PSY311 TEST 1 LECTURE NOTES. EXAM
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS | 2026
UPDATE | 100% CORRECT.
Social Development is a sub-field of Developmental Psychology that studies - ANS - "changes
over time (KEY VARIABLE) in the child's understanding of attitudes toward, and actions of
others."
- "the small child's activities and feelings, control of emotions and will"- basically focuses on
children as unique individuals and NOT as adults
Social Development includes the following aspects - ANS - affective
- cognitive (i.e., social cognition: social and emotional behaviour with others)
- social
Social Psychology focuses on - ANS how we relate to others and how others influence our
behaviours, feelings and thoughts
Why are children studied? - ANS - Because of an interest in children (i.e., what is my child
supposed to do at age X? To understand what is typical and what is not)
> Practical implications (by using charts)
> Theoretical implications (by just trying to understand how something works)
- Because of an interest in adults (questions about the nature and product of development - in
order to understand why adults behave the way they do)
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,Three periods of social development research - ANS - Emergence (1870s - 1900s)
- Middle Period (1900s - 1960s)
- Modern Era (1960w - today)
Emergence (1870s - 1900s) - ANS Baby biographies (Darwin, Hall) - same questions as today
but different methods
Baby biographies - ANS - everything is written down about the baby's
- helps to see change overtime
- it is an empirical approach
- helps to bring children into a developmental focus
Middle Period (1900s - 1960s) - ANS - Maturationalist approach
- Environmentalist approach
- Socialization
NONE of these theories are perfect and are NOT in active ages (they all have limitations)
Maturationalist approach - ANS Chart and describe the unfolding of endowed characteristics.
- biological endowment
- heredity: what we inherit
- maturation unfolding according to the plan, in order, biologically
Environmentalist approach - ANS Watson (Behaviourism) - experimentally and objectively
determine how the child learns
- by what/who is around
- classical conditioning (reinforcement, punishment, etc.)
- nature ALWAYS has a big impact
@COPYRIGHT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED PAGE 2 OF 26
, Socialization - ANS Psychoanalytic and sociological theory - how do adults contribute to child
growth and development
- modelling behaviour, observation (i.e., child who looks up to mom/dad (more of what they do
instead of what they say)
- language development (based on how/where you learn it)
Modern Era (1960s - today) - ANS - Structuralist approach
- Normative-descriptive focus resulting in Stage theories
Structuralist approach - ANS Piaget, Kohlberg - Social processes are important and the child is
an active agent.
- the child will seek a developmental niche (things that interest them)
- biological makeup plays a role
- a child can be exposed to things by parents
Specifying developmental processes - ANS - The search for developmental processes
(maturational, behaviourism (i.e., reinforcement, punishment), psychoanalytic (i.e., Freud's
theory), social learning (i.e., observation))
- Mediational processes in social development: Structural reorganization of thought and action
(Piaget, Kohlberg) as developmental change agents
Expanded view of regulatory Processes (how do we regulate our behaviour?) - ANS -
Socialization (shift away from exclusive top-down processes)
> horizontal: the child will learn from their peers
- Self-regulation (coping with stress, emotional regulation, the individual difference in
temperament)
Expanded units of social experience - ANS - Diadic units of analysis (mom-child - Bowlby's
theory) (i.e., studying mom with the child - is the mom there? is the mom patient? is dad there?
etc.)
- Shift away from "Early Determinism" - studies of children brought up in orphanages
- Peers - bidirectional influences
@COPYRIGHT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED PAGE 3 OF 26
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS | 2026
UPDATE | 100% CORRECT.
Social Development is a sub-field of Developmental Psychology that studies - ANS - "changes
over time (KEY VARIABLE) in the child's understanding of attitudes toward, and actions of
others."
- "the small child's activities and feelings, control of emotions and will"- basically focuses on
children as unique individuals and NOT as adults
Social Development includes the following aspects - ANS - affective
- cognitive (i.e., social cognition: social and emotional behaviour with others)
- social
Social Psychology focuses on - ANS how we relate to others and how others influence our
behaviours, feelings and thoughts
Why are children studied? - ANS - Because of an interest in children (i.e., what is my child
supposed to do at age X? To understand what is typical and what is not)
> Practical implications (by using charts)
> Theoretical implications (by just trying to understand how something works)
- Because of an interest in adults (questions about the nature and product of development - in
order to understand why adults behave the way they do)
@COPYRIGHT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED PAGE 1 OF 26
,Three periods of social development research - ANS - Emergence (1870s - 1900s)
- Middle Period (1900s - 1960s)
- Modern Era (1960w - today)
Emergence (1870s - 1900s) - ANS Baby biographies (Darwin, Hall) - same questions as today
but different methods
Baby biographies - ANS - everything is written down about the baby's
- helps to see change overtime
- it is an empirical approach
- helps to bring children into a developmental focus
Middle Period (1900s - 1960s) - ANS - Maturationalist approach
- Environmentalist approach
- Socialization
NONE of these theories are perfect and are NOT in active ages (they all have limitations)
Maturationalist approach - ANS Chart and describe the unfolding of endowed characteristics.
- biological endowment
- heredity: what we inherit
- maturation unfolding according to the plan, in order, biologically
Environmentalist approach - ANS Watson (Behaviourism) - experimentally and objectively
determine how the child learns
- by what/who is around
- classical conditioning (reinforcement, punishment, etc.)
- nature ALWAYS has a big impact
@COPYRIGHT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED PAGE 2 OF 26
, Socialization - ANS Psychoanalytic and sociological theory - how do adults contribute to child
growth and development
- modelling behaviour, observation (i.e., child who looks up to mom/dad (more of what they do
instead of what they say)
- language development (based on how/where you learn it)
Modern Era (1960s - today) - ANS - Structuralist approach
- Normative-descriptive focus resulting in Stage theories
Structuralist approach - ANS Piaget, Kohlberg - Social processes are important and the child is
an active agent.
- the child will seek a developmental niche (things that interest them)
- biological makeup plays a role
- a child can be exposed to things by parents
Specifying developmental processes - ANS - The search for developmental processes
(maturational, behaviourism (i.e., reinforcement, punishment), psychoanalytic (i.e., Freud's
theory), social learning (i.e., observation))
- Mediational processes in social development: Structural reorganization of thought and action
(Piaget, Kohlberg) as developmental change agents
Expanded view of regulatory Processes (how do we regulate our behaviour?) - ANS -
Socialization (shift away from exclusive top-down processes)
> horizontal: the child will learn from their peers
- Self-regulation (coping with stress, emotional regulation, the individual difference in
temperament)
Expanded units of social experience - ANS - Diadic units of analysis (mom-child - Bowlby's
theory) (i.e., studying mom with the child - is the mom there? is the mom patient? is dad there?
etc.)
- Shift away from "Early Determinism" - studies of children brought up in orphanages
- Peers - bidirectional influences
@COPYRIGHT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED PAGE 3 OF 26
