PSYC 142: Chapter 2

Question 1

What is Causing Jorge’s Problems?

Answer 1

• Children’s problems must be considered in relation to multiple levels of influence ­ individual, family, community, and culture—- Factors may be contained within the child or child’s immediate surroundings
• Possible causes of a child’s behavior:
  1. Biological influences
  2. Emotional influences
  3. Behavioral and cognitive influences
  4. Family, cultural, and ethnic influences
  Factors in each area impact and interact with the other areas

Question 2

Theoretical Foundations

Answer 2

• Defining child abnormality involves:
  ~ The context of children’s ongoing adaptation and development
  ~ Sorting out the causes of identified problems
• Abnormal behavior studies require:
  ~ An understanding of development and individual events that can impact a child’s life
• Studying normal development informs our theories of abnormal development
• Clinical and research activity begins with theoretical formulations for guidance and information
• Theory: a language of science that allows us to assemble and communicate existing knowledge effectively
  ~ Allows us to make educated guesses and predictions about behavior based on samples of knowledge
• Etiology: the study of the causes of childhood disorders
  ~ Considers how biological, psychological, and environmental processes interact to produce outcomes observed over time
• Multiple, interactive causes help in understanding the complexity of disorders

Question 3

Developmental Psychopathology Perspective

Answer 3

• Abnormal development is multiplied determined
  ~ Must look beyond current symptoms
  ~ Consider developmental pathways and interacting events
• Children and environments are interdependent ­ transactional view
  ~ Both children and the environment as active contributors to adaptive and maladaptive behavior
• Abnormal development involves continuities and discontinuities
  ~ Continuity ­ developmental changes are gradual and quantitative(measure); predictive of future behavior patterns
  ~ Discontinuity ­ developmental changes are abrupt and qualitative(related to); not predictive of future behavior patterns

Question 4

An Integrative Approach

Answer 4

• No single theoretical orientation explains various behaviors or disorders
  ~ Models considering more than one primary cause are still limited by the boundaries of their discipline or orientation
• Abnormal child behavior is best studied from a multi­theoretical perspective
• Knowledge increases through research

Question 5

Developmental Considerations

Answer 5

Adaptational failure: unsuccessful progress in developmental milestones
~ Children with psychological disorders differ from their peers in some aspect of normal development
~ Several causes are involved in operating in dynamic and interactive ways

Question 6

Organization of Development

Answer 6

• Early patterns of adaptation evolve with structure over time
• Sensitive periods: times during which environmental influences on development are enhanced
• Development is a process of increasing differentiation and integration
  ~ Current abilities or limitations are influenced by prior accomplishments

Question 7

Biological Perspectives

Answer 7

Neurobiological perspective
- The brain is seen as the underlying cause of psychological disorders
- The fetal brain develops from all­purpose cells into a complex organ
- Neurons with axons develop
- Synapses form
Prenatal development by the fifth month
- axon development
During early childhood
- Synapses multiply; then selective pruning reduces the number of connections
Throughout life, the brain’s microanatomy is constantly redefined

Question 8

Neural Plasticity and the Role of Experience

Answer 8

Neural plasticity: the brain’s anatomical differentiation is use­dependent
- Nature and nurture both contribute
Experience plays a critical role in brain development
Examples of environmental experiences:
- prenatal environment
- childhood illness and diet
- early caregiving, including maltreatment, inadequate stimulation, and attachment
Maturation of the brain
1. Areas governing basic sensory and motor skills mature during the first 3 years of life
2. Perceptual and instinctive centers are strongly affected by early childhood experiences
3. Prefrontal cortex and cerebellum are not rewired until 5 to 7 years old
4. Major restructuring occurs from ages 9 to 11 due to pubertal development and again in adolescence
Consequences of a traumatic experience may be difficult to change
- Problems occurring at a younger age are associated with more severe organic disorders and complications

Question 9

Genetic Contributions

Answer 9

Genes contain genetic information from each parent
- Genetic influences may be expressed early in development or show up years later
Rarely is one gene the single cause of a disorder

Question 10

Neurobiological Contributions

Answer 10

Brain structure and functions:

The brain stem handles most of the autonomic functions necessary to stay alive

Question 11

Hindbrain (medulla, pons, and cerebellum)

Answer 11

provides regulation of autonomic activities

Question 12

Midbrain

Answer 12

Coordinates movement with sensory input; contains reticular activating system (RAS)

Question 13

Forebrain

Answer 13

highly specialized functions
- Limbic system:
~ Regulates emotional experiences and expressions; plays a significant role in learning and impulse control
~ Regulates emotional experiences and expressions; plays a significant role in learning and impulse control
~ Regulates basic drives of sex, aggression, hunger, and thirst

Basal ganglia

• Regulates, organizes, and filters information related to cognition, emotions, mood, and motor function
• Is associated with ADHD, motor behaviors (e.g., tics), and OCD

Question 14

Psychological Perspectives

Answer 14

• value in explaining the development of psychopathology
  ~ Transactions must be considered
• Emotions play a role in establishing an infants ability to adapt to new surroundings
• Behavioral and cognitive processes assist a young child in making sense of the world

Question 15

Emotional Influences

Answer 15

Emotions and affective expression

• Are core elements of human psychological experience
• Are a central feature of infant activity and regulation
• Tell us what to pay attention to/what to ignore
• Affect the quality of social interactions and relationships
• Are important for internal monitoring and guidance

Question 16

Emotion reactivity

Answer 16

individual differences in the threshold and intensity of the emotional experience

Question 17

Emotion regulation

Answer 17

involves enhancing, maintaining, or inhibiting emotional arousal (action)

Question 18

Temperament

Answer 18

an organized style of behavior that appears early in development
- Shapes an individual’s approach to his or her environment and vice versa
3 primary dimensions
- Positive affect and approach
- Fearful or inhibited
- Negative affect or irritability

Question 19

Self-regulation

Answer 19

a balance between emotional reactivity and self­control

Question 20

Behavioral and Cognitive Influences

Answer 20

Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA)
- Explains behavior as a function of its antecedents and consequences
4 primary operant learning principles:
         1. Positive reinforcement
         2. Negative reinforcement
         3. extinction 
         4. punishment

Question 21

Social Learning Theory

Answer 21

relies more on cognitive processes and explanations:
Albert Bandura
- learning is a cognitive process that takes place in a social context and can happen through observation or direct instruction.
- It can also happen through the observation of rewards and punishments, a process known as vicarious reinforcement.

Question 22

Shared environment

Answer 22

environmental factors that produce similarities in developmental outcomes among siblings in the same family

Question 23

Non-shared environment

Answer 23

environmental factors that produce behavioral differences among siblings in the same family

Question 24

Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/b3/ea/12/b3ea1271ff0231a44e854c9dbf82da70.gif

Answer 24

The child’s environment is a series of nested and interconnected structures with the child at the center

Question 25

Attachment

Answer 25

the process of establishing and maintaining an emotional bond with parents or other significant individuals

• An ongoing process beginning between 6­12 months of age
• An internal working model of relationships comes from a child’s initial crucial relationship

Question 26

4 patterns of attachment

Answer 26

To describe the relationship btw. the infant and the caregiver before and after separation
1. Secure( the best)
2. Insecure anxious­ - avoidant
3. Insecure anxious - ­resistant
4. Disorganized, disoriented (not an organized strategy)
Insecure attachments are implicated in a number of childhood disorders

Question 27

Insecure anxious­ - avoidant

Answer 27

Infant engages in the exploration, but with little effective interaction with the caregiver.

Question 28

Insecure anxious - ­resistant

Answer 28

Infant shows disinterest in or resistance to exploration and play.
The infant has difficulty set­tling when reunited with a caregiver, keep crying and fussiness.

Question 29

The Family and Peer Context

Answer 29

Child psychopathology research has increasingly focused on the role of:

• The family system: Subsystems receiving most attention involve roles of mother­child and the marital couple; Less attention is given to roles of siblings and fathers
• The complex relationships within families
• The reciprocal influences among various family subsystems