In the Argument section on pages 45-47, Shenk explains the effects seen by talking to young children often and very early in childhood. By observing the average number of words spoken to children of professionals, working class children, and welfare children, researchers showed that children growing up in professionals' homes were "exposed to an average of more than fifteen hundred more spoken words per hour than children in welfare homes" (Shenk 45). This increase in verbal diversity led to higher levels of vocabulary in the children even before they started school, and in turn resulted in higher academic achievement throughout their development. How do the concepts of parental investment, early gene expression, and positive environmental conditions work together to shape a child’s vocabulary and other critical skills (such as problem solving)? What adaptations must be made if one of these areas were to be lacking? Explain your response in terms of evidence from the book as well as the ecology and embryology units. Also relate your response to the theme(s) of evolution and/or interdependence in nature.
Ethan Homedi (ethanhomedi@yahoo.com)
Parental investment, in my opinion, is probably one of the most important factors in a child’s development—especially during the critical period. This time of the sensitive period is when “the young imprint and learn the basic behaviors of their species” (Campbell 1126). Many kids start idolizing their parents, praising them for their ‘cool job’ or ‘cool talent’. When parents give attention to their child, the child grows more affectionate and sometimes returns the affection through mimicry. When the child mimics his parent endearingly, he learns more on how to be that kind of person and starts using his parent’s routines or rituals as his own. Mimicking language can result in a higher possible vocabulary, mimicking self-presence can affect posture and attitude, and mimicking emotions will have the child develop emotions that the parent shows most.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to language, children are extremely impressionable. Taking on the role of the ‘parrot’ and repeating every word they hear, it is typical for a child to learn the actual word prior to its meaning. When a parent works with their child by enunciating different words and showing pictures, the child learns how to say the word before associating the word with an object. Researcher Kathrine H. Grobman points out that kids, around the age of two, “start to learn words incredibly fast: about 10 to 20 new words a week!” (Grobman). This is why Shenk suggests it is important to read to a child. It is not just evidence from the two studies that “reported the positive influence of parent-to-child reading,”(47) but the entire of science of Developmental Psychology that has people like Grobman trying to spread the positive possibilities of spending more time with children.
Similar to the learning of vocabulary, a child can learn other visible skills from parents, such as positive ways to approach a problem. A child can learn to keep his temper under control, talk to someone about it, or spend some time alone and think. These critical skills, while they may not mean anything to a child mime, they may surface some value when the child grows older and remembers his and his parent’ s old habits. The three ideas provided-- parental investment, early gene expression, and positive environmental conditions—all fall hand in hand on the GxE model (with the investment and environment considered as one) so to address the genetic side of this situation, I believe learning is mostly an environmental development with the core genetic influence being the protein structure that determines the size and effectiveness of different parts of the brain. These genetic impacts on this may stem from how the genome instructs the dorsal lip of the blastopore to instruct the cells of the gastrula. This will form the differentiated structures such as those in the brain—made by the ectoderm—that will aid in the child’s development and ability of special learning.
Finally, this idea of learning corresponds to the idea of interdependence in nature because the core of a child’s learning is the interaction with the parents. A child’s personality is heavily dependent on how the child believes— and is taught—society should be. If the child sees a community of smiles, the child will most likely grow up to be more positive than negative with respect to personality. Similarly, if a child is surrounded by professors and hears a new word every other minute, the child will most likely grow up to want to learn the meaning of the words he heard, just as Shenk reported of the performed experiments.
Jesse Pukshansky (jesse.pukshansky@gmail.com)
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteTina.DingApr 13, 2012 07:02 PM
ReplyDeleteIn response to your post, Jesse, I agree with everything you’ve mentioned. I found it interesting that childhood reading is very effective, even though a child may or may not understand what he or she is reading. Just the exposure to a multitude of words can affect child development.
In response to Ethan’s prompt, I believe children themselves have often figured out “adaptations [that] must be made if one of these areas (in their development) are lacking.” For example, many children read to themselves once they are old enough. Studies have found that children who read outside of school have more developed vocabularies as well as better developed brains. Furthermore, a cognition research team from UC Berkeley suggests that parents “set kids free to discover and investigate.” This kind of exploration helps children develop spatial learning, defined in the ecology region of our textbook as establishing “memory that reflects the environment’s special structure” (1126). Furthermore, as this kind of “exploration” does similar things as reading to children, because exploration helps children develop “the ability to associate one environmental feature (such as a color) with another (such as a foul taste)” (1127). So to answer your question about adaptations that must be made if some aspects of parental care early on in development are lacking, Ethan, I would suggest this hypothetical child be allowed to explore (within a mild environment) to gain a lot of the same cognitive benefits as those who have more well-rounded upbringings.
(Tina Ding: yuning.tina.ding@gmail.com)
(http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2012/03/12/babyeinsteins/)