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Developmental Psychology Flashcards

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1
Q

What is developmental psychology?

A

Change over the lifespan

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2
Q

Why should we study development?

A

To understand what children are capable of (e.g. children can outperform computers on many tasks, they take a small number of skills and build on them through development)

To inform social policy (understand mental function of children, what expressions are important to healthy development, guide teaching curriculums

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3
Q

What are the different areas of development?

A

Six main areas - perceptual development, cognitive, moral, social, action (reflexes), emotional

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4
Q

What are the different periods of development?

A

Prenatal (conception to birth) - investigates how certain experiences/substances can impact the child - help us look at possible causes for autism, and other neurodivergent conditions
Infancy (0 - 18 months)
Preschool (18 months - 4 years) - how we develop social, language skills etc.
School age (Young = 5-7, Old = 8 -12)
Adolescence (13 - 20 years) - Impact of puberty
Adulthood (21 - 30 = Young, 31 - 60 = Middle, 60 - death) - More difficult to assess cross-culturally

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5
Q

What are the two types of differences between stages in development?

A

Quantitative - numerically different (growing or gaining IQ)
Qualitative - structurally different - when there is a notable change in the organism (e.g. during puberty theory of mind)

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6
Q

What is the evolutionary view of development?

A

Darwin’s theory of evolution - innate causes of development

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7
Q

What is the neuroscience view of development?

A

Understand how changes to brain structures are related to development

Understand how experience in the world changes the brain

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8
Q

What is the behaviourist view of development?

A

Focus on behaviour while ignoring mental processes
Useful in clinical settings

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9
Q

What is the cognitive science view of development?

A

Interdisciplinary approach as integrates different fields of study

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10
Q

What are observational studies?

A

Need specific research questions so don’t ‘get lost’ in observations

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11
Q

What are experimental studies?

A

Answers questions about cause & effect as can manipulate single IV & measure preplanned DV

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12
Q

What are longitudinal studies?

A

Same PPT over time
Can control more factor

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13
Q

What are cross-sectional studies?

A

Different PPT at different ages
Easier to recruit PPT (less participant attrition - people stop engaging with study)
Doesn’t measure individual development & population differences

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14
Q

What are the strengths and limitations of observational studies?

A

+ rich data may allow for unanticipated insights

  • Support correlational arguments but cannot determine causal relationships
  • Behaviours of interest may not appear without experimenter intervention
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15
Q

What are the strengths and limitations of Experimental studies?

A

+ Allow exploration of cause and effect relationships

+ researchers can design focused assessments of specific variables

  • Create possibilities of ecologically invalid measures
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16
Q

What are the strengths and limitations of longitudinal studies?

A

+ Document individuals developmental transitions

  • Participants may drop out as study progresses
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17
Q

What are the strengths and limitations of cross-sectional studies?

A

+ Easier to ensure that the same number of participants take part at all ages

  • Do not track individuals developmental trajectories
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18
Q

What strengths and limitations do longitudinal and observational studies share?

A

+ May uncover long-term patterns of change in individuals

  • Require long time commitment from research staff
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19
Q

What strengths and limitations do longitudinal and experimental studies share?

A

+ Good for studying long-term effects

  • Repeated assessment may become an unwanted form of training
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20
Q

What strengths and limitations do cross-sectional and observational studies share?

A

+ Reveal distinctive patterns for each age group

  • Questions about individual differences are more difficult to address
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21
Q

What strengths and limitations do cross-sectional and experimental studies share?

A

+ Enable quick assessment of hypothesized differences between age group

  • May miss key transitions as well as individual developmental patterns
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22
Q

What is the microgenetic method of studying developmental psychology?

A

Examines change as it occurs to identify underlying mechanisms
Repeated measures taken in the same participants during transition
Critical principals
Observations span known period of change - need to assess very often
Observation density high compared to rate of change
Observations analysed intensively to establish underlying process

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23
Q

What do you need to consider when designing a study?

A

Validity - Are you measuring what you think you’re measuring?
Replicability - Do other labs find the same result?
Within- versus between-subject design (across a group or within a person)

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24
Q

What is the importance of biology in development?

A

Biology helps develop models of behaviour & gives plausibility
Informs potential developmental mechanisms
Holistic view of development

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25
Q

How does the brain initially develop (e.g. in terms of synapses etc?)

A

Most rapid changes 0-3 & period of greatest plasticity (increases 100% in the first year) - due to environmental experiences
Brain grows until 5 years old in size
Neurons allow communication in the brain & it occurs at synapses
Brain pruning occurs about age 10
New synapses can grow throughout life but it’s harder to learn as adults
Experiences determine how the brain is wired - e.g. early sensory experiences create new synapses
Repetition of experiences strengthen synapses
Enrichment related to 25% decrease in connections
Unused synapses are pruned

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26
Q

How do genes impact development?

A

Inherited & made of DNA
They contain instructions for building proteins
Variations to genes = alleles
Dominant vs recessive genes & homozygous & heterozygous

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27
Q

How does the environment impact development?

A

Prenatal hormones
Substances consumed during pregnancy
Mother’s illnesses
Late gestation (sounds & light)

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28
Q

How do gene/environment interactions influence development?

A

Environment influences how genetic information is expressed (can act as environmental triggers)
Environment can also influence whether genetic information is expressed

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29
Q

What are the stages of pre-natal development (e.g. biology)?

A

Fertilisation:

Millions of sperm (50 - 100 reach egg)
Chemical process means only one sperm can penetrate egg
Egg becomes zygote

Implantation :

6 days post fertilisation
By 2 weeks, it’s fully implanted
Fully implanted egg = embryo

Embryonic period:

Large change in body structure & size
Cells are differentiating
4 - 8 weeks

Foetal period:

9 weeks until birth
Characterised by heartbeat and facial features
By 22 weeks some can survive with neonatal care - can have impact on later life
By 28 weeks, fully developed lungs

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30
Q

How does brain structure/regions develop?

A

4 weeks after conception - Three brain regions are distinct

10 weeks - Major CNS

24 weeks - Programmed cell death occurs

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31
Q

What brain regions develop first?

A

Brain stem develops before the frontal lobe

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32
Q

What is the critical period?

A

Time periods where specific experiences are necessary for typical development to occur

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33
Q

How does speed of within-brain communication change over development?

A

Increases in speed over development

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34
Q

What is plasticity and is more or less better?

A

Organisms ability to respond & adjust to changes in the environment
A challenge for explaining babies’ first skills
Less plastic = more efficient (as experience supports more efficient connections), but less likely to be helpful as the baby develops
More plastic = Less efficient but more likely to be helpful as the baby develops

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35
Q

How does low-level processing develop and how is it tested?

A

By testing differences in brightness - can discover what they can see
By 2 days = Infants can detect differences in brightness
By 4 months = Infants can compare brightness levels (but not adult-like)

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36
Q

How does visual acuity develop and how is it tested?

A

Blurry vs clear (e.g. seeing contrast, representing lines & shadows & picking out shapes)
Preferential looking method - Present two stimuli & see which one the baby prefers to know what the baby sees & what is more interesting
If baby has sufficient visual acuity, look at the more defined lines in the preferential method than the grey blur
Habituation method - Same image shown until baby habituates & show new picture and see if baby dishabituated - tests if they can see as they’ll remain the same if they can see (DV = Looking time)

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37
Q

How does face recognition develop?

A

Babies can recognise faces - prefer mothers face, even hours after birth
3 month olds prefer well-proportioned faces to distorted ones & prefer faces of their race
Children prefer happy faces than sad faces
Idea of perceptual narrowing - exposure to more diverse faces can reverse this

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38
Q

How does hearing develop?

A

Babies can hear in utero
Prefer familiar stories they heard in the womb
Differentiate own language from different language
Prefer moms voice to others from birth

Infants attend to speech that is likely to be relevant to them
Motherese → Type of child-directed speech (e.g. high pitch)
Preference for music & language patterns that are from their own culture
Newborns prefer monkey to synthetic sounds but 3 month-olds have no strict preference - just prefer human over non-human

6 month-olds interpret speech intonations
Differentiate approval from disapproval

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39
Q

What is sound localisation?

A

Ability to know where a sound is coming from - babies can localise sound soon after birth
Interaction of innate ability & learning from environment
Reflex that makes babies turn their head towards the sound

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40
Q

How does taste develop?

A

Foetus can taste amniotic fluid
Newborns react to sweetness
Newborns show distinct facial reactions to different flavours
Unknown if they can react to the four main adult flavours

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41
Q

How does smell develop?

A

Newborns prefer the smell of lactation & prefer breast milk
Sweet smell provide pain-killing effect in babies
Breathing pattern changes when smelling novel smell

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42
Q

What is intermodal perception?

A

Intermodal perception - integrating information from two or more senses (learn to associate experiences)
Intermodal perception is fundamental

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43
Q

What are the different types of reflexes?

A

Patellar reflex - Knee jerk
Rooting reflex - newborns mouth moves toward brush on cheek
Grasp reflex - newborns grab on to anything in their hand
Stepping reflex - Baby will walk when lowered onto a surface
Moro reflex - Arms move to side when baby is unsupported

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44
Q

What is the maturational account for why walking emerges?

A

Motor development depends on the development of the brain’s motor program
Twin stair training study - training on climbing stairs was not useful until the child was developmentally ready
Motor deprivation doesn’t lead to motor impairment - e.g. Babies with less motor experiences still develop normally (only in extreme cases is it irreversible)
Romanian orphanages - motor deprived & damaged but was reversible

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45
Q

What is the dynamic systems theory for why walking emerges?

A

A complex behaviour emerges out of complex interactions between the components necessary for executing a behaviour
The step reflex - Babies have a step reflex that disappears within weeks of birth but babies still have kick reflex and 1-month olds will step in water
Gaining weight may be a reason for the stepping reflex to no longer be present

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46
Q

What is perceptual-motor development?

A

Development of the ability to guide voluntary action on the basis of stimuli
Cyclical - see something, react, perceive your own reactions and adjust your performance

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47
Q

What is the empiricist and nativist view of movement?

A

Empiricist view - Initially move limbs randomly; trial and error leads to correct integration

Nativist view - Initially move limbs with purpose, other developmental changes improve performance

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48
Q

How does reaching develop?

A

Five months of age → hand shape and orientation matches goals
Ten months of age → Arm trajectory and speed match goal

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49
Q

How are visual flow fields involved in the emergence of walking?

A

Visual patterns of motion that give feedback about the speed and direction of movement
When an illusory flow field is created, it can knock down infants

Infants were asked to either crawl or walk onto a surface
Rigid plywood covered in velvet
Squishy water bed covered in velvet

Walkers but not crawlers were hesitant to walk onto a nonrigid surface

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50
Q

What is early imitation?

A

Newborns imitate experimenter’s facial experiments
From 10 weeks old, babies can imitate sounds
More likely to imitate humans than non-humans

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51
Q

What preferences do infants show in bonding?

A

Preferences
Before 6 months, no specific bonds
6-7 months, specific bonds
8 month olds, separation anxiety
Contingent responding
Person A does something, person B responds

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52
Q

How does social deprivation impact development?

A

Babies reduce their exploration, locomotion and motor action
Babies react with terror, anger and fear to any person or may cling frantically
Rock back and forth & perhaps bite the self
Vacant stares and unaware of environment
37% of babies who suffer social deprivation die by age 2

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53
Q

What is the Bucharest early intervention project?

A

Randomised controlled trial of foster care as an intervention for children
Began in 2000 with 136 children
Average age to enter foster care was 22 months
All children were seen for follow up assessments (30,42 and 54 months)
Foster care intervention was broadly effective in enhancing children’s development and for specific domains there was sensitive periods regulating their recovery
Executive functioning did not improve much in foster care (e.g. memory)

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54
Q

What is pre-linguistic development?

A

Begins tailoring perception of phonemes to native language
Early vocalisations (cooing, squealing)
Babbling (bababa)
Deaf babies babble with their hands (if exposed to sign language)
Practice producing phonemes, pitch and rhythm of the native language - e.g. In japan, babies are not sensitive to ‘r’ and ‘l’ as not really used in Japanese vocabulary

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55
Q

What are one-word utterances?

A

Emerge around one year
Examples - Mummy, hot, cat
Holophrases → A single world standing in for a larger sentence

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56
Q

What are two-word utterances?

A

Emerge around 18 months
Tend to be consistently formed and worded
Replaced by telegraphic speech - Not a complete, full sentence - only using a few selective words

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57
Q

What does it mean to master morphology?

A

Generalises plural form to new circumstances
E.g. Wug test - used to test that children haven’t just learnt the words but understand the concept of tenses etc.
Learns many rules that are applied to new language

58
Q

What is child-directed speech?

A

Motherese - louder voice, slower speech, accentuate boundaries between words, fewer words, repeat & expand on child’s utterances
Helps children learn language more quickly

59
Q

What is semantic development?

A

The learning of vocabulary, can learn words quite rapidly without the need for other information about the words

60
Q

What is the critical period in language learning?

A

There is a critical period in language learning (up to age 8) - increases likelihood:
Have accents
Fail to master syntactic subtleties
Fail to notice grammatical errors
E.g. Genie (case study) - Neglected as a child, only exposed to language at age 13 - not able to learn language
Shows early exposure is need to give us the structure of language
Nicaraguan sign language was created when there was an absence of language in the community

61
Q

What are neural dissociations in language learning?

A

Aphasia - some language abilities selectively impaired (Broca’s aphasia - syntactic damage, Wernicke’s area - impacts speech production)
William syndrome - Cognitive impairments paired with high levels of linguistic skill (e.g. are over-friendly but also have anxiety - Have fast & fluent language)
Specific language impairment (SLI) - Linguistic impairments that appear to be genetically based

62
Q

Is language learning species specific? Examples with Chimps

A

When chimps raised as children, child outperforms chimp linguistically but not cognitively
Some primates can learn sign language
Bonobos show most promising language learning - May be able to learn some syntax - use joint attention

63
Q

How do we measure development of the self?

A

The mirror test
Make a small mark on the child’s face
If child looks in mirror & touches mark on face - understand that the reflection is them self

64
Q

What is gender identity, roles and object choice?

A

Gender identity → categorising oneself as male or female
Gender roles → Preferences, appearances & actions correlated with particular identities
Gender object choice → Attraction toward members of a particular gender

65
Q

What is self-esteem?

A

Value-related aspect of thinking about ourselves

66
Q

How does self-esteem change through development?

A

Preschool years - Extreme positive view of self-esteem

Early school years - Still positive, less extreme, start to make social comparisons

Middle childhood - Break down self-image into components, social comparisons influence self-worth

Adolescence - Social comparisons become more complex, depend more on context

67
Q

What is self-efficacy?

A

Beliefs about one’s own capabilities - context depending

68
Q

What is cognitive development?

A

Processes by which humans learn & organise how to use knowledge

69
Q

What are the different components of memory?

A

Encoding - mentally representing information
Storage - Storing encoded information
Retrieval - Finding a stored memory

Forms of memory
Sensory = Temporary (echoic & iconic)
Working = Associated with STM - Lasts about 15 seconds before it goes or moves to LTM
Long-term = Different forms
Explicit memory = Consciously recalled vs implicit memory = Has effects on behaviour
Declarative memory - knowing something is true vs procedure memory - knowing how to do something
Semantic memory - knowledge/facts vs Episodic memory - events/memories

70
Q

What is infantile amnesia?

A

Memory format can change hypothesis - format of memory changes so that it is impossible to access the old format - difficult to remember things before the age of 2
Neural change hypothesis - late maturation of certain brain structures limit storage
Cueing hypothesis - Differences in the types if cues that trigger memory retrieval later limit recollection

71
Q

What is an autobiographical memory?

A

Overlap of episodic and semantic memory - based on events you have experienced in life

72
Q

What is metacognition?

A

Illusion of knowing
Young children overestimate their knowledge and do no updates estimates once they receive feedback
Children display absolutism - that there is only one right answer

Evaluating other’s knowledge
By pre-school children (by age 5) are good at evaluating knowledge and intentions of others
Children learn that different people can have different ‘expert’ knowledge
Children move away from absolutism

73
Q

What is executive function?

A

Effortful, goal-direct regulation of attention thoughts & actions
Many symptoms
Executive function means executive control, cognitive control etc.
EF = Helps resist temptations, stay focussed, suppresses inappropriate thoughts/actions etc.
Needed in situations where there is no established routine, where there isa need for complex behaviour or there is conflict/interference

74
Q

How does EF predict late life success?

A
75
Q

What is self-regulation?

A

Ability to control our emotions and actions

76
Q

What is social development?

A

The process of learning self-expression & how you interact with others

Health social development helps a child become and adult who communicate with others

Listen to other points of view before acting and shows tolerance for others

77
Q

What is emotional development?

A

The process of learning to recognize and express feelings and establish a unique personal identity

Healthy emotional development helps a child become an adult who is self-controlled, can handle stress and empathetic to the feelings of others

78
Q

How are social and emotional development connected?

A

Feelings that children have will be reflected in their behaviour towards others

79
Q

How does social development occur within the eyes?

A

Earliest milestone is social development

Consistently observed between 4-8 weeks

Learn to distinguish faces from other objects and recognise expressions and emotions

Eyes display information about emotional reactivity and show what stimuli to pay attention to

80
Q

How does joint attention show social development?

A

Coordination of attention with others
Requires both parties know they are attending something in common
Predicts later social and language development
Difficulties may indicate developmental disorders

81
Q

How does pointing (joint attention) show social development?

A

Emerges around 12 months
Proto-imperative pointing (requesting)
Proto-declarative pointing (share interest)

82
Q

How does gaze following (joint attention) show social development?

A

Newborns look faster at targets cue by the direction of eye movement
Brains of 6 month old babies react differently to images of faces looking away
Brains of babies later diagnosed with autism show little difference

83
Q

How does social referencing (joint attention) show social development?

A

Infant’s tend to look toward parents in ambiguous situations - e.g. visual cliff paradigm
Use emotional reaction to see if environment is safe of is threatening
Guides how we view social cues later in life so problems

84
Q

What is theory of mind?

A

Ability to recognise that all people act on basis of mental states or propositional attitudes
Attribute mental states or attitudes to oneself and to others
Understand that others have beliefs, desires and intentions different from one’s own

85
Q

What are the five steps of theory of mind?

A

Imitative experiences with others, understanding attention (Baron-cohen,S), Understanding others knowledge, understanding others intentions, understanding others beliefs

86
Q

How does imitative experiences with others develop in theory of mind?

A

Precursor of perspective-taking and empathy
Recognition of equivalence between physical and mental states apparent in others and those felt in self
Construction of first-person experience (map relation between mental experiences and behaviour, facial gesture
Infer about experiences of others

87
Q

How does understanding attention (Baron-Cohen, S) with others develop in theory of mind?

A

Skill formed 7-9 months of age
Understanding - seeing can be aas directly selective as attention
Viewer assess a seen object as ‘of interest’
Seeing induces beliefs
Sharing → Following → Directing attention
Attention can be directed and shared by pointing (taking into account other person’s mental state)

88
Q

How does understanding others knowledge (Poyinelli and de Blois, 1992) with others develop in theory of mind?

A

3 yrs vr 4 yr old children
‘Hider’ - hid toy in 1 of 4 containers behind screen
Knower - saw hider placing toy
Guesser left before hider placed toy
4 yr old always chose correct cups, 3yrs olds inconsistent

89
Q

How does understanding others intentions with others develop in theory of mind?

A

Meltzoff (1995)
18 month old children
E attempted to pull object away from another to which it is attached but failed
Infant able to infer what action person tried to perform
Call & Tomasello (1998)
2-3 year old children, chimpanzees & orangutans
Able to discriminate whe E intentionally vs accidentally marked a box as baited with stickers

90
Q

How does understanding others beliefs with others develop in theory of mind?

A

Begin to explain others’ behaviours based on belief at 3 yrs age
Wellman & Bartsch 1988
Sam wants to find his puppy. The puppy might be hiding in the garage or under the porch. But Sam thinks the puppy is under the porch. Where will Sam look for the puppy: in the garage or under the porch?
Three-year-olds pass this test
Three-year-olds do badly on tests of false beliefs
Sally Anne Task - Where will Sally look for marble if she thinks it is in the basket

91
Q

What are emotions and feelings?

A

Emotions - Come from within an individual, though they may be motivated by external events
Feelings - Refers to physical sense of, or an awareness of, an emotional state

Involve the capacity to respond to an emotional state

92
Q

How do emotions and feelings develop?

A

Newborn’s emotions are related to immediate enrienced sensations
Young infant’s emotional responses are not well refined
Toddlers may express pride, embarrassment, shame and empathy

93
Q

How is smiling important for emotional development?

A

Newborn children sometimes smile, but their smiles are not enduring or strong and occur most often while asleep
Smiling promotes close contact and emotional ties - important for survival

94
Q

What are endogenous smiles?

A

Smile that is triggered by change in nervous system activity
Involves only lower facial muscles
By 2-3 weeks, infants smile when gently stimulated by high-pitched sounds or by soft stroking of their abdomens

95
Q

What is a social smile?

A

Around 6-8 weeks of age
Smile triggered by social stimuli
Longer lasting, involves entire face

96
Q

What is instrumental smiling?

A

Around 10 weeks of age
Smiling to achieve a goal

97
Q

How does laughter develop?

A

Develops around 4 months in response to physical stimulation
At 6 months, infants laugh in response to visual and social stimuli
Children progress from physical stimulation to cognitive interpretations
Similar cross-culturally although the behaviours caregivers use vary by culture

98
Q

How does crying develop and why is it important in emotional development?

A

Mechanism by which infants communicate their needs
Crying begins as reflex response = Has survival value & progressively becomes more controllable
Crying then increases over the first 6 weeks of life, then decreases
Progresses from internal to external sources of stimulation (e.g. become about cognitive and emotional conditions)
Different types of cry - Basic, Anger, Pain, Hunger

99
Q

How does anger develop?

A

9 months
Infants develop a sense of control
Anger and temper tantrums emerge out of frustration
12 months
Infants become aware and frustrated by limits they experience
Changes in toddlerhood
Increased ability to express anger
Crying decreases, defiant language increases (e.g. no)
Limitations in social understanding - difficulty waiting, sharing, patience
Strive towards autonomy - want independence

100
Q

Why is attachment is important in emotional development?

A

Bond between child & caregiver
Attachment builds trust and allows the baby to feel secure
Security → Better relation to others
1st year is when babies learn to trust or mistrust the world (Erikson)
Critical period is the first few months of life
Not fully formed until age 2
Mary Ainsworth’s Strange situation test - different types of attachment

101
Q

How are early sex differences shown in play?

A

Stimulates the sense
Develops fine and gross motor skills
Guides decision making
Enhances imagination
Promotes social skills and language
Newborn girls prefer looking at faces (social stimuli) & boys at moving objects (non-social) - same difference found within monkeys

102
Q

What is preadolescence and what occurs during that period?

A

Time between childhood and adolescence
‘Tween’ years - 9 - 12
Crucial elements different from boys and girls
Sex education begins

103
Q

How is adolescence defined?

A

Developmental transition involving cognitive, emotional and social changes
Period of transition
Teenage years
Begins with onset of puberty
Ends when sexual maturity is reached
Schengel & Barry (1991) → “social adolescence” - Period between sexual maturity and not reached social maturity

104
Q

What changes occur during puberty?

A

Girls - Develop breasts, pubic hair, change in voice, skin, increased width in pelvis

Boys - Pubic hair, broadening of shoulders, facial hair

105
Q

What are some issues when assessing puberty changes?

A

Many individual differences
Limited studies that directly assess puberty stages and how this might affect brain and behaviour development as difficult to measure
Self-report from children over-estimate puberty development

106
Q

What are Tanner’s stages of development?

A

5 stages - Prepubertal (pubic hair develops), beginning pubertal, midpubertal, advanced pubertal and postpubertal

Shown pictures of different stages of puberty and are asked what stage they think they are in
Created on the basis of one ethnicity - puberty develops different for different cultural groups
Johnson, Moore & Jefferies (1978)
Measurement issues

107
Q

How are there variations in pubertal timing?

A

Age of pubertal development varies (Genetics & environment) = Individual differences
Age of onset of puberty = Decreased since mid 19th century
Stress was found to be an important factor on puberty onset

108
Q

What are the psychological effects of physical changes in puberty?

A

Adoloscent awareness of sexual development
Effect of menarche (first menstruation) in girls
Culture & psychological effect of physical change - some culture the first one is given symbolic importance

109
Q

What are the psychological effects of hormone changes in puberty?

A

Hormones have an effect on psychological functioning
Increased emotional distance from parents
Adolescent autonomy
Parent-child conflict
Moodiness & aggression
Influence on behaviour is uncertain
Direct relationship between behaviour and hormones still limited - e.g. measuring methods such as collecting saliva

110
Q

What are the psychological effects of brain development in puberty?

A

Implications for both social and cognitive development
Changes in brain structure affect
Emotion regulation
Response inhibition
Planning
These changes don’t occur all at the same time but can be seen as a phased combination of changes
Size of brain used to be used as measurement method - becomes less dense over time as synaptic pruning (of grey matter) occurs of unused connection
Areas that contain visual and motor areas develop first & higher thinking areas take longer to develop

111
Q

What are the psychological effects of cognitive changes in puberty?

A

Elkind (1967) - ‘Imaginary audience’
Person fable - an imaginary story of your own life - Obsessed with own feelings
Egocentrism emerges (different kind to early childhood)
Failure to differentiate between own ideas about themselves and others ideas about themselves - believe they are one and the same
When feeling self-critical - think others are judging them
Private issues but they think it’s a public issue
Even those with low self-esteem have a personal fable & think of themselves as unique

112
Q

What are the effects of early and later maturation?

A

Sex/gender differences
Early maturing boys have social advantage
Late maturing boys = Less confident
Early maturation in girls = complex = more likely to break social norms but this disappeared by 25 - tend to have sex, get married and have children earlier - less likely to be in tertiary education
Moffitt - Maturity Gap theory = Gap between biological and social maturity at adolescence can lead to adolescence limited delinquent behaviour

113
Q

How does puberty differ in LGBT adolescents?

A

Start to become aware of attractions between 10-15 (might emerge earlier for many individuals)
Self-labelling around 15
Disclosure around 16.5 years
Implications of ‘coming out’ have also been investigated - Complex as it requires the adolescent to ‘renew’ their relationship with others as it’s an integral change in identity presentation

114
Q

How can turmoil and stress occur in puberty?

A

Early theorists considered adolescence to be a time of identity crisis
Freud - surge of sexual instinct reawkens old conflicts
Blos - likened adolescent transition to independence to the transition from infant to self-reliant toddler
Erikson’s psychosocial stages - adolescence most decisive stage in formation of adult personality

115
Q

How does identity develop?

A

Most turmoil in identity
Erikson’s ideas were based on own observations
Marcia (1966,1980) - developed an interview technique to assess identity status (4 stages)
Diffusion - report little interest
Foreclosure - Decision is made without exploring other opinions
Moratorium - Actively exploring alternatives
Achievement of identity

Cote & levine (1988) → Questioned usefulness of these categories and saw adolescents as a stage of development rather than a stage of disruption

116
Q

How can conflict with parents occur in puberty?

A

Parents and adolescents agee on many things & disagreement can be exaggerated
Conflicts over a range of issues
Conflicts of personal autonomy
Increased closeness when allowed earlier autonomy

117
Q

How are relations with peers and risk-taking behaviours?

A

Adolescents look to peers for social support (especially when in conflict with parents)
Peer groups may reinforce risk-taking behaviour
Steinberg and Monahan measure of resistance to peer influence (RPI)
Increases with age, though small dip at 14 years

118
Q

What is adolescent mental health?

A

Increase in adolescent mental health
Maughan et al. (2008) - increase in mental health problems have levelled off
Increase in adolescent problems in USA until 1990s
No comparable increase in the Netherlands
Isle of Wight Study - Rutter
Studying all 14-15 year olds on Isle of Wight
More detailed assessment on children with deviant behaviour
Peak in psychiatric disorders during adolescence

119
Q

How does adolescence vary in different cultures?

A

Cultures vary widely in their treatment of adolescents
Extent of parent-child conflict argued to be common feature
Mead & Samoa
Adolescence in samoa as being easy & without turmoil - criticised
Broad and narrow socialisation
Narrow: restrictions and firm expectations and happens more in small, pre-industrial societies
Broad: Few personal restrictions, expectations of self-expression and autonomy

120
Q

What is neurodevelopment?

A

Formation of neurological pathways that influence the emergence of performance functioning (e.g. intelligence and social skills)

121
Q

What is Waddington’s epigenetic landscape?

A

Shows the cell as the ball and how the environment is very different and can shape it differently

122
Q

What is atypical development?

A

Developmental psychology - Comparison to typical development
Psychopathology - Comparison to adult models of depression etc.
Developmental psychopathology - Comparison to typical development & adult models

123
Q

What are examples of neurodevelopmental disorders?

A

Disabilities in functioning of brain that affect a child’s behaviour, memory or ability to learn including mental retardation, dyslexia, learning difficulties, ADHD and autism

124
Q

How does the DSM-V define a mental disorder?

A

Syndrome characterised by clinically significant disturbance
In cognition, emotional regulation or behaviour
Reflects a dysfunction in the psychological, biological or developmental processes underlying mental functioning
Usually associated with significant distress or disability in social, occupation or other important activities

125
Q

What is the broad criteria underlying DSM-V categories?

A

Disorders with similar antecedents or risk factors (biological, psychological, social and environmental) group together
Disorders with common concurrent variables ot correlations (underlying biological abnormalities and comorbidity) grouped
Disorders with similar outcomes and response to treatment grouped together

126
Q

What are the strengths of the DSM-V?

A

Adopts medical model (disorder resides within the individual rather than between people)
Claims that mental disorders must have an underlying psychobiological dysfunction
Describes people with mental disorders as experiencing distress or disability
Assesses disorders in terms of the individuals social and cultural background

127
Q

What are the weaknesses of the DSM-V?

A

Relational nature of disorders and the interpersonal context is ignored
Specific biological causes have not been identified for most mental disorders
Even when identified, not all children with the disorder show abnormality
Even if all children show abnormality - can’t say the abnormality caused the disorder
Some disorders may be caused by entirely psychological problems

128
Q

What are the two types of symptoms of ADHD?

A

Inattention or hyperactivity-impulsivity symptoms (at least 6 of each symptoms)

129
Q

What are examples of inattention symptoms?

A

Fails to give close attention to details or makes careless mistakes in schoolwork, work etc.
Difficulty sustaining attention
Does not seem to listen when spoken to directly
Does not follow through on instructions and fails to finish schoolwork
Difficulty organising tasks and activities
Avoids tasks requiring sustained mental effort
Loses things necessary for tasks or activities
Easily distracted by extraneous stimuli
Forgetful in daily activities

130
Q

What are examples of hyperactivity-impulsivity symptoms?

A

Difficulty playing or engaging in activities quietly
Always ‘on the go’ or acts as if ‘driven by a motor’,
Talks excessively
Blurts out answers
Difficulty waiting in lines or awaiting turn
Interrupts or intrudes on others
Runs about or climbs inappropriately
Fidgets with hands or feet or squirms in seat
Leaves seat in classroom or in other situations in which remaining seated is expected

131
Q

What else is needed for diagnosis?

A

Symptoms present before age 7
Clinically significant impairment in social or academic /occupational functioning
Some symptoms that cause impairment are present in 2 or more settings
Not due to another disorder (e.g. Autism)

132
Q

What characteristics show ADHD is a disorder of childhood development?

A

Seen in early child development
Behaviours clearly distinguish child from non-ADHD children
Occurs across several situations
Behaviours persistent over time
Child not able to perform at age-appropriate levels
Not accounted for be environment of social causes
Related to brain function
Associated with other biological factors that can affect brain function

133
Q

What is the developmental course of ADHD?

A

ADHD = Persistent across lifespan
Methodological issues impact estimates of persistence
ADHD severity, psychiatric comorbidity, and parental psychopathology predict persistence
Inattention remains stable, hyperactivity declines with age
DSM-IV criteria may not capture adolescent/adult manifestations of impulsivity
Adult outcomes include psychiatric comorbidity
When ADHD occurs with conduct disorder, chronic criminality and serious substance abuse
When ADHD co-occurs with depression, risk of suicide

134
Q

What is brain structure and function like in ADHD?

A

Differences in brain maturation,structure, function (abnormalities in frontostriatal circuitry):
Prefrontal cortex
Basal ganglia
Cerebellum
These areas of the brain = related to executive function abilities (Attention, WM, STM)
Control response inhibition ad set shifting

135
Q

What are the two types of established ADHD treatments?

A

Stimulant medications - blocks reuptake of dopamine & norepinephrine and controls selective release (neurotransmitters involved in functions like motor control)
Limitations:
Individual differences in response
Not all children respond (approximately 80%)
Limited impact on domains of functional impairment
Primary reason for treatment seeking
Does not normalise behaviour
Family problems beyond the scope of medication
No long-term effects established
Long-term use rare
Limited parent/teacher satisfaction
Some families are not willing to try medication

Behavioural interventions
Behavioural parent training
Behavioural classroom management
Intensive summer treatment programs

136
Q

What is autism?

A

Spectrum of conditions
Difficulties in social communication/repetitive and narrow interests
Autism
Asperger’s syndrome
Pervasive development disorder (PDD)
Atypical autism - some traits of autism but not enough to gain a diagnosis
Affects 1% of the population
Diagnosed age 2-3 years
Total cost £28 billion/year
1.23 million with ID, £0.80 million without ID
More common in males than females

137
Q

Why do we need theory driven autism research?

A

Autism is heterogeneous, multifactorial, multidimensional and complex
Many different ideas of what autism is

138
Q

How are there structural abnormalities in an autistic brain?

A

Increased head growth within first 2 years of life
Arrested growth = Stop growing at earlier stage than normal

139
Q

What is the social brain like in autism?

A

Attention to eyes or mouth in autism - autistic children looked more at the mouth than the eyes
Typical children and children with down syndrome show similar social referencing
Children with autism don’t often show social referencing

140
Q

What are sex differences in autism?

A

Classic autism - consistently between 4:1 and 5:1 (Male:Female) dropping with lower IQ (Fombonne et al.)
Asperger syndrome - over 10:1 (Male:Female)
Under-diagnoses of high-functioning females
Male-biassed diagnostic procedure

141
Q

What are the possible causes of autism?

A

Early onset indicates a biological origin
Genetic
Identical twin concordance (60%) & non-identical 5%
Studying genetic polymorphisms typically requires N&raquo_space; 1000
Neurobiological
Evidence of neural differences exists but reasons are not clear
Require large samples to scan
Hormonal mechanisms

142
Q

What are the possible treatments of autism?

A

Behavioural interventions
Intensive, sustained education and behavioural therapy
Long-term benefits
Helped jobs skills and learn techniques of self-care
Medications
Commonly prescribed antidepressants, stimulants & antipsychotics
No known medication relieves autism’s core symptoms of social and communication impairments

Psychology 2A (5 decks)

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