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