FMST 210

psychoanalytic theory

development and behaviour are the result of interplay of inner drives, memories, and conflicts we are unaware of and cannot control; take the perspective that behaviour is internally motivated and influenced based on our sense of self and what we want to get out of life

Freud's Psychosexual Theory

behaviour is driven by unconscious impulses outside our awareness; grounded in the idea that we all need some sort of physical gratification and that impulse is what drives our behaviour (oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital)

Erikson's Psychosocial Theory

role of social world, society, and culture in shaping development; our behaviour is grounded in our relationships with others and how we see ourselves juxtaposed to others (trust vs. mistrust, autonomy vs. shame and doubt, initiative vs. guilt, industry vs. inferiority, identity vs. role confusion, intimacy vs. isolation, generativity vs. stagnation, integrity vs. despair)

Behaviourist and Social Learning Theories

development and behaviour are influenced by the physical and social environment; behaviour is completely influenced by the outside world

operant conditioning

behaviour becomes more or less probable depending on its consequences; we continue behaviours with rewards, and we stop behaviours with punishments (John Watson - examines only observable behaviour)

Bandura's Social Learning Theory

people actively process information, and their thoughts and feelings influence their behaviour

social learning theory - observational learning

people learn through observing and imitating models

social learning theory - reciprocal determinism

individuals and the environment interact and influence each other; both children and their parents influence each other's behaviour

cognitive theories

development and behaviour are the result of thought or cognition; motivated by how we think about things and understand the world

Piaget's cognitive-developmental theory

children and adults are active explorers of their world; through exploration and interaction with new things in the world, we organize what we've learned in certain ways in our brain (sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational)

Information processing theory

views thinking as information processing; we behave how we do because we've learned certain things and processed that information in a certain way

sociocultural systems theories

emphasizes the role of sociocultural context in development; people are inseparable from the cultural beliefs and societal, neighbourhood, and familial contexts in which they live; motivated by the multiple environments in which we exist, both direct and indirect

Vygotsky's sociocultural systems theory

examines how culture is transmitted from one generation to the next through social interaction, both formal (ex. educational setting) and informal (ex. family household)

Bronfenbrenner's bioecological systems theory

addresses both the role of the individual and that individual's social interactions; development is the result of interactions among biological, cognitive, and psychological changes within a person and their changing context; individuals are embedded in, or surrounded by, series of sociocultural contexts (individual, microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem)

Dominant-recessive genetic inheritance

having to do with genes and chromosomes, it is what we inherit from our biological parents

dominant

some genes are always expressed, regardless of the gene that it is paired with (ex. brown eyes are the dominant gene, meaning that the only way a child can have coloured eyes is if both parents have a blue eye gene)

recessive

some genes will only be expressed if paired with another recessive gene

maternal characteristics and behaviours

- age
- nutrition
- emotional well-being
- prenatal care

maternal characteristics and behaviours - age

the older a woman is, the more problematic a pregnancy can be (any pregnant woman over the age of 35 is considered to be high risk)

maternal characteristics and behaviours - nutrition

mothers should consume around 2000-3000 calories per day to sustain their pregnancy; however, many mothers around the world lack access to proper nutrition

maternal characteristics and behaviours - emotional well-being

when a mother is exposed to chronic stress and emotional trauma during pregnancy it imposes risks on the fetus (ex. low birth weight, premature, and longer hospital stay); in the long-term, babies that were exposed to the stress hormones that cross over into the placenta are more likely to experience anxiety, ADHD, and aggression symptoms

maternal characteristics and behaviours - prenatal care

a basic set of services provided to improve pregnancy outcomes (check-ups, nutrition, exercise); many mothers don't access this care due to low SES, no health insurance, inaccessibility, negative prior experiences in the health care system, etc.

maternal characteristics and behaviours - nutrition - folic acid

a lack of this is linked to a failure of the spinal tube closing

contextual influences on pubertal timing

- nutrition
- stress
- SES

contextual influences on pubertal timing - nutrition

ovulation and menstruation are triggered by a specific level of protein called leptin (found in fat); fat is related to menarche in girls

contextual influences on pubertal timing - stress

exposure to stress (sexual abuse, harsh parenting, family conflict) can lead to early onset of puberty

contextual influences on pubertal timing - SES

living in a poor family is linked to an early onset of puberty, particularly in girls, given that a low SES is correlated with poor nutrition, meaning that many young girls are overweight which increases the leptin in their body

off-timed puberty

entering puberty and going through puberty earlier or later than an individual's peers; linked to anxiety, depression, and stress

early and late pubertal ages

Early: before 8 (girls) or 9 (boys)

Late: after 13 (girls) or 14 (boys)

psychosocial effects of early and late puberty

Early maturation is linked with more problems than late maturation (i.e. consider a young girl who has completed puberty by the age of 12 & the adverse experiences that she will endure)

contextual factors influencing the effects of pubertal timing

- Tendency to seek out relationships with older peers
- Tendency to engage in age-inappropriate behaviours due to boys and girls looking older than they actually are

risk factors for child maltreatment - parental characteristics

some parents perceive normal childhood behaviour as stubborn and non-compliant and feel the need to "whip their kids into shape"; parents with unrealistic expectations for their child's behaviour lead to higher opportunity for abuse and neglect; parents living in low SES, dealing with drugs and alcohol, or having marital problems have higher chances of abusing their kids

marijuana use in adolescence stats

- Average age of first use in Canada is 14 years old
- Rates of use haven't really changed after legalization in 2018 (24% of 18-24-year-olds report using marijuana)
- Males use marijuana more often, perceive it as less risky, and are more likely to drive a car after smoking

short-term effects of marijuana

- impaired executive function
- problem solving
- judgement
- abstract thinking
- impaired memory, recall, and attention

Vygotsky's sociocultural perspective

believed that we are embedded in a context that shapes how we think and who we become; believed that social experiences teach children how to think

guided participation

when a more skilled partner is attuned to the needs of the child and helps them to accomplish more than they could do alone; this is different from scaffolding in that the helping is done through talking rather than actually participating in the task

zone of proximal development

the gap between a child's competence level (what they can do alone) and what they can do with assistance; this is where scaffolding and guided participation occur

the information processing system

our mind is composed of 3 mental stores or places where information exists; suggests that we were all born with this system in place and we just need to be exposed to information to first begin using the system

sensory memory

holds incoming sensory information in its original form; something stimulates one of your 5 sense, but is quickly forgotten if not processed

sensory memory - attention

awareness of information

working memory (short-term)

holds and processes information that is being "worked on": manipulated, encoded, or retrieved (directed by the central executive and carried out by the process of the executive function)

working memory - manipulated

considering something or comprehending something

working memory - encoding

transferring something into long-term memory

working memory - retrieved

recalling something from long-term memory

working memory - central executive

control processor that directs the flow of information and regulates cognitive activities such as attention, action, and problem-solving; determines what's important to combine between new and previously stored information

working memory - executive function

cognitive process of understanding information, making decisions, and solving problems

long-term memory

unlimited store that holds information indefinitely

risk taking behaviours

adolescents often don't consider the practicalities associated with each option; adolescents are more responsive to positive feedback and less responsive to negative feedback (tend to ignore advice telling them not to do something)

risk taking behaviours - adolescents

place more of an emphasis on the potential benefits of the risk-taking behaviour than estimating the potential cost or risk

limbic system

there is a lag time of the development of the prefrontal cortex compared to the development of the limbic system, which has to do with emotional responses; adolescents tend to respond with heightened brain activity in reward processing but less heightened activity in inhibitory control

flynn effect

widespread increases in IQ scores over the past 100 years; intelligence tends to increase with each generation; approximately a 30-point increase in IQ's (fluid intelligence) over the past 100 years due to significant increases in access to education and people are increasingly experiencing more challenging socioenvironmental experiences (ex. developments in technology force people to learn more); even though the average IQ has increased, it doesn't mean that the average is now 130, rather the scales have been revised to keep the average at 100

contextual differences in IQ - SES

- Accounts for many ethnic differences in IQ scores (ex. African Americans are much more likely to live in low SES neighbourhoods than Caucasian Americans)
- Differences based on SES and are not inborn (i.e. infants do not show any differences in what can predict intelligence, rather the differences emerge over time as the infants grow up)
- Contributes to IQ through differences in culture, nutrition, living conditions, school resources intellectual stimulation, and life circumstances

5 basic components that underlie all languages

1. phonology
2. morphology
3. semantics
4. syntax
5. pragmatics

phonology

knowledge of sounds used in a given language; Learning how to detect, discriminate and produce speech sounds

morphology

understanding the way that sounds can be combined to form words (ex. combining vowels and consonants); Infants learn that sounds can be combined in meaningful ways

semantics

meaning or content of words and sentences; Growing vocabulary signals an increase in semantic knowledge

syntax

knowledge of the structure of sentences; Each language has specific rules by which words are to be combined to form sentences

pragmatics

understanding how to use language to communicate effectively

contextual influences on language development - poverty

- Infants and toddlers raised in poverty have less developed language skills (ex. fewer words, smaller variety of words, shorter sentences, & demonstrate less developed syntax)
- Less exposure to speech
- Lower quality parent-child interactions - more likely to have less conversations with their parents
- conversation directives - an abrupt "order" type conversation contributing to the lower quality of parent-child interactions (ex. clean your room)
- Increased household instability and disorder - children move more often, caregivers come and go, & cohabitation is more common in low SES homes (overwhelming)

word gap - SES

From 18 to 24 months old, the word gap nearly doubles between low SES and high SES children

attachment

a relatively enduring emotional tie between two people, each striving to maintain their closeness and acting to ensure the relationship continues over time

Bowlby's 4 stages of attachment

1. Indiscriminate social responsiveness (birth to 2 months) - babies learn to associate caregivers with the relief of stress, but they will respond to any caregiver
2. Discriminating sociability (2 through 6-7 months) - babies begin to discriminate between caregivers and start to prefer some over others
3. Attachments (7-24 months) - the initial formation of the attachment to caregiver(s)
4. Reciprocal relationships (24-30 months and onward) - in an attachment between two individuals, they engage in interactions and take turns engaging in interactions amongst that relationship (i.e. a conscious effort is made to engage with the relationship because the other person is important)

adulthood and secure attachment

the internal working model & a secure attachment determines relationship quality

securely attached adulthood

desire closeness, easily comforted by their partners, more likely to form a secure attachment with their own child; only about 65% of infants are securely attached

insecurely attached adulthood

fear of abandonment, feel unworthy of love, become possessive and jealous; about 35% of adults develop insecure relationships

self-concept

the way we describe ourselves; our assessments of our abilities, traits, & characteristics; The way we see ourselves may not be in line with how others see us; an ever-changing process that becomes more & more complex over our lifespan

self-esteem

based on how one would evaluate themselves; feelings of self-worth, self-acceptance, & self-respect; Accepting both the positive & negative aspects of your personality & then feeling okay with that & who you are; Relies on cognitive development & a sense of self that emerges over the course of childhood (we don't really see self-esteem in infants & toddlers as it requires a level of cognition that hasn't yet developed)

identity achievement

establishing a coherent sense of self after exploring many possibilities (related to big picture things like values, family, career); achieved when sense of self is achieved through exploration & a commitment to a certain set of values/beliefs; highly correlated with positive well-being & functioning but can take a while to get there

identity moratorium

time-out period providing more freedom & autonomy than childhood but is without the full autonomy & responsibilities of adulthood (in-between space where adolescents have the time to explore who they are; openness to possibilities coupled with identity anxiety)

identity moratorium (emerging adulthood)

extended transitional period between adolescence & adulthood; due to more high school students entering post-secondary & delaying the key markers of adulthood

identity diffusion

not having explored or committed to a sense of self (the identity is not clear); there is little motivation to come to a conclusion about one's identity and are rather just existing; either never had or never explored the opportunity to explore their sense of self

identity foreclosure

chosen an identity without engaging in exploration (pre-maturely stopped or never engaged in exploring their possibilities of identity); often occurs because parents are controlling and decide the life path for their children (family business - decided but also in identity achievement as they might have willingly said that they wanted to follow this path)

care orientation

desire to maintain relationships and responsibility not to cause harm (feminine); this is Kohlberg's conventional stage (external and other-oriented)

justice orientation

based on abstract principles of fairness and individualism (masculine); this is Kohlberg's postconventional stage

gender differences in moral reasoning (Gilligan)

males and females reason differently in moral dilemma situations; females and males are socialized and brought up differently & so they respond to situations differently rather than female just have a lower reasoning power

prosocial behaviour

voluntary behaviour intended to benefit another person

empathy

capacity to understand someone else's feelings; begins in toddlers (2-3 years) with their response to someone in physical/emotional distress through expressions of concern & actions of comfort
o Biological and contextual influences on prosocial behaviour

influences on prosocial behaviour - parents and caregivers

encourage prosocial behaviour through inclusion in household chores and caregiving activities and using the correct language to describe feelings so that empathy, and subsequently prosocial behaviour, is encouraged

discipline

using a variety of methods to socialize children toward acceptable behaviour; not always negative as positive ways of instituting discipline allow parents to direct their children towards proper behaviour

induction

discipline method based on reasoning and guidance; explaining to children why a specific behaviour is wrong and emphasize how that behaviour effects other people, to then provide alternative behaviours that are better

induction results

- Parents can model effective conflict resolution between themselves, with the child, or with siblings so that the child can see it and experience it
- Focuses on behaviour and not a child's characteristics
- Helps children internalize rules and standards so that in the future their behaviour comes out positive and doesn't negatively affect other people

adrogyny

integrating masculine and feminine characteristics; Allow people to be successful in both expressive and instrumental style roles; Linked with positive adjustment experiences - higher self-esteem, psychosocial achievement, and life and work satisfaction

contextual influences on gender development - parents

begins in the womb and infancy when parents simply know the gender of the baby
- Different perceptions and expectations for each gender and those differ from parent to parent (a mom might expect different for a girl than what a mom expects for a girl)
- Encourage gender-typed behaviour and discourage or punish cross-gender behaviour or gender-inappropriate behaviour
- Encourage same-sex playmates which cements the idea of the separation of the sexes and the genders

contextual influences on gender development - peers

reinforce gender-typed behaviour and criticize cross-gender activities (can occur as early as 3 years old)

"Doing gender" in adult relationships

gendered roles almost feel natural and we fall back into the gendered roles and behaviours

childhood self-stimulation

normal for children to have sexual feelings (noted as young as 2 years old); the feelings that they have and the way that they understand them is very different than how adults understand them; self-stimulate & are capable of reaching orgasm, which means that the physical capabilities of sexuality are likely there from birth

adolescent pregnancy - protective factors

- The mom's readiness to become a parent (girls of low SES families usually feel as though they don't have any other opportunities)
- Family and community support
- Stability of living environment (i.e. her parents didn't kick her out of the house)
- Involvement of the baby's father (emotionally, physically, & financially)
- The mom has no history of abuse and particularly sexual abuse

contextual influences contributing to rape

- Prevalence of rape myths ("she asked for it" "she invited me back to her apartment")
- Gender role stereotyping that encourages male dominance and aggression and competition
- In the USA there are higher rates of people who would be accused of sexual assault in large groups of places with hyper-masculine characteristics (athletes, fraternities, military)
- The kind of guy that is likely to commit sexual assault is drawn to the above-mentioned organizations as they are hyper-masculine

sexual activity in young adulthood

Sexual activity is highest in young adulthood; A 25-year-old who just got into a relationship is probably more likely however to be having more sex than a 22-year-old who has been in a relationship for 6 years (the length of the relationship trumps age)

cohabiting households stats

- Significant increase in cohabiting households (3.5x as many as there were 35 years ago in Canada)
- Quebec & 3 territories have significantly higher rates of cohabitation
- 9 provinces have about 16% of people cohabiting whereas about 40% do in Quebec
- Individuals with lower levels of education and income are more likely to co-habit and less likely to marry (ethnic minorities are more likely to have lower levels of income and education, which leads to them having higher rates of cohabitation)

single-parent families - children's experiences

- Research has suggested that divorce "screws" kids up
- Short-term (2 years after split) - a lot of children tend to have adjustment problems (academics, peer relationships, behavioural problems)
- Long-term (to adulthood) - about 20% of children of divorce are still struggling with adjustment issues but about 80% of children of divorce have no adjustment issues with behavioural or relationship struggles
- However, 10% of children of non-divorced families still show adjustment issues over the long-term which makes us able to say that only 10% of children of divorce have long-term problems

single-parent families - protective factors

- Reduce amount of tension between parents before, during, and after the divorce (many long-term children issues are based off of parental conflict)
- Creating a secure attachment with one or both parents
- Reducing the number of transitions that children have to go through (don't change residences or school districts)

lesbian and gay families - children's experiences

- Don't really see any differences in results of childhood development
- Further research has shown that children might actually be better off - Higher academic achievement and social competency (i.e. if there are differences, they're actually better off)

authoritative parenting style

1. High on responsiveness and demandingness
2. Considered best for children - does not expect unquestioning obedience and is open to negotiation; rules are explained to children so that they can learn cause and effect
3. Children have high self-esteem, but this is tempered with humbleness and a concern for others; monitor their own behaviour and are more likely to grow up to become leaders; high academic achievement, high reasoning abilities, empathy, and altruism; cooperative, exhibit psychosocial maturity, and are comfortable with going to their parents for help

authoritarian parenting style

1. Low on responsiveness and high on demandingness
2. Expects obedience without question ("because I said so")
3. Parents rarely explains the rules nor are they open to negotiation; has unrealistic expectations for maturity and compliance
4. Children have lower academic achievement, low psychosocial maturity, and are more conforming and less self-assured, dependent and passive
5. Not good at monitoring their behaviour because they don't understand the rules and haven't been brought through the cause and effect process; lack ability for conflict resolution
6. Child has lower self-esteem, feel less confident, and don't feel accepted

permissive/indulgent parenting style

1. High on responsiveness but low on demandingness
2. Parents make no demands on their children and have no control over their children; have very low expectations for maturity and provide little consistency
3. Children are likely to be spoiled as they were not socialized properly; don't know how to monitor their own behaviour as the parent never forced rules upon them; typically have trouble following other people's rules because they typically don't care given that they've never had to follow any rules
4. Children have little training in independence and self-regulation which results in a lack of impulse control; don't become leaders as they are unable to see the big given their self-absorption
5. Children are less mature and have lower academic achievement, less self-reliant and less socially responsible

indifferent parenting style

1. Low on both responsiveness and demandingness
2. Parent is uninvolved and disinterested in the child's life and wants to spend as little time as possible with them
3. Children don't feel love and haven't been socialized; low academic achievement, lack impulse control, and experience peer rejection and early sexual involvement
4. Children are more likely to end up aggressive, delinquent, and anti-social; they might realize their effect on others but don't care because no one ever cared about them

concerted cultivation

middle/upper class - parents are child centered and actively assess their child's abilities and organize extra-curriculars based on these abilities to further their education and work experiences; more likely to use an authoritative parenting style and include children in decision making; more likely to talk with their children and as them to talk more to them

accomplishments of natural growth

working/under class - parent centered as they have less time and resources to focus on the child and nurture their skills and abilities; children then have their own free time to find activities for themselves; children have more contact with extended family; parents are more likely to use authoritarian parenting style and have expectations from their children; parents are more likely to talk at their children rather than with them

parents using physical discipline

- Parents are more likely to be young and single, under financial stress, frustrated with kids, and have fewer supports
- Mothers are more often the ones doing the spanking because they spend more time with the kids than the fathers
- Parents who spank believe it's useful and were often spanked as a child (93% of parents who spank justify its use but 85% of them would rather not have done it and admit they were just angry)