Quiz 1 : Pre-prepared Answers PDF

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Quiz 1- is the first assessment piece with content from Lectures 1 - 6 tested based on preprepared answers...

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PSYC2030

Semester 1, 2018

Question 1: Explain what the difference is between "qualitative" and "quantitative" developmental change in psychological functioning and give an example of each from the field of cognitive development. Qualitative developmental change in psychological functioning involves changes of type or kind, whereby development is understood as a novel gain that is fundamentally different and not just a bit more of the same. It often reflects a considerable reorganization or modification of functioning and is stage-like. An example would be when a child goes from not being able to speak to having said its first word. In this example, the child has acquired the skill of speech and as such has become functionally different. On the other hand, quantitative developmental change in psychological functioning refers to changes that can effectively be measured. Changes in this case are in amount or intensity and not in kind. The child gains more of what it already had. The increase in vocabulary, the number of words the child has learned, from age 4 to age 10 is an example of this.

Question 2: Explain what a time-lag research design entails and consider its relevance to the discrepancy between cross-sectional (X-S) and longitudinal (L) results of testing for change in adult intelligence (IQ) from youth through old age. A time-lag research design tests the same age groups from different birth cohorts. In testing for a change in adult intelligence (IQ) from youth through old age, the cross-sectional design suggests that with an increase in age, there is a decrease in IQ. On the other hand, the longitudinal design suggests otherwise, claiming that as an individual grows older, there is an accompanying increase in IQ. The time-lag research design combines the methods of both the cross-sectional and longitudinal designs, enabling age comparisons, longitudinal comparisons and the ability to compare the same age across various birth cohorts. These multiple comparisons effectively identify and eliminate possible confounds and extraneous variables. In this manner, skewed results due to cohort differences and selective attrition can be overcome, resolving the discrepancy in results between crosssectional (X-S) and longitudinal designs in testing for a change in IQ from youth through old age.

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PSYC2030

Semester 1, 2018

Question 3: Describe the study by Crowley et al. (2001), including: what they did; why they did it; what they found; and what they concluded. What was a strength of this study and what was a weakness? In the study conducted by Crowley et al. (2001), researchers went to a science museum and observed naturally occurring family conversation, focusing on the kinds of explanations parents gave to their children’s questions. Particularly, if their responses were of a scientific nature or not. They wanted to examine if the nature of parental explanations could explain the gender-split within those who purse advance degrees, with males largely choosing topics related to the hard sciences. They found that parents were three times more likely to explain science to boys than to girls while using interactive science exhibits in a museum. This behavior was observed more when parents were alone rather than together. It was concluded that this difference could contribute to a gender gap in an individual’s scientific inclination beyond childhood. While the observational study is less controlled and thus the findings could easily be critiqued to be less valid, it holds high ecological validity having been conducted in a naturalistic manner.

Question 4: Describe the Visual Cliff paradigm. What did Sorce et al find and what does it tell us about how children use expressions? In the Visual Cliff paradigm babies between the ages of nine to twelve months, are placed on a table with a transparent glass surface. Half of the table has a checkerboard pattern just beneath the surface, and the other half stimulates a visual cliff with the checkered cloth placed about 4 feet below resembling a false steep drop. Babies attempt to cross from the ‘shallow’ side to the ‘deep’ end to retrieve a toy, using their mother’s non-verbal facial cues as a reference. Sorce et al. (1985) found that when the parent showed a positive expression, 74% of the babies crossed the visual cliff but when the parents displayed a negative emotion, 85% of the babies did not cross the cliff. This demonstrates that children rely on someone else’s expressions functionally to make decisions in uncertain contexts. However, they do not always do so and are unable to distinguish between negative emotions such as fear and sadness.

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PSYC2030

Semester 1, 2018

Question 5: What is the most accurate way to describe how children with autism engage in pretend play? Refer to the research of Libby et al (1998) and Charman and BaronCohen (1997) in writing your answer. The most accurate way to describe how children with autism engage in pretend play would be to suggest that they rarely independently engage in pretend play This is supported by the research of Libby et al (1998) which compared children with autism, down syndrome and typically developing children on a range of play behaviour. It was found that while all the children scored similarly in the component of functional play, children with autism scored significantly lower as compared to the rest when it came to symbolic play. With a mean of 0.7, children with autism exhibited close to no form of symbolic play. However, it is to be noted that just because children with autism do not engage in pretend play, it does not mean that they can’t. In the study conducted by Charman and Baron-Cohen (1997), it was found that this lack of affinity towards pretend play was not an issue of cognition or capacity but largely to do with motivation. In the spontaneous condition, the children with autism did not engage in pretend play with the surrounding objects but after scaffolding took place these children were able to engage pretend play. Question 6: What does the acronym WEIRD stand for, how does it apply to developmental psychology and why is it something to be concerned about? The acronym WEIRD stands for Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich, Democratic countries. Majority of the research in psychology comes from the above mentioned ‘WEIRD’ pool of participants whereby 96% of psychological samples come from countries with only 12% of the world’s population. This phenomenon inevitably also occurs in the field of developmental psychology. As such, problematically, research findings on children that are limited to the Western context are generalized to the rest of the world. In this manner, the huge impact of environmental factors is ignored as ‘WEIRD’ research does not account for cross-cultural differences. The behaviours of children that we assume to be universal may in fact be culturally specific, and as such not a highly accurate indicator of a child’s development.

Question 7:

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PSYC2030

Semester 1, 2018

With reference to mirror self-recognition, explain how our understanding of the development of self-awareness might be different if testing had only been collected from Zambian children. The mirror self-recognition task presents children with a representation of their outer appearance and expects them to be motivated to act on it, using that as an indication of self-awareness. Having been developed in a Western context, the task relies on the self being conceived of as a distinct and autonomous individual. However, in the Zambian context, where the culture perpetuates largely interdependent relationships, the self is conceived of in relation to others. Hence, if testing had only been collected from Zambian children, self-recognition may not have been perceived as a developmental milestone of self-awareness. Zambian children whose sense of self is tied to the community may not be motivated to act on their singular reflections. Thus, in this case, our understanding of the development of selfawareness would have been more likely to do with patterns of interaction with others as opposed to mirror self-recognition. The measurement of self-awareness is inextricably bound with the context of our development. Question 8: Describe the three main periods of prenatal development. Include a description of the weeks associated with each stage, and the changes occurring during each stage. The three main periods of prenatal development are namely germinal, embryonic and foetal. In the germinal stage, which begins at conception and occurs during the first two weeks of development, the fertilised zygote becomes a blastula and implants into the wall of the uterus. This is followed by the embryonic stage that occurs from the point of implantation to around 8 weeks. During this stage, all major organs and systems form (organogenesis). Different organs and systems are built from different parts of the embryo. The Ectoderm, the external layer, becomes the spine, nervous system and skin. The Mesoderm, the middle layer, becomes muscle and bone. The Endoderm, inner layer, becomes internal organs. By the end of this period, the embryo is recognisably human. Finally, the foetal stage occurs from about week 8 to 38, stretching from completed organ differentiation to birth. This period is about growth, body systems and structures established in the embryonic stage continue to develop.

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PSYC2030

Semester 1, 2018

Question 9: What is a teratogen, and why does its influence depend on the timing of exposure during pregnancy? Briefly describe one teratogen and its differing influences on foetal development depending on the time of exposure. A teratogen is a disruption to the ecology of the womb that interrupts the usual process of prenatal development. For example, cigarettes, alcohol, virus germs and drugs. Its influence depends on the timing of exposure during pregnancy because of the differing critical periods in prenatal development. Different organs and systems develop at different times, so a teratogen at a certain point in pregnancy can influence some systems and not others. The rubella virus is a teratogen which is most harmful when contracted in the early stages of foetal development, between conception and the first trimester. There is a high likelihood for the foetal to experience birth defects referred to as rubella embryopathy which can lead to compromised cognition and learning disabilities. Developmental defects are less severe if the mother contracts rubella in the second trimester, and they are generally negligible if the infection occurs in the third trimester.

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