Developmental, Cognitive, and Learning Psychology: Mini-Textbook Study Notes

Developmental Psychology

Introduction to Developmental Psychology

Developmental psychology is the scientific study of human physical, cognitive, social, and behavioral characteristics across the lifespan. It explores how early developmental influences shape later behavior and examines both stability and change in traits as individuals age.

• Developmental Psychology: The study of changes in memory, thought, reasoning, and behavior throughout life.

• Patterns of Development: Can be stages (abrupt transitions) or continuous (gradual changes).

• Stability and Change: Investigates which traits persist and how individuals change as they age.

Research Designs in Developmental Psychology

• Cross-sectional Design: Measures and compares samples of people at different ages at a single point in time.

• Longitudinal Design: Follows the same set of individuals over time to observe developmental changes.

• Cohort Effects: Differences between people due to being born in different time periods.

Stages of Prenatal Development

• Zygote: A cell formed by the fusion of a sperm and an ovum; contains chromosomes from both parents.

• Germinal Stage: First two weeks after conception.

• Embryonic Stage: Weeks 2-8; major organs and structures form (95% by 8 weeks).

• Fetal Stage: Week 9 onward; growth and myelination (insulating fat added, speeds neural communication).

Epigenetics and Teratogens

• Epigenetics: Interactions between environment and genes (e.g., effects of the womb).

• Teratogen: Any agent that damages the process of development (e.g., smoking, drugs, alcohol, stress).

• Placenta: The organ through which substances pass from mother to fetus.

Fetal Brain Development

• 4 weeks: Midbrain, hindbrain, auditory and optic vesicles form.

• 7 weeks: Metencephalon (future cerebellum and pons), spinal cord.

• 11 weeks: Cerebral hemisphere, cerebellum, medulla, spinal cord, optic chiasm.

• 7-9 months: Cerebrum, cerebellum, spinal cord mature.

Premature Birth and Survival

• Preterm Infants: Born before 36 weeks.

• Survival Rates: 25 weeks: 50% survival; 30 weeks: 95% survival.

• NIDCAP: Science-based interventions to help preterm infants.

Sensory and Motor Development in Infancy

• Sensory Development: Brain receives signals for eyes and ears by 4 months gestation; fetus actively listens by 7-8 months.

• Vision: At birth, infants see up to 30 cm; reach 20/20 vision by 12 months.

• Smell: Newborns can discriminate mother’s breastmilk and react to foul odors.

• Visual Cliff: Used to test depth perception in infants (8-18 months).

Reflexes and Motor Development

• Rooting Reflex: Sucking motions when cheek is touched.

• Moro Reflex: Startle response to sudden stimuli.

• Grasping Reflex: Grasping when palm is stimulated.

• Stepping Reflex: Stepping motions when feet touch a surface.

Neural Development: Synaptogenesis and Pruning

• Synaptogenesis: Formation of new synaptic connections.

• Synaptic Pruning: Elimination of unused or weak connections; strengthens active ones.

• Sensitive Period: Window during which environmental stimulation is crucial for normal development (e.g., language, perception).

Cognitive Development: Piaget and Vygotsky

• Cognition: All mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating.

• Schemas: Mental molds for organizing experiences.

• Assimilation: Incorporating new experiences into existing schemas.

• Accommodation: Modifying schemas to fit new information.

• Zone of Proximal Development (Vygotsky): Range of tasks a child can perform with guidance.

• Scaffolding: Teaching method where guidance is matched to learner’s needs.

Attachment and Parenting

• Attachment: Emotional bond between infant and caregiver.

• Harry Harlow’s Monkey Experiment: Demonstrated importance of emotional bonding beyond food.

• Strange Situation Test: Measures infant attachment by observing reactions to caregiver’s presence and absence.

Type of Attachment	Behavior
Secure	May or may not cry when mother leaves; seeks comfort when she returns.
Insecure - Disorganized	No consistent pattern; may freeze.
Insecure - Anxious	Upset when mother leaves; angry when she returns.
Insecure - Avoidant	Not upset when mother leaves; does not seek contact when she returns.

• Deprivation of Attachment: Can lead to lifelong emotional and cognitive scars, epigenetic effects, psychological disorders, and health problems.

• Attachment Behavioral System: Focused on meeting own needs for security.

• Caregiving Behavioral System: Focused on meeting needs of others.

• Introjection: Internalization of conditional regard from significant others.

• Inductive Discipline: Explaining consequences to activate empathy.

Parenting Style	Description
Authoritarian	Coercive; imposes rules, expects obedience.
Permissive	Unrestraining; few demands, little punishment.
Negligent	Uninvolved.
Authoritative	Confrontive; demanding and responsive, encourages discussion.

Self-Awareness and Psychosocial Development

• Self-Awareness: Recognizing one’s individuality; begins around 6 months with mirror recognition.

• Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages:

  • Infancy: Trust vs. Mistrust

  • Toddlerhood: Autonomy vs. Shame

  • Early Childhood: Initiative vs. Guilt

  • Childhood: Industry vs. Inferiority

Adolescent and Adult Brain Development

• Prefrontal Cortex: Responsible for planning, mood, impulse control, organizing, reasoning; develops until age 25.

• Anterior Cingulate: Monitors conflict, helps decision-making.

Kohlberg’s Moral Development

• Preconventional Morality: Self-interest guides behavior.

• Conventional Morality: Social conventions and rules guide behavior.

• Postconventional Morality: Rules and laws are considered relative.

Aging and Cognitive Changes

• Socioemotional Selectivity Theory: Older adults select more positive and nourishing experiences.

• Alzheimer’s Disease: Buildup of beta-amyloid protein forms plaques, kills nerve cells; affects memory processing in hippocampus.

• Fluid Intelligence: Declines with age.

• Crystallized Intelligence: Remains largely intact.

• Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS): Measures intelligence in adults.

Consciousness and Sleep

States of Consciousness

• Coma: Deep state of unconsciousness.

• Brain Death: Irreversible loss of brain function.

• Default Mode Network: Brain network active during mind wandering and self-referential thought.

• Dissociation Theory: Explains divided consciousness.

• Minimally Conscious State (MCS): Limited awareness; some response to stimuli.

• Persistent Vegetative State: No awareness; basic physiological functions remain.

Circadian Rhythms and Sleep Stages

• Pathways: Retina sends light information to the Suprachiasmatic nucleus, which relays to the pineal gland to secrete melatonin.

• EEG Sleep Stages:

  • Awake: Beta waves

  • Awake and calm: Alpha waves

  • Stage 1: Theta waves

  • Stage 2: Sleep spindles

  • Stage 3-4: Delta waves

  • REM Sleep: Matches Stage 2

• Sleep Progression: First half dominated by deep, slow-wave sleep; REM increases in second half.

Sleep Deprivation and Dreaming

• Sleep Deprivation: Increases accident risk; affected by daylight savings and weather.

• Theories of Dreaming:

  • Problem-Solving Theory: Dreams help solve problems (does not explain cognitive mechanisms).

  • Activation-Synthesis Hypothesis: Pons sends excitatory messages to thalamus and cortex, creating dream imagery; inhibitory signals prevent movement.

Mind Wandering and Brain Networks

• Default Network: Self-regulated thinking.

• Frontal Network: Goal-directed thought and planning.

Consciousness in Vegetative Patients

• fMRI Techniques: Used to detect mental imagery and command comprehension in vegetative patients.

Psychoactive Drugs and Their Effects

• Agonistic Effects: Increase neurotransmitter activity (e.g., increase release, prevent reuptake).

• Antagonistic Effects: Decrease neurotransmitter activity (e.g., block receptors).

• Stimulants: Affect nucleus accumbens and ventral tegmental area.

• Cocaine: Blocks dopamine reuptake.

• Methamphetamine: Increases dopamine release.

• Opiates: Include fentanyl, oxycodone; derived from poppy plants.

• Sedatives: Barbiturates can shut down brainstem regions, reduce REM sleep.

• Benzodiazepines: Increase GABA effects (e.g., Xanax, Valium).

• Alcohol: Targets GABA receptors, inhibits frontal lobe.

• Weed (THC): Binds to cannabinoid receptors, mimics neurotransmitters involved in sleep and memory; disrupts short and long-term memory.

• Treatment: Methadone for opioid addiction.

Learning and Conditioning

Classical Conditioning

• Acquisition: Learning phase where a conditioned response (CR) is established.

• Conditioned Emotional Response: Emotional reaction learned through conditioning.

• Generalization: CR occurs to stimuli similar to the original conditioned stimulus (CS).

• Discrimination: CR does not occur to different stimuli.

• Extinction: CR disappears when CS is presented without the unconditioned stimulus (US).

• Latent Inhibition: Difficulty in conditioning to a familiar stimulus.

• Preparedness: Biological predisposition to learn certain associations.

• Spontaneous Recovery: Reappearance of a CR after extinction.

Operant Conditioning

• Law of Effect (Thorndike): Behaviors followed by favorable consequences are more likely to be repeated.

• Operant Chamber: Laboratory apparatus for studying operant conditioning (rat presses lever for reward).

Type	Stimulus	Effect	Example
Positive Reinforcement	Added/Increased	Increases response	Child gets allowance for making bed
Negative Reinforcement	Removed/Decreased	Increases response	Rain stops after opening umbrella
Positive Punishment	Added/Increased	Decreases response	Dog scolded for jumping up
Negative Punishment	Removed/Decreased	Decreases response	TV privileges taken away

Schedules of Reinforcement

• Fixed Interval Schedule: Reinforcement after a set time period.

• Fixed Ratio Schedule: Reinforcement after a set number of responses.

• Partial Reinforcement Effect: Greater resistance to extinction when reinforcement is not continuous.

Learning Processes

• Chaining: Linking sequences of behaviors.

• Avoidance Learning: Learning to avoid unpleasant stimuli.

• Escape Learning: Learning to escape from unpleasant stimuli.

Observational Learning and Mirror Neurons

• Imitation: Children imitate facial expressions; humans over-imitate compared to chimps.

• Mirror Neurons: Neurons that fire when observing or performing an action; important for imitation.

• Bobo Doll Experiment: Demonstrated effects of media exposure and imitation in children.

Scientific Literacy and Media Effects

• Correlation vs. Causation: Correlation does not imply causation.

• Frontal and Parietal Lobe Activation: Linked to media exposure and behavior.

Memory

Memory Systems and Processes

• Central Executive: Controls attention and processing in working memory.

• Chunking: Grouping information for easier recall.

• Consolidation: Stabilizing memories for long-term storage.

• Declarative Memories: Memories of facts and events.

• Non-declarative Memories: Procedural and implicit memories.

• Phonological Loop: Holds verbal and auditory information.

• Proactive/Retroactive Interference: Old/new information interferes with memory.

• Reconsolidation: Memories are re-stored after retrieval.

Encoding and Retrieval

• Context-Dependent Memory: Recall is better in the same context as encoding.

• State-Dependent Memory: Recall is better in the same physiological state.

• Mood-Dependent Memory: Recall is better when mood matches encoding.

• Testing Effect: Retrieval practice improves memory.

• Self-Reference Effect: Information related to self is better remembered.

Constructive Memory and False Memories

• Schemas: Mental frameworks for organizing information.

• False Memory: Remembering events that did not occur.

• Misinformation Effect: Memory altered by misleading information.

• Recovered Memory Controversy: Debate over accuracy of recovered memories.

Thought and Language

Concepts and Categories

• Concept: Mental grouping of similar objects, events, or people.

• Category: Class of items sharing common features.

• Semantic Network: Web of related concepts.

• Prototype: Best example of a category.

• Exemplar: Specific member of a category.

Problem Solving and Heuristics

• Algorithm: Step-by-step procedure for solving problems.

• Heuristics: Mental shortcuts for problem solving.

• Anchoring Effect: Relying too heavily on initial information.

• Representative Heuristic: Judging likelihood by similarity to prototype.

• Availability Heuristic: Judging likelihood by ease of recall.

• Belief Perseverance: Maintaining beliefs despite contrary evidence.

• Confirmation Bias: Seeking information that supports beliefs.

• Conjunction Fallacy: Assuming specific conditions are more probable than general ones.

• Functional Fixedness: Inability to see alternative uses for objects.

• Mental Set: Tendency to approach problems in a particular way.

Language and Communication

• Aphasia: Language impairment due to brain damage.

• Broca’s Area: Speech production.

• Wernicke’s Area: Language comprehension.

• Morpheme: Smallest unit of meaning.

• Phoneme: Smallest unit of speech sound.

• Pragmatics: Social rules of language use.

• Semantics: Meaning of words and sentences.

• Syntax: Rules for combining words.

Intelligence

Intelligence and Measurement

• Intelligence: Ability to learn, reason, and solve problems.

• Intelligence Quotient (IQ): Standardized score for intelligence.

• Mental Age: Age at which a person performs intellectually.

• Deviation IQ: IQ based on deviation from average scores.

• Anthropometrics: Measurement of human physical characteristics.

• Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS): Common intelligence test.

• Stanford-Binet Test: Early intelligence test.

• Raven’s Progressive Matrices: Nonverbal intelligence test.

Theories of Intelligence

• Fluid Intelligence (gf): Ability to reason and solve novel problems.

• Crystallized Intelligence (Gc): Accumulated knowledge and skills.

• General Intelligence Factor (g): Underlying factor in all cognitive abilities.

• Multiple Intelligences: Theory that intelligence is composed of several distinct abilities.

• Savant Abilities: Exceptional skills in specific areas.

• Flynn Effect: Rise in average IQ scores over time.

• Entity Theory: Intelligence is fixed.

• Incremental Theory: Intelligence can be developed.

• Nootropic Substances: Drugs or supplements that enhance cognitive function.

Additional info:

• Some terms and concepts were expanded for clarity and completeness, such as the details of Piaget's stages, Vygotsky's theory, and the scientific context of memory and intelligence testing.

• Tables were recreated and expanded for attachment types and parenting styles, as well as reinforcement and punishment types.

• Key terms from the original notes were grouped and explained in context for exam preparation.