Introduction To Psychology Chapter 11 (Developmental Psychology)

Question 1

What are babies able to do at birth already

Answer 1

• simple reflexes

- most senses are functional

Question 2

What are normal learning characteristics of a child compared to other animals

Answer 2

Human babies have preference to exploring, controlling objects and novelty

Question 3

What are psychologist mainly interested in when studying babies

Answer 3

Cognition:
- concrete reasoning 
- abstract reasoning
- social world
Also language

Question 4

What are the 3 perspectives in cognitive development.

Answer 4

1. The stages of development (plagnet)
2. Sociocultural development (vygotsky)
3. Development of information processing

Question 5

Explain Piagets perspective on development

Answer 5

• children are interested in surroundings by exploring and manipulating
• -> children actively constructs knowledge themselves in form of schemes, which are mental plans for actions like reflexes, which are then adapted
• the most important scheme is operational scheme, which lets children discover that actions are reversable (also helps in understanding of conservation of substance)
• cognitive conflict as a motor for development
• language is a byproduct of thought

Question 6

Explain how thought works according to piaget

Answer 6

• it develops from reflexes to send initiated actions to cognitive operations
• thought emerges from action not from language
• four stages of thought
  1. Sensorimotor (thinking = doing) with schemes for actions and intelligence is limited to actions via reflexes. Object permanence develops here as well. This is from birth to 2 years of age.

2. Pre operational (thinking about things) with first mental symbols, only focusing on one aspect a time (centration) and egocentricity. There are no relations between observations yet. This is from 2 to 7 years.
3. Concrete operational (thinking about actions) with now being able to make relations between observations (decentration), no abstraction. This is from age 7 to 11.
4. Formal operation (thinking about thought) with now being able to make relations between abstract matters. This is from age 11 to 16

Question 7

What are the problems in Piaget’s perspective

Answer 7

Infants have more capabilities than expected (concrete operational), and adults less

Many concepts are vague (sometimes stages cannot be determined in a child)

Role of social enviroment is neglected

Question 8

How does vygotsky see the development of a child with the “sociocultural development”

Answer 8

Children develop through interaction with sociocultural enviroment. Language is the main method for thought

There is a time of proximal development, where children can do in help of others but not alone

Culture provides tools of intellectual adaption (numbers, words and technic) for children
–> languages with transparent numbers develop better maths skills

Question 9

Explain differences and similarities in Piaget and vygotsky

Answer 9

Synthesis (children learn through safe discoveries and play, socially controlled learning mainly in hard activities)

Question 10

how do executive functions develop

Answer 10

There are constant improvement in executive functions, working memory, inhibition of fast thinking and switching. Processing speed also increases

Question 11

How does thinking of others in babies develop

Answer 11

Children learn to empathise with others as early as 18 months through mental constructs.

At the age of 4 children can think independently from others. Before that they think that everybody thinks the same and has the same knowledge. They don’t know that they can fool someone or lie. This is influenced by the amount of siblings.

Question 12

Explain methods of research methods in developmental psychology

Answer 12

Habituation and dishabituation (offering a stimulus often or rarely to affect attention as babies “like” novel stimulus)
–> if babies understand attention is away, if they are surprised they focus attention more on it.

Question 13

How did baillargoneon find results which speak against Piaget’s theory

Answer 13

She found that children have object permanence as early as 3 months old by habituatiions of objects behind walls. When an event was “impossible” angry emotions were displayed

This may be explained as piagnet required acting which requires hand eye coordination, as baillargoneon just tested watching

Question 14

Explain the three stages of prenatal development

Answer 14

1. zygotic (first 2 weeks of fertalization with cell division)
2. embryotic (from 3rd to 8th week with organs building)
3. fetal (9th to 38th week)

Question 15

What is cephalocaudal development

Answer 15

The change of the body head ratio in embryos

Question 16

What are teratogens

Answer 16

They are substances that affect the embryos development like drug or antibioticum. They have the most influence before week 8

Question 17

How can prenatal experience prepare a fetus for later life

Answer 17

A mother who experiences more stress or more hunger will produce a baby which is more reactive to stimulus like that, so it can survive better there

Question 18

What is menarche and why does it decrease in age

Answer 18

Menarche is the start age where breasts and pubic hairs develops in children, this declines because of obesity and more teratogens

Question 19

Explain how children mimic and observe others

Answer 19

Children engage in gaze following at the age of 6 months, which means they follow the look of others.
After 9 months they will have shared attention
After 12 months they will have social referencing, which means they are able to notice facial expressions and act upon them.

Question 20

How can schemes be adapted according to piaget

Answer 20

1. assimilation (integrating information into schemes)

2. accommodation (schemes are adjusted for information)

Question 21

Explain symptoms of Autism

Answer 21

Impared motivation and skills for socialising

Question 22

Explain the characteristics of human language

Answer 22

1. It is made of morphemes (Laute)

2. It is hierachically structured (sentences at top, letters at bottom)

Question 23

Explain how babies learn language

Answer 23

• Grammar is learned more implicitly (unconscious)
• After 6 months of age, children can distinguish better between distinct sounds in their native language, but worse at distinguishing other sounds unrelevant for their native language
• They require the LAD (language aquisition device) from nature and the LASS (language aquisition support system) from others and their enviroment

Question 24

Why do babies babbel and coo

Answer 24

to prepare the vocal apparatus for speech

Babbeling then turns towards the native language more and more.

Question 25

Explain Chomskys LAD

Answer 25

LAD means Language Acquisition device, which refers to mechanisms and internal properties which make it easier for humans to learn language.
This is supported by finding that children have no trouble inventing a language themselves.
The LAD works most efficient until the age of 10

Question 26

Explain Pros and Cons of Bilingualism

Answer 26

It causes children to have smaller vocabulary on both languages and have more trouble recaling single words from LTM. Otherwise it increases the executive functions like task switching and inhibition, as learning two languages is a lot harder.
Bilingualism also decreases the rate in which working memory decreases in old age.