Chapter 1: History, Theories, Research Methods Flashcards
Child development
an area of study devoted to understanding constancy and change for conception through adolescence
Part of the larger field of developmental science
Periods of Development
Prenatal – conception to Birth
Infancy & Toddlerhood— Birth to 2 years
Early Childhood— 2-6 years
Middle Childhood— 6-11 years
Adolescence— 11-18 years
Emerging Adulthood— 18-25 years
Each stage of child development will be looked at with respect to the following categories:
• Physical:
The contributions of physical abilities to development (i.e., crawling, walking, reaching)
• Cognitive: How children learn and what they know (stages of mental growth, IQ, testing, language, etc.)
• Emotional & Social Domains:
Emotions, how children deal with their emotions, and a child’s ability to socialize with adults and children (developing bonds with parents, friendships, building self-awareness, etc.)
What components must a theory have to be useful?
- Describe
- Explain
- Predict
The 3 Basic Issues of Developmental Theory:
The 3 Central Developmental Issues
- Is development continuous or discontinuous?
- Is there one course of development, or many?
- What is the relative influence of nature and nurture?
Continuous vs. Discontinuous
Continuous:
The growth of a pine tree
Discontinuous:
The metamorphosis of a butterfly.
The same concept can sometimes be shown from both angles.
Height by Age
Height Gain Per Year
Stage Theories…
….
Stage theorists assume that people follow the same sequence of development, but is that really true…?
Even children from a single family can turn out very differently based on:
— Genetic differences
— Differences in treatment by parents and others
— Differences in reactions to similar experiences
— Differences in choice of environment
Contributions of Nature and Nurture
Nature:
Biological endowment; the genes we receive from our parents
Nurture:
Wide range of environments that influence our development
Contributions of Nature and Nurture
Example
Development of a strong conscience at age 5 is associated with gentle maternal discipline in children with a fearful temperament
For fearless children, though, a close relationship with the mother is associated with a strong conscience (regardless of discipline)
Early Philosophical Ideas:
Plato & Aristotle
The long-term welfare of society depends on children being raised properly.
“Now of all wild things, a boy is the most difficult to handle. Just because he more than any other has a fount of intelligence in him which has not yet run clear he is the crakiest, most mischievous, and unruliest of brutes.” - Plato
“It would seem then that a study of individual character is the best way of making education perfect, for then each [child] has a better chance of receiving the treatment that suits him.” - Aristotle
John Locke
1632-1704
Tabula Rasa: Latin for “Blank Slate”
Growth of Character
Parents set good examples of honesty, stability, and gentleness
Avoid Indulging: So as not to spoil. Introduce freedom slowly.
“I Imagine the mind of children as easily turned, this or that way as water itself.”
Forerunner of Behaviorism, nurture determines everything
Continuous Development, Many paths of development, high plasticity,
He did not give children enough credit for imposing on their environment
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
1700’s
Noble savages: He believed that children are endowed with a sense of right and wrong
Built in moral sense
Adult receptivity
Rousseau introduced the concept of stages of development
He also introduced the concept of Maturation: the genetically determined, naturally unfolding course of growth
Discontinuous, single unified course dictated by nature.
Industrial Revolution
Young Children worked in horrible conditions.
Studies were done to assess the affects of heavy labor on young children.
This had a lot of influence on the field of Child Development Studies.
Charles Darwin
Two Big Ideas:
Natural Selection
Survival of the Fittest
“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.”
Stanley Hall
Father of Psychology
1844–1924
– Devised theories based on evolutionary ideas
– Viewed development as a maturational process
– Launched the normative approach: measures behavior taken from large numbers of individuals and age-related averages are computed to represent typical development
– Questionares
Father of Psychology
Stanley Hall
Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon
Asked by Paris school officials to find a way to identify children with learning problems who needed to be placed in special classes.
Developed first intelligence test
Intelligence
- Good judgment
- Planning
- Critical reflection
Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales
…..
Mid-Twentieth Century Developmental Theories
Psychodynamic Perspective: Freud
Erikson
Behaviorism & Social Learning Theory: Pavlov Watson Skinner Bandura
Piaget’s Cognitive-Developmental Theory
Scientists of Behaviorism & Social Learning Theory
Pavlov
Watson
Skinner
Bandura
Scientists of Psychodynamic Perspective:
Freud
Erikson
Scientists of Cognitive-Developmental Theory
Piaget
Psychodynamic Perspective
behavior is motivated by inner forces, memories, and conflicts of which a person has little awareness or control
Psychoanalytic: Freud
Psychosocial: Erikson
Discontinuous:
distinct stages of development
One course:
stages are assumed to be universal
Both Nature & Nurture:
innate impulses are channeled and controlled through child-rearing experiences
Sigmund Freud
We live in a world profoundly shaped by Freudian ideas
Lived from 1856-1939. Spent most of his life in Vienna, Austria.
Escaped to London at the beginning of WWII
Developed an all-encompassing theory
Extraordinary energy and productivity (in part because
of his cocaine addiction)
Seen as a sexual renegade
What did Freud say?
Architectural monuments are subconsciously developed as penile representations
Theory of Penis Envy:
Females realize they lack a penis and inferred they had been castrated.
Unconscious motivation and unconscious conflict which lead to:
Mental illnesses
Dreams
Freudian slips
Unconscious Motivation:
Rejecting the claim that you know what you are doing
The Id, Ego, and SuperEgo
The 3 Parts of Yourself,
According to Freud
Id: Birth
– Earliest and most primitive of 3 personality structures.
– “The dark, inaccessible part of our personality… a cauldron full of seething excitations in need of satisfaction”
– The Pleasure Principle: goal of achieving maximal gratification maximally quickly
Ego: Around Age 1
– “Stands for reason and good sense”
– The Reality Principle: we find ways to satisfy the Id that accord with the demands of the real world
Superego: between Ages 3 and 6
– Internalized rules
– Conscience
The Stages of PsychoSexual Development
Oral: Birth – 1 year
– Primary source of gratification and pleasure is oral activity.
– “If the infant could express itself, it would undoubtedly acknowledge that the act of sucking at its mother’s breast is far and away the most important thing in life” - Freud
– Issue: Premature weaning
Anal: 1–3 years
– Children’s erotic interests focus on the pleasurable relief of the tension derived from defecation.
– Issue: Toilet training handled correctly?
Phallic: 3–6 years – Children interested in own genitals – Boys take an interest in their penis, “so easily excitable and changeable and so rich in sensation” – Freud – Girls develop penis envy – Issue: Oedipus Complex
Latency: 6–11 years
– Out of sex business: sex is repressed until adolescence
Freud’s Oedipus Complex
“Mom is nice. I love Mom.”
“I want to marry Mom.”
Problem: Dad is in the way
Solution: Kill Dad
Erik Erikson
1902 – 1994
Born in Germany
Rather than pursuing a career, he wandered around Europe pursuing his interests in art for several years.
Hired by an art instructor in a school run by Anna Freud (S.F’s daughter) and became an analyst
Theory of Psychosocial Development
Theory of PsychoSocial Development:
The Stages
Birth–1 yr: Basic Trust vs. Mistrust
– “an essential trustfulness of others as well as a fundamental
sense of one’s own trustworthiness” -Erikson
– Mother must be warm, consistent, and reliable in her caregiving.
Ages 1-3.5 years: Autonomy vs. Shame & Doubt
– Dramatic changes occur in children’s abilities; Battle of wills
– Parental support allows children to gain self-control autonomy forms
– Parental punishment result in children feeling shame
Ages 4-6 yrs: Initiative vs. Guilt
– “the child hitches his wagon to nothing less than a star: he wants to be like his parents, who to him appear very powerful and very beautiful” -Erikson
– Attain a Conscience (internalized rules & standards)
– If parents are not too controlling, children develop high
standards and initiative without being crushed
Ages 6 to puberty: Industry vs. Inferiority
– Successful experiences give the child a sense of competence, but failures might lead the child to feel inadequate
Psychodynamic Perspective Contributions
Emphasis on the importance of early experience and emotional relationships
Recognition of the role of subjective experience and unconscious mental activity
“we are strangers to ourselves”
We often act on the basis of unconscious processes a surprising amount of time
Erikson’s stages have received some empirical support
Psychodynamic Perspective Criticisms
“That guy’s work is crap. He’s not right. He’s not even wrong”
–Wolfgang Pauli, physicist (responding to another physicist’s work)
Issue with Freud is that “he’s not even wrong”
Falsifiability is necessary for a theory to be legitimate
