PSY:2401 Introduction to Developmental Science Fall 2024 Final Review Guide PDF

PSY:2401: Introduction to Developmental Science Final Review Guide Fall 2024 Key Theories in Developmental Science Identify early philosophical views on development (Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Locke) What is a theory and what makes a good theory (e.g., broad, generative, parsimonious) Recognize...

PSY:2401: Introduction to Developmental Science Final Review Guide Fall 2024 Key Theories in Developmental Science Identify early philosophical views on development (Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Locke) What is a theory and what makes a good theory (e.g., broad, generative, parsimonious) Recognize the importance of theories for explaining data and making predictions Explain Piaget’s theory of cognitive development and its stages and mechanisms of change, including Assimilation (fitting new information into existing schemas), Accommodation (modifying schemas for new information), and Equilibration (balancing assimilation and accommodation) Explain how Sociocultural Theories focus on learning through social interaction and culture. Explain how children process, store, and retrieve information in Information Processing Theories Understand Core Knowledge Theories, which propose children have innate knowledge in areas like objects, agents, numbers, and space Describe Dynamic Systems Theories as viewing development as a changing, complex process. Understand Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory Compare different theories of language development: behaviorist (Skinner), nativist (Chomsky), connectionist, and interactionist perspectives. Differentiate Nativist and Empiricist views on how children acquire knowledge. Understand the Three-Stratum Theory of Intelligence Describe the Simple View of Reading: decoding skill + oral language comprehension = reading comprehension. Explain Freud’s psychosexual development and Erikson’s psychosocial development Understand learning theories and the role of external factors in shaping behavior Explain classical conditioning (Watson) and how behavior is influenced by associations (e.g., Little Albert experiment) Describe operant conditioning (Skinner) and how rewards and punishments shape behavior Understand Bandura’s social learning and social cognitive theories Understand ecological theories and how they emphasize the broader environment’s role in development Explain ethology and the adaptive value of behavior (e.g., emotional expressions and caregiving) Understand evolutionary psychology and parental-investment theory Explain Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological model Understand Bowlby’s attachment theory Understand key theories of moral development (Piaget, Kohlberg, Moral Foundations Theory). Understand theories of gender development, including evolutionary theory, cognitive developmental theory, gender schema theory, social identity theory, and social cognitive theory Methods in Developmental Science Differentiate correlation and causation when interpreting research findings Identify developmental research designs Identify challenges in studying environmental influences (e.g., disentangling genetics and parenting) Describe methods for assessing prenatal influences on development Identify the limitations of heritability: Doesn’t show environmental impact on traits Doesn’t explain individual trait development Doesn’t account for group differences Doesn’t predict changes over generations Explain how research designs in behavioral genetics utilize genetic relatedness and environmental similarities/differences Explain research methods for studying infant perception and cognition (eg, preferential looking, habituation) Explain methods for studying language development Understand methods used to provide evidence for categorization in infancy Explain the concept of general intelligence (g) and the evidence supporting it Understand the normal distribution of IQ scores Describe methods to assess emotions in infants, such as facial expressions, EMG, and machine learning Understand approaches to characterizing temperament Thomas and Chess: Three categories of infants. Mary Rothbart: Dimensional scales of temperament. Describe the Strange Situation as a method for measuring attachment Understand how peer status is measured Understand the challenges of studying development (eg, measurement difficulties, long-term outcomes) Key Findings and Concepts in Developmental Science Recognize that development is a complex process influenced by multiple interacting factors Understand nativism (innate/genetically determined) and empiricism (learned through experience) Understand the general principle of cephalocaudal development (head-to-toe pattern). Identify the two key factors influencing prenatal development: timing and location/environment and how these influence plasticity and response to damage Understand that cells specialize based on environmental signals and chemical communication Explain how synaptogenesis and pruning shape brain circuits Describe the prenatal sensory environment (taste, smell, hearing) Examples of fetal learning The six stages of nervous system development: Cell production (proliferation); Cell migration; Cell differentiation; Synapse formation (synaptogenesis); Cell death (apoptosis); Synapse rearrangement (pruning) Experience-expectant and experience-dependent plasticity Define key genetic concepts (genome, genes, gene expression) Understand heritability and what it measures List Piaget’s four developmental stages and key characteristics of each Identify examples of core knowledge Explain how motor development depends on diverse factors such as brain development, muscle strength, and weight Explain visual development in infancy, including visual acuity and depth perception Explain perceptual narrowing and how experience shapes perceptual abilities (e.g., distinguishing faces and speech sounds) Identify different types of learning in infancy Understand the components of language including sounds (phonemes), words (vocabulary), grammar (combining words), and pragmatics (usage) Recognize the idea of a sensitive period for language acquisition Identify key milestones in language production Describe word-learning strategies: cross-situational word learning, mutual exclusivity, syntactic bootstrapping, whole object bias, shape bias, and taxonomic bias Describe categorical perception: perceiving speech sounds in distinct categories rather than as a continuum Understand concepts and categories, how they are organized and how they develop Define Theory of Mind and its role in understanding others Describe the Flynn Effect and how societal changes influence intelligence scores Describe the two main ways to identify words when reading: Phonological recoding (sounding out words) and visually-based retrieval (recognizing words instantly). Equifinality: Different causes can lead to the same outcome. Multifinality: Similar risk factors can lead to different outcomes. Goodness-of-fit: How well a child’s temperament matches their environment. Differential susceptibility: Some children are more sensitive to environmental influences than others. Identify the six basic emotions (Ekman) and the role of facial expressions in emotion Explain the Functionalist Approach, which views emotions as promoting goal-directed actions Understand how children identify emotions, understand their meanings, and regulate them Characterize how self-control develops Define temperament as individual differences in emotional, motor, and attentional reactivity and self-regulation. Identify how temperament predicts long-term outcomes, including mental health and well- being. Identify attachment classifications Explain how responsive care promotes secure attachment. Identify the long-term effects of secure attachment: better peer relationships, emotional health, and academic outcomes. Understand the components of the self and how they develop: self-concept, self-esteem, and self-identity. Explain how peer groups influence development Explain how children’s understanding of morality changes with age Characterize sex/gender at multiple levels of analysis Explain how children’s gender-typed beliefs are related to their behavior Characterize the development of gender self-segregation in peer groups Understand components of gender identity (membership, centrality, contentedness, conformity, typicality) Recognize the influence of sociocultural context on development Identify factors shaping individual differences in developmental outcomes Understand how developmental research can improve parenting, education, and social policy Identify mechanisms of developmental change (biological, cognitive, behavioral, cultural) Theme 1: Nature and Nurture Interactions Explain how prenatal maternal environment influences affect fetal brain development Explain the principle: “Cells that fire together, wire together.” Explain the role of epigenetics in gene expression and how it can be influenced by the environment Understand gene-environment interactions and how they influence development (eg, PKU example) Explain how genes and environment can correlate in different ways (passive, active, evocative correlations) Understand the complexity of genetic and environmental interactions over prenatal and postnatal development. Explain how motor development, like the stepping reflex, depends on factors such as brain development, muscle strength, and weight Explain the role of experience in perceptual development (eg, Project Prakash study on visual- tactile matching) Recognize cross-cultural differences in motor development, such as variability in sitting proficiency and crawling Understand the idea of a sensitive period for language acquisition Identify factors that support the development of intelligence Describe how temperament interacts with stress and adversity to influence development Explain how children identify emotions in others and how personal experience influences this ability (e.g., abuse leads to quicker recognition of anger) Explain the factors influencing emotion regulation: Person (child’s abilities), Situation(context), Strategy (regulation techniques) Consider the interaction of nature and nurture in gender development Theme 2: Children’s Active Role in Development Explain how children actively contribute to their own development Understand fetal learning and examples like recognizing voices and habituation Explain perceptual narrowing and how experience shapes perceptual abilities (e.g., distinguishing faces and speech sounds) Recognize that environments are experienced differently by individuals, even within the same family Describe Piaget’s idea that knowledge is constructed through experience Explain how children actively engage with their environment to make sense of the world, rather than passively experiencing it Understand how children generalize and overgeneralize words, shown by errors like “growed” and “mine’s.” Explain how children form naïve theories about the world that resemble scientific theories Explain how self-produced locomotion enhances spatial coding in infants Understand self-socialization as the process where children actively shape their own social development Understand why infants smile, including how they time smiles to elicit smiles from caregivers Understand the internal working model as the mental framework for future social interactions based on early attachments Explain Erikson’s idea of identity exploration during adolescence, including the search for personal values and roles Theme 3: Continuous and Discontinuous Development Identify the continuous aspects of Piaget’s theory (assimilation, accommodation, equilibration) Recognize the discontinuous aspects of Piaget’s theory (distinct developmental stages) Understand that modern theories see cognitive development as more continuous Recognize that learning theories emphasize continuous development and mechanisms of change. Recognize that attachment stability can change over time with life experiences and personal growth Understand that infant temperament can predict long-term outcomes Theme 4: Sociocultural Influences on Development Understand Vygotsky’s idea of scaffolding, where learning is supported just beyond a child’s current ability Recognize cross-cultural differences in development Recognize the role of social cues in language learning, such as eye gaze, pointing, and joint attention Recognize that formal, exact number systems are not universal across cultures Describe the Flynn Effect and how societal changes influence intelligence scores. Understand the impact of poverty on IQ and cognitive development. Recognize the role of toxic stress and Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) in development Recognize the influence of cultural context on variation in self-concept Recognize the universality of morality as well as cultural variation How historical changes influence gender roles as seen in the Draw-A-Scientist task Theme 5: Individual Differences Explain variability in motor behavior and motor development Explain how schooling influences intelligence Define temperament as individual differences in emotional, motor, and attentional reactivity and self-regulation Understand how early emotional experiences influence later development and mental health Understand different types of peer status (popular, rejected, neglected, controversial, average) and relations with long-term outcomes Explain how prosocial and antisocial behaviors develop, influenced by individual factors like temperament Theme 6: Research and Children’s Welfare Explain the benefits of Kangaroo Care for premature infants, including improved growth and brain development Identify factors that support the development of intelligence (eg, early intervention, interactive reading) Recognize that interventions to enhance intelligence may involve different mechanisms than hypothesized (e.g., cognitive, social). Describe interventions that support secure attachment in infants Understand interventions to improve peer relationships and reduce bullying Identify school-based interventions to promote prosocial behavior