Study guides › P/S › Psychology
Development Across the Lifespan
This chapter follows development from conception to old age: prenatal growth, reflexes and motor milestones, attachment and temperament, the cognitive, psychosocial, and moral theories, and adolescence through aging. You will match stages, theorists, and behaviors quickly.
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What this chapter covers
- Prenatal Development, Infancy & Critical Periods. The MCAT asks which prenatal stage is most vulnerable, which reflex a baby shows, and what a critical period means.
- Attachment, Temperament & Parenting. Attachment styles are always tested as behaviors in the Strange Situation. Match the behavior on return to the style.
- Cognitive Development: Piaget & Vygotsky. Piaget's stages are labeled by what a child does. Practice recognizing each stage from a behavior you have not seen before.
- Psychosocial & Moral Development: Freud, Erikson, Kohlberg. These three stage theories are easy to mix up. Learn each theory's stage names, ages, and what drives it.
- Adolescence, Adulthood, Aging & Nature vs Nurture. Late topics in the outline: adolescent brain, aging and intelligence, study designs, and the classic nature versus nurture evidence.
Key points to know
- Germinal → embryonic → fetal; embryonic is the most vulnerable to teratogens
- Reflexes: rooting, sucking, Moro, grasp, Babinski
- Harlow: contact comfort over feeding; Bowlby: secure base
- Ainsworth: Strange Situation, judged by behavior at reunion
- Assimilation fits, accommodation changes the schema
- Object permanence ~8 months; A-not-B error before that is mastered
- Freud: oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital; fixation from unresolved conflict
- Erikson: eight crises; identity vs role confusion in adolescence
Try a practice question
In which prenatal stage do the major organs first form?
- Germinal
- Embryonic
- Fetal
- Neonatal
Show the answer
B. Organogenesis occurs in the embryonic stage (weeks 3-8), which is why teratogens are most harmful then. The germinal stage ends with implantation.
Common questions
What does this chapter cover?
Development Across the Lifespan covers Prenatal Development, Infancy & Critical Periods, Attachment, Temperament & Parenting, Cognitive Development: Piaget & Vygotsky, Psychosocial & Moral Development: Freud, Erikson, Kohlberg, Adolescence, Adulthood, Aging & Nature vs Nurture.
What should I know first?
Germinal → embryonic → fetal; embryonic is the most vulnerable to teratogens Reflexes: rooting, sucking, Moro, grasp, Babinski Harlow: contact comfort over feeding; Bowlby: secure base
24 original practice questions accompany this chapter in the app. Spaced review brings missed ideas back at the right time; it helps memory but cannot promise you will not miss an idea again.