Title: Heredity and Conception Truth or Fiction
1Chapter 1History, Theories, and Methods
2History, 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.
3History, 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.
4History, 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.
5What Is Child Development?
6What Is Child Development?
- Periods of Development
- Conception and Prenatal
- Infancy
- Early Childhood
- Middle Childhood
- Adolescence
- Dimensions of Development
- Physiological
- Cognitive
- Social
- Emotional
- Behavioral
7What Is Child Development?
- Attempts to advance knowledge of the processes
that govern the development of childrens - physical structures,
- traits,
- behaviors, and
- cognitions.
- Growth represents quantitative changes
- Development represents qualitative changes
8Why 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
9What 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
10What 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
11Pioneers 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
12Theories of Child Development
13What 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
14Why Do We Have Theories?
- Theories of development help us
- describe,
- explain,
- predict, and
- influence events being studied.
15The Psychoanalytic Perspective
- Freuds theory of psychosexual development
- Eriksons 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
16Freuds 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
17Stages 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)
18Stages 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
19Evaluation 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
20Eriksons Theory of Psychosocial Development
- Erik Erikson (1902 1994)
- modified and expanded Freuds 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
21Stages 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
22Evaluation 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
23The Learning Perspective Behavioral and Social
Cognition Theories
- Mechanical learning by association
- Conditioning
- Intentional learning
- Rote and trail-and-error learning
- Observational learning
24What Is the Theory of Behaviorism?
- John Watson
- Only address observable behavior
- Contributions to behaviorism
- Classical Conditioning
- Operant Conditioning
25Classical 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)
26Classical Conditioning
- Pavlovs 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
27Figure 1.1 Schematic Representation of Classical
Conditioning
28Operant 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
29Principles 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
30Figure 1.2 Positive versus Negative Reinforcers
31Punishment
- 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
32A Closer Look
- Operant Conditioning of Vocalizations in Infants
33Figure 1.3 Negative Reinforcers versus
Punishments
34Application of Operant Conditioning
- Shaping
- Teaching complex behaviors
- Socialization of children
- Parent and child
- Child and child
- Teacher and child
35Social Cognitive Theory
- Acquire basic know-how through observational
learning - Learning alters childs mental representation of
environment and influences belief in ability to
change the environment - Child is an active learner
- Intentional observation of models for imitation
36Evaluation of Learning Theories
- Meets the goals of describe, explain and predict
aspects of childrens behavior - Principles abundant in education and clinical
application - Unclear if learning is only mechanical
- Underestimates role of biological-maturation
factors
37The Cognitive Perspective
- Focus on childrens mental processes
- How children perceive and mentally represent the
world - Jean Piaget (1896 1980)
- Cognitive-developmental theory
- Information-processing theory
38Piagets Cognitive-Developmental Theory
- Working with Binet on IQ tests for children,
Piaget became interested in childrens incorrect
answers - Piagets work was not widely read until mid
1950s - difficult to understand
- introduced when behaviorism and psychoanalysis
were popular - Piagets view of children as little scientists
39Piagets 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
40Piagets Stages of Cognitive-Development Theory
- Four major stages
- Sensorimotor
- Preoperational
- Concrete Operational
- Formal Operational
- Stages are universal
- Development is based on childrens interactions
with their environments - Influential in many educational settings
41Evaluation of Cognitive-Development Theory
- Piaget may have underestimated childrens
abilities by age - Cognitive growth may be more gradual than
Piagets distinct stages
42Information-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
43The Biological Perspective
- Physical development
- Gains in height and weight
- Development of nervous system
- Developments connected with hormones, heredity
- Ethology
44What 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
45The 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
46Figure 1.4 The Contexts of Human Development
47Developing in a World of Diversity
- Influence of the Macrosystem on the Development
of Independence
48The Sociocultural Perspective
- View children as social beings who are influenced
by the cultures in which they live - Lev Vygotskys (1896 1934) sociocultural theory
- Impact on children of human diversity
49Vygotskys 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
50Sociocultural Perspective and Human Diversity
- Awareness of diversity among children
- Ethnicity
- Understanding of childrens family values and
cultural expectations - Gender
- Understanding of gender-role expectations
- Sexual Orientation
- Disabilities
51Controversies in Child Development
52The Nature Nurture Controversy
- To what extent is human behavior the results of
- Nature heredity
- Nurture environment
- Orientation toward nature
- Cognitive-development theory
- Biological theorists
- Orientation toward nurture
- Learning theories
- Contemporary view of both nature and nurture
53The Continuity Discontinuity Controversy
- Do developmental changes occur
- continuously (gradually)
- discontinuously (major qualitative leaps)
- Orientation toward continuity
- Maturational theories
- Orientation toward discontinuity
- Stage theories (Freud, Piaget)
54The Active Passive Controversy
- For learning to occur do educators need to
- motivate passive learners, or
- encourage active learners to explore
- Bronfenbrenner (1977) views children as both
active and passive - Banduras reciprocal determinism
- mutual influences of people and the environment
55How Do We Study Child Development?
56What Is the Scientific Method?
- Step 1 Formulating a Research Question
- Step 2 Developing a Hypothesis
- Step 3 Testing the Hypothesis
- Step 4 Drawing Conclusions about the Hypothesis
- Step 5 Publish Findings
57What Is Naturalistic Observation?
- Field studies
- Observations done in natural (real-life) settings
- Control for interference
- Often used initially to gather descriptive data
or to explore relationships among variables - Examples of naturalistic-observation studies
- Motor behavior of Native American children
strapped to cradleboards - Language development in diverse cultures
- Socialization patterns in diverse cultures
58What Is Case Study?
- Account of behavior of an individual
- Includes many different types of information
- Child diaries
- Questionnaires
- Standardized tests
- Interviews
- Other sources of records
- Example of case study
- Piagets cognitive-development model based on his
own children - Freuds psychosexual theory based on his patients
59What Does It Mean to Correlate Information?
- Mathematical calculation to determine
relationships between behaviors and/or traits - Correlation coefficient
- Mathematical number between 1.00 and -1.00
- Positive correlation
- Negative correlation
- Limitation Shows relationships, not cause and
effect
60Figure 1.7 Examples of Positive and Negative
Correlations
61What Is an Experiment?
- Research method in which one group receives
treatment and another does not - Used to determine cause and effect
- Variables
- Independent variable - manipulated by
experimenter - Dependent variable measured results
- Participant Groups
- Experimental group receive the treatment
- Control group do not receive the treatment
- Random Assignment
- Ethical and Practical Considerations
62How Do Researchers Study Development Over Time?
- Longitudinal research
- Same children are observed repeatedly over time
- May lose participants over time
- Cross-sectional research
- Children of different ages are observed and
compared - Cohort effect
- Cross-sequential research
- Combines longitudinal (time period) and
cross-sectional (cohorts) - Breaks time span into convenient segments
63Figure 1.8 Examples of Cross-Sequential Research
64What Ethical Guidelines Are Involved in Research
in Child Development?
- Standards to promote the dignity of the
individual, foster human welfare, and maintain
scientific integrity - Treatment may not do physical or psychological
harm - Subjects must participate voluntarily