Description
This study guide will cover chapters 1-5 of the textbook, with emphasis on what we learned in class. Only knowledge of motor development is necessary for chapter 5.
Chapter 1
- What are the modern reasons why we study child development? o To improve child rearing
o To choose effective social policies and practices
o To understand human nature
- Why is spanking an ineffective form of punishment?
o It makes aggression more apparent in children who were spanked in
early childhood
- What is sensitive parenting?
o A form of parenting that uses sympathy, reasoning, and logic to raise
and interact with children
- What technique is good for helping kids manage their anger? o The turtle technique: have kids move away from other people and curl
up like a turtle; it helps kids manage their anger and aggression and
helps them process how they’re feeling
- Are children’s testimonies in court reliable?
o It depends on the case; a lot of the time, kids are led to conclusions
through suggestive questioning
- Why is early childhood education beneficial?
o It can prevent things like welfare use and involvement in the criminal
justice system
- What is the Nativist point of view?
o They believe that some kinds of knowledge are inborn in children - What is the empiricist point of view? We also discuss several other topics like What is heterophony?
o They believe that children learn through observation
- Which philosophers believed in nativism?
o Plato and John Locke
- Which philosophers believed in empiricism?
o Aristotle and Jean Jacques Rousseau
- What were John Locke’s ideas on children?
o He thought they were born as “blank slates” (called tabula rosa), and
that it was the parents’ responsibility to make sure they turned out well - What were Jean Jacques Rousseau’s ideas on children?
o He thought that all children are born naturally good, and that society
needs to let them develop on their own instead of guiding them - What brought public attention onto the issue of child abuse? o The case of Mary Ellen WilsonIf you want to learn more check out jennifer ganger
Was discovered to be abused severely: not allowed to go
outside, beaten, not given enough food, not given proper clothes
for the weather
Her case lead to the creation of the first child cruelty
laws/organizations, which did not exist before
- What example of ways children were treated would be considered abusive
today?
o Child labor, because children weren’t allowed to have a childhood - What socioeconomic group is known for the most intensive childrearing? Why
and how?
o Middle class parents
o They thought that opportunities in the future will become less, so children are scheduled to do so many things to optimize their
outcomes
o Middle class parents aren't the only ones who do this and think this,
but they are the people who have the money most of the time to do so - Why is Charles Darwin relevant to the field of developmental psychology? o He inspired recapitulation theory: the thought that by studying
children, we could look at how we evolved as a species
o His ideas lead to the start of children’s study
o Wrote the “baby diaries”: a detailed account of the development of his If you want to learn more check out eco230
own children
- What is Freud’s theory of psychosexual development?
o The idea that children go through stages, driven by sexual urges that
become more or less salient during certain points of development - What is Watson’s behavioralist theory?
o The idea that the way children/parents respond to punishment is the
way the baby develops; reinforcement and punishment
- What is nurture versus nature?
o A debate that involves whether a human’s development is guided
more by genetics or environmental factors
- Define nature and nurture.
o Nature: your genetics/the genetic predispositions you inherited o Nurture: the environment/everything else besides genetics - Define epigenetics.
o The field of research that examines how environmental influences
shape which of your genes are expressed Don't forget about the age old question of the copy button copies the contents and format of the source area to the office ____, a temporary storage area in the computer’s memory.
- Is nature or nurture more effective in determining how you develop? o Neither; they both play a significant role in development
- How can children shape their own development?
o They control what they pay attention to, making them think of/interact with these things more
o They talk to themselves to facilitate language development o They pretend play, imitating real life activities and learning about them o They choose what activities they want to do and do what their friends
want them to do (to an extent)
- Define continuous and discontinuous development.
o Continuous: happens consistently and gradually over the whole
lifespan
Example: the development of a pine tree
o Discontinuous: happens in stages
Example: the development of a butterfly
- Through what processes does change occur in children?
o Brain maturation
o Myelination: myelin forms on the brain’s neurons, which allows for
faster processing speed during brain maturation
Allows for greater depth of thinking and logic
- What is sociocultural context?
o The physical, social, cultural, economic, and historical circumstances If you want to learn more check out chem 103 unlv
that make up any child's environment
- How does sociocultural context affect a child’s development? o It can predict developmental outcomes like income, health, education
level, psychological wellbeing, etc.
o Socioeconomic status is the main predictor of these things in the US,
but not so much in Europe
- How do children grow up to be different from one another? o They react to different stimuli that influences each one uniquely,
changing how they portray (personality) and develop themselves - What are Scarr’s four factors that contribute to individual variation? o Genetics
o Differences in treatment of children by parents and others o Differences in children’s reactions to similar experiences
o Differences in choices of environment
- Define resilience.
o The ability to adapt effectively in the face of threats to development o Also called risk factors
- Give an example of a study involving resilience.
o Werner’s study on birth complications in Hawaii
o Children who experienced birth complications were studied to see if
they would experience difficulties later in life
o They discovered that the worse off the child during developmental
years, the worse off they would be in the future
o The environment they were raised in also affected their futures The higher quality home and parents who were well off money We also discuss several other topics like visualizing environmental science 4th edition
wise and psychologically, the less likely the kid was to show
negative effects
o Positive experiences can override complicated births, but duration of
the events can also affect the rate at which resilience is achieved - Why is the concept of resilience controversial?
o There isn’t a measure for resilience, so it can’t be measured properly o We don’t know if resilience comes from a person or comes from a
person’s environment
o Raises up the debate of nature vs. nurture
- Define cross sectional design.
o A type of research used in developmental psychology where children of different ages are compared on a given behavior or characteristic over
a short period
- Define longitudinal design.
o Same children are studied twice or more over a substantial length of
time, making it useful for looking at stability and change over time - Define Microgenetic design.
o The same children are studied repeatedly over a short period of time, which provide in-depth depiction of processes that produce change
Chapter 2
- How many weeks after conception does childbirth happen? Is this number
accurate?
o 38 weeks
o No, only about 5 percent of babies are born on their due date The due date is usually a window, give or take 2 weeks
- What is the best position for a fetus to be in for birth?
o The head down positioned over the birth canal
- What is a breech baby?
o When a fetus is in a feet first position in the mother’s uterus prior to
birth
- What is a solution for breech babies?
o ECV: external cephalic version
o A doctor will turn the baby to be in the right position externally before
birth
- What are the main options for pain reduction during childbirth? o Epidural: a catheter is inserted into the spinal cord which delivers the
drug; sometimes temporarily paralyzes the user from the waist down o Nitrous oxide: not as effective, but still takes the edge off; mainly used
in the UK
- What are the three stages of childbirth? What happens in each stage? o Dilation and effacement of the cervix
Contractions press down on the baby which opens the birth
canal
Lasts a couple hours to a day
The cervix needs to be 10 cm wide before giving birth
o Baby coming out of the birth canal
The mother’s body creates more elastin, which makes tissue
more stretchy
o Placenta passes out of the birth canal
Happens after the birth of the child; if the placenta doesn’t pass
completely there could be severe health problems later
- How do contractions during birth benefit the baby?
o They reshape the baby’s head so it can fit through the vaginal canal The baby’s skull discs aren’t fused together yet
o They help the baby produce cortisol to help with air deprivation o They help squeeze the amniotic fluid from the baby’s lungs - How do birth experiences differ by country?
o In the US, births are attended by strangers and the baby’s father; most
mothers never see/experience a birth until their own
o In other countries births are attended by the whole family and most
mothers have attended a birth before
- Define epigenesis.
o The emergence of new structures and functions during development - Define a gamete.
o When the sperm from a male and an egg from a woman combine; also
called germ cells
- Describe the process of meiosis.
o The process which produces gametes; each gamete will receive half of
their 46 chromosomes from each person
- What is the difference between the number of eggs and cells a person is born
with?
o A female is born with all her eggs she will ever have in her lifetime, but
a male makes sperm continuously through his life
- What is a fertilized egg called?
o A zygote
- Define mitosis.
o When the cell divides and makes a copy of itself to multiply - Define cell migration.
o The movement of newly formed cells away from their point of origin - Define cell differentiation.
o After cell division, when an embryotic cell starts to specialize to a
certain function
o The location and which genes are expressed in the cells influence this - Define apoptosis.
o When death is preprogramed for certain cells to achieve certain functions (e.g. cells dying in hands to form fingers); also called cell
suicide
- What are androgens?
o Hormones (including testosterone) that determine the sex of the baby - Describe the early development of a zygote into a fetus. o Zygote becomes a hollow sphere of cells
o Zygote splits into multiple cells as it travels from the fallopian tube to
the uterus
o Zygote implants itself into the lining of the uterus
o Cells begin to differentiate
o The inner mass becomes the embryo
Splits into 3 layers that turn into important structures
o First layer becomes the neural tube/brain/spinal cord
o The outer mass becomes the amniotic sac and the placenta - What do each of the three layers become?
o 3rd layer: lungs, liver, lining of the digestive track
o 2nd layer: heart, muscles, bones, blood
o 1st layer: nervous system, spinal cord, brain, outer covering of skin,
hair
- At what stage of early development are identical twins most likely to form? o When the zygote splits into multiple cells as it travels down the
fallopian tube
- What are the characteristics and purpose of the amniotic sac? o It is a membrane filled with clear liquid inside which the fetus floats o It serves as a protective buffer for the developing child
- What are the characteristics and purpose of the placenta? o It is a network of blood vessels that exchange nutrients between the
fetus and the mother
The blood vessel that runs from the placenta to the embryo is
the umbilical cord
o It produces hormones that aid in the birthing process (e.g.
progesterone)
- Does the blood of the fetus and the mother ever mix?
o No
- What is the timeline for development of fetal behavior?
o 5-6 weeks: the fetus moves spontaneously
o 7 weeks: the baby hiccups
o 12 weeks: the fetus has all the movement coordinated that will be
present at birth
- What happens during the swallowing reflex of a fetus? Why? o They swallow amniotic fluid to prepare themselves for nursing and
using their tongues
- What is the significance of fetal breathing?
o The chest muscles move to imitate breathing by pulling in amniotic
fluid then pushing it out; this prepares them for breathing after birth - Describe what the fetus sees and touches in the womb.
o Can’t see much because it’s dark in the womb
o Feel things through their own activity, such as sucking on their thumbs
or bumping into the walls
- What can fetuses taste in the womb?
o The natural taste of the amniotic fluid
o Can also taste some of what the mother has eaten
Babies are more likely to prefer the taste of things their mother
has eaten than not
- How does smell affect fetuses in the womb?
o The amniotic fluid has a specific scent which helps the fetus find the
mother’s nipples to nurse after birth
- What can the fetus hear in the womb?
o Speech of the mother, sounds happening inside the mother (e.g.
heartbeat), outside noise (only in the third trimester)
- Can babies remember sounds they hear in the womb once they’re born? o Yes
- Define phylogenic continuity.
o The idea that because of common evolutionary history, humans share many characteristics and developmental processes with many different
living things
- Can experiences in the womb lead to a baby’s preference after birth? o Yes
- How many sperm are released during ejaculation?
o 300-500 million
- When an egg gets fertilized, how does it stop other sperm from entering? o It closes off its surface
- How much time passes between fertilization and the first cell division? o Life’s greatest miracle video: 24 hours
o Textbook: 12 hours
- What is the purpose of the zygote implanting itself into the uterine wall? o To provide food, nourishment, and safety
- What is SRY? How does it help determine the sex of the fetus? o A gene regulates the activity of other genes; potentially releases
proteins that tells other genes/cells to make testosterone and turn the
gonads into testes
- What happens if the SRY gene is not activated/the testosterone doesn’t reach
the gonads?
o The gonads turn into ovaries instead
- When during prenatal development do organs and systems form? o The second trimester
- When is a c-section necessary to save the life of the mother and the baby?
o When there isn’t enough room to deliver the baby (e.g. the vaginal
canal hasn’t opened enough, pelvis shape/size isn’t wide enough, etc.) - What is the main reason for miscarriages?
o The fetus has severe defects, such as a missing chromosome or an
extra one
- What is a teratogen?
o External or environmental agents which can negatively affect human
development
- Define “sensitive period”.
o The period where a developing fetus is most sensitive to external
factors/teratogens
- When is the sensitive period in human development? Why? o The embryonic period
o This is when the most major organs and systems are developing,
making them more sensitive to damage
- What is thalidomide? How does it affect fetuses?
o A drug that helped the effect of morning sickness
o It causes deformities in limbs as well as missing limbs
- What is a dose-response relation regarding teratogens?
o the greater the fetus’s exposure to a potential teratogen, the more likely it is that the fetus will suffer damage and the more severe any
damage is likely to be
- Why is it hard to pinpoint the exact effects of teratogens? o They are often combined with other risk factors, making it hard to
distinguish their individual effects
- What is fetal programming?
o The emergence of effects of prenatal experience later in life - Give an example of fetal programming.
o Inadequate prenatal nutrition
The fetus’s metabolism adjusts to the level of nutritional
deficiency experienced in the womb and does not reset itself
after birth
In a postnatal environment with abundant opportunities for caloric intake, this programming sets the stage for the
development of overweight and obesity issues
- What is an “individual difference” in reference to teratogens? o A specific genetic makeup that makes the person predisposed to the
effect of the teratogen
- What risks are there to babies born from teen pregnancies? o They are more 3-4 times more likely to die before their first birthday - What risks are there to babies born from pregnancies of older mothers? o Babies are more likely to have chromosomal abnormalities and birth
complications
- What happens to babies when their mothers don’t get enough folic acid
during pregnancy?
o They have neural tube defects
- What happens to babies when their mothers don’t get enough nutrients
during pregnancy?
o Their babies have smaller brains and fewer brain cells
o Also have impaired performance on attentional tasks
- Why is maternal stress related to fetal activity?
o When the mother is stressed, the baby is more active
o When the baby has changes in movement and heartrate, the mother’s
body imitates what the baby is doing/feeling
- What problems can maternal stress cause in children?
o hyperactivity and inattention in boys, conduct problems in girls, and
emotional problems in both boys and girls
- What are the 6 infant states of arousal?
o Active sleep (REM sleep)
o Quiet sleep (not REM sleep)
o Alert awake
o Active awake
o Crying
o Drowsing
- What age group do the 6 infant states of arousal apply to? o Babies one year old or younger
- Why do babies spend so much time in REM sleep when they’re in the womb? o It develops their visual system because there isn’t visual stimulation in
the uterus
- Why do babies spend so much time in REM sleep after they’re born? o The bodily movements that occur during REM sleep help develop
movements and link them with the sensations they create
- What are the “cry it out” (CIO) methods?
o Extinction
Once you put your baby to bed, ignore their crying until they
stop
By doing this, the baby learns not to cry because they aren’t be
rewarded by it
o Graduated extinction
Allow the baby to cry for longer and longer periods before you
attend to them, until they eventually sleep through the night
- Is there less of a bond between babies and mothers who use CIO? o No
- At what age do babies cry the most?
o 3-4 months
- Do babies all over the world cry the most during this age? Why is this significant?
o Yes; implies there's a central nervous system development that makes
babies cry the same
- What are the 5 S’s to soothe a crying baby?
o Swaddle
o Shush
o Swing
o Suck
o Side/stomach
- What is a colic baby?
o A baby that absolutely cannot be stopped form crying; there is no cure o Goes away after around the 3-month mark
Chapter 3
- Who discovered the structure of DNA?
o Franklin, Watson, and Crick
- Define genotype.
o Inherited genetic material
- Define phenotype.
o Observed expression of genetic material as well as environmental
influences
- Define environment.
o Everything else that affects genetics beyond genes themselves - What are gene-environment interactions?
o How genetic and the environment influence each other and the
phenotype of an individual
- How does a parent’s genotype affect their child’s genotype? o They pass along their DNA, making the child’s genotype like those of
their parents’
- What is a karyotype?
o An image of all the chromosomes in either a male or female - What is androgen sensitivity syndrome?
o When someone who has XY chromosomes does not have a sensitivity
to androgens
o This causes them to not have any male characteristics, have partial male characteristic, or have their body default to female but still have
only testosterone
- How does a child’s genotype affect their phenotype?
o The genes they receive from their parents can either be dominant or recessive, which highly varies the possibility of these genes being
expressed
- How does a child’s environment affect their phenotype?
o Their environment could make different genes express in different ways, therefore changing what their pure phenotype would be on
genes alone
- What is a norm of reaction/range of reaction?
o All the phenotypes that could theoretically result from a given
genotype in relation to all the environments in which it could survive - Give an example of genotypes affecting a person’s environment. o Phenylketonuria (PKU)
Some people are unable to metabolize phenylalanine, which is in
a lot of food
If you eat this but cannot metabolize it, it can cause brain
damage to a child and affect your cognition if you’re an adult - How does a child’s phenotype affect their environment?
o Children select their surroundings and experiences that match their
interests, talents, and personality characteristics
- How does a child’s environment affect their genotype?
o Depending on their stressors and events that happen to them when
young, people’s genes can turn on/off to adapt better
This causes changes in gene expression
- What is the epigenome? What is it affected by?
o A set of chemical compounds that tell the genome (DNA) what to do;
conditions in the environment
- What is methylation?
o An epigenetic mechanism that silences gene expression
- Give an example of methylation.
o Offspring that receive low-quality maternal care during infancy may experience methylation of genes involved in the stress response, which
may affect coping later in life
- Define polygenic.
o When multiple genes control how things are expressed
- Are all traits inheritable?
o Yes
- Are all traits multifactorial?
o Yes
- What are the premises to behavior genetics?
o To find out the extent that genetic factors are important for a given
trait
o To find out that shared environmental factors are important - What steps do behavior genetics researchers take when conducting
investigations?
o Measure the trait they’re studying in people who vary in their degree of
relatedness
o See how correlated the measure of the trait is among those people
o Check to see if the correlation is higher for people closely related than
those who don’t
o Check to see if the correlation is higher for people who share the same
environment than those who don’t
- What are the research designs for behavior genetics?
o Twin study
Compare correlations for a trait between identical twins and
same sex fraternal twins
o Adoption study
Compare correlations for adopted children against those of their adopted family members and their biological relatives to see
which are stronger
o Adoptive twin study
Compare identical twins raised together with identical twins raised apart; considered the best type of study for getting
results
- What is a heritability estimate?
o An estimate which tells how much of the measured variance on a trait among individuals in a given population is attributable to genetic
differences among those individuals
- Why are heritability estimates often misinterpreted?
o They only apply to populations and not individuals, and only
populations in a particular environment at a particular time
o They only show differences in population but not between different
populations
- What are neurons?
o The basic building blocks of the brain and central nervous system that
communicate with each other and other parts of the body
The axons of neurons are coated in myelin
- What is the purpose of the cerebral cortex?
o The part of the brain responsible for a lot of mental function;
responsible for higher order behavior humans display
- Define neurogenesis.
o The development of neurons early on in fetal growth
Happens at about 19 weeks after conception
- Define arborization.
o The process in which neurons form dendrites
- Define synapse elimination.
o Also called “pruning”
o People start with way more synapses than you need, so the ones your
brain actually use stay and the others are pruned
- What are the two kinds of brain plasticity?
o Experience-expectant plasticity: the role of general human experiences
in shaping brain development
o Experience-dependent plasticity: brain development that is affected by
variations in the environment
- Can intervention from certain events (such as poverty) help the brain develop
better?
o Yes
- Why do adolescents take more risks than adults and children? Are they less
afraid of risks than these two groups?
o Peer influence/peer pressure makes it more rewarding to do somethings risky if it works out; it’s more rewarding during
adolescence than it is during childhood and adulthood
o No, they have just as much risk adversity as adults and are able to think the situations through
Chapter 4
- What fields of study are Piaget’s theory based on?
o Biology and epistemology
- What is a big flaw to Piaget’s theory?
o He was observing his own children, so it is biased
- What is the constructivist approach to cognitive development? o That children are mentally active, and discover/construct all of their
knowledge about the world through their own activities
- What three themes does Piaget’s theory follow?
o Children are active from birth
o Children learn lessons on their own and don’t need instructions to learn o Children are intrinsically motivated to learn about the world
- Did Piaget believe in continuous or discontinuous development? o Discontinuous
- Define assimilation.
o When children use their preexisting structures to process information
about what they're experiencing
- Define accommodation.
o When a child's existing cognitive structure doesn't match their experiences, so they need to make them more sophisticated to
understand
- Define equilibrium and its stages.
o Equilibrium: process by which people balance assimilation and accommodation to understand
o Disequilibrium: discrepancy between the mental state and
experiencing, so accommodation needs to happen
o Stable, more sophisticated understanding: the end result of reaching
equilibrium
- How stages are there to Piaget’s theory? Name them.
o Four stages
Sensorimotor stage
Preoperational stage
Concrete operational stage
Formal operational stage
- Did Piaget believe the stage could happen in any order?
o No, they had to happen as listed
- Describe the sensorimotor stage.
o From 0-2 years old
o Babies have reflexes, orient toward sounds and faces, and take on
information through their senses
Can crawl
o Memory isn’t great
o Body and brain mature rapidly
o Have fragile, but developing object permanence
o At the end of this stage, babies can use mental representation E.g. make-believe play, imitate things, advanced object
permanence
- Describe the preoperational stage.
o 2-7 years old
o Kids have egocentrism: the inability to distinguish between their own
perspective, what they see, and what other people think
o Bad at performing operations
o Use illogical reasoning
o Kids have an animalistic thinking style and use centration
o Kids can’t reverse actions in their own heads
- Define operation.
o A mental representation of actions that obey logical rules
- Define centration.
o A centering of attention on one characteristic to the exclusion of all
others
- What is Piaget’s task?
o An experiment testing perspective
o Has a kid walk around a display of three mountains that have trees and
landscape
o Have the kid sit on one side of the mountains and asks them what they
see, has a doll sit on another side of the mountains
o Kids are then asked what the doll might see, but the children can't
describe it
- Give an example of a conservation test.
o Have two cups of water with the same amount, but then transfer one of the glasses into a bigger and fatter or smaller and thinner glass. The
child will think the one with the higher water level will have more water - Describe the concrete operational stage.
o 7-12 years old
o Kids can now think concretely about objects and events
o Children can reserve actions and not centrate
Called conservation
o Can use class inclusion
o Can use seriation
o Kids can only do these things if they perceive information directly They can’t think of abstract ideas
- Describe the formal operational stage.
o 12 years old-adulthood
o Able to think abstractly and reason hypothetically
o Can develop hypotheses through observation
o Perceive an imaginary audience
Idea that you think that everyone is looking at you, and judging
you
o Have an exaggerated sense of self-importance
o Potential increased idealism
- What is core knowledge theory/perspective?
o The idea that knowledge is something you are born with, but can adapt
to the stimulation of the environment
- What is the violation-of-expectation method? What are the phases? o Idea that infants will look longer at things they think are surprising,
especially events that go against how they expect the world will work o Habituation phase
Have a child look at something to get them used to it
o Test phase
Child will recover to the event which is more surprising,
producing more of a reaction
- What are some inconsistencies with Piaget’s theory?
o Makes it seem like children’s thinking is more consistent than it really
is
o It understates the impact of the social world on a child's cognitive
development
o It is vague about the cognitive processes that develop children's
thinking and the mechanisms that produce growth
- What did Vygotsky think of children’s “private language”? o Thought it was the foundation for higher cognitive processes o Thought it helps guide behavior
o Thought it gradually became more silent as you got older (became
internal thought)
- What is a zone of proximal development (ZPD)? What are its characteristics?
o The range of tasks that are too difficult for the child to complete on their own, but are easy enough to complete with the assistance of
someone else
o Is a bridge between the mind of child and others
o Is the area where most mental growth happens
o Let’s the child participate in things they otherwise couldn’t have
because it was too hard for them
- What is social scaffolding?
o Adjusting the type of support people offer to the child to fit with their learning level; The best way for the most knowledgeable partner in the
ZPD to provide for the less knowledgeable person
- What is guided participation?
o People with more experience level get together with less experienced
people to help them learn how to do certain tasks by just participating - Define “task analysis” in terms of information processing. o Identifying goals and relevant information in the environment for
solving these goals; also look at the end goal and see what steps
(strategies) are necessary to do this
- Define “computer simulation” in terms of information processing. o Idea that the brain is the hardware which humans run on
- According to the information processing theories, what are the types of
memory?
o Working memory: actively attending to, maintain, and processing
information and memory
o Long-term memory: accumulated knowledge over your lifetime o Executive memory/executive function ability: the ability to control
behavior
- What are the types of executive function ability?
o Inhibiting: As children get older they get better at inhibiting behaviors
they aren't supposed to do
o Enhancing working memory through strategies
o Selective attention: children can control where their attention is
focused
- Define encoding in terms of IP theories.
o Process of how things are perceived through the senses and become
memory
- How can encoding be improved?
o Strategy use
- What is the idea behind Siegler's overlapping waves theory of problem
solving?
o That children use different strategies to solve problems at different times
- Are children reliable narrators?
o No
- Why are kids not reliable narrators?
o Kids will also gradually believe something happened over time if they
keep getting exposed to information, even if it didn't happen
o If a child has information, they are less likely to remember things that
isn't consistent with the information
Also more likely to remember things that go along with the
knowledge, but didn't actually happen
- What are Ceci’s 3 reasons children are more susceptible than adults? o If they have information in their head/scripts it's hard to differentiate
between this and reality
o Children and adults have different kinds of memory
Children have verbatim memories: memory of events exactly as
they happen; these are easier to forget and change
o Source monitoring: monitoring and remembering the source of a particular memory; children are bad at this
Chapter 5
- Give examples of reflexes babies are born with.
o Grasping
o Rooting
o Sucking
o Tonic neck reflex
- Do reflexes disappear?
o Yes; at certain ages babies should replace their reflexes with voluntary
movements
- Is it possible for a baby’s reflexes to be too developed?
o Yes; if the reflexes are too developed or underdeveloped it can be a
sign of nervous system issues
- Is everything in motor development continuous?
o Yes
- Define proximodistal.
o The trunk develops before things that are distal from the trunk - Define Cepholocotal.
o Concept that things happen from head to tail; babies are first able to
control things near their head, then down as they grow
- What is pre-reaching? What does it do?
o When babies clumsily reach at objects within their proximities o Promotes the behaviors they need for fine motor skills, as well as
visual development
- What is the visual cliff study? What are the results?
o Researchers set up a table that is half transparent, half not; the
transparent side makes an illusion of a sharp drop
A child is placed on the non-transparent side, and they observe
whether or not they crawl over the edge that seems like a cliff Young children just crawl right over the transparent side, but
children a little older will already have developed a fear of
heights that made them more hesitant to crawl over
o Babies have no judgement at all where is a good place to crawl and
where isn't; they learn over time
- What is a scale error?
o Failure to integrate perceptual information and motor behaviors - Give an example of scale error.
o Young children interact with mini versions of objects like they're the full size versions because the parts of the brain that are responsible for receiving visual information and perception aren't connected well to the parts of the brain that are responsible for executing movement