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190 Cards in this Set

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Why studying child development? (3)
1) Raising Children
2) Choosing Social Policies
3) Understanding Human Nature
Enduring Themes in Child Development (7)
1. Nature vs. Nurture
2. The Active Child
3. Continuity/Discontinuity
4. Mechanisms of Developmental Change
5. The Sociocultural Context
6. Individual Differences
7. Research and Child's Welfare
Scientific Method
An approach to testing beliefs that involves
1) choosing a question
2) forming a hypothesis (educated guess)
3) testing the hypothesis
4) drawing a conclusion
Importance of an Appropriate Measure: An appropriate measure is
1) Relevant to the hypothesis
2) Reliability
3) Validity (Internal & External)
4) Falsifiability (testable; confirmable)
Reliability
An important quality of a good measure in research.

Refers to the degree to which independent measurements of a given behavior are consistent

Reliability refers to the extent to which a test or other instrument is consistent in its measures.
Types of Reliability
1) Interrater reliability - the amount of agreement in the observations of different raters who witness the same behavior
(agreement among observers)


2) Test-retest reliability - attained when measures of performance are similar on two or more occasions
Validity
Refers to the degree to which a test or experiment measures what it is intended to measure
Types of Validity
Researchers strive for two types of validity:

1) Internal validity -- THE DEGREE TO WHICH effects observed within experiments can be attributed to the variables that the research intentionally manipulated

- valid when effects being seen are due to the manipulated factor not outside factors

2) External Validity -- the degree to which results can be generalize beyond the particulars of there research

- Are the results only valid to the population studied? - -

- Researchers go to great lengths to select a group of people for the study (a sample) that is representative enough that the results can be extended to lots of people.
Structured Interview
A research procedure in which all participants are asked to answer the same questions
Clinical Interview
A research procedure in which questions are adjusters in accord with the answers the interviewee provides
Falsifiability
Refers to whether the hypothesis can be proven false.

The idea of being confirmable: capable of being tested (verified or falsified) by experiment or observation

It is impossible to prove a hypothesis false - there are so many outs that you cannot design an experiment to prove it false. There is no way to know whether the hypothesis is supported or not. (e.g.: evolutionary hypothesis)
Freud's belief on falsifiability
Falsifiability: (falsifiable) confirmable - confirmability : capable of being tested (verified or falsified) by experiment or observation.

"Defense mechanisms": mean we can never prove the theory false

- creates theories to be un-testable

Freud lacks falsifiability
Contexts for Gathering Data about children
1) Interviews

2) Naturalistic Observation

3) Structured Observation
Types of Interviews
1) Structured Interview

(A research procedure in which all participants are asked to answer the same questions)

2) Clinical Interview

(A research procedure in which questions are adjusted in accord with the answers the interviewee provides)
Interviewing Caveat
Interviews yield a great deal of data very quickly and can provide in-depth information about individual children.

Problem -- the answers to interview questions are often biased (report past inaccurately, distort events, don't know their own motivations, etc.)

Children's memories are not always accurate - they exaggerate or even lie to be funny
Naturalistic Observation

(Definition & know examples)
Observing people in their natural habitat.

** Used when the primary goal of research is to describe how children behave in their usual environments **


Eg: observing family dinner of family with an out of control child
Limitations of Naturalistic Observation
Because naturally occurring contexts vary on many dimensions, it is often hard to know which ones influenced the behavior of interest

Also, many behaviors occur only occasionally in everyday environments, and so researchers’ opportunities to study them through naturalistic observation are reduced

SUMMARY:
- naturally occurring behaviors depend/vary based on numerous dimensions - hard to know what factors influence the behavior
- behaviors wanted to be studied not always exhibited constantly (only few times a day)
Structured Observation
Involves presenting an identical situation to a number of children and recording each child’s behavior, enabling direct comparisons of different children’s behavior and making it possible to establish the generality of behavior across different tasks


Structured Observation: made up of a little of naturalistic and experimentation

Awesome Toy Study:
Researchers presented the same situation to two children: a bin, toys, and the child’s parent telling the child to put the toys away
Limitations of Structured Observation
Does not provide as much information about children’s subjective experiences (as interviews do) and does not provide as natural situation (as naturalistic observations does)
Correlational Design
The primary goal is to determine how variables are related to one another - comparison of existing groups of children or examination of relations among each child's scores on different variables


ADVANTAGES:
- Only way to compare groups of interest (boys/girls, rich/poor, etc.)
- Only way to establish relations among variables of interest (IQ and achievement, popularity and happiness, etc.)
correlation
the association between two variables
correlation coefficient
Measures direction and strength of a correlation


Correlation coefficient has both 1) direction 2) strength
- Positive or negative, Strong or weak
Why Correlation does not equal Causation
1) Direction of causation problem

- It is not possible to tell from a correlation which variable is the cause and which is the effect. Does A influence B or B influence A?

2) Third Variable Problem


A correlation between two variables may arise from both being influenced by some third variable
Examples of Correlation not Equalling Causation
Eg: People who drink diet coke are fatter than those who don’t. Does diet coke make people fat or are people who are fat more attracted to diet coke and unhealthy food/drinks?


Ice cream sales highest when murder rate is highest in cities. Third factor: summer and the heat which underlies both ice cream eating and murdering (people get hot and cranky). There is a third variable influencing both variables

- Negative correlation: the more they read the fewer baby teeth they have. Third factor: AGE
Experimental Designs
Random assignment of children to groups and experimental control of procedures presented to each group.

Allows for one to know if the effects being found are due to the variables being tested


ADVANTAGES:
- Allows causal inferences because design rules out direction-of-causation and third-variable problems.
- Naturalistic experiments can demonstrate cause-effect connections in natural settings

DISADVANTAGES:
- Need for experimental control often leads to artificial experimental situations
- Cannot be used to study many differences and variables of interest (such as age, sex, and temperament)
Experimental Control
The ability of researchers to determine the specific experiences that children have during the course of an experiment
Experimental Group
Children in the experimental group receive an experience of interest, the independent variable (not received by control group)
Control Group
Those in the control group do not receive THE EXPERIENCE (INDEPENDENT VARIABLE) but in other ways are treated similarly
Dependent Variable
The dependent variable is a behavior that is hypothesized to be affected by the independent variable

Dependent depends on the INDEPENDENT variable

(Eg: behavior depends on the variable you change)
Naturalistic Experiments
Naturalistic experiments, in which data are collected in everyday settings rather than in laboratories


Overcomes problem of questioning external validity
Designs for Examining Development
1) Cross Sectional

2) Longitudinal

3) Microgenic
Cross-sectional designs:
Children of different ages are studied at a single time - compared on on a given behavior or characteristic


ADVANTAGES: Yields useful data about differences among age groups
- Quick and easy to administer

Used a bit more than longitudinal because it is time consuming to wait for years for longitudinal studies to be completed

DISDADVANTAGE: Uninformative about stability of individual differences over time
- Uninformative about similarities and differences in individual children’s patterns of change
Longitudinal designs
Used when the same children are studied twice or more over a substantial period of time

ADVANTAGES:
- Indiciates the degree of stability of individual differences over long periods
- Reveals individual children's patterns of change over long periods


DISADVANTAGES:
- Difficult to keep all participants in the study
- Repeatedly testing children can threaten external validity of study
Microgenetic Designs
Used to provide an in-depth depiction of processes that produce change
In this approach, children who are thought to be on the verge of an important developmental change are provided with heightened exposure to the type of experience that is believed to produce the change and are studied intensely while their behavior is in transition


Find children on cusp of being able to master an ability and they look to see what prompts the development of this ability


eg: use of a brand new arithmetic strategy

ADVANTAGE: Intensive observation of changes while they are occurring can reveal process of change
Reveals individual change patterns over short periods in considerable detail

DISADVANTAGE: Does not provide information about typical patterns of change over long periods
Does not reveal individual change patterns over long periods


EX:

Seekler & Jenkins: Adding on counting strategy
Historical Foundations of the Study of Child Development (4)
1. Early Philosophers' Views of Children's Development
- Plato
- Artistotle
- John Locke
- Jean Jacques Rousseau

2. Social Reform Movements

3. Darwin's Theory of Evolution

4. The Emergence of Child Development as a Discipline
- Sigmund Freud
- John Watson
Explain Conception
Notes
Gamete
sex cells (sperm and egg)

Contain half the genetic material

grab bag of genetic material put into each
Three prenatal developmental stages
1) Germinal

2) Embryotic

3) Fetal
Germinal
First Stage in prenatal development

conception - 2 weeks

(lasts until zygote implemented in uterine wall. Rapid cell division takes places)
Embryotic
Second stage of prenatal development

3rd-8th week

strucutral phase - when underlying structure of what comes later

development of organs and systems of the body

development through cell division, cell migration, cell differentiation, cell death and hormonal influences
Fetal
Last (3rd) stage of prenatal development

9th week - birth

continued development of physical structures and rapid growth of body.

increased levels of
1) behavior,
2) sensory experience
3) learning
Cell development that changes zygote to embryo to fetus
1) cell division (making lots of new cells)

2) cell migration

3) cell differentiation (unspecialized stem cells --> 350 different types of cells)

4) apoptosis
Phylogenic continuity
Idea that we and other animals share some characteristics and developmental processes due to our common evolutionary history

eg -- see apoptosis in other animals especially those related in the evolutionary tree
Phylogensis
idea of an evolutionary tree
Ontogenetic continuity
the idea that there is a deep underlying PATTERN OF PSYCHOLOGICAL CONTINUITY between infants and the adults they become

eg: {Prof McKrinks friend doing t-rex hands since she was a baby and still doing them now)
Role of Hormones/Sex determination
Notes
X linked diseases
Y chromosomes have less genetic information than X

If X has bum genetic material, there is not enough in Y to fight it off which is the reason behind boys having X linked diseases
Blastocyst (&twins)
4th day of conception, zygote arranges itself into a holly sphere of cells with a bulge of cells INNER CELL MASS on one side.

INNER CELL MASS becomes the embryo

If inner cell mass splits IDENTICAL TWINS result
- identical genetic material


FRATERNAL TWINS happen when two eggs and two sperm are fertilized
- not same genetic material - share 50% like all siblings
What makes up the support system of the embryo
Stage 2 of prenatal development

1) PLACENTA
2) UMBILICAL CORD
3) PLACENTAL MEMBRANE
3) AMNIOTIC SAC
Placenta
Support system of the embryo

Permits exchange of materials btwn blood stream of fetus and that of mother - forms a protected place for exchange to happen
Umbilical Cord
Support system of the embryo

Tube that contains blood vessels that TRAVEL FROM PLACENTA TO DEVELOPING ORGANISM and back again
Placental membrane
Support system of the embryo

barrier against some but not all toxins and infectious agents
Amniotic sac
support system of the embryo

MEMBRANE filled with fluid in which the fetus floats, provides a protective buffer for the fetus.


piercing sac is like putting a small ball in two layers of water balloons and then into a shell
cephalocaudal
cephalocaudal development = prenatal development from the 4th week on

priority given to developing the head before farther away places (developed head in case of early birth)

- large head causes conflict between mother and child - passing a large item (baby) through small space
Fetus contribution to own development
1) swallowing amniotic fluid
2) movement of chest walls (helps respirator system become functional)
Fetal Rest-Activity Cycles
You can start to tell when fetus is active or sleeping during second half of pregnancy

CIRCADIAN RYTHMNS apparent --> circadian rhythm is any biological process that displays an endogenous (internal origin), entrainable oscillation of about 24 hours.



Near end of pregnancy fetus's sleep and wake states are both similar to those of the newborn
Fetal Sensation
From relatively early on in pregnancy sensory structures are present and play role in fetal development and learning


1) experiences tactile stimulation as result of own activity

2) tastes/smells amniotic fluid (dictates child's palate and pregnant - prefers types of food mom has more of during pregnancy)

3) responds to sound from at least 6th month of gestation

4) visual experience (negligible - some light and dark)
Fetal Learning
1) LEARN HABITUATION (when repeatedly exposed to a particular sound or stimulation, fetus response decreased - became familiar with it)

2) RECOGNIZE RHYTHMS & STORIES presented before birth (recognize own language - sensitive to inotations/rhythms)
Testing Fetal learning
The tube out of the pacifier sends information to a computer about the intensity of sucking – babies suck harder when they want to hear certain things. It shows they know how to differentiate between things they are interested in and not interested in
Miscarraige
Spontaneous abortion

45% conceptions = early miscarriage

15-20% pregnancies women are aware miscarried

Due to something begin wrong with the fetus (genetic plan has gone awry and spontaneous aborts via nature)

miscarraiges 26-28weeks = PREMATURE BIRTHS
Teratogens
ENVIRONMENTAL AGENTS that have the ability to cause harm during prenatal development


FACTORS IN EFFECTS:
1) Timing (when teratogen introduced to fetus matters)
2) Sensitive period (if exposed during one)
Dose-response relations
Shown by most teratogens

increased exposure to potential teratogens are associated with greater probabilities of fetal defects and with more severe problems
Individual Differences in relation to teratogens
Individual differences also influence the effects of teratogens (what is particular genetic makeup, what is level of motivation/ability to overcome disability)


Individual differences in mother and child can influence how much the effect of the teratogen is on the fetus
sleeper effects of teratogens
Identifying teratogens is made difficult by the existence of sleeper effects in which the impact of a given agent does not surface right away
list of teratogens
Teratogens include legal as well as illegal substances...



** Allegra
** Iffy leftovers
** 3C pills
Rare steak
** Conditioner
** Face moisturizer
Proscutto
Capious sauvblanc
** Deli meats
** Artificial sweeteners (increase chance of miscarriage
Caffeine (increase chance of miscarriage)
** Frangrances = bunch of chemicals (can have variety effects on later outcomes in children)
** Antibacterials (affect kids allergies later on)
FAS
Fetal Alcohol Syndrom

A teratogen

Effects include: behavior issues, mental retardation, physical abnormalities (button nose, small upper lip, eyes close together, large space between nose and lip)

Teratogen effect on behavioral and physical
SIDS
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome

Reduce risk by:
- having babies sleep on stomach not back
- use firm mattress and no pillows
- no blankets or excessive clothing

Sparked "back to sleep" campaign
- reduced SIDS when parents started kids sleeping on back
- raised awareness
Basics of Rodier Article
- Thalidomide linked with autism
- HOXA1 gene as a link to autism (found in mice)
Threats to babies born to different aged moms
Older moms: mental retardation

Younger moms (under 15): neglect, poor nutrition (poorer parents), also babies are 3-4times as likely to die before their 1st birthday than babies born to parents in their 20s
Birth Experience
- at 38 weeks uterine muscles contract

- squeezing in the birth canal has adaptive value and makes it more likely for baby to survive
Soft Spots
soft spots are caused from head plats not having fused (takes a few years)

** Pressure on the head during birth can cause the separate plates of the skull to overlap - creating soft spots **

Plates have yet to fuse together

Can cause kids to have soft squishy heads

eg: need to wear a helmet if a good sleeper (has flattened head)
Diversity of childbirth practices
battle for care of child and care of mother

- as country becomes more developed focuses more on care of mother
State
State: infants level of arousal and engagement in the environment

Ranges from deep sleep to intense activity
Interaction with environment
Is an important influence in the newborn’s exploration of the world
States of arousal
1) Active sleep (8hrs)
2) Quiet sleep (8hrs)
3) Active awake (2.5) - stretching, fussing (making sounds), not looking at anything specific
4) Alert awake (2.5) - focusing deliberately deploying attention
5) Crying (2)
6) Drowsing (1)
REM & Non-REM Sleep
REM (rapid eye movement) - active sleep state, associated with dreaming in adults, characterized by quick, jerky eye movements under closed lids

Non-REM - quiet/deep sleeping, slow brain waves, breathing and heart rate


REM sleep decreases as we age
Autostimulation theory
brain activity during REM sleep in the fetus and newborn makes up for natural deprivation of external stimuli and facilitates the early development of the visual system



** REM sleep constitutes fully 50% of a newborn’s total sleep time and declines rapidly to only 20% by 3 or 4 years of age... **



Due to babies sleeping most of the day, the brain takes what they learned during their few awake hours and runs it through their brain and processes it and produces stimulation for babies while they’re asleep


If you bore a newborn while they are awake, they will have more REM sleep that night

If they are very stimulated during their waking hours, they will have more deep or quiet sleep rather than REM sleep
Causes of Crying
Early on: discomfort/frustration

After a few months: as a way to communicate - babies learn when it is worth crying and how to get a response from parents
Soothing Crying - Karp's 5S's
1) Swaddling
2) Soothing
3) side position
4) Shushing
5) sucking

Karp: Author of "happiest baby on the block"

Minimcs womb like positions
Sooths 95% of crying
colic
Parents of babies with colic, (excessive crying for no apparent reason) should seek social support and relief from frustration—

colic typically ends within a few months
Infant Mortality
Death during the 1ST YEAR AFTER BIRTH (infant mortality) has become a relatively rare event in the Western industrialized world

Causes:
- Poverty
- Lack of health insurance


African American infants are more than TWICE AS LIKELY to die before their first baby as Euro-American babies
low birth weight (LBW)
*** Infants weighing less than 5.5 pounds (2,500 grams) ***

Includes
1) Premature
2) Small Gestation Age


As a group, LBW babies experience more medical complications, have more developmental difficulties, and present special challenges for parents


However, the majority of LBW babies turn out quite well


** Extensive parent contact and more touch for infants in neonatal intensive care are widely used interventions **
Premature
LBW infants BORN AT OR BEFORE 35 WEEKS after conception are described as premature
Small Gestation Age (SGA)
LBW infants who are small for gestation age (SGA) means that their birth weight is substantially less than the norm for their gestational age
Risk factors
Tend to occur together in the world

A negative outcome is more likely when there are multiple risk factors

Despite multiple risk factors, however, some individuals do well
Developmental Resilience
Refers to successful development in the face of multiple and seemingly overwhelming developmental hazards

Resilient children often experience responsive care from a particular caregiver and possess personal characteristics such as intelligence and responsiveness
to others


** Resilience can come from nature or nurture, and is HIGHLY DEPENDENT ON TIMING OF HAZARD **
Interplay of Heredity and Environment (basic overview)
Used to think that the prime influence was due to one factor


Recently, human genome mapping has revealed that humans only differ by 1.5% of genes
Common Chromosomes (humans & animals)
Chromosomes are the basic building blocks used by a variety of species.

What makes us different as species is the PLACEMENT and STRUCTURE OF BLOCKS ON THESE CHROMOSOMES
The elements that play into heredity vs. environment (3)
GENOTYPE

PHENOTYPE

ENVIRONMENT
Genotype
The genetic material an individual inherits

- straight up genetic material we have
Phenotype
The observable expression of the genotype, including BODY CHARACTERISTICS and BEHAVIOR


The expression of genetic material - what you see in outward behavior or characteristics
Environment
Includes every aspect of the individual, and his or her surroundings, other than genes - anything not genotype
Chromosomes
How genetic material is passed on

Long, THREADLIKE MOLECULES made up of DNA
- encode protein

Carry all the biochemical INSTRUCTIONS involved in the formation and functioning of an organism
Genes
sections of chromosomes that are the basic units of heredity for all living thing

snippets of chromosomes
Sex Chromosomes
determine sex of individuals


23rd pair -- women have 2 X chroms, men have 1 X 1 Y

Gene on Y chromosome has a protein that triggers production of TESTES which produces TESTOSTERONE

All fetuses born with ability to be male or female --> Introduction of gene on Y turns fetuses male - w/o gene is female
Mechanisms contributing to genetic diversity
1) MUTATIONS

2) RANDOM ASSORTMENT

3) CROSSING OVER
Regulator Genes
Controller genes - regulate switching on and off of genes that underlie development throughout life

A gene influences development/behavior only when it is switched on


** Highly interactive gene **

** Sensitive to environmental factors **
Dominant allele
FORM OF THE GENE that is expressed if present
Recessive allele
form of the gene not expressed if the dominant allele is present
Allele Combinations
When a person inherits:

Recessive/Recessive
Dominate/Dominate
= HOMOZYGEOUS


When a person inherits:
Recessive/Dominate
=HETEROZYGOUS
The male disadvantage
The Y chromosome has only about a third as many genes on it as the X chromosome
Because many alleles on the X chromosome do not have a corresponding allele on the Y chromosome that could suppress the action, males are more likely than females to suffer a variety of inherited disorders caused by recessive alleles on the X chromosome (e.g., color blindness)
Genetic Origins to diseases/disorders: Recessive Gene
PKU, sickle-cell anemia, cystic fibrosis

If both parents have it, child may get it
Genetic Origins to diseases/disorders: Single dominant gene
huntington's disease

- if one parent has it child is likely to have it (dominant is always expressed)
Genetic Origins to diseases/disorders: Sex-linked inheritance
Fragile-X syndrome, hemophilia

Fragile-X syndrome: something fragile on X chromosome inherited from mother, Y chromosome cannot compensate for it (for men) -- causes mental retardation in boys
Genetic Origins to diseases/disorders: errors in meiosis
problems in cross over (down syndrome)

Kleinfelter syndrome - sexual disorder

resulting in a zygote with fewer or more than the normal complement of chromosomes
Good and bad of sickle cell anemia
Sickle-cell anemia:

GOOD: if you have ONE of the TWO ALLELES then you are protected from MALARIA

BAD: if you have two of the genes responsible for transmitting sickle cell anemia then you don’t have the resistance to malaria but you actually HAVE SICKLE CELL
Norm of Reaction
Refers to all the phenotypes that could theoretically result from a given genotype, in relation to all the environments in which it could survive and develop

eg: plants in three different locations and look how they react to those environments – room for individual differences as well as species wide characteristics
About PKU
Children with phenylketonuria (PKU)— a disorder that is related to a defective gene on chromosome 12—are unable to METABOLIZE e phenylalanine
With early diagnosis and a properly restricted diet, however, mental retardation resulting from PKU can be avoided



Used to not know what caused these children to get sick – sometimes so sick they are permanently disabled
The Case of MAOA
MAOA = a gene that has been shown to associated with impulsive aggression

Found that men who had little MAOA (little aggression) became more aggressive/anti-social as their maltreatment increased. These men became more aggressive as maltreatment increased than men who started as initially more aggressive pre-maltreatment (more MAOA)

Example of how genetic type interacts with the environment
Children as creators
Children are active creators of their own environments

Their phenotype (behavior) elicits different responses from their environment/those around them
Behavioral Genetics
The scientific study of the interplay of genetics and environment on behavior
- how variation in behavior and development is a result of the combination of genetics and environmental factors


This is a difficult science because it is MULTIFACTORIAL (there are multiple factors to take into account - behaviors are not only polygenetic but also multifactorial)
The ways in which behavioral genetics do research
Family Studies
- look at a trait and how it varieties as a measure of genetic relatedness from 0% relatedness to 100% (identical twins)

- Correlations between the measure of the trait in individuals with different relationships are examined to see if they are higher for individuals who
--- Are genetically more similar
--- Share the same environment
Types of Family Studies
1) Twin studies
- look at the difference in correlations for identical vs. fraternal twins on a set of interests
(first look at correlation between twins then compare correlations between twin sets)

2) adoptive studies
- Look at correlations between adopted children and their biological parents vs. correlations between adopted children and their adoptive parents
Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart Findings
Found that identical twins reared apart are more alike than each was to their adoptive siblings
Plomin & Defries Research and Findings
Looked at how heritable certain cognitive abilities were
- Used tests involving generic logic spatial ability, etc. to gauge different aspects of intelligence



FINDINGS:

Looked at levels of genetic relatedness
Above is the correlation between children and their birth parents (grey bars), adopted children and their birth parents (white), adopted children and their adopted parents (black)



** As people got older (3 yrs to 16 years) they resonated more with their birth parents – their abilities became more fine tuned and related to their birth parents. With time, children had less in common with adopted parents **
Nonshared environments
Environments that cause experiences that are unique to the individual

- seen in siblings who have very different experiences both within the family and outside of it (due to birth order, relationship with family members, friend groups, looks etc)

Non shared factors increase differences amid family members

SHARED = growing up in family family
Parts of the NEURON
Cell Body - home of basic biological material, keeps neuron functioning

Dendrites - receives input from other cells and conducts it towards cell body

Axons - sends electrical signals to connections with other neurons

Synpases = electrical connections between axons and dendrites (between neurons)
Glial cells
provides variety of critical supportive functions to neurons

- Forms MYELIN SHEATH around certain neurons --> increases speed and efficiency of information transmission
Brain Gray Matter
cell bodies & dendrites
Brain White Matter
includes axons and the myelin sheath around them
Cerebral Cortex and sections
Made up of lobes

Lobes = major areas of the cortex ASSOCIATED WITH DIFFERENT CATEGORIES OF BEHAVIOR

Lobes include:

Temporal Lobe
Parietal Lobe
Frontal Lobe
Occipital Lobe
Temporal Lobe
Associated with
- memory,
- visual recognition,
- processing of emotional and auditory information


Associated with things that are more vague

More complicated than occipital
Occipital Lobe
associated with
- processing of visual information

* hit this area and more likely to see stars *
Parietal Lobe
Associated with
- spatial processing
- integrating sensory input with information in memory
Frontal Lobe
Associated with
- planning
- behavior
- personality related traits/characteristics
Associated areas in the brain
information from MULTIPLE SENSORY SYSTEMS is PROCESSED AND INTEGRATED in association areas
Corpus Collasum
TRACT OF FIBERS between the two halves of the brain through which the two halves communicate
Cerebral lateralization
While each half has a lot of redundant abilities (things right side can do left can do too), each half specializes (has a strong suit)

The phenomenon of the two hemispheres being specialized for different modes of processing
Neurogenesis
Process of neuron creation

STEPS:

1) Proliferation

2) Migration

3) Growth

4) Differentiation
- axons elongate (enable them to connect with more neurons)

- dendrites form SPINES that increase their ability to connect with other neurons

* DENDRITES FORMING SPINES IS THE MECHANISM THAT UNDERLIES THE SENSITIVE PERIODS IN DEVELOPMENT *
Myelination
A fatty sheath of myelin that forms around some axons in order to speed and increase information-processing abilities


Frontal lobes become mylenized very late
Synaptogenesis
forming of synapses between numerous neurons

enables neurons to communicate/transfer information

our brains have millions of CONNECTIONS (synapses) not NEURONS
Synaptic pruning
process of getting rid of synapses that are not needed - generation of neurons and synapses results in overabundance that we must get rid of

occurs continuously

pruning does not end until adolescence
The Adolescent Wave & Brain Maturation
Adolescence: Gray matter content in brain greatly increases
- this increase in synapses production may be linked to adolescence behavior (more risky, moody)
- neural electricity travels slower; less awareness of behaviors

Maturation (age 5-20): gray matter begins being replaced by white matter
(cell bodies & dendrites replaced with axons/mylin sheath)
Plasticity
ability of the brain to AFFECTED by experience - brain flexibility

Experience is a central role in determining which of the brain's excess synapses are preserved (NEURAL DARWINISM)

- experiences that are valuable (encountered a lot) are preserved - these are the aspects of your environment that are important and you need to know
Experience-Expectant Placidity
Certain wiring in the brain occurs partially as a result of the kinds of general experiences every person who has a reasonably normal environment will have

--> this brings about vulnerability - if the expected experience is unavailable there can be developmental impairments

(eg: kittens, cateracts)

Linked to sensitive periods
Sensitive Periods
Certain periods (all based on TIMING) when brain is expecting certain types of inputs (stimuli)

eg: when it is missed, it has severe damage (e.g.: Genie and language development)

Linked to experience-expectant placidity
Experience-Dependent Plasticity
"Experience-Dependent Plasicity is the process of a portion of our neural connections creation and reorganization being dependent on our experiences"



when NEURAL CONNECTIONS are made and reorganized throughout ones life as a result of ones personal experiences

- this is a function of independent experiences (dependent placidity - dependent on experience)

eg: cello player (motor area in hand), athlete (spatial develoment), taxi driver (hippocampi - memory and place location)
Best & Worst Times for Brain Damage
Best: (SYNAPSES)
- Early childhood
- synaptic generation
- synpatic pruning

Worst: (NEURO)
- Prenatal Development
- First year after birth
- Neurogenesis
- Neuron migration
Congenital Lesion and Effect on Child
Congenital lesion (lesion at birth)

Child at 6 performs same as peers but performance does not keep up and child falls progressively further and further behind peers
Human Growth
We experience NEOTONY - prolonged growth

Uneven growth across the body and across lifespan

Most growth during 1st 2 years and early adolescence
Secular Trends
Changes in physical development that occur over time due to changes in environment over time

eg: improved health and nutrition - accounts for current generations being taller than older generations
FTT
Failure to Thrive

- A condition in which infants become malnourished and fail to grow for no apparent medical reason

- It is associated with disturbances in mother-child interaction that are thought to stem from characteristics of both child and mother
Types of nutrition for babies early in life
1) Breast Milk
2) Formula

Formula has become more popular with time (hard for moms to breast feed and work full time)
Nutrition (eating preferences/parent strategies with kids)
Food Preferences are a result of 1) innate preferences 2) experience (majority)

- Parents who bribe children with treats end up having kids who have unhealthy relationships with food later

- Parents who try to control their kids eating habits have kids who are less able to regulate their food intake themselves compared to parents who give kids more control of their eating
Child Obesity
Overweight kids in US tripled in last 2 decades

REASONS:

1) Genes - influence susceptibility to gaining weight & amount of food consumed

2) Environment - increased in portions, less active kids (video games, cut gym time at school, etc.)

3) EPIGENETIC FACTORS - previous generations turn on set of regulator genes that impact later generations (obese grandpa means grandkids have greater likelihood of being obese)
Types of Malnutrition (2) & effects
MARASMUS
- result of not having enough calories (seen in Africa where problems raising livestock)

KWASHIORKOR
- malnutrition brought about by inadequate protein


Malnutrition causes kids to withdraw from society because need to monitor energy expenditure, resulting in minimal exploration of the world
Plato's View on Child Development
Provided enduring insights about critical issues in childrearing, even though their methods were unscientific

Believed that the long-term welfare of society depended on children being raised properly

- emphasized self control and discipline

- believed children are born with innate knowledge (NATIVIST VIEW) --> we have innate capacities that we get for free
Aristotle's View on Child Development
Provided enduring insights about critical issues in childrearing, even though their methods were unscientific

Believed that the long-term welfare of society depended on children being raised properly


- concerned with fitting child rearing to the needs of the individual child

- believed that knowledge comes form experience (EMPIRICIST VIEW - everything is learned through experience)
John Locke's view on child development
like Aristotle, saw the child as a TABULA RASA (black slate - empiricist) and advocated first instilling discipline, then gradually increasing the child’s freedom.
Jean Jacques Rousseau's view on child development
parents and society should give the child maximum freedom from the beginning

leaned towards nativist view
Darwin's Theory of evolution in relation to child development
Charles Darwin’s work on evolution inspired research in child development in order to gain insights into the nature of the human species

He observed the day to day motor, sensory and emotion growth of his son
- Believed that process of development on an evolutionary timescale and on an individual timescale (echoed each other)

- Majority of his beliefs not true but drove science

- Still influencing modern thinking on:
1) mother-child attachment
2) innate fear of nature dangers (snakes and spiders)
3) Sex differences
4) aggression and disinterest in others well being
5) Mechanisms under learning
Sigmund Freud
Formulated influential theories of development in late 1800s early 1900s


A Psychoanalytic Theory - concluded that biological drives (sexual drives) exerted a crucial influence on development
John Watson
Formulated influential theories of development in late 1800s early 1900s

: argued that children’s behavior arises largely from the rewards and punishments that follow particular behaviors

interested in what drives behavior and prompts development. He believed it was a system: they act, be rewarded or punished, then do it again or not. The strength of the reward/punishment dictates the likelihood they do it again or not

A BEHAVIORIST VIEWPOINT: founder of behaviorist movement
Heritability
** REVIEW NOTES **
The Beng & Newborns
Notes
Fundamental Relations (Parents and Kids - Genotype & Phenotype)
Notes
The Emergence of Child Development as a Discipline
Child development emerged as a formal field of inquiry in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Sigmund Freud and John Watson formulated influential theories of development during this period.


- Universities established departments
- First child development theories that incorporated research into findings
The active Child
Notes
Continuity/Discontinuity
Notes
Mechanisms of developmental change
notes
Sociocultural context
notes
Factors that Affect individual differences in children
1) Genetics
2) Treatment
3) Different reaction to similar situations
4) Different choice of environments
Preferential Looking
Preferential looking: when infants look longer to one stimulus than another. Infants tend to have preferences.

These preferences can be used to help determine what is going on in their minds.
Infants tend to look to things that are bold and high contrast.

Infants normally have poor vision (acuity). Can test their acuity by covering one eye and showing them a bold and a dull picture and if they have no preferential looking then they potentially have sight problems


This research method has enabled the diagnosis of the effects of cataracts in infants as young as 2 months of age
Research and children's welfare
Child-development research yields practical benefits in
1) diagnosing children’s problems
2) helping children to overcome them.
3) Research gives good methods for determining what’s good or not good for a child or what is going on in a child and determining a baseline of normal
Adaption
tendency to respond to demands of the environment in ways that meet ones goals

Piaget: cognitive development theory
Organization
tendency to integrate particular observations into coherent knowledge

Piaget: cognitive development
Object permanence
knowledge that objects continue to exist even when they are out of view

found in sub category 3 of sensorimotor stage in Piaget's cognitive development theory
A-not-B error
tendency to reach to where objects have been found before, rather than to where they were last hidden

found in sub category 4 of sensorimotor stage in Piaget's cognitive development theory
deferred imitation
repetition of others behavior a substantial time after it occurred

eg: baby talking on the phone

found in sub category 6 of sensorimotor stage in Piaget's cognitive development theory
symbolic representation
use of one object to stand for another, which makes a variety of new behaviors possible

found in pre operational stage in Piaget's cognitive development theory
centration
tendency to focus on a single perpetually striking feature of an object or event



found in pre operational stage in Piaget's cognitive development theory
conservation concept
understanding that the changing of the appearance of an object does not change its key properties

eg: water in glass concept

Lacked in pre operational stage of piaget's cognitive development theory
The implications for education from Piaget's Cognitive Development Theory
- due to the distinct ways children think at different stages (ages), education should be tailored to those thinking processes for different ages - help to ensure that things being taught are relevant to where they are in development

Active Child idea - children learn through physical and mental interaction with the environment. Therefore it is important to incorporate the environment into education
Guided Participation
The act of an older, more knowledgeable individual organizing activities that allow less knowledgeable people to engage in them at a higher level than they could manage on their own


Aspect of sociocultural theory to cognitive development
Cultural Tools
products of human ingenuity (inventions) used to enhance thinking

eg: symbols are cultural artifacts or tools that spur learning - help teach people to learn that something can stand for something else - a symbol represents something in our mind


Aspect of sociocultural theory to cognitive development
Intersubjectivity
the mutual understanding that people share during communication

serves as the foundation of human cognitive development in the sociocultural theory
Joint attention
process in which social partners intentionally focus on a common reference in the external environment


aspect of intersubjectivity in sociocultural theory
Social referencing
tendency to look to social partners for guidance when faced with an unfamiliar or threatening event that must be responded to

aspect of intersubjectivity in sociocultural theory
Social Scaffolding
A process in which more competent people provide a temporary framework that supports children’s thinking at a higher level than children could manage on their own
The quality of scaffolding that people provide tends to increase as people become older and gain experience


aspect of sociocultural theory
Zone of Proximal Development
This is the area (or difference) between what a child can do on their own and what they can do when fully supported - what they can be prompted to do.

This difference is the scaffolding area

With this principle, one provides younger children with more concrete instructions and older with more abstract information (since these two different age groups have different levels of ability on their own)

aspect of sociocultural theory
Task Analysis
A way of looking at how people view problems

task analysis is a technique that helps information-processing researchers understand and predict children's behavior


helps teachers assess source of individual children's learning problems and target instructions to address child's specific difficulties


enables you to see where kids are having problems in the sub stages of solving a problem
Memory system components
sensory memory

working memory

long-term memory
Sensory memory
Refers to sights, sounds, and other sensations that are just entering the cognitive system

When sensations are briefly held in a raw form until they are identified

Iconic memory - not processed, could go out of brain or move to working memory
Working Memory
A workspace in which information from the environment and relevant knowledge are brought together, attended to, and actively processed

In working memory we redraw images in our mind - IT IS WHERE PROCESSING HAPPENS

Information is held here and then integrated into long term memory
Long-Term Memory
Refers to information retained on an enduring basis

As you get older you have more experience and remember more (improved quality and quantity)
Encoding
The act of extracting important or interesting information and retaining it to memory
Sources of Learning and Memory Development
1) Processing speed

2) Mental strategies

3) Content Knowledge
Difference with encoding with language and pre-language
when you have language you can rehearse and talk to yourself and reflect (which would be difficult if you didn't have words in your mind to hook contents too)

Thus more encoding occurs after language is mastered
Overlapping-waves theory
The idea that children use a variety of approaches to problem solving (children possess numerous strategies at any given point for solving a given problem)

With age, "strategy darwinism" develops - strategies that are easy to deploy and effective are utilized more
personification & it's role in child cognitive development
The process of personification, young children’s extrapolation from what they know about people to predict the qualities of other animals, is important to address in correcting some misconceptions in children’s early biological understanding


Naive theories on biology - core knowledge theories