Child Development Review

Lecture 1:
Developmental Psychology

How do we change (or not) over time

Goal is to learn what is going on and why, to describe and explain

Why Study Children?

Rapid development
o
Most changes happening so we can watch the process

Long-term Influences
o
How do certain experiences (parenting, schooling) effect later development

Real-World Applications
o
Use research to help children become the best they can be i.e. Sesame Street
Overarching Themes

Directionality of Development: development doesnt just mean becoming more, it means

change (i.e. synaptic pruning)

Continuity vs. Discontinuity:

o
Continuous (quantitative)= little by little we develop and changes add up but we
dont change form (becoming a tree)
o
Discontinuous (qualitative)= change completely as you develop, stages, entire self
changes (caterpillar->butterfly)

Nature and Nurture:

o
Nurture=environment, experiences, continuous development
o
Nature=genes, discontinuous development
Research Methods:

Observational Research:
o
Case Studies: n=1 person from minority population (i.e. boy who lost penis and
parents turned him into girl), can lead to bias, not generalizable
o
Field Observational: go out into field (i.e. playground) and observe people based off
hypothesis (i.e. are boys more aggressive than girls in playgrounds), usually
generalizable

Correlational:
o
Do relationships exist?
o
Field observational studies i.e. does gender and aggression correlate
o
Cant make causal statements
o
Survey Studies: ask questions to see if answers correlate, consider reading ability of
child, do interviews, can ask parents or teacher for reports on child, retrospective
reports (not as accurate since you are looking back at memories)

Experimental Research
o
Experimenter manipulates independent variable to see how it effects dependent
variable
o
Experimental control (everyone is the same except for independent variable) and
random allocation (everyone has equal chance to be in experimental or control) =
you can make a causal statement
o
Types include: true experiment (in lab with complete control), field experiments
(lose control of some aspects, but still random allocation), Quasi Experiment
(interested in age so random allocation isnt possible therefore no causal
statements)
Research Designs for Age:
1. Cross Sectional: samples of different ages all observed on a dependent variable at same
time
a. Pros=quick, cheap, demonstrates age differences
b. Cons= Cohort effect-groups who experience same historical experiences at same
period of their lives (I grew up with cell phones and my parents different so is the
difference between us age or the cohort effect?), cant say how development occurs
(continuous vs. discontinuous)
2. Longitudinal: one sample is observed several times on same dependent variable at different
ages (overtime)
a. Pros=see development is continuous vs. discontinuous, links b/w early experience
and later outcomes, eliminates some of cohort effect
b. Cons=Cross-generational-can we apply research from i.e. children during the great
depression to children today, cost+time, selective attrition (certain people drop out
of the study effecting your results)

3.

Sequential
a. Run series of longitudinal with two different age groups (i.e. one group from 6-9 and
other 9-12 during same 3 years)
b. Pros=benefits of longitudinal but shorter, compare different cohorts (if
different=due to cohort effect, same=due to age), compare patterns of
development of cohorts
c. Cons=complicated

4.

Microgenetic Design
a. See processes that promote developmental change, intensively observe child when
you expect them to develop a certain skill until you see them get it
b. Pro=watch development happen
c. Con=child does task over and over -> practice effect

Lecture 2:
Behavioral Genetics

Field tries to understand inputs of nature vs. nurture

Epigenetics= environment not only alter expression of gene but can alter genotype itself
(i.e. mom eats bad during pregnancy changing the child genotype to code for obesity)

Genotype= what genes code for and Phenotype= what you see and influenced by
environment) i.e. breeding rats to be smart but putting them in impoverished environment
makes them not as smart as they could have (gene codes for intelligence but phenotype is
not as intelligent)
Genes and Complex Traits

To test the environmental vs. gene impact we deduce relative inputs

1. Adoption Studies:
a. Compare similarity of child to adopted vs. biological parents
b. More similar to adopted=environment and more similar to biological= gene
2. Family Studies
a. Compare relations with concordance, see how genetically related two family
members are and the likelihood that if one of them has the trait the other would too
3. Twin Studies
a. Compare MZ twins (genes=100% same) and DZ twins (genes=50% a=same) since
twins are in same cohort (environment same) so only difference is genes
b. If MZ twins are more similar on a trait it is because of genes
Do both DZ twins and MZ twins have equally similar environments?

Utero: MZ twins had 1 sperm + 1 egg= same placenta while DZ twins had 2 sperm + 2
egg= different placenta and environments

Childhood: MZ twins are treated more similar than DZ twins

Cant say DZ twins environments are as close as they are b/w MZ twins
Twins Reared Apart (Bouchard)

MZ twins reared together vs. apart

When tested on several factors found that MZ reared together or apart are not any different
even though parents were different

WHY? Similar psychological environments due to children evoking certain environments

based on their genes (i.e. genes for athletic child cause child to seek out those situations)
Neurodevelopment:

Mozart Effect: parents thought playing Mozart for their children would make them smarter
based on one study done on University students
How does Brain Develop?

Brain is fastest organ to reach adult size

30%-birth, 70%-2yrs, 90%-6yrs

Brain Growth Spurt:

from 2nd trimester 2yrs of age brain grows dramatically (1.7g/day) and more than 50%
adult brain grows here

Neurons make connections and development of the cerebral cortex occurs

Communication:

Neurons: we are born with most neurons but we can make more

Myelin sheath: contributes to 50% of brain weight, grows up to age 18yrs

Synapse:
o
Synaptogenesis= making new connections (2nd trimester-2yrs) and is experience
dependent

Synaptic Pruning= at 18months start pruning non-useful connections to prevent

overload

Structure:

Cerebral Cortex: responsible for any differences in human vs. non-human intelligence and is
85% of brain, where most myelination + synaptogenesis occurs

CC grows in spurts and growth is associated with skill

Experience:

Sensitive/Critical Period: certain time when certain skills can be learned and if you miss this
you cant learn skill

i.e. Kittens had eyes sewn shut by 4 wks they were permanently blind

Humans: babies in impoverished Russian orphanage then adopted in British homes, if they
were adopted before brain growth spurt they had almost no cognitive impairment compared
to children adopted age 2-4yrs that had a lot
Two Types of Brain Growth:

Experience Expectant: brain expects certain types of experience i.e. seeing, touching,
hearing language

Experience Dependent: other experiences i.e. playing soccer, learning piano

Lecture 3:
Sensation & Perception

Sensation=info received through sensory orangs and transmission to brain

Perception=interpretation of information received by sensory organs

Nativism (nature) vs. Empiricism (nurture)

Nativism= what is native to you, believe babies have sensory skills out of womb

Empiricism= babies have to learn things after birth i.e. how to locate sounds

Biological Preparedness= babies pick up skills really quickly because of a biological

preparedness i.e. only need a little experience to localize sounds
Studying Sensory & Perception:
Preference Technique (Fantz)

Babies cant talk so you put them in this box with 2 stimuli presented and wherever they
look more is what they prefer
Habituation/Dishibituation:

Habituation=show stimulus over and over until infant isnt interested

Dishibituation= stimulus recaptures attention

Can show baby picture over and over then show them slightly different picture and if they
are interested in it again it shows they know it is different
Operant Conditioning:

Train for reward i.e. train baby to turn head when you play a B and change to B# and see if
they turn head
Three Senses:

Differences in Acuities at Birth: certain skills arent as important i.e. since you just lay down
you dont need to see far away just what is in front of you while you need hearing to hear
your mom
Sight/Visual Acuity: Birth-20/300 1month-20/120 4month-20/60 8month-20/30 2yrs-20/20

Research (Fantz): babies always choose more complex stimuli, use preference technique
and show patterns, if baby choses more complex pattern shows they have visual acuity to
see it but if not they cant

Visual Tracking: following things with your eyes, develop pretty good by 6wks and perfect by
10wks, helpful to track things moving around room and towards them
Auditory:

Have good hearing at birth (hear sounds in womb, except for high pitched sounds dont
penetrate)

Locating Sounds: 2month-locate 27degree from midline 6month-12degrees 18month-almost

adult (which is 4degrees)
Taste:

Babies have adult reaction to taste (exposed to amniotic fluid like to eat what mom eats)

Steiner: as soon as babies born gave them flavoured water to see rxn (Sweet-> smile, Sour>puckering, Bitter->crying b/c bitter represents poison)
Perceptual Skills:
Depth Perception: Cues that indicate depth

Pictoral (monocular) Cues (6-7months): cues we can see with only one eye and indicates
relative distance of objects through static picture like information

Linear Perspective: two parallel lines converging

Interposition: tell what is closer by what is inform of another
Relative Size: judge distance by what is bigger (if dog is bigger than car dog is
closer)

Binocular Cues (4months): calculate difference in two eyes to judge distance (Steriopsis)

Kinetic Cues (1-3months): cues based on motion, know something is approaching you since
it gets bigger and blocks more of background
o
Motion Parallax: objects nearer to us seem to change position faster than objects
further away
Testing Depth Perception:

Visual Cliff: tested 6months and up (mobile babies), got mom to go to side where glass was
and beckon baby and baby wouldnt crawl b/c they thought they would fall
off, even if they tapped glass they only believed what they saw

To test pre-mobile babies (2-5months) put them on glass and tested HR,
their HR slowed showing they werent afraid while mobile (6-12months) HR
went up showing they were afraid

Correlation b/w how long baby has been mobile and their fear of cliff
o
o
o

Face Preference:

Using preference technique showing baby equally complex patterns that

were face, scrambled face, or blob and found baby preferred face

To test this in babies 0-3 months Johnson showed one stimulus at a time and recorded
degree of head rotation and found greatest when baby was shown face showing possible
built in preference for faces
Specific Faces:

Babies prefer certain faces (i.e. moms) over others

Walton Study: showed newborns moms face and womens face similar to moms and they
preferred mom

Langlois Study: babies prefer attractive faces since they have average characteristics
(symmetric face, regular features, easy to tell it is a face)
Social Cues:

Babies begin to pay attention to socio-emotional cues by 2-3months since when mom
makes face baby reacts (i.e. mom looks happy so baby interacts but when mom looks sad
baby looks away)

Human vs Dolls: babies smile at human faces more than dolls by 2 months

Gaze Following: 7 months, where person gazes to is where baby looks to as well
Emotional Recognition:

Ekmans 6 Basic Faces: Anger, Fear, Disgust, Surprise, Happy, Sad

Can train people to make these faces

I.e. with visual cliff more than 1ft baby is scared, less baby is not BUT at exactly 1ft baby is
confused and looks at mom to help them, if mom looks happy baby goes but if she looks
scared they dont

Wouldnt find this skill in autism

Lecture 8:
Self-Understanding:

Self-recognition= ability to recognize self i.e. in mirror

Rouge Test: mom puts red dot on babies forehead, if baby touches nose more than normal
when looking in mirror that means they recognize self
o
9-12 months dont care, 15-17month 25% care, 18months 75% are (something
happens here)
o
By 2.5 yrs all children can recognize themselves in mirror

Distorted Images: once child is 18months or > they freak out when put in front of a
distorted funhouse mirror (cry, feel violated)

Ties to Cognitive Development: by substage 6 we can make mental images so 18months

makes sense
Self-Understanding in Early Childhood (2-7yrs=Pre-operational)

Interviewed and asked to describe self

5 Characteristics:
1. Central Component on Self-Hood: talk about what toys they like, etc.
2. Concrete: i.e. I live in a red house

3.

Physical and material: if asked how they differ from others say i.e. they have blond hair I
have brown
4. Centered: dont understand concepts can be one way sometimes an another other times i.e.
say Im nice not Im nice and sometimes mean they only see selves in one way at a time
5. Unrealistically Positive: cant separate ideal (what they want to be) and actual (what they
are now) selves i.e. say they can do ABCs when they really cant

Cognitive development: concrete no abstract

Middle to Late Childhood (7-11 concrete operations)
1. Shift to internal characteristics: preferences, personality i.e. I feel sad today
2. Decentered: can separate actual vs. ideal self
3. Spontaneous use of social reference: concept of self rooted in how they compare to others,
dont need to be told to compare self to others i.e. I have two best friends
4. Realistic: dont confuse actual with ideal self so they have something to strive for, social
comparison helps with this

Cognitive development: shift towards more abstract multiple ideas at once, cognitive
representation
Adolescence (11+ Formal Operations):
1. Increasingly abstract self descriptions: multi-faced, trait-based
2. Highly Self-conscious: trying to figure out who they are
3. Increased ability to distinguish actual vs ideal: painful cant measure up to what they want
a. Addition of Possible Selves: who you could become, what you want to avoid
becoming
b. Fluctuations in Self-Understanding: inconsistencies, realize you are changing and
fluctuating
c. Eventual integration into whole concept of self-by 20s identity is formed, even with
little changes general theory of self survives

Cognitive Development: abstract, complex descriptions

Metacognitive Development: can step back and see self

Self + Self Understanding in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder:

ASD= neurocognitive disorder with impairment in social interaction both verbal + nonverbal

Dont fully develop understanding of self

Self-presentation: individuals efforts to shape self -image, regulate behavior to manipulate

impression made on audience
o
ASD use scripts (I behave in A B C) fixed, rigid, need to be taught skills to socialize,
not good with emotional cues

Allocentrism: self-regulation in context or definition of others gain self by what others tell
you, not automatic reminded by others i.e. when describing self can only describe physical
not emotions
Understanding Others: - need to know self before knowing others
3 Differences between people and objects:
1. Interactivity: objects dont talk, people are animate
2. Intentionality: people have own thoughts, intentions, plans
3. Social Scripts: certain ways of acting and reacting are expected i.e. politeness script (hi how
are you, good how are you)
Describing Others:

Gage how children understand others by asking them to describe others

Three Step Model (Livesley & Bromley)-asked kids 6-16yrs old to describe class mates
1. External Features (6-8yrs)
a. Focus on hair colour, eye colour, etc. rarely use internal characteristics and if they
do are unsophisticated i.e. Timmy is nice, also no conservation of personality if
Timmy was mean on day they would say Timmy is mean no Timmy is nice but today
he was mean
2. Internal Features (7-8yrs)
a. Shift to describing internal features and can conserve personality, dont use as
many physical describers
3. Qualifiers and Inferences (Teen yrs)
a. More abstract, realize situations can act on people i.e. Andy is shy but talks a lot
around people he knows and Ive never seen him lose his temper (acknowledging
he could but she hasnt seen it herself)-have theory of mind
b. By 9 more likely to use internal over external
Understanding Others Emotions:

Critical to develop positive social relationships = important for emotional state

Figure out what others feel by deducing and learning how to read people over time

Theory of Mind: recognize others have own experience different from our own
Body/Facial Signals: know what sadness, anger, confidence, etc. looks like to know how they
feel

Understand Social Context: i.e. friend is grumpy but you know it is because they have 4
midterms

Very Gradual Development

Empathy:

Cognitive Empathy= understanding causal basis for anothers feelings

Affective Empathy= sharing and reflecting in other persons feelings (most often distress)

Emotional Empathy= feel along side another person as if they were your own

Compassionate Empathy= understand + feel with + spontaneously moved to help person

(act on empathy)

Lack of Empathy in ASD children: can only understand cognitive layer but cant go deeper
on own, cant read social or emotional cues, cant put self in others shoes, however ToM
doesnt necessarily predict empathy
Embarrassment:

Primitive (younger): occurs simply because audience is present

Mature (older): develop TOM occurs with development of social perspective-taking skills

Actor considers how audience might interpret their behavior

Those with ASD dont show same levels of embarrassment, understand why they should feel
it but dont
Rules & Intentions:

Conventional vs. Moral Rules- understand rules by 6-8yrs

o
Conventional= rules created by culture i.e. dont run in halls at school
recognize rules can be broken in certain situations
o
Moral Rules= universal, always follow them, bad if you break them

Intentional vs. Unintentional

o
Children understand intent when they assess own behavior but not when assessing
others
o
i.e. Nelson experiment with materials had scenario where Sam was throwing Tina a
ball and either a. intends to hit her or b. doesnt intend to hit her
o
Seen as bad even if he hits her accidentally
Intentions:

ASD children lacking ability to read intentions

Strange Stories test ToM, understanding figures of speech, misunderstanding, persuasion,

white lies, contrary emotions through 24 stories

Tell story to typically developed and ASD and use control stories about physical events and
ask factual questions which ASD children get then do stories that test other things (white
lies, jokes, etc.)
Lecture 10
Moral Development
Psychoanalytic: role of the moral emotions
Freud:

Learn to be moral when we identify with our same sex parent during phallic stage (4-5yrs)

When we develop super ego during this stage

o
Id= nasty instincts, wants us to do bad stuff
o
Ego=logical, rational
o
Superego=wants to punish us for bad and lets us know what is good vs. bad

Superego components:
1. Conscience= list of things we dont do i.e. dont lie or cheat -> guilt as punishment
for not following these rules
2. Ego Ideal= list of things we should do -> shame as punishment (more general than
guilt)

Healthy psyche develops when we obey rules and avoid feelings

Erickson: (Psychodynamic)

No subconscious, learn from both parents

Get punished with negative emotions when do wrong

Get rewarded with pride when we do good so we strive to feel this way
Behavioral Approach
Skinnerian:

Moral behaviours are result of operant conditioning to experiences, external force trains our
morality

Rewarded keep doing it, punished stop doing it

Banduras Social Learning Theory:

Pick up information just from living in world and seeing other schedules of reinforcement
(vicariously)

If someone else gets punished we know we should do it but if they are rewarded we know
we should
Cognitive Approach

How people reason out moral situations and come to a conclusion

Dependent on cognitive development- egocentrism, centering, abstract thought

Kohlbergs Theory of Moral Development:

Moral Judgment Interview: 45min semi-structured interview (some preset questions) and
participants told a moral dilemma then are asked questions and based off answers were put
into a stage
Level 1: Pre-conventional Morality:

Dont view self as larger whole, all you know is - consequences = bad and + = good

Stage 1: Punishment and Obedience Orientation:

o
Punished=wrong, not punished=right, authority must be obeyed to avoid
punishment

Stage 2: Self-interest Orientation

o
Whatever is good for me is good and whatever is bad for me is bad
o
Find this in teens + adults with delinquent behaviour
Level 2: Conventional Morality:

Moral judgment based on membership in reference group (friends, family), recognize there
is more than just self in world and what is moral is accepted by them

Stage 3: Interpersonal relationships

o
What is right and wrong depends on persons motives good intention= good bad
intention=bad
o
More feminine approach

Stage 4: Maintaining Social Order

o
Live in larger society there is shift towards thinking laws are needed to maintain
order
o
Motive doesnt matter, more masculine approach
Level 3: Post-Conventional Morality

Something bigger than reference group and you question + analyze culture rules

Stage 5: Social contract orientation

o
Highest stage we see in people, realize we need laws but they can be wrong if they
are unfair or unjust and violate peoples rights, try to change these, adhere to
democratic processes

Stage 6: Universal Ethical Practice

o
Accept that the quest for social justice can force you to break with conventional
rules (MLK, Gandhi)
o
Everyone has right to dignity, may toss up democratic process if necessary, willing
to tear down system, more of a theoretical stage and no one reaches this
Research on Developmental Course:

Pre-conventional= elementary school-predominant in 10yrs olds

Conventional= mid teens-stage 4 in 20s, most parents are in stage 3-4

Post-conventional= rare-even in 30s unlikely to reach

Sequence of Stages:

No skipping stages, regression is rare

Cross-Culture:

Find same things in different cultures except the stage they reach is different

Modern cultures reach stage 5 while folk reach 3 since they dont have to deal with social
justice so arent challenged by environment
How does Moral Reasoning Develop?
Cognitive Milestones:

Need concrete operations to use conventional reasoning (ToM to put yourself in others shoes
and Decentering to think about more than one consequence at once)

Need formal operations to use post-conventional reasoning (abstract, contrary to fact

reasoning)
Social Environment:

You need beliefs to be challenged -> disequilibrium so you can solve this + grow ->
equilibrium

Need opportunities to discuss moral issues to progress

Link to Moral Behaviour: If you can reason morally does this mean you will be a moral actor?

Correlational Research:
o
Positive correlation b/w stage of moral reasoning and pro-social behaviour
o
Negative correlation that higher moral reasoning and harmful action to others
o
Experiment with delinquent vs. non-delinquent found 80% of delinquents were preconventional and only 20% reached conventional

Kohlbergs Cheaters: did test and you were left in room given a chance to cheat
o
Only 13-15% Post-conventional cheated
o
50% conventional cheated- unable to predict behaviour in this group
o
Almost all pre-conventional cheated
Other Theorists:

Gilligan: ethic of caring-gender and cultural difference

Eisenberg on development of prosoical reasoning- give children dilemma where helping

someone will have negative consequences on them and see what they will do
Lecture 10:
Temperament and Attachment:
Temperament:

Inborn predisposition to behave in certain ways (forms adult personality)

Babies are born with own personalities and differences predict their future personality
(genetic basis)
Classification System: *doesnt account for 35% of babies
1. Easy Baby: 40%, approach new things positively, good sleep-cycle, adjust well
2. Difficult Baby: 10%, dont like new things, get mad when you change things, dont form
routine, louder cries
3. Slow-to-warm-up Baby: 15%, wont resist new things, act neutral, may eventually like it, low
intensity rxn
Environmental Influences on Temperament:

Way you interact with baby important i.e. can make difficult baby more easy depending on
how you act

Modern system based on big five adult personality traits and can map baby temperament
to these
Stability of Temperament:

Trait system, on continuum, problem is they dont overlap but people can be different
depending on the situation
Temperament:

Activity Level (how much baby moves around)->extroversion (like to go out and be around
people)

Positive Emotionality (move towards new things)-> extroversion + agreeableness (get along
with people)

Inhibition/Anxiety (fear + withdrawn, slow to warm)-> neuroticism (negative emotion),

introversion, openness (dont try new things)

Negative Emotionality-> neuroticism (more worry, sad outlook, negative emotion)

Effortful Control (ability to stay focused and manage attention + effort, persist in difficult
tasks) -> conscientiousness (knowing and doing what you should), agreeableness, and
openness-> success
Attachment:

Strong emotional bond, we chose at least one person to love more than rest
Theory
Psychoanalysis (Freud)

Id has to be satisfied and mom does this through breastfeeding (suckling)

Synchrony= emotional interactions that allow attachment to go optimally i.e. during

breastfeeding mom feeds baby when hungry and cuddles etc.
Learning Theory:

Replaced psychoanalysis and said attachment occurs through satisfaction of hunger

Food= primary reinforcer and mom=secondary reinforcer