Final Exam Study Guide

Chapter 1

v  Understand what is meant by and be able to identify examples of the following terms:

o    physical development, cognitive development, social development, personality development

v  Describe how culture, race, and ethnicity influence development. 

v  Define cohort and normative influences on development. 

v  Describe the history of child development and its foundations. 

v  Be able to discuss the key issues and questions that dominate the field of child development today

Chapter 2

v  Name and explain the five major theoretical perspectives that guide the study of child development. 

v  Discuss how Erikson viewed child development. 

v  Describe the behavioral perspective of child development as outlined by Skinner. 

v  Explain how the cognitive perspective allows people to know, understand, and think about the world. 

v  Discuss the contextual perspective and how it stresses the interrelatedness of developmental areas. 

v  Describe how Vygotsky's theory emphasizes social interactions. 

v  Explain the theory related most closely with genetic inheritance. 

v  Explain the scientific method, and how it helps answer questions about child development. 

v  Describe correlational studies and why they are used in social science research. 

v  Explain what a theory is and why they are important to research. 

v  Name and describe the major research strategies associated with social science research. 

v  Describe the locations where research is conducted. 

v  Understand the differences between cross-sectional and longitudinal research. Know the advantages and disadvantages of each.

v  Be familiar with ethical guidelines for conducting psychological research.

Chapter 3

v  Understand and be able to describe genes, their composition, and how genetic information determines the nature and function of every cell in the body 

v  Explain why multiple births occur and the difference between monozygotic and dizygotic twins 

v  Explain how the study of twins gives insight into the role of genetics and environment on development 

v  Explain how the sex of a child is determined and the ethical considerations surrounding techniques that allow parents to increase the chance of specifying the gender of their child 

v  Understand and explain the basic mechanisms involved in the way that the genes we inherit from our parents transmit information 

v  Explain and give an example of the difference between the dominant and the recessive gene 

v  Explain and give an example of the difference between the genotype and the phenotype 

v  Explain the difference between being homozygous for a trait and heterozygous for a trait and by a consideration of the transmission of PKU 

v  Explain the various disorders related to X-linked genes 

v  Be able to discuss the impact of mapping the human genome 

v  Briefly describe the development that occurs during the three stages of prenatal development 

v  Understand and explain the threats to a healthy prenatal environment as well as steps that can be taken to optimize the health of the prenatal environment  

Chapter 4

v  Briefly describe and explain the labor process, including the stages of labor

v  Describe the influence of culture on interpretations of child birth 

v  Briefly describe the alternative birthing procedures explained in the chapter & in the handout given in class

o    Describe the variety of techniques available to reduce the level of pain experienced during pregnancy by the mother 

v  Describe the Apgar scale and explain what it is intended to measure 

v  Explain the controversy behind the issue of bonding between mother and child immediately after birth 

v  Explain some of the reasons behind the relatively high infant mortality rate in the United States 

v  Explain the factors associated with risk of low birth weight 

v  Describe and explain the possible risks for a post-mature infant 

v  Describe the significant racial differences that exist in the infant mortality rate in the United States and some of the factors that influence those differences 

v  Describe the characteristics of postpartum depression and why it is important for mother and baby to identify and treat it 

v  Be able explain how physically competent human newborns are to face their world 

v  Describe the sensory capabilities of the average human newborn

o    Describe the research done by Frantz, his methodology and findings

v  Describe the level of social competence of the infant 

Chapter 5

v  Describe the process of development of the human brain through infancy

v  Explain the findings of studies on the brain’s plasticity and the impact of the environment on brain development 

v  Recognize the behavioral states of a newborn 

v  Describe the causes of and risks for SIDS 

v  Identify and describe the characteristics and functions of the basic reflexes present at birth 

v  Describe developmental milestones in motor development

v  Describe the influence that proper nutrition has on healthy development by explaining the risks related to malnutrition, under-nutrition, and obesity 

v  Identify the benefits (to the healthy development of child and mother) of breast-feeding 

v  Contrast the meaning of ‘sensation’ with the meaning of ‘perception’ 

v  Describe the sensory abilities of infants (info similar to Chapter 3 and Dixon #5

v  Describe the various perceptual abilities of infants 

Chapter 6

v  Understand the key elements of Piaget's stage approach to development. 

v  Explain the process that leads to development of schemes by defining the assimilation and accommodation processes. 

o    be able to identify and/or create examples of assim. and accom. in infants and adults. (like we did in class)

v  Describe how Piaget explains transitions between stages of development.

v  Describe the significant developments that occur during the sensorimotor stage,

v  Explain the impact on future development of the achievement of object permanence.

v  Explain how mental representation expands a child's experiences and understanding.

v  Identify criticisms of Piaget's theory while appreciating the influence it has had on the field of child development.

v  Compare and contrast the information processing approach with Piaget's approach to infant cognitive development.

v  Describe the memory capabilities of infants. 

v  Describe various methods of measuring infant intelligence. 

v  Identify and describe the characteristics of linguistic composition.

v  Distinguish between linguistic comprehension and linguistic production.

v  Describe the nature of prelinguistic communication. 

v  Describe the general nature and timing of production of holophrases.  

v  Describe the general nature and timing of production of first sentences. 

v  Describe the general cross-cultural nature of infant directed speech.

v  Understand issues related to measurement of “intelligence” in infants. (e.g. Bayley Scales, developmental quotient.)

Chapter 7

v  Explain if and how infant expressions of emotion represent similar or different experiences than adult expressions of emotion 

v  Describe and explain the development of stranger anxiety and separation anxiety 

v  Describe and explain the development of meaning behind an infant’s smile 

v  Describe and explain the development in infants of their ability to make sense of the facial and vocal expressions of others 

v  Explain the skills an infant must have achieved to be able to use on social referencing 

v  Describe the mirror-and-rouge test and the age at which most infants develop self-recognition skills 

v  Identify the work of Lorenz and Harlow in relation to attachment theory. 

v  Describe the Ainsworth Strange Situation 

v  Describe and explain the four attachment patterns presented in the chapter and be able to classify examples.

v  Describe and explain how a caregiver’s reactions and sensitivity to a child’s cues influence the attachment relationship 

v  Explain the ability of father’s and other caregivers to establish positive attachments with their children 

v  Describe the two stages of infancy proposed by Erikson 

v  Identify the dimensions of temperament as well as the three categories of temperament identified in the New York Longitudinal Study and be able to classify examples.

v  Explain how the goodness-of-fit between temperament and environmental context impacts development 

v  Explain how gender can impact development

v  Be able to discuss how temperament and attachment may influence each other. 

Chapter 9

• Describe the advances and limitations of Piaget's stage of preoperational thinking.
• Evaluate Piaget's approach to cognitive development.
• Describe the information-processing approach to cognitive development.
• Explain whether children make effective eyewitnesses.
• Evaluate the information processing approach to cognitive development.
• Describe Vygotsky's view of cognitive development.
• Evaluate Vygotsky's approach to cognitive development.
• Explain language advances during the preschool years.
• Understand the influence of poverty on language development.
• Describe early childhood education in terms of variety, effectiveness, and quality.
• Understand why the United States lags behind other countries in relation to preschool.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of Head Start.
• Understand the influence of television on preschoolers.
• Describe how parents can improve the academic readiness of their children without creating undue stress.

Chapter 10

• Describe Erik Erikson's stages of psychosocial development that are associated with the preschool years. 
• Discuss how growing up in an individualistic culture is different from a collectivist culture. 
• Explain how children develop a sense of racial and ethnic identity. 
• Explain the development of gender identity. 
• Explain the biological, psychoanalytic, social learning, and cognitive approaches to the development of gender identity. 
• Describe the different types of play observed during the early part of the preschool years. 
• Explain the social aspects of play and the types of play exhibited in the latter part of the preschool years. 
• Explain the development of preschoolers' theory of mind. 
• Explain the role that culture and historical era plays in determining parental style. 
• Explain Piaget's view of moral development. 
• Describe how children's moral reasoning develops throughout the preschool years. 
• Discuss the nature of aggressive behavior during the preschool years. 
• Explain the roots of aggression. 
• Explain how antisocial, aggressive behavior can be reduced. 

Chapter 12

• Explain, compare and contrast, and evaluate the following perspectives on cognitive development during the school years: Piaget, information processing, and Vygotsky. 
• Discuss the personal, social and educational benefits and challenges of bilingualism in America. 
• Identify the major trends affecting schooling in North America and worldwide.   
• Explain racial, gender, and cultural differences in attributions of success and failure, and discuss how these subjective interpretations, by self and others, contribute to school outcomes.    
• Discuss how teachers transmit their expectations to students and how these expectations affect student performance and teacher behavior.   
• Define intelligence, discuss historical milestones in the area of intelligence testing, and identify the major tests used to measure intelligence. 
• Discuss the controversies associated with the measurement and interpretation of intelligence test scores and review the research on the effect of IQ.   
• Define mental retardation, identify the four major categories, and discuss the capabilities and limitations associated with each level. 
• Define “gifted and talented” and discuss the primary approaches to educating children who fall outside the normal range of intelligence.

Chapter 13

• Describe changes that occur during middle childhood in the ways children view themselves. 
• Explain the development of self-esteem, noting how parenting style, race, and ethnicity relate to children’s evaluations of self. 
• Explain how low and high self-efficacy and learned helplessness affect children’s beliefs and behavior. 
• Describe characteristic friendship patterns emerging in middle childhood, and identify stages of friendship proposed by psychologist William Damon. 
• Identify the causes and consequences of popularity and unpopularity, and discuss strategies to improve children’s social competence. 
• Discuss how gender and race affect friendships. 
• Describe changes in the American family, and discuss the most important factors related to those changes. 
• Discuss the effects today’s diverse family and care arrangements have on children. 

Chapter 14

• Describe the physical changes occurring during adolescence.
• Discuss some of the reactions to the physical changes in adolescence.
• Explain the causes and effects of timing of maturation.
• Identify some of the cultural and gender differences in the causes and consequences of early and late maturation.
• Identify the nutritional needs of adolescents.
• Discuss the causes and effects of obesity, anorexia, and bulimia.
• Discuss the causes and effects of stress during adolescence, and explain effective stress management techniques.
• Identify the major threats to the health and well-being of adolescents.
• Discuss the extent, causes, and consequences of adolescent drug use.
• Explain the dangers associated with adolescent sexual practices.
• Explain cultural differences in the rate of HIV/AIDS infections.

Chapter 15

• Explain Piagetian approaches to cognitive development.
• Describe cultural influences on formal operations.
• Learn the consequences of adolescents' use of formal operations.
• Evaluate Piaget's approach.
• Describe information-processing perspectives.
• Explain the relation between metacognition and cognitive advances in adolescence.
• Describe adolescents' self-absorption.
• Explain Kohlberg's theory of moral development.
• Evaluate Kohlberg's theory.
• Explain Gilligan's theory of moral development.
• Evaluate Gilligan's theory.
• Describe school performance and cognitive development.
• Understand the relation between socioeconomic status and school performance.
• Explain ethnic and racial differences in school achievement.
• Describe the relation between attributions and beliefs about academic success.
• Understand the affect of the Internet and World Wide Web on the lives of adolescents.
• Describe school drop out.

Chapter 16

• Discuss the development of self-concept and self-esteem during adolescence.
• Explain the impact of gender, race, and ethnicity in adolescence.
• Explain Erik Erikson's and James Marcia's approaches to identify formation during adolescence.
• Describe the difficulties adolescents face as they deal with the stresses of adolescence, focusing particularly on depression and suicide.
• Discuss changes in relationships with family and peers during adolescence.
• Explain the impact of peer pressure and the functions of peer relationships during adolescence.
• Describe what it means to be popular and unpopular as an adolescent.
• Discuss the functions and characteristics of dating during adolescence.
• Describe sexual attitudes and behavior during adolescence, noting the impact of gender and culture.
• Review the research on causes of sexual orientation.