1. Chapter 5

3.  Infants are born with reflexes that aid in survival, including the rooting reflex that helps them locate food.  Offspring cries are important signals for parents to provide nourishment.

4.  Babinski reflex- toes flare out and curl back in when the bottom of the foot is stroked.  Moro reflex- arms thrust out and back arches in response to sudden movement or noise.  Plantar reflex- toes curl in when the ball of the foot is pressed.  Swimming reflex- if submerged in water for a short period, babies hold their breath and pump their arms and legs.  Stepping reflex- infants move their feet as if walking when held up over a flat surface.

5.  Infants’ psychological development depends on their biological development. To understand the emergence of motor skills and memory, we must understand the developing brain.  At birth, most brain cells are present.  After birth, the neural networks multiply resulting in increased physical and mental abilities.

6.  The development of the brain unfolds based on genetic instructions, causing various bodily and mental functions to occur in sequence.  For example…  Standing before Walking  Babbling before Talking  Maturation sets the basic course of development while experience adjusts it.

7.  First, infants begin to roll over. Next, they sit unsupported, crawl, and finally walk. Experience has little effect on this sequence.

8.  The earliest age of conscious memory is around 3.5 years old.  A 5 year old likely has a sense of self and increased long term memory, thus our brains organize memories different from 3-4 years.

9.  Jean Piaget believed that the driving force behind intellectual development is our biological development amidst experiences with the environment. In other words, our cognitive development is shaped by the errors we make.

10.  Schemas – mental molds into which we pour our memories.

11.  The process of Assimilation involves incorporating new experiences into our current understanding (schema).  The process of adjusting a schema is called accommodation.

13.  In the Sensorimotor Stage, babies take in the world by looking, hearing, touching, mouthing, and grasping. Children younger than 6 months of age do not grasp object permanence (objects that are out of sight are also out of mind.

14.  Stranger anxiety is the fear of strangers that develops around 8 months.  This is the age at which infants form schemas of familiar faces and have difficulty assimilating new faces. Stranger Danger!

15.  Children stare longer at the wrong number of objects than the correct number.

16.  Piaget suggested that from 2 years old to about 6-7 years old, children are too young to perform mental operations.

17.  DeLoache (1987) showed that children as young as 3 are able to use mental operations. When shown a model of a dog’s hiding place behind the couch, a 2.5 year old could not locate the stuffed dog in the actual room, but the 3 year old did.

18.  Piaget concluded that preschool children are egocentric and cannot perceive things from another’s point of view.  When asked to show her picture to mommy, 2 year old Gabriella holds the picture facing her own eyes, believing that her mother can see it through her eyes.

19.  Preschoolers, although still egocentric, develop the ability to understand another’s mental state when they begin forming a theory of mind.

20.  In the concrete operational stage, given concrete materials, 6 to 7 year olds grasp conservation problems and mentally pour liquids back and forth into glasses of different shapes conserving their quantities.  Children in this stage are also able to transform mathematical functions. So, if 4+8=12, then a transformation, 12-4=8 is also easily doable.

21.  Around age 12, our reasoning ability expands from concrete thinking to abstract thinking.  We can now use symbols and imagined realities to systematically reason.  Piaget called this formal operational thinking.  For example…  If John is in school, then Mary is in school. John is in school. What can you say about Mary?

22.  Piaget’s stage theory has been influential globally, validating a number of ideas regarding growth and development in many cultures and societies.  However, today’s researchers believe the following.  Development is a continuous process.  Children express their mental abilities and operations at an earlier age.  Formal logic is a smaller part of cognition.

23.  Harlow (1971) showed that infants bond with surrogate mothers because of bodily contact and not because of nourishment.  Familiarity and Imprinting may also cause attachment.

24.  Attachment – an emotional tie with another person, shown in younger children by seeking closeness with their caregiver.  Imprinting – the process by which certain animals form attachments during a critical period very early in life.  Critical Period – an optimal period shortly after birth when an organism’s exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces proper development.

25. Secure AttachmentInsecure Attachment  Placed in a strange situation, 60% of children express secure attachment.  They explore their environment happily in the presence of their mothers. When the mothers leave, they show distress.  The other 40% show insecure attachment.  These children cling to their mothers or caregivers and are less likely to explore the environment.

26.  If a child fails to form attachments, the child tends to be more…  Withdrawn  Frightened  Unable to develop speech  If parental support is deprived for an extended period of time, children are at risk for physical, psychological, and social problems including alterations in brain serotonin levels.

29.  Freud blames psychological and physical problems on “bad mothering”.  How much of an effect do parents have?  Parents give us their genes, also raise us in an environment we have little control over.  Do we develop based on that environment or based on internal drives?

30.  Do your friends affect your development?  Selection Effect- kids will seek out peers with similar attitudes and interests.  Peers- Slang, food, and fashion  Parents- values, political beliefs, and manners.

31.  Many psychologists once believed that our traits were set during childhood, but today we view development to be a lifelong process.  Adolescence – life between childhood and adulthood.

32.  Adolescence begins with puberty (sexual maturation).  Females – age 11  Males – age 13  Thus, height in females increases before males.

33.  Until puberty, neurons increase their connections.  However, at adolescence, selective pruning of the neurons begins.  Unused neural connections are lost to make other pathways more efficient.

34.  During adolescence, neurons in the frontal cortex grow myelin, which speeds up nerve conduction.  The frontal cortex lags behind the limbic system’s development.  Hormonal surges and the limbic system may explain occasional teen impulsiveness.

35.  Adolescents’ ability to reason gives them a new level of social awareness. In particular, they may think about the following…  Their own thinking  What others are thinking  What others are thinking about them  How ideals can be reached, often critical of society, parents, and even themselves

36.  According to Piaget, adolescents can handle abstract problems, like judging good from evil, truth and justice, and think about God in deeper terms.

37.  Lawrence Kohlberg (1981,1984) sought to describe the development of moral reasoning by posing moral dilemmas to children and adolescents, such as “Should a person steal medicine to save a loved one’s life?”  Kohlberg developed stages of moral development.

38. Postconventional Morality – affirms people’s agreed upon rights or follows personally perceived ethical principles. Conventional Morality – by early adolescence, social rules and laws are upheld for their own sake. Preconventional Morality – before age 9, children show morality to avoid punishment or to gain rewards.

39. 1. Trust v. Mistrust 2. Autonomy v. Shame and Doubt 3. Initiative v. Guilt 4. Competence v. Inferiority 5. Identity v. Role Confusion 6. Intimacy v. Isolation 7. Generativity v. Stagnation 8. Integrity v. Despair

40.  Occurs - infancy to 1 year.  Task – If needs are dependably met, infants develop a sense of basic trust.

41.  Occurs – 1 to 2 years.  Task – Toddlers learn to exercise their will and do things for themselves, or they doubt their abilities.

42.  Occurs – 3 to 5 years.  Task – preschoolers learn to initiate tasks and carry out plans, or they feel guilty about efforts to be independent.

43.  Occurs – 6 to puberty.  Task – Children learn the pleasure of applying themselves to tasks, or they feel inferior.

44.  Occurs – teen years into 20s.  Task – teenagers work at refining a sense of self by testing roles and then integrating them to form a single identity, or they become confused about who they are.

45.  Occurs – 20s into early 40s.  Task – Young adults struggle to form close relationships and to gain the capacity for intimate love, or they feel socially isolated.

46.  Occurs – 40s to 60s.  Task – in middle age, people discover a sense of contributing to the world, usually through family and work, or they may feel a lack of purpose.

47.  Occurs – late 60s and up.  Task – when reflecting on his or her own life, the older adult may feel a sense of satisfaction or failure.

48.  The peak of physical performance occurs around 20 years of age.  During middle adulthood, muscular strength, reaction time, sensory abilities, and cardiac output begin to decline  After age 70, hearing, distance perception, muscle strength, reaction time, stamina and the sense of smell diminish.  After 80, neural processes slow down, especially for complex tasks.

50.  Fluid Intelligence – ability to reason speedily and abstractly.  Decreases with age.  Crystallized Intelligence – our accumulated knowledge and verbal skills.  Increases with age and experience. -Cross Sectional Evidence for Intellectual Decline -Longitudinal Evidence for Intellectual Stability

51.  Psychologists doubt that adults pass through orderly age- bound stages.  For example, a mid-life crisis is more likely a result of major life change. (divorce, grandchildren, new job, etc.)

52.  Love and work are defining themes in adult life.  Evolutionary psychologists believe that commitment has survival value.  Parents that stay together are likely to leave a viable future generation.  Adult happiness is strongly linked to a job that provides you with a sense of competence and accomplishment.

53.  All people grieve in different ways.  Kubler-Ross Stages of Grief  Denial (This isn’t happening to me!)  Anger (Why is this happening to me?)  Bargaining (I promise to be a better person if.)  Depression ( I don’t care anymore.)  Acceptance (I’m ready for whatever comes.)

55.  Social-Cognitive Perspective  See development as a slow continuous process and generally emphasize experience and learning.  Biological Perspective  View maturation and development as a series of genetically predisposed steps or stages.