Human Development Notes

Human Development Overview

Kenneth Bancroft Clark

  • Conducted the "Doll study" with 200 Black children showcasing preference for white dolls.

  • Findings indicated psychological damage from segregation; influenced the Supreme Court decision in Brown vs. Board of Education.

Learning Theory

  • Segregation's psychological impacts mentioned.

  • Development theories overview:

    • Mechanistic Model: Passive (e.g., Locke's Tabula Rasa).

    • Organismic Model: Active (e.g., Rousseau's perspective).

Baltes's Life Span Approach

  • Development principles:

    • Lifelong

    • Multidimensional and multidirectional.

    • Involves changing resource allocations.

    • Shows plasticity.

    • Influenced by historical/cultural context.

Major Theoretical Perspectives

  1. Psychoanalytic

  2. Learning

  3. Cognitive

  4. Contextual

  5. Evolutionary/Sociobiological

Freudian Psychosexual Stages

  • Stages and corresponding age ranges:

    • Oral: Birth - 15 months.

    • Anal: 12-18 months - 3 years.

    • Phallic: 3 - 6 years.

    • Latency: 6 years - puberty.

    • Genital: Puberty - adulthood.

Erikson's Psychosocial Theory

  • Focused on societal influence on lifespan development.

  • Eight stages involving a "crisis" resolving to gain a virtue.

Behaviorism

  • Classical Conditioning: Proven by John Watson's Little Albert experiment.

  • Operant Conditioning: Focused on behavior and the consequences (reinforcements and punishments).

Social Learning Theory

  • Albert Bandura emphasized modeling and reciprocal determinism.

Cognitive Development (Piaget)

  • Development through assimilation and accommodation, balanced by equilibration.

Contextual Approaches (Bronfenbrenner & Vygotsky)

  • Influences of social contexts on development.

  • Vygotsky emphasized active interaction via zone of proximal development and scaffolding.

Evolutionary/Sociobiological Theory

  • Based on Darwin's ideas of natural selection and the survival of adaptive traits.

Scientific Method

  • Steps include: identify problem, formulate hypotheses, collect/analyze data, form conclusions, and share findings.

Ethical Considerations in Research

  • Rights to informed consent, privacy, and confidentiality.

  • Ethical principles: beneficence, respect, and justice.

Research Designs

  • Cross-sectional: Assessment at one time.

  • Longitudinal: Same subjects studied multiple times.

  • Sequential: Combination of cross-sectional and longitudinal.

Development Stages and Genetics

Prenatal Development

  • Stages: germinal (conception to 2 weeks), embryonic (2-8 weeks), fetal (8 weeks to birth).

  • Key events in embryonic and fetal stages (e.g., organ development, brain growth).

  • Importance of genetic factors and prenatal care.

Factors Influencing Birth

  • Importance of biological and environmental factors including maternal age, nutrition, and exposure to substances.

Birth Process

  • Stages of childbirth: Parturition, dilation, delivery, and expulsion.

  • Different methods of childbirth, including natural, cesarean, and medicated deliveries.

Newborn Characteristics

  • Average size: 20 inches, 7.5 pounds.

  • Key reflexes and senses (e.g., touch, hearing, sight).

  • Importance of early experiences in brain development.

Developmental Risks and Outcomes

  • Factors affecting low birth weight and infant mortality.

  • Health assessments for newborns and connections with outcomes such as autism.