Child Development Flashcards
Definition of Development
The sequence of physical & psychological changes that human beings undergo as they grow older
Definition of Developmental Psychology
The scientific study of age related changes in behaviour, thinking, emotion and personality
What is Continues development
(Quantitive change)
Emphasizes that development and changes in individuals occur gradually
eg - as you grow older you learn more vocabulary
What is Discontinutity
(Qualitive change)
People pass through stages of life that are qualitatively different from each other
eg - children go from only being able to think in very literal terms to being able to think abstractly. They have moved into the ‘abstract thinking’ phase of their lives.
Sources of Development
Is development guided by genetic programming in cells, or is it more the external enviroment
eg - nature vs nuture
Nature vs Nuture
“Nature” influences of biological/genetic predispositions to human traits
“Nurture,” influence of learning and “environmental” factors on traits
Epigenetic’s
Interaction between biology and environmental factors
Data Collection methods in Developmental Psychology
Self Report
- relies on an individual’s own report of their symptoms, behaviors, beliefs, or attitudes
Observation
- a method in which a person observes behaviour to note changes in people or places
Experimental Methods
- manipulating one variable to determine if this causes changes in another variable
Clinical Interview Methods
- to determine if someone is suffering from a mental disorder
Research Designs in Developmental Psychology
Longitudinal Design
- looking at people over time
Cross Sectional Design
- compare differences in groups at a single point in time
What is Cognitive Development
Intellectual Growth
Cognitive Processes
Which we get to know ourselves and our worlds
- Memory, learning attention
- Perception, thought, problem solving
Who is the Father of Cognitive Development
Jean Piaget 1896-1980
- Observed Children
- Proposed a sequence of development that children follow
- Four “stages” of cognitive development
What are the 4 stages of cognitive development
Sensorimotor stage
Pre-operational stage
Concrete operations stage
Formal operations stage
Sensorimotor stage
- Birth to 2 years
- Object permanence / object’s don’t exist when they are out of sight
- Cognition closley tied to external stimulation
Birth - 3 months
Look at visual stimuli
Turning head towards noise
3 months
Following moving objects with eyes
Stares at place where object had disappeared, but will not search for object
5 months
Grasp and manipulate objects
Anticipate future position of object
8 months
Searches for hidden object
A not B effect - search in the last place they found the object not where they saw it last
12 months
Will search in the last place they saw the object
Schema Formation
- A mental representation or set of rules that define a particular behaviour
- Helps us understand current and future experiences
- Form by 2 processes known as assimilation and accomodation
Assimilation
the process by which new information is modified to fit in with an exisiting schema
Accomodation
the process by which an exisiting schema is modified or changed by a new experience
Representational Thought
- ability to form mental representations of others behavior
- occurs towards end of sensorimotor period
Deffered imitation
a childs ability to imitate the actions he or she has observed others perform in the past
Pre Operational Stage
2 - 7 years
- ability to think logically as well as symbolically
- rapid development of language ability
- counting
- object manipulation
Conservation
the understanding that specific properties of objects (height, weight, volume, number) remain the same despite apparent changes or arrangment of those objects
Egocentrism
a childs belief that others see the world in precisely the same way that he or she does
Concrete Operations Stage
- 7-12 years
- ability to form logical analysis
- ability to empathise with the thoughts/feelings of others
- understanding of complex cause-effect relations
Formal Operations Stage
- 12 years upward
- abstract reasoning
- metacognition
- dependant on exposure to principles of scientific thinking
Metacognition
thinking about thinking
thinking about your own thought processes
Criticisms of Piaget’s theory
Piaget underestimated childrens abilites at various ages
- babies dont seem to start with nothing
- cognitive development isnt an all or nothing phenomenon
The visual cliff
children can perceive depth around the time they an crawl
even pre crawling infants may be able to discriminate between the two sides of the “cliff”
The effect of occlusion
habituation procedure
- infants prefer to pay attention to novel things
- over time they become accustomed to stimuli and pay less attention to them
- the moment something “new” happens they pay attention again
- 4 month olds seem to understand occlusion
criticism of object permanence
not necessarily that the baby dosen’t understand where the object is but more so they don’t have the motor coordination to reach for it
number and mathematical reasoning
piaget said infants had no concept of numbers untill they were around 6 years old but even 6 months old show some understanding of number
social cognition in babies
- newborns would rather look at faces than scrambled faces
- at 3 weeks old, infants attempt to imitate facial expressions
- 9 month olds look in direction of mothers gaze
- 6 month olds appear to understand actions in terms of intended goals
theory of mind
a group of skills relating to the understanding of the experince of other peoples minds (their intentions, beliefs, likes and dislikes, persepctives etc)
- allows us to be effective in social situations
broccoli versus crackers study
Alsion Gopnnik
18 month olds gave the experimenter what she liked
14 month olds gave the experimenter what they liked
- young children can take into account others perspectives
true and false beliefs
- aspect of theory of mind
- false belief task
- on average, 4 year olds pass and 3 year olds don’ t
- children must predict what an agent having a false belief will do, either verbally or by pointing to where the agent will go
what is social development
- forming bonds with people
- learning to behave in socially acceptable ways
- learning to be a good friend
- learning to deal with adversaries
attachment
an emotional and social bond between infant and caregiver that spans both time and space
- john bowlby 1969
social learning theory
we learn how to behave through watching other people
cognitive developmental theory
theory that cognitive development drives social development
which parenting style is associated with the best outcomes for children
authoritative parenting
display rules
part of emotional regulation
- govern the degree to which emotions need to be regulated in a given situation
- differ largely across cultures
moral behaviour
behvaiour that conforms to a generally accepeted set of rules
principle of minimal sufficiency
the quickest internalisation of rules happen when the consequences are enough to get the child to change their behaviour but not so harsh that they feel completley forced into it
kohlbergs theory of moral development
- Lawrence Kohlberg (1927-1987)
- studied boys aged between 10 and 17 years
- presented subjects with scenarios
- pre conventional level
- conventional level
- post conventional level
- found correlation between moral reasoning and moral conduct
kolhbergs pre conventional level
behavior based on external sanctions, such as authority and punishment
kolhbergs conventional level
understanding that the social system has an interest in peoples behavior
kohlbergs post conventional level
moral rules have some underlying principles that apply to all situations and societies
genetic sex
women XX
men XY
morphological sex
what you look like
gender roles
cultural expectations about ways in which men and women should think and behave
gender sterotypes
beliefs about differences in the behvaiours, abilities, and personality traits of males and females
the development of gender
18 months - beginnings of gender typed preferences
3 years old - knowledge of own gender, prefernce for different toys and friends of sex
5 years old - knowledge of gender constancy (gender stays the same over time)
biological explanations for gender differences
- exposure of the developing brain to male sex hormones has behaviour affects
- physical aggression in males apperars to be biologically predisposed
- the anatomy of the human brain shows some gender differences thought to be due to different patterns of hormone exposure during development
Gandelman, Vom Saal & Reinisch (1977)
prenatal exposure to testosterone results in more “male-like” behaviour in females.
female mice that were surrounded by males in the uterus behaved more male like
Ward (1972)
males deprived of prenatal testosterone behave more like females
- To deprive the males of testosterone they inflicted stress on the mother by shining a bright light
Male rats that were deprived of testosterone tended to do this lordotic responding that we would normally see in female rats
evolutionary theories
propose that men and women have evolved to behave differently, depending on their roles in society
eg - primitive women stayed home and did activities that required fine coordination with smale objects whereas men hunted and therefore required a greater level of spatial ability
congenital adrenal hyperplasia
adrenal glands produce too much testosterone
- women who have this morphologically start looking more like males
- women with this have better spatial ability
The case of Bruce Reimer
case of parents who had twin boys and when they were toddlers they got cicrumsized and alcohol caught fire and essentially burnt of bruces penis. They got told to raise him as a girl. They raised bruce as brenda which posed many issues in bruces childhood.
environmental explanations for gender differences
Level of attachment, beliefs, values and how much attention one is given. Gender stereotypes often perpetuated by those in one’s environment, like parents, peers, teachers, and even the child themselves.
Montemayor 1974
- 6 and 8 year old boys and girls invited to play a game. game labeled as gender appropriate, gender nutural, or gender inappropriate
- children found game more enjoyable if it was labeled as gender appropriate or neutral
- childrens preformance was highest when the game was labeled as gender appropriate and lowest when the game was labeled as gender inappropriate
Morrongiello & Dawber 1999
examined mothers and fathers communications to sons and daughters aged 2-4 years
- sons recieved more directives, fewer explanations, and more physical pressure than girls
- parents communicate with young children in a way that may promote increased risk taking by boys and greater percieved injury vulnerability among girls
Smith and lloyd 1978
infants gener label was manipulated
- mothers of young infants introduced to a 6 month old infant and asked to play
- participnats behaved differently according to the assigned gender label
- even when there are no differences in apperance or outward behavior, parents treat children according to gender label
Weisner & Silson-Mitchell 1990
parents who do not subscribe to gender differences
parents who do not subscribe to gender differences in socialisation have children whos attitudes and behavior reflect fewer gender sterotypes
The development stages of childrens drawing ability
- scribbling stage
- preschematic stage
- schematic stage
- realistic stage
- period of indecision
scribbling stage
2-3 years
not representative - do the actions of what they think they are trying to draw but can’t acutally draw it
preschematic stage
- first attempts at human figure drawings
- 3-4 years
- tadpole drawing - figure of human drawn but arms have been forgotten
- circle/ellipse representing head
- 2 (or 4) protruding lines representing limbs
schematic stage
5-6 years
- children develop a schema
- seperate trunk from head
- initially forget or misplace arms
later on …
- substance added to limbs
- arms placed correctly
- detail (clothing, glasses etc)
- emergence of neck
realistic stage
from around 9 years old
- marks end of art as a spontaneous activity
- more detail
- expressions, use of space, use of profile
period of indecision
art is something to be done or left alone
the clinical value of childrens drawings
- projecitve measures - looking at what children have drawn and projecting meaning onto it
- verbal communication aid
Florence Goodenough (1920s)
florence suggested we can get an intellectual idea of the child from their drawings
- draw a person test (self, mother, father)
- research suggests that the test can differentiate between groups, but isnt good at identifying individal cases needing special help
- nadias drawings / child who had non verbal autism but she could draw amazing things
sexual abuse and drawings
difficulties in diagnosing sexual abuse in children lef to clinicians seeking a non verbal measure of abuse
no pattern to distinguish drawings of abused children with non abused
Butler, Gross and Hayne 1995
children visted fire station
children visted fire station
- children in the draw and tell group reported twice as much information in the direct recall phase than the tell children
- no differences between groups in the free recall phase
- information reported by the draw and tell group was just as accurate as information reported by the tell group
the child sexual abuse dilemma
- children unwilling to disclose abuse
- medical/physical evidence rarely present
- absence of eyewtinesses
- child witness controversy
what governs childrens ability to act as a reliable witness?
memory
verbal reports
suggestibility
early memories are limited by
- short duration
- context dependence
- language competence
- knowledge base
verbal reports
- free recall acounts are highly accurate but breif
- specific questions more detail but more errors
Reed 1996 suggestibility
cognitively driven suggestibility - leading question alters the witnesses memory
socially driven suggestibility - accept leading question if it is right or wrong
Peter Elis
case in the 90s, had to do community service in a daycare, children made full on allegations about peter as the interviewers led extremley leading questions
Adversarial system for child witnesses
- direct examination
- cross examination
- re examination
legal system in nz for child witnesses
no lower age limit
no corroboration laws
competency requirement
potenital problems for child witnesses
- lack of legal knowledge
- confronting the accused
- courtroom enviroment
- cross examination
3 options for children giving evidence in sexual abuse trials
- in a courtroom with a shielding sreen from accussed
- from another room in the court via CCTV
- via pre recorded videotape
US stats
- children watch on average 5.11 hours of tv per day
- when asked to choose between watching tv and spending time with their fathers, 54% of 4-6 year olds choose tv
- the average american child spends 1200 hours per year watching tv
ball and bogatz 1970 evaluation of sesame street
- 3-5 year olds
- alphabet and writing skills measured before and after a 26 week season of seasme street
- no difference in childrens scores as a function of viewing frequency prior to watching sesame street
- children from all groups increased on alphabet and writing skill
- children who watched sesame street the most exhibited the biggest gain on the alphabet and writing test
- children from low SES families showed the biggest gains
sesame street reduced childrens ethnic and racial sterotypes
Boyatzis, Matillo & Nesbitt 1995 power rangers
- boys committed more aggressive acts than girls
- those watching ‘power rangers’ committed 7 aggressive acts for every aggresisve act committed by a control child
Huessman et al 1984 violent tv
boys who exhibited a higher preference for violent tv at age 8 had committed more serious crimes by the age of 30 years than boys who showed a lower preference for violent tv at age 8
potential benefits of videogame use
- may be therapuetic and/or educational for children with chronic illnesses
- may improve fine motor skills and coordination
- may distract from physical and emotional pain
- may improve decision making skills and brain plasticity
the effect og violent videogame play
Anderson and dill 2000
experiment 1
- aggressive personality scale
- videogame use correlated with aggresisve personality, nonaggressive delinquency and aggressive delinquency
experiment 2
- aggressive personality questionnaire
- women delievered longer blasts than men
- indivudals with high scores on the APQ delievered longer blasts than those with low APQ scores
- indivudals who played the violent videogames delievered longer blasts than those who played non violent video games
- this effect occured even when other variables (gender, apq score) were controlled for
Definition of imaginary companions
an invisible character named and reffered to in conversation with other persons or played with directly for a period of time, at least several months, haveing an air of reality for the child, but no apparently objective basis
demographic data
IC’s tend to be slightly more common in girls than boys
first born and only children are most likely to have an IC
Most childrenn do not play with their imaginery friends when other children are present
Historical views on IC’s
- little was known about IC’s prior to the 20th century
- IC’s may have been described in spiritual or religious terms
Dr Spock
- urged parents to supply more hugging and piggy back rides
- if IC’s persisted after age 4 parents were told to consult a mental health professional to find out what is lacking
Marjorie Taylor
- examined ic’s of 3-12 year old children
- around 16% are based on real people
- many have magical powers or unusual physical traits
- ic animals can usually talk
- not all are friendly around 3% are enemies
social and cognitive ability of kids with ic’s
– are better at communicating with adults (manosevitz et al 1973)
- score more highly on verbal tests (taylor 1999)
- have a more developed theory of mind at age 4 (taylor and carlson 1997)
no links between presence of ic and iq and creativity
advantages of attachment objects
- reduce distress
- facilitate exploration
how common is attachment to objects
mahalski 1983
- new zealand sample
- ages of 1.5 and 7 years
- object attachment peaked at around 2 years
