Developmental psychology (year one) Flashcards
What is the stimulus response theory?
- behaviour is a response to stimuli
- only basic reflexes are inherited
What is instrumental conditioning?
- learning through trial and error (reinforcement and reward)
- B.F Skinner
What did Tolleman find?
- when a reward was introduced there was a rapid reduction in rate of errors
- evidence of latent learning (rats formed cognititive map of maze)
What is nativism?
- behaviours cannot be learned but must be the result of innate knowledge
What does Elizabeth Spelke believe?
- humans inherit core knowledge of the world
How does the violation of expectation paradigm work?
- present infants with 2 scenarios (impossible and possible scenario)
- infants look longer at impossible events (have knowledge of the law)
What is the innate concepts theory?
- infants inantely know rules about physical events that allow them to predict events
What is constructivism?
- proposes that the child actively builds a model of the world
According to Piaget, what two mechanisms lead to change in a child?
- assimilation and accomodation
- internal state of child drives development
What is ontogeny?
- development of the individual child
What is phylogeny?
- evolution of species over time
What does shared intentionality involve?
- two agents having a joint goal, which is shared and co-ordinating between eachother
What are newborns equipped with according to Heyes (cognititve gadgets)?
- prosocial temperament (species tolerance)
- attentional biases (to faces, voices, biological motion)
What was the aim of Donellan et al. study?
study intentional communication and responses from caregivers as a predictor of language learned
What was the sample in Donellan et al?
- 58 SES-diverse children
What type of study was Donellan et al?
- Longitudinal study (follow up at 15m,18m,24m)
Describe the method used in Donellan et al?
- Looked at vocalisations/ gestures in 10 mins of home free play with caregiver at 11/12 months
- Children followed up at 15,18 and 24 months to see what words they knew
- CDI used
- Vocalisations, gestures and gesture-vocal combinations used
Consonant + vowel (cv) and non-CV
Index finger point, open hand point
Give, show, conventional (e.g. raising hand to mouth for eating)
What were the two variations also looked at in Donellan et al? Describe the methods
- Infant communicative behaviour : looked at whether the infant looks at caregiver within 1 second of behaviour
- Rate of caregiver response : looked at whether or not caregiver gave a response relating to the infants action within 5 seconds
What were the main findings from Donellan et al?
- Increase in words from CV, show and index- finger point children
o The more CV produced, the greater amount of words at 19 months
o The more non-CV, the fewer amount of words they’ll have at 19 months - Decrease in words from non-CV, open hand point and non-CV/open hand combined
What were the infant communicative behaviour findings in Donellan et al?
- gaze-coordinated vocalisation and show produced the greater change in words at 19 months
Non-gaze co-ordinated actions/vocalisations produce fewer words produced at 19 months
What were the caregiver response findings in Donellan et al?
: gaze co-ordinated and responded-to vocalisations and responded-to-vocalisations produced highest change in words at 19 months
Rate of vocalisation is important predictor of language development
Important that caregiver responds to vocalisations and that child is gaze-coordinated
How many words does a child know by age 6
14,000
Name the three stages of Bate et al. study
Perlocutionary acts (birth-10months) : behaviours not intended as communicative, but does have consequences
Illocutionary acts (10-12 months) : intentionally communicate with unconventional forms e.g. pointing, prelinguistic vocalisations
Locutionary acts (12months+) : intentional communication, using conventional forms
Describe perlocutionary acts
: behaviours not intended as communicative, but does have consequences
Describe illocutionary acts
: intentionally communicate with unconventional forms e.g. pointing, prelinguistic vocalisations
Describe locutionary acts
: intentional communication, using conventional forms
Describe the stages of speech and give dates
o Crying, involuntary bodily function sounds
o 8 weeks : cooing, laugher
o 16 weeks : vocal play (squeals, yells, vowel sounds)
o 36 weeks : reduplicated babbling
o 48 weeks : non-reduplicated babbling
What does reduplicated and non-reduplicated babbling mean
- Reduplicated = adult like syllables in repetitive sequences (dada, baba)
- Non-reduplicated = adult-like syllables in non-repetitive sequences, shows rhythms of speech
Who studied initial consonant sounds and what did they find?
Most common sounds in babbling were also most common used in words
When do infants begin to point and what are the three purposes of pointing?
- 9-14 months : infants point
o Imperatively : to do something
o Declaratively : inform about something
o Interrogatively : request something
In Luke et al. study how many of the children were fingerpointing by 12 months?
- 47/59 children
What were the results of Luke et al study?
The 47 had better language abilities at 2 years of age
Open hand pointing risk for primary language delay at age 2
What is some evidence that language learning begins in utero?
- DeCasper & Spence, 1986 : infants prefer to listen to a story read to them in utero vs. novel story
What is infant-directed speech?
higher pitch, simplified, shorter words, more repetitive
What stories do infants prefer?
stories read to them in utero
When can infants discriminate between phoneme categories
within first 2 months
When do infants become attuned to their native language
10-12 months
How do babies pitch contours match their mother’s language?
- cries have different contours and pitches on spectrograms
- e.g french babies start off higher, german babies escalate higher
When do most infants start to produce language?
12 months
How many words are estimated to be said at 30 months?
200-600 words
What words are most commonly said first?
names for parents
What are some predictors of first words
frequency of word, relevance to babies, concreteness (e.g apple, ball etc.),
When is there evidence of comprehension of concrete words?
6-9 months (Bergelson and Swingley, 2012)
When are abstract words learned? (e.g hug, all gone, hi)
14-16 months
What is referential ambiguity?
- May be difficult to distinguish what thing in a scene the word actually refers to (e.g gavagai mapping problem)
What are some solutions to referential ambiguity?
Social knowledge
Innate word-learning constraints
When can infants identify other’s communicative intentions (e.g following gaze, pointing)?
12 months
When can infants know what an adult is referring to, even if they could not see it at the time of producing the label?
18-20 months
What are some innate word-learning constraints?
Mutual exclusivity/ principle of contrast
Whole object constraint
What is mutual exclusivity?
- Bias to accept one name per object
* If label is known, they are more likely to pick the object that doesn’t have a known label
What is whole object constraint?
• Infants will think an unknown word will apply to a whole unknown object, as opposed to its components/material/colour etc
When does whole object constraint appear?
18 months
What was the aim of Akhtar et al. (1996)
- finding whether children take into account other’s views when a new word is heard
What was the method in Akhtar et al. (1996)
- child/parent/experimenter play with 3 novel objects
- child/ E1 play with fourth novel object
- experimental: E2-“I see a gazzer!”
- control “look at that!”
- used production/ comprehension tests
What was the sample size in Akhtar et al. (1996)
48 2-year-olds
What were the results for the experimental group in Akhtar et al. (1996)?
comp : 10/24
prod : 7/24
What were the results for the control group in Akhtar et al. (1996)?
comp : 4/24
prod : 0/24
What was the aim in Samuelson & Smith (1998)?
Do children only map “gazzer” to the new object because the object catches their attention?
What was the method in Samuelson & Smith (1998)?
- Ex/Parent/Child moves from old context (w./ 3 toys) to new context with glittery blue tablecloth (only playing 4th toy)
- four toys placed in clear box in old context
- experimental: “I see a gazzer!”
- control: “look at that!”
What was the sample size in
Samuelson & Smith (1998)
48 18-24 month olds
What were the findings in Samuelson & Smith (1998)
comprehension : ex - 13/24
co - 5/24
production : ex - 1/24
co - 0/24
any learning : ex - 14/24
co - 5/24
- difference between this/ ahktar not significant
- significantly more infants chose object in exp condition for comprehension testWhat was the conclusion of
Samuelson & Smith (1998)
Children map a novel word to the object that is most novel in the context the word is heard
name the developmental stages from conception to birth and give dates
- Germinal: 0-2 weeks
- Embryonic: 3-8 weeks
Midbrain, forebrain and hindbrain develop - Foetal: 9 weeks – birth
- Fertilisation to birth = 40 weeks
what is the early brain called and how does it evolve?
- Early brain is called neural tube
- Evolves by thickening and constrictions
how is the cortex organised?
- Laminar organization of cortex
o Neurones organised across different layer
o Different layers = different roles
what is the role of microglia?
: attend to wellbeing of neurones
Protect from harmful substances, bring nutrients
describe the changes in neuroanatomy from 4 weeks to 6 months
- Prenatal neuroanatomy (4 weeks): Prosencephalon Mesencephalon Rhombencephalon Neural tube - Prenatal neuroanatomy (5 weeks): Prosencephalon → 2 structures (Secondary brain vesicles) Mesencephalon → 1 structure Rhombencephalon → 2 structures - Prenatal neuroanatomy (6 months) Prosencephalon → cerebrum and thalamus Mesencephalon → midbrain Rhombencephalon → cerebellum and medulla Neural tube → spinal cord
what are the stages in neural network creation?
1. Cell proliferation o Creation of neurons 2. Cell migration o Neuron cells colonising all brain layers 3. Cell differentiation o All cells within brain created 4. Programmed cell death 5. Synaptic rearrangement o Makes connections between neurones more reliable
describe the changes in proliferation from prenatal to postnatal
- Massive production of cells occurs 2-4 months into gestation
- Gives neural/radial glial cells prenatally
what are precursor cells?
undifferentiated cells
how are cortex layers created?
This creates cortical layers
The first cells to arrive will be in deepest layer (layer 6)
Brain assembled from the inside out
what are multipotent cells?
cells that have the capacity to self-renew by dividing and to develop into multiple specialised cell types
what is the purpose of apoptosis?
- Discards neurons that didn’t connect to any other neuron
what is the purpose of synaptic rearrangement?
- Synapses that don’t receive signals are eliminated
- Arrangement is activity-dependent
by which trimester is the visual system present by?
third
what happened when chicks were made to wear prism goggles?
- After putting prism goggles on chicks, their visual field became displaced right of normal vision
Auditory perception was also modified
what is plasticity and give some supporting studies
- Brain’s ability to modify or reorganise
- Daily training for 3 months (juggling) showed a change in brain structure
- Maguire (2000) more experienced taxi drivers had a larger hippocampus
what are some limitations of plasticity?
- If one eye is occluded, ODC (ocular dominance columns) not as much cortical space is captured. If occluded during the critical period the ODC will never change
how does visual input effect ocular dominance?
- Input into both eyes needed for ocular dominance
o After synapse rearrangement, the ODC will have normal distribution of brain resources
describe brain lesion studies in infancy
Children younger than 5 with left hemisphere lesions : language processing reorganised in the right hemisphere
when does grey/white matter undergo rapid transformation?
birth – 14 weeks
what is infants perception like at 6 months?
- EEGs used to look at face perception
P1 = first observation after stimuli presented
At 0-2 weeks brain is slower to percept faces
P1 latency for faces decreases with age
what does the auditory system allow for at 30 weeks
allows child to discriminate their mothers voice at birth and recognize songs
what did language research with preterm and full-term babies show
Pre-term 9 month old babies and full term 6 month old babies (same brain age) could distinguish Italian from Spanish (native language)
o Preterm 6 month olds and full term 3 month olds show same pattern for not distinguishing Italian from Spanish
• Preterm babies do not show advantage of having more time out of the womb hearing their native language
how are EEGs done? describe any positives/limitations
- Recording of electrical activity by electrodes from scalp using a cap
- High temporal resolution : activity measured to the millisecond
- Low spatial resolution : not necessarily sourced from brain tissue under electrode
- Poor at detecting activity under cerebral cortex (white matter)
- Summation : when adjacent neurones fire in sync, their postsynaptic potentials add up
what are ERPs?
- Change in potential is dependent on a stimulus
Describe the most common ERP
: N400
Negative polarity/charge
Present at 200-600ms after stimulus
Trigger event : congruency of a word and its context (less compatible a word, larger response) e.g coffee and sugar is more congruent than coffee and socks
What is functional representation?
the cognitive process a neurological response reflects
o N400 reflects semantic word processing / knowledge
Describe how cross-modal priming studies work. Describe “graded in the context of N400 activity
- Ppts see a picture, followed by an audible congruous / incongruous word
- Incongruous picture-word pairings elicit a stronger N400 response
- N400 activity graded : incongruous pairings that share similar features elicit a reduced N400
At what age can cross-modal priming studies be used with infants?
6 months
Describe the N400 activity findings of Friedrich & Friederici (2004,2005), Friedrich & Friederici (2010), Parise & Csibra (2012)
- Friedrich & Friederici (2004,2005) : infants in high comprehension group displayed similar N400 activity to adult group (although 100ms later than adults, and higher frontal brain region involvement
- Friedrich & Friederici (2010) : only 12 month old infants in high production group (more than 4 words) displayed significant N400 effect
- Parise & Csibra (2012) : N400 effect only discovered in mother condition (word produced by infants caregiver)
describe studies into ERPs in language disorders : Friedrich & Friederici (2006), Torkildsen et al (2007)
Friedrich & Friederici (2006) : infants at risk of developmental language disorder did not display N400 effect
Displayed enhanced N200-500 ERP (basic word knowledge
- Torkildsen et al (2007) : no N400 effect discovered in 20month olds at familial risk of dyslexia in cross modal design
Describe studies investigating the N400 effect and word learning
- Hirotani et al (2009) : N400 effect only found for words taught by joint attention, N200-500 present in joint attention/ non-joint attention condition
when and how well can newborns see?
- Newborns see well enough to perceive faces
o Right after birth they will track face like stimuli - Infants vision test : reflexive following (optokinetic nystagmus)
Visual paired comparison (prefer a patterned stimulus)
state the changes in visual acuity from newborn to 8 months
- Newborns : 20/660
o See something at 20ft that an adult with good vision could see at 660ft - 2 month olds : 20/300
- 8 month olds : adult like
describe the case study of Virgil
- Dense cataracts since childhood
- When cataracts were removed and vision returned to normal, he did not know what he was seeing
- Saw parts of objects as unrelated fragments
what are cataracts and how are they corrected in infants?
- Cataracts : prevent lens from focusing visual info onto fovea
o Fovea : region most sensitive to visual info - Infants with cataracts in on eye must have good eye patched so the connections in good eye will be prioritised
Bad eye will have obscured vision, so development that’s begun there will lead to poorer vision even after removal - Corrected cataracts result in small deficits in face perception (using configural info, e.g spacing between features
what did Spelke say 3-month-olds pay more attention to? describe the study
- 3 month olds pay more attention to an “impossible” stimuli, where the object moves with the background (Spelke, 1982)
o Also look longer to impossible event in which grasping part of object results in only part of the object moving - Partially occluded objects : after habituation, 4 month old infants looked longer at broken rod when it is moving in habituation display (combined rod/box)
o Newborns look longer at complete rods (didn’t unify box and rod)
what are the factors supporting perception of object unity?
- Common motion : both rods moving together in the same direction
- Width of occluder : more likely to perceive rod as continuous if occluder is narrow vs wide
- Shared orientation : look as if it could form parallel lines
describe a study looking at visual preference and perception
o Infants prefer to look at novel stimuli, especially when familiarised with one
o 3-4 month olds : When exposed to many different cats, then given a different photo of a cat alongside a dog, infants will look longer at dog
• Switch of this also done, found same results
o Can do the same variation but looking at spatial relation, e.g dot above a line or below a line
what is object permanence?
: knowledge that objects still exist, even if we cannot sense them (e.g seen, felt)
at what ages will children start to reach for hidden objects?
- 4-8 months : will retrieve an object if partially visible
- 8-12 months : will reach for hidden objects
Still makes errors : A not B error - searches in wrong location for hidden object
12-18 months : stop making this error, but struggle with invisible placements
describe Baillargeon’s study
o 4.5 month olds habituated to rotating screen
o Possible event : screen momentarily occludes plank with smiley face
o Impossible event : screen rotates right through plank, causing plank to momentarily disappear
o Infants spent longer looking at impossible event than possible
what is representational persistence?
: suggests the visual system automatically fills in missing info, made easier by experience and familiarity with objects
describe Shinsky & Munakata (2005)
prefamiliarised to one of two objects tested at 7.5 months
Preference for novel object when visible, preference for familiar object when hidden
describe Johnson et al (2003)
infants habituated to image, then occluder is removed and either ball moves back and forward or appears-reappears (discontinuous)
6 month olds looked longer at discontinuous : perceive it as unexpected (assumed the balls had continuous trajectory
Occluding panel narrower : 4 month olds showed preference for discontinuous event
When occluder was very narrow, infants perceived event as continuous
o Conclusions : Ability to represent objects develops between 2 months and 6 months
o The more info the system has to fill in, the less likely it does successfully
give supporting studies for knowledge-driven accounts and representational persistence accounts
- Support for knowledge driven account : Baillargeon
- Support for representation persistence account : Johnson et al (2003), Shinskey & Munakata (2005)
what is developmental change?
change/ success is due to skills other than object permanence
when can infants start to anticipate trajectories?
- 6-month olds show more anticipation to look towards ball will emerge than 4 year olds
- If infants are habituated to trajectory, they can anticipate it from 4 months
what is object individuation?
: process of establishing two or more distinct objects in an event
what is spatiotemporal information?
info about objects location/motion e.g object can’t be in two places at once
What is featural information?
: info about size/shape/colour/surface pattern/texture
What is an object index?
an index that sticks with an object through space and time (like mental pointer)
what information do the dorsal and ventral streams process?
- Dorsal stream : processes spatiotemporal information
- Ventral stream : processes featural information
at what age do infants use shape and colour to establish a new object representation?
9 months
how many object representations can infants retain?
3
what allows infants to use features to facilitate individuation?
- When shown two objects with labels, children will form two object representations using the features of the object
give the key phases of social development
- Birth- 1 month : basic attraction to people
- 2 months : core relatedness
- 5 months : topic-based relatedness
- 9-10 months : connected-up relatedness
- 18 months : cooperative relatedness
give research findings for newborns social readiness
- Goren et al (1975) – newborns show a greater visual preference for facelike stimuli
- Batki et al (2000) – attraction to faces with eyes open, and eyes forward (Farroni et al 2002)
- Mehler (1978) – attracted to voices, especially similar ones (from 3rd trimester)
- Cernoch (1985) – attraction to mother’s smell
give research findings for neonatal imitation
- Meltzoff & Moore (1977) – infants can imitate adult actions e.g mouth opening, sticking out tongue
give research findings for adult responses to infant faces
- Baby schema (Lorenz, 1943) – big, round head, high forehead, big eyes, chubby cheeks etc
- Glocker et al (2008) specific brain responses to baby faces motivate caretaking behaviour
o Even stronger with own infant (Swain, 2008)
explain motherese and give research findings
- Speech to 16 months and younger : IDS/motherese
o Characterised by :
Exaggerated intonation/melody, repetition, simple vocab - Infants show preference towards IDS (fernald, 1985)
- Shows similar properties across cultures (Werker et al 1994)
- Also found in primates (Ferrari et al, 2009)
explain the second stage and give research findings
- Purely social/emotional intimacy focused
- By six-eight weeks infants:
o Vocalise, smile, show pre-speech (mouth opening etc) - Social behaviours increase from week 5 (Murray et al, 2006)
- Tronick et al (1978) : when parent shows a still face, infant is puzzled and then attempt to get a response. Failing this, they will withdraw
- Double video experiment
o Live condition : mother can respond in real time
Infant was engaged as would be in a face to face interaction
o Recorded video : child was puzzled, then withdrew (responses were not contingent to what they were doing)
explain mirroring and research findings
- Mirroring : mothers imitate/match infants behaviour
- Response is attuned to form/ intensity of behaviour
o Marking (positive or neutral) : mother does not mirror behaviour, but quality and response is well attuned to singles out the infants behaviour
o Negative responses : mis-attuned responses e.g overshoots/undershoots intensity of infants behaviour
o Negating responses e.g mocking/ rejecting - Mirroring/ positive marking promote the development of infant social behaviour
- Maternal mirroring is the strongest promoter of infant social behaviour
explain stage 3
- Infants : improvements in vision/ grasping
o Expands field of interest - Parents : show and use ostensive marking (demonstrating) via body games/ object
o Body games help child become aware of body
o Games with rules can become third object
o Games together allow for shared anticipation and then peak of excitement of activity
o Triadic games : both parents take part - Interactions : now about a third topic
- Infants still cannot directly acknowledge the link between his partner-topic-experience
o E.g if child wants a toy out of reach they will move towards it but will not look to partner for help
what does exaptation mean?
a shift in the function of a trait during evolution
what did ray and heyes (2011) say about imitation?
- “perceptually opaque actions are experienced primarily/exclusively through kinaesthetic senses” “look the same only from a third party perspective”
- Exaptation : a shift in the function of a trait during evolution
- Tongue protrusion could be due to feeding (evolution) but could have evolved over time to become a social behaviour
explain the active intermodal matching model
o Visual input from environment about others body parts is compared with the infants sense of their own body parts
o Supramodal representation : system represents/ directly compares inputs originating in different sensory modalities
o Info about others : visual
o Info about own bodily configuration : proprioceptive
what is supramodal representation
: system represents/ directly compares inputs originating in different sensory modalities
explain research findings around mirror neurons
Mirror neurons (Rizzolatti et al.)
- Mirror neurons : brain cells that are active when an action is performed by self/ observed in another
- Found in rhesus monkeys when single individual cells were active both when monkey reached out for food and saw the experimenter do the same
give limitations of findings into imitation
o Replication studies in infants don’t confirm findings
o Infant macaque imitation findings inconsistent
o AIM may be too abstract
o Mirror neuron responses can be strengthened through learning
explain associative findings into imitation in newborns
- Direct associations : formed when action unit is observed and performed
- 3 main sources of this experience : self-observation, mirrors, synchronous action
- Mirrors/ synchronous action provide experience of observing/ executing “perceptually opaque/ perceptually transparent” actions
- Synchrony may result from imitation of observer/ responding to environmental stimulus
- Infants interaction with world helps development for imitation, shaped by caretakers using frequent, salient interactions
- Mirroring increases in frequency from 5 weeks
Imitation in newborns - No evidence of any kind of imitation in newborns (supports associative learning account) – Oostenbroek et al. (2016)
explain the Ooestenbroek et al. criticisms of Meltzoff et al.
- 2017 : Oostenbroek et al. (2016) re-examined by Meltzoff et al
o 11 flaws found
o e.g infants cannot imitate behaviours they cannot produce, distracting visual stimuli, infants may have been drowsy, neonates balanced in adults lap so poor posture/support for neck
explain the reanalysis findings of ooestenbroek et al.
- reanalysis : type 1 error corrected
o Oostenbroek compared tongue protrusion (TP) produced when shown TP
o Ignored type 2 error : by requiring all comparisons must be significant (holding out for 10/10 significant comparisons)
o During reanalysis, significantly more infant TP were found in response to TP demonstration than mean of the controls at each age
explain the problem of the continous stream of speech
- transitional probabilities (saffran et al, 1996)
- children heard a continuous stream of speech, then could given the choice of listening to “words” or “not words”
- listened more to not “words” - shows theyve decided what is words and what isnt
- part words were not always followed by the same syllables, so not follow sequence
explain the problem of missing out function words
- freudenthal et al (2007) - recency effect in working memory
- children can only remember the last two/three words of a sentence - errors cease as memory increases, so whole sentence can be stored
- built a computer model which takes parent input (real child speech) and takes of words from the start (fewer and fewer as it ages) - simulates children’s development
explain the problem of missing off morphemes
`- morphemes : bits of words
- rasanen, ambridge and pine (2016) : elicited production study
- children say Sam “give” a present, not gives
- the more often the kids heard the give in the input, the more often they produced s in gives
explain the problem of who did that to whom in basic sentences
- learn that in english the one who does the action (the agent) is mentioned first
- the first-named noun as agent [do-er] strategy
- noble, rowland and pine (2011)
explain the problem of failing to mark the plural of irregular nouns
- occurs when children havent heard the plural form enough (e.g only talk about one mouse/knife)
- evidence : for nouns where the noun is more common plural, children rarely make this error
- matthews and theakson (2006) :
- make error more for mouse and knife than teeth and feet
explain the problem of choosing the wrong sentence type
- preemption : gradually children learn from the input which verb (e.g disappear) appeared with which pattern
- e.g “the magician disappeared the rabbit vs the magician made the rabbit disappear”
- tomasello and brooks (1999) :
- “the doll is making the house tam”
- children generally said “hes making it tam” rather than “hes tamming it”
explain the problem of putting words in the wrong order when asking questions
- children learn slot and frame patter s from the input e.g what are you doing
- what are [thing] [process] - when children have learned a slot and frame pattern, they dont make the error
- what are [thing] [process] : 25 examples in input, no child errors
- what shpuld [thing] [process] : zero examples in input, child errors
define morality
helping is good, harming is bad
describe helping at 0-6 months
- Reddy et al (2013) - 2-4 month olds open/raise their arms and tuck legs when mother goes to pick them up
- by 6 months : children prefer helpers than hinderers
describe helping at 18 months
waugh & brownell (2017) : 18 month olds helped 60% of time, sometimes seemed shy or wanted to play with the blanket/sticks themselves
describe helping at 2 years
- warneken (2013) : 78% of 25 month olds/ 100% of 28 month olds helped experimenter by giving or warning of knocked over can at least once
explain why children’s altruistic motives are questioned at 2-3 years
- pleti (2017) : children spilled water, destroyed experimenter’s playground and were and were not given the opportunity to help clean up
- children were more upset (bigger pupils) if they didnt get to help with clean up
- children only cared about joining in on a fun task - hepach et al (2016) : children may be upset about not being able to clean as they may feel guilty
describe harming behaviours at 1-7 months
- infants struggle and kick and made angry faces at the experimenter/ mother when arms are held down
describe harming behaviours at 1-2 years
- dahl (2016) : diary/ naturalistic study
- infants (11-24 month olds) hit/bit/kicked others once an hour, often unprovoked
- unprovoked attacks decreased to end of age range
when and how do children start to show guilt and shame?
- children played with and broke experimenter’s favourite toy
- guilt : 80% tried to repair toy or told experimenter
- shame (wouldn’t look at experimenter, hid behind parent) : 41% told, 24% tried to repair
when and how do children begin to distinguish morality from conventionality
- smetana et al (2018) : puppet committed moral transgression (hitting/teasing), one committed conventional transgression (putting toys in wrong box)
- asked to point to puppets they :
- liked best
- thought was more bad
- would rather be friends with
- should get in trouble
- how many cookies they should get - 70% of points were to puppet who broke conventional rule, not moral rule
explain how and when people know why actions are morally wrong
- dahl & kim (2014) : interviewed children about 4 moral violations (hitting, shoving, stealing, name calling) and 4 conventional violations (playing with toys when they shouldn’t, wearing swimming costume to nursery, not saying please, not lying down to nap)
- moral violations : its not nice, it’d hurt someone
- conventional violations : its not swimming day, the teacher said not to etc
describe the personality types in the ocean model
- O : openness to experience
- outgoing, adventurous, curious, creative
- celebrities e.g jimi hendrix - C Conscientious
- organised, dependable, don’t act spontaneously
- e.g scientists, politicians - E : Extroversion
- talkative, positive, energised - A : Agreeableness
- kind, co-operative - N : Neuroticism
- anxious
explain how preferred music type may relate to personality and intelligence
- those who like reflective/ complex and intense/ rebellious music are more open to experience, liberal, intelligent, better IQ
- upbeat/ conventional : not open, lower IQ, agreeable, wealthy, lower risk of depression, conservative
- energetic and rhythmic : not as wealthy, more intelligent, liberal, agreeable
explain how peoples statuses online can relate to their personality
- people who use
- You more : extroverted
- We more : agreeable
- I more : neurotic
describe ASD
- core diagnostic features : only defined on behavioural level
- DSM AND ICD main indicators are impairments in : social interaction
communication
repetitive behaviour with a narrow set of interests
give some impairments of ASD
- high functioning : IQ higher than 85, language delayed
- medium functioning : IQ between 71-84, language rudimentary
- low functioning : IQ lower than 70, language limited or absent
explain the central coherence hypothesis
- Central coherence hypothesis (Frith, 1989)
- related to lack of central coherence
- tendency to process info piecemeal, rather than integrate it - seen well in embedded figures test : locating hidden figure in a larger, more complex design
- field independent : individuals locate shape more quickly, being more ready to perceive the constituent parts
- field dependent : individuals process the “whole” and are less likely to perceptually deconstruct array in to parts
- individuals with ASD tend to be field independent
- processing bias for local over global levels of info
explain the executive function hypothesis
executive function hypothesis (Ozonoff et al. 1991)
- related to deficit in executive function - executive function : includes behaviours like planning, impulse control, problem solving, flexibility of thought/ action
give some signs of executive function deficits
EXECUTIVE FUNCTION DEFICITS
- rigid, inflexible behaviour
- perserveative : focus on one narrow interest
- not future-oriented : do not anticipate long-term consequences of behaviour well
- impulsive
explain the theory of mind hypothesis
Theory of mind hypothesis (Baron-Cohen et al, 1985)
- difficulties understanding that others have thoughts and beliefs
- false belief test : ASD children fail while NT children pass at 4
- impaired level of social understanding
describe theory of mind in autism
- lack of imagination
- notable in pretend play : Leslie (1987) - imaginative disengagement from current reality needed for false belief
- imaginative disengagement from current reality exhibited in pretend play
describe socialisation and communication in autism
- socialisation and communication
- may misjudge social situations, so may act in inappropriate ways and say inappropriate things
- may have difficulties diagnosing others beliefs and intentions - difficulty in acknowledging false belief arose more from autism than other learning disabilities (baron-Cohen et al, 1985)
- Leslie and thaiss (1992) : autistic children would only pass false photo test, NT children would pass both false belief and false belief test
- Cassidy et al (2014) : ASD adults have difficulties with retrodiction tests of emotions
describe false belief behaviours in autism
- second-order belief attribution : what a person thinks another person thinks about an aspect of reality
- autistic individuals who passes the simple false belief test failed the SOBA test more frequently than Down’s syndrome or NT participants
SOCIAL ANXIETY - 25% of children of affected parents develop anxiety disorder
give research findings of social phobia
- 10 weeks of age : mother/ child interacted face to face for 5 mins, then stranger and infants interacted for 2.5 mins (approaches, pause, pick up)
- social phobia mothers show higher level of anxiety and lower level of engagement with stranger
- also are less encouraging for infant to interact with stranger - infants of mothers with social phobia show diminished social responsiveness by 10 weeks
explain the mechanisms by which children may develop social phobia from a parent
- infants are highly sensitive to adult communication in first few months (voice quality, gaze direction, contingency)
- socially phobic mothers : more withdrawn / less encouraging marking in presence of stranger
explain the transmission of social anxiety
- 9-12 months : start showing fear of strangers
- infants are sensitive to maternal signals around 12 months : sensitive to both positive and negative maternal messages
give research findings for the social referencing paradigm
- subjects seen in social referencing paradigm at 10 and 14 months
- episode 1 : mother interacts with stranger (2min)
- episode 2 : stranger makes graded approach to infant (2min)
- additional variables of interest : behavioural inhibition (temperamental trait - fearful/ inhibited and withdrawn)
- mothers with social phobia were significantly more socially anxious in ep1/2 at 10/14 months
- higher increase in inhibited behaviour in infants of social phobia mothers
- increase in mean change in avoidance in infant pickup group in social phobia group (explained by level of maternal anxiety during infant engagement with the stranger at 10 months)
explain parental narratives as an influence in infant social phobia
- specific types of conversation where a story is related about experiences
- experiences undergo cognitive/ affective processing and provide
- coherence
- temporal/ causal structure
- links between internal states/ behaviours
- highlighting of salient experiences
- meaning-making function
discuss the method for studies into anxiety upon school entry
1.) preschool
- log maternal mental state
- mother-child narrative about starting school (prompt, showing preparation/arrival/classroom)
- child doll play representations
2.) 2nd half term
- child mental state
- internalising problems (anxious, withdrawn)
CODING FOR MATERNAL COGNITIONS
- encouragement/ autonomy
- attribution of threat to environment
- attribution of vulnerability to child
- promotion of avoidance
describe the results for studies into anxiety upon school entry
- at 4-5 year follow up
- nearly 60% of mothers no longer met DSM-IV criteria for social phobia
- SPM give less encouragement, more attribution of threat, more attribution of vulnerability, more promotion of avoidance
- child doll play representations : more children in SPM group had a negative representation of school (mothers give less positive encouragement)
- only in highly inhibited children did maternal positive encouragement mediate the effect of SPM on child’s representations
- low maternal encouragement associated with higher teacher-reported internalizing scores
describe differential susceptibility
- belsky and pluess (2009)
- certain temperamental/genetic traits may confer both
- greater vulnerability to negative environments
- greater capacity to benefit from positive environments
- child behavioural inhibition could be seen as a sensitivity, with positive/ negative connotations
Give research findings for theory of mind
KEYSAR ET AL. (2000)
- when confederate asked participants to move small candle, the participants would consider the hidden object and forget about the others perspective
KEYSER, LIN AND BARR (2003)
- out of view of confederate, they received an object and paper bag (told to put objects in bag and put into occluded slots)
- confederate would then tell participant to move things around
- 71% of participants tried to move object in bag (object only they knew about)
- 46% of participants attempted to move bag twice or more
what is egocentric bias?
egocentric bias : being biased by ones own knowledge when attempting to appreciate an uninformed perspective
what properties do theory of mind abilities have
- theory of mind abilities are flexible, but not automatic/ cognitively demanding/ dependent on cognitive resources
what are some problems of theory of mind tests in childhood
- binary response : no detection/ degrees of performance that fall in between
- instruction comprehension (temporal dimension)
- from “where will sally look for the ball” to “where will sally look for the ball first - language problems
give research findings for violation of expectation
- Onishi and Baillargeon (2005) : 15 month olds - infants looked longer when actor searched in box that was inconsistent with their belief
- Buttelmann, Carpenter and Tomasello (2009) : 18 month olds
–False Belief: assuming that the adult wanted to retrieve the toy, the infant opened the other box, where the toy was now located
–True Belief: the infant opened the box where the toy was originally.
Because the experimenter had seen the location switch, they assumed the latter wanted to open that box for some reason other than to retrieve the toy.
explain research on false belief
- Most studies on early false belief report implicit behaviour (e.g., looking): while understanding false belief might be possible at a very young age, these infants often cannot explicitly reveal knowledge
what factors help shape theory of mind
- Culture : Mediterranean participants were better able to predict what others were thinking than british participants
- accounted for by level of collectivism- Family size : having larger families leads to exposure of other points of view/ minds
- Child characteristics : could shape the way people respond to the child
define infant mental health
- developing capacity of the child from birth - 3 to :
- experience, express and regulate emotions (emotional competence)
- form close relationships
- explore the environment and learn
- synonymous with healthy social/emotional development
explain emotional regulation
- element of emotional competence
- processes whereby emotional arousal is maintained
- can apply to positive/ negative emotions
- extrinsic processes : e.g parental holding
- intrinsic processes : developments in brain/nervous system/ thinking and language
- relates to development of ability to inhibit expression of emotional response
give some key milestones from birth to 3 years
- Birth - 6 months
- basic emotions observed : startle, disgust, distress, happiness, anger, sadness
- 6 months
- aware of/ take interest in other infants
- pouting observed (reflects internal self-regulating processes)
- 7 months
- 7-9 months : show fear of strangers and separation anxiety
- 6-12 months
- interest in peers and reflect others emotional expressions
- 12 months
- social referencing appears (using others ‘ emotional expressions for information)
- 1-2 years
- complex emotions (shame, pride)
- social emotion and empathy
- parallel play
- understanding of turn taking
- longer more complex social interactions
- 2-3 years
- complex emotions ( envy, guilt, embarrassment)
- 3 years onwards
- co-operative play
- prosocial behaviour
- dominance hierarchies
- sophisticated theory of mind
explain the role of temperament on developing mental health
- biological based characteristics
- Thomas and chess (1977( : 9 dimensions of temperament in infancy)
- activity level, rhythmicity, approach/withdrawal, adaptability, intensity, threshold, mood, distractability, attention span/ persistence
- proposed a typology
- easy : cheerful, rhythmic, adaptable (40%)
- difficult : low on rhymicity, easily upset by change, cries often (10%)
- slow to warm : adjusts slowly to new experiences, negative mood, inactive (50%)
- temperament can be modified overtime with appropriate care-giving
explain the role of context in developing mental health
- relationship between primary caregiver and infant has greatest impact on infant social/ emotional development and mental health
- multiple secondary contexts can also influence
explain bowlby’s attachment theory
- attachment useful for survival
- attachment behaviours increase proximity to caregiver (e.g comforting crying)
- child develops internal working model over time : representation of experiences with primary caregiver which influences all subsequent relationships
- securely attached children : less negative, less aggressive, more confident, more social skills with peers
define secure attachment
- caregiver responds sensitively
- safe base for exploration
- positive beliefs about oneself and others
- helps development of self-regulation
define insecure attachment
- caregiver insufficiently responsive to infant
- negative beliefs about oneself
- hinders development of self regulation
- difficulty making reciprocal relationships
- increases risk of mental health difficulties
give data for child mental health in the UK
- 10% of 5-15 year olds had a mental disorder
- 5% conduct disorders
- 4% emotional disorders
- 1% hyperactive
- 10% of boys and 6% of girls had a mental health disorder
- 30-50% of referrals are for childhood disruptive behaviour difficulties
explain research findings into CMH in the 21st century
- bor et al 2014
- no evidence or improvement in mental health of children/ toddlers
- externalising problems is stable
- increase symptom burden in recent cohorts (especially girls)
- increase in internalising symptoms in adolescent girls
why might rates in child mental health change?
- increased rates of single parenting, parental mental health, family conflict etc
- increasing exposure to screen time, internet and social media
- increasing pressure within contemporary school settings
why might there be an increase in internalising problems in girls?
- gender differences in rates of depression/ anxiety disorders
- early sexualisation - poor self-esteem and depressed mood
- accumulation of worries : school, body image etc
- more socio-emotionally attentive than boys : predispose girls to depression
- current generations experiencing puberty earlier
give risk factors for child mental health
- family factors: violence, abuse, neglect, discordant family relationships
- psychosocial factors: poverty, economic crisis
- individual factors : low IQ, brain damage
- rejection by parents and peers
- being a member of deviant peer group
give protective factors for child mental health
- supportive relationships with adults
- sense of competence
- access to good educational facilities
- participation in activities
- small family size
- personal attributes
give some typologies of aggression
- instrumental aggression : done to achieve external aim (hurt in incidental)
- hostile aggression : when a child deliberately attacks another to hurt them
- reactive aggression : response to provocation
- proactive aggression : dominant behaviour to achieve a goal
- crick and dodge (1996)
- reactively aggressive children : hostile attribution bias
- proactively aggressive children : evaluated aggressive acts more positively in terms of their outcomes
explain the difference between direct and indirect aggression
- direct vs indirect aggression
- indirect : tells bad/ false stories, becomes friends with another as revenge
- indirect aggression used more by girls (bjorkqvist (1992))
- crick and grotpeter (1995)
- use of overt/ relational aggression tended to be related
- 17.4% of girls high on relational aggression
- children high in relational aggression tended to be high on depression and loneliness
explain developmental changes in aggression
- physically aggressive behaviours are most frequent around 2 years old
- socialised out of this from age 2
- physical aggression is earliest kind of aggressive behaviour
- children learn to inhibit it after 2
- rates of indirect aggression increase with age
is aggression maladaptive?
- social information processing model : maladaptive, socially damaging
- aggressive children may not be good at at solving interpersonal problems : hetherington (1993)
- some degree of aggression is associated with social competence
describe the evolution of control
- resource control; theory : socially dominant individuals get preferred access to resources in social group
- conventional view : coercive strategies associated with reduced social competence and popularity compared to prosocial strategies
- Hawley (2003) : some children are bistrategic controllers : successful at using both coercive and prosocial strategies and were popular and competent
- aggression only successful for children who use prosocial strategies too
explain genetic factors of aggression
- evidence from twin/ adoption studies
- rhee and waldman (2002)
- genetic influences : 41% of variance in antisocial behaviour
- shared environment : 16%
- non-shared environment : 43%
- brain areas have effects on temperament (frontal, temporal, parietal cortex etc)
- caspi et al (1995) : early lack of control (restlessness, short attention span) correlated with later externalising problems e.g aggressiveness
- temperament is a mediator of the link between genes and behaviour
explain gene-environment interplay in aggression
show antisocial/ criminal behaviour adults
- determined by genotype of MAOA (metabolises enzymes like dopamine) - maltreated boys with low activity genotype were at high risk (85% showed violent behaviour) - first evidence of MAOA status on temperament is at 4-8 weeks of age - low MAOA variant associated with higher negative emotionality - lowest quintile, low MAOA associated with higher negative emotionality
explain empathy in children
- callous-unemotional traits : lack of guilt, lack of empathy, callous use of others for ones own gain
- CU traits contribute to diagnosis of psychopathy as an adult
- high heritability
- twin based studies : heritability higher for those high in conduct problems and CU traits
heritability lower for those low on CU traits - parenting environment may be influential;
- high CU traits : decreased brain response to fear and pain in others
explain the effect of parenting on aggression
- insecure/ disturbed attachment may be a factor
- children who experience irritable/ inefficient discipline at home/ poor parental monitoring are more likely to be aggressive in peer groups
- linked to academic failure
PATTERSON ET AL (1989)
- linked to academic failure
- early childhood to adolesence
- poor parental disclipline and monitoring - child conduct problems - rejecting by normal peers/ academic failure - commitment to deviant peer group - delinquency
- parenting important in early childhood
explain peer groups in aggression
- dishion et al (1995) : higher antisocial boys had more antisocial friends
- more coercive and shorter duration
- still satisfying
- may congregate with other ASB children
- Ferguson and Horwood (1999) predictors of deviant peer group affiliation were :
- low socio-economic status
- poor family functioning
- poor parental functioning
explain neighborhood factors in aggression
- linares et al (2001) : exposure to high crime neighbourhoods predicted behaviour problems (how mother coped with this was an important mediating factor)
- petitt et al (1999) : lack of neighbourhood safety predicted teacher ratings of externalising behaviour problems
- romano et al (2005) :
- individual levels : predictors were being male and maternal hostility
- family level : predictors depressed mother, punitive parenting style
- neighbourhood level : growing up in problem/ impoverished neighbourhood remained a significant predictor even when other factors were taken into account
Explain secondary intersubjectivity
9-10 months : secondary intersubjectivity
- also called connected-up relatedness
- parents behaviours, e.g marking, triadic play, games with rules, transmit sense of coordination and shared interest, helping shift to connected up relatedness
- reciprocal play is good indicator
POINTING
- can follow others pointing gestures from 9 months
- 9-14 months : begin to point with arm extended with index finger separate
GAZE FOLLOWING
- factors affecting gaze following : whether head or just eyes are moving (Meltzoff et al, 2005), how far away/ how far to the side the target object is
- good predictor of onset of pointing gesture (good predictor of vocab)
Explain cooperative relatedness
18 months : cooperative relatedness
- 18-24 months : good understanding of others experience, object take on own experience
- predicts theory of mind abilities (3-4 years)
- increase in helpful behaviours (e.g opening doors for others if they cannot, passing people things they cannot reach
- 18 month olds can offer people food that they seem to prefer, even if the child themself does not
- mirror recognition : parent puts some colour on the child’s nose, then are directed towards a mirror to see if they can recognise their own reflection
- begin recognising their reflection at this age
Explain intuitive parenting
- grasping the fact that the infants experience is different from the ones of those around them can be supporting by intuitive parenting behaviours
- pretend play, talking about mental states (e.g reading a picture book together that shows emotion etc, sibling conflict - cooperation in a project/ task fosters positive social behaviour and gives satisfaction for being able to do something for/with others
define social cognition
- action or process of gaining knowledge relating to society through thought, experience and senses
define theory of mind
- theory of mind : ability to attribute to others, mental states, and to explain/predict/justify behaviour
- can guide our action
- also helpful for predicting what happened in the past to cause mental states
give research findings into retrodiction
- videos filmed of spontaneous reactions to scenarios : being told a joke, having to wait, receiving a compliment, being told a story
- 35 participants asked to judge which scenario had made that reaction
- subjects could successfully deduce which scenario was used
define epistemic perspective taking and conceptual perspective taking
- epistemic perspective taking : attribution of justified false beliefs : recognising that you can have beliefs that come from reality but are justified by your experience
- conceptual perspective taking : ability to recognize that the way things appear is different from how they really are
give research findings for attributing false belief
- attribution of false belief to others develops after 4 (86% of 6-9 year olds pointed to correct location in Sally-anne style test (Wimmer et al.1983)
- children shown sweet tube that actually contains a pencil
- asked “when you first saw the tube, before we opened it, what did you think was inside?”
- 3 year olds : pencil
- 4-5 year olds : do better - 3 year olds give same answer to reality check and appearance questions relating to fake jokeshop items, 4-5 year olds do better
- appearance-reality distinction develops after age four
when does full theory of mind develop?
- around age 4/4.5
Define the “theory theory” of other people’s minds
- says we understand others mental states/behaviours by having a model of others minds
- we acquire rules for explaining and predicting behaviour
define the “simulation theory” of others minds
- we understand others minds as their mental states can be replicated in OUR minds
- we find out what we would do in a situation then treat the outcome as telling us what another person would think in that situation
explain imitation
- important role in stimulus response/ constructivist accounts of development
- evidence of mimicry of facial gestures come from Meltzoff and Moore
- Blind imitation : infant is blind as to what the goal of the action is
give three research studies for goal understanding in imitation
- Carper, Akhtar & Tomasello (1998) : child performed actions on small machines to produce outcomes (marked as accidental or not), then child would have a go at recreating outcome
- children were less likely to copy the accidental actions than the intentional ones - Meltzoff (1988) : 14 month olds saw adults do unnatural actions (e.g turning on light with head)
- came back a week later
- reproduced the actions they had observed - Gargely et al replicated Meltzoff but had experimenters hands under a blanket
- predicted that the children would think the light turning on with head was due to hands being tied, so will not imitate behaviour
- assume adults are doing things in a rational way and their behaviours have meaning
explain over imitation and give research findings
- children imitate redundant parts when copying
- adults do this more than infants
- Bannard & Tomasello : rate of imitation increased with the amount of times the child heard adult use redundant adjective
- experiment two : redundant adjective made out to be accidental
- word imitated much more in intentional condition
give research findings for who children decide to imitate
- children are more likely to believe words or facts taught by a person who has shown themselves to be knowledgeable in the past
- buttelmann et al : children were more likely to copy the adult and use their own head to turn on the light if they saw the adult being competent (putting shoe on foot, not head)
Give some research findings around gaze
newborns prefer faces theyve previously been exposed to
- gaze coordination increases with age and can help increase attention control at 11 months
- gaze is measured using glasses or with eye tracking technology
Give some findings around gaze influences
- parenthood : parents show different/ specific reactions to infant expressions
- sex/gender : mothers rate emotional expressions differently to fathers
- hormones : mothers with higher levels of oxytocin show increased gaze time towards infants
- facial anomalies : haemangioma, strabismus, clefts
Give findings around CLP and gaze
- infants with CLP rates less attractive, mouth fixated upon more by others and viewed for shorter durations
- may disrupt visual processing of the target face
Explain findings around maternal emotional dysregulation
- higher MED is associated with excessive gaze synchrony : can interfere with infants ability to self regulate/explore/respond to environment
Give finding around mirroring and mirroring with CLP
- maternal marking can increase social expressiveness of infants
- “pointing out” that an infant had performed an action - Murray et al. : infants with CLP showed slower development of social behaviour - reduced mirroring of mothers
- de Pascalis et al. : mothers show mirroring most commonly to infant social behaviour
- infants with CLP are more difficult/less communicative/less clear cues
- lower maternal responsiveness/ sensitivity
- much lower increase in maternal mirroring from first month to second month compared to controls
Describe Baumrind’s parenting styles
Authoritarian : strict ideas about discipline/ behaviour/ no discussion
Authoritative : ideas about discipline/ behaviour, open to discussion
Permissive : relaxed ideas about behaviour/ discipline
Who revised Baumrind’s parenting styles and what was their approach?
Revised by Maccoby and Martin (1983) Dimensional approach - four parenting styles Demanding, responsive : authoritative Undemanding, responsive : permissive Demanding, unresponsive : authoritarian Undemanding, unresponsive : uninvolved
Describe research findings for parenting styles in Western settings
Dekovic and Janssens (1992) - Netherlands
Authoritative parenting : child is socially popular/ prosocial
Authoritarian parenting : child is socially rejected
-Steinberg et al (1992) - USA
Authoritative parenting + high parental involvement = higher academic achievement
Authoritarian parenting + high parental involvement = lower academic achievement
Contrast the differences in parenting in collectivist and individualistic cultures
Western societies : authoritative, children are mental agents, goal of socialisation is autonomy
Non-Western societies : authoritarian, children operate on instinct, goal of socialisation is obedience
Rudy and grusec : individualistic cultures - authoritarianism associated with mothers negative feelings about child (no associations in collectivist cultures)
Authoritarian parenting has different meanings in non western societies
Give some limitations of research into parenting styles
Limitations : (Baumrind) hard to determine which specific behaviours are associated with negative outcomes
(Maccoby and martin) only focuses on two parenting dimensions : not comprehensive enough
Give research findings for parenting style specificity
Parenting styles do not allow examination of parenting practices (focuses on now in research)
Pinquart (2017) : psychological control/ harsh control show strongest association with externalising issues
Give research findings for child empathy in relation to parental behaviour
Davidov & Grusec (2006) : responsiveness to distress, not warmth, predicted child empathy
Mediated by child’s emotional regulation
Give research findings for parental sensitivity and child outcomes
Sensitivity to distress linked to attachment security, empathy, less behavioural problems, social competence, emotional regulation
Sensitivity to non-distress (direct attention, communication) linked to language/ cognitive development
Explain the effects of parenting on the child
Type of socialisation
Hostile/ punitive parenting : Affective overarousal in children
Undermines emotional regulation development
Compromises attentional capacity (undermines learning in some contexts)
Supportive/ positive parenting : Less over-arousal
Better responders to parental guidance
Process parents message better
More motivated to learn from parents
Child learns the style of parenting
Describe Belsky’s process model
Psychological resources of the parent : parental mental health, internal representations of relationships and developmental history
Contextual sources of support : social support, job conditions, finances
Characteristics of child : temperament
Define bidirectional parenting effects
: child influences parents behaviour
Explain Belsky’s differential susceptibility theory (1997)
Some individuals more affected by environmental exposures/ developmental experiences
Example : infant temperament
Bradley and Corwyn (2008)
Looked at difficult temperament and maternal sensitivity interaction
Infants with easy temperament showed similar school age externalising problems (regardless of sensitivity)
Difficult temperament : lowest problems with high sensitivity, highest externalising problems with low sensitivity
Give research findings on physical punishment
Deater-deckard et al 2006
High physical punishment + low warmth = higher externalising problems
High physical punishment + high warmth = lower externalising problems
Effects more severe with severity/ frequency
Larzele & Kuhn (2005) : conditional (spanking under limited conditions) some positive effects
Overly severe and predominant use of physical punishment associated with worse outcomes
Neglect was most common form of abuse in UK
Those who experience childhood abuse have decreased emotional wellbeing, increased suicidality and increased delinquent behaviour
Give research findings for parental conflict
Exposure to domestic violence considered violence
Higher externalising problems in boys who have experiences IPV
Large effect size of child trauma symptoms in IPV
Spill over hypothesis : stress of IPV carries over into parent-child relationship
Gustaffson et al (2012) : maternal sensitivity mediated effect of IPV
Low sensitivity parenting mediated association between IPV and worse child effortful control (linked to attention problems, academic achievements)
Manning et al (2014) : Effects at low maternal sensitivity - externalising behaviour, decrease in child prosocial behaviour
Give research findings into divorce
Hetherington & Stanley-Hagan (1999) - USA
1 year follow up
Both show higher externalising/ internalising problems
6 year follow up
Remained divorced : boys showed higher externalising/ internalising problems and lower social competence compared to controls
Remarried 2 years before follow up
Both show higher externalising problems
Remarried prior to 2 years before follow up
Daughters showed higher externalising/ internalising problems
Sons benefit having a father figure in the home (4 years after divorce)
Give research findings into family composition and mental health
Hansen et al (2010)
Lower externalising/ internalising in married families
Highest externalising problems in step-families
Highest internalising problems in lone parent families
Give research findings into the role of the father
Only significant positive effect of father involvement on adult mental health in girls
Father involvement inversely related to aggression and delinquency
Positive effects on academic development
Explain the features of bullies
■ Insecure attachment and harsh physical discipline;
■ Parental maltreatment and abuse (Schwartz, Dodge, Pettit & Bates, 1997).
■ Motivated by gaining rewards or displaying power to peers
■ Bullies may be low on affective empathy (sharing others’ feelings)
■ And may (but not necessarily) be low on cognitive empathy (understanding others’ feelings)
■ a combination that has been labelled ‘cold cognition’.
■ show higher scores on moral disengagement which might enable a person bypass the normal kinds of reasoning which would hold us back from hurting someone else
Explain the features of victims
■ lack some social skills, for example in coping assertively
■ temperamentally timid or shy (Cook et al., 2010).
■ report being alone at break time
■ feel less well liked at school
■ having few friends, or friends who cannot be trusted or who are of low status, and sociometric rejection (dislike by peers).
■ internalizing behaviour (being tearful or anxious)
Explain the consequences of being victimised
- loneliness and school avoidance.
- lose confidence and self-esteem.
- anxiety and depression, low self-esteem, physical and psychosomatic complaints
- In extreme cases may lead to suicidality
■ Longer-term effects: - relationship difficulties later in life
- depression in later life.
educational achievement and earnings.
Explain the consequences of being a bully
- significantly predicts later violent behaviour and offending
Explain the findings of Wolke, Copeland, Angold and Costello (2013) – US longitudinal study
■ Obtained bully and victim measures at ages 9, 11 and 13 years, and a range of outcome measures between 19 and 26 years.
■ Analyses controlled for childhood hardships and childhood psychiatric problems.
■ The longitudinal associations showed that in early adulthood,
– Being a victim (only) was related to poorer health, wealth and social relationships.
– Being a bully (only) was related to greater risky/illegal behaviour, and poorer wealth and social relationships.
Explain what cohort studies are useful for
- Allows to track patterns of behaviour
- Can investigate relationships between different aspects of life
- Can separate age and cohort effects
Explain limitations of cohort studies
- Limitations : Missing data Generalisability Complex, large amounts of data Time consuming
Give some findings of birth cohort studies
- Increased social media usage associated with increased depressive symptoms (more apparent in girls) – Kelly et al, 2018
- People who report higher levels of distress at 14 were more likely to be unemployed (16-21)
o Also seen in 1958 cohort - Childhood bullying is associated with increased psychological distress at 23/50
o Higher rates of depression/ anxiety/ suicide at age 40 - Predictors (patalay and Fitzsimons, 2018) :
Higher cognitive ability
Chronic illness
Peer problems
Being female - Poor childhood language associated with poorer mental health (still apparent at age 34)
Explain some parenting interventions early in life
■ Maternal sensitivity seems to promote emotion regulation in children which in turn is linked to a range of outcomes - their behaviour, their social competence and their attachment and also their prosocial behaviour.
■ Maternal sensitivity is a good target for intervention because it can be done in early life
■ Bakermans-Kranenburg et al. (2003) : Small to medium effect size for changes in sensitivity (d=.33) and small effect for changes in attachment (d=.20)
o Characteristics of effective interventions:
o Moderate number of sessions (5 to 16 sessions)
o Clear behavioural focus
Give some markers of sensitivity to non-distress
■ Acknowledging the child’s affect
■ Contingent vocalisations by the parent
■ Facilitating the manipulation of an object or child movement
■ Appropriate attention focusing
■ Evidence of good time paced to the child’s interest and arousal level
Give some markers of intrusive interactions
■ Failing to modulate behaviour that the child turns from, defends against, or expresses negative affect to
■ Offering a continuous barrage of stimulation (physical or verbal), food, or toys
■ Not allowing child to influence pace or focus of play, interaction or feeding
■ Taking away objects or food while the child still appears interested
■ Not allowing the child to handle toys he/she reaches for
Give some markers of detachment
■ Putting the child so he/she faces away from the parent, without attempts to visually “check-in”
■ Presenting toys without first engaging the child or showing him/her how to manipulate them
■ Rarely making eye contact or talking to the child
■ Not responding to the child’s vocalisations, smile, or reaches for toys
■ An unawareness of the child’s capabilities and appropriate activities
■ Positioning the child so that he/she cannot reach or manipulate a toy
What do parents of children with behaviour problems often show?
Inconsistent discipline
harsh discipline (e.g. physical punishment)
lack of supervision
failure to provide consistent, social rules
What do we mean by coercive interactions? - Patterson’s “coercion hypothesis”
- Application of aversive event - Child-coercive response - Removal of aversive events
- Childs coercive behaviours negatively reinforced
What are the aims of social learning theory based parenting interventions?
■ Encourage playful interactions between parent and child to build relationship
■ Giving clear directions and rules
■ Enhance levels of warmth and positive reinforcement for desirable child behaviours
– Encourage use of praise and rewards (e.g., social praise, tangibles) to increase socially desirable behaviours
■ Modify antecedents (triggers or setting events) for undesirable behaviours
– Reorganise the child’s day to prevent problems
■ Modify consequences for undesirable behaviours
– Using consistent and calmly executed consequences for unwanted behaviours
– Use time-out from positive reinforcement to discourage unwanted behaviours
■ Use observational learning (modelling by other adults) of adaptive parenting approaches
