Theories

Question 1

What is the attachment behaviour system

Answer 1

• Early cues to bring caregiver towards you
• Crying
• Smiling
• Laughing

Question 2

What are fear behaviour systems?

Answer 2

• Wariness to strangers

- Avoidance (of environment or social relationship)

Question 3

What are affiliative behaviour systems?

Answer 3

• Social behaviours –> draw those at a distance in

- Vocalisations

Question 3

What are affiliative behaviour systems?

Answer 3

• Social behaviours –> draw those at a distance in

- Vocalisations

Question 4

What are exploratory behaviour systems?

Answer 4

• Mediates arousal to physical environment

- Objects and contexts

Question 5

What age do we see attachments forming?

Answer 5

7-24 months

Question 6

What is the Q-Sort task?

Answer 6

• Alternative to strange situation task

Rating of these statements from high/medium/low

1. Child often cries or resists when mother takes him to bed for naps or at night
2. Child often hugs or cuddles against mother, without asking or inviting him to do so
3. Child quickly gets used to people or things that initially made him shy or frightened him

Question 7

What is the ecological model of human development?

Answer 7

• Developed by Urie Bronfenbrenner in 1979
• Importance of ‘development in context’
• Ecological environment consisting of four nested systems
• -> Microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem
• These focused on how does an individual interact between the person, the context, and time
• Believed that broader social impacts must be dealt with in order for parents to parent effectively, and for children to develop in a functional way

Question 8

Ecological systems model: The microsystem

Answer 8

• Direct environments which a child interacts with

- E.g. family, friends, classmates, teachers etc

Question 9

Ecological systems model: The Mesosystem

Answer 9

• Relationships between different parts of the microsystem

- E.g. school and home

Question 10

Ecological systems model: The Exosystem

Answer 10

• Other people/environments that the child does not directly interact with, but are still influential
• E.g. parents’ workplace, extended family

Question 11

Ecological systems model: The Macrosystem

Answer 11

• Influence of the culture the child was born into

Question 12

What is neuroconstructivism?

Answer 12

• The mind may become modularised (i.e. have language module, motor module, social module etc) through developmental processes
• Modules are not fully and innately specified from birth
• Modules as they develop may be specialised to quickly and effectively deal with certain types of stimuli and give certain types of outputs
• Might have a predisposition to certain modules, but the environment can change what is presented etc.
• Allows for the plasticity of early brain development
• Innately specified predispositions for how certain stimuli is dealt with and individual differences begin to be formed

Question 13

Neuroconstructivist approach: Key principles

Answer 13

1. The interaction between the brain and emerging cognitive processes
2. Low level cognitive deficits may lead to a range of phenotypical outcomes as development progresses
3. Need to separate cognitive processes from behavioural outcomes
4. Consider the impact of the environment –> dynamic rather than static

Question 14

What are the implications of neuroconstructivism for research design?

Answer 14

• Goswami (2003) highlights how neuroconstructivism calls for longitudinal designs, with mixed methods (behaviour, environment, and physiology)
• Only longitudinal research designs can record developmental change within children
• Does this mean cross-sectional designs are useless?