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1
Nature, Theory, & Research in Human Development
Chapter 1
2
Basic Developmental Concepts
• Development: age-related changes that are orderly, cumulative, and directional
• Behavioral Reorganization: a qualitative change in the way a developing child organizes and uses his or her capabilities (stage)
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Basic Developmental Concepts
• Qualitative changes: novel ability emerges that can’t be measured with a previous standard of measurement– Ex: Babbling babies eventually learn to
say actual words– Ex: Egocentric toddlers become young
adults with empathy for others
• Quantitative changes: when change can be measured using same standard of measurement before– Ex: Toddlers learning to walk
eventually walk across the room– Ex: Attention span changes from 15
minutes to 50 minutes
4
Basic Developmental Concepts
• 2 ideas about how children develop
– Continuous development: changes are small and gradual, difficult to notice change
– Discontinuous development: changes are made in steps and stages, easy to notice change
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Basic Developmental Concepts
• Normative development: typical or average development of all children
• Individual development: variations around the normative course of development
• Development is influenced by:– 1) Genetics– 2) Developmental history– 3) Environment
6
Periods of Development
• Prenatal Period: conception to birth
• Infancy and toddlerhood: 0-2 years
• Early childhood: 2-7 years
• Middle childhood: 7-11 years
• Adolescence: 11-20 years
7
Historical Foundations
• John Locke (1600s)– Children are tabula rasas: totally blank slates to be
written on by life’s experiences
• Jean Jacques Rousseau (1700s)– Human development unfolds naturally in stages as
long as society allows it to do so
• Charles Darwin (1800s)– Through natural selection, humans have acquired
common traits that have helped us to adapt and increase our chances of survival
– Ex: babies are cute so people want to care for them
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Modern Theories
• Scientific beginnings (1900s)
• Nature/nurture interaction– Genetic influences can unfold only within an
environmental context– Environmental influences need a base of
genetic potentials to work– The major issue today is exactly how genes,
developmental history, and environment interact
9
Cognitive Theories of Development
Piaget
• Normative cognitive development from birth to 12 years
• Children are active learners (not passive)
• Growth occurs on spurts
• Major shifts in thinking took place at approximately 2, 7, and 12 years of age
Information-Processing
• Compare thoughts to the workings of a computer
• Improvements in attention, memory, and thinking
Sociocultural
• Vygotsky
• Study the social and cultural processes in which thinking originates
• Zone of proximal development: children rely on older children and adults to teach them
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Social-Emotional Theories of Development
Psychoanalytic
• Freud & Erikson
• Early emotional experiences are very powerful and can influence later development
• Freud: 5 stagesErikson: 8 stages
Social-Learning
• Bandura
• Children tend to repeat behaviors that result in rewards or help them to avoid unpleasant consequences
• Modeling: learning comes from observing others
Adaptational
• Bowlby
• Babies are predisposed to behave in ways that promote closeness with their caregivers
• Attachments are biologically built in and it unfolds through a sequence of stages
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Why so many theories?
• Different theories focus on different aspects of development
• Our knowledge of human development is a work in progress
• Theories disagree on:– Gradual development vs. stages– Early vs. current experiences– Specificity vs. generality
• Refer to Table 1.3 on p. 22 to compare various theories
12
Developmental Research
• Goals of Research– To describe– To explain– To predict– To influence
• Types of Research– Experimental– Non-experimental
research
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Ethical Considerations for Child Development Research
• Family’s physical and mental health/safety– Ex: studying effects of child abuse, rape, domestic
violence
• Informed Consent– Ex: parents’ permission to test ADHD medication,
permission to spank children in school
• Right to refuse or withdraw from study– Ex: parents can stop medication study at any time,
parents can not allow their child to be spanked
14
Ethical Research
• Institutional Review Board at UMD
http://www.umresearch.umd.edu/IRB/index.htm
• Oversee all UMD research projects to ensure that participants’ rights are protected at all times
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