Developmental Psychology

Question 1

Communication

Answer 1

sharing or exchanging information by speaking writing or using other mediums

Question 2

Other mediums of communication

Answer 2

Gesture, facial expressions, flags,

Question 3

Language

Answer 3

• Communication of thoughts and/or feelings through a system of symbols and signals that have an agreed meaning, such as voice sounds, signs or written symbols
• Language is a symbol system that is extendable and modifiable

Question 4

Speech

Answer 4

the act of expressing or describing thoughts, feelings or perceptions by the articulation of words

Question 5

Joint attention between infants and caregivers

Answer 5

the child coordinates her attention to the object and the adult at the same time that the adult coordinates her attention to the same object and the child

Question 6

Joint attention

Answer 6

Primarily social function with two individuals knowing that they are attending to something in common

Question 7

Turn-taking

Answer 7

Organisation in conversation whereby participants speak one at a time in alternating turns

Question 8

Importance in turn taking in communication

Answer 8

• ability to take turns increases as child’s age increases

- important for social development as well as language

Question 9

Importance of gestures in communication

Answer 9

• purposeful ad have shared meaning to both parties
• relevant in developing joint attention
• important in child learning labels for object

Question 10

What does a language need to have to be considered a language

Answer 10

1. Semanticity (have meaning)
2. Arbitrariness (no connection between sounds and meanings of words)
3. Displacement (can use to talk about the past, present and future)
4. Productivity (infinite number of possible utterances

Question 11

What do children need to learn about language

Answer 11

1. Phonology (sounds)
2. Semantics (word meanings)
3. Grammar (structure of language)
4. Pragmatics (rules for context use)

Question 12

How may the development of speech occur in childhood

Answer 12

• Cooing(0 months)
• Reduplicated babbling(6 months)
• First word(12 months)
• Two-word combinations(2 year)
• Multi-word utterances(3 years)
• Questions, complex sentence structures, conversational principles(4 months)

Question 13

Development of first words

Answer 13

• Infants know the meaning of most common nouns by 6-9 months
• By 10 months, infants understand 30 words but can’t produce any; by 13 months, infants understand 100 words but can produce 10 words

Question 14

Whole object constraint

Answer 14

general learning preference that a word labels a whole object not just a part of it

Question 15

Mutually exclusivity constraint

Answer 15

assigning one label to an object and avoiding a second label for the same object

Question 16

Importance of constraints in learning speech production

Answer 16

fills in the gaps in the children’s vocabulary

Question 17

At approximately what age do children have their vocabulary spurt?

Answer 17

between 15 months to 24 months

Question 18

Sentence production in children

Answer 18

• by 12 months toddlers have one to three new words per week

- between 18-24 months, one or two words per day