Developmental Psychology Class Notes

Psych 210: Spring 2022

Instructions
Week 1: Thinking like a Developmental Psychologist– write developmental questions
that describe, explain, and apply theories
Week 2: Determining appropriate methodologies for specific research questions

Questions that describe (state of world): (Is, what, does)

1. Is a child’s vocabulary affected overtime if they are taught multiple languages?
a. Longitudinal study: 18 months, 24 months, 30 months…. 54 months
b. Two groups: monolingual children, bilingual children
2. What are the specific changes that happen between the teenage years into
adulthood?(upper teens into adulthood)
a. Longitudinal study: teenage years to early adulthood
b.
3. Does the culture a child is brought up in affect the child’s ability to learn
languages?
a. Microgenetic study
b. Monolingual vs children bilingual children
c. Seeing which group can learn languages more
4. How does schooling across different cultures differ? Which culture has the best
standardized testing results?

Questions that explain (How’s and why’s)

1. How does more or less separation with a baby affect attachment to parents?
2. Why is it easier for a child to learn a language rather than an adult?
3. How do bilingual children's brains develop compared to monolingual children?
4. How are humans different from other species? Naturalistic observation
5. How does a child’s relationship with their primary caregiver affect their social
development?
6. How does bonding and attachment affect children later on in life, or lack thereof?
(if more specific about time- how later on in life?)
a. Longitudinal study pertaining to a specific culture; 1 group of
specific culture, after toddler years, to elementary school age
children, to middle school age.
b.
7. How do human parents raise their children differently than other species?
a. Cross-sectional design, different species
8. How do adolescents express their emotions?
 9. Why is it easier to learn languages when we’re children?
10. What differences do we see in how children learn when they do or do not have
learning differences?
a. Two Groups: neurotypical students, neurodivergent students
b. Looking at average standardized test scores

Questions that apply: (How are we taking theories and then using them;
application matters more than specific wording)
1. How does the type of care affect the development of a child (daycare, nanny,
montessori school, etc)?
a. Longitudinal, Check in with the child every year.
b. How have par
c. enting techniques changed over time as our understanding of child
development has grown?
2. How technology affects the growth of a child's social development and/or timeline
of intellectual growth?
3. (as a teacher) How could you help a bilingual student who speaks one language
at home and a different one at school?
4. How does the quality of education affect the child’s development?
5. How much TV should kids be watching? How much screen time?
a. Between subjects longitudinal study; low, moderate, high amount tv
exposure from the age 0 to 18
b. Test; give them a cognitive task to measure their comprehension,
cognition and attention abilities and/or neuronal development through
imaging
6. How are children able to learn motor skills in a short amount of time?
7. What school environments are best for children’s development?
 Early Adversity and Toxic Stress (Shonkoff et al., 2012)
Ecobiodevelopmental Framework Discussion:

7 year old Andre is running into social problems at school and is constantly in
trouble for not listening. He is also having learning difficulties and falling behind his
class. His mother is notified of the problem and is directed to get a pediatrician
visit. His mom takes some time off from her day job to take him to a pediatrician.
She seems to be always stressed out and not taking care of herself well between
raising 3 kids alone and working 3 jobs to provide for her family.

1. Policy Maker:
a. How could public policy reduce toxic stress in early childhood across different
populations?
i. After school programming
ii. Financial aid for single parents
b. What is the role / responsibility of the state in providing care to children, and even
their parents?
i. The state should provide all their citizens with basic needs
-
c. What kind of government mandated regulation could be imposed on insurance
companies to help reduce childhood adversity?
- Provide money for lunch (year-round program)
- Free healthcare

2. Advocate for the ecobiodevelopmental model

a. Where are some potential areas in society that could benefit from the
implementation of the ecobiodevelopmental framework?
i. Schools/daycare environment
ii. Foster systems
iii. nanny/babysitters
iv. Summer camps/extracurriculars
v. hospitals/mental health facilities
b. What long-term effects might these changes have?
i. Competency in children and parents understanding of situations
ii. More stability of child
iii. decreased/manageable stress
c. In this instance, make a case for how the ecobiodevelopmental framework can be
used to explain Andre’s situation
i. How can this same framework be used to help him?
1. Home environment can be improved and school environment can
be more supportive
 2. Health coping and practicing resilience

3. High SES Parent:

a. What kind of stressors are these parents facing?
- Their job, three children, their child struggling in school, and a single parent.
i. How do these stressors in turn affect their children?
- Not living up to the parents expectations, not doing well in school, social
problems?
b. Could the widespread implementation of the ecobiodevelopmental framework
benefit this family?
i. If so, how? - the child and parent can more easily get support from their
school and community.
c. According to the ecobiodevelopmental framework, how can Andre’s parents work
to reduce the long-term effects of toxic stress on Andre?
- An outlet of some sort may help, sports camps, trying different hobbies,
hiring tutors.

4. Low SES Parent:

a. What kind of stressors are these parents facing?
Being a single parent, and working multiple jobs causes the mother to be stressed.
Also the stress of being a low SES parent, whether it is a stressor they think about
consciously or not.
i. How do these stressors in turn affect their children?
The mother doesn’t get to spend time with her children.
b. Could the widespread implementation of the ecobiodevelopmental framework
benefit this family?
i. If so, how? -Making sure Andre has a trusted adult that can support his well-
being in terms of physiological and mental health.
c. According to the ecobiodevelopmental framework, how can Andre’s parents work
to reduce the long-term effects of toxic stress on Andre?
i. Set up services for both Andre’s mom and Andre to learn how to effectively
cope with their stress

5. Child Welfare/Social Worker

a. What strategies can pediatricians develop to remove or reduce toxic stress in early
childhood?
-refer them to a therapist who can then help the child with coping and
identifying stressors
- recommend resources
- identify risk factors
- recommending after school child care
 b. What are indicators of toxic stress in this example, and how could these stressors
be mediated?
i. Employment/income, multiple children
1. Could mediate by focusing on children--checking in as a social
worker, assigning therapist/psychiatrist
c. How could the ecobiodevelopmental framework be implemented into social work?

The Effect of Birth weight on Child Development Prior to School Entry

(Hiness et al., 2020)
1/28/22

1. Why did the researchers include only twins in the study instead of siblings?
● Genetics of twins are very similar which allows for more control over nature and
allows inspection of the influence of environment on development.
●
● Nature & Nurture
● This allowed for any variability that could come from studying siblings be
controlled since twins share similar genes
2. IV: Why did the researchers collect SES and maternal education?
a. Is there a better way to capture the home environment besides
SES/education?
●
● Getting info about nurture side
● The impact of environment on development
● To show how if the mother was able to provide and shows what resources they
could have access to
● Income determines the sources available and access to the resources
● Maternal education is a true indicator but is not complete-- try parental education
● Other factors- multigenerational household, number of children etc.
3. DV: Why did the researchers examine math/readings scores AND SE scores?
● Math/reading scores can indicate where the child stands in terms of cognition.
Socioemotional scores can predict how children face interactions with adults and
other peers.
● Both are affected by a child development
● Share a link between social-emotional learning
● Math and reading are first topics taught in school and SE can show how
4. Data Collection: why did the researchers choose to collect DV outcomes BEFORE
school entry?
● The sensitive periods for development occur early in childhood
● The impact of these factors will be most influential early in childhood
● However- what about the long term implications-- longitudinal, retest
● Baseline for home environment status
 ● Limit variability
5. What does this study show us about nature/nurture?
● Both go hand in hand the genetics and the environment matter.
● Although the genetic makeup will impact the infant, as they interact with their
social environment, there will be changes based on both nature and nurture.
6. How can policies ameliorate differences in early childhood to close the gap?
● Government-subsidized early childhood development programs (daycare, pre-k)
● They can ensure all children get support they need to close the gap
● By allowing stipends to families, it allows them to buy foods that are rich in
nutrients for their child to have. Especially in areas where food deserts are
present.
● Awareness programs are required for parents and caregivers to minimize the
adverse effects as much as possible for the infant (having supportive
relationships and proper nutrition, etc.)
7. How can the findings in this research be applied to educational atmospheres and the
policies thereof?
a. How would those ideas differ between grade levels and ages?
● As the child
● Ideally, intervention would start early to act as a preventative rather than a
correction.
○ If this is successful in closing the gap, as LBW children get into higher
grades and ages, there would less and less need for special policies
8. What type of intervention would you design to help LBW and disadvantaged infants?
● Regular check-ins with a developmental-behavioral pediatrician to ensure/assist
normal development
● LBW infants who are able to breastfeed should breastfeed until six months of age
after they are clinically stable
● All mothers should be able to provide either breast or formula for their child so
ensuring that mothers do not struggle to provide breast milk or formula

The Cost of Walking vs Crawling (Adolph, 2014)

● Why is it that babies revert to crawling at times even when they are experts
at walking?
● There has been a debate going on whether parents should use walking toys
(like baby walkers) to help babies learn to walk. Do you think these walkers
are beneficial or detrimental to babies' independent mobility?
○ There are benefits such as helping them to get on their feet faster and
experience the benefits of walking faster than other toddlers, however,
it is an unnatural step in their development process.
○ Their safety can be jeopardized since they can barely walk and might
fall down if the walker is too much for them. They can also become
 dependent on the walkers and might hinder their natural growth.
● How do you think parents reacting to their babies falling affect the child's
desire to learn how/continue to walk?
● Can you think of any animals that have a phase similar to babies crawling? If
yes, which ones? If no, why do you think this is the case for humans: to have
an intermediary phase between birth and walking?
● How do you think parents can teach their babies to walk when the child
shows no desire to learn?
- Walking with them (holding them as they walk)
- Putting something they’d want on the other side
- Carrier that promotes mobility
- Play pen
- Put them in the water to promote motor mobility
● We learned about the stepping reflex for infants in a previous lecture,
where babies will move their feet as if walking if they're held up. Do you
think that there are factors other than weight that cause babies to lose this
reflex?
○ Use it or lose it
○ Not needed yet
○ Accessibility
○ Lack of strength/muscles
● If infants learn more from walking as they engage with the world around
them, should caregivers encourage children to learn to walk earlier? If so,
how early should they begin?