PYC4805_ Child Development Psychology_ Answers to 21 questions 2021.

PYC4805_ Child Development Psychology_ Answers to 21 questions 2021. LEARNING CAPABILITY Babies are born with built-in learning capabilities that permit them to profit from experience immediately.  Classical Conditioning Helps baby to recognize and respond to order and predictability, the mother stroking her baby’s head when nursing will find the infant responding to stroking by Downloaded by: serishapillay | Distribution of this document is illegal Downloaded by: NurseKims | Distribution of this document is illegal Downloaded by: NurseKims | Distribution of this document is illegal S - The Marketplace for Revision Notes & Study Guides S - The Marketplace for Revision Notes & Study Guides S - The study-notes marketplace 10 making sucking gestures helping to reinforce the bond between the mothers habits and the infant.  Operant conditioning plays a vital role in the formation of social relationships- as the baby gazes into the adult's eyes the adult looks and smiles back, and the infant looks and smiles back. The behavior of each reinforces the other and provides a stimulating relationship for the infant. Imitation, The infant's capacity to imitate at birth although limited to certain gestures and head turning, may reflect the baby's deep-seated need to communicate, and the baby uses imitation to explore its social world, getting to know people by matching behavior states with them and discovering more of themselves in the process as well. Caregivers take great pleasure in a baby who imitates their facial gestures and actions and helps to cement a good relationship. MOTOR DEVELOPMENT IN INFANCY Babies’ motor achievements have a powerful impact on their social relationships. Once they can crawl parents start to restrict their activities with "NO!" and by expressing mild anger and impatience.  Walking brings the first testing of wills with the infant now able to get to and do more out of bounds activities – knocking over lamps, pulling things off shelves.  Parents also increase their expression of affection and playful activities as the infant is able to seek them out and come to them.  Other motor skills such as reaching and pointing enable the infant to communicate more effectively.  The infant's babbling, laughing and smiling as it practices and extends its motor skills triggers pleasurable reaction in others which further encourage the infant’s efforts.  Motor skills and social competencies, language and cognition develop together and support one another. PERCEPTUAL DEVELOPMENT IN INFANCY Touch, vision, and hearing permits us to interact with others and is basic to emotional and social development. Touch - Touch is a fundamental means of interaction between parents and babies and within the first few days mothers can recognize their own babies by stroking the infant’s cheek or hand. The soft touch from an adult induces infants to smile and become more attentive to the adult's face. Hearing and speech - Infant’s special responsiveness to speech encourages parents to talk to their baby. As they do so both readiness for language and the emotional bond between caregiver and child are strengthened. Infants can distinguish happy from sad sounding speech but only while looking at people’s faces. These factors indicates the integral part that speech and hearing play in the baby's' forming of relationships. Vision - Eye contact is used to evoke caregiver interaction and as a forerunner to imitation. Shared focus of attention on objects establishes a basis for play and mutual bond. Downloaded by: serishapillay | Distribution of this document is illegal Downloaded by: NurseKims | Distribution of this document is illegal Downloaded by: NurseKims | Distribution of this document is illegal S - The Marketplace for Revision Notes & Study Guides S - The Marketplace for Revision Notes & Study Guides S - The study-notes marketplace 11 An interesting capacity is the infants tendency to look longer at faces judged by conventional standards as attractive – a preference that may be the origin of social bias favoring physically attractive people. Question 4 (15 marks) “…rushing early learning harms the brain by overwhelming its neural circuits, thereby reducing the brain’s sensitivity to the everyday experiences it needs for a healthy start in life” (Berk, 2013, p. 192). Discuss this statement by referring to infancy as a sensitive period of development and to sensitive periods in brain development. If you analyse this question you will see that you need to pay attention to:  background information on sensitive periods  a brief explanation of what a sensitive period is  research findings on early brain growth and sensitive periods in brain development  research findings on the effects of early deprivation and enrichment on brain development and intervention in this regard  the issue of whether infancy can indeed be regarded as a sensitive period in the development of humans. SENSITIVE PERIOD DEFINITION The term "sensitive periods" during the early years, is a time during which children rapidly develop foundational capabilities upon which subsequent development builds. These time periods are significantly influenced by the following elements:  Biological factors  Environmental factors  Interpersonal sources of resiliency and vulnerability Stimulation of the brain is vital when it is growing most rapidly. Both animal and human studies reveal that early, extreme sensory deprivation results in permanent brain damage and loss of functions—findings that verify the existence of sensitive periods in brain development. Research on children adopted from Romanian orphanages indicates that deprived institutional care extending beyond the first six months results in persistent intellectual impairments and mental health problem. Much evidence confirms that the brain is particularly sponge-like during the first few years, enabling children to acquire new skills easily and quickly. Researchers distinguish between two types of brain development. The first, experience-expectant brain growth refers to the young brain's rapidly developing organization, which depends on ordinary experiences—opportunities to interact with people, hear language and other sounds, see and touch objects, and move about and explore the environment. As a result of millions of years of evolution, the brains of all infants, toddlers, and young children expect to encounter these experiences and, if they do, grow normally. The second type of brain development, experiencedependent brain growth, occurs throughout our lives. It consists of additional growth and refinement of established brain structures as a result of specific learning experiences that vary widely across individuals and cultures. Reading and writing, playing computer games, weaving an intricate rug, and practicing the violin are examples. The brain of a violinist differs in certain ways from that of a poet because each has exercised different brain regions for a long time. Experienceexpectant brain development occurs early and naturally, as caregivers offer babies and preschoolers age-appropriate play materials and engage them in enjoyable daily routines—a Downloaded by: serishapillay | Distribution of this document is illegal Downloaded by: NurseKims | Distribution of this document is illegal Downloaded by: NurseKims | Distribution of this document is illegal S - The Marketplace for Revision Notes & Study Guides S - The Marketplace for Revision Notes & Study Guides S - The study-notes marketplace 12 shared meal, a game of peekaboo or a bath before bed. The resulting growth provides the foundation for later-occurring, experience-dependent development.  During early brain development there are sensitive periods during which particular experiences affect brain maturation.  Although certain experiences are essential for orderly brain development to proceed, the occurrences of some noxious experiences will cause harm to the developing organism.  Descriptively, sensitive periods could be conceived of as a brief opening of a window of vulnerability and also of opportunity. A child's immediate environment and early experiences shape essential social, emotional, cognitive, language and motor skills, all of which are critical for school readiness.  Failure to provide appropriate stimulation, consistent responsive care, and opportunities to explore the immediate environment during the sensitive periods, may fail to develop the connections within the brain that facilitate essential learning and lead to self-regulating skills.  Many investigations have found that stimulating physical surroundings and warm caregiving that is responsive to infants’ self-initiated efforts, promote active exploration of the environment and earlier attainment of developmental milestones. The sensitive period concept seeks answers to whether babies who are deprived of appropriate stimulation (under and over stimulation) in the first 2 years of life can fully overcome the effects of this deprivation later in life or once removed from this environment into an enriched setting. In a study on Romanian orphans adopted into British families, Rutter (cited in Berk, 2006) found that the longer infants were institutionalised, the more severe and persistent their cognitive, emotional and social deficits. Those adopted after 2 years of age were profoundly affected. In addition, the longer the time spent institutionalised, as well as poor cognitive functioning, correlated with below average head size; concluding that early lack of stimulation damaged the brain. Ames and Chrisholm (cited in Berk, 2006) repeated this study with Romanian orphans being adopted by Canadian families. Similar results were obtained. Deprived institutional care for the first 2years of life permanently affects all aspects of psychological development negatively. White and Held (cited in Berk, 2006) found that over stimulation undermines development as the child is not ready to handle that stimulation. Berk (2006) states that overwhelming the brain’s neural circuits reduces the brains sensitivity to everyday experiences it needs for a healthy start in life. During the first 2 years of life there is rapid synaptic formation and myelination of neurons which will improve the efficiency of message transfer. During this time it is critical that the brain receive stimulation as it is growing rapidly. The brains of infants expect to encounter sights, sounds, opportunities to touch and explore the environment. This is termed experience expectant brain growth. If these opportunities are provided, then the child will grow normally. Even though infants expect to experience this, it explains why institutionalised infants or infants with sensory deficits or brain injured infants exhibit many deficits sometimes affecting many domains of development. According to Huttenlocher (cited in Berk, 2006) experience-expectant brain growth lays the foundation for cognitive development, and the later-occurring experience-dependent development. There is no sensitive period for experience-dependent brain growth, as it is dependent on what the infant is exposed to after the foundation has been laid. It involves fine-tuning of certain skills and it is never too late to learn. Downloaded by: serishapillay | Distribution of this document is illegal Downloaded by: NurseKims | Distribution of this document is illegal Downloaded by: NurseKims | Distribution of this document is illegal S - The Marketplace for Revision Notes & Study Guides S - The Marketplace for Revision Notes & Study Guides S - The study-notes marketplace 13 Vondra (cited in Berk, 2006) states that maternal deprivation negatively impacts child development but the effects can be lessened if the child forms a bond with another family member, has good social and financial support. Spitz (cited in Berk, 2006) found that babies between 3-12 months that were given up by their mothers and were consequently institutionalised changed from happy, outgoing infants to tearful and withdrawn infants. These children also lost weight and had difficulty sleeping. Spitz concluded that a child needs a consistent caregiver or else the depression deepens. Similarly, Tizard and Rees (cited in Berk, 2006) found that a high turnover of staff in an institution, even if the institution provides a stimulating and enriched environment, results in child attachment difficulties. Children still display similar relationship problems to those who were placed in a deprived institution for the first 6 months of life. Tizard and Rees (cited in Berk, 2006) concluded that the critical period for a first bond attachment can be as late as 6 years of age. In a study of infants from birth to 2years of age, Symons (cited in Berk, 2006) found that difficult infants more often had highly anxious mothers which often resulted in a disharmonious relationship and insecure attachment in the 2nd year. Berk (2006) states that infant difficultness and maternal anxiety perpetuate one another, impairing the quality of caregiving, and the security of the parentinfant bond. Besides anxiety, maternal depression can have long-lasting, negative effects on emotional and behavioural development of the child. Martins and Gaffan (cited in Berk, 2006) found that a 6 month old infant whose mother was depressed from the time of her birth, displayed developmental delay, negative and irritable mood and attachment difficulties. Van IJzendoorn (cited in Berk, 2006) stresses the importance of the emotional stability of the mother and places little significance on the internal state of the child. It is the environment, not heritable traits, that influence how securely attached a child is. Therefore, it is the mother’s responsibility to interact sensitively with her baby in order for the child to develop normally. De Wolff and van IJzendoorn ( cited in Berk, 2006) states that responding promptly, consistently and appropriately to infants and holding them tenderly and carefully ensures securely attached infants. Mother’s who engage in less physical contact, handle the infant awkwardly, or is sometimes angry, resentful and rejecting have insecurely attached infants (Isabella in Berk, 2006) Follow-ups into adulthood is necessary to ensure the validity of the above research. However, research has shown that establishing close ties with a caregiver should result in normal development. The first 2 years of life are critical for emotional, cognitive and social development. If the environment during this time is not appropriately enriched, the child could have permanent brain damage. The first 6 years are critical for the first bond attachment to be formed, so the infant is able to establish good, rewarding and warm relationships with others later in life. Downloaded by: serishapillay | Distribution of this document is illegal Downloaded by: NurseKims | Distribution of this document is illegal Downloaded by: NurseKims | Distribution of this document is illegal S - The Marketplace for Revision Notes & Study Guides S - The Marketplace for Revision Notes & Study Guides S - The study-notes marketplace 14 Question 5 (10 marks) Discuss the impact of maturational timing on adolescent adjustment. Refer in your discussion to gender-related differences in this regard and possible short- and long-term consequences. Maturational timing = puberty… refers to the period when young people attain an adult sized body and become capable of producing offspring. The age at which puberty begins has an effect on adolescent adjustment; this effect is different in boys and in girls. Early maturation impact on adjustment: Girls: Boys:  Seen negatively  Unpopular /withdrawn /lacking selfconfidence and prone to depression  Hold few leadership positions  More involved in deviant behaviour (smoking, drinking) and achieved less well in school  Both peers and adults viewed early maturing boys more positively as relaxed / independent / self-confidant / physically attractive  They are more popular  Tend to hold leadership positions and be athletic stars  Viewed as well-adjusted but with slightly more psychological stress, depressed mood and problematic behaviour then on-time and later maturing age-mates. Late maturation impact on adjustment: Girls: Boys:  Seen positively…  regarded as physically attractive /lively /sociable and leaders at school  Expressed more anxiety and depressed mood than their on-time counterparts. Maturation consequences: Short term:  Early maturing girls have less positive body image as opposed to late maturing girls  In boys early maturing ones are more likely to have a positive body image  Early maturing girls and late maturing boys have difficulty fitting in with peers  Early maturing girls seek out older companions who are obviously more similar to them this may have a bad effect on them (they are encouraged to do activities they are not ready to handle emotionally)  Early maturing girls and boys show more stress and decline in academic performance  Early maturing girls are dissatisfied with their bodies and are more prone to eating disorders Downloaded by: serishapillay | Distribution of this document is illegal Downloaded by: NurseKims | Distribution of this document is illegal Downloaded by: NurseKims | Distribution of this document is illegal S - The Marketplace for Revision Notes & Study Guides S - The Marketplace for Revision Notes & Study Guides S - The study-notes marketplace 15  Early maturing girls and late maturing boys may be inclined towards depression Long term: Especially evident in girls  Early maturing girls are especially prone to long term difficulties…. Eg. If they suffered depression this was likely to persist. Whereas in late maturing boys it ended  Early maturing girls have poor quality relationships with family and friends /smaller social networks and lower life satisfaction in adulthood.  Achievement difficulties and in appropriate activity in early maturing girls continue into adulthood Downloaded by: serishapillay | Distribution of this document is illegal Downloaded by: NurseKims | Distribution of this document is illegal Downloaded by: NurseKims | Distribution of this document is illegal S - The Marketplace for Revision Notes & Study Guides S - The Marketplace for Revision Notes & Study Guides S - The study-notes marketplace 16 Question 6 (20 marks) With regard to Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, answer ONE of the following questions. Note: If this question is asked in the examination, the same choice will be given. 6.1 Evaluate the validity of Piaget’s description of the sensori-motor stage of cognitive development on the basis of recent research evidence. [20 Marks] or 6.2 Discuss recent research on pre-operational thought and their implications for the accuracy of Piaget’s description of the pre-operational stage. [20 Marks] 6.2 The Preoperational Stage: 2 to 7 Years As children move from the sensorimotor to the preoperational stage, which spans the years 2 to 7, the most obvious change is an extraordinary increase in representational, or symbolic, activity. Infants' and toddlers' mental representations are impressive, but in early childhood, representational capacities blossom. Advances in Mental Representation Piaget acknowledged that language is our most flexible means of mental representation. By detaching thought from action, it permits far more efficient thinking than was possible earlier. When we think in words, we can deal with past, present, and future at once and combine concepts in unique ways. But Piaget did not regard language as the primary ingredient in childhood cognitive change. Instead, he believed that sensorimotor activity leads to internal images of experience, which children then label with words. In support of Piaget's view, children's first words have a strong sensorimotor basis, usually referring to objects that move or can be acted on or to familiar actions. And as we have seen, infants acquire an impressive range of categories long before they use words to label them. Still, Piaget underestimated the power of language to spur children's cognition. Research inspired by Vygotsky's theory, which we take up later, confirms that language is a powerful source of cognitive development, not just an indicator of it. Examples of the advances in mental representation in the preoperational stage:  Make-believe play - through pretending, children practice and strengthen newly acquired representational schemes.  Drawings – cognitive factors include: a realization that that picture can serve as symbols; improved planning and spatial understanding and the emphasis that the child’s culture places on artistic expression.  Symbol-real world relations – a realization that each symbol corresponds to something specific in everyday life. Limitations of Preoperational Thought