Chap01revised 1211869017232114-8-1

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Perspectives on Development

• Psychologists as “parenting experts”
– John B. Watson
• Rigid feeding schedules
• Traditional parenting makes children emotionally
weak
– Benjamin Spock
• Urged open displays of affection
• Avoid too much conflict over weaning and toilet
training
– The Internet Web site “Experts”

“Copyright © Allyn & Bacon

Nature versus Nurture
• Idealists or Rationalists
– Plato, Descartes
• Some knowledge is inborn
– Jean-Jacques Rousseau
• All human beings are naturally good
• Seek experiences that help promote growth
• Empiricists
– John Locke
• Tabula Rasa
– All knowledge is created from experience
– Environmental factors change development


Nature versus Nurture
• G. Stanley Hall
– Milestones were dictated by inborn
developmental plan
• Identify norms
• John Watson
– Behaviorism
• Children can be trained through manipulation of
the environment
• “Little Albert”


Internal and External Influences

• Maturation
– Genetically programmed sequential patterns
of change
• Universal
• Sequential
• Relatively impervious to environmental influences


Continuity-Discontinuity Issue
• Continuity
– Quantitative change

• Discontinuity
– Stages of development
– Qualitative change


• Timing of Experience
– Experience may be needed to trigger genetic
programs
– Critical periods
• Goslings
– Sensitive periods
• A time when a particular experience can be best
incorporated into the maturational process


• Behavior Genetics
– Study of identical and fraternal twins
– Adopted children studies

– Heredity affects a broad range of behaviors
• Height, body shape, tendency towards obesity
• General intelligence
• Spatial visual ability
• Reading disability
• Alcoholism, schizophrenia, depression
• Temperament – emotionality, activity, sociability

• Gene-Environment Interaction
– Child’s genetic heritage may predict
something about environment

– Heritage may affect the way a child behaves
with other people

– Children’s interpretations of their experiences
are influenced by genetic tendencies


• Internal Models of Experience
– A set of core ideas about the world,
him/herself, relationships with others –
through which all subsequent experiences are
filtered
• Aslin’s Model of Environmental Influence
– 5 models of possible gene-environment
interaction (see next slide)


Aslin’s Model of Environmental
Influence

Aslin’s Model “Copyright © Allyn & Bacon

The Ecological Perspective
• Ecology – context in which each child develops
– Urie Bronfenbrenner
• Children are raised in a complex social ecology

– Patterson’s research on origins of antisocial behavior
• Parents using poor discipline
• Rejection by peers
• Academic difficulties
• Deviant peer group

– Culture is a large influence
• Individualism versus collectivism


Vulnerability and Resilience
• Vulnerabilities
– Difficult temperament, physical abnormality,
allergies, alcoholism
• Protective factors
– High intelligence, good coordination, easy
temperament
• Facilitative environments encourage
development
• Children high in protective factors show
resilience even in difficult environments

Figure 1.3

Horowitz’s
Model


Theories of Development
• Psychoanalytic Theories
– Behavior is governed by unconscious as well
as conscious processes.
– Sigmund Freud
• Libido
• Defense mechanisms
• Personality Structure
– Id, ego, superego
• Psychosexual Stages
– Oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital


Psychoanalytic Theories
• Eric Erikson
– Psychosocial stages
• Children are influenced by cultural demands that
are age related
• Children must interact in a positive way with the
environment for a healthy personality to form
– Trust versus Mistrust
» Caregivers must be responsive and loving
» Mistrust may lead to difficulty in forming intimate
relationships as an adult


Cognitive-Developmental and
Information-Processing Theory
• Jean Piaget
– Adaptation - the nature of the human
organism is to adapt to its environment
• Assimilation
• Accommodation
• Equilibration
– Stage theory of cognitive development
• All children go through the same kinds of
sequential discoveries about their world
• Children must progress through 4 distinct stages


• Lev Vygotsky
• Complex forms of thinking have their
origins in social interactions
– Scaffolding
• Guiding the child’s learning by a skilled social
partner through modeling and structure
– Zone of Proximal Development
• That range of tasks which are too hard to do for
the child by themselves but that they can do with
the help of a skilled social partner


• Information Processing Theory
– Explains how the mind manages information
– Uses computer models to explain learning
– Explicit theories about memory formation
• Sensory memory
• Short-term memory
• Long-term memory
- Identified both age-related and individual
differences in information processing


Figure 1.4 Information
Processing Research


Learning Theory
• Classical Conditioning - Ivan Pavlov
– Influences emotional responses

• Operant Conditioning – B.F. Skinner
– Operant conditioning
• Positive reinforcement
• Negative reinforcement
• Punishment


Learning Theory
• Social Cognitive Theory – Albert Bandura
– Observational learning or modeling
• Can be used for learning both abstract concepts
and concrete skills
– Intrinsic reinforcement
• Internal reinforcers such as pride
– Does not indicate developmental changes
that accompany age


Comparing Theories
• Assumptions
– Active or passive?
– Nature or nurture?
– Stability or change?
• Usefulness
– Generate predictions?
– Heuristic value?
– Practical value?
• Eclectic Approach

Questions to Ponder?
• Examine your own childhood

– What are three influential factors from your
childhood environment that helped to shape
who you are today?

– What are three important biological or genetic
traits that helped to shape who you are
today?


Research Designs and
Methods
• Four Goals for the scientific study of
human development
– Describe

– Predict

– Understand

– Influence


Age-Related Changes
• Cross-Sectional Designs
– Cross-sectional research is very useful
because it is relatively quick to do

– Can give indications of possible age
differences or age changes

– Cohort – age-related differences due to
grouping by age


Age-Related Changes
• Longitudinal Designs
Only by studying the same children over time
(that is, longitudinally), can developmentalists
identify consistencies (or changes) in behavior
across age
• Study of individuals or groups over a long
period of time
• Can identify individual differences and
compare them to group differences


Age-Related Changes
• Sequential Designs

– Allow for comparison of cohorts while incorporating
some degree of individual differences.


Figure 1.5 A Hypothetical
Sequential Study of Attention Span


Identifying Relationships
Between Variables
• Naturalistic • Case Studies
Observations
– In-depth examinations
– Observe people in of single individuals
their normal
environments – Extremely useful in
making decisions
– Observer bias about individuals

– Have limited – Frequently the basis of
generalizability important hypotheses
about unusual
developmental events

Identifying Relationships
Between Variables
• Correlations • Positive correlation
– High scores on one
– Number ranging from variable are usually
accompanied by high
-1.00 to +1.00 scores on the other

– Describes the strength
• Negative correlation
of a relationship
between two variables – Two variables that
move in opposite
directions


Limits of Correlations

They do not reveal causal relationships

That is, one variable does not cause another
to occur


Experiments
• Control Group

– Dependent variable
• Experimental Group

– Independent variable

• Quasi-experiments


CROSS-CULTURAL
RESEARCH

– Ethnography
• Extensive study of one culture

– Direct comparison of two or more cultures
• Fernald & Morikawa (1993)
– 30 Japanese mothers and infants were
compared to 30 American mothers and infants


Figure 1.6


RESEARCH ETHICS
• Protection of animal rights and human
subjects

– Protection from harm
– Informed consent
– Confidentiality
– Knowledge of results
– Deception


1 Prenatal Development And
End Show
Birth

“This multimedia product and its contents are protected under copyright law. The following are prohibited by law:
• any public performance or display, including transmission of any image over a network;
• preparation of any derivative work, including the extraction, in whole or part, pf any images;
• any rental, lease, or lending of the program.”

“Copyright @ Allyn & Bacon 2007”

Chap01revised 1211869017232114-8-1

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