Social Development Flashcards
Explain the Mirror Test (Lewis & Brooks-Gunn, 1979)
- 16 infants each in 6 age groups
- Compared “No-rouge” & “Rouge” conditions
- Childrenunder 2yo still unaware of self in the mirror
- The ability to recognize oneself in the mirror is often held as evidence of self-awareness.
When does full temporal sense of self develop?
After 3 years of age
Explain Povinelli et al.’s (1996) experiment related to temporal sense of self
- Sticker unobtrusively placed on head
- Videos and photos taken of 2-4 yrs old
- Showed them videos/photos after delay
- Older 3 & 4 yo reached for sticker
- Younger children did not
What is person permanence?
Internal representation of a social being
When does person permanence develop?
18 months
Explain Lewis & Brook-Gunn’s (1979) social dimensions findings
Familiarity:
- Different behaviour to familiar vs strange adults (7-9 months)
- Familiar vs strange peers (10-12 months)
Age:
- Discriminate children and adults (6-12 months)
- Use verbal age labels by 18-24 months
Gender:
- Discriminate between female and male strangers (9-12 months)
- Use verbal gender labels around 19 months
Explain the production of emotional development
- After birth: Positive and negative affect
- Few months: Basic primary emotions (joy, interest, anger, sadness)
- 7 months: Fear responses, anger vs pain
- 2-3yo: Secondary emotions (embarrassment, pride, shame)
Explain how emotion recognition develops
- Discriminate emotions early on from 10 weeks (Haviland & Lelwica, 1987)
- Social referencing:
*Gauge response from caregiver before reacting
*Wary reactions to strangers (and toys) -> More positive when mother reacts positively
*Visual cliff
How do caregivers’ presence and behaviour influence a baby’s infant?
- Babies take cues from how their caregivers (parents, family, guardians) respond to something in order to form their right-wrong’s, decisions, etc
- In the visual cliff example, the babies do not cross the “cliff” when their mothers show a fearful face and yet they cross when their mothers show a happy/encouraging face
What is emotional intelligence?
- Learn to regulate emotions
- Emotion regulation and coping mechanism
- Emotion regulation and social competence
Explain emotional intelligence: learn to regulate emotions
Switch from external to internal management
Explain emotional intelligence: emotion regulation and coping mechanism
Achieve well-being
Explain emotional intelligence: emotion regulation and social competence
Accuracy in recognising emotions = better acceptance by peers
Explain the Harris (1989) study on understanding another’s mind
Precursors to this understanding:
- Self awareness at 18-20 months (verbally express emotional states (2yo)
- Capacity for pretence at 2-3yo (Pretend something in world is sth else)
- Distinguishing reality from pretence at 3-4yo
Combine these to start understanding other people’s emotions, desires, beliefs
Explain the concept of Theory of Mind
Other people have a mental representation of the world different from our own (beliefs, feelings, etc.)
- “theory” -> cannot see or touch the mind; have to infer
- crucial to success in social world
- not innate; develops with age
Explain findings from Wimmer & Permer’s (1983) False-Belief task
- only those aged 5 and above could answer the false belief task correctly
- asked the Q of “Where will Maxi look for the chocolate?”
Explain findings from the Sally-Anne Task (False-Belief task)
- In the 3yo’s eyes, everyone thinks the same; shares the same thoughts
- For 4yo’s, they can better understand different people have different beliefs
Explain how ToM develops, specifically distinguishing mental states in language
- 2yo use words about internal states (want)
- 3yo use cognitive terms (know, remember)
Explain how ToM develops, specifically understanding the relationship between seeing and knowing
By 3-4yrs, they can understand that seeing something means knowing about
Explain how ToM develops, specifically the appearance-reality distinction
- 3yo have difficulty understanding 2 representations of an object at the same time
- Flavell et al (1986): what it looks like and what it is can be different
Explain how ToM develops, specifically in predicting behaviour
- 2yo understand that people have desires (e.g. Sam and his rabbit)
- 3yo understand that people have beliefs (e.g. Amy and the books) BUT they don’t yet understand that others can act on inaccurate beliefs
When is ToM achieved?
3-4yo
Wellman et al (2001) review of false belief studies revealed
- Very few 2yo
- Minority 3yo
- 4+ yo usually passed
Explain Southgate & Vernetti’s (2014) False Belief task
- It measured activation in motor cortex of adults (which will be activated when the actor has false belief that ball is in the box)
- 6mo infants showed the same activity
- Conclusion: infants make action prediction based on the agent’s belief
How does language impact development?
- Children who perform better on false belief tasks tend to have better language abilities
- Children with caregivers who use more mental state terms earlier perform better
How does interaction with peers/family impact development?
- Those with older siblings do better
- Larger families, more interaction with adults and siblings also do better
How does ToM look in children after 4yrs? (understanding surprise & deception)
Understanding surprise:
- 5yrs chose the correct surprise face over neutral face
Deception:
- Ex. lie about preferred sticker to puppet to avoid losing it
- 5yo could lie from beginning; 4yo got better over trials; 3yo never learnt to lie
Explain the Ambiguous Drawing Task (Carpendale & Chandler, 1996)
- The children were given an ambiguous drawing which could be interpreted in two different ways
- 5-8yo: All succeeded on false-belief task
- Make sure child can see both interpretations
- “What will Ann see?”
- 5yo could not give a good answer
- Even some 8yo had trouble
What did Osterhaus & Bosacki (2022) find on Advanced Theory of Mind from middle childhood?
- Found very diverse definitions
- Individuals with diff AToM related to inhibition and language skills, NOT empathy
What are the theories on how ToM develops?
- Conceptual change between 3-5yo
- Develop concept of (meta)representations
- Mental states aren’t direct reflections of reality, but can be inaccurate
- Evidence: differences between 3-4yo on traditional false belief tasks - Understanding of ToM develops gradually
- You can’t suddenly acquire the concept
- “Realist” tendency overrides understanding of beliefs
- Other cognitive abilities mask understanding
- Evidence: tasks reducing complexity/cognitive demands show success at younger ages
