Developmental Psych Exam 1

Preformationism

Midieval perspective ( 6th to 15th century) where children were treated as miniature adults

belief that the fully formed human existed in miniature form prior to development

First Self-Help Parenting Books

Reformation/ Purtians

Belief in original sin

children were viewed as inherently evil or amoral, requiring harsh, strict discipline practices

John Locke

17th/18th century Empiricist

Believed all things must be learned and that newborns are a tabula rasa (blank slate)

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

18th century philosopher

Believed children are born innocent and innately good (“les sauvages nobles”/ noble savages) with good intents/impulses that must be nurtured

Charles Darwin

19th Century scientist who introduced natural selection and the adaptive significance of behavior/physical characteristics

Something is adaptive to the degree that it promotes survival and reproduction

Development repeats evolution

G. Stanley Hall

“Father” of Developmental Psych & founder of the American Psychological Association (APA)

Applied ORP to moral development, proposing that becuase humans only recently became “moral creatures” in evolutionary history, formal moral educatoin should wait until late in development/adolescence

ORP - “Ontogeny Recapitulates Phylogeny”

devleopment repeats evolution

originally coined by Ernst Haeckel

Development

must include all three:

Systematic - orderly and predictible

Organized - systems working together

Successive - later developments build upon earlier ones

change over time (not all change is development!!)

Continuous Development

development occurs steadily and gradually

change is quantitative ( a matter of amount, how much, how fast)

Discontintuous Development

Development occurs in discrete, qualitative stages that are fundamentally different from one another

Nature

Biological and genetic factors are the primary determinants

Nurture

Enviormental and experiential factors (family, school, peers) are the primary determinants

Current Consensus on Nature v. Nurture

development is an interaction, not an either/or choice

One Developmental Path

A universal, prescribed pattern followed by all typical members of a species

Many Developmental Paths

Distinct trajectories influences by context, starting/endpoints, and unique eviorments

Ivan Pavlov

Introduced Classical Conditioning

Pavlov dogs

Classical Conditioning

basic form of learning dependent on an automatic reflex

demostrated via dogs drooling to a bell

babies can be CC right after birth, ex. puff of air in eye with bell causes blinking reflex to bell

Extinction

the gradual weakening and disappearance of a conditioned response when the stimulus is no longer paired

B.F. Skinner

Author of Behavior of Organisms (1938)

introduced Operant Conditioning

Operant Conditioning

the principle that consequnces influence that likelihood of a response recurring

Reinforcement

any consequence that makes a response more likely to occur

Positive Reinforcement (+)

presentation/addition of a desirable stimulus following a response to occur

ex. giving candy to child after cleaning their room

Negative Reinforcement (-)

removal/subtraction of an aversive/undesirable stimulus following a response

ex. taking advil to remove a headace, telling a child they dont have to do chores if they were good

Negative reinforcement is NOT punishment!!

Reinforcement Traps

when positive and negative reinforcement operate simultaneously to maintain an unwanted behavior

ex. a child throwing a tantrum gets attention/rewards [positive], while the parent yields to end the screaming [negative]

Punishment

any consequence that makes a preceding response less likely to recur

ex. spanking

Albert Bandura

Developed Social Learning Theory

Bobo Doll Studies

Social Learning Theory

learning in the absence of direct reinforcement via observation and imitation

Bobo Doll Studies

demonstrated that children learn aggressive behaviors simply by watching models

Vicarious Reinforcement

observing someone else receieve reinforcement for a behavior influences whether the the observer imitates it

requires the child to remember what happened, bringing cognition back into psychology

Sigmund Freud

known for psychoanalysis in adults, but was fundamentally a developmental theorist

structure of personality

Id: primitive, unconscious, drive-driven

Ego: rational, realisitc mediator between id and external reality

Superego: moral compass, internalized rules/standards

Freudian Psychosexual Stages

personality develops through 5 early stages":
1. oral stage (1st year)

2. Anal Stage (1-3 years)

3. Phallic Stage (3-5 years)

4. Latent Stage (5 to puberty)

5. Genital Stage (puberty onward)

Oral Stage (1st year)

focus on mouth; foundational for attachment

Anal stage (1-3 years)

focus on bowel/bladder control

toilet training

Phallic Stage (3-5 years)

Oedipus Conflict ( yound children feel a subconscious sexual desire for their oppsote sex parent and hostility toward their same sex parent)

sex typing (discovering their gender differences)

Latent Stage (5 to puberty)

quiet period

social/intellectual expansion

Genital Stage (puberty onward)

adult sexual intimacy

personality completion

Limits of Frued

based entirely on troubled adults (never studied children directly)

gender biased/sexist

overly focused on sex and early childhood

major stregth of freud

emphasized the extreme importance of early life expereinces on later adult outcomes

Erik Erikson

Developed Psychosocial Theory

Psychosocial Theory

deviated from Freud by shifting focus from internal sexual urges to external social interactions, expanding into a lifespan theory spanning

8 stages:

1. infancy: basic trust vs. mistrust (outcome - hope)

2. Toddlerhood: Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt (will/personal independence)

3. Early Childhood: Initiative vs. Guilt (purpose, learning to lead)

4. Middle Childhood: Industry vs. Inferiority (confidence in competence)

5. Adolescence: Identity vs. Identity Confusion (finding yourself)

6. Early Adulthood: Intimacy vs. Isolation (love/relationships)

7. Middle Adulthood: Generativity vs. Stagnation (care/supporting next generation)

8. Late Adulthood: Integrity vs. Despair (peace/wisdom)

Jean Piaget

Child prodigy trained in biology who created Genetic Epistemology (the development of knowledge)

Four Stages of Cognitive Development - universal, invariant, and qualitatively distinct stages

Sensorimotor Stage (0-2)

knowledge is tied strictly to perception and motor action

a child knows about things only when they are actively involved with object/activity

Preoperational Stage (2-6)

Has symbolic representation, but cannot perform logical operations on symbols

characterized by a lack of logical problem solving (fails conservation tasks)

Egocentrism

Egocentrism

inability to take another’s perspective

assuming everyone sees/think what they do

Concrete Operations Stage (6-12)

can preform logical operations, but only on real, tangible, concrete objects/situations

struggles wuth abstract reasoning

Formal Operational Stage (12+)

full adult logical reasoning, scientific reasoning, and abstract hypothesis testing

Strengths of Cog. Development Stages

highly influential, testable/falsifiable predictions, established cognitive developmental assumptions

Limitations of Cog. Development Stages

heavy jargon, strict stage validty is questionable, underestimated childrens true capabilities by focusing on what they cannot do

ex. Shatz & Gelman proved preschool children adjust speech for toddlers, disproving strict egocentrism

Lev Vygotsky

Russian psychologist influenced by the Bolshevik Revolution and Marxist/Hegelian dialectics

believed conflict is the root of all developmental change

children expereince cogntiive conflict during social interactions with more competent peers or adults who transmit cultural tools

Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

the difference between what a child can perform independently versus what they can perform with assisstance from a more competent guide

represents optimal conflict, emergent skills, and educational “readiness”

rejects rigid stages; allows for multiple developmental trajectories

Piaget vs Vygotsky

Stages vs. ZPD: Piaget claimed unviersal stages; Vygotsky claimed fluid developmental windows (ZPD)

Language & Thought: Piaget argued that thought drives language (calling self talk egocentric speech)

Vygotsky argued language drives thought (calling self talk “private speech” for self regulation)

Darwin,Konrad Lorenz, Niko Tinbergen

evolutionary biology of behavior - examining the adaptive significance of physical/behavioral traits (how traits promote survival and reproduction)

Imprinting

Neoteny

physical characteristics of young species relative to adults that elicit caregiving and promote survival

“cuteness”: large head relative to body, large eyes, small frail body

Imprinting

Lorenz’s observation of baby waterfowl automatically following the first moving object (mother) during a specific timeframe

Critical Period

a strict biological window during which an organism must experience specific stimuli for typical development

Sensitive Period

A boarder window where the organism is most susceptible to enviormental influences (preferred term for human development (ex. language, bonding)

Ecological Systems Theory (Bronfenbrenner)

Born in Moscow (1917)

Head Start co founder

Promoted ecologically valid science - studying the developing child across nested enviormental contexts (family, school, community)

Genotype

underlying genetic makeup

Phenotype

outward, observable physical and behavioral expression

Reaction Range

genotypes sets lower and upper boundaires for phenotypic expression

enviorment determines where within that range the outcome falls

Genotype Enviorment Effects (Scarr and McCartney)

genes and enviorments are NOT independent factors, they are correlated

Active effects

Evocative Effects

Passive Effects

Active Effects (Niche-Picking)

children actively seek out enviorments that match their genetic predispositions

Evocative Effects

Childs inherited characteristics evoke specific responses from their enviorment/others

Passive Effects

biological parents provide both genes and the early home rearing enviorment

Non-Shared Enviornmental Influence

unique experiences that cause children/siblings (even monozygotic vs dizgotic twins) in the same family to develop differently

Experimental Method

Manipulates an IV to measure changes in a DV with a control group

allows for causal conclusions, but may lack ecological validty

Correlational Method

observes naturally occuring relationships without manipulation (naturalisitc observation, surveys, case studies)

high ecological validity but CORRELATION DOES NOT EQUAL CAUSATION

Cross-Sectional Design

tests groups of children of different ages at one single point in time

efficient and economical, but cannot measure individual developmental change and you must choose age groups very carefully

Longitudinal design

Tests the same group of participants repeatedly over an extended time period.

Measures individual stability and change, but is expensive, time-intensive, and suffers from participant attrition

Sequential (Cross-Requntial) Desing

Combines cross-sectional and longitudinal approaches by following multiple cohorts over time

Cohort Effect

impact attributable to being born in a specific era/historical context rather than actual developmental age

Ethical Condsiderations

Informed consent requires explaning purpose, procedures, rights (protection from harm, withdrawal, confidentiality), and securing agreement

children cannot legally give full consent (assent is gathered alongside parental consent)

cellular structure

nucleus contains 46 chromosomes organized in 23 pairs

genes are segments of DNA

Nucleotide Base Pairs

Adenine (A), Thymine (T), Cytosine (C), Guanine (G); A pairs with T; C pairs with G

Mitosis

duplication of somatic cells resulting in identical copies with 46 chromosomes

Meiosis

Division producing gametes (sperm and ova) containing 23 individual chromosomes

involves crossing over and random selection

Sex Determination

22 autosomes + 1 pair of sex chromosomes

Ova carry X; Sperm carry X or Y

XX = Female XY= Male

Alleles

different forms of genes

Matched gene pairs at identical autosome locations

Autosomal Dominant Alleles

expressed even if only one dominant allele is present

Autosomal Recessive Alleles

Expressed only when both alleles are recessive (ex. bright red hair, Cystic Fibrosis, PKU, Sickle Cell Anemia)

X-Linked Transmission

Recessive traits carried specifically on the X chromosomes

Because the Y chromosome lacks matching genetic material, males express X-linked traits with only 1 recessive allele, making conditions far more common in males (ex. male pattern baldness, albiinism, muscular dystrophy, hemophilia)

Down Syndrome (Trisomy 21)

extra 21st chromosome resulting in distinct physical features, intellectual disability, and congenital heart defects

non-sex chromosomes

Trisomy 18 (Edwards) & Trisomy 13 (Patau)

severe abnormalities, mostly unviable

non sex chromosomes

Sex Chromosome Abnormalities

Klinefelter’s Syndrom (XXY) & Turner’s Syndrome (X0)

Fragile X Syndrome

abnormal repetition of a gene sequence on the X chromosome; passed from mother to child → genetic imprinting

leading inherited cause of intellectual disability and autism traits

sex chromosome abnormalities

Epigenesis

complex, bidirectional exchanges between nature (genetics) and nurture(enviorment/expereince over time)

Scheme

the basic mental unit of knowledge

adaptation

changing mental structures to meet enviormental demands

assimilation

using what you already know in a new enviorment

fitting new information into existing cognitive schemes (same scheme)

Accommodation:

changing what you know in a new enviorment

modifying existing cognitive scemes or creasting new ones in response to new info (change scheme)

Equilibration

cogntiive homeostasis; moving mental structures toward a state of internal balance/equilibrium

Three Prenatal Periods

Germinal Period

Embryonic Period

Fetal Period

Germinal Period (conception to 2 weeks)

zygote undergoes rapid cell division to form a blastocyst (little ball of cells after egg is fertilized)

little differentiation

ends with implantation in the uterine wall ~ 1 week post conception

zygote

single cell formed by the union of a sperm and an egg during fertization

Ebryonic Period (Weeks 2-8)

major body stuctures and support systems form including brain

support structures: Amnion (contain amniotic fluid), chorion (membrane that surrounds the developing embryo), placenta, and umbilical cord

milestones: heartbeart 4-5 weeks; sexual differentiation begins around 7 weeks, 1.5 inches long by week 8

Fetal Period (week 9 to Birth)

rapid growth and strucural maturation

4th month: ossification (bone development) begins, undeniably human form

5th month: neurogenesis (brain neurons forming) complete; lanugo (fine hair) and vernix (waxy skin protection) cover body, myelination begings (protection sheath around nerve fibers in nervous system)

6th: hemispheric cleft, production of surfactant (allows for independent breathing)

7th month: lungs functional; eye open/close, great increase in brain fissures

8th-9th month: 50% weight increase; fat accumulations; skin pigmentation

prenatal neural development

2 weeks: neural progenitor cells form, will produce all the different types of neurons in the brain and CNS

3 weeks: nueral tube forms (hollow tube that develops into brain and spinal cord)

4 weeks: neural tube closes, forming 3 primary brain “pouches”: Prosencephalon (forebrain), Mesencephalon (midbrain), Rhomebencephalone (hindbrain)

beginning of fetal stage: massive changes from smooth to folded brain, primary fissures between hemispheres

teratogens

enviromental agents that cause prenatal damage based on dose, timing/age at expossure, genetics, and cumulative risk

prescription drugs - thalidomide, DES, Accutane

causes severe limb deformitites/phocomelia)