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Questions and Answers
What is the primary focus of developmental psychology?
What is the primary focus of developmental psychology?
- Exploring cultural impacts on personality
- Analyzing specific age-related behaviors
- Studying psychological disorders across ages
- Investigating how people change over the lifespan (correct)
What does the term 'teratogens' refer to?
What does the term 'teratogens' refer to?
- Natural childbirth practices
- Genetic predispositions to diseases
- Nutrients essential for fetal development
- Harmful agents that can cause birth defects (correct)
During which prenatal period do the most major body systems develop?
During which prenatal period do the most major body systems develop?
- Fetal period
- Germinal period
- Embryonic stage (correct)
- Postnatal stage
Which of the following is considered a dominant characteristic?
Which of the following is considered a dominant characteristic?
What genetic factor determines a person's unique chromosome makeup?
What genetic factor determines a person's unique chromosome makeup?
Which teratogen is known to cause significant harm during pregnancy?
Which teratogen is known to cause significant harm during pregnancy?
What changes occur during the germinal period of prenatal development?
What changes occur during the germinal period of prenatal development?
What distinguishes production vocabulary from comprehensive vocabulary in infants and children?
What distinguishes production vocabulary from comprehensive vocabulary in infants and children?
At what stage of cognitive development according to Piaget do children begin to think logically about concrete objects?
At what stage of cognitive development according to Piaget do children begin to think logically about concrete objects?
What main shift occurs during the transition from the Preoperational Stage to the Concrete Operational Stage?
What main shift occurs during the transition from the Preoperational Stage to the Concrete Operational Stage?
What characteristic defines Erik Erikson's theory of psychosocial development?
What characteristic defines Erik Erikson's theory of psychosocial development?
Which of the following best describes the Formal Operational Stage in Piaget's theory?
Which of the following best describes the Formal Operational Stage in Piaget's theory?
What is the Rooting Reflex in infants?
What is the Rooting Reflex in infants?
What temperament category describes infants who are irritable, emotional, and have irregular sleeping patterns?
What temperament category describes infants who are irritable, emotional, and have irregular sleeping patterns?
Which type of attachment is characterized by an infant using the caregiver as a secure base to explore?
Which type of attachment is characterized by an infant using the caregiver as a secure base to explore?
How many temperament patterns did Alexander Thomas and Stella Chess classify infants into?
How many temperament patterns did Alexander Thomas and Stella Chess classify infants into?
What is an example of a characteristic of Easy babies?
What is an example of a characteristic of Easy babies?
What is meant by 'multiple attachments' in infants?
What is meant by 'multiple attachments' in infants?
What is a notable response of newborns to human voices?
What is a notable response of newborns to human voices?
Which of the following best describes Slow-to-warm-up babies?
Which of the following best describes Slow-to-warm-up babies?
What biological predisposition do all children have?
What biological predisposition do all children have?
Which of the following temperament categories is least likely to fit into the defined patterns?
Which of the following temperament categories is least likely to fit into the defined patterns?
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Study Notes
Introduction to Developmental Psychology
- Branch of psychology dedicated to studying how people change throughout their lifespan.
- Investigates the influence of various factors on development, including biological, environmental, social, and cultural elements.
- Genetic potential inherited from parents, but environment shapes its expression.
Genetic Contributions to Your Life Story
- Unique genetic makeup determined by paired chromosomes from each biological parent.
- Human Chromosomes are a person's unique genetic blueprint, found in 23 pairs within each body cell.
Dominant and Recessive Characteristics
- Dominant Characteristics: Full lips, curly hair, dark hair, free earlobes, normal hearing, freckles, ability to make U-shape with tongue, dimples, feet with normal arches.
- Recessive Characteristics: Thin lips, straight hair, light hair, attached earlobes, congenital deafness, no freckles, inability to make U-shape with tongue, no dimples, flat feet.
Prenatal Development
- Prenatal stage: Development before birth, divided into germinal, embryonic, and fetal periods.
- Germinal Period: First two weeks of prenatal development, rapid cell division, zygote develops into an embryo.
Teratogens
- Harmful agents or substances causing malformations or defects in embryo or fetus.
- Greatest vulnerability to teratogens during embryonic stage (major body system formation).
- Examples: Radiation, toxic industrial chemicals, diseases (rubella, syphilis, herpes, AIDS), drugs taken by mother (alcohol, cocaine, heroin).
Development During Infancy and Childhood
- Rooting Reflex: Infant turns towards touch source and opens mouth.
- Infants prefer human faces over other images, respond to human voices, and distinguish their mother's voice.
Social and Personality Development
- Alexander Thomas and Stella Chess study categorized infants into three temperament patterns:
- Easy babies: Adaptable, positive moods, regular sleep/eating patterns.
- Difficult babies: Intense emotions, irritable, cry frequently, irregular sleep/eating patterns.
- Slow-to-warm-up babies: Low activity, withdraw from new situations, adapt gradually.
Attachment: Forming Emotional Bonding
- Attachment: Emotional bond between infant and caregiver(s), typically parents.
- Infants form attachments to both parents simultaneously.
- Multiple Attachments: Infants can form bonds with other caregivers (relatives, daycare workers).
- Secure Base: Caregivers provide comfort and security, allowing infants to explore and learn.
- Secure Attachment: Infant uses mother as secure base, periodically returning for comfort.
- Insecure Attachment: Infant less likely to explore, even with mother present.
Language Development
- Innate predisposition to learn any language.
- Infants equipped to understand and extract grammatical rules from speech (Noam Chomsky).
- Comprehensive Vocabulary: Words understood by infant/child.
- Production Vocabulary: Words understood and spoken by infant/child.
Cognitive Development
- Jean Piaget emphasized children's active sense-making, not passive information absorption.
- Four cognitive development stages:
- Sensorimotor Stage (Birth to 2 years): Knowledge acquired through direct experience and manipulation of objects.
- Preoperational Stage (2 to 7 years): Increasing use of symbols, prelogical thought processes.
- Concrete Operational Stage (7 to adolescence): Ability to think logically about concrete objects and situations.
- Formal Operational Stage (Adolescence to adulthood): Ability to think logically about abstract principles and hypothetical situations.
Social Development
- Adolescence: Transition from late childhood to adulthood, reaching sexual maturity.
- Friends and peers become increasingly influential, though parent influence remains important.
Erik Erikson's Theory
- Psychoanalyst Erik Erikson stressed social and cultural influence on personality through life stages.
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