2410B - Chapter 1

• An interdisciplinary field that focuses on the changes that children undergo from conception onward

  Development Science
• Five Periods of Development

  1. Prenatal
  2. Infancy
  3. Early Childhood
  4. Middle Childhood
  5. Adolescence
• Domains of Development

  1. Social
  2. Emotional
  3. Cognitive
  4. Physical
• The goal of Developmental Science is to understand the biological and cultural processes that account for development
• Children were viewed as family possessions that parents could exploit
• John Locke and Aristotle both believed that the human infant is a tabula rasa (blank slate)
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Plato believed that newborns have an innate sense of justice and morality
• John Locke and Aristotle believed that Parents should instruct, reward, and discipline children. Release authority as they grow
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Plato believed that parents should be responsive and receptive to their child's needs
• The Modern Science of Child Development emerged through the Industrial Revolution in England and Charles Darwin's Theory of Evolution
• Industrial Revolution: as soon as children did not need constant care they are considered adults and sent to work in factories.
• Theory of Evolution: Some individuals in a species are better adapted to an environment, more likely to survive and pass it on
• Baby Biography: Detailed accounts of observations of children's behavior
• G Stanley Hall: A founder of developmental psych

  • identifies norm
  • identifies adolescence as a unique phase
• This source of development refers to the individual's inherited biological predispositions

  Nature
• This source of development refers to the influences on the individual of the social & cultural environment and the individuals experience

  Nurture
• There are 5 central issues of Developmental Science

  1. Sources of Development
  2. Plasticity
  3. Continuity/Discontinuity
  4. Active vs Passive
  5. Individual Differences
• Critical Periods: A period during which specific biological or environmental events are required for normal development to occur
• Continuous Development: The gradual accumulation of small changes
• Discontinuity Development: a series of abrupt, radical transformations
• A broad conceptual framework to guide the collection and interpolation of facts

  Theory
• There are 4 theoretical perspectives

  • Psychodynamic Theory
  • Behaviorism
  • Constructivist Theory
  • Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory
• What are the 2 types of Psychodynamic Theories?

  Psychosexual Theory and Psychosocial Stages
• Psychosexual Theory: emphasizes how parents' management of child's biological drives is crucial for healthy development
• Ego (problem solving) strikes balance between opposing demands of ID (selfish) and Superego (moral)
• This theory was created by Sigmund Freud

  Psychosexual Theory
• Psychosocial Stages: associated with tasks and crises shaped by social and cultural factors
• This theory was created by B. Erik Erikson

  Psychosocial Stages
• This theoretical perspective focuses on development as the result of learning. This perspective is shaped by reinforcement and punishment

  Behaviorism
• John Watson, Edward Thorndike, and BF Skinner are key theorists of Behaviorism
• Weakness of Psychosexual Theory: Didn't study any children directly.
• Weakness of Psychosocial Stages: overreliance on case studies
• Weakness of Behaviorism: dismissed role of genetic influence
• Piaget's Constructivist Theory: cognitive development results form children's active construction of reality based on their experiences with the world
• Weakness of Constructivist Theory: underestimation of children's intellect
• Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory: focuses on the role of culture in development and on children learning through interactions with others who are more competent
• There are 4 influential modern theories

  1. Evolutionary Theories
  2. Social Learning Theory
  3. Information-Processing Theories
  4. Ecological Systems Theory
• Weakness of Sociocultural Theory: neglected biological side of development
• Ethology: the study of how human char's contribute to survival of our species & how our evolutionary past influences individual development
• Weakness of Ethology: not falsifiable