Midterm- Child Development

Child Development

The scientific study of constancy and change from conception through adolescence

Developmental domain

One of the three broad, interacting areas of development: physical, cognitive, and emotional-social

Continuous development

Gradual quantitative change in which abilities increase or decrease over time.

Discontinuous development

Qualitative change in which new ways of thinking or behaving emerge, often described as stages

Nature

Hereditary information and biological influences operating before and after birth

Nurture

Physical and social environmental influences operating before and after birth.

Plasticity

The capacity of development to change in response to experience and changing conditions.

Resilience

Positive adaptation despite adversity, supported by interacting personal and environmental protective factors.

Theory

An orderly, integrated set oof statements that describes, explains, and predicts behaviour and can be evaluated with evidence.

Classical conditioning

Learning in which a previously neutral stimulus becomes associated with a stimulus that naturally produces a response.

Operant Conditioning

Learning in which consequences change the future probability of a behaviour.

Reinforcement

A consequence that increases the future probability of the behaviour it follows.

Punishment

A consequence that decreases the future probability of the behaviour it follows.

Observational learning

Learning that occurs by watching a model and later reproducing the observed behaviour.

Microsystem

An immediate setting in which the child participates directly.

Mesosystem

Connections between two or more of the child’s microsystem.

Exosystem

A setting the child does not directly enter that influences development.

Macrosystem

The boarder cultural values, laws, customs, social beliefs, and economic conditions surrounding development.

Chronosystem

Life transitions and historical changes that influence development over time.

Reliability

The consistency of a measure across time, items, or observers when the characteristic has not changed.

Validity

The degree to which a measure actually assesses the construct it is intended to measure.

Correlation

A statistical association showing how two measured variables vary together.

Positive Correlation

An association in which higher values of one variable tend to occur with higher values of another

Negative Correlation

An association in which higher values of one variable tend to occur with lower values of another.

Random Assignment

Placement of participants into experimental conditions by chance to help distribute pre-existing differences.

Cross-Sectional Design

A developmental design comparing different age groups at one point in time.

Longitudinal Design

A developmental design studying the same participants repeatedly over time.

Sequencial Design

A design combining cross-sectional and longitudinal comparisons to help separate age change from cohort effects.

Microgenetic design

An intensive design observing participants repeatedly during a period of rapid developmental change.

Assent

A child’s affirmative, developmentally appropriate agreement to participate in research.

Chromosome

A structure composed largely of DNA; most human body cells contain 46 chromosomes arranged in 23 pairs.

Gene

A segment of DNA involved in building proteins or regulating biological processes.

Allele

A version of a gene

Genotype

A person’s genetic makeup.

Phenotype

Observable characteristics produced through the activity of the genotype within environmental contexts.

Mitosis

Cell division producing new body cells with the same chromosome number, supporting growth and repair.

Meiosis

Cell division producing gametes with 23 chromosomes and contributing to genetic variation.

Dominant-recessive inheritance

An inheritance pattern in which many genes contribute to one characteristic.

Gene-environment interaction

A process in which genetic differences alter responses to environments or environmental conditions alter the outcome of a genetic tendency.

Epigenetic process

A process that changes gene activity without changing the DNA sequence.

Heritability

A population statistic estimating how much variation in a characteristic within a particular population and environment is associated with genetic differences.

Zygote

The single cell formed at fertilization, normally containing 46 chromosomes.

Germinal period

The prenatal period from conception to about two weeks, including rapid cell division, blastocyst formation, and implantation.

Blastocyst

A hollow, fluid-filled ball of cells formed around the fourth day after conception.

Implantation

The process in which the blastocyst burrows into the uterine lining, beginning roughly one week after conception.

Embryonic period

The prenatal period from approximately weeks 3 to 8, when organogenesis and formation of major body embryonic period.

Fetal period

The prenatal period from approximately week 9 to birth, marked by rapid growth and maturation of organs and body systems.

Amnion

The membrane enclosing the developing organism and amniotic fluid.

Chorion

The outer membrane surrounding the amnion that contributes to formation of the placenta.

Umbilical cord

The structure connecting the developing organism to the placenta, normally containing one vein and two arteries.

Teratogen

An environnemental agent that can cause harm during prenatal development.

Sensitive Period

A time when a developing structure or ability is especially responsive or vulnerable to particular influences.

Age of viability

The developmental point or range when survival outside the uterus may become possible with intensive medical support.

Dilatation and effacement

Opening and thinning of the cervix during the first stage of childbirth.

Apgar Scale

A rapid assessment of newborn appearance, pulse, grimace, activity, and respiration, usually at about one and five minutes.

Preterm birth

Birth before 37 completed weeks of pregnancy

Low birth weight

Birth weight below 2 500 grams.

Rooting reflex

An automatic response in which touch near the cheek or mouth produces turning toward the touch and opening of the mouth.

Moro reflex

An automatic startle response involving arm extension followed by drawing the arms inward.

Cephalocaudal development

A pattern in which development proceeds from the head towards the lower part of the body.

Proximodistal development

A pattern in which development proceeds from the centre of the body towards the outer parts

Pruning

The reorganization and reduction of less-used neural connections, contributing to more efficient networks.

Myelanisation

Development of a fatty covering the axon that increases the speed and efficiency of neural transmission.

Gross-Motor Development

Development of large-body movement and locomotion.

Fine-Motor Development

Development of smaller coordinated movements, particularly of the hands and fingers.

Dynamic System Theory

The view that motor skills emerge from interaction among the child, task, and environment rather than from maturation alone.

Perceptual Narrowing

Increasing specialization for familiar perceptual categories as experience develops.

Intermodal perception

Combining information from two or more senses into one experience.

Differentiation

Becoming increasingly sensitive to stable and useful features that specify objects and events.

Affordance

An action possibility determined by the relationship between the environment and the person’s current abilities.

Habituation

A gradual reduction in response after repeated exposure to the same stimulus.

Recovery or dishabituation

Renewed response to a novel or changed stimulus following habituation.

Scheme

An organized pattern of action or thought used to interpret and respond to experience; Berk uses this term in discussing Piaget.

Schema

A general mental framework used to organize and interpret information; schemas is the plural form.

Assimilation

Using an existing scheme to interpret or act on a new experience.

Accommodation

Changing an existing scheme or creating a new one when the current scheme does not fit.

Circular Reaction

An action first discovered by chance and repeated because the result is interesting.

A not B error

Reaching toward a previously rewarded location A after watching the object being hidden at location B.

Deferred imitation

Reproduction of a modelled action after a delay.

Sensory register

A very brief representation of incoming sensory information.

Working memory

A limited mental workspace that holds info while it is monitored or manipulated.

Central executive

The control component of working memory that directs attention, coordinates info, chooses strategies, and monitors performance.

Long-term memory

A large and long store of knowledge and experience.

Categorization

Grouping different items as members of the same general class.

Zone of proximal development

The range of tasks too difficult for the child alone but possible with guidance from a more skilled partner

Scaffolding

Temporary, responsive assistance adjusted to the learner’s needs and gradually withdraw as competence increases.

Guided participation

Shared involvement in culturally meaningful activity through which a child learns from a more knowledgeable partner.

Private speech

Speech directed to oneself that helps guide attention, planning, and behaviour and gradually becomes internal thought.

What are the three domains of development?

Physical, Cognitive, and Emotional/Social

What are the periods of development (with ages)

1. Prenatal (conception to birth)

2. Infancy and toddlerhood (Birth to 2 years)

3. Early childhood (2 to 6)

4. Middle childhood (6 to 11)

What was the view in the Medieval and Reformation time?

Children= vulnerable, should have a strict discipline.

How does John Locke saw the children?

Child= Tabula Rasa+ are shape by experience and education.

How does Jean Jacques Rousseau saw the child?

They have an inborn plan for healthy development and they pass through distinct stages.

What does Charles Darwin thinks about children?

He used observations and evolutionary ideas to examine development.

What does G Stanley Hall and Arnold Gesell thinks about children?

Collected normative information describing typical age-related behaviour and maturation.

What does Freud psychosexual theory thinks?

Early conflicts between biological impulses and social expectations shape personality. Freud proposed the id, ego, and superego, and the psychosexual stages.

What is the difference between id, ego, and superego.

Id= instincts

Ego= Reality

Superego= Morality

What about Eriksons?

People face psychosocial conflicts across the lifespan. Early relationship and culture matter.

Behaviourism

Observable behaviour changes through associations and consequences.

Bandura social cognitive theory

Children learn by observing models. Behaviours, personal factors, and environment influence one another.