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Child Psychology Summaries Revision Guide
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Great summary notes for revision for Child Psychology Edexcel A2
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The Dummies Guide to Child PsychologyDEFINITIONS
Affectionless Psychopathy : Disruption of attachment during the first three years; can result in
the inability to form meaningful emotional relationships, coupled with chronic anger, poor
impulse control, and lack of remorse.
Attachment: An enduring love bond between caregiver and child, which provides security and
stability for the child. This can be observed at around 7 months; when the child will become
distressed if separated from the caregiver.
Child Psychology: A branch of developmental psychology (lifespan development), that covers
infancy, childhood, and adolescence. Particularly concerned with how the experiences we have in
early relationships may affect our cognitive, social, and emotional development. Also considers
specific childhood experiences, for example – neglect, daycare, and learning difficulties.
Critical Period : In general a critical period is a limited time in which an event can occur; usually
to result in a transformation. In terms of child psychology specifically – the early stages in an
infant’s life during which it has a heightened sensitivity to certain environmental stimuli, and
develops in a particular way due to experiences at the time. If the infant does not receive the
appropriate stimulus during this time, it may be difficult/less successful/impossible to develop
some functions in later life
Daycare : The care of an infant during the day by someone other than the primary caregiver (e.g.
parent), typically performed by someone outside the child’s immediate family
Deprivation: Loss of an attachment which has been formed; may occur through death, divorce,
or (controversially) daycare.
Ethology: Scientific study of animal behaviour, especially as it occires in a natural environment.
The study of human ethos and its formation.
Evolution: A gradual process in which something changes into a different and usually more
complex/better form.
Imprinting: The process of attachment; clinging to/following the first moving object seen
(typically the caregiver). Essentially for the survivial of the animal/baby.
More difficult to study in human children.
Innate: An essential, inherent characteristic, which is present at birth rather than learned
through experience.
Monotropy: The suggestion that children are genetically programmed to form attachments to a
single caregiver, and that it is important for healthy development.
Privation : An attachment is never formed with a caregiver.
Sensitive Period : Alike to ‘critical period’, however, unlike in the ‘critical period’, theorists
believe that whilst children who do not get the right nurturing at the right times to jumpstart their
developmental potential are going to have problems later in life, they do not believe that this
results in an inability to develop.
Separation Anxiety : Can be observed from 7 months of age: the child will become distressed
when separated from the caregiver with which they are attached.
Stranger Fear : Weariness and fearful responses that infants exhibit in the presence of strangers.
E.g. crying, clinging to caregiver.
,METHODOLOGY
1. Observational Research Methods
Describe
Observations involve watching and recording behaviour as it is seen
An observer may record the behaviour live, video it for later analysis or use a one-way mirror
Quantitative and qualitative data is collected
It is difficult to record every behaviour seen during an observation, so researchers may use time
or event sampling, or employ many observers
Observations can be covert or overt
The can be participant or non-participant
Naturalistic observations - conducted in a natural setting
Structured observations - typically take place in a staged environment. An observer records the
behaviour of a child in a set-up situation
Evaluate
Cannot establish cause and effect because there is no manipulation of an independent variable
Observations can be unreliable because of researcher bias. An observer may record the
behaviour of a child in one way and another researcher view the same in a different way. Often
inter-rater reliability is established to overcome this problem
Naturalistic observations have high ecological validity, whereas a structured observation lacks
ecological validity. However, being in a strange situation will not alter the behaviour of very
young children dramatically, and they are also less susceptible to demand characteristics, as
they are basically unaware of being observed
Naturalistic observations do not control extraneous variables. This makes them difficult to
replicate.
Structured observations are easy to replicate as a highly standardised procedure and controlled
environment can be used.
Naturalistic observations with children require consent from parents/guardians, whereas it
isn’t necessary for adults
Ethics
Parental consent must be gained
A child’s consent isn’t the same as an adults, due to comprehension level and vulnerability
Children have a right to withdraw and researchers should have the competence to enforce this
if they suspect the child is experiencing difficulties
All information is confidential
Children should be permitted to ask questions and be fully informed
Information disclosed by the study that affects the child’s wellbeing must be referred to an
expert, who may follow this up with parents
2. Case Studies
Describe
- A detailed investigation of one person or a group of people
- They involve many techniques to gather the data
- Both qualitative and quantitative data is gathered
- Often used as a way to investigate unique and rare situations e.g. to study a child’s
development
- In child psychology I can be used to look at privation, deprivation and its effects
Evaluate
- Very valid as data is detailed and many methods are used to collect data
- Reliability can be affected by researcher bias. To counter this researcher’s find many ways to
test the same thing, this is called triangulation to make results objective.
, - Not generalisable as results are usually gathered about a unique case, so results will be a
one off.
- Case studies often look at situations which would be violate ethical guidelines and therefore
couldn’t be studied in any other way. E.g. you couldn’t take a child from its parents and
isolate it for a few years
- As these cases are often very rare and may violate confidentiality, informed consent and
right to withdraw e.g. Genie was subjected to tests and research without consent and got a
lot of media attention which she did not understand and therefore could not withdraw
herself from. Some say she was a victim of vulnerable child abuse, others say her best
interests were at heart.
3. Cross-Cultural Research
Describe:
Cross-cultural research is conducted to determine whether behaviour is universal. For example, it
has been discovered that language development occurs in the same stages across most cultures.
Cross-cultural research can also give important psychological information regarding whether
behaviour is due to biology or socialisation. Cultures differ in terms of how they bring up or
socialise children, so if behaviour differs we might conclude it is a product of socialisation and not
genetics. An example of a cross-cultural study is Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg (1988).
Evaluation:
- Ethnocentrism might occur because a researcher may interpret the findings of cross-cultural
research in terms of their own beliefs.
- It is also a good way of determining the reliability of research findings: if the same conclusions
can be drawn in other cultures it is said to be both reliable and universal.
- Cross-Cultural research is useful in understanding whether behaviour is innate or learned. This
can help psychologists understand the basis of behaviour and how it can be explored further. For
example, cross-cultural research into attachment have found that different cultures show different
patterns of attachment. This has led to further research exploring how child-rearing styles vary
between cultures, causing these different attachment types.
4. Longitudinal studies
Describe
Longitudinal studies are studies which last months or even years following the progress of an
individual or small group. They use qualitative and quantitative data to collect in-depth research.
As with all psychological research it is better to understand the development of behavior in the
long term rather than take a snapshot of it. Much of child psychology is concerned with
development: how attachment, deprivation and privation effect a child’s development; how
daycare affects it; and how developmental issues such as autism affect a child. It therefore makes
sense to conduct longitudinal research to understand such issues.
Evaluate
Longitudinal studies are important because they show genuine development over the natural
course of time. The alternative, for a similar purpose, is to use a cross- section study, which
compares different age groups at the same moment in time. Cross-sectional research compares
two different groups of people for the same characteristic, whereas longitudinal research studies
the development of that same characteristic within the same age group. The advantage of
longitudinal studies is they can avoid the cohort effect (difference in social and cultural changes
that exists between age groups because of time/generational gaps). However they are found to be
time consuming and expensive. They are also very difficult to replicate because of obvious time
constraints and generational differences that may affect the findings of the study if repeated later.
Furthermore, a large sample is needed to ensure that genuine conclusions are drawn, and because
participants may be lost for various reasons over the course of time.
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