Childhood Development

Question 1

What are 3 stages of prenatal period?

Answer 1

1. Germinal period/Zygote
2. Embryonic period
3. Foetal period

Question 2

Germinal period/Zygote

Answer 2

It’s the period between conception and approx 2 weeks. During this period, the fertilised egg implants in the uterus.

Question 3

Embryonic period

Answer 3

The period between the start of 3 weeks to about 8 weeks of gestation. The central nervous system and it’s organs develop. The heart has begun to beat and embryo becomes a recognisable human

Question 4

Foetal period

Answer 4

The period between 9 weeks to birth. During this stage muscular development is rapid. At 28 weeks, the foetus is capable of sustaining life on its own.

Question 5

Define Teratogen

Answer 5

Any environmental agents/substances that harm the embryo or foetus.
They include:
- drugs
- radiation
- toxic chemicals
- alcohol
- smoking
- stress

Question 6

Newborns are born with reflexes, what are they?

Answer 6

1. Rotting reflex - when babies are touched on the cheek their mouth opens and search for the nipple.
2. Sucking reflex - babies will automatically suck if something touches their lips.
3. Grasping reflex - babies their fingers when an object touches their palm. This is present in the first 3-4 months

Question 7

What is cephalocaudal?

Answer 7

This terms refers to the principal describing the direction of growth and development. The child first gains control of their head, then their arms, and then then legs

Question 8

Define maturation.

Answer 8

The biological processes that enble orderly changes in behaviour, relatively uninfluenced by experience.

Question 9

What is epigenetics?

Answer 9

It means above genetics and has to do with how nature and nature interact.

Question 10

Define intermodal processing.

Answer 10

The ability to associate sensations of an object from different senses or to match their own actions to behaviours they have observed visually.

Question 11

Explicit VS Implicit VS Working Memory

Answer 11

• Explicit memory refers to memories that can be consciously recalled.
• Implicit memory is memory expressed in behaviour that may not be repeated consciously.
• Working memory involves held briefly in consciousness.

Question 12

Key Concepts of Jean Piaget’s Theory

Answer 12

• Scheme - a concept or framework to organise & interpret information that changes with age.
• Adaptation - the process of building schemes through direct interaction with the environment. Built up of 2 complimentary activities: assimilation & accommodation.
• Assimilation - interpreting experiences in terms of existing schemes.
• Accommodation - old schemes are adjusted and new ones created to incorporate new information.

Question 13

Jean Piaget’s Theory
1. Sensorimotor Stage: 0-2 years

Answer 13

• Infants develop the ability to coordinate the sensory input with their motor actions.
• Object permanence - the awareness that objects continue to exist even when they cannot see them

Question 14

Jean Piaget’s Theory
2. Preoperational Stage: 2-7 years
List the Principles.

Answer 14

• Learns to use language and symbolic thought but does not yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete logic.
• Principles of :
  * Conservation - certain physical characteristics of objects remain the same, even when their outward appearance changes
  * Centration - the tendency to focus on one aspect of a situation and neglect other important features
  * Irreversibility - the ability to envision reversing an action
  * Egocentrism - The limited ability to share another person’s point of view

Question 15

Jean Piaget’s Theory:
Theory of Mind

Answer 15

• The ability to infer others’ mental stages
• Basic understanding develops around ages 3-4
• Impaired in Autism

Question 16

Jean Piaget’s Theory
3. Concrete Operational Stage: 7-11 years

Answer 16

• Gain mental operations that allow logical thought about concrete events
• Begin to understand arithmetic operations
• Seriation - ability to arrange items along a quantitative dimension, such as length or weight
• Transitive inference - ability to seriate mentally
• Cognitive maps - mental representations of large-scale environments

Question 17

Jean Piaget’s Theory
4. Formal Operational Stage: 11+ years

Answer 17

• Begin to think logically about abstract and scientific concepts
• Hypothetico-deductive reasoning: Begin with a general theory of all possible factors affecting outcomes, deduce a specific hypothesis, test the hypothesis in orderly fashion
• Propositional thought: can evaluate the logic of prepositions (verbal statements) without referring to real-world circumstances
• Formal operation egocentrism: inability to distinguish the abstract perspective of the self and others
  
  • Imaginary audience: they are the focus of everyone else’s attention and concern
  • Personal fable: they are special and unique ( others cannot understand their thoughts and feeling)

Question 17

What are the 2 dimenstions of parenting style/behaviour?

Answer 17

• warmth/responsiveness
  -control/demandingness

Question 18

What are Diane Baumrind parenting styles?

Answer 18

• Authoritarian: high control, little warmth; no reason given to children
• Permissive: low control, high warmth; no guidance or discipline
• Authoritative: high control, high warmth; strict about rules but provide explanation to children
• Uninvolved (neglectful): no control, no warmth; provde basic physical needs.

Question 19

Define attachment.

Answer 19

Close, emotional bonds between infant and their caregiver

Question 20

Harlow’s attachment experiment

Answer 20

• Partial isolation: resulted in various abnormalities such as blank staring, stereotyped repetition circling in their cages and self-mutilation
• Total social isolation: produced monkeys that were severely psychologically disturbed.

Question 21

State Bowlby’s ethological theory of attachment.

Answer 21

• Innate signals initially calling the adult to a baby’s side
• True affectionate bonds then develop
• Development of attachment follows 4 stages

Question 22

What are the 4 stages of attachment discovered by Bowlby?

Answer 22

1. Preattachement (birth to 6 weeks): different of signals; attachment not yet formed
2. Attachment ( 6 weeks to 6-8 months): Respond differently to strangers; little protest when separated from parent
3. Clear-cut attachment ( 6-8 months to 18-24 months): separation anxiety
4. Formation of reciprocal relationship ( 18-24 months +): Understand reasons for parent ‘ coming and going’

Question 23

Ainsworth’s Attachment category

Answer 23

1. Secure attachment: The child is distressed when the parent is absent but settles quickly when the parent returns; 60%
2. Avoidant attachment: Unresponsive to parent absence and slow to greet parent when they return; 15%
3. Resistance attachment: Children are clingy to their parents. In their parent’s absence, child does explore but upon parent’s return the child is angry (hitting and pushing). 10%
4. Disorganised/disorientated attachments: Greatest insecurity. Confused/contradictory behaviour regarding approach vs avoidance, such as child crys out after calmed. 15%

Question 24

Types of research methologies

Answer 24

• Cross-sectional: Compare groups of participants of different ages at one time. Doesn’t account for individual differences.
• Longitudinal: Assess the same individual over time. Vulnerable to cohort effects which difference among the grounp such as cultural difference.
• Sequential Studies: Studying multiple cohort longitudinally. Minimise cohort effect
• Twin Studies: Effect case studies to investigate the role of nature and nurture