CPSY 3301 final exam

• how much TV do US children watch on average

  Between birth and 6 years of age, children watch nearly 1 hour of TV a day, and the amount of viewing jumps to just under 4 hours a day for kids between ages 8-10.
• what is known about the general content of the television programs available for children them to watch? Why is it such a large influence on children's development?

  There are lots of different kinds of TV content. Nearly 70% of children's television shows contain acts of physical aggression (violence). Children are also exposed to social stereotypes.

  Exposure to violent television predicts later problems, including both acts of acting aggressively with peers and being victimized by bullies. Also, ethnic children can have negative attitudes about their group if they see their group being negatively portrayed in television. Also, kids are not passive recipients of what goes around them.
• In what ways are media portrayals of violence linked to children's aggressive behavior? Be sure to cite evidence from both correlational studies and experimental studies in your answer.

  Watching more TV in preschool years is associated with more aggressive behavior in early school years

  Studies done that show a boy with high preference for violent TV has a higher level of aggression in their early 20s. (Huesmann et al., 2003).

  Children were randomly assigned to watch Power Rangers or not watch it. Boys who watched were significantly higher in aggressive responses than boys who did not.
• Discuss the role of television in perpetuating social stereotypes. Why is stereotyping on television of concern?

  Television has strong gender and ethnic minority stereotyping.

  Children watch television and learn about gender roles in possible negative way.

  Misrepresentation of ethnic minorities influence children of these ethnic groups to have negative attitudes towards themselves.
• What issues have been raised about children's use of interactive media? In what ways does research support or alleviate concerns in these areas?

  The worry that violent video games affect children

  -Study of 5000 5th graders: high levels of playing violent video games is linked with higher levels of behavior problems BAD

  -Research showing that children who played lots of violent video games overestimate the amount of violence in the world. BAD

  -Research has shown that internet communication is positively related to both the quality and number of peer relationships. GOOD

  -Parents unaware of what their kids are doing/less tech savvy than their children BAD
• What is known about television exposure and subsequent attentional problems in children? Be sure to describe the findings of Zimmerman & Christakis (2007) in your answer.


  Zimmerman & Christakis study: assessed educational vs entertainment content

  -Watching noneducational television prior to age 3 was associated with attention problems.
• How is television exposure potentially implicated in the obesity epidemic facing the U.S.?

  Increased eating while watching TV, exposure to unhealthy foods advertised on TV, reduced sleep duration.
• How are video games potentially more influential than television and movies in terms of their effect on child behavior? To date, what do research findings imply about the influence of video games on child behavior?

  More interactive than TV and movies, identify with an aggressor, repetition of aggression, rewarded for aggression.

  Violent video games lead to behavior/aggressive problems later.
• How is parental involvement an important factor in media influences on children's functioning? Summarize the AAP's guidelines for parents of young children

  Parents can put limits on media time for their children to curb negative effects.

  AAP's guidelines:

  -Set limits on screen time

  -For 2-5 year olds, recommend max of one hour per day of "high quality programs"

  -Playtime is important: unstructured, unplugged playtime and human interaction

  -Create tech free zones (ex: family dinners)
• Describe the characteristics of concrete operational thought. List and describe several ways that concrete operations manifest themselves as abilities during middle childhood

  Main characteristics: (7-11 years of age)

  -Coordinated mental operations that fit into a logical system

  -Operations are "double sided" (i.e. include 2 aspects of a problem in a single logical system)

  Limitations:

  -Operations are concrete- reasoning is tied to things that are present or tangible

  -Not yet competent at generating systematic to test their beliefs

  Mental operations of middle childhood:

  -Conservation

  -Decentration: realization that changes in one aspect are compensated for by changes in other aspects of problems ("the liquid is higher, but the glass is thinner")

  -Identity: realization that a change in outward appearance does not necessarily change the substances involved ("they were equal to start and nothing was added, so they're the same")

  -Reversibility: realization that certain operations can reverse the effects of others ("if you pour it back, you'll see that it's the same)

  -Classification

  -Declining egocentrism

  -Metacognition: thinking about thinking

  Planning
• Describe the changes that take place in the brain during middle childhood. How might these changes account for observed changes in cognition?

  -Myelination: particularly in the frontal cortex .These changes are associated with numerous advanced behaviors and processes, including memory, decision making, reasoning, impulse control, and the ability to multitask.

  -Synaptic pruning: non functional synaptic connections die off

  -EEG coherence: more synchronization among areas of the brain (esp between frontal lobe and other brain structures)

  -Cortical thickening and thinning
• How does memory influence children's cognitive gains during middle childhood? What aspects of memory development are thought to influence cognitive gains? What changes typically occur in children's use of memory strategies and their understanding of their own abilities?

  -Increases in the speed and capacity of working memory

  -Increases in knowledge about the things on is trying to remember

  -The acquisition of more effective strategies for remembering

  Strategies:

  -Rehearsal: process of repeating to oneself the material that one is trying to remember (more effective use of this)

  -Organizational strategies: memory strategies in which materials to be remembered are mentally grouped into meaningful categories (will group categories)

  -Elaboration: memory strategy that involves making connections between two or more things to be remembered

  Metamemory: ability to think about one's own memory processes

  -Better understanding of limitations of own memory
• What do we know about the influence of cultural context on cognitive abilities in middle childhood?

  -Children in traditional, non industrialized societies who have not attended school lag a year or more behind the norms established by Piaget, and, in some cases, appear not to acquire this form of reasoning at all as adults.

  -There are quite dramatic cultural variations in children's familiarity with the contents and procedures used in standard Piagetian tests of conservation and that these variations clearly influence children's performances on the tests.

  -Chinese children tend to outperform US children on tasks that require them to control their attention

  -Cultural differences in conservation, memory and attention, and planning.
• How is intelligence measured in children? What are the concerns about measuring intelligence?

  Measure "elementary processes" (Galton)

  -Example: reaction time, sensory acuity

  -Not good indicators of actual school performance

  Empirical approach (Binet)

  -Measure reasoning, verbal acuity, etc

  -Good predictor of school performance

  IQ tests:

  -Verbal reasoning (what does "below" mean?)

  -Quantitative reasoning (math)

  -Short term memory

  -Performance knowledge (put pictures in the right order so that what is happening makes sense)

  Infants showing a preference for a novelty picture at 4-7 months-- correlated with score on vocab test at age 4-7 years

  Concerns about measuring intelligence:

  -Intelligence is composed of several distinct and separate abilities
• What is the Flynn effect, and what are the possible explanations for this effect?

  the steady increase over the past 100 years in IQ test performance, an increase believed to support the environmental hypothesis of intelligence

  Explanations:

  -Changes in the environment

  -Improved nutrition

  -Decreased family size

  -Greater access to education

  -Spread of technology and interactive video games
• What is meant by "school readiness"? What factors are included in this concept, and how do children come to master "school readiness" skills?

  Preschool programs provide basic skills needed to succeed in school

  -Emergent literacy and numeracy

  -Social Emotional learning

  Families are a big influence on their child's emergent literacy and numeracy.

  -Children are engaged in activities related to school readiness

  -Being read to
• How do preschool enrollment numbers vary across cultures, and what is the influence of preschool participation on school readiness in the U.S.?

  -Children who are most at risk for malnourishment and disease are least likely to be enrolled in preschool.

  -Most children are not in quality schools

  -The United States has a high preschool enrollment.

  -Helpful to school readiness. Language skills (especially for immigrants)
• What are the main functions of school? What are the two main types of studies used to examine the effects of schooling? What are the findings from these studies, and what are the benefits and drawbacks of these types of studies?


  MAIN FUNCTIONS OF SCHOOL:

  -Cognitive development/academic skill

  -Socialization

  -Social skills/norms

  -Promoting values of society

  MAIN TYPES OF STUDIES/THEIR FINDINGS:

  -Cross cultural studies of "schooled" vs "unschooled" children:

  --Nunes et al.-- Brazilian street vendors

  --Solving math problems

  ----Under "real life" conditions: 98% correct

  ----Basic math problems: 40% correct

  --Conclusion: unschooled children have context based knowledge- not generalized problem solving

  -Grade cut off studies (Morrison)

  --Compare children of about the same age who differ by one year of schooling

  --Schooling predicts:

  ----Memory skills (strategies)

  ----Literacy, math skills

  --Age predicts:

  ----Piagetian milestones

  ----Youngest in the grade tend to score lower on achievement tests
• How do conceptions of ability and attributions influence children's achievement motivation?

  -Attributing failure to lack of ability leads to: less persistence, lower achievement.

  -Attributing failure to lack of effort leads to: more persistence, higher achievement
• What is the difference between a mastery orientation and performance orientation? Give an example of a child with each of these orientations as she works on an academic task.

  Mastery orientation (intrinsic motivation): a way that children approach school tasks in which they are motivated to learn, to try hard, and to improve their performance

  -More likely to succeed in the long run, to use more advanced learning strategies, and to relate what they are trying to accomplish at the moment relevant to prior knowledge

  -They remain optimistic after failure

  -Persist in the face of difficulties and seek out new intellectual challenges

  Performance orientation (extrinsic motivation): A way of approaching school tasks in which students are motivated by their level of performance, ability, and incentives for trying

  -Give up after failure and avoid difficult tasks
• Describe the study by Lepper & colleagues and explain their conclusion about the effect of extrinsic vs. intrinsic motivation on subsequent task performance.

  Children participated in a game involving a drawing task. Children either...

  -Were promised a "good player" award

  -Got a "good player" reward unexpectedly

  -Received no award (control)

  Several weeks later, voluntary interest in the task was lowest for those who were promised an award for the first time.

  -Extrinsic reward undermined intrinsic interest in activity
• Describe the differences found in the classroom instruction in the United States and Japan. What may account for these differences?


  Stingler & Stevenson: compared 120 classrooms in 1st and 5th grade

  -Few differences in math achievement in grade 1

  -Huge differences in grade 5

  -Highest scoring US classroom had average score lower than the lowest scoring Japanese classroom

  -Due to differences in schooling, not in school readiness

  Cultural variation comes from:

  -Amount of instruction (Japan has a longer school year and more effective use of class time)

  -Quality of the instruction

  -Parental role (expectations and support for studying)

  -Beliefs about success
• What are culturally responsive classroom strategies and what is known about their effectiveness?

  Culturally responsive classroom strategies:

  -Hosting special events to explore and celebrate the cultural heritages of the young people they serve

  -Foster assimilation while valuing cultural diversity

  -Connect classroom instruction to home culture

  -Successfully engage students from the vast variety of backgrounds characteristic of American society
• How do changes that occur during middle childhood influence children's understanding of the self and the world?

  Social cognition: the ability to think and reason about own and other people's thoughts, feelings, motives, and behaviors

  -Declining egocentrism: considering perspectives of others

  -Self descriptions become more abstract and increasingly oriented toward the possibilities of the self in the future

  -Social comparison becomes significant

  -Form a differentiated self

  -Form possible selves
• What is the developmental course of self-esteem, and why does it typically decline during middle childhood? Be sure to cite evidence from Ruble et al.'s (1980) experiment in your answer.


  Early childhood (4-7)

  -Focus on overall "competence" and "acceptance"

  -Often evaluate selves very positively

  Middle childhood (8-12) differentiate between:

  -Cognitive, social, and physical competence

  -Individual differences in how much the categories matter to overall self esteem

  -"Am I a good student?" "Am I a good friend?" "Am I good at sports?"

  Why the decline in middle childhood?

  -SOCIAL COMPARISON

  ---More competitiveness

  ---More awareness of others evaluations

  ---Start out unrealistically high

  ---More accurate feedback from others

  ---Puberty: changes can be difficult

  Ruble et al., 1980

  -5,7,9 year olds play a modified game of basketball (hoop hidden behind a curtain), two groups relative success and relative failure, throw ball in concealed hoop, children could not see if successful, found out if failed or succeeded, children rated themselves, 5 and 7 yrs. felt good about themselves, but 9 yrs. felt bad if failed

  -Conclusion: in middle childhood, children use comparative assessments to describe themselves
• Discuss the changes that occur in prosocial moral reasoning (e.g., deciding whether to share, help, or take care of other people when doing so may prove costly to oneself) from early childhood through middle childhood.


  infants- show empathic concern when others are distressed

  toddlers-show helping and comforting behaviors (still egocentric)

  developmental increases in prosocial behavior, helping increases between ages 3 to 6, sharing increases between ages 6 to 12
• Reactions to the Heinz dilemma

  6-8 years of age:

  -Based on what is right or wrong for oneself

  -Fear of punishment

  8-10 years of age

  -Focus on shifts to societal standards, golden rule

  -Moral reasoning becomes more sophisticated and abstract with age

  When told stories about harmful actions and asked to rate how wrong they are:

  -Young children tend to focus on the outcome

  -Older children take intention into account
• How do parents and peers contribute to the moral development of children?

  Induction: (parents)

  -Form of a discipline in which an adult explains:

  ---Why a child's behavior is wrong

  ---How it can be changed

  -WITH EMPHASIS ON EFFECT ON OTHERS

  -Why it is helpful:

  ---Helps children understand other people's perspectives

  ---Enhances empathy

  ---Encourages internal attributions

  Peers:

  -Peer participation hypothesis:

  ---Through interaction with peers, learn that rules are flexible

  ---Cognitive immaturity hypothesis

  ---Not capable of understanding parent's moral reasoning

  Social Learning Theory:

  -Parents as social models

  ---Children's moral reasoning resembles their parents

  Foster moral growth through modeling and discussions
• Describe Piaget's conception of changes in moral development, and how children learn moral rules through games.

  -Autonomous morality: right and wrong are defined according to internal motives and intentions rather than objective consequences (rules are arbitrary and flexible)

  -Heteronomous morality: Rules are sacred and unalterable

  Young children believe rules of games are eternal and unchangeable because they have been handed down by authority figures. In contrast, older children recognize that rules are not mystical and unchangeable but are rational; and they can be modified with the players consent.
• Describe the technique used by Kohlberg to research moral reasoning in children. What information has this approach provided (you do NOT need to memorize Kohlberg's substages)?

  Present children stories about moral situations, would ask child opinion about how protagonist should respond

  -Pre-conventional- see right and wrong in terms of external consequences (heteronomous and instrumental)

  -Conventional-shift from external consequences to society's standards and rules (good child morality and law-and-order morality)

  -Post-conventional/Principled-being aware that people hold a variety of values and opinions
• How does children's developing theory of mind contribute to their understanding of moral issues?

  Ability to think about other people's mental states; younger children hold an objective view of responsibility (assess responsibility based on objective consequences alone; older children demonstrate subjective view of responsibility (consider intentions)
• How do peer relations change over time? When do we first start seeing peer interactions? What types of interactions do we see? How are these interactions changing over time?

  Infancy:

  -Increased sociability (smiling, babbling, imitating, etc)

  Preschoolers (2-5):

  -Peer interaction slowly emerging

  -Level of complexity of interaction with peers gradually increases

  Elementary school years:

  -Peer groups emerging

  -Proximity, shared interests are important

  -Gender segregated

  Adolescence

  -Formal structured (cliques, crowds)

  -Coed

  -Peer conformity peaks
• What is a peer? What is the difference between a peer and a friend?

  Peers are people around you relatively the same age, and friends are people you have a personal relationship with.
• How did Harlow's research inform us about the importance of peers? What findings point to the importance of others, besides peers, in normal social development?

  Monkeys reared with mother only (no peers):

  -Immature play

  -Increased aggression and fearfulness with peers

  With peers only:

  -Increased behavior problems

  -Decreased exploration

  So peers are important, but are not the only key to healthy social development.
• How does the conformity to peer pressure change over the course of development?

  Types of peer pressure: prosocial, antisocial, and neutral:

  -Early adolescents are more susceptible to peer pressure, but more so prosocial and neutral behaviors than antisocial

  -Antisocial severely peaks in adolescence

  -All forms conform less at the end of high school
• Describe the sociometric method. What are the five categories of peer acceptance derived from this method?

  Peer ratings:

  -On a scale of 1 to 5, please rate how much you like to play with (name)

  Peer nominations:

  -Positive nominations: circle the names of the three children in the class you like the most

  -Negative nominations: circle the names of the three children in your class you like the least

  Peer acceptance categories:

  -Popular

  -Rejected

  -Controversial

  -Neglected

  -Average
• What are the correlates of being rejected by ones' peers, both concurrently and in the long run?

  Rejected kids are more:

  -Lonely

  -Depressed

  -Socially anxious

  Peer rejection in childhood related to... (in adulthood)

  -Decreased education

  -Decreased job performance

  -Decreased self esteem

  -Increased psychological problems
• Describe the factors associated with peer acceptance. How do we know if social skills result from peer acceptance, or vice versa?

  Social skills

  -Accepted: outgoing, friendly, helpful

  -Social skills predict status with unfamiliar peer groups

  Attachment quality

  -Securely attached children have more satisfying peer relationships

  Parenting

  -Authoritative style

  -Modeling

  -Indirectly monitoring peer relationships

  Academic achievement

  -Rejected children tend to have lower achievement

  Mixed findings for "perceived populars"
• How can teachers influence children's peer relationships? What interventions are most effective in helping children who are rejected by peers?

  -Teachers praise for good behavior, which increases peer acceptance

  -Teachers reaction is how children judge the likability of a child

  Interventions:

  -Social skills training

  -Teacher training

  -Academic skills training

  -Parenting training
• What do we know about sexual segregation during middle childhood? What outcomes are associated with maintaining sex segregation? Violating segregation? What are the "rules" for cross-gender contact?


  -During middle childhood, children of all cultures spend a great deal of time in sexually segregated groups (strengthens in middle childhood)

  -Amplifies each other's gender typed behavior