1. History of the Scientific Study of Child Development
Psychology 235
History of the Scientific
Study of Child Development

2. Treatment of Children in the Past
In Europe and the American colonies
Ignorance about Child Development
Lack of Medical Knowledge
Religion

3. Child Rearing Practices
Selections from Social Development, by Eleanor Maccoby

4. The Puritan Influence
Selections from Social Development, by Eleanor Maccoby

5. Infant Mortality
Selections from Social Development, by Eleanor Maccoby

6. Interest in Child Development
Selections from Social Development, by Eleanor Maccoby

7. Early Philosophical Views
John Locke
and
Jean-Jacques Rousseau

8. John Locke
Elaine Blakemore:
From Zigler & Stevenson, 93

9. John Locke Lived 1632-1704 British Empiricist Tabula rasa - Nurture
Parents important to child rearing at as early an age as possible
Goal: self discipline and self control
Modern link: John Watson & Behaviorism

10. Jean-Jacques Rousseau
From Zigler & Stevenson, 93

11. Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Lived
Saw child as “noble savage”
nature
Child has innate potential to be moral, but thwarted by society
A child raised by “man” is certain to be inferior to a child raised by nature
Modern link: Jean Piaget

12. G. Stanley Hall
from Shaffer, 4th edition

13. G. Stanley Hall “Father” of developmental psychology
Heavily influenced by Darwin’s theory of evolution
Developed use of questionnaire
Developed concept of adolescence as a developmental period
Recapitulation Theory

14. Recapitulation Theory
Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny
Ontogeny = the development of the child
Phylogeny = the evolution of the species
The development of the child
recapitulates ( does over/ copies)
the evolution of the human species
originally for embryonic development (Haeckel)
Hall applied it to behavioral development

15. Recapitulation, concluded
Interesting to look at for its historical role
BUT!!
It is clearly not an accurate view of development, even prenatal or embyonic development

16. Early Growth of the Field
Institutes of Child Study in the 20s & 30s
Doctoral training of developmental researchers
Many descriptive studies
Age trends -- norms of development
e.g., average age at walking

17. Changes in the 60s and 70s
Many institutes close -- move into Psychology Departments
Explanatory and process oriented research develops
For example
Descriptive research on children’s language
when, how many, what age, etc.
Explanatory research on children’s language
how, why, what influences, what’s the process

18. For example. . . Language Development
When? What ages? How many? How fast?
Versus
How? Why? What influences? What’s the process?

19. Conclusions
Today the scientific study of children’s development is much more sophisticated than even 40 years ago
While researchers continue to gather descriptive data
The major focus is on understanding developmental processes