Developmental Psych 2

Piagetian Thought

A theory of cognitive development where infants are viewed as active scientists who construct knowledge through stages.

Object Permanence

The understanding that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be seen, typically understood by infants around 8 months.

A-not-B Error

The tendency for infants (8-12 months) to search for a hidden object in the last location they found it (Location A) rather than where they last saw it hidden (Location B).

Violation of Expectation Method

A technique used by Baillargeon demonstrating infants' comprehension of object permanence by observing their reactions to impossible events.

Information Processing Theory

A theory that likens the mind to a computer, focusing on how information is processed and understood.

Executive Function

The cognitive processes that allow for the inhibition of impulses and the switching of strategies.

Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

A concept by Vygotsky that describes the difference between what a child can achieve independently and what they can achieve with guidance.

Scaffolding

Temporary support or guidance provided by a more knowledgeable individual to help a child learn new tasks.

Self-Locomotion

The ability of infants to move on their own, leading to changes in their perceptual experiences.

Perceptual Narrowing

The process by which infants lose the ability to distinguish sounds from non-native languages as they grow older, typically by 10-12 months.

The Mapping Problem

The question of how infants learn the reference of words to objects or actions, such as understanding that 'Bunny' refers to the whole animal.

Goodness-of-Fit

The compatibility between a child's temperament and their environment or parenting style, which can optimize development. Although, It does not change a child’s temperament.

Contact Comfort

The importance of physical touch and comfort over food in forming attachments, as evidenced by Harlow's experiments with monkeys.

The Strange Situation

An observational study developed by Ainsworth to assess the attachment styles of children based on their actions during a series of separations and reunions.

Toxic Stress

Chronic activation of the stress response system without adequate adult support, leading to negative outcomes for health and development (Allostatic Load = wear and tear on the body)

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)

Higher test score on this corelates strongly with heart disease, depression, and substance abuse in adulthood, highly stressful or traumatic events in childhood that lead to significant long-term impacts on an individual’s physical and mental health.

Sensitive Period for Attachment

A developmental timeframe during which certain interactions and experiences are particularly crucial for forming attachments.

Baillargeon’s Rotating Screen

A method used to assess infants' understanding of object permanence, involving a visual display where objects are hidden behind a rotating screen. proving they have object permanence much earlier (3.5 months) than Piaget thought.

Task Analysis

Breaking a task down into minute steps to see where a child fails (ex. memory or motor failure)

Intersubjectivity

The mutual understanding people share during communication.

Sticky Mittens Study

Infants given velcro mittens to “grab” objects showed earlier interest in objecxts nd better reaching skills later, proving motor experience drives cognitive interest.

Baldwin’s decoupled labelling

the attention is divergent ag first but then infants use joint attention, looking at what the speaker is looking at when a new word is said, pairing that word to the object, By 18 months they should be able to accurately do so

Coupled labeling

Both infant and adult are focused on the same object and the infant easily labels said object

Rothbart & Bates (IBQ/CBQ)

Also known as the Infant Behavior Questionnaire, tests for measuring a child’s temperament, uses the following categories: fearful distress, irritable distress, attention span, activity level, and positive affect

Stability

The Dunedin Study showed that temperament at age 3 predicts personality and even financial/legal outcomes in adulthood

Easy Child

One of the Three Types of Children (Thomas & Chess temperament study)

- ↑ positive affectivity

- easy recovery from distress

- regular routines

Slow to Warm up

One of the Three Types of Children (Thomas & Chess temperament study)

- ↓ activity

- low-key reactions to environment

- ↑ fearful distress

- eventual adjustment (after repeated

exposure)

Difficult Child

One of the Three Types of Children (Thomas & Chess temperament study)

- ↑ fearful distress

- slow to adjust to new experiences

- react negatively & intense when

distressed

- irregular routines

Harlow’s Monkeys

Proved that contact comfort is more important for attachment than food

Secure attachment type

behavior during reunion: easily comforted, uses parent as secure base

caregiving style: consistent and sensitive

Inecure-avoidant

behavior during reuinion: ignores parent

caregiving style: indifferent/ overstimulating

Insecure-resistant

Behavior during reunion: Clingy but angry, unable to be soothed

Caregiving style: inconsistent

Romanian orphanages

children adopted before 6 months usually recovered cognitively, those adopted later on, often had permanent deficits in social-emotional processing (the “sensitive period” for attachment)

deffered imitation

the ability to imitate a modeled behavior after a significant delay, typically appearing around 18–24 months, signaling the transition to symbolic thought

nativism

the theoretical view that certain cognitive abilities, knowledge, and mental structures are innate—hard-wired into the brain at birth—rather than acquired solely through experience or learning.

working memory

a limited-capacity cognitive system acting as a temporary "sticky note" to actively hold and manipulate information for short periods.