An Introduction to Child Development

Overview

I. Why Study Child Development?

A. Raising Children

B. Choosing Social Policies

C. Understanding Human Nature

II. Historical Foundations of the Study of Child Development

A. Early Philosophers’ Views of Children’s Development

Plato Versus Aristotle

Later Philosophers

B. Social Reform Movements

C. Darwin’s Theory of Evolution

D. The Emergence of Child Development as a Discipline

Freud and Watson

III. Enduring Themes in Child Development

Basic Questions About Child Development

1. Nature and Nurture

1. Nature and Nurture

2. The Active Child

3. Continuity/Discontinuity

3. Continuity/Discontinuity

3. Continuity/Discontinuity

3. Continuity/Discontinuity

4. Mechanisms of Developmental Change

4. Mechanisms of Developmental Change

5. The Sociocultural Context

5. The Sociocultural Context

5. The Sociocultural Context

6. Individual Differences

7. Research andChildren’s Welfare

IV. Methods for Studying Child Development

A. The Scientific Method

Importance of Appropriate Measurement

Questions of Interest

Reliability

Validity

B. Contexts for Gathering Data about Children

1. Interviews

2. Naturalistic Observation

3. Structured Observation

Contexts for Gathering Data

C. Correlational & Causation

Correlations

Correlation Causation!

Experimental Designs

Experimental Designs

Correlational vs. Experimental Designs

D. Designs for Examining Development

1. Cross-Sectional Designs

2. Longitudinal Designs

3. Microgenetic Designs

Comparison of Designs

E. Ethical Issues in Child-Development Research