PSC 140 Midterm #2
Be able to describe the difference between PHYSICAL AGGRESSION versus RELATIONAL AGGRESSION.
*Aggression* can be defined as committing an act with the INTENTION to hurt another. Aggression can be instrumental or hostile. Instrumental aggression is used to get something while hostile aggression is used to bully/establish dominance. Physical aggression tends to decrease with age as children learn other ways to resolve conflicts (including teasing & verbal aggression). It is important to note that starting around age 2, boys are more likely than girls to use physical aggression but girls are more likely to use *relational aggression* which is intentionally trying to harm others' friendships or deliberately exclude another child from the group.
Be able to describe a standard conservation task (for either number of liquid)—how do preoperational children answer? What is centration? What feature do young children typically centrate on?
*Centration* is notable of the pre-operational phase and is characterized by a focused attention on only ONE aspect at a time. The *conservation task* shows that young children don't understand that the quantitative properties of objects are NOT altered by the change in appearance. In the *conservation of liquid* task, pre-operational children will say that the taller glass has more liquid than the short/stalky glass even though they watched the researcher poor the SAME amount of water into the tall glass. In other words, they are unable to tell that despite the size of the glass, the amount of liquid is the same. Instead, the child is centrating on the height of the glass and say the taller glass has more liquid. In the *conservation of number* task, pre-operational child will think that group of objects that is more spread up (aka taking up more surface area) will have a greater amount.
What is "culture?" Why are cross-cultural studies important? Give a few examples of developmental DIFFERENCES AND SIMILARITIES across cultures (e.g., biological, cognitive, motivational).
*Culture* can be defined as a variable, open, and dynamic system of ideas, values, actions and practices. Cross-cultural research is interesting because culture does have a strong influence on our behavior and development. In fact, Markus, Kityama and Heiman (1996) have found evidence that culture DOES matter, for example, socio-economic status and education can effect health and this definitely differs between cultures. Also, easterners tend to be more humble, while westerners are more likely to brag which illustrates a difference in self-deprecation vs. self-enhancement which therefore effects our motivations and emotions. These differences can thus effect development.
Be able to name and describe several of the early foundations to children's understanding about the mind (e.g., joint attention, social referencing, imitation, dyadic synchrony)
*Early foundations to children's understanding* include imitation, attention to eye gaze and intention, social referencing, pointing/gesturing, joint attention, desires & emotions and pretense.
Who was Genie? What does her life reveal about the importance of early experience for language development? What were some of the ethical problems with how her case was handled?
*Genie* was isolated as a child from age 2 to 13. Genie never developed normal language, had poor syntax and was not regularly exposed to language as a child. While there are questions about her mental abilities before abuse, Genie is a unique case study about the effects of late language learning. It is also important to note that there are issues of ethics in regard to the research surrounding Genie. For example, there are questions in regard to whether or not Genie's well-being was sacrificed for scientific inquiry and that if the researcher's focus of building language took away from her ability to form social relationships and take care of her mental health needs.
What is the difference between a morpheme and a phoneme?
*Grammar* includes both morphology and syntax. Note that *syntax* is the knowledge of sentence structure of word order. *Morphology* refers to the structure of words while a *morpheme* is the smallest unit of meaning in language. Children appear highly motivated to learn both syntax and morphology.
Be able to describe the developmental transition from holophrases to the ability to speak in multiple word utterances using grammar rules.
*Holophrases* start around 12 months and are single word "sentences" and often accompanied by gestures. Next, there is a shift to *two word utterances* which usually starts around 18 months and is known as telegraphic speech such as "me hungry". Then, *multiple word utterances* occur around 2 years and is often a form of "replacement sequences" where the child builds on earlier utterances to form one complete sentence such as "wings">"dragon wings"> "dragon wings fly". Finally, the acquisition of more *complex grammar rules* occurs around ages 3 to 4 and is characterized by articles, prepositions, past tense and possessive.
What defines an individualist (independent) (IND) culture? What defines a collectivist (interdependent) (COL) culture? (Be familiar with the chart from lecture) Give some examples of cultures that tend to be either more IND or COL.
*Individualist cultures* tend to focus more on the INDIVIDUAL. Individualists seek uniqueness, are more likely to be egalitarian, optimistic, self-enhancement, and believe success is based on ability. On the other hand, *collectivist cultures* tend to focus more on the GROUP. Collectivists seek ordinariness, tend to be hierarchal, pessimistic, modest and believe that success is effort based. The West tends to be more individualist than the East (the east is more collectivist). However, it can be important to note that there is variability on continuum within a culture.
Be familiar with Janet Werker's research on infants' ability to detect phonemic contrasts in native versus non-native languages. At what age do these perceptual abilities disappear? Why is a good thing that they do? What is meant by "maintenance-loss?"
*Janet Werker* was interested in studying the kinds of perceived biases that infants bring to speech perception and the role that exposure to different languages play in modifying perceptual sound categories. Thus using a conditioned head turn technique, the infant listens to speech sounds over loudspeaker and the infant is conditioned to turn their head toward the sound source when they detect a change in sound. Found that 6 to 8 month olds can distinguish speech sounds in all of the world's languages (as well as native speakers in those languages) and will consistently turn head when they hear a sound that crosses the "categorical boundary". These perceptual abilities start to decline around 8 to 10 months and typically disappear around one year of age. However, implications include maintenance loss, which means that the perceptual ability to detect the different speech sounds is present before the onset of experience (i.e. young infants can discriminate speech sounds in languages they have never heard). In addition, this shows that experience is necessary to maintain capability.
Contrast mental modules versus skeletal principles.
*Mental modules* or modularity theory states that cognitive processes consist of separate biologica subsystems that are hardwired at birth and that do NOT need special tutoring in order to develop. For example, *prodigies* are islands of brilliance in an overall normal level of development (for example, Mozart was a music prodigy but his intelligence in other areas was just average). On the other hand, *skeletal principles* provide domain-specific support for development. Skeletal principles get a cognitive process stated and provide some initial direction, but SUBSEQUENT EXPERIENCE is needed to realize the potential.
What are some environmental influences on the development of self-control?
*Potential Environmental Influences* on Self‐Control include providing reasons or justifications for rules related to greater internalization of standards by children—will follow rules even without authority figure present •Punishment/power assertion without reasoning correlated with breaking rules in the absence of an adult (learn to avoid getting caught) •Observing consequences to other person "breaking the rules" can either encourage or discourage self‐control
Be able to contrast productive versus receptive vocabulary—which is larger in infancy/early childhood?
*Productive language* is the language the child produces while *receptive language* is the language that the child comprehends. A child's receptive language greatly exceeds productive language in infancy and early childhood.
What is meant by "domain specificity" in children's thinking?
*domain specificity* means that there is NO central, stage-like cognitive changes that apply to all domains/topics of study. In fact, each cognitive domain applies to different objects, follows different principles and organize different experiences and events in different ways. For example you can have a vast understanding of language and not of math, etc. Privileged domains are physics (physical properties of objects), biology (living things) and psychology (beliefs, emotions, desires) because they are not controversial-- children know that these privileged domains are all separate/different from eachother.
What factors influence the developmental effects of deprivation?
*effects of deprivation* depend on the nature of the depriving conditions (such as physical, social, cognitive factors), the intensity/severity of the conditions, the length of time in the deprived condition, the quality of the child's environment post-deprivation and the time in development.
What are characteristics of high quality daycare? Are most day care centers in the U.S. of high quality?
*high quality daycare* is characterized by a having a pristine physical setting (such as being spacious, clean, and safe), having developmentally appropriate toys and equipment, having a low caregiver to child ratio and having caregivers educated in child development. High quality daycares also have qualified caregivers who are sensitive, responsive, able to facilitate the child's learning, having a positive regard, able to respond to distress and lastly, to benempathic. It is important to note that 50% of daycare centers randomly studied by the NICHD were considered "poor". In addition, it is important to realize that high quality daycare is very expensive
What is self-control? Be able to compare "situational compliance" to "committed compliance"
*self-control* is the ability to inhibit one's impulses, and around age two, self-control becomes more effortful. At this time, there is a shift from external control to an internalization of standards (or in other words, from "situational compliance" to "committed compliance"). In addition, they develop strategies to resist temptation (such as the forbidden toy test) and delay gratification (such as the marsh mellow test).
What is the understanding of dual representation (research by DeLoache)? At what age are young children capable of using a scale model to retrieve an object from a larger room?
*understanding dual representation* is the knowledge that a picture or scale model can be BOTH an object itself and a symbol or representation of something else. Aka researcher had small representation of a room that symbolized a longer room so that a child could find Snoopy toy. (note, researcher would show child where Snoopy is on smaller scaled to see if they could use that knowledge to find Snoopy in the larger room). Found that 2.5 year olds typically fail to use the scale model as a symbol of the larger room and then can not successfully retrieve the toy. Found that 3 year olds typically succeed on this task, which reveals knowledge that something can be both an object and a SYMBOL of something else. But, if you trick the child into thinking that the smaller model and the bigger room are one in the same, then the 2.5 year old child will pass.
Be able to describe evolutionary, biological, cognitive, and environmental theories on the CAUSES of aggression and what can be done to CONTROL aggression.
-*Evolutionary theories* state that aggression is important in animal evolution because it is often necessary for survival and reproduction. Therefore, there is evolutionary grounding to the statement that "boys will be boys" (Buss). Evolutionary theories state that aggression can be controlled because aggression decreases after the formation of dominance hierarchies because once children know their "status" they won't fight as much -*Biological theories* state that there is a correlation between aggression and level of testosterone. Thus, testosterone may indirectly increase aggression by leading to higher activity level. Difficulty in attention processes linked to aggression and MZ twins have higher concordance rates for aggression than DZ twins -*Cultural theories* state that aggression in children is connected to degree to which societies encourage and value aggression. For example, boys are more aggressive in societies where males enter military during preadolescent years (may be due to what images they are being exposed to, etc.) -*Environmental theories* state that aggression is often rewarded (because the aggressor often gets what he/she wants; or more attention) -*cognitive theories* state that aggression is caused by a difficulty in perspective‐taking (especially mental state understanding), hostile attribution bias meaning that aggressive children overly attribute hostile intent to other children's ambiguous acts towards them (e.g., getting hit with a ball), the belief that aggressive acts will be successful and limited knowledge about prosocial solutions to peer problems -Controlling aggression can be done in many ways: -*Clinical theories & catharsis* state that aggression decreases after release of negative emotions (need place to vent neg. emotions). Clinical theorists also state that there is not much evidence for this since there is a positive (not negative) correlation between playing violent video games and engaging in violent acts in real life -*Environmental learning theories* state that punishment controls aggression and supports the belief that aggression decreases if violent acts are punished. However, research findings found that the use of power assertion and violence (spanking) to control aggression is correlated with higher levels of violence in children. Also, Kindergarteners who have been severely punished by parents are 3 times more likely to respond to hypothetical and real threats by using physical violence
Be able to describe information processing, cultural context, and biological accounts of cognitive development in early childhood.
-*Information processing* approaches use the analogy of a computer to explain cognitive development. This theory sees information as more continuous than Piaget. With age there are increases in attentional control, working memory, etc. -*cultural context* influences cognitive development by arranging the occurrence or nonoccurrence of particular activities. In addition, culture determines the frequency of particular activities, and by how they relate to different activities. Culture can also regulate the child's role in the activity and this is known as guided participation. Guided participation is the way adults guide the child's experience and mastery of a situation. -*biological accounts* believe that cognitive development is related to brain maturation. Biological accounts state that in early childhood, our brain increases in weight and myelination and that by age 6 our brain is approx. 90% of its adult weight. Immaturity of different parts of the brain can account for cognitive deficiencies in childhood (i.e. problem solving, etc). For example, low levels of myelination in the hippocampus is related to problems in working memory or that low levels of myelination in the frontal cortex are related to difficulties in perspective taking and inhibitory control. -It is important to note that *executive control* is domain general and domain-general cognitive skills are critical for ignoring irrelevant information, directing attention to relevant stimuli, switching between different kinds of rules and inhibiting dominant, over-learned responses. This executive control is relate cot development of the frontal cortex and executive control undergoes rapid development between 3 and 7 years of age and is influential for many cognitive tasks.
Be able to describe the psychodynamic, social learning, and cognitive theories about the formation of gender identity in boys and girls.
-The *Psychodynamic Approach* states that boys find identification through differentiation. Freud notes that boys realize that they are different from their mothers and distance themselves from the mother and identify with the father. The *Oedipal complex* is exhibited by boys and is the idea of "wanting" to kill father to have mother. On the other hand, girls find identification through affiliation. Girls repress their love for their father and begin to identify with their mother. In addition, girls are "angry" at mother for not having a penis and therefore want to marry father. It is important to note that there is limited empirical evidence for Freud's psychodynamic theory. Some who attack this theory, such as Chodorow, state that affiliation leads to intimacy in girls and that differentiation leads to rejection of intimacy by boys. -The *social learning* approach is the learning of sex‐roles through observation and imitation. For example, parents provide models for children to imitate and therefore, can selectively reinforce sex‐appropriate behavior. Parents start to treat girls vs. boys differently from birth and it's not always intentional, for example, calling baby boys "firmer" or "stronger". In addition, parents typically set up environment to correspond with gender, such as their name, or color of room, or types of toys. -The *cognitive approach* states that the child's knowledge and concepts about sex roles are central. Cognitive approaches use gender schemes which are mental models about males and females that children use to process information such as interpreting, categorizing and remember people/events. Schemas are developed and changed through observation, imitation and reinforcement. It is important to note that children are more likely to remember schema‐consistent examples such as boy who is firefighter vs. boy who is nurse.
Be able to identify the key features of the CHANGE OF LOCATION false belief task and the UNEXPECTED CONTENTS false belief task. Make sure you know the key questions. How do 3-year-olds typically perform? How do 4-year-olds typically perform? Why is it important to understand false belief? What are some "real-world" implications?
-The change of location task is a false belief task. In the change of location task, a child is shown a scenario where person A puts a block in a box and then leaves the room. Person B then takes the block out of the box and puts it in a basket. When the child is asked "Where will person A look for the block", "Where will person A think the block is" and "Where is the block actually" and they believe that person A will look for the block in the basket, then they have failed the change of location task because they believe that our mind represents the world exactly as it is. -In the unexpected contents task, the child is shown a familiar box, such as a box of raisins. After the child states that they think that raisins are in the box and the researcher opens to the box to reveal that there are actually marbles in the box, the child will say that there were marbles in the box when the researcher asks "What did you think was in the box before we opened it" or "What would your friend think is inside this box" which shows they have failed the task. -The central findings of the change of location and unexpected contents task found that children less than three years of age consistently fail the false belief tasks. They see the world as a singular reality at this point and believe that the mind represents the world exactly as it is. However, around age 4, children begin to pass the false belief task because they understand that a person's mind can MISREPRESENT reality. -real world implications of passing the false belief task is that they become better problem solvers as well as more capable of lying and deception. In addition, the child becomes more aware of social conventions, such as masking disappointment when you receive a gift you don't want
How do transgender children compare to cisgender children in gender identity?
-To begin, *transgender* is when a person's gender identity is different than their sex assigned at birth while *cisgender* is when a person's gender identity corresponds with sex assigned at birth. Transgender children identify with desired gender by age 5 or younger. -Olson, Key & Eaton (2015) found that 5‐to 12‐year‐old transgender children identify with their expressed gender (the gender they identify with) and show preferences in line with expressed gender on explicit and implicit measures. It is important to note that transgender children's responses are the same as cisgender children with the same gender identity.
What is a developmental niche?
A *developmental niche* defined by Harkness & Super is the physical and social setting of development and includes aspects of life such as family, culture, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, "rules," customs and beliefs. In other words, a child's developmental niche can have a strong influence on their development.
What is a risk factor? What is a protective factor? Be able to identify risk and protective factors at the CHILD level, the FAMILY level, and the COMMUNITY level.
A *risk factor* is a characteristic of a child or the environment that increases the probability of a negative outcome. On the other hand, a *protective factor* is a characteristic of a child or environment that increases the probability of resilience or success despite negative situations. Risk and protective factors predict outcomes for children. Protective factors include easy infant temperament, access to consistent/dedicated caregivers who can provide structure and warmth, low marital discord or domestic violence, no mental problems in parents, economic stability, low crime neighborhoods, social support networks (including external family), community resources and a low number of stressful life events. When evaluating risk, it is important to note that the effects do not occur in isolation. In fact, the effects interact. It is important to note that the transactional model of development helps evaluate risk and states that interactions between characteristics of child and characteristics of environment interact over time to determine the developmental outcome.
How has research on AUTISM revealed that psychological understanding may be domain specific?
Autism provides evidence for domain-specificity. People with autism have problems in social relationships and because children with autism have deficits in understanding cognitive mental states, they have problems passing false belief tasks. Early markers of autism are limited eye contact, lack of or minimal social referencing, gesturing/joint attention and language delays. Simon Baron-Cohen compared children with autism to normal children and found that children with autism could easily reason with physical cause and effect but had more difficulty with psychological cause and effect
What do Baldwin's studies reveal about the connection between the development of joint attention skills and language learning in young children?
Baldwin conducted research where a toddler was engaged with a novel object. While the child is looking at the object, the experimenter says a novel label, such as "oh look, a 'dax'" while looking at a different object!! Then, they assess to see if the child will assume the label refers to the object that the child or the experimenter is looking at. Found that 18 month olds understand that the word a speaker utters refers to WHAT the speaker is looking at vs. what occupies the infant's own attention. Also found that 18 month olds will not learn new words if they can't determine the speaker's attention focus (such as if word is said over a loud speaker). This is strong evidence for the role of joint attention in language learning.
What is meant by the "medicalization" of the birth process? What are some of the negative effects of the "medicalization" of the birth process?
Because doctors have replaced midwives and hospitals have replaced home births there has been an *increasing use of medical interventions* such as drugs, monitors, forceps, episiotomies, etc. in the birth process. The growing medicalization of the birth process assumes that birth is a medical procedure, pain is unacceptable, the doctor is in control and that the doctor "delivers the baby" (and these assumptions are NOT necessarily true).
Be able to define and give an example of overextensions, underextensions, and level of abstraction.
Because there is not just one word for each referent and because words do not have "fixed" meanings, we must learn to over-extend and under-extend. *Overextension* includes calling all four legged animals "doggy" or all things that are round a "ball". On the other hand, *underextension* includes when a child uses a verbal label to narrowly. For example, using the word "dog" to only describe your own family pet.
How have C-Section rates changed in the past 10 years? What is the problem with this? What factors are leading to this rise in C-Sections?
C-Section rates have increased in the past 10 years (they increased 60% between 1996 and 2009). Part of the reason why is because working mothers want a more "scheduled" delivery and doctors want to avoid mal-practice suits . The WHO recommends that less that 10-15% of births be by C-section but as of 2010 33% of births are by C-section.
At what ages do children make scale errors? What are they doing that is strange? What are some explanations for this behavior?
Children make *scale errors* between 18 and 30 months and is characterized by the child failing to account for size when deciding how to use an object. For example, a child trying to sit in a miniature chair. Scale errors might be linked to immaturity in the reaction between brain systems, specifically the visual recognition of objects (including categorization and action planning) and perception of objects size
Be familiar with Dennis (1973) main findings regarding the effects of low quality orphanages on the development of IQ. How is the outcome dependent upon the age of adoption? How do these findings on the importance of the timing of adoption related to Chisholm's (1998) studies on the relation between adoption age and development of secure attachment?
Dennis did research on the Crèche (orphanages) in Lebanon and found that the orphanages there had low stimulation, poor care and left children alone in cribs most of the day. In addition, even by age 3-4, some children in orphanages were still not capable of walking or talking. Dennis found that IQ is dependent on age of adoption and odds are best if child is adopted before 2 years of age. Chisholm found better outcomes in children adopted before 3.5 years and that being adopted before 3.5 lead to a greater likelihood of secure attachment
What are some reasons for why early experience does NOT necessarily determine later development?
Early experience does NOT necessarily determine later development. This is because there can be DISCONTINUITY in the environment, the child's developing capacities, the way the child experiences and understands the environment at different ages and lastly, there can be discontinuity in what is adaptive for environment. For example, early behavior problems in response to parent's divorce may help child get attention, but not adaptive in long term.
Are there negative outcomes for children even if they come from relatively high quality orphanages?
Even orphanages where children are well-fed, receive medical treatment, have access to toys/books, and have well-trained staff have problems. This is most likely due to issues is high staff turnover and scheduling that prevents children from developing strong attachment.
How did Gelman and Markman's study challenge Piaget's argument that 2- to 6-year-olds are "bound by appearances?" Be familiar with the logic of their experimental design (i.e., pitting category membership against appearance).
Gelman and Markman found that young children are not *bound by appearances only*. The researchers presented 3 to 5 year olds with sets of two living things, such as a bat and a flamingo. Then showed a third picture that looked physically similar to one but shared a category membership with the other, such as a black bird. Found that young children make inferences about new objects based on category membership NOT just similarity of appearance. In other words, they would say that the black bird was closer to the flamingo even though it is perceptually similar looking to the bat. This shows that like adults, young children emphasize the non-obvious essences of living things based on category membership. This is contradictory to Piaget.
Be familiar with historical trends in birth practices in the U.S. (e.g., hospital versus home birth, midwives versus obstetrician, c-section rates)
Historical evidence in the United States show that in the early 1900s most mothers had babies at home but that by 2000, 99% of births in U.S. took place in hospitals. In addition, birth practices are now inherently different due to the development of drugs to alleviate pain. However now, the US is better equipped to deal with complications and there has been a decrease in infant mortality in the US. (100/1000 births in 1915 to 5.2/1000 births in 2013) In addition, there has been a decrease in maternal death in the United States. However, there was a slight increase in maternal death from 2011 to 2014 which makes the United States 60th in the world and below every other developed nation in regard to maternal death rates and it also makes the United States one of only a few countries to see rise in maternal death rate since 1990.
Be familiar with historical trends in breastfeeding versus bottle (formula) feeding.
Historically, wet nurses were common throughout history until the 19th century. In the 1940s only about 20-30% of babies breastfed due to the mass introduction of formulas which were advertised a being "better, more modern nutrition". In the 1980s UNICEF and the World Health Organization campaigned for breastfeeding due in part to the dramatic rise in infant mortality rates in third world countries from the increasing use of baby formula (baby formula in third world countries was very dangerous to use because you often have to mix the formula with water and third world countries have many unsanitary water conditions). Currently, in western cultures, about 60-75% of women try breastfeeding after birth, but only about 15-20% continue for more than 6 months.
How do the findings about the effects of early deprivation inform parents about what factors to consider when adopting a child? What issues are particular to international adoption? What can parents to do help their internationally adopted children develop a healthy sense of ethnic identity?
If considering adoption, it is beneficial to adopt the child as young as possible. In addition, it is better if the child had foster parent(s) vs. institutionalized care because then there is a greater likelihood that they formed an attachment. It is also important to try to get as many facts about the medical history (including prenatal care and family history) and early development of the child.
What is the conditioned head turn technique? How is it done?
In a *conditioned head turn technique*, the infant listens to speech sounds over loudspeaker and the infant is conditioned to turn their head toward the sound source when they detect a change in sound and are rewarded by an interesting visual display.
What are moral rules versus social conventions versus personal rules? Can preschoolers differentiate between them? Do the boundaries vary by culture?
In regard to moral rules, a child's first understanding about what is "good" and "bad" is often related to responses they get from others, including parents, siblings, and peers. For example, an angry parent means the child has been naughty. According to social domain theory, Preschoolers can differentiate between three kinds of rules which are moral, social and personal. *Moral rules* are rules related to justice & welfare, social rules or social conventions are rules that are important for coordinating social groups and personal rules are areas of personal jurisdiction & control (such as what is private to child). Where the line is drawn between moral and convention rules varies by culture.
Be able to compare and contrast the three major theories of language acquisition: learning theory, nativist, and interactionist. What are some of the biggest criticisms of learning theory?
In regards to explanations to grammar development, there are three controversial debates about language acquisition. The debate is among behavioral, nativist and social interaction theories. *Behavioral theories* state that the environment is key and that children learn words through classical condition, operant conditioning and imitation. The behavioral theory is criticized by saying that children cannot learn from imitation and reinforcement alone, that the theory alone can't explain creative sentence constructions or the overegularization of grammar rules and that parent's don't always correct misusage of words or grammar. The *nativist explanation* states that humans are biologically prepared to learn language and do so with innate language specific learning mechanisms. The nativist explanation also states that humans are born with a "primitive knowledge" about the structure, or syntax, of language (aka universal grammar). Lastly, the nativist explanation states that the environment triggers the innate mechanisms and provides the input. The *Interactionist perspective* says that our innate abilities and the environment interact! Thus, the interactionist perspective focuses on connection between language and cognitive development and that language is a social process- meaning that learning is shaped and influenced by parents, other adults, siblings, etc.
Be familiar with historical trends in beliefs about the role of mothers.
In the *18th and 19th centuries*, mothers were important for religious training of children to break evil wills and instill moral. This became increasingly the case as fathers started working more outside of home (and as women gained more domestic control). In the *1920*s, the rise of behaviorism and the beginnings of "scientific parenting" meant that the mom should not be over-involved with the baby and it was believed that coddling was psychologically harmful. In the *1930*s, which was a period of wartime, there was Freudian emphasis that maternal coddling produced "sissies" and that indulgent mothers who coddled their child endanger national security. In the *1940*s and *1950*s, the continued Freudian emphasis blamed mothers for all mental, social, and physical problems in kids. At this time, employment opportunities started to increase for women. In the *1960*s, there was a rise in the focus on marriage and that women need to take care of children and satisfy husbands (all while staying attractive). In addition, in the 60s it was believed that mothers shouldn't spend every waking moment with children and neglect their husbands. In the *1970*s, the feminist movement took place. In the 70s, women wanted their own identity apart from wife and mother and women began to rebel against the "sacrificial mother" ideal. It was believed that girls need more diverse role models and that if women are fulfilled in their work and lives then they will ultimately be better mothers and wives. At this time, the notion of quality time with children also became popular. In the *1980*s, the majority of women with children under 3 worked. At this time, there was a shift back to showing more physical affection to children and research showed that working women were happier and less stressed. In the 80s, the idea of "Supermom" became popular. In the *1990*s, there was backlash against women working and Bowlby's Attachment theory popularized the media at this time. Furthermore, there was a threat of "insecure" attachment for daycare babies and it was believed that daycare meant childhood neglect and maternal abandonment. In the 90s, brain development research was popularized and claimed that mothers needed to cultivate their child's inner potential. At this time, the idea of "soccer mom" became popular and characterized mother's whose lives sacrificed everything for their children and whose lives revolved completely around their children.
What is a class inclusion problem? How do pre-operational children typically perform on this task? Why (what is it difficult for them)?
In the class inclusion problem, a researcher will present a child with 20 animals (15 pigs and 5 cows) and ask the child "are there more pigs or animals". The pre-operational child will say "pigs"
Be able to describe some of the evidence to support NATURE view and the NURTURE view on the development of sex-typed behavior in children.
It is difficult to separate the effects of *nature* and *nature*. Parental expectations about boys vs. girls affect their care-taking strategies (even prenatally)-which supports nurture because the way the parents treat the child can shape them. However, cross‐cultural comparisons have found wide variation in what is considered "masculine" and "feminine" (also changes historically)- which supports environmental views. It is important to note that while maternal education and employment is linked to more "sex‐egalitarian" views in both boys and girls, parents and schools that attempt to promote "sex egalitarianism" have had mixed results with preschoolers
What were the main findings from Lagattuta (2005) regarding young children's understanding of emotions in situations where desires conflict with prohibitive rules? At what age do children understand that abiding by rules (willpower) can make a person feel good and that breaking rules (transgression) can make a person feel bad? How do their explanations for emotions in rule situations change with age?
It is important to note that by 2 to 3 years of age, children understand the influence of desires on behaviors and emotions. In other words, they realize that people do things because they want to do them and when you are able to fulfill their desire, there will be a positive emotion, but if they are unable to fulfill their desire, there will be a negative emotion. Unfortunately in everyday life, connections between desires, behaviors, and emotions are not always direct and due to rules and obligations, you can't always get what you want. For example, a child may really want to run into the street to get a ball, but he knows (or parent tells him) he should not run fast into the street. -Lagattuta studied how children reason about the emotional consequences of deciding to inhibit vs. fulfill desires in rule situations and at what age do children realize that people could FEEL GOOD about NOT getting what they want or FEEL BAD about getting what they want. Studied children age 4, 5, 7 and adults. Participants saw a story where the character wanted to do something but it conflicted with a prohibitive rule (i.e. safety). Found that 7 year olds and adults predicted that characters would feel positive emotions following willpower decisions and negative emotions after transgression decisions significantly more often than 4 year olds and 5 year olds. In short, 4 and 5 year olds were more likely to say that goal matches desire. Thus, Age-related changes in emotion predictions, accompanied by significant increase in attention to rules & future consequences, explain the causes of emotions while 4 and 5 year olds explain emotions in relation to desire fulfillment alone.
At what age do children start to label themselves as boy versus girl? How does this relate to their behavior at this age?
It is important to note that sex and gender role standards are effects by several factors, such as values, motives, or classes of behavior that are considered more appropriate for members of one sex vs. another (such as how males and females are expected to behave). Traditionally females are expected to fulfill "expressive" roles (such as focusing on building and maintaining interpersonal relationships; nurturance & responsibility) while males are expected to fulfill "instrumental" roles (such as focusing on acting on the world including achievement and self‐reliance). -During infancy, children can develop sex‐typed preferences and by age 3, children correctly label people as either a "boy" or "girl" (based off appearance, such as hair length and how they dress, not biology). At this time boys and girls tend to segregate themselves into same‐sex playgroups and are biased towards people/things of their own gender. By age 5, children begin to realize that they can't change gender by changing their outside appearance (and this is when the child realizes that there is gender consistency, meaning you can't change your gender by changing your appearance).
What are transactional models of development? Why are they useful for evaluating the influence of risk factors and protective factors on child development?
It is important to note that the *transactional model of development* helps evaluate risk and states that interactions between characteristics of child and characteristics of environment interact over time to determine the developmental outcome.
What is statistical learning? How is it studied in infants? How does this newer viewpoint potentially challenge biological theories of language development?
It is important to note that the human brain has an amazing ability to detect statistical regularities in the environment, such as speech. From infancy, humans are capable of statistical learning like attending to the statistical regularities of speech sounds, music sounds, etc. This tracking of sound sequences helps infants locate word boundaries in streams of speech to learn to structure of language. Syllable combinations that are apart of the same word co-occur more frequently than syllable combinations that occur between words. For example, when examining the phrase "pretty baby", the prefix pre- is more predictive of -ty than -ty is of ba-. Thus, infants use this information to identify word boundaries, even in invented languages. The implications of this knowledge means that language development may result statistical learning mechanisms rather than biology.
Be able to describe the development of prosocial behavior in early childhood. How can the environment encourage prosocial behavior?
It is important to reinforce pro-social behavior. Aggression decreases if parents, schools, and peers learn to selectively reinforce prosocial behavior in children AND IN CASES OF AGGRESSION give all attention to VICTIM. Reinforcing pro-social behavior can be accomplished though cognitive training. Aggression decreases if children are taught perspective-taking & emotion understanding skills. Aggression may also decrease if children are trained how to interpret social situations without hostile bias. It is important to note that the development of prosocial behavior is connected to perspective‐taking, moral reasoning, and empathy development. Empathy means sharing of another person's feelings and empathy is believed to be an essential foundation to all prosocial behavior. Prosocial behavior can be encouraged through explicit modeling and induction. -Explicit modeling: Adult models prosocial behavior he/she wants child to imitate -Induction: Adult gives EXPLANATIONS of what needs to be done and why to help others—appeal to larger goals of "being big," "helping others," "being a kind person" (dispositional praise) Early development of prosocial behavior begins with "emotion contagion" from age 0 to 1, then at 1‐2 years, comforting behaviors and "worried attention" are observed. At 3‐5 years, there is an expanding repertoire of comforting behaviors (that can be physical and verbal) and are better at perspective-taking and emotional understanding and also exhibit more frequent comforting behaviors
Be familiar with the developmental outcomes of secure versus insecure attachment
Many researchers regard the development of secure attachment fundamental for mental health and the quality of current and future social relationships. Infant attachment is predictive of the quality of peer relationships, academic achievement and level of self-esteem from childhood to adulthood. In order to compare and contrast, securely attached preschoolers make friends easily, handle stress well, have good self-esteem, good knowledge about others and empathy. Securely attached children are warm and positive with their parents, comfortable with physical contact, form close friendships, do well and are involved in school, etc. This leads to securely attached adults who are comfortable expressing emotion, have a balanced view of their parents and childhoods and develop strong mutual partnerships, etc. On the other hand, insecurely attached preschoolers are the opposite; they can't handle stress, are overly dependent or avoidant on others, immature, lower emotional understanding, etc. Insecurely attached children have a mixture of affection and hostility towards parents, trouble fitting in with peer groups, difficulty sustaining friendships, expect negative or hostile interactions from others, less prosocial behavior etc. Insecurely attached adults are anxious/avoidant, feel angry and hurt by parents, fear abandonment, always seeking reassurance and have trouble trusting others.
What are key differences between obstetricians and certified midwives? What are similarities?
Obstetricians are different than midwives. 1.) *Obstetricians* have a medical degree (MD) and specializes in treatment of complications and risk management. Obstetricians are known for their heavy use of birth interventions (such as drugs, monitors, induction of labor, C-sections, episiotomies, forceps, etc). In addition, obstetricians engage in hospital births only 2.) On the other hand, *midwives* only have a Master's Degree in midwifery. However, midwives are known for their individualized care and low use of birth interventions (but will use if necessary and if desired by patient, including epidurals). Midwives are present in hospital or home births and will refer at-risk pregnancies to OBs. In the US, less than 10% of births are attended by midwives, while in Europe, more than 50% are attended by midwives.
How are sleeping arrangements influenced by parental values and beliefs (e.g., desire to promote interdependence versus independence)?
Parental values and beliefs affect the likelihood of co-sleeping. Co-sleeping is more common in cultures that promote INTERDEPENDENCE (which is more common in collectivist cultures). In addition, the United States is known for "feberization" which is the concept of letting the baby cry it out to learn how to self-soothe.
What are some of the characteristics of infant-directed speech? Is this type of speech only present in U.S. cultures? Why might it be helpful for word learning?
Parents often use *infant directed speech* which is characterized by exaggerated intonations, short simple sentences, pitch peak at the end of an utterance and repetition to capture and maintain infant attention. Even in deaf children, parents sign more slowly, use more repetitions and use greater exaggeration of movements with their deaf children vs. deaf adult friends. Infant directed speech is not universal though because some island tribes rarely speak to babies. It is also important to note that parents often combine gestures with language that help infants learn new words.
Be able to name and describe qualities of preoperational thought—(e.g., centration, egocentrism, animism, realism, precausal reasoning)
Pre-operational thought is apart of Piaget's theory of mental development. Pre-operational thought occurs around age 2 until 6 and is marked by an increase in symbolic activity (and the development of pretense, problem-solving and pretense are observed). However, at this point, children are still NOT capable of true mental operations. 1.) *centration* is notable at this time and is characterized by focused attention on only ONE aspect at a time. An example of centration is the conservation task which shows that young children don't understand that the quantitative properties of objects are NOT altered by the change in appearance. Another example of centration is the pig/animal task. 2.) *egocentrism* is the pre-operational child's difficulty in perceiving the world from another person's point of view or in other words "to center on oneself". In the three mountain task, the pre-operational child will wrongly assume that the other person has the same view as their own 3.) *pre-causal reasoning* is a confused cause and effect. For example, believing that you are an adult because you touched a knife. 4.) *animism* is a pre-operational characteristic and is characterized by endowing inanimate objects with life or physiological states/traits 5.) *realism* is a pre-operational characteristic and is characterized by the belief that mental representations (images in your head) can be tangible.
What are some changes in children's ability to UNDERSTAND and REGULATE their emotions between the ages of 2 and 6?
Prosocial Behavior also Linked to Development of Emotion Understanding and the development of a "Socioemotional Competence". Children must learn how to, "Decode" facial, vocal, and bodily expressions of emotions in themselves and others, Understand the causes and effects of emotions, Regulate their emotions, especially negative affect, Express emotions in socially appropriate ways (including masking emotions) and Talk about their own and others' emotional experiences. In addition, starting around age 2‐3 young children can pair common situations with basic emotions (e.g., birthday parties = happy; getting hurt = sad). During preschool years, children increasingly understand that people can feel differently about the same situation, that a person's emotion "on the outside" can be different from how a person "feels inside", that a person's current emotions can be influenced by their past experiences and anticipation for the future and that emotions can be caused by mental sources (such as what a person wants, believes, thinks about, or remembers). -Between 2 & 6 years children become better able to regulate negative emotion by the avoidance of negative events (by averting eyes or covering ears), using mental strategies such as distraction (thinking most about something else) or re‐interpretation of event (to make it more positive) and by regulating the "appearance" of their emotions by masking them (e.g., hiding disappointment)
What are the main conclusions from studies on the effects of daycare in relation to language, attachment, and cognitive development?
Results generally reveal no negative outcomes for cognitive, social, or emotional development are a result of attending daycare. In addition, many studies show advances for language & cognitive development, and better social skills in young children who attend daycare. Furthermore, some studies report a slightly elevated risk for "avoidant attachment" in infants who attend daycare while other studies report no differences
What is a "traditional" versus an "industrialized" society? Why are scientists so interested in looking at "traditional" societies?
Small compares several traditional and industrialized societies to compare birthing practices and social setting of development. *Traditional societies* that Small studies include the !Kung San, the Ache of Paraguary and the Gusii of East Africa. She compares these traditional societies with *industrialized societies* such as the Japanese and the United States. People in traditional societies tend to be hunter-gatherer, etc. thus Small believes that traditional societies should be studied because traditional societies may give hints to parenting and child development from evolutionary past.
Small presents a great deal of research on the variability of child-rearing practices and goals across cultures. What implications does this have for finding a "perfect" way of raising a child? What lessons can you take away from this book as a current or future parent?
Small notes that there are multiple sources of information about "best" way to parent, so there is technically no best way. In addition, parenting "rules" often evolve and change with changes in culture and society. In addition, Small notes that while humans are evolutionarily designed to attend to infants, HOW they do is influenced by culture. In addition, Small notes that most cultures believe that parents have some influence on their child's development—but the degree of supposed influence varies. In short, whether a particular parenting style is "appropriate" or not depends on that culture.
How is social development two sided
Social development is two sided. At one end, the child becomes socialized into the larger community by acquiring its standards, values and knowledge (and establishing social roles) but on the other hand, the child becomes differentiated by establishing themselves as a distinct individual. At this end, the child begins developing a personality and self concept and that self-concept may depend on culture. This establishment of an self concept is related to the development of identity and the process of *identification* is the psychological process where child tries to be like significant people in his/her environment. Identification can be studied in relation to several social categories such as sex‐role, gender‐role, ethnicity, religion and nationality.
Why may the Strange Situation not be the best assessment for measuring attachment in babies who have frequent separations from the mother?
Some studies report a slightly elevated risk for "avoidant attachment" in infants who attend daycare while others report no differences. This leads to big criticism in regard to the Strange Situation room because is the strange situation really so strange for an infant who is used to frequent separations from the mother? (i.e., could be healthy autonomy and greater understanding that mom will always return)
Why is it not a good idea for some mothers to breastfeed? (i.e., when can it be harmful to the infant?)
Sometimes *breastfeeding can be difficult* for the baby and mom to coordinate nursing—especially in early weeks since breastfeeding is not an automatic response and because babies are not born knowing how to nurse. In addition, inadequate milk supply in mother often leads to breastfeeding issues. Furthermore, breastfeeding can be harmful to the infant if the mother is drug-addicted or HIV positive. (However, in countries with an increased risk for other infectious diseases, benefits of breastfeeding outweigh increased risk of HIV). Also, breastfeeding can be harmful to infant if the mother requires certain medications such as chemotherapy agents.
Be familiar with parenting of infants, philosophies on motor development, and parental goals in the Kung San, Ache, Gusii, American, and Japanese cultures as described lecture and in the Small book.
The !Kung San, Ache, Gusii, American, and Japanese cultures all have different philosophies on parenting. The !Kung San, the Ache of Paraguary and the Gusii of East Africa are all traditional societies. 1.) The *!Kung San* is a nomadic, hunter-gatherer group that live in the Kalahari Desert in South Africa. The !Kung San believe that women should give birth ALONE (because it is considered a sign of strength). In !Kung San cultures, the mother and infant (under 7 months) are rarely separated and the infant is worn (nearly full-time) in vertical position in "kaross" (which is TWICE the amount of normal contact of infants in industrialized societies). In addition, !Kung San parents practice physical skills with infants because it is important for their survival and this leads to more advanced motor skills compared to Europeans). Children are not weaned from the breast until age 4 and living is communal. 2.) The *Ache of Paraguay* are a hunter-gatherer group in the South American rain forest. Because sex is not exclusive, men who have had sex with the mother during the previous year are often "secondary fathers" to the child. Ache women give birth publicly and mothers spend the first year sleeping while sitting up with the infant on their lap in order to protect to the fullest extent. Ache mothers carry their infants all day in a sling and the infants nurse whenever they want and nearly 100% of the day and night is spent in contact with the mother. Ache mothers continue to nurse for 2 years (until next birth). In Ache culture, physical exploration highly discouraged and it is not until age 3 that children are allowed to go more than a few meters away from the mother. However, by age 5, Ache children are expected to walk instead of being carried. However being attached to the mother for so long makes Ache children significantly behind in motor skills (For example, they learn to walk 9 months later than average). 3.) The *Gusii of East Africa* raise cattle and grow crops. Gusii women are expected to give birth every two years (early weaning prior to 2 years) and children are considered an important part of economic survival for the family. Unfortunately, the Gusii have an high infant mortality rate and only 50% survive. The Gusii have an intense and highly responsive childcare; but not emotional (For example, there is no kissing, talking, fondling, praising in Gusii culture)—rather a focus on health and survival. The Gusii have a strong use of corporal discipline and Gusii babies are always carried throughout the day by mother, older sibling, or "child nurse". In other words, Gusii babies are never left alone. 4.) On the other hand, the Japanese are much more industrialized and collectivist. Japanese babies and children co-sleep with parents, Japanese mothers are expected to be responsive, gentle and indulgent. In addition, because Japanese culture wants to make the baby "part of the mother" or a connected being (versus an independent individual), child dependency on mother is considered good. 5.) The United States is an industrialized and individualistic society. Parental privacy important therefore mothers do not carry infants throughout the day (and infants are often placed in infant seat/swing or laid on ground). Less than 50% of American babies are breastfed and the ones that do are only typically breastfed for less than 6 months. Most American babies sleep separated from their parents and parents like to talk to their babies a lot to stimulate cognitive and linguistic development.
What is particularly challenging about mothering today? Why does Warner refer to the 2000s as the "Age of Anxiety?"
The *Age of anxiety* questions if you are doing enough for your kids to develop their inner potential. The 2000's were characterized by "Total sacrificial motherhood" which meant breastfeeding, cosleeping and carrying the baby all day. The media popularized the "return to full time mothering" in educated groups and highlights the regret of educated women who only had 1 or no children. In addition, the working mom was considered a person who sacrifices child's potential for her own gains. In the 2000s, it was believed that the mother's job was to give anything and everything for her child by facilitating their environment and giving them an edge on the competition. At this time, "Mommy wars" popularized the media which was the idea that working mothers hate stay at home moms and vice versa. In addition, multi-tasking for working moms meant trying to be both a full-time worker and a full-time mom (such as being involved in scouts, sports, volunteering, pta, etc.). It is important to note an increasing participation of fathers in child care
Be able to name, describe, and give an example of the 3 main cognitive principles for word learning (Markman): the whole-object, the categorizing (taxonomic) constraint, and the mutual-exclusivity constraint.
The *Markman* studies found that children don't consider endless possibilites about word meaning. Found that there are three cognitive principals that help narrow the guesses that children make. The three principles are the whole-object principle, the categorizing principle and the mutual-exclusive principle. The *whole object principle* states that when a child hears a new word, they assume that the word refers to the whole object, not just one part. The *categorizing (or taxonomic) principle* is when the child assumes the object labels extend to the entire class and it depends on the child's knowledge about categories and contrastive terms. Lastly, the *mutual-exclusivity* principle is when the child assumes that an object can only have one name and when you hear a new label, you assume that it is for the object you don't know.
What are overregularized grammar forms? Be able to define and give an example. At what age do children start doing making these errors? Why is the appearance of overregularized words an important indicator of children's language development? Be able to describe how the acquisition of correct grammar forms often takes the form of a U-Shaped development.
The *appearance of overregularized forms of language* are an important indicator of a child's language development. There is strong evidence that children are extracting important grammar rules from their language and applying them creatively. Examples of overegularization are evident in both plurals and past tense. With plurals, the basic rule is that you add an "s" sound the end of the word. At first, children are often correct with regular and irregular forms (correctly say women and sheep). However, once they learn the rule, they begin to overregularize it (by saying womans, childs, etc). Around age 5 to 7 they begin using correct forms. The same idea applies to past tense. The basic rule is that you add -ed to the end of the word, and same with plurals, there is a U shaped development. At first they use the correct form (such as jumped, run, went). Then once they have acquired the rule, they begin to overgeneralize and say words such as "goed" instead of went, etc. Then around 7 they begin to correct themselves.
When a child understands "false belief" what important information do they know about the relation between the mind and the world?
The *false belief task* is used to measure theory of mind understanding. Understanding the "false belief" task means the child has knowledge that a person can misrepresent reality or believe that something is not true. This is tested with the change of location and the unexpected contents task.
When does the "language explosion" typically occur in young children? What is fast mapping?
The *language explosion* occurs around 18 months and is characterized by the child's vocabulary more than doubling within a few months. From 1.5 to 10 years, children add an average of 10 words per day. *Fast mapping* is the way in which children quickly learn an unfamiliar word with very little input. For example, researchers Mervis & Bertrans showed 16 to 20 month olds a set of objects and one object was unfamiliar (such as a garlic press) and was given a novel name (such as "dax"). The fast mapper children quickly learned the novel name after a few exposures whereas others did not.
What are the AAP recommendations regarding how long to breastfeed an infant? How does this compare to how long infants are typically breastfed in many cultures around the world (as well as humans for most of our evolutionary history)?
The AAP recommends exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months and breastfeeding (in general) for at least one year. Only in Western cultures infants are infants weaned at approximately 1 year. Most cultures (and historical record of human species) doesn't wean the infant until 2 years or more. From an evolutionary perspective, infants in hunter-gatherer societies are always carried by their mothers so they breastfeed whenever hungry and this was the case for 99.9% of human history.
How does mainstream American culture compare to other cultures (and human history) in its views on where infants should sleep?
The U.S. is the ONLY society where babies typically sleep in a bed in their own room, however, co-sleeping is still common even in U.S. culture (but more likely for short or intermittent periods and most parents are very hesitant to admit to it). Solitary sleep has only been happening in Western cultures for about 200 years and has became more popular with increasing value placed on "privacy" and the "marital bed".
What is meant by having a "theory of mind?"
The domain of psychology is known as the *theory of mind*. To begin, psychological understanding is knowledge about what people desire, intend, believe, think about, and feel emotionally. One of the best ways to predict and explain what people are doing is to pay attention to their mind. *Theory of mind* is knowledge about people in terms of their inner, mental lives (for example, their desires, emotions, beliefs and thoughts). In addition, there are evidence that essential components of "theory of mind" develop in early childhood.
What is a self-concept? How do young children typically describe themselves?
The emergence of an *autobiographical memory* corresponds with the development of a *sense of "self"* through time. Parent‐child conversations about the past can influence how and what children remember and can even influence what is important in regard to gender (such as boys aren't allowed to be sad). In preschool years, young children often focus on how they look, what they can do and what they like/dislike (all concrete terms) but will never use generalized trait terms (such as shy, friendly, etc). In addition, preschool children are known to be unrealistically positive in their self-evaluations
How does the environment influence language acquisition? How do studies on deaf children help answer this question?
The environment plays a role in language acquisition. It is necessary to be included in normal human activities and to have direct exposure to language. Deaf children raised by hearing parents spontaneously develop "home signs" but fail to develop complex grammar. On the other hand, deaf children raised with parents with ASL learn language as quickly as hearing children.
What is meant by the term "work-life balance?"
The notion of *work-life balance* has been gaining momentum in the past 5-7 years. Work Life balance means trying to arrange the workplace to allow for more flexibility in parenting for both mothers and fathers. This balance places responsibility on corporations to do their part to allow parents to be productive workers and successful parents at the same time by doing things such as allowing job sharing, part time, flexible hours, work at home, longer maternity and paternity leaves, daycares on work sites, etc. At this time, some states are even moving to universal preschool and/or public full-day kindergarten to help maintain a healthy work/life balance.
What is telegraphic speech?
The shift to two word utterances tends to usually start around 18 months and is known as telegraphic speech. Examples include phrases such as "me hungry".
Be able to describe several measurement and data collection issues that cross-cultural researchers face and what strategies they use to resolve (fix) these problems.
There are *measurement* and *data-collection* issues in cross-cultural research. Operational definitions are a measurement issue that cross-cultural researchers tend to face because operational definitions tend to vary across cultures. For example, shame and aggression can be operationally defined differently based on culture. In addition, the translations of measures also can be a measurement issue because often times the word for word translations can be slightly different. Translation issues are attempted to be fixed by back-translation (meaning translating two times, for example, English to Chinese and Chinese back to English), adaption (mostly word for word with some changes made to be more culturally appropriate) and by committee (which includes local experts to help with the quality of translation). In addition, data collection issues include funding (because conducting research can be expensive) and experimenter and observer bias. Experimenter and observer bias is attempted to be minimized by trying to recruit local people to administer tests so that it appears more normal.
What are some sources of individual differences in children's knowledge about the mind? Why?
There are also some individual differences that affect our theory of mind. For example, the difference between child-parent interactions, siblings (the more siblings, the better you do on theory of mind tests), peers, culture (some culture talk more about psychological tests that other-therefore, cultures that talk about it more are more likely to do better on theory of mind tests), those with perceptual deficits such as being blind or deaf (being blind affects theory of mind because you can't see. However, deaf children born to hearing parents have a delayed theory of mind, but deaf child born to signing/most likely deaf parents do not have a delay) and biology .
What are the benefits in breastfeeding for the infant?
There are many *advantages of breastfeeding for the baby*. For the baby, breastfeeding is best nutritionally (it is species-specific) because breast milk is higher in fat, lower in protein, and allows for iron to be more easily absorbed and is overall more easily digested compared to cow's milk. In addition, breastfeeding is better for the infant because human milk protects against illness by providing antibodies from the mother that build the baby's immune system. Because of this, breastfeeding results in fewer gastrointestinal infections, fewer respiratory infections, fewer allergies, lower incidence of obesity (even in adulthood) and a lower incidence of SIDS (lower by 2 to 5 times the rate). Furthermore, due to breastfeeding, the baby learns to self-regulate the production and consumption of breast milk. In addition, breastfeeding is beneficial because some evidence suggests that IQ differences favor breastfed babies. And from a purely survival perspective, breastfed babies are 6-14 times more likely to survive in poverty-striken regions.
What are some of the benefits for co-sleeping for the infant?
There are many advantages to co-sleeping. For example, co-sleeping may provide SIDS protection and makes breastfeeding easier. Furthermore because in early infancy babies sleep "better" so it is more convenient and co-sleeping allows the mother & infant to be physiologically entwined in sleep (e.g., breathing).
How has more recent research challenged Piaget's claims about the quality of children's thinking between the ages of 2 and 6 (e.g., in relation to centration, egocentrism, animism, realism)? Be able to support your answer with research examples (you don't have to know the names of the researchers—just the main findings).
There have been recent advances in our understanding of children's thought. New methods have provided insight such as that cognition between ages 2 and 6 is more sophisticated than Piaget believed, more continuous (instead of stage-like) than Piaget believed, and more domain-specific (instead of domain general) than Piaget believed. -When researchers re-visited the three mountains task (which assessed ego-centrism), a new study involving a Grover from Sesame Street driving a car, found that even three year olds are able to tell that Grover's perspective will change as he drives his car around the track. -When re-visiting cause and effect, researchers found that even three year olds are able to understand that the first and not the second ball caused Snoopy to pop-up. This shows that children understand cause and effect (contradicts pre-causal reasoning of Piaget). -When rethinking animism, preschoolers can distinguish between biological and non-biological motion. For example, three and four year olds know that animate and inanimate objects differ in their "essences" or "insides"- for example, they know that animate objects can breath, eat food, grow, have self-initiated movement and die.
Be able to describe the developmental progression of language sounds from crying to first words (know the approximate ages for the beginnings of each step). How is this different for deaf children?
There is a progression in regard to the development of language sounds. Sounds begin with crying and "vegetative sounds". Next, cooing starts around 1 to 2 months, then simple articulation starts around 3 months, then babbling starts around 6 months, then expressive jargon (which is babbling with intonation) begins around 9 to 12 months, then first words occur at approximately 12 months. Deaf children babble with their hands.
What are the benefits in breastfeeding for the mother?
There is also *advantages of breastfeeding from the mother's perspective*. Breastfeeding is beneficial for the mother from a health perspective because it reduces the chances of hemorrhage right after birth, leads to quicker initial weight loss from pregnancy (by burning an extra 500-1000 calories per day) and lowers the incidence of breast cancer. In addition, breastfeeding is cheaper, more convenient and promotes bonding (not just through skin-skin contact but hormonally due to the release of oxytocin & prolactin). Lastly, breastfeeding is beneficial for the mother because it can help prevent pregnancy (only when mother is exclusively breastfeeding for at least every 2 hours, and multiple times in the night)
Be able to identify evidence for a biological basis for language learning.
There is evidence for a biological basis for language. For example, when viewing Williams Syndrome, which is characterized by a low IQ but adequate language, there is a distinction between language and thought which shows a connection between language and mental abnormalities. Another piece of evidence of biological basis of learning is localization. The left hemisphere is dominant for language in most people. In addition, Broca's area in the frontal lobe helps produce language and Wernicke's area in the temporal lobe helps comprehend language (receptive). In short, both Broca and Wernicke's area are important for processing both spoken and sign language. In addition, research on language learning and the brain shows that we cannot acquire the same level of language if we learn a second language after puberty and that language is organized differently in the brain for people learning second language late vs. early. This suggests different cognitive processes for language learning.
Be able to identify variables that moderate the effect of daycare on development. What are the two most important of these variables?
To begin, *Moderator Variables* are variables that influence the likelihood of a positive or negative outcomes. In the case of daycare, the quality & stability of the daycare can affect outcomes ( and this is usually related to social economic status). In addition, the quality of parent-child interactions when together (also known as parental sensitivity) can moderate the effects of daycare.
How do children learn aggressive behavior through observational learning?
When groups of children watched either a (1) live adult model, (2) filmed version of adult model or (3) model dressed as "cartoon cat" attacking an inflatable "Bobo doll" they found that Children imitated the FILMED, LIVE, and CARTOON acts of aggression. Also found that the aggressive acts in the experimental groups was significantly higher than children in control group (control group still did do some acts of violence). Later studies showed that imitation of aggression is dependent upon the CONSEQUENCES to the model, meaning that children are more likely to imitate aggression if they saw the act rewarded OR go unpunished
Are there critical periods in language acquisition? What is some research evidence from first language learning and second language learning?
Yes, there is evidence for critical periods in language acquisition. Research on language learning and the brain shows that we cannot acquire the same level of language if we learn a second language after puberty and that language is organized differently in the brain for people learning second language late vs. early. This suggests different cognitive processes for language learning.
