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Chapter One
Child Development:
Themes, Theories, and Methods
Page 3 (right)
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What is child development and why should
we study it?
• Sub-area of child psychology
1. Identifies and describes changes in child from
beginning of life to adolescence
• Cognitive
• Emotional
• Motor
• Social capacities and behaviors
2. Uncover processes/strategies underlying the
changes
• Use of research
• Suggest practical applications based on
research
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What exactly does that mean?
• Developmental psychologists are interested in
what things change as children get older and
how these changes come about.
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Themes of Development
• Themes focus on theories and study of
psychological development
• Main theoretical views guide research
• Specific processes and experiences may
account for different aspects of child
development
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Themes of Development
• Themes focus on theories and study of
psychological development
– Origins of human behavior
– Pattern of developmental change over time
– Individual and contextual forces that define
and direct child development
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Page 2 (left)-Reflective Response
• Thinking about Themes in Child PsychologyActivity Sheet #1-B
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Page 5 (right)-Themes of Development
• Biological versus Environmental
Influences: nature vs. nurture
– Disagreement on which influences
development the most
– Genetic or biological processes unfold
naturally in maturation
– Environmental events can shape, modify
– Children are active agents
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Themes of Development
• Continuity(stability) versus Discontinuity
– Continuous process: each new event builds
on earlier experiences in orderly way or
gradual improvement
– Discontinuous process: development occurs
in discrete steps or stages; each stage is a
qualitatively new set of behaviors
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Themes of Development
• Individual Characteristics versus
Contextual and Cultural Influences
– Individual and personality characteristics
direct behaviors
– Environmental influences (family income,
education, death, divorce, remarriage)
– Interactionist view: adopt both
– Resilience or “sleeper” effects?
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Pg. 4 (left) Work it Out: What is Sroufe’s view on
the characteristics of child development?
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Sroufe feels that research indicates…
• That child development is characterized by
continuity and change.
• While many aspects of the child’s psychological,
physical, and behavioral characteristics change
across development, there are many aspects of
the child’s characteristics that remain stable or
consistent across development.
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Theoretical Perspectives on
Development
• Two functions of theories
– Organize and integrate existing information
into coherent, interesting, plausible accounts
of how children develop
– Generate testable hypotheses or predictions
about child behavior
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Page 7 (right)-Theoretical Perspectives
on Development
•
Five general theoretical perspectives
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Structural-Organismic Perspectives
Learning Perspectives
Dynamic Systems Perspectives
Contextual Perspectives
Ethological and Evolutionary Approaches
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Page 6 (left) Graphic Organizer
• Complete the 5 perspective handouts and staple
them in when finished
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Theoretical Perspectives on
Development
• Five general theoretical perspectives
1. Structural-Organismic Approach focuses
on structured set of stages an organism
goes through over the course of
psychological growth (structuralism)
– Used in Freud, Erikson, and Piaget’s
theories
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Freud’s Psychodynamic Theory
Age 12+
Latency Stage
Age 6 - 12
Age 3 - 6
Age 1 - 3
Age 0 - 1
Genital Stage
Phallic Stage
Super Ego
Anal Stage
Oral Stage
Ego
Id
Freud:
Personality is
formed within the
first 6 years
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Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory
Ages 65+
Ages 30 - 65
Ages 20 - 30
Ages 12 - 20
Integrity vs. Despair
Generativity vs. Stagnation
Intimacy vs. Isolation
Identity vs. Role confusion
Ages 6 - 12
Industry vs. Inferiority
Ages 3 - 6
Initiative vs. Guilt
Autonomy vs. Shame/Doubt
Trust vs. Mistrust
Ages 1 - 3
Ages 0 - 1
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Piaget’s Periods of Cognitive Development
Formal
Operational
Concrete
Operational
Preoperational
Sensorimotor
0-2
2-7
7 - 12
Age
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12+
Piaget’s Principle of Adaptation
Adapt to new
information
Assimilation
Reinterpret new experiences so
they fit into old ideas – existing
ideas don’t change, stay same
Accommodation
Revamp old ideas so they can
adapt to new – change current
ways of thinking/ideas so as to
add new knowledge
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Theoretical Perspectives on
Development
• Five general theoretical perspectives
2. Learning Approach
• Behaviorism focuses on learning of behavior;
not unobservable factors or motivations
(Watson, Pavlov, Skinner)
• Classical Conditioning
• Operant Conditioning
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Pavlov’s Classical Conditioning
Neutral stimulus
(metronome)
UCS
UCR (salivation)
Before conditioning: when food
was placed in dish (UCS), the
dog salivated (UCR)
Appearance of food becomes
CS; dog salivation is the CR
CS
CS
CS
CR (salivation)
CR (salivation)
Pairing of metronome with
appearance of food makes
each a Conditioned Stimulus
Play metronome (CS) and dog
salivates (CR) without food
being presented
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Watson’s Classical Conditioning
CS (furry rat)
CR (fear)
UCS (loud noise)
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Skinner’s Operant Conditioning
Quiz grade
of A
earned
If grades or parents’
urging are a ‘reward’
(reinforcement), student
will study well
Task:
study for a quiz
Consequences can
reinforce or decrease
chances of behavior
occurring again
If grades or parents’
urging are not a ‘reward’
(reinforcement), student
will do other activities
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Quiz grade
of F
earned
Theoretical Perspectives on
Development
• Five general theoretical perspectives
2. Learning Approach(continued)
• Cognitive Social Learning Theory: children
learn through behaviorism and from
observation and imitation of role models
(Bandura’s process of imitation)
• Information-Processing Approaches focus
on flow of information through the cognitive
system (brain is like computer)
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Modeled Behavior
ATTENTION
Experience, Personality characteristics,
Relationship with model, Situational variables
RETENTION
Rehearsal, Organization, Recall, Other cognitive skills
REPRODUCTION
Cognitive representation, Concept matching, Use of feedback
MOTIVATION
External & Vicarious incentives, Self-evaluation,
Internalized standards, Social comparison
Matched Behavior
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literature
geography
Information-Processing Theory
science
INPUT
OUTPUT
Information is
taken into brain
history
Information is used as
basis of behaviors and
interactions
religion
math
Information gets
processed, analyzed,
and stored in the brain
until use
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Theoretical Perspectives on
Development
• Five general theoretical perspectives
3. Dynamic Systems Perspective focuses on
changes over time that result from interacting
elements in a complex, integrated system
– Individuals and their achievements can
only be understood within this
framework
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Theoretical Perspectives on
Development
• Five general theoretical perspectives
4. Contextual Perspectives
• Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory –
development is product of social and
cultural experiences
– Emphasizes importance of cultural
variation in development – cultural
tools include language, technology
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Theoretical Perspectives on
Development
• Five general theoretical perspectives
– Contextual Perspectives
• Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory –
experiences and relationships in layers of
environmental systems impact child
development
• The life-span perspective
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Bronfenbrenner’s
Ecological Model
of Development
CHRONOSYSTEM
MACROSYSTEM
EXOSYSTEM
Extended
family
MESOSYSTEM
Friends
of family
Family
Neighbors
Child
Attitudes &
ideologies of
culture
Peers
Legal
services
MICROSYSTEM
Mass
media
Social welfare services
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Theoretical Perspectives on
Development
• Five general theoretical perspectives
5. Ethological and Evolutionary Approaches
• Ethological theory focuses on adaptive or
survival behavior within specific contexts –
observation yields detailed classifications
• Evolutionary developmental psychology focuses
on critical components of human evolutionary
change in the brain and cognitive functioning
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Page 9 (right) - Research Methods in
Child Psychology
• Selecting a sample
– Representativeness of sample – tries to
mirror a larger population by using age,
ethnicity, gender, social class, education,
and culture
– National Survey approach uses a
nationally representative group of people
but it’s costly and time consuming
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Research Methods in Child Psychology
• Methods of Collecting Data on Children
– Children’s Self-Reports
– Reports by Family, Teachers, and Peers
– Direct Observation
• Valuable in examining human behavior
• Specimen Record
• Event Sampling, Time Sampling
• Structured Observation
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Research Methods in Child Psychology
• Research Design: Establishing
Patterns and Causes
– Correlational Method allows researchers
to relate certain experiences or factors to
each other and assess the strength of the
relations
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Frequency with which children watched
“Sesame Street”
Test score gains
Rarely
2 to 3 times
per week
4 to 5 times
per week
More than
5 times
per week
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Research Methods in Child Psychology
• Studying Change Over Time
– Cross-Sectional Method compares different
age levels at about the same point in time
– Longitudinal Method studies same subjects
over time at various points in their life
• Problem: practice effects of repeated
testing
– Sequential Method combines both crosssectional and longitudinal methods
STOP
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Page 8 (left)- Activity Sheet #1-C
• Glue/Staple in this handout and complete the
assignment with a partner.
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Year of evaluation
Cross-sectional
comparisons
Longitudinal
comparisons
1994
Cohort
comparisons
1996
1998
2000
2002
2004
Year of
birth
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Research Methods in Child Psychology
• The Ethics of Research with Children
– Research approved by review boards (i.e.:
APA)
– Informed consent
– Do no harm, especially in deception studies
– A Bill of Child Participants’ Rights in Child
Development Research (Table 1-6)
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Page 10 (left)- Activity Sheet #1-D
• Read pages 30 and 31 in your textbook and
complete this activity with a partner.
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The End
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