Unit 7 Developmental Psych
Developmental Psychology
A branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive and social changes throughout the lifespan from birth to death, often nicknamed from womb to tomb
authoritarian parenting
A parenting style in which the parents are demanding, expect unquestioned obedience, are not responsive to their children's desires, and communicate poorly with their children which can lead to low levels of self-reliance and self-esteem
Electra Complex
According to Freud, a girls gender identity is developed by how they overcome this conflict in the his phallic stage of development. She has to overcome the fact that she is competing with her mother for her father's love.
play
According to Vygotsky, this helps children model behaviors and use their imagination to strengthen their cognitive abilities. It also allows children to learn and practice how to interact in social situations
insecure attachment
An anxious emotional bond marked by both a desire to be with a parent or caregiver and some resistance to being reunited that may result in lack of self-reliance as an adult
Charles Darwin
English scientist who formulated a theory of evolution by natural selection
Integrity vs. Despair
Erikson's eighth and last stage. From age 65 to death, people who look back on their lives with satisfaction develop a sense of wholeness and integrity. Those in despair look back with regret and disappointment in the lives they have led.
Identity vs. Role Confusion
Erikson's fifth stage. From age 12 - 20, the major task is to build a consistent identity, a unified sense of self. Failure of teens to achieve a sense of identity results in role confusion and uncertainty about the future.
Trust vs. Mistrust
Erikson's first stage during the first year of life, infants learn to trust when they are cared for in a consistent warm manner, or not to if neglected
Industry vs. Inferiority
Erikson's fourth stage, in which a child from age 6 through puberty extends social functioning beyond the family, learning to work hard to achieve results, or developing a sense of inferiority to others
Autonomy vs. Shame
Erikson's second stage during years 2-3 Children attempt to be independent and make choices regarding freedom and self restraint, or feel embarrased for not being able to. Potty training is a major milestone
Generativity vs. Stagnation
Erikson's seventh stage. From age 40 - 65, adults need to express their caring about future generations by guiding/mentoring others or producing creative work that enriches the lives of others. Failing this, people become stagnant and preoccupied with their own needs and comforts.
Initiative vs. Guilt
Erikson's third stage in which the child finds independence in planning, playing and other activities, or feel guilty for moving away from their arents
Intimacy vs. Isolation
Eriskon's sixth stage. From age 21 - 40, the major task is to achieve intimacy (deeply caring about others and having meaningful experiences with them). Otherwise, we experience isolation, feeling alone and uncared for in life
Mating preferences
Evolutionary psychologists look at gender development based upon the how we choose a potential mate and what we see as positive male and female characteristics in that mate who will help us continue our species
Carol Gilligan
Former student and critic of Kohlberg because of his all male research. She studied girls and women and found that they did not score as high on his six stage scale because they focused more on relationships rather than laws and principles. Their reasoning was merely different, not better or worse
rhesus monkeys
Harry Harlow used these to test his theories on attachment
mere exposure effect
Human babies don't imprint like other animals but do develop attachments based upon how often they see a caregiver. the more often we see them the more we like them
food vs comfort
In Harry Harlow's research with rhesus monkeys, this is what Harlow was initially studying. He assumed feeding would be more important, he was wrong.
scaffold
Instruction in which teachers/parents model strategies step by step and provide guided practice, followed by independent practice and application. Explained by Lev Vygotsky
5 Stages of Grief
Kulber-Ross' theory of the process one goes through in dying. Includes denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance
strange situation experiment
Mary Ainsworth's lab based technique designed to assess attachment pattern between an infant and an adult in which the mother leaves the baby in an unfamiliar room first time with a stranger second time she leaves the baby alone, and strager come back before the mother does.
spermarche
Period during which males achieve first ejaculation
formal-operations stage
Piaget's fourth and final stage of cognitive development from ages 11 or 12 and beyond, which is characterized by the ability to apply logical thinking to abstract problems and hypothetical situations
concrete-operational stage
Piaget's third stage of cognitive development from ages 6-11 or 12, during which a child acquires gender constancy and conservation and is able to attend to 2 or more dimensions of a stimulus at a time and can perform arithmetic
Mary Ainsworth
Studied attachment in infants using the "strange situation" test which resulted in infants being labeled securely or insecurely attached
Jean Piaget
Swiss psychologist remembered for his studies of cognitive development in children. Some People Can Fly
animism
The belief of the preoperational stage that inanimate objects have lifelike qualities and are capable of action, like a teddy bear having feelings
Conformity Driven
The first part in the conventional stage of Kohlberg's theory of moral development. , this stage of moral development is focused on living up to social expectations and roles. There is an emphasis on conformity, being "nice," and consideration of how choices influence relationships.
pre conventional morality
The first stage of Kohlberg's stages of moral development in which the child's behavior is governed by the consequences of the behavior and the fulfillment of their needs. (the all about me stage)
continuity
The idea that development happens in a relatively smooth process without rigidly defined stages and goes from birth to death and is supported by Lev Vygotsky's research
discontinuity
The idea that development occurs in well-defined stages, like in Piaget's stages of cognitive development
puberty
The period of sexual maturation, during which a person becomes capable of reproducing.
Self interest driven
The second part in the pre-conventional stage of Kolhberg's theory of moral development. At this stage, individuals pursue their own interests and thinking about what is in it for them
frontal lobe
This area of the brain does not fully develop until you are in your late teens or early twenties and results in poor decision making
heinz dilema
This is a hypothetical situation Kohlberg used to test different levels of morality
newborn
a baby from birth to four weeks, also called neonate
rooting reflex
a baby's tendency, when touched on the cheek, to turn toward the touch, open the mouth, and search for the nipple
centration
a child's ability to only focus on one aspect of a situation, not multiple. Like only being able to see height, not shape or quantity at the same time. This occurs during Piaget's preoperational stage
autism
a disorder that appears in childhood and is marked by deficient communication, social interaction, and understanding of others' states of mind, and may be the result of a deficiency in mirror neurons
teratogen
a harmful agent that can produce developmental malformations (birth defects) during the prenatal period as it is passed from other to child, like viruses or drugs
fetal alcohol syndrome
a medical condition in which body deformation, facial development or mental ability of a fetus is impaired because the mother drank alcohol while pregnant
schema
a mental category
zygote
a newly fertilized egg
self concept
a sense of one's identity and personal worth
collectivist
a society that puts more emphasis on group harmony and group success rather than individual successes, Asian cultures
individualistic
a society that puts more emphasis on individual achievements and on personal independence, western societies
neonate
a term used to describe a newborn baby, also called infant
embryo
about 2 weeks after fertilization, this develops as the fertilized egg attaches to the uterine wall and the placenta forms
oedipus complex
according to Freud, male gender identity is established by how they resolve the conflict of competing with their fathers for their mother's love
zone of proximal development
according to Lev Vygotsky, the gap between what a learner has already achieved and what they are capable of learning
attachment
an emotional tie with another person; shown in young children by their seeking closeness to the caregiver and showing distress on separation
temperament
an infant's characteristic emotional reactivity and intensity, we question whether it remains as part of their stable personality in adulthood
critical period
an optimal period shortly after birth when an organism's exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces proper development, for attachment it is 24 months, for language it is 7 years
norm
an understood rule for accepted and expected behavior, often used to help explain the socio-cultural perspective
fetus
at 8 weeks gestation, an embryo becomes a fetus, which is when tissues and organs begin to form
anxious-avoidant
attachment style characterized by infants who stay calm when their primary caregiver leaves and who ignore and avoid them when they returns. Results from insecure attachment
anxious-resistant
attachment style characterized by the infant becoming upset when mom leaves the room, and remaining upset when the mom returns to the room unable to be settled by caregiver, and may resist comfort
secure attachment
attachment style for a majority of infants, who cry when their care giver leaves, but are readily comforted when their caregiver returns and are then able to explore. they grow up to be self-reliant
recognition of self
babies develop this by about 15 months which has been proven by putting rouge on their faces. by 15 months they will point to themselves in the mirror and then touch their own face
maturation
biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience
motor skills
coordinated movements of the muscles and limbs that all babies develop in the same manner starting with rolling, sitting, crawling, then walking. they develop as the motor cortex develops
accomodation
creating new schema to adapt to new information that does not fit into our previously existing schema
habituation
decreasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation, infants show signs of it
Lawrence Kohlberg
famous for theory of moral development in children; made use of moral dilemmas in assessment
eggs
formed in the female reproductive organs allowing a women to procreate
androgynous
having both male and female characteristics
Diana Baumrind
her theory of parenting styles had three main types (permissive, authoratative, & authoritarian)
egocentrism
in Piaget's theory, the preoperational child's difficulty taking another's point of view and only being able to see things from their own view point. they will lose this by the end of the preoperational stage
preoperational stage
in Piaget's theory, the stage from about 2 to 6 or 7 years of age during which a child learns to use language and basic cognitive skills but are egocentric, animistic, experiences centration, artificialism, and lack conservation
sensorimotor stage
in Piaget's theory, the stage from birth to about 2 years of age, during which infants know the world mostly in terms of their sensory impressions and and develop motor abilities. Babies begin with a lack object permanence, but will develop it by the end of the period, and experience stranger anxiety around 8 months of age
natural selection
in evolutionary psychology this is the gradual, nonrandom process by which biological traits become either more or less common in a population as a function of differential reproduction
counterbalancing
in research, controlling for order and sequence effects by rearranging variables to make sure results are not due to the order the variables are presented
longitudinal study
in this type of research one group of people is followed for an extended, or long, period of time to see how development changes across the life span
cross-sectional study
in this type of study, individuals from different age groups are studied at the same time to see if age differences lead to different developmental milestones
adaptation
inherited characteristic that improves an organism's ability to survive and reproduce in a particular environment
Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
leading expert in the area of death and dying; the first to identify the five stages of the dying process.
sperm
male sex cell needed for reproduction
testosterone
male sex hormones that stimulates the growth of the male sex organs in the fetus and the development of the male sex characteristics during puberty
morality
motivation based on ideas of right and wrong, studied by Lawrence Kohlberg
Erik Erikson
neofreudian whose theory on psychosocial development focuses on conflicts that must be overcome at various stages that help to shape a person's identity, which he struggled with
reflexes
neonates survive through these involuntary actions that include rooting, sucking, swallowing, and breathing, among many others
secondary sex characteristics
nonreproductive sexual characteristics, such as female breasts and hips, male voice quality, and body hair
gender identity
one's sense of being male or female
authoritative parenting
parenting style characterized by emotional warmth, high standards for behavior, explanation and consistent enforcement of rules, and inclusion of children in decision making creating self-reliant children with high self-esteem
emerging adulthood
period of psychosocial development roughly spanning ages 18 to 25 during which the person makes the transition from adolescent to adulthood
Harry Harlow
psychologist who researched the relationship of food and comfort to attachment, using infant rhesus monkeys and artificial mothers made of cloth or wire
Konrad Lorenz
researcher who focused on critical attachment periods in baby birds, a concept he called imprinting
Lev Vygotsky
said that social interaction is essential to cognitive development. the social interactions children have with others greatly influence their intellectual ability to gain knowledge, think, and learn a language
gender roles
societal norms that explain expected behaviors by males and females of that culture
permissive parenting
style of parenting marked by submitting to children's desires, making few demands, and using little punishment in which kids grow up to be bullies with weak attention spans, and an over inflated sense of self-esteem
gender typing
the acquisition of a traditional masculine or feminine role, also called gender stereotyping
object permanence
the awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived, babies don't have this until about 8 months
artificialism
the belief of the preoperational child that all objects are made by people, and mom should be able to stop the rain
primary sex characteristics
the body structures (ovaries, testes, and external genitalia) that make sexual reproduction possible
stranger anxiety
the fear of strangers that infants commonly display, beginning by about 8 months of age
Universal principles driven
the final part of the post-conventional stage of Kohlberg's theory of moral development. An individual focuses on their responsibility to humankind in making moral decisions, rather than using laws and rules to guide them. They often see that rules and laws are impeding the rights of others and fight against them, like in the Civil Rights Movement
menarche
the first occurrence of menstruation in a woman
obedience and punishment driven
the first part in the pre-conventional stage of Kohlberg's theory of moral development. At this stage, the individuals' focus is on the punishment associated with an action and how it affects them.
Social contract driven
the first part of the post-conventional stage of Kohlberg's theory of moral development. An individual focuses on their responsibility to society and the promotion of individual rights in judging morality.
infantile amnesia
the inability to remember events that occurred during one's early years (before age three), due to underdeveloped hippocampus
stability vs. change
the opposing viewpoints in developmental psychology that personality traits are inborn and set early on versus the idea that personality can change as we age
conservation
the principle that properties such as mass, volume, and number remain the same despite changes in the forms of objects. Pre-operational children lack this, concrete operational children gain this
imprinting
the process by which certain animals form attachments during a critical period very early in life
assimilation
the process of incorporating new ideas into an existing schema
heritability
the proportion of variation among individuals that we can attribute to genes, cloned individuals would have 0% of this
dizygotic
the scientific name for "fraternal twins", it means two eggs
monozygotic
the scientific name for "identical twins", it means one egg
Social order driven
the second part in the conventional stage of Kohlberg's theory of moral development. Individuals are focused on the norms of society and abiding by those norms to maintain order.
conventional morality
the second stage of Kohlberg's stages of moral development in which the child's behavior is governed by conforming to the society's norms of behavior (the I want to fit in stage)
x chromosome
the sex chromosome found in both men and women. Females have two X chromosomes; males have one. used by the biological perspective to help explain gender development
y chromosome
the sex chromosome found only in males. When paired with an X chromosome from the mother, it produces a male child. used by the biological perspective to help explain gender development
infancy
the stage of development that begins at birth and lasts between 18 and 24 months
Social Learning Theory
the theory that we learn social behavior by observing and modeling others, created by Bandura. the behavioral perspective explains that we learn gender roles through this
post conventional morality
the third stage of Kohlber's stages of moral development in which the person's behavior is governed by helping others based upon an idea of individual rights or their own set of moral guidelines
prenatal
the time and events before birth
menopause
the time in a woman's life in which the menstrual cycle ends
adolescence
the transition period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty to independence
placenta
the vascular structure in the uterus of most mammals that provides oxygen and nutrients for the developing fetus
gender
the view that one has of themselves as male or female
death penalty
there is an argument against using this for minors because of their lack of frontal lobe development
adoption studies
these are performed to compare the results to a child's biological parents to determine nature, and the adoptive parents to determine nature
abstract thinking
this developments in Piaget's formal operational stage of development as the frontal lobe develops, it is also called hypothetical thinking
continuity vs. discontinuity
this is a debate within developmental psychology and focuses on whether or not we experience continuous development from birth until death, or whether or not development occurs within distinct stages at various times in our lives
estrogen
this is the dominant hormone in females which determines the development of primary and secondary sex traits
nature vs. nurture
this is the number one debate in psychology and focuses on whether there are biological explanations for a phenomenon or whether there are learned explanations for it
mirror neurons
this part of the brain is believed to be responsible for our abilities to empathize with others, autistic children seem to lack these
psychoanalytic perspective
this perspective argues that develop our gender roles through the Oedipus or Electra complexes in which we model the behaviors of our same sex parent to win the affection of our opposite sex parent (we repress this)
biological perspective
this perspective argues that gender roles are the result of the sex chromosomes we are born with that determine the hormones we produce
cognitive perspective
this perspective argues that gender roles develop based upon the schema we have created
social cultural perspective
this perspective argues that our gender roles and identity are the result of how the society you live in defines gender roles and norms for "male" or "female"
behavioral perspective
this perspective argues that we learn our gender roles by modeling and through positive and negative reinforcement
evolutionary psychology
this perspective explains gender development as a means for men and women to attract the opposite sex for mating purposes to aid in the survival of the species.
self-reliance
this refers to our ability to be independent and the confident and competent in our ability to accomplish tasks
some people can fly
this the mnemonic device used to remember paiget's stages of cognitive development
identical twins
twins who develop from a single fertilized egg that splits in two, creating two genetically identical organisms, also called monozygotic
fraternal twins
twins who develop from separate eggs. They are genetically no closer than brothers and sisters, but they share a fetal environment, also called dizygotic
conception
union of an ovum (egg) and sperm, resulting in the beginning of a pregnancy
theory of mind
when a child loses egocentrism in the preoperational stage, they will gain this, the ability to take on another person's perspective and empathize
pruning process
when the brain eliminates unnecessary neural pathways and connections, this occurs during puberty
