Lecture 2

1. Lecture 2 Berk Chapter 2 • Theories of Development • Methods of Study • Correlations & Experiments • Research Strategies • Cross-sectional & Longitudinal • How genes & environment work together • 4 models week 2

2. BASIC THEORIES OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT Why bother with theories? • Facts are only facts • a description of what we can observe • Theories help us: • make sense of our observations. • & allow us to predict & explain the changes week 2

3. Theories… • Theories help us make plausible stories that allow us to make sense of the facts • help us understand and interpret facts • & explain & make predictions in new scenarios • Even good theories may be wrong… • But good ones act as stimulus for new questions week 2

4. Theories are useful • We use implicit theories all the time • life is easier in a predictable world • Examples: • Girlfriend/boyfriend has found someone new • Predict he/she will break next date • If prediction correct, predict more avoidance • If prediction wrong, maybe wanted to wash his hair, worried • Observe that child is cross, cranky • > hunger? > eat • > needs a nap? > sleep week 2

5. The observation The father of a 2-yr old finds that he becomes very impatient with his daughter, when, night-after-night, she claims she cannot fall asleep because of a “monster that comes out in the dark.” Although each night the father tries to reassure and comfort his daughter, the next morning she does not remember his attempts to reason with her regarding her fear. He should probably: week 2

6. 4 theoretical perspectives • A) try to understand the hidden causes and meaning of his daughter’s dreams • B) give his daughter a reward the following morning if she stayed in bed until falling asleep the night before. • C) realize that, because of her limited cognitive abilities at age 2, she cannot be rationally reasoned with. • D) consider how he can structure his interactions with his daughter to “mentor” her through her fear. week 2

7. What was your answer? • A) = • B) = • C) = • D) = week 2

8. Basic Theories • Cognitive • Piaget • Social Learning • Bandura • Psychodynamic • Freud, Erikson • Behavioural • Skinner • Social-cultural • Vygotsky week 2

9. Psychodynamic Theories: Focus: • Freud: on psychosexual instincts & pleasure principle • Erickson: on psychosocial challenges. Both Freud & Erikson focus on: • our unconscious motivations • are specific tasks & challenges at each stage. • overcoming early challenges makes later ones easier to handle • early success lays foundation for later success. week 2

10. Psychodynamic normative stages Ages Freud Erikson • 0 - 1 oral trust vs mistrust • 1 - 3 anal autonomy vs shame/doubt • 3 – 6 phallic initiative vs guilt • 6 – 11 latency industry vs inferiority week 2

11. Psychodynamic Challenges:A War Analogy for Development Development akin to an invading army • Eg Napoleon’s army heading into central Russia • Each battle along way = developmental crisis • need psychic energy/ troops to attend to each crisis • If crisis successful, then energy/ troops free for next battle • If unsuccessful, then army must leave energy/ troops behind to battle insurgents, • have fewer resources for the next battle week 2

12. Limitations Psychodynamic • Vague stages, difficult to test empirically • psychosexual stages controversial at best • Dark view of human nature derived from work with patients with psychological problems week 2

13. Strengths Psychodynamic • Theory of motivation, emotion, personality • Notion of the unconscious influence • Presents a dark view human nature • an important component • Emphasized individual’s unique life history as worthy of study. week 2

14. Example of strength of psychodynamic theory • How children internalize parental beliefs • In initiative stage, preschoolers start to model selves after same-sex parent • and internalize values & beliefs of parents • In autonomy stage • they learn self-control, choosing for themselves week 2

15. Cognitive Theory: Piaget How do children come to think & understand the world like adults? • Theory focuses on • howchildren actively explore the world • emphasize qualitative changes in thinking week 2

16. Piaget’s Stages Age • 0 – 2 • 2 – 7 • 7 – 11 • 11+ Stages Description • Sensorimotor senses • Pre-operational symbols • Concrete operations reasoning • Formal operational abstract logic week 2

17. Examples of Piagetian stages • Way to observe change in thinking over childhood. • In sensorimotor, babies explore world with senses • Learn by mouthing, stroking, looking • Exploration centres on their own bodies. • In pre-operational, kids explore in new ways • when they learn to crawl and walk • Use symbols like language, pretend play, • Exploration is centred outside of self, on larger world • In operational, kids are able to understand constancy of numbers, volume, size, shape week 2

18. Limitations Piaget • Limited empirical support for the specific ages at which cognitive changes occur • Underestimated child’s cognitive capabilities • Rate of cognitive development can differ in different domains • Eg, understand constancy of number but not volume (horizontal décalage) week 2

19. Strengths Piaget • Historical: started the field of cognitive developmental psychology • Many of the questions he raised are still being examined today • Idea that children are active thinkers & contribute to their own experiences week 2

20. Behaviour Theory Skinner: • focus on observable behaviour • principles of conditioning & learning • Reward • Punishment week 2

21. Behaviourism • Principles of operant conditioning: • positive reinforcement (action > + outcome) • eg • negative reinforcement (action >less neg outcome) • eg • eg • punishment: (action > negative outcome) • eg week 2

22. Limitations Behaviourism • Narrow view of environmental influences • Ignores role of mental world • Thoughts, feelings, attitudes, motivations week 2

23. Strengths Behaviourism • Powerful means to change behaviour • eg reduce fears, train pets, change characteristics • Discipline of children • Principles apply across childhood & adulthood. week 2

24. Bandura’s Social Learning Theory • theory of social development • Children model, imitate others’ behaviours. • Most likely occurs when child is uncertain • & when model is admirable, powerful, nurturing • Eg of bad modeling: Bobo doll • Eg of good modeling: empathy, respect, sharing • Through modeling • children learn about social situations • develop self-regulation • and sense of control over social situations week 2

25. Limitations Social Learning • Focuses only on social development • Narrow view of environmental influences • ignores children’s social conditions • Ignores child’s physical and cognitive abilities week 2

26. Strengths Social Learning • understanding how social processes influence development • Identified an important mechanism of developmental change • Eg in helping children incorporate values • Hard work, responsibilities, ways to communicate • and appropriate social behaviour with peers & sibs • Sharing, cooperating, playing week 2

27. Vygotsky’s social-cultural theory • Focuses on social origins of mental functioning • Language is learned as a social and cultural process as way to interact and communicate with others. • Adults help children by guiding them • offering support in the form of scaffolding. • Eg adult helps child with puzzle • Guidance on how to do it, trying shapes, colours • or Mom offers child a new word • as child tries to express him or herself. week 2

28. Snoopy gets scaffolding… week 2

29. Limitations Vygotsky • Less emphasis on biological, heredity in development • Less emphasis on child’s own capacity to shape development week 2

30. Strengths Vygotsky’s • Understanding transfer of culture, social knowledge from one generation to next • Understanding social aspects of cognition • Motivations, attitudes week 2

31. Summary: What good are theories? 2 important functions of theories: • 1. Organize and integrate information & facts into a coherent story. • 2. Lead to testable hypotheses or predictions based on our observations. No one theory purports to explain all aspects of development. week 2

32. Question Nine-yr-old David is more aggressive in the classroom than Maria. His teacher should probably: • A) give him stars and privileges when he behaves appropriately. • B) refer David to a therapist who can get him to talk about his repressed urges. • C) realize that David’s past social interactions have not challenged him to develop certain social competencies. • D) have his vision, hearing, & other perceptual abilities tested to find out why he is not able to concentrate on the class material. week 2

33. METHODS • How do we study child development? • Theories provide insights, hunches, ideas about development • But do children behave and develop in the ways that theories suggest they will? • How do we know? • Next step is to find out whether the theories & observations are correct • or not week 2

34. Research Methods The specific activities of participants Questionnaires Interviews Observations Etc. Research Design Overall plan for the study Permits the best test of a research question. Choosing a Research Strategy week 2

35. Asking Research Questions • When we want to know if a relation exists, we ask a research question. • These questions are used to establish relationships and sometimes causes. • Examples: • Is TV violence associated with higher aggression? • Are infant motor milestones associated with season of birth? • Do the prenatal Mozart tapes have any positive effect on intelligence later on? week 2

36. Strategies & Designs • I will discuss 2 main research strategies and 2 principal designs used to investigate children's development. • Research strategies: • Correlations • Experiments • Research designs: • Cross-sectional • Longitudinal week 2

37. Correlations • You need two variables: • eg, hours of TV viewing / measure of aggression • eg, infant motor milestones / season of birth • Researcher does not systematically change anything • about environment or experiences of participants. week 2

38. Definition of Correlation • is an index or estimate of how much two measures vary together • correlation coefficient r week 2

39. Magnitude (Size) Size of the number between 0 and 1 Closer to one (either positive or negative) is a stronger relationship Direction Indicated by + or - sign Positive (+): as one variable increases, so does the other Negative (-): as one variable increase, the other decreases Correlation Coefficients week 2

40. Examples of Correlation Coefficients week 2

41. Correlations week 2

42. TV & aggression in preschoolers Example:classic study by Singer & Singer (1981) • Are differences in TV viewing ~ aggression? • Parents interviewed about amount of TV & kind of programs preschoolers watched • Amount of aggressive TV watched • the independent variable • Observers rated aggression in nursery school • Aggression observed in children • the dependent or outcome variable week 2

43. Results • Children spent average of 23 hours/wk watching TV • TV viewing clearly related to aggression • more action & adventure shows watched • more aggressive preschoolers were with peers week 2

44. In the TV-aggression example • what kind of correlation do we have? • between what variables? week 2

45. Other examples of correlations • Reading to child and vocabulary size, • more reading ~ larger vocabulary: • ? correlation • Age ~ cognitive development • ? correlation • Good parenting ~ child behaviour problems • ? correlation week 2

46. Cautions About Correlations • Relation between 2 variables does NOT mean one caused the other • They are only related in some systematic way • In the TV-aggression Singer study, • we can't say watching violent TV caused aggression • could be that children who are already aggressive prefer to watch violent types of programs • Correlations cannot establish cause! week 2

47. Experimental Strategy Experiments - only method that can establish cause. • Systematically change characteristic of child's environment or child’s experience • Independent variable - IV • The variable changed or manipulated • expected to cause changes in another var • Dependent variable – DV • variable measured for evidence of change week 2

48. Experiments Use at least 2 groups: • experimental (treatment) & control • Individuals are randomly assigned to a group • want both groups are same at start • want experimental and control groups to be as similar as possible, differing only on the treatment given. week 2

49. Experiments • Experimental group - receives treatment • 1 group plays aggressive videos • Control group – receives no treatment • 1 group plays non-aggressive videos • When changes in IV (type of video) result in changes in the DV (aggression), you can infer that one causes the other. week 2

50. 3 Types of Experimental Studies • lab - children randomly assigned to treatments • In lab, children view violent show or sports show • field - introduce change in natural setting • Eg experiment in nursery school TV viewing • 3wk: baseline, 4wk: 1/2 class violent & 1/2 prosocial, 2wk: behaviour assessment • natural - capitalize on change occurs naturally • Eg effects of hospitalization, adoption, disaster week 2