Chapter 1 Child Development: Theories and Themes Flashcards
What did English philosopher John Locke claim about infants nearly 400 years ago?
That the human infant is born tabula rasa
What is tabula rasa?
Blank slate, meaning belief that experience moulds a person into a unique individual
Locke’s view was challenged by which French philosopher?
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
What did Jean-Jacques Rousseau believe about newborns?
That they’re endowed with an innate sense of justice and morality that unfolds naturally as children grow.
In child development, what is theory?
an organized set of ideas designed to explain (behaviour) and make predictions about development
Theories are also a source of predictions that can be tested how?
Through research
What are the 5 major theoretical perspectives in child development research?
Biological, Psychodynamic, Learning, Cognitive-Developmental and Contextual
Why was James Mark Baldwin’s appointment largely controversial?
Because he was a “materialist”
What is a “materialist”?
someone interested in studying the mind empirically (experientially) and not philosophically
What did Baldwin set up?
the very first psych lab in Canada and first in the British empire
What did Baldwin strongly believe about theory?
that theory must guide experimentation - theory should come first
From a now social-psychological perspective, what did Baldwin insist?
that children’s development occurs in stages
Who later advanced the idea that children’s development occurs in stages?
Jean Piaget
Baldwin believed that development proceeded from what?
simple behavioural movements gradually coordinated into more complex behaviours and leading to adult forms of abstract thought
What does Canada have a strong history of?
research in child development
According to the biological perspective, what proceeds according to a biological plan?
cognitive, personality, physical and motor development
Who was the earliest researcher to empirically study and describe children’s development?
G. Stanley Hall (1846 - 1924)
What was G. Stanley Hall’s goal?
to restructure the the study of psychology to include the study of children
What did G. Stanley Hall base his work on?
evolutionary biology rather than the physical sciences
Charles Darwin published which theory?
Theory of evolution
What was the most important concept that Darwin’s Theory of Evolution outlined?
Natural Selection
What is Natural Selection?
an ongoing process in nature that results in survival of those organisms that are best adapted to their environments
What was one of the first biological theories proposed by Arnold Gesell (1880 - 1961) ?
a theory that views development as unfolding according to a specific and pre-arranged scheme or plan within the body
To Gesell, what matters little when it comes to development?
Experience
What kind of perspective do ethological theorists view development from?
an evolutionary perspective
What does ethological theory suggest?
views development from an evolutionary perspective, such that human behaviours can be adaptive and have survival value
While ethological theorists assume that people inherit many adaptive behaviours, what do they also believe?
that experience is important for development
What is a critical period?
the time in development when a specific type of learning best takes place
Before or after the critical period, what is difficult or impossible?
the same learning
What did Konrad Lorenz notice?
that newly hatched chicks follow their mother
What did Lorenz theorize?
that chicks are biologically programmed to follow the first moving object they see after hatching
What is imprinting?
the instinctive creation of an emotional bond between a newborn animal and the animal’s mother
What is attachment?
the emotional bond that forms between people, particularly children and their parents; an enduring social-emotional relationship
For adaptive behaviours, even though the underlying mechanism is biological, what is also essential?
experience is essential for triggering programmed, adaptive behaviours
Biological theorists remind us that children’s genes, the product of a long evolutionary history, influence what?
virtually every aspect of children’s development
The psychodynamic perspective comes from whose work?
Sigmund Freud (1856 - 1939)
What did Freud specialize in?
diseases of the nervous system
Many of Freud’s patients were adults suffering from conditions with no obvious biological cause, and he theorized what in response?
that early experiences establish enduring, lifelong patterns
What is psychoanalysis?
a psychological theory and method proposing that development is largely determined by how well people resolve unconscious conflicts that arise during development
What has Freud’s original theory been highly criticized for?
its limited base of initial research and controversial claims about women
Which of Freud’s ideas have been influential in developmental research?
his ideas about personality and psychosexual development
Freud proposed that personality includes which 3 primary theoretical components that emerge at distinct periods of development?
id, ego and superego
What is the id?
a reservoir of primary instincts and drives
The id is present at birth and presses for what?
immediate gratification of bodily needs and wants
What is the ego?
the practical, rational component of personality
When does the ego begin to emerge?
during the first year of life, as infants learn that they can’t always have what they want
The ego tries to resolve conflicts that occur and meet the id’s desires with what?
realistic and socially acceptable objects and actions
What is the superego?
the “moral agent” in the child’s personality - the conscience
When does the superego emerge?
during the preschool years as children begin to internalize adult standards of right and wrong
Freud believed that humans, through a force called libido, are instinctively motivated from birth to do what?
experience physical pleasure
As children grow, libido shifts to different parts of the body, termed what?
“erogenous zones”
Freud proposed several developmental stages, each characterized by what?
gratification of needs associated with an erogenous zone
What is the task associated with the oral stage of Freud’s psychosexual stages?
erogenous zone: mouth; gratify oral sucking urges (birth to 1 year)
What is the task associated with the oral stage of Freud’s psychosexual stages?
erogenous zone: mouth; gratify oral sucking urges (birth to 1 year)
What is the task associated with the anal stage of Freud’s psychosexual development?
erogenous zone: anus; release and withhold feces (1 to 3 years)
What is the task associated with the phallic stage of psychosexual development?
erogenous zone: genitalia; learn to suppress attraction to the parent of the opposite sex and identify with the parent of the same sex (3 to 6 years)
What is the task associated with the latency stage of psychosexual development?
erogenous zone: none, libido is repressed as children go about daily business (6 years to adolescence)
What is the task associated with the genital stage of psychosexual development?
erogenous zone: genitalia; attraction to the opposite sex (not the parent) (adolescence)
Freud believed that development proceeds best when what?
children’s needs at each stage are met but not exceeded
According to Freud, what 2 things happen if children’s needs are not met adequately?
- children become frustrated and find moving on to more mature forms of pleasure difficult
- they become developmentally fixated at a certain stage
According to Freud, if children are overindulged at one stage, what happens?
they see little need to progress to more advanced stages
In Freud’s view, parents have the difficult task of what?
satisfying children’s needs without spoiling them
While modern psychoanalytic theorists understand that heredity and environment both influence children, they also recognize that what shapes children’s adjustment and development?
environmental reactions
What are environmental reactions? What do they shape?
a family’s responses to hereditary conditions; shape children’s adjustment and development?
What is body ego?
a person’s sense of self as an individual
When does body ego develop?
in the early years during the process of closeness and separation between child and parent
Nurturing a child through physical and emotional care helps to create what?
a psychic skin
What is a psychic skin?
a person’s capacity for protecting and containing his or her internal emotional states
What is neuropsychoanalysis?
study of the relationship between psychoanalytic theory and biological approaches in psychology
What did Erik Erikson (1902 - 1994) believe?
that the psychological and social aspects of development are AS IMPORTANT as the biological and sexual aspects that Freud emphasized
What is a psychodynamic theory?
theories that are offshoots of Freudian psychoanalysis
What is Erikson’s psychosocial theory?
psychoanalytic theory that development occurs in a sequence of stages defined by a unique crisis or social challenge
Who extended and elaborated upon Erikson’s original theory and added 6 developmental stages extending from early adulthood to old age?
George Vaillant
