developmental Flashcards
(156 cards)
1
Q
What is developmental psychology?
A
The discipline that seeks to identify and explain changes in behaviour from conception to death across physical, social, emotional, cognitive, and personality domains.
2
Q
What does developmental psychology focus on?
A
Patterns of change across the lifespan — from babies to the elderly.
3
Q
What makes children active learners despite limited self-regulation?
A
The flexibility of the human species and our prolonged helplessness.
4
Q
What is necessary for self-regulation and independence?
A
The ability to prioritise goals, which guides focused attention and action.
5
Q
Why can babies learn effectively?
A
Their needs are met (e.g., fed and changed), allowing them to focus on exploration without needing to prioritise.
6
Q
What are the two primary kinds of developmental research?
A
(1) Reverse engineering the mechanisms behind self-regulation, and (2) Designing interventions to support at-risk children.
7
Q
Why are collaborations important in developmental research?
A
Because the two types of research (theoretical and practical) need to inform each other.
8
Q
Why can’t adult assumptions be imposed on children?
A
Because children do not think like adults; their actions may lack logical reasons or be driven by play.
9
Q
What is delayed gratification?
A
The capacity to delay current satisfaction for a future reward.
10
Q
What experiment demonstrates delayed gratification in children?
A
The Marshmallow Test — where children use self-regulatory strategies (e.g., distraction) to avoid eating a treat immediately.
11
Q
How do children and adults differ in self-regulation strategies?
A
Children may use physical distraction (e.g., flapping, rocking), unlike adults.
12
Q
What central debate exists in developmental psychology?
A
The nature vs nurture debate — whether development is shaped more by genetics or environment.
13
Q
What are key questions in developmental research?
A
What are the differences between children of different ages, and what determines these differences?
14
Q
What are examples of design questions in developmental research?
A
How age affects responses to aggression in media; lab vs natural setting; who observes the child; how behaviour changes with age.
15
Q
What are key design issues in developmental research?
A
Sampling bias, observer effects, selective attrition, practice effects, test validity and reliability.
16
Q
What is a cross-sectional research design?
A
Studying different subjects of different ages at one point in time.
17
Q
What are the advantages of cross-sectional design?
A
Quick data collection across a wide age range.
18
Q
What are the disadvantages of cross-sectional design?
A
No information about past influences or individual development; cohort effects.
19
Q
What is a longitudinal design?
A
Studying the same subjects across multiple time points as they age.
20
Q
What are advantages of longitudinal research?
A
Detailed data about how individuals develop over time.
21
Q
What are disadvantages of longitudinal research?
A
Time-consuming, expensive, subject loss (attrition), and generational change.
22
Q
What is the longitudinal sequential design?
A
A hybrid of cross-sectional and longitudinal approaches; follows multiple age groups over time.
23
Q
What is an advantage of the longitudinal sequential design?
A
Efficient and allows for historical/cultural comparisons by testing groups born in different years.
24
Q
What is an example of a longitudinal sequential design?
A
Group A tested at ages 6 and 10; Group B tested at 10 and 14 — comparing them at the same age across different cohorts.
25
What did Suomi and Harlow (1972) show about early isolation in monkeys?
That the first few years of life matter significantly for emotional development and social integration.
26
What was the effect of 3-month isolation in monkeys?
Emotional shock with behaviours like self-clutching and rocking, but recovered within a month of reintroduction.
27
What was the effect of 6-month isolation in monkeys?
More persistent behavioural effects not reversed by peer housing.
28
What was the effect of isolation in the second 6 months?
Became aggressive and fearful but quickly recovered after reintroduction.
29
What does early social deprivation in humans suggest?
Love and emotional care are crucial, not just food and water.
30
What did Goldfarb (1945) find in his orphanage study?
Earlier placement in foster homes led to higher IQs; long institutionalisation caused lasting damage.
31
What was the main finding of the English/Romanian Adoption Study?
Earlier adoption (before 6 months) led to greater recovery in cognitive and physical development.
32
What deficits persisted in Romanian adoptees adopted after 6 months?
Higher cognitive impairment, autism, ADHD, lower wellbeing, and increased use of mental health services.
33
What were the findings on head growth in Romanian adoptees?
Head growth was impaired and not fully explained by malnutrition.
34
What did Halligan et al. (2004) find about maternal postnatal depression?
It led to behavioural, cognitive, and health issues in children — including increased cortisol and emotional reactivity into adulthood.
35
What is the impact of socioeconomic status (SES) on development?
Lower SES is associated with delays in cognitive, social, and emotional development.
36
What is the economic argument for preschool investment?
Preschool is cheaper and more effective than later interventions like job training or remedial education.
37
What was the purpose of the Head Start program?
To support at-risk children through early education and health services to prepare them for school.
38
What were the long-term findings of the Head Start program?
Initial IQ gains faded, but non-cognitive benefits (e.g., social skills) persisted into adolescence and adulthood.
39
What was the Perry Preschool Program?
A preschool and home-visit intervention with lasting social benefits but no permanent IQ gain.
40
What were the outcomes of the Early Head Start Program (before age 3)?
Better cognitive/language skills and parent-child emotional engagement; less aggression and more support from parents.
41
What was the Abecedarian Project?
An early education program for low-income infants that showed IQ, reading, math, and language gains into adulthood.
42
What were the benefits of the Abecedarian Project at age 21?
Higher educational attainment, lower unemployment.
43
What conclusions can be drawn from preschool interventions?
Early, high-quality, and language-rich interventions improve cognitive, social, and academic outcomes long term.
44
What are constructivist theories of cognitive development focused on?
How humans come to think and understand through interaction with the world.
45
What are the two most influential cognitive theories in development?
Piaget and Vygotsky.
46
What does Piaget focus on in his theory?
The origin of knowledge and how children actively construct it.
47
What is constructivism according to Piaget?
Children construct knowledge from perception and interaction with the world — they are active learners.
48
What kind of development does Piaget describe?
Discontinuous, stage-based development requiring both learning and maturation.
49
What does it mean that Piaget's stages are 'invariant and universal'?
Children pass through them in a set order, regardless of culture.
50
What is a schema (or schemata)?
Mental structures that represent common features of behaviours, objects, or experiences.
51
What are the two ways children adapt their knowledge in Piaget's theory?
Assimilation and accommodation.
52
What is assimilation?
Making sense of new experiences using existing schemas.
53
What is accommodation?
Modifying existing schemas to incorporate new information.
54
What is the sensorimotor stage (0–2 years)?
Learning through physical interaction; development of object permanence.
55
What is object permanence?
The understanding that objects exist even when out of sight.
56
At what age do infants begin to show object permanence?
Around 8–9 months.
57
What is the preoperational stage (2–7 years)?
Development of symbolic thought, egocentrism, and perceptual errors.
58
What is egocentrism in children?
The inability to take another person's perspective (e.g., 3 mountains task).
59
What is centration?
Focusing on one salient feature while ignoring others.
60
What is animism?
Believing inanimate objects are alive.
61
What is the conservation task?
Judging quantity in transformed objects (e.g., liquid in different glasses).
62
What is the concrete operational stage?
Development of logical thinking and mental operations on concrete objects.
63
What is the formal operational stage (11+ years)?
Abstract and hypothetical reasoning, reflective thinking, and systematic logic.
64
What are criticisms of Piaget's theory?
Underestimates young children, overestimates adults, and questions around universality of stages.
65
How does contemporary theory view development?
More continuous with variation across cultures.
66
What are two drivers of cognitive development in updated theories?
Domain-specific knowledge and domain-general executive function.
67
What is executive function?
Self-regulation skills like attention control, goal setting, and working memory.
68
What role does executive function play in cognitive development?
It helps children plan, regulate behaviour, and achieve complex goals.
69
What is the core idea of Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory?
Cognitive development occurs through social interaction and is shaped by culture.
70
What does 'child-in-activity-in-context' mean?
Development occurs through immediate social and cultural interactions within specific contexts.
71
What is the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)?
The distance between what a child can do alone and what they can do with guidance or collaboration.
72
What does the ZPD emphasize?
A child's potential rather than current abilities.
73
What is mediation by cultural tools?
Culture provides psychological tools (language, maps, art, etc.) that shape cognitive development.
74
Why is language important in Vygotsky’s theory?
It becomes internalised and regulates thought and behaviour.
75
What is internalisation of speech?
Children first use language externally and then internalise it for self-regulation.
76
How do individualist and collectivist cultures differ in development?
Individualist cultures emphasise independence; collectivist cultures focus on interdependence and learning through observation.
77
What did Correa-Chavez & Rogoff (2009) find about Mayan children?
They learned better through observation compared to children from Western schooling systems.
78
What does Bandura’s Social Learning Theory propose?
Learning occurs through observation and vicarious reinforcement.
79
What is S-O-R theory?
Stimulus → Organism (cognitive interpretation) → Response.
80
What is observational learning?
Learning by watching others and the consequences of their actions.
81
What is reciprocal determinism?
The interaction between behaviour, personal factors, and environment.
82
What influences modelling in children?
Prestige of the model, same sex, similarity, and whether the model is rewarded.
83
What does Bandura say about moral development?
Children learn morality through what parents do and say; eventually they self-regulate behaviour.
84
What is Theory of Mind (ToM)?
Understanding that others have different beliefs, desires, and knowledge.
85
At what age is ToM typically developed?
Around 4–5 years old.
86
What is the False Belief Task?
A test of ToM where children recognise others can hold incorrect beliefs.
87
What is prosocial behaviour?
Voluntary actions intended to benefit others.
88
How does prosocial behaviour develop?
It increases with age and is linked to moral judgment.
89
What is Piaget’s heteronomous morality?
Morality is externally regulated and focused on outcomes — typical in children under 8.
90
What is Piaget’s autonomous morality?
Children consider intentions and understand rules as social agreements — emerges around 8+ years.
91
How did Kohlberg extend Piaget’s theory?
By developing a stage theory of moral development through adolescence and adulthood.
92
What is pre-conventional morality?
Morality based on obedience and self-interest — common in young children.
93
What is conventional morality?
Morality based on social norms and maintaining relationships — typical in older children and adolescents.
94
What is post-conventional morality?
Morality based on abstract principles like justice and rights — not everyone reaches this stage.
95
What critique did Lee & Prentice (1988) offer of Kohlberg?
Juvenile delinquents had low moral reasoning scores but no empathy deficits — suggesting morality is more cognitive than emotional.
96
Why is language considered special in human development?
It is critical for thinking, problem-solving, socialising, and cultural transmission.
97
What are the four aspects of language?
Phonology, Semantics, Grammar/Syntax, and Pragmatics.
98
What is phonology?
The sound system of a language.
99
What is semantics?
The meaning of words and phrases.
100
What is grammar/syntax?
The rules for combining words.
101
What is pragmatics?
The social use of language including tone, formality, and context.
102
What is the empiricist/behaviourist approach to language?
Language is learned via reinforcement (Skinner) and imitation (Bandura).
103
What are the limitations of the behaviourist approach?
Children are active communicators, and learning occurs even with minimal reinforcement.
104
What is the nativist approach to language?
Children are biologically programmed with a Language Acquisition Device (Chomsky).
105
What is the Wug Test evidence for?
Children apply grammar rules they have not been explicitly taught — supporting nativism.
106
What is recursion in language?
The ability to embed clauses within clauses — considered uniquely human.
107
Why is 'Colorless green ideas sleep furiously' important?
It is grammatically correct but nonsensical — showing that syntax is rule-based but separate from meaning.
108
What is the interactionist/constructivist approach to language?
Language develops from the interaction of cognition, maturation, and environment.
109
What does Tomasello argue about grammar?
Universal grammar is unnecessary — complex learning explains language.
110
How many words does a child typically learn between ages 2 and 7?
From ~200 to ~20,000 words.
111
What is Gentner’s Natural Partitions Hypothesis?
Objects are easy to perceive and conceptualise, but relations are harder and need language.
112
How does language help with relational concepts?
By providing labels that help children group and understand abstract relationships.
113
What are Carey’s two types of core knowledge in infants?
Exact tracking of small numbers and approximate estimation of large numbers.
114
What role does language play in number understanding?
It provides a second conceptual system necessary to grasp math concepts.
115
What is Gelman’s conceptual essentialism?
Children assume category labels imply shared, underlying properties.
116
How do labels influence perception?
Labels (e.g., 'carrot-eater') suggest enduring traits and can reinforce stereotypes.
117
What is domain-specific development in language?
More exposure to domain-specific words (e.g., spatial or mental-state terms) leads to better development in that domain.
118
What is the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis?
Language influences how we think and perceive the world (e.g., time, space, colour).
119
What does cross-linguistic research on direction words suggest?
Language shapes habitual awareness of environment (e.g., cardinal directions vs left/right).
120
What is the takeaway about language and thought?
Language supports and shapes thinking, and the debate continues between nature and nurture roles in language acquisition.
121
Who sparked the self-esteem movement?
Nathaniel Branden, in his 1969 book 'The Psychology of Self-Esteem'.
122
What was the core belief of the self-esteem movement?
High self-esteem leads to success, while low self-esteem leads to failure and social problems.
123
What were some cultural shifts caused by the self-esteem movement?
No score-keeping in games, less criticism in schools, and increased praise from parents.
124
What percentage of US parents support frequent praise?
0.85
125
How do younger and older generations differ in their attitudes toward praise?
Younger individuals crave more praise, older generations generally dislike it.
126
What did Twenge et al. (2012) find about millennials?
They have higher self-esteem but are more focused on self-image than social justice.
127
What does over-praising lead to?
Fragile self-esteem dependent on external validation.
128
What are the two types of motivation?
Intrinsic (love of the task) and Extrinsic (reward-driven).
129
What effect can constant rewards have on motivation?
They can reduce intrinsic motivation.
130
What kind of rewards are more beneficial?
Less predictable, performance-based rewards.
131
What are mastery goals?
Goals focused on mastering a task; linked to intrinsic motivation.
132
What are performance goals?
Goals focused on outperforming others; linked to extrinsic motivation.
133
Which type of goal leads to better academic outcomes?
Mastery goals.
134
What type of praise promotes an entity mindset?
Person praise (e.g., 'You're so smart!').
135
What are the beliefs associated with an entity mindset?
Intelligence is fixed, effort is bad, challenges are avoided.
136
What are the consequences of an entity mindset?
Fear of failure, higher cheating, and performance declines when challenged.
137
What type of praise promotes a growth mindset?
Process praise (e.g., 'You worked so hard!').
138
What are the beliefs associated with a growth mindset?
Intelligence is malleable, effort is valuable, failure is a learning opportunity.
139
What are the outcomes of a growth mindset?
Greater resilience, improved performance, more effort after failure.
140
What did the Year 5 Puzzle Study show?
Process-praised students chose harder puzzles and improved; person-praised avoided challenge and declined.
141
What was the result of the intervention that taught intelligence is like a muscle?
Improved academic grades.
142
What kind of praise do boys typically receive?
Process praise, encouraging a growth mindset.
143
What kind of praise do girls typically receive?
Person praise or praise for non-academic traits.
144
How does academic criticism differ by gender?
Girls are criticised more academically, reinforcing low confidence.
145
How do boys and girls attribute success and failure differently?
Boys: success = talent, failure = effort. Girls: success = luck/effort, failure = lack of ability.
146
By Year 6, what do parents and teachers expect in maths?
Higher performance from boys; girls are expected to do worse even with similar grades.
147
How do teachers apply stereotypes in maths?
Boys' success = ability; girls' success = effort.
148
How do children process stereotypes?
Through assimilation — fitting experiences to beliefs rather than changing the belief.
149
What did Beilock et al. (2010) find about teacher anxiety?
Female teachers with high maths anxiety passed it onto girls, lowering performance by Year 2.
150
Why were boys unaffected by teacher maths anxiety?
Because girls tend to model same-gender adults more strongly (Bandura).
151
What concept helps shift mindset in struggling learners?
Using the word 'yet' to frame learning as a process (e.g., 'I'm not good at it... yet').
152
What is the replication crisis in mindset research?
Some findings have not been reliably replicated, leading to scientific reform.
153
Does mindset still matter despite the replication issues?
Yes, though perhaps not as dramatically as initially believed.
154
What is a caution when promoting growth mindset?
It should not ignore structural or systemic barriers.
155
Why is telling people to 'just work harder' problematic?
It overlooks social and economic inequalities that may prevent success.
156
What are the key takeaways from the lecture?
Praise the process, promote growth mindset, acknowledge both personal and societal contributors to success.
