Chapter 1 Flashcards
Developmental stages and domains of development
Development of a child is a continuous process. The skills and characteristics of each stage
offers an indication of when children are ready for certain things. It provides a signal whether
a child’s development is below or above the average norm. But, individual and cultural
differences should always be considered.
1) Prenatal stage: subdivided into germinal, embryonic, and foetal stages
2) Neonatal stage: first 2 to 4 weeks of life and infancy (subsequent two years) (usually
grouped together)
3) Early childhood: +/- 2-6 years
4) 5) Middle childhood: +/- 6 years to beginning of puberty, about 12 years
Adolescence: from puberty to age 18
* Child = a person under the age of 18
* Adolescence has its own identity because it’s a phase of transition from childhood to
adulthood.
* During late adolescence, adolescents portray characteristics that are more adultlike
than childlike
Areas of development
- Physical
- Cognitive
- Personality
- Social
Physical development
- Changes in the child’s body (e.g. weight, height, brain development)
- Important aspect = motor development
- Psychological factors also can have a significant effect on the physical development
and health of an individual
Cognitive development
- Cognition refers to how we acquire information about the world by means of our
senses, how we process and interpret such information, and how we store, retrieve,
and use this knowledge to direct our behaviour. - Therefore, cognitive development refers to how children come to know and
understand their world and includes perception, learning, memory, thinking, decision-
making, imagination, creativity, language, and intelligence. - Includes perception, learning, memory, thinking, decision making, imagination,
creativity, language, intelligence
Personality development
Totality of a person’s enduring (lasting) pattern of both inherent and acquired
psychological, social, moral, and physical characteristics (Holzman, 2021; Plug et al.,
2009).
* Several important aspects of personality will receive attention, such as temperament,
personality traits, the self, the self-concept, self-esteem, identity, and emotional
experience and expression.
Social development
- Social development involves the development of the individual’s abilities (e.g.,
interpersonal skills), attitudes, relationships, and behaviour that enable them to
interact with others and to function as members of society (APA, 2020). - Individuals’ interaction and relationships with other people
- Influence of society and significant others on individual
- Social development includes aspects such as the development of attachment between
a caregiver and a child, the expansion of a person’s interpersonal relationships, the
modelling of behaviour and the development of relationships between the sexes. It
also involves moral development (distinguishing between right and wrong), religion,
and spirituality.
Developmental issues
Nature or nurture?
- Nature refers to biological determinants such as genetic, neurological, and hormonal
factors. - Nurture refers to environmental factors such as the social (e.g., parenting styles) and
the physical environment (e.g., poverty). - Question: Whether a child’s development is the result of biological and genetic
factors (nature) or environmental influences (nurture) - Focus of debate no longer centres on which one is more important, but rather on how
each of these factors contribute to specific behaviours, situations, and individuals.
There is no set formula to determine the respective effects of nature or nurture on a
particular person
Factors that are prominent in the debate: - Factor 1: Political and religious belief systems tend to colour these arguments, with
the inevitable result that emotion rather than scientific data often triumphs. A typical
example is the issue of same-sex sexual orientation, where political and religious
leaders tend to support the nurture approach where it is believed that this orientation
is caused by environmental factors and that people therefore have a choice in their
sexual orientation. Modern scientists, on the other hand, tend to acknowledge that
biological factors (nature) play a more significant role than was accepted previously. - Factor 2: Biological factors (nature) such as genetics may be used as evidence to
explain motor development, while socialisation (nurture) may be used as evidence
that it is largely a product of the environment. - Factor 3: The cause of a specific behaviour is often difficult to prove. For example, if
a child who was traumatised develops depression, how could one prove that the
depression was caused by the trauma or that it would not have developed anyway
(i.e., due to genetic/biological reasons)? This is the cause-effect issue (the effect
doesn’t always correlate with the cause – the effect on the individual will differ from
person to person, from situation to situation and from time to time).
Useful guideline: Hereditary (nature) sets the limits, the environment (nurture) determines to
what extent a specific characteristic will develop between those limits.
Developmental issues
Continuity or discontinuity?
Continuity or discontinuity?
* Question: Whether human development is continuous (gradual and smooth) or
discontinuous (abrupt and occurring in distinct steps or stages) process
* Both viewpoints are correct, depending on type of behaviour. For example, the
gradual way in which children learn to talk, express themselves as their vocabulary
expands, and develop cognitively, is practical evidence that the continuity viewpoint
holds water to a certain extent. On the other hand, the relatively sudden hormonal
changes that lead to sexual maturation during adolescence show that the discontinuity
viewpoint is also valid.
* Do early characteristics of the child continue into later life as an adult?
o A good guideline is that past and present behaviour is the best predictor of
future behaviour - but this does not imply that it is fully reliable. As mentioned
before, human behaviour is just too complex and unique to be represented in a
rigid formula.
Developmental issues
Passive or active involvement?
Question: Do children play a part in their development? Are they at the mercy of their
environment or do they play an active role in their own development? (Personal
initiative).
* Personal initiative: Whether children have no part in their development and are at the
mercy of their environment or whether they can play an active role in their own
development.
* Tabula rasa: is it only the environment that writes on the blank slate or do children
also contribute? Can they delete what the environment was written?
* Although environmental influences cannot be denied, children also play an active role
in their development. For instance, consider how people’s responses (an important
environmental factor in the development of a child) may differ towards an obnoxious
versus a pleasant child. Moreover, children who, regardless of continuous efforts by
their parents and the school, do not do their schoolwork, to a considerable extent
shape their own future, as do children who, often even without encouragement and
role models, adhere to the expectations and norms of society and achieve success.
* Unique way in which children interpret and process experiences has a significant
influence on development
Developmental issues
Universality or cultural context?
Question: Do all children in the world follow universal (the same) developmental
pathways or are there clear differences between cultures?
* All past data on child development was referring to children in WEIRD (Western,
educated, industrialised, rich and democratic) populations.
Importance of cultural context:
o Culture refers to the beliefs, norms, customs, and general way of life of a
specific group of people, which are passed on from generation to generation.
Context, a term you will often encounter in psychology, refers to the setting or
specific environment in which development and behaviour occur.
* Influence of culture:
o Nsamenang (2003) points out that culture influences development by ensuring
that children acquire appropriate cognitive, communicative, motivational, and
social-emotional or affective and spiritual attributes, as well as practical skills
that will make them competent adults who will contribute to their own
survival and progress and that of their people and society. Therefore, to a great
extent, human development is a cultural process.
* Paths of development in one culture may vary from another.
o A collectivist culture that is quite common in Africa and where children grow
up in an environment where the needs of the group are regarded as much more
important than the needs of the individual.
o An individualistic society (to which most Western cultures belong) where to a
large extent a child is exposed to an environment where people view
themselves as separate entities and mainly are concerned with their own needs.
* Another important influence in the socialisation of children is the role of parental
practices in a culture.
o In most African cultures, young children are usually much more involved in
domestic duties than children in developed countries are. It is customary
practice to send children on errands, which is a way of utilising the shared
community responsibility for rearing children. Therefore, if this example is
used, it could be interpreted that what is viewed as unfair child labour in one
culture, may be viewed as a normal and even necessary socialisation practice
in another — children are provided with the opportunity to interact in the
community, which offers valuable vocational training.
* Behaviour with a biological basis could be influenced by cultural factors.
o In communities where high value is placed on motor development. Child
development should always be viewed in the child’s specific cultural context
such as crawling, standing, and walking, these milestones are reached earlier.
This is probably because the children receive more encouragement to develop
in this area.
* Influence of parental practices:
o Children assigned to take care of their younger siblings, which often happens
in African cultures, tend to show more nurturing behaviour than children do
who spend more time with their peers, such as in the USA. The latter group
tend to show more competitive and attention-seeking behaviour
Must not overemphasise the role of culture. This is especially true in countries such as
South Africa where cultural dimensions such as race are often used to promote
political and personal ideologies.
Factors to consider:
1. 2. 3. The differences in one culture are often larger than the differences between cultures
Culture is not a static process. Even in ‘traditional’ Africa, cultural and developmental
norms are not static; they are contested socially and changing rapidly in response to
contact with other cultures, ecological shifts, and existential dynamics
Every individual is unique, even in a cultural or sub-cultural context. Culture does not
neutralise this uniqueness. Every person, especially South Africans with their unique
history and multicultural society, should therefore guard against that appalling human
characteristic of generalisation.
Theories of development
[Theory = organised set of ideas that is designed to explain and make predictions about
development]
Role of a theory:
a) b) Summaries and explains presently known facts
Aims to predict future behaviour
c) Stimulates new research
The biological perspective
Behaviour is primarily determined by biological factors
* Emphasises the roles of
- Hereditary (genes)
- Nervous system (brain)
- Endocrine system (hormones)
Maturational theory
Child development reflects a specific and prearranged scheme or plan within the
body.
* Development is natural unfolding of biological plan, experience matters little.
* Behaviours such as speech, play, and reasoning emerge spontaneously according to a
predetermined developmental timetable, without the input or influence from the
environment, such as parents.
* Theory was discarded, ignored impact of environment.
Ethological theory
Behaviours are adaptive, they have survival value. For example, clinging, grasping,
and crying are adaptive for infants because they elicit caregiving from adults.
* People inherit adaptive behaviours.
All animals are programmed so that some kinds of learning occur only at certain
stages/critical periods.
o A critical period is the stage in development when a specific type of learning
can take place; before or after the critical period, the same learning is difficult
or even impossible.
o A sensitive period is also a period during which the child is very susceptible to
the environmental influences, but in a less stringent way than in the case of a
critical period
* Imprinting: a form of learning that takes place during a short, early period in the life
of an organism when attachment to members of the same species and sometimes to
members of some other species occurs. Happens during a critical period.
* Critic: theory is too vague and needs more evidence.
Evolutionary theory
Applies Darwin’s theory of evolution (evolution refers to the change in the inherited
characteristics over successive generations) and principle of natural selection.
o Much of human behaviour results from successful adaptation to the
environment.
* Applied to child development, evolutionary developmental psychology highlights the
adaptive value of children’s behaviour at different points in development (e.g., crying
behaviour to draw attention to hunger, tiredness, and emotional or physical
discomfort).
o An extended childhood developed, because humans needed more time to
develop larger brains to learn the complexities of human societies. Humans
also take much longer than other mammals to reach reproductive maturity,
mainly because they need this extended time to gain experience to become
competent adults in a complex society.
* Critic: theory is largely based on assumptions and that empirical (scientific,
experimental) evidence is mostly lacking. The evolutionary perspective places too
little emphasis on social influences of the more recent era.
Evaluation of the biological perspective:
The biological perspective has gained support due to links between biology and
behaviour.
* Mental disorders like depression and schizophrenia show biological roots.
* Most behaviours have some biological or genetic basis.
a) b) c) d) e) Neuropsychology: Studies brain-behaviour links using tools like brain scans.
Child neuropsychology: Focuses on how brain health affects children’s
behaviour.
Behavioural genetics: Examines how genes influence behaviour.
Developmental behavioural genetics: Looks at genetics in child development.
Psycho-endocrinology: Studies how hormones affect behaviour (e.g.,
sexuality, mood).
* Hormonal issues can affect both physical and emotional development in children.
Biology plays a key role in development, but its impact varies by behaviour type.
* Biology alone doesn’t fully explain behaviour — environment also matters.
* Main criticism: overemphasizing biology ignores complex human experiences.
The psychodynamic perspective
Explores the influence of unconscious psychological motives such as drives or urges
on behaviour
* Its roots are traced back to the work of Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
Freud’s psychosexual theory
Convinced early experiences establish patterns that endure throughout life.
* Psychoanalytic theory: development is largely determined by how well people resolve
unconscious conflicts they face at different ages.
* Personality has three primary components, that emerge at distinct ages: id (primitive
instincts and drives), ego (practical, rational component of personality), superego
(internalise adult standards of right and wrong).
* Series of psychosexual stages:
o Child moves in sequence determined by maturation
o Focus of each stage is on different erogenous zone
o Permitting either too much or too little gratification of these urges, problems
may result, which Freud called fixation
* Critique: It is impossible to research many aspects of Freud’s theory, such as the
unconscious, with the result that it has not been proven empirically. Explanations are
often not agreed upon. His views of development were based on adults recalling the
past, not from observing children directly. Memory recollection is not at reliable
source of scientific data. A serious criticism of Freud’s theory is that he saw the first
approximately six years of life as the main developmental period that determines the
rest of a person’s life. Freud overemphasised the role of sexual feelings.
* Lasting insights:
o Early experiences could have enduring effects on children’s development.
o Children often experience conflict between what they want to do and what
they know they should do.
o He stimulated debate and research as no other mental health professional has
done in history
Freuds stages
Answer
Erikson’s psychosocial theory
Emphasised psychological and social aspects of unconscious conflict.
* Development consists of a sequence of stages, defined by a unique crisis or challenge.
* Completion of each stage results in a healthy personality and the acquisition of basic
virtues.
* Name of each stage reflects the challenge that individuals face at a particular age
* Earlier stages of psychosocial development form foundation for later stages. When
children overcome early obstacles easily, they are better able to handle the later ones.
* During each stage, the person experiences a psychosocial crisis that could have a
positive or negative outcome for personality development. These crises arise because
of a conflict between the psychological needs of the individual (i.e., psycho) and the
conflicting needs of society (i.e., social).
Critique: Lack of clarity; lack of empirical research. Culture ignored.
Erikson’s stages psychosocial
Answer
The learning theory perspective
- Flows from the lack of empirical evidence to support the claims of the
psychodynamic perspective - Focused on the role of environmental factors
- Infant’s mind is a ‘blank slate’ (John Locke) on which experience writes
Early learning theories:
Watson
o Behaviourism: original theory that proposed that behaviour is learnt primarily
from one’s environment.
o Classical conditioning: process of learning through which an initially neutral
stimulus (e.g., sound of a bell), elicits a particular response (e.g., saliva) after
repeatedly being paired with an unconditioned stimulus (e.g., food).
o Little Albert: Argued that environment/learning determines child’s
development.
Skinner
o Operant conditioning: children learn by means of responses from the
environment. Children operate in their environment to attract more rewarding
reactions and to avoid punishment.
o Rewarded behaviour is more likely to be repeated
* Bandura
o Social cognitive theory/ social learning theory: imitation, modelling and
observational learning.
o Learning is not always a result of external reinforcement or observational
learning, but that internal and cognitive factors also play a role.
o Social cognitive theory adopts an agentic perspective to self-development,
adaptation, and change. To be an agent is to influence intentionally one’s
functioning and life circumstances. In this view, people are self-organizing,
proactive, self-regulating, and self-reflecting. They are contributors to their
life circumstances, not just products of them.
o The core features of human agency:
- Intentionality: people form action plans and strategies to achieve them.
- Forethought: people set goals for themselves and anticipate likely
outcomes. These visualised futures serve as motivators of behaviour.
- Self-regulation: people adopt personal standards and monitor and
regulate their actions. They do things that give them satisfaction and a
sense of self-worth and refrain from actions that cause detrimental
outcomes.
- Self-reflection: people reflect (think about) the accuracy of their
thoughts and actions and make corrective adjustments if necessary.
o Self- efficacy: people’s beliefs about their own ability to influence events that
affect their lives. Self-efficacy can play a major role in how one approaches
goals, tasks, and challenges. Develops from the following influences:
1) Mastery experiences: a person’s interpretation of performance
outcomes. Success builds a belief in one’s ability to succeed, while
failure undermines it.
2) Vicarious experiences: observing models in one’s immediate
environment rather than through active doing. When people have
positive role models in their lives, especially those who display a
healthy level of self-efficacy, one is more likely to absorb positive
beliefs about the self.
3) Social persuasion: receiving positive feedback while undertaking
complex tasks. For example, verbal persuasion, such as telling people
that they can achieve a task, works on any age, but the earlier it is
administered the more it is likely to encourage and develop self-
efficacy.
4) Choice of environments: by choosing their environments, people can
play a key role in shaping the course that lives take. Social
environments promote certain competencies, values, and lifestyles.
For example, choosing friends that reflect one’s values and lifestyles
(or not) can have a profound effect on one’s self-efficacy.
Critic: people do not have direct control over conditions that affect their lives.
People do not live their lives in individual autonomy.
- Evaluation of learning theories:
- Supporters of these theories often focus too much on things like rewards,
punishment, and copying others, and ignore biological factors like genetics. - They don’t pay enough attention to how learning changes with age - for
example, whether copying others works the same way for young kids and
older ones. - Cultural differences, especially in parenting (like views on punishment), are
often left out. Children from different cultures may react differently to the
same situation. - Behaviourism and social learning theory have been criticised for ignoring how
people influence their own development - though Bandura’s theory later
included this.
