Developmental psychology

Question 1

how does the child’s development affect the doctor’s interaction with them?

Answer 1

o The child’s progress through development will dictate how you communicate with them
o The stage at their development dictates how they will interact with their illness
o Their social context may hinder or support their health/developmental progress

Question 2

what are the hereditary influences on the development of the child?

Answer 2

genetics, gender, temperament and maturational stages

temperament: innate aspects of individual’s personality e.g. intro- or extraversion

Question 3

what are the main environmental/nurturing influences on a child?

i.e what is nurture?

Answer 3

the environment through :

• parenting
• stimulation (or the lack of)
• nutrition

the predetermined course of development is shared by these environmental factors

Question 4

how does a baby’s hearing contribute to its own development?

Answer 4

Babies can hear in the womb:
• Receptive hearing at 16/40 weeks of gestation.
• Functional hearing at 24/40 weeks of gestation.

Babies can be familiar with and prefer their mothers voice when they are delivered.

Question 5

how does a baby’s sense of smell contribute to its own development?

Answer 5

Babies are primed to learn associated smells of their mother very quickly.

New-borns recognise the smell of their own amniotic fluid, maternal breast odours and a preference for their own mother’s breast milk.

Question 6

how does a baby’s sense of taste contribute to its own development?

Answer 6

 A new-born can taste all tastes
but not salt until about 4 months

 New-borns love sugary solutions and they like the taste of glutamate (found in breast milk).

Question 7

how does a baby’s sight contribute to its own development?

Answer 7

 Babies prefer watching their mothers face and have a general preference to look at face-like stimuli.
 They show a preference for faces with eyes open and look longer at happy face stimuli.

Question 8

what is reciprocal socialisation?

Answer 8

the bidirectional socialising between parent and child

Question 9

what is scaffolding?

Answer 9

if the parent’s responses support or reinforce the child’s action, the child will build on the interaction or continue to develop in this area.

Question 10

how is reciprocal socialisation tested?

Answer 10

Still Face experiment

Child expresses distress when the parent suddenly becomes unresponsive with no facial expressions

Question 11

what is required for a baby to develop and thrive?

Answer 11

scaffolding, reciprocal socialisation, stimulation and an enriching environment

e.g. babies of depressed mothers adjust to a lack of emotion

Question 12

what is the “internal working model” describing?

Answer 12

the baby doesn’t develop and thrive on its own but coordinates with the systems of those people around him/her.

this is the first stage of attachment

Question 13

what is attachment?

Answer 13

biological instinct to seek proximity to an attachment figure (carer) when threat is perceived or discomfort is experienced. Provides the child with a secure base to explore the environment from and thus develop.

This begins at birth e.g. talking to the baby in utero over the first year, supported by reciprocal socialisation

Question 14

how is the process of attachment best mediated?

Answer 14

through mind-mindedness:

parents treat their children as individuals with independent minds who are motivated by feelings and intentions
– i.e. when a baby whines, the mother questions “what is the baby trying to say?”.

Question 15

how does attachment develop over time?

Answer 15

o Prefers people to inanimate objects. Indiscriminate clinging. [birth- 3 months]
o Smiles discriminately to main carers. [3 months-8months]
o Selectively approaches main care-givers. [8 months- 12 months]
o Reliable attachment data can be obtained. [>12 months]

Question 16

what are the categories a child is put in using the Strange Situation Test?

Answer 16

measured how the child reacted to temporary absence of their mother and how they respond to her return

1) Securely attached children
2) Insecurely-attached children
3) Resistant-insecure (or “ambivalent/mixed-feelings”) children
4) Disorganised-insecure children

Question 17

what kind of behaviour do securely attached children show?

Answer 17

Free exploration, happiness upon mother’s return to them.

• distressed when mother leaves
• explores less when she is gone
• cries and holds on to her when she returns
• once comforted, returns back to exploration

here, the mother is responsive to the needs of the child who can rely on her when distressed

Question 18

what kind of behaviour do insecurely attached children show?

Answer 18

Little exploration & little emotional response to mother

• avoidant-insecure kids don’t show much emotion in mother’s absence
• no preference shown to mother over stranger
• when mother returns, he ignores her or avoids her

Question 19

what kind of behaviour do resistant-insecure children show?

Answer 19

Little exploration, great separation anxiety and ambivalent (mixed) response to mother upon return

Question 20

what kind of behaviour do disorganised-insecure children show?

Answer 20

Little exploration and confused response to mother

Question 21

what are the benefits of a child with secure attachment?

Answer 21

protective when developed from early infancy
leads to resilience throughout their childhood
independence, emotional availability, better mood

associated with fewer behavioural problems, higher IQ and academic performance

Question 22

what role does play have on a child?

Answer 22

has important positive effects on the brain and the child’s ability to learn

Question 23

what are the types of play over time?

Answer 23

o Solitary [0-2 Years]
 - plays alone
o Spectator [2-2.5 Years]
 – observes playing
o Parallel play [2.5-3 Years]
– plays alongside, not together. 
o Associate [ 3-4 Years ]
– starts interactions, develops
friendships and plays in mixed sex groups.
o Co-operative [4-6 Years ]
– play together, single sex groups.
o Competitive [6+ Years ]
– play involves rules, “winners”.

Question 24

what are some benefits of play?

Answer 24

• engage and interact with the world
• overcome fears
• creative problem solving
• develop own interests
• decision making etc

Question 25

what does Piaget’s Stage model describe?

Answer 25

children’s thinking changes qualitatively with age.

Makes use of schemas- organised patterns of thoughts and actions

Question 26

how do we acquire new schemes so existing ones become more complex?

Answer 26

• Assimilation = incorporating new experiences into existing schemas.
• Accommodation = the difference made by accommodation.
• Adaptation = new experiences cause existing schemas to change

Question 27

what are the stages of Piaget’s model?

Answer 27

1) sensorimotor (0-2 y)
2) pre-operational (2-7 y)
3) concrete operational (7-12 y)
4) formal operational (+12y)

Question 28

how is a child’s cognition at the sensorimotor stage?

Answer 28

infants experience the world via sensory/motor interactions:
• A child here cannot understand “object permanence” (an object continues to exist even when it cannot be seen)
– peekaboo
• Children gradually increase the use of words to represent objects, needs and actions.
• Learning is based on trial & errors (errors are not assimilated)

Question 29

how is a child’s congition at the pre-operational stage?

Answer 29

world is represented symbolically through words and mental images:
– no understanding of basic mental operations or rules
– Rapid language development.
– Understanding of past and future.
– No understanding of the “Principle of Conservation” :an object stays the same, even if the outward appearance changes
i.e. two glasses of water and one is poured into a different shaped glass but still the same volume of water.

Question 30

3 features of the pre-operational cognition stage

Answer 30

o Irreversibility
– cannot mentally reverse actions.
o Animism
– attributing life-like qualities to physical objects and natural events.
o Egocentrism
– difficulty in viewing the world from someone else’s view.

Question 31

how is a child’s cognition at the concrete operational stage?

Answer 31

children can perform basic mental operations involving those that involve tangible objects and situations.
• Understanding of the concept of reversibility.
• Less egocentrism.
• Easily solve conservation problems.
• Trouble with hypothetical and abstract reasoning.

Question 32

what are the limitations of Piaget’s Model?

Answer 32

despite the outcomes being replicated all over the world
children may respond as to please the adult asking the question.
Some argue some questions are so weird that the child thinks the adult wants or expects you to change the original answer.

Question 33

how does understanding the concept to death develop over time?

Answer 33

o Do not understand that death is final.
[Under 5]
o Develop the idea that death is irreversible, universal, unavoidable and final, empathetic to another’s loss. [5-10 Years]
o Understand more long-term consequences, think hypothetically, draw parallels and review inconsistencies. [10 Years- teens]

Question 34

what does the child develop into adolescence?

Answer 34

• transitional stage from puberty (biologically defined) to legal adulthood (social construct [12–>25]
• cognitive development and physical growth
• formal operational stage of cognition

Question 35

how is the teen’s cognition at the formal operational stage?

Answer 35

abstract thought emerges
– adolescents think more about moral, philosophical, ethical, social and political issues
(that require theoretical and abstract thinking).

Begin to use deductive logic/reasoning to form a general principle to specific information.

Question 36

what occurs to the adolescent brain?

Answer 36

extensive brain remodelling (hence the excessive sleep)
this promotes:

o Cognitive changes help transition from secure child world to the “real” world.
o Thrill seeking behaviour.
o Openness to new experiences.
o Risk taking.
o High social rewards.
o Prefer own age company.
o Become more emotionally less positive throughout early adolescence.