Chapter 2: Theories and issues of child development

Question 1

theory of development

Answer 1

scheme/ system of ideas that is based on evidence and attempts to explain, describe and predict behaviour and development

Question 2

motor milestone

Answer 2

basic motor skill acquired in infancy and early childhood, such as standing, crawling, walking

Question 3

cephalocaudal trend

Answer 3

development that proceeds from head to foot along the length of the body

Question 4

proximodistal trend

Answer 4

development of motor control in infancy which is from the centre of the body outwards to more peripheral segments

Question 5

dynamic systems theory

Answer 5

theoretical approach applied to many areas of development which views the individuals as interacting dynamically complex system in which all parts interact

Question 6

psychoanalysis

Answer 6

theoretical view, first developed by Sigmund Freud, that much of our behaviour is determined by unconscious factors

Question 7

cognitive adaptations

Answer 7

children’s developing cognitive awareness of the world; as a result, they become better able to understand their world

Question 8

assimilation

Answer 8

process through which children incorporate new experiences into their preexisting schemes; an important process in Piaget’s theory

Question 9

accommodation

Answer 9

cognitive process through which children adapt to new experiences by modifying their preexisting schemas; an important process in Piaget’s theory

Question 10

schemas

Answer 10

mental structures in the child’s thinking that provide representations and plans for enacting behaviours

Question 11

functional invariants

Answer 11

processes that do not change during development, such as accommodation and assimilation in Piaget’s theory

Question 12

sensorimotor stage

Answer 12

first stage of cognitive development, whereby thought is based primarily on perception and thinking, internalised thinking is largely absent; this stage is characteristic of infants from birth to about 2 years (Piaget’s theory)

Question 13

preoperational stage

Answer 13

stage of development in which under the age of approximately 7 years are unable to coordinate aspects of problems in order to solve them (Piaget’s theory)

Question 14

concrete operations stage

Answer 14

third stage of development in which reasoning is said to become more logical, systematic and rational in its application to concrete objects (Piaget’s theory)

Question 15

formal operations stage

Answer 15

fourth stage in which the individual acquires the capacity for abstract scientific thought; this includes the ability to theories about impossible events and items

Question 16

egocentric

Answer 16

an egocentric child is one who finds it difficult to see thing s from another person’s point of view; not to be confused with egotistical

Question 17

animism

Answer 17

characteristic of children’s thinking in Piaget’s preoperational stage in which they tend to attribute life and life-like qualities to inanimate objects, particularly those that move and are active

Question 18

centration

Answer 18

focusing of attention on one aspect of a situation to the exclusion of others

Question 19

information processing

Answer 19

view that cognitive processes are explained in terms of inputs/ outputs and the human mind is a system through which information flows

Question 20

strategies

Answer 20

knowledge use to solve particular problems

Question 21

constructivism

Answer 21

infants are not born with knowledge about the world, but instead gradually construct knowledge and the ability to represent reality mentally (Piaget’s theory)

Question 22

bottom-up

Answer 22

cognitive development process beginning with the ‘input’/ uptake of information by the child, and building complex systems of knowledge from simpler origins

Question 23

top-down

Answer 23

cognitive development process in which the state of the system is specified/ presumed, and then working to discover its components and their development, a view more consistent with nativist theory

Question 24

perception of causality

Answer 24

perception of the causal nature of interactions between objects/ between people; for instance, when one object collides with another it causes it to move

Question 25

object unity

Answer 25

when two parts of an object are visible but its centre is hidden by another object - do infants perceive the visible parts to be connected?

Question 26

connectionism

Answer 26

modern theoretical approach that developed from information processing accounts in which computers are programmed to stimulate the action of the brain and nerve cells/ neurons

Question 27

zone of proximal development (ZPD)

Answer 27

distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more able peers

Question 28

introspectionism

Answer 28

approach to psychology common in the 19th century in which observers were asked to reflect on their thoughts, feelings and perceptions

Question 29

classical conditioning

Answer 29

method of learning first investigated by the Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov in the early part of the 20th century; in this form of conditioning, certain behaviours can be elected by a neutral (normally unstimulating) stimulus because of its learned association with a more powerful stimulus

Question 30

law of effect

Answer 30

law/ rule devised by the American psychologist Edward Lee Thorndike which states that the likelihood of an action being repeated is increased if it leads to a pleasant outcome, and decreased if it leads to an unpleasant outcome

Question 31

reductionism

Answer 31

claim that complex behaviours such as language and problem-solving are formed from simpler processes, such as neural activity and conditioning, and can ultimately be understood in these simpler terms

Question 32

operant conditioning

Answer 32

form of conditioning investigated by B. F. Skinner; the training/ shaping of an animal/ human by reinforcing them for producing the desired behaviour and either ignoring or punishing undesirable behaviours in order to stop them

Question 33

social learning theory

Answer 33

associated with Albert Bandura; the application of behaviourism to social and cognitive learning that emphasises the importance of observational learning, that is, learning by observation and then copying the observed acts

Question 34

observational learning

Answer 34

situation in which people learn by observing others and then copying the observed acts

Question 35

social cognitive theory

Answer 35

theory that emphasises social factors in cognitive development

Question 36

ethological approaches

Answer 36

approaches which emphasise the evolutionary origins of many behaviours that are important for survival, such as imprinting

Question 37

imprinting

Answer 37

process soon after birth/ hatching in which the young of the precocial species of animals follow the first moving objects they see

Question 38

critical period

Answer 38

limited period, usually early in an animal’s life, in which the young have to be exposed to a particular skill/ experience in order for it to be learned

Question 39

primary drives

Answer 39

basic needs which include hunger, thirst and the need for warmth; Bowlby and others have argued that an infant’s need for attachment is also a primary drive

Question 40

secondary drive

Answer 40

term used to the fact that an object can acquire reinforcing properties by being associated with the satisfaction of an individual’s primary drives

Question 41

monotropy

Answer 41

the view that the infant has a basic need to form an attachment with one significant person usually the mother; central claim in Bowlby’s early theory of attachment formation

Question 42

strange situation

Answer 42

measure, devised by Ainsworth, of the level of attachment a child has with their parent.

Question 43

psychoanalytic theory

Answer 43

most prominently associated with Freud, who suggested that there are three main personality structures: ego, id, superego

Question 44

id

Answer 44

primitive collection of urges with which an individual begins life; it is responsible for an individuals “primitive” instincts, such as eating and reproducing (Freud’s theory)

Question 45

ego

Answer 45

it can be thought of as a rational thought that evolved to control the urges of the id in order to meet the demands of reality and maintain social approval and esteem

Question 46

superego

Answer 46

collection of ideals, an individual’s morality; this is what we refer to as our conscience and it is often in conflict with our id (Freud’s theory)

Question 47

psychosexual stages

Answer 47

Freud argued that there were five stages of human development: oral (0-1 year), anal (1-3 years), phallic (3-6 years), latency (6 years-adolescence), and genital (adolescence onward)

Question 48

Oedipus complex

Answer 48

important stage of development in Freud’s psychoanalytic theory; this expression derives from the Greek myth in which Oedipus became infatuated with his mother; in the Freudian account, the young boy develops sexual feelings toward his mother but realised his father is a major competition for her (sexual affections)

Question 49

castration complex

Answer 49

in Freud’s psychoanalytic theory there where the young boy fears castration at the hands of his father

Question 50

Electra complex

Answer 50

in Freud’s psychoanalytic theory this is where little girls develop feelings towards their father and fear retribution at the hands of their mother

Question 51

reaction formation

Answer 51

term used in psychoanalytic theory; the individual react, often unconsciously, to negative aspects of their personality

Question 52

psychosocial stages

Answer 52

stages of development put forward by Erik Erikson; the child goes from the stage of “basic trust” in early infancy to the final stage in adult life of maturity with a sense of integrity and self-worth

Question 53

humanistic theory

Answer 53

theory which emphasises that humans have free will and are motivated to fulfil their potential

Question 54

self-actualisation

Answer 54

fulfilment of needs beyond those deemed necessary for survival

Question 55

hierarchy of needs

Answer 55

stages of needs/ desires in Abraham Maslow’s humanistic theory which go from the basic physiological needs for food and water to the ultimate desire for self-actualisation or desire to fulfil one’s potential

Question 56

gender development

Answer 56

developing understanding by a child that it is either a girl or a boy and that there are gender-appropriate behaviours associated with this difference

Question 57

gender constancy

Answer 57

awereness, in early childhood, that one is either a boy or a girl, and that this is unchangeable

Question 58

nature-nurture issue

Answer 58

ongoing debate on whether development is the result of an individual’s genes or the kinds of experiences they have throughout their life

Question 59

stability vs. change

Answer 59

question of whether individuals are stable in the sense of maintaining their rank order across age; e.g. does the bright 2-year-old become a bright 10-year-old

Question 60

continuity vs. discontinuity

Answer 60

whether development is continuous, and therefore an accumulation of “more of the same” or discontinuous and marked by qualitative changes. Piaget’s theory is an example of a discontinuous theory of development

Question 61

behaviour genetics

Answer 61

study of how genetic factors influence behaviour and, more generally, differences between individuals