Exam 3 - Child Psych Study Guide

Freud’s Psychosexual Theory

The belief that even very young children have a sexual nature that motivates their behavior and influences their relationships. Children’s success or faliure in resolving these conflicts affects their development throughout life

Erogenous Zone

Areas of the body that are erotically sensitive

Psychic Energy

The physical focus of each stage (also called libido)

When do people experience the oral stage?

From Birth to 1 year

Focus of Libido for the oral stage

Mouth, Tongue, and Lips

Main Activities of the Oral Stage

Sucking and feeding

Consequences of the Oral Stage

An oral fixation (like smoking, nail biting, and excessive eating) and trust issues

When do people experience the anal stage?

From 1-3 years

Focus of Libido for the Anal Stage

Anus

Main Activities of the Anal Stage

Toilet Traning and Obedience

Consequences of the Anal Stage

Authority problems; rigidity; overt cleanliness

When do people experience the phallic stage?

From 3-6 years

Focus of Libido for the phallic stage

Genitals

Main Activities of the Phallic Stage

Resolving Odedipus/Electra Complex

Consequences of the Phallic Stage

Gender Identity Issues

When do people experience the latency stage?

From 6-11 years

Focus of Libido for the latency stage

None

Main Activities of the Latency Stage

Sexual needs are quiet; children put psychic energy into conventional activities like school work and sports

When do people experience the genital stage?

11+ years

Focus of Libido for the genital stage

Genitals

Main Activities of the Genital Stage

Reaching full sexual maturity

Consequences of the Gential Stage

Unhealthy outlooks on relationships

Oedipus/Electra Complex

Feelings of desire for the opposite sex parent during the phallic stage

Id

An unconcious branch of personality whihc is rules by the pleasure principal—the goal of achieving maximal gratification as quickly as possible. Begins at birth

Ego

Conscious, rational branch of personality which tries to negotiate realistic ways to satisfy the id’s impulses. Begins at 2 years old

Superego

The moral branch of personality; contains our ethical principles, ideals, and conscience. Begins from 3-5 years

Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development

Expanded Freud’s theory of psychosexual development by excluding the sexual nature and adding cultural contexts. Each stage also has a conflict/crisis

Trust vs. Mistrust

From birth to 1 year, babies either trust others will care for their needs (e.g. food, phsycial contact) or develop mistrust

Trust vs. Mistrust Question

Can I trust the world?

Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt

From ages 1-3, infants will become self-sufficient in many activities (e.g. toileting, walking, talking) or doubt their own abilities

Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt Question

“Is it okay to be me?”

Initiative vs. Guilt

From 3-6 years, children either want to undertake many adultlike activities or internalize the limits and the prohibitions set by parents (crucial for the development of the conscience)

Initiative vs. Guilt Question

“Is it okay to do, move, and act?”

Industry vs. Inferiority

From age 6-11, children either learn to be competent in mastering new skills or feel inferior (crutial for ego development)

Industry vs. Inferiority Question

“Am I learning to be competent?”

Identity vs. Role Confusion

During adolescence, adolescence either establish sexual, political, religious, and vocational identities or are confused about what roles to play

Identity vs. Role Confusion Question

“Who am I?”

Observational Learning

The process of learning by watching the behaviors of others

Modeling

Learning by copying the behavior of someone else

Social Learning

The belief that most human learning is social and is based on observation of other people

Vicarious Reinforcement

Observing someone recieve a reward or punishment which effects the child’s subsequent reproduction of the behavior

Reciprocal determinism

Children have characteristics that lead them to seek particular kinds of interactions with the external world

Bandura’s Bobo Doll Experiment

Children were shown an adult model perform highly aggressive actions on an an inflatable weighted doll. One group saw the model recieve praise for the action while another group saw the model being punished. When placed in a room with the doll along with other toys, children in the praise group chose to act aggressively, or even more aggressively, towards the doll. This showed the importance of vicarious reinforvement and modeling on temperament of children.

Selman’s Stage Theory of Role Taking

The belief that young children’s social cognition is limited by their inability to engage in role-taking behavior.

Stages of Role Taking Theory

• Stage 1: Until 6-8, children cannot percieve a different perspective apart of their own

• Stage 2: Starting at 8-10, children realize that someone else can have a different view and are able to think about the other person’s POV

• Stage 3: Staring at 10-12, children can compare their POV with another person’s POV

• Stage 4: From 12+, people attempt to understand another’s perspective by comparting it with that of a generalized other

Generalized Other

Assesing whether the person’s view is the same as that of most people in their social group

Role Taking

The ability to think about something from another’s point of view

Hostile Attribution Bias

Interpreting the intent and ambiguous or accidental behavior of others as hostile or aggressive

Ecological Systems Theory (AKA Bioecological Model)

Considers multiple levels of environmental influence and emphasizes a child’s active role in selecting and influencing the environment

Mircosystem

The immediate environment that a child personally experiences and participates in

• EX: Home, Friends, School, Daycare, Doctor’s office

Mesosystem

The interconncetions among immediate or microsystem setting

• EX: A parent that is dealing with stress from work might not help with their child’s homework → child’s schoolwork may suffer → parent becomes more stressed because their child is doing bad at school

Exosystem

Environmental settings that a child does not directly experience but that can affect the child indirectly

• Extended Family

• Neighbors

• Legal Services

• School Board

• Community Health and Welfare

• Mass Media

• Workplace

Macrosystem

The larger cultural and social context within which the other systems are embodied

• EX: Broad ideology, laws & customs of one’s culture, subculture, social class

  • Paid leave

Chronosystem

Historical changes that influence other systems

• EX: Digital information, Entertainment, Pandemic

Child Maltreatment and Ecological Impact

Microsystem: Parental (alcohol/drug dependence, spousal abuse) and child (low birth weight, developmental disabilities, difficult temperament)

Mesosystem and Exosystem: Low family income, increased parental stress, community violence, family social isolation, and lack of support

Macrosystem: Racism and discrimination can cause or exacerbate risk factors in the exosystem

Poverty and Ecological Impact

Microsystem: Lack of access to healthcare, poor nutrition, transportation issues, low birth weight, academic weight, academic issues, lack of daycare

Exosystem: Overworked parents, parental stress

Macrosystem: Inflation, classism, generational poverty

Affluenza

The hyperinvestment in material wealth rapidly spreading among upper-middle class, white-collar families

Consequences of Affluenza

Children show elevated rates of maladjustment (e.g. substance use, delinquency, depression)

What are the two factors affluenza may be due to?

Excessive achievement pressures and disconnection from adults

Emotions

A combination of physiological and cognitive responses to thoughts or experiences

Functionalist Perspective of Emotions

Argues that individuals experience emotions in order to manage the relationship between themselves and the environment, like goal achieving

• Subconscious

Cognitive Example of Functionalist Perspective

A good amount of anxiety is good for performance (too little means you don’t care and too high means you can’t focus)

Distressed children remember triggering events

Social Example of Functionalist Perspective

Children’s emotional signals affect behavior of others, while emotional reactions of others affect children’s social behavior

• Still-face reaction causes distress

Health Example of Functionalist Perspective

Emotional deprivation → faliure to thrive

Persistent emotional problems (depressed mood, etc.) can lead to health difficulties (e.g. depressed immune response)

Are there true “emotions” in newborns?

No, infants only express two arousal states: pleasant stimulation which cues involunatry smiling and general distress

When do basic emerge?

Middle of 1st year

Basic emotions are…

• Universal in humans and other primates

• Promote survival

• Can be inferred from facial expressions

What are the basic emotions?

Happiness, sadness, anger, fear, suprise, and disgust (suprise and disgust discussed in the textbook)

What are complex emotions?

Self-conscious emotions that require children to have a sense of themselves as seperate from other people

When do complex emotions emerge?

By the end of the 2nd year

What are the complex emotions?

Guilt, shame, jealousy, empathy, pride, and embarrassment (jealousy, empathy, and embarrassment discussed in the textbook)

Newborn - Happiness

Smile whe full, during REM sleep, and in response to gentle touches; reflex smiles

3-8 Weeks - Happiness

Begin to smile at external stimuli (including high-pitched voices and other stimuli that engage their attention)

6-7 Weeks - Happiness

Begin to do social smiles

Social Smiles

Smiles directed at people

3-4 Months - Happiness

Infants begin to laugh at activites that give them pleasure

5-7 Months - Happiness

Infants begin to laugh at things they find funny

>12 Months - Happiness

Smiles become deliberate social signal

Anger

A child’s response to a frustrating or threatering situation and is largely an interperson experience (also aids with self defense and motivation)

Newborns - Anger

Respond with general distress to unpleasant experiences

Why does anger increase in the first year of life?

Infants are unable to communicate their frustration and are simutaneously experiencing new things constantly.

4 Months - Fear

Infants show infant wariness

Infant wariness

A distress response to events with unfamiliar and familiar aspects they cannot comprehend and assimilate

6-14 Months - Fear

Infants show true fear and have separation anxiety

True Fear

An immediate negative reaction to an event that has specific meaning to them (e.g. face of a stranger)

Seperation Anxiety

Distress due to seperation from the parent who is the child’s primary caregiver which disapears around at 15 months

Stranger Anxiety

The fear of strangers that resolves by age two

• Intensity depends on child’s temperament, past experience, and current situation

• Most frequent fear

Shame

Feelings of personal inadequacy that appears at around 18-24 Months

• By Age 3, children express more shame when failing at easy rather than difficult tasks

• Linked to maladjustment

Pride

Delight in self-achievements that appears at around age 3

• More pride in achieveing harder tasks rather than easy ones

• By age 10, children label pride as succeeding due to their own effor rather than luck

Guilt

A feeling of worry or unhappiness that you have because you have done something wrong, such as causing harm to another person

• Develops after shame and pride

• Linked to good adjustment

Parental Influences on Complex Emotions

Complex emotions require parental instruction

EX: If parents emphasize the badness of the child’s behavior rather than of the child, the child is more likely to experience guilt than shame

Cultural Influences on Complex Emotions

Individualistic nations teach children to feel pride over personal achievement and guilt over shame

Collectivist nation teaches pride as embarassing and shame over guilt

Emotion Recognition

The ability to discriminate other people's emottions that appears at 3 months

Social Referencing

 The use of a parent’s or another adult’s facial expression or vocal cues to decide how to deal with novel, ambiguous, or possibly threatening situations and appear at 7-12 months 

What emotions are recognized first?

Happy, sad, anger, fear

Emotional Regulation

The ability to adjust emotional expereinces and expressions to a comfortable level of intensity

• Develops gradually due to brain development and influence of parental modeling and socilization

Co-regulation

The process by which a caregiver provides the needed comfort or distraction to help a child reduce his or her distress ( 0-2 months) 

Self Soothing

Repetitive actions that regulate arousal by providing a mildly positive physical sensation

• Sucking Thumb

Gaze Aversion

From birth-2 years, babies turn away from distress

Self Distraction

Looking away from an upsetting stimulus in order to regulate one’s level of arousal at 1-2 years