Psych - Development module - Day 4

are fetuses capable of hearing sound and who’s voice do they prefer to hear?

Yes fetuses are capable of hearing sounds and seem to prefer their mothers voice.

What is the proof that fetuses prefer their mothers voice?

New voices spike their heart rate while their mothers voice slows the heart rate

What is proof the fetuses are capable of hearing sound?

They can remember sounds or voices they heard in utero once they are born

What do we smell and taste through in utero?

amniotic fluid

What is true about the taste buds of a fetus?

They look very similar to those of an adult

What is true about the vision of infants?

Their vision is horrible but is not necessary

What relevant time do infants develop vision?

a decent amount into their life

What colors do vision start in?

Shades of black and white and gray

When do babies reach the same ability of vision as an adult?

around age 3

What is newborns vision rated to be around?

2600 which is really bad

Visual cliff

Put a child who is able to crawl on a glass table where half the table has some sort of pattern and the other is glass and on the floor beneath that glass the pattern continues (question: does the child seem to perceive a depth difference between the patterns - if the child keeps crawling with no hesitation onto the glass they lack depth perception)

Why do babies touch so much?

Babies touch and put things in their mouth because it is their way of exploring the world around them because it’s their most reliable sense

What is true about the development of sense of touch?

Development of sense of touch is more rapid than vision or hearing

Brain growth

The brain doesn’t really grow in size but complexity (we don’t look for new places that develop but new patterns and connections)

What part of the brain is one of the last to develop?

The frontal lobe

What does the frontal lobe allow us to do?

make responsible decisions (newborns and young children lack development in that area and therefore make bad decisions)

authoritarianism

Largely focused on consequences for rule breaking and obedience

What are some aspect of punishment associated with authoritarianism?

• very harsh and exaggerated consequences

• Behavior seen as disobedience or rule breaking are harshly punished

Permissive

Very unrestrained style of parenting; ask very little of their children when it comes to rules and behavior and when those rules are broken they don’t really punish them at all

What are some aspects associated with permissive parenting?

• these kinds of parents seem to want to be friends with their children

• Sometimes the child takes on some roles of the parent and can develop anxiety because they don’t have anyone to provide that comfort to them

• Children can develop traits similar to those who experience authoritarianism

Negligent

Uninvolved, don’t care what the child is doing, living separate lives from their child, little interaction

Authoritative

Tend to be confrontative, do have rules and if those rules are broken they go to the child for a conversation, ask why did you break them and what were the circumstances around it

What are some aspects of authoritative parenting?

• may be punished may be not depending on the circumstances or things that happened

• considered the healthiest style of parenting and leads to the healthiest outcome for the children

attachment

The close emotional bond between an infant and their caregiver

What is the basis of attachment?

It has to do a lot with how children deal with separation and the development of separation anxiety

at what age does separation anxiety tend to peak around?

13 months and slowly declines from there

Strange situation (ainsworth et al., 1978)

You have a child in a safe environment and the caregiver leaves and a stranger comes in to try and soothe or interact with the child

What did the strange situation experiment look at?

how the child reacts to the stranger and how the child reacts when the caregiver returns

What did the strange situation experiment lead to?

The development of 4 different attachment style

What are the 4 different attachment styles?

• secure

• avoidant

• ambivalent/anxious

• Disorganized

What is the secure attachment style and what percent of infants display it?

When the caregiver leaves the child may or may not be distressed but we are looking at when the caregiver returns - they will either go to the caregiver if they are distressed and be soothed or acknowledge them but return to their play. 60% of have it

What is true about infants who have a secure attachment style?

The infants tend to do better in later social interactions and tend to have better later life outcomes

What is the avoidant attachment style and what percent of infants have it?

The baby doesn’t care and when the caregiver returns they ignore the caregiver and keep doing what they’re doing. 20% of infants have it

What is the ambivalent/anxious attachment style and what percent of infants have it?

The infant is very upset and distressed and when the caregiver returns they continue to be upset and distressed. 15% of infants have it

What separates secure and anxious attachment?

How they react when the caregiver returns

How is the attachment style of a baby determined?

Babies could be born with it or it could be learned

What is the disorganized attachment style and what percent of babies have it?

no clear pattern of response and they do something different every time. 5% percent of babies have it

What is true about the longevity of attachment styles?

attachment styles can stay consistent and you are likely to show the same attachment style in your first romantic relationship as your attachment style as a kid. after your first relationship it can vary

What is true about attachment styles in relation to your siblings?

You are likely to show the same attachment style as your siblings but it can vary depending on age order and more

Piaget moral development

Rather than one stage being completed then moving to the next stage we can see specific shifts

Piaget realism to relativism

Rules are real so whatever the rule is must be followed no matter the circumstance —> there might be instances where it is more moral to break a rule rather than to uphold a rule

Piaget prescription to principle

Rules are only relevant in situations where they are specifically related —> understand the point behind the rule and apply it in situations where the rule is not explicitly connected

Piaget outcomes to intentions

Determine what’s right and wrong based on the outcome of the action —> determine what’s right and wrong based on the intent of that action

What is true about gender and Piaget moral development?

Girls tend to make the shift earlier.

Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development

3 stage theory

What is the first stage of the 3 stage theory?

Preconventional - what is morally right is determined by what is rewarded and what is punished (the action is only bad if you get caught)

Until what age is the preconventional stage?

7 or 8

What is the second stage of the 3 stage theory?

Conventional - determine what’s right and wrong by internalizing rules from an external authority figure

What is the third stage of the 3 stage theory?

Post conventional - you are determining what’s right and wrong based on your own personal code of ethics which is driven by your personal values

What age does the post conventional stage come about?

in early childhood

Who were the 2 people that created theories for cognitive development?

Piaget and Vygotsky

Assimilate vs. accommodate

We take new experiences and fit them into our current understanding of the world —> we change our understanding of the world based on new experiences

Sensorimotor stage

Birth to 2 years, where they are largely understanding their world through their senses and physical interactions

Object permanence

Where a child understands that just because they can no longer see an object that object still exists (develops around 8 months but its a gradual development)

Object permanence

Where a child understands that just because they can no longer see an object that object still exists (develops around 8 months but its a gradual development)

Egocentrism

The way they perceive the world is the way that everyone perceives the world

Concrete operational

7 to 11 or 12, further development of symbolic thought but are able to manipulate the concepts that they can think about symbolically

In what stage does conversation happen and what is it?

Conservation happens in the concrete operational stage and it is the idea that the shape of an object can change without the amount of it changing

In what stage do we see egocentrism?

Preoperational

Formal operational

11 or 12 and up, they start to understand hypotheticals and more abstract information

What were the stages of cognitive development as told by Piaget?

• sensorimotor

• Preoperational

• Concrete operational

• Formal operational

What were some critiques of Piaget?

• he underestimates children - have much more thought at a young age than what Piaget believes

• Stage mixing - it is very rare for a child to perfectly move from one stage to another and lots of times children overlap stages (Piaget believe they moved perfectly from one to another)

• Piaget had a universal perspective - all humans develop in the same way at about the same time but culture affects when these stages develop

What did Vygotsky think about cognitive development?

Cognitive development happens through social interaction specifically with older individuals

Scaffolding

an older individual when someone is just learning something provides a lot of support and slowly take away that support as they get more comfortable

What did Vygotsky think about language?

Language is critical to development - without language we can’t have social interaction and without that we can’t have cognitive development

Private speech

Internal monologue development (private speech eventually becomes internalized)

Theory of mind

Understanding of others mind and how its different from you

What is the thought before theory of mind?

I have this knowledge so everyone has this knowledge - related to the idea of egotism

What is often a cause of delay of theory of mind?

autistic of deaf children of hearing parents

What is a cause of quicker development of theory of mind?

• more siblings

• greater socialization through daycare or play dates

• children with a higher socioeconomic status

Developmental norms

The median time where you see a specific behavior develop

Reflexes

Things we have when we are born - feeds into the idea of nativism

Rooting

If you stroke a babies cheek they move their mouth towards that movement - helps with feeding

Palmar

If you put anything into a babies hand they grasp it - extremely strong just after birth - helps hold on to caregivers

Sucking

Put anything in a babies mouth and they will suck on it - important for feeding

Babinski

If you stroke a babies foot they flare out their toes - related to the palmar reflex because it helps with grasping on to caregivers

Moro reflex

If you make a baby feel like they are falling they will reach out their arms and legs to protect themselves

Cephlacuadal

Control starts at the top of the head and moves down - we look for control at the neck first

Proximodistal

Control starts at the center of the body and moves out

What is true about the cephlacuadal and the proximodistal theory?

We don’t have specific evidence that one is correct

Senses

Babies are predisposed to social interactions because senses that would help those are developed first (ex. Babies are able to recognize the face first once they gain some vision)

Social referencing

Look back to caregiver when encountering a new experience in order to figure out how to process it

Mitchel et al. (1972-2015)

Brought children between 3 and 5 into the lab and presented them with one treat. Told the child that they could have the treat but if they could wait to eat the treat until he came back they could have 2. He looked to see how many children waited for the second treat and what they did while they waited. They followed up with the same experiment years down the road and he looked to see if there were differences between the children that waited and the children that could not. The children that were able to wait had better outcomes when they were in late adolescence and early adulthood and later ended up in higher paying jobs and were less likely to have a criminal record.

Give a rundown of the timeline of what matters most for a child’s social development

• in early childhood the parents seem to matter the most

• as children start school same sex peers influence their social development

• as they hit puberty they shift from same sex peers to mixed sex peers

what is erickson’s theory of development?

You can divide the life into 8 stages and in each of those stages you are going to encounter some sort of social interaction which is important and impactful and the way you deal with it is going to have an impact on your personality

Biological aging

Estimate a persons age based on their biologic function

Psychological aging

what are they thinking about and how good is their thinking

Functional aging

Determine aging based on a persons ability to function in their human role in society

Social aging

Base someone’s aging on their ability and willingness to adhere to social norms and beliefs