1 DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY - TEXTBOOK Flashcards
What is developmental psychology?
Study of continuity and change across the human life span
What is the nature vs nurture debate?
Naïve distinction about whether development is determined by genetics or environment
Why is the nature vs nurture debate naïve?
Genes that influence development also depend on the environment to determine how they are expressed
What is canalization?
The idea of development as constrained epigenesis
What is Waddington’s epigenetic landscape?
A metaphor for the concept of development as the interaction between genes and environment
What is the epigenetic landscape made up of?
Valleys and troughs at different depths
What happens as the ball rolls down the epigenetic landscape?
Some parts of its journey are well specifed/highly probable due to deep canalization and other paths are less predictable because path is less specified
What is infancy?
The period from birth up to second year of life
When is childhood?
Begins at around 18-24 months and continues until late adolescence
When is adolescence?
Begins with the onset of sexual maturity (around 11-14) and continues until the beginning of adulthood (18-21)
When is the prenatal stage?
Begins with conception, ends with birth
What is a zygote?
A single cell that contains chromosomes from both a sperm and an egg
How many chromosomes do sex cells contain?
23
When is the germinal stage?
Two week period that begins at conception
What happens during the germinal stage?
Zygote begins to divide, migrates down fallopian tube and implants itself in uterus wall
When is the embryonic stage?
Weeks 2-8
What is a blastocyst?
Cluster of embryonic cells
What is an embryonic disk?
Three-layered flattened structure that emerges from blastocyst
What are the three layers of the embryonic disk?
Endoderm, mesoderm and ectoderm
What is the endoderm?
Layer that goes on to form internal organs
What is mesoderm?
Layer that goes on to form skeletal muscles
What is the ectoderm?
Layer that goes on to form skin and nervous system
When is the fetal stage?
Week 9 until birth
When is the embryo known as a fetus?
During fetal stage
What is the neural tube?
The cylindrical structure of the embryonic nervous system
How is the neural tube formed?
A portion of the ectoderm folds over
What emerges from the neural tube?
Forebrain and midbrain at one end and spinal cord at the other
What happens to the neural tube around weeks 3-4?
Cells undergo neurogenesis
What is neurogenesis?
The formation of neural cells
What are teratogens?
Agents/toxins that affect fetal development
Name 4 examples of teratogens.
Lead in water, mercury in fish, tobacco, alcohol
What is fetal alcohol syndrome?
A developmental disorder that stems from heavy alcohol use during pregnancy
What are the possible effects of fetal alcohol syndrome?
Increased risk of birth defects (especially regarding shape/size of head and brain) and impaired cognitive development
What are the possible effects of tobacco use during pregnancy?
Perceptual and attentional problems and low birth weight
In which stage of pregnancy are teratogens the most dangerous?
During the embryonic stage
When does the human brain begin to function?
As it is being built
What can a fetus learn while in the womb?
Mother’s voice
What is prosody?
The rythym of speech
What is the usual gestation period of human babies?
40 weeks
What are generative processes?
Those that lead to the formation of new structures
What are three major generative processes?
Aborization, Synaptogenesis, Myelination
What is arborization?
Process where cell axon lengthens and grows increasing dendritic branches
What is synaptogenesis?
Increase in number of synaptic junctions
What are synaptic junctions?
Areas where cells communicate through activity of neurotransmitters
What is myelination?
Formation of fatty sheath around axons of a brain cell
What is the function of the myelin sheath?
To increase rate of signal transmission along axon
What is synaptic pruning?
Mechanism which eliminates synaptic connections
What is the function of synaptic pruning?
Discarding inactive connections increases efficiency
What is the phrase often attributed to synaptic pruning?
Use it or lose it!
What is plasticity?
The capacity of the brain to be moduled by experience
What are three reasons humans are born with underdeveloped brains?
Evolution of brain, adaptability to born environment, learning from others
What are the two types of plasticity?
Experience-expectant plasticity, experience-dependent plasticity
What is experience-expectant plasticity?
Pre-specified neural organisation that is waiting for input from environment
When does experience-expectant plasticity typically operate?
During sensitive periods of development
What are sensitive periods of development?
Relatively specific times when environmental input is expected
Give an example of experience-expectant plasticity?
Development of visual system during first 6 months of life
What is experience-dependent plasticity?
Non pre-specified neural organisation that depends on input from environment
How does timing of experience affect experience-dependent plasticity?
It doesn’t
What are the two types of developmental change?
Quantitative and qualitative change
What is quantitative change?
Amount or quantity of change
What is qualitative change?
Type or quality of change
Why is qualitative change significant?
Suggests significantly different mechanisms are operating
What is a milestone?
Important demarcating event on path of development
What does demarcate mean?
To define limits of, distinguish
What are stage theories?
Theories that advocate development as a fundamental reoraganisation of underlying mechanisms
What are the five primary developmental functions?
Continuous increasing ability, continuous decreasing ability, step or stage like, inverted u-shaped, upright u-shaped
How do you remember the five developmental functions?
Up, down, on the stairs, going in circles
What are the two typical research designs in developmental psychology?
Longitudinal, cross-sectional
What tool is employed in longitudinal studies?
Repeated measure
What are cross-sectional studies vulnerable to?
Cohort bias
What is cohort bias?
Anomalies predominant in one group that distort comparison between groups
Who is considered to be the father of developmental psychology?
Jean Piaget
What is Piaget’s clinical method of studying children?
Manipulating the situation to see how the child’s behaviour changes in a reliable manner
What did Robert Fantz (1961) establish?
Visual preference paradigm
What is the visual preference paradigm?
Technique that uses difference in duration of looking to infer pattern discrimination
What is the most common experimental method used with very young children?
Habituation
What is habituation?
Response to stimulation declines with repeated exposure
What is the preference for novelty paradigm?
Following habituation, organisms prefer to attend to novel stimulation
Why is the preference for novelty paradigm poweful?
Tests how well the infant differentiates aspects of the world
What is VOE?
Violation of expectancy paradigm
What is the violoation of expectancy paradigm?
Where the anticipated outcome is deliberately contravened
What does the VOE show?
Infant is not passive, they are trying to work out what should happen next
What is a geodesic sensor?
A network of sensitive electrodes that detects tiny changes in electrical voltage at the scalp surface
What is a structured interview?
A consistent set of questions about a topic under consideration
Can newborns see?
No, newborns are legally blind
What is acuity?
The level of finest visual detail that can be resolved
What is visual scanning?
The ability to selectively move one’s eyes around the environment
What is sticky fixation?
Where infants younger than two months appear to lock their gaze on highly visible objects from which they cannot easily disengage
What is visual contrast?
Areas of greatest brightness relative to darkness
At what age is an infant’s vision comparable to that of an adult?
6 months
At what age does hearing reach adult levels?
5 to 8 years
What, during pregnancy, may affect later food preference of infants?
Taste of amniotic fluid
What does touch stimulate in infants?
Release of hormones that regulate metabolism and growth
What are mental representations?
Patterns of neuronal activity that refer to aspects of the external world
What are the five levels of processing and representation in the brain?
Stimulus, sensory representation, perceptual process, perceptual representation, cognition
Do newborns represent perceptual constancies?
Yes
What are perceptual constancies?
Compensatory processes that adjust for percieved physical changes of size and shape that enable us to recognize that as an object moves, it remains the same object
What is crossmodal perception?
Capacity to detect correspondences of different features from different sensory modalities
What does crossmodal perception require?
Integration of information from visual and auditory processing regions of brain
What is the primary reason for developing a brain?
To move around at will and act on environment
What is motor development?
The emergence of the ability to execute physical actions such as reaching, grasping, crawling and walking
What are reflexes?
Specific patterns of motor response that are triggered by specific patterns of sensory stimulation
What is the ‘rooting’ reflex?
Tendency for newborns to move their mouths towards anything that touches their cheek
What are reflexes supported by?
Subcortical brain mechanisms
Describe the pattern of development of motor skills?
Ordered sequence but not a strict timetable
What is stereopsis?
Perception of depth by combining the images from each eye
Is stereopsis present in newborns?
No, relies on cortical mechanisms and emerges around 3 months
What is the visual cliff?
Platform with a shallow drop on one side and a steep cliff on the other
What does the visual cliff test?
Depth perception and fear responses to drops in height
Why may infants avoid crossing the deep side of the visual cliff?
They perceive affordances
What are affordances?
Potentials for possible actions by agents acting on the environment
Who is known to be the father of cognitive development studies?
Jean Piaget
How many stages are there in Piaget’s theory of cognitive development?
4
What are the four stages of Piaget’s theory of cognitive development?
Sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational
What did Piaget believe about transition through the stages of development?
They are universal and invariant
In what way are Piaget’s stages universal?
Every child in every culture goes through the same stages
In what way are Piaget’s stages invariant?
Every child goes through the same sequence in the same order at roughly the same time
What produces cognitive development according to Piaget?
Maturation, experiences and activities
What is maturation?
Biologically constrained change
When does the sensorimotor stage occur?
Begins with birth and lasts through infancy
What are the characteristics of the sensorimotor stage?
Infant experiences world through movement and senses, develops schemas, acts intentionally, shows understanding of object permanence
What is assimilation (in terms of schemas)?
When infants apply their schemas in novel situations
What is accommodation (in terms of schemas)?
When infants revise their schemas in light of new information
What is object permanence?
The idea objects continue to exist when they are not visible
What was Piaget’s famous object permanence finding?
Young infants make A not B error
What is limited competence?
An inability to understand what needs to be done to solve a task
What is limited performance?
An inability to execute the necessary actions to solve a task
When does the preoperational stage occur?
Between 2 and 6 years old
What are the characteristics of the preoperational stage?
Acquisition of motor skills but no understanding of conservation of physical properties. Transition from egocentricism to basic theory of mind
What is conservation?
The notion that the quantitative properties of an object are invariant despite changes in the object’s appearance
What is centration?
The tendency to focus on just one property of an object to the exclusion of all others
When does the concrete operational stage occur?
Between 6 and 11 years old
What are the characteristics of the concrete operational stage?
Logical thinking about physical objects and events, understanding of conservation
What is the appearance-reality distinction?
The appreciation that looks can be decieving
When does the formal operational stage occur?
11 years old through adulthood
What are the characteristics of the formal operational stage?
Logical thinking about abstract propostitions and hypotheticals
In what two ways has Piaget’s theory of development been criticised?
Children acquire abilities earlier than he proposed, development is continuous and not step-like
What do information-processing theories of development argue?
Children use more efficient strategies, increased capacity to process and store information and faster mental operations to solve ever more complicated problems
What metaphor captures the principles of information-processing?
Computer
What are executive functions?
Mental operations that enable us to coordinate our thoughts and behaviours
What is inhibition?
The ability to suppress intrusive thoughts and behaviours
What are three examples of executive function?
Planning, memory and inhibition?
What is the deferred imitation paradigm?
Where the infant imitates an event demonstrated some time earlier
What does the deferred imitation paradigm suggest?
Presence of long term memory in infants
Why do children forget?
Lack frameworks for recounting and storing events
What is causal reasoning?
When we infer that events happening close together in time and space are linked in some causal way
At what age can children reorder pictures of an apple being cut into pieces?
3 years old
What do core knowledge theories of development argue?
Child is born with some ‘hard-wired’ understanding about the world, instincts
What metaphor captures the principles of core knowledge?
Swiss army knife
According to core knowledge theorists, what are the core domains learnt through guidance by core principles?
Language, counting skills, navigation, understanding of solid objects
What are the characteristics of the core principles?
They are universal and unchanging, they do not have to be learnt
What are intuitive theories?
Frameworks that are not explicitly taught and explain related aspects of the world
What is psychological essentialism?
The belief that things in nature and in particular living things are what they are because of some inner property or essence
What do sociocultural theorists believe about cognitive development?
Development is result of child’s interactions with members of their own culture rather than objects
What are cultural tools?
Language, counting systems
How do cultural tools effect development?
Provide ability for children to have thoughts
What is the zone of proximal development?
A child’s range of skills
What is the effect of interacting with adults or more knowledgeable peers on a child’s zone of proximal development?
Skills acquired towards top of their available range
What is adolescence?
That weird time between childhood and adulthood
What is puberty?
Bodily changes associated with sexual maturity
What are primary sex characteristics?
Bodily structures that are directly involved in reproduction
What are secondary sex characteristics?
Bodily structures that change dramatically with sexual maturity but are not directly involved in reproduction
What happens to brain during puberty?
Development of neurons in frontal and parietal lobes peaks at 12, peaks at 16 in temporal lobe and increases in occipital lobe until aged 20
What is adulthood?
Final stage of development
When is adulthood?
Begins 18-21 until death
What area of the brain deteriorates the most quickly during adulthood?
Prefrontal cortex and associated subcortical connections
What is the prefrontal cortex responsible for?
Executive functions
Which types of memory show the most pronounced decline?
Working (vs long term) memory, Episodic (vs semantic) memory, Retrieval (vs recognition)
How do adult brains compensate for declining functions?
Using other neuronal structures to compensate for failures of the original
How does bilateral symmetry change in old age?
Remembering’ in older adults shows activation of multiple areas instead of strong activation in localised areas
What affects what we remember in old age?
Changing orientations, what we focus on
What is socioemotional selectivity?
Change in orientation towards information, shortening of future causes us to focus on information relevant to present and information that is positive
How does happiness change with age?
Overall happiness increases with age and positive emotional experiences are sustained for longer
How do our social networks change with age?
They become smaller, we are more selective about who we spend time with
What are feral children?
Children raised in isolation from society
What is very important for normal development?
Early social interaction (as well as nourishment and safety)
Which famous experimenter studied the effect of social isolation on monkeys?
Harlow
What is the effect on monkeys when they are reared in isolation from birth?
Incapable of communication with others of their kind, antisocial mothers
Are the effects of isolation reversible in monkeys?
Yes
In what time period is isolation reversible in monkeys?
6 month sensitive period
What is imprinting?
A process where the hatchlings bond to their mother at first sight and then follow her about everywhere
Which animal expert first identified imprinting in birds?
Lorenz
When given two patterns, one face like and one not, which do human newborns prefer to look at?
Face like pattern
What is conspec?
A system that orients the infant towards face-like structures
What supports conspec?
Mature subcortical brain mechanisms that are present from birth
What acquired ability is used to learn about specific faces?
Conlearn
What supports conlearn?
Maturing cortical brain mechanisms
What is babyness?
Lorenz’s term for relative attractiveness of big eyes and big heads
What is the effect of babyness?
Evokes positive and caring response in adults
What is joint attention?
Capacity to coordinate the social interaction with attention towards objects of mutual interest
What are two ways to establish joint attention?
Gaze following and pointing
What is the most obvious form of joint attention?
When individuals follow each other’s gaze
What is social smiling?
Smiles directed at people
What does social smiling require?
Reciprocation, contingent behaviour
What is contingent behaviour?
Synchronized responding from adult
What is a dyadic (gaze) relationship?
Where focus of interest is between two individuals
What is a tryadic (gaze) relationship?
Where attention is directed between two individuals and a third potential source
What is joint attention useful for?
Facilitation of language learning
What is social referencing?
Looking at carers to gauge their reaction in unfamiliar or threatening circumstances
What are the two types of pointing?
Protoimperative and protodeclarative pointing
What is the function of protoimperative pointing?
To direct another’s attention to obtain a particular goal (goal-oriented)
What is the function of protodeclarative pointing?
To direct another’s attention to an object or event of interest (object/event-oriented)
Which of the two types of pointing is uniquely human?
Protodeclarative pointing
What is attachment?
An emotional bond
What are the three key features of attachment?
Proximity seeking, secure base, separation protest
What is proximity seeking?
Attached child will stay close to primary carer
What is secure base?
Primary carer provides secure base from which the attached child can explore the world
What is separation protest?
Attached children will be distressed if separated from primary carer
Which psychiatrist studied attachment?
Bowlby
How many phases of attachment are there according to Bowlby?
3 (Up to 2 months, 7 months, 2 years)
According to Bowlby, what marks the second phase of attachment?
Stranger anxiety
What is stranger anxiety?
A fearful response associated with crying and attempts to cling or move closer to the carer
Why does Bowlby believe infants become attached to their primary carer?
Innate evolutionary drive
Who developed the ‘strange situation’ test?
Mary Ainsworth
What does the ‘strange situation’ determine?
Child’s attachment style
In the ‘strange situation’ what indices are the infant’s reactions coded according to?
Proximity seeking, contact maintenance, resistance, avoidance
What are the four main attachment styles?
Secure, avoidant, ambivalent, disorganized
What influences attachment style?
Parenting styles and attitudes, culture
What culture promotes avoidant attachment by fostering independence?
German
What culture promotes ambivalent attachment?
Japanese
What are attachment objects?
Blankets and soft toys that children are emotionally attached to and use for reassurance
What is key to establishing secure attachment?
Parental sensitivity
What is parental sensitivity?
Consistent attentiveness to the infant’s emotional well-being
Why do infants track parental sensitivity?
To create an internal working model of attachment
What is an internal working model of attachment?
The child’s expectations of how their primary carer will respond when the child feels insecure
What type of working model would a securely attached child have?
A secure working model
What two variables may affect a child’s internal working model?
Temperament and goodness of fit
What is temperament?
A characteristic pattern of emotional activity
What is behavioural inhibition?
The tendency towards shyness and fear of novelty
What largely determines temperament?
Genes
What is goodness of fit?
The extent to which the child’s environment is compatible with their temperament
What can parents do if their child’s temperament is not a good match for their environment?
Be sensitive to their child, prepare them for potentially stressful situations and provide support
What is meant by the term ‘agent’?
A being that operates purposefully with intention to achieve outcomes in the world
What is social cognition?
The processes by which people come to understand others
What is imitation useful for?
Learning
What mistake might an infant make about a robot that behaves contingently with the infant?
The robot has a mind - it is a ‘person’
What is pedagogy?
The transfer of knowledge primarily for the purpose of teaching
What can 2 year old infants identify about other people’s desires?
They may have desires different from their own
What is metarepresentation?
Thinking about thoughts
What is egocentricism?
The tendency to adopt a self-centred viewpoint, difficulty to represent another person’s perspective
What is mental perspective taking?
Thinking about what goes on in other people’s mind
What is theory of mind?
The understanding that human behaviour is guided by beliefs that may or may not be true
What is a false belief?
A mental state of presumed truth that turns out to be incorrect
What famous task is used to evaluate a child’s understanding of another’s false belief?
Sally-Anne Task
At what age do children usually pass the false belief task?
Small percentage of 3 year-olds, High percentage of 5 year-olds
How does language affect theory of mind development?
Increased language skills correlate with better understanding of theory of mind
What are two examples of conditions that impair theory of mind development?
Autism and deafness (being taught to sign counters the effect)
What are self-concepts?
Thoughts we have about our body, personality, relationships and beliefs
What contributes to the shaping of our sense of self?
How we think we are perceived by others
At what age do children discover their physical selves as distinct from surrounding objects and people?
By age of 6 months
At what age do children recognize themselves in a mirror?
Around 18 months
What is self-esteem?
Sense of self-worth
What is self-control?
The general capacity to regulate thoughts and behaviours in the face of conflict
What is key to self-control?
Ability to inhibit thoughts and behaviours
What are Maccoby’s four kinds of inhibition?
Inhibition of movement, emotion, conclusion, choice
What is delay of gratification?
How long a child can tolerate the absence of the experimenter before giving into temptation
What influences a child’s self-control?
Behaviour of parents
What is the effect of strict parenting on self-control?
Reduced self-control; controlling parents reduce their child’s ability to internalize control
What is gender?
Set of characteristics that distinguish between males and females
At what age do children have an awareness of their own gender?
Around 2 years of age
What is the effect of gender biases?
Affects rate of development of various abilities in males and females
What is the difference between boys and girls on IQ tests?
None - they are almost identical
How does Baron-Cohen explain differences between males and females?
Differences caused by biological factors - differing levels of testosterone during fetal brain growth
What does Baron-Cohen believe to be different between males and females?
Males are more inclined to systemize, females are more inclined to empathize
What is systemizing?
Analysing tasks in terms of systems and patterns
What is empathizing?
Identifying another person’s emotions and thoughts
What is the effect on girls with adrenal hyperplasia?
Increased testosterone - more tomboy behaviours
Are gender differences only visible in humans?
No - female chimps play with dolls while male chimps don’t
What is sociodramatic play?
Games involving fantasy role-playing
What does sociodramatic play allow children to do?
Express emotions and discuss mental states
Which psychologist categorized each stage of life by the major task confronting the individual at that stage?
Erik Erikson
According to Erikson, what does adolescence mark a shift in?
Shift in emphasis from family relations to peer relations when defining self
What is morality?
The rules that govern the right and wrong of how we should behave and treat others#
What is prosocial behaviour?
Voluntary acts that are intended to help others which may have some benefit to the prosocial individual
What are some examples of prosocial behaviour?
Giving, sharing, cooperating, protecting
What is altruism?
A specific prosocial behaviour that helps others without any necessary expectation of reciprocal benefit
At what age do children begin to exhibit prosocial behaviour?
8-12 months
What bias affects prosociality?
In-group/out-group or us/them biases
Why is it important that children learn to share?
Risk of being rejected if they don’t share
What do behaviourists believe contributes to moral development?
Reinforced learning; shaping through reward and punishment
What is observational learning?
Learning that occurs when person observes another person being rewarded or punished
What is vicarious punishment?
The tendency not to repeat behaviours that we observe others being punished for performing
What three shifts did Piaget observe in children’s moral thinking?
Realism to relativism, prescription to principles, consequences to intentions
Describe Piaget’s realism to relativism shift.
Rules are initially black and white, then children realise that they can either adopt, change or abandon them
Describe Piaget’s prescriptions to principles shift.
Moral rules initially appear to be specific guidelines, then children realise that they are actually expressions of more general principles (e.g. fairness)
Describe Piaget’s consequences to intentions shift.
Children are initially utilitarian and then become more Kantian
What is moral reasoning according to Piaget?
A skill that is closely tied to other cognitive skills
Which psychologist developed a more detailed theory of the development of moral reasoning?
Kohlberg
According to Kohlberg, how many stages of moral reasoning are there?
3
What are Kohlberg’s three stages of moral reasoning?
Preconventional, conventional and postconventional
What is Kohlberg’s preconventional stage?
Morality of an action is primarily determined by its consequences for the actor
What is Kohlberg’s conventional stage?
Morality of an action is primarily determined by the extent it conforms to social rules
What is Kohlberg’s postconventional stage?
Morality of an action is determined by a set of general principles that reflect core values
Why must an individual progress through Kohlberg’s stages in order?
Each requires a more sophisticated set of cognitive skills than the one before
According to a moral intuitionist perspective, why have humans developed a distinction between right and wrong?
We have evolved to react emotionally due to reproduction and survival
What is the effect of observing distress in another individual?
Triggers an empathetic reaction in brain of observer, creating a feeling of distress
