Themes

Question 1

what ages define infancy?

Answer 1

conception - 3 years old

Question 2

why study infancy?

Answer 2

• Learn to be better parents, caregivers, educators
• tease apart biological and societal influences
• could help us in future careers
• can help learn about the beginnings of adult behaviour
• can help us identify atypical patterns of development in human infants
• increase the welfare of children
• understand human nature

Question 3

7 themes of infant psych

Answer 3

• Nature and nurture
• The active child
• Continuity/discontinuity
• Mechanisms of change
• Sociocultural context
• Individual differences
• Research and children’s welfare

Question 4

nature vs. nurture

Answer 4

• Both of them have influences on multiple traits, including temperament, physical appearance (mostly nature), susceptibility/acquiring certain disorders, social ease, cultural norms/beliefs (mostly nurture), language, etc.
• There are no aspects of psychological development that are solely affected by nature or nurture
• Both nature and nurture influence each other and us (transactional model)
• It’s still important to know how much nature and nurture each influence different traits/characteristics

Question 5

why is it important to know how much nature and nurture each influence different traits/characteristics?

Answer 5

can help us design effective interventions for behaviours and know the likelihood of certain behaviours and psychopathologies being passed down generationally
- twin and adoption studies useful for this

Question 6

twin studies

Answer 6

• Monozygotic twins share 100% of DNA -> if a characteristic is biologically controlled, it should be the same in identical twins
• Dizygotic twins share 50% of DNA (same amount as other siblings do) this will be a potential quiz question
• Twins raised in same household share almost all of their childhood experiences

Question 7

adoption studies

Answer 7

• Biological siblings raised in different households share little childhood experience but much DNA
• Adoptive siblings raised together share little DNA but much experience

Question 8

the active child

Answer 8

• The child themself is the most important decision-maker in their own development (not just the primary caregiver)
• Ex. Attention, temperament/emotion, attachment, self-play and self-talk

Question 9

continuity vs. discontinuity

Answer 9

• Continuous development: like a tree -> grows slowly and gradually
• Infants are typically not perfectly situated in one stage; change often occurs slowly and gradually (depends on when you measure -> Ie. If you measure something every day, it will seem continuous, but if you measure something every few months, it will seem discontinuous)
• Discontinuous development: like a butterfly -> major stages -> changes from caterpillar to cocoon to butterfly
• ex. Stage theories
  ex. Piaget – cognitive development
  ex. Freud – psychosexual development
  Ex. Erikson – psychosocial development
  Ex. Kohlberg – moral development

Question 10

mechanisms of change

Answer 10

• Infants change a lot, and they change quickly
• Changes can be biological, experiential, self-induced, parent-induced, rapid, or gradual
• But how do these changes occur? What are the mechanisms?
• Ex. The influence of genes and experience on the brain
• Ex. The maturation of the brain

Question 11

sociocultural context

Answer 11

• Infant research has WEIRD bias -> families who volunteer to bring their infants in to studies live in West Side of Vancouver and aren’t super diverse socioeconomically
• What aspects of a child’s social surroundings affect her development (Historical era, Economic structure, Cultural beliefs/values)
• Ex. Co-sleeping -> creates stronger attachment but greater separation anxiety as well -> more popular in non-Western societies

Question 12

individual differences

Answer 12

• What are these differences and how do they arise?

- Lots of individual variation in utero

Question 13

research and children’s welfare

Answer 13

• How can research on the topics we’ve discussed today be used to help infants become successful adults?
• ex. Social policy and the law, education, improved parenting techniques