Psych 201 Test #1

A field of study devoted to understanding constancy and change throughout the lifespan

An orderly, integrated set of statements that describes, explains, and predicts behavior

They provide organizing frameworks for our observations of people

Scientific verification

A process of gradually augmenting the same types of skills that were there to begin with

A process in which new ways of understanding and responding to the world emerge at specific times

Qualitative changes in thinking, feeling, and behaving that characterize specific periods of development

Unique combinations of personal and environmental circumstances that can result in different paths of change

Different intellectual capacities, social skills, and feelings about the self and others

Are genetic or environmental factors more important

Open to change in response to influential experiences

A perpetually ongoing process, extending from conception to death, that is molded by a complex network of biological, psychological, and social influences

Development is lifelong, multidimensional and multidirectional, highly plastic, and affected by multiple, interacting forces

Lifespan Perspective

• Prenatal- conception to birth
• Infancy and toddlerhood- birth to 2 years
• Early childhood- 2 to 6 years
• Middle childhood- 6 to 11 years 
• Adolescence- 11 to 18 years 
• Early adulthood- 18 to 40 years
• Middle adulthood- 40 to 65 years
• Late adulthood- 65 to death

Current skills and develop new ones, including skills that compensate for reduced functioning

The ability to adapt effectively in the face of threats to development

Events that are strongly related to age and therefore fairly predictable in when they occur and how long they last

Explain why people born around the same time-called a cohort-tend to be alike in ways that set them apart from people born at other times

Events that are irregular: They happen to just one person or a few people and do not follow a predictable timetable

Founder of the child study movement

A genetically determined series of events that unfold automatically, much like a flower

Measures of behavior are taken on large numbers of individuals, and age-related averages are computed to represent typical development

Gesell

Simon and Binet

People move through a series of stages in which they confront conflicts between biological drives and social expectations How these conflicts are resolved determines the person's ability to learn, to get along with others, and to cope with anxiety

Emphasizes how parents manage their child's sexual and aggressive drives in the first few years is crucial for healthy personality development

The individual's basic personality

Freud

It overemphasized the influence of sexual feelings in development, it was based on the problems of sexually, repressed, well-to-do adults in nineteenth-century Viennese society, didn't apply to other cultures, and he didn't study children directly

Erikson emphasized that in addition to mediating between id impulses and superego demands, the ego makes a positive contribution development, acquiring attitudes and skills that make the individual an active, contributing member of society

• Oral: Birth-1 year
• Anal: 1-3 years
• Phallic: 3-6 years
• Latency: 6-11 years
• Genital: Adolescence

• Basic trust verses mistrust: birth to 1 year
• Autonomy verses shame and doubt: 1-3 years
• Initiative verses guilt: 3-6 years
• Industry verses inferiority: 6-11 years
• Identity verses role confusion: Adolescence
• Intimacy verses isolation: early adulthood
• Generativity verses stagnation: middle adulthood
• Integrity verses despair: old age

Directly observable events--stimuli and responses--are the appropriate focus of study

Pavlov

Environment is the supreme force in development and that adults can mold children's behavior by carefully controlling stimulus-response associations

As a continuous process--a gradual increase with age in the number and strength of these associations

Skinner believed that the frequency of a behavior can be increased by following it with a wide variety of reinforcers or decreased through punishments

The most influential, Albert Bandura, emphasizing modeling, also known as imitation or observational learning, as a powerful source of development

Consists of procedures that combine conditioning and modeling to eliminate undesirable behaviors and increase desirable responses

Children actively construct knowledge as they manipulate and explore their world

• Sensorimotor: birth to 2 years
• Preoperational: 2-7 years
• Concrete operation: 7-11 years
• Formal operation: 11 years on

The human mind might also be viewed as a symbol-manipulating system through which information flows

Continuous

Brings together researchers from psychology, biology, neuroscience, and medicine to study the relationship between changes in the brain and the developing person's cognitive processing and behavior patterns

Concerned with the adaptive, or survival, value of behavior and its evolutionary history

A limited time span during which the individual is biologically prepared to acquire certain adaptive behaviors but need the support of an appropriately stimulating environment

A time that is optimal for certain capacities to emerge in which the individual is especially responsive to environmental influences. It's boundaries are less well-defined than those of a critical period. Development can occur later, but it is harder to induce

John Bowlby

Seeks to understand the adaptive value of specieswide cognitive, emotional, and social competencies as those competencies change with age

The person-environment system throughout the lifespan

Focuses on how culture--the values, beliefs, customs, and skills of a social group--is transmitted to the next generation

That as adults and more expert peers help children master culturally meaningful activities, the communication between them becomes part of children's thinking

Views the person as developing within a complex system of relationships affected by multiple levels of the surrounding environment

Innermost level of the environment and consists of activities and interaction patterns in the person's immediate surroundings

The second level of Brofenbrenner's model that encompasses connections between microsystems

Consists of social settings that do not contain the developing person but nevertheless affect experiences in immediate settings

The outermost level and consists of cultural values, laws, customs, and resources

The shifts in contexts--ecological transitions--are often important turning points in development

The temporal dimension of Brofenbrenner's model

Emotional and social development

Cognitive-developmental theory, information processing, and sociocultural theory

The specific activities of participants

Overall plans of research studies that permit the best possible test of the investigator's hypothesis

The investigator sets up a laboratory situation that evokes the behavior of interest so that every participant has equal opportunity to display the response

Go into the field, or natural environment, and record the behavior of interest

Researchers use a flexible, conversational style to probe for the participant's point of view

Each participant is asked the same set of questions in the same way

Brings together a wide range of information on one person, including interviews, observations, and test scores

Like the clinical method, ethnographic research is a descriptive, qualitative technique. But instead at aiming to understand a single individual, it is directed toward understanding a culture or a distinct social group through participant observation

Researchers gather information on individuals, generally in natural life circumstances, without altering their experiences. Then they look at relationships between participants' characteristics and their behavior or development

A number that describes how two measures, or variables, are associated with each other

Permits inferences about cause and effect because researchers use an evenhanded procedure to assign people to two or more treatment conditions

The one the investigator expects to cause change in another variable

The one the investigator expects to be influenced by the independent variable

An unbiased procedure, such as drawing numbers out of a hat or flipping a coin, investigators increase the chances that participants' characteristics will be equally distributed across treatment groups

Investigators capitalize on opportunities to assign participants randomly to treatment conditions in natural settings

Participants are studied repeatedly, and changes are noted as they get older

Individuals born in the same time period are influenced by a particular set of historical and cultural conditions. Results based on one cohort may not apply to people developing at other times

Groups of people differing in age are studied at the same point in time

They conduct several similar cross-sectional or longitudinal studies

Protection from harm, informed consent, privacy, knowledge of results, beneficial treatments

Weigh the costs of the research to participants in terms of inconvenience and possible psychological or physical injury against the study's value for advancing knowledge and improving conditions of life

The investigator provides a full account and justification of the activities once the research session is over

Rodlike structures which store and transmit genetic information

The chemical that chromosomes are made up of

A segment of DNA along the length of the chromosome

A unique feature of DNA is that it can duplicate itself

Sex cells, and sperm and ovum

A cell division process in which gametes are formed. It halves the number of chromosomes normally present in body cells.

When sperm and ovum unite at conception result in a cell called Zygote

4 sperm, 1 ovum

22 out of 23 chromosomes are matching pairs

The 23 third pair

Fraternal, the most common type of multiple offspring, resulting from the release and fertilization of two ova

Identical, a zygote that has started to duplicate separates into two clusters of cells that develop into two individuals. They have the same genetic makeup

Two forms of each gene occur at the same place on the chromosomes, one inherited from the mother and one from the father

If the alleles from both parents are alike they will display the inherited trait

If the alleles differ the relationships between the alleles determine the phenotype

Only one allele affects the child's characteristics. It is called dominant; the second allele, which has no effect, is called recessive

Heterozygous individuals with just one recessive allele can pass that trait to their children

A pattern of inheritance in which both alleles are expressed in the phenotype, resulting in a combined trait, or one that is intermediate between the two

When a harmful allele is carried on the x chromosome

Alleles are imprinted, or chemically marked, so that one pair member (either the mother's or the father's) is activated, regardless of its makeup

A sudden but permanent change in a segment of DNA

Many genes influence the characteristic in question

A communication process designed to help couples assess their chances of giving birth to a baby with a hereditary disorder and choose the best course of action in view of risks and family goals

Injection of sperm from an anonymous man into a woman

A woman is given hormones that stimulate the ripening of several ova. These are removed surgically and placed in a dish of nutrients, to which sperm is added. Once ovum is fertilized and begins to duplicate into several cells, it is injected into the mother's uterus

In vitro fertilization may be used to impregnate a woman with a couple's fertilized ovum

Medical procedures that permit detection of developmental problems before birth

Correcting genetic abnormalities by delivering DNA carrying a functioning gene to the cells

Scientists modify gene-specified proteins involved in biological aging and disease

Mutually supporting each other's parenting behaviors

Researchers assess a family's standing by looking at years of education, prestige of one's job and the skills it requires, and income

Groups of people with beliefs and customs that differ from those of the larger culture

Three or more generations live together

People define themselves as part of a group and stress group goals over individual goals

People think of themselves as separate entities and are largely concerned with their own personal needs

laws and government programs designed to improve current conditions

A field devoted to uncovering the contributions of nature and nurture to this diversity in human traits and abilities

measure the extent to which individual differences in complex traits in a specific population are due to genetic factors

Compare the characteristics of family members

Because of their genetic makeup, individuals differ in their responsiveness to qualities of the environment. People have unique, genetically influenced reactions to particular experiences

The tendency of heredity to restrict the development of some characteristics to just one or a few outcomes

Our genes influence the environments to which we are exposed

Tendency to actively choose environments that complete our heredity

Development resulting from ongoing, bidirectional exchanges between heredity and all levels of the environment

Two walnut-sized organs located deep inside her abdomen

Long, thin structures that lead to the hollow, soft-lined uterus

The spot on the ovary from which the egg is released

Two glands located in the scrotum, sacs that lie just behind the penis

Opening of the uterus

Lasts about two weeks from fertilization until the tiny mass of cells drifts down and out of the fallopian tube and attaches itself to the wall of the uterus

60-70 cells exist to form a hollow, fluid-filled ball

The cells on the inside that become the new organism

The outer ring of cells become the structures that provide protective covering and nourishment

Between the 7th and 9th day the blastocyst burrows deep into the uterine lining

A membrane that encloses the developing organism in amniotic fluid, which helps keep the temperature of the prenatal world constant and provides a cushion against any jolts caused by the woman's movements

Surrounds the amnio. From the chorion, tiny hairlike villi, or blood vessels, emerge

Permits food and oxygen to reach the organism and waste products to be carried away

Contains one large vein that delivers blood loaded with nutrients and two arteries that remove waste products

Lasts from implantation to the 8th week of pregnancy. The most rapid prenatal changes take place as the groundwork is laid for all body structures and internal organs

Will become the nervous system and skin

Will develop the muscles, skeleton, circulatory system, and other internal organs

Will become the digestive system, lungs, urinary tract, and glands

Primitive spinal cord

Nerve cells that store and transmit information

9th week to the end of pregnancy is the longest prenatal period

12th week

Prenatal development divided into three equal time periods

A white cheese-like substance protects its skin from chapping during the long months spent bathing in the amniotic fluid

White downy hair appears over the entire body, helping the vernix stick to the skin

Support and feed the neurons

Connections

The point at which the baby can first survive is between 22 and 26 weeks

Seat of human intelligence

Adaptation

Any environmental agent that causes damage during the prenatal period

Embryonic period

Encompasses a range of physical, mental, and behavioral outcomes caused by prenatal alcohol exposure

Distinguished by slow physical growth, a pattern of three facial abnormalities (short eyelid openings; a thin upper lip; a smooth or flatted philtrum, or indentation running from the bottom of the nose to the center of the upper lip), brain injury evident in a small head and impairment in at least three areas of functioning

Two of the three facial abnormalities, brain injury in at least three areas of impaired functioning

At least three areas of mental functioning are impaired, despite typical psychical growth and absence of facial abnormalities

Childhood weakened immune system functioning and increased susceptibility to infectious disease

When the mother is Rh-negative and the father Rh-positive, the baby may inherit the father's Rh-positive blood type. If even a little of the fetus's Rh-positive blood crosses the placenta into the Rh-negative mother's bloodstream, she begins to form antibodies to the foreign Rh protein. If these enter the fetus's system, they destroy red blood cells, reducing the oxygen supply to organs and tissues

Sometimes called toxemia, blood pressure increases sharply and the face, hands, and feet swell in the last half of pregnancy

To assess the newborn's physical condition quickly

A group of techniques aimed at reducing pain and medical intervention and making childbirth a rewarding experience

Inadequate oxygen supply

Turned so that the buttocks or feet would be delivered first

Electronic instruments that track the baby's heart rate during labor

Drugs used to relieve pain

A surgical birth where the doctor makes an incision in the mother's abdomen and lifts the baby out of the uterus

Born several weeks or more before their due date

Below their expected weight considering length of the pregnancy

Enclosed bed

The number of deaths in the first year of life per 1,000 live births

The rate of death within the first month of life

An inborn, automatic response to a particular form of stimulation

Degrees of sleep and wakefulness

Irregular sleep where brain-wave activity is remarkably similar to that of the waking state. Heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing are uneven

Regular sleep where the body is almost motionless, and brain-wave activity, heart rate, and breathing are slow and even

The unexpected death, usually at night, of an infant under 1 year of age that remains unexplained after thorough investigation

Persistent crying that is high-pitched and harsh sounding

At birth

Painkilling chemicals in the brain

Vision

Membrane lining the inside of the eye that captures light and transforms it into messages that are sent to the brain

Permits us to adjust our visual focus to varying differences

Fineness of discrimination

Evaluates the newborn's reflexes, muscle tone, state changes, responsiveness to physical and social stimuli, and other reactions

Mothers begin producing this hormone at the end of pregnancy which stimulates uterine contractions; causes the breasts to "let down" milk; induces a calm relax mood; and promotes responsiveness to the baby