Child Development Flashcards
3 stages of prenatal development
- Germinal period
- Embryonic period
- Foetal period
Germinal period
- approx. first two weeks post conception
- fertilised egg (zygote) becomes implanted in the uterus
Embryonic period
- weeks 3-8 of gestation
- most important period for developing the CNS and organs
- by the end of this period, the features of the embryo become recognisably human, most organs have begun to form, and foetus’ heart beats
Foetal period
- week 9 - birth
- rapid muscular development
- by approx. 28 weeks, foetus can sustain life on its own
Teratogens
Environmental agents that harm the embryo or foetus, e.g. alcohol, smoking, drugs, stress, chemicals
Maturation
Biologically based changes that follow an orderly sequence, each step setting the stage for the next step according to an age related timetable
Example of maturation
E.g. infants crawl before they walk, on average around the same age
Gene-environment correlations
Occur when genes influence the environments people choose or the experiences to which they are exposed (modern nature and nurture)
What can infants sense and perceive?
- Excellent hearing, e.g. foetal heartbeat can respond to loud noises in the womb, can recognise mother’s voice
- At birth, the visual cortex, retina and other visual structures are immature, resulting in poor sight
Intermodal processing
The ability to associate sensations of an object from different senses, or to match one’s own actions to behaviours observed visually
Infantile amnesia
The inability of infants before the age of 3 - 4 to form explicit memories
What factors affect variations in infantile memory?
What an infant remembers varies considerably depending on the task, and reflects in large part the maturation of neural circuits involved in different kinds of memory
Representational flexibility
The ability to retrieve memories despite changes in the cues that were present at encoding
What affects the ability of an infant to retrieve a memory?
Whether or not the cues present at encoding are present currently
How does memory improve from infancy?
As infants grow, they become more efficient at encoding memories in relational representations – that is, creating linkages within an event, and linking events with prior knowledge
How can parents influence their child’s memory development?
Adopting a high-elaborative reminiscing style, i.e. asking the children questions that continually provide and / or require new information, allows the child to develop their own high-elaborative reminiscing style
Why are only the rudiments of explicit memory present at birth?
Explicit memory requires maturation of the hippocampus, which occurs over at least the first 18 months of life
Piaget’s theory of cognitive development
Children of the same age tend to make the same type of mistakes, providing similar explanations in their reasoning.
Piaget’s definition of a schema
An organised, repeatedly exercised pattern of thought or behaviour
Piaget argued that children adapt to their environments through what two processes?
Accommodation and assimilation
Assimilation
Interpreting actions or events in terms of one’s present schemas
E.g. an infant will put a nipple, dummy, finger etc. into its mouth; all of these objects can be assimilated – taken in without modifying an existing schema – by sucking.
Accommodation
The modification of schemas to fit reality
E.g. when presented with a cup, an infant must modify their sucking schema to drink from the new device
Equilibrium
Equilibrium requires balancing assimilation and accommodation to adapt to the world; Piaget suggests equilibrium is the driving force behind cognitive development
Piaget’s 4 stages of development (with age range)
- Sensorimotor (birth-2)
- Pre-operational (2-5/7)
- Concrete operational (7-12)
- Formal operational (12-15)
Sensorimotor stage
- Thought takes the form of action, e.g. grabbing, putting in mouth, sight, manipulating objects
- Object permanence a major achievement: infants recognise that objects exist in time and space
- Extremely egocentric: thoroughly embedded in own POV, e.g. when an object disappears it ceases to exist
- Activities involve exploring senses, peek-a-boo
Pre-operational stage
- Emergence of symbolic thought, e.g. creating imagined scenarios with other preschoolers, then acting out those scenarios
- Limited by egocentrism - they struggle to imagine different perspectives (the mountain task)
- Limited by centration, e.g. cannot factor length and width when comparing overall size
- Think literally, and have trouble with concepts, i.e. compromise
- Imaginative play, tactile play, playing with teddies and toys
Symbolic thought
The ability to use arbitrary symbols, such as words, to represent concepts, allowing thought to become detachable from action
Object permanence
The recognition that an objects continues to exist even when it is not visible
Centration
The tendency to focus, or centre, on one perpetually striking feature of an object without considering other features that may be relevant
Concrete operational stage
- Children are capable of operating on, or mentally manipulating, internal representations of concrete objects in ways that are reversible
- Understands conservation
- E.g. ability to imagine different scenarios, reason the consequences of each, and choose the most appropriate
- Baking, organisation of events, simple science experiments
Formal operational stage
- Abstract thinking
- Ability to manipulate abstract as well as concrete objects, events and ideas mentally
- Essay writing, creative writing, complex mathematics
Transactional model of child development
Recognises the importance of the way that children and their parents change their behaviour as a result of the transaction that occurs between them.
Conservation
The idea that basic properties of an object or situation remain stable even though superficial properties may change
Socialisation
The process by which children learn rules, beliefs, values, skills, attitudes and behaviour patterns of their society; a transactional and lifelong process
Why are siblings often parented differently?
Their genes elicit different transactions from their parents
4 types of parenting styles
- Authoritarian
- Authoritative
- Permissive
- Uninvolved
Authoritarian parenting style
- high control, little warmth
- high value on obedience and respect for authority
- do not encourage discussion or the child’s POV
- impose rules that are expected to be followed
- likely to punish child frequently
Permissive parenting style
- low control, high warmth
- impose virtually no controls on their children, allowing them to make their own decisions whenever possible
- tend to accept their children’s impulsive behaviour, including angry or aggressive ones, and rarely dole out punishments
Authoritative parenting style
- high control, high warmth
- parents set standards and firmly enforce them
- encourage give and take, and explain their views while showing respect for their children’s opinion
Uninvolved parenting style
- low control, low warmth
- place own needs above child’s
Guidance approach to parenting
Parents help their children manage their emotions, cooperate with others and think about the effects of their behaviour on others
Gender roles
Specify the range of behaviours considered appropriate for males and females
Sex typing
The process by which children acquire personality traits, emotional responses, skills, behaviours and preferences that are culturally considered appropriate for their sex
Attachment
The enduring ties of affection that children form with primary caregivers, characterised by a desire for proximity, a sense of security, and distress in their absence. Not unilateral; involved an interaction between the two people, who react to each other’s signals
Describe Harlow’s experiments
Harlow’s experiments involved rearing infant monkeys in isolation from their mothers, before placing them in a cage with an inanimate surrogate ‘mother’. One, a wire monkey that provided no warmth nor softness, held a bottle from which the infant could nurse. The other was covered with towelling to provide softness, but had no bottle.
What did Harlow find through his experiments
Perceived security, not food, is the crucial element in forming attachment relationship
Contact comfort
The ties that bind an infant to its caregivers
Bowlby’s theory of attachment
- Asserts that attachment behaviour is prewired to keep immature animals close to their parents, evolving for food, protection and life skills.
- The attachment figure is a safe base from which a child can explore and to whom she can return periodically for ‘emotional refuelling’.
Separation anxiety
- Emerges cross-culturally approx. 6-7 months, suggesting a maturational basis
- Distress at separation from from attachment figures
Describe the ‘strange situation’
- An experimental procedure whereby a mother leaves her child (12-18 months) alone in a room of toys. Next, a friendly stranger briefly joins the child, then the mother returns to greet the child.
- An infant will either respond securely or insecurely, under four attachment styles
4 attachment styles
- Secure
- Avoidant
- Ambivalent
- Disorganised
Secure attachment style
Infant welcomes the mother’s return and seeks closeness
Avoidant attachment style
Infant ignores the mother when she returns
Ambivalent attachment style
Infant may be angry or rejecting, whilst simultaneously indicating a clear desire to be close
Disorganised attachment style
Infant will behave in contradictory ways, indicating helpless efforts to elicit soothing responses, e.g. approaching the mother whilst gazing away
Internal working models of relationships
Infants develop mental representations of attachment relationships that form the basis for expectations in close relationships
4 types of research methodologies
- Cross-sectional
- Longitudinal
- Sequential
- Twin studies
Cross-sectional studies
Compare groups of participants of different ages at a single time to see whether differences exist among them, e.g. comparing centurions with people in their 60s and 80s on various dimensions
Cohort effects
Differences among age groups associated with differences in culture etc.
Longitudinal studies
- Assess the same individuals over time, providing the opportunity to assess age changes, rather than age differences
- Can reveal differences among individuals as well as changes within individuals over time
Limitations of cross-sectional and longitudinal studies
Cohort effects can result in confounding variables that render it impossible to determine causation
Sequential studies
Combine cross-sectional and longitudinal comparisons, allowing research to distinguish between age effects (differences associated with age) and cohort effects
Limitations to sequential studies
Costly and time consuming