PSYC 206 Lifespan Development Bilge Yagmurlu

Chapter Overview I. Developmental Science II. Children, Society, and Science III. The Central Issues of Developmental Science IV. Theories of Development V. Methods for Studying Development

The Wild Boy of Aveyron Jean-Marc Itard’s work is the earliest in the study of child development. Fundamental questions arose from his work. To what extent is development determined from birth, and to what extent is it influenced by the environment? What is the role of early experience in shaping development, and can the effects of negative experience be undone?

I. Developmental Science Developmental Science: an interdisciplinary field of study that focuses on the changes that children undergo from conception onward. The field has two goals: 1. The understand the basic biological and cultural processes that account for the complexities of development. 2. To devise ways of safeguarding children’s health and well-being.

Where can I get information online about developmental psychology topics? There are several well-crafted and well-maintained websites that are devoted partly or entirely to developmental psychology. All offer links to a variety of other websites concerned with relevant topics; some also have internal search engines that allow you to seek information about a specific topic. The following are some of the best sites: AmoebaWeb: Developmental Psychology European Society for Developmental Psychology

For what sorts of careers can the study of developmental psychology help prepare me? A background in developmental psychology has many potential applications. Developmental psychology is relevant to a wide range of careers that involve teaching, training, counseling, organizing, supervising, advising, and otherwise interacting with people in a variety of professional, organizational, political, business, healthcare, and community contexts. Potential employers of persons with training in developmental psychology include schools and pre-schools, colleges and universities, businesses of various kinds, government agencies, hospitals and clinics, research institutes, social service agencies, non-profit organizations, charitable foundations, churches, and law enforcement agencies. The following sites provide a variety of interesting career ideas (some of which you may not have ever thought of!) and other information about career choice and preparation: American Psychological Association: Careers in Psychology American Psychological Association: Non-Academic Careers for Scientific Psychologists American Psychological Association: PsycCareers

Where can I get news releases and other up-to-date information about current issues and research in developmental psychology? The following sites offer news releases (frequently updated) as well as research reports, policy statements, reviews of recently published books, contact information for institutions and organizations, and links to related sites: American Psychological Association: Public Interest Directorate: Children, Youth, and Families Office PsycPORT: Psychology in the News The Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) http://www.srcd.org/

The Field of Developmental Science The Prenatal Period (conception to birth) Infancy (birth through 2) Early Childhood (ages 2 1/2 to 6) Middle Childhood (ages 6 through 12) Adolescence (ages 12 through 8) Major areas of development: Social, Emotional, Cognitive (intellectual), Physical

II. Children, Society, and Science Historical and cultural context of Developmental Science Medieval Europe: Children as miniature adults Protestant Reformation (1620): Childrren are born in original sin. Harsher child-rearing practices.

History of Development Science Late 18th cc: Industrial Revolution Altered family life: from rural to urban, decreased birth rate and child death Altered education and work (from farm to factory) Contributed to the rise of developmental science

History of Development Science Darwin’s Theory of Evolution Origin of Species (1859) New scientific interest in children: If human beings had evolved from earlier species, then the different stages of children’s behavior might offer clues to stages of human evolution. Early Twentieth Century Developmental Science as a recognized field: methods of study and stage theories of development

III. The Central Issues of Development Science Research focuses on four fundamental issues: Sources of Development Plasticity Continuity/Discontinuity Individual Difference

Sources of Development Question about the sources of development: How do nature and nurture interact to produce development? Nature: Individual’s inherited biological predispositions Nurture: Influences of the social and cultural environment and of the individual’s experience.

Plasticity Question about plasticity: Sensitive Periods: To what degree, and under what conditions, is development open to change and intervention? Sensitive Periods: A time in an organism’s development when a particular experience has an especially profound effect. Ex: language development Critical Periods: A period during which specific biological or environmental events are required for normal development to occur. Ex: Imprinting

Continuity/Discontinuity Question about Continuity/Discontinuity: To what extent does development consist of the gradual accumulation of small changes, and to what extent does it involve abrupt transformations, or stages? Examines Quantitative versus Qualitative Changes

Continuity/Discontinuity Continuous Development: Consisting of the gradual accumulation of small changes Quantitative Changes: e.g., growth in skull size, number of vocabulary Discontinuity: Involves a series of abrupt, radical transformations Qualitative Changes: e.g., crawling to walking Referred to as Developmental Stages

The concept of Stage qualitative changes: reorganization of the behavior under consideration pervasive: transitions between stages bring about simultaneous changes in many different aspects of a child’s behavior rapidity: dramatic spurts rather than slow growth

Continuity/Discontinuity

Individual Differences Questions about individual differences: What combination of nature and nurture makes individuals different from one another? To what extent are individual characteristics stable? E.g., Do shy babies remain timid into adulthood?

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

Theoretical Perspectives Four Grand Theories: Psychodynamic theories Social Learning theories Piaget’s Constructivist theory Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory

Psychodynamic Theories Perspective: Theories exploring the influence of the universal biological drives and life experiences of individuals on development.

Key Psychodynamic Theories Sigmund Freud In which psychosexual stages are associated with the changing focus of the sex drive Erik Erikson In which psychosocial stages are associated with tasks or crises shaped by social and cultural factors.

Psychodynamic Theories

Social Learning Theories Perspective: Focus on development as the result of learning, behavioral changes resulting from the individual’s forming associations between behavior and consequences.

Social Learning Theories Key Learning Theorists John B. Watson B. F. Skinner Albert Bandura

Skinner-type behaviorism: biological factors provide a foundation, but learning is the major cause of developmental change-- especially patterns of reward and punishment John Watson: ¨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, teachers

Social learning theory (Bandura & Mischel): we are not like mindless robots, responding mechanically to others in our environment. observational learning: we cognitively represent others’ behavior and then adopt this behavior ourselves emphasizes both environmental and personal/cognitive factors such as values and beliefs

Piaget’s Constructivist Theory Perspective: Innate factors and environment both play important roles 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

Piaget’s Constructivist Theory Concepts: Universal stages of cognitive development Organization & adaptation: two innate processes that underlie individual’s construction of the world– Piaget calls organization and adaptation invariant psychobiological functions to make sense of the world, we organize our observations and experiences we also adapt our thinking to form new ideas

Piaget believed that we adapt in two ways: 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)

Piaget’s Constructivist Theory

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

Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory Perspective: Vygotsky’s theory focuses on the role of culture in development and on children learning through finely tuned interactions with others who are more competent. 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.

Four Grand Theories