responsible for conception.

Rehearsal

repeating of items to learn and remember

Procedural memory

responsible for knowing how to do things, also known as motor skills. As the name implies, stores information on how to perform certain procedures, such as walking, talking and riding a bike.

Macular degeneration

retinal cell damage resulting in loss of central vision

Adrenal glands

secrete androgenic hormones to help muscles and bones mature in both sexes; this leads to sexual attraction. Hypothalamus and the pituitary gland run the show.

. Testicles (Testes)

secretes testosterone. Testosterone also stimulates growth factor. Ovaries secrete estrogen and progesterone to active, breasts, pubic hair, and sexual organs.

Passive Gene-Environment Correlations

shy parents not taking kids out to socialize, I.E., making the kid shy.

Episodic Memory

specific experiences.

Centration

tendency to center attention on a single aspect of the problem. Example: two cups of water by only focusing on the height.

Decentration

the ability to focus on two or more dimensions at once.

Zone of proximal development:

the gap between what a learner can accomplish independently and what she can accomplish with the guidance and encouragement of a more-skilled partner.

Mental age (MA):

the level of age-graded problems that the child is able to solve.

Informed Consent

the person must consent and gladly give their time

Savant syndrome

the phenomenon in which extraordinary talent in a particular area is displayed by a person who is otherwise disabled.

Accommodation

the process of modifying existing schemes to better fit new experiences. Example: a furry thing that meows with a talk can be called a cat.

Corpus callosum

the structure of the brain linking the hemispheres.

Confidentiality

their information is protected.

Howard Gardner

theory of multiple intelligences

Donald Sternberg

theory of successful intelligence

Free radicals

toxic by-products of metabolism

Incomplete Dominance

two genes influence a trait but each is expressed in the product: Pink

Relativistic thinking:

understanding that knowledge depends on its context and the subjective perspective of the observer.

Class inclusion

understanding that the parts are included in the whole

implicit memory

unintentional automatic memory

Affordances

what something has to offer us and how it might be used by us.

Single Gene-Pair:

when one gene dominates other allele combinations, like tongue curling. Brown eyes to blue eyes are another good example.

Verbatim memory

word for word. It is unlikely to last over long periods.