PSYC 315: Midterm 1

what can we study in developmental psychology?

• Describing what development looks like – what humans do, think, feel at different ages

• Explaining what factors contribute to development – mechanisms allowing people to figure out new things, biological or environmental components

• Applying findings for programs, policies, advice that can improve lives of children and youth

developmental stages

1. Prenatal: conception to birth

2. Infancy: birth – 3 years

3. Early Childhood: 3 – 6 years

4. Middle Childhood: 6 – 11 years – start of formal schooling is a shift

5. Adolescence: 11 – 18/19 – start of puberty (the shift)

6. Early/Emerging Adulthood: newer phase – 19/20 – 25

7. Adulthood: 25+

advantages of developmental theories

• provide a framework for understanding important phenomena

• raise crucial questions about human nature

• lead to better understanding on children

domains of development

physical, social and emotional, cognitive

• all are related and overlap - puberty affects all

human nature

is who you are determined by experiences (tabula rasa) or do all enter the world with inherent abilities?

nature

biological endowment; genes

nurture

physical and social environment - environment differences begin at conception

nature vs nurture

interplay with each other - not just one or the other

developmental change

continuous (gradual development) vs discontinuous (stages)

Mechanisms of change: biological processes, experiences, timing of experiences

role of context

development depends on a number of external factors - family, peers, school, community, socioeconomic status, culture, time period

self/other report

surveys (often filled out by parents), interviews, standardized tests

• advantages: can probe inner experience, easy to administer

Naturalistic observation

observing behaviour in its natural setting

• time-sampling or event-sampling

• challenges: so much behaviour at once

• advantages: reflects real-world behaviour, can be affordable

time-sampling

record all behaviours during pre-determined time periods

event-sampling

record behaviour every time event of interest occurs

structured observation

researcher sets up situation to evoke behaviour of interest - control environment

• advantages: useful for rare behaviour, more control

physiological measures

• heart rate, blood pressure, hormone levels, pupil dilation

• neuroimaging: MRI, fMRI, NIRS

• advantages: access biological underpinnings, doesn’t require language

EEG/ERP

measures electrical activity in brain while brain is working

MRI

measures brain structure using magnetic fieelds

fMRI

measures blood flow using magnetic fields

NIRS

measures blood flow in brain using light

reliability

consistency/repeatability of measures

validity

measures what researcher thinks its measuring

internal validity

conditions internal to design of study allow for accurate measurement

external validity

findings generalize beyond original assessment

correlational designs

examine relationships between variables with no experimental manipulation

• does not equal causation

experimental designs

researcher manipulates IV and measures change in DV(s)

• participants randomly assigned to different groups

• able to examine cause-effect

longitudinal designs

same participants measured repeatedly across time at different ages

cross-sectional designs

different groups of participants at different ages measured at same time

sequential designs

combining longitudinal and cross-sectional methods - follow multiple samples of different ages over time

micro-genetic designs

track development over a short period of time over closely-spaced sessions 0 for training effects or skill learning

challenges in researching development

• difficult population to study (ethics, cooperation, participant recruitment)

• difficult to study changes with age (measurement equivalence for each age group, understanding what causes change)

scientific method

systematic testing of logical hypotheses

• strengths: scientific community builds on each other, constantly changing/updating, publicly shared knowledge

• limitations: can’t answer all questions, embedded within context, biased

positionality

our positions in society - contexts, identities, access - affecting how we see the world

• causes biases in knowledge processing

cognitive development

how we learn, think, problem solve, use language

jean piaget (1896-1980)

founder of of development psychology theory - stage theory

• constructivist: children construct their own understanding of the world (child as scientist)

• children are motivated to learn - don’t need reward

• our understanding is organized by schemas and we change through assimilation and accommodation

• discontinuous development - 4 stages

assimilation

new information viewed through existing schemas and added to them - Piaget

accomodation

schemas are adapted to new experiences - Piaget

equilibration

people balance assimilation and accommodation to create stable understanding

• become unsatisfied with current knowledge and feel the need to balance shortcomings

central properties of Piaget’s stage theory

• qualitative change through stages

• broad applicability across topics/contexts

• brief transitions between stages

• universal order and progression

sensorimotor stage (0-2 years)

• accomplishments: begin to learn about the world through touching, sucking, looking, reaching - motor skills; learn through environment adaptation and modify reflexes

  • develop object permanence round age 1 (fragile - A-not-B error)

  • form deferred imitation at 18-24 months

• gaps: lack mental representation of the world, not able to think about moving through the world

object permanence

knowledge objects continue to exist event out of view

A-not-B error

tendency to reach for a hidden object where it was last found rather than new location it was last hidden

deferred imitation

repetition of other people’s behaviour substantial time after it actually occured

pre-operational stage (2-7 years)

• accomplishments: symbolic representations (pretend play), big gains in language

• gaps: not capable of understanding logical rule, struggle with conservation (centration), egocentric

• 3 Mountain Task

symbolic representations

able to understand that something can stand for something else (pretend play)

conservation

understanding physical propertieis do not change despite changes in form/appearance (pouring a glass of water into a different sized glass)

centration

focus on one aspect of a thing, not the overall picture

egocentrisim

inability to take other people’s perspectives

• 3 Mountain Task

• also seen in conversation - talk over each other, can’t stay on one topic

3 Mountain Task

can’t figure out what is closest to the doll - will just say what is closest to them

concrete operational stage (7-12 years)

• accomplishments: able to use mental logic to reason about concrete things, understand conservation, no longer egocentric

• gaps: reasoning about abstract, hypothetical concepts - can’t think systematically

• pendulum task

formal operational stage (12+ years)

• accomplishments: able to use mental logic to reason about abstract, hypothetical things, logically test hypotheses (Pendulum Problem)

• not universal - not everyone can conjure abstract ideas

pendulum problem

what contribute to how much a pendulum swings? children will test random things instead of making logical conclusions (able to once they are 12)

piaget’s legacy

• foundation of cognitive development and future theories, idea of natural limits at a given age, children contribute to their development

• criticisms: overemphasized clear-cut stages, underestimate sociocultural influences, defining tests of cognition too hard, vague about mechanisms behind development, child’s thinking is not as consistent

Lev Vygotsky’s Theory of Cognitive Development

gradual, continual shifts in knowledge during development - children as social learners

• continuous theory

• zone of proximal development

• scaffolding

• language as the most important tool for cognitive development - allows learners to think about the world (private speech)

• children as teachers and learners

Vygotsky’s phases of development

children’s behaviour controlled by other people’s statements → children’s behaviour controlled by own private speech spoken out loud → behaviour controlled by internalized private speech

zone of proximal development

able to do things only with the help of others

scaffolding

teachers adjust level of support they offer to fit learner’s needs

• giving help but no more than needed

intersubjectivity

mutual understanding that people share during communication - foundation of sociocultural development

• focus on same topic, each other’s reactions

• joint attention in infants

Vygotsky’s Legacy

• Praise: emphasis on culture, role of teaching, impact

• Criticisms: overemphasis on language, undervalues biology

Vygotsky vs. Piaget Similarities

• focus on child

• children as active learners

Vygotsky vs. Piaget contrasts

• learning through self-discover (P) vs. through social collaboration (V)

• discontinuous change (P) vs. continuous change (V)

• universal processes of development (P) vs. development as culturally situated (V)

• language and thought as largely unrelated (P) vs. language as key to learning (V)

theory of mind

ability to think about mental states in ourselves and others - understanding mental states influence behaviour

• comes back to egocentrism

main components of theory of mind

understanding representational states are

• understanding certain state might misrepresent a situation

• appreciating that the same situation might be represented differently by two agents

false belief: Sally Anne Task

Sally leaves her marble in her basket then leaves → Anne takes the marble out of the basket and puts it in her box → Sally comes back → where will Sally look for the marble?

• Sally has a false belief her marble is in her basket

false belief: smarties box

Child is asked what is in the Smarties box → Child answers Smarties → the box is opened and there are pencils in the box → the box is closed and the child is asked what would their friend expect to be in the box without opening it?

• Child has a false belief Smarties are in the box

false belief tasks (theory of mind)

children under 4 fail them (Sally-Anne, Smarties Box)

• evidence suggests that these tasks are too hard and infants can even succeed at them with easier methods

• similar across cultures

theory theory for theory of mind

change in thinking from desire guided behaviour to belief guided behaviour

simulation theory for theory of mind

use imagination, role taking to put yourself in new perspectives

• either introspection, or simple imagination

modular theory for theory of mind

brain maturation of parts of brain related to thinking

nativism

fundamental theory of mind capacities are realized by module that explains other people’s behaviour by mental state ascription - basically innate

two-systems account

theory of mind is to some degree innate but the initial capacities are subserved by a simpler system that is automatic and inflexible

influences on theory of mind

• number of siblings (specifically older siblings)

• pretend play

• parenting (parents who label things with emotions0

• language (bilingualism leads to earlier theory of mind)

• autism

development of theory of mind

• 1 year: children follow the gaze of other people, show sensitivity to intentional structure of action

  • will reproduce the correct action another person is failing to do, will copy bizzare means to an end

• 12-18 months: understand that another person might not see the object they are seeing

• keeps developing into middle adulthood and adolescence

• remains relatively constant over lifespan

autism and theory of mind

show delays in development

• also show social-cognitive deficits in infancy

what drives theory of mind?

• language (specifically language that encourages independent thought)

• executive functions (inhibition, working memory - enable flexible coordination, embedding, suppression of perspectives)

• family (maternal education, SES)

• network of cortical regions

social cognition

understanding and thinking about mental states, how mental states guide behaviour; understanding and thinking about social groups

infants understanding of race

infants prefer familiar race faces, respond to race as a perceptual category

understanding of race at 3-4 years

explicitly characterize race, reason about skin colour as stable

• eventually see race as an informative feature of identity

explicit attitudes

attitudes a person consciously endorses and can report

• aware of biases, can access them, easily controlled

intergroup bias

intuitive to group people together by perceived group indicators - develop biases/preferences to specific groups (more dominant/powerful)

• in-group positivity and out-group negativity

• declines with development

clark’s doll study (1947)

does racial segregation impact how black children felt about their own group? – this study showed that black children associated white dolls with positive terms (nice, pretty) and black dolls with negative terms (bad, ugly)

• in-group positivity increases with age

implicit biases

beliefs, attitudes activated in response to social cues

• have less awareness

• more difficult to control

implicit association tese

measures strength of association between concept and attribute

• response time (faster = stronger association)

implicit attitudes of racial groups

dominant groups have a pro in-group preference and non-dominant groups do not have a preference

• remain consistent across lifespan

development of intergroup bias

biological and evolutionary reasons

• EX. Latinx adults and children don’t prefer white people over Latinx, but they do prefer Latinx people over black people

minimal group paradigm

 method for investigating the minimal conditions required for discrimination to occur between groups - rapidly acquires

• Bring kids in red shirts and kids in blue shirts in to play with each other – kids had a higher preference for kids wearing the same shirt as them

IAT issues

• side/order effects

• reliability (impact of context)

• meaningful (are predictions generalizable to large group)

what works in adults to reduce intergroup bias?

• Personal contact with out-group members

• Encountering positive examples of out-group members

• But, effects aren’t strong - children more malleable

reducing implicit bias in children (Gonzalez, Steele, & Baron (2017))

White and Asian children aged 5-12 exposed to examples of either white or black individuals in a positive or negative light or flowers (control) – child IAT

• Results: younger children ~7 years showed a pro-white bias, older children (~10 years) did not show a pro-white bias when shown pictures of positive black associations

language

system of symbols used to communicate - meaningless elements made into structures with meaning

language form

phonemes, morphemes, syntax

language content

semantics - the meaning

language use

pragmatics - rules of conversation

phonemes

sounds of language

morphemes

smallest units of distinguishing meaning in language

syntax

rules for how to combine phonemes and morphemes

language acquisition

nature: humans have an advanced syntax compared to other animals

nurture: need exposure to language to learn it - timing is important

critical period of language learning

2 years to puberty

language competence

ability to understand components of language

• 10-12 months: discriminated and produce sounds of their languages - first words ~12 months

• 18 months: combining words

• 2 years: vocab of 200-500 words

• 3 years: longer, more complex sentences

talking to yourself (Piaget)

egocentric speech - children not orienting their speech to anyone

• collective monologues: two individuals speaking to each other but not for the purpose of each other