PSY 2350 Child Development

Adrienne Tinder

Spring 2005

Book Questions: Chapter 1

1. Briefly explain why child development is known as an applied, interdisciplinary area.

2. What are the three broad domains of development. Describe each.

3. Explain what is meant by continuous versus discontinuous development. Which perspective includes the concept of stages?

4. What is the nature-nurture controversy? Which stance would emphasize stability?

5. Trace the history of psychology from medieval times through the enlightenment. Be sure to understand how each “time” and philosopher viewed children.

6. What are the two main principles of Darwin’s theory?

7. How did we first “study” children? Describe baby biographies and the limitations of them. Explain the normative approach.

8. Describe the contributions and shortcomings of Freud’s psychoanalytic theory. In what ways did Erik Erikson expand and improve on Freud’s basic psychosexual framework? (Do not worry about Erickson’s individual stages)

9. Which theorist introduced behaviorism? He used what form of conditioning?

10. Describe Clark Hull’s theory.

11. Explain how Skinner’s operant conditioning theory and Bandura’s modeling theory each led to new ideas about the conditions under which children learn.

12. Describe Piaget’s theory. (Do not worry about the individual stages for Exam I). What are the contributions and limitations of his theory?

13. Describe the information processing perspective. Is it a stage theory? Does it view the child as active or passive?

14. What is the ethological approach. What concepts did this approach introduce?

15. Identify the unique features of Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory.

16. Describe the dynamic systems perspective?

17. Understand Bronfenbrenner’s model of the ecology of human development. Do not worry about memorizing individual levels, but have an understanding of the levels and how they interact with each other.

PSY 2350 Child Development

Adrienne Tinder

Spring 2005

Book Questions: Chapter 2

1. Describe the two types of systematic observation used in child development research: naturalistic and structured. Explain the strengths and limitations of each method.

2. Define the following procedures: specimen record, event sampling, time sampling.

3. Describe the limitations of systematic observations.

4. Contrast the clinical interview with the structured interview approach. Explain the strengths and limitations of each method.

5. When would a researcher use psychophysiological measures? What are some examples?

6. What is a “case study”? What are the strengths and limitations of this method? What method attempts to understand processes of a culture or social group?

7. Describe the basic meaning of the terms reliability and validity. Give examples of how investigators determine the reliability of information they gather. Explain why unreliable data cannot possibly be valid.

8. What is a correlation coefficient? What does the size and sign of the coefficient tell the researcher?

9. Describe an experiment. Be sure to understand the difference between independent variable and dependent variables.

10. What is random assignment? What problem does it protect against?

11. What are the primary differences between laboratory experiments, field experiments, and natural experiments?

12. Describe the differences between the longitudinal, cross-sectional, and longitudinal-sequential designs. Indicate the advantages and disadvantages of each.

13. Describe the microgenetic design. This type of study is particularly useful for studying what type of development?

14. Explain why the ethical principles of informed consent and debriefing require special interpretation when children are the research participants.

PSY 2350 Child Development

Adrienne Tinder

Spring 2005

Book Questions: Chapter 3

1. What are chromosomes and genes? How do cells divide and duplicate? What are the sex cells? How are they formed?

2. Describe the difference between monozygotic and dyzygotic twins? Which is more common?

3. How does the dominant-recessive relationship work in genetic inheritance? (What are alleles? Under what condition does the dominant-recessive inheritance happen? What does it mean to be a “carrier”?)

4. Explain the abnormality involved with Down Syndrome. What are the effects of Down Syndrome on the child? How does Down Syndrome relate to maternal age?

5. Describe the methods used by genetic counselors the help people evaluate the chances they will bear a child with a genetic disorder.

6. What is amniocentesis, chorionic villus sampling, & ultrasound? When can each be performed?

7. How many weeks is a normal pregnancy? What are the three phases of pregnancy and how long is each phase?

8. The baby is called many different names during pregnancy. Know the order of these names.

9. What are the three layers of cells of the 4 week old embryo. What will these cells develop into?

10. What is vernix and lanugo?

11. When is the age of viability?

12. Explain what is meant by sensitive periods during pregnancy. Which period or phase of pregnancy is the time of maximum susceptibility to environmental influences?

13. Describe the impact of maternal smoking, alcohol consumption, and maternal malnutrition of prenatal development.

14. What are the three stages of childbirth? In general, how long is each stage?

15. What is the difference between preterm babies and small for date babies? Which usually has more serious problems?

16. What is the field of behavior genetics? What are the two methods behavioral geneticists use to infer the role of heredity? What are some ways that heredity and environment combine to explain behavior?

PSY 2350 Child Development

Adrienne Tinder

Book Questions: Chapter 4

1. Know the following reflexes: rooting, sucking, moro, palmar, stepping, babinski. Which have survival value for the infant?

2. Briefly describe the six states of arousal. Note the length of awake versus sleep time for the newborn.

3. What are the differences between REM and NREM sleep. What percent of time do babies spend in each?

4. What would an ethologist say about responding quickly to a crying baby? A behaviorist?

5. What are the two basic forms of learning (conditioning) that the newborn infant can profit from? (If these two forms are not familiar to you, you should re-learn them!)

6. Describe the habituation process. What are some limitations of this type of research? What does habituation and recovery time (dishabituation) predict later in life?

7. Explain the dynamic systems theory. What is meant by “softly assembled”?

8. Describe the development of reaching and grasping.

9. Are infants sensitive to pain?

10. Do newborns distinguish the basic tastes? Which taste develops differently than the rest that may enable them to accept solid food?

11. Are odor preferences innate?

12. How do children use optical flow for balance and self-movement?

13. What do newborns and young babies prefer to listen to?

14. Which is the least mature sense in a newborn? Why is this?

15. What type of “test” is used to discern if children have depth perception?

16. How does the newborn’s preference for patterns change as he or she gets older? What is contrast sensitivity? What is the evidence suggesting that newborns prefer faces?

17. Understand the difference between size constancy and shape constancy.

18. What is intermodal perception? Can newborms acquire this ability?

19. Briefly explain Gibson’s differentiation theory.

20. Is there evidence for a “sensitive period” for learning perceptual and motor skills? How do we study this?