Developmental Psychologists
study how people are continually developing (physically, cognitively, and socially) from infancy to adulthood by focusing on nature/nature, continuity/stage, and stability/change
Zygote
fertilized egg; goes through 2 weeks of rapid cell division until it attaches to uterine wall and becomes embryo.
Embryo
developing human organism from 2 weeks after fertilization through 2nd month; organs start to form and function during this phase
Fetus
developing human from 9 weeks after conception until birth; looks human; is able to potentially survive outside mother; responsive to sound
Placenta
formed as zygote's outer cells attach to uterine wall; it transfers nutrients from mom to fetus; screens out harmful substances
Teratogens
harmful agents that can slip past placenta during prenatal development and harm fetus. ex: drugs, alcohol, etc.
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS)
abnormalities in child caused by heavy drinking of mom while pregnant; symptoms include small, misproportional head and lifelong brain abnormalities
Habituation
minimizing responsiveness with repeated stimulation; stimulus gets attention when first repeated, but more often repeated the weaker the response gets; a way to ask babies what they see/remember
Novelty-Preference Procedure
4 month old shown cat and dog pictures to see which they would find more novel; suggests that infants focus on faces first and prefer to see things 8-12 inches away, which is distant from infant's eyes to mom's eyes when breastfeeding
Maturation
biological growth process; sets basic course of development- expereience adjusts it; deprevation or abuse retard development, while other experiences help sculpt neural connections
Infantile Amnesia
we don't normally remember before 3rd birthday; preschoolers can better remember at 4 or 5; we create false memories based on what we've been told; brain areas involved with memory don't develop until adolescence
Cognition
mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, communicating, and remembering
Schema
concept/mental mold we pour our experiences in to interpret them. ex: gender schema
Assimilate
interpreting new experiences in terms of our current understandings (schemas). ex: having schema for cow as a 4-legged animal, a child might identify all 4-legged animals as cows.
Accomodate
adjusting our schemas to incorporate info provided by new experiences. ex: child learns cow schema is too broad and accomodates by refining the category of cows.
Sensorimotor Stage
from birth to nearly age 2; babies experience world through senses and actions- looking, hearing, touching, mouthing, tasting, grasping;
at 4-8 months infant can make things move by banging and shaking
Object Permanence
12-18 child can represent hidden objects in their mind; even if child can't see it, it continues to exist, before they think opposite, which is why they like peekaboo.
18-30 months-scale error: don't take size of things into account when performing tasks.
Preoperational Stage
from 2 years to 6 or 7; child learns to use language but doesn't understand mental operations of concrete logic; can't group things into categories; can apply ability to symbolize at 3 or 4; have flaws in centration (the tendency to focus on just 1 featur
Conservation
In preoperational stage child doesn't understand that the quantity stays the same despite changes in shape. Mass, volume, and number are the same despite changes in forms of objects.
Egocentrism
In preoperational stage; children have hard time perceicing things from someone else's point of view; this is why kids block view of the tv because they think because they can see it we can also; can result in animism- the belief that all things are livin
Theory of MInd
In preoperational stage; children's ideas about their own and others' mental states- their feelings, perceptions, thoughts, and behaviors these could potentially predict
Concrete Operational Stage
6 or 7 until 11; children gain mental operations that allow them to think logically about concrete events; this is when children can understand mathematical transformations/reversibility and conservation; lack abstract thought
Formal Operational Stage
begins at 12 and continues on; children start to think logically about abstract concepts; solving hypothetical questions and deducing consequences; solving if-then problems; improved critical thinking and problem solving abilities; those who took science
Autism
disorder; begings in childhood; symptoms include deficient communication, social interaction, understanding of others' states of mind, and repetitive behavior; Asperger Syndrome is "high functioning" form of autism
Stranger Anxiety
about 8 months; fear of strangers; at this time children have schemas for families faces and when they can't assimilate the new face into these rememberer schemas they become distressed
Attachment
emotional tie between parent and child; shown by dhild seeking closeness to parent when scared or seperated and showering parent with hugs when reunited; Harlows monkeys showed children aren't necessarily attached to those who nourished them; early attach
Critical Period
optimal period right after birth when an organism's exposure to certain experiences produces proper development
Imprinting
process in which some animals form attachments during critical period in early life; hard to reverse; some birds have imprinting where first thing they see after birth becomes their mother
Basic Trust
Eriksons; sense that the world is predicatable and reliable; securely attached children approach life with this sense; attributed to sensitive, loving caregivers that consistently respond to child's needs; securly attached children show less fear of failu
Avoidant Insecure Attachment
active avoidance of primary caregiver when infant is upset; separate from caregiver to explore and may be more affectionate with strangers than caregiver; emotionally distant from caregiver; show little preference for caregiver
Ambivalent/Resistant Insecure Attachment
characterized by emotional ambivalence in child and resistance to mom; child is hesitant to separte from mom and is quick to show distress in an unfamiliar situation; child shows anger for mom at the same time that they're expressing their need for comfor
Disorganized/Disoriented Insecure Attachment
infants show many confused and contradictory behaviors; rare
Authoritarian
impose rules and expect obedience; "why? because i said so!
Permissive
submit to children's desires, make few demands, and use little punishment. "cool" mom.
Uninvolved
permissive indifferent; self-centered in child rearing; distant from child
Authoritative
parents are both demanding and responsive; exert control with rules, but explain reasons behind them and encourage discussion and allow exceptions.
Self-Concept
developed by end of childhood (12); an understanding and assessment of who we are; this begins to form when children can recognize themselves in mirrors at about 18 months; **
parenting styles have positive correlational effect on child's self-concept
**
Adolescence
years we morph from childhood to adulthood; starts with puberty and ends with independent status
Puberty
adolescence begins with this; period when we mature sexually and can reproduce; follows surge of hormones; sequence
boys who mature earlier have social advantage; girls have social disadvantage
boys who mature later have social disadvantage; girls have so
Primary Sex Characteristics
reproductive organs and external genitalia
Secondary Sex Characteristics
nonreproductive sexual traits; girls hips and breasts; guys facial hair and deeper voice
Menarche
first menstrual period; memorable event, represents transition in life
Spermarche
first ejaculation; usually occurs as a nocturnal emission
Preconventional Morality
before age 9; morality of self-interest; act to avoid punishment or gain reward
Conventional Morality
early adolescence; morality is based on laws to maintain order and gain social approval; focuses on obeying laws/rules because they are the laws and rules
Postconventional Morality
morality based on your own ethical principles; not everyone reaches this level; actions are labeled "right" because they flow from people's rights of self-defined, basic ethical principles; law isn't issue
Identity
Erikson; sense of self; unifies barious selves into consistent and comortable sense of who we are; adolescents job is to find identity by testing out various roles
Social Egocentrism
teens overestimate their impact on the enviroment according to Elkind; invulnerability; rationalizing- explaining why in order to preserve their self-esteem.
Social Identity
we" aspect of our self-concept; answer to "Who am I?" that comes from group memberships
Trust vs. Mistrust
Brith- 1 year. infants have to learn to trust and distrust. feeding- infants form good relationship with who takes care of them, and learn to trust/mistrust others (Is my world predictable and supportive?)
Autonmoy vs. Shame and Doubt
1 yr- 2 yr; toilet training; child's energies directed to phsycial skills. child learns these along with healthy dose of shame and doubt. (Can I do it myself or do I need others to do it for me?)
Initiative vs. Guilt
3-5 years; independence; child becomes more assertive and takes initiative to do things on their own; makes decisions for themselves; (Am I good or bad?)
Competence vs. Inferiority
6-12 yrs; school; child must deal with demands to learn new skills while risking sense of inferiority and failure; (Am I competent or worthless?)
Indentity vs. Role Confusion
adolescence; peers; teens must achieve self-indentity while deciphering roles in occupation, politics, and religion (Who am I and where am I going?)
Intimacy vs. Isolation
young adult; relationships; young adults must develop marriage-seeking relatinships while combating feelings of isolation (Should I share my life with someone else or remain alone?)
Generativity vs. Stagnation
middle adulthood; parenting; assuming role of parent signifies need to continue the generations while avoiding the inevitable feeling of failure; (Willl I produce something of real value?)
Integrity vs. Despair
late adulthood; reflecting back on one's life; acceptance of one's lifetime accomplishments and sense of fulfullment; (Did I live my life to the fullest?)
Intimacy
Erikson; abillity to form a close, loving relationship with someone; primary development in late teens and early 20s
Emerging Adulthood
from 18 to mid-20s; increasingly unsettled phase of life; gap between adolescent dependence and full independence and responsible adulthoodp; gradual process
Menopause
when menstruation naturally stops, signalling end to woman's fertility; a woman's foremost biological sign of aging as her ability to reproduce decreases; occurs few years before 50
Telomeres
chromosome tips; with age they wear down, especially if accentuated by smoking, obesity, or stress; as they shorten, aging cells may die without being replaced with perfect replicas
Death-Deferral Phenomenon
spirit affects life expectancy; depression causes poor health and early death; more people die 2 days after Christmas than before
Cross-Sectional Studies
study where researchers compare people of various ages
Longitudinally
research where previously studied participants are restudied-tested again over a long period; adjusting for loss of participants due to death reveals steeper intelligence decline
Crystallized Intelligence
accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; reflected in vocab and analogies tests; increases up to old age
Fluid Intelligence
ability to reason speedily and abstractly, like when solving novel logic problems; decreases slowly up to 75, then more rapidly especially after 85.
Terminal Decline
in last 3 or 4 years of life, cognitive decline typically accelerates; saying how near death someone is gives betters clue of person's mental ability
Social Clock
cultually preferred timing of social events, such as moving out, getting married, and retiring; varies from era to era and culture to culture; social clock ticks but people feel freer about being out of sync with it.