Unit 9-Development

AP Psychology College Board Learning Objectives

• Discuss the interaction of nature and nurture (including cultural variations) in the determination of behavior.
• Explain the process of conception and gestation, including factors that influence successful fetal development (e.g., nutrition, illness, substance abuse).
• Discuss maturation of motor skills.
• Describe the influence of temperament and other social factors on attachment and appropriate socialization.
• Explain the maturation of cognitive abilities (e.g., Piaget’s stages, information processing).
• Compare and contrast models of moral development (e.g., Kohlberg, Gilligan).
• Discuss maturational challenges in adolescence, including related family conflicts.
• Characterize the development of decisions related to intimacy as people mature.
• Predict the physical and cognitive changes that emerge as people age, including steps that can be taken to maximize function.
• Describe how sex and gender influence socialization and other aspects of development.
• Identify key contributors in developmental psychology (e.g., Mary Ainsworth, Albert Bandura, Diana Baumrind, Erik Erikson, Sigmund Freud, Carol Gilligan, Harry Harlow, Lawrence Kohlberg, Konrad Lorenz, Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky).

Unit Study Guide Based on APA National Standards

Use these standards as a checklist to make sure you've mastered this unit.

• Methods and issues in life span development
  • 1.1 Explain the interaction of environmental and biological factors in development, including the role of the brain in all aspects of development.
  • 1.2 Explain issues of continuity/discontinuity and stability/change.
  • 1.3 Distinguish methods used to study development.
  • 1.4 Describe the role of sensitive and critical periods in development.
  • 1.5 Discuss issues related to the end of life.
• Theories of life span development
  • 2.1 Discuss theories of cognitive development.
  • 2.2 Discuss theories of moral development.
  • 2.3 Discuss theories of social development.
• Prenatal development and the newborn
  • 3.1 Describe physical development from conception through birth and identify influences on prenatal development.
  • 3.2 Describe newborns’ reflexes, temperament, and abilities.
• Infancy (i.e., the first two years of life)
  • 4.1 Describe physical and motor development.
  • 4.2 Describe how infant perceptual abilities and intelligence develop.
  • 4.3 Describe the development of attachment and the role of the caregiver.
  • 4.4 Describe the development of communication and language.
• Childhood
  • 5.1 Describe physical and motor development.
  • 5.2 Describe how memory and thinking ability develops.
  • 5.3 Describe social, cultural, and emotional development through childhood.
• Adolescence
  • 6.1 Identify major physical changes.
  • 6.2 Describe the development of reasoning and morality.
  • 6.3 Describe identity formation.
  • 6.4 Discuss the role of family and peers in adolescent development.
• Adulthood and Aging
  • 7.1 Identify major physical changes associated with adulthood and aging.
  • 7.2 Describe cognitive changes in adulthood and aging.
  • 7.3 Discuss social, cultural, and emotional issues in aging.