Developmental 5.1

Question 1

What is social development and how does it impact adulthood?

Answer 1

Process of learning self-expression and how to interact with others
- communication skills
- listen to different points of view before acting
- shows tolerance

Question 2

What is emotional development and how does it impact adulthood?

Answer 2

Process of learning to recognize and express feelings + establish unique personal identity
- self-confidence
- handling stress
- empathy towards others

Question 3

What are 4 key areas of social development?

Answer 3

Eyes
Joint attention - pointing, gaze following, social referencing
Self recognition
Theory of Mind

Question 4

How are eyes involved in the earliest stages of social development, and at what age does it start? (1 sentence + age range)

Answer 4

From 4-8 weeks
Distinguish faces from other objects + recognise expressions/emotions

Question 5

What is joint attention in social development, and what three actions are included? (4 points)

Answer 5

Pointing, gaze following, social referencing
- coordination of attention with others
- requires both parties know they are attending to something in common
- underpins social and language development, difficulties indicate developmental disorder

Question 6

When does pointing emerge and what are two types?

Answer 6

Around 1 year
Proto-imperative
- requesting
Proto-declaritive
- sharing interest

Question 7

How has gaze-following been studied? (3 points)

Answer 7

Newborns look faster at targets cued by the direction of eye movement (Farroni et al, 2004)

Brains of 6-month-old babies react differently to images of faces looking away
Brains of babies diagnosed with autism later show little difference

Question 8

What is an example of social referencing in infants? (1 sentence)

Answer 8

Infants tend to look towards parents in ambiguous situations

Question 9

What is the visual cliff paradigm (Gibson and Walk, 1960)? (description of experiment + result)

Answer 9

Babies between 9-12 months on surface with checkerboard pattern + half of surface has illusion of cliff
Children look at caregiver and act based on their non-verbal encouragement/discouragement to cross over cliff to retrieve toy

Question 10

What are three components of the Theory of Mind?

Answer 10

• recognise people act on basis of mental states/attitudes
• attribute mental states to oneself and others
• understand others have beliefs/desires/intentions different to one’s own

Question 11

What are the 5 steps in the Theory of Mind?

Answer 11

1. imitative experiences with others
2. understanding attention in others
3. understanding others’ knowledge
4. understanding others’ beliefs (true/false)
5. understanding others’ intentions

Question 12

What is the first stage of the theory of mind, and what occurs? (4 points)

Answer 12

Imitation experiences with others
- precursor of perspective-taking and empathy
- recognition of equivalence between physical/mental states in others/self
- construction of first-person experience
(relation between mental experiences and behaviour)
- infer experiences of others (others’ mental states and their behaviour)

Question 13

What is the second stage of the theory of mind, and what occurs? (4 points)

Answer 13

Understanding attention

Forms at 7-9 months
Infants understand:
- seeing can be directed selectively as attention
- viewer assesses seen object ‘of interest’
- seeing induces beliefs
- attention can be directed and shared by pointing

Question 14

What is the third stage of the theory of mind?

Answer 14

Understanding others’ knowledge
Directing attention results in the assimilation of new information

Question 15

What is the fourth stage of theory of mind and how did Meltzoff (1995) and Call and Tomasello (1998) study this?

Answer 15

Understanding others’ intentions

Metlzoff (1995)
18 month old children were able to infer what action person tried to perform even when they failed to do so

Call and Tomasello (1998)
2-3 year old children, chimpanzees, orangutans
Able to discriminate intentional vs accidental actions

Question 16

What is the final stage of the theory of mind and what age does it occur?

Answer 16

Understanding others’ beliefs
3 years of age

Question 17

What is the Sally Anne task and what does it test? (1 sentence)

Answer 17

An experiment that evaluates a child’s expectations of how someone will act based on that person’s false beliefs

Question 18

What are the 7 developmental milestones at different ages in Theory of Mind development?

Answer 18

6 months: animate vs inanimate
12 months: joint attention
14-18 months: gaze following
18-24 months: pretense
3-4 years: false beliefs in others
6-7 years: jokes, metaphors, irony
9-11 years: ‘faux pas’ (things said that are hurtful/embarassing)

Question 19

What is the difference between emotions and feelings in social development? (1 sentence each)

Answer 19

Emotions come from within individual, may be motivated by external events

Feelings refer to physical sense of emotional state + response to emotion

Question 20

How do emotions develop over the course of infancy? (from newborns to infants to toddlers) (3 points)

Answer 20

Newborns emotions - related to immediate experiences/sensations
Young infants emotions - not well refined
Toddlers range of emotions + responses develops = pride, embarrassment, shame, empathy

Question 21

What are three types of smiling that indicate the inner emotional states of infants, and what ages to they occur?

Answer 21

Endogenous - triggered by change in CNS
Involves lower face muscles
By 2-3 weeks, infants smile when stimulated by high-pitched sounds/soft stroking of abdomens

Social - 6-8 weeks
Triggered by social stimuli
Longer lasting, involves entire face

Instrumental smiling - 10 weeks
Smiling to achieve a goal e.g request adaptation

Question 22

Why do scientists think smiling occurs? (1 sentence)

Answer 22

Genetic adaptation that promotes close contact and emotional ties

Question 23

How does laughter develop in social development of infants at 4 and 6 months to children? (3 points)

Answer 23

4 months - in response to physical stimulation
6 months - in response to visual/social stimuli
Progress from physical to cognitive stimulations over time

Question 24

How is crying part of social development in infants? (5 points)

Answer 24

Mechanism to communicate needs
Reflex response with survival value –> becomes more controllable
Increases over first 6 weeks then decreases
Progresses from internal to external sources of stimulation
Becomes more related to cognitive/emotional conditions than physical

Question 25

How and why does anger develop in infants aged 9-12 months? (2 points)

Answer 25

9 months - develop sense of control + anger emerges out of frustration

12 months - awareness of limitations they experience (crawling/walking)

Question 26

How does anger change during toddlerhood? (3 points)

Answer 26

Increased ability to express anger - less crying, more defiant language
Limitations in social understanding - difficulty waiting, sharing, patience
Autonomy - want for independence conflicts what is best for them

Question 27

What is attachment, why is it important and how does it develop over infancy?

Answer 27

Bond between child and caregiver
Builds trust and allows baby to feel secure
Security leads to better relations with others
First few months of life = critical period, not fully formed until age 2

Question 28

Why is play important in childhood development? (5 points)

Answer 28

Stimulates senses
Develops motor skills
Guides decision making
Enhances imagination
Promotes social skills/language

Question 29

How do early sex differences impact play? (2 points)

Answer 29

Studies have shown a biological condition that girls and boys are predisposed to like different kinds of toys
However this does not consider environmental/social factors as well