Guideposts for Study 1. What purposes do theories

serve? 2. What are three basic theoretical

issues on which developmental scientists differ?

______________: Coherent set of logically related concepts that seeks to organize, explain, and predict data.

________________________: Possible explanations for phenomena, used to predict the outcome of research.

Basic Theoretical Issues Issue 1: Which is More

Important—Heredity or Environment?

_________________/Nature: Inborn traits and characteristics inherited from the biological parents.

Environment/______: influences, both before and after birth, including influences of family, peers, schools, neighborhoods, society and culture.

Research points to a blend of inheritance and experience

Basic Theoretical Issues Issue 2: Are Children Active or

Passive in their Development? 1. _____________ Model: people are

like machines that react to environmental input

2. _____________ Model : people are active, growing organisms that set their own development in motion

1. Mechanistic Model _______: children are a clean slate,

tabula rasa, upon which society writes

People are like machines that react to environmental input

Prediction of human behavior based upon __________ and _________forces at work

2. Organismic Model _______________: Children are “noble

savages” who would develop according to positive natural tendencies unless corrupted by a repressive society

Children are _________, growing, changing organisms

People initiate events, not simply react to them

Human behavior is a complex _______ unit; it cannot be broken down into small parts

Basic Theoretical Issues

Issue 3: Is Development Continuous, or Does It Occur in Stages?

Continuous: Mechanistic Approach Change is quantitative, increasing in

__________ rather than changes in quality or type

Change in the frequency with which a response is made, rather than changes in the __________of response

Learning Theorists, e.g., Watson and Skinner

Stages: Organismic Approach Change is qualitative, occurring in a

series of _____________ stages At each stage people cope with

different kinds of problems and develop different kinds of ______________

Each stage builds on the previous one and prepares the way for the next

Is development continuous, or does it

occur in stages?

Basic Theoretical Issues An Emerging Consensus

Developmentalists are coming to a more balanced view of active versus passive development

Influence is ___________________: children change their world even as it changes them

Example: a baby girl born with a cheerful disposition is likely to get positive responses from adults, which strengthens her trust that her smiles will be rewarded and motivates her to smile more