Unit 1

Brief History of Developmental Psychology

John Locke (1632-1704)

• Concept of Tabula Rasa: Children are born as a blank slate, shaped by experiences and environment.

• Ideas on knowledge acquisition: Children gain knowledge through reward, punishment, and imitation.

• Early foundation for Behaviorism, emphasizing the influence of environmental factors on child development.

Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)

• Opposed Locke’s view, proposing that children are born with innate knowledge and ideas.

• Believed development follows an innate timetable, with no need for formal education.

• Emphasized the child’s natural curiosity and exploration as the basis for learning; learning occurs without direct instruction.

• Termed a Nativist: Emphasizes heredity and biological factors in development.

Charles Darwin (1809-1882)

• Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny: Individual development reflects ancestral evolutionary history.

• Development stages in babies reflect evolutionary traits of their species (e.g., crawling to walking).

• His ideas contribute to biological perspectives in development psychology.

G. Stanley Hall (1844-1924)

• Father of child psychology; conducted the first psychological studies of children in the U.S.

• Used questionnaires in development research, but findings lacked deep theoretical significance.

• Focused on descriptive rather than explanatory research, paving the way for future developmental researchers.

• Established vital academic structures for child psychology, including the first journals in the field.

John Watson (1878-1958)

• Founder of Behaviorism: Advocated for studying observable behavior rather than introspection.

• Conducted unethical experiments (Little Albert) demonstrating learned fears through environmental interactions.

• Proposed that children could be shaped into any desired outcome through controlled environments; emphasized Nurture.

Arnold Gesell (1880-1961)

• Known for establishing motor development norms for children.

• Used observational studies of children to outline timelines for physical milestones (crawling, walking).

• Significant criticism for his sample mostly comprising white infants; later adaptations were made to account for broader diversity in developmental norms.

• Innovated child research methods through filming and one-way screens to collect data unobtrusively.

Jean Piaget (1896-1980)

• Focused on cognitive development, proposing that children progress through a series of cognitive stages.

• His theories emphasize that children actively construct knowledge and understanding of the world around them.

• Contribution to developmental psychology that introduced notions of stages; comparing and contrasting with Vygotsky’s social learning theory.

Upcoming Focus Areas

• Transitioning to research designs in developmental psychology.

• Discussing ethical considerations in conducting research with children, including required consent processes and protecting child participants from harm.

• Exploration of various research methodologies, including cross-sectional, longitudinal, and microgenetic designs, and how they apply to understanding child development.