Chapter 1 - History, Theory, Research Strategies

Question 1

Child Development

Answer 1

An area of study devoted to understanding constancy and change from conception through adolescence

Question 2

Developmental Science

Answer 2

Interdisciplinary field that includes all changes we experience throughout lifespan. Development is often divided into three broad domains: Physical, Cognitive, and Emotional/Social

Question 3

Periods of development

Answer 3

• Prenatal, conception to birth
• Infancy and toddlerhood, birth - 2 years
• Early childhood, 2-6 years
• Middle childhood, 6 - 11 years
• Adolescence, 11 - 18 years
  (- Emerging adulthood, 18 - mid/late twenties)

Question 4

Theory

Answer 4

An orderly, integrated set of statements that describes, explains, and predicts behavior. continued existence relies on scientific verification.

Question 5

Continuous Development

Answer 5

A process regarding development that describes it as gradually adding more of the same types of skills that were there to begin with. (visually think of it as an arc instead of steps)

Question 6

Discontinuous Development

Answer 6

A process regarding development that describes it as taking place in stages, understanding and responding to the world at specific times. (visually think of it as steps instead of an arc)

Question 7

States

Answer 7

Qualitative changes in thinking, feeling, and behaving that characterize specific periods of development .

Question 8

Contexts

Answer 8

Unique combinations of personal and environmental circumstances that can result in different paths of change.

Question 9

Nature

Answer 9

The hereditary information we receive from our parents at the moment of conception

Question 10

Nurture

Answer 10

The complex forces of the physical and social world that influence our biological makeup and psychological experiences before and after birth.

Question 11

Nature-nurture controversy

Answer 11

Are genetic or environmental factors more important in influencing development?

Question 12

Plasticity

Answer 12

Open to change in response to influential experiences. Theorists view development as having substantial plasticity.

Question 13

Resilience

Answer 13

The ability to adapt effectively in the face of threats to development

Question 14

John Locke

Answer 14

British philosopher who was a forerunner for behaviorism. He regarded development as continuous, and believed in the power of nurture our nature; saw development as having high plasticity. believed in the power of adult guidance.

Question 15

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Answer 15

French philosopher who called children “noble savages”, and believed they needed less adult guidance and more self-training. Had a child-centered philosophy in which adults ought to be receptive to the needs of the child. He believed in stages of development, as well maturation.

Question 16

Maturation

Answer 16

Refers to a genetically determined, naturally unfolding course of growth.

Question 17

Charles Darwin

Answer 17

British naturalist who’s theory of evolution, natural selection, and survival of the fittest caused other scientists and researchers to study children with those growth patterns in mind.

Question 18

Normative approach

Answer 18

Suggested by G. Stanley Hall (American psychologist) and his student Arnold Gesell, both inspired by Darwin’s theories. This approach measures behaviors that are taken on large numbers of individuals and age-related averages are compared to represent typical development.

Question 19

Psychoanalytic perspective

Answer 19

Suggests that children move through a series of stages in which they confront conflicts between biological drives and social expectations. How these conflicts are resolved determines the person’s ability to learn, to get along with others, and to cope with anxiety.

Question 20

Sigmund Freud

Answer 20

Viennese physician, proposed psychosexual theory.

Question 21

Psychosexual Theory

Answer 21

Emphasizes that how parents manage their child’s sexual and aggressive drives in the first few years is crucial for healthy personality development.
id - largest portion of the mind and the source of basic needs and desires
ego - conscious, rational part of personality, redirects id’s impulses
superego - the conscience, develops as parents insist children confirm to societal norms.

Question 22

Erik Erikson

Answer 22

A follower of Freud who expanded on his ideas to create the psychosocial theory. Recognized the lifespan nature of development.

Question 23

Psychosocial theory

Answer 23

In which Erikson emphasized that in addition to mediating between id impulses and superego demands, the ego makes a positive contribution to development, acquiring attitudes and skills that make the individual an active, contributing member of society.

Question 24

Behaviorism

Answer 24

Theory that states that directly observable events - stimuli and responses - are the appropriate focus of study. Championed by John Watson, who was inspired by Ivan Pavlov. Also associated with B.F. Skinner

Question 25

Social learning theory

Answer 25

Devised by Albert Bandura, emphasizes modeling, also known as imitation or observational learning, as a powerful source of development. This theory stresses the importance of cognition, calling it a social-cognitive approach.

Question 26

Applied behavior analysis

Answer 26

Consists of observations of relationships between behavior and environmental events, followed by systematic changes in those events based on procedures of conditioning and modeling. The goal is to eliminate undesirable behaviors and increase desirable responses.

Question 27

Criticisms of social learning theory/behaviorism

Answer 27

Both theories offer too narrow a view of important environmental influences, which extend beyond immediate reinforcement, punishment, and modeled behaviors to children’s rich physical and social worlds.

Question 28

Jean Piaget

Answer 28

Swiss cognitive theorist, came up with cognitive-developmental theory

Question 29

Cognitive-developmental theory

Answer 29

According to this theory, children actively construct knowledge as they manipulate and explore their world.

Question 30

Adaptation

Answer 30

Just as structures of the body are adapted to fit with the environment, so structures of the mind develop to better fit with, or represent, the external world. Children revise their ideas as they mature to achieve equilibrium between internal structures and information they encounter in their worlds.

Question 31

Piagets stages

Answer 31

Sensorimotor (birth-2)
Preoperational (2-7)
Concrete operational (7-11)
Formal operational (11 onward)

Question 32

Information processing Theory

Answer 32

Suggests that the human mind might also be viewed as a symbol-manipulating system through which information flows - similar to a computer hardware system.

Question 33

Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience

Answer 33

Brings together researchers from psychology, biology, neuroscience, and medicine to study the relationship between changes in the brain and the developing child’s cognitive processing and behavior patterns.

Question 34

Developmental social neuroscience

Answer 34

Devoted to studying the relationship between changes in the brain and emotional and social development.

Question 35

Ethology

Answer 35

Focuses on the adaptive, or survival, value of behavior and its evolutionary history. Notes can be traced to Darwin

Question 36

Critical period

Answer 36

A limited time span during which the child is biological prepared to acquire certain adaptive behaviors but needs the support of an appropriately stimulating environment.

Question 37

Sensitive period

Answer 37

A time that is biologically optimal for certain capacities to emerge because the individual is especially responsive to environmental influences. However, its boundaries are less well-defined than are those of the critical period. Development can occur later, but it is harder to induce.

Question 38

John Bowlby

Answer 38

British psychoanalyst who applied ethological theory to understanding the human infant-caregiver relationship.

Question 39

Evolutionary developmental psychology

Answer 39

Seeks to understand the adaptive value of species-wide cognitive, emotional, and social competencies as those competencies change with age. aims to understand the entire person-environement system.

Question 40

Sociocultural theory

Answer 40

Focuses on how culture - the values, beliefs, systems and skills of a social group - is transmitted to the next generation. According to Vygotsky, social interaction - in particular, cooperative dialogues with more knowledgeable members of society - is necessary for children to acquire the ways of thinking and behaving that make up a community culture.

Question 41

Lev Vygotsky

Answer 41

Russian psychologist who played a major role in the trend of viewing the relationship of culturally specific beliefs and practices to development. Viewed cognitive development as a socially mediated process, where children depend on adults for guidance.

Question 42

Ecological systems theory

Answer 42

Views the child as developing within a complex system of relationships affected by multiple levels of the surrounding environment. Microsystem, mesosystem, exostystem, macrosystem.

Question 43

Urie Bronfenbrenner

Answer 43

Championed ecological systems theory, characterized his perspective as a bioecological model.

Question 44

Microsystem

Answer 44

Innermost level of the environment, consists of activities and interaction patterns in the child’s immediate surroundings, remembering that all relationships are bidirectional. Adults affect children behavior, but children behavior also affects adults. Third parties also affect any 2-person relationship

Question 45

Mesosystem

Answer 45

The second level of Bronfebrenner’s model, encompasses the connections between Microsystems, such as home, school, neighborhood, and child care center.

Question 46

Exosystem

Answer 46

Consists of social settings that do not contain children but that nevertheless affect children’s experiences in immediate settings.

Question 47

Macrosystem

Answer 47

The outermost level of Bronfenbrenner’s model, consists of cultural values, laws, customs, and resources. The priority that that macrosystem gives to children needs affects the support they receive at inner levels of the environment.

Question 48

Chronosystem

Answer 48

(chrono = time); what Bronfenbrenner called the temporal dimension of his model. Life changes can be imposed on the child, or alternatively they can arise from within the child, since as children get older they select, modify, and create many of their own settings and experiences.

Question 49

Dynamic Systems Perspective

Answer 49

The child’s mind, body, and physical and social worlds form an integrated system that guides mastery of their new skills. The system is dynamic, or constantly in motion. A change in any part of it - from brain growth to physical or social surroundings - disrupts the current organism-environment relationship. When this happens, the child actively reorganizes his or her behavior so the various components of the system work together again but in a more complex, effective way.

Question 50

Structured observations

Answer 50

in which the investigator sets up a laboratory situation that evokes the behavior of interest so that every participant as an equal opportunity to display the response.

Question 51

Clinical interview

Answer 51

A flexible, conversational style is used to probe for the participants point of view

Question 52

Naturalistic observation

Answer 52

Going into the field or natural environment, and observing behavior of interest.

Question 53

Structured interviews

Answer 53

includes tests and questionnaires, in which each participant is asked the same questions in the same way.

Question 54

Clinical, or case study method

Answer 54

Brings together a wide range of information on one child, including interviews, observations, and sometimes test scores.

Question 55

Ethnography

Answer 55

this kind of research is a descriptive, qualitative technique that is directed toward understanding a culture or a distinct social group through participant observation, as opposed to seeking to understand a single individual.

Question 56

Correlational design

Answer 56

Researchers gather information on individuals, generally in natural life circumstances, and make no effort to alter their experiences. then they look at relationships between participants characteristics and their behavior or development.

Question 57

Correlation coefficient

Answer 57

A number that describes how two measures, or variables, are associated with one another.

Question 58

Experimental design

Answer 58

Permits inferences about cause and effect because researchers use an evenhanded procedure to assign people to two or more treatment conditions. The events and behaviors of interest are divided between two types: independent and dependent variables.

Question 59

Independent variable

Answer 59

The one the investigator expects to cause change in another variable

Question 60

Dependent variable

Answer 60

The one the investigator expects to be influenced by the independent variable.

Question 61

Random assignment

Answer 61

When investigators use an unbiased procedure to assign participants to treatment conditions. This increases the changes that participants characteristics will be equally distributed across treatment groups.

Question 62

Longitudinal design

Answer 62

When participants are studied repeatedly and changes are noted as they get older.

Question 63

Cohort effects

Answer 63

Something studied in longitudinal design studies, examining the development of cohorts (children born at the same time, who are influenced by particular cultural and historical conditions). Results based on one cohort may not apply to children developing at other times in history.

Question 64

Cross-sectional design

Answer 64

When groups of people differing in age are studied at the same point in time.

Question 65

Sequential Designs

Answer 65

When investigators conduct several similarly cross-sectional or longitudinal studies (called sequences) at varying times.

Question 66

Microgenetic design

Answer 66

Ad adaptation of the longitudinal approach, presents children with a novel task and follows their mastery over a series of closely spaced sessions. Within this microcosm of development, researches observe how change occurs.