Download Chapter 2

Child Psychology:
The Modern Science, 3e
by
Vasta, Haith, and Miller
Paul J. Wellman
Texas A&M University
John Wiley and Sons, Inc. © 1999
PowerPoint  Presentation: Chapter 2
Theories of Child Development
Developmental Psychologists

Developmental psychologists align
themselves with
– Specific age groups (infants or adolescents)
– Specific theoretical approaches
• Cognitive-developmental approach
• Environmental/learning approach
• Ethological approach
© 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Cognitive-Developmental Approach

Piaget was a biologist with strong interests
in how children acquire knowledge
– Piaget argued that the nature of children’s
knowledge changes as they develop
– Schemes refer to the cognitive structures that
are used to understand the world
– Schemes reflect an object in the environment
and the child’s reaction to that object
– For Piaget, development is the reorganization
of knowledge into more complex schemes
© 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Cognitive Functions: Piaget

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 adaptation is promoted by
– Assimilation, which refers to making sense of
new information using existing cognitive
structures
– Accommodation, which occurs when the existing
structure must be changed to fit new information
© 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Stage Theories


Developmental change can occur either in
a continuous fashion or can occur in
discontinuous steps
Stage theories suggest that development
of a function occurs in steps that are
qualitatively different
– Implies a progressive orderly series of stages
– Implies that persons move through the stages
in the same order and at approximately the
same time
© 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Piaget’s Theory of
Cognitive Development

Children move through four stages
– Sensorimotor period: Birth through age 2
• Infant schemes are simple reflexes and interactions
with people and objects
– Preoperational period: Age 2 to 6
• Child begins to use symbols but not problem solving
– Concrete operations: Age 6 to 11
• Child performs mental operations (conservation)
– Formal operations: Age 12 through adulthood
• Child can use formal problem solving and higher
level abstract thinking
© 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Environmental/Learning
Approaches


The environmental/learning approach
argues that human behavior is acquired
rather than inborn
Learning refers to a relatively permanent
change in behavior that results from
practice or experience
– Definition excludes transitory changes such
as exhaustion or drug actions
– Learning is reflected in observable behavior
– Learning is not due to biological maturation
© 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Behavioral Analysis

B.F. Skinner focused on two distinct
forms of learning:
– Respondent: Environmental stimuli elicit
reflexive responses (salivation in response
to a steak)
– Operant: Refers to the impact of voluntary
behaviors on the environment
• Operant behaviors are controlled by their effects
• Child places a quarter in a candy machine and
the machine delivers 30 candy bars rather than
one; the child is more likely to place a quarter in
that machine on the next occasion
© 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Behavioral Analysis

The goal of behavior analysis is to
explain how a child’s experiences
interact with biological processes to
produce development
– Behavior analysis relies heavily on learning
theory to explain development
– Behavior analysis does not invoke unseen
cognitive processes to explain development
© 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Forms of Learning



Habituation refers to the decline of a reflex
response after repeated elicitation
Classical conditioning refers to 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 focuses attention on the
positive and negative effects of behaviors
© 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Bandura’s Theory of
Observational Learning
(Figure adapted with permission from Albert Bandura, Social Learning Theory, © 1977, p. 23.
Reprinted by permission of Prentice-Hall, Inc., Upper Saddle River, New Jersey).
© 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Reciprocal Determinism
(Figure adapted with permission from “Self System in Reciprocal Determinism” by Albert Bandura,
1978, American Psychologist, 33, p. 345. Copyright © 1978 by the American Psychological Association)
© 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Ethology


The focus of ethology is on the role of
evolutionary processes in development
Ethology suggests two determinants of
behavior:
– Immediate environmental and internal states
– Evolutionary determinants refer to the idea
that behaviors are functional and that certain
behaviors may have conferred evolutionary
advantages to an animal, allowing it to
survive and to reproduce
© 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Innate Mechanisms

Ethologists argue that innate behaviors
– Are universal to all members of the species
– Require no learning or experience
– Are stereotyped (similar form)
– Are minimally affected by the environment

“Sensitive periods” are periods during
which learning is biologically programmed
to occur easily
– Imprinting refers to the emotional bonds
formed by young members of a species with
their mothers (Lorenz’s ducklings)
© 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Development in Context
(Figure reprinted with permission from U. Bronfenbrenner, from C. Kopp/Krakow,
Child Development in the Social Context, (figure 12.1), © 1982 by Addison-Wesley
Publishing Co.)
© 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Copyright
Copyright 1999 by John Wiley and Sons, New York, NY.
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