Chapter 5 IQ's

Question 1

why might attachment be more difficult for adopted infants?

Answer 1

temperament and personality are inherited, so adopted child may end up completely different than adopted parents

Question 2

what did Elinor Ames’s research with Romanian orphans find?

Answer 2

• infants who had lived in Romanian orphanages for more than 4 months before being adopted had more psychological and motor-behavioural problems
• the more time spent in orphanage, the more severe the problems were

Question 3

what did Lucy LeMare’s research with Romanian orphans find?

Answer 3

as teens, the Romanian orphans as a group still showed many more difficulties than Canadian-born children or early-adopted Romanian orphans (ie. lower IQ, difficulty with attention, learning, peer relationships, etc.)

Question 4

synchrony

Answer 4

mutual, interlocking pattern of attachment behaviours shared by a parent and child

Question 5

similar parental behaviours between fathers and mothers

Answer 5

• their bond with infants depend more on development of synchrony than on contact immediately after birth
• both have same repertoire of attachment behaviours in early weeks of baby’s life (ie. they both cuddle, touch, and talk to baby in same way)

Question 6

difference in parental behaviours between fathers and mothers

Answer 6

after first few weeks, fathers spend more time playing with baby and more physical roughhousing; mothers spend more time in routine caregiving, talking to, and smiling at the baby

Question 7

how are the benefits of father involvement culture-specific?

Answer 7

• in societies that value gender equality (ie. Israel), high father control is negatively correlated with infant social skills
• in highly patriarchal societies (ie. Palestine), high father control is positively correlated with infant social skills

Question 8

2 crucial ingredients for secure attachment

Answer 8

• emotional availability (willingness to form attachment with infant)
• contingent responsiveness (being sensitive to infant’s cues and responding appropriately)

Question 9

avoidant attachment parent responses

Answer 9

caregiver rejects/withdraws from infant, or is overly intrusive and directs/controls behaviour

Question 10

ambivalent attachment parent responses

Answer 10

caregiver is inconsistently or unreliably available to infant

Question 11

disorganized/disoriented parent responses

Answer 11

infant has been abused or comes from family where either parent had some unresolved childhood trauma (ie. abuse, death of their parent, etc.)

Question 12

how does age influence the attachment process?

Answer 12

• older moms are less likely to view their babies as “difficult” than young/teen moms
• older moms display more sensitive caregiving behaviours than young/teen moms

Question 13

how does marital conflict influence attachment?

Answer 13

6-month-olds exposed to verbally aggressive parents are more likely to display signs of emotional withdrawal than unexposed babies

Question 14

effects of attachment in childhood

Answer 14

securely attached infants are more sociable, more positive in behaviour towards friends and siblings, less dependent on teachers, less aggressive/disruptive, more empathetic, more emotionally mature in childhood

Question 15

effects of attachment in adolescence

Answer 15

securely attached infants are more socially skilled, have more intimate friendships, are more likely to be leaders, have higher self-esteem and better grades in adolescence

Question 16

effects of attachment in adulthood

Answer 16

attachment history predicts sociability, sexual dysfunction in males, internal models of attachment (which influence parenting behaviours), and parental attitudes

Question 17

Thomas and Chess’s 3 types of temperament

Answer 17

• easy
• difficult
• slow-to-warm-up

Question 18

easy

Answer 18

approach new events positively, display predictable sleeping and eating cycles, are happy, and adjust easily to change

Question 19

difficult

Answer 19

irregular sleeping and eating cycles, emotional negativity and irritability, resistance to change

Question 20

slow-to-warm-up

Answer 20

display few intense reactions (either positive or negative), and appear unresponsive to unfamiliar people

Question 21

5 key traits/dimensions of temperament

Answer 21

1. activity level: tendency to move often and vigorously rather than remaining passive/inactive
2. approach/positive emotionality/sociability: tendency to move toward rather than away from new people, situations, or objects
3. inhibition and anxiety: tendency to respond with fear or withdraw from new people, situations, or objects
4. negative emotionality/irritability/anger: tendency to respond with anger, fussiness, loudness, or irritability; a low threshold of frustration (“difficult” children have this)
5. effortful control/task persistence: ability to stay focused and manage attention and effort

Question 22

neurological difference in reaction to new stimuli between shy children and extroverted children

Answer 22

shy children exhibit higher levels of arousal in the right hemisphere than the level (don’t respond symmetrically) -> temperament may therefore be influenced by neurological processes

Question 23

why is it impossible to know whether neurological findings with shy children are cause or effect?

Answer 23

because behaviour shapes the brain (ie. synaptic pruning)

Question 24

compare 2-3 month old’s ability to identify emotional expressions with a 5-7 month old

Answer 24

• 2-3 month olds can identify emotional expressions best when they receive info from many channels (ie. seeing a facial expression and hearing that emotion expressed in the adult’s voice), and are better at reading faces of people they know
• 5-7 month olds can read one channel at a time (ie. can respond to facial expressions alone or tone of voice alone), and can read stranger’s emotional expressions

Question 25

infant’s ability to express emotions at birth, 2-3 months, and 6-7 months

Answer 25

• birth: expressions for interest, pain, disgust, and enjoyment
• 2-3 months: expressions for anger and sadness as well
• 6-7 months: expressions for fear as well

Question 26

percentage of Canadian moms in labour force in ‘67 vs. ‘07

Answer 26

• ‘67: 17%

- ‘07: 70%

Question 27

why is it difficult to determine effects of non-parental care on infants?

Answer 27

• huge range of care arrangements lumped into “nonparental care” category (ie. grandparents, nannies, daycares, etc.)
• infants enter nonparental care at different ages, stay in it for various lengths of time, and experience different qualities of care
• many parents use “hybrid solutions” (ie. child is in family daycare part-time and cared for by a relative for the rest of the time)

Question 28

effects of nonparental care on cognitive development

Answer 28

children in high-quality, cognitively enriched daycare receive cognitive and language benefits (ie. IQ gains, better school performance)

Question 29

effects of nonparental care on personality/behaviour problems

Answer 29

• association between hours spent in daycare and later behaviour problems at school age
• more strongly related to externalizing behaviour (ie. high aggression and lower compliance with teachers) when kids were in low-quality daycare with large groups of children

Question 30

effects of nonparental care on attachment

Answer 30

• some studies show it can create insecure attachment when coupled with insensitive mothering
• other studies show that there are no effects of daycare attachment and that attachment is based on larger community, familial, and social context

Question 31

difference and similarity in cortisol levels between kids in daycare and kids reared at home

Answer 31

• cortisol levels of kids in daycare increase throughout the day whereas cortisol levels of kids in home-based care decrease throughout the day
• cortisol levels for both kids are the same on holidays and weekends

Question 32

which daycare variable is critical in predicting problematic social behaviour?

Answer 32

quality of care

Question 33

how does sex of child influence effects of non-parental care?

Answer 33

boys in nonparental care are more likely than girls to be insecurely attached to their caregivers

Question 34

research findings on daycare

Answer 34

• differences between home-reared kids and kids in nonparental care aren’t large
• studies show that quality of parenting is more important than type of daycare arrangement chosen
• high quality care linked with positive/neutral outcomes; inconsistent or poor quality care can be detrimental to kids