PSY230 TEST 2 STUDY GUIDE

What is metacognition?

- A form of cognitive control 1. Control processes require the brain to organize, prioritize, and direct mental operations - "Thinking about thinking" - Involves understanding one's own learning/thinking - Evaluate learning goal, decide how to accomplish it, monitor performance, adjust effort - Improves each year of middle childhood

What is over-regularization?

- Application of rules of grammar even when exceptions occur 1. Makes language seem more "regular" than it actually is 1a. Ex. Adding an "s" to the end of every word to make it plural ***Gooses***

Explain the difference between aptitude and achievement.

- Aptitude: potential to master a skill/subject - Achievement: what has been learned 1. Achievement tests - assess mastery in some subject 1a. Compare scores to established norms

What are the four parenting styles? Explain them.

- Authoritarian parenting. The authoritarian parent's word is law, not to be questioned. Misconduct brings strict punishment, usually physical. Authoritarian parents set down clear rules and hold high standards. Discussion about emotions and expressions of affection are rare. One adult raised by authoritarian parents said that "How do you feel?" had only two possible answers: "Fine" and "Tired." - Permissive parenting. Permissive parents (also called indulgent) make few demands. Discipline is lax, partly because expectations are low. Permissive parents are nurturing and accepting, listening to whatever their offspring say, which may include "I hate you." - Authoritative parenting. Authoritative parents set limits, but they are flexible. They consider themselves guides, not authorities (unlike authoritarian parents) and not friends (unlike permissive parents). The goal of punishment is for the child to understand what was wrong and what should have been done differently. - Neglectful/uninvolved parenting. Neglectful parents are oblivious to their children's behavior; they seem not to care. Their children do whatever they want. This is quite different from permissive parents, who care very much.

What is resilience?

- Capacity to adapt well to significant adversity and to overcome serious stress

What is classification? What is seriation?

- Classification: logical principle that things can be organized into groups based on some common characteristic - Seriation: things can be arranged in a series

Explain lateralization

- Each side of the body and brain specializes and is therefore dominant for certain functions.

What is Erikson's third psychological stage?

- Emotional regulation is part of Erikson's third developmental stage, initiative versus guilt. 1. Initiative includes saying something new, beginning a project, or expressing an emotion. 1a. Depending on what happens next, children feel proud or guilty. 1b. Gradually, they learn to rein in boundless pride and avoid crushing guilt.

What are externalizing problems? What are internalizing problems?

- Externalizing problems: Externalizing behaviors are problem behaviors that are directed toward the external environment. 1. They include physical aggression, disobeying rules, cheating, stealing, and destruction of property. 2. Externalizing behaviors are common among children but can be experienced into adulthood. - Internalizing problems: Internalizing behaviors are negative behaviors that are focused inward. 1. They include fearfulness, social withdrawal, and somatic complaints.

Explain family structure and family function

- Family structure: legal and genetic relationships among relatives living in the same home 1. Includes nuclear family, extended family, stepfamily, and others. - Family function: the way a family works to meet the needs of its members 1. Function is more important than structure, but harder to measure

Who is Howard Gardner? What is his theory?

- Howard Gardner is a leading developmentalist (developmental psychologist) - His theory is the theory of multiple intelligences 1. He believed that the conventional concept of intelligence was too narrow and restrictive and that measures of IQ often miss out on other "intelligences" that an individual may possess. 2. Nine intelligences: linguistic, logical mathematical, musical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalistic, and existential 3. Each person excels in particular areas

What is the self-concept?

- Ideas about self that include intelligence, personality, abilities, gender, and ethnic background - Becomes more complex

Explain the difference between incremental and entity concept of growth.

- Incremental concept of growth: belief that intelligence can improve 1. may be more resilient to failure - Entity concept of growth: believe intelligence is fixed

What is the zone of proximal development?

- Individuals learn within their zone of proximal development (ZPD), an intellectual arena in which new ideas and skills can be mastered.

What is Erikson's fourth psychosocial stage?

- Industry versus inferiority - Characterized by tension between productivity and incompetence - The child "must forget past hopes and wishes, while his exuberant imagination is tamed and harnessed to the laws of impersonal things," becoming "ready to apply himself to given skills and tasks"

What are intrinsic and extrinsic motivation? Provide examples

- Intrinsic motivation arises from within, when people do something for the joy of doing it: A musician might enjoy making music even if no one else hears it; the sound is intrinsically rewarding. 1. Intrinsic motivation is thought to advance creativity, innovation, and emotional well-being - Extrinsic motivation comes from outside the person, when external praise or some other reinforcement is the goal, such as when a musician plays for applause or money. 1. Social rewards are powerful lifelong: Four-year-olds brush their teeth because they are praised, sometimes even rewarded with musical toothbrushes and tasty toothpaste.

Explain the language shifts and balanced bilinguals.

- Language shifts: Becoming more fluent in the school language than in their home language - Balanced bilinguals: Being fluent in two languages, not favoring one over the other 1. Occurs if adults talk frequently, listen carefully, and value both languages

What is the Information Processing Perspective?

- Like computers that process information, people accumulate large amounts of facts. 1. They then: (1) seek relevant facts (as a search engine does) for each cognitive task, (2) analyze (as software programs do), and (3) express conclusions (as a printout might). 1a. By tracing the paths and links of each of these functions, scientists better understand the learning process. - Brain connections and pathways are forged from repeated experiences, allowing advances in processing. - Without careful building and repetition, fragile connections between neurons break.

What is Freud's "Phallic stage?"

- Phallic stage: Freud's third stage of development, when the penis becomes the focus of concern and pleasure 1. Girls develop "penis envy"

What are pragmatics?

- Practical use of language, adjusting communication to audience and context 1. Ex. Do you talk differently to your boss than you do to your best friend?

What factors contribute to resilience?

- Resilience is dynamic, not a stable trait 1. That means a given person may be resilient at some periods but not others, and the effects from one period reverberate as time goes on. - Resilience is a positive adaptation to stress 1. For example, if parental rejection leads a child to a closer relationship with another adult, that is positive resilience, not passive endurance. - Adversity must be significant, a threat to development.

What are the three types of memory?

- Sensory memory: Memory of stimulus (e.g., sound) is stored for a split second - Working memory: Limited capacity, and temporary storage available for processing - Long-term memory: Storing of (limitless?) information indefinitely

Explain growth patterns in early childhood a. Percentage brain weighs of adult size

- Size is not the most radical change; shape is. 1. Proportions shift: Children slim down as the lower body lengthens and fat gives way to muscle. - The average body mass index (BMI, a ratio of weight to height) is lower at ages 5 and 6 than at any other time of life. - By age 2, most neurons have connected to other neurons and substantial pruning has occurred - The 2-year-old's brain already weighs 75 percent of what it will weigh in adulthood; the 6-year-old's brain is 90 percent of adult weight.

What is sociodramatic play?

- Sociodramatic play: children act out various roles and plots. 1. Through such acting, children: 1a. explore and rehearse social roles; 1b. learn to explain their ideas and persuade playmates; 1c. practice emotional regulation by pretending to be afraid, angry, brave, and so on; and 1d. develop self-concept in a nonthreatening context.

What is scaffolding?

- Temporary sensitive support, to help children within their developmental zone

What is the role of social comparisons in forming the self-concept?

- Tendency to assess one's abilities and other attributes by comparing them to those of others - Use social comparisons to construct our self- concepts 1. What would it mean to be a "fast" runner if you lived alone on a deserted island and never met anyone else??? - Recognition of prejudice and affirming pride in gender and background increases.

What did the Marshmallow study look at?

- The Marshmallow study examined a child's ability to resist temptation and also to evaluate whether or not they understood the concept that if they just were patient then they would have double the amount they started with.

What does the corpus callosum do? Why is that important?

- The corpus callosum is a long, thick band of nerve fibers that grows and myelinates rapidly in early childhood - The Corpus Callosum is the part of the mind that allows communication between the two hemispheres of the brain. It is responsible for transmitting neural messages between both the right and left hemispheres. - Serious disorders, almost always including intellectual disability, result when the corpus callosum fails to develop 1. Every skill usually activates both sides of the brain. That makes the corpus callosum crucial.

What is the limbic system? Name the two parts we discussed and explain both of their functions.

- The limbic system is a complex system of nerves and networks in the brain, involving several areas near the edge of the cortex concerned with instinct and mood. 1. It controls the basic emotions (fear, pleasure, anger) and drives (hunger, sex, dominance, care of offspring). - Amygdala 1. Registers emotions, particularly fear and anxiety - Hippocampus 1. Important for memory, especially memory for locations 1a. Did something bad happen here before?

Explain the Pre-operational Stage of cognitive development. a. Including what egocentrism and irreversibility are b. What is conservation?

- The preoperational stage is the second stage in Piaget's theory of cognitive development. During this period, children are thinking at a symbolic level but are not yet using cognitive operations. - Egocentrism: refers to the child's inability to see a situation from another person's point of view. - Irreversibility: the inability the reverse the direction of a sequence of events to their starting point. - Conservation: the notion that the amount of something remains the same (is conserved) despite changes in its appearance.

What is myelination?

- The process of forming a myelin sheath around a nerve to allow nerve impulses to move more quickly.

How do children develop ideas on what is "gender appropriate" behavior?

- To behaviorists, gender distinctions result from reinforcement, punishment, and social learning, evident in early childhood. - Rewarded more frequently than"gender inappropriate" behavior

What was Vygotsky's theory?

- Vygotsky emphasized another side of early cognition— that each person's thinking is shaped by other people. - His focus on the sociocultural context contrasts with Piaget's emphasis on the individual.

Explain the four dimensions that parents differ on (these dimensions are what the initial parenting styles were based on).

1. Expressions of warmth: Some parents are warm and affectionate; others are cold and critical. 2. Strategies for discipline: Parents vary in how they explain, criticize, persuade, and punish. 3. Communication: Some parents listen patiently; others demand silence. 4. Expectations for maturity: Parents vary in expectations for responsibility and self-control.

Explain the three levels of Kohlberg's Moral Reasoning.

1. Preconventional: Throughout the preconventional level, a child's sense of morality is externally controlled. 1a. Children accept and believe the rules of authority figures, such as parents and teachers. 1b. A child with pre-conventional morality has not yet adopted or internalized society's conventions regarding what is right or wrong, but instead focuses largely on external consequences that certain actions may bring. 2. Conventional: Throughout the conventional level, a child's sense of morality is tied to personal and societal relationships. 2a. Children continue to accept the rules of authority figures, but this is now due to their belief that this is necessary to ensure positive relationships and societal order. 2b. Adherence to rules and conventions is somewhat rigid during these stages, and a rule's appropriateness or fairness is seldom questioned. 3. Postconventional: Throughout the postconventional level, a person's sense of morality is defined in terms of more abstract principles and values. People now believe that some laws are unjust and should be changed or eliminated. 3a. This level is marked by a growing realization that individuals are separate entities from society and that individuals may disobey rules inconsistent with their own principles. 3b. Post-conventional moralists live by their own ethical principles—principles that typically include such basic human rights as life, liberty, and justice—and view rules as useful but changeable mechanisms, rather than absolute dictates that must be obeyed without question. 3c. Because post-conventional individuals elevate their own moral evaluation of a situation over social conventions, their behavior can sometimes be confused with that of those at the pre-conventional level. 3d. Some theorists have speculated that many people may never reach this level of abstract moral reasoning.