CHAPTER ONE: Science of Child Development Flashcards

1
Q

John Locke: Tabula Rasa

A

JOHN LOCKE
a blank slate, and claimed that experience molds
the individual into a unique individual
- Locke says parents should instruct, reward and discipline young children, gradually relaxing their
authority as children grow
- Nurture was the key to a child’s healthy development
- Children have no inborn tendencies; how they turn our depends on experiences
- Parents can mould child in any way they wish

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2
Q

Rousseau (1752): innate purity

A
  • Emphasized the importance of caregiver who are responsive to child’s needs (i.e. mom, dad)
  • Children born with intuitive sense of right/wrong; often corrupted by society
  • Rather than trying to constrain their children with strict rules, Rousseau argued that parents should give their children the freedom to follow their positive inclinations when interacting with others
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3
Q

what did plato argue/ believe:

A
  • experience could not be the source of knowledge because human senses are too fallible
  • children are born with innate knowledge of may concrete objects (such as animals and people), as well
    as with knowledge of abstractions (such as courage, love, goodness)
  • sensory experiences trigger knowledge that they have had since birth
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4
Q

what did aristotle argue/believe:

A
  • too much self-discipline would stifle children’s initiative and individuality, making
    them unfit to be leaders
  • knowledge is rooted in perpetual experience. Children acquire knowledge piece by piece
    based on information provided by senses
  • children begin their journey packed lightly, picking up necessary knowledge along the way, through experience
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5
Q

Natural Selection (darwins theory)

A

Darwin’s theory of evolution argue that individuals within a species differ; some individuals are better adapted to a particular environment, making them more likely to survive and to pass along their characteristics to future
generations

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6
Q

Baby Biographies

A

detailed, systematic observations of individual children, often by famous scientists, that helped pave the way for objective research on children

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7
Q

Applied developmental science

A

is a scientific discipline that uses child-development research to promote healthy development, particularly for vulnerable children and families
- Researchers in this area ensure that the consideration of policy issues and options is based on factual
knowledge derived from child development research

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8
Q

what is one of the best ways to sway policymakers

A

create working programs

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9
Q

what is a theory

A

is an explanation of principles based on observation and reasoning that is designed to explain and make
predictions about development

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10
Q

5 major theoretical perspectives in child development

A
  1. Biological
  2. Psychodynamic
  3. Learning
  4. Cognitive-developmental
  5. Contextual perspectives
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11
Q

Hobbes (1651): original sin

A
  • Children inherently selfish; must be restrained by society
  • believed that parents must actively control their children, and try to channel their selfish interests into socially acceptable outlets
  • traditional strict, authoritarian child-rearing practices used by parents and teachers; it wasn’t uncommon in times past for disobedient students to be beaten by their schoolmasters, something most of us would find appalling in the 21st century
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12
Q

Define developmental science

A

an interdisciplinary field of study that focuses on the changes that children undergo from conception onward

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13
Q

5 stages of development

A

1.The prenatal period (conception to birth)
2.Infancy ( birth – age 2)
3.Early Childhood (ages 2-6)
4.Middle Childhood (ages 6-12)
5.Adolescence (ages 12-18)

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14
Q

goals of developmental science

A

To understand the basic biological and cultural processes that account for the complexities of development
- crux of the so-called “nature-nurture” debate
- the extent to which biological factors (“nature”) and environmental factors (“nurture”) contribute to a child’s acquisition of different traits, skills, and abilities

To devise ways of safeguarding / improving children’s health and well being
- More practical and applied focus
- Impacts that caregivers, teachers, parents, relatives have

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15
Q

nature vs nurture

A

Nature-nurture issue is an issue concerning the manner in which genetic and environmental factors influence
development
○ What roles do biology (nature) and environment (nurture) play in child development

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15
Q

children in premodern times:

A
  • Children had few rights
  • Viewed as family possessions whom parents could exploit as saw fit

Medieval law: children culpable for criminal offences
- children were seen as miniature adults, and were subject to the same laws as their parents and other elders
- In centuries past, children have been subjected to religious sacrifices, grueling child labor, and even full-fledged soldier combat.
- In ancient Rome, parents were legally entitled to kill children who were deformed or illegitimate

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16
Q

Who is G. Stanley Hall

A

founder of developmental psychology

  • Identified norms, the average ages at which milestones happen

Normative approach - according to which measures of behaviour are taken on large numbers of individuals and age-related averages are computed to represent typical development.
- Identified adolescence as a unique phase between childhood and adulthood

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17
Q

Normative Approach

A

according to which measures of behaviour are taken on large numbers of individuals and age-related averages are computed to represent typical development

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18
Q

Biological Perspective

A
  • Intellectual and personality development, as well as physical and motor development are rooted in
    biology
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19
Q

maturational theory by Arnold Gesell

A

states that child development reflects a specific and prearranged scheme or plan within the body
- encourages parents to let their children develop naturally
- was disregarded because it had little to say about impact of environment on child development

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20
Q

Define critical period

A

in development is the time when a specific type of learning can take place; before or
after the critical period, the same learning is difficult or even impossible

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21
Q

define imprinting

A

is learning that occurs during a critical period soon after birth or hatching, as demonstrated by
chicks creating an emotional bond with the first moving object they see

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21
Q

Ethological Theory

A

emphasizes that children’s and parents’ behavior
has adapted to meet specific environmental challenges
- Many behaviors are adaptive- they have survival value (e.g. clinging, grasping, crying)

22
Q

psychodynamic perspective

A

Development is determined
primarily by how a child
resolves conflicts at
different ages

23
Q

Freud psychodynamic perspective

A

Id is a reservoir of primitive instincts and drives. It presses for immediate gratification of bodily
needs and wants

Ego is the practical, rational component of personality. It begins to emerge during the first year of
life as infants learn that they cannot always have what they want. The ego tries to resolve
conflicts that occur when the instinctive desires of the id encounter obstacles of the real world

Superego is also known as the moral agent. It emerges during preschool years as children begin
to internalize adult standards of right and wrong.

24
Q

5 stages of development

A
  1. Oral (infancy to 2 years): pleasure is gained from sucking and exploring with the mouth
  2. Anal (2-3 years): bowel control and toilet training
  3. Phallic (3-7 years): child notices differences between sexes
  4. Latency (7-11 years) interest in activities such as school, athletics
  5. Genital (11 to adulthood): stage of mature sexuality
25
Q

Eriksons Theory

A

emphasizes the challenges posed by the formation
of trust, autonomy, initiative, industry, and identity
1. Trust vs Mistrust
2. Autonomy vs Shame and Doubt
3. Initiative vs Guilt
4. Industry vs Inferiority
5. Identity vs Identity Confusion
6. Intimacy vs Isolation
7. Generativity vs Stagnation
8. Integrity vs Despair

26
Q

Classical Conditioning

A

introduced by Pavlov showed that previously neutral stimulus could become
associated with a naturally occurring response and eventually come to elicit a similar response on its own

27
Q

operant conditioning

A

by skinner, emphasizes reward and punishment

28
Q

reinforcement (negative and positive)

A

Positive reinforcement includes giving rewards to increase the likelihood of a behaviorbeing repeated
○ Giving child chocolate for doing good on test

Negative reinforcement consists of rewarding people by taking away unpleasant things
○ Putting seat belt on to avoid the annoying sound

29
Q

positive and negative punishment

A

Positive punishment includes assigning your child more chores for neglecting earlier ones

Negative punishment consists of taking away childs keys for being disrespectful

30
Q

social cognitive theory

A

bandura - states that children learn through observational learning

31
Q

cognitive developmental perspective

A

Focuses on how children think and how their thinking changes as they grow
○ Piaget argued that as children try to comprehend their surrounding, they act like scientists, creating
theories about the physical and social worlds

32
Q

4 stages of cognitive development

A
  1. Sensorimotor (birth to 2)
  2. Preoperational (2 to 7)
  3. Concrete operational (7 to 11)
  4. Formal operational (adolescence and beyond)
33
Q

5 components of Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory

A
  1. Microsystem consists of objects and people in an individual’s immediate environment
  2. Mesosystem describes the relationships between the microsystems
  3. Exosystem is social settings that influence ones development even though one does not
    experience them first hand
  4. Macrosystem is the cultural and subcultural settings in which the microsystem,
    mesosystem and exosystem are embedded
  5. Chronosystem describes events that occur on a large scale (pandemic, new sibling etc.)
34
Q

continuous vs discontinuous process

A

Continuity refers to the view that development is a gradual, continuous process. Discontinuity refers to the view that development occurs in a series of distinct stages

35
Q

active-passive child issue

A

passive: is the issue of whether children are simply at the mercy of the environment (Locke’s description of the child as a blank slate)

active: actively influence their own development through their own unique individual characteristics
(Rousseau’s view of development as a natural unfolding that takes place
within the child)

35
Q

systematic observation and the 2 forms:

A

Systematic observation involves watching children and carefully recording what they do or say.
1. naturalistic observation
2. structured observation

36
Q

Naturalistic Observation

A
  • children are observed as they behave spontaneously in a real life situation
  • Researchers cant keep track of everything a child does, thus they must divide which variables
    (any factor subject to change) to record
37
Q

Structured Observation

A
  • the researcher creates a setting likely to elicit the behavior of interest
  • Are particularly useful for studying behaviors that are difficult to observe naturally because they are uncommon, or occur in private settings
38
Q

observer bias

A

occurs when the researcher tends to notice those behaviors that support the hypothesis and
to discount those that do not, or interprets behaviors in such a way that they support the hypothesis

39
Q

inter ratar reliability check

A

two observers using the same agreed upon measures perform
observations. If their results are roughly the same, good inter-reliability exists

40
Q

observer influence

A

is a form of participant bias, occurring when the participants change their behavior because they are being observed (just as your friends might react to your camera)

41
Q

sampling behaviour with tasks

A

is used when investigators cannot observe a behavior directly so they create tasks
that seem to sample the behavior of interest
- convenient
- may be invalid if the task does not happen naturally

42
Q

self reports

A

are simply children’s own responses to questions about the topic of interest
- interviews and questionaries
- may be invalid bc kids could give wrong answers

43
Q

physiological measures

A

consist of measuring children’s physiological responses (heart rate, secretion of cortisol
in response to stress etc.)

44
Q

correlational studies

A

investigators look at relations between variables as they exist naturally in the
world
- Researcher measures two variables and then sees how they are related

45
Q

experimental studies

A

In an experiment, an investigator systematically varies the factors thought to cause a particular behavior.
The factor that is varied is called the independent variable; the behavior that is measured is called the
dependent variable

45
Q

positive vs neg correlation

A

Positive correlation describes a relationship between two variables in which larger values on one
variable are associated with larger variables on a second variable

Negative correlation describes a relation between 2 variables in which larger values on one
variable are associated with smaller values on a second variable

46
Q

field experiments

A

the researchers manipulate independent variables in a natural setting so that the results are more likely to be representative of behavior in real world settings

47
Q

ex. of discontinuity in thinking:

A

4-5 year olds have many improbable beliefs (e.g. a person on TIV could jump out into living room)

6-7 year olds are certain that this wouldn’t happen
o This suggest that sometime around when a child turns six there’s a relatively sudden, abrupt, qualitative change in the way a child mentally represents their world

47
Q

cross sectional designs

A

developmental changes are identified by testing children of different ages at one
particular point in their development
- quick, easy
- fails to gather individual development

48
Q

longitudinal designs

A

the same individuals are observed or tested repeatedly at different points in their lives
- establishes growth patters and changes
- time consuming, costly

49
Q

longitudinal sequential design

A

includes sequences of samples, each studied longitudinally
- provides info about continuity
- more time consuming than cross sectional but less info about a full longitudinal study

50
Q

meta analysis

A

is a tool that allows researchers to synthesize the results of many studies to estimate relations
between variables
- reveal gaps in research

51
Q

4 main sections researchers can share their findings:

A

○ Introduction
○ Methods
○ Findings
○ Discussion Section

52
Q

experimental design

A

includes multiple groups that were not formed by random assignment