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Definition of Human Development
the study of how behavior changes over time
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Stranger Anxiety & Separation Anxiety
- Stranger Anxiety- the fear, caution, and wariness an infant displays when encountering unfamililar people
- Separation Anxiety- the fear infants displya when a familiar caregiver leaves.
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imprinting
the process by which certain animals form attachments during a critical period early in life
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Harlow's Monkeys and Contact Comfort
- infants bond with their mothers through bodily contact
- Contact comfort- positive emotions afforded by touch.
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what is attachment and who came up with it?
- Mary Ainsworth
- Attachment- a close emotional bond between the infant and the caregiver
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what are the 4 kinds of attachment?
- insecure-avoidant
- secure
- insecure-resistant/ambivalent
- disorganized

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What happens when circumstances prevent a child from forming attachments?
- 1. Withdrawn
- 2. Frightened
- 3. Unable to develop speech
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Constructivist theory
2 adjustment processes
- constructivist theory- children construct an understanding of the wrold based on observations of the effects of their behavior
- 1. Assimilation- absorbing new info into current knowledge
- 2. Accommodation- altering a belif to make it compatible with new experience
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Egocentrism
egocentrism- the inability to see the world from others' perspective (pre-schoolers)
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Vygotsky focused on
Scaffolding is
- Social & Cultural influences on learning; social interaction
- Scaffolding- learning mechanism in which parents provide initial guidence in child's learning then gradually remove structure
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Adolescent Development
goals of adolescents
- G. Stanley Hall was the 1st psychologist; coined the term adolsecence
- goals:
- 1. Seeking status- known as an individual
- 2. focused on relationships
- 3. intellectual growth- learning how to think differently
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Primary Sexual Characteristics vs Secondary Sexual Characteristics
- Primary sexual characterists- the reproductive organs and genitals
- secondary sexual characteristics- the nonreproductive traits like development of breasts, deepening of voice and pubic hair
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moral development
- Kohlberg
- moral development: the process of decision making about right or wrong
- Piaget is to cognitive development as Kohlberg is to moral development
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menopause
the termination of menstruation, marking the end of a women's reproductive potential
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fluid intelligence vs crystalline intellegence (KNOW DIFFERENCE)
- Fluid intellegence: ability to reason speedily
- Crystalline intelligence: accumulated knowledge & verbal skills)
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empty-nest syndrome
midlife crisis
- emtpy nest syndrome: alleged period of depression in others following the departure of their chldren from home (proven false)
- Midlife crisis: supposed phase of adulthood characterized by emotional distress about the aging process & an attempt to re-gain youth
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sensation & perception
- sensation: detection of physical energy by sense organs
- perception: brain's organization & interpretation of raw sensory inputs
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bottom up processing
top down processing
- bottom up: analysis of the stimulus begins with the sense receptors and works up to the level of the brain and mind
- top down: information processing guided by higher-level mental processes as we construct perceptions, drawing on our experience and expectations
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psychophysics
the study of how we perceive sensory stimuli based on their physical characteristics
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absolute threshold
minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular simulus 50% of the time
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3 steps of the process of sensation
- 1. reception
- 2. transduction
- 3. transmission
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transduction
conversion of external energies or substances into a neural impulse that one's brain can interpret
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parallel processing
- processing of serveral aspects of the stimulus at one time
- (like seeing the color, motion, form and depth of a bird as it flies)
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pain & gate-control theory
our spinal cord contains neurological "gates" that either block pain or allow it to be sensed
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5 receptors of taste
- 1. sweet
- 2. sour
- 3. salty
- 4. bitter
- 5. umami (fresh chicken) pronounced "you mommy"
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sensory interaction
taste receptors
- sensory interaction: when one sense affects another sense
- taste receptors: reproduce themselves every 2 weeks
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Gestalt
perceptional consistancy
- He's a psychologist who studied perceptual organization
- Says that we organize sensory information
- perceptual consistancy: perceiving objects as unchanging even as illumination and retinal images change
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Moon illusion
the Ames room
- Moon illusion: the moon appears larger when it is near the horizion than when it's high in the sky
- Ames room: trapezoidal room with slanted floor and ceiling makes occupants appear to vary in height
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what is selective attention?
- The process of focusing on one sensory channel and ignoring or minimizing others
- (like a man asks for directions on the street. while people focus on the map, the man who asked directions is swapped with another man & most people don't notice)
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perceptual sets
a mental predisposition to percieve one thing and not another. (like the picture of the old lady & the young woman)
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context effects
context can radically alter perception
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