Midterm Exam Essay Example for Free

Midterm Exam Essay 1. Cross-sectional study involves the observation of some subset of a population of items all at the same time. Groups can be compared at different ages with respect to independent variables. This study differs from the longitudinal study because it takes place at a single point in time. In a longitudinal study, the same observations are made over different periods usually spanning several years. This type of study looks into developments and trends across generations or life spans. Cross-sectional studies can be used when a researcher has time constraints; usually this method is done in expedition trips which look at a certain group in a matter of several weeks to months. One weakness of this approach is that it does not encompass the changes over time. This becomes the strength of the longitudinal method of study. It can trace the development of a certain phenomenon or fad thru its infancy up until the time it disappears, one downside though is that it required a lot of time and effort to complete. 2. Down syndrome is caused by an abnormal cell division of the 21st chromosome. The problem occurs when there is extra genetic material from the said chromosome and is responsible for the characteristic features and developmental problems of Down syndrome. Down syndrome has several symptoms or characteristics, most common of all are: flattened facial features, protruding tongue, small head, upward slanting eyes which are unusual for the child’s ethnic group, and unusually shaped ears. Down syndrome carries with it several risks which include heart defects, leukemia, and proneness to infectious diseases, dementia, and other problems such as gastrointestinal blockage, poor vision, or hearing loss. 3. One of the most striking risks of infants with low birth rates is that they have a 25% chance of dying before reaching the age of one. These infants also have increased risk of long term disability and impaired development, usually in terms of motor and social development. Cigarette smokers and black people are the ones which are most likely to have low birth weight infants compared to other social classes. 4. One of the most important benefits of breast feeding is that it is the best source of nutrition for the first six months of life. It contains appropriate amounts of carbohydrates, protein, fat, and provides digestive enzymes, minerals, vitamins and most importantly, hormones that infants require. The milk from the mother also contains antibodies which shield the baby from infections. Breastfeeding also reduces the risk of ear infections, stomach infections, and digestive problems such as constipation, skin diseases, allergy problems, and hospitalizations during the first year of life. In addition, breastfed babies may have less risk of becoming overweight or developing high blood pressure, diabetes, iron-deficiency anemia, and tooth decay. Breastfeeding in poor countries such as those in Africa is very important because infants that are not breastfed are 5 times more likely to die from infections in the first two months of life. This is important considering that these countries do not have proper medical care for these children. 5. Piaget discusses four important factors of cognitive change, namely the sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational stages. In the sensorimotor stage, infants are born with a set of congenital reflexes that allow them to float in the heavily dense world, in addition to a drive to explore their world. In the preoperational stage, children demonstrate sparse and logically inadequate mental operations, in this stage, the child learns to use and represent objects by images and words. There are two stages, the preconceptual and the intuitive. In the preconceptual stage, the child is marked by egocentric thinking and animistic though, while in the intuitive stage, the child starts employing mental activities to solve problems and obtain goals. In the concrete operational stage, the child learns how to use his/her logic in tackling problems; however, children can only solver problems that apply to actual objects or events. Finally, in the formal operation stage, the child acquires the ability to think abstractly and draw logical and reasonable conclusions from the information available. 6. Types of children can be described using Thomas and Chess’ model of temperament. One of these types are shy children, these children are more or less inactive, suffering from less predictable manner, have low distractibility, pulls back and cries when exposed to new things and strangers, not easily adaptive, low attention span, low levels of response, unfriendly behavior, and take little notice of changes in stimulation. Fearful children exhibit most of the negative criteria in the model of temperament, most obvious of which in their approach/avoidance. Fearful children tend to pull back and cry sometimes even if the said stimuli are reintroduced (meaning it has been seen by the child before). Aggressive children on the other hand exhibit such traits as an increased devotion to an activity, and have intense reactions when offered stimuli. 7. There are four attachment classifications, secure, anxious avoidant, anxious resistant and disorganized. In secure attachment, the amount of care is both consistent and sufficient giving the child security everytime the parent is around, even in the presence of strangers because the child knows that the parent is there to protect and guide him/her. In the anxious-resistant type, care given by the parent is not consistent because the child is often wary of strangers until the parents return, it means that the parent cares for the child, but is not around all the time. In the anxious-avoidant insecure attachment, the amount of care given by the parent is both inconsistent and insufficient given that the child ignores or avoids the parent. In the disorganized attachment, the care given is either classified by the child as frightening or comes from someone who is frightened. This is caused by either a frightened caregiver, or a very aggressive caregiver. 8. Three language development theories will be compared and contrasted, Chomsky’s language acquisition device, Piaget’s cognitive constructivism, and Vygotsky’s social contructivism and language. Chomsky and Piaget sees language as something which comes with birth, Chomsky and Piaget both focused on how the child developed a language, for Chomsky, he supposes that the ability to learn language is inborn in the form of a Language Acquisition Device (LAD). He was not able to take enough account of the influences of cognition and language have on each other’s development. In Piaget’s case, he argues that cognitive development preceded language. He focused more on the child’s cognitive development and attributes it the child’s way of representing their familiar worlds. While for Vygotsky, his main concern was the relationship between the development of thought and language, his theory melded together Chomsky and Piaget’s theory and combined them to form his theory that language is first a means of social communication, then gradually promotes both language and cognition.