Child Psychology Flashcards
What is meant by child psychology?
It is part of developmental psychology. child psychologists look at the development of children and adolescents. They look at the impact of early events on development and later relationships, arguments over day care and whether parenting skill can determine autism.
what is proximity seeking?
Wanting to be close to the attachment figure
We use our attachment figure as a secure base. What is secure base behaviour?
exploring the world but constantly coming back to feel secure
what is stranger anxiety?
anxiety in the presence of strangers
What is separation anxiety?
anxiety when apart from the attachment figure
what year was Lorenz?
1935
what did Lorenz (1935) do?
he got baby geese to imprint on him
is imprinting a one way or 2 way bond?
one way bond
why is a 2 way bond better than a one way bond?
because the mother is then motivated to protect and nurture
What did Lorenz come up with and what is it?
Critical period - if you do not form an attachment in this time you never will
what is the critical period for babies
up to 2 years
why does Belsky (1999) say insecure attachment has evolved?
insecure attachment leads to young sexual activity and emotionally less intense adult relationships
In places with high morbidity this is good as the population continues and you will cope better when losing loved ones
what year was Bowlbys theory of attachment?
1957
what is monotropy
having one main attachment figure
what is Bowlbys explanation of attachment and evolution
1 million years ago cave men were at risk of being eaten by wolves and big cats so had to form an attachment in order to survive
definition of social releasers
behaviours babies are born with to get attention off of adults
examples of social releasers (5)
smiling, sucking, gesturing ,gripping and cooing
what is an internal working model?
a mental representation of your first relationship that all other relationships are based on
How do you measure attachment?
The strange situation
what year was Mary Ainsworths study
1967
What are the 8 stages of ainsworths model
1) the child and carer placed in empty room
2) child free to explore
3) stranger enters, greets mother and attempts to pay with child
4) carer leaves the child with stranger
5) carer re-enters and stranger leaves
6) carer leaves the child alone
7) stranger re enters
8) stranger leaves and carer re enters
what are the 3 attachment types?
A: avoidant
B: Secure
C: resistant
what are sensitive and insensitive parents?
sensitive parents can identify their child’s needs effectively and respond to social releasers so have secure babies. Insensitive parents are the opposite.
3 explanations for cultural variations in attachment types
1) Germany - more a’s because they value independence
2) Takahashi (1990) more c’s in Japan because the procedure is not appropriate for Japanese mothers as they are rarely separated and rushed the stages
3) Belsky (1999)
Evaluation of bowlbys evolutionary theory ( 6 points)
+ explains both how and why we form attachments
+Brazelton et al (1975) found when mothers were asked to ignore their babies the babies quickly became distressed showing the importance of responding to social releasers
+Bailey et al (2007) found teenage mums had insecure attachments to both their mums and babies showing the internal working method is right and attachments are passed on
+ has face validity - evolution theory makes sense
- impossible to test so lacks evidence
- ignores relationship with father, what about same sex couples?
who found when mothers were asked to ignore their babies the babies quickly became distressed showing the importance of responding to social releasers
Brazelton et al (1975)
who found teenage mums had insecure attachments to both their mums and babies showing the internal working method is right and attachments are passed on
Bailey et al (2007)
What us deprivation and privation?
deprivation - seperation from the attahcment figure
privation - never forming an attachment with anyone
what year was bowlbys maternal deprivation hypothesis?
1951
what study supports the maternal deprivation hypothesis?
Bowlby (1946) 44 thieves
aim of 44 thieves (1946)
to see if those with an early separation were more likely to be affectionless psychopaths or not
participants in 44 thieves (1946)
44 teenagers at the child guidance clinic. all took part in criminal activities and lived with biological parents
procedure of 44 thieves (1946)
bowlby interviewed the teenagers for affectionless psychopath
bowlby interviewed parents to determine any prolonged separation
a control group of non delinquents was used to see how common maternal deprivation is in them
results of 44 thieves (1946)
12/14 identified as affectionless psychopaths had expiriences prolonged early seperation
5/30 non affectionless psychopaths had early seperations
2/44 non delinquents had prolonged early separation
conclusion of 44 thieves (1946)
criminals who had early separations are more likely to become affectionless psychopaths
evaluation of 44 thieves (1946) (12 points)
+face validity - got what it set out to do
+no harm
+had consent
+kept confidentiality
+ good application to society - helps with parenting and daycare
x low temporal validity
x lab conditions so no ecological validity
x its a correlation but you cant show the cause and effect
x only bowlby did it so lacks interrater reliability
x the recalls of info may have been untrue
xnot generalisable
xinterview bias bowbly was conducting it and knew what he wanted to find so could have been subjective in his interpretations
examples of short term deprivation
daycare and hospitals
what did Robertson and Bowlby (1952) do?
they observed children going into hospital for minor operations. The found children firstly protest when parents try to leave, then they reach dispair where they cry less but become distant and then there is a detachment where the child rejects their primary carer
examples of long term deprivation
divorce and death
Richards identified 5 effects divorce can have on children, what are they?
1) lower IQ
2) more behavioural problems
3) having sex and geting married younger
4) distant relationship with family as an adult
5) low socio economic status as an adult
7 ways in which the effects or deprivation can be reduced:
1) parents can now stay with children in hospital
2) prepare children if parents are going to divorce/remarry]
3) let children get used to their new step parents/siblings slowly, don’t rush into it
4) don’t introduce your children to loads of partners
5) delay daycare
6) frequent visits to an absent parent
7) more individual care and stimulation in institutions
when can privation occur?
in an institution with high staff turnover or when parents neglect or abuse their child
why is it hard to study privation?
there are few cases and its ethically wrong to test it
who did the Genie study?
Curtis (1977)
Genies first 13 years of life
- when she was born her father took her to a doctor who said she might have learning difficulties
- her father kept her isolated in her room, her brother and mother were not allowed to see her
- duting the day she was tied to a potty chair and at night her cot
- there was no stimulation - she couldn’t walk or talk
- when she tried to communicate she was beaten
what happened at 13+ to Genie
- at 13 her mother took her and ran to social services
- she had little speech and was afraid of adults
- she was fostered by a special needs teacher and then a psychologist studying her
- she leanrt some words and formed an attachment to the psychologist
- she continued to display extreme anxiety
- when the research funding ended she was returned to social services and placed in a number of foster homes
- in one she was physically abused and regressed back to the state she was found in
- genie was briefly reunited with the psychologist but expresses anger
- she was then settled with an adult who stopped all psychologists seeing and studying her
evaluation of the ethics in the genie study
+ kept anonymity
x researchers used and harmed her. She formed an attachment but was then taken away and treated as the subject not a human with needs
+she did form bonds becuase of the research
x genie was constantly relocated which distressed her
x over assessment may have caused her distress
x the psychologists careers improved because of this case at the expense of Genie
Evaluation of genie (1977) without ethics
+ in depth data, both quantitative and qualitative
+multiple research methods so valid
x she may have had learning difficulties so we don’t know how much that may have effected her development
x unique so not generalisable
x can’t be repeated
who did the czech twins case and when?
Koluchova (1972)
describe the czech twins case
- they were born in 1960
-their mther died after birth so were put in care for a year - their father and step mother then looked after them
she had mental health problems so would lock them in the cupboard and beat them - they were rescued at 7 with no speech, severe retardation and a fear of adults
- at 20 they had completely recovered. They had an above average IQ, career and relationships
what is institutionalisation
when a child lives in an institute for a long period of time
why were many children put in institutes in Romania?
becuase of a low population women were ordered to have 5 children each. However, they could both not care for or afford them so handed them over to the state.
What was the aim of Rutter (1998)
to see if good care can compensate for early privation
Rutter (1998) procedure:
- 111 romanian children adopted in Britain and 52 British adopted children were compared
- all under 2
- all romanian children had spent their lives in an orphanage except a few who had spent a couple of weeks
- the average IQ was 63
- 51% were in the bottom 3% for weight
how many romanian and British children were used?
111 and 52
what was the average IQ in the rutter procedure before and after
before 63, after 107
results of Rutter (1998)
- IQ increasd from 63- 107
- physical development was the same as the british children
- the younger the child when adopted, the better they did
conclusin of rutter (1998)
early intervention is best and early privation can be redeemed by good care later on
evaluation of Rutter (1998)
+control group used
+longitudinal study
+ethical
x some children were only in care for 2 weeks which could have skewed results
x its a correlation- we don’t know the cause and effect
x conditions on Romania were so severe its hard to generalise to other kids in care
x we don’t know if its just privation that caused a low IQ
Is Privation reversible?
YES:
- the czech twins however they had an attachment with each other which might have helped
- Rutter (1998) showed it can be reversed
NO:
- Genie was never reversed. However if she was fond earlier she might have and learning difficulties could have effected it
what is autism?
people suffer from 3 areas:
1) communication
2) social integration
3) social imagination
how does autism affect your social development? (3 ways)
- bad social interactions
- obsessive interests and lack of empathy makes it hard to make friends
- unpopular children are more likely to be friends with autistic people but this isn’t good as they don’t have great social skilled themselves so can’t teach them
how does autism affect your cognitive development? (3 ways)
- IQ is lower
- some people have extremely well developed specific mental abilities. They are called savants.
- Baron- cohen (2008) says there are 2 differences in cognitive development:
- lack of empathy
- hyper systemising - perceive patterns is information and good at science and maths - they show obsessive interests
- disadvantaged at school because of social interaction
what are 2 explanations of autism?
Baron Cohen (1997) theory of mind and the biological explanation extreme male brain
explain the Baron Cohen (1997) theory of mind explanation of autism
- at around 3 children start to develop their theory of mind in which they understand others, their own mind and think differently
- autistic kids don’t develop a TOM so find social interaction hard
- Leslie and Frith (1985) developed the sally anne task which supported this
what was the Leslie and Frith (1985) study
sally anne TOM
What is the extreme male brain explanation of autism?
- boys: girls with autism is 4:1
- girls score higher with empathizing and boys higher with systemising
- autistic people use the right side of the brain more. Girls are less likely to get it because they have hemispheric connectivity so use both sided of the brain equally
- autistic people have high levels of testosterone. Boys are exposed to more testosterone in the womb
What study can be used as evidence for the negative effects of daycare
Belsky& rovine (1988)
What did Belsky (1986) say about babies in day care
that they are at a higher risk of insecure attachments
Describe the Belsky and Rovine (1988) experiment
-149 one year olds were assessed for their attachment to both parents using the strange situation
- mothers were asked about work and day care
Results: mothers who worked 20+ hours a week had babies with insecure attachments and mothers who worked 38+ hours had babies with an insecure attachment to the father
conclusion: using 20+ hours of day care a week causes insecure attachments
what is the evidence for positive effects of daycare?
- Anderson found children who went to day care were more socially skilled and popular at school
- daycare is good for WC parents as the care is often better than at home
- evidence shows mothers who return to work after 5 months have good attachments
What makes day care good and bad?
- the quality of care
- the transition to daycare
- the starting age (better to start after 1)
- how many hours you spend in daycare (the more time the worse you are)
- stimulation provided
- ratio of carers to children
What would Bowlby say about daycare?
Bowlby wouldn’t like daycare as it is short term deprivation which he found can cause affectionless psychopathy and developmental retardation
what is the child key issue
does day care have a positive or negative effect on childrens development
what did I do in the study
I used a purposive sample to get articles decribing either the positive or negative effects of day care. I did a content analysis of 2 articles about daycare. I used a talley chart to write down every emotive and scientific word which was in the article and every positive and negative phrase there was about day care.
what were the findings of my content analysis
family facts article: more scientific than emotive words and all negative phrases
the guardian article: more scientific words used but more emotive words than article 1. More positive phrases than negative ones.
What is a structured and naturalistic observation?
naturalistic - participants are observed in their natural environement
structured - researcher has certain behaviours they are looking for so set up a situation where these would be displayed e.g the strange situation
advantages and disadvantages of a naturalistic observation
x unethical it its covert \+ you get natural behaviour x the experimenter can't control the situation so doesn't know when the behaviours they want will turn up x low inter rater reliability \+ high ecological validity x low predictive validity x have to be sure consent is given x have to be sure you are observing behaviours people would want observed
advantages and disadvantages of a structured observation
x behaviour isn’t completely natural as too artificial
+generate numerical data
+can be repeated
+ inter rater reliability
+ good predictive validity
x low ecologival validity
x structured observations puts people in situations which could be distressing e.g the strange situation
what are longitudinal studies
studying an individual/ group/institution over a long period of time
advantages and disadvantages of longitudinal studies
x high drop out rate
+ good for noticing changes
+ same participants used so participant variables don’t affect results
+ lots of data
+ good for establishing a cause and effect
x takes a long time
x expensive
What is a cross-cultural study?
comparing the results of a study from diferent cultures
A culture is a set of shared norms, values and beliefs.
what is a case study
an in depth look at an individual, group or institution. The case study includes a background, current situation and an interpretation
advantages and disadvantages of case studies
x cant be repeated
x cant be generalised
+ high validity
x open to subjective interpretation
x no quantitaitve data
x will gathering the information harm someone e.g genie
+ participant has little privacy - everyone knows about their life
