Developmental Psychology Notes PDF

## L1. Intro to Developmental Psych **Patterns of Development:** - **Quantitative Change:** Gradual change in the amount/quantity of a given process (without altering its fundamental nature). - **Qualitative Change:** More dramatic shift, where new functions emerge abruptly (fundamental changes in...

## L1. Intro to Developmental Psych **Patterns of Development:** - **Quantitative Change:** Gradual change in the amount/quantity of a given process (without altering its fundamental nature). - **Qualitative Change:** More dramatic shift, where new functions emerge abruptly (fundamental changes in the process). - **U-Shaped Change:** Temporary setlbacks before improvement (a subset of qualitative change; temporarily incorrect approach). - **Atypical Development:** - **Delay:** Develop along the usual pathway, but at a slower pace. - **Divergence:** Development at a faster/slower rate not following the typical trajectory. **Examples:** - **Case et al. (1982): Counting Span Task** - Quantitative change: children's working memory capacity increases with speed and efficiency. - **Hitch et al. (1989):** - Qualitative change in memory strategies: as older children (11 y.o.) use phonological strategies over visual ones (while 5 y.o. mainly use visual strategies). - **Marcus et al. (1992): U-Shaped Change** - Children learn past tense verbs individually, but at some point they overgeneralize ("add -ed at the end") reflecting temporary regression before adopting the final (correct) strategy. - **Roch & Jarrold (2008): Phonological Awareness Test (odd one out)** - Down syndrome individuals show delays in Down syndrome between PA and nonword reading, but same relationship. - **Brock & Jarrold (2005): Short Term Memory in Down Syndrome.** - Divergence: digit task performance is lower than expected given spatial task performance. ## L2. Nature vs. Nurture **Behavioural Genetics:** - How genetic and environmental factors contribute to individual differences in traits. - Link genotype (genetic makeup) with phenotype (observable traits). - Correlational methods: shared variance (variation in genes that overlap with variance in traits). **Terms:** - **Heritability:** The proportion of variation in a trait explained by genetic factors. - **Environmentality:** The proportion of variation in a trait explained by environmental factors. - **Heritability + Environmentality = 1** **Studies:** - **Familial studies:** Measure correlations between relatives. - Difficult to separate shared genetics from shared environment. - Unknown degree of environmental overlap. - **Twin studies:** Compare monozygotic (MZ) twins who share 100% of their genes (one egg split in 2) with dizygotic (DZ) twins who share 50% of genes (2 fertilized eggs, like siblings). - Control for environmental similarity (maximizing the environmental factors). - **Adoption studies:** Examine twins separated. - Reduce environmental similarity, are able to look at the impact of genes on traits. - Hard to account for environmental factors. **Heritability:** - Measures the extent to which trait variation within a population relates to genetic variation in that population. - Not individuals. ## L3. Piaget and Cognitive Development **Piaget's Theory of Child Development:** - Knowledge comes from the interaction between the child and the environment (constructivism). - Saw children as "little scientists" - child appears theory-driven. **Stages:** 1. **Sensorimotor (0-2):** Knowledge dependent on action. 2. **Pre-operational (2-6):** Symbolic thought and representation, egocentric. 3. **Concrete Operational (6-11):** Logical mental representation, but tied to experience. 4. **Formal Operational (11+):** Abstract logical reasoning. - Born in a state of dualism (self and word undifferentiated). - Innate reflexes (suckling, grasping) prompt interactions with the environment. **Construct Schemas through:** - **Assimilation:** Integrating new information into existing schemas. - **Accommodation:** Adjusting schemas to fit new information. **Sensorimotor Development:** - **Object Permanence:** Don't realize that objects continue to exist when they are out of sight; fail to follow as an object leaves their field of vision (4-8 m.o.). - By 8-12 m.o. will search for occluded object, but will make A-not-B error (look in initial hiding spot even they see the object being moved to a new location). - **Symbolic Thought:** By 18-24 m.o., develop mental representation. - Emergence of first words (represent objects through language). **Egocentrism:** - Difficulty young children have in seeing the world from perspectives other than their own. - During pre-operational stage (2-6 y.o.). - **3 Mountain Experiment:** Physical model of 3 mountains with a teddy bear on the opposite side; asked what the teddy can see. - Young children choose the view that reflected their own perspective (fail to understand that the teddy would see something different). - Struggle to hold multiple perspectives simultaneously. - **Conservation Task:** Struggle to understand that certain properties (number/quantity) remain the same, even when their appearance changes. - Can't focus on both the number of sweets and their density at the same time. ## L4. Evaluating Piaget **Object Permanence:** - Piaget believed that infants lack object permanence. - **Hood & Willatts (1986):** Hiding an object by turning off the light. - Infants successfully search for the object. - They do show object permanence on easier (less complex) tasks. **Violation of Expectancy Task:** - Shown scenarios that defy basic physics principles (i.e., trap door). Infants recognize when something unexpected happens. - Infants possess a more sophisticated understanding of their environment than Piaget thought. **Gradual Development:** - Piaget describes development as occurring in distinct stages. - **Siegler's Overlapping Waves Theory:** Children use multiple strategies to solve problems; these strategies coexist and fluctuate over time. - Development is more gradual and quantitative than Piaget thought. - **Number Conservation Task:** Use of multiple strategies that get more advanced over time; evidence of piecemeal progress. **Domain General vs. Domain Specific:** - Piaget saw development as domain general: the same cognitive mechanisms apply across all areas of thinking. - **Nativists (Chomsky):** Believe in domain specificity: the brain has evolved specialized mechanisms for different cognitive tasks. - Certain cognitive abilities are innate and prewired into the brain. ## L5. Sensation, Perception, & Action **Empiricists (Aristotle, Locke):** Believe that little is built in, and that organization emerges from experience. **Nativists (Plato, Descartes):** Argue that the organization is built into the system. ### Infant Perception Of Vision: - **Franz:** Demonstrated that infants prefer looking at patterned stimuli over plain ones. - Innate interest in faces and high contrast images. - **Habituation-Dishabituation Techniques:** Image shown repeatedly to infants until they lose interest. Shown new image, renewed interest shows infant's ability to distinguish between stimuli. - **Crossmodal Perception:** The capacity to understand correspondences of different features in the world from different sensory modalities. - By 4 m.o. infants prefer synchronized audiovisual stimuli over non-synchronized ones. - Ability to integrate sensory information across modalities. ### Preference in Taste & Smell: - Preference for their own mother's smell and familiar tastes experienced *in utero* (carrot juice experiment). - Preference for sweet. ### Infant Sensation: - **Vision:** Newborns are legally blind, but vision develops rapidly. - **Audition:** Hearing reaches adult level by 5-8 years old. - **Taste & Smell:** Amniotic fluid can take on taste that influences later food preferences in infants; mother's smell. - **Touch:** Critically important for stimulating normal growth, but limited infant motor control. ## L6. Early Social Perception **Biological Origins for Early Face Preferences:** - Newborns show a preference for faces due to subcortical and cortical mechanisms that enhance social learning. - **Johnson & Morton (1991):** Newborns have a subcortical system called Conspec (orient them towards face-like configurations) and as the cortex develops, so does Conlearn (allows them to learn faces and refine facial recognition skills). - **Imprinting mechanisms:** Similar to birds, evolved mechanisms that orient infants towards faces immediately after birth. - Facilitates bonding and social learning. - **Babyness:** Human preference for large eyes and round faces. - Thought to promote protective behaviours in adults. ### Newborn Imitation - **Early studies suggest that newborns can mimic facial expressions.** - Implies a natural capacity for intersubjectivity (ability to relate socially by mirroring other's actions). - **Some researchers argue that it isn't imitation, but rather reflexive movements.** - Adults interpret or reinforce the infant's actions. - Emphasizes the role of experience in developing social behaviors. ### Importance of Contingency: - When a child's actions receive immediate and responsive feedback. - **2 m.o. became distressed when shown a video of their mother that was out of sync with her real-time responses.** - Sensitivity to timing and contingency. - Influence on bonding: infants with caregivers that respond appropriately to cues tend to develop better emotional regulation skills. ## L7. Memory Development **Implicit Memory:** - Non-conscious form of memory. - Evident when infants show familiarity with previously encountered stimuli. - Studies where infants interact with a known mobile even without the mobile still being attached to them by a ribbon. **Explicit Memory:** - Which involves conscious recall, develop later as neural structures mature. **Types of Memory:** - **Semantic Memory:** General knowledge. - **Episodic Memory:** Recall personal or time-specific events. - Relies on autonoetic consciousness: ability to mentally place oneself in past events as the "experiencer." - Young children struggle with this due to a less developed sense of self and immature cortical regions necessary for autobiographical memory (virtually no memories before 3 y.o.) **Childhood Amnesia:** - Struggle to remember events from early childhood. - Children can recall early memories, but they are rapidly forgotten, - Due to less effective neural substrates for memory retention in young children. **Factors Impacting Memory Development:** - **Language Acquisition:** Improves significantly with language acquisition. - Provides a structure for encoding and organizing memories. - Young children may encode memories in a fragmented or less detailed way - harder for adults to retrieve them. - **Developing Sense of Self:** Makes it harder to retrieve memories from when the self-concept wasn't fully developed. - **Young children are particularly susceptible to suggestibility in recall (misinformation paradigm).** - Children's memories can be influenced by suggestive or leading questions: high vulnerability to external influences. **Source Discrimination:** - Distinguishing the origin of a memory. - Young children make misattribution errors, mistakenly recalling suggested information, as if they had directly experienced it. - Children's eyewitness testimony may contain inaccuracies if interviewers introduce external information. ## L8. Language Development **Early Language Development:** - **Pre-natal Recognition:** Newborns prefer their native language and respond differently to familiar speech sounds. - Pre-natal exposure to language patterns. - **Around 6 m.o.:** Infants begin babbling (universal stage of language development). - Present even in deaf infants - biological basis for early vocal exploration. - **10-12 m.o.:** First words. - **18 m.o.:** Experience a "vocabulary spurt" ~ 50 words. - Associated with fast mapping: infants can link a word to an object after a single exposure. - **Around 24 m.o.:** Telegraphic speech (two-word phrases: more milk, throw ball). - Reflects early syntactic understanding. **Subcomponents Of Language:** - **Phonology:** The sounds of language. - Infants can distinguish between sounds of all languages - they gradually specialize in the sounds of their native language. - **Vocabulary:** Acquisition of words and their meanings. - Through fast mapping and mutual exclusivity (assume that a new label applies to a novel object). - **Syntax:** Grammar and structure of a sentence. - Even the youngest kids show an understanding of syntax. - Develops as they progress from simple words to more complex sentences. **Theories Of Language Acquisition:** **Domain-General Theories:** - **Behaviourists (Skinner):** Argue that language is acquired through general cognitive processes and learning mechanisms (reinforcement + imitation). - **Piaget:** Thought language is just one aspect of broader cognitive development. - Correlation between language ability and conceptual development. **Domain-Specific Theories:** - **Nativists (Chomsky):** Argue that we have a specific, innate Language Acquisition Device (LAD). - Built-in mechanism tailored for language learning. - Believe that language acquisition is distinct from other types of learning and that there's specialized brain structures. - Syntax studies support this theory. ## L9. Neurodiverse Development **Domain-General Theories:** - Cognitive abilities develop through a unified system. - Predicts delays across cognitive domains when development is atypical (rather than divergent). **Domain-Specific Theories:** - Different cognitive domains have distinct neural underpinnings - allows for double dissociations where one area can be impaired while another remains intact. - Consistent with evolutionary arguments for specialization. **Atypical Development:** - **Delayed:** Implies domain-generality (along the typical function). - **Divergent:** Implies domain-specificity (on a different pathway). **Developmental Language Disorder (DLD), formerly Specific Language Impairment (SLI):** - Individual who shows significant delays in language acquisition, despite typical cognitive functioning in other areas. - Suggests domain specificity. **William's Syndrome:** - Advanced linguistics skills compared to general cognitive ability - language and other cognitive abilities can be dissociated (domain specificity). **Theory of Mind (TOM):** - The ability to understand that others can hold beliefs and desires different from one's own. - Evaluated using Sally-Ann task. - Children with autism struggle with this task. (Suggests domain-specific) **Autism:** - Complex neurodevelopmental disorder. - Abnormalities in verbal and non-verbal communication. - Repetitive or stereotyped activities. - Difficulties in reciprocal social interactions. ## L10. Early Emotional Development **Origins of Attachment Theory:** - **René Spitz:** Studied children isolated during WWII. - Those deprived of maternal care exhibited emotional and developmental delays despite having their physical needs met. - **Harry Harlow's monkey studies:** Showed that rhesus monkeys preferred cloth "mothers" (provide comfort) over wire "mothers" (provide food). - Showed the significance of emotional bonds beyond just fulfilling basic survival needs. - **John Bowlby's theory:** Influenced by ethology (Lorenz's imprinting studies). - Proposes that attachment is an innate, evolutionary mechanism to maintain proximity to caregivers. - Homeostatic mechanism (self-regulating for both mother + child). - Role of early relationships in shaping emotional development and behaviour: internal working model (set of expectations about caregiver responses). **Attachment Styles:** - Assessed using **Ainsworth's Strange Situation Test.** - **Secure Attachment (60%):** Child becomes distressed when the caregiver leaves but is quickly comforted upon their return. - Caregiver is a secure base for exploration. - **Avoidant Attachment (20%):** Child shows little distress when the caregiver leaves and avoids interactions upon return. - **Ambivalent Attachment (15%):** Highly distressed when caregiver leaves and seeks comfort upon their return, but resist it. - **Disorganized Attachment (5%):** Inconsistent/contradictory behaviour. **Factors Influencing Attachment:** - **Cultural differences influence attachment styles.** - German children show more avoidant attachment due to parenting that fosters independence. - Japanese children show more ambivalent attachment, reflecting maternal closeness. - **Rutter's Study on Romanian Orphans:** - Children suffered severe neglect and showed long-term emotional and social difficulties, even after adoption. - If adopted after the age of 6 m.o., showed higher rates of autism-like behavior and difficulties forming relationships, despite normal intelligence. - Some form of rehabilitation can occur if reintroduced to peers/better nurturing environment within a sensitive period. - Long-term deficits may remain if extensive deprivation period. ## L11. Early Social Cognition - **Infants (6 m.o.) interpret actions as goal-directed.** - **Heider & Simmel's study (1944):** Adults anthropomorphize (infer humanistic qualities and intentions) moving geometric shapes. - **Human inclination to infer agency and intentionality.** - **Hamlin, Wynn & Bloom (2007):** 6 m.o. prefer "helper" objects over "hinderer" objects - attribute positive/negative intentions to non-human agents. - **Woodward (1998):** Infants were surprised (looked longer) when a hand reached for a new goal instead of the original goal in a different location. - **Violation of expectancy; infants view actions as purposeful.** - **Infants interpret other's actions based on circumstances.** - **Gergely et al. (2003):** 14 m.o. imitated an experimenter using her head to turn on a light switch only when her hands were free - assume intentionality. - If experimenter's hands were occupied, the children used their hands to activate the light switch (interpret the head action as situationally constrained). - **Repacholi & Gopnik (1997):** 18 m.o. will hand the adult food the adult prefers, even if it differs from their own view. - Understand that people have different (taste) preferences. - **Metarepresentation:** The ability to think about thoughts. - Crucial for understanding that other's actions are guided by their beliefs or desires, even when these mental states differ from reality. - **Play pretend:** By age 2, shows capacity for holding multiple representations of objects (i.e., banana as phone). ## L12. Early Moral Development **Prosocial Behaviour:** - Voluntary acts that are intended to help others. - May have potential benefits to the prosocial individual. - **Early Prosociality:** Helper/Hinderer studies (Hamlin, Wynn & Bloom 2007). - Around 8-12 m.o., they engage in reciprocal play and share objects with others: innate tendency to help others. **Types of Prosocial Behaviour:** - **Altruism:** Type of prosocial behavior, helping others without expecting reciprocal benefits. - **Early prosocial behaviour is selective (only if they know the recipient) while later prosocial behaviour is strategic (as they become aware of reputation).** - Around 5 y.o. - More likely to share when observed. **Ownership:** - Around 75% of children's conflicts arise from possession. - Around 2 y.o. they will protest when their possessions are taken. - By 3 y.o., they defend other's property (early understanding of ownership and third-party punishment). - 4 y.o. reason that manufactured objects are property that is owned (you made it, it's yours), like Locke. - **Cultural differences in ownership:** Some tribes (Hazda) emphasize collective ownership, while Western societies focus on personal property. ## L13. Early Social Cognition - **Aggressive behaviour:** Influenced by temperament and environment, tends to persist across childhood. - **Social learning theory (Bandura's Bobo doll studies):** Showed that children model observed aggression, but are sensitive to the consequences for the aggressor. - Developed into social cognitive theory. - Children progressively learn moral reasoning through vicarious punishment and by observing adults. - By 3 y.o., they start enforcing rules about ownership & rights. **Kohlberg's Stage Theory:** 1. **Preconventional stage (children):** What will happen to me? 2. **Conventional stage (adolescents):** What do others normally do? 3. **Postconventional stage (some adults):** How does it fit in with my values? - Shift from emphasis on punishment → social rules → ethical principles. - There isn't a final stage. **Moral Dilemmas:** - **The trolley problem:** Moral dilemma where emotional responses conflict with utilitarian reasoning. - Empathy + aversion to causing harm. - Emotions shape moral judgments. - Moral intuitionist → ## L14. Perceptual Constancy in Newborns - Allows infants to recognize that objects maintain certain properties even as their appearance changes due to movement or shifts in perspective. **Types of Perceptual Constancies:** - **Size Constancy:** Slater et al (1990) familiarized newborns with a small or large cube and then showed the same cube at different distances. - Infants still recognized the size differences. - Same for size constancy. - **Orientation:** Newborns show preference for certain angles and line orientations. - **Filling in Missing Information:** By 6 weeks, they are able to fill in parts of an object, (rod moving behind a block: they expect it to be one rod rather than asmall ones) - Shows early sense of perceptual continuity. ## L15. Integration of Perception + Action - Innate reflexes (grasping, suckling) are triggered by sensory inputs and managed by subcortical brain structures. **Examples:** - **Visual cliff experiment: **Gibson and Walk (1960) showed that once an infant starts crawling, they avoid crossing an apparent "drop-off." - They percieve depth and have a fear of heights. - Crawling experience helps refine spatial understanding. - **Cross-modal integration:** Helps improve motor abilities and understanding of causality.