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Outline the major events of the three phases of prenatal development.
Germinal: implantation and placenta formation; Embryonic: organ systems begin forming; Fetal: growth, maturation, movement, viability.
Summarize the impact of environmental factors, including maternal health care, on prenatal development.
Teratogens, nutrition, stress, illness, drugs and poor prenatal care increase risks for low birth weight, defects, cognitive and behavioural issues.
Describe the general trends and cultural variations in motor development.
Cephalocaudal and proximodistal trends; sequence is universal but timing varies across cultures depending on experience and practice.
Summarize the findings of Thomas and Chess’s longitudinal study of infant temperament.
Three temperaments: easy, difficult, slow-to-warm-up; temperament is moderately stable and interacts with parenting (goodness of fit).
Summarize the research on infant-caregiver attachment, including cultural variations.
Strange Situation patterns (secure, avoidant, ambivalent); secure most common; some cultural variation in proportions due to caregiving norms.
Outline Erikson’s stages of childhood personality development, and critique his theory.
Trust vs mistrust, autonomy vs shame, initiative vs guilt, industry vs inferiority; criticism: vague mechanisms, culturally biased.
Outline Piaget’s stages of cognitive development, and critique his theory.
Sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational; criticism: underestimates infants, overestimates adolescents, stages less rigid.
Summarize debate on innate cognition and methods used.
Some abilities (object expectations, number sense) may be innate; methods: habituation, preferential looking, violation-of-expectation.
Describe milestones in development of understanding mental states.
Joint attention, desire understanding, false-belief understanding (~age 4), theory of mind develops gradually.
Outline Kohlberg’s theory of moral development, and critique his theory.
Preconventional, conventional, postconventional; criticism: cultural bias, gender bias, focuses on reasoning not behaviour.
Describe major events of puberty.
Growth spurt, sexual maturation, menarche/spermarche, hormonal changes, secondary sex characteristics.
Is adolescence a time of turmoil based on suicide evidence?
Suicide risk rises but remains rare; most adolescents function well; turmoil not universal.
Is adolescence turbulent among Canada’s Indigenous peoples?
Higher risks due to historical trauma and social factors, but not inherent to adolescence; contexts matter.
Explain why identity struggle is intense and patterns of identity status.
Adolescents explore roles; statuses: diffusion, foreclosure, moratorium, achievement.
Summarize evidence on personality stability, midlife crisis, and Erikson’s adulthood stages.
Personality moderately stable; midlife crisis not common; stages: intimacy vs isolation, generativity vs stagnation, integrity vs despair.
Describe typical transitions in family relations in adulthood.
Marriage adjustment, parenting changes, empty nest, caregiving for aging parents.
Describe physical and cognitive changes with aging and everyday effects.
Physical: sensory decline, strength loss; Cognitive: slower processing, some memory decline; affect daily independence and speed.
Explain heredity–environment joint influence.
Development shaped by genes and experience through interaction (e.g., reaction range, epigenetics).
Summarize gender differences in behaviour and significance.
Small average differences (aggression, spatial, verbal); overlap large; influenced by biology and culture; significance often overstated.
Three critical thinking skills to evaluate debate about fathers’ importance.
Identify assumptions, evaluate evidence quality, consider alternative explanations.
