Psych 111 U of M Chapter 9

imaginary audience

adolescents' belief that they are the focus of everyone else's attention and concern

the first stage of pregnancy

germinal stage

Irreversibility

A characteristic of preoperational thought whereby a young child thinks that nothing can be undone. A thing cannot be restored to the way it was before a change occurred.

easy child

A child who is generally in a positive mood, quickly establishes regular routines in infancy, and adapts easily to new experiences.

Difficult child

A child who tends to react negatively and cry frequently, engages in irregular daily routines, and is slow to accept change.

Rubella

A common childhood disease that can lead to serious birth defects if contracted by the mother during pregnancy (also called German measles).

Describe the infant's sensory, perceptual, and learning abilities

A newborn can detect objects visually (though not with perfect acuity) and can discriminate among different sounds, odors, and tastes. The ability to respond to depth cues and to discern facial expressions develops within the first 6 months. Infants are also capable of learning simple responses and retaining memories of those responses.

placenta

A structure that allows an embryo to be nourished with the mother's blood supply

Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS)

A syndrome caused by maternal use of alcohol during pregnancy in which the child shows developmental delays and facial deformities.

Dementia

An abnormal condition marked by multiple cognitive defects that include memory impairment.

teratogen

An environmental influence or agent that may harm the developing embryo or fetus.

Piaget's theory of cognitive development

Emphasizes the role of adaptation in cognitive development as comprising two complementary processes, assimilation and accommodation.

Describe Kohlberg's stages of moral reasoning and evaluate his theory in light of Gilligan's criticism.

At the preconventional level, moral judgments are based on the perceived consequences of behavior. Behaviors that avoid punishment are good; those that incur punishment from an external authority are bad. At the (conventional level, conformity with conventional rules of right and wrong are valued because of the need to do what others expect or because one has an obligation to obey the law. At the postconventional level, moral judgments are based on value systems the individual develops through personal reflection, such as valuing the importance of human life and the concept of justice above that of the law. Postconventional thinking does not develop until adolescence, if ever. Gilligan pointed out that Kohlberg's model was based only on the responses of males and did not take female voices into account. Through her own research, Gilligan concluded that females tend to adopt a care orientation, whereas males tend to adopt a justice orientation. Other researchers have found that differences in moral reasoning between men and women are less clear-cut, although women have a greater tendency to adopt a care orientation.

Identify and describe the major parenting styles

Authoritative parents expect mature behavior, use reasoning, and set firm limits. Authoritarian parents set firm limits but are overly controlling and rely on harsh styles of discipline. Permissive parents have an "anything goes" style characterized by a lax approach to limit setting.

Insecure-resistant type (Type C)

Clings to mother; avoids venturing into unfamiliar situations; becomes very upset when mother leaves and fails to be comforted completely when she returns; shows some ambivalence or resistance toward mother

Describe the development of the infant's motor skills in the first year of life

During the first year, an infant acquires the ability to move its body, sit without support, turn over, crawl, and begin to stand and walk on its own.

Identify and describe Erikson's stages of psychosocial development in childhood.

Erikson's stages are trust versus (k)mistrust (birth to 1 year), autonomy versus shame and doubt (ages 1 to 3), initiative versus (m)guilt (ages 3 to 6), and industry versus inferiority (ages 6 to 12).

role diffusion

Erikson's term for lack of clarity in one's life roles (due to failure to develop ego identity).

What evidence (based on the sense of hearing) do we have to support the belief that a fetus is capable of learning?

Fetuses show a preference for their mothers' voices

Describe Piaget's stages of cognitive development.

In Piaget's theory, children in the sensorimotor stage, from birth to about 2 years, explore their world through their senses, motor responses, and purposeful manipulation of objects. During the preoperational stage, from about 2 to 7 years of age, the child's thinking is more representational but is limited by centration, egocentricity, animistic thinking, and irreversibility. The concrete operational stage, beginning around age 7 in Western cultures, is characterized by development of the principle of conservation and the ability to draw logical relationships among concrete objects or events. The formal operational stage, the most advanced stage of cognitive development according to Piaget, is characterized by the ability to engage in deductive thinking, generate hypotheses, and engage in abstract thought.

Secure Type (Type B)

Mothers as secure base for exploration

Identify and describe the stages of prenatal development and major threats to prenatal development.

Prenatal period-Conception to birth Infancy period- Birth to 1 year Toddler period- 1 to 3 years Preschool period- 3 to 6 years Middle childhood- 6 to 12 years Adolescence- 12 to 18 years Young adulthood- 18 to 40 years Middle adulthood- 40 to 65 years Late adulthood- 65 years and older

Describe the physiological, cognitive, and psychosocial changes that occur during adolescence and Erikson's beliefs about psychosocial development in adolescence.

Puberty spans the period of physical development that begins with the appearance of secondary sex characteristics and ends with the attainment of full sexual maturity. Adolescents may progress to the stage of (b)formal operations, which, according to Piaget, is denoted by the ability to engage in abstract thinking and reasoning. Egocentricity in adolescence involves concepts of the imaginary audience (believing everyone else is as concerned about us as we are ourselves) and the personal fable (an exaggerated sense of uniqueness and perceptions of personal invulnerability). Erikson believed the achievement of a sense of who one is and what one stands for (ego identity) is the major psychosocial challenge of adolescence. Erikson coined the term identity crisis to describe a period of serious soul-searching in which adolescents attempt to come to terms with their ego identity and future direction in life.

Moro reflex

Reflex in which a newborn strectches out the arms and legs and cries in response to a loud noise or an abrupt change in the environment

sucking reflex

Reflex that causes a newborn to make sucking motions when a finger or nipple if placed in the mouth

Identify reflexes present at birth

Reflexes include the rooting, eyeblink, sucking, Moro, palmar grasp, and Babinski reflexes.

symbolic representations

abstract mental representations that consist of words or ideas

In which of the following stages in Erikson's theory of psychosocial development do children compare their abilities to those of their friends and classmates?

Stage 4: industry versus inferiority

Maturation

The biological unfolding of the organism according to the underlying genetic code.

developmental psychology

The branch of psychology that explores physical, emotional, cognitive, and social aspects of development.

imprinting

The formation of a strong bond of the newborn animal to the first moving object seen after birth.

embryonic stage

The stage of prenatal development from implantation through about the eighth week of pregnancy during which the major organ systems begin to form.

fetal stage

The stage of prenatal development in which the fetus develops, beginning around the ninth week of pregnancy and lasting until the birth of the child.

germinal stage

The stage of prenatal development that spans the period from fertilization through implantation.

Palmer Grasp Reflex

Touch a babies hand and it'll automatically close really strong.

Describe Vygotsky's psychosocial theory of cognitive development.

Vygotsky focused on how children acquire knowledge of their social world. He believed this knowledge is achieved through the interaction of the child (novice) with the parent (expert) within a zone of proximal development that takes into account the child's present and potentially realizable knowledge structures.

zone of proximal development (ZPD)

Vygotsky's concept of the difference between what a child can do alone and what that child can do with the help of a teacher

rooting reflex

a baby's tendency, when touched on the cheek, to turn toward the touch, open the mouth, and search for the nipple

slow-to-warm-up child

a child who has a low activity level is somewhat negative and displays a low intensity of mood

sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)

a condition that occurs when an infant stops breathing, usually during the night, and suddenly dies without an apparent cause

ego identity

a firm sense of who one is and what one stands for

Parenting style is an important influence on children's development. Which of the following terms describes a parent who is warm, supportive, and consistent; who understands the child's point of view; and who communicates well?

authoritative

menarche

onset of menstruation

Describe the physical and cognitive changes that occur during adulthood and Erikson's stages of psychosocial development in early and middle adulthood.

Beginning in their 20s, people start to experience a gradual decline in lean body mass and muscle tissue. Fluid intelligence—including rapid problem-solving ability and memory for lists of words, names, or text—tends to decline with increasing age during middle and late adulthood. Crystallized intelligence remains relatively intact and may actually improve in some respects. Menopause, the cessation of menstruation, is the major physical marker of middle adulthood in women. Menopause is associated with a dramatic decline in estrogen production. Testosterone production in men also declines with age, but more gradually. Erikson proposed the following stages of psychosocial development in adolescence and adulthood: ego identity versus role diffusion (adolescence), intimacy versus isolation (early adulthood), generativity versus stagnation (middle adulthood).

emerging adulthood

a period from about age 18 to the mid-twenties, when many in Western cultures are no longer adolescents but have not yet achieved full independence as adults

identity crisis

a period of inner conflict during which adolescents worry intensely about who they are

Alzheimer's disease

a progressive and irreversible brain disorder characterized by gradual deterioration of memory, reasoning, language, and, finally, physical functioning

midlife crisis

a stage of uncertainty and indecision brought about by the realization that life is finite

neural tube

a structure in the developing organism from which the nervous system develops

formal operations

in Piaget's theory, the stage of cognitive development (normally beginning about age 12) during which people begin to think logically about abstract concepts

Centration

in Piaget's theory, the tendency of a young child to focus only on one feature of an object while ignoring other relevant features

In general, people perform best on standardized tests of intelligence...

in early adulthood

Babinski reflex

in response to the sole of the foot being stroked, a baby's big toe moves upward or toward the top surface of the foot and the other toes fan out

The major psychosocial challenge of early adulthood, according to Erikson, is that of...

intimacy versus isolation.

two major risks to the developing embryo or fetus

maternal malnutrition, teratogens

secure-avoidant type (Type A)

mothers presence does not affect distress

secondary sex characteristics

nonreproductive sexual characteristics, such as female breasts and hips, male voice quality, and body hair

fluid intelligence

our ability to reason speedily and abstractly; tends to decrease during late adulthood

crystallized intelligence

our accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase with age

Lawrence Kohlberg posed moral dilemmas to children and then classified their responses. Children whose responses indicated that they based their moral judgments on the perceived consequences of actions were classified at the _____ level of moral reasoning.

preconventional

In which stage does Piaget suggest a child learns by interacting with the environment through using his or her senses and developing motor skills?

sensorimotor

four stages of cognitive development

sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational stages.

Unlike the developmental concept of bonding, attachment...

takes time to develop, at least over the course of infancy.

object permanence

the awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived

primary sex characteristics

the body structures (ovaries, testes, and external genitalia) that make sexual reproduction possible

temperment

the enduring characteristics with which each person is born

amniotic sac

the organ in which nutrients and wastes are exchanged within the uterus

conservation

the principle (which Piaget believed to be a part of concrete operational reasoning) that properties such as mass, volume, and number remain the same despite changes in the forms of objects

eyeblink reflex

the reflexive blinking of the eyes that protects the newborn from bright light and foreign objects

adolescence

the transition period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty to independence

personal fable

type of thought common to adolescents in which young people believe themselves to be unique and protected from harm

Egocentrism

in Piaget's theory, the preoperational child's difficulty taking another's point of view

Identify and describe three types of infant temperament and three types of infant attachment styles.

The three types are the easy child, the difficult child, and the slow-to-warm-up child. Easy children have generally positive moods, react well to changes, and quickly develop regular feeding and sleep schedules. Difficult children have largely negative moods, react negatively to new situations and people, and have problems establishing regular feeding and sleep schedules. Slow-to-warm-up children tend to become withdrawn when facing new situations, and experience mild levels of distress.

Cite two types of biases for which Kohlberg's theory has been criticized.

gender and cultural biases

According to Erikson, what is the major psychosocial challenge facing adolescents?

identity versus role diffusion

What are two ways in which egocentric thinking becomes expressed during adolescence?

imaginary audience and personal fable