Hughes Study Guide
Chapter One
Central questions in the study of human and child development
Preformism
Puritanism
Enlightenment
Beginnings of scientific study
Domains of Development
Constructivism
Piaget – assimilation and accommodation
Vygotsky – zone of proximal development
Information processing approach – connectionist perspective
Sigmund Freud – id ego & superego
Erikson – psychosocial development & developmental crises
Chapter 2 Studying Child Development
Characteristics of the scientific method
Benefits of the scientific method over casual observation
Sources of error in observations
Sources investigators of child development use to identify and measure variables
of interest
Main ethical issues in the study of children
What is a theory – what are its purposes?
How can you tell if a theory is good?
Chapter 3: Biological Beginning Points
Unusual chromosomal conditions and their impact on human development
Human characteristics that appear to have a relationship with genetic influences
Genetic counseling, its benefits
Chromosomal Anomalies
Concordance studies and twins
An addiction gene?
Imprinting
Chapter Four: Entering the World
Stages of Prenatal Development
Effects of Drugs and Other Agents
on Prenatal Development
Effects of Agents on Prenatal Development
Effects of Maternal Characteristics on Fetus
Maternal Nutrition
Neonatal scales
Prematurity
Chapter 5: Infant & Toddler Physical Development
Changes in body size and bodily functioning
Infant brain changes
Plasticity of the nervous system
Changes in sleep patterns
REM sleep
SID
Sensing and perceiving the world
Cephalocaudal development
Proximodistal development
Brain & Behavior in Newborns
Motor Development
Moro reflex
Palmar reflex
Babinski reflex
Chapter 6: Infant & Toddler Cognitive Development
Sensory motor intelligence
Equilibration
Circular reactions
Six substages
Memory in infants and toddlers
Types of learning and conditioning observed in infants and toddlers
Measurement of infant intelligence, predictive validity
Interplay of nature and nurture in early language development
Chapter 7: Infant and Toddler Social and Emotional Development
Relationship between the quality of attachment between the infant and the caregiver
and a child’s social and emotional attachment
Infant Temperament
Affect Synchrony
Infant Emotions
Meaning of infants' crying
Smiling and Laughing
Ainsworth – strange situation
Attachment
Bowlby’s 4 stages:
Types of Attachment
Effect of childhood attachment on the person in adulthood
Main’s “Adult Attachment Interview”
Good quality childcare
Recognizing & Responding to Other’s Emotions
Social referencing
Developing Self-Concept & Feelings of Competence
Early Childhood
Physical Development
Bodily changes as the preschool-age child grows and matures
Quantitative and qualitative changes in the young child’s developing brain
New physical skills of preschoolers
What are the young child’s health needs?
What sorts of conditions interfere with the preschooler’s normal development?
Cognitive Development
What is preoperational thought, and how is it evident as we observe the young child’s thinking processes?
What limitations can we expect to observe as the young child reasons?
How effective are the preschooler’s attending, memory, and perspective-taking functions?
What affects development of the young child’s intellectual ability?
What is emotional intelligence?
What kinds of advances occur in the preschooler’s language ability?
Emotional and Social Development
Which factors contribute to the development of a preschooler’s personality?
Why do preschoolers adopt gender stereotypical roles and behaviors?
What effect does birth order have on the developing personality?
What role do relationships with family, peers, and cultural milieu play in the emotional and social adjustment of young children?
Which parenting style is most likely to result in a well-adjusted child?
How do preschoolers experience and manage emotions?
Piaget’s stages of moral development
How can we foster a child’s emotional intelligence?
MIDDLE CHILDHOOD
Physical Development
What advances in physical and motor development occur during middle childhood?
What qualitative changes occur in the school-age child’s play?
What is the health status of today’s school-age children?
What kinds of nutritional challenges emerge during the growing independence of middle childhood?
What roles do stress and coping play during the school-age years?
Cognitive Development
What is concrete operational ability, and how does it affect children’s reasoning?
What changes take place during middle childhood in how children process information?
How do teachers, peers, parents, cultural influences, and individual characteristics of children affect learning and achievement?
How can developmental and learning disabilities affect achievement and what can be done to maximize a child’s potential in spite of their effects?
What changes in language ability occur during middle childhood, and what kinds of language issues arise for bilingual children?
Social and Emotional Development
What is competence, and how do relationships influence its development?
What impact does sexual abuse have in a child’s adjustment, and can it be prevented?
What advances in development occur in the school-age child’s experiencing and expression of emotions?
How do school-age children express severe emotional conditions, and how can these be treated?
How does moral reasoning change during middle childhood?
ADOLESCENCE
Physical Development
1. How does onset of puberty interact with an adolescent’s overall development?
2. What advances occur in brain and motor abilities during adolescence?
3. Why do adolescents take unnecessary risks, and how can this be minimized?
4. What factors are at work as adolescents develop a view of sexuality?
5. What consequences do adolescents experience as a result of how they manage
their sexuality?
6. How do sleep and nutritional requirements relate to the adolescent growth?
7. How and why are eating disorders associated with adolescence?
8. How is the “war on drugs” coming along regarding adolescent
drug use?
Cognitive Development
1. What new reasoning abilities does the stage of formal operations bring?
2. How can we help adolescents become better decision makers?
3. What information processing advances occur during adolescence?
4. How do relationships with parents and peers affect success at school?
5. What positive or negative effects do extracurricular activities and part-time
jobs have on academic achievement?
6. How can parents and society help adolescents academically succeed?
7. How well does western society manage the transition from school to work?
Social and Emotional Development
1. How do developmental and cultural factors combine as the adolescent seeks
an independent identity? Marcia’s Model for Identity Development, Phynney’s
stages of Ethnic Identity Development.
2. What changes occur in the adolescent’s relationship with parents?
3. How do peers influence adolescent social and emotional adjustment?
4. Is adolescent depression normal?
5. Why is suicide more likely to occur during adolescence, and how can it be
prevented?
6. How are morals and values likely to change during adolescence?
7. What factors lead to juvenile delinquency, and what can be done to impact
its prevalence?
8. What are “rites of passage,” and how do they affect identity
formation?