Development Flashcards

1
Q

What is the purpose of developmental psychology?

A

Seeks to identify and explain the changes (in behaviour) that individuals undergo from moment of conception until they die

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2
Q

What areas are studied in developmental psychology?

A

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

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3
Q

What are some examples of questions asked by developmental psychologists

A

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?

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4
Q

What is the general trajectory of developmental change?

A

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?

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5
Q

WHen infants and children are so reliant on others, how sophisticated is their thinking and how active are they in what they learn?

A

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

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6
Q

What are two kinds of research we can do the address questions asked by developmental psychologists?

A

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

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7
Q

Delayed gratification example

A

Check slides

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8
Q

What are the two sides which describe the cause of behaviour?

A

Nature: Our personality/behaviour stems from our biological makeup

Nurture: Our personality/behaviour stems from interactions with the environment

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9
Q

Which is correct in nature vs nurture?

A

Research has shown it is a bit of both nature and nurture which plays a part in our development

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10
Q

What are the different methodological considerations in developmental research?

A

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?

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11
Q

WHat are examples of issues which can arise from the design of the experiment?

A

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?)

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12
Q

What are the 3 different research designs we could use?

A

Cross sectional approach

Longitudinal approach

Longitudinal Sequential approach

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13
Q

What is the cross sectional approach?

A

Involves different subjects being studied at different ages

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14
Q

What are the benefits of the cross sectional approach?

A

Data collected over a wide age range in a short time

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15
Q

What are the drawbacks of the cross sectional approach?

A

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

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16
Q

What is the longitudinal approach?

A

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)

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17
Q

What are the benefits of the longitudinal approach?

A

Provides extensive information about how individuals develop

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18
Q

What are the drawbacks of longitudinal approach?

A

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)

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19
Q

What is the longitudinal sequential design?

A

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

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20
Q

What are the benefits of the longitudinal sequential design?

A

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)

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21
Q

What are the drawbacks of the longitudinal sequential design?

A

Expensive

People could still drop out –> selective attrition (it is still a relatively long process)

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22
Q

What is an experiment which addressed how a lack of social contact impacts infant development?

A

Monkey experiments which looked at their impoverished early environment

Involves investigating effects of social isolation for monkeys on varying periods of early life

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23
Q

How long were the pperiods investigated by the monkeys and their impoverished early environments?

A

Isolation for first 3 months, first 6 months, second 6 months and first 12 months

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24
Q

What was the impact of isolation for first 3 months?

A

Emotional shock - self clutching and biting, rocking etc. but within a month fo return to the group cage –> behaves normally

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25
Q

What was the impact of isolation for first 6 months?

A

As above but effects persisted - no return to normal

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26
Q

What was the impact of isolation for the second 6 months

A

(I.e. with group for first 6 months and then isolation) - became aggressive and fearful when returned to group cage, but quickly recovered

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27
Q

What was the impact of isolation for the first 12 months?

A

Social misfits with no signs of recovery

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28
Q

What were the experiments on monkeys able to conclude?

A

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

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29
Q

What were the effects of early social deprivation via orphanage studies? (Goldfarb study)

A

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

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30
Q

What did Goldfarb conclude about children who spent 3+ years in an institution? (Cognitive and social emotional effects)

A

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

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31
Q

What were conditions like in Romanian orphanages?

A

Freezing
Full of malnutrition
Smell of urine
No toys
Often babies are hosed down

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32
Q

What were the English/Romanian adoption studies?

A

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

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33
Q

What did the English/Romanian adoption study discover? (Findings - theres a lot, just remember key findings)

A

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

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34
Q

What could the English/Romanian orphanage studies conclude?

A

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

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35
Q

What are the effects of post natal development (PND), what % of mothers have PND?

A

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.

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36
Q

Why is PND used as a study?

A

It is an example of impoverished environments for infants , with less social contact than needed

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37
Q

What were the findings of PND studies?

A

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

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37
Q

Does SES have an effect on children?

A

Yes it has an effect on their development , and as such it is studied

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38
Q

What are the impacts of low SES on the development of children? How does this research impact future funding?

A

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

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39
Q

What is the difference between the headstart program and the Abecedarian project?

A

Abecedarian was more personalised and also Abecedarian also emphasised earlier intervention at younger ages (<3 years)

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40
Q

What were the goals of the Headstart program?

A

Improve physical and mental health

Enhance cognitive skills

Foster social and emotional development

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41
Q

What were the components of the Headstart program?

A

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

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42
Q

What did the initial headstart studies find?

A

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

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43
Q

What is the difference between the ‘Early headstart’ and the ‘headstart’ program?

A

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

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44
Q

What were the outcomes of EHS programs?

A

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

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45
Q

What were the features of the Abecedarian Project?

A

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)

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46
Q

What were the results of the Abecedarian project?

A

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

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47
Q

What was the conclusion of the Abecedarian project?

A

Early high quality childhood education significantly improves scholastic success and educational attainments of disadvantaged children, even into early childhood

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48
Q

What was the overall conclusion from preschool interviews?

A

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

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49
Q

What is cognition?

A

Refers to all mental activities such as: thinking, problem solving, learning, remembering, paying attention

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50
Q

What is cognitive development?

A

Refers to the processes by which humans come to think and understand

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51
Q

What is the difference between constructivist theories and Piaget’s stage theory?

A
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52
Q

What qustions did Piaget try to answer?

A

What is the origin of knowledge?

How is knowledge acquired, how is it used to reason, how does this change with development?

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53
Q

What are the two different types of arguments in explaining development?

A

Nature (biological factors) or nurture (environmental)?

Continuous or discontinuous development?

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54
Q

What do predeterminists believe?

A

Environment plays a minor role; maturation has the major role

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55
Q

What do environmentalists (behaviourists) believe?

A

Environment has the pre eminent role

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56
Q

What do interactionists believe?

A

Both nature and nurture plays a part (most likely explanation)

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57
Q

What is constructivism?

A

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.

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58
Q

What did Piaget argue?

A

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

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59
Q

What are stage theories (in general)?

A

Suggests a discontinuity in development. Every stage represents periods where there is qualitative change

Children only moved onto the next stage when they are mature enough and when learned enough

60
Q

What are the general features of stage theories?

A

Individuals pass through a series of qualitiatively different levels/stages of structural organisation

Development involves changing underlying structures

Sequence of stage progression is invariant

The stages are universal

Both nature and nurture contribute (interactionist)

61
Q

What is Piaget’s theory of cognitive development? What are some key features?

A

The main features involve both the stage theory and constructivist approach to cognitive development.

Childrens thought qualitatively different from adults, and perceives children as active constructors of knowledge, not passive recipients

The Theory of Cognitive Development by Jean Piaget, the Swiss psychologist, suggests that children’s intelligence undergoes changes as they grow. Cognitive development in children is not only related to acquiring knowledge, children need to build or develop a mental model of their surrounding world

Key Concept include the ideas of schemes/schemata and adaptation

62
Q

What are schemes/schemata?

A

The “mental structures” that capture the common properties of behaviours (e.g. grasping), objects (e.g. chair), experiences (e.g. bath time)

63
Q

What is the importance of adaptation?

A

Knowledge, thoughts and ideas develop through adaptation which is a modification of schema/schemes

64
Q

What are the two components of adaptation?

A

Assimilation, and accommodation

65
Q

What is assimilation as a component of adaptation?

A

Assimiliation involves making sense of experiences in terms of our existing schema. I.e. taking in information and changing it to fit existing schema or structure.

(Putting new ideas into understanding and practice - application of previous concepts to new concepts)

66
Q

What is accomodation as a component of adaptation?

A

Modifying our schemes to take into account our new expeirences; i.e., altering the cognitive structure to fit in the new information

(altering previous concepts in face of new information)

67
Q

What are Piaget’s stages, and the age ranges that they occur?

A

Sensorimotor stages (0-2 years)

Preoperational stages (2-7 years)

Concrete operational stages (7-11 years)

Formal operational stages (11+ years)

68
Q

What is the sensorimotor stage?

A

This is where reflexes turn to symbolic thought

Involves understanding the world via hands, direct experience

Involves understanding the nature of objects, however they often fail object permanence

69
Q

What is object permanence?

A

The understanding that objects have a separate and permanent existence independent of our actions on them and whether we see it or not

Knowing that objects continue to exist even if they cant be seen or heard

70
Q

Why might children in the sensorimotor stage fail object permanence?

A

Memory limitations, limited motor skills, inability to translate understanding into action, lack of appreciation of object permanence

71
Q

What is the preoperational stage? (Main features)

A

Here, there is the development of symbolic thought - mental action

Thought is unsystematic, inconsistent and illogical

Characterised by egocentric thinking: limited ability to take the perspectives of others (perspective taking involves being able to take the physical or perceptual perspective of others (e.g. 3 mountains task)

They have features such as:
centration, being perceptually bound, animism, and tendency for egocentric explanations

They lack the capability to understand the idea of ‘conservatism’ - the ability to understand that certain aspects of an object remain the same even if shape or space is manipulated

Lack of structural thinking

72
Q

What was the 3 mountains task?

A

It involves a child and a doll sitting opposite each other with different stacks of ‘mountains’ on a table. The child is asked what the doll’s perspective it is. If they are in the preoperational stage, they typically fail this part

73
Q

What does centration mean?

A

Child centres on most noticeable feature and ignores all other features

74
Q

What does perceptually bound mean?

A

Judge the world the way it looks

75
Q

What does animism mean?

A

All things that move are alive

76
Q

What are egocentric explanations?

A

Egocentrism represents a cognitive bias, in that someone would assume that others share the same perspective as they do, unable to imagine that other people would have a perception of their own

77
Q

What is the concrete operations stage? What are the key features?

A

Child has mastered mental operations such as: Decentering, reversible thinking

Logical mental operations on concrete objects enable classification and conservation

Concepts of time, space and causality develop

78
Q

What is the formal operations stage? What are the key features?

A

Logical operations on abstract entities are now possible

Capacity for abstract thoughts, concepts

Ability to perform mental operations on hypothetical, abstract things

Ability to reason in a systematic way

Reflective thinking: able to reflect on our own thinking processes

79
Q

What are the problems with Piaget’s ideas about adolescent thought?

A

1) Why do many adults fail formal tests of logical reasoning?

2) Why does abstract thinking often need concrete examples?

3) Underestimation of young children’s abilities and overestimation of adults

4) Does cognitive development really progress in distinct stages??

5) Developmental sequences truly universal?

80
Q

What are the similarities between contemporary constructivist theories and Piaget’s theories?

A

Shares with Piaget emphasis on child as active in their development, and no innate knowledge

Contrasted to contemporary nativist research

81
Q

What are the differences between contemporary constructivist theories and Piaget’s theories?

A

Constructivist has more emphasis on development as continuous and much more room for cross cultural variation

82
Q

What does contemporary constructivist theory propose?

A

Proposes two drives of cognitive development: acquirement of domain specific knowledge, and maturation of domain-general “executive function” or self regulation skills

Each are important to regulate behaviour

83
Q

What is domain specific knowledge?

A

The ability to relate similar objects to each other (i.e. understanding that a slice of bread is the same as a whole loaf of bread in the sense that they are both bread)

Understanding or expertise within a particular subject area or domain.

84
Q

What is executive function?

A

Ability to manage lots of information and avoids distraction. Involves inhibitory control(allows for sharing) and working memory( allows for mental flexibility)

The ability to control and coordinate cognitive abilities and behaviour

Be able to divide their attention and self regulating behaviour to enact complex plans to achieve goals

Executive abilities to mentally juggle multiple things and select whats important and put out of mind what is not is also critical

85
Q

Does Piaget assume sociocultural aspects play an impact on development?

A

No, he assumes that sociocultural aspects play no impact, and it is simply the childs interaction and exploration of knowledge etc.

86
Q

What does Vygotsky suggest?

A

Takes different view to Piaget and suggests that the mental life of a child is co developed with the people around them

Object of development is the child’s culture. This is what the child grows into

He proposed that to understand development we look at the child’s behaviour in the context that it occurs

87
Q

What are the levels of context?

A

Context could range from:

Immediate face to face interaction with another person

All encompassing cultural belief systems

88
Q

What is the zone of proximal development?

A

It is defined as the space between what a learner can do without assistance and what they could do with adult guidance/assistance or with collaboration with more capable peers

Concept of also knowing what the child could do in the future, not only what they could do now

89
Q

What is the main idea of sociocultural origins of mental functioning?

A

Children grow into the intellectual life of those around them

90
Q

What does child-in-activity-in-context mean?

A

The smallest meaningful unit of study is a child-in-context participating in some activity

Individuals are embedded in culturally infused context

Focus on activity – children are socialized into culture through daily activities with people

Cognition develops as a by-product of engaging in cultural routines

91
Q

What are the features of Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory of cognitive development?

A

Study of the “child-in-activity-in-context”

Study of the “zone of proximal development”

Sociocultural origins of mental functioning

Mediation of intellectual functioning by tools provided by culture

A childs development and learning ability is guided and mediated by the childs social interactions

92
Q

What is the research of cultural variation in individualism vs collectivism (as part of sociocultural origins of mental functioning)

A

Western cultures focus on individuals, whereas indigenous and eastern cultures focus on the collective

Based on these cultural differences, different sets of prioritises are created in the different cultures

Asian countries prioritise collective whereas western countries prioritise individuals –> different effects on the development of the child in terms of memory and attention etc.

93
Q

What are psychological tools?

A

They are tools which allow for mediation of intellectual functioning, which is provided by culture

Involves language systems, counting systems, writings, diagrams, maps, works of art, strategies for learning, attending or memorising etc.

94
Q

Does Vygotsky suggest that language from adults is important for childs behaviour?

A

Yes, Vygotsky notices that speech gets internalised over time, and language from adults act as an external locus of control on the childs behaviour, and child learns to use language and inner speech to control their own behaviour

95
Q

What is Bandura’s Social Learning theory

A

Argues that human learning results from experience on observation/vicarious basis (The S-O-R theory)

It is based on the stimulus-response (S-R_ theory of learning, but attempts to take into account social/cognitive variables operating in human development

Suggests that people learn by observation of consequences for others

Social learning theory, introduced by psychologist Albert Bandura, proposed that learning occurs through observation, imitation, and modeling and is influenced by factors such as attention, motivation, attitudes, and emotions.

As parents teach moral standards, the children learn by the parents practicing this as well

96
Q

What are the 3 parts of Bandura’s theory of reciprocal determinism?

A

Behaviour (Motor and verbal responses, social interactions)

Person(Cognitive abilities, physical characteristics, belief and attitudes)

Environment (Physical surroundings, family and friends, other social influences)

97
Q

What models are children likely to imitate under Banduras social learning theory?

A

People they regard as prestigious

Model of their own sex

models who receive rewards

Models they perceive being as like themselves

98
Q

What is theory of mind?

A

Ability to attribute mental states, beliefs, intents, desires, pretending, knowledge etc to oneself and others and to understand that others have beleifs, desires and intents different from their own

(A theory of mind includes the knowledge that others’ beliefs, desires, intentions, emotions, and thoughts may be different from one’s own.)

99
Q

What does prosocial behaviour mean?

A

A voluntary behaviour intended to benefit another

100
Q

Are infants likely to imitate based on perceived intentions or specific actions?

A

Perceived intentions

101
Q

How is theory of mind tested with children?

A

Using a false belief task

102
Q

What is a false belief task?

A

When children are asked to determine others behaviour even if the child has a different behaviour (Such as the Sally Anne test with trying to understand where they think the stolen stuff is etc.)

3 year olds fail, 5 year olds succeeed

103
Q

How does age impact children’s moral judgement?

A

Older children take intention into account whilst younger children dont. This is observed when children are presented with situations with different moral dilemmas

104
Q

What are the two types of moral judgement?

A

Externally regulated

Self regulated

105
Q

What does an externally regulated moral judgement mean? (From 5 years old)

A

“Rules from another” - external morality

Superficial and absolute type of reasoning

Show little understanding of intentions of others

106
Q

What does a self regulated moral judgement mean (from 8 years old)

A

“Rules from self” - internal morality

Intangible type of reasoning

Judges transgressions in light of intentions and mutual agreements of individuals involved

107
Q

How does Kohlberg argue moral judgement?

A

Extends off Piaget’s stage approach, and suggests a lifespan theory of moral development that extends Piaget’s moral development theory into adolescence and adulthood. There is 3 levels with 2 phases within each level

Proposes the 3 broad stages of moral judgement

And suggests that overall there is a developmental sequence in capacity to reason about moral dilemmas: go from being absolutist about rule following to nuanced about understanding contexts and intentions

108
Q

What are the 3 broad stages of moral judgement as proposed by Kohlberg (based off Piaget)

A

Pre Conventional (Early Childhood)

Conventional (emerges 8-10)

Post Conventional (adolescence, but may never get here)

109
Q

WHat does the preconventional stage involve?

A

Focussed on punishment and reward

What is right is what is rewarded and what is wrong is punished

110
Q

What does the conventional stage involve?

A

Broad social system based on fairness and empathy and helping each other defines what is wrong or right

Legal and moral often equated

111
Q

What does the post conventional stage involve?

A

Beyond necessary conforming to laws because the person realises there are universal principles of justice and human rights that may be more important than laws

Some laws are immoral and should be changed

112
Q

Does Piaget think that the Kohlberg idea of moral judgement is correct?

A

Piaget was cautious, warning that individual differences in moral understanding are enormous and less committed to formal stages like he proposed cognitive development was

113
Q

What are the four aspects of language?

A

Phonology

Semantics

Grammar/Syntax

Pragmatics

114
Q

What is phonology?

A

The sound used by the speakers of a language

115
Q

What is semantics?

A

Meaning of words and utterances

116
Q

What is grammar/syntax?

A

Form or structure of a language - rules for combining words into meaningful sentences

Biggest debates about nature of language development in grammar/syntax

117
Q

What is pragmatics?

A

Principles specifiying how language is used in conversation; how discourse is structured

118
Q

What are the 3 approaches to language development?

A

Empiricists (e.g. Skinner, bandura) - learning approach (nurture)

Nativists (Chomsky, Pinker) - innate language knowledge/learning guidelines (nature)

Interactionists/Constructivists (Bates, Tomasello) - Domain general maturation and cognitive/social learning account for language, language is constructed from other faculties

119
Q

WHat is the empiricist/behaviourist approach to language development?

A

Skinner; Acquisition via positive reinforcement for saying words and sentences

Bandura: Social learning perspective - learning by imitation and reinforcement

120
Q

What is the nativist approach to language development?

A

Chomsky - Chomsky’s theory is based on the idea that all languages hold similar structures and rules, also known as a universal grammar. This theory states that all languages have formal universals and principles in common, with specific options and limits for variation in grammar and features between languages.

Suggests that reinforcement learning and learning through action mechanisms cannot explain acquisition of human language. Instead argues that language is too complex with abstract syntax rules, and that there has to be an inherent part of language which is common and allows it to be learnt quickly

121
Q

What is recursion in language?

A

Sentences which can be embedded within sentences

Chomsky argues that this cant be achieved from skinner or Piaget learning mechanisms, thus learning must have special innate properties

122
Q

What is the interactionist-constructivist approach to language development?

A

Language acquisition is a product of the interaction between maturation and environmental factors and is tied to cognitive development

Language emerges from domain-general cognitive and social learning mechanisms

123
Q

What are the aspects of language development?

A

BIological maturation, neural development, cognitive development, linguistic environment

124
Q

What is the summary of syntax development?

A

Skinner and bandura applied behaviourist and social leanring principles to language development

Chomsky argues that language is too complex to be learnt by the learning mechanisms of behaviourism and Piaget. Thus, language must have an innate special learning curve

Interactionist-constructivist suggests that brain maturation and domain general cognitive mechanisms can explain language

125
Q

What is Getner’s natural partitions hypothesis?

A

World is paritioned into objects and relations between objects.

Language is not needed to form object concepts, however as the relations among objects are less defined, so there are more ways to represent them –> use of language to develop the relations between objects (i.e. this ball is bigger than that ball etc. )

Language helps children understand abstract/relational commonalities between objects (i.e. object sizes, family, etc. )

126
Q

What are the two components of of the conceptual change in learning numbers?

A

1) Precise number of small sets (i.e. distinguish 2 dots from 3 dots)

2) Analog magnitude scale (i.e. can distinguish large quantities from others (vaguely) ) (i.e. 350 dots from 500 dots, not 350 dots from 352 dots)

127
Q

What is the argument of the role of language in learning numbers?

A

To learn numbers, there is a different approach to language, thus there needs to be a new conceptual system. Corey suggests that language provides this 2nd conceptual system

128
Q

What is conceptual essentialism?

A

the belief that entities have some unobservable underlying reality, identity or true nature that causes similarities among members of their category. (Gelman)

When children form categories, they assume they arent arbitrary sets

129
Q

What was the previous thought about how self esteem influences childhood?

A

If children/people have high self esteem, they will try hard, achieve, have friends etc.

If low self esteem –> fail in school, no friends, drug addicts etc.

As a result, the focus previously centered on cultivating high self esteem (e.g. lower criticism, increased praise, no keeping scores in game etc. - we are all winners etc. )

130
Q

However, what is the issue with constant praise?

A

Leads to more “fragile” self esteem instead of a sense of earned ‘secure’ self esteem

131
Q

What is intrinsic motivation?

A

Working hard because one likes it

Intrinsic motivation is defined as the doing of an activity for its inherent satisfaction rather than for some separable consequence

132
Q

What is extrinsic motivation?

A

Working to achieve an external reward

Extrinsic motivation is a motivation that is driven by external rewards

133
Q

What can cause a shift from intrinsic to extrinsic motivation?

A

Immediate rewards for any behaviour. As a result, if there is no reward available –> lose motivation.

134
Q

What is a way to increase motivation

A

When reward is less predictable and or based on increased standards of performance –> beneficial for motivation

135
Q

What can intrinsic motivation result in (in terms of goals)?

A

Mastery goals - desire to master a skill for its own sake

136
Q

What can extrinsic motivation result in (in terms of goals)?

A

Performance goals - desire to perform for others sake. What matters is how you do relative to peers and how well you are evaluated.

137
Q

Is mastery or perfomrance goals better?

A

Students with mastery goals are proven to perform better than those with performance goals

138
Q

What is person praise and what does it encourage?

A

Person praise is praising the inherent qulaities of the person as to why they are so good. I.e. “You’re so smart”

It encourages “entity” mindset

Associated with performance goals, especially avoidance performance. Children want to avoid looking dumb so they avoid performing

139
Q

What is “entity” mindset?

A

Intelligence is fixed. this can lead to the belief that good grades come with little effort if smart

140
Q

What is process praise and what does it encourage?

A

Process praise involves praising the process of getting good, i.e. “you did well because you worked hard”

Encourages a growth mindset - intelligence is a skill achieved with hard work.

Associated with mastery goals

141
Q

Which praise is more likely to result in taking easy vs hard options

A

Easy: person praise

Hard: Process praise

This is because person prasised doesnt want to be embarassed by revealing they arent smart

142
Q

Which mindsets respond better to challenge?

A

Growth mindset compared to entity mindset. Entity mindset dont try because they want the excuse of not trying as to failing (keeping their reputation). Entity mindset are thus more likely to cheat

143
Q

What were the results of a growth mindset intervention study?

A

Those who were told about growth mindset and nature of mind and intelligence had a signififcant increase in grades compared to control studies

144
Q

What are the praise and gender differences in the USA?

A

Research shows that boys get more process praise than girls and boys are more likely to have a growth mindset.

Children are sensitive to indiscriminate praise: if children are praised for non-academic classroom behaviors, e.g.,
“having a clean and organised desk” they then discount the authenticity/meaningfulness behind academic praise

Girls (compared to boys) are more likely to be praised for non-academic behaviors, and criticised academically,
and vice-versa for boys

145
Q

WHat is a summary of why immediate reward and person praise can be dangerous?

A
  1. Reduces intrinsic motivation and mastery goals
  2. Encourages entity mindsets: increases performance goals,
    engenders the primary concern to maintain self-image and avoid
    looking dumb.
  3. Reduces ability to cope with challenge and failure
146
Q

What is the impact of adult attitudes on kids (case of gender and maths)

A

Parents of boys have higher expectations of success in maths now and in later careers, and believe boys are
“more naturally talented” at maths

Parents of girls have lower minimum acceptable levels
for achievement

Parents who endorse gender stereotypes in general endorse that gender stereotypes apply to their children,
even when they see their own children’s grades and
performance counter the stereotypes

  • Teachers who endorse stereotypes apply them to their
    students, even when grades are the same
  • Equal grades are explained by adults for different
    reasons. They reason:
    – Boys achieve because they are talented or fail because of a
    lack of effort (or perhaps bad luck)
    – Girls achieve because they must have tried so extra hard (or
    perhaps good luck), while fail due to lack of ability

Children (on average) endorse the gender stereotypes of
their parents and teachers
* Even when their own achievement contradicts these
beliefs (assimilation)

  • Female children more likely to have entity theories of intelligence in general, and view that they have no natural maths ability, thus: why try?
  • Boys more likely to have incremental theories of intelligence and receive more process praise in general
    (not maths specific)
147
Q
A