Chapter 1

Three Themes:

• Continuity of Development

• Nature & Nurture

• The “Active” Child

Continuity of Development

“Are we consistently and gradually changing across development or do we make big shifts to qualitatively new behaviors?”

Nature & Nuture

• Nature: our biological endowment

• Nuture: environment, physical and social

• How do they work together?

The “Active” Child

The Active/Passive Child Debate: to what degree do children influence their own development?

Passive Child

children are at the mercy of their environment- they can’t change how they develop

• John Locke’s “Blank Slate”

Active Child

children are participating in their own development

• elicit different responses from adults, other kids

• different interests lead to different expertise

Five Foundational Perspectives of Child Development

1. The Biological Perspective

2. The Learning Perspective

3. The Psychodynamic Perspective

4. The Cognitive/Development Perspective

5. The Contextual Perspective

The Biological Perspective

Key Assumption: Development is rooted in biology

• Maturational Theory

  • Dr. Arnold Gesell

• Ethological Theory

  • Konrad Lorene & “Imprinting”

Maturational Theory

The idea that reflects a specific and prearranged scheme or plan within the body

• Major limitation: fails to consider any major environmental factors

• Dr. Arnold Gesell: based on 50 years of observational research. There’s a strong focus on growth of the nervous system - as the nervous system grows the min develops and behavior changes accordingly

Ethological Theory

views development from an evolutionary perspective

• behaviors are adaptive: we develop in a certain way because it aids in our survival

• Critical/Sensitive Period: the time in development when a specific type of learning can take place; before or after the critical period, the same learning is difficult or even impossible

  • Konrad Lorene & “Imprinting”

  • Eg. learning languages

The Learning Perspective

Key Assumption: Development is determined largely by a child’s environment (nature)

• Operant Conditioning

  • B.F. Skinner

• Social Cognitive Theory

  • Albert Bandura

Operant Conditioning

consequence of behavior

• Skinner’s Rats

Social Cognitive Theory

behaviors develop as children observe a combination of reward, punishment, and others’ behaviors

• children will mimic those they see rewarded and avoid behavior when someone is punished

  • Albert Bandura - The Bobo Doll Study

The Psychodynamic Perspective

Key Assumption: Development unfolds according to resolution/lack of resolution of “conflicts” at different stages

• Psychodynamic Theory (Freudian Theory)

• Psychosocial Theory

  • Erik Erikson

Psychodynamic Theory

early experiences establish patterns that endure throughout a person’s life

• Conflict

  • Id, Ego, Superego

• Sigmund Freud

Id

primitive instinct

Ego

rational/practical aspect, directly influenced by the real world

Superego

moral aspect

Psychosocial Theory

development consists of a sequence of stages, each defined by a key crisis/challenge, people grow due to their responses to crises in their lives

• Erik Erikson

The Cognitive-Developmemtal Perspective

Key Assumption: Development reflects children trying to make sense of the world

• Jean Piaget’s Theory

Jean Piaget’s Theory

different stages of thinking that develop through children’s shifting competencies and changing theories of the world

The Contextual Perspective

Key Assumption: Development is driven by the interaction of a child’s immediate and distant environments (“all nurture” - but includes direct and indirect influences)

• Lev Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory

Lev Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory

emphasizes the role “experts” in converting cultural expectations and knowledge to the next generation

• children’s development is enmeshed with the culture in which they grow up

The Scientific Method

1. Choose a question

2. Formulate a hypothesis

3. Develop a method to test the hypothesis

4. Draw a conclusion

Measurements

1. Systematic observation

2. Sampling behaviors with task

3. Self-reports

4. Physiological measures

Systematic Observation

Naturalistic (watched in re-life) and Structured (researchers create a setting)

• Strengths

  • allows researchers to study “natural” behaviors

  • can allow access to behavior that is difficult to measure experimentally

• Weaknesses

  • must be aware that observation alone could distort behavior

  • lack of control over potential confounding variables

Sampling Behaviors with Tasks

Create an activity that will elicit the behavior of interest

• Strengths

  • convenience

  • a bit more “controlled” than simple observation

• Weaknesses

  • have to be very careful that measure is valid

Self-reports

children’s answer to questions about the topic of interest (questionnaire/interview)

• Strengths

  • convenience

  • are often a direct measurement of the topic

• Weaknesses

  • answers may not be accurate

    • relying on memory

    • Response bias

Response Bias

participants are more likely to give “socially acceptable” answers rather than the truth

Physiological Measures

measuring children’s physiological response to stimuli

less common and usually used in conjunction with other behavioral measures

• strengths

  • provides converging evidence that confirms behavioral findings

• Weaknesses

  • not practical/available for all areas of study

Reliability

will your result hold up over time

Validity

are your results genuine

Representative Sampling

use of participants that together accurately reflect the population of interest

Population

broad group of interest

Sample

a subset of the population (used for study)

Research Design

conceptual approach to your study (the outline)

correlational and experimental studies

Correlational Study

examine the relation between variables as they exist naturally in the world

• will tell you if variables the data points organized in a discernable pattern (positive, negative, no correlation)

Correlational Study Strengths and Weaknesses

• convenience

• behavior is measured as it occurs naturally

• correlation does NOT mean causation

Experimental Study

investigator systematically varies the independent variable to assess the impact on the dependent variable

Experimental Study Strengths and Weaknesses

• only way to assess causality

• sometimes not possible given your research questions

Capturing change overtime - age-related methods

• longitudinal design

• cross-sectional design

• longtidinal-sequential

Longitudinal Design

the same individuals are observed or tested repeatedly at different points in their lives

Longitudinal Design Strengths and Weaknesses

• most direct way to watch growth occur

• only way to answer the continuity of growth

• takes A LOT of time and resources

• cohort effects

• selective attrition

• practice effects

Cohort Effects

a group of people who share a common set of demographic characteristics or experiences

Practice Effects

improvements in cognitive test performance due to repeated evaluation with the same or similar test materials

Selective Attrition

certain participants drop out over time

Cross-Sectional Design

different groups of children are tested at developmental points of interest

Cross-Sectional Design Strengths and Weaknesses

• convenient

• solves many of the issues with longitudinal design (cohort and practice effects)

• does not tell you about continuity of development

Longitudinal-Sequential Design

sequences of samples, each tests longitudinally (is both longitudinal and cross-sectional)

Longitudinal-Sequential Design Strengths and Weaknesses

• provides information about continuity

• attenuates risk of practice and potential cohort effects

• not as much continuity as pure longitudinal

• more time consuming than pure cross-sectional