Lecture Notes on Child Development

Flashcards about child development

How were children expected to behave/ was childhood viewed in medieval times?

CHILDHOOD DID NOT EXIST. Children were expected to behave as adults. They had to dress like adults, worked alongside their family, fewer rights/protections, and same jobs and work conditions.

When did adolescence historically start to be identified as a distinct phase of life?

Late 1870s- Early 1900s (In western culture because of second industrial revolution)

First published studies of childhood were called what? Who published one of the first ones?

Baby biographies; Charles Darwin wrote one of the first

Who was G. Stanley Hall?

American psychologist, 1st APA President, 1891 and 1904 studies, 1st large scale study on children, and 1st to study how kids think over time.

Be able to identify the different philosophical viewpoints of early childhood mindset- original sin, innate purity, and tabula rosa?

Thomas Hobbes- original sin, born with naught urges-guide (born bad need to be disciplined) Jean Jaques Rousseau- _(1762) initiate purity, born pure (Children are good) John Locke - tabula rasa born a blank late. (Child are not born good or bad they are blank)

Freud believed all development is driven by what 2 basic urges/drives?

The life drive (Eros): drive for survival, reproduction, helps you survive The death drive (Thanatos): The drive for aggression self destruction, bad for survival (death).

According to Frued, what roles did the id, ego, and superego have in guiding personality/social development?

ID=instant pleasure EGO= balances desires with reality (trying to reach desires in an acceptable way) SUPEREGO= pushes us to to follow rules and be moral

In Erik Erikson’s theory, how did life crisis impact personality development? What stages did he say we go through in what order or general ages?

Life crisis impact personality development due to how we handle a situation which shapes our personality. 1. Trust vs. mistrust: (Infancy, 0-1 year) 2. Autonomy vs shame and doubt: (Toodlerhood, 1-3 year) 3. Initiative vs guilt: (Preschool, 3-6 years) 4. Industry vs. Inferiority (Elementary school, 6–12 years) 5. Identity vs. Role Confusion (Adolescence, 12–18 years) 6. Intimacy vs. Isolation (Young adulthood, 18–30 years) 7. Generativity vs. Stagnation (Middle adulthood, 30–65 years) 8. Integrity vs. Despair (Late adulthood, 65+ years)

What did Watson’s Little Albert experiment demonstrate about emotional learning?

Emotions can be learned through conditioning. For example pairing a white rat with something scary (loud noise), the child can be taught to feel fear towards something they were not afraid of before.

According to Skinner’s Operant Learning Theory, the vast majority of our behaviors are controlled by what?

Environment(L)/consequences(O). Like the rewards and punishments that come from the environment.

What did Bandura’s (1965) Bobo Doll study on aggression indicate about how children can learn?

Children can learn aggression when seeing others being aggressive. Children watching adults being aggressive towards a Bobo Doll would imate the aggressive behaviors as well. (Child was not aggressive prior to watching adult play with doll etc).

Why did Piaget believe studying childrens incorrect answers was important?

SHOWED HOW THEY WERE THINKING AND MAKING SENSE OF THE WORLD??REVEALED DIFFERENT WAY A CHILD’S MIND WORKS AT EACH STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT.

What is Piaget’s concept of Adaptation? Related to this, know what organization, scheme, assimilation, accommodation, equilibrium, and disequilibrium have to do with it.

How children learn and grow by adjusting to new information and experiences. Adaptation happens through two key processes: Assimilation – fitting new information into what they already know (existing schemes). Accommodation – changing their thinking (or scheme) to fit the new information. Organization: The way children arrange knowledge in their minds into categories or systems (schemes). Scheme (or Schema): A mental framework or pattern — like a file folder in the brain for certain ideas (e.g., “dogs bark”). Assimilation: Using old knowledge to understand something new (e.g., calling a cow “dog” because it has four legs). Accommodation: Changing or creating a new scheme to fit new information (e.g., learning that a cow is not a dog and making a new “cow” folder). Equilibrium: A sense of mental balance — when what we know matches what we experience. Disequilibrium: Confusion or conflict when something doesn’t fit what we know — it pushes us to learn and reach a new understanding.

What are Piaget’s 4 stages of Cognitive development, what order do they go in, and what can children generally do (or big things they cannot do yet) at each stage?

Sensorimotor (Birth to 2 years): learning through senses and movement. Babies slowly learn that things still exist even when they can’t see them (like a hidden toy). Before this, "out of sight = gone." Start to recognize familiar faces, objects, routines, etc.At first, actions are automatic (like sucking or grasping — reflexes). Over time, babies learn to do things on purpose to get something they want (like shaking a rattle to make noise). Piaget stated that this allows for the formation of close emotional attachments to begin! Preoperational Stage (2 to 7 years): Starting to think more but not logically. Develop Use of Language (Alphabetic Principle)Kids start speaking a lot more and learning letters and sounds. Alphabetic principle means they understand that letters represent sounds and sounds make words. This is the ability to use symbols, pictures, or objects to represent real things.Example: Pretending a broom is a horse, or a doll is a baby. (pretend play). Helps with Thinking About People and Social Rules: Pretending and using symbols also helps them start imagining social situations, like sharing, taking turns, or acting out family roles. Limitation: Struggle with reversibility, abstract thinking, seeing other people’s perspectives (egocentrism), and understanding conservation (things stay the same even when they look different). Concrete operational stage(7 to 11 years): Formal Operational Stage (12 and up):

What is the main idea in the Ethological theory of social development?

Born more sensitive to those environmental cues that reinforce the behavior. For example A baby smiles, parent smiles back and baby talks, baby continue to smile more often to get that good attention. Aids in emergence of useful behaviors for survival.

According to ethologists what is a sensitive time period?

special window of time when an animal or human is especially ready to learn certain behaviors. If the learning doesn’t happen during that time, it’s much harder (or sometimes impossible) to learn it later. first language (age 0-7) Second language (age 0-5)

What is the main difference between Ethology and the Modern Evolutionary perspective?

Ethology focuses on how behaviors are biologically programmed and help survival, especially during specific sensitive periods (refer to question 15). Modern Evolutionary Perspective looks more broadly at how behaviors help humans survive and reproduce over time, but it also includes learning, culture, and environment — not just instincts.

What is a twin study? What are shared and non-shared environments used to help indicate in identical twins studies?

A twin study is research that looks at identical twins and sometimes fraternal twins to see how much behavior, traits, or skills are influenced by (Nature)genetics vs. (Nurture)environment. Shared environments help explain similarities between twins that arent caused by genes. Non-shared environments help indicate diffwewnces between twins even when genes and homes are the same.

What impact can non-shared environments have on siblings raised together?

Siblings could have different friend groups, older sibling moveved homes before younger sibling arrived etc. The finances parents may have had w/older child before younger sibling. Impact is their personality helps explain how siblings may differ from one another.

What is the basic idea behind Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory?

Social and personality development is a product of a person interacting with different environmental systems (different groups). For example influneced by friends, school, home, and jobs. Microsystem=baby Mesosytem=family, school, healthcare services Exosystem=media, neighbors, friends, extended family Macrosytem= culture social class, law

What role does peer interaction/dialogue play in Vygotsky’s theory of dev.?

Learning happens through social interaction especially from a more skilled person in fostering emotional understanding.

How do Vygotsky and Piaget differ in their ideas of active or passive learning?

Piaget believed that children are active learners who explore and discover on their own through hand on experiences. Vygotsky believed children are active learners who need social interaction to learn= children learn better working w/others especially when someone is more skilled (teacher).

What is the holistic/eclectic approach to modern social development theory?

Instead of sticking to one theory (like Piaget and Vygotsky) researchers and educators combine ideas from multiple theories to understand how children grow and learn.

At what age/months do infants start smiling and interacting with caregivers

4-8 weeks so 8-10 is separation anxiety.

What type of emotion is embarrassment, pride, shame, guilt? What cognitive ability is needed according to cognitive developmentalists to have this type of emotion

Secondary emotions (self conscious emotions) (2-3 years): need to develop self awareness in order to feel these emotions.

What are social referencing, emotional self-regulation, emotional display rules, temperament

A child falls down. They look to their parents on how they should react.emotional self regulation: managing your own emotions. Emotional display rules: social rules we learn about when and how it’s okay to show emotions (example: kid says ty even when they dont like gift). Temperament: persons natural style of reacting to the world (some babies are calm and some cry a lot) Preferred social activity level, quality of mood (shy, anxious, irritable) & sensitivity to new situations (environment heavily influences this but genetics could play a role)

At approximately what age do children start recognizing that people can experience more than one emotional reaction to the same event?

6-10 years

How can teachers / parents foster emotional self-regulation and emotional understanding of others in children?

Model behavior, talk about emotions, coach problem-solving

According to some researchers, what are the 3 types of infant temperament?

Easy, Difficult, Slow to warm(somewhat moody, takes time to adjust).

What is attachment and what are synchronized routines?

The study of how your early relationships (when you’re an infant with your parents or primary caregivers) …lays the foundations for all future_ relationships including later in school and in adulthood. Synchronized routines: Back-and-forth interactions between a baby and caregiver that happen in a smooth, responsive way — like a conversation with no words. Baby smiles 😊 → parent smiles back 😄 Baby coos 🍼 → parent talks to them 👶🗣 Parent plays peek-a-boo 🙈 → baby laughs 😂

What are the 4 phases of attachment and what order do they go in?

1. Asocial (Pre-attachment) – Birth to ____ weeks a. Baby shows no particular attachment to a specific person 2. Indiscriminate – 6 weeks – ____ months b. Infant begins to show preferences for primary and secondary caregivers 3. Specific (Primary) – 7-10 months c. Infant shows strong attachment to one specific caregiver 4. Multiple – 10+__months d. Growing, strong bond with other caregivers.

What helps a father form strong attachments? How about adoptive parents?

positive attitude and spend time with child

What did Bowlby’s hospital study find in children who were isolated?

Social Deprivation is harmful to social emotional cognitive development. often showed signs of emotional distress, withdrawal, and difficulty forming healthy relationships later on.Many of these children became sad, unresponsive, or detached, and some even had trouble trusting others (emotional and social problems)

What did Harlow and Zimmerman’s classic study of attachment in rhesus monkeys reveal that they most needed?

Confirmed tacttile contact and attachment critical for social development. Emotional connection is key! Monkey prefferd cloth mother and not Wire mother with bottle. 👉 Babies (and monkeys) want comfort, love, and closeness more than just food. 👉 Feeling safe and cared for is super important for healthy development.

What is one way to make necessary separations more tolerable for toddlers and to reduce their separation distress? What can you do to help separations be more bearable?

A brief explanation of where you are going and when you will be back

What is the Strange Situation (8 scenarios of separation) and the Attachment Q-Set?

Mary Ainsworth (1978): assess the type of attachment between a child (usually around 1-2 year old) and their caregiver. They see how child reacts when caregiver leaves, stranger enters, and caregiver returns. Attachment Q-Set (Waters& Deane 1985): flexible assessment of attachment that can be used at home or in familiar environments.

When insensitive and/or naive caregivers receive social support and tips on sensitive parenting does it help?

Yes helps child increase their childs ability to form secure attachments.

What impact does maternal problems such as illness, depression, and other serious life stresses have on emotional development and attachment in children?

Illness, depression harm attachment and emotional development

Recent research on the interplay between caregiving quality, infant or toddler temperament, and forming secure attachments reveals that…?

Secure attachment depends on fit between caregiving style and child's temperament

Most developmentalists' believe that long-term effects of early social deprivation in institutionalized children stem from their lack of sustained interactions with responsive caregivers and companions. Therefore, what type of developmental delays have studies such as Goldfarb’s found in institutionalized children?

Language, social, emotional, cognitive delays—per Goldfarb and others

And, can we help children who have been exposed to severe or prolonged socially depriving situations

Yes—stable caregiving, interventions improve outcomes

According to research what type of day care / pre-K is best for children?

High-quality, structured, responsive caregiving

Positive developmental outcomes and strong social outcomes for children in low quality day care depends the most on the children receiving what?

Quality of caregiving the child receives, especially at home

Emotional Competence:

Ability to control emotions, read and understand others emotions, and adjust your own to the socially appropriate level.

Discrete Emotion Theory:

each emotion comes with set of facial and bodily reaction

Functional Perspective theory:

Emotions develop over time through experiences

Undestanfing people can experience more than one emotion to the same event:

6-10 years

Thorndike states that:

babies learn to smile socially bc adults reward them by interacting and smiling back.

developing a sense of object premenance:

baby learns person still exists even when they cant see them