Discuss aspects of an infant's social competence and a baby's ability to imitate behavior.

What will be an ideal response?


- Research from the late 1970s indicated that babies were able to imitate a behavior modeled by an adult if the behavior was something that the infant already performed spontaneously.
- Psychologist Tiffany Field reported that infants could discriminate between basic facial expressions of emotion, such as happiness, sadness, and surprise.
- Subsequent research has found that babies cannot demonstrate imitative skills consistently, and that they can only produce a single imitative movement such as sticking out the tongue, which may be more of an exploratory action. Aspects of newborns' behavior act as forerunners for more formal types of social interactions when they grow and develop.

Psychology

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When discussing the acquisition of grammar, which type of theorist would be most likely to say, "Context and genetics are overrated, what really matters is imitation and reinforcement?"

A. A social-interaction theorist B. A behaviorist C. A cognitive theorist D. A linguistic approach theorist

Psychology

The newest role of genetic counselors involves testing people to identify whether they are susceptible to future disorders because of inherited genetic abnormalities

Indicate whether the statement is true or false

Psychology

Thomas teaches his grandmother to play his favorite video games so that he has something to do while visiting her. This activity most likely will:

A. not effect her cognitive abilities B. start a sharp decline in her cognitive abilities C. help preserve her cognitive abilities D. improve her circulation

Psychology

Which of the following is the best advice for someone who has to perform a perfect gymnastics routine at a major competition?

a) Relax and let it happen without overthinking it b) Concentrate on how well you do each element of the routine as you do it. c) Think carefully about what will happen if you screw up the routine. d) Focus on what it will be like to stand on the medalists' podium.

Psychology