Lecture notes from Developmental and Educational Psychology (year 1)

Lecture notes
Lecture 1:
Terms
 Fertilisation: when gametes fuse
 Gametes = germ cells (1 egg, 1 sperm)
 Mitosis = cell division
 Cell migration: cells move within embryo
 Cell differentiation: cells reach specific destination and serve specific function
 Apoptosis = cell death
 Identical twins: develop when inner cell mass splits
 Fraternal twins: develop during conception
 Teratogens = environmental influences that can lead to damage or even death of the
prenatally developing child. Extent of damage depends on: severity, duration, timing
(sensitive periods)
 Attachment = an emotional bond with a specific person that is enduring across space
and time


Development human being
 Zygote (0-2 weeks): migration to uterus > cell division > implantation in the uterine
wall (cells become hollow sphere with inner cell mass and later becomes support
system embryo) > hCG is secreted (pregnancy tests can detect this)
 Embryo (3-8 weeks): inner cell mass forms 3 layers (different parts of the body) >
Formation neural tube (becomes brain and spinal cord) > support system develops:
placenta with umbilical cord and amniotic sac > organ systems develop (vulnerable
for teratogens)
 Fetus (<9 weeks): further development of organs and systems, physical growth
(mostly lower part of the body)
 Week 5-6: embryo starts moving
 Week 7: hiccups
 Week 10: fetal breathing (amniotic fluid flows in and out of lungs) and wake-sleep
cycle (awake 1/3 of the time)
 Week 12: all behaviours of a new-born present (thumb sucking, grasping, swallowing)

Prenatal sensory experiences:
 Only some visual stimulation
 Tactile stimulation through movement
 Amniotic fluid takes on flavour and scent of ingested food (sweet tooth)
 Fetus responds to internal and external sounds

Prenatal learning:
 During 3rd trimester
 Animal studies: memory for amniotic fluid scent (phylogenetic continuity: humans
are similar to animals)
 Research with new-borns: preference for mother’s voice (sucking pattern)

,Changing perspectives attachment:
 Before 1940: Emotional care unnecessary for healthy development
 After 1945: Emotional connection with caregiver is important from a very young age
 Start of systematic attachment research: Attachment quality -> developmental
outcome

Attachment theory:
 Babies have an innate drive to bond with their caregiver(s) -> increases survival
(evolution)
 Babies use their parent as a ‘secure base’ to explore their environments
 Co-regulation: regulating emotions through the parent

Attachment stages:
1. Pre-attachment (0-6 weeks): baby communicates with innate behaviours, such as
crying
2. Attachment-in-the-making (6 weeks-6/8 months): preference for familiar people,
development of trust
3. Clear-cut attachment (8-18 months): actively seeks contact, separation anxiety
4. Reciprocal relationships (18/24 months-…): understanding of others, regulation
(separation anxiety decreases)

Social-emotional development:
 Enduring emotional tie between caregiver and child
 Child develops an internal working model of attachment
 Attachment quality is important for later social functioning

Attachment quality can be based on:
1. The extent to which the child uses the caregiver as a secure base
2. The child’s reaction to separation from and returning of the caregiver

Strange situation experiment: researching attachment styles

Attachment categories:
 secure attachment (warmth, authoritative, involved)
 insecure attachment
a. Insecure/resistant (ambivalent)
b. Insecure/avoidant
c. Disorganized/disoriented

Lecture 2: -

Lecture 3: seeing, thinking & doing in infancy
Perception
 Newborns have low visual acuity, poor colour vision and poor contrast sensitivity ->
immature retina (low amount of cones)
 Preferential looking technique
 Newborns are fascinated by faces (especially attractive faces)

,  Size constancy: seeing object as same size independent of distance
 Intermodal perception: connect information from different senses
 Newborns use common movement of pieces to identify separate objects -> object
segregation (also knowledge of gravity is used)
 Perceptual narrowing: becoming worse at making foreign distinctions and also takes
place in intermodal perception
 during first year, newborns develop adult-like vision

Motor development
 Newborns show many unconditioned reflexes (majority is temporary)
 Disappearing of stepping reflex: brain maturation, training, weight/strength
 Experience speeds up or slows down motor development
 Timing of motor milestones influenced by brain maturation, physical growth and
experience

Learning
General:
 Habituation: auditory localisation
 Classical conditioning: neutral stimulus becomes conditioned stimulus
 Instrumental conditioning: reinforcement vs. punishment
 Observational learning/imitation: watch/imitate a model (parent)
Special types:
 Perceptual learning: learning by paying attention
1. Infants learn affordances (=what you can do with objects) and it takes some time
to reckon with the scale
2. Infants perform differentiation (=finding the relationships that remain constant)
 Statistical learning: detecting statistically predictable patterns
 Rational learning: using prior experiences to predict what will occur in the future
 Active learning: learning by acting on the world

Cognition
 Object permanence: knowledge that something still exists, even when it is out of
view
 Physical knowledge: infants gradually learn more about gravity
 Social knowledge: six-month-olds mentally represent the goal object of an actor’s
reach
- False-belief problems (theory of mind)

Lecture 4: cognitive & conceptual development
Part 1: cognitive
Piaget Theory
Fundamental assumptions:
1. “Child as scientist” -> children construct their own knowledge based on their
experiences (constructivist approach)
2. Children don’t need instruction
3. Children are intrinsically motivated to learn