PSC 140 Study Guide - Final Guide: Operant Conditioning, Congenital Heart Defect, John Bowlby
Terms & Concepts to Review for Final Exam
PSC 140 Lara
The following is intended to serve as a guide on what to focus on in your studying for the final. You should
also reference your previous study guides for Midterms 1-3.
The final exam will be 50 multiple-choice questions covering all material from the quarter (text and
lectures). See course syllabus for specific chapters.
1) General theories of development—especially how they stand on issues of nature (biology) vs. nurture
(environment)
●Difficult to separate out
●Parental expectations about boys vs. girls affect their caretaking (even prenatally)
●Cross-cultural comparisons have found wide variation in what is considered masculine and feminine (also
changes historically)
●Maternal education and employment linked to more sex egalitarian views in both boys and girls
●Parents and schools that attempt to promote sex egalitar2=anism have had mixed results with preschoolers
Theories of Development:
○Environmental learning: central forces of developmental change are exogenous (come from
environment), development is continuous
●Biological-maturation: human development is driven by endogenous forces (genetic heritage), development
is caused by maturation, and is discontinuous
●Psychodynamic: development is stage-like, mental health and personality problems can be traced back to
traumatic experiences or unresolved issues in childhood, development is driven by innate biological drives
and life experience. discontinuous
●Constructivist: nature and nurture are equally important in development, development is discontinuous
,
child plays an active role- children construct successively higher levels of knowledge by actively mastering
their environments
●Cultural-context: developmental change caused by interactions between nature and nurture and shape
development indirectly through culture, continuous
●Evolutionary theories: examine biological evolutionary foundations of behavior
●Ecological Theories: microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, chronosystem
●Information-processing: analogy of human mind as a computer, child is an active participant in
development, quantitative increases in knowledge (continuous)
2) General research methods and designs (e.g., cross-sectional, longitudinal, cohort-sequential; experimental
vs. observational)
Cross-Sectional Design: Group of different ages studied at the same time.
o Advantages: Quick, Inexpensive, Differences in behavior at different points in development can be studied.
o Disadvantages: No info about past determinants of ages related changes. / No info about individual
development. / No information about the developmental process.
- Longitudinal Design: data are gathered about the same group of people as they grow older over an extended
period of time
o Advantages: Stability of behavior can be determined. / Impact of early events on later behavior can be
investigated. / Differences in behavior at different points in development can be studied.
o Disadvantages: Cost, Subject loss, changes in people(cohorts), Inflexibility, test/retest effects.
- Cohort Sequential Design: Combines cross-sectional and longitudinal approaches; test multiple age groups at
multiple points over time.
1
o Advantages: Stability of behavior can be determined. / Impact of early events on later behavior can be
investigated. / Differences in behavior at different points in development can be studied.
o Disadvantages: Cost, subject loss, test/retest.
●Control group versus experimental group
○Control group - variables are measured
○Experimental group - variables are manipulated
●Correlational versus causal relations
- Positive Correlation: As variable one increases, variable two increases.
- Negative Correlation: As variable one increases, variable two decreases.
- -1 and +1
- Correlation does not equal causation: Other factors can cause both of the measured variables.
- Three possibilities: Variable one causes variable two / Variable two causes variable one / a third variable can
be the causation.
●Genetic transmission (e.g., mitosis, meiosis, laws of genetic inheritance)
Mitosis: process of cell divisions for ALL cells except SPERM and OVUM
Process of replication (produces exact copies) produces 2 daughter cells identical to the parent cell,
continues throughout life
Meiosis: process of cell production for sperm and ova (germ cells) -cells divide twice producing -4
daughter cells, in males, produces 4 indiv. Sperm, in females 3 cells disintegrate and 1 becomes ovum
-each sperm and each ovum contain only half (23) of the original set of chromosomes
-ensures genetic diversity
●How many chromosomes does each (typical) sperm or ovum contain?
- each contain 23 chromosomes
●How many chromosomes in a zygote?
- contains 46 chromosomes (23 pairs of chromosomes, 23 from sperm and 23 from ovum)
●Stages of prenatal development and key developments in each
1. Germinal Period
-conception = week 2
-fertilization takes place in the fallopian tube
-cell divides and divides- morula has totipotent cells
- day 5 blastocysts forms- now has pluripotent cells
-9th day attaches to uterine wall
Inner cell mass detaches and forms embryonic disc
2. Embryonic Period
- Week 2 after implantation – week 8
- Sensitive period
- Most of body's systems form CNS , heart, limbs, digestive tract
- Sexual differentiation occurs
- Ends when all major organs have developed in primitive form
3. Fetal Period
-week 8 until birth
2
-period of growing and maturation
-“quickening “ occurs 16th week
-by 15wks capable of most movements observable in newborn infants. Hiccups( 8 wks) stretching (10 wks) and
yawning(10 wks)
●Cephalocaudal and proximodistal patterns of growth
CEPHALOCAUDAL- proceeds from head down (arms to legs)
PROXIMODISTAL- from middle organism out to the periphery (spinal cord to arm buds)
●Principles of teratogenic effects
Teratogens- environmental agents that can lead to abnormalities or death
Principles of Teratogenic Effects:
- Susceptibility influenced by gestational age
- Each T.A causes specific abnormalities
- All organism not equally affected ( ex:thalidomide)
- Susceptibility influenced by maternal health
- Damage is not always evident at birth
●Effects of teratogens—smoking, drugs, alcohol
Smoking
-NICOTINE results In abnormal growth of the placenta
Increase in rate of spontaneous abortion, stillborn, or neonatal death
-similar effects from cigarette smoke of others
Low birth weight
Alcohol
-fetal alcohol syndrome: abnormally small head, underdeveloped brain, eye abnormalities, congenital heart
disease, joint abnormalities, malformations of the face
*most serious damage from alcohol cause in first weeks of pregnancy
●Three stages of birth (what is starting point and the endpoint of each stage?)
Stage 1: (14-16 hrs) - longest stage
Dilation and effacement (cervix dilates from 0-7 cm)
-transition (cervix dilates from 7cm to 10cm) contractions every 2 minutes and last for 1 to 1.5 minutes
Stage 2: (1-2 hours)
-pushing, contractions about 1 min apart and last almost 1 min.
Stage 3: (15-30 mins)
-delivery of the placenta
●Infant reflexes (Moro, Babinski, Rooting)
Moro- if baby allowed to be dropped while being held; or loud noise they throw arms outward arching back and
bring arms together as if grasping something
Rooting- baby turns head and opens mouth when touched on the cheek
Grasping reflex- when a finger or object is pressed against baby’s palm, baby closes finger around it
-disappears in 3-4 mths replaced by voluntary grasping
●Temperament dimensions
3
Document Summary
Terms & concepts to review for final exam. The following is intended to serve as a guide on what to focus on in your studying for the final. You should also reference your previous study guides for midterms 1-3. The final exam will be 50 multiple-choice questions covering all material from the quarter (text and lectures). See course syllabus for specific chapters: general theories of development especially how they stand on issues of nature (biology) vs. nurture (environment) Parental expectations about boys vs. girls affect their caretaking (even prenatally) Cross-cultural comparisons have found wide variation in what is considered masculine and feminine (also changes historically) Maternal education and employment linked to more sex egalitarian views in both boys and girls. Parents and schools that attempt to promote sex egalitar2=anism have had mixed results with preschoolers. Environmental learning : central forces of developmental change are exogenous (come from environment), development is continuous.
