L8: Developmental Psychology Flashcards
what happens to traits overtime?
- our traits change - they develop
- a given trait tends to change in a particular way over time (i.e. follows a trajectory) in a species
- At a certain point in the trajectory (i.e. a certain stage), we can predict which traits we’ll see
what are the developmental stages? (3) list the two main study designs to test these stages
- Childhood (~1 – 10 years) – The period between infancy and puberty
- Adolescence (~11 – 17 years) – Onset of puberty, prior to beginning of adulthood
-
Adulthood (18 years and beyond) – Consists of several distinct substages
–> Early adulthood (18 – 40), Middle (40 – 65) and Late (65+) - To compare different age groups, we have two main study designs – cross-sectional, longlitudinal
explain cross-selectional study design for studying different developmental stages. what are cohort effects?
- Observe individuals of different ages at the same time
for ex.
Group 1: Age 20 (Born in 2000)
Group 2: Age 40 (Born in 1980)
Group 3: Age 80 (Born in 1940) - very convenient design
- Concerns of cohort effects (is it age or generation)
- An 80 year old born in 1940 might have issues w/email
- An 80 year old born in 1980 would have no problems w/email
(problems w/email are a generational effect)
explain longitudinal study design for studying different developmental stages. what are the two effects that could take place–practice and attrition?
- Observe the same people at different ages
ex.
Person 1 @ ages 10, 15, 20 (three times) - Time-intensive with risk of attrition, often impractical (they can choose not to come back for testing)
- Practice effects possible (tests @ T2 differ from T1 – results change because we took the test two times prior for instance)
what is a major problem we make in developmental psychology studies? what is the post-hoc fallacy?
- we tend to equate correlation to causation
- In developmental psychology, we are observing relationships between behavior (variable 1), age (variable 2) and the environment (variable 3)
- Most developmental psychology studies are correlational (because we cannot randomly assign the variables of age or environment)
–> This means we often cannot conclusively infer cause - All developmental psychology studies should be interpreted with care
- High risk of the post-hoc fallacy (occurs when one assumes that because one event follows another, the first event must have caused the second)
what are the stages of the early developmental events?
during mothers pregnancy
- Prenatal: before birth when conceived
- perinatal = a bit before and after birth
- postanatal: after birth – longest period
- Events are not always planned and may be random/accidental (e.g. illness, stress, injury)
- Events occurring during pregnancy (i.e. prenatal) can have consequences for the developing fetus
what are 4 prenatal events
- Maternal cortisol levels are associated with altered cognition, emotion and structure of the brain
- Maternal immune activation (i.e. w/illness) is associated with higher risk for schizophrenia and autism
- Valproic acid exposure is associated with autism
- Teratogens (alcohol and fetal alcohol syndrome)
what are some postnatal events
- Frequent and diverse in nature
- Maternal care, environmental enrichment (play, social interaction, schooling, marital stability) and nutrition all matter
- Majority of developmental psychology focuses on postnatal events
- Both biological and environmental factors will determine the development of traits
describe the development of the trait of self-concept in children
at ages 2, 4, 6
- Collective knowledge an individual has of their own characteristics, including personality traits, physical features, abilities, values, goals and role
- By 2, awareness of sex and gender begins
- By 4, awareness of physical features (height, weight, looks)
- By 6, identification with attributes (“I am a nice person”) (start of social comparison)
describe the development of memory in children. what is childhood amnesia?
Rare to have memories before 3 – 5 years of age
(childhood amnesia), evidence of interaction w/culture
what are two theories of childhood amnesia
Development of language
* Language may reinforce memory encoding
* Language proficiency at ~3 years (later in some disorders)
* Cultural differences in verbal interactions with children may explain cultural differences in memory (environmental effect)
Development of the brain
* Prefrontal cortex (~25 years)
* Hippocampus (might generate new cells; cell turnover may be too high for memory storage when young)
list the theories of child development (4)
- Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development
- Vygotsky and Sociocultural Development
- Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development
- Kohlberg’s Theory of Morality Development
what are the differences between Piaget and Vygotsky’s theories?
- Stage-like changes vs. gradual changes in understanding
- Independent learning through exploration vs. community-based learning
- Domain-general vs. domain-specific development of psychological traits
what are the four stages of development by Piaget (list)
Discrete stages; unidirectional progress is made through independent exploration; domain-general
- Sensorimotor (SO)
- Preoperational stage (PO)
- Concrete operational stage (CO)
- Formal operational stage (FO)
Stage 1 Piaget: Sensorimotor (SM) (4)
ages, meaning
- From birth until 2 years
- Concentration on the ‘here and now’
- Can only process physical objects that are present
- Cannot process objects which are not present (i.e. cannot form mental representations)
–> Children lack object permanence (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gWJrZ7MHpY)
Stage 2 Piaget: Preoperational (PO)
ages, can but cannot do (vs SO), conservation, ToM?
- Lasts from 2 to 6 years
- Can create mental representations, but lack the ability to do mental operations/transformations on them
–> e.g. an imagine a ball not present, but cannot imagine that ball moving or doing anything special - Children at this stage fail to understand the principles of conservation
- Children at this stage begin to appreciate the mental states of others (Theory of mind)
What is conservation failure in the PO stage
- Children in the PO stage often incorrectly assume that water in a taller cup > water in a wider cup (even though its the same volume)
- Children in subsequent stages often correctly understand that water in taller cup = water in wider cup
what is the theory of mind concept in the PO stage
meaning, what does it effect, development period?, how can we test?
- The ability to take on other people’s perspectives
- Plays a role in our social interactions and moral judgments
- Evident in the PO stage but continues to develop throughout life
- One way of testing for a ToM in children is the Sally- Anne Test
How does the Sally Anne Test let us know more about a child’s ToM understanding?
false belief, who may perform poorly?, concern
- Solving this problem involves understanding Sally’s perspective (she holds a false belief)
- Children with disabilities – such as autism – may perform poorly
- However, there are concerns that language processing contributes to test performance
what does ToM look like in adults
- Peaks in young adulthood and tends to decline in late adulthood (linked to problems in cognitive function)
ex. when we are younger we can understand if others are telling
- lies
- white lies
- double bluffs
- irony
- persuasion
but not as well when we are older
Stage 3 Piaget: Concrete operational (CO)
ages, can and cannot do (vs SO and PO), conservation?
- 6 to 12 years of age
- Can create mental representations of physical objects and perform transformations/operations on them
–> e.g. Imagine a ball rolling off a table - Cannot perform transformations/operations on abstract concepts
–> e.g. cannot do algebra - However, mastery of conservation problems is evident
Stage 4 Piaget: Formal operational (FO)
ages, what can we do (vs SO, PO, CO)
- 12 years of age and beyond (you’re in this stage now)
- Can create mental representations of physical objects and abstract concepts
- Can perform mental operations/transformations upon these representations (i.e. algebra)*
- Can work with hypotheticals
what are critiques of Piaget’s theory (4)
- Development does not occur in discrete stages, but is continuous and bidirectional
–> Reversion to ‘earlier stages’ might occur when stressed - Development is not domain-general
–> Different cognitive abilities emerge at different times, some people never acquire certain abilities (e.g. algebra is tough) - Did not address culture or socioeconomic status
–> Studies focused on European children of high SES - Did not address social interaction
