Test 1 Flashcards
The 9 big questions: How does change occur?
Mechanism that drive development.
Ex: effortful attention (voluntary control of one’s emotions/actions)
Mechanisms include genetic components, environmental influences, and physiological development
Discontinuous
Like the caterpillar
Jean Piaget (cognitive) Sigmund Freud (sexual) Erik Erikson (psychosocial) Abraham Maslow (hierarchy) Laurence Kohlberg (moral)
Continuous
Like the tree. Theories include dynamic systems, core knowledge, and ecological systems theories.
Esther Thelen
Noam Chomsky
Urie Bronfenbrenner
Epigenetics
Relatively new field which studies stable changes in gene expression that are mediated by environment.
Genome includes DNA and what else?
Proteins that regulate gene expression
Methylation
biochemical process that influences behavior by suppressing gene activity and expression
Sociocultural context
Time period, attitudes in community (racism/sexism), socioeconomic status, values/customs, religion, laws, family, etc.
The active child
Children shape their own environment. They choose environment, friends, activities which influence them back
Individual Differences
Genetics, treatment by parents/others, different choices and actions
Research on Children’s welfare looks at
Education Innovations
Correlational Design
Studies intended to indicate how 2 variables are related to each other
Direction of Causation Problem
Correlation between 2 variables does not indicate which if either variable is the cause of the other
3rd variable problem
correlation may be influence by 3rd variable
Experimental characteristics
Random selection/assignment
Experimental control
Cross Sectional Design
Children of different ages are compared on given behavior or characteristic over a short period of time
Longitudinal Design
Same children studied twice or more over a substantial length of time. Useful for revealing stability and change over time
Cohort Effects
generation in which individual is born, unique historical and cultural experiences.
3 factors: Age, cohort, time of testing
What is implicitly confounded in LO studies
Time of Testing
Age
Which is implicitly confounded in CS studies
Cohort
Age
Interviews/Questionnaires:
Structured Interviews
Useful when goal is to collect self reports on same topics from everyone being studied
Interviews/Questionnaires:
Clinical interviews
useful for obtaining in depth info about individual child
Interviews/Questionnaires:
Questionnaires
information gathered simultaneously through uniform set of questions presented to participants
Observations:
Structured Observation
presents identical situations to each child and records child’s behavior
Observations:
Naturalistic observation
examination of ongoing behavior in an environment not controlled by researcher. Particularly useful for understanding everyday social interactions
Reliability
degree to which independent measures of a given behavior are CONSISTENT
Inter-rater reliability
amount of agreement in observations of different raters who witness the same behavior
Test-retest reliability
degree of similarity of a child’s performance on 2+ occasions
Validity
degree to which a test measures what it says it measures
Internal Validity
can changes in DV be attributed to manipulations of IV
External Validity
Can the results to generalize beyond the particulars of the research
Genetic Material
Involves transmission of genetic material from parent to offspring.
Chromosomes
molecules of DNA that transmit genetic info
Gene
sections of chromosomes, basic unit of heredity in al living things
DNA
molecules that carry all biochemical instruction involved in forming an organism and its functions
Genetic diversity and individuality
mutations, crossing over, sex chromosomes
Regulator Genes
switching on and off of genes
Alleles
different forms of genes
Endophenotypes
intermediate phenotypes including brain and nervous systems that do not involve overt behavior
Polygenic inheritance
traits governed by more than one gene, applies to most traits and behaviors of interest to behavioral scientists
Norm of reaction
all phenotypes that can result from a given genotype in relation to all the environments in which it can survive and develop
Name recessive gene
PKU
Sickle cell
Tay-Sachs
Cystic fibrosis
Sex linked inheritance
fragile-X
hemophilia
Chromosomal
down syndrome
Klinefelter syndrome
What can lead to complex disorders?
Different endophenotypes
PKU
• Phenylketonuria (PKU): A disorder related to a defective recessive gene on chromosomes 12 that prevents metabolism of amino acid phenylalanine.
• Causes build-up of phenylpyruvic acid, poison to developing nervous system
• Incidence in US: 1/10,000 to 1/15,000 births
Can vary dramatically by culture/country: 1/2,600 in Turkey
Recessive X-linked traits
colorblindness and hemophilia
Examples of environment and genes includes
Meaney and Colleague’s studies on maternal licking in rat pups
Epigenetics influence
complex diseases such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, and cancer
Behavior genetics
the science concerned with how variation in behavior and development results form a combination of ___ and ___.
Heritable vs. multifactorial
heredity vs. heredity and environment
Heritability
Statistical estimate of the proportion of the measured variance on a trait among individuals in a given population that is attributable to genetic differences among those individuals
Apply only to populations, not to individuals
Apply to a particular group living at a particular time.
Are specific to the way it is measured.
Heritability estimate rarely exceed
50%
Placenta
support organ of fetus made of lood vessels, allows material exchange mother and fetus. Defensive barrier, semipermeable
Umbilical Cord
tube w/blood vessels connecting fetus and placenta
Amniotic Sac
Transparent, fluid filled membrane that surround and protects fetus
Premature Birth
Less than 37 weeks
Conception
2 weeks, germinal (zygote)
Rapid cell division, zygote implants unterine wall
3rd-8th week
Embryonic. After implantation, major development occurs in all organs/systems of body
9th-brith
fetal (fetus) continued development, rapid growth of body. Increase behavior experience learning
Cephalocaudal
Areas near the head develop before areas that are farther away
Proximodistal
areas closer to the trunk and head develop first
Fetal Experience
Sight- minimal, but facial preference
Smell- amniotic fluid takes on odor form what mom eats
Taste- can detect flavors in amniotic fluid
Hearing- responds to various sounds from at least 6 months (Decasper & Spence, 1986)
Touch- contact with parts of the body; grasping umbilical cord, rubbing face, sucking thumb
Hazards to development: Diseases
- Rubella: deafness, blindness, ID
- STIs: Damage to CNS
- Influenza: may lead to schizophrenia
- Zika virus: Microcephaly
Childbirth
- Birth of baby after 38 weeks of conception
- Uterine muscles contract initiating birth
- Baby normal head-down position
- Reduces overall size of fetus’s large head
- Plates of skull overlap during birth
- Stimulates hormone production
- Forces amniotic fluid out of lungs
