exam_3_notes.txt.docx

Developmental Psych 10/28/2011 Symbols Systems for representing thoughts, feelings, and knowledge and communicating them t others Creative and flexible use sets humans apart. Development of Language Includes both comprehension and production By 5 years a child masters the basic structure of language. Required Competencies for Learning Language Phonological development Knowledge about phonemes Different languages have different sets Kids with good levels of phonemic awareness have an easier time learning how to read later on Semantic Development Begins with morphemes Syntactic Development Pragmatic Development Language Development and the brain: Specialized within the left hemisphere Damage broca?s area Difficulties in producing speech (expressive) Near motor cortex Damage to Wernicke?s area: Difficulties with meaning (receptive) Near temporal lobe Produce sentences that structurally make sense but the meaning doesn?t Critical period for Language development Learning requires exposure Age 5- puberty: ability to successfully acquire language declines Feral children discovered as adolescents Adults more likely to suffer permanent language impairment from brain damage If you don?t have exposure to language before age 5, your ability to understand and accept language starts to decline. Exposure to language in infancy Infant-directed talk Warm and affectionate tone High pitch Extreme intonation Slower speech Accompanied by exaggerated facial expression. Develpmental changes in speech perception Proior to 6 months, infants can distinguish between phonemic contrasts made in all languages About 600 consonants and 200 vowels Ability to discriminate between non-native speech sounds declines between 6-12 months. Sensitivity to regularities in speech Increasing sensistivity to regularities in native language throughout infancy Stress patterns Distributional properties Own name AS EAERLY AS 5 MONTHS THEY SHOW THE COCKTAIL PARTY EFFECT Comprehending Language Associating words and meanings Highly familiar words and referents: 6 months By 10 months: comprehension vocabularies of about 11-154 words. Early production of language Preverbal communication Crying, cooing, babbling Babbling Begins sometime between 6 -10 months Feedback is key to development Early babbling: repetition of the same sound Gradually conforms to sounds and intonation patterns of the language heard daily. Expressive babbling: repetition of a variety of sounds Silent Babbling Babies exposed to sign language Subset of gestures differ from those of infants exposed to spoken language Correspond to adult signing Early interactions prepare for later speech Turn taking Joint attention Pointing First Words 10-15 months Productive vocabulary: words child is able to say Typically include names for people, objects, events from everyday life. Holophrastic period Period of one-word utterances Express ?whole phrase? with a single word Overextension: Use of word in a broader context than is appropriate Represents effort to communicate despite limited vocabulary. Influences on Word Learning Amount of speech heard Adults? use of IDT labeling of objects infant is attending to repeating words emphasizing new words The role of environment: Children from families with professional parents hear more words than children in working class families or families on welfare (Hart & Risley, 1995). Number of complex sentences used varies by educational level of parents. Differences in Toddler?s Vocabulary Chart shows that as time progresses, all vocabulary increases for high SES children, working class children, and welfare children. BUT, across all 36 months, high SES children have highest vocab, working class have next highest, and welfare children have the lowest. Children?s contribution to word learning Fast mapping whole-object assumption expect novel word to refer to a whole object, not a part. mutual exclusivity assumption expect that a given entity will have only one name. Meaning from Context: Pragmatic Cues Ex: Show me the blicket Novel word applies to novel object Lecture notes 11/2/2011 Linguistic context ?sibbing?, ?a sib?, or ?some sib?? Depending on the suddle differences in what the child is told, they can use the context to figure out what ?sib? is. Syntactic Bootstrapping Using grammatical structure of whole sentences to figure out meaning ? Naigles (1990) Putting words together By age 2 Two-word utterances (?telegraphic speech?) Syntax preserved Only essential elements, leaves out extra words. ?want bear? vs. ?I want the bear? Around 2 ½ Begin to produce more complex multi-word sentences Learning Grammar Knowledge of grammar rules: Evident in young children via production of WORD ENDINGS. Preschoolers add ending to words that they may not even know. Make them plural, possessive, past tense. Ex: wug test. Wug -> 2 wugs Overregularization Don?t have knowledge of irregular words that don?t follow the patterns Speech errors in which irregular forms of words are treated as regular ?mans? ?goed? Parents are more likely to correct factually inaccurate statements. Conversational Skills Majority of young children?s speech is directed toward themselves, it is egocentric. Collective monologues. Ex: Having a conversation, but not responding to what the other child is saying, just talking about themselves. Later Development As humans progress in age, the number of unrelated speaking turns in a conversation (egocentric) goes down, and related turns go up. Theories of Language Development Behaviorism and Social Cognitive Learning Theory Social cognitive learning theory: Learning language by imitation Behaviorism Language is shaped by operant conditioning Nativism Universal grammar (Chomsky) ?hardwired? grammatical structure in the brain Activated by hearing language in the environment Some Support: Overregularization Children use sentences they have never learned Observations of invented sign language Critique: Too much focus on syntax, but no emphasis on the communicative function of language. What gestures tell us about language ?baby signs? Encouragement of referential gestures Deaf children not exposed to formal sign language; Invent own signs Rudimentary grammar Interactionism Behaviorism + nativism = interactionism Biological readiness to learn language interacts with language in the environment to allow language learning Language is created socially through interactions btwn adult and child Influence on communication, is the key to developing language Cognitive Processing Theory (connectionist model) Language learning is a process of ?data crunching? Children take in and process language they hear Learning relies on computational ability of the human brain Gradual strengthening of neural network connections Research on Cognitive Processing Theory Statistical learning: Infants can differentiate ?words? from a series of syllables in a row by using frequencies Ex: BAPUDAPATUBITUTIBUP etc. Syntactic Bootstrapping Using Symbols as Info To use symbolic artifacts like maps, children must have acquired dual representation Understanding of artifact as both real object and symbol. Once able to symbolically represent things with language, must be able to transfer this knowledge with dual representation. Hold the idea that something can be a physical object but can also represent something else. Scale Models: ?Hidden Toy? Test to see when children start to have understanding of dual representation 3 year olds typically succeed 2.5 year olds usually do not, unless: need to form a symbol-referent relation is taken away (?shrinking room?) Video: Has small scale model of an adjacent room on table in front of child, hides a very small snoopy toy in front of child inside of the scale model room. Takes a bigger stuffed animal snoopy and hides it in the adjacent room, tells child that ?big snoopy is hiding in the same place where little snoopy is hiding?, lets children go into next room and try to find the snoopy stuffed animal. Lecture Notes 11/4/2011 Emotional Development, Temperament, and Attachment Emotional Development ?I ate all the Halloween candy? video: Video: shows how kids express their emotions, what they might look like, and how they start to regulate their emotions. Parents tell their children that they have ?eaten all of their Halloween candy? and shows child?s reactions. All children start crying and throwing temper tantrums. Screaming. Falling to ground. After they tell them they were just kidding, children laugh and look happy again. Development of Emotions: Emotions encompass: Feelings Physiology Thoughts that accompany feelings and physiological changes Behavioral goals Emergence of Emotional Expressions Primary emotions ?Basic? emotions emerging in the first year May be part of biological inheritance, found universally Thought to be innate and universal to produce these emotions, by some theorists. All show up in first year during early infancy Things like joy, sadness Secondary emotions Emerge in second year of life or later May be subject to cultural variation Things like embarrassment, shame, and pride Thought to be contingent on things like self-awareness, so they show up a little later. Can also be contingent on the things in your environment, upbringing (culture) Primary (basic) emotions Expressed at similar times and in similar ways (facially and vocally) across infants and across the world. Primary (basic) emotions: Birth-2 months: Interest, disgust, contentment 2-7 months: Anger, sadness, joy, surprise, fear The seven universal facial expressions of emotion Happiness Surprise Sadness Fear Disgust Anger Content Development of Emotions Positive Emotions Smiling First clear sign of happiness Occurs from first few days Meaning changes with age Not necessarily directed towards people, just to express contentment. Social Smiles Directed toward people Purposely directing smile towards a caregiver or other person as a positive reciprocal social interaction First emerge as early as 6 to 7 weeks. Negative Emotions ?Generalized Distress? in infancy Early in infancy, infants are clearly unhappy but during these first few months of life we can?t distinguish between anger, sadness, etc. its all just one cluster of emotion. Anger and Sadness: discernable around 2-3 months Thought to occur in response to violation of expectancies So when infants are very young, they don?t have a lot of control over their bodies or environment and as they gradually master their bodies and are exploring their environments, being able to explore their environments is pleasurable. When expectancies are violated and they don?t get the result they?re expecting, it?s frustrating for them. Ex: researchers have done studies with mobile above cribs, and infant finds that they are able to move mobile around with legs. When they are no longer able to move it, they get frustrated. Anger: lack of control Sadness: lack of expected response Ex: If infant does not get a positive response back from caregiver when they smile at him/her, they get sad. Still-face paradigm video: researchers ask mother to not respond to the baby?s emotions, and baby will try and use ALL of her abilities to try and get a positive response. Begins to try and get a response using positive emotions, and when none of those work, the baby will start using negative emotions. Fear and Anxiety: Fear: Infants: loud noises, novelty, things in environment Toddlers/preschoolers: fantasy-based Stranger Anxiety= peaks around 8-10 months and lasts until around age 2 Separation Anxiety= emerges around 6-8 months and peaks around 13-15 months. Secondary (Self-conscious) emotions: Include feelings such as guilt, shame, embarrassment, and pride Emerge during the second year because they?re thought to develop along with self-awareness. At about 15 to 24 months: Some children start to show embarrassment when they are made the center of attention. By 3 years: Pride or shame is increasingly tied to level of performance. Degree of expression can be influenced by input from others Ex: research of mothers with child working on a puzzle together. The mothers who tended to reinforce their kids about the positive things they were doing had children who showed more pride in their accomplishments. Mothers who criticized their child?s performance had children who showed more shame. Emotional Intelligence A set of abilities that contribute to competent social functioning and achievement of social goals. Been proposed that research emotional intelligence is just as important, if not more important, than IQ on predicting future success. Includes being able to: Self-motivate and persist in the face of frustration Control impulses and delay gratification Identify and understand feelings of self and others Regulate expression of emotion in social interactions Empathize with others? emotions Emotion Regulation: Emotion regulation=Process of adjusting one?s emotions to appropriate levels of intensity in order to accomplish a goal Children skilled at regulating emotions tend to be: Well-liked by peers and adults More likely to do well in school Use of cognitive strategies to control emotions: Infants/toddlers: tend to use behavioral strategies By 6 months: turn away, self-soothe, avert gaze Older children: Increasingly use cognitive strategies such as mental distraction Delay of Gratification: Influenced by: Increasing maturation of the neurological system Increases in adults? expectations of children Age-related improvement in the ability to inhibit motor behavior Modest stability over time Preschool delay of gratification skills predict the following in adolescence: SAT scores Self-confidence and self-reliance Ability to cope with stress 40 year follow up (Mischel et al, 2011) Kids who waited Performed better on gender+social cue recognition task Showed higher activity in reward center of brain when viewing ?happy faces? regardless of gender Display Rules Culturally defined rules specifying which emotions should or should not be expressed under which circumstances Ability to consciously regulate begins to emerge around age 3 Not fully developed until adolescence Ex: ?Michelle is sleeping over at her cousin Johnny?s house today. Michelle forgot her teddy bear, but she doesn?t want Johnny to see how sad she is because Johnny will call her a baby. So Michelle tries to hide how she feels.? Development of Emotional Understanding Making connections between events and emotions: 3-5 year olds: Basic understanding of happy/sad events With age, become better able to relate past events to present emotions tend to have better understanding of /more readily identify situations that lead to negative emotions Why? Older children: Increasing understanding of causes of complex emotions Identifying Emotions of Others 3-4 months: Infants can discriminate between and react appropriately to happy, sad, angry adult expressions 7-10 months: Social referencing Interpretation of Others Emotions Social referencing: Use of others? emotional expressions to gain information in ambiguous situations Emerges between 7-10 months