Child Development and Psychology: Key Concepts

Key Concepts in Child Development and Psychology

Developmental Stages and Processes

1. During the course of successful prenatal development, a human organism begins as a zygote and finally develops into a fetus.
2. One of the most consistently damaging teratogens is alcohol.
3. The symptoms of fetal alcohol syndrome are most likely to include mental abnormalities.
4. The rooting reflex refers to a baby's tendency to open the mouth in search of a nipple when touched on the cheek.

Early Cognitive Abilities

5. In order to test whether newborns can visually discriminate between various shapes and colors, psychologists have made use of the process of habituation.
6. The best evidence that a 4-month-old infant possesses an understanding of object permanence is the child's display of habituation.
7. Biological growth processes that are relatively uninfluenced by experience and that enable orderly changes in behavior are referred to as maturation.

Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development

8. Piaget is best known for his interest in the process of cognitive development.
9. Three-year-old Zara calls all four-legged animals "kitties." Her tendency to fit all four-legged animals into her existing conception of a kitten illustrates the process of assimilation.
10. Adjusting current schemas to make sense of new information is called accommodation.
11. Which of the following represents the correct order of Piaget's stages of cognitive development? Sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational.
12. The awareness that things continue to exist even when they are not perceived is known as object permanence.
13. The principle that properties such as mass, volume, and number remain the same despite changes in the forms of objects is called conservation.
14. Mrs. Pearson cut Judy's hot dog into eight pieces and Sylvia's into six pieces. Sylvia cried because she felt she wasn't getting as much hot dog as Judy. Piaget would say that Sylvia doesn't understand the principle of conservation.
15. Nageeb thought all nurses were young females until a middle-aged male nurse took care of him. Nageeb's altered conception of a "nurse" illustrates the process of accommodation.

Social and Emotional Development

16. Four-year-old Jennifer mistakenly believes that her mother would like to receive a toy doll as a Christmas present. This best illustrates Piaget's concept of egocentrism.
17. In an experiment, children see a doll named Sally leave her ball in a red cupboard and go away. Then a second doll, Anne, moves the ball to a different location. In asking children where Sally will look for the ball upon her return, the investigators are testing the children's theory of mind.
18. An impaired theory of mind is most closely associated with autism.
19. Preschoolers' acquisition of a theory of mind suggests that they are much less egocentric than Piaget supposed.
20. According to Piaget's theory, during the concrete operational stage, a child is still unlikely to demonstrate the ability to think hypothetically.
21. According to Piaget, egocentrism is to conservation as the preoperational stage is to the concrete operational stage.
22. The acquisition of a sense of object permanence is most closely associated with a child's development of stranger anxiety.
23. The powerful survival impulse that leads infants to seek closeness to their caregivers is called attachment.
24. Mr. Johnson spends time each day caressing and rocking his infant daughter. This time together should serve most directly to promote secure attachment.
25. The process by which certain birds form attachments during a critical period very early in life is called imprinting.
26. Instead of happily exploring the attractive toys located in the pediatrician's waiting room, little Sandra tenaciously clings to her mother's skirt. Sandra most clearly shows signs of insecure attachment.
27. At 12 months of age, Jeremy shows no more desire to be held by his own parents than by complete strangers. His behavior best illustrates insecure attachment.
28. Even though Alicia was busy playing when her mother came to pick her up from her baby-sitter, she quickly ran to her mother, gesturing to be held. Alicia most clearly showed signs of secure attachment.
29. Erik Erikson suggested that children with a secure attachment to their parents are especially likely to experience basic trust.
30. When golden hamsters were repeatedly threatened and attacked while young, they suffered long-term changes in brain chemistry.