24-12-05 PSYC205 Seminar 3 by Mathilde H Prenevost

Essay question 1

mathildehallingstad — 2024-12-05 14:00:04 UTC

Describe and critically evaluate at least two methodologies or paradigms that can be effectively applied to study curious exploration in early childhood.

Essay question 2

mathildehallingstad — 2024-12-05 14:00:04 UTC

Discuss the role of socio-cultural differences in at least two different domains of early development.

Essay question 3

mathildehallingstad — 2024-12-05 14:00:04 UTC

Chomsky argued that we are born with innate knowledge of language – the Language Acquisition Device. Evaluate arguments for and against this position.

Essay question 4

mathildehallingstad — 2024-12-05 14:00:04 UTC

Is children's cognitive development best characterised as a staged process or a continuous process? Use relevant evidence to support your argument.

HMCQ 2

mathildehallingstad — 2024-12-05 14:00:04 UTC

Ivan and Anna are new parents who are raising their baby in Russia. As a high SES and highly educated family, they are keen to learn all there is to know about infant development. They read books in English to guide their parenting choices based on most rigorous evidence. However, they discovered that their baby’s behaviour does not seem to match what they read about. Why might the findings from published psychological research not accurately reflect their child’s behaviour?

A) The majority of psychological research focuses on genetic variations across populations.

B) Most psychological research participants come from WEIRD societies, limiting generalizability.

C) Cultural and ecological factors do not need to be considered in rigorous experimental studies.

D) Non-WEIRD populations are overrepresented in developmental research.

HMCQ 3

mathildehallingstad — 2024-12-05 14:00:04 UTC

3-year-old Theo is playing in the living room while his Mum writes a birthday card. She finishes, puts the pen in a bowl on the table and leaves to find a stamp. Theo’s Dad comes in and picks up the pen to write a list. Theo watches him as he puts the pen in a tray on the shelf and leaves to find a shopping bag. Theo’s Mum comes back saying “I need that pen to write the address on this envelope.” If asked, where would Theo say that she will look for it?

A) In the bowl on the table

B) In a tray on the shelf.

HMCQ 1

mathildehallingstad — 2024-12-05 14:00:04 UTC

A 4-year-old child received an exciting new toy for his birthday from his auntie - a colourful puzzle box that affords multiple different actions. There is a sticker inside the box and it can be easily retrieved by simply opening a small red door on the side of the box. But the auntie did not simply show the child how to get it out. Instead, she first opened the little yellow door at the top, then clapped her hands twice, then tapped the box on the side with a stick, and then opened the small red door to get the sticker out. After observing the auntie, the child repeated all her actions. What does this behavior most likely demonstrate?

A) Children prefer more complex problem-solving strategies over simple ones.
B) Children use imitation as a mechanism for social learning.
C) Children struggle to distinguish between cause and effect in problem-solving tasks.
D) Children’s learning is primarily driven by trial-and-error experimentation.

HMCQ 4

mathildehallingstad — 2024-12-05 14:00:04 UTC

Manabu is a 7-year-old boy living in Tokyo, he speaks Japanese; Thibault is a 7-year-old boy living in Paris, he speaks French. If asked to count objects, to count as high as they can and to represent different numbers with blocks, which of them would be more likely to be more accurate, count higher and more able to use canonical and non-canonical representations of numbers with blocks?

A) Manabu

B) Thibault

Prosocial behaviour

2024-12-05 14:09:20 UTC

Universality found in study examining dilemmas
differences in urban vs rural areas
some cultures make it to level 5 (Kohlbergs stages of moral development)

Motor development

2024-12-05 14:14:02 UTC

E.g. available space (small apartments, bed/cushions -> hard to push up) can lead to delayed development
Ages of crawling/ walking differs across cultures, but usually catch up later
Motor skills out of order/accelerated through cultural practices but skill itself is usually universal

For - Speed and Uniformity of Development

2024-12-05 14:18:00 UTC

Input language is not always grammatical

Input language does not provide sufficient information

Parents do not correct errors or explain language

Against - Experience-Based

2024-12-05 14:21:58 UTC

Language is learned through cognitive and social processes:

Statistical learning
Infant-directed speech

Interaction and implicit correction

For - Poverty of stimulus

2024-12-05 14:22:57 UTC

Language errors are not always corrected by parents
Input language does not always provide sufficient information
Meaning and grammar of language sometimes implicit

Habituation Paradigm

2024-12-05 14:29:28 UTC

presenting a stimulus to an infant repeatedly until their attention significantly decreases.

Then presenting a novel stimulus and measuring the increase in attention.

If they look longer at the new stimulus, assumed they can distinguish between the two objects.

strength - controlled measurement- quantifiable- measure looking time.

strength - developmental insights- changes in habituation patterns across age groups can reveal developmental trends in curiosity and exploration.

weakness - narrow focus - doesn’t measure their problem solving skills - curiosity etc.

weakness - limited ecological validity- lab experiment - usually children have multiple stimuli at once not just one.

Visual Cliff

2024-12-05 14:30:38 UTC

Emotions from parents used to assess new situations

Enables curious exploration as it involves exploring how people emotionally react to unfamiliar situations to aid learning about emotions