chapter 4

Question 1

what are the major issues in the field of development?

Answer 1

nature vs nurture
continuity and stages
stability and change

Question 2

what are gametes?

Answer 2

reproductive cells (sperm, egg)

Question 3

what are teratogens?

Answer 3

agents that can reach embryo or fetus and can cause harm
- chemicals (drugs, environmental pollutants, caffeine)
- viruses (chicken pox, HIV)
- radiation
- diet, stress

Question 4

what is temperment?

Answer 4

the biological aspect of personality
- two types
approach= calm
withdraw= anxious

Question 5

who is jean piaget?

Answer 5

huge in field of development; studied stages of cognitive development

Question 6

what is a schema?

Answer 6

an organized pattern of thought or behavior that organizes categories of information and the relationships among them

Question 7

what is assimilation?

Answer 7

modification of new info to make it fit into an existing schema (all men are daddy)

Question 8

what is accommodation?

Answer 8

creation or modification of schema to make them fit with new experiences (a cognitive category for men other than daddy)

Question 9

what are the 4 stages of cognitive development?

Answer 9

sensorimotor period: birth - 2 years
preoperational period: 2- 7 years
concrete operational period: 7- 11 years
formal operations: 11- 15 years (into adulthood)

Question 10

what are characteristics of the sensorimotor period?

Answer 10

• language used for demand and cataloguing
• sensory curiosity about the world
• attempt imitation
• object permanence
• play with two objects together

Question 11

what are characteristics of the preoperational period?

Answer 11

• egocentrism (cannot take viewpoint of others)
• theory of mind (Ability to take other’s view & make conclusions)
• rigidity of thought
• semi logical reasoning
• limited social cognition
  -language

Question 12

what are characteristics of the concrete operational periods?

Answer 12

• logic reasoning begins
• conservation ( numbers, mass, weight)
• classification of objects according to several features)
• reversibility (can look at objects viewpoints)

Question 13

what are characteristics of the formal operational period?

Answer 13

• scientific method approach to thinking
• can think logically about abstract concepts
• can consider hypothetical concepts
• if/then situations

Question 14

what a disorder that affects cognitive development?

Answer 14

autism spectrum disorder (ASD)
- difficulty taking another person’s viewpoint
- brain connections allowing such a function are inefficient

Question 15

what are experiments done to look at social development?

Answer 15

harlow’s monkeys (importance of comfort contact) Harry Harlow
strange situation ( used to discover how child reacts in unfamiliar situation) Mary Ainsworth

Question 16

what are the 3 types of attachment? + their characteristics

Answer 16

secure, resistant, avoidant

Question 17

what are the different child-rearing practices?

Answer 17

permissive: child dictates (gentle parenting)
authoritarian: military (you just obey) good parenting in gang and war-torn countries imposes rules, exact obediance
authoritative: warm/better than authoritarian (explains and gives punishment) affects how kids act

Question 18

what are the primary sexual characteristics of physical development? + secondary

Answer 18

males: penis + testes enlarge, sperm starts to be produced, secretions released from prostate gland
females: ovulation occurs, menstruation begins, uterus and vagina grow

Question 19

what are the characteristics of abstract reasoning in adolescence development?

Answer 19

adolescent egocentrism: adolescents are overly concerned with their own thoughts and feelings
- imaginary audience: adolescents believe that others are watching them constantly
- personal fable: adolescents believe that their experiences and feelings are unique
- illusion of invulnerability: adolescents think that misfortune happens only to others

Question 20

who was lawrence kolhberg?

Answer 20

an american psychologist best known for his theory on moral development

Question 21

what are the three levels of moral development?

Answer 21

preconventional, conventional, postconventional

Question 22

what is the preconventional level?

Answer 22

• fear of punishment
• obedience to authority

Question 23

what is the conventional level?

Answer 23

• follows social rules
• wants to be “good boy” or “good girl”
• driven by social approval

Question 24

what is the postconventional level:?

Answer 24

• social contract
• universal ethical principles
• behavior driven by balance of social order and individual rights

Question 25

what are the critiques of kohlberg's levels?

Answer 25

culture-specific, gender-specific, reasoning vs behavior

Question 26

what are characteristics of social and emotional development in adolescence?

Answer 26

- conflicts with parents - mood swings - risk taking

Question 27

what are the age ranges of adulthood?

Answer 27

early adulthood: 22-34 middle adulthood: - early middle: 35-44 - late middle 45-64 late adulthood: 65+ years

Question 28

what are the physical changes in middle adulthood?

Answer 28

- athletes peak around 27 - by 40 physical prowess decline accelerates - fertility declines - menopause

Question 29

what are the stages of prenatal development

Answer 29

zygote ( fertilized egg ), embryo ( 2-8 weeks), fetus (9 weeks until birth)

Question 30

what are the reflexes present at birth?

Answer 30

stepping sucking rooting palmar grasp startle swimming babinski eye blink

Question 31

what do infants see?

Answer 31

8-12 inches away * Preferences for faces * Preference for familiar sounds and smells

Question 32

what are characteristics of infancy and childhood

Answer 32

Physical and motor development (Maturation) – Milestones: roll over, sit, crawl, walk * Perceptual development – Visual perception * Habituation technique * Visual cliff experiment * Memory development – Infantile amnesia – Babies at 3 months can retain learning for a month

Question 33

what are characteristics of cognitive development that Piaget didn't include

Answer 33

naiive physics, underestimating children, Lev Vygotsky emphasized importance of social self-talk

Question 34

what guides motor development

Answer 34

genes, nurture can amend what nature intends

Question 35

what is object permanence

Answer 35

the awareness that objects continue to exist when not perceived

Question 36

what is conservation

Answer 36

the principle that quantity remains the same despite changes in shape

Question 37

what is the difference between vygotsky and piagets cognitive development theories

Answer 37

Where Piaget emphasized how the child’s mind grows through interaction with the physical environment, Vygotsky emphasized how the child’s mind grows through interaction with the social environment. If Piaget’s child was a young scientist, Vygotsky’s was a young apprentice. By giving children new words and mentoring them, parents, teachers, and other children provide what we now call a temporary scaffold from which children can step to higher levels of thinking

Question 38

what is puberty and what happens during it

Answer 38

- period when sexual organs start to mature - children's bodies start producing hormones at an adults level androgens= male hormones estrogens= female hormones

Question 39

what are some critiques of kohlbergs levels ?

Answer 39

* Culture-specific * Gender-specific * Reasoning versus behavior

Question 40

what is emerging adulthood

Answer 40

Period from biological maturity to social independence

Question 41

what is immunosenescence

Answer 41

gradual deterioration of our immune system as we get older. It involves: – our capacity to respond to infections – maintain our long-term immune memory that was acquired (usually in our early life) * These are done either by infection or vaccination.

Question 42

what are some things that are affected with aging

Answer 42

perception processing speed memory

Question 43

how does aging affect perception

Answer 43

Vision dims – Pupil shrinks – Lens less transparent – Hearing declines – Taste declines

Question 44

how does aging affect processing speed

Answer 44

– Slows – More car accidents after 75 * Focus forward, but hard with side-approaching cars – Brain reduces in size 5% by age 80

Question 45

how does aging affect memory

Answer 45

* Terminal decline: memory based more on proximity to death than on age – Semantic * Names (perform worse than younger adults) – Episodic * Events (slower, but can recall as much if meaningful) – Working memory * Recognition vs recall * Older adults just as good at recognition, but worse at recall

Question 46

what are erikson's psychosocial stages in adulthood

Answer 46

– Intimacy versus isolation * Forming close relationships – Generativity versus self-absorption * Being productive & supporting future generations

Question 47

death and dying

Answer 47

* Grief – Death of spouse, child * Bereavement – Longer for some, others never get over – Discussing loss with others helps * Cultural differences – Showing grief publicly or not