Q1 Notes Flashcards
order of development
prenatal(conception to birth), infancy(birth to 12 months), toddlerhood(12-36 months), early childhood(3-6), middle childhood(6-10), adolescence(10-18)
nomothetic
general description of species
wide lens
ideographic
unique description of individuals
sampling error
weakness of the research study
often the research is not representative of the group that the results are meant for
often over-represent white, middle-class
(WEIRD - western, educated, industrialized, rich, democratic)
validity
actually measuring the construct you are trying to measure
are we really testing what we are trying to test?
may be invalid due to biases - how they grew up/information they already know
validity can lead to a measurement error within a research study
reliability
reliable - getting results that hover around the true value
unreliable - not getting the precise score each time - comes from an error in administration or scoring of the test
can also be unreliable also from the context of the test - when/where it is done, time of day
unreliability can lead to measurement error in a research study
bias
often experimenters have an idea of what they think will happen, so they begin to look for it to happen(confirmation bias)
- can affect acceptance into academic research article
misinterpretation of correlational data
correlation does not mean causation
correlation can range from 0-1(1 being perfect correlation)
problematic: the confounding variables that affect both of the variables we are looking at
ex. parents wanting smart babies may buy the baby einstein videos but will also put their kid in private schools
also can’t tell which way the relationship is going
to fix this problem: need to do an actual experiment - can do random assignment to a experimental group and control group(could do nothing or do something else similar)
this affects academic research articles and popular press reports
sensationalization
used to sell copies or to get clicks/likes
can often be misleading
nature vs. nurture
nature - Plato, the biology of a person
nurture - Aristotle, the env(physical and social) children are exposed to as they grow up
nativism
knowledge is innate and is all in you when you are born and unfolds as you mature
domain-specific modules within the brain
maturation is the sole developmental force
empiricism
following Aristotle, John Locke
mind is a blank slate
basic senses and domain-general learning
environmental experience is sole developmental force
domain general learning
comes from empiricism
fundamental framing seen in all types of learning
includes: associative learning, transition probabilities, operant conditioning
examples: accessing memories, keeping track of associations, and focusing attentions
(think about things that you would need to access in order to all of these 4 things: read, do math problems, play chess, and socialize with friends)
associative learning
keep track of regularities in the environment
experiences that regularly co-occur, we tend to associate them together and the more we see it, the stronger it becomes
infants use this very often for learning, trying to learn the order of speech stream - transitional probabilities
transitional probabilities
how likely you are going to here one sound after another
PRE 80% chanced followed by TTY 0.02% chance this is followed by BABY because a lot of things can go after T
operant conditioning
tend to repeat behavior with positive reward
tend to reduce behavior with negative punishment
limitations of empiricism
overabundance of information problem: if the infant is a blank slate, then how do they know how to link/organize all of the information in their brain
how do they figure out what to focus on/how to make sense of it
limitations of nativism
how do we know it’s innate
- are we born with it? (looking at how we have universality - all prefer mothers’ voice, and differentiation - all babies show dif emotion profiles)
these could all be because we have had similar/different other experiences either in our out of utero
- skill emerges without relevant experience?
or is it that other factors that we aren’t recognizing are leading to the skill that the child is experiencing - strongly linked to genetics
looking at genetic disorders to see how some mutations may have a role in some developmental problems
looking at identical twins - nature vs. nurture, hard to study because you would have to separate the twins which is unethical - does happen in some adoptive situations
*transactional interplay of nature and nurture
*genetics affects phenotype, phenotype affects interaction with the environment, the environment then affects the phenotype
teratogen
environmental factors that can cause harm during prenatal development
- thalidomide: med for morning sickness, led to underdeveloped limbs
neonatal abstinence syndrome
teratogen = opioids
newborns are opioid addicted - born in withdrawal
begin their life going cold turkey
fetal assault laws
mothers charged with crime if babies born with drugs found in their system
could either go to jail or rehab - most chose rehab(problem - lack of center, insurance, going cold turkey during pregnancy is dangerous for mom and baby)
lack of research of long-term effects of drugs on babies later in life(lots of confounding factors)
nicotine
teratogen
low birth-weight, cognitive deficits(attention/learning), mood disorders(depression/anxiety)
alcohol
teratogen
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome spectrum
- growth decrease, facial anamolies, CNS dysfunction(microcephaly, thin corpus callosum, malformed dendritic spines), trouble with intellectual development(memory, attention, self-regulation), academic success, social relationships, job success, + delinquency
amount of alcohol matters - dose-response relationship
- FAS is a spectrum
timing matters
- whatever is developing at that time is what’s affected
- CNS is developed throughout the entire pregnancy
why do 10% of women still drink during pregnancy
- triggers/addiction
- not knowing they’re pregnant
- lack of information(alcohol so imbedded in our culture)
- disbelief of information
- adversity and addiction
chemicals and pollutants
teratogen
ex. - lead
leads to IQ decrease
greatest exposure is lead-based paint which is mainly gone except in low-income communities
taxoplasmosis
teratogen(maternal health: disease)
mothers get if from cat litter
causes malformation of eyes, premature births
zika
teratogen(maternal health: disease)
causes microcephaly
malnourishment
teratogen(maternal health: disease)
causes low birth weight
lack of folic acid - spina bifida
lack of iodine - goiter
fetal learning(what begins when)
habituate to light and sound by the fourth month
- can tell bc the first time they experience it the HR will go up, but the second time it won’t go up as much –> remember it
remember stories read to them in last trimester
- mothers read cat in the hat for 6 months, tested when babes are born by testing their sucking pattern - adjusted it to hear their mother speaking more
taste shaped in utero by what the mother eats
- seen with carrots
epigenetics
experience can change how DNA is expressed - doesn’t actually change the DNA, just what is strongly expressed in the phenotype
(acetylation vs. methylation)
environmental factors surrounding parents(stress/diet) affect what parts of the genome are expressed
ex. fathers who drank before conceiving a child were more likely to have children with FAS-like effects, even when the mother didn’t drink at all
- could be caused by an epigentic effect from the alcohol in the sperm
premature birth
born 3 or more weeks early
occurs in around 12% of births worldwide(depends on area)
causes of premature birth
teratogens: nicotine, alcohol, opioids
health of the mother: young, diabetes, stress, overweight, malnourished
multiple births: many babies in the womb at the same time
race: 50% more likely among black women compared to white woman
gestational age
start date of last period to birth
survival rate depends on the gestational age
premature survival rates
born within 4 weeks of normal term(40 weeks) - very little chance of dying
28 weeks - 6% mortality rate
24 weeks - 40% mortality rate
- US age of viability
steep increase of mortality rate after 24 weeks
depends on gestational age, weight(smaller babies have a higher mortality rate), and gender+race(black girls have highest survival rate, white boys have lowest survival rate)
U.S. age of viability
24 weeks
premature baby areas of concern
underdeveloped digestive system
lack of fat - hard to control body temperature
weak immune system
underdeveloped lungs
-before 28 weeks: alveoli don’t have elasticity - can’t take in O2 well - possibility of hypoxia(lack of O2 in the brain), harms brain development
IVH: intra-ventricular hemorrhaging, bleed that leaks and fills the ventricles, causing pressure in surrounding tissue
- babies small for their gestational age impacted a lot by this
- when this happens matters - what in the brain is developing is what will be impacted
short-term effects of premature birth
more time spent crying
disrupted sleep patterns(extreme)
weak muscles –> feeding problems
sensory deficits(especially vision since that develops very late)
long-term effects of premature birth
high-prevalence/low severity cognitive outcomes
micro-preemies
born on cusp of viability(right under 24 weeks in the US)
should doctors intervene?
no: high likelihood of death or serious long-term disability, extreme stain on infant and family, financial costs
yes: ambiguity of gestational age, possibility of outcomes, inability to judge impact of disability on quality of life
kangaroo care
often used for micropreemies
skin-to-skin contact
can improve O2, feeding, development, and relationship with parents
breastmilk
high in fat and protein
highly digestible
transfers antibodies to infant
supports cognitive development
most important for preemies, but they are the hardest to breastfeed –> trouble latching and underdeveloped digestive system
biological constraints (motor development)
some sort of genetic programming to develop how we do
- we think this bc most children hit all of the same milestones
- there is normal variability from these milestones(some kids skip crawling all together)
motor delays
first prediction to problems(cerebral palsy, autism, william’s syndrome)
ex. expected movements:
laying down - head in midline, antigravity of arms and legs, can lift pelvis, plays with toys in antigravity
sitting up - good back extension, head in midline, sitting up right
standing - bear weight on flat feet, stand straight, some leg movement
motor delays: lack of symmetry, overextension, can’t sit up straight, can’t be in antigravity conformation
motor delays can indicate problems, but they don’t always, some problems resolve themselves, and many really respond to early intervention
environmental impact (motor development)
motor development is affected by parenting attitude, childbearing practices, sleeping position, + clothing
sleeping on back to prevent SIDS but delayed other milestones(decreases growth in neck strength)
tribes in Kenya - run babies through physical exercises, sit/stand 1-2 months earlier than other babies
clothing - bulky cloth diapers slow down walking about 2 months
disposable decreases this milestone by about 1 month
dynamic challenges of action (motor development)
motor development relies heavily on cognitive development and function
specific environmental contexts change - child needs to be constantly adapting to thoughts and body
children’s bodies are constantly changing (ex. spacial reach of limbs)
need to adapt to new problems: new locations, textures, slopes - how do I move across this and stay stable?
systematic modes of action
lying –> sitting
sitting –> crawling
crawling –> walking
when you change from one to the other, different muscles are recruited + a whole new environment is opened up
good transfer in motion abilities across contexts(surfaces) once a child learns how to adapt within a particular systematic mode of action
poor transfer across systematic modes of action even with the same context(don’t understand gaps when they switch from seated to crawling)
ex. children who understand their boundaries w/ sitting have to relearn for crawling
crawling vs. walking
walking is better because allows for more interaction bc hands are free –> often leads to richer conversations with adults
walking expends less energy over longer distances
on average: 2.368 steps, 701 m, 17 falls/1 hr
long-term importance of milestones
motor development milestones often correlate with cognitive skills
fine motor skills
ability to manipulate objects
move arm in space and interact with object - grasp - manipulate - coordinate with other arm - bang objects together
video - babies given sticky mittens to see what it’s like to pick things us - brought it right up to their mouths - has broad implications to developmental psychology
motor development (4 e’s)
embodied - constrained by child’s physical body
embedded - actions taking place in an environment/context
encultured - guided by attitude, expectations, and child care practices around you
enabling - motor development allows for other areas of development
