Child Development Lecture Notes

A comprehensive set of vocabulary flashcards covering key concepts in child cognitive, social, and emotional development based on the lecture notes.}.

Sensation

The process of receiving information from the environment through the senses.

Perception

The process of interpreting and organising sensory information received from the environment.

Preferential Looking Technique

A research method where two stimuli are presented simultaneously and looking time is measured to see if an infant can distinguish between them.

Habituation

A decrease in looking time or response that occurs when a repeated stimulus becomes familiar.

Dishabituation

An increase in attention that occurs when a new or changed stimulus is presented to an infant.

Violation-of-expectation

A method used to test infant expectations by showing them an impossible event, such as a solid object appearing to pass through another.

Subjective contour

A perceptual boundary that is seen even though no physical line is present, such as an illusory square.

Johnson and Morton’s two-system account

A theory of face perception involving an early system directing attention to face-like stimuli and a later system for detailed face discrimination.

Perceptual constancy

The ability to recognise that an object remains the same (in size or shape) even when its retinal image changes.

Object segregation

The ability to identify separate objects within a visual scene, often using cues like common movement.

Optical expansion

A depth cue occurring when an approaching object blocks increasingly more of the background.

Stereopsis

Binocular depth perception that occurs when the visual cortex combines slightly different images from each eye (binocular disparity).

Cognitive development

Age-related changes in attention, memory, problem-solving, language, and everyday knowledge.

Schema

A mental representation or organised pattern of knowledge that guides behaviour and interpretation.

Assimilation

The process of interpreting new information using an existing schema.

Accommodation

The process of changing an existing schema or creating a new one when new information does not fit.

Equilibration

The cognitive process that manages the balance between assimilation and accommodation to achieve cognitive stability.

Egocentrism

Difficulty understanding that another person may have a perspective different from one's own, often tested with the Three Mountains Task.

Conservation

The understanding that a quantity remains the same despite changes in its physical appearance.

Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

The gap between what a child can do independently and what they can do with guidance from a more knowledgeable person.

Intersubjectivity

A shared understanding established between two people during communication or collaborative problem-solving.

Scaffolding

Temporary support provided by a more knowledgeable person to help a child complete a task, which is gradually withdrawn (fading).

Private speech

Audible speech directed towards oneself, used by children aged $3$ to $7$ to guide attention and behaviour.

Sensory register

The component of the Multi-Store Model that briefly holds incoming sensory information before it is attended to.

Working memory

The ability to hold information in mind temporarily and use or manipulate it for tasks like calculations or following instructions.

Inhibitory control

The executive function involved in suppressing an automatic, tempting, or dominant response.

Cognitive flexibility

The ability to change perspective, switch between rules, or adapt behaviour when circumstances change.

Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders task

A behavioural task used to measure executive functions by requiring children to perform the opposite action to an instruction.

Theory of Mind (ToM)

The understanding that other people have their own beliefs, desires, intentions, and emotions that may differ from one's own.

Implicit Theory of Mind

An unconscious or automatic understanding of others' beliefs, often revealed through eye movements like anticipatory looking.

Curse of knowledge

The difficulty of imagining what it is like not to know information that one already possesses.

Mindblindness account

A theory suggesting that autism involves a specific deficit in representing other people's mental states.

Attachment

An enduring, long-lasting emotional bond with a specific person that provides comfort and security.

Imprinting

A biologically prepared attachment-like behaviour observed by Konrad Lorenz in newly hatched goslings.

Secure base behaviour

The use of a caregiver as a safe point from which a child can confidently explore unfamiliar surroundings.

Ainsworth’s Strange Situation

A standardised procedure involving separations and reunions used to assess the quality of infant attachment.

Internal working models

Cognitive and emotional structures containing memories and expectations about relationships that guide future social behaviour.

Authoritative parenting

A parenting style that balances clear rules and expectations with warmth, responsiveness, and open communication.

Prosocial behaviour

Any voluntary and intentional action, such as helping or sharing, that produces a positive outcome for another person.

Moral realism

Piaget’s stage of moral development where rules are seen as fixed from authority and consequences are more important than intentions.

Kohlberg’s Preconventional Level

The first level of moral reasoning where judgments are based mainly on personal consequences like punishment avoidance.

Self-recognition

The ability to recognise oneself in a representation, typically measured using the mirror or rouge test between $18$ and $24$ months.

Self-efficacy

A person's belief in their ability to successfully complete a particular task.

Self-esteem

A person's overall evaluation of their own worth and personal value.

Social referencing

The act of an infant looking to a caregiver to interpret an uncertain situation through the caregiver's facial expressions or tone.

Mind-mindedness

A parent's tendency to treat their infant as an individual with their own thoughts, feelings, and intentions.

Primary emotions

Basic emotions such as fear, anger, and joy that do not require a complex self-concept.

Secondary emotions

Complex, self-conscious emotions like embarrassment, pride, and guilt that depend on self-awareness and evaluation.