Question 1

What is developmental psychology?

Accepted Answer

A branch of psychology concerned with how human beings change as they mature

Question 2

What is the difference between nature and nurture?

Accepted Answer

Nature is innate biological factors; nurture is external environmental factors

(both influence human development)

Question 3

What is the range of reaction?

Accepted Answer

Concept that the environment and genetics work together influence characteristics

(your genetics might set an upper and lower limit on your height, but your environment determines the exact position between those points)

Question 4

What is gestation/prenatal-development?

Accepted Answer

The development of an embryo/fetus until birth

Question 5

What is conception?

Accepted Answer

The fusion of the two gametes

(male-sex-cell/sperm and female-sex-cell/egg)

Question 6

What is the germinal stage?

Accepted Answer

Two-week period of gestation following conception

The single-celled zygote starts to divide, and implants itself in the uterine wall

Question 7

What is the embryonic stage?

Accepted Answer

Second stage of gestation where cell differentiation begins, and organs develop

Question 8

What is the fetal stage?

Accepted Answer

Final stage of gestation where the fetus develops muscles, a skeletal system, and more developed brain

Question 9

What is myelination?

Accepted Answer

Formation of the myelin sheath around axons

(begins during the fetal stage, but continues after birth)

Question 10

What are teratogens?

Accepted Answer

Substances that hinder prenatal development, and may cause birth defects

(alcohol, smoking, many types of drugs)

Question 11

What is fetal alcohol syndrome?

Accepted Answer

Developmental disorder caused by consumption of alcohol during pregnancy

Leads to reduced brain size and cognitive disabilities

Question 12

What is motor development?

Accepted Answer

Emergency of the ability to do physical actions

(walking, crawling, reaching, ...)

Question 13

What are reflexes?

Accepted Answer

Innate motor responses, triggered by specific sensory patterns

Question 14

What is the rooting reflex?

Accepted Answer

Tendency for an infant to move its mouth toward any object that touches its cheek

Question 15

What is the sucking reflex?

Accepted Answer

Tendency for an infant to suck any object that enters its mouth

Question 16

Why are the rooting and sucking reflexes important?

Accepted Answer

They allow a newborn to begin breastfeeding from its mother

Question 17

What is the Moro reflex?

Accepted Answer

Tendency for infants to outstretch, then retract their arms and legs

Occurs in response to a loud noise or sudden change in the environment

Question 18

What is the grasping reflex?

Accepted Answer

The tendency for infants to grasp any object that touches their palm

Question 19

What is the Babinski reflex?

Accepted Answer

Tendency for infants to fan their toes when the sole of the foot is touches

(unknown reason)

Question 20

What is the plantar reflex?

Accepted Answer

A reflex that occurs after the Babinski reflex has left, where toes curl downwards instead

Question 21

What is the cephalocaudal-rule/top-to-bottom rule?

Accepted Answer

The tendency for motor skills in infants to emerge from the head to the feet

(infant gains control of head, then trunk, then feet)

Question 22

What is the proximodistal-rule/inside-to-outside rule?

Accepted Answer

The tendency for motor skills in infants to emerge from the center to the periphery

(gains control of trunk, then elbows/knees, then hands and feet)

Question 23

What are attachments, in developmental psychology?

Accepted Answer

Emotional bonds between an infant and their primary caregiver

Question 24

What is an internal working model of attachment?

Accepted Answer

An infant's set of expectations about how its primary caregiver will respond to it

Question 25

What is the Strange Situation test?

Accepted Answer

A test to determine what type of attachment an infant has

(developed by Mary Ainsworth)

Question 26

What is the secure attachment style?

Accepted Answer

Style of attachment where the infant becomes frightened when the caregiver is gone, but becomes happy when the caregiver returns

(60% of American infants)

Question 27

What is the avoidant attachment style?

Accepted Answer

Style of attachment where the infant tends to avoid caregivers

Unconcerned when the caregiver leaves the room, and often do not acknowledge their return

(20% of American infants)

Question 28

What is the ambivalent attachment style?

Accepted Answer

Style of attachment where the infant becomes distressed when the caregiver leaves the room, but is not soothed when the caregiver returns

(15% of American infants)

Question 29

What is the disorganized attachment style?

Accepted Answer

Style of attachment where the infant shows no consistent pattern of responses in the Strange Situation test

Sometimes believed to be a sign of abuse

(<5% of American infants)

Question 30

What is temperament?

Accepted Answer

An individual's patterns of emotional reactivity and intensity

Question 31

What is the "Easy" infant temperament?

Accepted Answer

Temperament where the infant acts consistently and is positive about new things

Question 32

What is the "Difficult" infant temperament?

Accepted Answer

Temperament where the infant acts inconsistently, is slow to adapt to new things, and is distressed at negative situations

Question 33

What is the "Slow-to-warm" infant temperament?

Accepted Answer

Temperament where the infant is initially difficult, but slowly becomes easier

Question 34

What are the two dimensions of parenting behavior?

Accepted Answer

Demandingness and responsiveness

Question 35

What is demandingness, in parenting?

Accepted Answer

The extend that parents control their child's behavior

Question 36

What is responsiveness, in parenting?

Accepted Answer

The extent that parents are accepting and sensitive to their child's emotional needs

Question 37

What is authoritative parenting?

Accepted Answer

Style of parenting where parents have high expectations, but are willing to adjust with understanding and support

(high demandingness, high responsiveness)

Question 38

What is permissive parenting?

Accepted Answer

Style of parenting where parents care for their child a lot but easily give in to their child's desires

(low demandingness, high responsiveness)

Question 39

What is authoritarian parenting?

Accepted Answer

Style of parenting where parents are demanding and cold, having high expectations but giving few rewards

(high demandingness, low responsiveness)

Question 40

What is neglectful parenting?

Accepted Answer

Style of parenting where parents are cold and unresponsive

(low demandingness, low responsiveness)

Question 41

What is cognitive development?

Accepted Answer

The emergence of intellectual abilities as a child develops

Question 42

What is the sensorimotor stage?

Accepted Answer

First of Piaget's stages where the child has basic sensory and movement abilities, which they use to learn about the world

Question 43

What are schemata, in Piaget's theories?

Accepted Answer

Models or theories about how the world work, developed by children in the sensorimotor stage

(example schema: child might classify all furry animals as cats; singular: schema)

Question 44

What is assimilation, in Piaget's theory of development?

Accepted Answer

Applying schemata to novel situations

(if tugging a toy brings it closer, tugging other things might bring them closer as well)

Question 45

What is accommodation, in Piaget's theory of development?

Accepted Answer

The process of revising schemata

(if a child pulls a cat's tail, it will run away instead of coming closer)

Question 46

What is object permanence, in Piaget's theory of development?

Accepted Answer

The understanding that objects continue to exist even when they can't be seen

Question 47

What is the preoperational stage?

Accepted Answer

Piaget's second stage where children engage in play and begin to manipulate symbols

(2-6 years)

Question 48

What is egocentrism, in Piaget's theory of development?

Accepted Answer

The inability for children in the preoperational stage to consider other's viewpoints

(in the image below, the child think the person sitting across sees the same view she does)

Question 49

What is theory of mind, in Piaget's theory of development?

Accepted Answer

The understanding that human behavior is guided by mental representations

Developed in the preoperational stage, allowing the child to overcome egocentrism

Question 50

What is the concrete operational stage?

Accepted Answer

Piaget's third stage of cognitive development, where children learn how operations transform objects

(6-11 years)

Question 51

What is conservation, in Piaget's theory of development?

Accepted Answer

Logical thinking that allows one to understand a quantity remains the same, despite its container

(develops in the concrete operational stage)

Question 52

What is the formal operational stage?

Accepted Answer

Piaget's final stage of development, where children gain a deeper understanding of their, and other's, minds

Begin to reason abstractly and hypothetically, and use concepts such as morality and freedom

(11+ years)

Question 53

What was Lev Vygotsky's criticism of Piaget?

Accepted Answer

He believed Piaget's theory failed to understand how society and culture influences development

Question 54

What is the zone of proximal development (ZPD)?

Accepted Answer

The difference between what a learner can do on their own and what they can do with slight help from a "more knowledgeable other"

(developed by Lev Vygotsky; influential in classrooms)

Question 55

What is a "more knowledgeable other" (MKO) in Vygotsky's theory?

Accepted Answer

A person who understands the task better than the learner, and will help assist them

Question 56

According to Vygotsky, how do learners gain new abilities?

Accepted Answer

By working on skills in their ZPD, with the help of an MKO

Question 57

What is moral development?

Accepted Answer

The process of children learning to consider morals, and evolving beyond their egocentric state

Question 58

What is the Heinz dilemma?

Accepted Answer

Heinz's wife is dying and cannot afford the drug to save her.  He must decide whether or not to steal the drug to save her or not

(used by Kohlberg to classify moral development)

Question 59

What is the pre-conventional level, in moral development?

Accepted Answer

First level of moral development, where the morality of an action is determined by how it affects the actor

(an action is bad if it gets the person who did it in trouble; young children occupy this stage)

Question 60

What is the conventional level, in moral development?

Accepted Answer

Second level of moral development where an action is moral if it conforms with social rules

(an action is bad if it breaks the law; older children and adults)

Question 61

What is the post-conventional level, in moral development?

Accepted Answer

Final level of moral development where an action is moral if it is aligned with general core values, such as liberty or the right to life

(an action is moral if it is more aligned with values than the alternatives; only some adults reach this stage)

Question 62

What are the general criticisms of Kohlberg's moral development theory?

Accepted Answer

The stages are not as discrete as Kohlberg imagined

(an individual might use pre-conventional reasoning in one situation and post-conventional in another)

Question 63

What was Carol Gilligan's criticism of Kohlberg's theory?

Accepted Answer

It was biased towards a masculine perspective of morality, and implied males were more moral than females

Question 64

What is the ethics of care?

Accepted Answer

Gilligan's alternative view to Kohlberg's theory that placed more value on empathy and benevolence, over duties and obligations

Developmental Psychology, AP Psychology Flashcards