Define a Genotype vs. a Phenotype
Genotype: refers to a person’s genetic inheritance
Phenotype: refers to the person’s observed characteristics (combo of heredity and the environment)
Describe the 5 levels of Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Model
Development involves interactions between the person and their environment.
- Microsystem: Immediate environ + face-to-face contact
- Mesosystem: Interactions between components of the microsystem (influence of fam on behaviour)
- Exosystem: Broader environment that affect child’s immediate environment (parents work, agencies)
- Macrosystem: Overarching influences (culture, politics)
- Chronosystem: Environmental events that occur over lifespan (change in economic wealth)
Describe Rutter’s Indicators of Child Psychopathology
Severe marital discord, low socioeconomic status, overcrowding/large family size, parental criminality, maternal psychopathology, and placement of the child outside of the home.
Describe Niche-Picking
Also referred to as “active genotype-environment correlation”
When children actively seek out experiences that are consistent with their genetic predispositions.
Define Critical vs. Sensitive Periods of development
Critical Periods: Pre-defined time periods when the organism is particularly sensitive to a stimuli and it can have pos/neg experiences on development.
Sensitive Periods: more flexible, not tied to any chronological/maturational age (attachment, language)
What is Phenylketonuria (PKU)?
A Recessive Gene Disorder (inheritance of a pair of recessive genes - one from each parent).
Ppl with PKU lack an enzyme needed to metabolize phenylalanine (amino acid in milk, eggs, bread)
What is Down Syndrome?
An Autosomal Disorder due to an extra chromosome 21.
Down Syndrome: Intellectual disability, retarded physical growth and motor development, distinctive physical features and increased susceptibility to Alzheimer’s, Leukemia and Heart defects.
What is Klinefelter Syndrome?
Klinefelter Sx occurs in males and is a result of 2 or more X chromosomes along with a single Y chromosome.
Males have a small penis and testes and develop breasts during puberty, limited interest in sexual activity and is often sterile.
What is Turner Syndrome?
Turner Sx occurs in Females and is caused by the presence of only one X chromosome.
They have shorter stature, drooping eyelids, a webbed neck, absent or slow 2nd sex characteristic, and some cognitive deficits.
Describe Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) and it’s defining features
Largely irreversible physical, behavioural and/or cognitive deficits
- Worst when the mom drinks nearly everyday or binge drinks within the 2nd half of the first trimester.
- Characteristics: Face abnormalities, slowed physical growth, heart/kidney/liver defects, cognitive and behaviour problems.
Describe Maternal Malnutrition
During prenatal development is associated with: miscarriage, stillbirth, low birth weight, suppressed immune system.
- severe malnutrition in the 3rd trimester (esp. protein deficiency) detrimental for developing brain.
What are the Babinski and Morro reflexes?
Babinski: Toes fan out and upward when soles of the feet are tickled
Moro (Startle): Flings arms and legs outward and then toward the body in response to a loud noise or sudden loss of physical support.
Describe a Newborns vision ability
- most well developed sense at birth
- Newborn sees 20 feet (adult sees 200-400 ft) and by 6 months their sight is close to an adults’
- Evidence of colour by 2 months
- Prefer to look at faces by 2-5 days old and by 2 months prefers to look at mum vs. a stranger.
Describe a Newborns Auditory Localization
- The ability to orient towards the direction of a sound.
- Evident shortly after birth
- Disappears between 2-4 months
- Reappears and improves during the rest of the 1st year
Describe the developmental milestones of a child at: 1-3 months 4-6 months 7-9 months 10-12 months
1-3 months: Raise chin from ground, turn head side to side, brings objects in hand to mouth
4-6 months: Roll from belly to back (4 mo), Sits on lap/reaches/grasps (5mo), sits/stands with help (6mo), first teeth (5-9mo)
7-9 months: sits alone w/o help (8-9 mo), crawling/creeping (9 mo), pulls self to stand (10mo)
10-12 months: stands alone and walks with help (10-11 mo), takes first step alone (12 mo)
Describe the developmental milestones of a child at:
13-15 months
16-24 months
25-48 months
13-15 months: walks with wide gait (13-14mo), creeps up stairs, scribbles, uses cup (15 mo)
16-24 months: runs, walks up stairs, uses spoon (18 mo), kicks ball, turns page in book, 50% use the toilet during day (24 months)
25-48 months: Jumps, good hand-eye coordination (30 mo), rides tricycle, dresses/undresses, toilet trained (36 mo), stable preference for right or left hand (48 mo)
Describe how Vision Changes in Adulthood
- Age 40: Presbyopia, inability to focus on close objects
- Age 65: Loss of visual acuity, reduced perception of depth/colour, increased light sensitivity, deficits in visual search/dynamics/speed of processing.
Describe Piaget’s 4 Stages of Cognitive Development, their associated ages and their important concepts/abilities
Sensorimotor Stage
-Object Permanence
Preoperational Stage
- Precausal Reasoning
Concrete Operational Stage:
- Conservation
- Horizontal Decalage
Formal Operations:
-Adolescent Egocentrism
Define Piaget’s terms: Assimilation vs. Accommodation
2 Types of Adaptatons:
Assimilation is the incorporation of new knowledge into existing schemas
Accommodation is the modification of existing schemas to incorporate your new knowledge
Describe Piaget’s 4 Stages of Cognitive Development & their ages, accomplishments and limitations
Sensorimotor Stage (birth - 2yrs)
- Learning based on circular reactions
- Object Permanence: Allows the child to recognize that objects and people exist when they are out of sight.
- Understanding causality
- Deferred imitation
- Make-believe play
Preoperational Stage (2-7yrs)
Children able to learn through language, images and symbols
- Limited by: Precausal/Transductive Reasoning (incomplete understanding of cause/effect, produces magical thinking and animism), Egocentrism, irreversibility and centration
Concrete Operational Stage (7-11 or 12yrs)
- Conservation: Develops gradually, depends on the operations of reversibility/decentration.
- Horizontal Decalage: Gradual acquisition of conservation abilities
Formal Operations (11 or 12 yrs +): Able to think abstractly and use hypothetico-deductive reasoning (identify diff hypotheses and ways to test them out) -Adolescent Egocentrism (personal fable/'unique', imaginary audience)
Describe Information Processing Theory (Cognitive Development)
Information processing theory focuses on development within specific cognitive domains and view cognitive ability as tasks specific.
Improvements = increased capacity in the domains
Describe Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory and main components
Places greater emphasis on social and cultural factors through interpersonal and intrapersonal.
Zone of Proximal Development: The discrepancy between a child’s current developmental level and the developmental level that is just behind them but can be reached with support/scaffolding.
Scaffolding: Instruction, assistance, support, modeling, providing cues, encouragement.
Describe the Theory of Mind
Ability to make inferences about other peoples states and predict their behaviour.
-Develops from 2-5+ yrs old
Describe main memory strategies in childhood
- Preschoolers use incidental mnemonics (non-deliberate memory strategies)
- By 9-10yrs child use memory strategies regularly (in order of - rehearsal, organization, elaboration)
