Child Psychology Primer

TABLE OF CONTENTS
A TALE OF TWO CHILDREN
1. RESEARCH IN CHILD PSYCHOLOGY
1.1. Summary and objectives: How do psychologists study development?
1.2. Stages of development: How do psychologists classify individuals by age?
1.3 Types of development: What are the three types of development?
1.4. Methods of developmental research: What are the types of developmental studies?
1.5. Why does this matter? How do methods affect what we know?
Section 1: Physical Development
2. GENES AND THE ENVIRONMENT
2.1. Summary and objectives: Nature versus nurture or nature and nurture?
2.2. Heritability: Why can’t two blue-eyed parents have brown-eyed offspring?
2.3. Population variability: How does genetic diversity help continue the species?
2.4. Gene-environment relationships: How are personality traits really inherited?
2.5. Twin and adoption studies: When twins are raised apart, do they act the same?
2.6. Genetic marker studies: Can popularity be coded in genes?
2.7. Why does this matter? How could genetics change our children’s environment?
3. PRENATAL DEVELOPMENT, BIRTH, & THE NEWBORN
3.1. Summary and objectives: What exactly happens from conception to cradle?
3.2. Periods of prenatal development: How are periods different from trimesters?
3.3. Birth: What are the stages of birth, and how do you know when it’s starting?
3.4. Methods to test the neonate: How can we tell if baby is healthy?
3.5. Newborn reflexes: How can we know everything is wired correctly?
3.6. Why does this matter? What are some risks to the fetus?
4. HEALTHY GROWTH & NUTRITION
4.1. Summary and objectives: What determines how babies grow?
4.2. Secular growth trends and puberty: Why are we maturing faster today than ever?
4.3. Hormones: Which hormones are responsible for growth?
4.5. Newborn nutrition: What should we feed babies and when?
4.6. Why does this matter? Why are children today so overweight?
5. NEUROLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT
5.1. Summary and objectives: What does the nervous system do and when?
5.2 Neurons, the building block of the nervous system: What are the parts of a neuron?
5.3. The Brain: What are the functions of the different parts of the brain?
5.4. Neural development: Where do neurons come from, and where do they go at puberty?
5.5. Why does this matter? What are the effects of brain damage after puberty?
 
Section 2: Cognitive Development
6. PERCEPTUAL AND MOTOR DEVELOPMENT
6.1. Summary and objectives: How well do children see, hear, smell, taste, and touch?
6.2. Visual development: How well do children see at different ages?
6.3. Auditory development: How well do children hear at different ages?
6.4. Development of taste, smell, and touch: How good are the other senses?
6.5. Motor development: How do children learn to walk and move?
6.6. Why does this matter? What are the moving room studies, and why are they hilarious?
7. LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
7.1. Summary and objectives: How do children learn to talk?
7.2. Phonological development: What happens to children’s ability to hear the subtle sound differences of an unfamiliar language as they grow?
7.3. Infant production: What are babies’ first sounds, and how do they become words?
7.4. Semantic development: What mistakes do children make about the meaning of words as they learn language, and what can they use to correct them?
7.5. Grammatical development: What do children understand about combining words and when?
7.6. Why does this matter? What are the advantages of sign language and bilingualism?
8. THEORIES OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
8.1. Summary and objectives: What do theories of child development tell us about how children act at different ages?
8.2. Piaget’s theory and stages of development: What are the four stages of cognitive development?
8.2. Vygotsky’s theory: What did Vygotsky say about child development?
8.3. Information processing theories: How do information processing accounts view child development?
8.4. Why does this matter? How has toy design changed as a result of cognitive theories?
9. INTELLIGENCE & SKILLS TESTING
9.1. Summary and objectives: How do we measure intelligence?
9.2. Stanford-Binet IQ test: How does an IQ test work?
9.3. Intelligence tests for young children: What are the WISC and Bayley Scales?
9.4. Theories of multiple intelligences: How do Robert Sternberg and Howard Gardener view smarts?
9.6. Why does this matter? Can we teach to the test? What is the Flynn Effect?
10. MEMORY & ACADEMIC SKILLS
10.1. Summary and objectives: How do memory, reading, writing, and math develop?
10.2. Memory development: How good are children’s memories?
10.3. Reading and writing development: How do children learn to read and write?
10.4. Math development: How do children learn math?
10.5. Why does this matter: How do differences in academic ability arise?
Section 3: Social Development
11. EMOTIONS, TEMPERAMENT, & ATTACHMENT
11.1. Summary and objectives: How do emotions, temperament, and attachment develop?
11.2. Emotional development: What is the difference between basic and complex emotions?
11.3. Dimensions of temperament: What types of temperament do children show?
11.4. Attachment: What is the strange situation test?
11.5. Why does this matter? What are the long-term effects of attachment?
12. PARENTAL RELATIONSHIPS
12.1. Summary and objectives: How can families help us grow?
12.2. Parenting: What are the effects of different types of parenting?
12.3. Parental control: How can you get children to do what you want?
12.4. Effects of divorce: What happens when the family unit changes?
12.5. Why does this matter? How do parents give children self-control?
13. SELF-CONCEPT & MORALITY
13.1. Summary and objectives: How do self-concept and morality change as we grow?
13.2. Development of self-concept: How do children think about themselves?
13.3. Developing an identity: What are Marcia’s stages of identity formation?
13.4. Moral development: How do children decide what is right or wrong?
13.5. Why does this matter? How can we encourage prosocial behavior and decrease aggression?
14. SIBLINGS, PEERS, AND GROUPS
14.1. Summary and objectives: How do children learn to get along with other children?
14.2. Sibling relationships: What effects can siblings have?
14.3. Playtime: How do children play at different ages?
14.4. Popularity, friendships, and groups
14.5. Why does this matter? What does the robbers cave study tell us about the power of groups and prejudice?
15. MEDIA & CULTURAL EFFECTS
15.1. Summary and objectives: How can media and culture change children?
15.2. Bronfenbrenner’s theory: What is ecological systems theory?
15.3. WEIRD studies: What are some cultural differences in study findings?
15.4. TV, video games, computers, and apps: What does media do to young children?
15.5. Why does this matter? What does advertising really do to self-esteem?
Acknowledgements