Historical roots of developmental psychology

Question 1

Philosophical Roots, 4th Century B.C?

Answer 1

The Beginnings of: The Nature-Nurture Debate

We are born with knowledge
- Plato

Knowledge is learned though experience
- Aristotle

Question 2

John Locke (1600s)?

Answer 2

• Tabula rasa = a blank slate. Emphasised “Nurture”
• Importance of early strict parenting -> progressive freedom

Question 3

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1700s)?

Answer 3

• Greater emphasis on “Nature” children are innately good
• Children learn though spontaneous interactions with objects and people rather than instructions

Question 4

The study of child development, when?

Answer 4

During the 19th and early 20th centuries

Question 5

The study of child development, why?

Answer 5

1. Social reform movements
   - Child labor laws
2. Darwin’s theory of evolution
   - Diary of his own child’s development

Question 6

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)?

Answer 6

Unconscious desires could influence development.
One of first to emphasise importance of early years and emotional bonds.

Question 7

G. Stanley Hall (1844-1904)

Answer 7

1878 - Earned 1st Ph.D. in Psychology in America

1887 - Founded 1st Psychological Journal in America

1892 - Founded American Psychological Association

1904 - Wrote Adolescence

Question 8

John Watson (1878-1958), two key concepts?

Answer 8

• Founded Behaviorism
  The study of observable and quantifiable aspects of behavior and excludes subjective phenomena (e.g., emotions, thoughts, motives).
• Heavily Influenced by Ivan Pavlov’s work on Conditioning.
  Development is controlled by environmental conditions particularly rewards and punishments.

Question 9

Behaviorism - Operant Conditiong?

Answer 9

• Behavious that is reward will increase
• Behavior that is not rewarded or punished will decrease

Question 10

Watson Little Albert Study?

Answer 10

John B. Watson in his experiment with Little Albert, an 11 month old baby, studied how emotions are learned. He presented (A)a white rat (CS) and (B) a loud noise (US) to Little Albert. After several pairings, Albert showed fear (CR) of the white rat. Later, Albert generalized the fear to stimuli that were similar to CS, such as (C) a beard.

Question 11

Theories of Development, two main questions it aims to answer?

Answer 11

How does knowledge develop?
What is the role of experience?

Question 12

Jean Piaget (1896-1980)?

Answer 12

• Moving beyond Behaviorism…
• Founded field of Cognitive Development
• Broad theory to account for the changes in children’s thinking

Question 13

Cognitive Constraints?

Answer 13

• Not just about operant and classical conditioning as behaviorists (a la Watson et al.) thought.
• Substantial changes across development in how a child processes information (ie, brain maturation).

Question 14

Theories of Development, two ways of attaining knwoledge?

Answer 14

• Nativism / Empiricism

Question 15

Seven Themes in Child Development

Answer 15

1. Nature and Nurture
2. The Active Child
3. Continuity/Discontinuity
4. Mechanisms of Change
5. The Sociocultural Context
6. Individual Differences
7. Research and Children’s Welfare

Question 16

1. Nature and Nurture?

Answer 16

Nature = Genes/Biology
Nurture = Everything in one’s environment (e.g. prenatal toxins, parents, peers, culture, etc).
Nature AND Nurture! -> e.g language development

Switched from an either or debate to a question of how large a role does each play?

Implications from Watson’s Little Albert Study:
- We can learn to be afraid of.. spiders, snakes etc.
- But not.. flowers :)

Question 17

2. The Active Child, three things?

Answer 17

What role do children play in their own development?

Preferences to attend to certain things
- People over objects -> Caregivers over others

Motivated to learn
- Little ‘experiments’: e.g dropping food
- Practice language int he absence of people
- Engage in pretend play

Actively seek out their own environment
- This increases significantly with age
- Friends they play with, activates they engage in, places they go, books they read etc.

Question 18

3. Continuity/Discontinuity?

Answer 18

Continuity = Enrichment over time
Discontinuity = More stage like changes

Question 19

4. Mechanisms of Change?

Answer 19

How and why does change occur?
- E.g effortful attention
- E.g Modelling (gender & identity development)
- E.g Maturation (biological)

Question 20

5. The Sociocultural Context?

Answer 20

How does the sociocultural context influence development?

Physical = home, school, urban vs. rural neighbourhood etc.

Social = parents, siblings, teachers, friends, peers, etc.

Economic = national wealth, societal wealth, family wealth

Cultural = language, values, traditions, attitudes/beliefs, laws, political structure, technology, etc.

Historical = influences all these other factors, e.g. traditional practices, policies, economy, technology etc.

Question 21

6. Individual Differences?

Answer 21

• E.g. even 2 children from within the same family who share both a lot of their genes and a lot of the same environment
• Why might they differ?

What are the sources of this variation?
– Genetic differences
– Difference in ways parents and others treat them (gender differences?)
– Differences in children’s choices of environment
– Similar experiences affect children differently (e.g temperament)

Question 22

7. Research and Children’s Welfare

Answer 22

• Social Policy
• Education
• Improved parenting techniques
• Improves prevention, intervention, and treatment of problems, etc.