developmental psych 231 - exam 3

what is temperament?

• biologically based behavioral styles which are fairly stable across situations.

Rovee- collier: mobile study what happened?

• had a crib with a mobile set up with diff contrasts to grab babies attention.

• Baseline- measured babies kicking rate

• Acquisition- tied ribbon to mobile and foot of baby, when baby kicks, the mobile moves, baby learns to kick.

• Test one: remove ribbon- measure kicking rate, if they kick more they remember association

• Test 2- after a delay ( days/weeks) if kicking is more then baseline, they will remember what they learned

• 2 month old babies will kick more immediately as well as 2 weeks later.

• After 2 weeks, they will forget association, until researcher moves the mobile ( a cue) and kicking increases again.

What are the three important features of memory? As early as 2-3 months?

1) an event from the past is remembered. ( kicking moves mobile)

2) overtime, the event cannot be recalled. (After 2 weeks, no kicking)

3) a cue can be used to bring up a “forgotten” memory. (Researcher moves mobile)

Why do our memories improve?

2 areas integral to memory develop over the first 2 years

1) hippocampus ( responsible for the initial storage of memory)

2) frontal cortex ( responsible for the retrieving memories)

What is rehearsal? When do children begin using this?

repetitively naming to- be- remembered information

• begin using this around 7-8 years old.

What is organization?

Structuring to- be- remembered do that related information is placed together.

* ex: remembering major rivers of the world by location (Africa: Nile & Congo)

What is elaboration? Example?

• enhancing information to make it more interesting.

• Ex: 62849 birthday, 6/28, address 49 underrock road (49)

What is chunking?

Placing large amounts of information into groups or “chunks” that are better handled by your short term memory.

• 7 +_ 2 units can be held in short term memory, this can enhance memory by changing what a unit is.

what is metamemory?

• ones understanding of their own memory

• Includes knowledge about memory abilities

• Self monitoring ( if strategies used are good, or needs adjustment.)

• 1) experience- learn how memory operates overtime

• 2) develop more sophisticated theories about memory once they can understand the mind in general. (ToM)

what is the chi study? (Chess study)

• typically adults outperform children on memory tests, this is not the case if children are experts.

• Adults were better at remembering a sequence of numbers. General memory increases with age.

• Children ( chess experts) were better at remembering configurations on a matrix. This shows experience in a domain slightly enhances performance.

• Participants were shown meaningful chess positions & asked to recall them.

• Participants were presented with sequences of numbers and asked to recall.

What are the two types of explicit memory??

Semantic memory and episodic memory

What is semantic memory

Portion of long term memory that includes ideas & concepts that are not drawn from personal experience.

ex: general knowledge typically gained over several experiences.

What is episodic memory?

Memory for events ( time, places, associated emotions, who, what… knowledge ) that can be explicitly stated or conjured.

What is autobiographical memory?

• people’s memory of the significant events and experiences of their life.

• Relates to ourselves including knowledge of th

When does autobiographical memory originate and develop?

• it originates in preschool

• It develops later because it requires such skills beyond the basic memory of an event ( sense of self, language) that can’t be built at such a young age.

Infantile amnesia

The inability to remember events from one’s early life.

• older children, adolescents and adults: recall nothing from first two years of life, very little from preschool years.)

Why can’t we remember our early life experiences?

• lack of language results in differential coding

• Lack a sense of self ( without a sense of self, you have not linked the different memories to your “personal” timeline.

What are the 4 elements of language?

• phonology- sounds of a language.

• Semantics- words and their meaning.

• Syntax- rules that specify how words are connected to form a sentence.

• Pragmatics- communicative functions of a language. (Sarcasm. )

What are phonemes? When do they originate and decline? Why does it decline?

• the basic building blocks of language.

• Infants can distinguish most of these sounds, many by 1-2 months after births

• Ability starts to decline at around 12 months, because of synaptic pruning?

how do infants recognize words?

• 6 month olds pay more attention to content words (noun/verb) than to function words ( article, prepositions)

• 7-8 month olds can recognize words & sound patterns they have heard repeatedly.

what is statistics? when does it occur?

• infants notice syllables that go together frequently.

• example: exposed to a steady stream of “speech” with combinations of sounds next to each other for 3 minutes.

• 8 month olds listened longer to new combinations, and habituated with old combinations, can tell difference.

what is stress?

• languages consistently place emphasis on certain syllables in a word.

• English: 1st syllable in most 2- syllable nouns, adjectives, adverbs, adverbs, stress is in beginning of the word. {DOUGHnut}

what is emerging knowledge of sounds in native language?

• certain combinations go together and some do not:

  • some go together within words

  • some go together across word boundaries

  • example: sd’ isn’t commonly used within words - more commonly at word boundaries. { thiS Dog, pasS Directly}

  • st’- commonly used within & at word boundaries, not helpful ( buS Takes)

at what age do infants rely on function words as boundaries? (a, the)

• by 6 months, infants recognize function words & use them to determine the onset of a word.

• they recognize which sounds are “function words”

• ignore these sounds to pull out “meaningful” sounds in the stream

• example: aballabataglove > a ball a bat a glove

What is IDS? how is it used? how does it help?

• infant directed speech

• slow and exaggerated changes in pitch and loudness

• it helps segment words more effectively when listening to IDS

what is cooing? when does it begin?

production of vowel like sounds such as “ooo” “aaa”,

• tends to begin around 2 months old.

what is babbling? at what month does it progress?

• speech like sounds that have no meaning

• 6 month: “bah or dah”

• 9 mo: bah bah bah or dahmahbah

• comes before true speech

• mouth movements that mimic those of true speech.

• they are influenced by the speech they hear ( native language)

what is naming explosion? when does it occur?

toddlers experience a rapid increase in vocab growth.

• happens around 14-22 months

what is the vocab range for 18 months?

25-250 words.

what does heredity do in increasing vocabulary?

it only plays a small role in increasing vocab.

what is phonological memory?

the ability to remember speech sounds briefly.

• word learning involves associating meaning with unfamiliar sequence of speech sounds

what is a Childs “language environment”?

the more words children hear in their daily environment, the better their vocabulary.

what is joint attention? what does it help with?

the focus of 2 individuals on an object

• simplifies word learning, improves vocabulary

• but dosen’t help solve what word applies to element word learning constraints.

what is mutual exclusivity constraint? whats an example?

• if an unfamiliar word is heard in the presence of other objects that already have a name, the new word belongs to that object that does not have a name.

• elimination tactic

• a dog on the news recognized all her toys, when shes asked to pick up a new name she never heard before, she went to pick up the new doll she never seen, shows how animals use this constraint.

what is whole object constraint? what is an example?

when the child hears a new word, they assume it refers to an entire object rather than its features/ a part of it.

example: if you point and say dog, child will think of the dog as a while rather then call the dogs ears dog.

what is taxonomic constraint? what are the three levels?

a word they assume refers to a group of similar things, not something thats related in context

1) words refer to categories of similar objects. example: a carrot is called a Dax, if you find another “Dax” you likely to pick the vegetable.

2) subcategory- a word applied to one amount many of the same category must indicate a more specific label. ex: if a child learns a new dog breed, they apply it to those dogs.

3) proper nouns- indicating a more specific label. example: if a child hears one of the three dogs name is max, he will call that dog max.

how do babies use other words to infer meaning of an unknown word?

• a man is juggling the balls, they know what man and and balls are, so they can use that to assume the action is juggling.

• toddlers can use function words as cues, “a” and “the” proceed mount, “he” “she” proceed verbs.

• example: a boz can infer an object, did she bozz can infer an action she did.

what types of shows are good for promoting word learning?

• Thomas the tank engine- telling a story

• dora the explorer- asking the audience questions

• regular Sesame Street watchers have greater vocabulary.

why do infant- directed programs not work?

• many are developmentally inappropriate- they cannot use what is learned

• infants struggle with the understanding relationship between images in videos and real objects, makes application difficult.

why did we think that bilingualism was bad for children language development?

in the 20th century, they believed it was bad because of fear of cognitive overload, academic challenges, delayed speech development, and cultural assimilation.

what do bilingual children understand better about symbols?

bilinguals know that words are just symbols, words could switch and they would be ok with it.

what do bilingual children understand better about the relation of the written word to the features of the object?

this means that bilingual children understand that smaller word can denote large object.

• example: just because a word is small dosent mean the object is small, it could be big.

what executive functioning is better in bilingual children?

their inhibitory control is better.

• stop desire from saying “gato” and say cat.

What are basic emotions?

Are theorized to be innate, universal, and automatic responses that are for survival.

What emotions are characterized as basic?

• happiness

• A few

• Suprise

• Sadness

• Disgust

• Fear

What is a reflexive smile? What age does it appear?

It occurs around one month. Babies tend to smile as a reflexive response to bodily states.

Social smile

Infants smile in response to another person, can be a stranger.

Thought to be the first expressions of pleasure from social interactions

Occurs around 2-3 month of age.

Selective smile

Smiling more to familiar faces - around 7 months of age.

When does anger appear?

Between 4-6 months, is one of the first negative emotions to appear.

When does fear appear?

Emerges midway through first year.

What is strangers anxiety? At what age does it tend to appear?

• at around 6 months

• Infants become weary of strangers

• Increases over the next two years

What are complex emotions?

involves a mix of physiological and cognitive processes.

How are they different from basic emotions?

Basic emotions happen automatically without much cognitive processing.

Complex emotions require self reflection and self evaluation

At what age does complex emotions emerge? Why do they emerge at That time?

Around 18-24 months

Complex emotions require self reflection and evaluation, children start to see the world in THat sense around THat time.

At what age do infants start to read others emotions?

Potentially by 4 months, definitely by 6 months

What is social referencing?

Infants in an unfamiliar/ ambiguous environment often look at their mother / father as if searching for cues to help them interpret the situation.

How is social referencing measured by the visual cliff?

A study on the visual cliff shows that children won’t step on the glass unless they see a positive reaction on their parents faces. They are less likely to step if they see a negative face.

What are display rules?

Culturally specific standards for emotional expression.

What is the progression of emotion regulation strategies?

• divert attention - think about something pleasant

• Rationalize - the storm will be over soon

• Reinterpret- we lost the game, but we played really well.

What can infants do to regulate?

Infants rely on adults for soothing

• calming voice, touching, holding, feeding, rocking

What is the progression of emotion regulation in children

By 6 months, children begin to develop strategies for self soothing

• shift gaze, stroking objects, crying it out

are there cultural differences in emotional expression? why?

children worldwide experience many of the same basic and complex emotions.

• there are differences in which emotional expression is encouraged.

what are the three patterns of temperament?

• Easy babies (40%): happy, adjusted easily, predictable (routine-oriented)

• - Difficult babies (10%): unhappy, irregular in routines, responded intensely
  to unfamiliar situations
  • Slow-to-warm up (15%): unhappy, but not upset by unfamiliar settings

why is this not a good strategy for categorizing?

What about the other 35%?
• Not an ideal system– excludes a significant number of babies

what is the Rothbart’s approach to classifying temperament?

• Surgency/Extraversion, Negative affect, Effortful control

• modern approaches place children on a spectrum based on each
  different dimension
  

How does heredity determine temperament?

Twin studies (Saudino, 2012)
• Temperament has been linked to specific genes associated with
neurotransmitters (Davies et al, 2013; Saudino & Wang, 2012

how does environment determine temperament?

Infants demonstrate less negative affect when parents are responsive
• Environment can amplify biological tendencies
• E.g. Children with negative affect elicit more harsh
parenting (Saudino & Wang, 2012

how does differential susceptibility determine temperament?

E.g., DRD4
• Not a “temperament gene”, but linked to
attention, motivation, and
novelty seeking

• dandelion vs orchid child, dandelion easily grows everywhere meaning they adapt to environment, orchids need to be constantly watered a certain amount, etc. This concept suggests that some children, referred to as "orchids," are more sensitive to their environments than others, known as "dandelions," who are more resilient and adaptable regardless of their surrounding conditions.
  

how is the DRD4 gene related to differential susceptibility of attachment?

The DRD4 gene is associated with variations in dopamine receptors, influencing how children respond to their attachment experiences. This gene may predispose some children to be more sensitive to their caregiving environments, impacting their attachment styles.

what is the Harlow monkey study

Additionally, comparative research with monkeys
showed that monkeys raised in isolation showed
severe emotion regulation issues. (Harlow & Harlow,
1965)
• E.g., Cloth mother vs. Wire mother
Suggests:
• That babies need to form a socioemotional bond to develop “normally”
• That they prefer warmth and comfort over provision of necessities
(e.g., food)
• Will form attachment to the figure who provides “comfort”


why is it important information about early parent/ child relationships and development in the Harlow monkey study?

The Harlow monkey study highlights the crucial role of early parent-child relationships in emotional development. It underscores that comfort and emotional security can be more vital than basic needs, illustrating that healthy attachments foster better emotional regulation.

what is the Maternal Deprivation Hypothesis? (by John Bowlby)

a child must experience a warm intimate and
continuous relationship with its mother or permanent mother figure in order to
experience satisfactory emotional and intellectual growth. This must happen
between 1-3 years.
• Modern theorists now believe it does not have to be a “mother”– can be father, grandparent, etc

what is the definition of internal working model?

cognitive framework comprising of mental representations
for understanding the world, self & others
• Guides your expectations for the behaviors of others
• Your own sense of worth

what is “secure base”

a sensitive and responsive figure who meets a child’s needs and
whom a child can turn to as a “safe haven” when upset or anxious

what are Bowlby’s 4 stages of attachment?

• Preattachment (birth to 6-8 weeks): infants prefer their mothers; they engaged in behaviors that elicit caregiving and an interactive
  relationship.
  • Attachment in the making (6-8 weeks to 6-8 months): Infants begin to behave differently in the presence of familiar adults. Slowly identifying primary caregiver– this is the person they will rely on when distressed or anxious.
  • True attachment (6-8 months to 18 months): Have singled out the attachment figure—now this is the stable emotional base.
  • Reciprocal relationships (18 months and on): Children begin to act as true partners in the relationship (rather than one-sided).