psy223 topics to study

WIC program (woman infant children)

• supplies supplemental food, health care referrals

• participation is associated with better birth outcomes

• children who participate have better cognitive development

• the longer children are in the program, the better diet is in the long run

Piaget’s preoperational stage

• 2-7 years of age

• symbolic function substage

  • children start to use symbolic representation of things

  • ex. language, drawing something on a piece of paper, pretending a stick is a sword, pretend play

  • pretend play

  • egocentrism: child believes that they are the main character

    • everyone else is seeing the world the same way they are seeing it

    • mountain task:

      • 3d model of mountain landscape that is different from other sides

      • “what does the doll see”

      • child describes what they themselves are looking at

  • animism: giving human qualities/feeling to inanimate objects

• intuitive thought substage

  • asking why

  • want to know everything

  • want true concrete answers

• centration

  • focus only on one feature of something

Vygotsky’s theory

• social constructivist approach

• zone of proximal development

  • lower limit: things a child can do without help

  • upper limit: things a child can do with instruction

  • in between is ZPD, new things a child can learn how to do

• scaffolding

  • restructuring where child is given the tools to do something on their own that they normally wouldn’t be able to do

• thought

  • develop in a 3 step process

    • others’ statement

      • direct child’s behavior

    • private speech

      • child verbally talks to themselves

    • internalized private speech

      • the talk is internalized

Information-processing theory

• overall idea is that the brain is a computer

• attention

  • executive attention

    • overall organizing yourself

    • ex. what class do i have after this

  • sustained attention

    • focusing all your attention on one thing

• school readiness

  • better prepared for school when attention is better

    • they score higher of school readiness

  • skills that children are expected to have when they start school

• short-term memory

  • aka working memory

  • actively holding information in attention

  • digit-span task

    • limited capacity of 7-9 things at a time

    • strategies to remember numbers

      • can chunk numbers together

      • rehearsal

    • theory that children have a full capacity but they develop strategies to remember more numbers at once

• long-term memory

  • first long-term memories begin around early childhood

  • memory is malleable, especially for young children

    • they are very susceptible to suggestion and they rely on others to help remember things

  • age

    • younger children are more willing to believe somebody than older

  • individual differences

    • personality and temperment

    • some children will be more resistant and other will be more accepting/open

  • interviewing techniques

    • for having children testify in court

    • children are susceptible to leading questions

    • need interviewers with a neutral tone and don’t ask any leading questions for more accurate memory recall

• autobiographical memory

  • experiences that the child has had

  • a type of long term memory

• executive function

  • in prefrontal cortex

  • cognitive inhibition: stop yourself from doing things

    • ex. temper tantrum, saying rude things

  • cognitive flexibility: dealing with new situations well

  • goal-setting: create a goal and taking steps to complete

  • delay of gratification: choosing not to accept an immediate reward to get a better reward later

    • ex. marshmellow test

Phonology and Morphology

• phonology: sound system of a language, how different sounds can be combined to make words

• morphology: knowledge that different sounds can change the meaning of the word

  • ex. adding -ed to the end of a word to make it past tense

  • overgeneralization: learning one rule and using it on everything

    • ex. learning that you put -s to make something plural, “I have two foots”

  • Berko (1958): to test the grammar rule of adding an s at the end, do the children actually understand or have they just memorized the word

syntax: the structure of a sentence

semantics: meaning of words and sentences

Pragmatics: how to appropriately use language

• rules of conversation and politeness

project head start - federally funded program

• target disadvantaged children who can’t afford preschool

• build up academic skills so they are ready to start grade school and won’t be behind

• mixed results

  • children in the program perform better academically in the start of school but then the effects plateau after a while

• parenting contributions

  • good home environments, programs like head start will show better, long-lasting results

curriculum

• constructivist approach

  • kids actively participating in activities

  • has more emphasis on socioemotional development

    • kids typically interact with each other, which builds socioemotional skills

• direct-instruction approach

  • kids sitting on a mat listening to a teacher telling them how to do something

Erikson’s psychosocial development

• initiative vs guilt

• stage is categorized by curiosity on how the world works

• if child is taking initiative and exploring, they will overcome the crisis

• if they are ridiculed and punished, they will feel guilty and less likely to take initiative for the future

• first step to developing an identity

Piaget’s Moral Reasoning

• heteronomous morality stage

  • cannot change or break rules

    • if you break rules you are bad

  • justice and rules are unchangeable properties

  • outcome > intention

  • believe in immanent justice

    • if you do something wrong, your consequence will happen immediately

• transition stage is 3 years

• autonomous morality

  • rules and laws are created by people

    • social contracts that we have all agreed to follow

    • they are changeable

  • intention > outcome

kinner’s operant conditioning

• behaviors have consequences

• learn morals based on reinforcements/punishments given by caregiver

• more likely to be reinforced for good moral behavior

Bandura’s social cognitive theory

• observation, vicarious reinforcement

• caregiver models moral behavior

social role theory

• gender differences of how people act within society

• children understand what these roles are

psychoanalytic theory of gender (Freud)

• Oedipus and Electra complex

  • children are attracted to the opposite sex parent

• same-sex parent

  • then switch and identify more with same sex parents

  • because they learn that sex is bad

• critique of Freud (Callan, 2001)

  • relies on children have sexual feelings

  • gender-typed behavior: behavior that align with gender

    • Freud said this starts around 5 years old but gender-typed behavior starts before that

social cognitive theory of gender

• observation and imitation of those with the same behavior

• reward and punishment of gender-typed behavior

  • the way that people react to them based on how ppl behave

  • ex. girls get reinforced for playing for doll but boys get punished

• gender-based treatment

gender schema theory

• schema: what is appropriate for each gender

• flow chart

emotional security theory

• how children evaluate conflict

• negative conflict: when parents are fighting and being nasty to each other

  • unhealthy for child to witness

• positive conflict: parents can calmly discuss it, constructively working through the problem

  • healthy for child to witness

functions of play

• anxiety and conflict

  • Freud said children play to alleviate anxiety because they are always thinking about sex

• cognitive development

  • play is a way to explore environments, learn how to manipulate environments

• exploratory drive

  • satisfy the need to explore and try new things

• language and communication

  • play can develop language and communication

  • because you are with others

  • establishing rules/expectations

types of play

• sensorimotor play

  • babies and toddlers

  • interacting with things in environment

  • looking at textures/colors/etc

• practice play

  • repeating the same action to try to get better at it

  • ex. sports

• pretense/symbolic play

  • imagining stuff in the environment is something else

  • ex. couch is a pirate ship, stick is a sword

• social play

  • interacting with others

• constructive play

  • combo of sensorimotor/practice and symbolic

  • ex. build a pirate ship with blocks

• games

  • things that have rules

  • usually involves competition

learning disabilities

• difficulty in understanding or using spoken or written language

• listening, thinking, reading, writing, spelling

• dyslexia: difficulty reading and spelling

• dysgraphia: difficulty hand writing and matching sounds and letters

• dyscalculia: difficulty understanding numbers and performing math equations

• may be caused by issues information integration across brain regions

  • diff parts of brain not communicating with each other

education of children with disabilities

• individuals with disabilities education act (IDEA)

  • required children to have access to public schooling, regardless of disability status

• individualized education plan (IEP)

  • taking individual needs into account and accommodating them so they can be successful in school

• least restrictive environment (LRE)

  • educating those with disabilities in a environment that looks like a classroom

  • their experiences align to as closely as possible to other children while having need met

• inclusion

Piaget’s Concrete Operational Stage

• 7-11 years old

• logical reasoning

  • more logical reasoning

• increase in classifications and understanding of interrelationships

• seriation: putting things in order by some sort of rule

  • can do this

• develop transitivity: using what you know about a few relationships to develop a conclusion about a new relationship

  • A=B

  • B=C

  • A _ C

Information-Processing Theory

• working memory: actively manipulating and analyzing

  • if good working memory, then better at:

  • language comprehension

  • math skills

  • problem solving

  • reasoning

• long-term memory

  • building knowledge and expertise

    • ex. Chess (Chi, 1978)

    • elementary students who were experts in chess vs college students who didn’t play chess

    • children were better at remembering the position of the pieces

      • understanding of how chess works

  • children learn strategies when learning info to make it easier to retrieve it later

    • elaboration: process it in more detail

      • ex. your own example, relate it to your own life

    • mental imagery: visualize it

    • comprehension > memorization

• thinking

  • critical thinking: thinking reflectively, evaluating info to come to your own conclusion

    • schools don’t teach this

    • you don’t analyze content, you rehearse

  • critical thinking allows for deep understanding of info

  • creative thinking: use a new strategy to solve problems

  • intelligence vs creativity

    • intelligence test convergent thinking (same, correct answer)

    • creativity tests divergent thinking

  • creativity in the US

    • declining since the 1990s

      • because of screens, internet

      • never bored because we don’t have to entertain ourselves

• metacognition: knowledge about cognition and thinking, strategies for thinking

  • error recognition

    • ex. comes in play when learning how to do math

  • better metacognition, higher school achievement

  • includes metamemory: knowledge about memories

    • ex. what kinds of things are harder/easier to remember

  • includes knowledge about strategies to think better

• executive function

  • increase in self-control/inhibition

  • working memory is a big part of doing things in school

    • ex. activities in class, homework assignments

  • flexibility

    • ex. problem solving, adapting

the Binet Tests

• first test to test intelligence

• mental age (MA)

  • performing better than other ppl same chronological age: better mental age

• intelligence quotient (IQ)

  • IQ = mental age / chronological age x 100

• current name is Stanford-Binet tests

the Wechsler Scales

• Wechler intelligence scale for Children-fifth edition (WISC-V)

  • scale for child

  • different scales for different age groups

• give IQ score

• individual scores for:

  • verbal comprehension

  • processing speed

  • fluid reasoning

  • visual spatial

Sternber’s Triarchic Theory

• analytical intelligence

  • academic skills: make judgements, analyze info

    • are better students in school

• creative intelligence

  • imaginative, design and invent things

    • want to solve problems in their own way, don’t like having explicit instruction

• practical intelligence

  • relate to people socially, be able to go out in the world

    • street smarts, have a lot of common sense and social abilities

Gardner’s Eight frames of mind

• kinds of intelligence

• verbal: ability to use langauge

• mathematical

• spatial: ability to manipulate objects in 3d space

• interpersonal: communicating with others

• intrapersonal: knowledge about yourself, your thoughts and feelings

• naturalistic: observing patterns in nature, understanding how ppl interact with each other

Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development

• industry vs inferiority

  • curiosity about the world and how it works

  • how useful do you feel when you are older

• industry

  • how things are made

  • how things work

  • encourage “doing”

    • ex. pulling apart a mechanical toy to see the parts

    • encouraged by parents

• inferiority

  • mischief

  • making a mess

  • told that exploring is bad, being met with punishment

  • won’t feel useful when they are older

Kohlberg Levels

• preconventional level

  • stage 1: punishment and obedience orientation

    • rules are the rules, if you break them you deserve to be punished

  • stage 2: instrumental exchange orientation

    • an eye for an eye, you do smth to me, i get to do smth to you back

• conventional level

  • stage 3: mutual interpersonal expectations, relationships, and interpersonal conformity orientation

    • behavior is judged right/wrong based on how other interpret it

    • you behave in a way that makes others like you

  • stage 4: social system and conscience orientation

    • keeping the wheel of society turning in a beneficial manner, not behaving that causes a breakdown of society’s systems

    • maintaining social order

• postconventional level

  • stage 5: social contracts or individual rights orientation

    • behave in ways that maximize the benefit for the majority of people

  • universal ethics principles

    • most people don’t ever reach this stage

    • you as an individual have developed a code of ethics and you behave in ways that follow that code

    • it’s okay to break rules if you’re upholding your personal ethical principles

Kohlberg’s critics

• focused more on moral thought rather than moral behavior (Walker 2004)

  • is it more important to focus on how they would behave in fake dilemmas, or how they actually act in real life

• conscious/deliberate vs unconscious/automatic (Haidt 2018)

  • people have a lot of time to think in these scenarios

  • some think that this should be based on a gut reaction

• gender (Gilligan 1982, 1996)

  • justice perspective vs care perspective

  • all Kohlberg’s research was done on teenage boys

  • Gilligan said boys and girls prioritize different things

    • boys tend to lend more towards the justice perspective: was someone wronged, do they deserve retribution, how to get a justifiable outcome

    • girls tend to look via a care perspective: making sure someone is benefitting, connecting with others

      • girls tended to show lower moral development than boys did

• culture and moral reasoning (Helwig, 2013)

  • other countries score “lower” bc they were not represented in the research

• families (Narvaez and Bradshaw, 2023)

  • didn’t consider the effect of families on moral development

  • Kohlberg’s only thought peers had a influence

domain theory of moral development

• to differentiate between moral vs societal conventions

• moral domain

  • right vs wrong

  • based on justice

  • ex. lying, cheating

• societal domain (social conventional reasoning)

  • rules, laws, and social conventions

  • arbitrary, malleable

  • ex. not holding the door open for someone

• personal domain

  • individual preference, doesn’t impact anyone else

  • ex. what clothes to wear

sociometric status - where each child falls in hierarchy

• if in the middle, you are average (most children)

• popular: good social skills, well liked

• neglected: forgotten about by peers

• rejected: 2 subgroups are aggressive and withdrawn

• controversial: well liked by some, disliked by others