IPSWICH SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGY DEPARTMENT

Unit 3 Child Psychology Revision workbook

ZMA

2012

Use this workbook to check your understanding of the requirements for Child Psychology, Unit 3. If you complete the gaps and make sure you have the suggested detail on each of these topics, you can’t go far wrong. GOOD LUCK!

Child Psychology Revision

Define and give examples of the following;

Attachment

Deprivation

Privation

Evolution

Daycare

Separation anxiety

Methodology (descriptions, strengths and weaknesses)

Describe the observational research method and how it is used in studying the development

of children. (Use examples to illustrate). Note: You can be asked about the methods used in the application and asked to describe and evaluate drawing on other methods both within the application and the 5 approaches from AS.

o Naturalistic observations

o Structured observations

Evaluate strengths and weaknesses of observations in studying child development;

o Reliability

o Validity

o Ethical issues

Describe the case study research method and how it is used in studying the development of

children. (Use examples to illustrate).

o Case studies

Evaluate strengths and weaknesses of case studies in studying child development;

o Reliability

o Validity

o Ethical issues Describe and evaluate the following ways of studying children, (make sure you use examples from the course content to illustrate); Cross-cultural Longitudinal

Studies in detail

Genie: a case study of extreme privation – Curtiss (1977) - Compulsory Description Background (4 marks) – include information about what we know of Genie’s life before discovery

Case history (6 marks) – include information about discovery, social and cognitive deficits/abilities, interventions by hospital staff and psychologists, what happened next…?

Case interpretation (4 marks) – what do we learn from this study, link to theory (e.g. MDH), effects and reversibility of privation…

Evaluation– (make sure this is not GENERIC, each point MUST relate directly to Genie)

Strengths Weaknesses Reliability

Validity

Ethical issues

Other factors

Forty-four juvenile thieves - Bowlby (1946) Description Aim (2 marks) Procedure (6 marks) Findings (4 marks) Conclusion (2 marks) – relate to theory e.g. MDH

Evaluation

Evaluation– (make sure this is not GENERIC, each point MUST relate directly to Bowlby’s 44 Thieves study)

Strengths Weaknesses Reliability

Validity

Ethical issues

Other factors

Content 1. Describe & evaluate Bowlby’s theory of attachment (Psychodynamic) and the evolutionary

basis of attachment (Biological)

MDH description (including affectionless psychopathy and developmental retardation)

Evaluation o 44 thieves

o Harlow & Harlow

o Goldfarb

o Spitz

Evolutionary (biological) basis of attachment - description

Evaluation o Lorenz

o Belsky

Social releasers and instinctive parenting responses – description

Evaluation o Brazelton

Internal working model – description

Evaluation o Fonagy

2. Describe and evaluate the work of Ainsworth including the ‘strange situation’ as a research method and cross-cultural issues regarding child-rearing styles. Ainsworth in Uganda and Baltimore

o Describe Ainsworth’s observations and findings

Strange situation technique (list 8 stages and the behaviours seen at stages 5 & 8 for each type) o Stage 1 o Stage 2 o Stage 3 o Stage 4 o Stage 5

o Stage 6 o Stage 7 o Stage 8

Methodological evaluation of strange situation

Strengths Weaknesses Reliability

Validity

Ethical issues

Other factors

Attachment types (describe the characteristics and behaviours of each) o Type A

o Type B

o Type C

Maternal sensitivity o Describe sensitive responsiveness

o Links between maternal sensitivity and attachment types

o Other explanations (temperament of the child, mother’s attachment type and links to IWM)

o Breaking the cycle, training in maternal sensitivity (Juffer)

Cross-cultural differences revealed by strange situation – describe differences in proportions of types A, B & C and possible explanations for these differences, both cultural and methodological

o Van Ijzendoorn & Kroonenberg (1988) meta-analysis - % types A, B & C

o Grossman & Grossman – Germany

o Takahashi – Japan

o Miyake – traditional Japanese

o Durret – modern Japanese

o Sagi – Israeli Kibbutz communal sleeping arrangements

o Sagi – Israeli Kibbutz family sleeping arrangements

o Conclusions – relate to parenting styles, cultural differences, methodological problems using SST in different cultures and alternative explanations, e.g. temperament of the child

3. Describe and evaluate research into deprivation/separation, including Bowlby’s MDH and how negative effects can be reduced.

o Define short term deprivation (link to MDH and breaking/weakening of the attachment bond)

o Hospitalisation (PDD model, Robertson’s work, Laura…) – describe the effects

o Ways of reducing the negative effects (e.g. Robertson’s conclusions, changing hospital practices…) – prepare for questions which might ask you to make recommendations, e.g. to hospital managers or parents whose children have to go in to hospital

o Daycare (different types, variable quality, different ways in which people use daycare, number of hours, age of children…) – describe

o Ways of reducing the negative effects (good quality care, high staff:child ratio…) – prepare for questions which ask for advice to parents about choosing daycare, going back to work, or local authorities regulating daycare provision…

4. Describe and evaluate research into privation, including whether the effects are reversible.

o For reversibility Main focus = Czech Twins (Koluchova)

Background

Case history Case interpretation (factors which facilitated reversibility)

Evaluation (include strengths and weaknesses, reliability, validity, ethics)

Choose two other studies from the following (you just need findings and an evaluation point for these) to make the case that Privation is reversible and what factors facilitate reversibility. Freud & Dann

Hodges & Tizard

Rutter

o Against reversibility

Main focus = Genie (Curtiss) Background Case history Case interpretation (factors which inhibited reversibility)

Evaluation (include strengths and weaknesses, reliability, validity, ethics)

Choose two other studies from the following (you just need findings and an evaluation point for these) to make the case that Privation is not reversible and what factors inhibit reversibility. Goldfarb

Spitz

Harlow & Harlow

Bowlby 44 thieves

5. Describe the characteristics of and two explanations for Autism and explain two ways in which autism can affect a child’s development.

Definition (what is autism? Outline facts about autism, gender split, prevalence in the population…)

Characteristics (list examples under the following headings) o Communication

o Social interaction

o Social imagination

o Other

Explanations Extreme male brain theory (EMB) – Biological (description and evidence) Theory of mind (TOM) – Cognitive (description and evidence)

How autism affects a child’s cognitive development How autism affects a child’s socialdevelopment

6. Describe and evaluate research into daycare. Definition (what is daycare? Short-term deprivation, attachment theory, facts about daycare, rules governing daycare, who uses it, what different types are there, possible benefits, possible problems…)

Evidence for positive effects from daycare Main focus = EPPE (highlight the benefits) APFC & GRAVE

Other research (choose a couple) Andersson (1996)

Harrison & Ungerer (2002)

Kagan et al (1980)

Ahnert et al (2004)

Evidence for negative effects from daycare Main focus = NICHD (highlight the problems) APFC & GRAVE

Other research (choose a couple) Belsky (1986)

Belsky & Rovine (1988)

Other factors to consider o Parental attachment type – Koren-Karie (2001)

o Starting age and dose effects

o Transition to daycare

o Quality of daycare

o Temperament of the child

What measures need to be in place to ensure positive outcomes from daycare?

7. Evidence in practice: short practical on a key issue

a) Describe one key issue in child psychology using the content studied within the application

Option one – Does daycare harm children’s development?

Step one – outline the issue (describe) – see definition above (section 6)

Step two – explain the issue (AO2) – see evidence above and link to attachment theory

Option two – Is autism a biological condition?

Step one – outline the issue (describe) – see definition and characteristics above (section 5)

Step two – explain the issue (AO2) – see evidence above and link to EMB and TOM

b) Practical = content analysis of articles concerning the key issue.

Make sure you can do the following; o Identify the question (key issue) you addressed in this content analysis (aim)

o Describe how you did the content analysis (procedure)

o Describe your findings (findings)

o Draw conclusions about your findings (conclusions)

o Link conclusions to concepts, theories and/or research from the key issue

o Show understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the content analysis (GRAVE)

REMEMBER TO REALLY SCRUTINISE THE QUESTION, MAKE SURE YOU ARE CONFIDENT YOU KNOW

WHAT IT IS ASKING AND USE THE STIMULUS MATERIAL. GOOD LUCK!