Test 1 Learning Objectives 1-2 Flashcards
Prenatal period lasts from…
Conception to birth
List the age periods researchers use to study child development
Prenatal, infancy and toddlerhood, early childhood
Infancy and toddlerhood lasts from
Birth to 2 years
Early childhood lasts from
2-6 years
cite the three domains in which development is often divided.
physical, cognitive, and emotional and social
What period?
- laws began to recognize that children needed protection from people who may harm them
- courts exercised leniency with lawbreaking youths
- Awareness existed that children were vulnerable beings and that childhood was a distinct developmental period
Medieval Times
What period?
- children were viewed as born evil
- Because Puritan parents still loved the child, many extreme measures to discipline were not used by parents
- Trained the children in self reliance and self control
- Realized they did not have to be so harsh when correcting the child
The Reformation
What period?
- John Locke viewed children as a blank slate, they begin with nothing and are shaped entirely by experience
- Rousseau stated that children are noble savages that are naturally born with a sense of right and wrong
The Enlightenment
What Period?
- Darwin stated that children naturally have the ability to adapt to certain situations based on their surroundings, natural selection and survival of the fittest
- Hall and Gesell began the normative approach, which measures the behavior of us just around the same age, which are then computed to represent development
- Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale- predicted school achievement, sparked interest in differences in intelligence between age, race, and gender
19th and 20th centuries
children move through stages in which they are faced with conflicts between biological drives and social expectations. How the person resolves these conflicts determines the persons abilities to learn, get along with others, and cope with anxiety. Socio emotional, stressed importance of parent child relationship. Erikson
The Psychoanalytic Perspective
What are some contributions of The Psychoanalytic Perspective?
- emphasis on the individuals life as worthy of study
- Gathers information from a variety of sources
- inspired research on emotional and social development
What are some limitations of the psychoanalytic perspective?
- no longer in the mainstream of child development research
- Very vague
- John Watson
- directly observable events, baby Albert
Behaviorism
using a stimulus to gain a response
classical conditioning
good behavior can be increased by the use of reinforcers (praise, a new toy) or decreased by punishment. Skinner was influenced by Locke
operant conditioning theory
by Albert Bandura, emphasizes imitation and observational learning. This means seeing a person or a group of people do something and then doing that same thing yourself
Social learning theory
What are contributions of behaviorism and social learning theory?
- behavior modification
- relieve wide range of developmental issues and everyday difficulties
What are limitations of behaviorism and social learning theory?
- offer too narrow of a view of environmental influences
- underestimates the child’s ability to develop on their own
children construct knowledge as they explore their own world, did not believe that children always needed to be rewarded.
Piaget’s Cognitive developmental theory
Piaget believed that as children develop, they move through 4 stages. They are…
- Sensorimotor
- Preoperational
- Concrete operational
- Formal operational
birth-2- infants think by reacting to their senses
Sensorimotor
2-7 years- use of symbols, language, and make believe play. Thinking still lacks complete logic.
Preoperational
7-11 years- reasoning becomes logical and better organized, but thinking is still short of adult Intelligence
Concrete operational
11 years on- able to solve problems and evaluate logical thinking
Formal operational
What are contributions of Piaget’s Cognitive developmental theory?
- sparked research on children’s relationships with themselves and others
- Encouraged the development of programs that emphasized children’s learning and discovery
- Showed that children are active learners
What are limitations of Piaget’s Cognitive developmental theory?
- underestimated infants and toddlers abilities
- Does not pay enough attention to social and cultural influences
- the mind can be viewed as a symbol manipulating system through which information flows
- mind is like a computer
- uses flowcharts, continuous
Information processing
- concerned with the adaptive, or survival, value of behavior and it’s evolutionary history
- observed behaviors in animals that promoted survival
Ethology
young will stay close to their mother figure
Imprinting
a limited time when a child is biologically prepared to acquire behaviors but needs the support of a stimulating environment
Critical period
better applies to human development. It has less boundaries than the critical period for when these behaviors can be acquired.
Sensitive period
seeks to understand the adaptive value of species-wide cognitive, emotional , and social competences as they change with age
want to understand the entire organism- environment system
Evolutionary developmental psychology
how culture- the values, beliefs, customs, and skills of a social group- is transmitted to the next generation. Cognitive.
- stresses social interaction
- children depend on adult assistance rather than other children
- less emphasis on child’s ability te develop on their own
Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory
child develops with a complex system of relationships affected by multiple levels of the surrounding environment
-the environment is broken up into a series of systems
Ecological systems theory
- innermost level of the environment, consists of the child’s immediate surroundings
- consists of immediate family, child care center or school, play areas, etc.
Microsystem
- encompasses connections between Microsystems
- Consists of the connections made between immediate family, child care centers, etc.
mesosystem
- social settings that do not contain children but that still affect their experiences in immediate settings
- consist of neighbors, workplace, extended family
- example: the workplace of the parent may not give them adequate time off thus affecting the child
exosystem
- outermost level
- consist of laws, customs and values
- these affect the parent or caregiver, which affect the child
macrosystem
- the child’s mind, body, and physical and social worlds create a system that is constantly in motion and always changing
- still in Early stages of development
- says that all the systems are working together
Dynamic Systems Perspective
process of gradually adding more of the same types of skills that were there to begin with
Continuous
- process in which new ways of understanding and responding to the world emerge at different times
- development takes place in stages
Discontinuous
- is there one path of development, or are thee many possibilities?
One or Many paths
information we are born with
Nature
behaviors that we gain by being influenced buy the outside world
Nurture
open to change in response to life experiences. Associated with nurture.
Plasticity
- the child will remain the way they are in later ages. For example, if they have trouble in verbal ability, they will remain this way. Associated with nature.
Stability
Continuous/Discontinuous,One or Many Paths,Nature/Nurture? John Locke (tabula rasa)
Continuous, nurture, many paths
Continuous/Discontinuous,One or Many Paths,Nature/Nurture?
Rousseau (noble savage)-
discontinuous, one path, nature
Continuous/Discontinuous,One or Many Paths,Nature/Nurture?
Psychoanalytic Theory-
discontinuous, one path, both nature and nurture
Continuous/Discontinuous,One or Many Paths,Nature/Nurture?
Behaviorism & Social Learning-
continuous, many paths, nurture
Continuous/Discontinuous,One or Many Paths,Nature/Nurture?
Cognitive Developmental-Piaget-
discontinuous, one path, both nature and nurture
Continuous/Discontinuous,One or Many Paths,Nature/Nurture?
Information Processing-
continuous, one path, both nature and nurture
information is gathered on individuals in natural life circumstances and make no effort to change their experiences
Correlational
What are strengths of correlational?
study relationships between participants and their behavior and development
What are limitations of correlational?
cause and effect cannot be distinguished. We cannot tell what is causing the differences in the minds of the children
uses cause and effect because evenhanded experiments are performed
Experimental
What are strengths of experimental?
Cause and effect
What are limitations of experimental?
Lab findings may not translate to findings in the real world.
the systems that are described (micro and macro) can enhance or create risks in the development of the child
Ecological systems theory- Roffenbrenner
What are direct influences of ecological systems theory?
- firm but warm- child will listen
- harsh punishment- child will rebel
- more punishment=worse child
What are indirect influences of ecological systems theory?
when the child is influenced by what is going on around them, for example, when their parents have a tense marriage
years of education, prestige of ones job, income
Socioeconomic status
Lower SES families tend to emphasize…
Obedience, politeness, neatness and cleanliness.
Higher SES tend to emphasize…
curiosity, happiness, and Cognitive and social maturity. This may be due to their more extensive education.
parents in prestigious and high paying jobs
Affluence
groups of people with beliefs that differ from those of the larger culture.
Subcultures
which are parents and children that live with one or more adult family members. This allows for more support to families that are struggling emotionally or financially.
extended-family households
people define themselves as part of a group and are more concerned with group goals rather than individual goals
collectivist societies
people think of themselves and are more concerned with their own goals and needs
individualistic societies
Is the US individualistic or collectivist?
Individualistic
measure the extent to which individual differences in complex traits in a specific population are due to genetic factors
Heritability estimates
compare the characteristics of family members, most common is comparing identical twins.
kinship studies
