CHAPTER 1

1. CHAPTER 1 History, Theories, and Methods

2. The Development of the Study of Development

3. Child Development Pioneers John Locke Believed children came into the world as a “tabula rasa,” or blank slate Jean-Jacques Rousseau Believed children were inherently good, and when allowed to express natural impulses, generous morality would develop

4. Child Development Pioneers (cont’d) • G. Stanley Hall • Founded child development as an academic discipline and focused scientific attention on the period of adolescence • Alfred Binet/Theodore Simon • Developed first standardized intelligence test intended to help public school children at risk of falling behind their peers in academic achievement

5. Adult Development Theorists • William Perry/Gisella Labouvie-Vief • Studied cognitive complexity from adolescence to late adulthood • K.W. Schaie • Studied trends in various mental abilities throughout middle and late adulthood

6. Theories of Development

7. Developmental Theories • Learning theory • Stressed the importance of the physical and social environments (nurture) (John B. Watson) • Maturation view • Stressed the importance of biological maturation as the main force in development (nature) (Arnold Gessell) • Psychoanalytic perspective • Stressed the importance of conflicts between opposing inner forces (Freud)

8. Freud’s Theory of Psychosexual Development • Focused on emotional and social development • Focused on the origins of psychological traits • dependence, obsessive neatness, and vanity • Three parts of the personality - Id • Present at birth; unconscious • Represents biological drives • Demands instant gratification - Ego • Conscious sense of self • Seeks gratification but avoids social disapproval - Superego • Conscious • Monitors the intentions and behavior of ego by allowing guilt and shame

9. Five Stages of Psychosexual Development • Stage 1 – Oral stage Focus on oral activities such as sucking and biting during first year of life • Stage 2 – Anal stage Focus on control and elimination of bodily waste products Toilet training stage of life • Stage 3 – Phallic stage Focus on parent/child conflict over child’s personal sexual exploration • Stage 4 – Latency stage Focus on schoolwork Sexual feelings remain unconscious Children play with same sex playmates • Stage 5 – Genital stage Begins with biological changes in adolescence resulting in desire for intercourse

10. Contributions of Freudian Theory • Stimulated various research areas • Influenced how childcare workers approach infants, toddlers, and preschoolers • Influenced teachers’ sensitivity to students’ emotional needs • Influenced the stage models of other theorists such as Erikson

11. Limitations of Freudian Theory • Theory developed from his interactions with adult patients (mostly women) • May have inadvertently guided patients’ reports to confirm his views • Overemphasized basic instincts and unconscious motives

12. Erikson’s Psychosocial Development • Focused on development of • emotional life • psychological traits • self-identity • Looked at importance of social relationships, but emphasis was on the ego (sense of self) • Viewed physical maturation as a major contributor to development • Viewed that early experiences affect future developments and/or accomplishments • Successful resolution of early life crises bolster sense of identity

13. Eight Stages of Psychosocial Development • Stage 1 – Trust vs. mistrust (age 1) • Stage 2 – Autonomy vs. shame/doubt (ages 1-3) • Stage 3 – Initiative vs. guilt (ages 3-5) • Stage 4 – Industry vs. inferiority (ages 6-12) • Stage 5 – Identity vs. confusion (ages 12-18) • Stage 6 – Intimacy vs. isolation (young adulthood) • Stage 7 – Generativity vs. self-absorption (middle adulthood) • Stage 8 – Integrity vs. despair (late adulthood)

14. Contributions of Erikson’s Theory • Emphasized importance of human consciousness and choice • Portrayed human development as prosocial and helpful • Some empirical support that positive outcomes of early life crises help put us on path to positive development

15. Behavioral Theory • Classical conditioning • Developed by Pavlov • Learning in which a neutral stimulus elicits the response usually brought forth by a second stimulus through repeated pairings with the second stimulus • ex. tension in children’s bladder paired with the bell • Operant conditioning • Developed by Skinner • Learning in which an organism learns to engage in behavior that is reinforced • ex. child learns to adjust behavior to conform to social codes and rules to earn reinforcers such as attention and approval

16. Fig. 1-1, p. 6

17. Reinforcement • Positive reinforcers • Increase the frequency of behaviors when they are applied • ex. food and approval • Negative reinforcers • Increase the frequency of behaviors when undesirable states are removed • ex. fear of failure is removed when one studies for a test • Extinction • Results from repeated performance of operant behavior without reinforcement • ex. child’s temper tantrum stops when parent leaves the room

18. Fig. 1-2, p. 7

19. Fig. 1-3, p. 7

20. Punishment • Punishment: aversive events that suppress or decrease the frequency of the behavior they follow • Punishment CONS • Does not suggest alternative acceptable behavior • Suppresses undesirable behavior only when its delivery is guaranteed • Can create feelings of anger and hostility

21. Social-Cognitive Theory • Developed by Bandura • Learning occurs • by observing other people • by reading • by viewing characters in the media • Observational learning occurs by the modeling of a behavior to another person

22. Cognitive-Developmental Theory • Developed by Piaget • Intrigued by children’s wrong answers • Children seen as active participants • Scheme • Action pattern or mental structure involved in acquiring or organizing knowledge • Adaptation • Interaction between the organism and the environment • Assimilation • The incorporation of new events or knowledge into existing schemes • Accommodation • The modification of existing schemes to permit the incorporation of new events or knowledge • Equilibration • Achieving a balance between assimilation and accommodation

23. Four Stages of Cognitive Development • Stage 1 – Sensorimotor (birth to 2 years) • focus on sensory exploration; object permanence mastered • Stage 2 – Preoperational (2-7 years) • focus on language and symbolic expression through play; children are egocentric • Stage 3 – Concrete operational (7-12 years) • focus on mastering concepts such as reversibility • Stage 4 – Formal operational (12 years and older) • ability to reason abstractly

24. Information-Processing Theory • Based on computer model of information processing • Cognitive process of • encoding information (input) • storing the information into long-term memory • retrieving the information (or placing it in short-term memory) • manipulating the information to solve problems • Most applicable to the teaching of methodological steps • ex: teaching the scientific method

25. The Biological Perspective Directly relates to physical development: • gains in height and weight • development of the brain • developments connected with hormones, reproduction, and heredity • Two primary theories • Evolutionary psychology • Ethology

26. Evolutionary Psychology • Studies the ways in which adaptation and natural selection are connected with mental processes and behavior • Behavior patterns that help an organism to survive and reproduce are likely to be transmitted to the next generation • Fixed action patterns • A stereotyped pattern of behavior evoked by a “releasing stimulus,” an instinct

27. The Ecological Perspective • Ecology • The branch of biology that deals with the relationships between living organisms and their environment • Bronfenbrenner • Looked at two-way interactions between the child and the parents, not just maturational forces (nature) or childrearing practices (nurture)

28. Bronfenbrenner’s Systems Approach • Microsystem • interactions of the child with other people in the immediate setting such as the home, school, or peer group • Mesosystem • interactions of various settings with the microsystem such as a parent-teacher conference or a school field trip to the zoo • Exosystem • institutions that indirectly affect the development of the child such as the school board or the parent’s place of employment • Macrosystem • interaction of the child with the beliefs, expectations, and lifestyle of his/her cultural setting • Chronosystem • the influence that changes over time have on development

29. Fig. 1-4, p. 11

30. The Sociocultural Perspective • Developed by Vygotsky • Teaches that people are social beings who are affected by the cultures in which they live • Focuses on the transmission of information and cognitive skills from generation to generation • Views that learning consists of social engagement from a more skilled individual to a lesser skilled individual • ex: an older sibling teaching a younger sibling to ride a bike

31. Sociocultural Terms • Zone of proximal development (ZPD) • range of tasks that a child can carry out with the help of a more skilled apprentice • Scaffolding • problem-solving methods such as cues provided to the child to increase independent functioning • Diversity • one’s ethnicity, race, gender, age, etc.

32. Controversies in Development

33. The Nature/Nurture Controversy • Which is more influential in development – nature (heredity) or nurture (environmental influences)? • Natural causes • Genetics • Nervous system functioning • Maturation • Environmental causes • Nutrition • Cultural and familial backgrounds • Educational opportunities

34. The Continuity/Discontinuity Controversy • Continuous perspective views development as • a process where the effects of learning mount gradually with no major sudden qualitative changes • Discontinuous perspective views development as • a number of rapid qualitative changes that usher in new STAGES of development • biological changes provide the potential for psychological changes • Freud and Piaget were discontinuous theorists

35. The Active-Passive Controversy • Active perspective • maintains children are actively engaged in their development • ex: child viewed as willful and unruly • Passive perspective • maintains that children are passive and the environment acts on them to influence development • ex: child viewed as blank tablets

36. How Do We Study Development?

37. Developmental Research Methodologies • Naturalistic observation • research conducted in natural setting • in “the field” • Case study • carefully drawn account of an individual’s behavior

38. Correlational Studies • Correlation • attempt to determine whether one behavior or trait being studied is correlated with another; never indicates cause and effect • Correlation coefficient • number ranging from -1.00 to +1.00 that expresses the direction and strength of the relationship between two variables • positive correlation • negative correlation

39. Fig. 1-5, p. 16

40. The Experiment • Preferred method for investigating questions of cause and effect • One group receives the treatment and the other group does not • Experiments test a hypothesis • Experiments have independent and dependent variables • independent variable is manipulated • dependent variables are the measured results

41. Experiments (cont’d) • Experimental group • receives the treatment • Control group • does not receive the treatment • Random assignment • subjects assigned to a group randomly • Ethical/practical considerations • researchers look at the assignment of participants; sometimes correlational evidence must be settled for rather than experimental • Animal subjects • used to generalize findings to humans when it is not ethical or practical to use humans in the experiment

42. Longitudinal Research • In longitudinal research • same people are observed repeatedly over time, and changes in development are recorded • Typical time of study spans months or a few years • Longitudinal researchers must enlist future researchers to continue the study

43. Cross-Sectional Research • Cross-sectional research observes and compares subjects of different ages • a larger number of participants is needed for this type of study • Cohort effect • Group of people born at the same time will experience cultural and other events unique to age group

44. Cross-Sequential Research • Combines longitudinal and cross-sectional methods to overcome research drawbacks • Breaks up the full span of the ideal longitudinal study into convenient segments • Minimizes the number of years needed to complete a study • Uses time-lag comparisons

45. Fig. 1-6, p. 19

46. Ethical Considerations • Do not use methods that may cause physical or psychological harm • Inform participants of the purposes of the research and its methods • Participation must involve voluntary consent • Participants may withdraw from study at any time, for any reason • Participants are offered information about the results of the study • Identities of participants remains confidential • Research plans are to be presented to a committee of colleagues and gain approval before proceeding