In-Depth Study Notes on Development, Intelligence, and Bias

Nature vs. Nurture in Development

  • Baby Interests and Abilities

    • Key examples include:

    • Novelty: Infants show preference for new stimuli.

    • Preference for controlling environment: Babies exhibit behaviors that allow them to manipulate their surroundings.

    • Object permanence: Understanding that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be seen.

  • Habituation

    • A decrease in response to a stimulus after repeated exposure.

  • Social Referencing

    • Infants look to caregivers for cues in uncertain situations.

  • Joint Visual Attention

    • A mutual interest in the same object or event between an infant and caregiver.

Core Physical Principles

  • Object Permanence: Understanding that objects exist independently.

  • Conservation: Realizing that quantity remains the same despite changes in shape or appearance.

  • Reversibility: Awareness that actions can be reversed.

Theories of Development

  • Piaget's Stages of Development

    • Sensorimotor: Birth to 2 years, learning through senses and actions.

    • Pre-Operational: 2 to 7 years, egocentrism and symbolic thought.

    • Concrete Operational: 7 to 11 years, logical thinking about concrete events.

    • Formal Operational: 12 years and up, abstract thinking and systematic reasoning.

  • Critiques of Piaget: Some argue stages are too rigid and overlook cultural and social influences.

  • Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD): The difference between what a learner can do without help and what they can achieve with guidance.

Information Processing Perspective

  • Focus on how children learn and process information, akin to computers.

Language Development

  • Key Components:

    • Syntax: The arrangement of words to create sentences.

    • Phonemes: The smallest units of sound.

    • Morphemes: The smallest units of meaning.

    • Overgeneralization: Applying grammar rules incorrectly (e.g., "goed" instead of "went").

  • Chomsky’s Language Acquisition Device (LAD): An innate mechanism for learning language.

  • Stages of Language Development:

    • Cooing

    • Babbling

    • First words (\text{first specific words spoken} )

Theory of Mind and Attachment

  • Theory of Mind: Understanding that others have thoughts and beliefs that may differ from one's own.

  • False Beliefs: Recognizing that someone can hold an incorrect belief.

  • Erikson’s 8 Stages of Development: Each stage involves a psychosocial challenge.

Attachment Theories

  • John Bowlby’s Attachment Theory: Emphasizes the importance of the child-caregiver bond.

  • Harlow’s Experiment: Demonstrated the importance of comfort in attachment.

  • Mary Ainsworth’s Strange Situation: Identified secure vs. insecure attachment styles based on children's reactions to separation and reunion with their caregivers.

Parenting Styles (Diana Baumrind)

  • Authoritarian: High demand, low responsiveness.

  • Authoritative: High demand, high responsiveness.

  • Permissive: Low demand, high responsiveness.

Moral Development (Lawrence Kohlberg)

  • Stages of Moral Development: Ranges from obedience and punishment to universal ethical principles.

Intelligence and Testing

  • Crystalized vs. Fluid Intelligence:

    • Crystalized: Knowledge gained over time, such as vocabulary.

    • Fluid: Ability to solve new problems without prior knowledge.

  • IQ and the Flynn Effect: Observations of rising IQ scores over generations.

  • "G" Factor: General intelligence that underlies all cognitive abilities (Spearman).

  • Stanford-Binet Test: Standard measure of intelligence.

  • Reliability and Validity: Essential characteristics for reliable testing outcomes.

Biases in Cognition

  • Availability Bias: Overestimating the importance of information readily available.

  • Confirmation Bias: Focusing on information that confirms existing beliefs.

  • Predictable World Bias: Assuming that the world is more predictable than it is.

  • Mental Set: An established way of thinking that may prevent problem solving.

  • Stereotype Threat: Fear of confirming negative stereotypes affects performance.

  • Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Expectations can influence outcomes.

  • Pygmalion Effect: Higher expectations lead to an increase in performance.

  • Self-Serving Bias: Tendency to attribute successes to oneself and failures to external factors.

  • Hindsight Bias: Feeling that events were more predictable after they have occurred.

  • Mere Exposure Effect: Repeated exposure to stimuli increases liking.

Group Dynamics and Control

  • Groupthink: A phenomenon where the desire for harmony in a group results in irrational decision-making.

  • Anchoring: The reliance on the first piece of information received when making decisions.

  • Locus of Control: Differentiates between internal (control over events) and external (outside influences) locus of control.