Module 2 - Child development Flashcards
what is development ?
the sequence of physical and psychological changes that human beings undergo as they grow older
what is developmental psychology
the scientific study of age-related changes in behaviour, thinking, emotion, and personality.
what is cognition development ?
intellectual growth
who was the father of cognitive development ?
jean piaget
what did jean piaget do ?
Proposed a sequence of development that all normal children follow
- Four ‘stages’ of cognitive development
what age is the sensorimotor stage
Birth to 2 years
what does the sensorimotor stage include?
- object permanence
- schema formation
- representational thought
what is object permanence
the idea that objects do not cease to exist when they are out of sight
- Birth – 3 months - Look at visual stimuli Turn head towards noise - 3 months - Follow moving objects with eyes. Stares at place where object has disappeared, but will not search for object - 5 months- Grasp and manipulate objects Anticipate future position of object - 8 months Searches for hidden object “A not B” effect- ( search for the same place they found it not where they saw it last) - 12 months - Will search in the last place they saw the object
what is schema formation ?
a schema is a mental representation or set of rules that defines a particular behaviour category. It helps us to understand current and future experiences
describe the 2 process that schema develops
Assimilation – the process by which new information is modified to fit in with an existing schema - i.e knows dog and cat are animals but sees a rabbit and calls out “doggy”
- Accommodation – the process by which an existing schema is modified or changed by new experience. (i.e when he is told that it is not a doggy but a rabbit, the next time he will say rabbit, hence once more added to the schema of animals
what is representational thought ? when does it occur
ability to form mental representations of others’ behaviour.
- Occurs towards the end of the sensorimotor period
- Mental representation is instrumental in:
- Imitation
- Deferred imitation - a child’s ability to imitate the actions he or she has observed others perform in the past
- Symbolic play
- The use of words to represent objects
what age is preoperational stage
2- 7 yeards
what happens in the preoperational stage
- Ability to think logically as well as symbolically - crappy logic
- Rapid development of language ability
- Counting
- Object Manipulation
- Classification and categorisation
what to infants need to learn in the preoperational stage to move to the next
- Conservation – the understanding that specific properties of objects (height, weight, volume, number) remain the same despite apparent changes or arrangement of those objects.
- Egocentrism – a child’s belief that others see the world in precisely the same way that he or she does
what age is the concrete operation stage
7 to 12 years
what happens in the concrete operation stage ?
- Ability to perform logical analysis - they can’t go hypothetical
- Ability to empathise with the thoughts/feelings of others
- Understanding of complex cause-effect relations -
what age is the formal operation stage ?
12 years and upward
what happens in the formal operation stage?
- Abstract Reasoning - they would say I could imagine rocky, lonely dark hence hypothetical
- Metacognition - i.e studying - memorising - thinking about thinking
- Dependent on exposure to principles of scientific thinking
name the 4 stages
- sensorimotor stage
- preoperational stage
- concrete operations stage
- formal operations stage
what were the 2 criticism on on piagets theory
- babies don’t seem to start with nothing
2. Cognitive development isn’t on all or nothing phenomenon
what ideas supported the criticism babies don’t seem to start with nothing ?
- space and objects
- number and mathematical reasoning
- social cognition - our understanding of other people
explain the idea space and objects?
o The Visual Cliff
Children appear to be able to perceive depth around the time they can crawl
o The Effect of Occlusion
Habituation procedure
- Infants prefer to pay attention to novel things
- Over time they become accustomed to stimuli and pay less attention to them
o Understanding of Support
Develops gradually by 6 months - over six months they gradually show understanding
o Object Permanence
- If you don’t see the object, it does not mean it does not exist - Remember the “A not B” error? - they look for the object where they found the object and not where they last put it.
explain the idea o fnumber and mathematical reasoning?
Piaget said that infants had no concept of number and couldn’t conserve number until they were around 6 years old
o But even 6-months old show some understanding of number
i.e you show child 3 pieces of things and 2 pieces of things and you put a speaker and the speaker does “boom” “boom” the child will look at 2 pieces of things but if the speaker does boom X3 then the child will look at 3 pieces of things
explain the idea of social cognition - our understanding of other people
o New born babies would rather look at faces than scrambled faces
o At 3 weeks old, infants will attempt to imitate facial expressions
o 9-month-olds will look in the direction of their mother’s gaze
o Intentions - what adults tend to do or trying to do
- Even 6-month-olds understood that the object being reached for is separate to the reach itself
state the ideas that support the criticism that cognitive development isn’t an all or nothing phenomenon?
- Numerical skills in pre-schoolers
2. Social cognition in pre-schoolers
explain the idea of numerical skills in pre - schoolers ?
o Counting
- Even when they don’t use the right numbers, toddlers understand what counting is all about
o Numerical reasoning
- Could Piaget’s assertion that children can’t conserve number be due to repeated questioning?
- One reason why children failed his conservation tasks is because due to the fact when you ask them the same question they tend to change their answer as they believe you were not happy with the first answer
state the ideas of Social cognition in pre-schoolers
o Egocentrism
o Theory of mind
o Others’ likes and dislikes
o True and false beliefs
True and false beliefs ?
- One aspect of theory of mind
- False belief task On average,
- 4-year-olds pass and 3-year-olds don’t
Others’ likes and dislikes
- Broccoli versus crackers study
- 18-month-olds gave the experimenter what she liked
- 14-month olds gave the experimenter what they liked
o Theory of mind
- A group of skills relating to the understanding of the existence of other people’s minds (their intentions, beliefs, likes and dislikes, perspectives, etc.)
- Theory of mind allows us to be effective in social situations
oEgocentrism
- Piaget thought that children were egocentric until they were around 7 years old
- Even 3- and 4-year-olds can ‘pass’ a diorama task if it’s relevant
- At 2 ½ to 3 ½ children will turn a book around so an adult can see it, and bend down when talking to younger children
Children under 1 year will turn to see what their mother is looking at
what is social development ?
- Forming bonds with people
• Learning to behave in socially acceptable ways
• Learning to be good friends and allies
• Learning to deal with adversaries
how is social development achieved ?
through social learning theory and cognitive developmental theory
what is social learning theory?
Simply the theory where you learn by watching other people do it, i.e imitate, you pick up the phrases, slangs with whom you hang out with. Start picking up behaviour from people who are with constantly.
what is cognitive development theory?
Cognitive development drives social development i.e theory of mind
how is parental style a 2 way street
- The parents style can affect the child behaviour but the child’s behaviour can also affect the parenting style
what is the principle of minimal sufficiency?
the punishment should be severe enough that the child will change their behaviour but not so severe than they get forced into doing it.
what is emotional development ?
understanding others feelings
what is emotional development?
- Have to workout out what emotions are okay to show
- How to cope with emotions
- Knowing your gonna get sacred if you go watch a horror movie
what is moral behaviour ?
behaviour that conforms to a generally accepted set of rules
what was experiment that kohlberg theory of moral developement of which he based his theory of ?
- Studied boys aged between 10 and 17 years
- Presented subjects with scenarios
Example: Heinz’s wife is dying of cancer, and can be treated only by a medication discovered by a local pharmacist. Heinz cannot afford the price that the pharmacist demands. He breaks into the store and steals the drug…
- Presented subjects with scenarios
name the levels in the kohlberg theory?
- preconventional
- conventional
- post - conventional
what is the pre-conventional level? and what stages are in it
- Behaviour based on external sanctions, such as authority and punishment
Stage 1 – Morality of punishment and obedience Children obey authority and avoid punishment.
Stage 2 – Morality of naïve instrumental hedonism Behaviour guided egocentrically by the pleasantness of its consequences to them.
what is the conventional level and the stages in it
- Includes an understanding that the social system has an interest in people’s behaviour.
Stage 3 – Morality of maintaining good relations Children want to be regarded as good, well-behaved people.
Stage 4 – Morality of maintaining social order Laws and moral rules maintain social order and must be obeyed.
what is the post-conventional level and what stages are involved in this?
( TO GET INTO THIS STAGE YOU HAVE TO SAY TO STEAL THE DRUG)
Moral rules have some underlying principles that apply to all situations and societies.
Stage 5 – Morality of social contracts Rules are social contracts, not all authority figures are infallible, individual rights can sometimes take precedence over laws.
Stage 6 – Morality of universal ethical principles Rules and laws are justified by abstract ethical values, such as the value of human life and the value of dignity.
evaluate the kohlberg theory, state the ideas
Effect of wording changes on response
- Little change in wording can lead to big changes in the peoples responses
• Stages may not be coherent entities, but do reflect a progression
- They do tend to move through the stages
• Cultural and gender biases?
-
• Correlation between moral reasoning and moral conduct
- Not a great correlation of what you answer on here and what you actually do in real life
what is genetic sex ?
what you are genetically
two XX or XY
what is morphological sec?
what you look like, whether you have male or female reproductive organs, some on the inside, some on the outside
what is gender identity?
one’s private sense of male or female-ness ( for the vast majority, genetic sex, morphological and gender identity match up)
what are gender roles?
cultural expectations about ways in which men and women should think and behave
what are gender stereotypes ?
beliefs about differences in the behaviours, abilities, and personality traits of males and females. i.e girls love shopping, males would never admit they are wrong, women being more empathetic
what is the development of gender at the age of 18 months
Beginnings of gender-typed preferences
i.e - little girls gravitate towards barbies and boys trucks
what is the development of gender at the age of 3
- Knowledge of own gender
- Preference for different toys and friends of own sex
- Ability to assign gender to pictures is limited ( if you were to show them a picture and ask them whether is it a boy or girl, they go my length of hair, clothing, those types of things)
what is the development of gender at the age of 5
- Knowledge of sex constancy
- They know if it’s a girl it will stay a here even if they put on boy clothes or dress up like a girl
explain the • Gandelman, Vom Saal, & Reinisch (1977) Prenatal exposure to testosterone results in more “male-like” behaviour in females experiment in terms of biological explanantions for gender differences
In mice the offspring’s are lined up and often the hormones can influence the neighbour
- What they found was if an offspring had 2 boys on its side, it beghavior more male like whereas if it had 2 females on its side, it would behave more girl like
what happened in the ward experiment in terms of the biological explanations in gender differences
Males deprived of prenatal testosterone behave more like females.
name few things are biological differences present in males and females ?
- Physical aggression in males appears to be biologically predisposed.
- The anatomy of the human brain shows some gender differences thought to be due to different patterns of hormone exposure during development.
- the Broca and vernicles areas are slightly bigger relatively in girls
-
how could testosterone play a role in spatial ability
- Males with low testosterone levels do worse on spatial tasks
- Females with high testosterone levels tend to do better on spatial ability tasks
- Testosterone fluctuations during the menstrual cycle
what is congenital adrenal hyperplasia
- A medical condition where you are a female but your adrenal glands produce really high levels of testosterone(abnormally high) hence changes the external appearance of the sex organs. The clitoris starts to resemble a penis.
- Few more things we may associate with males - tomboy, slightly lower verbal skills
- You can have a slight or severely disorder
what was the case of bruce reimer ?
- 2 identical twin boys
- Burnt bruce’s penis mostly off
- So bruce was raised as a girl, it did not go well
- Wanted to do what males did
does environment affect the gender differences more?
yes
explain the montemayor experiment in regards to that environment affects gender differences
- 6- and 8-year-old boys and girls invited to play a game. Game labeled as gender-appropriate, gender-neutral, or gender inappropriate.
- Children found the game more enjoyable if it was labeled as gender appropriate or neutral.
Children’s performance was highest when the game was labeled as gender-appropriate and lowest when the game was labeled as gender inappropriate.
- Children found the game more enjoyable if it was labeled as gender appropriate or neutral.
what was the • Morrongiello & Dawber, 1999 in terms of gender socialisation begins with a child’s parent
Examined mothers’ and fathers’ communications to sons and daughters aged 2-4 years:
- during free play
- when teaching a playground safety behaviour
what was the result of Morrongiello & Dawber, 1999 in terms of gender socialisation begins with a child’s parent
Sons received more directives, fewer explanations, and more physical pressure than girls.
- Parents communicate with young children in a way that may promote increased risk-taking by boys and greater perceived injury vulnerability among girls.
what was • Smith and Lloyd (1978) in terms of gender socialisation begins with a child’s parents
- Mothers of young infants introduced to a 6-month old infant and asked to play.
- Infant’s gender label was manipulated.
- Participants behaved differently according to the assigned gender label.
- Even when there are no differences in appearance or outward behaviour, parents treat children according to gender label.
what conclusion did Weisner & Silson-Mitchell reach in terms of gender socialisation begins with a child’s parents
Parents who do not subscribe to gender differences in socialisation have children whose attitudes and behaviour reflect fewer gender stereotypes.
what is the scribbling stage and state what ages is included in this stage
- 2-3 years
- Not representative of any thing
what is the pre-schematic stage and state what ages is included in this stage
- First attempts at human figure drawings
- 3-4 years
- Tadpole Drawings
- Circle/ellipse representing head
2 (or 4) protruding lines representing limb
what is the schematic stage and state what ages is included in this stage
- 5-6 years
- Child develop a “schema”
- Separate Trunk from Head
- Initially omit or misplace arms
- The way children draw is consistent, no matter how many times you ask them to draw the same thing they will always draw it the same
what is the schematic LATER ON stage
- Substance added to limbs A
- rms correctly placed
- Detail (clothing, glasses, ears, etc.)
Emergence of neck representation (last)
what is the realistic stage and state what ages is included in this stage
- From around 9 years
- Marks end of art as a spontaneous activity
- More detail
- Varying expressions
- Better use of space
- Use of profile
- Kind of give up on drawing, either you draw or not
what is period of indecision ?
art is something to be done or left alone
define projective measures in terms of a clinical setting when looking at the childrens drawings
- When we project things on to the drawing, based on what you see in the drawing the therapist will project meaning on to that
describe how children’s drawings are used to know their psychological wellbeing ?
Draw-A-Family Test, Kinetic Family Drawings, House-Tree-Person Test
- Interpreted in context of psychoanalytic therapy - says we project our unconscious desires onto thing we draw the way we draw it - No studies have shown ability of ratters to differentiate between drawings of well-adjusted children and those who are not well adjusted
describe how children’s drawings are used to know their intelligence
- Florence Goodenough (1920s)
- Draw-A-Person Test (self, mother, father) - give them 3 pieces of paper and 5 mins to draw a father, self and mother each and take those drawing and grade them based on how things are drawn, how good the score it and this scored related to the IQ
- One of the top 10 tests used by US Psychologists
- Research suggests that the test can differentiate between groups, but isn’t good at identifying individual cases needing special help.
- Nadia’s Drawings - not intellectual but could draw very well
describe how children’s drawings in sexual abuse
- Difficulties in diagnosing sexual abuse in children led to clinicians seeking a non-verbal measure of abuse
- Suggestions that drawings may differ according to abuse history (e.g., sexual content, use of shading)
- Researchers have yet to find a consistent pattern of graphic indicators that can distinguish the drawings of abused children from those of their non-abused counterparts
what are 3 projective measures?
- intelligence
- Psychological Wellbeing
- Sexual Abuse
what is communication aid ?
- Helping children to talk about events they have experienced
- Content of drawing not relevant
- Historically used in clinical settings despite an absence of empirical evidence
- Research questions:
• Does drawing help children to talk about the past?
• If so, are accounts elicited in this way still accurate?
explain butler, gross and hayne (1995)
-
- 5- and 6-year-old children
- Visited the Fire Station
- Interviewed 1 day later
- Two manipulated variables:
• Interview: Draw and Tell (half of sample) Tell (other half of sample)
• Question Type: Free Recall (all children) Directed Recall (all chi ldren)
• Amount recalled
what were the results of butler, gross and hayne (1995)
- Children in the Draw and Tell group reported twice as much information in the Direct Recall phase than the Tell children.
- No differences between groups in the Free Recall phase.
- Information reported by the Draw and Tell group was just as accurate as information reported by the Tell group.
Why Might Drawing Work?
- Increases the length of the interview?
- Reduces social barriers?
- Children provide their own retrieval cues?
- Reinstates mental context?
- Affects the interviewer’s behavior? -
what is child sexual abuse dilemma?
- Children unwilling to disclose abuse - they do not know that what is happening to them is not normal - they could be embarrassed , could be threatened , don’t have someone they trust
• Medical/physical evidence rarely present
• Absence of eyewitnesses
• Child witness controversy - adults vs the child - who does the court believe
what governs the children’s ability to act as reliable witeness ?
- memory
-
what was the De caspers and fifer 1980 experiment
- Had headphone on infants - one recording was the reading out dr zeus and one was another females voice, so what they did was they essentially made it that if you sucked one way you heard your mum and If you sucked the other way you heard someone elses mum, they found that very quickly these children would alter the sucking pattern to hear your mum, they recognised the voice of their mum
what is early memories limited by?
- Short duration - memories do not last that long
- Context dependence - for a memory to emerge they had to be in exact same surrounding
- Language competence
- Knowledge base
what do verbal reports provide ?
- Free Recall accounts are highly accurate, but brief
- As questions become more specific, children give more detail, but also make more errors
what os suggestibility?
“the degree to which one’s memory and/or recounting of an event is influenced by suggested information or misinformation”
what is cognitively-driven suggestibility
if you say “was there was a gun “ the child might say yes because they feel under pressure to say yes ( socially driven suggestively)
what is socially-driven suggestibility
the child could also think if the interviewer said there was a gun, maybe there was and they remember there was a gun - hence memory changed -
what is variation in suggestibility?
children with low self confidence, lack of self esteem , lack of assertiveness can actually have an effect on suggestibility, but we also know that a child could be suggestible in one setting but not in another.
what is the adversarial system ?
o Direct Examination (prosecution)
o Cross-Examination (discreet the “victim”)
o (Re-Examination)
• No lower age limit
• No corroboration laws
- Competency requirement - the judge has to be satisfied that the child is competence
what are the potential problems of child witnesses?
- lack of legal knowledge
- confronting the accused
- courtroom environment
- cross -examination
explain how confronting the accused ? ideas?
Can make children less willing to incriminate
- A study where in magician broke a vase and he told the children not to tell, and when the children were questioned the next day in the presence of the magician they were less likely to incriminate
• Effects likely to increase when children have been threatened?
explain how cross-examination ? ideas?
• Child is questioned by the opposing lawyer
• Aim is to discredit testimony
• A “how not to” guide to interviewing children - the type of question asked go against everything you know in order to attain accurate info from children
• Questions are often leading, complex, confusing, and challenging to credibility - during cross examination you are allowed to ask leading questions
• Most children change at least one part of their earlier testimony - 75% of the kids made significant changes to their testimony - this could be under pressure of all the questions.
- We do not know the chnages in the testimony are towards or away from the truth we handle this by lab
• In the lab, cross-examination-style questioning is detrimental to accuracy
- Used the same type of questioning and asked kids about an event where we knew exactly what has happened.
- Go down to where lawyers are operating at chance
what is current situation for New Zealand child witness?
• 3 options for children giving evidence in sexual abuse trials:
- In courtroom, with a screen shielding witness from accused - From another room in the court, via CCTV - Via pre-recorded videotape
- Judge no longer warns jury that children are prone to distortion of facts
- The system is still by no means perfect
- Cross-examination still occurs live
- Reforms to the cross-examination process are in the pipeline
what is hours per day that american academy of paediatrics at the age of under 2
None
what is hours per day that american academy of paediatrics at the age of 2 year olds
none
what is hours per day that american academy of paediatrics at the age of 3-5 years olds
1 hour
what is hours per day that american academy of paediatrics at the age of 5-8 years olds
1 hour
what is hours per day that american academy of paediatrics at the age of 8 years and older?
1.5 to 2 hours
explain sesame street
- Children’s Television Workshop
- Targeted at 3- to 5-year-olds
- Aimed to foster intellectual and cultural curiosity in preschoolers
- Designed for children from disadvantaged backgrounds
- Broadcast to 50 countries
explain the ball and bogatz (1970)
Participants: 3- to 5-year-olds (N = 950)
5 cites in the US
Procedure: Alphabet and writing skill measured before and after a 26-week season of Sesame Street
Groups:
1. rarely watched 2. 2-3 times per week 3. 4-5 times per week 4. More than 5 times per week
what were the results of he ball and bogatz (1970)
- No difference in children’s scores as a function of viewing frequency prior to watching Sesame Street.
- Children from all groups increased on alphabet and writing skill.
- Children who watched Sesame Street the most exhibited the biggest gain on the alphabet and writing test.
- Children from disadvantaged backgrounds watched Sesame Street as much—and learned as much—as children from advantaged backgrounds.
- In fact, children from low SES families showed the biggest gains.
- Children learned even when they watched Sesame Street alone.
what are the claims made against tv viewing ?
Television watching in infancy delays development.
• Television mesmerises children.
• Children are overstimulated by television, leading to hyperactivity
. • Television displaces other valuable cognitive activities including homework.
• TV viewing decreases children’s reading achievement.
• Television viewing disrupts children’s sleep.
• Television violence has a negative effect on children and adolescents.
explain the Boyatzis, Matillo, & Nesbitt (1995) in terms how do researchers study the effect of violence on TV?
Participants: 52 children (mean age 7.75 years)
Procedure: “Power Rangers” condition (22-min, 140 aggressive acts)
Control condition - watched another show for 22 min with no aggressive acts
Each child observed for a 2-min period
Number of aggressive acts recorded by trained observer ( the observer was blind to the conditions to prevent biasness)
what were the results of the Boyatzis, Matillo, & Nesbitt (1995) in terms how do researchers study the effect of violence on TV?
Results:
- Boys committed more aggressive acts than girls - Those watching “Power Rangers” committed 7 aggressive acts for every aggressive act committed by a control child.
what were the holes in the Boyatzis, Matillo, & Nesbitt (1995) in terms how do researchers study the effect of violence on TV?
What this doesn’t tell us is that what happens after the 2 minutes, are these affects shirt lived or did would effects carry on in their life
explain the Huessman et al. (1984) experiment ?
Participants: 198 8-year-old boys and their parents
Procedure: Assessed preference for violent TV
- Re-interviewed boys at age 30
- Accessed Criminal Justice records for all boys
- Rated severity of criminal offences (violence rated higher)
state the results of the Huessman et al. (1984) experiment ?
- Boys who exhibited a higher preference for violent TV at age 8 had committed more serious crimes by the age of 30 years than boys who showed a lower preference for violent TV at age 8.
what is the verdict of tv?
- Even very young children can learn from TV.
- Extensive exposure to violent television does appear to have a reliable negative effect on children’s behaviour.
- Children who view shows in which violence is realistic, repeated, and/or unpunished are more likely to imitate what they see.
- Children with emotional, behavioral, learning or impulse control problems may be more easily influenced by TV violence.
what are the potential benefits of videogames?
- May be therapeutic and/or educational for children with chronic illnesses
• May improve fine motor skills and coordination
• May distract from physical and emotional pain
• May improve decision making skills and brain plasticity
• May foster persistence, resilience, and prosocial behaviour Claims made against videogame play are generally the same as those made against TV.
explain the Anderson & Dill (2000) Experiment 1in terms of the effects of videogames violence?
measured - Aggressive Personality Questionnaire
Delinquency
- Aggressive Delinquency
- Nonaggressive Delinquency
- Video game Usewhat were the results of the Anderson & Dill (2000) Experiment 1
91% reported videogame use
- Average time per week = 2.14 hours - Videogame use correlated with aggressive personality, nonaggressive delinquency and aggressive delinquency
what was the Anderson & Dill (2000) Experiment 2 about ?
Method: Aggressive Personality Questionnaire
- Assigned to one of two groups matched for aggressive personality
- Group 1 played Myst (nonviolent)
- Group 2 played Wolfenstein (violent)
- 3 x 15-minute sessions of play
- Competitive Reaction Task
what were the results of Anderson & Dill (2000) Experiment 2
- Overall, women delivered longer blasts than men I
- ndividuals with high scores on the APQ delivered longer blasts than those with low APQ scores
- Individuals who played the violent videogame delivered longer blasts than those who played the non-violent videogame
- This effect occurred even when other variables (e.g., gender, APQ score) were controlled for.
what is the verdict on videogames ?
Non-violent videogame use can have benefits
• Danger of violent videogames for children and young people should in theory be greater than the dangers of violent TV
o player is often the aggressor
o there are often rewards for aggression
• Studies on the effect of violent videogame use are plagued with methodological problems
• Studies that address these kinds of problems show that the effects on aggression tend to be significant, but relatively small
• Violent videogames with a prosocial or team-work component are likely to be less problematic
