Developmental Psych Final Test Questions – Flashcards

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Behavioral Schema
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Psychological structure that is external, Expressed through action, characteristic of sensory motor stage. For example: behavioral structures develop when infants begin to use their reflex structures voluntarily. Behavioral structures become operational structures through interaction of structures and experience.
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Operational Schema
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Psychological Structure that is internal, mental actions or representations. Characteristic of concrete and formal operational stages.
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How can an infant in the sensorimotor period coordinate these schemas? (behavioral and operational)
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Primary circular reactions: Tendency to repeat a behavior/action that might have initially by chance brought favorable results. Secondary Circular Reactions: Repeating actions involving infant's body interacting with objects. Tertiary Circular Reactions: Actions involving combinations of objects, interest in objects' properties, interest in novelty.
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Four Subprinciples of Piaget stages.
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- Accomodative modification of schemata - importance of exposure - moderate discrepancy - gradual evolution within stages. Probably applicable to other stages, but perhaps especially important in sensorimotor stage.
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What are the pedagogical implications of Piaget's theory and how do they relate to children's welfare?
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Importance of engaging children in activities that help them learn. Possible implications for children's witness testimony.
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Vgotsky's zone of proximal development
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Vgotsky was a sociocultural theorist who saw children as social beings. Interactions guide children towards the content valued by their culture. Believes that development lags behind learning. Zone of proximal development: - learning and development interrelated. - actual development level = level of development of a child's mental functions that has been established - "what children can do with the assistance of others might be in some sense even more indicative of their mental development than what they can do alone" - ZPD = distance between the actual developmental level and the level of potential development.
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Theory of Mind
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A basic understanding of how the mind works and how it influences behavior. In 3 year olds: - Possess rudimentary theory of mind - their inability to understand that people act according to their own beliefs leads them to fail false belief problems. - performance of false belief problems improves by age 5 - understand that another's mental representation of the situation is different from their own.
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Fluid Intelligence
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The Hardware of the mind. Speed and accuracy of processes involved in sensory input, attention, memory discrimination abstract thinking. Tends to decline with age. Strongly influenced by biology and heredity.
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Crystallized Intelligence
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Acquired knowledge - software of the mind. Reading, writing, educational qualifications. Professional skills and language comprehension. Knowledge of self and life skills. May improve with age.
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Flynn Effect
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IQ test scores have increased in the last 50 years. Environment has a powerful impact of intelligence. "If a test cannot rank generations because of the cultural distance they travel over a few years, it can it rank races or groups separated by a similar cultural distance?" Flynn: We really don't know what IQ tests measure. Possible explanations? Improved: abstract problem solving, environmental stimulation, schooling, test taking skills, literacy, nutrition, and health. Why have IQ scores improved over time, when genes haven't?
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Passive Effects of genotype
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When children are raised by biological parents. Overlap between their genes and parents' gene. I.E. Children whose genotype predisposes them to enjoy reading likely to grow up in homes with books.
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Evocative effects of genotype
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When children influence other people's behavior. I.E. child's joyful reaction to reading causes parents to read more to them.
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Active effects of genotype
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Child choosing environment they enjoy. I.E. high school student who enjoys reading will actively obtain books from the library or other ways.
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Alfred Binet
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1905- Fist usable intelligence test (Mental age score). To identify children needing remedial programs (predicted scholastic achievement). "Don't misuse my test!" - doesn't measure innate intelligence, not for ranking normal children, not for labeling as innately incapable.
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Thurstone's 7 primary mental abilities
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Proposes that intelligence involves 7 primary abilities: Verbal ability, inductive reasoning, perceptual speed, facility with numbers, spatial relations, memory, verbal fluency. Scores on various tests of a single ability tend to correlate more strongly with each other than do scores on tests of any of the other abilities.
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Sternberg's theory of successful Intelligence
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Based on view that intelligence is the ability to achieve in life - based on 3 abilities: analytic, creative, practical. Envisions intelligence as the ability to achieve success in life, given one's personal standards, within one's sociocultural context. Success in life reflects people's ability to build on their strengths, to compensate for their weaknesses and select environments in which they can succeed.
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Gardner's multiple intelligences
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Theory that encompasses a wider range of human abilities (not just verbal, mathematical and spatial capabilities) than do traditional theories. People possess 8 kinds of intelligence: linguistic, logical mathematical, spatial musical, naturalistic, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal and intrapersonal. Proposed that children learn best through instruction that allows them to build on their intellectual strengths.
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general intelligence (g)
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(Viewing intelligence as a single entity) The part of intelligence that is common to all intellectual tasks. Measures of g, such as overall scores on intelligence tests, correlate positively with school grades and achievement test performance. At the level of cognitive and brain mechanisms, g correlates with information processing speed, with speed of neural transmission, and with brain volume. Good reason to view intelligence as a single entity that involves the ability to think and learn.
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Fluid intelligence
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Ability to think on the spot to solve novel problems. Closely related to the ability to learn, the speed of information processing, the capacity of working memory, and the ability to control attention. Also related to brain size, particularly the size of the cortex, and to the amount of activation of specific brain areas, notably the prefrontal cortex and parietal area, on tasks that require attention and problem solving. Peaks at age 20 then declines.
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crystallized intelligence
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Factual knowledge about the world. Knowledge of word meaning, state capitals, answers to arithmetic problems and so on. It reflects long term memory for prior experience and is closely related to verbal ability. The hippocampus is a particularly crucial brain region for forming the enduring memories on which crystallized intelligence is based. Increases into old age.
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Intelligence as Numerous Processes
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These include remembering, perceiving, attending, comprehending, encoding, associating, generalizing, planning, reasoning, forming concepts, solving problems, generating and applying strategies, and so on. Viewing intelligence as "many things" allows more precise specification of the processes involved in intelligent behavior than do approaches that view it as one thing or a few things.
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Three-stratum theory of intelligence
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Carroll's model of intelligence, including g at the top of the hierarchy, eight moderately generalized abilities in the middle, and many specific processes at the bottom. General intelligence influences all of the moderately general abilities, and both general intelligence and the moderately general abilities influence the specific process.
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Norm of reaction
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Because of the continuous interaction of genotype and environment, a given genotype will develop differently in different environments. Refers to all the phenotypes that could theoretically result from a given genotype in relation to all the environments in which it could survive and develop. According to this concept, for any given genotype developing in varying environments, a range of outcomes would be possible.
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phones
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Any sound made by the vocal tract. Includes speech sounds and non-speech sounds.
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phonemes
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A set or category of phones that are perceived as similar; within each phonemic category, different phones are heard as alike. these are the smallest unit of speech (15-85 per language; about 45 in English). Different languages have different phonemes. Ex: ra and la are recognized as separate phonemes in English, but they are not distinguished as separate phonemes in Japanese. Rack and Lack would sound similar to a native japanese speaker but not to a native english speaker. Semantically Empty. Can change the meaning of a word. Smallest unit of speech.
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Allophones
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all of the phones that belong to the same phonemic category.
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Eimas Study
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Method: High Amplitude sucking paradigm for 1-4 month olds - infant sucks on pacifier and hard sucks are rewarded by a sound - when the infant becomes bored with same sound, the sucking decreases (i.e. infant habituates to the sound) - once the infant habituates to the same sound you change the sound stimulus: - does the infant dishabituate when the new sound is played? - If yes, then the infant has discriminated between the two sounds. Eimas studied 2 different phonemes" ba and pa. Ba VOT is 20 ms and Pa VOT is 40 ms. 3 Groups studied, all with a 20 ms difference in VOT 1. +20ms ba changes to +40 pa -> difference phonemic categories 2. -20ms ba changes to 0 ms ba -> same phonemic category 3. +60ms pa change to +80 pa -> same phonemic category.
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Voice onset Time
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VOT is the time between the plosive burst of air and voicing of the sound (when the vocal cord vibrates.
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Eimas Study Results
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1 & 4 month olds discriminate between ba and pa. Do not discriminate phones within ba or pa categories. Thus they demonstrate adult like categorical perception of these phonemes by 1 month of age. Also, these infants posses a phonemic category that their parents lack because they can discriminate between two phonemes across a Thai boundary that does not exist in the English language.
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Werker Study
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Method: Conditioned head turning paradigm for 6-12 month olds. Conditioning - infant hears a string of sounds and is rewarded when he or she turns head to a change in sound. Test- the infant is presented with a series of speech sounds (e.g., da,da,da,da, ta...). Does the infant turn his or head with change from da to ta? If yes, then the infant discriminates between these two sounds.
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Werker Study - Results
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Can english background infants discriminate Hindi & Salish phonemes? Three English Background groups studied: 1. 6-8 months old -> best discrimination of non native phonemic categories 2. 8-10 months old -> discrimination of non native phonemic categories declining 6-8 months old 3. 10-12 months old -> worst discrimination of non native phonemic categories. Also, these results were compared to Hindi and Salish background infants at 11-12 months of age. The Hindi and Salish background infants showed high discriminatory abilities for these phonemes because they belong to their native language.
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Werker Study Conclusions
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1-6 months olds distinguish many phonemes from world languages, and before they are able to articulate them. Young infants (less than 6 months old) discriminate more phonemes than their parents do (such as Hindi and Salish). But their perception of non-native phonemic contrasts declines after 6 months. Werker's study demonstrates the MAINTENANCE/LOSS trajectory ("use it or lose it") Experience is necessary to maintain the perceptual ability after a certain point Lack of experience with non native phonemes after 6 months of age = loss of perceptual ability.
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Kuhl Study
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Method: Conditioned head turning paradigm for 6-12 month olds. Studied discrimination between ra & la in Japanese American infants. Results: At 6-8 months of age, there is no difference between American and Japanese infants in their ability to discriminate between ra and la. But at 10-12 months of age, the American's infants ability to discriminate between ra and la improved while the Japanese infant's ability to discriminate between ra and la declined.
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Kuhl Study Conclusions
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Kuhl believes that her results are best described by the Attunement/Loss Model. I.E. Experience enhances perception of native contrasts and decreases perception of non native contrasts by the end of the first year. During the first year infants are taking mental statistics on the distributions of the phonemes that they hear. They commit to the phonemic categories to which they are most frequently exposed (native phonemes) and they prune the categories to which they are not exposed (non native phonemes)
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Kuhl's native language neural
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A) Positive correlation between native phonetic discrimination at 7 months and later Native language abilities at 14-30 months (such as word production at 18 months, sentence complexity at 24 months, and utterance length at 24 months) - this means that the greater the increase in native perceptual abilities at 7 months, the better the later native language learning. B) Negative correlation between Non Native phonetic discrimination at 7 months and later Native language abilities at 14-30 months. - this means that the greater the loss of non native perceptual abilities, the better the later native language learning.
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Pre Linguistic period Language Milestones
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Pre-Linguistic Period: Speech production during the pre linguistic period - newborn -> crying - 6-8 weeks -> cooing - 4-6 months -> babbling Receptive language during the pre-linguistic period (understanding of the native language precedes use): 4 months: understands own name. 6 months: understand names of highly familiar things such as doggy, mommy, daddy. 8 months: Understands common expressions, such as wave bye bye; do you want juice? 10 months: Understands 10-150 words.
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Linguistic Period Language Milestones
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Receptive language during the linguistic period: 14 months: about 150 words. 21 months: complex verbal instructions understood. Speech Production during the linguistic period: About 12 months -> meaningful use of single word Holophrastic speech - words as holophrases (infants has a complete thought in his or her mind but only uses one word to express it) Syncretic Speech - words as one element in communication About 24 months -> 2 words.
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Penelope G. Vinden
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Study explores young children's understanding of mind and their ability to give evidence for belief. 154 Mofu children of Cameroon were chosen as participants. Results suggest that children who have attended school develop an understanding of evidence for false belief. They did perform better than the non-schooled sample, however on question concerning evidence for a subsequent true belief performance on this question for both groups was poor.
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Piaget. Structures: What a child knows how to do
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Hereditary or innate structures: Physical and Reflexes. Psychological Structures: Schemas, schemata. Behavioral - infant and young child. Operation - child and adult. They are continually changing.
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Piaget. Functions: Two General Principles
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Innate, Invariant, Universal. Organization and Adaptation (assimilation & accommodation).
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Piaget Organization
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Tendency to integrate structures. Physiological system. Psychological organization: Look (in order to) grasp (in order to) suck.
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Piaget Adaptation
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Two complementary processes. Assimilation: deal with the environment in terms of existing structures i.e. calling all 4 legged creatures doggie. Accommodation: Change structures in response to environmental demand s. Assimilation and accommodation involve infant environment interaction
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Compared to assimilation, accommodation is
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- more progressive - greater differentiation of structures - more changes in long term memory - greater cognitive growth - more effortful
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Compared to accommodation, assimilation is
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- is more conservative - preserves energy - provides stability - strengthens existing structures.
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Equilibration
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Leads to developmental change. Balance between assimilation and accommodation.
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Piaget: What does the individual inherit?
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1.) Physiological Structures (nervous system) and Reflex structures (sucking, grasping, looking) 2.) Tendency to organize intellectual processes and to adapt (Infants do not inherit psychological structures).
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Piaget: How does Intelligence develop?
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Invariant Functions produce ever changing schemas -> organization and adaptation -> assimilation and accommodation. CREATE NEW Psychological structures (schemata)
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Piaget's position on Development
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A structuralist, an interactionist, a constructivist and a stage theorist.
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Piagetian Stages
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Sensorimotor - birth (intelligence is manifest in actions). Pre-operational 2 yrs. Concrete operation (7rs). Formal Operational (Intelligence manifest in thought) 12 yrs.
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Sensorimotor Stage (birth - 2 years)
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Intelligence is manifested in actions. Only schemas are behavioral, starting with innate reflexes. Before language.
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Six sensorimotor substages
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0-1 mos: reflexes 1-4 mos: primary circular reactions 4-8 mos: secondary circular reactions 8-12 mos: coord. of 2ndry schemas 12-18 mos: Tertiary circular reactions 18-24 mos: Beginning of thought
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1. Reflexes: 0-1 Mos
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Innate, Reflex Schemata - initiated by external stimuli, but also - tendency to exercise schemata Sucking schema allows accommodation
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2. Primary Circular Reactions 1-4 mos
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"Circular reaction" - tendency to repeat an action "primary" = own behavior -> own body repeats pleasurable action sequences coordination of behavioral schemas. Curiosity: Laurent Examples 24 days: visual interest 1 mo. 15 days: cradle example Why does the infant attend in this way? - need to exercise looking schema - what determines what he looks at? Curiosity.
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Attention, Curiosity, and Exploration
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Attention Peaks at a moderate discrepancy from existing schemas. Lower at none or extreme discrepancies.
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3. Secondary Circular Reactions 4-8 months
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Own behavior -> External events & objects Schemas represent actions -> interesting events Intention is apparent imitation of certain behaviors.
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4. Coordination of Secondary Schemas 8-12 mos
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Curiosity and imitation even greater. Increased mobility of schemas. One schema serves as means to another. Jacqueline example?
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5. Tertiary Circular Reactions 12-18 months
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Extreme interest in properties of objects. Pursues novelty for sake of novelty. Varies actions. Repeats actions producing novel results. Imitates the unfamiliar. Trial and Error Problem Solving.
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6. Beginning of Symbolic Thought 18-24 mos
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"Thoughtful" puzzle board solutions. "imagines" schema to solve problem "imagines" object which has disappeared. Deferred imitation.
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Piaget's view of development differs from Gesell's in that for Piaget:
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Intelligence develops through interaction with the environment. Knowledge is not preformed. The infant's and child's actions are of critical importance. The child must construct her own knowledge, little by little.
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Sensorimotor Period: Four subprinciples
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1. Accommodative modification of schemata 2. Moderate Discrepancy 3. Importance of Exposure 4. Gradual Evolution
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1. Accommodative Modification of Schemata
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Schemata develop - through use - through stimulation requiring accommodative modification
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2. Moderate Discrepancy
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Optimal Degree of mismatch between existing schemas and external stimuli.
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3. Importance of Exposure
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The greater the range of environments -> the more differentiated the cognitive structures -> the greater the intellectual development -> the greater the interest in the novel -> the greater the range of environments.
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4. Gradual Evolution
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Change in structures is gradual within stages. Stage theory describes kinds of schemas available at different ages.
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Pre-Operational Stage
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Major Achievements: - the symbolic function - language, symbolic schemas - imagination and fantasy Major Difficulties - fails on classification, serial ordering, and conservation tasks - lacks firmly articulated concepts and rules
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Piaget: Why does the child fail on classification, serial ordering, and conservation tasks
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- irreversibility - static attention - centration
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Concrete Operations (7-12 yrs)
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"Operation" - an internal, mental action of some complexity. e.g., addition (combination), subtraction (separation), classification, serial ordering. Abstractions of actions Why "concrete?" 3 characteristics: Reversibility, dynamic (vs static) attention, decentration.
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Evaluation of Piaget
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Seven Enduring Themes. Piaget's Legacy: Scope and Influence Seven Weaknesses, including - interviewing technique - mechanisms for development - stage theory Value of Piagetian Theory
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Piaget 4. Mechanisms of Developmental Change
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Functions -- organization and adaptation produce ever changing structures. Positives: Insight into thought process and source of hypotheses for future study. Unanswered Question - What are assimilation and accommodation? How do they operate? How can we study them?
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Piaget 2. The active child
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Children contribute to their own development. Piaget: the child constructs knowledge.
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Piaget 3. Continuity vs Discontinuity
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For Piaget development is gradual and continuous - quantitative changes. And shows abrupt, stage like discontinuous qualitative changes. Positives: Gives ideas of order of things, highlights differences between ages, and snapshot picture of how kids reason. Negatives: - theory does not explain transitions - no abrupt, qualitative leaps - growth is continuous
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What's Piaget's Legacy
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Some weaknesses, including - stage model - interviewing technique (influenced by interviewee, can't standardize, too dependent on language capabilities) - vagueness regarding mechanisms of cognitive growth. The best know, most influential and broadest theory
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Piaget's 7 weaknesses
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1. Are all schemas in infancy sensorimotor? 2. Underestimation of infant abilities 3. Overestimation of adult abilities - formal operations. 4. Lack of attention to social influences 5. Limitations of interviewing technique 6. Vague on mechanisms (adaptation and organization) 7. Is development really stage-like?
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Value of Piagetian Theory
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Stimulus for research. Showed that child's thinking is different. Development is an active process of adaptation. Other important and novel concepts. - our structures influence what we can know (a stimulus is a stimulus only if it can be assimilated). - our structures influence what we choose to know (exercise existing schemas, seek stimuli which are optimally novel)
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History of Intelligence Testing
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At the center of philosophy, public policy and science.
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Preformatinism vs Predeterminism
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Seed contains mini adult vs seed determines what adult will be. Predeterminism: A maturation of physical structure and behavioral patterns predetermined by inheritance.
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Terman
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Eugenics movement. Stanford Binet IQ test. Grad student of Stanley Hall
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Goddard
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Eugenics movement. IQ testing of immigrants. Grad student of Stanley Hall.
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Heritability of Intelligence: Some Major Issues
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Is intelligence inherited? How much variation in IQ is due to heredity and how much to environment? How much can early intervention raise I.Q? Do IQ tests even measure intelligence?
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Importance to Developmental Psych
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Theoretical: nature-vs.-nurture - What is the source of human development? Practical: Social Policies - if intelligence is fixed by genes (eugenics restricted immigration, education $ aimed at "smart kids") - if intelligence is modifiable (prenatal care, nutrition, health, infant day care, head start, better schools, early education $ aimed at poor kids)
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Early History of Intelligence Testing
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Origin of IQ test - a benevolent beginning - binet's lab in Paris Adoption and use in U.S - a case study of the misuse of science - Terman, Goddard, Yerkes, Brigham - Societal Impact (Sterilization, Immigration Laws)
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Origins of the IQ score
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1. Binet's mental age score (1905) 2. Stern's Intelligence quotient (1912) IQ = Mental age/ Correct age (MA/CA) Deviation I.Q.
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What does IQ have to do with intelligence?
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Related to academic achievement (r=.5) Binet: Test scores do NOT measure inborn intelligence!
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Binet's Cardinal Principles
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1. Test Scores do not measure innate intelligence 2. Test is a practical device - for identifying children with learning difficulties who need help - not for ranking normal children 3. Low scores call for special training - not labeling as innately incapable.
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Binet's mental orthopedics
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Small Classrooms. Training in will, attention and discipline e.g., statues game to increase attention span. Led to an increase in test scores - we have increased what constitutes the intelligence of a pupil, the capacity to learn.
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Importers of the IQ test to US
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Lewis Terman, Henry Goddard, Robert Yerkes. Members of the Eugenics Movement Eu genics = "well born" Sponsored better baby and fitter family contests. Influenced sterilization and immigration laws.
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Terman, Goddard, Yerkes
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Hereditarian Theory of IQ - reified IQ - Confused heritable with inevitable - confused cultural differences with innate properties Terman (Developed Stanford-Binet Intelligence Test 1916) Goddard (Brought Binet Test to America, Gave Princeton Lectures 1919) Yerkes (Chairman of the E.R.A Committee on Inheritance of Mental traits 1917)
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Sterilization Laws
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Enacted in the early 1900s. Upheld in court by citing scientific data of Terman, Goddard, and Yerkes. Psychologists approved compulsory sterilizations. The Cold Springs Eugenic Enterprise proposed the sterilization of about 15,000,000 defective americans. About 20,000 actually were.
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Changes in Immigration Law
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1875: barred entry of convicts, prostitutes, Asian Workers. 1903: barred entry of lunatics, idiots, epileptics, and insane. 1907: -Lunatics, epileptics, insane -Idiots (<3yrs MA) -Imbeciles (3-7 yr MA) -feeble minded (8-12yr MA)
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1913 Goddard at Ellis Island
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Gave Binet test to average immigrants. A large percent of people scored as feebleminded. What accounts for these %s? Improper translation of the Binet Scale and Test Factors.
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WW1: The Army IQ tests
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Yerkes: President of American Psychological Association. APA proposed massive IQ testing of draftees. 1.75 million draftees tested. Army Alpha (Written test) and Army Beta (test for illiterates). Army Alpha test included analogies, next number in sequences, unscrambling sentences, and multiple choice. Army Beta : Maze running, cube counting, sequences, number checking, and picture completion. 125,000 scores analyzed. 3 best countries: England, Holland and Denmark 3 worst countries: Russia, Italy, and Poland. Found that foreign born that were in the US for more than 20 years had IQs equal to native borns while those in the US for less than 5 years were feeble minded. Attributed this to a deterioration of quality in immigrants.
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Impact of Army IQ tests
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Immigration Restriction Act of 1924 - fear of immigrants - new immigration quota 2% of foreign born from that country. In US as of 1890 census. Greatly reduced immigration from south and east Europe.
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Brigham Recants (1930)
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Test scores cannot be reified. Army data worthless as measure of innate intelligence. Test measures familiarity with American language and culture.
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Legacy of Terman, Goddard, Yerkes, and Brigham
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Philosophy of Development - Maturationist School - Intelligence genetically predetermined - Eugenics Science - IQ testing of immigrants and draftees - analysis by country of origin Public Policy - sterilization - immigration policy
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Intelligence: General?
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Spearman's g factor (i.e., ability to see relationships among objects, events and ideas; practical sense and initiative) Jensens' belief that neural processing speed is the fundamental faculty that underpins G and results in differences in intelligence.
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Intelligence: Specific?
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Thurstone's 7 primary mental abilities (i.e, verbal ability, inductive reasoning. perceptual speed, facility with numbers, spatial relations, memory, verbal fluency). Sternberg's triarchic theory of intelligence (i.e., analytic, creative, practical). Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences.
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Intelligence Quotient
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IQ = (Mental Age/Chronological Age) X 100.
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Stanley Hall
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Darwin of the Mind. Development of behavior requires only maturation, not learning from experience.
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Children make their own environment
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Child's genes results in Child's phenotype which can evoke child's environment. (Evocation is the child's choice) Child's environment can also affect the child's phenotype. Parent's genes affect child's genes and child's environment.
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Child Caretaker effects
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Impaired infant (e.g. premature) - less responsive, less alert - unreadable cry - more fussy, less soothable, more aversive Caretaker of Impaired infant is then... - less involved - holds baby farther from body - touches and talks less
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Predeterminism: Predetermined Epigenesis
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Gene-> Structure-> Function. Each new phenotypic form emerges via the maturation of genetically determined structures and behaviors. A unidirectional process.
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Developmental Systems Theory: Probabilistic Epigenesis
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Gene Structure Function. Genes alone cannot create structures or behaviors. Each new phenotypic form emerges from interactions between the preceding form and its environment. Bidirectional influences operate at all levels.
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More recent controversy on Heritability of IQ
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Jensen (1969) How much can we boost IQ and scholastic achievement? Harvard Educational Review. Hernstein (1971) I.Q Atlantic Monthly Murray and Hernstein (1994) The Bell Curve. The Free Press.
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Arguments of Murray and Hernstein
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There is a general factor in intelligence. Intelligence is an entity G. G can be measured by a single number. G has a large genetic component. G predicts everything in life. G cannot be changed by environment. Therefore social programs will be ineffective.
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Jensen's Position
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I. Assumption - IQ tests measure intelligence II. Empirical "fact" - 80% of the variability in IQ is due to heredity III. Logical Conclusion - Since IQ is mostly inherited, IQ differences between racial groups must be due to heredity. IV. Logical Conclusion - Since IQ is mostly inherited, it is fixed; remedial efforts are doomed.
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Flaws in Jensen's Assumptions
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Test Validity - Do IQ test measure Intelligence? (What is intelligence? What does the IQ score predict? Factors in IQ test performance? Origins of IQ score Changes in intelligence tests.
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Intelligence: General or Specific?
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General: Spearman's g factor, Jensen's neural processing speed. Specific: Fluid vs. Crystallized Intelligence, Thurstone's 7 primary mental abilities, Sternberg's theory of successful intelligence, Gardner's multiple intelligences
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Do IQ tests measure intelligence?
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Intelligence includes 1. Ability to adapt to environment 2. Ability to learn 3. Creativity, achievement, motivation, and goal directed behavior 4. A wide variety of cognitive skills 5. Abstract thinking, problem solving Of these only #5 is measured by standard IQ tests. What does IQ score predict? - scholastic achievement (r=.5) Factors in IQ test performance: - motivation, language, cultural experience, test environment.
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A culture free test ?
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Raven's Progressive Matrices - fluid intelligence - abstract problem solving ability - nonverbal - highly correlated with g factor.
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4 major fallacies in Jensen's assumption
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"empirical fact" - 80% of the variability in IQ is due to heredity. What does this mean? Heritability of IQ = 80% What is the evidence? Studies of separated identical twins. Assumes that Variance in IQ = Variance in Genes + Variance in Environment.
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Heritability, H^2
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Heritability is the proportion of variation in a particular behavior or trait, in a given population, under specific conditions, that can be attributed to genetic variation. H^2 = variance due to genes/total variance
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Studies of separated Identical Twins
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Three Critical Assumptions a. representative of genetic sample b. representative sample of environments c. environments not correlated Four Criteria for evaluating empirical evidence a. objectivity b. reliability c. validity d. replicability
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How is language acquired?
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Biological Preparedness View: - evidence for Chomsky's Theory - few errors, similar stages, and specialized brain structures. Environmental Learning View: - operant conditioning or imitation Both Processes are Likely
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Infant Communication
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Before language: - sensitivity develops in fetus - communication begins at birth - important for language development: Turn Taking (rhythm of communication, early in feeding, "conversation, later in ritual games). Motherese (infant directed speech, higher pitch, short repeated phrases, changes after first year).
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Language Acquisition
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Rapid in first 2.5 years. Vocabulary by age 6: 8,000-14,000 words. Semantics - the meaning of words Syntax - rules for combining words. Begins with phonemes (~sounds). Moves to morphemes (~words). Reception more advanced than expression.
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Infant Speech
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Phoneme Discrimination: - even in newborns (ex: ba vs bu vs du) - discrimination of non native sounds (lost over time) Cooing: - 3 mos: vowel sounds - first spoken phonemes Babbling: - consonant vowel sounds - starts by 5-6 months Stimulates parent's response
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Reception VS Production
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Comprehension - precedes expression - 5 times as many words understood as produced. - How is this tested (ex: where is X?) - requires two abilities: recall the representation of object and recognize word meaning regardless of speaker.
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End of First Year
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Expressive jargoning - pitch and stress of adult speech. All vowels. Most Consonants. Intonation. First words.
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Intelligible Speech
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"when child consistently uses a word or phrase to stand for an object or idea" 10-14 months. First Meaningful sounds - morphemes (smallest unit of meaning, "mama", "go") - syncretic speech (one word sentences)
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Syncretic Speech
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Limited meanings - adequate for communication with caregivers. Helped by - intonation and body language. Most frequent words - child's immediate experience; action (bottle, mama, daddy, up, bye bye). Limitations - range of sounds, syllable repertoire, sound combinations.
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By 1.5 years (language)
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Can associate object w/word. Distinguishes familiar and unfamiliar words. Selective attention to important parts of sentences.
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Between 18 & 24 months
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Vocabulary increases 10-fold. Expressive need exceeds ability - overgeneralization, overregularization, overextension (daddy, doggy), and underextension (blankie).
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Two word Sentences
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Telegraphic Speech. Grammer. 3 basic Tools of language - Intonation (contrast and emphasis) Word order (Daddy throw. Throw ball. Daddy ball. >12 conventional relationships - possession: my ball, action: throw ball, quantity: more throw. Questions: 1. What's this? 2. Where? -later: why? when?) Verb conjugation (irregular verb examples initially: bunny fell and feet hurt but, later bunny failed and feets hurt - it gets worse when they learn about verb conjugation.) Pragmatics (Speech appropriate for situation - doll vs dog vs adult)
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To facilitate Language Acquisition
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Turntaking, Mothereses, naming rituals, expansion and modeling, reading (words, rhythms, sentence structure) and educational TV (vocabulary, letters, numbers BUT does NOT substitue for human speech interaction). Experimental Evidence Children with more rapid speech development has mom's who - spoke more clearly, let kid's lead, made fewer ambiguous statements, and responded to speech attempts with related info.
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4 components of Language
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1. Sounds Phonemes- phonological development (learning sound system of a language. 2. Words Morphemes - semantic development (learning about expressing meaning) 3. Grammer Syntax- syntactic development (learning rules for combining words) 4. Uses Pragmatics - pragmatic development (learning communal uses of language)
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Morphemes (~words)
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Morphemes Make up words - elemental unit of meaning, meanings are arbitrary free morphemes ex: ball, page, walk, plant. Bound morphemes: Prefixes, Suffixes
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Syntax (~grammer)
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Systematic rules for combining words into sentences. - throw dad the ball. - dad throw the ball.
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PreLinguistic Period
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(Birth to 1 year) - speech perception: ability to recognize, discriminate and identify speech sounds. Special kind of auditory perception. Phonemes. - speech production (producing the sounds of a language Newborn - crying 6-8 weeks - cooing 4-6 months - babbling 12 months - first words
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Categorical Perception of Speech Sounds
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Limited number of phonemic categories. Example of ra and la. Wide range of variation within each category (phones labeled the same, differences ignored). Small physical change -> new category (phones on opposite sides of category boundary are discriminated well).
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Where do phoneme categories come from?
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Are we born with them? - why do different languages have different sets of phonemes? - why don't Japanese speakers hear ra and la as different? A phoneme categories learned? What do infant studies reveal?
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How test speech perception in infants?
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Heart rate orienting response habituation and and recovery - Moffit study w/5 and 6 month olds. Sucking habituation and recovery - Eimas study w/1-4 month olds. Condition head turning - Werker, Kuhl w/6-12 month olds.
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The Orienting Response (OR) and Defensive Response (DR)
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1. Pavlov (1849-1936) Behavioral Orienting response in Dogs. 2. Sokolov (1920-2008) Autonomic and CNS Orienting Response and Defensive Response in Humans. 3. Graham (1918-) Heart rate in human infants and adults. Heart rate deceleration = OR Heart rate acceleration = DR
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Frances Graham
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Wanted to study orienting in infants - development of attention and perception, development of memory representations, development of cerebral cortex. What measure to use? Important to differentiate OR from DR. Found that infants as young as 6 weeks old had an OR.
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Moffit (1971)
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Results showed that 5-6 months old find speech sounds interesting, habituate to repeated speech sounds and can dishabituate when the sound changes from ba to ga. These results further suggest that 5-6 month old infants discriminate ba from ga.
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Major Questions regarding speech perception in infants
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Is categorical perception inborn? 1-6 month olds distinguish many phonemes from world languages before they are able to articulate them. Do young infants have the same phonemic categories as their parents? No, young infants discriminate more phonemes than their parents do (Hindi, Salish, Thai). How does phonemic perception change with age? Perception of non native contrasts declines >6 mos. What is the role of experience with native language? Enhances perception of native contrasts. Decreases perception of non native contrasts by the end of the first year.
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Roles of Experience
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- Gesell's theory of development is best shown in A) maturation. - The empiricists' theory of development is best shown in E) induction. - The case where experience just speeds up perceptual development, while not affecting the final product, is shown in C) Facilitation - "Use it or lose it" is shown in B) Maintenance/Loss (Werker's interpretation of infant's loss of non-native phoneme discrimination) - Experience-expectant plasticity looks like attunement.
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Native Language Neural Commitment Hypothesis
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Neural Commitment to native language promotes development of that language. Speech perception at 7 months predicts later language skills. Infants who remain open to all linguistic capabilities do not progress as quickly toward language.
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Infant phonetic discrimination and later language abilities
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Positive correlations between native phonetic discrimination at 7 months and native: - word production at 18 months r=.50 - sentence complexity at 24 months r=.42 - utterance length at 24 mos r=.49 Negative Correlations between non native phonetic discrimination at 7 months and native: - word production at 18 mos r=-.51 - sentence complexity at 24 mos r= -.53 - utterance length at 24 mos r=-.70
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Kuhl - What are the robust conditions for robust phonetic learning in Infancy?
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Live Social Interaction. Why? - provides referential cues - increases arousal - increases attention to speech - involves contingency - involves reciprocity, turn taking - "social brain gates computational learning"
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What have 6 month olds learned about their native vowel sounds? Kuhl
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Distributional patterns and modal values (statistics).
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Infant vocalizing behavior
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Changes over first postnatal year: - the sounds produced by the infant - the vocal tract - the brain
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babbling (4-12 months)
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Vocal Play > 4 months - vocal tract and brain have changed - playful repetition of consonant vowel sounds (trying out vocal apparatus, noticing reaction to sounds) Canonical Babbling > 6 months - "Sentence" with marked innotation - reduplicated babbles (bababababa) Jargoning > 10 mos "conversational babbling Babbled phonemes reflect their frequency in infant directed speech - by 9 months frequency of vowels reflects native language. Happens later for consonants.
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Linguistic Period >12 mos
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Startes with meaningful use of words Receptive language continues - 14 mos ~150 words - 21 mos ~ complex verbal instructions Productive Language = use Relationship between babbling & speech? - babbling overlaps early speech - early speech develops from babbled sounds - mastery of vocal motor schemes - late babbling reflects native language Rapid growth of vocabulary - 300 words at 2 yrs - 2,600 words at 6 yrs BUT great variability from child to child.
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When is a word a word?
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Criteria for a "word"? - consistency - intentionality - context-free -conventionality (what about protowords?)
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(Nelson) First Words
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American infants: 50% general nominals "dog,ball" 15% specific nominals "dada" 15% action words "open" The rest: personal/social (no, hi, oh oh), modifiers (dirty, mine)
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First Words (Tardiff)
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Cross cultural, cross linguistic differences. People (specific nominals) in top 12 - Beijing but not US: grandma, grandpa, uncle, auntie - Hong Kong but not US: sister, brother, grandma Cross cultural Cross linguistic similarities 6 words of top 12 are the same - daddy, mommy, bye, hi/hello, uhoh, woofwoof
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Linguistic Period: Single Words
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Overextensions and Underextensions? Holophrastic or syncretic speech? - words as holophrases or - words as one element in communication
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Aging is affected by
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Intrinsic factors such as heredity. Extrinsic factors such as environment, disease, and lifestyle.
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The aging brain
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Brain weight declines 2% per decade after age 50; 10% increase in weight by age 80. - decrease in dendrites, damage to myelin sheath, death of brain cell - ventricles increase 20% per decade Some areas shrink more than others: - prefrontal cortex linked with decrease in working memory - hippocampal shrinkage correlates with memory decline in age
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Plasticity - the effects of intellectual exercise
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Education and "training". Intellectual activity. Physical exercise. Environmental complexity.
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Dementia
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Deterioration of mental functioning. 1% in their 60s have it, 50% over the age of 85. Drastic failure of cognitive ability, including memory
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Alzheimer Disease
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Form of cortical dementia characterized by deterioration of memory, reasoning, language, and physical function. 10% in their 60s have it; 50% of people 85 and over. Healthy lifestyle factors may lower the risk.
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Use it or Lose it: The Nun Study
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Longitudinal study on aging. Began in 1986 with the school sisters of Notre Dame. Homogeneous group reduces confounds. Agreed to donate brains to see how lifestyle factors correlate with neurological decline. Showed that mental exercise may reduce cognitive decline and lower the likelihood of displaying Alzheimer's symptoms. There is some plasticity in adulthood. Certain mental activities benefit from the maintenance of cognitive skills.
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Sir Cyril Burt (1st twin study)
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53 pairs, r=.86, "individual test" Kamin's criticisms (1974) - lack of procedural detail - bias - implausible data, inconsistencies, contradictions: 1955 (21 pairs) r=.771 1958 (>30) r=.771 1966 (53) r=.771 - fabricated co-authors and data Greatest problem with this study was objectivity.
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Shields (2nd twin study)
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37 pairs, r=.77 tests: Dominoes + (2 Murray Hill) Impressive appendix - curious correlations Pairs that were tested by the same examiner had r=.84 Pairs tested by different examiners had r=.11 (7) Inseparable twin pairs r=.99 (10) Most separated pairs r=.57 Interpretation of r=.77? Inflated by experimenter bias, inflated by similarity of environments.
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Newmann, Freeman, and Holzinger (3rd Twin Study)
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19 pairs, r=.67, Stanford-Binet - Chicago World's fair, Great Depression - Which twins were invited? - which assumptions were violated? Choice of twins often biased.
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Juel-Nielsen 4th twin study
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12 pairs, r=.62, test = Wechsler - several twins were reared together.
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Critique of 4 studies cited by Jensen
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Assumptions violated? - restricted range of environments - "separated" MZ twins often not fully separated - similar environments even when separated Criteria not met? - Burt's fraudulent data - Experimenter (tester) bias - choice of twins often biases - choice of IQ tests
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Turkheimer Study of S.E.S
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Heritability of IQ as a function of SES - high SES twins H^2 =.72 - low SES twins H^2 =.10 Genetic influences on IQ - higher in high SES families - much lower in conditions of poverty "it makes little sense to speak in general about the heritability of a trait such as IQ. For large populations of people live in diverse environments, such as children in the United States, such broad statements may be meaningless. The environment can make genes extremely important in subpopulations, but insignificant in others."
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Developmental Factors
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Knowing the source of differences within Group A says nothing about the source of differences between Group A and Group B. Examples: Good vs. Poor Soil, test factors.
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What developmental factors could produce group differences in mean IQ?
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- nutrition - toxic exposures - maternal health - infant/child health - family size, child spacing - schools, early education - maternal education - amount of talking/reading - SES
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What test factors could produce group differences in mean IQ?
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- rapport with tester - expectancy of failure - motivation to do well - language of exam - culture specific items - nutrition on exam day
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If Jensen's 80% heritability estimate were correct would it logically follow that: since IQ is mostly inherited, it is fixed and unmodifiable; it cannot be improved through environmental intervention?
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No, because the heritability estimates hold only for the particular environment n which the study took place. No because heritability estimates don't tell us how much the picture might change given a wider range of environments.
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Heritable does not mean inevitable
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Heritability estimates hold only for the particular environment of the sample tested. Interventions are a change in the environment!!!!
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Fixed IQ? Contrary evidence
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- adoption studies (Scarr-Salapatek & Weinberg 1975) - early intervention studies Abecedarian Project Infant Health and Developmental Program - Kolata article (NY times 1990) Perry Preschool Project in Ypsilanti, Mich. See passell (NY times 1994 article) Other studies- head start
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Abecedarian Project
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Enriched day care from infancy through age 5. IQ at age 4 17 point difference between enriched day care treatment group and no day care control group.
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IHDP
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Infant health and development Program - 985 premature infants weighing <5.5 lbs. Group 1: counseling, weekly home visits, special day care from 12-36 months Low Birth Weight infants gained 13.2 pts Very Low birth weight infants gained 6.6 pts. Group 2: no educational intervention, control group
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What can we conclude from early intervention studies
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Preschool produces cognitive and social/emotional gains for disadvantaged children. Some gains are long lasting. Quality preschool education can be a good economic investment. Benefits vary with program, population and context.
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Hart and Risley 1995
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Longitudinal Study of 42 children and families - Professional families - working class families - families on welfare Recorded Vocabulary size Professional :1,116 Working Class: 749 Welfare: 525 Average IQ at age 3 Professional: 117 Working Class: 107 Welfare: 79 IQ scores reflect the language based analytic and symbolic competencies upon which success in our education system depends. 30 million word gap by age 4 between Professional families and welfare families
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What doesn't matter?
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- race - gender - ethnic origin - birth order
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What does matter?
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Poverty associated with inadequate - nutrition - access to medical care - parenting - stimulation - emotional support
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Stephen Jay Gould on Genes
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"Genes fo not make specific bits an pieces of a body; they code for a range of forms under an array of environmental conditions". Statistical Model: IQ = G + E + GE GE is the interaction of genes and environment. 3 examples : plant height, lewontin's yarrow, maze-bright rats
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G x E interaction. Developmental Systems Theory
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Gene Structure Function - Genes depend on neural, behavioral, and environmental influences for their expression - Each new phenotypic form emerges from interactions between the preceding form and its environment. - bidirectional influences operate at all levels Physical, Social, Cultural Early experience can have profound effects
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