3 main approaches in developmental psychology Flashcards
5 main points to consider for each theory?
- problems
- suggestions of the theory
- nature of development suggested by theory
- basic nature of humans
- agents of change
Ecological systems theory - who & when & what?
Bronfenbrenner (1977) - looks at the environment the child is in - development in context - social constructivist approach
Microsystem
- Direct interactions with the child
- Most influential
- Family, school, peers, neighborhood, health services
Mesosystem
- The RELATIONSHIPS between the microsystem components
- Can be +/-
- e.g. parents relationship with the school teachers
Exosystem
- indirect parts of child’s development
- will impact on their lives but may never meet them
- e.g. legal services/neighborhood
Macrosystem
- the culture the child is in
- e.g. ethnic culture, socioeconomic culture
Chronosystem
- the dimension of time
- how an event in one’s life/ the generations life will impact the development
- technology, WW2
- RELATE TO: appropriation (vygotsky) - each gen creates different uses for things
main problems of the ecological theory
1) Bronfenbrenner (1979) said that it must also happen in naturalistic settings as well as experimental settings.
a) Tudge et al. 2009 - only 4/25 (16%) studies used all of Bron’s criteria when using EST
b) Burns & Warmbold - Brann (2015) - 10.9 % reviewed used the criteria
BUT - only used small sample (% inflation) & only 1 match of the dv to “meet the criterion”
2) Neal & Neal (2013) Lack of research into the macrosystem & exosystem AND precise relationships between levels of the systems remain elusive
- Bronfen said they were “nested” (1979) BUT maybe best to describe them as networks bc the overlap not nest - puts more focus on INTERACTIONS - what EST is
Nature of development in EST
- the less conflict & more nurture in the levels –> the better the development of the child (Betancourt & Khan, 2008)
- not all components of each system will have equal impact on the development of the child (Lauricella et al 2015)
- vygotsky: child plays an active role in their development, humans create environments to shape their own development (1978) – scaffolding
main modular characteristics (8) - who & what
Fodor 1983
- domain specific
- fixed neural architecture
- limited accessibility
- encapsulation of modules
- fast outputs
- shallow outputs
- characteristic ontogeny
- mandatory firing
problems with modularity (2)
1) it isn’t a developmental theory - it doesnt explain development over time (Karmiloff-smith, 1992)
2) it just isnt supported in the lab - Prinz (2006)
- Broca’s area has been attributed to a big area
- vision (space vs colour) are two diff areas
- neuroimaging studies often implicate a larger area - not just a small one; size of networks is often underestimated.
neuroconstructivst approach - who & components
Karmiloff - Smith (1992)
- Genes
- Gene expression
- Cognitive processes
- Behaviour
- Neurobiology of Brain
- Environment
problems with neuroc
Ramus (2004):
- “ideologically loaded” bc it is apparently based on constructivism
- i.e. the mind can have little innate structure beyond sensation (i.e. it’s mainly the enviro)
- leads us to disregard a lot of data that doesnt fit the models
Argument back to the problem of neuroc
Karmiloff-smith (2009)
- the focus is on genes, enviro, cog & brain
- focus on dynamic change
- it DOES include some innate structure: neuron density & type, firing threshold
- DOESNT say the brain is a blank state
- domain relevant domains develop into domain specific
domain relevant - what? & evidence?
- different parts of the brain have small structural differences which turn out to be more appropriate kinds of processing over others
- these biases aid learning & attention
- Sirois et al. (2008): infants up to 6 mos of age = can distinguish speech sounds produced in human language
THEN 6-12 mos = can only distinguish speech sounds from their native language **brain + enviro **
“progressive specialization does not simply limit
future adaptations but can also facilitate learning (building blocks)”
nature & development of change on neuroc
!OFFERS A THEORY BASED ON CHANGE AND DEV OUTCOMES! - looks at dev trajectories (Karm- s, 2007)
1) brain is self structuring & dynamically changing as a result of various interactions
2) major and structural changes across dev:
a) cortex is initially interconnected –> specialised (D’souza & Karmiloff smith, 2011)
3) domain relevance –> domain specificity
modularity & the “normal range” problem
Modularity: “genetic disorders show differences from the normal range”
neuroc: Karmiloff smith (2009)
- tendency to slip from relative to absolute comparisons
- may be both domains that are impaired but the processing demands of task only show 1
- what is normal range??
a) individuals with WS show behaviour in normal range on tasks for face recognition (Karmiloff-smith, 2004)
modualrity vs neuroconstructivism
2) research methods
- Modularity sees as static & innate - doesnt tell us anything about deelopmental CHANGE
- Should look at trajectories - may reveal about impaired domain (Van- Herwegem et al. 2008)
- cross sectional aren’t total rubbish (Ramus, 2004)
- still not developmental theory (Karmiloff-smith, 2009)
modualrity
3) innate/domain specificity
- no
- brain is interconnected & becomes specialised over time (d’souza & Karmiloff-smith 2011)
- ratio of grey & white matter changes (maturation = more white matter) Groeshel et al.2010)
- corpus callosum inc number of fibres with age (Geidd et al. 1996) –> improvement of function
