Developmental psychology

Evaluate theories of cognitive development - Piaget's theory of cognitive development

According to Piaget, there are qualitative differences between the way adults and children think Action and self directed problem solving are at the heart of learning and cognitive development in children Formal logic is seen as the highest and last stage in intellectual development The child is seen as an active "scientist" - he or she actively constructs knowledge about the social and physical world as he or she interacts with it (constructional approach). Each child builds his or her own mental representation of the world (schemas) used to interpret and interact with objects, people and events. Piaget used the term "operation" to describe physical or symbolic manipulations (thinking) of things Instruction (teaching) is only possible if the child is cognitively ready (i.e. the necessary cognitive structures have developed) Stage theory: children's cognitive development progresses through stages over time. According to Piaget, the content and sequence of stages in cognitive development is the same for all humans (universal theory). Children cannot learn or be taught how to function at higher levels of cognition before they have passed through the lower levels Piaget believed that all children are born with an innate range of schemas (for sucking, reaching and gripping) but these are modified as a result of experience - a process of modification adaptation One type of adaptation is assimilation: this process occurs when new events (objects, experiences, situations and ideas) can be fitted into existing schemas of what the child already understands about the world - assimilation is a consolidation of existing knowledge; existing schemas receive support and reinforcement Another type of adaptation of accommodation: this process occurs when new events do not fit existing schemas. Either a schema has to be modified to allow the new world view or a new one schema has to be created - accommodation is the creation of new knowledge and the rejection or adaptation of existing schemas

Discuss potential effects of deprivation or trauma in childhood on later development - Genetics and parenting 2

According to Suomi, bullies do not know how to stop - in this way, he was able to demonstrate their predisposition to extreme behaviour In adult life the neurotics and the bullies meet different fates - the neurotics mature late and stay with their mothers' family circles an unusually long time, allowing them to acquire the social and diplomatic skills necessary for communal living and the bullies seldom make friends, their aggression and risk taking leads to social rejection and therefore isolation Suomi argues that bullies are genetically predisposed to engage in risk taking and anti social beaver but they also came from harsh, disciplinarian mothers who deprived their offspring of opportunities to form attachments through socializing Genetic predisposition coupled with harsh parenting techniques produced offspring which exhibited extreme behaviour detrimental to themselves and their abilities onto the next generation (most bullies die before reaching adulthood and few mate)

Describe adolescence

Adolescence is typically defined as the transitional period between childhood/puberty and adulthood From a cognitive developmental perspective adolescence can be defined as the period when the Piagetian notion of formal operational thought develops - this allows for the consideration of new beliefs and possibilities Adolescence can be defined from a biological perspective as the period when there is a rapid increase in growth and the redistribution of muscle tissue and body fat. The pituitary gland acts to increase the amount of sex hormones entering the blood stream and the individual becomes biologically capable of producing and nurturing children The concept pf adolescence is controversial because: not everyone agree that it is a unique life period across all cultures there are enormous individual and cultural differences in the adolescent experience most research on adolescence has been conducted in the West

Discuss strategies to build resilience - intro

Adversity in childhood can be seen as a situation where a child's basic emotional, social, physiological or cognitive needs are not met Early risk factors include poor attachment to caregivers, poor parenting skills and multiple family struggles (e.g. poverty and violent neighborhoods) Such risk factors may directly affect the child's development and lead to psychological and social problems (e.g. depression, low education, early pregnancy and delinquency) Resilience programs target the promotion of protective factors such as parenting skills, academic tutoring, training of social skills and self regulation It has been found that early interventions have better ling term results than programs introduced later in life Resilience = the process of avoiding adverse outcomes or doing bettie than expected when confronted with major assaults on the developmental process (Luthar et al, 2000)

Discuss the relationship between physical change and development of identity during adolescence - Relationship between physical change and development of identity Ferron (1997)

Aim: to investigate possible cultural differences in the way adolescents relate to bodily changes in puberty Procedure: Small scale survey using semi structured interviews to collect data in a cross cultural sample consisting of 60 American and 60 French adolescents Boys and girls were equally represented One of the themes in the interview was how the bodily changes during puberty affected body image and how they coped with it Results: 75% of the American adolescents did not accept any biological predisposition in terms of body shape - they believed it was possible to obtain a perfect body if one tried hard enough and adhered to specific rules 80% of the Americans believed in the effectiveness pf specific diets or exercise programs The Americans were more likely to suffer from self blame and guilt and adopt unhealthy weight regulation strategies such as unbalanced diets or continuous physical exercise 75% of the American girls believed that their personal worth depended on looks and would do nearly anything to get close to an ideal body image Less than half the French adolescents believed they could obtain a perfect body They had perceptions of ideal body image but 75% of them believed that physical appearance is genetically determined and could not possible be extensively modified through willpower or particular behaviour The only thing they considered blameworthy was physical carelessness

Discuss how social and environmental variables may affect cognitive development Social variable: parenting Farah et al (2008)

Aim: to investigate the relationship between environmental stimulation and parental nurturance on cognitive development Procedure: This was a longitudinal design with 110 African-American middle school children (mean age 11.8 years) Children were recruited at birth and evaluated at age 4 and 8 years in the home Interviews and observational checklists were used to measure environmental stimulation (e.g. variety of experience, encouragement to learn colours, music and art) and parental nurturance (e.g warmth and affection and emotional and verbal responsively and parental involvement) The researchers performed cognitive tests on language and memory in the lab Results: There was a positive correlation between environmental stimulation and language development Age was a factor There was a positive correlation between parental nurturance and long term memory performance

Discuss strategies to build resilience - School and Bartley (2008) - sources of resilience 2

An effective social environment -the chances of developing into a healthy, happy and successful adult despite growing up in adversity can be improved by the provision of high quality and affordable childcare because this is key to both children's early development an to releasing parents' time to participate in learning and employment opportunities. Teachers play a role as they smooth the progress of young people, giving them confidence in their own abilities and encouraging positive aspirations for their educational and occupational futures. Government initiatives such as apprenticeship schemes, day-release from work and evening and adult education classes all contribute to an effective thriving community Employment is a key part of family and social cohesion but Schoon and Bartley note efforts to secure employment should not be enforced at the expense of activities which help people build self esteem and the social interactions that will help them fulfill their capabilities

Discuss the formation and development of gender roles - Social learning theory, Smith and Lloyd (1978) : the Baby X experiment

Asked adults to interact with infants dressed in unisex snowsuits of either blue or pink The snowsuits were randomly distributed and now always in line with the infant's true sex The adults played with the infants according to what they believed was the gender of the child This indicates that a baby's perceived gender is part of the baby's social environment because people treat the child according to perceptions of gender This could influence the child's own perception of gender and become a determining factor in the development of the child's gender role and identity

Discuss potential effects of deprivation or trauma in childhood on later development Potential effects of deprivation: Cognitive impairment and attachment disorder 2

Attachment disorder Data was collected in semi structured interviews with parents to assess the child's behaviour toward the parent and other adults in both novel and familiar situations There was a relationship between length of institutional deprivation and attachment disorders No significant deficits were going in the children who entered the UK below the age of 6 months A number of children showed an insecure attachment pattern called disinhibited attachment disorder, characterized by: lack of preference for contact with caregivers versus relative strangers and a definite lack of checking back with the parent in anxiety providing situations 33% of children with disinhibited attachment behaviour spent 24-42 months Conclusion: According to Rutter et al (2004) a lack of personalized caregiving may well be the key factor that puts children's social development at risk This is in line with Bowlby (1969) who argued that emotionally averrable caregiving is a crucial factor n determining a child's development and future mental health Generally the data revealed a major degree of recovery in children suffering from profound institutional deprivation: the effects were not fixed and irreversible Most of them did not show cognitive impairment and disinhibited attachment

Discuss the formation and development of gender roles - Social learning theory

Bandura's (1977) SLT assumes that children learn gender appropriate and gender inappropriate behaviour via processes present in the environment/culture such as modeling (the child observes how others behave and imitate that behaviour) and conditioning through reward (social approval) and punishment Reinforcement could be direct such as "you look like a girl in that hat" (said to a boy) or can be more subtle in the form of media images and expectations in peer groups Strengths of SLT: It predicts that children acquire internal standards or behavior through rewards and punishment either y personal or vicarious experience A number of empirical studies support the notion of modeling Limitations: It cannot explain why there seems to be considerable variation in the degree to which individual boys and girls conform to their gender role stereotypes It suggests that gender is more or less passively acquired but research shows children are active participants in the socialization process Cognitive factors such as motivation and perception affect how a child sees and responds to the processed present in the environment - motivation and perception are cognitive processes not fully explained by SLT

Discuss how social and environmental variables may affect cognitive development Environmental variable: diet The benefits of breakfast (Food Research Action Centre, 2010)

Breakfast has wide cognitive-behvioural benefits. A meta-analysis of breakfast program studies by the Food Research Action Centre in the USA came to the following conclusions: Children who skip breakfast are less able to distinguish among similar images, show increased errors and have slower memory recall Children experiencing hunger have lower math scores and are more likely to have to repeat work or even an academic year Behavioural, emotional and academic problems are more prevalent among children with hunger Children experiencing hunger are more linnet to be hyperactive, absent and trade, in addition to having behavioral and attention problems more often than other children Children who are undernourished score lower on cognitive tests when they miss breakfast Teens experiencing hunger are more likely to have been suspended from school, have difficult getting along with other children and have no friends Children with hunger are more likely to have repeated a grade, received special education services or received mental health counseling than low income children who don't experience hunger

Evaluate theories of cognitive development - Egocentrism in the preoperational stage Piaget and Inhelder (1956)

Demonstrated the ecocentrism of the pre-operational child Showed preschool children a scene with 3 mountains, each with a distinctive landmark A doll was placed opposite to the child The researchers asked the child to choose a picture that represented what the doll would see from the other side The child then changed position and was asked the same question Children between 4-5 picked the picture of the mountains showing the mountains from their perspective Children who were around 6 years tended to do the same but sapwood awareness that there could be other viewpoints The mountain scene apparatus and the methodology have been criticized as being too far from the normal operating world of the child - children are not used to seeing such scenes and may have been confused by the layout, by adult objects placed on the scenes and by the need to identify the doll's position through a photograph Piaget can be criticized for approaching the issue of egocentrism through the adult gaze - he approached it as an abstract mental problem and his methods can be seen as indicative of his thinking Children may have been anxious to provide what they considered to be the more socially desirable answer

Evaluate theories of cognitive development - Brain development and neuroplasticity

Developmental cognitive neuroscience is an area of research that studies the relationship between brain development and cognitive competence Research in this field explores the developing brain in order to understand healthy development but also how various factors may interfere with normal brain development and lead to problems in cognitive functioning The basic functional elements of the brain are neurons that connect to each other (synaptic growth) to form a network of neurons (information processing networks) Neuronal networks change as a result of learning, experience and age Each human brain has a unique neural architecture due to differences in individual experience The neural connections (dendritic branching) in the brain grow in size and complexity after birth and myelination is accelerated Synaptic growth is most significant in childhood and adolescence Interaction with loving and responsive caregivers contributes to healthy brain development Various factors such as early social deprivation, inadequate nutrition or living in a polluted environment may interfere with normal brain development - this can have adverse effects on cognitive, emotional and social development Healthy brain development is a prerequisite for optimal cognitive functioning The brain develops according to a genetically determined program but environmental factors influence the end result

Examine psychological research into adolescence - Evaluation of Erikson

Erikson intimates adolescence is associated with low self esteem and low productivity when this is not always the case Adolescence is more likely to be associated with positive identity formation and can be a time of community projects and productive charity work Offer et al (1981) conducted a meta-analysis of adolescence literature and concluded that most American teenagers can be characterized as being confident, happy and self satisfied - a contradiction of the Erikson view as the teenager in constant negative turmoil Erikson did not conduct any empirical research to support his view - he based his theory on on-rigorous observations of teenagers undergoing therapy in the late 1904s and 50s This represents a biased sample and also had scientific shortcomings in method This does not mean academics should reject his notions completely but it does mean caution should be used when generalizing to a larger group Erikson argued that females develop their sense of identity later than males as part of their identity and social status is heavily dependent on the type of men they will marry Erikson's notion of identity construction was formed at a time when a job for life was accepted as the norm and he centred his notion of identity on a career and marriage partner (1950s context) It was also a time where people could be easily identified by their SES, class, geographic and ethnic background and music preference Arguably modern culture and technology, globalization and contemporary economic reality has made identity less fixed and more fluid - open to buffeting from market conditions and the myriad of identities available to construct

Examine psychological research into adolescence - Erikson's approach

Erikson put forward an assumption in the 1950s that adolescence is a period of stress and uncertainty brought about by intense physical change which causes a crisis in identity He suggested that teenagers cannot achieve a sense of identity because of the intense biological changes taking place in their bodies He argued that this identity crisis was normal and an essential part of identity contraction for later adulthood Erikson's theory has 4 main components which represent areas an adolescent has difficulties processing: Intimacy - adolescents fear a commitment to others as it may involve a loss of identity Time - Erikson argued that teenagers have an inherent disbelief that the passage of time may bring about the possibility of change - while simultaneously being afraid that it might (he called this time diffusion) Industry - This involves an inability to concentrate or enormous energy being expended into singular area (called diffusion of industry) Negative identity - Erikson argued teenagers show scornful and snobbish behaviour towards the role offered by either their family and/or society Erikson also put forward the notion of a psychological moratorium - this refers to a temporary suspension of activity during the period of identity formation when the adolescent is moving between childhood (when identity is clearer) and adulthood (when a new identity has to emerge) Erikson notes this is often recognized but those around teenagers when society and family members allow adolescents to find themselves and try on different identities in an effort to find one that suits them best - this is seen as the dominant task of this age group and its eventual resolution forms the bases of the adult identity

Discuss potential effects of deprivation or trauma in childhood on later development- evaluation of Suomi (2005)

Evaluation Caution should be used when generalizing the findings of animal studies to humans Thus doesn't mean they should be dismissed entirely, as researchers use animals due to the ethical restraints imposed on them with human subjects Such studies can give insight into phenomena that would otherwise be left without thorough research The study has the value of common sense that can be found in folk wisdom: individuals with a close attachment to a care giver have less need to develop aggressive behaviour as their needs are met through nurturing Caspi et al (2002) supported these findings in humans - children were more likely to grow up aggressive and anti social if they inherited a short version of the MAOA gene (that makes the breakdown of serotonin less efficient) These individuals became antisocial only if they had experiences an abusive upbringing - Suomi replicated this with monkeys as carriers with the short MAOA gene turned bad only when denied goo mothering

Explain cultural variations in gender roles - extra studies

Goffman (1977) predicted that gender roles will shift as societies shift from a belief that gender roles are based on biological differences to a belief in general social equality. Support for the could be research on new make gender roles in Western cultures: Renicke (2006) found that young fathers in Denmark find childcare important, being a father is an important part of their identity and they want to be close to their children Engle and Breaux (1994) found that if fathers participated in programs on parenting and child development, they became more involved with their children

Discuss how social and environmental variables may affect cognitive development Social variable: parenting

In this context parenting refers to the acts of supporting a child physically, emotionally, socially and intellectual and doesn't refer to any biological relationship The duties of parents differ according to cultural variations The Michigan Department of Education (MDE, 2002) argued that the most consistent predictors of a child's academic achievement and social adjustment were parent expectations: parents of high achieving students set higher standards for their children's educational activities than parents of low achieving students and this drove educational achievement and therefore cognitive development Family participation in education was twice as predictive of student's academic success as family SES Children who practice reading at home with their parents made significant gains in reading achievement compared to those who only practice at school (Tizard et al, 1982) but this has wider implications as parents who read to their children are more likely to have books available, take trips together as a family, monitor TV watching and provide stimulating experiences which together contribute to cognitive development

Examine attachment in childhood and its role in the subsequent formation of relationships - Miyake et al (1985) cultural differences in attachment

Japanese mother place great value on developing close relationships with young infants and are rarely separated from them They place prominence on allowing children to develop their own identity and to once problems within a wider social group Children are raised in a close relationship with the mother but as conscious members of the wider social milieu Miyake contrasts this style with America parenting in which children are encouraged to be independent from a young age and adults intervene to solve problems within a group setting As a result, American children show greater avoidant attachment than Japanese children - which can be interpreted as showing greater independence - whereas Japanee children show higher rates of secure attachment - leading to greater sensitivity to group needs as adults

Evaluate theories of cognitive development - Hughes (1975)

Made a variation of the above study The children were asked to hide a doll from 2 policemen dolls arranged around a piece of cardboard apparatus The children had to consider the viewpoint of the 2 policemen dolls before making a decision as to where to place the boy doll so it was hidden from the policemen dolls Hughe's sample consisted of children aged between 3 and a half and five Of these, 90% gave correct answers suggesting they had overcome the egocentrism that characterizes the pre-operational stage He found that in this version younger children were able to take the perspective of the dolls most of the time The explanation was that the task was made more relevant to the children which shows that egocentrism in the Piagetian sense can be overcome if the task is made more age appropriate The results indicate that it is possible for children to take the perspective of others if they understand the task When participants made mistakes the mistakes were explained and the child was allowed to try again - this encouragement for them to have more tries is a more realistic reflection of what would happen in the real world with parents/caregivers stepping in to correct faulty thinking

Discuss the formation and development of gender roles - gender schema theory

Kohlberg's theory does not address how most children come to prefer gender appropriate toys and garments before they have gender constancy This is addressed with gender schema theory, which proposed that children form mental guised for action linked around concept clusters that radiate information on how to behave appropriate to gender Gender schemas are generalized ideas about what is appropriate behavior for males and females - people are categorized into either male or female and given specific gender attributes (gender stereotypes) - gender schemas can therefore organize knowledge and information processing The key assumption is that clusters develop before the children have an understanding of gender constancy - this would explain why toys and clothing have different levels of potency for different genders in pre-school age children Strengths of gender schema theory: It can explain why children's gender roles do not change after middle childhood The established gender schemas tend to be maintained because children pay attention to and remember information that is consistent with their gender schemas (confirmation bias) The theory depicts the child as actively trying to make sense of the world using its present knowledge and gender schemas search as an internal, self regulating standard Limitations: There is too much focus on individual cognitive processes in the development of gender roles. Social and cultural factors are not taken into account It is not really possible to explain how and why gender schemas develop and take the form they do

Ainsworth et al (1978): Attachment classification and the Strong Situation paradigm evaluation

Lacks ecological validity Lacks cross cultural applicability as separation of parent and infant varies - in Japan and Russia children are rarely separated from their mother in the early stages of life The technique relies on brief separations and reunions of 20 minutes - this is a highly standardized and constructed approach, designed to increase the reliability of the method and not to mimic real life Only 20 minutes of interaction are used to draw broad conclusions about a complex human process

Evaluate theories of cognitive development - limitations of Piaget's theory 2

Many studies have been carried out whereby the child has been taught skills they would not be able to develop according to the Piagetian view - this questions the notion of biological readiness Piaget has been criticized for under-estimating the role of language in cognitive development Piaget has been criticized for under-estimating the role of social development in cognitive development - the 3 mountain experiment is a presentation of a social scene and yet Piaget focused on it solely as an abstract mental problem. When the approach was changed to a more age-appropriate paradigm (the use of a policeman doll), more children were able to understand the different views Piaget has been criticized for under-estimating children's cognitive abilities in general as many children show more abilities at younger ages than Piaget outlined Piaget over-estimated people's formal operational ability - some research has suggested only around one third of the population reach this late stage of cognitive development The theory does not provide a detailed explanation for the stages The model can be seen as too rigid and inflexible

Examine psychological research into adolescence - Marcia's approach

Marcia reformulated much of Erikson's work so it could be tested empirically His basic approach is centred on the notions of crisis and commitment Crisis occurs through having to re-evaluate previous choices and values; commitment occurs after this re-evaluation and the individual must take on a set of roles and ideologies After developing a semi-structured interview for identity research, Marcia (1966) proposed identity statuses as psychological identity development: Identity diffusion - the status in which the adolescent does not have a sense of having choices; he or she has not yet made (nor is attempting/willing to make) a commitment Identity foreclosure - the status in which the adolescent seems willing to commit to some relevant roles, values or goals for the future - adolescents in this stage have not experienced an identity crisis, they tend to conform to the expectations of others regarding their future and have not explored a range of options Identity moratorium - the status in which the adolescent is currently in a crisis, exploring various commitments and is ready to make choices but has not made a commitment to these choices yet Identity achievement - the status in which the adolescent has gone through an identity crisis and had made a commitment to a sense of identity that they have chosen These statuses are not stages and should not be viewed as sequential processes The core idea is that a person's sense of identity is determined largely by the choices and commitments made regarding certain personal and social traits The work done in this paradigm considers how much a person had made certain choices and how much they display a commitment to those choices

Examine psychological research into adolescence - Evaluation of Marcia

Marcia's approach was an extension of Erikson's original work and was an attempt to make it more empirically robust and therefore more useful Research does suggest confusion and crisis decline as adolescence progresses, there is also an initiation of active, dynamic identity constrain which sits well with that we know about teenagers and their predisposition to try out different identities in sometimes explicit ways Marcia used mainly middle class, white male American fathers and sons in his sample and conducted his interviews in the 1960s and 70s Caution should be used when generalizing to wider cultures in a contemporary setting Waterman and Waterman (1975) suggested Marcia's theory sugars from cohort effects - the statuses are dependent on particular groups in society Cohorts are linked to age and culture and Waterman and Waterman argue many of the fathers in Marcia's sample matured in the pre WW2 period, when adulthood was achieved earlier The sons in the sample reached adolescence in the 1950s and 60s when attitudes towards adolescence and young people had shifted There is an assumption in Marcia's work that adolescents have either formed an identity or they have not; this suggests a binary approach which is an oversimplification of a complex human process There is a great deal of cultural relativity in identity formation Condon (1988) studied Inuit in the Canadian Arctic circle: he found that individuals who would be seen as adolescents in Western culture were treated as adults from the onset of puberty - they simply had no time or an appropriate environment in which to ponder their inner identity in the same way that Marcia's middle class, college bound sample might in 1960s and 70s America

Explain cultural variations in gender roles - intro

Matsumoto (1994) defines culture as a set of attitudes, values, beliefs and behaviours shared by a group of people and communicated from one generation through the next through cultural practices and language If gender roles were based on biology alone it would ne natural to assume that gender roles are universal and based on evolution If gender roles were based on culture it would be natural to assume that gender roles cary across cultures according to a specific culture's beliefs and expectations with regards to men and women's roles In most cultures women have had the major responsibility for taking care of the children and housework Eagly's (1987) social role theory suggests that gender stereotypes arise from the different roles occupied by males and females Women and men are seen as best suited for the roles the occupy and this gives rise to beliefs about how women and men behave and feel Some of these stereotypes may become cognitive schemas which are resistant to change In modern societies physical strength is no longer the only way to assure bread winning Women and men are more likely to have the same jobs and share the responsibility for the family

Examine attachment in childhood and its role in the subsequent formation of relationships - Ainsworth et al (1978): Attachment classification and the Strong Situation paradigm 2

On the basis of their responses, Ainsworth categorized the infants into 3 groups: Type A Avoidant or detached 20% of children Child shows apparent indifference when mother leaves the room and avoids contact with her when she returns The child is apparently unafraid of strangers Ainsworth argued that the mothers of type A children tend to be insensitive and do not seem interest in their child's play Type B Securely attached 70% of children Child is upset when the mother leaves and is happy to see her again Child is easily comforted by the mother The mother is very interested in the child's play and actively supports play and communication Type C Ambivalent or anxious 10% of children Child is discontented and can be very upset when the mother leaves the room When she returns the child is not easily soothed and may not always seek comfort from the mother Ainsworth argued that mothers of type C children tend to be inconsistent with their reactions to their children

Discuss the formation and development of gender roles - gender schema theory - Martin and Halvorson (1983)

Performed an experiment with boys and girls aged between 5-6 years They saw pictures of males and females in activities that were either in line with gender role schemas (e.g. a girl playing with a doll) or inconsistent with gender role schemas (e.g. a girl playing with a gun) A week later the children were asked to remember what they had seen in the pictures The children had distorted memories of pictures that were not consistent with gender role schemas They remembered the picture of a girl playing with a doll and a boy playing with a gun This shows how information may be distorted to fit with existing schemas

Discuss potential effects of deprivation or trauma in childhood on later development Carion et al (2009) -potential effect of trauma: PTSD

Performed fMRI scans on children suffering from PTSD after experiencing extreme stressors such as abuse or witnessing violence PTSD children performed worse on a simple memory test and showed less hippocampal activity compared to a control group The participants who performed worst on the test were those who also showed specific PTSD symptoms such as withdrawal from those ho wanted to help them They also had difficulties remembering the trauma, felt cut off from others and showed lack of emotion

Discuss the relationship between physical change and development of identity during adolescence - Physical changes in adolescence

Physical maturation and adult reproductive functioning are controlled by the endocrine system that operates through the hypothalamus-pituitary-gonadal system During the prenatal period hormones called androgens organise the reproductive system but these hormones are suppressed after birth They are reactivated in early childhood (around 8 for girls and 6 for boys) and this starts the puberty process with gradual maturation of the body and the reproductive system All individuals experience the same bodily changes during puberty but the sequence of changes may vary Until puberty boys and girls produce roughly the same amount of male hormones (i.e. testosterone) and female hormones (e.g. estrogen) At the start of puberty the pituitary gland causes an upsurge of sex hormones so that girls now produce more estrogen and boys more testosterone The physical growth spurt is characterized by an increase in the distribution of body fat and muscle tissue The body grows taller and heavier and gradually becomes more adult like The adolescent has to become familiar with this new body and integrate a revised body image For girls the most important changes are the development of breasts and widening of the hips The gain in body fat and rapid weight gain may be seen as a problem for some girls because it clashes with the Western ideal of a slim female figure Boys experience the growth spurt as a broadening of the shoulders and an increase in muscle strength Having a masculine body is welcomed because it brings boys closer to their body ideal Boys whose bodies do not appear masculine may experience identity problems

Evaluate theories of cognitive development - Piaget's method

Piaget based his theory on observations and open ended interviews This clinical method enabled Piaget to gain insight into the children's judgement and explanations of events He presented children with a number of tasks designed to discover the level of logical reasoning underpinning their thinking He was interested in the way they arrived at their conclusions His method has been criticized for: using a small and non-representative sample lack of scientific rigor and cross sectional design which makes it difficult to make conclusions about changes over time (a longitudinal design would be better to do this) asking questions that are too complex for children

Evaluate theories of cognitive development - limitations of Piaget's theory

Piaget focused primarily on cognitive development as a process located within the individual child and placed less importance on how contextual factors contributed to cognitive growth Researchers have questioned the timing of Piaget's stages - Vygotsky criticized Piaget for underestimating the role of instruction in cognitive development Piaget's methods have been criticized for lack of scientific rigor and sampling bias - he also used tasks that were too difficult for children to understand and this could explain some of the results Piaget's methods have been criticized for being too formal for children. When the methods are changed to show more human sense, children often understand what is being asked of them and show cognitive ability outside of their age-appropriate stage The small sample sizes mean caution should be used when generalizing to large groups and cultures Piaget failed to distinguish between competence and performance - when tasks were altered, performance (and therefore competence) was affected

Evaluate theories of cognitive development - Strengths of Piaget's theory

Piaget has contributed substantially to the study of cognitive development and his work laid the foundation for much of the early work on cognitive development Piaget's work had had a major influence on education (the idea that teachers should be facilitators) and has generated a lot of research over time Piaget showed that the way children think is qualitatively different from the way adults think Piaget was the first to investigate whether biological maturation drove cognitive development and his vision of a child having cognitive changes regulated by biology is now widely accepted and supported by cross cultural research Piaget developed the notion of constructivism - he argued children are actively engaged with constructing their knowledge of the world rather than acting as passive receivers of information

Explain cultural variations in gender roles - Sociocultural factors and gender roles

Societies that accept social inequality seem to accept not only class differences but also social differences between men and women In societies where males control resources and dominate the political system, women are more likely to conform to the stereotypical gender role Gender equality may be the road to change in traditional stereotyped gender roles The women's movement for social equality started in individualistic societies and ideas of social elite of men and woman have been adopted in most individualist societies

Examine attachment in childhood and its role in the subsequent formation of relationships - The role of attachment in future relationships Hazan and Shaver (1978) 2

Results Around 56% of the respondents classified themselves as secure, 25% as avoidant and 19% as ambivalent Secure lovers described their most important love relationships as trusting, happy and friendly Avoidant lovers were characterized by fear of intimacy, emotional highs and lows as well as jealousy Ambivalent lovers believed that romantic love is characterized by obsession, emotional highs and lows, extreme sexual attraction and jealousy The best predictors of adult attachment type were respondents' perception of the quality of their relationships with each parent as well as parental relationships The results showed that loving and affectionate parenting correlated positively with secure attachment Participants classified as avoidant reported cold and rejecting mothers

Define resilience

Rutter (1990): resilience can be seen as maintaining adaptive functioning in spite of serious risk factors Wyman et al (2000): resilience can be defined as a child's achievement of positive developmental outcomes and avoidance of maladaptive outcomes under adverse conditions Wright and Masten (2006) claimed that resilience should not be seen as an individual train. Individual resilience must be studied in the context of adversity and risk in relation to multiple contextual factors (e.g. family, school, community and culture) that interact with individual factors (e.g. the child's temperament, intelligence and health)

Discuss how social and environmental variables may affect cognitive development Social variable: socioeconomic status (SES)

SES is a total measure of a person's social and economic position based on income, education and occupation SES has been found to correlate with parenting (social variable) and environmental enrichment (environmental variable) Farah et al (2005) found that low SES children performed worse on all tests of cognitive performance compared to middle SES children Findings from neuroscientists show that children growing up in poor families experience high levels of stress and this could impair brain development and general cognitive functioning Krugman (2008) argued that children born to poor parents (low SES) have a 50% chance of remaining in life long poverty because the brains of poor children do not develop optimally and they therefore miss social and economic opportunities One effect if poverty is chronic malnourishment, which is linked to less activity and interest in learning - malnutrition is associated with impaired/delayed brain development

Evaluate theories of cognitive development - Piaget's stages of cognitive development

Sensorimotor (0-2 years) - Baby goes from reflective instinctual action (sucking, grasping) to constructing knowledge via coordination of sensory experiences with physical actions, extreme egocentrism and a lack of object permanence Preoperational (2-7 years) - Thinking is intuitive and dominated by the appearance of things and focusing on one dimension at a time. Shows egocentrism (difficulty seeing things from the perspective of others) and lack of conservation (cannot see that things remain constant in spite of change in visible appearance). Not able to use formal logic and shows centration - the tendency to focus only on one aspect of an object or situation Concrete operational (7-11 years) - Can carry out mental operations but needs to see the objects being concretely manipulated Formal operational (11-15 years) - Ability to use abstract reasoning and logic. Can deal with hypothetical problems and mentally manipulate ideas, numbers and concepts. Can use deductive reasoning

Discuss the formation and development of gender roles - intro

Sex: biological sex determined by chromosome Gender: the social and psychological characteristics associated with being male or female Role: a set of social and behavioural norms linked to a specific sociocultural setting Gender role: gender role characterizes activities as masculine or feminine - the sets of behaviours, rights, duties and obligations of being male or female, a schema steering an individual towards a socially agreed construction of gender expression

Evaluate theories of cognitive development - Vygotsky's sociocultural approach to cognitive development

Social constructivist theory - related to Marxism Children grow up in specific historical, social and cultural contexts and their knowledge and intelligence develop within the framework of that culture's characteristics The historical and cultural characteristics of each society influence the way people come to act upon and think about the world Vygotsky divided the intellect into basic innate capabilities (elementary functions - attention and sensation) and higher mental functions He argued that elementary functions can only develop into higher functions via the input of culture Vygotsky talks about "cultural tools" that individuals must learn to handle in order to function in that culture Vygotsky emphasizes language and instruction as the most important factors in intellectual and personal development Instruction through cooperation and interaction is the main vehicle for the cultural transmission of knowledge (contrast to Piaget's view that children must discover everything by themselves) if children receive instructions from other, more skilled individuals they can understand and accomplish things that they would not be able to achieve alone The zone of proximal development refers to the gap that exists for an individual child between what they are able to do alone (zone of competence) and what they can achieve with help from someone who has more knowledge (this zone is why children had learn more at each stage than predicted by Piaget) Wood et al (1976) introduced the notion of scaffolding as a development of Vygotsky's zone of proximal development theory in which the disorganized and spontaneous thoughts presented by the child are responded to with the more systematic, logical and rational concepts of a more knowledgeable helper

Evaluate theories of cognitive development - evaluation of of Vygotsky's theory

Strengths Vygotsky has inspired sociocultural approaches to learning based on the assumption that cognitive development and learning must be seen in relation to an individual's historical, social and cultural context The concept of scaffolding has been useful from a teaching perspective - the quality of the scaffolding provided by parents could predict the success of a child in the classroom Vygotsky emphasizes the importance of social interaction on cognitive development - an area lacking in Piaget's approach Limitations According to Wood (1998) Vygotsky's perspective on cognitive development can hardly be called a full-fledged theory, but his ideas have been integrated into the development of other theories and visions about education Vygotsky's approach places too much emphasis on the social environment and is vague in its outline of social influence There is a lack of empirical support for Vygotsky's ideas - this is largely explained by his emphasis on processes rather than outcomes (processes are harder to test for)

Evaluate theories of cognitive development - evaluation of neurobiological theories

Strengths of neurobiological theories Neuroscientific evidence provides a valuable insight into how the brain develops from the simple to the more complex and this can, to some extent, be linked to increasing cognitive competence Animal research shows that an enriched environment results in synaptic growth (e.g. Rosenzweig and Better 1972 brain plasticity) which is also the case in humans Developmental cognitive neuroscience has provided evidence of the devastating effects of neglect on the developing brain which is useful for treating children with cognitive, emotional and behavioral problems due to long term stress Limitations of neurobiological theories It is not possible at this point to establish a direct cause-effect relationship between brain development and cognitive growth - much of the empirical research within cognitive developmental neuroscience is correlational Little is known about the exact neural basis of cognition in normally developing children but longitudinal brain imaging studies will perhaps provide more knowledge on this

Discuss potential effects of deprivation or trauma in childhood on later development - Genetics and parenting 1

Suomi (2005) - rearing styles and adult behaviour Rearing styles have been shown to have long lasting biological effects on non-human animals Suomi (2005) Studied wild rhesus monkeys (considered to be genetically close to humans) In one study he found high levels of serotonin in the least aggressive adult animals and low levels in the most aggressive 2 groups were studied: one group was reared in a nurturing, supportive environment and the other in a less supportive, non-nurturing environment where they were left to fend for themselves with their siblings The non-nurtured group had low levels of serotonin and high levels of aggression and the opposite was true of those reared with a close relationship with their mothers In another study Suomi found clear links between rearing styles and adult behaviour He identified 2 types of adult monkey with trouble managing complex adult relations One type, which he called depressed or neurotic accounted for about 20% of each generation - these monkeys are slow to leave their mothers' sides when young, even when pushed away by the parent As adults they are tentative, withdrawn and anxious and they form fewer bonds and alliances than other monkeys The other type, generally male, Suomi called bullies; they do not know how to calibrate their aggression and read signs from other monkeys to moderate their behaviour - they account for approximately 10% of each generation Suomi tested the monkeys with a cocktail hour procedure whereby they were given unrestricted access to an alcoholic drink for an hour Most monkeys have 3 or 4 drinks and then stop

Discuss the formation and development of gender roles - Cognitive development theory Slaby and Frey (1975)

Supports Kohlberg's argument that children actively construct their gender role knowledge Divided 2-5 year olds into 2 groups One group they considered to have high gender constancy and the other group considered to have low gender constancy They showed a film with a split screen; one side had female models performing a task and the other had male models performing a task Children with high gender constancy had more same sex bias in their attention This shows children actively seek and then respond to appropriate gender models

Discuss how social and environmental variables may affect cognitive development Environmental variable: diet

The effect of a diet begins before the child is born, for example seafood is the primary source of omega 3 fatty acids which are essential for neural development Hibbeln et al (2007) compared 2 groups of women (those consuming high levels of omega 3 fatty acids and those not) - the children of those mothers who had a low seafood intake during pregnancy had lower motor (movement and coordination skills) and lower social development and communication skills than the children of mothers who consumed high levels of seafood Raloff (1989) studies 1023 6th grade children over the course of 1 year and found that those who were given free school breakfasts improved their maths and science scores Caution should be used when attributing improved cognitive functioning to a healthy diet - a healthy diet can have less quantifiably measurable affects on a child such as increased self esteem, improved personal discipline and a greater sense of responsibility all of which would have an effect on school grades Cook et al (1996) found children who participate in universal school breakfast programs have lower rates of absence and tardiness which would inevitably improve their cognitive development simply because they are in school more

Discuss potential effects of deprivation or trauma in childhood on later development Potential effects of deprivation: Cognitive impairment and attachment disorder 1

The English and Romanian adoptees study This is a longitudinal study of 324 Romanian adoptees that entered the UK between Feb 1990 and Sept 1992 The aim was to investigate potential long term effects of severs deprivation in childhood All the children had been reared from infancy in deprived institutions in Romania and adopted into UK families at various ages up to 42 months Rutter et al (2004) Investigated a sample of 144 children who were at the time 6 years of age The parents were interviewed at home and answered questionnaires on the family and the child's behaviour 3 months later the child was assessed using observations and standard cognitive and developmental measures including tests on general cognitive functioning and attachment behaviour The focus was on cognitive impairment and attachment disturbance in children who had spent more than 6 months in the institutions The study found no major deficits in children who had spent less than 6 months there Cognitive impairment Cognitive impairment was found in 15.4% of the adoptees from Romania but in only 2.3% of the adoptees from the UK There was a persistent cognitive deficit at age 6 in children who remained longest in the deprived institutions before being adopted - this was particularly the case for those children who had also suffered from severe malnutrition These children had a much smaller head circumference at the time they entered the UK and this could be observed at age 6 - this could suggest neural damage Cognitive functioning at age 6 was not associate with the educational level of the adoptive parents - this supports that cognitive impairment could be related to neural damage

Examine attachment in childhood and its role in the subsequent formation of relationships - Bowlby's attachment theory

The basic assumptions of the theory: Between 6 and 30 months children are likely to form emotional attachments to familiar care givers (usually the mother) especially if the adults are responsive to child communications such as facial expressions and hand gestures, laughing an crying etc. The emotional attachments of children manifest themselves in their preferences for familiar people; they seek proximity to those people, especially in times of distress and then use the familiar adults as a secure base from which to explore the environment Emotional attachments contribute to later emotional and personality development and the type of behavior toward familiar adults shown by young children has some continuity with the social behaviors they will show later in adulthood Events that interfere with attachment such as abrupt separation or the inability of carers to be responsive, sensitive or consistent in their interactions have short and long term consequences for the child Attachment schemas guide early attachment and later relationships. Bowl by argues that a developing child forms a mental representation of their first attachment relationship - known as the internal woking model. This schema acts as a model for expectations of behaviour and care giving from others. While the motivation to forn attachment is biologically predetermined, the schema is modified by ongoing experience This model has important implications for the development of the self If a child receives constant love and affection from their care giver, they develop a schema in which they - the self - is worthy of love and affection Bowlby argued that such children will develop confidence and be able to provide love and affection to others in the future If a child is given hostile experiences they will develop an internal working schema in which they are worthy of such treatment and will repeat the pattern of abuse when they reach adulthood

Discuss the relationship between physical change and development of identity during adolescence - Body image and identity

The cultural ideal hypothesis by Simmons and Blyth (1987) suggests that puberty brings boys closer to their ideal body while girls move further away from theirs - a cultural ideal is that a male body should be big and strong and a female body (in the Western culture) is a slim body The cultural ideal hypothesis predicts that since the cultural ideal for the body is being slim, adolescent girls should be more likely to express body dissatisfaction and resort to dieting than boys - this is supported by research Caufmann and Steinberg (1996) found that girls in Western cultures are more concerned about their appearance and express more worry about how other people will respond to them than in other cultures - Teenage girls want to be seen as attractive and if their body is far from the dominant cultural ideal of slimness they may develop a negative body image and low self esteem

Discuss how social and environmental variables may affect cognitive development Social variable: parenting Farah et al (2008) evaluation

The data shows the importance of environmental and social factors in cognitive development although it is not possible to establish a cause-effect relationship since the study did not manipulate variables The children in this sample were from a low SES and the sample is not representative, although 17% of the American children live below the poverty lune according to the 2004 census Low SES is associated with a number of adverse factors that can affect cognitive development (e.g. physical and mental health problems, social and psychological stress and poverty) The correlation between parental nurturance and memory has been fund in animal research Prolonged stress due to maternal separation affects the hippocampus which is vital in memory processing

Examine attachment in childhood and its role in the subsequent formation of relationships - Ainsworth et al (1978): Attachment classification and the Strong Situation paradigm 1

The procedure involves observing a child playing for 20 minutes while care givers and strangers enter and then leave the room, creating a flow of familiar and unfamiliar situations that mirror the real life of a child The situations vary in stressfulness and the child's responses are observed The situations are as follows: Parent and infant are introduced to the experimental room Parent and infant are alone - parent does not participate while infant explores Stranger enters, converses with parent, then approaches infant. Parent leaves conspicuously First separation episode - stranger's behaviour is geared to that of the infant First reunion episode - parent greets and comforts infant, then leaves again Second separation episode - infant is alone Continuation of second separation episode - stranger enters and gears behaviour to that of the infant Second reunion episode - parent enters, greets infant and picks up infant, stranger leaves inconspicuously Four aspects of the infant's behavior are observed: The amount of exploration (e.g. playing with new toys) the infant engages in The infant's reactions to the departure of the care giver The level of anxiety displayed when the infant is alone with the stranger The infant's behaviour during and afte their reunion with the care giver

Discuss strategies to build resilience - The High/Scope Preschool Project to prevent juvenile delinquency

The project is an ongoing longitudinal study (field experiment) that began in 1962. The project is based on an active learning model with focus on children's intellectual and social development Aim: to study how juvenile delinquency can be prevented in a high risk population Procedure: Participants were 123 high risk African American children of low SES with low IQ scores and at risk of failing school At between 3 and 4 years of age they were split into 2 groups: 58 children in the program group and 65 acting as control The program consisted of preschool for 2 and a half hours every day for 2 years The teachers made home visits once a week and the parents participated in monthly meetings with staff - this was to increase parents' involvement in the children's education Results: There were a number of positive outcomes in the treatment group compared to the control such as significantly lower rates of crime and delinquency, lower rates of teenage pregnancy and dependence on welfare The rates of prosocial behaviour, academic achievement, employment, income and family stability were higher in the treatment group Resilience was shown in that despite the negative conditions, the children were able to thrive Evaluation: The intervention program is a field experiment and not all variables can be controlled The result so far how positive correlations between the intervention on a number of variables but it is difficult to determine cause-effect relationships The control group did not show the same positive development so it may be unethical not to include that group in the program

Examine attachment in childhood and its role in the subsequent formation of relationships - The role of attachment in future relationships Hazan and Shaver (1978)

The research consisted of 2 different studies Aim - to investigate: Whether the same distribution of childhood attachment patterns was manifested in a study on adult love relationships Whether the difference in attachment patterns could be linked to different attachment histories Whether respondents' descriptions of their love relationships could be classified as secure, avoidant or ambivalent Procedure The first was a "love quiz" (survey with forced choices) in a local newspaper The researchers used 620 participants 91% heterosexual The questionnaire included statements characterizing the most important love relationship and childhood relationship with parents (attachment history) Ainsworth et al's (1978) attachment categories were translated into terms appropriate to adult love It was assumed that beliefs about romantic love could be measured as an internal working schema

Examine attachment in childhood and its role in the subsequent formation of relationships - The role of attachment in future relationships Hazan and Shaver (1978) evaluation

The results supported that 3 different attachment styles could be found in adult love The study confirmed Bowlby's theory about continuity of attachment (internal working schemas) The study had a biased self selected sample so results could not be generalized More females than males were participants - gender bias - this could affect the estimates of prevalence of each attachment type Use of questionnaires with forced choices may limit the validity of the findings Study provided a bridge between infant attachment theory and theories of romantic love The findings have been replicated and researchers have linked adult attachment to existing theories of love Seminal study - conceptualized adult romantic relationships as an attachment process

Discuss the relationship between physical change and development of identity during adolescence - Relationship between physical change and development of identity Ferron (1997) evaluation

The study was conducted in the West but it shows interesting differences between two Western countries The results may not be generalized to non-Western countries It was a small scale survey using self reported data which can be somewhat unreliable

Discuss strategies to build resilience - School and Bartley (2008) - sources of resilience 1

These researchers conducted a meta-analysis of a number of studies covering decades of research. The studies included: the 1958 National Child Development Study, the 1970 British Cohort Study, the 2000 Millennium Cohort, the British Household Panel Study, the Whitehall II Study and censuses. In total their findings were based on information covering the lives of 40,000 individuals. Initially they identified the following sources of adversity: Poverty and disadvantage, social exclusion and unemployment or low quality work (leads to low self esteem) Schoon and Bartlet put forward the following sources of resilience: Academic competence - resilience was most prevalent in individuals who demonstrated and maintained early academic competence and who had self belief in their own capabilities. These children had an active life outside of the classroom - they were more likely to participate in extracurricular activities and social networks. They were motivated and showed positive aspirations for the future An effective and supportive family life - individuals manifesting resilience in the face of adversity were more likely to have experienced a supportive family environment and to have parents who showed an interest in their education. A supportive family environment was further characterized by parents who read to their child, who took an active interest and inclement in their education and career planning and who took the children out for family activities such as holidays and days out. Another important factor was a supportive father figure who helped the mother with the household chores. A warm relations with both the mother and father is associated with more secure attachments in adulthood and this in turn has been associated with greater career success in those without the advantage of higher level education

Discuss the formation and development of gender roles - Cognitive development theory

This approach focuses on the mental events which lead to gender identity and then role enactment Kohlberg (1966) argued children acquire greater understanding of gender as cognition matures Children acquire a gender concept and then actively seek information from members of the same gender for clues on how to behave Once they understand gender is fixed, they become increasingly motivated to find information on appropriate behaviors Gender constancy occur between 4 and a half to 7 years if - this represented a form of the Piagetian notion of conservation as the child understands gender as immovable regardless of superficial changes

Discuss strategies to build resilience - The Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) mentoring program

This is a resilience based mentoring program for high risk children and adolescents in the USA The program is based on the idea that social support from a caring adult to a high risk child or adolescent can promote a healthy development in spite of environmental risk factors Tierney et al (1985) studied the impact of mentoring on the behaviour of 959 high risk children and adolescents aged 10-16 from low income families Many had experienced family violence or substance abuse Half of them were assigned a mentor and half of them acted as control The researchers were interested in the outcome of mentoring on factors such as antisocial behavior, academic performance, relationships with family members and friends and self concept The results showed a positive outcome if the adult provided a caring relationship and had positive expectations The program did not target any specific problem behaviour but was merely investigating whether social support from an adult could promote resilience

Explain cultural variations in gender roles - Mead (1935) - gender role differences reflect cultural diversity

This study illustrates the socially constructed nature of gender roles Mead studies different tribes in New Guinea to illustrate gender relativism (gender roles are specific to culture and place) and gender determination (the notion of underlying gender constancy) Masculine and feminine roles are not related to biology but gender role ideology Mead found the following differences: The Mundugumour tribe - both males and females adopted traditional masculine behaviour (aggressively sexual and bold, constantly quarreling, emotionally unresponsive) - neither men nor women were interested in children and their children became independent quickly and this trait was highly valued in the tribe The Arapesh tribe - both males adopted traditional Western feminine behaviour (warm, emotional and non-aggressive) and men and women cooperated in tasks relating to crops and children The Tchambuli tribe - gender roles were inverted from their Western counterparts, women were responsible for food production, tool making and producing clothes while men were interested in body adornments and spent their time gossiping with other men (a traditional female stereotype) SLT and Mead's work offer the best explanation for cultural variation in gender role formation They clearly demonstrate gender as the result of social constructionist forces present within individual cultures Although Mead's results showing gender relativity are well known, it must be stressed that she also found cross-cultural similarities in gender roles This is less widely reported - she found that men were always more aggressive than women, regardless of their culture Thus strongly suggests a biological link to gender roles

Evaluate theories of cognitive development - Brain development and neuroplasticity, Chugani (1999)

used PET scans to investigate glucose metabolism in the brains of newborn human babies. He found: there was little activity in the cerebral cortex (executive function) there was activity in the brain stem and the thalamus (inborn reflexes such as grasping) there was activity in the limbic system (amygdala, hippocampus and the cingulate cortex) - there areas are associated with emotional processing, memory and bonding. They are used in observing and reading the emotional content of faces and in communicating via facial expressions and eye contact. Lack of stimulation in these areas in early life can lad to abnormal behaviour and attachment difficulties The research found that the lower levels of the brain are developed first (measured as activity) and over time glucose consumption can be registered in higher levels of the brain From age 6 to 9 months there is increasing activity in the frontal lobes, prefrontal areas of the cortex and evidence of improved cognitive competence