theories of development

Question 1

what are two theories for how development occurs?

Answer 1

continuous and stage like

Question 2

how is development continuous?

Answer 2

continuous from childhood to adulthood
children do not qualitatively differ from adults- just have less knowledge

Question 3

how is development stage like?

Answer 3

development from childhood to adulthood occurs in a number of stages
children and adults are qualitatively different psychologically

Question 4

what does nature suggest about development?

Answer 4

development is a product of genetic inheritance

Question 5

what does nurture suggest about development?

Answer 5

development is a product of the environment and experience

Question 6

what is behaviourism?

Answer 6

argues that psychological phenomena can only be explained by focusing on behaviour, and the environment in which it occurs

Question 7

what is radical empiricism?

Answer 7

the idea that experience is the source of all knowledge

Question 8

what is nativism?

Answer 8

mental structures are innate, not learnt

Question 9

what is the idea of the ‘black box’?

Answer 9

can observe input and output, but can’t tell what is going on inside the mind

Question 10

what is reinforcement?

Answer 10

method of learning behaviour by manipulating a stimulus presentation after the desired behaviour

Question 11

what is shaping behaviour?

Answer 11

gradually training an organism to produce a specific response by reinforcing responses which resemble the desirable response

Question 12

what is successive approximation?

Answer 12

successful response that comes closer to the desired response

Question 13

what is comparitive psychology?

Answer 13

studying similarities and differences amongst living beings

Question 14

how does behaviourism relate to child development?

Answer 14

shaping behaviour occurs by successive approximation
eg) baby learning to talk- this initiates excitement from an adult so they are likely to continue

Question 15

who proposed nativism and maturation?

Answer 15

Chomsky

Question 16

what does nativism and maturation suggest about development?

Answer 16

behaviour is genetically determined
innate knowledge of language/deep structure
same mechanisms in child and adult behaviour

Question 17

what is deep structure?

Answer 17

innate grammatical structuring of language that is universal and unique to humans

Question 18

who proposed evolution and ethology?

Answer 18

Lorenz

Question 19

what does evolution and ethology suggest about development?

Answer 19

imprinting occurs at birth
has a critical period of 10-30 hours
biological preparedness
maturational unfolding and stages- genetically determined developmental progression

Question 20

what is imprinting?

Answer 20

process of attachment a baby animal forms with the first thing they encounter at birth

Question 21

what is biological preparedness?

Answer 21

genetically determined readiness to learn specific skills like walking

Question 22

who proposed evolution and attachment?

Answer 22

Bowlby and Ainsworth

Question 23

what does evolution and attachment suggest about development?

Answer 23

attachment is a natural process under maturation control
separation distress- evidence of attachment
disruption of this process= detrimental consequences

Question 24

who proposed constructivism?

Answer 24

Piaget

Question 25

what does constructivism suggest about development?

Answer 25

knowledge is actively generated rather than transmitted through genes
development= nature and nurture
occurs in stages- need to shed previous cognitive limitations to progress

Question 26

what is egocentrism?

Answer 26

part of stage like development
difficulty considering another person’s perspective

Question 27

what do humans need to adjust to and how is this prevented?

Answer 27

human environment
physical environment
prevented by egocentrism

Question 28

what are Piaget’s 4 stages of development?

Answer 28

sensorimotor
preoperational
concrete operational
formal operational

Question 29

what age is the sensorimotor stage?

Answer 29

0-2 years

Question 30

what age is the preoperational stage?

Answer 30

2-7 years

Question 31

what age is the concrete operational stage?

Answer 31

7-12 years

Question 32

what age is the formal operational stage?

Answer 32

12+ years

Question 33

what are the characteristics of the sensorimotor stage?

Answer 33

fail to discriminate between self and surroundings
lack of mental imagery
solipsism
don’t have object permanence
perception subordinate to action

Question 34

what is mental imagery?

Answer 34

ability to imagine the existence of things even when they are not directly accessible to the senses

Question 35

what is solipsism?

Answer 35

fail to distinguish between self and the rest of the universe

Question 36

what is object permanence?

Answer 36

understand that things continue to exist even when we can’t sense them directly

Question 37

which approaches to development are continuous?

Answer 37

nativism
behaviourism

Question 38

which approaches to development are stage like?

Answer 38

ethology
constructivism

Question 39

which approaches to development are on the side of nature?

Answer 39

nativism
ethology

Question 40

which approach to development is both nature and nurture?

Answer 40

constructivism

Question 41

which approach to development is based on nurture?

Answer 41

behaviourism