AP Psychology (8-10)

AP Psychology (8-10)

1. Chapter 9: Motivation and Emotion

2. Chapter 8: Developement

   • Developmental Psychology: is the scientific study of the changes that occur as people age from conception to death
     • Longitudinal studies: one group of people is followed and assessed at different times as they age
       • Pro: determines age related changes
       • Cons: expensive, time consuming, and hard to maintain relationship with participants
     • Cross-Sequential Studies: combination of longitudinal and cross-sectional studies
     • Cross-sectional studies: several different age groups are studied at one time
       • Pro: determines age related differences, fast, and inexpensive
       • Cons: cannot examine the same individual as they age
     • Nature vs Nurture
       • Scientists agree that development relies on 50% of both Nature and Nurture
       • Nature: heredity and influence of inherited characteristics on personality, growth, intellect, social skills; etc.
         • Genetics: science of heredity and involves the study of DNA, genes, and chromosomes
           • Dominant Genes: likely to influence a trait
           • Recessive Genes: only get their instructions carried out if the other chromosome pair also contains a recessive gene
           • Prenatal Development Stages: Fertilization, Mitosis, Germinal period, Embryonic period, and Fetal Period
             • Fertilization: occurs when the sperm penetrates the egg (or ovum)
               • Results in a Zygote: single cell with 46 chromosomes (23 from the sperm and 23 from the egg)
             • Germinal Period: first two weeks after fertilization during which the zygote migrates to the uterus and attaches to the uterine wall
               • Placenta and Umbilical Cord develop; all differentiation and specialization begin 
             • Embryonic Period: lasts from about week 2 to week 8 after which the embryo is about 1 inch long with primitive eyes, nose, lips, teeth, arms, and legs
               • Organs develop and Embryo is vulnerable
             • Fetal Period: lasts from week 8 after conception to the end of pregancy
               • Fetus grows and develops and organs function
             • Mitosis: process during which the single-celled zygote divides repeatedly to grow
             • Early Years of Life
               • Brain triples in weight during the first two years of life, caused by the expansion of existing cells rather than the growth of new ones
               • Jean Piaget: believed the primary factor in the development of a child's cognitive abilities was the child's interactions with objects in the environment
                 • Four stages of cognitive development from infancy to adolescence: Sensorimotor, pre-operational stage, concrete operational, and formal operational
                   • Sensorimotor (birth-2 years): coordination of senses with motor response, sensory curiousity and learning, language for demands and cataloging, object permanence develops
                   • Pre-Operational (2-7 years): symbolic thinking, use of proper syntax and grammar, expression of full concepts, imagination and intuition are strong, complex abstract thought is difficult, conservation develops, animism, egocentrism
                   • Concrete Operational (7-12 years): conservation fully develops, reversible thinking is possible, ration thinking takes over still difficult to handle abstract conceps
                   • Formal operational (12-adulthood): theoretical, hypothetical, abstract deduction, strategic thinking
       • Nurture: influence of the environment on inherited traits including parenting styles, socioeconimic status, physical surroundings, etc.

3. Chapter 10: Stress and Health

4. Chapter 11: Social Pyshcology