Psych 221

I'm going to try something which may be better than writing no notes at all in a lecture. I think I'll just blog while in it.

We've just got this new lecturer in developmental psychology. She'll be focusing on mainly emotional and social developmental outcomes from a holistic perspective. We don't have powerpoint slides for this lecture at the moment, she's a little slow.

Today we'll be focusing on the family as a social context and maybe even the broad environment in which a child grows up in. We'll also be looking at how the interaction of family and environmental factors may intersect and the outcomes from that.

Just a little note by Kerry who sits next to Ez as he writes this: She is VERY slow at changing slides :(

Okay so ecological theories of development!

Basic principles:

How to understand the interaction between nature and nurture - Silly to think thats its just one of the two, we need to understand how they interact together. I.e. How genetics can interact with the environment.

Active child - How does the 'activeness' of a child affect their development? A child who is very shy will illicit a different repsonse from their environment than one who is very outgoing.

Kerry again: she repeats herself ALOT!

Continuity of development - Emphasised that the development of a child does not occur in stages, but is rather a continual and gradual development of things.

Bronfrenbrenner's ecological and biological model

Not all the effects on the development on the child are direct. They realise that the child is a active contributor to their own development.

This is opposed to the traditional view that you can shape a child from birth. That is, like plato or some other ancient person said, a child's mind is a clean slate on which you can write whatever you want. Or something similar to that.

A social address model
Where they are, and how that has an effect.

A study done on adopted children:

If neither the biological father or the adopted father had a criminal record, 12% of men had a criminal record.

If either the biological father or the adopted father had a criminal record, 20% of men had a criminal record.

If both the biological father or the adopted father had a criminal record, 36% of men had a criminal record.

Wow... I think that says a lot...

Process-context model
How they learn.

Person-process context model
What kind of differences the kind of child makes on the development of the child.

MISO SYSTEM

Microsystems
E.g. School, home, childcare, family, etc.

The interaction between microsystems and how they influence each other. Apparently child care is bad for kids? (Kerry: she did not say that! Just that childcares have an impact on their development!) I heard it as a bad impact :) (Kerry: an interpretation issue here Ez!)

Kerry: it's been 15 minutes and the slide HAS NOT CHANGED!!! OMG!!!

So lucky I'm actually writing things down, or else I'd be screwed.

Exosystems
Basically things outside the microsystems which may affect the child. So the things that affect the child that are not directly doing anything? Less than proximal or something like that. *shrugs*

Work - maternity leave, parental leave, ability to work with some flexibility. Are you allowed to call your kid at work?! Basically how well the family can fulfill their role as parents or whatever.

Kerry: OMG too many questions asked about the environment!!! OVERLOAD. Cute guy sitting to Ez's right two rows in front. Chinese guy with glasses sitting next to this girl wearing purple! YAYA!

Cultural and Political factors - Examples: one child policy, childcare, capitalists, communists etc.

Kerry: OMG I get it! EVERYTHING BLOODY THING AFFECTS THE CHILD'S DEVELOPMENT!!!

Chronosystem
Time affects everything, and everything affects the child's development, therefore, umm.. time is important and (Kerry) child is very easily infuenced!

OK that's it. Blah blah blah blah. Everything affects a child. DUH.

I can imagine a multiple choice question in the exam:

Which of the following affects a child's development?
a. Nothing
b. Something
c. Everything
d. None of the above
e. All of the above

I would be confused.