Development Psych 100 Midterm 2 1 It says that effects of genes depend on environment and effects of environment depends on genes Environment can halt a gene from expressing itself 2 Childrens stages of cognitive development a Sensorimotor stage birth to two years No thought beyond immediate experience Perceive sensory information Consequences of actions Milestones mental representation object permanence deferred imitation b Perceptional Stage two to seven years Able to think beyond the present but egocentric and unable to perform mental transformations Have mental representations and egocentric Milestones learn conservation c Concrete Operational Stage seven to eleven years Able to perform mental transformations but only on concrete physical objects Difficulty with abstract concepts and hypothetical propositions Milestones learn deduction and hypothetical reasoning d Formal Operational Stage 11 to adult Have hypothetical and abstract reasoning Sophisticated thinking Systematically experiment with hypotheses and explain outcomes 3 He focused on social influences on cognitive development cognitive change where Piaget was a constructivist Scaffolding is a learning mechanism It provides assistance to help guide learning It states that as a child s ability increases support is taken away gradually Zone of proximal development gives info that children are receptive to but have not mastered Phase where support is needed to learn 4 Types of temperament Basic emotional style has genetic basis a Easy adaptable and relaxed b Difficult fussy and easily frustrated c Slow to warm up easily disturbed but adjust d Behavioral inhibition scaredy cat startle run away 5 It gives an emotional connection The strange situation 1 Parent and child are alone in room 2 Child explores room without parental participation 3 Stranger enters room 4 Parent leaves 5 See how child reacts 6 Parents returns 7 See how child reacts Attachment styles a Secure 60 upset at departure and happy to see parent later b Insecure Avoidant 15 20 indifferent to parent departure an little reaction upon return Insecure Anxious 15 20 panic at parent departure and mixed emotion upon return c d Disorganized 5 10 inconsistent reaction to parent departure and dazed upon return 6 Parenting Styles a Permissive Lenient allow considerable freedom little discipline affection b Authoritarian Strict punish children when they don t respond to parents demands little affection c Authoritative Combination of permissive and authoritarian Supportive but set clear and firm limits d Uninvolved neglectful pay little attention Ignore both positive and negative behaviors of child Cultural differences individualistic cultures western authoritative leads to the best outcomes Collectivist cultures eastern authoritarian leads to the best outcomes 7 Gender role behaviors that tend to accompany a gender activity Gender identity sense of being male or female Gender awareness is being respectful and realizing people can feel trapped in a gender that does not fit their identity Language 1 The Components of Language a Phonemes the sounds of our language b Morphemes the smallest units of meaningful speech c Syntax the grammatical rules that govern how we compose words into meaningful strings d Extralinguistic information elements of communication that aren t part of the content of language but are critical to interpreting its meaning such as facial expressions and tone of voice 2 Dialects are variations of the same language used by groups of people from specific geographic areas social groups or ethnic backgrounds Yes we can understand others 3 Babies hear sounds while in the womb They use high amplitude sucking 4 procedure They prefer mothers voice and sound patterns of native language Babies babble then comprehend words 9 10 months then produce words 12 months then by 2 produce several words Imitation account children learn language through imitation Problem language is generative children can produce utterances that they have never heard before Nativist account children have inborn knowledge of certain parts of language Language Acquisition Device is innate knowledge of syntax Problems LAD cannot be falsified Social Pragmatic Account children infer meaning of words and utterances from context and social interactions Problem children have to know what people are thinking They are very egocentric until the age of 7 General Cognitive Processing Account children learn language because they have a set of general cognitive skills to help them learn language They can perceive learn and recognize patterns Problem children are better at learning language than adults who have more advanced cognitive abilities Emotion and Motivation 1 Evolutionary basis of emotions similar emotional reactions during similar behavior Examples disgust wrinkled nose contract mouth squint eyes Angry aggression dismissal Universality of emotions emotions are the same between different species We have a few basic emotions 2 Discrete Emotion Theories Humans experience a small number of distinct emotions even if they combine in complex ways Emotions have roots in biology They are genetically influenced physiological responses and evolutionary function Cognitive Emotion Theories Emotions are products of thinking Mental state is the source of emotions Our feelings are due to interpretation of a situation a James Lange Theory emotions are created from our interpretations of body reactions to stimuli b Cannon Bard Theory emotions and bodily response to stimuli happen simultaneously c Two Factory Theory emotions are caused by becoming aroused alert and explaining the heightened state of awareness Undifferentiated state of arousal Change in awareness arousal is same for all emotions d Somatic Marker Theory Gut reactions help to determine our actions Autonomic responses influence how we act heart rate sweating Pure autonomic failure condition where autonomic nervous system degenerates 4 Preference for familiar repeated exposure to a stimulus makes us feel more favorably to the stimuli Familiarity breeds comfort 5 You feel the emotion that corresponds with your facial expression a Darwin feedback from blood vessels in face b Zajonc emotions arise from behaviors purely biochemical process is outside of awareness 6 Affective forecasting predicting our own and others happiness we re bad at it Positivity Effect we tend to remember good experiences Defensive Pessimism when we anticipate failure we prepare