Download - Exploring child development
Chapter 1: Exploring Child Development
Child Development: Age
Infants and Toddlers
Birth-Age 2
Early Childhood
3-6
Middle Childhood
7-11
Adolescence
12+
Defining the Field
In the field of child development, professionals from psychology, education, sociology, anthropology, social work, biology,
medicine, economics, and other related fields work together.
Development
Physical Cognitive Socioemotional
Growth in size, strength, and
muscle coordination.
Changes in how children perceive the world, think,
remember information, and communicate.
Changes in how children interact with other people and manage
their emotions.
Themes in Child Development
Neuroscience
Themes and Child Development
Continued
Multiculturalism and Diversity
Researchers are interested in the
positive and negative effects of diversity on a micro and macro level of
society
Positive Development and Resilience
Mental Illness
Birth Defect
s
Family Problem
s
Abuse
Negative Pathways of Development/Resilience (Positive Psychology)
Review
1. Which of the following professions contribute to the field of child development?
A. PsychologyB. SociologyC. EconomicsD. All of the Above
2. Learning new strategies for solving problems and remember information is part of
A. Cognitive DevelopmentB. Physical DevelopmentC. Social DevelopmentD. Natural Development
Review Continued
3.What was John Watson’s position of the nature-nurture debate?
A. Nature plays the biggest role in child developmentB. Nurture plays the biggest role in child developmentC. Nature and nurture play equal roles in child developmentD. You can never tell which force (nature or nurture) is playing the
biggest role
4. True or False: Genetics is an example of how nature can influence a child’s development.
Review Continued
5. The general conclusion that researchers draw from studies of twins and adopted children is that
A. Nature governs most of child developmentB. Nurture governs most of child developmentC. Nature and nurture both interact to govern child
developmentD. Neither nature or nurture play strong roles in child
development
6. True or False: The fact that IQ scores are more similar between identical twins than between
paternal twins shows the influence of nurture on children’s intellectual development.
Major Developmental Theories
Psychoanalytic Theories
Behavioral and Social Learning Theories
Cognitive Theories
Biological Theories Systems Theories
Psychoanalytic Theory
Freud
Conflict
Psychoanalytic Theory Continued
Freud’s 5 Stages of Psychosexual
Development
Personality is well
developed by the end
of adolescence
Psychoanalytical Theory Continued:
Psychosocial Theory
Erik Erikso
n
Development of
Healthy Ego Identity
Personality Development
is Lifelong
Behavioral and Social Learning Theories (Ivan Pavlov & John Watson)
• Focus on observable conditions in environment and how they relate to observable behaviors
Explains many
development of fears.
Behavioral and Social Learning Theories
Continued: Operant Conditioning (B.F. Skinner)
Social Learning Theory Continued
(Albert Bandura)
Cognitive TheoriesFocus on
how children learn to
think
Jean Piaget
Assimilation: The process of bringing new tasks into a scheme that already exists in the mind. If assimilation is unsuccessful, the accommodation needs to be accommodated. (Child drops the ball)
Accomodation: Process of adjusting or adapting a scheme to better fit the new example. (Child learns to hold the ball with both hands)
Cognitive Theory Continued:Sociocultural Theory
Lev Vygotsky
Emphasized how children adopt
the thought structures
represented in the language
and culture that surrounds them.
Biological TheoriesNeuroscience
Ethology: An area of study focusing on the adaptive significance and survival value of behaviors.
Biological Theories Continued:
Konrad LorenzImprinti
ng
Biological Theories Continued: Survival of the Fittest
Charles Darwin
Systems Theories:Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological System
Systems Theory Continued:
Dynamic Systems Theory
Theories that use models from mathematics and physics to understand complex systems of development.
Dynamic systems theories depart from conventional approaches because they seek to understand the overall behavior of a system not by dissecting it into parts, but by asking how and under what circumstances the parts cooperate to produce a whole pattern.
This theory tries to predict future behaviors and events based off statistics.
Review
1. Who proposed that an important component of personality forms when a child identifies with the same-sex parent?
A. Sigmund FreudB. Erik EriksonC. B.F. SkinnerD. Urie Bronfenbrenner
2. The microsystem, mesosystem, and macrosystem are parts of
A. Erikson’s Psychoanalytic TheoryB. Banduras Social Learning TheoryC. Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems TheoryD. Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory
3. Which of the following is NOT one of the useful functions served by theories?
A. Theories summarize the facts as currently knownB. Theories allow prediction of future behavior and eventsC. Theories contradict the facts gathered by scientific
observation
Review Continued
4. True or False: The CT scan, PET scan, and fMRI are tools used in neuroscience to study brain development.
5. In her research on reading, Dr. Sam uses measures such as the number of words a child can pronounce correctly and analyzes how this relates to their scores on reading comprehension tests. Dr. Sam is most likely using which theory to guide her work?
A. BehaviorismB. Cognitive TheoryC. Contextual TheoryD. Psychoanalytic Theory
6. True or False: Dynamic Systems Theories are useful in isolating variables like nature and nurture and determining which one has the most influence on development.
Research in Child Development
Helps identify patterns
in childhood behavior
Descriptive Methods: Research methods that describe a behavior of interest, such as how often it occurs and under what conditions.
Correlation Method: Research method that measures the degree to which two or more variables are related or associated.
Scientific Method
Positive Correlation: Hypothetical correlation where higher reading scores in second grade tend to be associated with families who read more to children at preschool age.Negative Correlation: Hypothetical
correlation where lower birth weights tend to be associated with babies born to mothers who consumed more alcoholic beverages during pregnancy
Research in Child Development
Continued: Path Analysis
Sets of multiple correlations that
show how several variables relate to
one another
Research in Child Development Continued:
Hypothetical Experiment
Independent
Variable
Dependent
Variable
Experiments
The variable that the
researchers systematically manipulate in
the experiment.
The variable that
represent the outcomes that we
measure; outcomes are dependent on
the manipulation
of the independent
variable
Researchers systematically manipulate the
independent variable to
determine if it causes a
difference in the dependent variable.
Research in Child Development Continued:
Methods for Assessing Development
Cohort effects are differences
in behavior that result
from unique experiments of
people who grow up in
different time periods
Ethics in Research with Children
Review
1. Which of the following research methods is capable of demonstrating a cause-and-effect relationship?
A. Correlational MethodsB. Experimental MethodsC. Path Analysis Methods D. All of the above
2. True or False: Differential Dropout is a problem that plagues the cross-sectional method of assessing development.
3. True or False: One reason that all researchers must have their studies approved by an institutional review board before working with children is so that the rights and privacy of the children will be well protected.4. Attendance in school tends to decline as drug use increases. This is an example ofA. Positive Effect B. Negative CorrelationC. Lack of Correlation D. Cohort Correlation
Review Continued
5. Dr. Jorgenson conducted an experiment to test the effectiveness of a new parent training program. She randomly assigned 40 parents to two groups. One group received the new parent training program, and the other group received the old standard program. After the training programs were finished, Dr. Jorgenson asked each parent to rate their interactions with their children. In this scenario, what is the independent variable?
A. The two-parent training programs ( new versus standard)B. The interaction rating given by each parent after the training.C. The number of parents assigned to each training program.D. The amount of time each parent spent in the training program.
6. Which of the following is the most important limitation of correlational research?
A. It is difficult to obtain positive correlations.B. Correlation does not prove causation.C. Correlational research cannot describe the complex relations among three or more
variables.D. Correlation coefficients do not tell you anything about the strength of the relationship
between variables
Social PolicyAttempts to
improve the lives of children and
families by using child development research to affect laws, regulations,
and programs.
Review
1. Research findings about child development have been usedA. To offer practical advice to parents about raising children.B. To stimulate new laws, government regulations, and other social
policies.C. To help professionals work with children in therapeutic, educational,
and other settings.D. All of the Above
2. True or False: People interesting in working with children, or working to improve the lives of children, can find employment in social service agencies, government agencies, and many corporations.
3. True or False: Child development researchers are often responsible for evaluating how changes in social policy affect children.
4. An overall theme of this chapter is that the best and most reliable information about child development comes fromA. Casual observation of childrenB. The personal opinions of authoritiesC. The personal stories told by parentsD. Research that uses the scientific method