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