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PSY210: Developmental Psych > Chapter 1: Theories of Child Development and Research Methods > Flashcards

Chapter 1: Theories of Child Development and Research Methods Flashcards

1
Q

Reasons to study Child Development

A

Answers questions about raising children, Helps choose social policies, Understand human nature, Reach children at risk (low socioeconomic status)

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2
Q

Hobbes’ Theory of Children

A

Children are inherently selfish and need control

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3
Q

Rousseau’s Theory of Children

A

Children are innately pure and are corrupted by society, freedom from an early age; Plato, Nativist

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4
Q

Locke’s Theory of Children

A

“Tabula Rasa” - the child is malleable by society, discipline from an early age; Aristotle, Empiricist

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5
Q

Freud’s Psychosexual Theory

A

Stages of development can be hit or missed, and each one directly affects future mental health; basis of psychodynamic therapy

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6
Q

Watson and Skinner’s View

A

Behaviorism; any child can be shaped to be anything (equipotentiality)

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7
Q

Nativism

A

You are what you are; your nature takes precedent.

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8
Q

Plato’s Beliefs

A

Emphasized self-control and discipline, believed in innate knowledge

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9
Q

Aristotle’s Beliefs

A

Case-based approach, believed in experience based knowledge

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10
Q

Empiricism

A

Experience shapes who you are; nurture takes precedent

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11
Q

Epigenetics

A

Behaviors and environment can affect the expression of your genes, causing the same genetic code to express different traits in different people

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12
Q

Kagan’s Innate Moral Sense

A

All children have five abilities from birth: Infer thoughts and feelings of others, apply concepts of good and bad on behavior, reflect on past actions, understand that negative consequences can and should be avoided, and understand motives and emotions

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13
Q

Darwin’s Theory

A

Evolutionary; wrote the “baby biography” which was the first study of child development, still guides modern day research

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14
Q

Modern theory of Child Development

A

A mix of nativism, empiricism, and epigenetics, with emphasis on observing children in social situations (with peers, teachers, family, etc.)

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15
Q

What is Nature

A

Experience-Independent change (does not require outside influence)

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16
Q

Examples of nature

A

Genetic factors (eye color, chromosomes, etc.), Maturational timetables, Hormonal changes, Reflexes, Instincts

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17
Q

What is Nurture

A

Experience-dependent change (relies on external input)

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18
Q

Examples of Nurture

A

Environmental factors (native language, prenatal toxins, etc.), Learning, Effects of Experience (food preferences, racism, etc.)

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19
Q

Largest Social Reform in Child Development Studies

A

The Industrial Revolution (1700s - 1900s); in response to child labor

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20
Q

7 Basic Themes of Child Development

A

Interaction between Nature and Nurture, The Active Child shapes their own development, Continuity/Discontinuity of development, Mechanisms of change (how does change occur), Sociocultural Context and how it influences development, Individual differences, Research and Children’s Wellfare

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21
Q

Behaviors that stem from Nature/Nurture interactions

A

Language (human ability/culture specific), food aversions (adaptive for different species/conditionable response), Duckling imprinting (critical period for imprinting ability/amount of effort exerted by the duckling), Bird-song (always produce a song/culturally ‘taught’ the correct song)

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22
Q

Big Questions of Developmental Psychology

A

What causes individual differences? Does everything change/develop? What is the shape of change?

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23
Q

Competence vs. Performance

A

Knowing something vs. showing that knowledge

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24
Q

Romanian Adoption Study

A

Children with severe neglect were adopted at young ages into caring homes; most children recovered but still retained some issues with language and brain development. RESULT: atypical social development persists into adulthood

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25
The Active Child
Children shape their own development by engaging with their environment. Talking and playing by themselves facilitates learning of social skills and emotional development.
26
Selective Attention
Pay more attention to things that move or make sound; used by the active child to perceive/learn from their environment, and in preferential looking studies
27
Continuous development
Small progressive changes over time
28
Discontinuous development
Sudden large changes (like stepping stones or stairs)
29
Mechanisms of Change
Looking for defining mechanisms that produce a precise account of a process which produces the outcome of interest (can be behavioral, neural, or genetic)
30
Effortful attention
Voluntary control of one's emotions and thoughts
31
Physiological mechanism of effortful attention
Connection between the limbic area, the anterior cingulate, and the prefrontal cortex
32
Genetic mechanism of effortful attention
Variation in genes that promote neurotransmitters crucial to effortful attention
33
Experiential mechanism of effortful attention
Learning and training effortful attention changes expression of that trait
34
Sociocultural context
Physical, social, cultural, economic, and historical circumstances that can influence a child's development; all aspects interact with each other to produce the context/environment
35
Scarr's 4 factors of variability (Lead to individual differences)
Genetic differences, difference in treatment by others, difference in reactions to similar experiences, different choices of environment
36
Feasibility of Research
Is the experiment ethically possible to do in real life?
37
Challenges of Developmental Studies
It is hard to work with children, and it is hard to study change
38
The Scientific Method
All beliefs are hypothesis until repeatedly tested until proven right or wrong
39
Reliability
Degree of consistency in an experiment
40
Interrater reliability
Results are consistent between raters
41
Test-retest reliability
Consistent results when test is repeated
42
Validity
Success of measuring the point of interest in an experiment (measures what is meant to be measured)
43
Internal validity
Effects can be confidently attributed to the tested factor (change is actually caused by the independent variable)
44
External validity
Generalizability
45
Naturalistic Observation
Observing behavior in a natural environment to show interaction between a child and their environment; strong in ecological validity but at risk of unreliability of measurements
46
Limits to naturalistic observation
too many features observed to successfully draw conclusions (can only draw relationships); behaviors of interest only occur occasionally; uncontrollable environment (not a lab); people behave differently when they know they are being observed
47
Bell and Ainsworth study
Observed parental response to crying in people's homes. Longitudinal, not cause determining. Found that frequent response parents had infants who cried less
48
Hubbard and Van Ijzendoorn study
Studied parental response to crying over 12 visits at 3 week intervals. Found unresponsiveness to crying was related to less crying in infants within the first 9 weeks. More controlled than Bell and Ainsworth
49
Interview Method
Sets of predetermined questions administered to participants. Systematic, one-on-one, good for individualistic data. Eliminates bias of researcher. More standardized/structured, gives more reliable data.
50
Limits to Interview Method
Answers from participants can be biased, not generalizable to other children
51
Clinical interview
Diverting from the standard/set questions of interview method to follow the child's lead
52
Experimental Method/Structured Observation
Situations designed to elicit desired/relevant behavior/ Independent and dependent variables. Can make causal conclusions. All children experience the same event.
53
Limits of experimental method
Cannot randomly assign age to developmental studies; not very generalizable (low in ecological validity); subject/sample size can affect generalizability
54
Ecological validity
Seeing the world/environment from the perspective of the subject
55
Mean Monkey Experiment
Researcher used monkey puppet to study deception skills in children. The monkey will always pick the sticker the child wants. Independent variable = age of child. Dependent variable = which sticker the child told the monkey they wanted/do they lie to the monkey to get the desired outcome Found deception skills develop around age 4
56
Longitudinal Study Design
Collect data from the same participants over a period of time; observing changes and continuities.
57
Correlation
Value between -1.0 and 1.0 that describes the relationship between two variables. Does not equate to causality
58
Correlational Designs
Determine if one variable causes predictable difference in another variable; used when random assignment is not possible or variable is not controllable
59
Cross-sectional Study Design
Collect data from different participants across an age range; usually the chosen method for most developmental studies; more practical
60
Limits of Longitudinal Design
Participants can drop out midway; repetition of studies can affect measurements of the dependent variable; not always practical
61
Microgenetic study design
In-depth depiction of processes that produce change; lots of tests of the same participants over a short time span. Used when a basic pattern is known, but the underlying process is not
62
Research Ethics with Developmental Research
Children are a part of a protected population, and it is the researcher's duty to minimize the amount of harm that could befall a child participant as much as possible during an experiment

PSY210: Developmental Psych (10 decks)

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