PSYC 302: Midterm 1 (Textbook)

What are some reasons to study/learn about child development?

1) it's fascinating!

2) can improve child rearing

3) can promote the adoption of wiser social policies regarding children's welfare

4) can answer intriguing questions about human nature

What is the research on spanking?

- spanking makes problem behaviours worse

- effects are long lasting

- the more often parents spanked their kindergarteners, the more often the same children argued, fought and acted inappropriately at school when they were 3rd graders

what are some effective alternatives to spanking?

1) expressing sympathy: children are better to cope with the situation causing distress

2) helping angry children find positive alternatives to expressing anger

"Turtle technique"

when children felt themselves becoming angry, they were to move away rom other children and retreat into their "turtle shell" where they could think through the situation until they were ready to emerge from the shell

what are some findings concerning finding ways to get reliable testimony from children?

- when 3 to 5 year olds are not asked leading questions, their testimony is usually accurate as far as it goes

- younger children are more susceptible to being led

how has research on child eyewitness testimony had an impact?

guidelines have been developed to assist police, child welfare workers, physicians and other professional in interviewing children and preparing them for court

what is a particularly poignant illustration of a way scientific research can increase understanding of human nature?

- studies of how children's ability to overcome the effects of early maltreatment is affected by its timing (the age at which the maltreatment occurs)

what were the differences in physical development between Romanian orphans adopted at different ages?

- adopted before 6 months: weighed about the same as British born children when both were 6 years old

- adopted between 6-24 months: weighed less

- adopted between 24-48 months: weighed even less

what were the differences in intellectual development between Romanian orphans adopted at different ages?

- adopted before 6 months: about the same as British born children when both are 6

- adopted when 6-24 months: did less well

- adopted between 24-48 months: did even more poorly

- when retested at 11, those adopted later still did just as poorly, showing that the effects persisted over time

what were the differences in social development in Romanian orphans that were adopted after 6 months?

- they showed extremely abnormal social behaviour (not looking at parents in anxiety-provoking situations, willing going with strangers, etc)

- also had abnormal brain activity

What did Plato and Aristotle both believe in when it came to children's development? (what did they agree on / what was similar?)

- long term welfare of society depended on the proper raising of children

- discipline is necessary

What were the differences in Aristotle and Plato's view on children's development?

- Aristotle agreed on discipline but he was more concerned with fitting child rearing to the needs of the individual child

- differed on how they believed children acquired knowledge

Aristotle: knowledge comes from experience

Plato: children have innate knowledge

What were Locke's views on children's development?

- same as Aristotle when it comes to the "blank slate" belief of how children learn (that they learn with experience)

- believed most important goal was the growth of character

- to build character, there must be good examples of honesty, stability, and gentleness

What was Rousseau's views on children's development?

- claimed that children learn primarily from their own spontaneous interactions with objects and other people

- argued that children should not receive any formal education until 12, where they reach the "age of reason"

what were some social reform movements that were devoted to improving children's lives?

- a law forbidding employment of girls and of boys younger than 10

Darwin and child development

- published an article called "A Biographical Sketch of an Infant" which demonstrated one of the first methods for studying children

what were two prominent theories concerning child development

1) Psychoanalytic theory - Sigmund Freud

2) Behaviourist theory - John Watson

what are the 7 basic questions about child development?

1) how do nature and nurture together shape development?2) how do children shape their own development?

3) in what ways is development continuous, and in what ways is it discontinuous?

4) how does change occur?

5) how does the sociocultural context influence development?

6) how do children become so different from one another?

7) how can research promote children's well being?

what are the 7 enduring themes of child development

1) nature and nurture

2) the active child

3) continuity/discontinuity

4) mechanisms of development

5) the sociocultural

6) individual differences

7) research and children's welfare

nature

refers to our biological endowment, in particular, the genes that we receive from our parents

nurture

refers to the wide range of environments, both physical and social, that influence our development

genome

each person's or organisms's complete set of hereditary information

what biological mechanism is there where nature and nurture interact?

- the idea of gene expression being turned on and off

- the genome can influence behaviours and experiences and vice versa

- proteins can change in response to experiences and proteins regulate what genes are turned on and off, therefore there can be enduring changes in cognition, emotion and behaviour

epigenetics

the study of stable changes in gene expression that are mediated by the environment

- it studies how experience gets under the skin

methylation

a biochemical process that influences behaviour by suppressing gene activity and expression

how can children shape their own development?

- their selection of what they pay attention to

- preference helps them learn about important parts of the world such as people,other animals and inanimate moving objects

- when children 9-15 months of ages talk to themselves, their shaping their own development

- when children play by themselves

- children's fantasy play seems to make an especially large contribution to their knowledge of themselves and other people

continuous development

the idea that changes with age occur gradually, in smll increment, like that of a pine tree, growing taller and taller

discontinuous development

- the idea that changes with age include occasional large shifts,like the transition from a caterpillar to cocoon to butterfly

what is a common observation of researchers who view development as discontinuous?

- children of different ages seem qualitatively different

- so for ex: a 4 yr old and 6 yr old wouldn't differ only in how much they know but in the whole way they think about the world

stage theories

- approaches that propose that development involves a series of discontinuous, age related phases

cognitive development

- the development of thinking and reasoning

Piaget's theory of cognitive development

- holds that between birth and adolescence, children go through four stages of cognitive growth, each characterized by distinct intellectual abilities and ways of understanding the world

what is the difficulty that comes with deciding whether development is continuous or discontinuous

- the same facts can look very different, depending on one's perspective

effortful attention

- involves voluntary control of one's emotions and thoughts

- include processes such as inhibiting impulses, controlling emotions, and focusing attention

what role do genes and learning experience play in influencing the mechanism of effortful attention?

- specific genes influence the production of key neurotransmitters

- variations among children in these gene s are associated with variations in the quality of performance on tasks that require effortful attention

sociocultural context

the physical, social, cultural, economic, and historical circumstances that make up any child's environment

what are 4 general characteristics of the child's society that are an important set of influences?

1) historical era

2) economic structure

3) cultural beliefs

4) cultural values

what is one method that is used to understand the influence of the sociocultural context?

- comparing the lives of children who grow up in different cultures

cross cultural comparisons

- comparing the lives of children who grow up in different cultures

- often reveals that practices that are rare or nonexistent in one's own culture are common in other cultures

what are the differences in sleeping arrangements for Americans vs Mayans?

- in US, by 6 months, large majority of US children were sleeping in their own bedroom; there were many nightly rituals (story time, tucking in) and the child ended up seeking comfort in an object (blanket or teddy bear)

- in Mayan families, the baby would sleep in the same bed as the mother for the first 2-3 years and after that, would sleep in the same room; no nightly rituals, children didn't seek comfort in objects

why are there differences in sleeping arrangements for Americans vs Mayans

- Americans really emphasize independence and self reliance

- Mayans believe in interdependence among people, and they believe that it is important for parent/child relationship

socioeconomic status

- a measure of social class based on income and education

what are the effects of a low SES?

- infants are more likely to have serious health problems

- more likely to have behavioural and social/emotional problems in childhood

- tend to have smaller vocabularies, lower IQs, and lower math and reading scores on standardized tests

what are 3 characteristics resilient children tend to have?

1) positive personal qualities (like high intelligence, easygoing personality, an optimistic outlook on the future)

2) a close relationship with at least one part

3) a close relationship with at least one adult other than their parents (such as a grandparent, teacher, coach, or family friend)

what are 4 factors that can lead children from a single (as well as different) families to turn out very differently from one another?

1) genetic differences

2) differences in treatment by parents and others

3) differences in reactions to similar experiences

4) different choices of environments

in what ways do parents treat children differently?

- they tend to provide more sensitive care to easygoing infants rather than to difficult ones

what are the benefits of researching in child development?

1) helping children deal with their anger

2) recommendations for fostering valid eye witness testimony from young children

3) educational innovations

4 basic steps of the scientific method

1) choosing a question to be answered

2) formulating a hypothesis regarding the question

3) developing a method for testing the hypothesis

4) using the data yielded by the method to draw a conclusion regarding the hypothesis

scientific method

an approach to testing beliefs that involves choosing a question, making a hypothesis, testing the hypothesis and then drawing a conclusion

what are two qualities of a good measure?

1) reliability

2) validity

reliability

the degree to which independent measurements of a given behaviour are consistent

interrater reliability

the amount of agreement in the observations of different rates who witness the same behaviour

test-retest reliability

the degree of similarity of a child's performance on two or more occasions

validity

the degree to which a test measures what it is intended to measure

internal validity

the degree to which effects observed within experiments can be attributed to the factor that the researcher is testing

external validity

the degree to which results can be generalized beyond the particulars of the research

- generalizability

what are 5 key properties of behavioural measures?

1) relevance to hypotheses

2) interrater reliability

3) test-retest reliability

4) internal validity

5) external validity

in what 3 main contexts do researchers obtain data about children?

1) interviews

2) naturalistic observation

3) structured observation

structured interview

- a research procedure in which all participants are asked to answer the same questions

- useful when the goal is to collect self reports on the same topics from everyone being studied

clinical interview

- a procedure in which questions are adjusted in accord with the answers the interviewee provides

- useful for obtaining in depth information about an individiual child

naturalistic observation

- examination of ongoing behaviour in an environment not controlled by the researcher

describe the vicious cycle that occurs within troubled families

- child acted in a hostile manner (ex: by defying a parent's request to clean up his or her room)

- parent reacted angrily

- child escalated level of hostility

- parent ratcheted up anger even further (Ex: by spanking)

what are the limitations of naturalistic observation?

1) naturally occurring contexts vary on many dimensions (hard to specify observations' contributions to situation)

2) many behaviours of interest occur only occasionally in the everyday environment

structured observation

- a method that involves presenting an identical situation to each child and recording the child's behaviour

advantages of inteviews

- can reveal children's subjective experience

- structured interviews are inexpensive means for collecting in depth data about individuals

- clinical interviews allow flexibility for following up unexpected comments

disadvantages of interviews

- reports are often biased to reflect favorably on the interviewee

- memories of interviewees are often inaccurate and incomplete

- prediction of future behaviours is often inaccurate

advantages of naturalistic observation

- useful for describing behaviour in everyday settings

- helps illuminate social interaction progress

disadvantages of naturalistic observation

- difficult to know which aspects of situation are most influential

- limited value for studying infrequent behaviours

advantages of structured observation

- ensures that all children's behaviours are observed in the same context

- allows controlled comparison of children's behaviour in different situations

disadvantages of structured observation

- context is less natural than in naturalistic observation

- reveals less about subjective experience than interviews do

variables

attributes that vary across individuals and situations (such as age, sex, and popularity)

what is a major goal of developmental research that involves variables?

- determine how these and other major variables are related to one another, both in terms of association and in terms of cause-effect relations

correlational designs

- studies intended to indicated how variables are related to one another

correlation

- the association between two variables

- a strong correlation allows for a stronger prediction of future outcomes

- range from +1.00 to -1.00

what is positive correlation?

- high numbers of one variable = high numbers of the other

- low numbers of one variable = low values of the other

what is negative correlation

- high numbers of one variable is related to low numbers of the other

- vice versa

what are the two reasons correlation does not mean causation?

1) direction of causation problem

2) third variable problem

direction-of-causation problem

- a correlation does not indicate which variable is the cause and which variable is the effect

- the concept that a correlation between two variables does not indicate which, if either, variable is the cause

third variable problem

- the concept that a correlation between two variables may stem from both being influences by some third variable

if correlation doesn't cause causation, why do researchers often use correlational designs

- the influence of many variables cannot be studied experimentally because they can't be manipulated or assigned

- they are of great use when the goal is to describe relations among variables rather than to identify cause

experimental designs

a group of approaches that allow inferences about causes and effects to be drawn

what two techniques are crucial to experimental designs?

1) random assigment

2) experimental control

random assignment

- a procedure in which each child has an equal chance of being assigned to each group within an experiment

- crucial for being able to infer that it was the varying experiences to which the groups were exposed in the experiment that caused the later differences between them

experimental control

- the ability of researchers to determine the specific experiences that children have during the course of an experiment

experimental group

a group of children in an experimental design who are presented the experience of interest

control gorup

the group of children in an experimental design who are not presented the experience of interest but in other ways are treated similarly

independent variable

the experience that children in the experimental group receive and that children in the control group do not receive

dependent variable

a behaviour that is measured to determine whether it is affected by exposure to the independent variable

what are the advatanges of correlational design?

- only way to compare many groups of interest

- only way to establish relations among many variables of interest

what are the disadvantages of correlational design?

- third variable problem

- direction of causation problem

what are the advantages of experimental design

- allows causal inferences because design rules out direction of causation and third variable problems

- allows experimental control over the exact experiences that children encounter

what are the disadvantages of experimental design

- need for experimental control often leads to artificial experimental situations

- cannot be used to study many differences and variables of interest (such as sex, age, temperament)

cross sectional design

- a research method in which children of different ages are compared on a given behaviour or characteristic over a short period

- useful for revealing similarities and differences between older and younger children

- do not yield information about the stability of behaviour over time

longitudinal design

- a method of study in which the same children are studied twice or more over a substantial length of time

- difficult because children who partake in the study are likely to stop participating or perhaps move away

microgenetic designs

- a method of study in which the same children are studied repeatedly over a short period

- idea is to recruit children who're thought to be on the verge of an important developmental change, height their exposure to whatever is believed to produce the change, and then intensively study the change AS IT HAPPENS

counting-on strategy

counting up from the larger addend the number of times indicated by the smaller addend

what are the advantages of cross sectional design?

- yields useful data about differences among age groups

- quick and easy to administer

what are the disadvantages of cross sectional design?

- uninformative about stability of individual differences over time

- uninformative about similarities and differences in individual children's patterns of change

what are the advantages of longitudinal design?

- indicates the degree of stability of individual differences over long periods

- reveals individual children's patterns of change over long periods

what are the disadvantages of longitudinal design?

- difficult to keep all participants in study

- repeatedly testing children can threaten external validity of study