Week 1 - Chapter 1 Flashcards
Do harsh punishments help behaviour problems?
No - makes problems worse - the more kindergarteners were spanked, the more they argued in 3rd grade
What are some alternatives to spanking?
Expressing sympathy, help children find positive alternatives, helping children recognize their own emotions and control anger
Turtle shell technique - has long term benefits- retreat into their shell and think about the situation
How are children impacted by biased questioning?
34% of 3-4 year olds
When 3-5 year olds are not asked leading questions - testimony is accurate but missing information. When they’re asked leading questions testimony is often inaccurate
What are nativists?
Believes infants have certain capabilities
Such as understanding properties of physical objects
What are empiricists?
Believes infants have general learning mechanisms but not specialized capabilities
Romanian adoption study
The longer the children were in negative conditions, the more problems they had later on in life
20% showed abnormal social behaviour at age 6-even up to early adulthood (problems with emotions and friendships)
Low levels of activity were found in the amygdala
Plato’s views
Society welfare depended on propert raising of children
Rearing of boys was challenging
Self control and discipline are the most important
Children have innate knowledge
Nativist
Aristotle’s views
Society welfare depended on ptroper raising of children
Fit child rearing to needs of each child
All knowledge comes from experience
Empiricist
John Locke’s views
Kids are blank slate - tabula rasa
Growth of character important- parents setting examples of honesty, stability, gentleness through modeling
Avoid indulgent
Lessen authority asap
Top down perspective
Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s views
Maximum freedom to children
Children learn from own interactions with people and objects
Formal education after 12 (age of reason)
Bottom up perspective
Kagan’s views
Children have innate moral sense
Infer thoughts + feelings of others
Concepts of good and bad, right and wrong
Reflect on past actions
Understand avoidable consequences
Understand motives and emotions
Nature and nurture
Nature -biology
Nurture -environment
We develop through both
Studied with twin and adoption studies
Schizophrenia example
Genetic - if parents or identical twin have,more likely to have it (up to 50%)
Environment - growing up in troubled homes more likely to increase risk
Genome
Set of hereditary info
Influences behaviours, vice versa
Epigenetic studies
Study of changes in gene expressions mediated by the environment
Methylation: biochemical process that influences behaviour by suppressing gene activity and expression - more stress growing up predicted methylation later on
How do children shape their own development?
Infants - through selective attention - drawn to faces, noises, movements
Toddlers - speaking to themselves, helps learn language
Young children - play, fantasy play - make believe - teaches lessons like coping with fear, resolving disputes, interaction with others
Older children - play teaches self control, adhering to rules, controlling emotions
Continuity vs discontinuity
Continuous view - lots of small even changes, evidenced supports, children can appear to be between stages
Discontinuous view - occasional sudden changes, thinking children differ qualitatively at different ages
Example - age 4 thinks liquid gets larger in taller glasses, but age 6 understands it also gets narrower and stays the same - ability to focus on one or more aspects
The way you measure variables determines if it reads as continuous or discontinuous
What are stage theories?
Development occurs in progression of age related stages
Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development
4 stages of cognitive growth between birth and adolescence
How does change occur?
Through mechanisms - behavioural (parental socialization strategies), neural (increased interconnection in the brain), genetic (presence or absence of certain alleles)
Effortful attention and change
Effortful attention - voluntary control of emotions or thoughts
Connection between limbic area, anterior cingulate and prefrontal cortex improves effortful attention
Gene influences if parenting quality impacts effortful attention
Learning - children who completed certain exercises had improved effortful attention
Sleep and learning in children
When children are over 24 months - children remembered specifics better after napping, but memory for general patterns was not better
General patterns improve if under 24 months
Active systems consolidation theory
Benefits of sleep for infants general pattern memory reflects cortex functioning
But for preschoolers specific experience memories - reflects hippocampus functioning
What does sociocultural context mean?
The physical, social, cultural, economic, and historical circumstances
Interaction with people and the environment
General societal characteristics
What did cross cultural comparisons reveal?
Bedtime practices differ
Kids sleeping alone in America vs with parent in Europe, Asia
Independent vs interdependent culture
Influence of socioeconomic context
Big influence on kids lives
Children in disadvantaged households do poorer in many areas - health problems, brains have less surface area, smaller vocabulary, emotional problems, lower IQ, lower test scores
Result of cumulative risk - accumulation of disadvantage over years
What traits are resilient children more likely to have?
Positive personal qualities - high intelligence, optimism
Close relationship with parent
Close relationship with adult who isn’t a parent
Factors that influence child differences
Genetics, differences in treatment from parents and others, differences in interpretations of treatment, differences in environments
Why study developmental psychology?
Raising, educating children - prepare them for the future
Choosing social policies
Understanding human nature
Critical and sensitive periods
Critical - children must learn that skill during that time - language
Sensitive - learning is best during that time
Prenatal age categories
Germinal - conception to 2 weeks
Embryonic - 3 - 8 weeks
Fetal - 9 weeks to birth
Postnatal age categories
Infancy - 0 -24 months
Toddlerhood - 1-3 years
Early childhood - 3-5
Middle childhood - 6-8
Late childhood - 9-11
Early adolescence - 12-14
Middle adolescence - 15-17
Late adolescence - 18-20
Young adulthood - 20-40
Middle adulthood - 40-64
Late adulthood - 65+
Charles Darwin
work on evolution inspired study of child development. his natural selection theory continues to influence developmentalists
Social reform dates
When were children under 14 excluded from working in factories and mines? 1929
1989 was the convention on the rights of the child
How can research help children’s welfare?
Anger management programs
Educational innovations
More valid child eye witness testimony
Internal vs external validity
Can the observed effect be attributed to the variable?
Can you generalize the findings to other populations?
Micro-genetic designs
Same children studied repeatedly over a short period of time
Provide in depth depictions of change
Cross sequential design
Two or more individuals of different ages are directly compared over a period of time
Multiple cohorts with different age ranges
Ethics
Discuss relevant information with parents
Obtain informed consent from parents if under 14
Correct inaccurate child impressions
Ethical responsibilities of researchers
Anticipate risks
Minimize risks
Benefits must outweigh harm
Ethics principles
Do no harm
Obtained informed consent - from parent if under14
Preserve anonymity and confidentiality
Discuss with parents relevant research information
Work to counteract unforeseen negative consequences
Correct inaccurate child impressions
