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.

Goals of Developmental Research Basic Research: designed to advance scientific knowledge of human development Applied Research: designed to answer practical questions related to improving children’s lives and experiences. Action Research: designed to provide data that can be used in social policy decision making. 5 5

The Field of Developmental Science The Prenatal Period (conception to birth) Infancy (birth through 2/2.5) Early Childhood (ages 2.5 to 6) Middle Childhood (ages 6 through 12) Adolescence (ages 12 through 18) Emerging adulthood, adulthood... Major areas of development: Social, Emotional, Cognitive, 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 Developmental 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 Developmental 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 Developmental 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: To what extent are individual characteristics stable? E.g., Do shy babies remain timid into adulthood? What combination of nature and nurture makes individuals different from one another in terms of sociability vs shyness?

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. Sigmund Freud and Erik Erikson

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 21

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 22

Psychodynamic Theories

Learning Theories Perspective: Key Learning Theorists 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 24

“Give me a dozen healthy infants...” 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. 25

Two concepts introduced: 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 26

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. 27

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. 28

Concepts: Schema: the most basic unit of cognitive functioning. It is a mental structure that provides a model for understanding the world. Maturation and accumulating experience/knowledge demand making an organization and adaptation in our schemas 29

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) 30

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. 31

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. 32

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 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. Scaffolding: children learn better through finely tuned interactions with others who are more competent. 35

Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory Zone of Proximal Development 36

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Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory Scaffolding (Jerome Bruner) has come to be used for “interactional support” often in the form of adult-child dialogue (vertical relationships rather than horizontal ones) structured by the adult to maximize the growth of the child’s functioning includes the gradual withdrawal of adult control and support as a function of children’s increasing mastery of a given task. 38

Popular Model within Education With appropriate scaffolding, children can learn quicker and more effectively than they are able to by trial-and-error problem solving alone. Scaffolding recognizes the social aspect of learning 39

Popular Model within Education 40

Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory 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 41 41

Four Grand Theories

Influential Modern Theories Four Modern Theories Evolutionary Theories Information-Processing Theories Systems Theories Critical Theories 43

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? 44

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. 45

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. 46

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 47

System Theories Ecological systems theory: Focuses on the organization of the environmental contexts within which children develop. Child develops in multiple, nested and interacting environmental systems 48

Uri Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological system 49

Uri Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological system Microsystem: the setting in which the individual has face-to-face interactions. Development is strongly affected by the nature and extent of experiences in the microsystem: Family proximal processes: experiences with people and objects. 50

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? 51

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. “Risk” factors alone don’t determine whether or not a child develops his potential. They can increase likelihood of experiences. 52

Uri Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological system Macrosystem: involves the culture in which the individual lives– values, beliefs, customs, dominant ideologies… dominant ideologies and cultural patterns organize all other social institutions. 53

Social class and cultural variations in child rearing McLoyd: economic hardship creates its own psychological distress, making adults more edgy and irritable, reducing their capacity to be warm and involved. The Family Distress Model (Conger et al.) 54

insufficient surveillance lack of control displays of hostility 55

Uri Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological system Macrosystem: How communities organize themselves. Social policy related to parenting and child: Mother-child program may positively impact a young mother through educational resource. It may empower her life so that she is more affectionate and caring with her little one. 56

Uri Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological system Interaction between ecologies Employer, work hours and family-related policies Lobbying for political and economic policies that support parents’ roles in their children’s development 57

Contributions of the Model: Transformed how scientists approach the study of human beings and their environment. Enabled exploration and understanding of the interrelatedness of such abstract concepts as culture and ideology to the practical realities of caring for young children. 58

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. E.g., Feminist approaches 59

Methods of Studying Development Criteria for Developmental Research Objectivity: gathering and analyzing data should not be biased by the investigator’s preconceptions Reliability: consistency of research findings Replicability: repeat the same procedures and obtain the same results Validity: the tool measures what it intends to measure Ethically Sound 60

Methods of Studying Development Naturalistic observation Experiment Ecological validity Experimental group Control group Clinical method Causation Correlation Correlation coefficient 61

Research Design 62

AmoebaWeb: Developmental Psychology 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 63

American Psychological Association: Careers in 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 64

PsycPORT: Psychology in the News 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/ 65