Psychology 5a - Developmental Psychology Flashcards
1
Q
What is developmental psychology
A
- The scientific study of changes that occur in people
over the course of their life. - Changes in thought, behaviour, reasoning and
functioning (physical and psychological) occur. - Changes are influenced by biological, individual and environmental influences.
- Theories help us describe, identify and explain this
development and what effects it.
2
Q
How do hereditary and environmental factors affect human development?
A
- A baby born into an ancient hill tribe in Nepal is going to have different cultural needs to a baby born in White City, London.
- Nature sets out their course via gender, genetics,
temperament and maturational stages - Nurture shapes this predetermined course via the
environment; parenting, stimulation and nutrition - How a baby progresses (or not) depends on the
interchange between the changing environment and
the maturing organism
3
Q
Describe the hearing, smell, taste and sight of babies
A
- Babies are able to recognise their mother by hearing, smell and taste from the womb
- Babies can hear in the womb, receptive hearing beginning at week 16, and functional hearing at
week 24 - Babies can recognise the smell of their own amniotic fluid, their maternal breast odours, and show preference to the smell of their own mothers breast milk
- Newborns cannot sense salt until 4 months old, but they like sugar (sweetease), especially glutamate
- Babies have preference for looking at their mothers faces to other people, and prefer looking at happy faces
- Babies are dependent on their caregivers, therefore they are born with social skills to ensure they will be noticed
4
Q
What is reciprocal socialisation?
A
- A socialisation process that is bidirectional, children socialise parents as parents socialise children
- Babies do things, the parent responds and calms the baby
- Scaffolding - parents support and encourage the childs behaviour
- Still face experiment (babies get upset when a parent suddenly becomes unresponsive)
5
Q
How do parents encourage devleopment?
A
- Through scaffolding, reciprocal
socialisation, provision of a stimulating and enriching
environment (both physiologically and
psychologically), parents give babies the resources to thrive and develop. - An “internal working model” Bowlby (1969) is established through this social process; The baby doesn’t do this on his own but coordinates his systems with those of the people around him
6
Q
What is attachment?
A
- Theory defined by Bowlby which describes a biological instinct that seeks proximity to an attachment figure (carer) when threat is perceived or discomfort is experienced.
- The sense of safety the child experiences provides a secure base from which they can explore their environment thus promoting development through learning whilst being protected in the environment
- Begins before birth, supported by reciprocal socialisation
7
Q
What is attachment bond establishment mediated by?
A
- Mind-mindedness
- Where a parent considers their child as an individual with a mind, and therefore they responds as though their childs acts are meaningful (motivated by feelings, thoughts or intentions)
- This helps the child to understand other peoples emotions and actions
8
Q
Describe development of attachment over the first year
A
- Birth to 3 months; baby prefers people to inanimate objects, indiscriminate proximity seeking eg clinging to carer
- 3-8 months: smiles discriminately to main caregivers
- 8–12 months; selectively approaches main caregivers, uses social referencing / familiar adults as “secure base” to explore new situations; shows fear of strangers and separation anxiety
- From 12 months; the attachment behaviour can be measured reliably.
9
Q
How is attachment measured?
A
Ainsworth et al 1978
- Was designed to present children with an unusual, but not overwhelmingly frightening, experience.
- It tests how babies or young children respond to the temporary absence
of their mothers.
- Researchers are interested in how much the child explores the room on his own, and how the child responds to the return of his mother
- Identified 65% were securely attached children, and 35% insecurely attached children
10
Q
Describe action of securely attached children in the strange situation test
A
- Free exploration and happiness upon mother’s return.
- The securely-attached child explores the room freely when Mum is present. He
may be distressed when his mother leaves, and he explores less when she is absent. But he is happy when she returns. If he cries, he approaches his mother and holds her tightly. He is comforted by being held, and, once comforted, he is
soon ready to resume his independent exploration of the world. - His mother is
responsive to his needs. As a result, he knows he can depend on her when he is under stress
11
Q
List the three types of insecurely attached children
A
- Avoidant insecure children (little exploration and little response to mother - no preference for the mother over a complete stranger)
- Resistant insecure (ambivalent - little exploration, great separation anxiety and ambivalent response to the mother on return, as angry at the mother for leaving despite wanting to be close to the mother)
- Disorganized-insecure children (little exploration and confused response to mother - mix avoidant resistant behaviours, main theme is confusion and anxiety. At risk for behavioural and developmental problems)
12
Q
What are secure attachments associated with?
A
- Independence
- Emotional availability
- Better moods
- Better emotional coping
- Fewer behavioural problems, higher IQ and academic performance
- Contributes to childs moral development
- Reduces child distress
- In adulthood social competence, loyal friendships, more secure parenting of offpring, greater leadership qualities, resistance to stress, and less mental health problems
13
Q
Compare secure and insecure attachments
A
- Secure attachments formed in early
infancy are a protective factor
leading to resilience throughout the life span - Insecure
attachments place the individual at risk but are not causative for later problems.
14
Q
List benefits of play
A
- Engage & interact with world
- Create & explore own world
- Experience mastery & control
- Practice decision-making,
planning - Practice adult roles
- Promotes language
development - Promotes creative problem
solving - Overcome fears
- Develop new competencies
- Learn how to work in group
- Develop own interests
- Extend positive emotions
- Maintain healthy activity level
15
Q
List the types of play
A
- 0-2 Years Unoccupied / Solitary: He plays alone. There is limited interaction with other children.
- 2 to 2 ½ Years Spectator / onlooker : Observe other children playing
around him but will not play with them. - 2 ½ to 3 Years Parallel Play: alongside others but will not play together
with them. - 3-4 Years Associate: Starts to interact with others in their play and there may be fleeting co-operation between in play. Develops
friendships and the preferences for playing with some but not all other
children. Play is normally in mixed sex groups. - 4 – 6 Years Co-operative: Plays together with shared aims of play with
others. Play may be quite difficult and he’s supportive of other children in his play. As he reaches primary school age, play is normally in single
sex groups - 6+ Years Competitive: Play often involves rules and has a clear
“winner”.
16
Q
What is piagets stage model?
A
- Proposed that childrens thinking changes qualitatively with age
- The result of an interaction of the brains biological maturation and personal experiences
- Schemas are organised patterns of thoughts and action (development occurs as we acquire new schemas and existing schemas become more complex)
- Process of assimilation (incorporating new experience into existing schema) and accommodation (difference made by the process of assimilation) leads to adaptation (whereby new experiences cause existing schema to change
17
Q
List piagets stages of cognitive development
A
- Sensorimotor stage (birth to 2 years)
- Preoperational stage (2 to 7 years)
- Concreate operational stage (7 to 11 years)
- Formal operational stage (12 years and up)
18
Q
Describe Piagets sensorimotor stage
A
- Birth to 2 years
- Infants understand
their world primarily through sensory experiences and
physical (motor) interactions with objects - Object Permanence: the understanding that an object continues to exist even when it cannot be seen
- Gradually increasing use of words to represent
objects, needs, and actions - Learning is based on trial and error (although errors
do not become assimilated!)
19
Q
Describe Piagets preoperational stage
A
- Age 2-7
- The world is represented symbolically
through words and mental images; no understanding of basic mental operations or rules - Rapid language development
- Understanding of the past and future
- No understanding of Principle of Conservation: basic properties of objects stay the same even though their outward appearance may change
- Irreversibility: cannot mentally reverse actions
- Animism: attributing lifelike qualities to physical objects and natural events
- Egocentrism: difficulty in viewing the world from someone else’s perspective
20
Q
Describe Piagrets concrete operational stage
A
- Ages 7-12
- Children can
perform basic mental operations concerning problems that involve tangible (“concrete”) objects
and situations - Understand the concept of reversibility
- Display less egocentrism
- Easily solve conservation problems
- Trouble with hypothetical and abstract reasoning
21
Q
What happens in adolescence?
A
- Transition to Formal Operational stage; Where Abstract thought emerges.
- Adolescent begins to think more about moral, philosophical, ethical, social and political issues that require theoretical and abstract reasoning.
- Adolescence is a transitional stage of physical and psychological human development that generally occurs from
puberty (biologically defined period of rapid maturation in which a person becomes capable of sexual reproduction) to legal adulthood (a social construction). - Adolescence involves cognitive development and physical growth, as distinct from puberty, which can extend into the early twenties.
- Chronological age only provides a rough marker of adolescence.
- Begin to use deductive logic, or reasoning from a general principle to specific information.
22
Q
Describe cognitive changes in adolescence
A
- 12 – 25yrs extensive brain remodelling (myelinisation, synaptic pruning – reason for so much sleeping!)
- Cognitive changes may help journey from the secure world parent(s)
provided to fitting into world created by peers - Thrill seeking
- Openness to new experiences
- Risk taking
- Social rewards are very strong
- Prefer own age company
- Emotionality becomes less positive through early adolescence
– But level off and become more stable by late adolescence - Storms and stress more likely during adolescence than rest of the lifespan but not characteristic of all adolescents
23
Q
List limits/ criticisms of piaget
A
- Outcomes have been replicated in populations around
the world - Some researchers query whether children respond as
they do to please the adult asking the question - Some argue the (repeated) question is so weird (as the
answer is so obvious) the child thinks the adult wants or
expects you to change the original answer– when more
naturalistic ways of asking the questions were developed
children performed much better (Goswami and Pauen,
2005)
24
Q
Describe the development of a childs concept of death
A
- Under 5s: do not understand that death is final, universal, will take euphemisms concretely, may think they have caused death.
- 5 to 10 years: gradually develop idea of death as irreversible, all functions ended, universal/unavoidable, more empathic to another’s loss; may be preoccupied with justice
- 10yrs through adolescence: understand more of long-term consequences, able to think hypothetically, draw parallels, review
inconsistencies - Dependent on cognitive development and experience (pets,
extended family members)
25
Q
Define temperament
A
- The characteristics and aspects of personality that we are born with.
- For that reason, they are similar to traits in that they are both innate (born with these things) and enduring.
