Quiz 1 PSYC 205 Child Development (Elizabeth Kim) Fall '22

What was shown of the kids in the "seven up" video?

-Kids largely shaped by familiar values & very likely to impersonate parents
-World of 7 yr olds can be primitive & violent
-Diff in freedom vs. discipline (girls vs. boys;Girls taught classical ballet for exercise;Boys freely run around for exercise)

what general topics does the Mintz(2022) reading discuss?

-experience of childhood is nonlinear
-how children of the current generation experience childhood has changed from how children from past generations experienced childhood

Mintz(2022): what changes mentioned have had the most significant impact on children's development and why?

(a) Technology & internet: easy &quick access, readily available information
- How children spend their time changed, more time spent inside
-What children are surrounded by and what they’re seeing on a daily basis changed; parents are also on their phones and internet

(b) PARENTING: parents interaction with children have changed
- parents striving to earn the affection of their children, instead of children trying to earn their parents’
- Ex: parents using the internet to distract their kids

(c) Education: K-12 education is required for children in most countries; children are innately the same but surrounding environments have changed along w/ social expectations

Mintz (2022): In what ways does the author define childhood?

(a) Childhood as a legal system: “legal age” for certain behaviors, actions
- When thinking of children, we would think of a responsibility-free, carefree environment but there are still “rules”

(b) Age-defined experiences: what it means to be “nine years old” may be different in America than in korea

(c) Childhood as a social status: children internalize statuses adults portray

Mintz (2022): the author contrasts the approach of historians of childhood to that of psychologists. What are the strengths and limitations of each approach?

(a) History
- Strength: explains the social and historical context of a child’s experiences and behaviors; behavior nested within cultural and social environment
- Limitations: perpetuates myth that childhood is a linear experience, history tends to paint a darker image of childhood from the past generations- “what life was like in the 1800s vs. how they are now”
- Wider lens perspective on children tends to categorize children into one group, not assess them individually although they’re unique

(b) Psychology:
- Strengths: systemic approach
- Limitations: various cultural norms that affect children; how could we generalize how culture affects children when there’s so much to examine; Tendency to falsely generalize

Mintz (2022): what are examples of experiences for children that might allow equal childhood experiences for all children?

(a) Equal education, but without a strict structure for every child, more hands-on activity for discovery & exploration, traveling field trips
(b) Combined measures for parental involvement
(c) More real-world experience, open more diverse opportunities
(d) Getting experiences that are of other cultures; explore religions
(e) Treat students as investigators- treasure hunts

what's the importance of studying research methods?

-vast differences in opinions abt child development, research methods can help identify the reason why we believe diff things

what does the process of scientific reasoning look like?

1. theory: integrated set of principles/concepts (needs to lead to a testable statement)
2. hypothesis: tentative statement abt the relationship b/t variables (needs to be testable)
3.testing hypothesis: systemic way of evaluating hypothesis
4. rival hypothesis: could be an alternative explanation for the result of experimentation

Brown et al (2019): How does a lack of focus on equity and justice affect theories and findings in developmental psyc?

i) We don’t know how generalizable the findings are when the research is focus on researching about mostly WEIRD populations (white, educated, industrializaed, rich, democratic)
- perpetuation of white privilege

Brown et al (2019): b) What would you recommend to a researcher embarking on a career who wants to incorporate equity and justice into their research?

-Faculty training; diversity training
-Standardize educating students on the important of equity in research- mentorship and inclusivity in all levels of education
- Increase accessibility to research for POC ("bringing the research to the participant”)
-Be transparent about how the sample was gathered

what is naturalistic observation?

observing participants in their usual environments

what are some advantages to naturalistic observation?

-Behavior more natural
-Generalizable bc tested in diverse settings
-Reduces possibility of Hawthorne effect (participant alters their behavior bc they’re aware they’re being observed)
-Researcher is seeing the behavior in real life; biases abt what behavior might come out in another environment reduced
-detailed

what are some disadvantages to naturalistic observation?

(i) Possible bias
(ii) Don’t work well w/ infrequent behavior
(iii) Outside factors can’t be controlled
(iv) Impossible to recreate bc capturing a moment in time
(v) Descriptive but not explanatory
(vi) Directionality problem (what causes what?)

what is structured observation?

in laboratory (but create same situation to allow usual activity)

what are advantages of structured observations?

(i) More control over variables
(ii) Access to more materials
(iii) reduce cost & time in some ways
(iv) reduce bias earned from natural background ques
(v) same conditions across participants
(vi) directly observe behavior of interest
(vii) more replicable than natural

what are disadvantages of structured observations?

(i) not natural, couldn’t be as typical as usual environment
(ii) may limit participation (coming into lab tricky for some participants)
(iii) more expensive in some ways

what are examples of self-reports?

1. structured/clinical interview (ask set of Qs to all ppl)
2. questionnaire/survey

what are advantages of structured/clinical interviews?

(i) Reduce possible influence of parents: one-on-one w/ interviewer
(ii) Focus on what they’re thinking
(iii) Express self in own words

what are disadvantages of structured/clinical interviews?

(i) May say what interviewer wants to hear
(ii) Hard to generalize to larger pop.
(iii) Less anonymous
(iv) Comprehension of Qs differ across ppl
(v) Possible problem w/ recall (can’t interview 2 yr old)
(vi) Age constraint
(vii) Potentially difficult to interpret

what are advantages of questionnaires/ surveys?

(i) Sample size bigger
(ii) Efficient/easy way to administer
(iii) Cost effective
(iv) Easy to analyze
(v) Anonymity
(vi) Generalizable
(vii) Minimize experimenter influences

what are disadvantages of questionnaires/surveys?

(i) Inaccurate reports
(ii) Answer choices indecisive (binary choices)
(iii) Diff in investment in survey
(iv) Diff in motivation (behavior response altered bc survey incentivized)
(v) wording important lead to many interpretations
(vi) participants know they’re being watched

what is reliability?

consistency or repeatability of measures
- inter-rater: degree to which 2 or more raters agree w/ each other
-test-retest: degree to which results of 2 tests align with each other

what is validity?

degree to which methods measure what they're supposed to measure

what is experimental design?

manipulation of the potential "cause" and look for effects on other measured variables; interested in determining CAUSE & EFFECT

what is the experimental condition?

independent variable is manipulated

what is random assignment?

ensures 2 groups don't differ at the beginning of te experiment; participants have an equal chance of being in control or experimental condition

what is matching in an experiment?

Ex: a study where it’s important that kids don’t differ on aggression to begin with
- Rank kids on some rating of aggression and match the kids within groups & have kids that share relatively similar amounts of aggression

what is the advantage of experimental design?

Ability to infer causality

what are the disadvantages of experimental design?

(1) could be other factors that may contribute
(2) may be smaller sample size
(3) potential bias
(4) may be harder longitudinally
(5) don’t know what’s going on on that particular day
(6) can be difficult to operationalize (ex: how do we know what’s considered aggressive and if it was accidental or not)
(7) not always possible
(a) sometimes unethical, the degree to which the experiment reflect irl situations hard to determine

what is correlational design?

measure relationship b/t 2 vars

what is correlational coefficient?

correlation coefficient: +1.0 to -1.0; 0=no relationship

(1) ex: positive relationship: as one variable goes in one direction, the other goes in the same direction
(2) ex: negative relationship: no relation found (opposite directions)

what are advantages of correlational design?

(1) may be easier to establish to conduct than an experiment
(2) equity and justice: experiments might have problems of equity and justice; correlations can work with questionnaires where ppl don’t even have to come into a lab
(3) useful when controlling is not possible

what are disadvantages of correlational design?

(1) can’t infer causality
(2) correlation doesn’t tell us abt direction- what causes what?
(3) potential third variable- hard to rule out

what are the 2 developmental designs and what do they focus on?

1. cross-sectional
2.longitudinal

-focus on changes over time

what do cross-secional designs do?

studies children of diff ages at a single point in time

(1) ex: gather group of 7-yr, 9-yr, and 12-yr olds and see how they interact with friends on one day

what are advantages of cross-sectional design?

(a) convenient; efficient- in a single study, can observe & collect data
(b) utilizes single point in time, less time-consuming & more accurate
(c) takes into consideration age differences

what are disadvantages of cross-sectional design?

(a) other factors
(b) may be hard to generalize depending on how you draw your sample
(c) no info on how individuals change over time (developmental scientists are very interested in change over time)
(d) confounds age and cohort; uncertain as to what drives individual’s behavior if there are unexpected trends for cohorts

what do longitudinal designs do?

study a group of children continuously at diff ages
(1) ex: seeing how they change over time, look at TV viewing, at diff ages, if aggressive behavior in relation to TV viewing changes over time

what are advantages of longitudinal design?

(a) can view how things develop: CHANGE OVER TIME
(b) how things are associated over time- how events/circumstances have unfolded

what are disadvantages of longitudinal design?

(a) ppl might drop out (attrition)
(b) major changes(uncontrollable) can impact study results
(c) can’t go back and change- you wish you had measured a certain thing but u can’t go back
(d) practice effects- for ex, u can just get better at math problems, rather than a certain math curriculum helping u learn better
(e) difficult to recreate
(f) increased familiarity- person may become more and more comfortable with coming into a lab, what we saw first may differ from what we see when they’re comfortable
(g) mistakes- how do we adapt our measurements over time
(h) new innovations- social structures might change, what was there before might not be the same as today
(i) expensive, time-consuming
(j) results take a long time

how do we deal with alternatives to study results?

rare for one study in psychology to be decisive
- conduct different studies:
(1) w/ diff shortcomings: diff approaches (cast a wide net w/ diff designs and results)
--metanalysis!
(2) converge on similar results

what are some problems to studying infants and what type of method do we use to study them?

i. Lack of language- can’t ask them what they think abt the experiment
ii. Limited ability to respond

-so we use indirect methods

what are some indirect methods to study infants?

1. head turning
2. pacifier sucking
3. eye-gaze/looking time
4. habituation/dishabituation paradigm

how does head turning work as an indirect method to study infants?

when babies are interested in something, they tend to look at things, and look away when they’re uninterested

how does pacifier sucking work as an indirect method to study infants?

measure of their preference, babies suck when they like something, they pick the stimulus they like & can observe them by measuring their sucking at diff speeds

how does eye-gaze/looking time work as an indirect method to study infants?

measure of their interest, can show how long they’re looking at something, tend to look longer when more interested

how does habituation/dishabituation work as an indirect method to study infants?

children will look at something they’re interested in, but won’t look forever, and when there’s a repetition of the stimulus, they’ll get bored
1. Looking time declines as there’s more exposure to stimulus
2. Dishabituation: suddenly something happens (changes), attention recovers (dishabituates) ONLY if the infant perceives the change
- Ex: looking time suddenly increases when u change pic ur showing from cat to dog
b. NOVELTY PREFERENCE- preferring to look at something new
c. Way of deciding what specifically infants notice

what are the 3 stages of prenatal development?

1. germinal stage
2.embryonic stage
3.fetal stage

what is the beginning and end of the germinal stage?

conception --> attachment to uterine wall

0-2nd week

what are the 2 major achievements of the germinal stage?

1. rapid cell division
2. chorion attachment to the uterine wall

how does rapid cell division work as a major achievement of the germinal stage?

(a)Rapid cell division: at first, division is long (~30 hrs after conception), eventually doubles to twice a day
(i)Cells divide, become more rapid, arrange themselves in blastocyst
(ii)By 2nd division, rate picks up, gets rapid after

how does attachment to the uterine wall work as a major achievement of the germinal stage?

(b)Attachment to uterine wall: when development of support systems start (marks beginning of embryonic stage)
(i)Membrane forms after attachment, membrane closes and keeps organism in amniotic fluid
(ii)PLACENTA FOMS: allows delivery of nutrients, removal of waste
--Connected by the umbilical cord

what is the beginning and end of the embryonic stage?

3rd to 8th week (attachment to uterine wall--> formation of bone cells)

what are the some major achievements of the embryonic stage?

1. embryo increase in length
2. organ formation & embryo movement
3. implantation in uterine wall
4. neural tube formation
5. proportion change

what is a critical period and in which stage is it most prevalent?

(a) The developing child is more susceptible to teratogens during the embryonic stage
(i) Major organ systems:
1. Specific critical periods
2. Can be affected by diff teratogens

how does emrbyo length increase work as a major achievement of the embryonic stage?

Embryo almost quadruples in length (1/3in to an in)

how does organ formation and embryonic movement work as a major achievement of the embryonic stage?

Organs form and begin to operate: embryo begins to move, detected by ultrasound

how does implantation in uterine wall work as a major achievement of the embryonic stage?

dependence on mother forms

how does formation of neural tube work as a major achievement of the embryonic stage?

this portion will eventually become the head

how does proportion change work as a major achievement of the embryonic stage?

~4 weeks, heart is abt the same size as head (proportions change over time)
(a) Proximal-->distal : Things in center of body develop first, then outwards

at the end of 5 weeks, what occurs to embryo?

fingers become more prominent, umbilical cord

what is chorion and what is it responsible for?

bundle of cells, develops into placenta
(i) What actually attaches on uterine wall (not blastocyst)
(ii) Eventually responsible for bringing nutrition into organism & ridding waste

do eyes stay closed for most of pregnancy?

yes: Eyes are pretty sensitive throughout pregnancy, stays closed for most of the time
(a) Sealed at 9th week, open again later

what marks the beginning and end of the fetal stage?

: longest stage
(1) 8th week ~ 38 weeks (formation of bone cells-->birth)

what are some major achievements of the fetal stage?

- rapid growth
-spontaneous movement
-bone development
-fetal thumb sucking
-facial expression formation
-perceptual system development
-formation of brain waves
-beginning of period of viability
-breathing ability

how does rapid growth work as a major achievement of the fetal stage?

Fetuses rapidly grow in size

how does spontaneous movement work as a major achievement of the fetal stage?

Spontaneous movement continues, eventually felt by mother

how does bone development work as a major achievement of the fetal stage?

(c) Bones begin developing

how does fetal thumb sucking work as a major achievement of the fetal stage?

(d) Fetal thumb sucking (~17 weeks, fairly common)

how does facial expression development work as a major achievement of the fetal stage?

(e) ~4.5 months- facial expressions begin to form (skin is very thin & vulnerable layer of fat(vernix) protects skin at ~5 months

how does perceptual system development work as a major achievement of the fetal stage?

(f) Some of perceptual systems start to develop (~5 months)
(g) Hearing develops, can hear sounds generated by the mother

how does brain wave formation work as a major achievement of the fetal stage?

(h) Forms brain waves similar to that of a newborn’s

how does period of viability as a major achievement of the fetal stage?

(i) ~7 months: growth slows, viable(infants survive w/o major medical intervention outside of the womb)

how does breathing ability work as a major achievement of the fetal stage?

learns ability to breathe

what are the 3 major aspects of brain development(occurs throughout prenatal period and after birth?

1. cell proliferation
2. cell migration: moving to specific location where it needs to be
3. cell differentiation: brain cells specialize for specific functions that'll be necessary

what are teratogens?

outside agents that negatively affect the child during their prenatal development

what are some different teratogens?

{ADD ANSWER]

what are the effects of alcohol?

fetal alcohol spectrum disorder - long lasting effects (facial deformities, mental retardation, attention problems, hyperactivity)

how does zika virus affect pregnant women?

spread from bite of infected mosquito: infection during pregnancy linked to the birth defect microcephaly
i) Ex: baby with abnormal head size (bigger)

what is the importance of studying motor development and growth as it relates to expectations?

Helps us view what is reasonable to expect of a child of a particular age
(1) What is typical(and not typical!) of children of a particular age
(2) Variability- there is an average among children of the same age, but also a range around that average of children’s characteristics (individual diff)
(a) Variability around children of same age, diff age, also at diff short periods of time

what is the importance of studying motor development and growth as it relates to screening tools?

early growth and motor development used as a screening tool
(1) variations from the norm may indicate a problem
(2) but, only a rough indicator, can maybe be one way to screen and combine with other tools

what is the importance of studying motor development and growth as it relates to others' perceptions?

Size and motor ability influence others’ perceptions
(1) Tall/motorically advanced vs. small/motorically delayed
(2) Ex: “most kids walk by ___yrs old…”
(3) If tall/motorically advanced, ppl can view them as higher status, higher self-esteem
(4) If small/motorically delayed, low self-esteem, adults talk down to them

what is the importance of studying motor development and growth as it relates to complex systems?

Humans are complex systems
(1) Growth and motor development interact w/ other aspects of life
(2) Class ex: in the middle, delayed development of motor skills, lead to delayed physical growth, may be related to lower expectations toward child, could be related to less exploration of environment, several factors relate to one another and could even cause one another

what are the three general characteristics of growth in motor development?

1. proximal --> distal progresssion
2. cephalocaudal progression
3. increased differentiation

what is proximal to distal progression?

Things toward center of body develop first, then outwards
(1) Ex: babies learn how to wiggle torso, then wiggle arms later

what is cephalocaudal progression?

i) Things develop from head down
(1) Ex: during prenatal development, head develops first, then neck, arms, legs

what is increased differentiation?

Structured and motor parts become more specialized over time
(1) Ex: children swipe for objects at first, then learn to reach for things (general grasp), and then pinched grasp

what are the periods of most rapid physical growth?

(a) From birth to 2: period of most rapid postnatal growth
(b) prior to puberty, growth rates similar for boys and girls
(c) onset of puberty is ~2 yrs earlier for girls than boys

what are the gender differences in growth?

(a) girls:
-average onset: age 9 (height & weight gain)
- range of onset: 8 to 13
- peak growth rate occurs: 11 to 14, or 15
- growth ends: age 19

(b) boys:
- average onset: age 11 (height & weight gain)
- range of onset: 9.5 to 13.5
- peak growth rate occurs: 13 to 17
- growth ends: age 21

*generally diff by 2 yrs

how does change in bodily proportions occur?

(1) For infants, head dominates, then rest of body starts to get bigger than head
(2) During growth spurt, extremities catch up
- Facial proportions change as well
(i) Ex: nose becomes more shaped, jaw becomes more prominent

how do changes in strength and endurance between girls and boys occur?

(1) Prior to puberty, no real difference b/t boys and girls
(2) b/t ages 5 and 16, a lot of growth, includes muscle size increase
(3) at end of puberty, some differences like amnt of force that vary between girls and boys

what is the secular trend as it relates to development?

(1) marked changes in physical development that have occurred over generations
(2) ex: parents tend to be taller than grandparents, who were taller than great grandparents
(3) motor milestones seem to be occurring slightly earlier over the course of generations

why might motor milestones seem to occur slightly earlier over the course of generations?

(a) Emphasis on play over emphasis on working in the past
(b) Evolutionary perspective: ppl who have better fitness survive more and pass on their traits
(c) Following a general trend of advancement
(d) Cultural differences
(e) Exposure to TV and other technology
(f) Dietary differences; Hormones in food, might be contributing to an earlier development of children
(ii) Quality of food, nutrition(possible factor of leading to taller younger generations)
(g) Increased access to healthcare, better quality prenatal care
(h) Pollutants

what are early reflexes?

Automatic, stereotyped response to a particular stimuli

how do swallowing, sucking, and rooting work as a group of newborn reflexes?

- Swallowing(if put liquid on their lips, they swallow)
-sucking(finger or nipple on lips, rhythmically suck)
-rooting (if u stroke the infant near the mouth, they turn to the direction of that and open their mouth)
(i) Could have developed due to survival instincts; feeding

how do blinking and withdrawal work as a group of newborn reflexes?

-Blinking(if object comes toward near infant, reflexively blink, bright light, eyes touched)
-withdrawal (feel diff temperature with feet or hands, withdraw)
(i) Modes of protection against strong stimulatuion, keeping homestasis

how do grasping and stepping work as a group of newborn reflexes?

-Grasping (place something in palm, grasp)
-stepping(hold infant upright, put them in position where their feet are just touching ground, they try to step)
(i) Precursors to reaching, walking

how do tonic neck, babinski, and moro reflexes work as a group of newborn reflexes?

-Tonic neck(AKA fencer position when baby relaxed, extend one arm and fold the other, turn head to the side with extended arm)
-babinski(stroke sole of feet, toes will fan out then curl in; no known reason)
-moro (holding infant, quickly lower them, they’ll throw their arms out and curl them back in)
(i) Tonic neck might have developed to keep one arm in sight, designed to shield and attack at the same time

how do early reflexes serve as a window into the development of nervous systems?

Professionals might use these and test for the present of these reflexes as one of the ways to see how nervous system is developing; screening tool

is there a typical sequence of motor development?

yes
- Ex: crawling to sitting, to walking