Introduction to Child Development

Child Development

The scientific study of systematic processes of change and stability in human children

What are the time frames of child development

Prenatal period (conception to Birth),

Infancy and toddlerhood (Birth to Age),

Early Childhood (age 3 to 6),

Middle Childhood (age 6 to 11),

Adolescence (age 11 to 20)

cognitive development

includes learning, attention, memory, language, thinking, reasoning, and creativity

Physical development

includes growth of the body and brain, sensory capacities, motor skills, and health

Psychosocial development

includes emotions, personality, and social relationships

maturation

the unfolding of a universal, natural sequence of physical changes and behavior patterns

nuclear family

a household unit consisting of one or two parents and their children, whether biological, adopted, or stepchildren

extended family

a multigenerational kinship network of grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and more distant relatives

Nonnormative

Unusual events that have a major impact on individual lives

Example: death in the family, addiction, natural disasters

normative influences

biological or environmental events that affect many or most people in a society in similar ways

Age graded

influences that are high similar for people in a particular age group, such as puberty and menopause

History graded

influences that are significant events that shape behaviors and attitudes, historical generations, cohorts

culture

A society’s or group’s way of life it is constantly changing

ethnic group

consists of people united by a distinctive culture, ancestry, religion, language, or national origin, which contribute to a sense of shared identity and shared attitudes, beliefs, and values

critical period

is a specific time when a given event, or its absence, has a profound and specific impact on development, such as the first trimester of a pregnancy

sensitive period

times in development when a given event, or its absence, usually has a strong effect on development

continuous change (quantitative change)

a gradual and incremental, change in number or amount

discontinuous change (qualitative)

change in kind, structure, or organization

Id

drive to seek immediate satisfaction of needs and desires

Sigmund Freud and his viewpoint

He believed that unconscious biological drives shaped development. He originated the Psychoanalytic perspective

Theory

set of logically related concepts or statements that seek to organize, explain, and predict data. Help generate Hypothesis

ego

aim is to find realistic ways to gratify the id that are acceptable to the superego

super ego

includes conscience and incorporates socially approved “shoulds” and “should nots” into the child’s own value system

Psychosexual stages of development

oral stage- anal stage- phallic stage- latency stage- genital stage

Erik Erikson’s theory

Psychosocial development - each stage involves a personality crisis. A major psychosocial theme that was particularly important at the time

How does Eriks theory differ from Frued’s theory

Erikson focused on social and emotional development throughout the entire lifespan, while Freud focused more on psychosexual development and early childhood experiences.

Incomplete Dominance

pattern of inheritance in which a child receives two different alleles, resluting in partial expression of a trait

sex-linked inheritance

pattern of inheritance in which certain characteristics carried on the X chromosome, inherited from the mother, are transmitted differently to her male and female offspring

Human genotype

complete sequence of genes in the human body

Infertility

the inability to conceive a baby

Zygote

A one-celled organism resulting from fertilization duplicates itself

common causes of male infertility

producing few sperm, hormonal deficits, blocked ejaculatroy duct, sperm unable to swim up the cervix, genetics

Common causes of female infertility

blockage of the fallopian tubes, failure to produce ova or normal ova, mucus in cervix, disease in the uterine lining, physical disorders

phenotype

observable characteristic of a person

genotype

genetic makeup of a person, containing both expressed and unexpressed characteristics

Classical Conditioning

A type of learning in which a response to a stimulus is elected after repeated association with a stimulus that normally elicits the response. Occurs frequently in daily life

operant conditioning

a type of learning based on association of behavior with its consequences

punishment

the process by which a behavior is weakened

reinforcement

The process by which a behavior is strengthened

Albert Bandura and his social learning theory

he developed principles of social learning theory in which behaviors are learned by observation

Lev Vygotsky and his sociocultural theory

He focused on the social and cultural processes that guide children’s cognitive development, believing that learning was social and collaborative

assimilation

taking in new information and incorporating it into existing cognitive structure

accommodation

adjusting one’s cognitive structures to fit the new information

Information processing approach

Seeks to explain cognitive development by analyzing the processes involved in making sense of incoming information and performing tasks effectively. (continuous)

Piaget’s Cognitive stage theory

A theory that reintroduced the concept of scientific inquiry into mental states. Viewed development as the products of children’s attempts to understand and act upon their world

microsystem

consists of the everyday environment of home, work, school, or neighborhood

macrosystem

consists of overachieving cultural patterns, such as dominant beliefs, ideologies, and economic and political systems

quantitative research

deals with objectively measurable, numerical data that can answer questions such as “how much” or “how many,” and that is amendable to statistical analysis

qualitative research

Focuses on the how and why of the behavior. It involves nonnumerical descriptions of participants’ subjective understandings, feelings, or beliefs about their experiences.

self- reports

asking people for information (diaries, logs, journals, interviews, questionnaires)

naturalistic observation

researchers look at children in real-life settings

Laboratory observation

researching, observing, and recording behavior in a controlled situation

case study

a study of a single case of individual

correlational study

an attempt to find a correlation, or statistical aspiration between two or more variables

experiment

A controlled procedure that allows stronger causal statements to be made. Two groups are used experiment and control.

Longitudinal study

designed to assess changes in a sample over time

Cross- sectional study

designed to assess age-related differences, in which people of different ages are assessed on one occasion.

Sequential study

design that combines cross- sectional and longitudinal designs

ethical guidelines of research

right to informed consent, avoidance of deception, right to privacy and confidentiality

ethnographic studies

a case study of a culture it uses participant observation

Deoxyribonucleic acid

A chemical that carries inherited instructions for the development of all cellular forms of life. DNA is the genetic material in all living cells.

Humans typically have how many chromosomes in each cell

46

How many chromosomes are in sex cells

23 pairs

nonshared environmental effects

unique environment in which each child grows up, consisting of distinctive influences or influences that affect one child differently from

another.

Zone of Proximal Development

Imaginary psychological space between what children can do on their own and what they could achieve with assistance from another person

Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecological theory

identifies five levels of environmental influence: microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, chronosystem