Development Flashcards
What is the purpose of developmental psychology?
Seeks to identify and explain the changes (in behaviour) that individuals undergo from moment of conception until they die
What areas are studied in developmental psychology?
Physical growth (including sensation and perception) and motor skills
Mental or reasoning ability (cognition and learning)
Emotional expression
Patterns of social behaviour
Personality
It can basically look at all fields researched in psychology
What are some examples of questions asked by developmental psychologists
What does the world look like to the newborn?
How does perception change with age?
Why do so many 1 year olds seem so attached to their mothers and so fearful of strangers?
Why are some people friendly and outgoing whereas others are shy and reserved?
Why is learning to speak so natural, but learning to read or learn maths so effortful?
Is ADHD the same in adults as in children?
Can we trust children’s testimony?
WHat’s different about you now from when you were a baby?
Are babies just tiny adlts who dont know anything? Or is there a qualitative transformation
Why do babies seem so dumb? Are they actually dumb?Or do babies actually know more than they seem?
What is the general trajectory of developmental change?
Seeking to identify development from a transition from dependence to independence or also external regulation to self regulation
But why does it take so long? What mechanisms at play?
WHen infants and children are so reliant on others, how sophisticated is their thinking and how active are they in what they learn?
contemporary answer:
Children are quite active and sophisticated even when they have limited self - regulatory abilities
THis is because of the flexibility of our species.
Self regulation and independence requires that we prioritise goals. Goals guide self regulation. It makes sense if we have many years of learning before we prioritise only goal relevant information
What are two kinds of research we can do the address questions asked by developmental psychologists?
Reverse engineering the way the world is now - E.g. What are the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying the development of self regulation?
Interventions to make the world better - E.g. understanding these mechanisms how do we best help children at risk for self regulation problems ?
Both kinds of research is needed. Usually done by different researchers. WHen doing 1, you dont know what would be relevant for the other one. Colaborations are necessary for each kind to best inform each other
Delayed gratification example
Check slides
What are the two sides which describe the cause of behaviour?
Nature: Our personality/behaviour stems from our biological makeup
Nurture: Our personality/behaviour stems from interactions with the environment
Which is correct in nature vs nurture?
Research has shown it is a bit of both nature and nurture which plays a part in our development
What are the different methodological considerations in developmental research?
Use of lab or naturalistic observations (internal/external validity) –> lab = high control, naturalistic - low control
How do we quantify what we want to measure?
Who observes results/tests?
How to approach age experiments? –> Cross sectional or longitudinal designs?
WHat are examples of issues which can arise from the design of the experiment?
Sampling bias (representative sample)
Observer effects (mother/teacher/researcher)
Selective attrition (Problem in longitudinal studies –> dropout)
Practice effects (repeated measures –> improves performance)
Validity/reliability of tests (is the test really meaasuring what is desired?)
What are the 3 different research designs we could use?
Cross sectional approach
Longitudinal approach
Longitudinal Sequential approach
What is the cross sectional approach?
Involves different subjects being studied at different ages
What are the benefits of the cross sectional approach?
Data collected over a wide age range in a short time
What are the drawbacks of the cross sectional approach?
This yields no information about past determinants of age related changes
Problem of cohort variation - each age group born in different year –> different environmental influences
No information about individual development
What is the longitudinal approach?
The investigator studies the same studies at a variety of ages as they develop. They can be very long (decades) or could be long but considered short (a year or two)
What are the benefits of the longitudinal approach?
Provides extensive information about how individuals develop
What are the drawbacks of longitudinal approach?
Time and cost
Subjects lost - selective attrition
Cross generational change - how relevant is our early data?
Inflexibility (stuck with sample and with originally decided measures)
What is the longitudinal sequential design?
It is composed of a sequence of samples of different ages, each of which is followed longitudionally for a period of time, however not as long as the longitudinal approach
What are the benefits of the longitudinal sequential design?
More efficient than longitudinal designs (i.e. this might only take 5 years compared to longitudinals 10 years)
Reveals cultural/historical effects - by employing a time lagged comparison (compare sample, born in different years with one another at same age)
What are the drawbacks of the longitudinal sequential design?
Expensive
People could still drop out –> selective attrition (it is still a relatively long process)
What is an experiment which addressed how a lack of social contact impacts infant development?
Monkey experiments which looked at their impoverished early environment
Involves investigating effects of social isolation for monkeys on varying periods of early life
How long were the pperiods investigated by the monkeys and their impoverished early environments?
Isolation for first 3 months, first 6 months, second 6 months and first 12 months
What was the impact of isolation for first 3 months?
Emotional shock - self clutching and biting, rocking etc. but within a month fo return to the group cage –> behaves normally
What was the impact of isolation for first 6 months?
As above but effects persisted - no return to normal
What was the impact of isolation for the second 6 months
(I.e. with group for first 6 months and then isolation) - became aggressive and fearful when returned to group cage, but quickly recovered
What was the impact of isolation for the first 12 months?
Social misfits with no signs of recovery
What were the experiments on monkeys able to conclude?
Severity of the behavioural disruption depends upon both duration of isolation and age at which it begins
Children require more than just food, water and lack of disease to thrive as human beings
First 6 months are critical for development
What were the effects of early social deprivation via orphanage studies? (Goldfarb study)
Orphanages basically had children living in almost complete isolation in the 1940s, as such this allowed psychologists to study social deprivation in humans without ethical issues
Compared early (<3 months) with late (> 3 years) placement of children in foster homes from orphanages (placement = how long)
At age 12, it was found that those with an early placement had a mean IQ of 95, whereas late placement had a mean IQ of 72
What did Goldfarb conclude about children who spent 3+ years in an institution? (Cognitive and social emotional effects)
Concluded that when institutional effects go on for 3+ years, effects are long lasting and irreversible
Cognitive effects:
Lower ability to conceptualise
Poorer speech development
Inability to concentrate
Poorer school achievement
Social-emotional:
Social immaturity
Aggressiveness
Insatiable need for affection but cant form bornds
Cant adhere to rules
No remorse when they break the rules
What were conditions like in Romanian orphanages?
Freezing
Full of malnutrition
Smell of urine
No toys
Often babies are hosed down
What were the English/Romanian adoption studies?
Purpose of this study was to exmaine recovery in orphans following removal from impoverished circumstances. Helps determine if initial deficits were caused by early impoverishment or not
Compared the Romanian orphans to English orphans
What did the English/Romanian adoption study discover? (Findings - theres a lot, just remember key findings)
Weight, height and head circumference are significantly lower at entry to UK for the Romanian babies (majority below 3rd percentile)
Catch up was greatest for those adopted before 6 months in orphanages
IQ of Romanians adopted was significantly lower
Catch up in weight was virtually complete by 6 years except for extreme malnourishment cases
Significant head circumference deficits persisted even when weight catchup was complee
Continued impairment in head growth could not be accounted for
Cognitive impairment in 15% Romanian adoptees compared with 2% of within UK adoptees
A linear association of impairment with duration of institutional care i.e. the longer the duration the higher % of impaired
For Romanian adoptees that were adopted before 6 months, outcomes very similar to UK adoptee controls
For Romanian adoptees that were adopted after 6 months, many differences
Romanians with a higher rate of cognitive impairment, autism spectrum disorder, ADHD symptoms, lower self reported rates of emotional wellbeing, high rates of mental health service use
What could the English/Romanian orphanage studies conclude?
Concludes that children who spent the first period of life in deprived (orphanage) environments suffer lasting cognitive and social/emotional deficits
The effects of this deprivation can be overcome by a move to a stimulating (enriched) environment
The degree to which the deficits can be overcome is related to the period of time spent in the deprived environments (the earlier the move, the greater the recovery)
Moreover, effects of deprivation are mediated by individual differences and/or resilience
What are the effects of post natal development (PND), what % of mothers have PND?
20-40% of mothers experience PND
Mothers with PND –> irritable and hostile, less engaged, exhibit less emotion and warmth and have lower rates of play with infants at 3 months.
Why is PND used as a study?
It is an example of impoverished environments for infants , with less social contact than needed
What were the findings of PND studies?
Maternal PND had various effects on childhood, such as behaviour problems, cognitive delays and health problems to disturbed early interactions
At 13 years old, children from PND mothers during infancy had higher cortisol levels (stress hormone)
At 21 years old, more reactive to stressful situations, greater risk of anxiety and depression
Does SES have an effect on children?
Yes it has an effect on their development , and as such it is studied
What are the impacts of low SES on the development of children? How does this research impact future funding?
Lower SES children are behind entering school and dont improve
Provides an economic argument for preschool investment. Promotes cheaper and actually effective attempts to improve SES, which has better benefits for education, job training and decreased interactions with the police force/prison
What is the difference between the headstart program and the Abecedarian project?
Abecedarian was more personalised and also Abecedarian also emphasised earlier intervention at younger ages (<3 years)
What were the goals of the Headstart program?
Improve physical and mental health
Enhance cognitive skills
Foster social and emotional development
What were the components of the Headstart program?
Early childhood education
health screening and referral-mental health services
Nutrition education and hot meals
Social services for child and family
parental involvement
Addresses low income families
What did the initial headstart studies find?
Immediate cognitive (IQ) gains, but these ‘washed out’ over the follow up period
Gains in non cognitive areas (i.e. improved social competence) persisted to grade 2 follow up
In the long term, gains in non cognitive areas persisted and this was still the case in adulthood
Overall effect:
No lasting IQ gains but signnificantly fewer referrals for “special education” programs and increased likelihood of finishing highschool
What is the difference between the ‘Early headstart’ and the ‘headstart’ program?
Early headstart (EHS) started providing the same services and goals of the headstart program but earlier in their life; before the age of 3 years
And also aimed to educate parents
What were the outcomes of EHS programs?
EHS children: had better controls on cognitive and language skills, higher emotional engagement of parent and sustained attention when playing and less aggressive
EHS parents: more emotionally supportive, provided more language learning and learning stimulation, read more to children and spanked less
What were the features of the Abecedarian Project?
Begins early in infancy
Random assignment of infants from low SES families to intervention and control conditions
Treated children had 5 years of exposure to early education in high quality childcare settings
Individualised programs - emphasis on language (difference to Headstart as well)
What were the results of the Abecedarian project?
At 4 years - benefits in language, social interactions and IQ
At 12,15,21 years - benefits in IQ, reading and maths
Enhanced language skills a major factor in enhanced cognitive skills
At 21 years - intervention group had higher education levels and lower unemployment
What was the conclusion of the Abecedarian project?
Early high quality childhood education significantly improves scholastic success and educational attainments of disadvantaged children, even into early childhood
What was the overall conclusion from preschool interviews?
Early intervention is effective in improving a wide variety of skills and competencies in deprived children (e.g. social competence, IQ, school retention, employment)
Intervention must begin early (preferrably before 3 years of age)
Parental involvement required for success
Emphasis on language shows greater results
Intervention should be of sufficient quality
What is cognition?
Refers to all mental activities such as: thinking, problem solving, learning, remembering, paying attention
What is cognitive development?
Refers to the processes by which humans come to think and understand
What is the difference between constructivist theories and Piaget’s stage theory?
What qustions did Piaget try to answer?
What is the origin of knowledge?
How is knowledge acquired, how is it used to reason, how does this change with development?
What are the two different types of arguments in explaining development?
Nature (biological factors) or nurture (environmental)?
Continuous or discontinuous development?
What do predeterminists believe?
Environment plays a minor role; maturation has the major role
What do environmentalists (behaviourists) believe?
Environment has the pre eminent role
What do interactionists believe?
Both nature and nurture plays a part (most likely explanation)
What is constructivism?
Constructivism is based on the idea that people actively construct or make their own knowledge, and that reality is determined by your experiences as a learner. Basically, learners use their previous knowledge as a foundation and build on it with new things that they learn.
What did Piaget argue?
Piaget argued that cognitive and intellectual development happens through a process of adaptation. That is, children learn by adjusting to the world. They do this through assimilation, accommodation and equilibration.
the child is a self driven learner and constructs its own mental life, unlike pure nature or nurture theories