Developmental Psychology Study Guide

Review Sheet: Exam 1 This review sheet highlights some important concepts and terms from each of the chapters and associated lectures that will be covered in the upcoming exam. This list is not intended to be exhaustive. For instance, there are many key terms that appear in each of the topic areas, many of which are listed in the textbook at the end of each chapter. I have not reproduced those lists here, but they are important to understand nonetheless. The best use of this guide would be to prepare as you normally would (completing all the readings, reviewing lecture notes, memorizing bolded terms etc.) and then testing your understanding on the items listed below. I hope you find this useful! Please let us know if you have any questions. Themes and Foundations -Understand the major themes in Child Development and be able to provide examples, particularly for: -Nature (genes)/nurture (environment) -continuity (small changes over time-tree growing)/discontinuity (big changes spread out-caterpillar butterfly) -sociocultural influence  Social = parents, siblings, other family members, teachers, friends, peers, etc.  Physical = house, daycare, school, urban vs. rural neighborhood etc.  Cultural = language, values, traditions, attitudes/ beliefs, laws, political structure, technology, etc.  Historical = influences all these other factors, e.g. traditional practices, policies, economy, technology, etc.  Economic = national wealth, societal wealth, family/ individual wealth. -the “active child” (individuals play a role in their own development; ex: select own environment later on, motivated to learn, show preferences to certain things) -individual differences (things that’re different for every person; resilience; treatment by others; genes; subjective reactions to other people’s treatment; choice of environment;) -What was arguably the first developmental study (discussed in the second lecture)? Describe who it involved, what it was testing for, the method etc.  Egypt vs. Frygia (won because said bakos which means bread); Baby raised in area with no language at all and first word spoken will prove what the innate human language is -know Aristotle, Plato, Locke and Rousseau’s views of childhood  Aristotle: all knowledge comes from experience; child-rearing should adjust to individual child (nurture)  Plato: born with innate knowledge; strict discipline and self-control (nature)  Locke: blank slate; emphasis on nurture; importance of early strict parenting (progressive freedom)  Rousseau: innately good; emphasis on nature; child learns via interaction not instruction; formal education begins at age of reason -Darwin’s contributions  Kept diary of own child’s development  Theory of evolution (survival of the fittest) -understand the logic and several examples of “controlled-rearing” studies  Controlled rearing: deprivation studies; most unethical; take a baby and change its experiences; ex. Little albert, cats live in environments that mess w visual system, child growing up w no photographs or representations (toy trucks) and then showed pic of his parents -You should be familiar with the many theories listed in this chapter, but you don’t need to focus a lot on the particulars. We will cover these more extensively when we get to the relevant topics later in class (e.g., Piaget & Cognitive Development, Freud and social development etc.)  Focus on the theories covered in lecture especially ones that overlap w the book  Freud: unconscious drives influence development  Watson: associative learning is best (child development can be controlled by rewards and punishments; nurture can overcome nature) Methods -Describe the procedures involved in the scientific method.  Find a question to be answered  Develop hypothesis  Develop method to test  Interpret data  Draw conclusion -know types of important criteria for good measurement (the differences between reliability & validity as well as the different types)  Validity: measures what it’s supposed to; accuracy (bulls-eye)  oInternal: effects are ONLY due to the intentionally manipulated variable oExternal: results can be applied to the world outside of the experiment Reliability: consistency oTest-retest oInterrater -Define three methodological contexts for gathering data and summarize the advantages and disadvantages of each.  interview o structured: all particpants asked same questions in order o clinical: unstructured interview; questions adjusted for individual o cons: Qs and As can be biased  naturalistic observation: described how kids behave in usual environments o cons: what caused what?; target behavior may not be observed  structured observation: present identical situation to all kids and record observation which enables direct comparisons between different kids’ behaviors o pros: enables direct comparison of kids’ behavior o cons: less natural situation; less information about kids’ subjective experiences -Recognize and label examples of correlational designs.  Association between 2 variables  Positive: one variable goes up and the other goes up  Negative: one variable goes up and the other goes down  Zero: no trend whatsoever  Correlation coefficent: -1: strong negative correlation; 1: strong positive correlation -Identify the risks and benefits associated with the use of correlational designs.  Can’t tell which is the causing variable; correlation isn’t causation  Third variable problem: correlation between 2 variables may be caused from an outside variable -Recognize and label the essential components of experimental designs, including random assignment, experimental and control groups, independent variables, and dependent variables.  Experimental group recieves IV (medicine) and control group doesn’t (placebo)  DV is the behavior that’s hypothesized to be affected by the IV (the manipulated variable), not the control -Explain the major advantage and disadvantage of experimental designs. Describe a technique for overcoming the major limitation of experimental designs.  Advantage: compare subjects of interest  Disadvantage: can’t be unethical  Overcome experimental design: interviews, naturalistic observation, and structured observation -Recognize and label examples of each of the three designs for studying development and the advantages/disadvantages of each.  Cross-sectional: kids of different ages compared on a given behavior or characteristic over short period of time  Longitudinal: same kids studied 2+ times over substantial periods of time oCons: people drop out  Microgenetic: Same partcipants studied over a short period of time Pre-natal development -Describe the major structural changes that occur during each of the three major periods of prenatal development: the period of the zygote, the period of the embryo, and the period of the fetus. Be familiar with the general times associated with each period.  Zygote: conception to 2 weeks; sperm fertilizes the egg  Embryo: 3-8 weeks; cell differentiation; major organs form (spinal cord—22 days, placenta--exchange of material between bloodstream of fetus and bloodstream of mother, umbilical cord--the tube that contains the blood vessels that travel from the placenta to the developing organism and back again); face is formed (5.5-8w)  Fetus: 9 weeks to birth; all major organs finish developing; protection--placental membrane (barrier against some toxins and infectious agents) and amniotic sac (protective membrane filled with fluid in which the fetus floats, protective buffer); generate testosterone=sex determined (8 w); active fetus (most movements present at birth have appeared; 12 w; swallowing promotes development of palate and aids maturation of digestive system; fetal breathing exercises diaphragm and lungs); reflexive behaviors (18 w) -The 4 major developmental processes in cell development (e.g., apoptosis, etc.)  Cell division  Cell migration  Cell differentiation  Selective cell death (apoptosis) -examples of the principle of cephalocaudal development during prenatal development.  cephalocaudal development: things develop head to foot after vital organs are developed -be familiar with studies that have documented the operation of different sensations (taste, audition etc.) in utero  taste: moms with too much amniotic fluid (polyhydramnios) are injected with saccharin and dye and then amount of dye is measured in their urine; babies preferred carrots after birth when their mothers drank a lot of carrot juice towards end of pregnancy  smell: they can smell their own amniotic fluid and differentiate which scent is their mother’s fluid  hearing: at 6 months external noises elicit movement and heartrate changes; recognize rhymes after birth that were read to them in utero  newborns cry in their native language -Give at least two examples of the ways in which the fetus’ behavior contributes to its own development (i.e., examples of the ‘Active Child’).  swallowing promotes development of palate and aids maturation of digestive system  fetal breathing exercises diaphragm and lungs; 50% of the time -Provide evidence for human fetal learning -Name common teratogens and explain the factors associated with the likelihood that exposure to teratogens will result in birth defects.  Teratogens: environmental agents that have the potential to cause harm during prenatal development  Thalidomide: morning sickness medicine; causes limb deformities  Alcohol: fetal alcohol syndrome--facial deformity, mental retardation, attention problems, hyperactivity, smaller brain; FAS affects 1 in 1,000 kids in USA oResearch suggests father’s drinking habits pre-conception can cause serious fetal abnormalities  Toxoplasmosis: parasite found in cat poop; retarded growth, jaundice, fluid in brain, visual damage, later cognitive abnormalities  Zika virus: from mosquitoes; causes microcephaly (small head holding probably not fully formed brain) Brain -know the developmental processes that bring the human brain into being: neurogenesis, myelination, synaptogenesis, and synapse elimination.  Neurogenesis (first): creation of neurons via cell division; up to 250,000/minute during prenatal development  Synaptogenesis (second): creation of synapses with other neurons resulting in trillions of connections  Myelination: myelin sheath is formed around neurons to make messages be delivered more quickly; begins prenataly and continues into adolescence  Synapse elimination: “synapse pruning”; elimination of surplus connections; occurs at different times in different areas; not fully completed until adolescence; peak-10,000 synapses/second are lost -Distinguish between experience-expectant and experience-dependent processes. Examples of each?  Experience-expectant: brain wiring occurs due to normal experiences common across all people and present over the course of evolution; bad part: if expected experience doesn’t occur unstimulated neurons may be pruned deficit oExample: eye development (if not exposed to light then neruons will be changed)  Experience-dependant: neural connections are created and reorganize throughout life as a function of individual experience (differs between people) oExample: rats raised in complex environments (more synapses per neuron, more supportive tissues, perform better in learning tasks) vs. less complex environments -Discuss the relationships among sensitive periods, plasticity, and vulnerability  Sensitive periods: when something happens matters; period in development where a specific thing is being formed; mistake made during this time is usually then irreversible later on; neural organization that does/doesn’t happen is usually irreversible oCompensatory rewiring: born with a defect something else makes up for it; example: born deaf better vision; example: boy born blind can make clicking noises and hear when he’s near things and avoid the obstacles  Plasticity: the capacity of the brain to be affected by experience (less information needs to be stored in genes); “use it or lose it”—neural darwinism; allows adaption to unforseen events: example: brain damage in early childhood is best time because synapse generation and pruning are occuring, plasticity is highest, and brain can rewire  Vulnerability: brain expects certain experiences to trigger growth; the worst time to have something happen; example: brain damage in early stages of fetal development up to one year Genetics & Heredity -understand the relationship between chromosomes, DNA, and genes.  Chromosomes are the packaging for our genetic material (DNA) which is made up of genes  46 chromosomes with 30,000 genes  Aneuploidy: abnormal number of chromosomes oTrisomy: an extra chromosome oMonosomy: a missing chromosome -mitosis vs meiosis (very broadly)  Mitosis: normal cell reproduction  Meiosis: sex cell reproduction -Identify and describe the mechanisms that contribute to genetic variability.  Crossover in meiosis: chromosomes separate and then cross and then break at point of crossing increases chances of genetic variability  Random mutations of genes caused by random or environmental factors  Random assortment: the shuffling of the 23 pairs of chromosomes in the sperm and egg (64 trillion combinations are possible) -why selective breeding of animals is an interesting case study in genetics & psychology  Extreme genetic influence of psychological traits of animals is so strong that nurture rarely changes it due to selective breeding over a lonnggg time; example: sheep dogs have innate herding ability, so family sheep dogs feel the need to herd things like that dog with the ocean -understand the fundamental relationships between a parent & child’s genotype/phenotype and the environment. Know at least one example of each type of relationship. (e.g., Give an example of the influence of the child’s envrironment on his/her phenotype)  Genotype: genes inherited from parents  Phenotype: how genes are expressed  Environment (every aspect of your surroundings) affects genome through epigenetics (the environment can change how your genes are expressed) - different types of gene expression and inheritance (e.g., dominant, recessive, sex-linked, codominance, etc.) and general examples of each  Alleles: different forms of genes that influence how that trait is expressed  Dominant allele: the form of the gene that’s expressed if present (Huntington’s disease-progressive breakdown of nerve cells in the brain)  Recessive allele: not expressed if a dominant gene is present (sickle-cell anemia-      red blood cells become misshapen and break down) Sex-linked traits: alleles passed to kids on sex chromosomes; mostly carried on X chromosome because it’s bigger than the Y; males are more susceptible because they only have one X chromosome; example: male pattern baldness, color blindness, hemophilia, muscular dystrophy Codominance: a single gene with more than one dominant allele both alleles are expressed or blended; example: AB blood type different expression depending on coming from mom or dad single gene can affect multiple traits Polygenic: many genes contribute to one factor being expressd -Epigenetics. What is the epigenome and how does it change our traditional understanding of the relationship between genes and the environment? Also, describe examples of evidence that your epigenome can impact future generations.  Darwin (people born with better traits are more likely to survive and reproduce) vs. Lamarck (giraffes stretch neck and then kids are born with longer neck— wrong)  Modifications to genome are made through one’s environment and then their offspring get those gene traits (smoking mothers/grandmothers make it more likely for offspring to have asthma) -Apply the concept of norm of reaction to the understanding of the contribution of the child’s environment to his or her phenotype.  Norm of reaction: all the phenotypes that could theoretically result from one genotype in all of the different environments it could grow and develop in  Kids could have the same genotype but become different because of their environments -understand the logic behind the basic research designs used to study heritability. For example, why are twin studies particularly useful in the study of genetics and heredity? Be familiar with examples and what they have told us about heritability.  Heritability: the amount of variability in a trait that is attributable to genetic influences in a given population oStrong: some personality (temperament, leadership); life expectancy; certain attitudes oWeak: some personality (need for intimacy); spouse similarity -understand the limitations of heritability estimates and caveats (warnings; don’t take at face value) for interpreting them.  Most twins raised apart are usually adopted into similar families because they’re put in same adoption center Perception -difference between sensation & perception  Sensation: low-level processing of basic information from the external world by sensory receptors  Perception: the process of organzing and interpreting sensory information about the objects, events, and spatial layout - the logic of habituation and preferential looking methods  Preferential looking oMethod #1: infant has choice bewteen complex pattern and simple pattern and is tested to see which one he looks more at; proves that infant can see if he looks at pattern longer (2-3 months) oMethod #2: show gray screen and striped screen and then narrow the stripes to find smallest width at which infants still prefer stripes over grey  Habituation: shows color perception – different shades of one color should make baby lose interest over time and look for less time each time a shade is shown and then the baby should look for a long time again when a new color is shown (dishabituation) (1 month olds see reds and then at 3 months old perception is adult-like) -face perception (scanning patterns, sensitivity to what kinds of patterns? How does ability to distinguish different types of faces change across development? )  Infants look longer at faces than anything else  Recognize and prefer their mother’s face after about 12 hours of cumulative exposure  Between 6 (differentiate between 2 human faces and 2 monkey faces) and 9 (only can differentiate human faces) months there is perceptual narrowing (a developmental process during which the brain uses environmental experiences to shape perceptual abilities because it improves the perception of things that people experience frequently and disimproves the perception of things they’re not exposed to often)  1 month: scan perimeter of shapes vs. 2 months: scan both perimeter and interior of shapes  Tracking: can’t track even slow things smoothly until 2-3 months -different types of depth cues and examples of each  Dynamic (first-innate): motion parallax (distance of things determines how fast they seem to go); optical expansion (things get bigger as they get closer)  Binocular (second; 3-4 months): eyes seeing two different things, so projected image is used to percieve depth  Pictoral (third; 7 months; monocular): tiny elehpant is far away; huge grain of rice is close -basic development of acuity, color vision, depth perception, hearing (tasks and developmental pattern)  Depth perception: visual cliff experiment showed that around 75% of babies used vision to determine depth; learn it through classical conditioning; learn it by association (things that are close are clearer and can be touched; things farther away are blurrier and can’t be touched) -perception of subjective/illusory contours, logic of task and general age of success.  Illusory contours: a pattern makes it look like there’s a shape/picture that’s not there (pacman and square)  7 months is general age of success -perception of objects as unified entities behind occlusion (e.g., the rod and box tasks) -cross-modal perception (examples, findings)  Perception across two different modalities (like two of the senses)  Hypothesis #1: learn correspondence between touch and vision  hypothesis #2: ability to recognize shape-invariants across modalities is innately available  One month olds looked at two different pacifiers, one rough and one smooth, and they looked longer at the one that looked like the one the baby felt in his mouth pretty innate ability