CHAPTER ONE: Science of Child Development Flashcards
John Locke: Tabula Rasa
JOHN LOCKE
a blank slate, and claimed that experience molds
the individual into a unique individual
- Locke says parents should instruct, reward and discipline young children, gradually relaxing their
authority as children grow
- Nurture was the key to a child’s healthy development
- Children have no inborn tendencies; how they turn our depends on experiences
- Parents can mould child in any way they wish
Rousseau (1752): innate purity
- Emphasized the importance of caregiver who are responsive to child’s needs (i.e. mom, dad)
- Children born with intuitive sense of right/wrong; often corrupted by society
- Rather than trying to constrain their children with strict rules, Rousseau argued that parents should give their children the freedom to follow their positive inclinations when interacting with others
what did plato argue/ believe:
- experience could not be the source of knowledge because human senses are too fallible
- children are born with innate knowledge of may concrete objects (such as animals and people), as well
as with knowledge of abstractions (such as courage, love, goodness) - sensory experiences trigger knowledge that they have had since birth
what did aristotle argue/believe:
- too much self-discipline would stifle children’s initiative and individuality, making
them unfit to be leaders - knowledge is rooted in perpetual experience. Children acquire knowledge piece by piece
based on information provided by senses - children begin their journey packed lightly, picking up necessary knowledge along the way, through experience
Natural Selection (darwins theory)
Darwin’s theory of evolution argue that individuals within a species differ; some individuals are better adapted to a particular environment, making them more likely to survive and to pass along their characteristics to future
generations
Baby Biographies
detailed, systematic observations of individual children, often by famous scientists, that helped pave the way for objective research on children
Applied developmental science
is a scientific discipline that uses child-development research to promote healthy development, particularly for vulnerable children and families
- Researchers in this area ensure that the consideration of policy issues and options is based on factual
knowledge derived from child development research
what is one of the best ways to sway policymakers
create working programs
what is a theory
is an explanation of principles based on observation and reasoning that is designed to explain and make
predictions about development
5 major theoretical perspectives in child development
- Biological
- Psychodynamic
- Learning
- Cognitive-developmental
- Contextual perspectives
Hobbes (1651): original sin
- Children inherently selfish; must be restrained by society
- believed that parents must actively control their children, and try to channel their selfish interests into socially acceptable outlets
- traditional strict, authoritarian child-rearing practices used by parents and teachers; it wasn’t uncommon in times past for disobedient students to be beaten by their schoolmasters, something most of us would find appalling in the 21st century
Define developmental science
an interdisciplinary field of study that focuses on the changes that children undergo from conception onward
5 stages of development
1.The prenatal period (conception to birth)
2.Infancy ( birth – age 2)
3.Early Childhood (ages 2-6)
4.Middle Childhood (ages 6-12)
5.Adolescence (ages 12-18)
goals of developmental science
To understand the basic biological and cultural processes that account for the complexities of development
- crux of the so-called “nature-nurture” debate
- the extent to which biological factors (“nature”) and environmental factors (“nurture”) contribute to a child’s acquisition of different traits, skills, and abilities
To devise ways of safeguarding / improving children’s health and well being
- More practical and applied focus
- Impacts that caregivers, teachers, parents, relatives have
nature vs nurture
Nature-nurture issue is an issue concerning the manner in which genetic and environmental factors influence
development
○ What roles do biology (nature) and environment (nurture) play in child development
children in premodern times:
- Children had few rights
- Viewed as family possessions whom parents could exploit as saw fit
Medieval law: children culpable for criminal offences
- children were seen as miniature adults, and were subject to the same laws as their parents and other elders
- In centuries past, children have been subjected to religious sacrifices, grueling child labor, and even full-fledged soldier combat.
- In ancient Rome, parents were legally entitled to kill children who were deformed or illegitimate
Who is G. Stanley Hall
founder of developmental psychology
- Identified norms, the average ages at which milestones happen
Normative approach - according to which measures of behaviour are taken on large numbers of individuals and age-related averages are computed to represent typical development.
- Identified adolescence as a unique phase between childhood and adulthood
Normative Approach
according to which measures of behaviour are taken on large numbers of individuals and age-related averages are computed to represent typical development
Biological Perspective
- Intellectual and personality development, as well as physical and motor development are rooted in
biology
maturational theory by Arnold Gesell
states that child development reflects a specific and prearranged scheme or plan within the body
- encourages parents to let their children develop naturally
- was disregarded because it had little to say about impact of environment on child development
Define critical period
in development is the time when a specific type of learning can take place; before or
after the critical period, the same learning is difficult or even impossible
define imprinting
is learning that occurs during a critical period soon after birth or hatching, as demonstrated by
chicks creating an emotional bond with the first moving object they see
Ethological Theory
emphasizes that children’s and parents’ behavior
has adapted to meet specific environmental challenges
- Many behaviors are adaptive- they have survival value (e.g. clinging, grasping, crying)
psychodynamic perspective
Development is determined
primarily by how a child
resolves conflicts at
different ages
Freud psychodynamic perspective
Id is a reservoir of primitive instincts and drives. It presses for immediate gratification of bodily
needs and wants
Ego is the practical, rational component of personality. It begins to emerge during the first year of
life as infants learn that they cannot always have what they want. The ego tries to resolve
conflicts that occur when the instinctive desires of the id encounter obstacles of the real world
Superego is also known as the moral agent. It emerges during preschool years as children begin
to internalize adult standards of right and wrong.
5 stages of development
- Oral (infancy to 2 years): pleasure is gained from sucking and exploring with the mouth
- Anal (2-3 years): bowel control and toilet training
- Phallic (3-7 years): child notices differences between sexes
- Latency (7-11 years) interest in activities such as school, athletics
- Genital (11 to adulthood): stage of mature sexuality
Eriksons Theory
emphasizes the challenges posed by the formation
of trust, autonomy, initiative, industry, and identity
1. Trust vs Mistrust
2. Autonomy vs Shame and Doubt
3. Initiative vs Guilt
4. Industry vs Inferiority
5. Identity vs Identity Confusion
6. Intimacy vs Isolation
7. Generativity vs Stagnation
8. Integrity vs Despair
Classical Conditioning
introduced by Pavlov showed that previously neutral stimulus could become
associated with a naturally occurring response and eventually come to elicit a similar response on its own
operant conditioning
by skinner, emphasizes reward and punishment
reinforcement (negative and positive)
Positive reinforcement includes giving rewards to increase the likelihood of a behaviorbeing repeated
○ Giving child chocolate for doing good on test
Negative reinforcement consists of rewarding people by taking away unpleasant things
○ Putting seat belt on to avoid the annoying sound
positive and negative punishment
Positive punishment includes assigning your child more chores for neglecting earlier ones
Negative punishment consists of taking away childs keys for being disrespectful
social cognitive theory
bandura - states that children learn through observational learning
cognitive developmental perspective
Focuses on how children think and how their thinking changes as they grow
○ Piaget argued that as children try to comprehend their surrounding, they act like scientists, creating
theories about the physical and social worlds
4 stages of cognitive development
- Sensorimotor (birth to 2)
- Preoperational (2 to 7)
- Concrete operational (7 to 11)
- Formal operational (adolescence and beyond)
5 components of Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory
- Microsystem consists of objects and people in an individual’s immediate environment
- Mesosystem describes the relationships between the microsystems
- Exosystem is social settings that influence ones development even though one does not
experience them first hand - Macrosystem is the cultural and subcultural settings in which the microsystem,
mesosystem and exosystem are embedded - Chronosystem describes events that occur on a large scale (pandemic, new sibling etc.)
continuous vs discontinuous process
Continuity refers to the view that development is a gradual, continuous process. Discontinuity refers to the view that development occurs in a series of distinct stages
active-passive child issue
passive: is the issue of whether children are simply at the mercy of the environment (Locke’s description of the child as a blank slate)
active: actively influence their own development through their own unique individual characteristics
(Rousseau’s view of development as a natural unfolding that takes place
within the child)
systematic observation and the 2 forms:
Systematic observation involves watching children and carefully recording what they do or say.
1. naturalistic observation
2. structured observation
Naturalistic Observation
- children are observed as they behave spontaneously in a real life situation
- Researchers cant keep track of everything a child does, thus they must divide which variables
(any factor subject to change) to record
Structured Observation
- the researcher creates a setting likely to elicit the behavior of interest
- Are particularly useful for studying behaviors that are difficult to observe naturally because they are uncommon, or occur in private settings
observer bias
occurs when the researcher tends to notice those behaviors that support the hypothesis and
to discount those that do not, or interprets behaviors in such a way that they support the hypothesis
inter ratar reliability check
two observers using the same agreed upon measures perform
observations. If their results are roughly the same, good inter-reliability exists
observer influence
is a form of participant bias, occurring when the participants change their behavior because they are being observed (just as your friends might react to your camera)
sampling behaviour with tasks
is used when investigators cannot observe a behavior directly so they create tasks
that seem to sample the behavior of interest
- convenient
- may be invalid if the task does not happen naturally
self reports
are simply children’s own responses to questions about the topic of interest
- interviews and questionaries
- may be invalid bc kids could give wrong answers
physiological measures
consist of measuring children’s physiological responses (heart rate, secretion of cortisol
in response to stress etc.)
correlational studies
investigators look at relations between variables as they exist naturally in the
world
- Researcher measures two variables and then sees how they are related
experimental studies
In an experiment, an investigator systematically varies the factors thought to cause a particular behavior.
The factor that is varied is called the independent variable; the behavior that is measured is called the
dependent variable
positive vs neg correlation
Positive correlation describes a relationship between two variables in which larger values on one
variable are associated with larger variables on a second variable
Negative correlation describes a relation between 2 variables in which larger values on one
variable are associated with smaller values on a second variable
field experiments
the researchers manipulate independent variables in a natural setting so that the results are more likely to be representative of behavior in real world settings
ex. of discontinuity in thinking:
4-5 year olds have many improbable beliefs (e.g. a person on TIV could jump out into living room)
6-7 year olds are certain that this wouldn’t happen
o This suggest that sometime around when a child turns six there’s a relatively sudden, abrupt, qualitative change in the way a child mentally represents their world
cross sectional designs
developmental changes are identified by testing children of different ages at one
particular point in their development
- quick, easy
- fails to gather individual development
longitudinal designs
the same individuals are observed or tested repeatedly at different points in their lives
- establishes growth patters and changes
- time consuming, costly
longitudinal sequential design
includes sequences of samples, each studied longitudinally
- provides info about continuity
- more time consuming than cross sectional but less info about a full longitudinal study
meta analysis
is a tool that allows researchers to synthesize the results of many studies to estimate relations
between variables
- reveal gaps in research
4 main sections researchers can share their findings:
○ Introduction
○ Methods
○ Findings
○ Discussion Section
experimental design
includes multiple groups that were not formed by random assignment
