Human Development

Question 1

What are the different approaches that have been used to study human psychological development

Answer 1

Social development (attachment theory)=at least one primary caregiver is critical to personal development 
Cognitive development (language) = information processing, conceptual ressources, perceptual skill, language learning and other aspects of the developed adult brain 
Emotional development (loneliness in old age)

Question 2

Nature vs nurture?

Answer 2

Nature- the hereditary information present at the moment of conception that may affect later development
Nurture- all the external elements that may influence development
Stability- individuals who are high or low in a characteristic will remain so at later stages (emphasis on nature)
Early experiences= powerful events in the first few years that cannot be fully overcome in later years (emphasis on nurture)
Plasticity= change is possible and likely if new experiences support it

Question 3

What is continuous growth?

Answer 3

E.g. Plant growth

Question 4

What is discontinuous growth?

Answer 4

Butterfly development

Question 5

Why are ethics important in psychology?

Answer 5

The principle of freedom from harm should underlie all psychological research and practice
Psychological research findings are open to misinterpretation and may not be used in ways originally intended
Is it sufficient to have parental approval for children under 16?
What are the implications of children not having these rights

Question 6

Why are children considered a vulnerable group?

Answer 6

Inevitably perceived if not real power imbalance between the child and the researcher (conservation tasks)
Abilities comprehend research and why it is done may be very different to adults
It is reasonable to be cautiously concerned that negative experiences during childhood may have an effect on later development

Question 7

Define ageing

Answer 7

The evolution of sexual reproduction (Williams 1957)
The accumulation of changes in a human being over time, physical, encompassing physical, psychological and social change. E.g. Reaction times slow with age (Bowen 2004)
Ageing is the greatest known risk factor for most human diseases, 150,000 people who die each day across the globe, about two thirds die from age related causes (Dillin 2014)

Question 8

How can we study cognitive ageing?

Answer 8

Cognitive psychology of ageing investigated the effects of ageing on behavioural measures of cognition and characterised a variety of age-related deficits in memory, attention, language and so on
Neuroscience of ageing investigated the effects of ageing on the anatomy and physiology of the brain and described forms of age related neural decline, such as cerebral atrophy
-cognitive neuroscience of ageing= relationships are still wildly unknown

Question 9

What does the psychometric approach analyse?

Answer 9

Relations among test scores

Sample size is large (100s)

Question 10

What does the experimental cognitive approach analyse?

Answer 10

Efficiency of processes/strategies involved in task

Small sample size (2 groups of less than 50)

Question 11

What does the neuropsychological approach analyse?

Answer 11

Efficiency of brain structures
Tests specific to some brain regions
Very small to medium sample size (1 to less than 50)

Question 12

What does the cognitive neuroscience approach analyse?

Answer 12

Involvement or brain structures in task processes
Measure of brain activation during task performance
Very small sample size of 2 groups just over 30

Question 13

What does the epidemiological approach analyse?

Answer 13

Coarse changes in representative samples
Very large sample size of 100s to 1000s
Brief tests in general cognitive abilities

Question 14

How to define healthy/unhealthy ageing?

Answer 14

Associated with several structural, chemical and functional changes in the brain as well as a host to neurocognitive changes
Structural changes= loss of neural circuits and brain plasticity, thinning of the cortex, dna damage
Chemical changes= alterations in neurotransmitters and their receptors (e.g. Dopamine)
Neuropsychological changes= changes in orientation, attention, memory, language

Question 15

What are the important features of early social and emotional development?

Answer 15

If the relationship between young children and attachment figures is disrupted it could lead to the child developing psychological difficulties
Freud= child’s main drive is to feed, mother is the source of food, mother is associated with food
Bowlby(1907-1990)= children who spent long periods of time in hospitals showed serious developmental problems (Robertson and Robertson 1940s) but he argued that the cause of these problems were the lack of close emotional bond between child and primary care giver

Question 16

What was Lorenz’s work in 1966?

Answer 16

Imprinting

Imprinting is irreversible after the critical period showing the importance of it in child development

Question 17

What is the attachment theory and it’s application?

Answer 17

Bowlby (1907-1990)
2 months= emit signalling behaviour
6months= smiles and cries become increasingly restricted to presence of primary caregiver
6-12= strong attachment to caregiver (stress when separation)
3years= mother and child becomes partnership, child appreciates mothers feelings
Argued that other people can play an important role in developing attachments
Can equally occur in adoptive parents

Question 18

What is the maternal deprivation hypothesis?l

Answer 18

Goldfarb(1947)
-those who spent early years in institution were delayed in terms of intelligence, speech, reading and math
-restless, lack concentration, fearful, crave adult attention and not popular with other kids
Harlow(1958)
-infant monkeys separated from mother at birth and reared in isolation
-became disturbed, terrified of other monkeys, agressive
-beyond 3 months symptoms were irreversible
-by adolescence there were unable to mate, unable to care for them

Question 19

What are critiques of the maternal deprivation hypothesis?

Answer 19

Suomi &Harlow (1972)
-sample of 6month monkeys that had been reared in isolation, withdrawn and depressed
-when placed with adult monkeys or peers, they were attacked and didn’t respond well but when put with normal reared three month old babies after six months had barely any social deficits
Rutter (1981)
-important to distinguish between different types of separation
-delinquency rates for boys who had lost a parent by death not significantly different from rates in normal intact families

Question 20

What are the developments in attachment theory?

Answer 20

Ainsworth(1978)

• studied attachment emphasising quality of carer-child relationship
• mother is responsible for child being able to balance between closeness and exploration

Question 21

How do you define giftedness?

Answer 21

• used advanced vocab
• particularly excel in one area
• can carry out complex instructions
• can put together difficult puzzles
• uses verbal skills to handle conflict

Question 22

What is the myth about gifted children?

Answer 22

That they will always do well no matter the circumstances
But they have problems like any other learner
It becomes harder and harder for them to excel which could lead to depression and behavioural problems

Question 23

What is a fixed mindset?

Answer 23

Intelligence is a fixed trait

Question 24

What is a growth mindset?

Answer 24

Intelligence is a malleable quality; a potential that can be developed

Question 25

What are some of the key developmental issues associated with adolescence?

Answer 25

Change in grey matter in the prefrontal cortex is particularly acute during the teenage years
Brain continues to develop
Behaviour is shaped more by hormones rather than environment
Need more peer to peer learning, creative timetabling, synaptic pruning, risk taking behaviours

Question 26

What does supportive/controlling parenting lead to?

Answer 26

Crouter&Head (2002)
-foster autonomy but maintain parental monitoring of behaviour

Kim et al (2001)
-leads to a mutual escalation of conflict and can negatively impact later social relationships outside the family

Question 27

What is role socio-economic class?

Answer 27

Economic stress Linked to marital difficulties (conger et al 2002)
-in turn linked to disrupted parenting practices
^monitoring and supporting the child
This leads to low adjustment and internalisation and externalisation problems

Marital difficulties also lead to decline in co-parenting (Margolin et al 2001)

• the way in which parents support or other wise the each other parenting efforts
• co-parenting “mediates” between marital discord and parenting

Luthar and Latendresse (2005)
-studied 3 cohorts of children of median parent income of $80,000 to $125,000
^compared to an inner city control group which found increased substance use and increased depression and anxiety
Which is caused by achievement pressures and isolation from adults and also peer encouragement

Question 28

What is the MYRIAD project?

Answer 28

Most mental health problems begin before the age of 24
Aim of project- to investigate whether if mindfulness training can be used to prevent depression and build resilience during early adolescence
-looking at whole population of young people

Question 29

What are the assumptions and concepts underlying Piagetian theory? (5)

Answer 29

Piaget (1896-1980)

• claimed that infant and child learn and think in a qualitatively different way from each other and adults
  1. Nature/nurture
• maturation= the gradual unfolding over time of genetic programmes for development
• inherent tendencies= the child will inherently act on their environments
• équilibration= achieve a balance in physically responding to and mentally understanding objects, events and relationships between them
  2. Sociocultural influences
• believed that children develop in much the same way in all cultures around the world
  3. Child’s active role
• knowledge is constructed by continuous revisions and recognition of intellectual structures in cognition with experience
  4. Continuity/discontinuity
• change was more constantly occurring , describing a “spiral” of development in which change constantly occurs, some different rates
  5. Individual differences
• little emphasis on individual differences in development

Question 30

What evidence is there against Piaget stages of development?

Answer 30

• theory neglecting important aspects of development e.g. Creativity
• if children develop independently and what role does social interaction play
• if the concepts are too vague to allow assessment

Question 31

What is the preoperational stage of development?

Answer 31

Semiotic functions, child’s ability to use a symbol, an object or a word to stand for something
Allows the child to think about past and future events and use language
Unable to separate their own perspective from that of others
Fails conservation tasks
2-7 years

Question 32

What is the sensorimotor stage of development ?

Answer 32

Birth- 2 years

• infants movements are reflexive, not deliberate or planned
• key feature is action
• development of means end behaviour
• child’s gradual separation of self from external environment
• object permanence
• end of stage is signalled by onset of deferred imitation

Question 33

What is the concrete operational stage of development?

Answer 33

7-12 years

• when they begin to be able to solve conservation tasks correctly
• horizontal decalage- stages of development within stages
• begin to think logically but physical components of the problem must still be present can’t yet hypothetically

Question 34

What is the formal operational stage?

Answer 34

Approx 12 years plus

• thinking at this stage is both logical and abstract
• adolescent can also reason hypothetically
• can think about nature of and their in society
• internal cognitive structures now highly organised