CHILD DEVELOPMENT Flashcards
what is development
the sequence of physical and psychological changes that human beings undergo as they grow older through a whole life span
what is development psychology
the scientific study of age-related changes in behaviour, thinking, emotion and personality
what are the 3 big topics in developmental psychology
- continuity and change
- sources of development - nature vs nurture
- individual differences
continuity and change
to what extent is development characterised by continuous change, and to what extent does it evolve discontinuities that result in the emergence of new forms and processes of change
we are different to other but then we aren’t
something has to happen for development to not happen normally
what is continuous and non-continuous
continuous - something that we can measure/calculate
non-continuous - a lifecycle, turn into something different (eg. frog to tadpole). it is a qualitative change that you can’t measure
sources of development
is development guided primarily by genetic programme locked in to the body’s cells, or is it the external environment the driving force that produces change?
nature vs nurture - none is just one they all have a bit of another both bio and the enviro
individuals differences
no two humans beings are exactly alike. how do people come to have stable characteristics that differentiate them from all the other people
- often it is how we are brought up that show our differences
4 was to for data collection in developmental psychology
- self-report
- observation
- experimental methods
- clinical interviews methods
self reports
- hard to do a child as you can’t ask them lots of stuff as they won’t understand
- memory is an issue
- social desirability
experimental method
introduce a change and see what happens
2 research designs used in developmental psychology
- longitudinal (study across time - Dunedin one)
- cross-sectional (take different aged children at one time)
what is cognitive development and then processes
basically means intellectual growth
are those by which we get to know ourselves and our world, for example memory, learning etc.
who is the ‘father’ of cognitive development and what did he do/discover
Jean Piaget
he observed children
and proposed a sequence of development that all normal children follow
he cam up with 4 stages if cognitive development
stage one - Sensorimotor Stage
age: birth - 2
cognition closely tied to external stimulation (rely on what people do in front of them) - thinking is doing
tasks they have to achieve to move to the next stage
1. object permanence
2. schema formation
3. representation throught
Sensorimotor Stage - object permanence
the idea that objects do not cease to exist when they are out of sight
@birth-3months: look at visual stimul and turn their heads towards noise
@3 months: follow moving objects with eyes, but when it goes missing they won’t look for it
@5 months: grasp and manipulate objects, and they anticipate the future position of the object
@8 months: searches for the hidden object. A not B effect ( this is when the baby will look for the disappeared object in the last place they found the object but not the place they last saw it)
@12 months: they will search in the last place they saw it
Sensorimotor Stage - Schema Formation
a schema is a mental representation or set of rules that defines a particular behaviour category. they develop overtime and get more in depth
two processes
- Assimilation: the processes by which new information is modified to fit in with an existing schema
- Accomodation: the process by which an existing schema is modified or changed by new experience
Sensorimotor Stage - Representational Thought
ability to form mental representations of others’ behaviour
the occurs towards then ends of this stage
in
- imitation
- deferred imitation (imitate actions one has seen in the past)
- symbolic play
- the use of words to represent objects
stage two - Preoperational Stage
age: 2-7 years old
ability to think logically as well as symbolically
rapid development of language ability
need to achieve -
- counting
- object manipulation
Preoperational Stage - Object Manipulation
conservation - the understanding that specific properties of objects remain the same despite apparent changer or arrangement of these objects (odd and even numbers)
egocentrism - a child’s belief that others see the world precisely the same way as the baby does (3 mountains and the clown)
stage three - Concrete Operations Stage
age: 7-12 years old
- ability to perform logical analysis
- ability to empathise with the thoughts of others
- understanding of complex cause-effect relations
BUT they don’t have abstract thoughts
stage four - Formal Operations Stage
age: 12+ years old
abstract reasoning
metacognition (thinking about thinking)
dependent on exposure to principles of scientific thinking
what was the one biggest criticisms overall that Piaget got on his studies on children
that he underestimated children’s abilities at many ages
he had the basics right overall though
Piaget’s 2 Criticisms
- babies don’t seem to start with nothing
- he said that under 1 babies had basically nothing but this it not true - cognitive development isn’t an all-or-nothing phenomenon
- he was very move to stage to another
3 main topics of criticism one he got wrong
- space and objects
- number and math reasoning
- social cognition
Piaget critisims 1 - space and objects
- visual cliff: children appear to be able to perceive depth around the time they can crawl
- the effect of occlusion: habituation procedure, infants prefer to pay attention to novel things (4 month olds understand)
- understanding of support: develops by 6 month as when they understand when an object is supported or not
- object permanence: at 8 months old babies will look for the object where they last found it instead of where they last saw it. this shows that the error simply appears to represent difficulty overriding a motor habit
Piaget criticism 1 - number and mathematical reasoning
piaget thought that infants has no concept of number but at 6months old they can show some understanding of number
Piaget criticism 1 - social cognition
- 3 weeks old babies can imitate a facial expression
- 9 months they will follow the gaze of their mothers eye
- they understand intentions of people
- understand intended goals
- that reach and the object in reach are different
Piagets criticism 2 has two factors
- numerical skills in pre-schoolers
- social cognition in pre-schoolers
Piagets criticism 2 - social cognition in pre-schoolers
- egocentrism piaget: through around 7 but more 2-3 years of age
- theory of mind: understanding of other peoples mind
- others likes and dislikes: broccoli vs crackers study
- true and false beliefs: 3yr fail 4 yrs pass
what is 4 things that show you have gained social development
- forms bonding with people
- learning to behave in socially acceptable ways
- learning to be a good friend and allies
- learning to deal with adversaries (that some social thins aren’t always going to go well)
attachment definition
‘an emotional and social bond between infant and caregiver that spans both time and space’
achieving social development
- social learning theory (learn how to behave by watching other people do)
- cognitive developmental theory (intellectual dev. drives our social dev.)
- parents (parent styles are a two way street)
- peer relationships (have effect on how we behave)
emotional development - emotional regulation
- infants are reliant on adults to soothe them
- self-soothing ability develops over time
- display rules - govern the degree to which emotions need to be regulated in a given situation
when you hide you emotions - you have to learn to do this
emotional development
- expressing emotions (basic emotions are present from early on)
- understanding others feelings
- emotional regulation
moral development
generally accepted rules
not doing wrong
- guided by consequences
- inter rules
- principle of minimal sufficiency (harsher the punishment the quicker you internalise it is wrong, but this is not right)
doing right
- empathic distress (upset when someone else is sad)
- offers to help
- might leave you worse off
parenting
work in two dimensions
- demandingness
- responsiveness
certain kids lend them selves to certain ways of parents instead of becoming like parents
moral behaviour definition
behaviour that confirms to a generally accepted set of rules