- notoriously difficult to define
- trait or set of traits on which individuals differ
- 1 construct, a few constructs, many constructs?
- the key components were high level abilities
- problem solving, judgement, reasoning
- emphasis on age-related changes
- emphasis on individual differences
- Binet-Simon test
- developed in france in early 1900s
- main goal: to identify which children would not benefit from standardized instruction
- they measured using mental age
- it was the basis of modern intelligence tests
- scores were IQ
- Intelligence Quotient
- Historically: 1-70 (low), 85-115 (average), 160+ (genius)
- IQ = (mental age/physical age) x 100
- Weschlet Scales
- started in 1959
- currently on 4th version
- there are two scales:
1. Weschler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-IV)
2. Weschler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-IV)
- includes verbal + nonverbal tasks
- MEASURED ON A DEVIATION SCALE - how far does the person's score deviate from the mean of their peers
- believed that intelligence is the result of biological differences in the speed of neural conduction
- the faster the conduction, in general the more intelligent the individual
- he progressed the idea of general intelligence
- factor analysis to see if there is one underlying construct responsible for performance across intelligence tests
- Specific intelligence (s)
- skills applied directly to the problem being solved
- general intelligence (g): a cognitive process that underlies and influences the ability to think and learn on all intellectual tasks
- g refers to the general construct of intelligence
- mental speed and working memory are possible basis of g
- fast sensory perception
- greater digit span of working memory
= these results suggest that an overall ability to process a lot of information quickly in the conscious mind is related to intelligence in general
1. Fluid intelligence (street smarts)
- general abilities that can be adapted to any use
- ability to think on the spot to solve novel problems
- helpful in unfamiliar testing settings
- peaks in early 20s
2. Crystallized intelligence (thought of more 'book smarts')
- based on previous learning or experience
- factual knowledge about the world
- directly helpful in familiar testing settings (like a traditional exam setting)
- peaks in early 50s
- individuals possess at least eight different types of intelligence
1. Bodily-kinesthetic
2. Logical-mathematical
3. Interpersonal
4. Verbal-Linguistic
5. Visual-Spatial
6. Intrapersonal
7. Naturalistic
8. Musical
- Isolation by brain damage: damage to brain part leads to language production, suggests the existence of specific criteria
- Evolutionary history and plausibility: needing the skill in the past to survive
- Identifiable core operation/set of operations
- susceptibility to encoding in a system
- distinctive developmental progression
- existence of savants or prodigies
- support from experimental tasks
- support from psychometric findings
- in general intelligence isn't measured before age 3
- designed because young children lack written and verbal skills to complete the test
- 2-30 months
- motor scale
- mental scale
- behavioural record
- poor predictive value of future IQ
- scores at age 8 correlate with scores at age 8 (about .70 correlation)
- scores fluctuate across childhood which is normal
- the changes are typically related to an internal or external factor
Cumulative Deficit Hypothesis:
- under conditions of marked social + environmental deprivation, growth + development deficits in children augment over time
- scholastic achievement
- vocational outcomes:
1. Occupation (higher IQ = white collar jobs)
2. Education (higher IQ = increased levels of education)
- giftedness vs. delayedness
Key considerations: social understanding, creativity, motivation
IQ IS NOT A 1 TO 1 PREDICTOR
1. Heredity: twin studies (identical twins' IQ correlate more than fraternal twins. IQs), adoption studies (adopted children's IQs more closely correlate to bio parents than adopted parents)
2. Environment: example of Flynn Effect, schooling, = this highlights the importance of environmental interventions
- consistent increase in IQ scores over the last 80 years
- doesn't mena that people today are smarted, means that today the environment allows people to obtain higher IQ scores
1. Racial, ethnic, class differences: cultural test bias hypothesis
2. Motivational differences: formal testing environments, examiner race or ethnicity making people feel less comfortable, negative stereotypes (people of majority groups feeling like they have to combat negative stereotypes
3. Some environments more conducive to intellectual growth than others: eg.) impact of low-income households = malnourishment, stress, fewer age appropriate resources
- biases in language used and measures (the language used in tests are biased towards the people who designed the tests -white, western men)
- mother's level of education
- families with 4+ children tend to score lower on IQ tests
- absentee fathers - lower scores
- multiple family stressors
- rigid child-rearing practices
- poor maternal mental health
= all are associative, NOT PREDICTIVE
Primary:
- evolved through natural selection
- acquired by children in all environments
- intrinsically motivated
- children end up developing Expert proficiency
Secondary:
- culturally dependent
- requires explicit instruction
- not intrinsically motivated
- expert proficiency is rare
Reading, Writing, Arithmetic
- reading is not intuitive: it requires significant extra effort to learn
- it does depend on phonological processes
- dyslexia is not associated with IQ
- boys are more likely to be identified
- good readers more likely to become good writers, creating a feedback loop over time (poorer readers = poorer writers = reading less = poorer writing/reading)
1. Sum strategy: a counting strategy in which young children count on their fingers
2. Min strategy: more efficient, taking the larger number and then directly adding 4, 5
3. Retrieval strategy: non-counting strategy, where children memorize the answer and retrieve the fact when asked the question
- biologically determined characteristics of reproductive system
- ascribed to a person based on anatomy
- male, female, intersex
- XY, XX, XO, XXY, XYY
- a person's self-reference understanding + definition of who they are
- identification of gender internally vs. expression/presentation externally
- Gender refers to the stereotypes, expectations, and perceptions associated with certain genders
- Examples of gender identities: [Cis/transgender] man, woman, nonbinary, nonconforming
- Generally using masculine, feminine when discussing gender
Nonbinary/Genderqueer—persons who do not identify exclusively as one gender
Gender-fluid—persons who self-identify with different gender categories depending on the context
- Males and females might have different reproductive interests = (leads to) divergent evolutionary adaptations, with each sex seeking to maximize reproductive fitness (maximization of passing on ones genes)
- On average, men experience much more variance than women and this may lead to different adaptation
- Parental Investment Theory - huge difference in the number of children males can have compared to females
- There are trade-offs between investing time and resources in parenting and mating that lead to sex specific strategies and preferences
- Evolutionary misconceptions
§ Males and females make "conscious" mating decisions - not the case
§ Sex differences are "natural" and should be promoted - not the case
§ The only purpose of sex is reproduction - not the case
Summary of Evolutionary Perspectives
○ Males and females are subject to the same evolutionary pressures (e.g. socialize, digest protein)
○ Differences that are predicted and explained by evolutionary theory based on different average life strategies for the sexes
- Women’s success
○ Official record = 69 children (18th century Russia)
- Men’s success
○ Official record = ~ 875 children (higher capacity), Mulai Ismail, last Sharifian Emperor of Morocco - males don't have physical restraints that women have: lactation, gestation, birth
○ Genghis Khan
§ 16 million people or .5% of men
§ 8% of Asian men
- men and women differ on average levels of their basic personality traits
- Men have higher levels of openness to experience vs. women who have lower levels of openness = O
- Women have higher levels of emotionally, and conscientiousness
- Women as primary caregivers across sociohistorical contexts - take more of the brunt of childcare
- (in the past worrying more might lead to) Worry more = Higher E (emotionally)
- Be more dependable = Higher C (conscientiousness)
- Be less exploratory = Lower O (openness)
Neuroscientific, cognitive development, gender schema, social identity, biosocial
1. Infancy + toddlerhood: able to identify gender differences, begin to form gender-related expectations, at 2.5 years = gender labeling
2. preschool years: gender segregation starts = tendency to associate with same-gender peers
3. middle childhood: greater flexibility and understanding of gender as a social category, awareness of gender discrimination
4. adolescence: 2 ways: gender-role identification (w/in context of heterosexual dating) or gender-role flexibility (moving away from rigidness)
- increase in mixed-gender interactions
- beginning of sexual harassment w/in peer grousp
- heightened rates of bullying
- reading/verbal ability
- visual/spatial ability
- aggression (these actually have concrete evidence)
Potential differences:
- activity level
- fear, timidity, and risk taking
- developmental vulnerability
- emotional expressivity/sensitivity
- compliance
Prenatal development (dramatic differences)
- gene on Y chromosome triggers androgen production
- intersex
- one genetic sex develops genitalia associated with other genetic sex or both
- genitalia undergoes partial development
Pre-puberty (subtle differences)
- grow at the same rate
Puberty (dramatic differences)
- puberty = developmental period associated with dramatic bodily changes and ability to reproduce
1. increased health and nutrition appear to be the largest contributors for younger puberty eg. poor nutrition delays it
2. aspects of rearing environment:
girls' rate of pubertal maturation affected by:
- Socioemotional stress
- Maternal relationship
- Father absence and relationship quality with father
- Early maturing girls experience more emotional problems and behavioral problems relative to other girls - harassment earlier perhaps.
- Early maturing boys experience positive and negative outcomes of their development
- Longitudinal research suggests that late maturing boys may benefit from having additional time to develop social and intellectual skills
- intelligence and cognitive ability is equivalent
- but, boys are more proportionally represented at the extremes
= more with intellectual disabilities, but more gifted
- boys tend to emphasize dominance and power in social relationships
- girls emphasize support and intimacy
- no differences in talkativeness but yes in self-disclosure: girls tend to talk more about their feelings/experiences
- no gender difference with indirect aggression in childhood
- girls and boys spread rumors the same as boys, but they increase the girl's rate in adolescence
- direct aggression (physical and verbal) more pronounced in boys
- understanding that human action is motivated by underlying mental states
- influenced by cognitive development (reasoning about intentions, beliefs) and social development (moral judgment, empathy, conduct disorders)
- sally-anne test is one way of testing it - children stuggle to understand others' beliefs
- number of older siblings predicts the emergence of theory-of-mind reasoning
- parent-child conversations: talking about mental states helps
- influence of cultural context: environment matters!
- neural and physiological responses to the environment, subjective feelings, cognitions related to those feelings, and the desire to take action
Components:
- neural responses (in the brain)
- physiological factors
- subjective feelings (being able to label their anger as anger)
- emotional expressions associated with feelings
- desire to take action towards emotions
1. Discrete Emotions theory: emotions are innate
- each emotion w/ their own bodily + facial reaction
- result from the evolution of neurological and biological systems
2. Functionalist perspective: emotions serve functions
- not discrete but vary based on social environment
- emotions relate to the management of relationships between self and the environment
- distinct, universally recognized facial expressions
- rooted in evolutionary heritage
- appear in infancy
- hardwired in the subcortical motor areas of the brain
- survival/communication functions
- believed to be innate
- rapid, automatic onset
Joy/happiness, surprise, anger, sadness, fear, disgust
- start to laugh at 3-4 months
- social smiles start at 6-7 weeks
- roughly in the first 6 months (2-6 months)
- begins as secondary to another distress signal (like a secondary signal), following a preliminary emotion
- then around 1 year old it becomes a dominant emotion
- sadness emerges around 3 months
- fear emerges around 3-7 months
- by 2-3 years of age disgust becomes associated with undesirable social behaviors
- before then, it was originally food-oriented behavior
- envy, embarrassment, empathy, pride, shame (focus on self), guilt (empathy for others)
- set of both conscious and unconscious processes used to both monitor and modulate emotional experiences and expressions
- develops over the course of childhood
= younger children: regulate using behavioral strategies
= older children: cognitive strategies and problem solving
- emotional regulation is important for social competence
Temperament: individual differences in emotion, activity level, and attention exhibited across contexts
- is present from infancy and fairly consistent from birth
- largely genetically based
Types:
1. Easy (most people): positive moon, quick to adapt, regular routines
2. Difficult: negative reactions, irregular routines, slow to adapt
3. Slow-to-warm-up (2nd most popular): reacts mildly negative, low activity level, slow to warm up
4. None Classified (blends all of the above)
- fearful distress
- irritable distress
- positive affect
- activity level
- attention span/persistence
- rhythmicity
Conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, openness to experience, extraversion
- H as separate factor
- E and A somewhat different from five-factor counterparts
- better cross-cultural validity than Big Five (applies to people regardless of culture)
- better theoretical validity
- an emotional bond with a specific person that is enduring across space and time
- applies specifically to child psychology: close emotional relationship between child and caregiver
- which is expressed by maintaining physical proximity, stress upon separation, and relief of stress when reunited
- historical figure who contributed to research
- problem: high rates of infant + child mortality in hospitals + orphanages
- studied two groups:
1. Raised by own mothers = over 5 yrs, 0/289 died
2. Raised by nursery staff = over 2 years, 37% died
= significant differences in motor, social, psychological, and intellectual development
the deteriorating (often deadly) effects on infants of long-term confinement in hospitals or similar institutions
- children are biologically predisposed to develop attachments to caregivers as a means of increasing their own chances of survival
- an innate basis but the development + quality of which are highly dependent on nature of experiences with caregivers
• Enhances chance of survival -> Rene Spitz's study showed this because the children with mothers lived longer
• Emotional security
• Co-regulation
• Secure base—the idea that a trusted caregiver provides a sense of security that makes it possible to explore the environment
• Attachment is related to future outcomes—subsequent relationships + behavioral, social, emotional, and cognitive adjustment
o There is an influence of early attachments on later characteristics in life
1. Pre-attachment/asocial attachment: birth - 6 weeks
- indifferent social responsiveness
2. Attachment-in-the-making: 6 weeks - 6-8 months
- no distress to strangers or separation to primary caregiver
3. Clear-cut (or specific) attachment: 6-8 months - 18-24 months
- clear cut interest in main caregiver
- distress when separated, wary of strangers
4. Reciprocal relationships: 1.5-2 years +
- can understand caregiver behavior
- stranger/separation anxiety begin to diminish
- more balanced, two way relationship w/ caregiver
1. Secure Attachment (over half of children in the US are this one)
o Positive, trusting relationship
o Confident when caregiver present
o Mild distress when temporarily left alone
o Happy when caregiver returns
2. Insecure-Resistant Attachment (the least amount of children in US are this)
o Keep close to caregiver
o Do not explore much
o Distressed when caregiver leaves temporarily
o Responds w/ anger + rejection when caregiver returns
3. Insecure-Avoidant Attachment
o Little distress when caregiver leaves
o Avoid contact when caregiver returns
o A little bit of wariness of strangers
4. Disorganized/Disoriented Attachment
o Seek closeness w/ caregiver inconsistently
o Display patterns typical of other types of attachment simultaneously
yes they can
- sets of expectations and beliefs about the self, the world, and attachment relationships
- constantly being revised based on experiences
- anticipate future social relationshi[s and interactions
• More children live with single parents
• More children live with unmarried parents
• First time parents are older
• More children live with grandparents
• Families are smaller than before
• Families are more fluid
• Teenaged parents
• Same Sex Parents
• Higher rate of Divorced parents
• Stepparents
Survival - the survival of children
Skills - development of life skills
Socialization - the first primary agent of socialization in a child's life
Authoritative (high control, high on warmth) - Mary Poppins
Authoritarian (high on control, low on warmth) - C. Von Trap (father) from sound of music
Permissive (low on control, high on warmth) - Regina George's mom in Mean girls "a cool mom"
Uninvolved/Neglectful (low on control, low on warmth) - Matilda's parents
- yes they are
- no negative impact on attachment
- child care can also be compensatory (make up) for areas that are lacking at home
- companionship
- learning
- conflict
- cooperation
- caregiving
- by living past one’s reproductive years, women can devote their time and resources to their children and grandchildren, and as a result increase the chances of survival of their grandchildren
- neglect
- physical abuse
- emotional abuse
- sexual abuse
- poly victimization (more than one types of abuse at once)
- lack of parental knowledge
- lack of resources
- parental substance dependence
- parents in an abusive romantic relationship
- parents w/ history of maltreatment (15%)
Alloparenting: provision of care to children by individuals other than genetic mother ("takes a village to raise a child")
Cooperative Breeding Hypothesis: humans evolved a system of parenting in which mothers shared the responsibility for childcare with others
people of approximately the same age and status who are unrelated to one another
- peers groups are beneficial but also a source of risk
by adolescence
- reduced parental supervision: going to movies without parents, etc.
- individuation: restructuring of relationships with caregivers to accommodate new and different kinds of relationships with one's peers
- the central, earliest form of peer interaction
- voluntary activities w/ no specific motivation beyond their inherent enjoyment (doing it for fun)
- CRC states children have the right to play
Non-social play (under 2 years of age):
- Unoccupied play: watches the environment, not engaged
- Onlooker play: watches other children's play, may show interest but doesn't join
- Solitary play: engrossed in their own play, not paying attention to others' actions
Social play (over 4 years)
- Parallel play: playing alongside other children, similar activities but independent
- Associative play: plays with others in common activity, share toys but play is not coordinated, each child does what they want
- Cooperative play: plays in an organized activity with a goal, distinction in roles
Peer group => Croud (loosely based, defining group, eg. front row sitters) => cliques (people most close to you) => triads (group of 3) => dyads (group of 2)
- intimacy
- reciprocity
- positivity
2 yrs: preference for certain children, initiation of interaction with preferred children
3-4 yrs: able to make and maintain friendships with peers, can identify "best friends"
5 yrs: communicate and cooperative more effectively with friends than non-friends
6 yrs: begins to center more around activities
9 yrs: more sensitive to needs of others, emphasis on taking care, helping and sharing feelings
Adolescence: friendships are more exclusive, increased emphasis on intimacy, less stable (personalities change, moving away)
BOYS: large group size, loose knit, competitive, independent, simultaneous
risk factors: externalizing problems: could be aggressive behaviour
GIRLS: triads or diads, personal disclosure, reciprocity, sequential (friend groups don't mix)
risk factors: friendship related stress + hurt. Co-rumination: tendency for individuals to rehash the same negative occurrence over and over again
Measured by Sociometric status: measurement reflecting the degree to which children are liked or disliked by their peers
Categories:
1. Popular: liked by many, disliked by few (highly accepted and impactful) - impactful in that they have power
2. Rejected: liked by few, disliked by many (low in acceptance and preference, high in rejection and impact on their peers
3. Neglected: infrequently mentioned, not noticed much by peers (low in impact and in positive/negative ratings)
4. Average: most people fall here (moderate in preference and impact)
5. Controversial: liked by many AND disliked by many (high impact and average preference, high AND low on liking)
peaks in early preschool/JK years
- Less likely to encode social cues; more likely to encode aggressive cues (more likely to be paying attention to aggressive cues)
- More likely to interpret ambiguous cues as having aggressive intent & respond with socially inappropriate responses
- Difficulty inhibiting aggressive responses
- it is more specific and aggressive behaviour (ALL BULLYING IS AGGRESSIVE, BUT NOT ALL AGGRESSION IS BULLYING)
- a goal-directed harmful act aimed at a weaker individual
**peaks during the transition to high school**
Signs:
- little concern for others' feelings
- does not recognize impact of his/her behaviour on others
- bossy and manipulative to get own way
- possess unexplained objects and/or extra money, secretive
- easily frustrated and quick to anger
- bullies are not stereotypically lonely, dumb, cowardly = these are traits of bully-victims
- pure bullies are average or higher on: social skills, intelligence, physical size and health, mental health and feelings of self-esteem
Purpose: to get stuff, dates, and popularity
Does it work:
Yes: access to more resources, date more often and start dating at a younger age, more sex, rated more popular than average children
No: get in more trouble, relationships tend to be more violent, less liked than average children (more pop but less liked)
• Increased monitoring
• Increased punishment
• Increase bystander involvement
• Increase incentives for not using bullying (e.g., teaching them prosocial skills that work as well or better)
- Not wanting to go to school or participate in extra-curricular activities
- Anxious, fearful, over-reactive
- Exhibits low self-esteem and makes negative comments about him/herself
- Headaches and stomach aches without obvious cause
- Lower interest and performance in school
- Loses things, needs money, reports being hungry after school
- Injuries, bruising, damaged clothing, broken things
- Unhappy, irritable, little interest in activities
- Trouble sleeping, nightmares, bedwetting
- Expresses threats to hurt himself/herself or others - big one
- Addiction to the phone
- Hyperactivity
- ODD (operational defiance disorder)
- Anxiety
- Depression
- FOMO
- Suicidality
- Disordered eating
- Loneliness
- Nomophobia (intense anxiety when away from phone)
- Self-injury
- Asynchronicity (delay in interactions, not in real time)
- Availability (friends are more available)
- Permanence (posts, texts are permanent)
- Cue absence (can't see facial expressions) - no tone or voice
- Visualness (visual information like posts, reels, etc.)
- Qualitifiability (likes, views, shares)
- Publicness (everyone can see what you said)