Chapter 1 History, Theories, and Methods

1. Chapter 1History, Theories, and Methods

2. History, Theories, and Methods: Truth or Fiction? • During the Middle Ages, children were often treated as miniature adults. • Children come into the world as “blank tablets” – without inborn differences in intelligence and talents.

3. History, Theories, and Methods: Truth or Fiction? • Nail-biting and smoking cigarettes are signs of conflict experienced during early childhood. • Some theorists contend that children actively strive to understand and take charge of their worlds, whereas other theorists argue that children respond passively to environmental stimulation.

4. History, Theories, and Methods: Truth or Fiction? • Research with monkeys has helped psychologists understand the formation of attachment in humans. • In order to learn how a person develops over a lifetime, researchers have tracked some individuals for more than 50 years.

5. What Is Child Development?

6. Periods of Development Conception and Prenatal Infancy Early Childhood Middle Childhood Adolescence Dimensions of Development Physiological Cognitive Social Emotional Behavioral What Is Child Development?

7. What Is Child Development? • Attempts to advance knowledge of the processes that govern the development of children’s • physical structures, • traits, • behaviors, and • cognitions. • Growth represents quantitative changes • Development represents qualitative changes

8. Why Do Researchers Study Child Development? • Gain insight into • human nature, • origins of adult behavior, • origins of differences, • origins, prevention and treatment of developmental problems • Optimize conditions of development

9. What Views of Children Do We Find Throughout History? • Ancient Times and Middle Ages • Children viewed as innately evil • Age 7 is the “age of reason” • Children were treated as miniature adults • John Locke • Child came into world as tabula rasa, or “blank slates” • Focus on role of environment and experience • Jean-Jacques Rousseau • Children are inherently good and moral

10. What Views of Children Do We Find Throughout History? • Industrial Revolution • Nuclear family • Childhood is recognized as a time period of life • 20th Century • Child rights in labor, education, neglect

11. Pioneers in the Study of Child Development • Charles Darwin (1809 – 1882) • Theory of evolution • Use of baby biography • G. Stanley Hall (1944 - 1924) • Child development as a academic discipline • Questionnaire methodology with children • Alfred Binet (1857 – 1911) • First standardized intelligence test

12. Theories of Child Development

13. What Are Theories? • Related sets of statements about events • Include descriptive terms and concepts • Based on certain assumptions • Allow explanations and predictions • Wide range of applicability • Influence events

14. Why Do We Have Theories? • Theories of development help us • describe, • explain, • predict, and • influence events being studied.

15. The Psychoanalytic Perspective • Freud’s theory of psychosexual development • Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development • View children (and adults) involved in conflict • internal drive and urges • internalize ‘external’ demands and rules • Stage theories • distinct periods of development

16. Freud’s Theory of Psychosexual Development • Sigmund Freud (1856 – 1939) • Levels of awareness • Conscious level • Preconscious level • Unconscious level • Parts of personality • Id • Ego • Superego • Quantity of gratification at each stage • Fixated at that stage

17. Stages of Psychosexual Theory of Development • Oral Stage • Sucking and biting • Early weaning or breast-fed too long • Fixation: nail-biting, smoking, “biting wit” • Anal Stage • Control and elimination of waste • Excessive strict or permissive toilet training • Fixation: anal-retentive (neatness); anal-expulsion (sloppiness)

18. Stages of Psychosexual Theory of Development • Phallic Stage • Parent-child conflict over masturbation • View same sex parent as rival • Latency Stage • Sexual feelings remain unconscious • Genital Stage • Begins at adolescence • Desire sexual gratification through intercourse with member of other sex • Interest in any other sexual gratification indicates fixation at an earlier stage of development

19. Evaluation of Psychosexual Theory of Development • Major contribution to 20th century thought • Comprehensive theory of childhood • Influenced parents, child-care workers and educators • Based on patients (women) who were emotionally troubled • Little empirical data • Placed too much emphasis on instincts and unconscious motives • Erik Erikson and Karen Horney

20. Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development • Erik Erikson (1902 – 1994) • modified and expanded Freud’s theory • successful resolution of life crises bolsters sense of identity • Differences from psychosexual development • focus on development of self-identity • includes conscious and purposeful acts in development • extended stages to eight; throughout adulthood

21. Stages of Psychosocial Development • Trust versus Mistrust • Autonomy versus Shame and Doubt • Initiative versus Guilt • Industry versus Inferiority • Identity versus Role Diffusion • Intimacy versus Isolation • Generativity versus Stagnation • Ego Integrity versus Despair

22. Evaluation of Psychosocial Development • Highly appealing • emphasize choice and minimize urges • portray people as prosocial and giving • Unified view of life span development • Some empirical support

23. The Learning Perspective Behavioral and Social Cognition Theories • Mechanical learning by association • Conditioning • Intentional learning • Rote and trail-and-error learning • Observational learning

24. What Is the Theory of Behaviorism? • John Watson • Only address observable behavior • Contributions to behaviorism • Classical Conditioning • Operant Conditioning

25. Classical Conditioning • Learning by Association • Unconditioned = Unlearned • Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS) elicits Unconditioned Response (UCR) • Introduction of a Neutral Stimulus • Repeated association of neutral Stimulus and UCS • Conditioned = Learned • Conditioned Stimulus (CS) elicits Conditioned Response (CR)

26. Classical Conditioning • Pavlov’s Salivating Dogs • Food (UCS) elicits Salivation (UCR) • Clinking of food trays (neutral stimulus) • Clinking of food trays prior to Food (UCS) • Clinking of food trays (CS) elicits Salivation (CR) • Application with Children • Behavior modification

27. Figure 1.1 Schematic Representation of Classical Conditioning

28. Operant Conditioning • Learn to operate on environment because of the effects of behavior • Behavior occurs and then a stimulus is introduced that will encourage the repetition of the behavior • B. F. Skinner – Reinforcement • Any stimulus that increases the frequency of the behavior they follow

29. Principles of Operant Conditioning • Positive reinforcers • Something applied that increases the frequency of the behavior • Negative reinforcers • Something removed that increases the frequency of the behavior • Extinction • Operant behavior is no longer shown after repeated performance of the behavior without reinforcement

30. Figure 1.2 Positive versus Negative Reinforcers

31. Punishment • Aversive events that decrease the behavior they follow • Usually undesirable for learning • Does not suggest an alternative, acceptable form of behavior • Tends to suppress undesirable behavior only under certain conditions • Punished children may withdraw from the situation • Can create anger and hostility • May generalize too far • May be imitated as a way of problem solving or coping with stress

32. A Closer Look Operant Conditioning of Vocalizations in Infants

33. Figure 1.3 Negative Reinforcers versus Punishments

34. Application of Operant Conditioning • Shaping • Teaching complex behaviors • Socialization of children • Parent and child • Child and child • Teacher and child

35. Social Cognitive Theory • Acquire basic “know-how” through observational learning • Learning alters child’s mental representation of environment and influences belief in ability to change the environment • Child is an active learner • Intentional observation of models for imitation

36. Evaluation of Learning Theories • Meets the goals of describe, explain and predict aspects of children’s behavior • Principles abundant in education and clinical application • Unclear if learning is only mechanical • Underestimates role of biological-maturation factors

37. The Cognitive Perspective • Focus on children’s mental processes • How children perceive and mentally represent the world • Jean Piaget (1896 – 1980) • Cognitive-developmental theory • Information-processing theory

38. Piaget’s Cognitive-Developmental Theory • Working with Binet on IQ tests for children, Piaget became interested in children’s incorrect answers • Piaget’s work was not widely read until mid 1950’s • difficult to understand • introduced when behaviorism and psychoanalysis were popular • Piaget’s view of children as “little scientists”

39. Piaget’s Basic Concepts • Scheme • pattern of action involved in acquiring or organizing knowledge • Adaptation • interaction between child and the environment • Assimilation • Respond to new object or event according to existing schemes • Accommodation • Adjust scheme to a new object or event • Equilibration • Process of restoring equilibrium after a period of accommodation

40. Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive-Development Theory • Four major stages • Sensorimotor • Preoperational • Concrete Operational • Formal Operational • Stages are universal • Development is based on children’s interactions with their environments • Influential in many educational settings

41. Evaluation of Cognitive-Development Theory • Piaget may have underestimated children’s abilities by age • Cognitive growth may be more gradual than Piaget’s distinct stages

42. Information-Processing Theory • Influenced by the concepts of computer science • Process of encoding information (input) • Storage of information (long-term memory) • Retrieval of information (short-term memory) • Manipulation of information to solve problems (output) • Software (mental processes) • Hardware (brain) • Consider “limitations” of child • Short-term memory • Ability to multi-task • Applications in education

43. The Biological Perspective • Physical development • Gains in height and weight • Development of nervous system • Developments connected with hormones, heredity • Ethology

44. What Is Ethology? • Evolution of humans within the animal kingdom • Influence by Charles Darwin, Konrad Lorenz and Niko Tinbergen • Involves instinctive behavior patterns • Inborn fixed action patterns (FAPs) • Evaluation • Assume instinctive behaviors can be modified through learning

45. The Ecological Systems Theory • Explains development through interactions between children and the settings in which they live • Urie Bronfenbrenner • Reciprocal interactions • focus on interactions between parent and child (bidirectional) • Five Embedded Systems • Microsystem • Mesosystem • Exosystem • Macrosystem • Chronosystem

46. Figure 1.4 The Contexts of Human Development

47. Developing in a World of Diversity Influence of the Macrosystem on the Development of Independence

48. The Sociocultural Perspective • View children as social beings who are influenced by the cultures in which they live • Lev Vygotsky’s (1896 – 1934) sociocultural theory • Impact on children of human diversity

49. Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory • Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) • range of tasks child can perform with help of someone more skilled • use of conversations, external and internal, to guide the learning • Scaffolding • Adult provides problem-solving methods until child can perform independently • May also be used by child with peers

50. Sociocultural Perspective and Human Diversity • Awareness of diversity among children • Ethnicity • Understanding of children’s family values and cultural expectations • Gender • Understanding of gender-role expectations • Sexual Orientation • Disabilities