Common goal of Child Development as a Field
describe and identify factors that influence stability and change in young people during first two decades of life
Developmental Science
study of all changes humans experience throughout the lifespan
Domains of development
-physical-cognitive-emotional and social
Physical development focuses on
Changes in the body: size, motor capacity, and physical health
Cognitive development focuses on
Changes in intellectual abilities: attention, memory, problem solving
Emotional and Social development focuses on
Changes in emotional communication, self-understanding, and social relationships
Periods of development
1.- Prenatal2.-Infancy and toddlerhood: birth-2yrs3.-Early childhood: 2-6yrs4.
-Middle childhood: 6-11yrs5.-Adolescence:11-18yrs6.-Emerging Adulthood: 18-mid/late 20s
1.- Prenatal Period: Conception-birth
One-celled organism is transformed into a human baby
2.
-Infancy and toddlerhood: birth-2yrs
the beginning of language and first intimate ties to others; children take their first independent steps to be autonomous
3.-Early childhood: 2-6yrs
Body becomes longer and leaner, motor skills are refined, and children self-controlled and self-sufficient
4.-Middle childhood: 6-11yrs
New responsibilities that will resemble interests as adults, athletics, games with rules, reading, writing, and other academic skills
5.-Adolescence:11-18yrs
Puberty leads to an adult-sized body and sexual maturity.
Thought becomes complex.
6.-Emerging Adulthood: 18-mid/late 20s
at this point we are trying to figure out our careers, family of origin, ourselves.
Continuous Development
a smooth process of gradually adding more of the same types of skills that were there to begin with
Discontinuous Development
the idea that changes with age include occasional large shifts or steps, like the transition from caterpillar to cocoon to butterfly
Nature
the hereditary information received in conception
Nurture
a person's experiences in the environment
Stability (NATure)
children who are high or low in a characteristic will remain so at later ages
plasticity (NURture)
open to change in response to influential experiences
John Locke, BRITISH, NURTURE
He viewed children as a tabula rasa (blank slate). Children can be shaped and mold as we pleased.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, FRENCH, STAGES
Children are born with qualities to grow/develop. Philosophy of stages and maturation
Charles Darwin, BRITISH NATURALIST, fan of documenting
Natural selection and survival of the fittest (adaptable physical characteristics and behavior) Forefather of SCIENTIFIC CHILD STUDY
Psychosexual theory, Sigmund Freud (id ego, superego)
Parents management of child's sexual and aggressive drive is crucial for personality development
Psychosocial theory, Erik Erikson (development at each stage)
Normal development must be understood in relation to each culture's life situation
Behaviorism - Ivan Pavlov, John Watson, B. F. Skinner
Social Learning - Albert Bandura
modeling, imitation, baby learns how to behave by observing others
Cognitive-Developmental - Jean Piaget
how children ADAPT about objects, things and their environment.
Resilience
ability to adapt efectively in the face of threats to development
the first successful intelligence test was constructed for the purpose of
identifying children with learning problems
the psychoanalytic perspective
is no longer in the mainstream of child development research
Behaviorism and social learning theory have been criticized for
understanding children's contributions to their own development
Sensorimotor
infants activity is used to operate on the world
preoperational
use symbols, develop language, and make-believe play
Formal operational
complex, abstract reasoning develops
Concrete operational
reasoning becomes logical and organized
Information processiing theorists are intersted in
the precise steps individuals use to solve problems
Recent theoretical perspective focuses on
-Context-Timing-Culture
Context
Ethology= value of adaptive behaviorsEvolutionary core to behavior
Timing
span for something to develop
Sensitive periods
optimal time for something to develop
critical periods
limited time span for something to develop
Vygotsky's sociocultural theory
children to acquire the ways of thinking and behaving that make up a community's culture through interactions with members of society
Bronfenbrenner 's ecological system
child develops within a complex system of relationships affected by multiple levels of the surroundings environments
Microsystem
activities in the child's immediate surroundings
mesosystem
connections between microsystems
exosystems
social settings that do not contain children
macrosystem
cultural values, laws, customs and resources
information processing research expanded and
developmental cognitive neuroscience arose
According to the dynamic systems perspective
disruption in the organism-environment relationship prompts children to reorganize their behavior
His theory views development as continuous and discontinuous
Vygotsky's sociocultural theory and the dynamic system perspective
limitations of clinical interview
participants may not accurately report their thoughts, feelings, and experiences
the ethnographic method
is interested in researching the cultural meanings of people's behaviors
Experimental design permits inferences about cause and effect because
the researcher directly controls changes in the INDEPENDENT VARIABLE
