and Background Theories
Chapter 1
Learning Objectives
Learning Objective 1.1 Understand the philosophical and historical roots of child psychology. Learning Objective 1.2 How can we understand the influences of nature and nurture, stability and change, and uniformity and variation on child development?
Learning Objectives
Learning Objective 1.3 Describe two major theories of cognitive development. Learning Objective 1.4 Describe the sociocultural approach to Development Learning Objective 1.5 Describe how environmental/learning approaches explain development. Learning Objective 1.6 Understand evolutionary and biological approaches to development.
What Is Developmental Psychology?
Developmental psychology: as a scientific endeavor concerned with changes in behaviour and abilities across the lifespan Child psychology: focuses on the development of children from conception to adolescence.
Relate theory and research
Researchers: Investigate Search for data Observe the world Do we need theory? What for? Guide research Think of problems that lead to questions Guide the interpretation of data
Issues in Developmental Psychology
NATURE vs. NURTURE
Does developmental change occur due to biological factors or environmental factors? Is developmental change smooth and constant (continuous) or in stages (discontinuous)? Is the focus of the researcher on universals of development (normative) or
DISCONTINUITY vs. CONTINUITY
NORMATIVE vs. IDIOGRAPHIC
lank slate adaptation anguage
Early theorists and their influence
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Environmen tal Learning Cognitive PIaget Sociocultural Vygotsky Evolutionary & Biological
Rousseau Von HerderDarwin
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Locke
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Nativism drive to develop Tabula rasa Innate Cultural relativism Selection Natural
Early Theorists
John Locke (1632-1704)
Children gain knowledge through experience and learning Environmentalist perspective: children are products exclusively of their upbringing Tabula rasa: The mind is a blank slate at birth; this suggests that all behaviours are learned Argued that children are born with innate knowledge that drives development and guides exploration/discovery (nativism)
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)
Early Theorists
Johann Gottried von Herder (1744-1803)
Understanding the specifics of a culture is crucial to study human development (shaped by and embedded in socio-cultural context. (cultural relativism vs ethnocenriism). Language as vehicle of cultural values.
Charles Darwin (1809-1882)
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Assumptions: 1. Variations. 2. Biology. 3. Competition Coadaptation and biological drive with survival as a goal - Natural selection: traits that confer advantages allow the organism to survive and are passed on to
Zeitgeist
Zeit = time Geist = spirit 17th century: Environmentalism 18th century: Romanticism. nativism, cultural relativism 19th century: Evolutionary perspective (Darwin) Founders of child development as a science: Stanley Hall, Baldwin, Gessell, Freud
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TRADITIONS
DARWIN ADAPTI VE SURVIV AL
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FAMILIES
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INTERNALLY MOTIVATED COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
Pioneers of Child Psychology
G. Stanley Hall
Founder of the field child psychology Founded: APA, scientific journals First systematic studies of children in NA. Trained the first generation of researchers Recapitulation theory First Canadian academic psychologist to study development Sequence of stages. Baby biography
James Mark Baldwin
Pioneers of Child Psychology
John B. Watson (environmentalist perspective)
Observable behaviour. Research methods: Observation instead of introspection Conditioning processes simple reflexes and stimuli through association and combination explain complex behaviour such as thought) Critical perspective focused on maturational processes Growth and emergence of motor skills follow patterns Observation produced still valid age-related norms for development
Arnold Gesell (nativist perspective)
Pioneers of Child Psychology
Sigmund Freud
Psychosexual development (5 stages) Quest for pleasure First developmental theorist to propose that development represents an interaction between biological systems and environmental influences (interactionist perspective)
Erik Erikson
Pioneers of Child Psychology
Sigmund Freud
Child is born with a certain amount of sexual energy (libido). Sexual not in an adult sense of the term, but as a drive to seek pleasure under the influence of the life instinct. Progress of libido through stages. Suggested that early childhood experiences are critical for adulthood
Freud: Theory of psychosexual development
Five-stages: At various stages of development, libido is focused within certain bodily regions called erogenous zones Stimulation of these regions results in pleasure and gratification Children move from stage to stage to achieve genital (adult) stage at adolescence
Psychosexual development
Oral stage Anal stage Phallic stage Latency Genital
Mouth/breast, mother/child dependency issues, addictions (smoke, drink) Sphincter control order, cleaning control,
Oedipus complex internalize moral standards, Identification with parents Relative libido inactivity school, rule-like activities. Libido reemerges in the genital area, attraction to peers outside
ioneers of Child Psychology
Sigmund Freud
Freuds theory of child development = a theory of personality formation. Traumatic childhood experiences cause a child to become fixated (stuck) in the earlier stage This fixation will manifest itself in later adult behaviour
Pioneers of Child Psychology
Sigmund Freud Most complex stage: Phallic Oedipus complex. Love to parent of opposite sex is experienced in phallic (sexual) terms. Conflict with parent of same sex is resolved through Repression of libido, and identification with same sex parent. Leads to search for mate outside the family after latency stage.
Pioneers of Child Psychology
Erik Erikson Progression from stage to stage is oriented by the quest for identity. Each stage involves conflict, resolution and the goal of reaching a specific strength. Conflict between a positive and a negative feeling. Conflict resolution implies a predominance of the positive characteristic and a slight inclusion of the negative one. Related to Donald Winnicotts notion of
Theories of Development
Developmental psychologists align themselves with specific theoretical approaches or perspectie
Cognitive-developmental approach Sociocultural approach Environmental/learning approach Evolutionary and approach
USSEAU biological & LANGUAGE CGESSELL ATSON ULTURE / ERIKSON LRS PROCESSINGTH COGNITIVE THEORY SOGICAL PERSPECTIVE ION ECOLOGICAL TH. CIAL-LEARNING OTRANGE SITUATION CHERDERLEARNING ARWIN OGNITIVE THEORY PERANT ENTTIMETABLE EV. SHAPES DEV. ARY BIOLOGICAL
Theories of development
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FAMILIES
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LOCKE
Piaget was a biologist with strong interests in how children acquire knowledge
Cognitive-Developmental Approaches:
The nature of childrens knowledge changes as they develop Genetic epistemology We cannot understand what knowledge is unless we understand how it is acquired and how it changes with development
Cognitive-Developmental Approaches:
knowledge is in perpetual evolution; it finds itself changed from one day to the next. ()The current state of knowledge is a moment in history, changing (rapidly). Scientific thought, then, it is not momentary; it is not a static instance; it is a process. More specifically, it is a process of continual construction and reorganisation.
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Cognitive-Developmental Approaches:
Schemes
the cognitive structures (action patterns) that are used to understand the world reflect an object in the environment and the childs reaction to that object Equilibration The goal of adaptation biological drive to achieve a state of balance between existing schemes new knowledge in relation to the environment.
Cognitive-Developmental Approaches:
Development is the reorganization of knowledge into more complex schemes Two functions guide cognitive development Organization: New knowledge must be
merged with old knowledge Adaptation: The survival of an organism depends on its ability to fit with the environment
Cognitive-Developmental Approaches:
Cognitive adaptation is promoted by
Assimilation: Making sense of new information using existing schemes Accommodation: Changing the existing schemes to fit with new information
Cognitive-Developmental Approaches:
Children move through four stages
Sensorimotor period: Birth through age 2
Preoperational period: Age 2 to 6
Infant schemes are simple reflexes and knowledge reflects interactions with people and objects Child begins to use symbols (words, numbers) to represent the world cognitively
Cognitive-Developmental Approaches:
Piagets four stages (contd)
Concrete operations: Age 6 to 11
Formal operations: Age 12 through adulthood
Child performs mental operations and logical problem solving Child can use formal problem solving and higher level abstract thinking
Cognitive-Developmental Approaches: Information
Human cognitive processes are similar to the operations of computers Cognition is a system formed of three parts
Sensory input Information processing Behavioural output
Specific cognitive processes vs.
The Sociocultural Approach: Vygotskys Theory
Vygotsky was a product of a Marxist environment, which emphasized socialism and collectivism Individual cognitive development is a product of culture (embedded in social context) Thinking develops through social interaction (language) Culture = parents = languages as tools of intellectual adaptation. Through guided interactions with more experienced members of society, children
The Sociocultural Approach: Bronfenbrenners Ecological
Bronfenbrenners perspective: Development occurs within broader social and cultural environment An understanding of development involves an understanding of the interaction of childs characteristics and childs environment (transactional influence)
The Sociocultural Approach: Bronfenbrenners Ecological
Transactional approach
Context
Developmentally generative
Environmental/Learning Approaches
Explain how a childs experiences produce developmental changes
Behaviour psychology
relies heavily on learning theory to explain development does not invoke unseen cognitive processes to explain development
Environmental/Learning Approaches
Human behaviour is acquired rather than inborn Learning refers to a relatively permanent change in behaviour that results from practice or experience Characteristics of learning:
Definition excludes transitory changes Learning is reflected in observable behaviour
Types of Learning
Habituation: the decline of a reflex response after repeated elicitation Classical conditioning: a form of learning in which a neutral stimulus is paired with a reflexive stimulus; after several pairings, the neutral stimulus now elicits a response Operant learning: a form of learning in which behaviour changes as a result of reinforcers (positive /negative) or
Environmental/Learning Approaches
B.F. Skinner focused on two distinct forms of learning:
Respondent (classical): Environmental stimuli elicit reflexive responses (ex: salivation response) Operant: The impact of voluntary behaviours on the environment
Operant behaviours are controlled by their effects
Child places a quarter in a candy machine and the machine delivers 30 candy bars
Classical Conditioning Practice
Classical conditioning (Pavlov/Watson): 1) UCS U CR ; 2) UCS NS; 3 ) CS CR Ex: loud noise; fear; rat Generalization: explains how not directly present come to elicit CR. Ex.: cotton wool, rabbit, Watsons hair
Classical Conditioning Practice
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Counter conditioning: Conditioning in which a second incompatible response is conditioned to an already conditioned stimulus CS is intentionally S evoking pleasant
Extinction: The conditioned association
Operant Conditioning: Reinforcement vs punishment
What is the difference between reinforcement and punishment?
What is the difference between positive and negative reinforcement?
Social-Learning Theory
Bandura added the concept of observational learning to environmental/learning theory Observational Learning: Children learn by observing models and, as a result, experience vicarious punishment or vicarious reinforcement Children imitate their models Human development involves an interaction between a persons
Social-Learning Theory
Banduras Theory of Observational Learning
Figure 1.2 Banduras model of observational learning. Adapted from Albert Bandura, Social Learning Theory, 1977, p. 23. Reprinted by permission of Prentice-Hall, Inc., Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.
Evolutionary and Biological Approaches
The focus of ethology is on the role of evolutionary processes in development Relevance of studying animal behaviour
Classical Ethology
Ethology: human development in the context of the entire animal kingdom. Research involves non-human species Characteristics of innate mechanisms
Are universal Require no learning or experience Are stereotyped Are minimally affected by the environment
Classical Ethology
Sensitive periods: learning is biologically programmed to occur easily (nature and nurture)
Imprinting emotional bonds formed by young members of a species with their mothers (e.g. Lorenzs ducklings)
Bowlbys observations on institutionalized infants supported the idea that close mother-infant bond attachment is crucial to survival of young
Applications of Ethological Theory