Class notes

PSYC302 (Infancy) Module 1 & 2 Notes

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Course
PSYC 302 (PSYC302)

Institution
University Of British Columbia (UBC )

This document contains comprehensive lecture notes from PSYC302 (Infancy) Modules 1 and 2, providing an in-depth overview of foundational topics in the study of infancy. Module 1 introduces historical perspectives on infant development and discusses key infant development theories. It details vario...

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Uploaded on August 28, 2024
Number of pages 11
Written in 2023/2024
Type Class notes
Professor(s) Alan kingstone
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PSYC302 – Infancy Lecture Notes
Module 1 - An Introduction to Infancy (Historical Perspectives & Research
Methods)
Lesson 1: Introduction & Themes
Seven Themes in Child Development
1. Continuity/Discontinuity
 Some researchers see development as a continuous, gradual process, akin to
a tree growing taller with each passing year  pine tree: developmental
continuity
o A child’s ability to read and write may improve relatively continuously
 Others see it as a discontinuous process, involving sudden dramatic changes,
such as the transition from caterpillar to cocoon to butterfly  butterfly:
developmental discontinuity
o A child’s motor abilities may appear more stage like (crawling,
walking, fine-motor…)
2. Individual Differences
 Individuals differ from one another  even two children from within the same
family who share a lot of genetics and a lot of the same environments may
be different
 What are the sources of variation?
o Genetic and epigenetic differences
o Difference in ways parents and others treat them
o Differences in children’s choices of environment
o Similar experiences affect children differently
 Why study individual differences?
o Perhaps we want to know why some individuals are so resilient
o Risk factors vs. Resilience/Protective Factors
3. Nature and Nurture
 Nature and Nurture are constantly interacting
 Transactional Model:
o Nature & Nurture continually interact
o Influences are bidirectional  e.g., child’s temperament influences
how others react
 Direct vs Indirect Effects of Nature
o More direct: e.g. fearful/inhibited leads to social withdrawal
o Less direct: e.g. fearful/inhibited leads to social withdrawal which
leads to poor social understanding
4. Active Child
 What role do children play in their own development?
 Preferences to attend to certain things  people over objects, caregiver over
others
 Motivated to learn
o Little ‘experimenters’: e.g. dropping food
o Practice language in the absence of people
o Engage in pretend play
 Actively seek out their own environment
o This increases significantly with age
o Friends they play with, activities they engage in, places they go, books
they read etc.

, 5. Mechanisms of Change
 Brain maturation vs. experience?  if brain maturation, where and when?
o E.g., frontal lobes, hippocampus
o E.g. observation/imitation, hands-on trial and error, conditioning
6. Sociocultural Context
 Sociocultural context refers to the physical, social, cultural, economic, and
historical circumstances in a child’s life
7. Research and Children’s Welfare
 How does child development research help children?
o Shapes social policy and the Law
o Shapes education
o Improved parenting techniques
o Improves prevention, intervention, and treatment of problems

Lesson 2: Major Theories
Psychoanalytic - Largely fallen out of favour  untestable
Perspective - Most influential theorists in this approach were Freud and
Erikson
- Freud made 2 important contributions  importance of
early years, people can be influenced by implicit or
unconscious biases
Behaviourism and - Classical conditioning: associating a neutral stimulus with
Social Learning another stimulus that produces a reflexive response
Theory - Operant conditioning: influencing the frequency of a
behaviour by following it with reinforcers or punishment
Piaget’s Cognitive- - Famous for founding the field of Cognitive Development
Developmental - One of the broadest theories of the changes in children’s
Theory thinking
- Sensorimotor stage (1), pre-operational (2), concrete
operations (3), formal operations (4)
Information - Developmental cognitive neuroscience  aims to
Processing; understand how changes in the brain change cognitive
Developmental processing and behaviour (e.g. language and memory)
Neuroscience - Developmental social neuroscience  aims to understand
how changes in the brain affects emotional and social
development (e.g., adolescent depression, neurological
bases of autism)
Ethology and - Concerned with the adaptive, or survival, value of
evolutionary behaviour and its evolutionary history
developmental - Roots trace back to Darwin and his work
psychology
Vygotsky - Focuses on how culture (values, beliefs, customs, skills) is
Sociocultural Theory transmitted
- Development occurs from social interaction
Ecological Systems
Theory
Dynamic Systems
Perspective

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