Transcript Psy213 – Developmental Psychology

Why study child development?
In every child who is born, under no matter what
circumstances, and of no matter what parents,
the potentiality of the human race is born again.
James Agee
American Writer 20th century
Where is the Research?

Child Development

Developmental Psychology
– a field devoted to understanding all
aspects of human growth and change from conception through
adolescence.
– the more general field of
study, that includes child development, and is devoted to
understanding all aspects of human growth and change across the
entire lifespan.
Child Development
Child development
studies involve
•Theory
•Perspective
Theory
A theory is an orderly, integrated set of statements that
 describe, explain, and predict behavior
 defines and relates phenomena
 bring observations, events, and facts that seem
random and disconnected into some meaningful
relationship and order
Theories are useful because they
 provide organizing frameworks for observations
 serve as a sound basis for practical action.
What is Perspective?
Perspective involves the discipline of asking
 How does it look from another point of view?
 How would my critics see this?
Students with perspective expose questionable and unexamined
assumptions, conclusions, and implications. When a student has
gained perspective, he demonstrates a critical distance from the
habitual or knee-jerk beliefs, feelings, theories, and appeals that
characterize less careful and circumspect thinkers.
Perspective is a mature achievement, an earned understanding of how
ideas look from different vantage points.
Wiggins and McTighe
Understanding By Design
What is a theory of
development?
A theory of development consists of a
systematic framework of principles based
on organized observations of changes in
behavior over time.
Where do theories come from?
THEORIES EMERGE FROM
PARADIGMS
Paradigms are “the entire constellation of beliefs, values, techniques, and
so on shared by the members of a given community”. They constitute a set
of agreements about how problems are to be understood…and how they
are to be investigated. They establish a world view.
Thomas Kuhn (1962) The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, p. 175.
A paradigm is composed of a variety of theories
that share the more general perspective
expressed by the paradigm, and paradigms have
their origins in philosophical viewpoints.
Nearly every field begins as philosophy; and psychology
continues to foreground its philosophical origins more
faithfully than any other discipline.
Howard Gardner, 1994
New Ideas in Psychology
WHAT ARE THE
PHILOSOPHICAL
ORIGINS OF
DEVELOPMENTAL
THEORIES?
There are three questions that drive
developmental theories.
1. Do human beings grow by imperceptibly small
increments (continuity) or do they grow in spurts and
starts from one identifiable stage to another
(discontinuity)?
2. Does heredity (nature) or environment (nurture) have
the more critical influence on human development?
3. How do human beings generate knowledge and make
sense of themselves and of their world?
CONTINUITY VERSUS DISCONTINUITY
GRADUAL
DEVELOPMENT
(MATURATIONISTS)
STAGES “WINDOWS”
(STAGE THEORISTS)
CONTINUITY VERSUS DISCONTINUITY
GRADUAL
DEVELOPMENT
(MATURATIONISTS)
STAGES “WINDOWS”
(STAGE THEORISTS)
NATURE VERSUS NURTURE
HEREDITY
BIOLOGY
GENETICS
(HEREDITARIANS)
ENVIRONMENT
SOCIETY CULTURAL
MILIEU
(ENVIRONMENTALISTS)
CONTINUITY VERSUS DISCONTINUITY
GRADUAL
DEVELOPMENT
(MATURATIONISTS)
STAGES “WINDOWS”
(STAGE THEORISTS)
NATURE VERSUS NURTURE
HEREDITY
BIOLOGY
GENETICS
(HEREDITARIANS)
ENVIRONMENT
SOCIETY CULTURAL
MILIEU
(ENVIRONMENTALISTS)
KNOWLEDGE GENERATION
INNATE REASON &
IDEAS
PERSONAL/SOCIAL
CONSTRUCTION
EXTERNAL WORLD
(RATIONALISM)
(CONSTRUCTIVISM)
(EMPIRICISM)
CONTINUITY VERSUS DISCONTINUITY
GRADUAL
DEVELOPMENT
(MATURATIONISTS)
STAGES “WINDOWS”
(STAGE THEORISTS)
NATURE VERSUS NURTURE
HEREDITY
BIOLOGY
GENETICS
(HEREDITARIANS)
ENVIRONMENT
SOCIETY CULTURAL
MILIEU
(ENVIRONMENTALISTS)
KNOWLEDGE GENERATION
INNATE REASON &
IDEAS
PERSONAL/SOCIAL
CONSTRUCTION
EXTERNAL WORLD
(RATIONALISM)
(CONSTRUCTIVISM)
(EMPIRICISM)
JOHN LOCKE
FATHER OF LEARNING THEORY
NURTURE/CONTINUITY
KNOWLEDGE DERIVES FROM
EXTERNAL WORLD
MIND IS TABULA RASA
EDUCATION IS ESSENTIALLY A SOCIALIZING
PROCESS
JOHN LOCKE
IDEAS DERIVING FROM LOCKE
EMPIRICISM
POSITIVISM
RADICAL POSITIVISM
BEHAVIORISM
MECHANISM
EXPERIENTIALISM
ENVIRONMENTALISM
PROCESS-PRODUCT ORIENTATION
EDUCATION IS ESSENTIALLY A SOCIALIZING
PROCESS
JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU
FATHER OF DEVELOPMENTAL
PSYCHOLOGY
NATURE/DISCONTINUITY
DEVELOPMENT IS THE RESULT
OF INTERNAL INFLUENCES
KNOWLEDGE DERIVES FROM
INNATE REASON AND IDEAS
EDUCATION SHOULD BE A PERSONAL,
DEVELOPMENTAL PROCESS
JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU
IDEAS DERIVING FROM ROUSSEAU
RATIONALISM
NATURALISM
DARWINISM
NATIVISM
BIOLOGICAL DETERMINISM
PSYCHODYNAMIC
ETHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
GENETIC PREDISPOSITION
HEREDITARIANISM
EDUCATION SHOULD BE A PERSONAL,
DEVELOPMENTAL PROCESS
EMMANUEL KANT
KNOWLEDGE AND MEANING ARE
CONSTRUCTED BY THE
INDIVIDUAL
INDIVIDUALS INTERPRET SENSORY
INFORMATION AND CONSTRUCT
PERSONAL, SOCIAL, AND CULTURAL
MEANING
IT IS THE MEANING OF OUR EXPERIENCES, AND NOT
THE ONTOLOGICAL STRUCTURE OF THE OBJECTS,
THAT CONSTITUTES REALITY
EMMANUEL KANT
IDEAS DERIVING FROM KANT
CONSTRUCTIVISM
PHENOMENOLOGY
QUALITATIVE INQUIRY
HERMENEUTICAL
FUNCTIONALISM
SYMBOLIC INTERACTION
INTERPRETIVISM
SYSTEMS THEORY
CONTEXTUALISM
IT IS THE MEANING OF OUR EXPERIENCES, AND NOT
THE ONTOLOGICAL STRUCTURE OF THE OBJECTS,
THAT CONSTITUTES REALITY
Philosophies: World Views
• RATIONALISM
• EMPIRICISM
• CONSTRUCTIVISM
Philosophies: World Views
• HEREDITARIANISM
• ENVIRONMENTALISM
• CONSTRUCTIVISM
(CONTEXTUALISM)
Development
Definition of development?
Development is the transformation or pattern
of changes that are orderly, cumulative and
directional.
Orderly: there is logical sequence to change
Cumulative: includes all that was there plus
something new (value added)
Directional: moves toward greater complexity
Aspects of Development




Physical Development – changes in body size, proportions, appearances,
and the functioning of various body systems – brain development,
perceptual and motor capabilities, and physical health.
Cognitive Development – development of a wide variety of thought
processes and intellectual abilities, including attention, memory, academic
and everyday knowledge, problem solving, imagination, creativity, and the
uniquely human capacity to represent the world through language.
Emotional and Social Development – development of emotional
communication, self-understanding, ability to manage one’s own feelings,
knowledge about other people, interpersonal skills, friendships, intimate
relationships, and moral reasoning and behavior.
Moral Development – development of personal rules and conventions
regarding one’s interactions with others
Periods of Development

The Prenatal Period –

Infancy and Toddlerhood –

Early Childhood –

Middle Childhood –

Adolescence –
from conception to birth.
from birth to 2 years.
from 2 to 6 years.
from 6 to 11 years.
from 11 to 20 years.
The Three Questions
1.
2.
3.
Is development continuous or discontinuous? Or both?
Is there a single, universal course of development, or are
there many?
Is “nature” or “nurture” more important for development?
*Theories in development take a stand on these issues.
Critical Questions
(Perspectives)

Continuity vs. Discontinuity


Continuous theory of development: development
follows a smooth progression from infancy to
adulthood, with a single quantitative dimension
Discontinuous (stage) theory of development:
development occurs in stages, each qualitatively
different from the one before
Critical Questions
(Developing Perspective)
Nature vs. Nurture
Nature – inborn biological givens – the hereditary information
children receive from their parents at the moment of concept
that signals the body to grow and affects all their
characteristics and skills.
Nurture – the complex forces of the physical and social world
that influence children’s biological make up and psychological
experiences before and after birth.
Critical Questions
(Perspectives)

Stability v. Change


Stability – children who are high or low in a
characteristic will remain so at later ages.
Change – children who are high or low in a
characteristic can change at later ages, typically due
to changes in the environment in either a positive or
negative way.
Historical Foundations


Modern theories in child development are the result of
centuries of change in cultural values, philosophical
thinking about children, and scientific progress.
Many early ideas about children linger as important forces
in current theory and research.
Medieval Thought


Little importance was placed on childhood as a separate phase
of the life cycle.
Preformationism – once children emerged from infancy, they
were regarded as miniature, already-formed adults.
The Reformation


During the 16th century, a revised image of childhood sprang
from the religious movement that gave birth to Protestantism.
The Belief – children were born evil and stubborn (original sin)
and had to be civilized toward a destiny of virtue and salvation.
The Enlightenment: Age of Reason



Conceptions of childhood appeared that were more humane
than those of past centuries.
John Locke – “tabula rasa” – children were not basically evil,
rather they were, to begin with, nothing at all, and their character
could be shaped by all kinds of experiences.
Jean-Jacques Rouseau – “noble savages” – children were
naturally endowed with a sense of right and wrong and with an
innate plan for orderly, healthy growth.
John Locke (1632 – 1704)



Refuted doctrine of innate ideas (Plato, Descartes)
Main goal of education is self control
Principles of learning
 Associations
 Repetition
 Imitation
 Rewards and punishments
Jean Jacques Rousseau (1644 - 1699)

Key Ideas
 Development proceeds according to an inner,
biological timetable
 Development unfolds in a series of stages
 “Child-centered” philosophy of education
Charles Darwin (1809 – 1882)
Theory of Evolution


Natural Selection – certain species were selected by
nature to survive in particular parts of the world because
they had physical characteristics and behaviors that fit with,
or were adapted to, their surroundings.
Survival of the Fittest – individuals within a species who
best met the survival requirements of the environment lived
long enough to reproduce and pass their more favorable
characteristics to future generations.
Scientific Beginnings

Late 19th and early 20th Centuries.


Baby Biographies – researchers selected
children of their own or close relatives,
beginning in early infancy, documented
day-to-day descriptions and impressions
of the child’s behavior.
G. Stanley Hall (1844 – 1924) – the
normative approach to child study –
measures of behavior are taken on large
numbers of children, then age-related
averages are computed to represent the
typical child’s development.
Scientific Beginnings, Continued

Late 19th and early 20th Centuries.
 Mental Testing Movement – comparisons of the intelligence
test scores of children who vary in sex, ethnicity, birth order,
family background, and other characteristics became a
major focus of research – emphasis on individual
differences.
 James Mark Baldwin (1861 – 1934) – a theorist rather than
an observer of children, formulated perhaps the first
comprehensive theory of child development – emphasized
that children actively revise their ways of thinking about the
world, but also learn through habit or by copying others’
behavior.
James Mark Baldwin (1861–1934)





one of American psychology’s seminal thinkers.
Mental Development in the Child and the Race
influenced thinkers as diverse as Piaget and
Vygotsky
helped create a standard for rigorous objective
procedure and a functionalist attitude within the
newly emerging science
formed a concept of organic selection that
accounted for the effects of acquired adaptations
without violating principles of natural selection


Baldwin proposed that cultural practices ought
to be considered among the factors shaping
human genetic inheritance – Baldwin Effect
(Baldwin Evolution)
over the past few years Baldwin studies have
undergone a small renaissance, especially as his
relationship to Piaget and Vygotsky has been
explored