PSY 341 - Exam 1 - PowerPoint Slides

Question 1

What is Love - Developmentally Speaking Power Point

Question 2

Attachment is the ______ internal working model of
relationships, established in the first ___ ______ of life by relationships with caregiver(s).

A strategy to keep caregiver ______.

______ is the need and ______ is the strategy.

Answer 2

unconscious / 2 years / close / love / attachment

Question 3

Can infants be depressed?

Answer 3

Symptoms (yes)
Biological Markers (yes)
Cognition (no)

Question 4

Stages of play & what they tell us about Friendships

• Birth - 3 months
• Birth - 2 years
• 2 years
• 2+ years
• 3-4 years

Answer 4

• Unoccupied Play (Birth-3 Months)
• Solitary Play (Birth-2 Years)
• Spectator/Onlooker Behavior (2 Years) During this stage a child begins to watch other children playing, does not play with them.
• Parallel Play (2+ Years) When a child plays alongside or near others but does not play with them.
• Associate Play (3-4 Years) When a child starts to want to play around other kids, but there is not a large amount of interaction at this stage.

Question 5

When a child plays together with others and has
interest in both the activity and other children
involved in playing they are participating in
cooperative play. WHY???

Empathy? Cognition? Both?

Answer 5

Cognitive therapy controls the response.

Question 6

DEVELOPMENTAL RESEARCH on IMPLICIT BIAS in YOUNG CHILDREN

1) Implicit Bias As young as 6 months, infants prefer “the _____.”

Answer 6

familiar

Question 7

DEVELOPMENTAL RESEARCH on IMPLICIT BIAS in YOUNG CHILDREN

2) How easily does bias become prejudice?

Answer 7

Very easily – in children aged 4-5 “snap judgments” were made
based on shirt color about how nice a person was when they were exposed to a short interaction between adults – that judgment was then independently applied to everyone with that shirt color.

Question 8

DEVELOPMENTAL RESEARCH on IMPLICIT BIAS in YOUNG CHILDREN

3) Can the bias to prejudice process be impacted positively in preschoolers, and how?

Answer 8

Yes – aged 4 ½ to 5 year old children respond positively to
resisting bias because it is a problem they are cognitively
capable of understanding & solving due to emerging THEORY OF MIND.

Question 9

When is the start of “real friendships?”
When is the peak experience of friendships?

Answer 9

Theory of Mind: (beginning around age 4-5) understand that thoughts are individual and private. Other people experience different things than you do, and even the same
experience may be interpreted differently by two people…

This is the start of “REAL FRIENDSHIPS”

MIDDLE CHILDHOOD: “peak” experience of friendships

Question 10

Starting around the onset of puberty (early adolescence), What are the neurotransmitters and hormones active in “romantic love?”

Answer 10

• High Cortisol (stress)
• High Oxytocin (Attachment)
• High Vasopressin (Sexual Attraction)
• High Dopamine (reward centers)
• LOW Serotonin (increases obsessive thinking, moodiness, and aggression)

Around puberty,your brain changes, and that changes your hormones.

Question 11

What are the brain regions that are “deactivated” by love?

Associated with c_____ s_____ j_____ and assessments of ______

Answer 11

Middle prefrontal, inferior parietal, and middle temporal cortices, amygdala, and temporal poles.

critical social judgments / trustworthiness.

Question 12

Is love in adolescence “real love”?

Question 13

STERNBERG: draw out the 3 main components of Love and the 7 Types of Love.

Question 14

1) What are we capable of developmentally?

Question 15

2) What meets our developmental needs?

Question 16

Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Model to understand Risk & Resilience Power Point

Question 17

At what level of Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Model do risk & protective factors operate?

Answer 17

(1) Micro-system: who & what do I interact with every day?
* Joey himself (internal), his immediate environment, relationships.

(2) Exo-system: family, finances, neighborhood, healthcare
* Circumstances in which Joey doesn’t directly
participate (family’s finances, foster mother’s health, social
worker’s responsibilities).

(3) Macro-system: Culture, economy, popular understanding of
infant development.
* The cultural impacts on Joey & his foster parents
(including foster care laws & cultural beliefs about child care).

(4) Meso-system: Relationships between micro systems (foster
mother/social worker)

(5) Chrono-system: Age, Developmental Level, Time

Question 18

What are proximal processes?

What needs to happen for them to be effective?

What is the exception?

Answer 18

Proximal processes: interaction in the immediate environment.

To be effective, an interaction must occur on a fairly regular basis over extended periods of time.

Exception: Trauma

Question 19

What is Trauma?

Answer 19

An emotional response to a terrible event.

• Immediately after the event, shock and denial are typical.
• Longer term reactions include unpredictable emotions,
  flashbacks, strained relationships, and even physical
  symptoms like headaches or nausea.

Question 20

What are the three types of trauma and what causes them?

Answer 20

1. Acute trauma results from a single incident.
2. Chronic trauma is repeated and prolonged such as
   domestic violence or abuse.
3. Complex trauma is exposure to varied and multiple
   traumatic events, often of an invasive, interpersonal
   nature.

Question 21

What is the difference between trauma and the effects of ongoing stress?

Answer 21

Chronic stress is an emotional or physical tension caused by an event or series of thoughts that make you feel angry, frustrated, or nervous.

Complex trauma is a condition of prolonged distress where the child feels they are trapped and experiencing abuse or neglect.

Question 22

What makes An event traumatic?

Answer 22

• Blame
• Long-lasting problems
• Out of the ordinary
• Developmental level
• Sudden / unexpected shock
• Perceived lack of control

Question 23

Before age 3 we have ______ memory (sense-based).

After age 3 we can encode and recall ______ memories (what
happened?)

Answer 23

Implicit / explicit

Question 24

The Developing Brain Power Point

Question 25

Fast & Profound: developmental changes from birth to age 3

6 weeks: ______ smile (brainstem)
9 weeks: ______ smile (other brain areas)

Answer 25

reflexive / social

Question 26

Why do infants like to look at faces?

Answer 26

Brain activity associated with processing a human face is much closer to an adult level in an infant, even though their visual processing system is far behind in other areas.

Question 27

What is the difference between imprinting and attachment?

Answer 27

Imprinting
* Konrad Lorenz
* Immediate after birth
* Irreversible
* Long term developmental impact

Attachment
* Starts after birth
* Happens gradually over first 3 years
* First year appears to be a “critical period” for SECURE ATTACHMENT, however, attachment may develop in first 3 years.

Question 28

In primates, the 6 “face patches” in the ______ ______
respond to dimensions of what makes a face different.

It suggests that the brain processes faces as a ______ ______ ______, not as a single structure.

Predictable neurons fired in response to ______ ______ or
______.

Answer 28

temporal lobe / sum of parts / key features / characteristics

Question 29

What happens during fight-or-flight?

Answer 29

Amygdala: activates this fight-or-flight response without any initiative from you.

Hypothalamus: Pituitary: secretes hormone ACTH

Kidneys: Adrenal gland: secretes epinephrine these result in the production of CORTISOL.

Question 30

KEY CONCEPT: Experience EXPECTANT and
Experience DEPENDENT neural development

Answer 30

Experience-expectant refers to the fact that the average or normal environment provides infants with the necessary input to develop the neural connections to enable the baby to function across these domains.

Experience-dependent includes their socio-emotional development, language and some of the higher aspects of cognitive development.

Question 31

What are critical & sensitive periods?

Answer 31

Critical: A period of moderate sensitivity to environmental influences or stimulation that at other times.
* Begins and ends abruptly.
* After this period, the phenomenon will not appear.

Sensitive: A period of maximum sensitivity to environmental influences or stimulation.
* Begins and ends gradually.
* Phenomenon may still be influenced beyond this period.

Question 32

Grammar largely relies on ______ area.
Storytelling also uses ______ area “meaningful signals” and comprehension. Researchers have demonstrated that when an infant hears a caregiver speak, there is brain activity in both ______ area and ______area.

Answer 32

Broca’s / Wernicke’s

Broca’s area is also located within the left hemisphere for most people and is another major language centre. In contrast to Wernicke’s area, which is involved in the comprehension of speech, Broca’s area is associated with the production of speech

Question 33

Is attachment the same as love?

Answer 33

“Attachment” is an UNCONSCIOUS WORKING MODEL
that determines what a child expects the people he
loves to do when he needs them. A child who has
routinely experienced comfort and acceptance will
develop expectations that close relationships work
that way. That’s what he will expect not only from his
parents, but from other people as well.

This belief, called “Secure Attachment”, makes him feel
safe in his home and confident to interact with others,
even when bad things happen or big feelings seem
overwhelming. Attachment patterns form the basis for
the way children understand other people,
themselves, and the world.

Question 34

What is the stress response?

Answer 34

• Is an important survival mechanism
• Is gradually regulated in an infant over their first year of life by the process of care-giving.
• The lack of a predictable, secure relationship with a caregiver can create a situation of chronic stress for an infant, toddler, or pre-schooler.

Question 35

Sensitive Period: Attachment
Orphanages in Romania

Attachment issues increased with age removed from
institution Inability to form Attachments or
Indescriminate Friendliness.

Answer 35

Fig. 4.
Magnitude of decrease in morning to afternoon cortisol levels, in μg/dL, following adoption from Chinese and Russian orphanages. At 2 months post adoption, the post institutionalized children have a significantly smaller decrease in cortisol across the day compared to a control group of family reared children. At 8 months post adoption, the
magnitude of decrease in cortisol is not significantly different for the two groups.

Question 36

What is the positive stress response, tolerable stress response and chronic stress response?

Answer 36

Positive stress response: is a normal and essential part of healthy development.
* characterized by: brief increases in heart rate and mild elevations in hormone levels.
* Some situations that might trigger a positive stress response are the first day with a new caregiver or receiving an injected immunization.

Tolerable stress response activates the body’s alert systems to a greater degree as a result of more severe, longer lasting difficulties, such as the loss of a loved one, a natural disaster, or a frightening injury.
* If the activation is time limited and buffered by relationships with adults who help the child adapt, the brain and other organs recover from what might otherwise be damaging effects.

Chronic Stress response: In many children, on going stress results in more negative behaviors, difficulty relating to others,
and paying attention. Neural testing showed more aggressive interactions may be due to selective attention to negative cues.

Severe chronic stress can create a “toxic” level of cortisol and inhibit brain development in the hippocampus.

Question 37

Psychobiology of Infant Stress

Answer 37

HPA axis

• Slow, difficult recovery from upset
• Less alert in the morning
• Elevated glucocorticoid levels damage the hippocampus
• Disruption of sleep/wake cycle
• Blunted diurnal cortisol in response to chronic stress
• Compromised immune response
• Disruption of sleep/wake cycle
• Hyper responsive to mild stressors

Question 38

What helps a child develop a well functioning stress response?

Answer 38

• A “Secure Attachment”** to a caregiver is the strongest
  protective factor, even if there are other stressors in the child’s
  environment.
• Comforting an infant/toddler when they are upset helps to
  normalize functioning of the stress response system.
• As the stress response system normalizes, self soothing
  becomes possible

*** the criteria for “Secure Attachment” are culture bound, however …. The role of the relationship in regulating the child and helping them manage stress is what we want to focus on.

Question 39

Attachment Power Point

Question 40

Question: Do babies notice how adults respond to them?

Do babies remember how adults respond to them?

Answer 40

Before the age of 3, we DO remember – just not in
“Declarative” (explicit) terms.

Question 41

Does creating a secure attachment mean being perfectly
attuned to your child 100% of the time?

Answer 41

Ed Tronick’s research (the “Still Face Paradigm”) indicated
that even secure children have parents who are attuned to
them about 30 % of the time.

The difference is that the parents of securely attached
children routinely “repair” breaks in communication or
connection.

Question 42

ATTACHMENT THEORY: JOHN BOWLBY,
1969
“lasting psychological connectedness between human
beings” (Bowlby, 1969, p. 194).
What establishes a secure attachment: NORMAL
CAREGIVING BEHAVIORS THAT ARE SENSITIVE TO THE
INFANT
What happens when this connection is lost temporarily?
What happens when it is gone too long?

Question 43

The Four Functions of Attachment & the developing brain

Answer 43

(1) Sense of Security: From birth, we need interaction with a primary caregiver in order to thrive.
* Secure attachment develops out of normal care-giving behaviors that are sensitive to an infant’s experience
*PROXIMAL PROCESSES!
* Starts in infancy
* Develops over the first years of life

(2) Regulation of Affect: Repeated experiences are shaping the
way a child experiences emotion.

(3) Expression of Feelings & Communication: From infancy, the brain is “wired” to communicate.

(4) A “Secure Base” for Exploration: Attachment to a primary caregiver is a normal part of brain
development.

Question 44

INSECURE ATTACHMENT

Insecure attachment may develop when caregiving behaviors are
chronically insensitive (interfering, rejecting, neglectful), or
unpredictable and inconsistent.
Subtypes: Ambivalent, Avoidant, Disorganized/Disoriented
(M. Main)
§ Insecure attachment is still attachment
§ Insecure attachment can be shifted towards Secure by changing
caregiver behaviors and beliefs about their child

Question 45

Evaluating attachment with the “strange situation.”
Classifications are neither clinical diagnoses or indications of
pathology.

(1) Secure Attachment is a ______ factor.
(2) Insecure Attachment is a ______ factor.

Answer 45

protective / risk

Question 46

PATTERNS OF ATTACHMENT

Answer 46

A: Secure
B: Insecure - Avoidant
C: Insecure – Ambivalent/Resistant (sometimes you will also see “anxious” applied to infant attachment)
D: Insecure – Disorganized / Disoriented

Question 47

A study that examined the role of
attachment security on how 18-
month old children respond to stress
found:

Answer 47

(1) Children with a more inhibited temperament (who had difficulty adjusting to new stimuli)
AND
(2) an insecure attachment relationship with their mother
Showed elevated cortisol levels when placed in new situations
(clown, robot, puppets)

Maternal behavior included
*too much (adult dismissing/”avoidant”)
*comforting behaviors that interfered with the child’s own attempts to regulate (adult anxious / preoccupied)

Question 48

How does the attachment bond in early childhood shape adult relationships?

Answer 48

Secure Childhood: Unhappy when the mother leaves and happy when she comes back.
Secure Adulthood: Confident in relationships and willing to ask for help from partner.

Avoidant Childhood: Does not want mother when she comes back and is distracted by the environment.
Avoidant Adulthood: Prefers life alone and doesn’t open up emotionally to partner.

Ambivalent Childhood: Very upset when the mother leaves and does not interact with the environment a lot.
Ambivalent Adulthood: Is always afraid to be rejected and obsessive to keep closeness.

Question 49

Is it possible to have adverse early experiences with a primary caregiver and still have secure attachment strategy?

Answer 49

The brain’s centers for reasoning and problem-solving form during early adulthood. Emotion regulation dramatically improves. Behavior inhibition and self-regulation improves. You can form new attachments if your friends/partners are secure in their attachments. We tend to go out and find what’s familiar.

Question 50

What establishes a secure attachment?

What happens when it is gone too long?

Answer 50

Normal care-giving behaviors that are sensitive to the child.

Question 51

What happens when this connection is lost temporarily? (& under what conditions?)

Answer 51

Under conditions of trauma without caregiver – Toxic
Stress.

Ordinary conditions of short-term separation, or longer
separation with a substitute caregiver – Tolerable Stress

Question 52

What are the three toxic stress responses?

Answer 52

Positive: Brief increases in heart rate and mild elevations in stress hormone levels.

Tolerable: Serious, temporary stress response, buffered by supporting relationships.

Toxic: Prolonged activation of stress response systems in the absence of protective relationships.

Question 53

The stress response…

Answer 53

(1) Is an important survival mechanism

(2) Is gradually regulated in an infant over their first year of life by the process of care-giving.

(3) The lack of a predictable, secure relationship with a caregiver can create a situation of chronic stress for an infant, toddler, or preschooler.

Question 54

What is the body’s stress response system?

One way to ascertain the functioning of the response system is to measure ________ – the “stress hormone.”

Answer 54

HPA Axis

cortisol

Question 55

HPA axis: Blunted diurnal cortisol in response to chronic stress:

Answer 55

(1) Compromised immune response
(2) Less alert in the morning
(3) Overall disruption of sleep/wake cycle
(4) Elevated glucocorticoid levels damage the hippocampus
(5) Hyper-responsive to mild stressors
(6) Slow, difficult recovery from upset

Question 56

Chronic stress in Children

In many children, on-going stress results in more negative behaviors, difficulty relating to others, paying attention.
Neural testing showed more aggressive interactions may be due to ______ ______ ______ ______ cues.
Severe chronic stress can create a “toxic” level of ______ and inhibit brain development in the ______.

Answer 56

selective attention to negative / cortisol / hippocampus

Question 57

What helps a child develop a well-functioning stress response?

Answer 57

(1) A “Secure Attachment”** to a caregiver is the strongest protective factor, even if there are other stressors in the child’s environment.

(2) Comforting an infant/toddler when they are upset helps to normalize functioning of the stress response system.

(3) As the stress response system normalizes, self-soothing becomes possible.

Question 58

PTSD in children under 6-years-old

Answer 58

(1) Reaction at time of trauma deleted as a criteria
(2) “recurrent, intrusive, distressing recollections of the
event” – some children don’t express overt distress over
recurrent or unwanted thoughts
(3) Avoidance symptoms – constricted play / social
withdrawal, numbing of affect
(4) Increased arousal symptoms – extreme temper tantrums

Question 59

What makes an event “traumatic?”

Answer 59

• Sudden / unexpected shock
• Perceived lack of control
• Out of the ordinary
• Degree to which it creates long-lasting problems
• Blame
• Developmental level

Question 60

What are the four functions of attachment & the developing brain?

Answer 60

(1) Sense of Security
(2) Regulation of Affect: Repeated experiences are shaping the
way a child experiences emotion
(3) Expression of Feelings & Communication
(4) A “Secure Base” for Exploration: Attachment to a primary caregiver (including separation anxiety) is a normal part of brain development.

Question 61

Can we maintain our “identity” when connecting
with others?

Answer 61

Anxious personality: primary goal is to not lose the relationship. Will change who they are to fit in with the other person and have a hard time maintaining an identity - what if they don’t like it?

Avoidant personality: hard time sharing life / feelings and being a part of something that is not just them. They feel like they’re losing their identity by having someone too close.

Question 62

Child: Secure (B)
Explores room and toys with interest in
pre-separation episodes. Shows signs of
missing parent during separation, often
crying by the second separation.
Obvious preference for parent over
stranger greets parent actively, usually
initiating physical contact. Usually some
contact maintained. Returns to play.

Answer 62

Adult: Secure/autonomous (F)
Coherent, collaborative
discourse. Valuing of
attachment, but seems objective
regarding any particular event or
relationship. Description and
evaluation of attachment-related
experiences is consistent,
whether experiences are
favorable or unfavorable.

Question 63

Child: Disorganized/disoriented (D)
The infant displays disorganized and or disoriented behaviors in the parent’s presence, suggesting a temporary collapse of behavioral strategy. For example, the infant may freeze with a trance-like expression, hands in air; may rise at parents entrance, then fall prone and huddled on the floor; or may cling while crying hard and leaning away with gaze averted. Infant will ordinarily otherwise fit A,B or C categories.

Answer 63

Adult: Unresolved /disorganized (U) - never your dominant strategy.
During discussions of loss or abuse, individual shows striking
lapse in the monitoring of reasoning or discourse. For example, individual may briefly indicate a belief that a dead person is still alive in the physical sense, or that this person was killed by a childhood thought. Individual may lapse into prolonged silence or eulogistic speech. The speaker will ordinarily otherwise fit D’s E or F categories.

Question 64

Child: Avoidant (A)
Fails to cry on separation from parent. Actively avoids and
ignores parent on reunion(by moving away, turning away or
leaning out of arms when picked up). Little or no proximity of contact-seeking. No distress and no anger. Response to parent appears unemotional. Focuses on toys or environment throughout procedure.

Answer 64

Adult: Dismissing (Ds)
Not coherent. Dismissing of attachment-related experiences and relationships. Normalizing (excellent, very normal mother’), with generalized representations of history unsupported or actively contradicted by episodes recounted.
Transcripts also tend to be excessively brief.

Question 65

Child: Anxious / ambivalent (C)
May be wary or distressed even before separation, with
little exploration. Preoccupied with parent throughout
procedure: may appear angry or passive. Fails to settle
and take comfort in parent on reunion, and usually
continues to focus on parent and cry. Fails to return to
exploration after reunion.

Answer 65

Adult: Anxious / Preoccupied (E)
Not coherent. Preoccupied with or by past attachment
relationships or experiences, speaker appears angry,
passive or fearful. Sentences often long, grammatically
entangled, or filled with vague usages, inappropriate
manner and relevance. Transcripts often excessively long.

Question 66

Anatomical changes in the emerging adult brain.

In just the first 6 months of college, brains changed in specific areas:

(a) inferior anterior cingulate gyrus
(b) right posterior insula and bilateral claustrum
(c) caudate head
(d) right claustrum

All areas associated with Emotion, Motivation, and Self-awareness.

Question 67

What builds secure attachment?

Answer 67

(1) Repeated experiences of sensitive, responsive interaction with a primary attachment figure.
(2) Regulates HPA axis: “re-wires” reward and fear circuits with regard to relationships and improves “pro-social” behavior.