The Development of Children
Sixth Edition
Cynthia Lightfoot
Michael Cole
Sheila R. Cole
Chapter 1:
The Study of Human
Development
PSYC 206
Lifespan Development
Bilge Yagmurlu
Chapter Overview
I.
II.
III.
1.
2.
3.
4.
IV.
V.
Developmental Science
Children, Society, and Science (History)
The Central Issues of Developmental Science
Sources of Development
Plasticity
Continuity/Discontinuity
Individual Difference
Theories of Development
Methods for Studying Development
2
IV. Theories of Development
•
Theory:
– A broad conceptual framework to guide the
collection and interpretation of facts.
•
•
Development is approached from several
theoretical perspectives:
Grand Theories
Modern Theories
3
Theoretical Perspectives
•
Four Grand Theories:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Psychodynamic theories
Social Learning theories
Piaget’s Constructivist theory
Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory
4
Psychodynamic Theories
•
Perspective:
– Theories exploring the influence of the universal
biological drives and life experiences of individuals
on development.
– Sigmund Freud and Erik Erikson
5
Key Psychodynamic Theories
– Freud: psychosexual stages are associated with the
changing focus of the sex drive
– Mental structures: id, ego and superego
– Levels of consciousness: conscious, preconscious,
unconscious
– Emphasis on infancy and childhood.
– Development takes place in 5 stages.
– Emphasis on biological drives.
6
Key Psychodynamic Theories
– Erik Erikson: psychosocial stages are
associated with tasks or crises shaped by social
and cultural factors.
– Emphasis on life span development.
– Development takes place in 8 stages. Each
stage is associated with a main task which is
source of conflict. Successful resolution of
conflict leads to healthy development.
– Emphasis on sociocultural context.
7
Psychodynamic Theories
8
Learning Theories
•
Perspective:
– Development is the result of learning.
– Behavioral changes result from the individual’s
forming associations between behavior and
consequences.
– Developmental change is gradual and
continuous.
•
Key Learning Theorists
– John B. Watson
– B. F. Skinner
– Albert Bandura
9
Watson: Extreme position: development is the
product of learning alone.
“Give me a dozen healthy infants...”
Shy children are shaped into their
temperaments because they have learned to
be shy through interactions with family
members and teachers.
Skinner-type behaviorism: biological factors
provide a foundation, but learning is the major
cause of developmental change-- especially
patterns of reward and punishment.
10
Social learning theory (Bandura & Mischel): We
are not like mindless robots, responding
mechanically to others in our environment.
– Emphasizes both environmental and
personal/cognitive factors such as values and
beliefs.
– Two concepts introduced:
1)Modeling: process by which children observe
and imitate others.
2) Self-efficacy: beliefs about own abilities
11
Social Learning Theories
Behavior modification programs: depend on
the viewpoint that behavior problems (such
as aggression and extreme inhibition) are
learned, so they can also be unlearned.
12
Piaget’s Constructivist Theory
•
Perspective:
– Cognitive development results from children’s
active construction of reality based on their
experiences with the world.
– Children actively construct their own cognitive
worlds. Information is not just poured into their
minds from environment or they don’t simply
“discover” the world.
13
•
Concepts:
– Schema: the most basic unit of cognitive
functioning
– Mental structure that provides a model for
understanding the world.
– Maturation and accumulating
experience/knowledge demand making an
organization and adaptation in our
schemas
14
• Adaptation strengthens or transforms schemas:
– Assimilation: when individuals incorporate
new information into their existing knowledge
• newborns reflexively suck everything that touches
their lips
– Accommodation: when individuals change
their existing knowledge structures to adjust
to new information
• after several weeks of experience, differentiate
between suckable objects (mother’s breast,
fingers) & non-suckable objects (fuzzy blankets)
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• Adaptation strengthens or transforms schemas
and helps the child find a balance between new
experiences and existing schemas. This creates
a new balance in the child’s understading. This
process is called equilibration.
• Equilibration is the main source of
development. Brings the child to a new stage.
• Further imbalances appear as the child matures
biologically and gains new experiences.
16
Piaget’s Constructivist Theory
– Stages and processes of cognitive
development are universal.
– Pace of development may vary depending
on the environmental factors.
– Both innate factors and environment play
important roles in development.
17
Piaget’s Constructivist Theory
18
Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory
•
•
Perspective:
Emphasizes the role of children’s cultural groups
in organizing their experiences
– the same biological and environmental factors
may have different consequences for
development when they appear in different
cultural contexts
19
Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory
•
Zone of Proximal Development:
The gap between what children can accomplish
independently and what they can accomplish when
interacting with others who are more competent.
Vygotsky’s theory focuses on
1) children learning through finely tuned interactions
with others who are more competent.
2)the role of culture in development
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Four Grand Theories
21
Influential Modern Theories
•
Four Modern Theories
1.
2.
3.
4.
Evolutionary Theories
Information-Processing Theories
Systems Theories
Critical Theories
22
Evolutionary Theories
•
Perspective:
– Theories look at how human
characteristics contributed to
the survival of the species and
to how our evolutionary past
influences individual
development.
– What products of evolution do
children possess that insures
they will be cared for?
23
Information-Processing Theories
•
Perspective:
– Theories look at how children process, store,
organize, retrieve, and manipulate information in
increasingly efficient ways.
•
•
Analogous with computer processing
Topics: attention, memory, social problem
solving strategies etc.
24
System Theories
•
Perspective:
– Theories that envision development in terms of
complex wholes made up of parts and that explore
how these wholes and their parts are organized
and interact over time.
25
System Theories
•
Dynamic systems theory:
– Focuses on the development of new systems of
behavior from the interaction of less complex parts
– E.g., reaching and grasping behavior
•
Ecological systems theory:
–
Focuses on the organization of the environmental
contexts within which children develop.
26
Uri Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological system
27
Uri Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological system
– Child develops in multiple, nested and
interacting environmental systems
– Child is at the centre
– Microsystem: the setting in which the
individual has face-to-face interactions.
• Family is the most important microsystem for
a young child.
28
Uri Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological system
• Mesosystem: connections between
microsystems
• Number and quality of connections betwen
settings have important implications for child’s
development.
• Do parents and teachers communicate with
one another often?
• Do they have similar expectations of him?
29
Uri Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological system
• Exosystem: experiences in a setting where the
individual does not have an active role.
• Contexts experienced vicariously and yet have
impact on child.
• E.g., child realizes stress of parent’s workplace
without ever being in these places.
• Macrosystem: involves the culture in which
the individual lives– values, beliefs, customs,
dominant ideologies…
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Critical Theories
•
Perspective:
– Theories that address cultural biases that may be
present in traditional developmental theories and
that examine power relations between groups and
the influence on development gender, race,
ethnicity, and socioeconomic class.
•
Feminist approaches
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V. Methods of Studying Development
•
Goals of Developmental Research
1. Basic Research: designed to advance scientific
knowledge of human development
2. Applied Research: designed to answer practical
questions related to improving children’s lives and
experiences.
3. Action Research: designed to provide data that can
be used in social policy decision making.
32
Methods of Studying Development
•
Criteria for Developmental Research
–
–
–
–
–
Objectivity
Reliability
Replicability
Validity
Ethically Sound
33
Research Design
34