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AP Psych: Unit 3.5
Key Terms
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| What is developmental psychology | Studies physical, cognitive, and social change throughout ones lifespan. |
| 3 major developmental psychology focus | 1) nature vs nurture 2) continuity and stages 3) stability and change |
| What are teratogens (from prenatal development) | chemicals and viruses that can reach the embryo or feature during prenatal development and causes harm |
| Habitutation | decrease responsiveness with repeated exposure to a stimulus (shows signs of boredom) |
| Maturation | Biological growth process that enable orderly changes in behavior relatively uninfluenced by experiences |
| Frontal lobe | Last to develop in the cortical area but experiences rapid growth. Associated with thinking, memory, and language |
| Sequence of baby development | sit, crawl, walk, run |
| Age of earliest conscious memory is | 4 years old |
| What brain structures make it easier to form memories? | The development of the frontal lobes and hippocampus |
| What is cognition? | all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating |
| What was Piaget's core idrea? | A child's mind develops through a series of stages, in an upward march from the newborns simple reflexes to adults abstract reasoning power (increase intellect means more struggle making sense of our experience) |
| What are schemas? | A concept or framework that organizes and interprets information |
| Assimilation vs Accommodation | Assimilation is integrating new experiences in terms of our current understanding. (dog = 4 legged animal) Accommodation is our schemas incorporating information provided by new experiences. (dog, cat, etc, multiple schema) |
| Piaget's theory in order | Sensorimotor (object permanences), Preoperational (conservation, pretend play, egocentric, theory of mind), Concrete operational, and Formal operational. |
| Sensorimotor stage | birth to 2 years old infants know the world mostly in terms of their sensory impressions and motor activity. |
| Object permances | (subsection of sensorimotor) when the awareness hat things continue to exist even when not perceived |
| Preoperational stage | 2 years old to 6/7 years old when a child learns to use language but does not yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete logic |
| Conservation | (subsection of preoperational) the principle that quality remains the same despite change of shape (ex; the liquid in cup video) |
| Pretend play | (subsection of preoperational) symbolic thinking that advances during tradition stages |
| Egocentric | (subsection of preoperational) a child's difficulty taking another person's pov (ex; the mountain video) |
| Theory of mind | (subsection of preoperational) peoples ideas about their own and others mental stages, about their feelings, perceptions, thoughts, and the behaviors these might predict |
| Concrete operational stage | 7 years old to 11 years old when children gain the mental operations that enable them to think logical about concrete events |
| Formal operational stage | 12 years old onwards when people begin to think logically about abstract concepts |
| What did Lev Vygotsky emphasize? | How the child's mind grows through interactions with the social environment |
| Scaffold | A framework that offers children temporary support as they develop higher levels of thinking |
| What is a child's zone of proximal development? | the zone between what a child can and can't do (it's what a ki can do with help like riding a bike) |
| How is language an important ingredient of social monitoring? | It provides the building blocks for thinking (by internalizing their cultures, language, and relying on inner speech |
| How do today's researchers see development? | - development is continuous - formal logic as a smaller part of cognition - detecting the beginnings of each type of thinking at earlier ages to reveal conceptual ability |
| What is autism spectrum disorder (ASD)? | Appears in childhood and is marked by significant deficiencies in communication and social interactions, and by rigidly fixated interest and repetitive behavior. |
| What seems to be the source of ASD's symptoms? | Poor communication among brain regions that normally work together to let us take another's view point |
| How can prenatal environment matter in the development of ASD? | when altered by maternal infection and inflammation , psychiatric drug use or stress hormones. (Childhood vaccines do not contribute to ASD) |
| What do several studies show about the brain's structure in those with ASD? | "Underconnectivity" Fewer than normal fiber tracts connectivity the front of the brain to the back. with under connectivity , there is less of the whole brain synchrony that, for example, integrated visual and emotional information |
| What is stranger anxiety? | The fear of strangers that infants commonly display begging about 8 months old |
| What is attachment? | An emotional tie with another person; shown in young children by their seeking closeness to their caregiver and showing distress on separation. |
| What are the findings of Harlow's monkey? | Harlow's study recognized that intense attachment to the blanket contradicted idea that attachment derives from an association with nourishment. |
| What is the a critical period? | an optional period in the life of an organism when exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces normal development |
| What is imprinting? | The process by which certain animals from strong attachments during early life |
| Strange situation | procedure for studying child-caregiver attachment; a child is placed in an unfamiliar environment while their caregiver leaves and then return, the child reaction is observed |
| Secure attachment | shows only temporary distress when the caregiver leaves and finds comfort in caregivers return |
| Insecure attachment | who display clinging anxious attachment or an avoidant attachment that resist closeness. |
| Erick Erickson's claim of basic trust | Children who have a secure attachment style approach life with a sense of predictable and trustworthy (formed during infancy) |
| What happens when children are neglected? | They experience withdrawn, frighten, even speechless. cause lowerer intelligence scores, reduced brain development, abnormal stress responses, and quadruple the rate of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) |
| What is self-concept? | All our thoughts and feelings about ourselves in answer to the question, "Who am I?" |
| When does Darwin believe self-awareness begins? | Self-awareness begins when we recognize ourselves in a mirror, drawing showed by 18 months, children could distinct themselves in a mirror. |
| Authoritarian parenting style | Parents impose rules and expect obedience. (ex; "don't interrupt", "keep your room door open") |
| Permissive parenting style | Parents are not restraining. they make few demands, set few limits, and use little punishment |
| Negligent parenting style | Parents are uninvolved. They are neither demanding nor responsive. Careless, inattentive, do not seek a close relationship with their children |
| Authoritative parenting style | Parents are confirmative. They are both demanding and responsive. excerpt control by setting rules, especially with older children. Encourage open discussion and allow exceptions. |
| Western vs Asian/African beliefs. | Western world is more independent while Asia/Africa are focused on emotional closeness |
| Define adolescence? | the transition period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty to independence. (start of sexual maturity, ends with social achievement of independent adult status) |
| Tension of adolescence | Tension between biological maturity and social dependence creates a period of storm and stress |
| What happens to unused neurons during adolescence | a selective pruning of unused neurons and connections (don't use you lose) |
| Frontal lobe continuing to grow | stops at around 25 year olds continued growth of myelin (fatty tissue around axon) lots of risky behavior before it forms |
| What are some changes in adolescents reasoning during formal operation? | Reasoning hypothetically and deducing consequences (enables adolescents to detect inconsistencies and spot hypocrisy in other's actions) |
| To be a moral person is to | think morally and act accordingly |
| Lawrence Kohlberg's mortality chart | Preconventional morality; determine right/wrong by rewards/punishments Conventional morality; views of other matter. avoidance of blame and seeks approval Post conventional morality; abstract notions of justice. rights of others can override obedience. |
| Jonathan Haidt belief of morality | it's rooted in moral intuitions quick gut feeling" |
| What is identity? | our sense of self. adolescents task is to solidity. a sense of self by testing and integrating various roles. |
| What is social identity? | the "we" aspect of our self-concept, comes from our group memberships |
| Why do some adolescents forge identities early? | By adopting their parents values and expectation |
| What age range does self esteem fall? | During the early to mid-teen years |
| What is intimacy and how is it related to identity development? | The ability to form close, loving relationships; a primary developmental task in young adulthood. |
| How does the relationship between adolescents and parents change as adolescents begin to find their own identities? | They begin to pull away from their parents (occurs gradually) |
| Describe emerging adulthood? | a period from age 18 to the mid-twenties when many in western cultures are no longer adolescents but have not yet achieved full independences as adults |
| In what two ways does biology influence our gender psychology? | Genetically - males & females nave differing sex chromosomes. Physiologically - males & Females have differing concentrations of sex hormones, which trigger other anatomical differences. |
| What are X chromosomes? | found in both male and female. child gets one from each parent. |
| What are Y chromosomes? | found only in males and when paired with x chromosomes from mother, the child is a boy |
| What is testosterone? | ( most important male sex hormone ) additional testosterone in males during development can stimulate the growth of the male sex organ and during the fetal period and puberty |
| What are primary and secondary sex characteristics? | primary are reproductive structures (ovaries/testes) secondary are nonproductive parts (breast/hips) |
| What is meant to be intersex? | condition presents at birth due to an unnatural combo of male and female chromosomes, hormones, and anatomy |
| What is sex reassignment surgery? | create an unambiguous sex identity for children with the intersex condition |
| What are AIDS? | Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. Sexually transmitted disease stemming from HIV. AIDS depletes the persons immune system making them vulnerable for illness |
| Factors impacting variation in teen sexuality? | 1) BC communication 2) impulsively 3) alcohol use 4) mass media |
| Factors that predicts sexual restraints? | 1) religion 2) high intelligence 3) father presence 4) service learning participation |
| Main points regarding sexual orientation? | - who you are attracted too - not willfully chosen - reaction from others is considered |
| How much can we attribute sexual orientation to genetics? | About 1/3 of variation in sexual orientation is attributed to genetic influences ( most critical in the 3rd trimester ) |
| Describe some gay-straight differences | spatial abilities, fingerprint ridges, auditory levels, gender nonconformity, etc |
| When do our physical abilities peak? | muscular strength, reaction time, sensory, and cardiac output begin to decline by mid-twenties. (depends on health habits) |
| What is menopause? | the time of natural cessation of menstruation; also reters to the biological changes a women experiences as her ability to reproduce declines |
| How has life expectancy changed since 1950? | use to be 46.5 years old to now 71 to 80 years old (men die first though) |
| What are some changes in sensory abilities as we get older? | Visual sharpness, distance perception, adaptation to light changes, and muscle mass decreases |
| Pros and cons of growing older (healthy wise) | pro: antibodies to prepare for flu/common cold are stronger con: immune system is weaker and life threatening diseases can happen |
| Compared to teenagers, older people take a bit more time to: | react, solve puzzles, and remember names |
| What type of things do we remember well as we get older? | Early adulthood (teens and young adulthood) |
| Explain older people's prospective memories | Older people's prospective memory remains strong when events help trigger a memory, especially got habitual task |
| How can we build mental muscle and prevent decline from old age? | "brain fitness" computer based training programs |
| Take away from cross-sectional and longitudinal study | Age is less a predictor of memory and intelligence |
| What is a neurocognitive disorder (NCD)? | Acquired (not life long) disorders marked by congestive deficits; often related to Alzheimer's, brain injury, drug abuse. (Formerly called dementia). |
| Describe alzheimer's disease | A neurocognitive disorder marked by neural plagues after the age around 80, and entailing a progressive decline in memory and other cognitive abilities. |
| Alzheimer's symptoms | loss of brain cells and a deterioration of neurons that produce the neurotransmitters acetylcholine, which is vital for memory and thinking |
| What is a social clock? | the culturally preferred timing of social events such as marriage, parenthood, and retirement |
| What are chance events? | Ironic events that have lasting significance (For example the author of a book on this topic ended up marrying a woman he happened to sit next to) |
| Basic aspects that dominate adulthood | 1) Intamcy (forming close relationships) 2) Generativity (being productive and supporting future gens) |
| How does facing death with dignity and openness help? | Helps people complete the life cycle with a sense of life's purpose and meaningfulness and unity |
| What is language? | Our spoken, written, or signed words and the ways we combine them to communicate meaning |
| What are phonemes? | The smallest distinctive sound unit (ex; bat -> B, A, T) |
| What are morphemes | The smallest unit that carries meaning, like prefixes, may be part of a word (ex, readers -> Read, Er, S) |
| What is grammar? | A language's set of rules that enable people to communicate , guide us in deriving meaning from sounds (semantics) and ordering words into sentences (syntax) |
| What is syntax? | The correct way to string words together to from setences |
| What is receptive language? | a babies ability to understand what is said to and about them |
| What happens linguistically for 6 and 7 month olds? | 6 months; they are able to recognize object names 7 months; they grow in their power to segment spoken sounds into individual words |
| What is productive language? | a babies ability to produce words, matures long after receptive language |
| What occurs during the babbling stage? | Beginning around 4 months, infants spontaneously utters various sounds at first unrelated to household language |
| What occurs during the one-word stage? | At 1 to 2 years old when a child speaks in single words to communicate their thoughts |
| What occurs during the two-word stage? | About age 2 when a child speaks in two word segments. Telegraphic speech where they talk in verb-noun patterns (ex; juice) |
| What happens during early elementary linguistically? | Children understand complex sentences and begin to enjoy the humor conveyed by double meanings |
| What is meant by the critical period? | A sensitive period for mastering certain aspects of language before the language learning window is closed |
| What happens if not exposed to any language by age 7? | Lose the ability to master any language |
| Deaf child, sign language discourse | They should learn sign language from birth to ensure their developing language skills comparable to their peers. Delaying exposure to sign language can lead to significant language deficits. |
| Deaf child, cochlear implants discourse | Cochlear implants enable sounds to deaf people by converting it into electrical signals and stimulates the auditory nerve. Debated because deaf adults advocate against it because being deaf is not a linguistic disability |
| What areas are children most affected by hearing loss? | School achievement, socially excluded, and communicating with peers who don't understand sign language. |
| What is Broca's Area? | Prefrontal cortex, in the left hemisphere, that directs the muscle movements involved with speech. |
| What is Wernicke's Area? | Area in left temporal lobe involved in language comprehension and expression |
| What did Benjamin Lee Whorf propose? | Language itself shapes a person's basic ideas |
| Define linguistic determinism | The strong form of whorf's hypothesis, that language controls the way we think and interpret the world around us |
| Why is linguistic influence considered the weaker form? | Words affect our thinking, thus our thinking and world view is relative to our culture's language |
| How can words influence our thinking about color? | We see colors the same but we use our native language to classify and remember them ( we think in images) |