Midterm 1 Flashcards
Plato
Plato believed experience could not be the source of knowledge because human senses are too fallible - children are born with innate knowledge of many concrete objects and well as with knowledge of abstractions
In plato’s view children’s sensory experiences trigger knowledge they’ve had since birth
Aristotle
Aristotle denied the existence of innate knowledge, believing that knowledge is rooted in a perceptual experience
Locke
asserted that the human infant is a blank slate and can be shaped anyway
Rousseau
claimed that children are born with sense of morality and justice that unfolds naturally as the child grows
Hall
generated child dev theories based on evolution, founded first e english journal for dev psych research, was first president of APA
Applied developmental science
- new branch of child dev research - uses developmental research to promote healthy development particularly for vulnerable children and families
Maturational Theory
child dev reflects a specific and prearranged scheme or plan within the body
Ethological Theory
views development from an evolutionary perspective - believes many behaviours are adaptive and have survival value, theorists assume people inherit most of these behaviours
Ethologists believe that animals are biologically programmed in such a way that some kinds of learning occur only at certain ages
Critical Period
time when specific type of learning can take place, before or after the critical period the same learning is difficult or even impossible
Psychosocial approach
Erikson - dev comprises a sequence of stages each defined by a unique crisis or challenge
Social Cognitive
Bandura - bobo doll - observational learning
Experience gives children sense of self efficacy about own abilities and talents
Cognitive Developmental - Piaget
how children think and how it changes as they grow
Piaget - children naturally try to make sense of their world
Sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operations, formal operations
Contextual Perspective - Vygotsky
extended environment/ culture of the child really matters - including extended relationships, religion, media, workplace of parent
Culture provides context in which child develops
Vygotsky - adults convey beliefs, customs and skills of culture to children
Ecological systems theory
Views child as developing within a complex system of relationships affected by multiple levels of surrounding environment
bi-directional : figures influence child, child influences figures (parents, siblings, teachers)
Micro, meso, exo, macro systems
Micro refers to activities and interaction patterns in child’s immediate surroundings, these environments affect child’s behaviour, but child’s behaviour affects environment (poorly behaved child will get more negative reaction out of the same teacher who gives positive reaction to a well behaved child)
Mesosystem comprises connections between microsystems like home and school, child with lots of intellectual stimulation at home will do better academically than a child who does not
Exosystem consists of less immediate settings like school board, parent’s workplace, media, local government, and extended family - can affect the child indirectly either positively or negatively
Macrosystem refers to values, laws, and customs that are dominant within society
Genotype/ phenotype
Genotype - individuals complete set of inherited traits
Phenotype - directly observable characteristics that represent the combined effects of their genotype and environmental influences
When we look at someone we don’t see their genotype, we see whatever variation of genes within the genotype are turned on
Niche Construction
tendency to actively choose environments that complement our heredity
Germinal Period
From conception until zygote enters uterus and becomes implanted
Organism has grown from a single cell to hundreds of cells
Placenta forms - contains nutrients and oxygen - connected via umbilical cord that contains a vein that delivers blood loaded with nutrients from the placenta to the zygote and two arteries removing waste products
Embryonic period
From implantation until end of week 8
Groundwork is laid for all major organs
Embryo is extremely susceptible to mother smoking/ drinking
Sexual differentiation has begun
One month: nervous system develops, neurons produced at rate of 250,000 per minute, heart pumps blood, muscles and digestive tract appear
Two months: limbs emerge, eyes, ears, nose, jaw, neck form. Embryo can move and respond to touch but can’t be felt by mother
Fetal Period
9th week until birth
Grows dramatically, brain and all organ systems develop fully
During last three months cerebral cortex enlarges, connects with other areas of lower brain, fetus spends more time awake
Basic sensory capacities developing
Environmental influences from outside and inside the mother can affect fetal development
At 28 weeks fetus can distinguish tone and rhythm from different voices and sounds
Six principles applying to teratogens
Susceptibility of organism depends on stage
Teratogens effects are likely to be specific to particular organ
Individual organisms vary in susceptibility to teratogens
Mother’s physiological state influences susceptibility to teratogens
Greater concentration of teratogenic agent, greater risk
Teratogens that have little or no effect on mother can be detrimental to developing fetus
Three stages of labour
Dilation of cervix - caused by contractions of uterus, 12-14 hours for first birth
Delivery of baby - contractions continue, mother feels natural urge to push, 1 hour for baby to propel down the birth canal
“Birth” of placenta - separates from wall of uterus and is delivered within 10-15 minutes
Epidural analgesia
can weaken uterine contractions which prolongs labour, affects baby temporarily causing drowsiness when born
Apgar Scale
assesses physical conditions in newborn
Heart rate
Respiratory effort
Muscle tone
Reflex responsivity
Color
Each of five factors is given rating out of 2, perfect score of ten would mean baby is healthy in all 5 areas
brazelton neonatal assessment scale -
brazelton neonatal assessment scale - assesses subtle behavioral aspects of newborn’s condition
Includes tests of reflexes, motor capacities, responsiveness to objects and people
Low score may indicate brain damage, neurological problems, or that infant is at risk for insecure emotional attachment
Low birth weight
Below 5.8 - at greater risk for complications, higher risk of remaining small in childhood and learning/ behavioral difficulties
Often with multiple pregnancies
Infant Sleep
16-18 hours per day while being awake for 1 hour and sleep for 3 hours, alternates from being still and breathing regularly (non-rem) to moving gently and breathing irregularly (REM) babies spend 50% of time in REM state as opposed to adults 20%
By 1 month baby only needs 15 hours, by 4 months 14 hours a day
By 6 or 7 months many babies are able to sleep through night
Babies who sleep better at night tend to be exposed to more afternoon daylight
SUID
risks involve babies sleeping on stomach, smoking in home or by mother during pregnancy, higher for male babies than females, higher for low income families and indigenous populations
Chromosomes
First 22 pairs chromosomes - autosomes, each same size
23rd pair determines sex - X much larger than Y
Egg always contains x, sperm contains x or y
XX = girl, XY = boy
Each chromosome consists of one DNA molecule
Gene
Each group of nucleotide bases that provides a specific set of biochemical instructions
Reaction range
range of phenotypes that the same genotype may produce in reaction to environment of development
Methylation
some genes are turned off - experience changes gene expression of DNA (chemical silencer is methyl molecule)
Social influence - teen pregnancy
events set in motion due to pregnancy make it harder for a teenage girl to provide positive environment for child’s development, having to drop out of school, less time spent with baby
Social selection - teen pregnancy
some teenage girls are more likely than others to become pregnant ans the same factors that cause girls to become pregnant my cause them to put their children at risk
NBAS
Autonomic: new born’s ability to control body functions such as breathing and temp regulation
Motor - newborn’s ability to control body movements and activity level
State - newborn’s ability to maintain state (staying alert or asleep)
Social - ability to interact with people
Believes every baby is very competent and capable, provides environment to bring out best in baby
Also used as dependent variable for studies of teratogens
Growth trends:
cephalocaudal “head to tail” and proximodistal “close in to farther out
Pituitary gland
key player in puberty causing physical changes
Releases growth hormone, regulates changes by signalling other glands to secrete hormones
Generally puberty occurs earlier in adolescents who are healthy and well nourished than those who are not
Chronic stress and depression in girls can bring on puberty early
Psychological challenges come with puberty relating to self-esteem
Puberty
Puberty is biological start of adolescence
Girls typically begin growth spurt 2 years before boys
Typically girls start by 11, reach peak growth by 12, and full maturation by 15
Boys start at 13, peak growth at 14, and mature stature at 17.
Bones become longer, body fat increases, more rapidly in girls than boys, heart and lung capacities increase more in boys than girls
Primary sex characteristics undergo changes which includes organs directly involved in reproduction
Secondary sex characteristics also undergo changes like development of breasts and widening of pelvis, body hair in both girls and boys
Obesity
18% of adults in canada qualify as obese
Higher numbers among indigenous populations
Heredity - obesity runs in families
Parents - if parents force child to finish plate always or use food as form of comfort
Sedentary lifestyle - more prone to obesity of they are physically inactive
Too little sleep
Most effective weight loss programs focus in changing children’s eating habits and encouraging them to become more active
Accidents
From age one on children are more likely to die from accidents that from any other single cause
Motor vehicle accidents are most common
CPS - poverty and issues related to substandard housing and difficulty accessing healthcare increased risks and likelihood of negative outcomes of childhood injury
Motor vehicle accidents remain leading cause of death in adolescence
1 third of car accident deaths in canada for 16-19 yr olds were alcohol related
Developing nervous system
At roughly three weeks past conception a group of cells form flat structure known as the neural plate - at four weeks this plate folds to form a tube that becomes brain and spinal cord
When ends of tube fuse shut, neurons are produced in one small region of the neural tube
Production begin about 10 weeks after conception and by week 28 brain has almost all neurons it will ever have
From neural tube where they are created neurons migrate to final positions in brain
Brain/ neural development
Brain is built in stages, beginning with innermost layers, neurons in deepest layers are placed first. This layering processing continues until all six layers of mature brain
In fourth month of development axons begin to acquire myelin - fatty wrap that speeds up neural transmission
This process continues through to adolescence, more myelin more rapid and coordinated the reactions - effect of more myelin can be seen in improved reaction times and coordination
In months after birth brain grows rapidly, axons and dendrites grow longer, dendrites quickly sprout new limbs
As number of dendrites increases so does number of synapses, reaching peak number at first birthday
soon after synapses begin to disappear gradually in a phenomenon known as synaptic pruning - brain goes through downsizing weeding out unnecessary connections between neurons
Synapses that are active will remain and inactive synapses are eliminated
Specialization
Specialization occurs early in development - areas of brain are ready to do what they are meant to do
Specialization takes two specific forms - regions active during cognitive processing becomes more focused and less diffuse
The kind of stimuli that trigger brain activity shift from being general to being specific
Different brain areas specialize at different rates
Successful specialization requires stimulation from the environment - environmental input influences experience expectant growth
Experience dependent growth
denotes changes in the brain that are not linked to specific points in development and that vary across individuals and across cultures
Depth cues
Kinetic cues - in which motion is used to estimate depth
Visual expansion - as an object moves closer, it fills an ever greater proportion of the retina
Motion parallax - nearby moving objects move across our visual field faster than those at a distance
Fine motor skills
- associated with grasping, holding, and manipulating objects
Reaching and grasping: by 4 months can reach clumsily
4 month olds use their fingers only to grasp objects
By 7 or 8 months infants use their thumbs to help hold things
By 6 months baby can pick up food and get it into mouth
By age 1 baby can learn to eat with spoon
Handedness: some believe a gene biases children toward right-handedness
Experience also contributes to handedness
Attention networks
Executive network - executive functioning like tasks
Orienting network - directing attention to a specific stimulus or location in the environment
Alerting network - achieving and maintaining a state of alertness
Nutrition
Nutrition - breastfeeding is superior to formula
Need both macronutrients (carbs, fats, and proteins)
And micronutrients (essential vitamins and minerals
Solid food at 6 months
Over consumption of high fat sugary foods, genetics, lack of activity, sleep, and access to healthy foods cause obesity
Eating as a family is linked to healthier eating habits
Teenagers need fairly high amount of calories because of growth ans metabolism
Girls: 13-15 - 2200, 16-19 - 2100
Boys: 13-15 - 2800, 16-18 - 3200
Experience expectant process
as result of evolution brains of infants expect to encounter experiences like seeing and touching objects, hearing sounds and moving about environment
When they receive this type of stimulation their brains develop normally
Preferential looking paradigm
two or more stimuli including patterns and faces, if infant spends more time looking at one over another it is assumed they prefer that one
Newborns show a distinct preference for faces that are in an upright petition over faces inverted
Habituation/ dis habituation
present stimulus 1, BP and heart rate increase, response declines when familiar with stimulus
If shown stimulus 2 and reaction occurs again, suggests infant can differentiate between s1 and s2
Babies tend to respond more strongly to something new - when stimulus changes and reaction occurs to it dishabituation has happened
Infant vision
Newborns respond to light and track moving objects with eyes, but perceive few colours - concentrate on edges
3mo concentrate on interior of face - can see eyes nose mouth and are better with colour
Perception of faces shaped by perceptual narrowing
6 mo recognize other race and other species faces just as well as same race faces
9mo have superior recognition for same race faces
Visual cues:
Visual expansion: image of an object increases as the object comes towards us
Binocular disparity: cues about distance based on the differing views of two eyes b y 4 months
Pictorial cues: cues about distance that can be perceived by one eye alone by 6 or 7 months
Mcgurk effect
occurs when a visual information influences the way we hear something - ba misheard as va when lips appear to be saying va
Gross motor skills
involve large muscles of the body and make self locomotion (crawling, walking, moving through environment alone) possible - 8 months of age
