PSY 101 1st Edition Exam 2 Study Guide: Lectures 6 - 11Lecture 6-Introduction to developmental psychology-Big issue: nature vs nurture: where do our knowledge and traits come from?-Empiricism: knowledge (and traits) comes from experience…-vs nativism: knowledge is innate (built-in). Personality and cognitive variables are fixed before birth-Big methodological challenge: how can we tell what they’re thinking?-Prenatal development: -we all start off as generic vertebrates-then we all become girls-if androgens kick in around week 8, girl becomes boy, if not, girl stays girl-brain development is EXTREMELY easy to disrupt in utero by teratogens, ex. Alcohol, Cocaine, some medications, radiation, stress hormones-then we are all born 6 months premature-think it might be because the size of human heads compared to the rest of our body, our brain is much larger (triple in volume while other mammals double in size)-Postnatal development: -infant’s brain has high plasticity, low functionality-one big short circuit (although it is smarter than it seems-recovers well from physical damage-all the brain cells we will have, already have at birth; they get linked up in a useful way as we grow-different sections get myelinated at different times-born with hearing skills-speech skills develop-sections come “on-line”-environment shapes and tunes dendric growth, guides neuronal pruning-related to critical periods for language (periods outside of which learning is impossible-sensitive periods for other skills (periods when learning is easiser)-enriched environments stimulate neural growth-after puberty, brain has low plasticity, high functionality-has all adult skills, including abstract thought-poor recovery from damage-Cognitive development:-cognition: mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, and remembering-Jean Piaget (need to know who he is): stage theory, turned out to be correct about a lot of things; believed that “children are active thinkers, constantly trying to construct more advanced understandings of the world”; these understandings are in the form of structures he called schemas; form of nativism; tried to understand how children learned-Schemas: help us interpret new information and understand the world; knowledge structures that guide expectations for how the world works-assimilation: use our existing knowledge schema to understand something new-accommodation: change (modify) our schemas to fit new things-Stage theories: -development is not gradual-development occurs through steps-progression from step to the next results from some major event:-biological maturation-important new knowledge-conflict -Stages of cognitive development:1. sensorimotor: (birth – 2)-simple sensory-motor schemas get elaborated by assimilation (apply schema to new object) and accommodation (change schema to fit new object)-no object permanence until 8 months, no mental representations until late in stage2. pre-operational (2 – 7)-child has mental representations, but cant properly manipulate them-failure on conservation tasks-egocentrism-example: little boy with same/more water/fish video-can’t put themselves in someone elses shoesLecture 7-Review: Stage Theories:-development is not gradual; occurs through steps-progression from one step to the next results from some major event (biological maturation, important new knowledge, conflict)-Four stages of cognitive development:1. Sensorimotor: (birth-2): simple sensory motor schemas get elaborated by assimilation(apply schema to a new object) and accommodation (change schema to fit new object); no object permanence until 8 months, no mental representations until late in the stage2. Pre-operational: (2-7): child has mental representations but cant properly manipulate them; failure on conservation tasks; egocentrism3. Concrete operations: (7-12): masters all conservation and perspective tasks; still bad at abstraction and theory4. Formal operations: (12+): abstract thought, theories (not just facts)-Beyond Piaget-Piaget was right about the general sequence and about nativism v empiricism of behaviorism-Children actually know even more than Piaget thought -Habituation: decreasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation-Ex: newborns become bored with a repeated stimulus, but renew their attention to a slightly different stimulus-Social development: why do children cling to their parents?-Rationalist answer: they “know what’s good for them”-Empiricist answer: mom gives food-Both are false: correct is the nativist answer: evolution has built in an attachment system into children and parents-Konrad Lorenz (1935): imprinting in ducks (built in attachment system between parents and younglings)-Harry Harlow (1959): Rhesus monkeys seek contact comfort more than milk, especially when frightened, one wire “mother” with bottle, one cloth “mother” that gives nothing (attachment process in humans)-John Bowlby (1969): attachment theory; young mammals have competing needs for safety and exploration; the attachment system is like a thermostat, balancing the 2 needs, the child will explore when it has a secure home base-Mary Ainsworth: the “strange situation”; attachment:1. mother and child2. stranger enters3. mother leaves (1st separation)4. mother returns, stranger leaves (1st reunion)5. mother leaves (2nd separation)6. stranger returns7. mother returns (2nd reunion)-Attachment styles-Secure: distress at separations, comfort at reunions-Anxious-ambivalent: anxiety throughout, not easily comforted-Avoidant: aloof and unmoved at all stages-a child’s style appears to result from the interaction of the quality of mothering, the Culture, and the child’s innate temperamentFebruary 8-Thoroughly cover vision, get a basic understanding for other senses-Sensation:-We sense because we need to know what’s out there to survive-What do we sense?-Answer 1: the ‘naïve” view: we sense the world that is there to be sensed (FALSE)-Answer 2: the adaptive view: we sense the properties of things that mattered for our ancestors’ survival-Seven channels of sensation:-vision (extremely good)-hearing-smell (pretty bad)-taste-skin senses (especially hands)-pressure-temperature-pain-proprioception-kinesthesia (where are our limbs)-vestibular sense (gravity/acceleration)-pheromones (mostly atrophied, unconscious)-Humans don’t sense: infrared light, location of objects in the dark, the earth’s magnetic field, radio waves, others’