W2: Developmental Psychology 1

Question 1

By what month do children become aware of themselves

Answer 1

Children under 18 months are not aware of themselves

Question 2

The ‘Rogue’ experiment - children under 18 months

Answer 2

• Children under 18 months were drawn a red mark on their face, put infront of a mirror
• They displayed the behaviours of:
  
  • Thinking there’s a person behind them
  • Thinking there’s someone behind the mirrors
  • Trying to talk to the ‘person’ behind the mirrors

Question 3

The ‘Rogue’ Experiement - children over 18 months

Answer 3

Exhibited these behaviour whilst having a red mark on their face:
* Children pointed out the mark
* Communicated the presence of the mark

Question 4

Theory of mind

Answer 4

• The appreciation that other poeple may think differently
• Thoughts guide behaviour, rather than factual info
• Introduced the concept of false belief –> The ‘Sally-Anne’ task

Question 4

The ‘Broccoli’ experiment

Answer 4

• 14 to 18 months old children are in the lab and presenting with broccoli and crackers
• The experimenter gave negative reaction for crackers and positive reaction for broccoli, then asked the kid to give them broccoli or cracker
• 18 months children were able to recognise that different people think differently and given the experimenter the broccoli (positive reaction) rather than the cracker, despite the child liking the cracker more
• 14 months old were still egocentric, and assume the experimenter prefers what they prefer → gave cracker, despite the clear preference given by the experimenter

Question 5

The ‘Sally-Anne’ task

Answer 5

• Sally has basket and a ball, Ann has a box
• Sally put ball in basket and leave, Ann then put the ball in the box
• Children are then ask when Sally comes back, where will she search for her ball
  
  • Theory of mind is established in a child, they will answer in the basket → aware that Sally will still think that the ball is in the basket → children with these answers are usually about 4 years old
  • Theory of mind isn’t established, they will answer Sally will look for the ball in the box → children know where the ball went but unable to put themselves in Sally’s shoes → children usually under 4yrs old will have these answer

Question 6

Nature and nurture on theoy of mind

Answer 6

Nature:
* Brain maturation –> by the age of 4, children established theory of mind and was able to appreciate individuality in thinking

Nurture:
* Language development
* Social interactions
* E.g. presence of older siblings –> younger child being egocentric, not understanding the position of the older child → parents come in to discuss and explain what others are thinking and feelings

Question 7

Theory of mind development in autistic individuals

Answer 7

Autistic individuals tend to struggle with the development of theory of mind → wanting to sneak in extra screen time and put the device on the body, unable to put himself in the perspective of the parents → difficulty understanding that the parents can hear the noise from the game despite being unable to see it

Question 8

Origins of attachment

Answer 8

Konrad Lorenz
* Discover imprinting in ducks
* Imprinting occurs during a critical period, about 36 hours from birth

Henry Harlow
* Found that infant monkeys needed caregiver for not just food, but also comfort and support
* Overturned assumptions attachment bond is primarily formed for survival

John Bowlby
* First attachment theorist
* Discovered contact comfort: The postive emotions afforded by touch

Mary Ainsworth
* The Strange Experiment
* Observations on mother-child interactions; where children up to 12 months were separated from their mothers shortly later reunited
* Ruled out attachment styles

Question 9

Mary Ainsworth’s The Strange Situation

Answer 9

• Lab experiement - designed to evaluate attachment style by observing 1 yrs olds’ reactins to being seperated from their primary caregivers
• The researcher will then observe:
  
  • How comfortable the infant is exploring on her own
  • The infant’s emotional reaction when a stranger enters the room
  • The infant’s response to the mother leaving the infant alone
  • The infant’s behaviour when the mother returns

Question 10

Secure attachment

Answer 10

About 60% of infants in Western cultures

Infant reacts to mom’s departure by becoming upset, but greets with joy upon her retrurn

Infant uses mom as a secure base –> solid source of support to turn to in times of trouble

• Minnesota longitudinal study - secure attachment type tend to be mroe well adjusted, helpful, empathetic, have better relationship with peers and adults, and are better at regulating emotions

Question 11

Insecure avoidant attachment

Answer 11

• 15-20% of infants in Western cultures
• Infants react to mom’s departure with indifferent and shows a little reaction on her return

Question 12

Insecure-anxious attachment

Answer 12

15-20% of infants in Western cultures

Infant reacted to mom’s departure with panic, then showed mixed emotins; reactrions when she returned

Question 13

Disorganised attachment

Answer 13

5-10% of infants in Western cultures

Rearest attachment styles

Reacted to mom’s departure and retrun with an inconsistent and confused set of resposens

They may appear dazed when reunited with her

Question 14

Can culture have an influence on attachment styles?

Answer 14

Yes as pareting styles is different amongst cultures

E.g. more infants in Japan may fall into the insecure-anxious category because they are rarely separated from their mother –> more anxious when they are seperated

e.g.2: more infants in Germany than either Japan or AUS , fall into the insecure-avoidant attachment

Question 15

Limitation of Mary Ainsworth’s The Strange Situation

Answer 15

• Attachment style can differ with different caregiver
• Stability of attachment styles can vary –>esp. if life circumstance/caregiving quality change
• Not a reliable attachment measuring instrument (e.g. babies who are securely attached at 12 months should be the same at 14 months, but they change)
• Activation of the attachment system is challenging in older children

Question 16

Nature vs Nurture debate on the attachment styles

Answer 16

Nurture:
* Believed infants attachment styles are dependent on their parents’ responsiveness
* e.g. Infants are more likely to develop secure attachment style if parents respond to signal of distress by comforting the infants (Ainsworth et al., 1978)

Nature:
* Children’s temperament influences their attachment styles
* e.g. infants can develop an insecure attachement style if their irritable temperament provoke the parents

Question 17

The difference between sex and gender (general)

Answer 17

Sex: biological
Gender: psychological

Question 18

Gender development - infancy

Answer 18

• At birth, few differences exist between girls and boys, apart from obvious anatomical distinctions
• Gender stereotypes emergy shortly after birth, influencing how newborns are perceived
  
  • E.g. mother interact differently with children based on gender; baby boys are often seen as stronger, larger featured and more coordinated, bbygirls are seen as weaker, finer featred, and more awkard

Question 19

At what age does infants begin to catgorise as ‘male’ and ‘female’?

Answer 19

They begin establishing basic gender identity around the age of 2

Question 20

Gender development - childhood

Answer 20

• Accelerates as children enter school, leading to acquisition of various stereotypes about sex differences
• Children exhibit prefernces for gender-stereotypical activities and tend to choose the same-sex playmates

Question 21

How does school plays into gender development in children?

Answer 21

School environments reinforces gender distictions

E.g. school uniforms are different for boys and girls

E.g. 2: Boys and girls often form distinct groups and engage in different activities, leading to diverse learning experiences

Question 22

Gender development - adolescents

Answer 22

After going their separate ways in childhood, in adolescents boys and girls come together in intimate ways - the beginning of romantic relationships
* BBecause they haven’t been interacting as much, there difficulties to form connections

Biological changes (e.g. puberty) and social pressures (e.g. social media) in adolescents are related to an intensification of gender differences

The intensification stimulates the formation of an adult gender identity

Question 23

Kohlberg’s gender identity

Answer 23

Kohlberg (1966, 1969) used the term gender constancy → from Piaget’s conservation stage

Gender constancy: refer to the concept that a person’s sex is a permanent attribute that is tied to underlying biological properties (i.e. the person’s genitals and genetic constitution).

Comprised of 3 components:
Gender identity
Gender stability
Gender consistency

Kohlberg argued that it does not depend on surface characteristics such as persons hair length, style of clothing, choice of play activities, etc

Question 24

Internalisation vs self-punishment in moral development

Answer 24

Internalisation: children realise what they’re doing is wrong

Self punishment: motivation behind self-punishment often stem from an overly harsh or self-critical internallised sense of moral standards –> Individuals punish themselves to align their actions with their internal beliefs

Question 25

3 stages, 2 levels each

Kohlberg’s theory of moral development

Answer 25

Stage 1: Preconventional morality
* Focus on satisfying their own needs: avoiding punishment and obtaining personal awards
* Level 1: Avoid punishment
* Level 2: Reward

Stage 2: Conventional morality
* Focus on social approval: right and wrong are defined by convention and by what people will say
* Level 3: Gain approval and avoid disapproval of others
* Level 4: Rigid codes of ‘ law and order’

Stage 3: Postconventional morality
* Focus on abstract ideas: broad principles of justice and internalisation of personal moral principles
* Level 5: ‘Social contract’ agreed upon for the public good
* Level 6: abstract ethical principles that determine one’s own moral code

Question 26

Soical Cognitive Theory (Bandura, 1986)

Regulation of moral behaviour - Social Cogs Theory

Answer 26

Social sanction: society and community pressure to regulate an individual’s behaviour

Self-evaluative sanction: internal moral judgement and self-criticism that one impose on themselves

Question 27

Development of moral standards - Social Cogs Theory

Answer 27

Enactive experience
* Involves learning moral stadanrds through personal actions and consequences

Direct tuition:
* Explicit teaching and guidance provided by parents, teachers, or other authority figures about moral principles and values

Modelling
* Invovles observing and imitating the behaviour of others, particularly signifcant role models such as preants, siblings.

Question 28

What is moral disengaement and its outcome:

Answer 28

Moral. disengagement concept explains mismathc between moral standards and behaviour

Moreal disengagement enables individuals to behavve badly whout resume. Ezplain why people consumes hearmful actions (despite knowing their lig)