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Psychology Aqa As > Section 2 Developmental Approach > Flashcards

Section 2 Developmental Approach Flashcards

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1
Q

What is the Developmental Approach?

A

The Developmental Approach is the way we change and develop throughout our lives, how we do it and why it happens

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2
Q

What different observational research methods are used in developmental approach?

A

Naturalistic Observational studies

Controlled observational studies

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3
Q

What is an advantage of naturalistic observation?

A

Ecological validity

Behaviour will be natural because the subject is in real-life, familiar setting

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4
Q

What is a disadvantage of naturalistic observation?

A

Extraneous variables

There is no control over the variables, so you can’t be sure what caused your results

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5
Q

What is an advantage of controlled observation?

A

Control - the effect of extraneous variables is minimised, so you are able to establish cause and effect

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6
Q

What is a disadvantage of controlled observations?

A

Observer bias - the observer’s expectation may affect what the focus on and record, so the reliability of the results might be problem. Another observer might have come up with very different results

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7
Q

When an observer observes a child in its own environment without manipulating any variables - what kind of research method is that?

A

Naturalistic observational study

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8
Q

When a child is observed by a researcher, usually in a laboratory setting and some of the variables are controlled - what kind of research method is this?

A

Controlled observation

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9
Q

What are correlation all studies?

A

Correlational studies look for relationships between variables

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10
Q

Where does data for correlational studies come from?

A

Often from surveys, questionnaires and interviews

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11
Q

When two variables correlate - does that mean one causes the other?

A

No!

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12
Q

What is an advantage of correlational studies?

A

Ethical - you can study variables that would e unethical to manipulate e.g. Whether there’s a relationship between smoking during pregnancy and low birthweight

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13
Q

What is a disadvantage of correlational studies?

A

Causal relationships - these cant be assumed from a correlation. Results may be a third, unknown variable.

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14
Q

Psychologists often look at detailed descriptions of one person - what is this kind of research method called?

A

Case study

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15
Q

What is an advantage of case studies?

A

Rich data - researchers have the opportunity to study rare phenomena in great detail

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16
Q

What is a disadvantage of using case studies?

A

It is hard to generalise results from a single case

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17
Q

What are clinical interviews?

A

Clinical interviews are semi-structured - this means that the researcher asks some specific questions, but also let’s the participant talk about what they want

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18
Q

What is an advantage of interviews?

A

Rich data - especially from open-ended questions

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19
Q

What is a disadvantage of interviews?

A

Participants - for example children can have implicit knowledge but be unable to verbalise it, so their skills can be underestimated

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20
Q

Experiments can have a longitudinal or cross-sectional design used alongside the research method. What is a longitudinal design?

A

Tests the same people as they grow older

Plots the group average and assesses whether change is gradual or stage-like

Can be look at retrospective data

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21
Q

What is an advantage of longitudinal studies?

A

Detailed data about the same people, and individual differences are taken into account

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22
Q

What is a disadvantage of longitudinal design?

A

Studying the development of the same people can take years, so it’s time-consuming and costly

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23
Q

What is a cross-sectional design?

A

A cross-sectional design tests different people of different ages. For example if you wanted to look at how vocabulary increases with age - you could do a longitudinal study on one child over a number of years or you could measure the vocabulary of children in different year groups.

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24
Q

What is an advantage of cross-sectional design?

A

They provide a quick estimate of developmental changes, and are much less time consuming than a longitudinal design

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25
Q

What is a disadvantage of a cross-sectional design?

A

They don’t take individual difference into account. Different people are measured at each age, so you can’t be sure that all developed in the same way

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26
Q

What are some of the problems with studying children?

A

Children might not understand the implications of participating in a study - researchers need informed consent from guardian

Every care has to be taken to inform children of their rights e.g. Right to withdraw

Researchers need to make sure that no psychological or physiological harm

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27
Q

What are the advantages of animal studies?

A

Some research designs couldn’t have been conducted on humans ethically- e.g. Harlow’s study of attachment, where young monkeys were separated from their mothers
see YOUTUBE “HARRY HARLOW MONKEY EXPERIMENT CONTACT COMFORT” by Fi3021

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28
Q

Name a disadvantage of animal studies?

A

Some see it as unethical to inflict suffering on animals, especially when they can’t give consent. Animals and humans are different,so you can’t generalise results from one species to the other.

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29
Q

What is attachment?

A

Attachment is. A close emotional relationship between infants and their caregivers

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30
Q

What are normal emotional responses for an attached infants?

A

Desire to be close to primary caregiver
Distress when parted
Pleasure when reunited

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31
Q

What is learning theory or behaviourist theory?

A

The theory to explain how a baby wants to fulfil it’s needs and learns by conditioning

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32
Q

Name two kinds of conditioning

A

Classical conditioning and operant conditioning

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33
Q

What is classical conditioning?

A

This is about learning associations between different things in the environment
Like
Need food Mum brings. Association between mum and food thus attachment formed

34
Q

What is operant conditioning?

A

Dollard and Miller (1950) claimed that babies feel discomfort when hungry and want food to remove this discomfort. This is negative reinforcement. The mother and food are still associated and attachment is still made.

35
Q

Name an experiment that showed that baby monkeys did not necessarily attach to the mother that fed them

A

Harlow (1959)
Method Theseus monkeys raised with wire mesh and bottle mother and cloth mother. The babies all clung to the cloth mother and only fed off the wire mother. The monkeys grew up and displayed emotional and social disturbances. The females made aggressively bad mothers
Conclusion. Baby monkeys form contact comfort attachments. Growing up in isolation affected their development.
Evaluation. Lab experiment so strict control of variables
The findings were applied to human babies in hospitals
However it had ethical problems and lacked ecological validity

36
Q

What is ethology?

A

Ethology is the study of animals in their natural environment

37
Q

What Did konrad Lorenz (1935) find?

A

He found that young geese automatically attach to the first moving thing they see after they hatch and follow it everywhere. This is called imprinting
Imprinting seems to occur during a critical period (the first few hours after hatching) and is fast and automatic.
SEE YOUTUBE “KONRAD LORENZ EXPERIMENT WITH GEESE” by juancarlosboada

38
Q

Can a human baby imprint?

A

It is unlikely. Our attachments take a longer time to develop and are not automatic - quality care seems to be important in human attachment formation

39
Q

Describe John Bowlby’s Evolutionary Theory

A

Bowlby’s (1951) argued that something like imprinting occurs in humans his claims were:
1. We have evolved a biological need to attach to our main caregiver (Monotropy) this is a good survival tactic
2. A strong attachment provides a ‘safe base’ to explore from
3. It gives us a ‘template’ for future relationships
4. The first 3 years are the critical period for this attachment to develop
5. If the attachment doesn’t develop it may affect the child’s social and emotional development
SEE YOUTUBE “BOWLBY’S ‘MONOTROPY’-A CHILD’S TIE TO HIS MOTHER-CHILDREN’S RIGHTS” by evenToddlers

40
Q

What are the evidence for Bowlby’s Theory?

A
  1. Harlow’s study (rhesus monkeys) supports the idea that we have evolved a need to attach
41
Q

What is the evidence against Bowlby’s Evolutionary Theory

A

Schaffer and Emerson (1964) provided evidence against Bowlby’s claims about monotropy. They found that children formed multiple attachments and may not attach to their mother

Harlow’s study of monkeys raised in isolation also goes against monotropy. Other monkeys raised without a mother but with each other, attached to each other instead and didn’t show signs of social and emotional disturbance

There is mixed evidence for the critical period for attachments to develop

The effect of attachment not forming or being broken may not be as bad as Bowlby claimed

42
Q

Name the two types of attachment

A

Secure and insecure attachments

43
Q

What is secure attachment?

A

In a secure attachment there is a strong bond between child and caregiver. If separated the child will be distressed. When reunited the child will be comforted by caregiver. Secure attachments are associated with a healthy cognitive and emotional development

44
Q

What are the two types of insecure attachment

A

Insecure avoidant

Insecure resistant

45
Q

What is insecure avoidant

A

Insecure avoidant means that if the child is separated from the caregiver the child does not become distressed can be comforted by a stranger. This type of attachment is shown by children who generally avoid social interaction and intimacy with others

46
Q

What is insecure resistant?

A

The child is often uneasy around their caregiver but becomes upset if they are separated.
Comfort can’t be given by a stranger but the caregiver often can’t give comfort either. Children with this form of attachment both accept and reject social interaction and intimacy

47
Q

How can you tell if a child is securely attached?

A

Ainsworth et al(1978) The Strange Situation
Method. Controlled observation, 12-18 month infants left in a room with mother. Eight different scenarios were played out.
Results. About 15% of infants were insecure avoidant
About 70% were securely attached
About 15% were insecure resistant
Conclusion. Controlled observation allowed control of variables making the results reliable
However the lab situation made the study lack ecological validity. The parents may have changed their behaviour because they knew they they being observed and this could have changed the children’s behaviour
The situation was new and so this may have an effect on the children’s behaviour
How could you tell that the mother was the child’s main attachment figure?
SEE YOUTUBE “AINSWORTH’S STRANGE SITUATION RESEARCH” by SiCPsychology

48
Q

Aims worthy Strange Situation took place in the USA . Who did cross-cultural studies?

A

Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg (1988)
Method. They carried out 32 studies of The Strange Situation in different countries
Results. The results were very similar across the countries tested. However, in western countries the dominant form of insecure Attachment was avoidant. In non-western countries the dominant insecure attachment was resistant
Conclusion. There are cross cultural similarities
Evaluation. Children are brought up differently in different cultures. The same type of test might not be the best for all cultures.

49
Q

What are 3 of the important findings from The Strange Situation research?

A
  1. Some cultural differences Gross man et al (1985) claimed that more avoidant infants can be found in Germany because Germans place more importance to independence
  2. The causes of different attachment types is debatable. The cause may be the temperament of the career or inborn temperament of the child
  3. The Strange Situation doesn’t show the temperament of the child - just it’s relationship with a specific person
50
Q

Attachment type may influence later behaviour. How?

A

Securely attached children may be more confident in school and form strong, trusting adult relationships

Avoidant children may have behaviour problems in school and find it hard to form close, trusting adult relationships

Resistant children may be insecure and attention seeking in school as be dependant as adults.

51
Q

Attachment can be disrupted by what?

A

Separation or deprivation

52
Q

Separation can cause a child to react. What is the PDD stages?

A

P. protest
D. Despair
D. Detachment

53
Q

Name a study that supports the PDD model

A

Robertson and Robertson (1968)
Method. Naturalistic observation where several children were observed when separated from mother (when mum in hospital for instance)
Result. PDD stages
Conclusion. The short term separation might have had bad effects on child and relationship with mother
Evaluation. Little control over variables so hard to replicate. There may have been other reasons for child’s reaction such as it being a new environment. Naturalistic observation means high ecological validity but less reliable.
SEE YOUTUBE “ROBERTSON & ROBERTSON (1968)” by FrozoneNetWorks

54
Q

What are the strengths of the PDD model?

A

Has affected the way we avoid separating child and carer i.e. in hospitals

55
Q

Name a weakness of the PDD model

A

Many factors influence how a child reacts to separation
Age
Quality of care during the separation
Individual temperament of the child
How often the child has experienced separation

56
Q

What is the Maternal Deprivation Theory?

A

John Bowlby (1953) said

  1. Deprivation of main caregiver during critical period (first 3-5 years) harms emotional, social, intellectual and physical development
  2. Long term effects include separation anxiety leading to behaviour problems and emotional insecurity in future relationships
57
Q

How did Bowlby (1944) show that maternal deprivation had long term effects on behaviour?

A

Bowlby (1944) The 44 Juvenile Thieves
Method. Case studies on the above and control group of 44 emotionally disturbed non-thieves
Results. 17 of the thieves had experienced frequent separations from mother before the age of 2. Only 2 of the control group had.
14 of the thieves were diagnosed as ‘ affectionless psychopaths’. 12 of these 14 had experienced separation from their mothers.
Evaluation. The results do indicate a link between maternal deprivation and criminal behaviour but one may not cause the other.there may be other factors. Case studies provide a lot of detailed information but the retrospective data may not be reliable.

58
Q

What are the long term effects of separation?

A

affectionless psychopathology
Anaclitic depression
Deprivation dwarfism

59
Q

What is affectionless psychopathology?

A

Not caring about how actions affect others

60
Q

What are the symptoms of anaclitic depression?

A

Appetite loss, sleeplessness, impaired social and intellectual development

61
Q

What is deprivation dwarfism?

A

Infants are physically underdeveloped due to emotional deprivation

62
Q

What is a strength of Bowlby’s Maternal Deprivation Hypothesis?

A

Other evidence in support e.g. Goldfarb (1943) study of orphanage children

63
Q

What is a weakness of Bowlby’s Maternal Deprivation Hypothesis?

A

Bowlby linked maternal deprivation to thieves behaviour but it could have been poverty
The children in Goldfarb’s study may have been harmed by social deprivation in the orphanage rather than maternal deprivation

64
Q

Can the effects of disruption of attachment be reversed?

A

Skeels and Dye (1939) found orphanage children who had been socially deprived during their first two years quickly improved their IQ scores when transferred to a school where they got one-to-one care

65
Q

What is Maternal Privation?

A

When a child has never had an attachment to a caregiver

66
Q

Is maternal privation more serious than maternal deprivation?

A

Rutter (1981) claims so - evidence comes from nasty case studies………Curtiss (1977) The Case Of Genie
SEE YOUTUBE “GENIE PRESENTATION”
Koluchova (1976) The Case Of The Czech Boys

67
Q

Describe Curtiss (1977) The Case Of Genie

A

Child suffered extreme cruelty from her parents. Discovered at 13 years old physically underdeveloped and spoke in animal sounds. After a long time she learnt language but her social and intellectual skills never seemed to fully develop

68
Q

What happened in Koluchova (1976) Case Of The Czech Boys?

A

Twin boys who suffered extreme cruelty. From dad and step mum. Found when they were 7 with rickets and social and intellectual development problems.
Later adopted and progressed to have above average intelligence and normal social relationships.

69
Q

Why did the Czech boys recover better than Genie?

A

Length of privation
Twins had each other to attach to
Quality of care after they were found - twins adopted
Individual differences

70
Q

Weakness of using the Genie case study and Czech twins case study to inform the study on maternal privation

A
  1. The children did not just suffer maternal deprivation
  2. Individual cases can not be generalised
  3. The case studies showed mixed results
  4. More controlled scientific evidence is required but it would be ethically wrong to do so
71
Q

Describe Hodges and Tizard (1989) study on Institutional Care

A

Method. Longitudinal study of 65 children placed in residential nursery before they were 4 months old. By the age of 4 some of them had been returned to birth mother , some had been adopted and some stayed in the institution.
Results. At 16 years old the adopted group showed strong family relationships but poorer peer relationships than the control group from “normal” homes
Those who stayed in the nursery or we returned to their mothers showed poorer relationships with family and peers than those who were adopted
Conclusion. Recovery from maternal privation is possible although their social development may not be as good as children who have never suffered privation
Evaluation. This was a Natural experiment so high ecological validity
However the sample was quite small and more than 20 of the children could not be found at the end of the study. It’s hard to generalise the results
The results were supported by other experiments (Rutter et al 1998 and the Romanian Orphans)

72
Q

Describe the study done by Rutter et al (1998) and the Rumanian Orphans

A

Study of 111 Rumanian Orphans adopted by a brutish families before they were 2 years old. Their development was compared to a control group of British children
They were initially below normal development but by 4 years old their development had caught up.
This supports Hodges and Tizard (1989) findings that children can recover from deprivation if they have good quality care

73
Q

Research suggests two long term effects of Privation. What are they?

A

Reactive attachment disorder and

The cycle of Privation

74
Q

What is Reactive Attachment Disorder?

A

Parker and Forrest (1993) outlined this rare but serious condition which occurs on children who have been permanently damaged by early experiences such as privation of attachment
Symptoms include
1. An inability to give or receive affection
2. Poor social relationships
3. Dishonesty
4. Involvement in crime

75
Q

What is the Cycle of Privation?

A

Quinton et al (1985) compared 50 women who had experienced institutional care as children and 50 women who hadn’t.
The first group had more parenting difficulties later in life. This suggests that the is a Cycle of Privation

76
Q

Describe Clarke-Stewart et al (1994) study on the positive effects of day care.

A

Method. This was a series of observations looking at
1. Peer relationships of 150 children aged 2-3 years from different social backgrounds
2. Strength of attachment in a group of 18 month old children with at least 30 hours of day care per week and a control group who had less that 10 hours of day care.
Results. There was no difference in results between the two groups. The children who had day care were good at coping with social situations.
Conclusion. Day care can have a positive effect on development of peer relationships of 2-3 year olds
Attachment in 18 month olds is not affected by temporary separation
Evaluation. Observations were controlled so the study could be replicated. Howev because the study was artificial so the study lacks ecological validity and the results can not be generalised

77
Q

Describe Shea (1981) study on the positive effects of day care

A 
Method.  Infants between 3 and 4 were videotaped in the playground during their first 10 weeks at nursery. Their behaviour was assessed in terms of 
Rough and tumble play
Aggression
Frequency of peer interaction
Distance from the teacher
Distance from the nearest child

Results. Over the 10 weeks the
Aggression decreased
peer interaction increased
Distance from teacher decreased
Distance from nearest child decreased
The increase in sociability was mo evident in children who attended day nursery 5 days a week that those who attended 2 days a week
Conclusion. Day care causes positive effects on social interaction
Evaluation. This was a Naturalistic observation so high ecological validity. However it means that there was no control over other variables. The behaviour was open to interpretation so the findings could be biased - aggression or rough-and-tumble play?

78
Q

Describe Belsky and Rovine (1988) study on negative effects of day care

A

Method. Infants placed in strange situation to assess how secure their attachments with mother were
One group were children who had at least 20 hours of day care a week before their first birthday
One group had experienced no day care
Results. Day care infants were more likely to have insecure attachment type(either avoidant or resistant)
Non-day care infants were more likely to be securely attached
Conclusion. Day care has a negative effect on children’s social development
Evaluation. The strange situation is a controlled observation so good control over variables. However it lacks ecological validity
DiLalla(1998) also found negative effects on children’s peer relationships - the more day care, the less likely they were to help, share etc

79
Q

Why do the findings into effects of day care vary so much?

A
  1. The studies focus on different things
  2. The studies use different samples
  3. The are methodological problems with the studies
  4. All the studies rely on correlations and not possible to decide cause and effect
  5. Studies don’t take individual differen wa I to account
80
Q

Has the research affected day care?

A 
Yes
Scarr(1998) identified several factors that make good day care
1. Good staff training
2. Adequate space
3. Appropriate toys and activities
4. A good ratio of adults to children
5. Minimising staff turnover
Vandell et al(1988) found that good quality day care meant children were socially better than those with bad day care

Psychology Aqa As (6 decks)

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