Studying Developmental Psychology - AP Psychology

Object permanence refers to the ability to know an object still exists even though it is out of sight. Although research on the exact age of onset of object permanence is controversial, the preponderance suggests the age of onset to be between 4 and 8 months old, hence the correct answer in this question is 6 months old. All of the other answer choices are much too late in life for object permanence to first develop.

Alcohol consumption of any amount may cause neurons in an unborn, developing child to overshoot their destinations (especially in the brain and spinal cord), while exposure to radiation may cause neurons to stop short of their final destinations. Consumption of alcohol may result in Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Unborn children exposed to alcohol may, as a result, suffer from an abnormally small head, growth problems, learning and behavioral disabilities, lower intelligence, and birth defects.

Twin studies show that parenting has little effect on a child’s personality. When young, infants are generally referred to as “difficult” or “easy going.” These biological personality traits are not greatly influenced by external factors, such as parenting. Parenting does however have a significant influence on a child’s morals, religion, and manners, which can be imposed on a child through discipline and/or exposure. Parenting also influences intelligence, but not to the same extent as morality, religion, or mannerism. Rather, intelligence (and anxiety) is an effect of a child’s secure attachment.

Alfred Binet was a French psychologist, responsible for inventing the first intelligence test. The Binet test was designed to identify French children who were struggling in school. Binet believed that intelligence was not fixed, but that a child could grow into or be pulled to a higher level of intelligence. By taking this test, children who needed help would be given the attention they needed.

Jeffrey Arnett coined the term "emerging adulthood" to describe 18 to 25-year-olds from developed countries who are no longer adolescents, but still lack financial independence from their parents or guardians.

According to Piaget, children develop cognitive and social abilities in a series of 4 stages: sensorimotor (birth to 2 years), preoperational (2-7 years), concrete operational (7-11 years), and formal operational (12 years to adulthood). Egocentrism, according to Piagetian theory, refers to a child's belief that other people experience life in the same way that he or she does. Egocentric beliefs and behavior tend to decrease during the concrete operational stage; however, some egocentrism continues into adolescence.

The word "teratogen" refers to any substance that hinders fetal or embryonic development and can cause permanent harm to the baby. Examples of teratogen-caused harm to the baby include poor bonding, fetal alcohol syndrome, and higher rates of antisocial behavior.

Twin studies measure the impact of a person's genetics on their development of a certain personality trait. Because monozygotic (identical) twins share 100% of their DNA while dizygotic (fraternal) twins share only 50%, the similarities of results from a pair of identical twins can be compared to the similarities between a pair fraternal twins to estimate the heritability of a personality trait. The heritability of personality traits is a central question of the Nature vs. Nurture debate, which revolves around the extent to which genetic or environmental factors influence development.

All of these things affect the development of a human before they are even born. Children exposed to tobacco, excessive alcohol, and narcotics in utero can be at risk for potential birth defects. The most powerful factor in prenatal development, however, is genetics. A child's genetic predisposition to deformities or childhood illnesses are a huge factor in that child's development.

Psychologist Diana Baumrind researched three types of parenting styles: authoritarian (harsh, emphasis on obedience), permissive (unpredictable, lenient), and authoritative (consistent, discussion-based, praising). The authoritative style of parenting is considered to be the most beneficial because of its consistency, predictability, and encouraging nature. As for the other answers, "strict" and "passive" parenting styles do exist, but they are not key terms for specific parenting styles studied in psychology.

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) can have serious physical and cognitive effects. Lower IQ, eyes being far apart, ears being low down, and smaller stature usually characterize this particular disorder.

Fraternal twins are just like regular siblings and share 50% of their genes; however they are born at the same time. Identical twins share 100% of their genetic composition.

Testosterone is present in both males and females, but it is extremely important to male’s physical and psychological development. Testosterone triggers all the male characteristics that emerge during puberty and stimulates the growth of the male sex organs during fetal development.

Following a Noam Chomsky "nativist" perspective regarding universal grammar, Dr. Lengua thinks people are born with the ability to communicate regardless of their environmental influences. Social interactionist perspective is the opposite view in that individuals learn language and communication through modeling, dialogue, and corrective feedback. Behaviorist and sociocultural are distractors.

There are approximately 30,000 genes in the human genome. These genes influence many traits including physical and psychological characteristics. Some genes can influence multiple traits, while others influence only a single trait. It is important to understand that the biological basis of genetics in order to fully understand psychology.

Behavioral genetics examines how genes and environmental factors influence behavior. Behavioral genetics often involves twin studies and focuses on three primary factors. First, they study what is known as additive—or shared—genes associated with the trait being examined. Next, they examine shared environments. Finally, behavioral genetics also examines non-shared environments. These three components help to explain the extent to which the presence of a particular trait is due to genetic or environmental factors.

"Heritability" describes the amount of variance in a trait that is controlled for by genes. For example, height has a high heritability because it is almost exclusively influenced by genes, not the environment. Some psychological traits can have high heritability too. For example, substance abuse problems often run in families. Behavioral genetics has determined that substance abuse problems can be around 50% heritable. This means that even though a child grows up in a drug-free environment, they may still be at risk for inheriting the trait from biological factors. For example, if one of their biological parents had experienced substance abuse issues, then the child could be at risk at also developing them later in life.

"Family socioeconomic status" is an environmental factor that has strong influences on several behavioral and developmental traits. Anything that is biologically passed down like a familial disorder or certain genetic trait would fall into the genetic category. Anything that is not determined by biology but by situation or life experiences falls into the environmental category.

Environments that are experienced by all siblings in a family and have similar effects on all the members of the family are considered to be shared environments. Family income would exert similar pressures and experiences on all the siblings in a family. Behavioral genetics studies siblings (often twins) in order to observe the relationship between genetic and environmental factors. They do this by isolating environmental variables. For instance, if psychologists know whether or not siblings possessed a shared environment, then they can determine what traits are most influenced by specific family characteristics and what traits are most influenced by environmental factors outside the home.