Childhood Development 3.6

Question 1

Ecological Systems Theory

Answer 1

Different environments affect our cognitive, social, and biological development

Question 2

Attachment

Answer 2

An emotional tie with another person results in seeking closeness and showing distress when separated

Question 3

Stranger anxiety

Answer 3

Develops around 8 months when children have schemas for familiar faces and can’t assimilate new faces to these remembered schemas

Question 4

Harlow’s monkey experiment

Answer 4

What’s the most important factor in attachment?

Cloth vs. wire mother - no nourishment from cloth but nourishment from wire. The clothed mother was chosen almost all day.

Question 5

Contact Comfort

Answer 5

Touch creates attachment, not food

Question 6

Imprinting

Answer 6

A process byy which certain animals, early in life, form attachments usually within hours after hatching

Question 7

Sensitive Period

Answer 7

Become fond of familiar people/things

Question 8

Familiarity

Answer 8

Sense of contentment with that which is already known; Infants are familiar with their parents and caregivers

Question 9

Mere exposure effect

Answer 9

Being around an object long enough will cause one to develop an affection for the object

Question 10

Infant attachment

Answer 10

Intense emotional bond between infant and caregiver; better the bond -> better able to thrive

Question 11

Ainsworth’s Strange Situation

Answer 11

• Mother-child interactions observed in a playroom under four conditions
• Study done with infants between 1 and 2
• Observe how the child responds when mom leaves the room and then returns

Question 12

Secure attachment

Answer 12

Explores the room when the mother is present, becomes upset and explores less when the mother is not present, shows pleasure when the mother returns

Created when caregivers are consistently responsive to the child’s needs

Question 13

Insecure attachment

Answer 13

Become extremely distressed when the mother leaves the room and, when reunited, are hard to soothe

Unresponsive or inconsistent parenting

Question 14

3 types of insecure attachment

Answer 14

1. Avoidantly attached - child avoids mother and acts coldly to her
2. Anxious resistance - The child remains close to their mother and remains distressed despite her attempts at comfort
3. Disorganized attachment - No consistent behavior during separation and reunion

Question 15

Temperament

Answer 15

A person’s characteristic emotional reactivity and intensity
- (easy, slow to warm, difficult)
- Genetic component and biological basis, but environmental experiences can modify a child’s basic temperament