1. The Science of Child Development
Chapter 1:
The Science of Child Development

2. Chapter 1: The Science of Child Development
Chapter 1 contains four modules:
Module 1.1 Setting the Stage
Module 1.2 Foundational Theories of Child Development
Module 1.3 Themes in Child-Development Research
Module 1.4 Doing Child Development Research

3. Setting the Stage Historical Views of Children and Childhood
Origins of a New Science

4. Module 1.1 Setting the Stage
What ideas did philosophers have about children and childhood?
How did the modern science of child development emerge?
How do child-development scientists use research findings to improve children’s lives?
Module 1.2 Foundational Theories of Child Development
Module 1.3 Themes in Child-Development Research
Module 1.4 Doing Child Development Research

5. Do you know the difference between each view?
Historical Views of Children and Childhood
Philosophers have long speculated on the nature of childhood
Plato
Aristotle
Locke
Rousseau
Do you know the difference between each view?
Philosophers have long speculated on the nature of childhood
Plato argued that children are born with innate knowledge, while Aristotle saw knowledge as rooted in experience
Contrasting views again seen during the Enlightenment, with Locke asserting that an infant is a “blank slate” while Rousseau believed children are born with innate sense of justice and morality

6. Historical Views of Children and Childhood
Plato
Children born with innate knowledge
Sensory experiences trigger this knowledge
Aristotle
Innate knowledge does not exist
Knowledge rooted in sensory experiences
Locke
Tabula rasa
Knowledge shaped by reinforcement
Rousseau
Newborn endowed with sense of morality and justice
Adults help children develop in their natural capacities
Philosophers have long speculated on the nature of childhood
Plato argued that children are born with innate knowledge, while Aristotle saw knowledge as rooted in experience
Contrasting views again seen during the Enlightenment, with Locke asserting that an infant is a “blank slate” while Rousseau believed children are born with innate sense of justice and morality

7. Origins of a New Science
Reform During Industrial Revolution
Rural to urban transformation
Child workers
Reformers made the well-being of children a national concern during Industrial Revolution

8. Origins of a New Science
Darwin
Detailed, systematic observations (baby biographies)
Application of child-development research
Darwin’s ideas started interest in the origins of human behavior in children, as well as in behavioral changes over time
Detailed, systematic observations of individual children—baby biographies—kept
Child-development research used to promote healthy development

9. Origins of a New Science
New Science Leaders
G. Stanley Hall
Binet
Freud
Watson and Skinner
New Organization and Journal
SRCD
Applied Developmental Psychology

10. Foundational Theories of Child Development
Biological Perspective
Psychodynamic Perspective
Learning Perspective
Cognitive-Developmental Perspective
Contextual Perspective

11. Module 1.2 Foundational Theories of Child Development
Module 1.1 Setting the Stage
Module 1.2 Foundational Theories of Child Development
What are the major tenets of the biological perspective?
How do psychodynamic theories account for development?
What is the focus of learning theories?
How do cognitive-developmental theories explain changes in children’s thinking?
What are the main points of the contextual approach?
Module 1.3 Themes in Child-Development Research
Module 1.4 Doing Child Development Research

12. What is a theory?
Organized set of ideas designed to explain and predict
Leads to hypotheses that are tested, then confirmed or rejected
In maturational theory, development reflects the natural unfolding of a pre-arranged biological plan
In ethological theory, many behaviors are viewed as adaptive because they have survival value

13. Can you provide an example for each?
Biological Perspective
Important theorist and concepts
Lorenz
Critical period
Imprinting
Can you provide an example for each?
A critical period is the time in development when a specific type of learning can take place; before or after the critical period, the same learning is difficult or even impossible
Imprinting: creating an emotional bond with the mother

14. Psychodynamic Perspective
Development is determined by how child resolves conflicts at different ages
Freud
Psychosexual development
Components of personality
Early experiences have enduring impact on development
Freud’s components to personality—id, ego, and superego
During psychosexual development, different parts of the body are the focus of pleasure
Conflicts between what want and what should do

15. Psychodynamic Perspective
Development is determined by how a child resolves conflicts at different ages
Erikson
Psychosocial development
Stages with psychosocial crises
Broadened the scope of personality to incorporate society and culture, not just sexuality
Each stage is characterized by a psychosocial crisis, which is based on physiological development, but also on demands put on the individual by parents and/or society

16. Learning Perspective
Early learning theories emphasized the importance of experience in development
B.F. Skinner
Operant conditioning
Reinforcement and punishment
Learning determines what child will be

17. Learning Perspective
Other learning theorists suggested that children can learn by observing others
Bandura
Social cognitive theory
Imitation or observational learning
Social cognitive theory suggests that children’s sense of self-efficacy influences their behavior; more complex view of reward, punishment, and imitation
Experience provides self-efficacy

18. The Cognitive-Developmental Perspective
Development reflects children’s efforts to understand the world
Jean Piaget
Four-stage sequence
Child as scientist and theorist
Cognition more sophisticated with age
Jean Piaget developed a four-stage sequence that characterizes children’s changing understanding of the world
According to Piaget, children’s thinking becomes more sophisticated as they develop, reflecting the more sophisticated theories that children create

19. Contextual Perspective
Development is determined by immediate and more distant environments, which typically influence each other
Lev Vygotsky
Importance of cultural context
Culture: the knowledge, attitudes, and behavior associated with a group of people
Lev Vygotsky believed that adults convey to children the beliefs, customs, and skills of their culture
All people fit together to form child’s culture

20. Themes in Child Development Research
Early Development is Related to Later Development but Not Perfectly
Development is Always Jointly Influenced by Heredity and Environment
Children Influence Their Own Development
Development in Different Domains is Connected

21. Module 1.3 Themes in Child-Development Research
Module 1.1 Setting the Stage
Module 1.2 Foundational Theories of Child Development
Module 1.3 Themes in Child-Development Research
How well can developmental outcomes be predicted from early life?
How do heredity and environment influence development?
What role do children have in their own development?
Is development in different domains connected?
Module 1.4 Doing Child Development Research

22. Early Development is Related to Later Development
The continuity-discontinuity issue:
The continuous view: children stay on the same path throughout development
The discontinuous view: children can change paths at any point in development
Development is not completely rigid, nor completely flexible!

23. The nature-nurture issue:
Development is Jointly Influenced by Heredity and Environment
The nature-nurture issue:
Older view: development influenced primarily by nature or nurture
Current view: nature and nurture interact with each other to influence development
Ask: What roles do biology and environment play in this?
Major goal of child development research is to understand joint contributions of heredity and environment.

24. The active-passive child issue:
Children Influence Their Own Development
The active-passive child issue:
Older view: children viewed as passive recipients of their environments
Current view: children interpret their experiences and often influence the experiences that they have
Passive: Locke
Active: Rousseau
Can you think of ways in which both may apply to children’s cognitive development?

25. Cognitive development affects social development and vice versa
Development in Different Domains is Connected
Development in different domains of children’s lives is always connected
Cognitive development affects social development and vice versa
Different degrees of connectedness across developmental domains

26. Doing Child Development Research
Measurement in Child-Development Research
General Designs for Research
Designs for Studying Age-Related Changes
Ethical Responsibilities
Communicating Research Results

27. What general research designs are used in child-development research?
Module 1.1 Setting the Stage
Module 1.2 Foundational Theories of Child Development
Module 1.3 Themes in Child-Development Research
Module 1.4 Doing Child Development Research
How do scientists measure topics of interest in children’s development?
What general research designs are used in child-development research?
What designs are unique to the study of age-related change?
What ethical procedures must researchers follow?
How do researchers communicate results to other scientists?

28. Measurement in Child-Development Research
Decision Points
How to measure phenomenon of interest
How to design study
How to respect rights of human subjects
How to communicate results to other researchers

29. Measurement in Child-Development Research
Approaches
Systematic observation
Sampling behavior with tasks
Self report
Physiological response measurement
Systematic observation: naturalistic observation and structured observation
Sampling behavior with tasks
Self reports include questionnaires and interviews (note response bias)
Measuring children’s physiological responses (e.g., heart rate, cortisol measures, brain activity measures) is less common but can be very powerful

30. Evaluating Measurement in Child-Development Research
Measurement Methods
Reliability
Validity
Representative Sampling
Populations
Samples
Measures should be both valid and reliable
Samples of children who participate in research should be representative of the population of interest

31. Can you interpret the correlation coefficient on the next slide?
General Designs for Research
Research Design: Correlational Studies
View of relations as these exist in real world
Expressed as a correlation coefficient, r, that ranges from -1 to 1
Positive correlation vs. negative correlation
Can you interpret the correlation coefficient on the next slide?

32. Three Interpretations of a Correlation Coefficient
See page 25 for detailed explanation

33. Look for the independent and dependent variables on the next slide.
General Designs for Research
Research Design: Experimental Studies
Experiments systematically manipulate key variables selected by investigator
Field experiments
Quasi-experiments
Look for the independent and dependent variables on the next slide.
The manipulated factor is the independent variable; the behavior measured is the dependent variable
In field experiments, the researcher manipulates independent variables in a natural setting

34. Example of an Experiment
See page 26

35. Designs for Studying Age-Related Changes
Research Designs: Age-Related Changes
Longitudinal design
Microgenetic study
Cross-sectional design
Longitudinal-sequential studies
Longitudinal design: the same individuals are tested repeatedly
Microgenetic study: children are tested repeatedly over a span of days or weeks
Cross-sectional design: children of different ages are tested
Longitudinal-sequential studies are hybrids of longitudinal and cross-sectional studies

36. Longitudinal Study
Same children observed/tested repeatedly at different points in their lives
Microgenetic studies
Advantages: answers continuity questions
Disadvantages: practice effect; selective attribution; cohort effects

37. Cross-Sectional Study
Advantages: convenience
Disadvantages: continuity not addressed
Children of different ages tested at one point in their development
Developmental changes identified

38. Longitudinal-Sequential Study
Advantages: addresses continuity; deals with practice and cohort effects
Disadvantages: more expensive and time-consuming
Different sequence of children tested longitudinally

39. Designs for Studying Age-Related Changes
Research Designs: Meta-analysis
Synthesize results of many studies to estimate relations between variables
Determine whether finding generalizes across many studies that used different methods
Findings from studies are often inconsistent
Meta-analysis is a tool that allows researchers to synthesize the results of many studies to estimate relations between variables
Meta-analysis is a particularly powerful tool because it allows scientists to determine whether a finding generalizes across many studies that used different methods

40. Ethical Responsibilities
Why are ethics important in research?
Minimize risks to research participants
Describe the research to potential participants
Avoid deceiving participants
Keep results anonymous or confidential

41. Communicating Research Results
Research results reported in scientific journals
Results of individual studies in text will be reported in the Focus on Research features of the text
Converging evidence from many studies is necessary