STUDY GUIDE: UNIT 9 – DEVELOPMENT
AP Psychology
In addition to the information in this study guide, you are also responsible
for all of the content in textbook (Chapter 5), all information from class
notes/discussions, videos, handouts and graphic organizers.
It’s AP – it’s all fair game 
Terms & Concepts
All terms & concepts on page 227.
(Terms & concepts are also listed on the back of the APP February calendar)
Big Ideas: Chapter 5
1: How does life develop before birth?
 Zygote, embryo, fetus
 teratogens
2: What are some newborn abilities, and how do researchers explore infants’ mental abilities?
3: During infancy and childhood, how do the brain and motor skills develop?
 The developing brain
 Maturation
 Motor development
4: From the perspective of Piaget and of today’s researchers, how does a child’s mid develop?
 Schemas
 Assimilation & accommodation
 Piaget’s stages of cognitive development
 Current perspectives on Piaget’s theory
5: How do parent-infant attachment bonds form?
 Stranger anxiety
 Origins of attachment (Harlow)
6: How have psychologists studied attachment differences, and what have they learned?
 Secure attachment vs. insecure attachment
7: Do parental neglect, family disruption, or day care affect children’s attachments?
 Estrogen and testosterone
8: How do children’s self-concepts develop, and how are children’s traits related to parenting
styles?
 Authoritarian, permissive, and authoritative parenting styles
9: What physical changes mark adolescence?
 Puberty
 Primary sexual characteristics, secondary sexual characteristics
 Cognitive development
10: How did Piaget, Kohlberg, and later researchers describe adolescent cognitive and moral
development?
 Kohlberg: three levels of moral thinking
11: What are the social tasks and challenges of adolescence?
 Erickson’s stages of psychological development
12: What is emerging adulthood?
13: What physical changes occur during middle and late adulthood?
14: How do memory and intelligence change with age?
15: What themes and influences mark our social journey from adulthood to death?
 Adulthood’s commitments
 Successful aging
Reflections on two major developmental issues
 Continuity and stages
 Stability and change