developmental psych Flashcards
in what ways do psychologists categorise development (2-2)
in psychological areas or time periods
quantitative or qualitative
difference between quantitative and qualitative development
quantitative = numerical changes (height, weight) qualitative = structurally different changes
observational studies
important to observe children in their natural environment, BUT they are correlational and so experimental studies may be more valuable to establish causation
longitudinal designs
very important to monitor development without individual differences, but they are expensive and high attrition rates
microgenetic method
examines change as it occurs; repeated measurements are taken from the same ppt over a period of transition
perry & pollard brain study
studied deprived children, found that their brains were abnormally small and underdeveloped
how is brightness useful in measuring developmental
it is a low-level processing task used to mark where children are in terms of visual processing
visual acuity
clarity or sharpness of vision
how is visual acuity tested in infants (2)
preferential looking method - ppl tend to look at stimuli which is more visually interesting, so infants are shown increasingly detailed stripes = they will look at the most detailed one they perceive before the stripes ‘become grey’
habituation - infants will only be interested in new stimuli if they perceive it as changed (they have become dishabituated)
faces in infancy
babies prefer their mothers face or happy faces
at 3 months, infants prefer proportionate faces or faces that are racially similar to their own
hearing in infancy
newborns prefer culturally familiar sounds
at 6 months they can interpret verbal intonation
smell in infancy
infants prefer breast milk to formula, and sweet smells (as well as tastes)
reflexes in infancy
these are the first levels of motor development
- they begin to disappear as the frontal cortex grows (and the ability to control motor movement develops)
intermodal perception
integrating information from 2 or more senses
- appears to be inherent from infancy
2 theories of motor development
maturational theory
dynamic systems theory
maturational theory of motor development
motor development occurs in a predetermined order by the brain’s motor program
& deprivation doesn’t lead to impairment (unless EXTREME)
dynamic systems theory of motor development
development is produced by multiple systems interacting with the environment; complex behaviours come from complex interactions
perceptual-motor development
developing the ability to produce voluntary action based on perceived stimuli, along with adjusting your own actions
vision in developing walking
blind children are often delayed = this shows the importance of visual flow fields
visual patterns of motion give feedback - infants are often knocked over by illusions
importance of contingent responding
forming connections is extremely important in development; contingency helps to form bonds and establish role models
bucharest early intervention project
comparing children who were randomly assigned to high quality foster care or remaining in institutional care
= foster care increased brain activity (on EEGs), language skills, recognition & decreased chances of experiencing severe mental health issues
prelinguistic language ability
mostly babbling
phonemes begin to be tailored to mimic native language
if deaf & exposed to sign language, babbling is done with hands