Konsepter Flashcards
Age periods in developmental psychology
Prenatal -> birth Infancy and toddlerhood -> 2 years Early childhood -> 6 years Middle childhood -> 11 years Adolescence -> 18 years Early adulthood -> 25 years
Werner’s view of development
Development refers only to changes which increase the organization of functioning within a domain. It consists of integration (of more basic behaviors into new, higher level structures) and differentiation (the ability to make more distinctions among things).
Gesell’s “maturation” view of development
Development is the result of genetics. This is referred to as maturation. He focused on describing the norms of children’s development, and on when children typically acquire a given behavior and how these behaviors are affected by environmental influences.
Watson’s view of development
Development is the result of learning - behaviorism.
Piaget’s view of development
Organismic approach - focused on the mental development and the balance between shaping and adapting.
Vygotsky’s view of development
Focused on social context and the gaining of mental tools like language.
Baltes’ principles of life-span development
- Development is life-long
- Development is multidimensional and multidirectional
- Development involves both gains and losses, growth and decline
- Development is plastic
- Development is affected by culture and historical time period
- Development is multidisciplinary
Baltes’ three-factor model of contextual influences on development
- Normative age-graded influences (biological and environmental factors similar for persons in the same age group)
- Normative history-graded influences (biological and environmental factors that are associated with specific historical time periods)
- Non-normative life events (unusual occurrences that have a major effect on the individual)
Canalization
The extent which our biological programming can be altered by environmental factors. Highly canalized abilities are relatively unaltered by changes in the environment. Language is an example of a highly canalized ability.
Catch-up growth
Rapid recovery of physical growth after a period of deprivation with the establishment of normal environmental conditions.
Theory
An interconnected logical system of concepts that provides a framework for organizing and understanding observations. Aims to understand and predict some aspect of the world. Can be formal or informal. Theories are frameworks to interpret and integrate new information.
Formal theory
An interconnected set of hypotheses, definitions, axioms, laws; each is an explicit concept which fits the overall theory. Should be logically consistent and free of contradictions, and fit empirical observations. Should be ass simple as possible and cover a reasonable range of phenomena. No such theories exist in human developmental psychology.
Informal theory
Organized set of intuitions and expectations; less rigorous than formal theories.
Miller’s three domains of developmental theories
- Must describe change within a domain
- Must describe changes in relationships between domains
- Must explain how the changes take place
Organismic theories of human development
Views change as reorganization of previous forms, not simply a change in the quantity of a behavior. Focused on qualitative changes. The organism brings the changes about.
Mechanistic theories of human development
Focused on quantitative changes in behavior. Outside factors bring the changes about.
Psychodynamic theory of human development
- Based on Freud’s theories
- Forces in the individual are responsible for that person’s behavior
- Focus on the formative nature of early experience
- Focus on biologically-based drives
- Development is the result of a balance between unconscious and conscious drives.
- Development is discontinuous and occurs in stages.
- Five stages: oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital stages.
- Development is shaped by the conflict between a person’s urges and society’s restrictions.
- Criticism: focus on males, lacks empirical support, too much focus on sex and aggression
Psychosocial theory of human development
- Erik Erikson
- Emphasis on social and cultural factors instead of sex and aggression
- Life-span perspective
- Three systems interacting: the ego, the somatic, and the societal system
- Development is discontinuous and occurs in stages
- Eight stages, each marked by a crisis
- trust/mistrust, 2. autonomy/shame, 3. initiative/guilt, 4. industry/inferiority, 5. identity/identity diffusion, 6. intimacy/isolation, 7. generativity/stagnation, 8. integrity/dispair
- Criticism: not coherent, difficult to test empirically, proposes no mechanism of how one moves to the next stage
Havinghurst’s developmental task theory
- Developmental tasks are critical tasks that occur in certain periods in our lives
- Success in handling one task leads to happiness and further success
- Three sources of tasks: physical maturation, personal sources, and societal pressures
- Six age periods
- Criticism: focused on white middle class Americans
- Praised for practicality
Behaviorist theories of development
- Watson
- Classical conditioning
- Behaviorism
- Children can be moulded into anything
- Little focus on biological factors
- Skinner
- Operant conditioning: reinforcers and punishers
Bandura’s social learning theory
- A variant of behaviorist views
- Children learn through modelling as well as conditioning
- Observational learning
- Children imitate those who are warm and powerful and have valuable characteristics or objects
- Focus on self-efficiacy which is developed through observation and receiving comments on behavior
- Focus on environment, easy to test, clearly defined variables (the models)
- Criticism: pays too little attention to socioeconomic factors
Ethological perspective on human development
- The adaptive value of behavior and its evolutionary history
- Roots in natural selection theory
- Imprinting
- Critical periods
- Bornstein: sensitive periods
- Criticism: sources of behavior is hard to find since we cannot go back in time to study evolution
Critical period
A time when an organism is biologically prepared to acquire a certain behavior - the tendency is pre-programmed, but it needs environmental triggers to occur
Imprinting
Rapid acquisition of “following behavior” that occurs in animals
Sensitive period
A time when a child is especially responsive to environmental influences
Evolutionary developmental theory
- Study of genetic and ecological mechanisms that govern the development og social and cognitive competences common to all human beings
- General approach
- Growing perspective in research
Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological model
- Research in natural environments to get more genuine observations
- The environment is dynamic
- Individual at the center of a system consisting of four layers
- Macro, exo, meso, micro
- The chronosystem: all aspects of time
- The levels interact and affect each other
Life course theory of human development
- The life course is the sequence of socially defined, age-graded events and roles that the individual enacts over time
- Our lives are largely defined by social context
- Cultural expectations to certain ages vary
- Four interdependent principles: lives are situated n historical time and place, affected by social timing, interdependent, and humans have agency
- Much in common with the bioecological model, but more focused on the social environment and not centered around the individual
Dynamic systems theory of human development
- Humans develop within systems
- Integrated dynamic system that connects mind, body and social environment
- A change in one area results in a general state of flux, and thus the child must reorganize their behavior
- Metatheory that can be widely applied, but also a specific theory of development
- Development as truly epigenetic
- Often study children in transition periods
- Interindividual differences as well as intraindividual differences exist in development
Piaget’s theory of cognitive development
- Children as active participants
- Intelligence is an adaption to enhance survival chances
- We want to make our knowledge fit reality
- Cognitive development is a process of revision
- We search for equilibrium between cognitive structures and the world
- Development is discontinuous, and consists of four stages: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational
- Criticism: not enough focus on social and cultural factors
Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory of development
- Children as active participants
- Emphasis on the social environment
- Children gain knowledge and skills through social interactions
- Development is continuous
- Development first occurs interpersonally and later intrapersonally
Information processing accounts of development
- The human mind is an information encoder
- Transforming input to useful output
- Digital computers are used to understand cognitive development
- Requires mapping of information modesl
- Open to empirical tests in general
- Stress the importance of identifying underlying mechanisms to development
Surveys
Questionnaires or interviews with a representative sample of the population. Best suited for finding broad patterns
Observational methods
Naturalistic or laboratory setting, useful for studying behavior in an organic or controlled setting. Less validity due to the reactions to being observed
Specimen record
Everything that happens in a fixed time period is recorded
Event sampling
Behavior is measured whenever a particular event occurs
Time sampling
A predetermined behavior is recorded during a set period of time
Interviews
First hand information is obtained, gains much information, information gained from interviews with children may be less accurate due to cognitive limitations and social desirability effects
Third-party reports
Can get different perspectives from teachers, parents etc, show similarities or variances across contexts. Third parties may be biased
Psychophysiological methods
Can identify feelings in young children that cannot self report, and provide an understanding of how brain development underlies development of behavior. Physical signs can be hard to interpret and attribute correctly. Methods include EEG and fMRI
Cross-sectional research design
Useful for studying group differences. Children of different ages are compared. Efficient and quickly conducted, but vulnerable to cohort effects and cannot address individual development
Cohort effects
Variations in the characteristics of an area of study (such as the incidence of a characteristic or the age at onset) over time among individuals who are defined by some shared temporal experience or common life experience, such as year of birth
Longitudinal research design
Studies individual development, investigates causal relationships, demands much time and effort, and can be affected by practice effects. Vulnerable to attrition (subjects dropping out, leaving the remaining group less representative)
Time-lag research design
Seeks to identify cultural changes by comparing generations, does not study individual development
Microgenetic research design
Fine-grained analysis, detailed info from a short time period, used for rapidly occurring development, vulnerable to practice effects
Stages of prenatal development
Zygote -> 2 weeks
Embryo -> 8 weeks
Foetus -> birth
Age of viability
When a foetus is 22-26 weeks it has a good chance of surviving a premature birth
Teratogens
Environmental risks to the unborn baby, including drugs, maternal stress, radiation and toxins
Apgar scoring system
Used to assess an infant’s health after birth - reflexes, heart rate, etc
Psychosocial dwarfism
Results from extreme emotional deprivation or abuse
Menarche
The first menstruation
Spermarche
The first ejaculation
Gross motor development
Motor skills which help children get around in their environment, such as crawling and walking
Fine motor development
Smaller movement sequences like reaching and grasping
Prereaching
Poorly coordinated attempts at reaching for an object. Lasts until 2 months
Directed reaching
More coordinated and accurate reaching, from 3 months to around 9 months
Ulnar grasp
Directed reaching - a primitive form of grasping where the infant’s fingers close agains their palm, the fingers acting as a whole.
Pincer grasp
Using the index finger and thumb in an opposable manner, leading to a more coordinated and finely-tuned grip. Occurs around the end of the first year
Range of reaction theory
Genes determine a range of possibilities within environmental contexts. Criticised for being too deterministic
Polygenetic inheritance
A trait affected by more than one gene
Nativist theory of perception
meaningful perceptual structures (independent of how we perceive them) exist in the world - the structures do not need to be created or constructed from the sensations we receive via our senses. Perception is simply the process of detecting the information available in these structures. This view is known as the theory of direct perception.
Gibson’s theory of perception
Perceptual development is an active cognitive process in which we interact selectively with the array of possibilities afforded to us by the environment. Central to this theory is the notion of affordances. Affordances are perceived by exploiting invariances in the visual environment (aspects that do not change).
Constructivist theory of perception
Our perceptions are often constructions, the result of prior knowledge used to guide our current interactions with the environment. This view emphasizes the interaction of the individual with the environment, leading to a construction of our understanding of the world.
Piaget’s (constructivist) theory
- Perception does not develop, rather it is enriched by the emerging structures of our intelligence.
- Piaget made a distinction between perception and perceptual activity, with perception being the initial, immediate sensations via modalities such as vision, and perceptual activity being the “correction” of our initial impressions by our intellect.
- Piaget’s theory is more a theory of the cognitive processes by which children and infants come to interpret perception, than a theory of perception itself.
- Piaget also believed that perception gave us direct knowledge of the environment, but he thought this knowledge was prone to error.
- Knowledge = perception + perceptual activity.
Affordances
The properties of objects that offer the individual the potential to interact with the object in a variety of ways.
Compound invariants
Perception of relationships among stimuli that specify complex affordances - relationships among objects give more information than simply picking up a single object.
Preferential looking techniques.
One of the most common techniques is to try to figure out the infants preferences - what they like to look at for longer periods of time, for example. A stimulus is introduced, and then the researcher looks out for changes in the rate, duration or intensity of the gazing/listening etc.
If a child prefers to look at one thing above another, the researchers can know that the child perceives a difference between the two stimuli. Infants’ preferences tell us what sorts of stimuli their perceptual systems can distinguish, and how their perceptual systems are designed (for example designed to attend to movement rather than non-movement). This method has limitations: an infant may be able to discriminate between stimuli but not show any preference.
Habituation studies
Once a stimulus has become familiar and loses its novelty, we become bored of it and stop attending to it. When the stimulus display alters to once again become novel (new) we show a release from habituation, and attend to the stimulus again. Habituation studies allow us to contrast different stimulus conditions and see if the infant detects changes in them, measured by the amount of time they attend to the stimuli.
The rooting reflex
The tendency to search for objects which touch them on the cheek, helping them locating their mother’s nipple.
The Babinski reflex
The splaying of the toes and foot, elicited by stroking the bottom of the foot.
Visual accommodation
Changing the lens of the eye to form an appropriate focus on an object. This is less accurate in infants, but by 4 months of age, infants usually have reached adult levels of performance.
Kinetic depth cues
Cues about depth that come from the motion of objects through our visual field, telling us how close or distant things are from us by the speed with which they pass through our visual field. Infants seem to be sensitive to kinetic cues by about 3 months of age.
Intermodal perception
Integrating sensory information from more than one modality at a time. This ability is probably an innate, unlearned ability, providing further support to the nativist position.
Organization (Piaget)
The individual’s tendency to organize their cognitive structures or schemes into efficient systems. Children will link schemes together to create a more coherent cognitive system.
Adaptation (Piaget)
The creation of cognitive structures through our interactions with the environment, adjusting to the demands of that particular environment. Adaptation takes place through two complementary processes: assimilation and accommodation.
Assimilation
The process of integrating the environment into one’s current schemes.
Accommodation
Modifying the current schemes to fit the environment.
Object permanence
The idea that objects exist independently of our ability to perceive them or act on them.
Animistic thinking
The tendency to attribute lifelike qualities to inanimate objects. Piaget sees this as a consequence of the egocentric thinking of children in the preoperational stage.
Zone of proximal development (ZPD)
The difference between the child’s actual development level as determined by independent problem solving and their potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers. ZPD represents a specific way in which more capable members of the culture assist a child’s development; by working with the child as a level slightly beyond the child’s own capabilities. Vygotsky meant that the child’s potential for learning should be measured, rather than simply measuring what the child could do alone.
Scaffolding
An interactive process in which adults adjust both the amount of and type of support they offer to a child, leading to eventual mastery of the skill being taught. First, the child is encouraged to operate at the limit of their ability. If a child is unable to perform a task, the adult will guide them more specifically. As the child improves, the adult reduces their level of instruction. The key to effective scaffolding is sensitivity to the child’s level of development.
Intersubjectivity
When two participants begin a task with different understandings and come to a shared understanding. As each member adjusts and shares their views, communication is facilitated.
Reciprocal teaching
A method of using peers to foster dialogues about a subject matter such that they provide a level which is beyond the individual child’s capability but with their zone of proximal development. The idea of reciprocal teaching is to make processes that a skilled reader engages in automatically more explicit, so group members who have problems with the skills can internalize them.
Cooperative learning
The child’s learning environment is structured into small groups of peers who work on a common learning goal.
Encoding
Picking out significant features of an object or event, so we can form a representation, allowing us to quickly focus on the most relevant features.
Analogical thinking
Making an inference from one particular to another particular, including language, like similes and allegories.
Syllogistic reasoning
Evaluating whether a conclusion logically follows on from two premises. This is generally difficult for school-aged children.
Poverty of the stimulus (Chomsky)
The argument that children are not exposed to rich enough data within their linguistic environments to acquire every feature of their language. This is considered evidence contrary to the empiricist idea that language is learned solely through experience.
Nativist theory of language acquisition
Language is the product of an unlearned, biologically based internal mental structure - not learning. Children are biologically predisposed to learn language, and learn language through innate hypotheses that guide their attempts to abstract the principles of their language, and help reduce the complexity.
Language acquisition device (LAD)
According to native theorists, LAD is an innate mental structure which facilitates learning of language, containing a set of universal grammar.
Parameter setting
When the LAD operates on speech to abstract out the linguistic parameters underlying the particular language, leading to learning of grammar.
Language acquisition support system (LASS)
According to the interactionist view, LASS is a collection of strategies which parents employ to facilitate the child’s acquisition of language, including recasting, infant-directed speech and expansion. Criticism of the interactionist view includes the fact that parents rarely offer children direct feedback on grammar, and practices on linguistic and social interactions vary widely across cultures, and children still acquire language where these procedures are not performed by parents.
Infant-directed speech
Speaking in a slow, high-pitched voice, stressing important words more than normal.
Expansion
Expanding on a child’s utterance, adding complexity and meaning.
Recasting
Repeating a child’s utterance while correcting their grammar.
Protodeclarative pointing
Bringing an interesting object to someone’s attention.
Protoimperative pointing
Pointing in order to get someone to help them or bring them an object.
Phonological awareness
The ability to be aware of and analyze speech sounds, associated with better reading and spelling skills.
The naming explosion
Around 18 months of age, children experience a growth spurt in word learning, where 10-20 new words are learned per week.
Fast-mapping
When children are 2 years old, they can learn a new word after only a single, brief exposure to it.
Markman’s three built-in constraints
Children do not consider the full range of hypotheses about what a word can mean; instead, they narrow the range of possible meanings based on built-in constraints. Markman proposed three constraints:
- the whole-object constraint (always assume the word is referring to the whole object, not one aspect of it)
- the taxonomic constraint (new words can refer to classes of things, not that particular thing)
- and the mutual-exclusivity constraint (if a child already have a name for something, it is less likely that this new name will apply to this thing).
Overextension
Using a single word to label a variety of different objects. Overextension only occurs in speech production, rarely in comprehension. Overextensions are often based on perceptual similarity of the objects being labeled by the same name.
Telegraphic speech
Around 18 to 27 months of age, children often utter their first short sentences, often omitting grammatical function words. Telegraphic speech is a form of communication consisting of simple two-word long sentences often composed of a noun and a verb that adhere to the grammatical standards of the culture’s language.
The grammar explosion
Between 27 and 36 months, children experience a rapid development of grammar.
Pronoun reference
Understanding the rules governing to whom or to what a pronoun refers.
Speech act theory
Language is a form of action, of social and cooperative nature. Proponents of speech act theory argue that we cannot understand language development without understanding the various functions of language.
The locutionary act
The act of saying something.
The illocutionary force
The way an utterance is expressed.
The perlocutionary effect
The effect an utterance has on its audience.
Conversational implicature
How people use contextual information to make inferences about what a speaker really means.
Metalinguistic awareness
Awareness of language itself, understanding that language is a rule-based system of communication, being able to talk about and think about language. Metalinguistic awareness develops in early childhood. Earlier attainment of metalinguistic ability has been associated with better reading ability and language skills later in life.
Saarni’s funcionalist definition of emotions
Emotion is the person’s readiness to establish, maintain, or change the relation between the person and the environment on matters of significance to that person.
Social referencing
The use of another’s emotional expressions as a source of information, allowing a person to interpret events or situations that are either ambiguous or difficult to grasp. Social referencing is first seen at 12 months of age.
Self-conscious emotions
Emotions that emerge out of the child’s developing self-awareness (shame, envy, pride etc). The self-conscious emotions often involve comparison with social norms and other people, and goes hand in hand with cognitive development in other areas.
Emotional scripts
Children develop scripts containing knowledge about what kinds of emotions a particular event might arouse.
Emotion regulation
The processes by which an individual’s emotional arousal is maintained within their capacity to cope; the extrinsic/intrinsic processes responsible for monitoring, evaluating, and modifying emotional reactions, especially their intensive and temporal features. Intrinsic processes of emotion regulation are made possible by growth in the nervous system, as well as cognitive and linguistic abilities. Extrinsic processes refer to environmental, social and cultural factors.
Theory of personal emotion
A coherent network of beliefs about one’s own emotional processes.
Mayer’s five domains of emotional intelligence
- Knowing one’s feelings.
- Being able to use and manage feelings in an appropriate manner.
- Being able to make conscious decisions regarding our goals and behaving appropriately to achieve the goals.
- Recognizing emotions in others.
- Building and maintaining positive relationships with others.
Bowlby’s theory of attachment
Children and caregiver form an attachment relationship due to an infant’s evolutionarily developed innate need for proximity to the caregiver (for protection). Attachment is a two-way process, not simply a set of learned behaviors. The effectiveness of the infants’ signals depend on the caregivers’ abilities to understand and react appropriately to them.
Four phases in attachment development
- Preattachment: 2 months; indiscriminate behavior towards others.
- Attachment in the making: 2 to 7 months; beginning to show discriminate behavior toward familiar/nonfamiliar people and start to prefer their attachment figures.
- Clear-cut attachment: 7 months; marked attachments to particular people with whom they have regular contact.
- Goal-corrected partnership: 2 years; the child takes the feelings of the attachment figure into account when planning their own actions, and a more equal relationship evolves.
Temperament
Inherent and relatively stable characteristics that make up the affective, activational and attentional core of personality; the susceptibility to emotional stimuli, the nature of typical emotional responses, and the quality of prevailing mood, reactivity and degree of self-regulation.
Thomas and Chess’ nine dimensions of temperament
Activity level, rhythmicity, approach/withdrawal, adaptability, intensity, threshold, mood, distractibility, and attention span.
Goodness of fit
The fit between a child’s temperament and their parents’ expectations and behaviors towards the child.
Group socialization theory
Children learn largely from groups of peers, rather than from their parents. Lessons learned from larger groups are more generalizable and lasting.
Inductive discipline
Combining disciplinary action with an explanation from the parents as to why the behavior elicited by the child is wrong. This increases their ability for empathy and seeing their behavior from another person’s perspective. Different techniques work on different children, and sometimes, techniques must be changed to fit the child’s temperament. Modelling seems to be more effective than reinforcement.
Piaget’s theory of moral development
Moral development depends on cognitive development.
Moral development occurs in three stages.
1. Premoral stage: 0-5 years old, little idea of morality.
2. Moral realism stage: 5-9 years old, view rules as unchanging and inflexible, little interest in intentions, focus on solely consequences, rigid due to the egocentrism of children in this age group.
3. Moral relativism stage: 8-12 years old, view rules as flexible, context-dependent and not always right, taking intentions into account.
Piaget’s theory has been criticized for relying too much on clinical interviews with children, where their limited language and cognitive abilities may mask their moral understanding. However, generally there is agreement that moral development proceeds in the general direction Piaget described.
Kohlberg’s theory of moral development
Moral development depends on cognitive development. Moral development occurs in 3 main stages with substages. To test his theory, Kohlberg used the moral judgement interview, where he presented moral dilemmas to children and asked them to evaluate the examples.
Level 1 (Pre-Conventional)
- Obedience and punishment orientation
- Self-interest orientation
Level 2 (Conventional)
- Interpersonal accord and conformity
- Authority and social-order maintaining orientation
Level 3 (Post-Conventional)
- Social contract orientation
- Universal ethical principles
Empathy
An understanding of another person’s situation and experiencing a similar emotion - making it a more self-directed emotion.
Sympathy
Also involves a concern for the other person, and is thus more other-directed than empathy.
Perspective taking
Important part of empathy, being able to take another’s perspective, makes children more likely to show altruism (helping with no benefit to oneself).
Prosocial behavior
Behavior directed at helping another person, like showing concern or acting kindly toward a person. Prosocial behavior increases consistently as they age, and peaks in adolescence. It seems to be relatively stable over time as well. A number of factors are involved in the development of prosocial behavior - advances in cognitive and emotional understanding, environment, genes etc.
Distributive justice
Children’s beliefs about how to divide goods fairly.
Aggression
Any behavior, physical or psychological, that intentionally causes harm, pain or injury to another person.
Social information processing model
Aggressive children tend to interpret ambiguous situations as aggressive and respond with aggression.
The biopsychosocial theory
Influences from and interactions between biology, environment and social context play a role in childhood disorders.
Equifinality
There are many different ways that children can manifest disturbed behavior.
Multifinality
A particular risk factor can have a number of different developmental outcomes depending on the characteristics of the individual, previous experiences and the environment.
Intellectual disability (ID)
ID was previously defined as below-average intelligence (IQ), but is currently defined in terms of functioning - if a child’s intellectual limitations do not affect functioning, the child will not be considered to have an ID. Children with an ID are more likely to develop psychological problems. Relatively common, and is often detected once a child attends school. Three times as many boys than girls are affected. More common in groups with lower socioeconomic backgrounds. Factors that can lead to ID development include birth complications, malnutrition, trauma, understimulation, and genetic disorders. Can be prevented in some cases by better prenatal care and prevention of maternal alcohol and drug use.
Depression
The criteria in the DSM for depression are similar for children and adults. Children with depression will often experience somatic symptoms like stomach aches and headaches. Depression in children can be shown as a loss of developmentally appropriate behavior. Eating and sleep disturbances are even more common in depressed children than adults. In childhood, depression affects girls and boys equally, but in puberty, females are more at risk.
Genetics, environmental factors, attachment style, degree of social support, peer rejection, and stressful life events can influence the development of depression.
Anxiety
The most common disorder in childhood. Anxiety seems to generally increase with age, perhaps due to an increased ability for abstract thinking. Both heredity and environment play a role in anxiety disorders. Shy toddlers are at increased risk for social anxiety disorder later. An interplay of temperamental factors and the manner in which the child is treated can form anxiety. Anxiety and depression frequently occur simultaneously.
Conduct disorder (CD)
A repetitive and persistent pattern of behavior in which the basic rights of others or major age-appropriate societal norms or rules are violated. More common in boys and families with economic hardships. Criteria include aggression to others and destruction of property. CD that starts in childhood is usually more persistent than CD in adolescence. Less than 50% of children with CD carried on with their antisocial behavior into adulthood. Children with CD are prone to psychiatric problems, criminal behavior, physical illness, marital issues etc. Hostile attribution bias is common in children with CD. The development of delinquent behavior may have a sensitive period, between ages 0 and 5.
ADHD
ADHD is characterized by inattention, impulsivity and hyperactivity. To be diagnosed with ADHD, symptoms must have been evident before the age of 7 years. The issues with concentration and hyperactivity must negatively affect multiple areas of life in order for a diagnosis to be given to a child. Children may show differing levels of the common ADHD symptoms. Short attention span and impulsivity is common in children, so diagnosing ADHD can be difficult. The severity, frequency and chronicity of the issues are important identifiers of ADHD. More boys are affected, but girls with ADHD seem to suffer more psychological issues. Biology and environment share key roles in the development of ADHD. The frontal lobes seem to be impaired in children with ADHD. ADHD is highly heritable. 30-50% of children continue to have ADHD as adults. 50-60% of children with ADHD are rejected by other children. ADHD is often treated with medication and behavioral intervention. Lifestyle changes, such as increased physical activity, has been shown to increase academic performance.
Autism
Autism is characterized by a disturbance in social interactions and communication, unusual behavior, and very early onset. Manifests very differently from person to person. Fundamental developmental issues in emotional, social, and cognitive domains and seem to have a deficient or non-existent theory of mind, that cannot be explained by a general cognitive impairment. Likely congenital (present at birth), but signs are not always easy to discover in infancy. Brain differences is seen early. Seems to be sensitive to early treatment. Caused by a complex interaction between genetic and environmental influences. Risk factors include parental age, air pollution, maternal health. 60% of autistic children continue to display significant impairment in adulthood.
Risk factors
Fairly enduring characteristics of an individual’s external and internal worlds that are likely to lead to negative functioning.
Michael Rutter’s six common factors in development of psychopathology
Severe marital discord, maternal psychiatric illness, low socioeconomic status, large family size, parental criminality, and placement outside the family home.
The stress-diathesis model
The child’s biologically-based risk interacts with the environment.
Resilience
The ability to rise above an adverse to function successfully.
Protective factors
Personality features, family unity, presence of support networks etc. Protective factors may not act in the same way for all children, and may be differentially significant at different developmental stages.
Reduction of risk impact
Being buffered from a risky situation.
Reduction of negative chain reactions
Cutting a vicious cycle short.
Fostering of self-esteem
Helping children feel like they can deal with problems.
Emergence of opportunities
Turning points that can be taken care of in order to gain positive outcomes.
The differential susceptibility model
Genetically at-risk children may be further at risk when placed in high-adversity environments, but the same children can thrive in supportive environments. According to this model, difficult children can have better outcomes than easier children when both these types receive positive parenting. The model assumes difficult children to be generally more sensitive to their environments. This model has been supported by a number of studies. Positive parenting may not be enough to buffer children from disadvantage in all situations.
Play therapy
Often used with children. Therapists interpret the children’s behavior during play as indicators of stress and problems. Therapeutic play normally takes place in a safe, comfortable playroom, where very few rules or limits are imposed on the child, encouraging free expression and allowing the therapist to observe the child’s choices, decisions, and play style. The goal is to help children learn to express themselves in healthier ways, become more respectful and empathetic, and discover new and more positive ways to solve problems.
Adolescent egocentrism
The recognition that one may be the focus of another person’s attention, leading to a high degree of self-consciousness.
Wellman’s belief-desire psychology
The child’s theory of mind at age 3, according to Wellman. Children understand that people act to satisfy their desires in light of their beliefs. However, they do not understand that beliefs can be false.
Cliques
Close-knit groups of friends from 3 to 9 members who are helt together by mutual acceptance and common interests.
Crowds
Groups of adolescents who organize on the basis of reputation and are defined on the basis of the attitudes held by the members.
Wellman’s desire psychology
The child’s theory of mind at age 2. They understand that people have internal states which correspond to desires, and they understand that people’s actions and emotional reactions can be predicted on the basis of those states.
Developmental organizer
The notion that some developmental changes have a significant impact on subsequent changes and functioning since they organize later development.
Dominance hierarchies
Rankings of individuals in terms of their dominance in a group.
False belief task
A test if children’s understanding that people act on the basis of their representations of the world. A child watches as one of two puppets places an object like a piece of candy in a distinct location, for example a red box. This puppet then leaves the scene. In the next part, a second puppet takes the object from the red box and places it in a green box. Finally, the first puppet returns and the child is asked “where will the puppet look for her candy?”
Horizontal relationships
Children’s relationships with other children are horizontal - balanced and egalitarian.
Vertical relationships
Children’s relationships with adults are vertical - asymmetrical.
Play ethos
The viewpoint taken by some researchers that play is essential for normal development.
Representational theory of mind
A theory of mind which includes an understanding of the mind as a representational medium. When children understand the possibility of false beliefs, they are said to have this theory of mind.
Role taking
The ability to reason from another person’s perspective/ refrain from egocentric thinking.
Sociometric techniques
Procedures for measuring children’s status within their peer group. Asking children to nominate specific number of their peers who fit some criterion, such as friend.
Rogue test
An experimental task used to test self-recognition. The infant is surreptitiously marked with a sticker, seated in front of a mirror, and their behaviors are recorded. If they try to remove the sticker, they seem to have a sense of self.
Visual cliff
An apparatus designed to test infants’ depth perception. Patterned materials highlight a deep “cliff” covered in clear glass, over which an infat can crawl.
A-not-B task
A task where infants search for hidden objects, first at one location (A trial) and then at a second location (B trial). Used by Piaget to test for object permanence.
Centration
The quality of a child’s thinking which leads them to focus on only one characteristic or dimension of a task or problem.
Elementary mental functions
According to Vygotsky: the abilities that children are naturally endowed, such as attention, memory, and perception.
M-space
A child’s capacity to hold information actively in mind. Believed to increase with their development through adolescence.
