Chapter 1 History, Theories, and Methods

Childhood and Adolescence: Voyages in Development, Second Edition, Spencer A. RathusChapter 1

Chapter 1History, Theories, and Methods


During the Middle Ages, children were often treated as miniature adults.

Children come into the world as “blank tablets” – without inborn differences in intelligence and talents.

History, Theories, and Methods: Truth or Fiction?


Nail-biting and smoking cigarettes are signs of conflict experienced during early childhood.

Some theorists contend that children actively strive to understand and take charge of their worlds, whereas other theorists argue that children respond passively to environmental stimulation.



Research with monkeys has helped psychologists understand the formation of attachment in humans.

In order to learn how a person develops over a lifetime, researchers have tracked some individuals for more than 50 years.



What Is Child Development?


• Periods of Development– Conception and Prenatal

– Infancy

– Early Childhood

– Middle Childhood

– Adolescence

• Dimensions of Development– Physiological

– Cognitive

– Social

– Emotional

– Behavioral



• Attempts to advance knowledge of the processes that govern the development of children’s– physical structures,

– traits,

– behaviors, and

– cognitions.

• Growth represents quantitative changes

• Development represents qualitative changes



• Gain insight into – human nature,– origins of adult behavior,– origins of differences,– origins, prevention and treatment of developmental problems

• Optimize conditions of development

Why Do Researchers Study Child Development?


• Ancient Times and Middle Ages– Children viewed as innately evil

– Age 7 is the “age of reason”

– Children were treated as miniature adults

• John Locke– Child came into world as tabula rasa, or “blank slates”

– Focus on role of environment and experience

• Jean-Jacques Rousseau– Children are inherently good and moral

What Views of Children Do We Find Throughout History?


• Industrial Revolution– Nuclear family

– Childhood is recognized as a time period of life

• 20th Century– Child rights in labor, education, neglect

What Views of Children Do We Find Throughout History?


• Charles Darwin (1809 – 1882)– Theory of evolution

– Use of baby biography

• G. Stanley Hall (1944 - 1924)– Child development as a academic discipline

– Questionnaire methodology with children

• Alfred Binet (1857 – 1911)– First standardized intelligence test

Pioneers in the Study of Child Development


Theories of Child Development


• Related sets of statements about events

• Include descriptive terms and concepts

• Based on certain assumptions

• Allow explanations and predictions

• Wide range of applicability

• Influence events

What Are Theories?


• Theories of development help us– describe,

– explain,

– predict, and

– influence events being studied.

Why Do We Have Theories?


• Freud’s theory of psychosexual development

• Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development

• View children (and adults) involved in conflict– internal drive and urges

– internalize ‘external’ demands and rules

• Stage theories– distinct periods of development

The Psychoanalytic Perspective


• Sigmund Freud (1856 – 1939)• Levels of awareness

– Conscious level– Preconscious level– Unconscious level

• Parts of personality– Id– Ego– Superego

• Quantity of gratification at each stage– Fixated at that stage

Freud’s Theory of Psychosexual Development


• Oral Stage– Sucking and biting– Early weaning or breast-fed too long– Fixation: nail-biting, smoking, “biting wit”

• Anal Stage– Control and elimination of waste– Excessive strict or permissive toilet training– Fixation: anal-retentive (neatness); anal-expulsion (sloppiness)

Stages of Psychosexual Theory of Development


• Phallic Stage– Parent-child conflict over masturbation– View same sex parent as rival

• Latency Stage– Sexual feelings remain unconscious

• Genital Stage– Begins at adolescence– Desire sexual gratification through intercourse with member of other

sex– Interest in any other sexual gratification indicates fixation at an

earlier stage of development

Stages of Psychosexual Theory of Development


• Major contribution to 20th century thought• Comprehensive theory of childhood• Influenced parents, child-care workers and educators• Based on patients (women) who were emotionally troubled• Little empirical data• Placed too much emphasis on instincts and unconscious motives

– Erik Erikson and Karen Horney

Evaluation of Psychosexual Theory of Development


• Erik Erikson (1902 – 1994)– modified and expanded Freud’s theory– successful resolution of life crises bolsters sense of identity

• Differences from psychosexual development– focus on development of self-identity– includes conscious and purposeful acts in development– extended stages to eight; throughout adulthood

Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development


• Trust versus Mistrust• Autonomy versus Shame and Doubt• Initiative versus Guilt• Industry versus Inferiority• Identity versus Role Diffusion• Intimacy versus Isolation• Generativity versus Stagnation• Ego Integrity versus Despair

Stages of Psychosocial Development


• Highly appealing– emphasize choice and minimize urges– portray people as prosocial and giving

• Unified view of life span development• Some empirical support

Evaluation of Psychosocial Development


• Mechanical learning by association– Conditioning

• Intentional learning– Rote and trail-and-error learning

– Observational learning

The Learning Perspective Behavioral and Social Cognition Theories


• John Watson

• Only address observable behavior

• Contributions to behaviorism– Classical Conditioning

– Operant Conditioning

What Is the Theory of Behaviorism?


• Learning by Association

• Unconditioned = Unlearned– Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS) elicits Unconditioned Response

(UCR)

– Introduction of a Neutral Stimulus

– Repeated association of neutral Stimulus and UCS

• Conditioned = Learned– Conditioned Stimulus (CS) elicits Conditioned Response (CR)

Classical Conditioning


• Pavlov’s Salivating Dogs– Food (UCS) elicits Salivation (UCR)

– Clinking of food trays (neutral stimulus)

– Clinking of food trays prior to Food (UCS)

– Clinking of food trays (CS) elicits Salivation (CR)

• Application with Children– Behavior modification

Classical Conditioning


Figure 1.1 Schematic Representation of Classical Conditioning


• Learn to operate on environment because of the effects of behavior

• Behavior occurs and then a stimulus is introduced that will encourage the repetition of the behavior

• B. F. Skinner – Reinforcement– Any stimulus that increases the frequency of the behavior they

follow

Operant Conditioning


• Positive reinforcers– Something applied that increases the frequency of the behavior

• Negative reinforcers– Something removed that increases the frequency of the behavior

• Extinction– Operant behavior is no longer shown after repeated performance of

the behavior without reinforcement

Principles of Operant Conditioning


Figure 1.2 Positive versus Negative Reinforcers


• Aversive events that decrease the behavior they follow• Usually undesirable for learning

– Does not suggest an alternative, acceptable form of behavior– Tends to suppress undesirable behavior only under certain

conditions– Punished children may withdraw from the situation– Can create anger and hostility– May generalize too far– May be imitated as a way of problem solving or coping with stress

Punishment


A Closer Look

Operant Conditioning of Vocalizations in Infants


Figure 1.3 Negative Reinforcers versus Punishments


• Shaping– Teaching complex behaviors

• Socialization of children

– Parent and child

– Child and child

– Teacher and child

Application of Operant Conditioning


• Acquire basic “know-how” through observational learning

• Learning alters child’s mental representation of environment and influences belief in ability to change the environment

• Child is an active learner

• Intentional observation of models for imitation

Social Cognitive Theory


• Meets the goals of describe, explain and predict aspects of children’s behavior

• Principles abundant in education and clinical application

• Unclear if learning is only mechanical

• Underestimates role of biological-maturation factors

Evaluation of Learning Theories


• Focus on children’s mental processes– How children perceive and mentally represent the world

• Jean Piaget (1896 – 1980) – Cognitive-developmental theory

• Information-processing theory

The Cognitive Perspective


• Working with Binet on IQ tests for children, Piaget became interested in children’s incorrect answers

• Piaget’s work was not widely read until mid 1950’s– difficult to understand

– introduced when behaviorism and psychoanalysis were popular

• Piaget’s view of children as “little scientists”

Piaget’s Cognitive-Developmental Theory


• Scheme– pattern of action involved in acquiring or organizing knowledge

• Adaptation– interaction between child and the environment

• Assimilation– Respond to new object or event according to existing schemes

• Accommodation– Adjust scheme to a new object or event

• Equilibration– Process of restoring equilibrium after a period of accommodation

Piaget’s Basic Concepts


• Four major stages– Sensorimotor

– Preoperational

– Concrete Operational

– Formal Operational

• Stages are universal

• Development is based on children’s interactions with their environments

• Influential in many educational settings

Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive-Development Theory


• Piaget may have underestimated children’s abilities by age

• Cognitive growth may be more gradual than Piaget’s distinct stages

Evaluation of Cognitive-Development Theory


• Influenced by the concepts of computer science– Process of encoding information (input)

– Storage of information (long-term memory)

– Retrieval of information (short-term memory)

– Manipulation of information to solve problems (output)

– Software (mental processes)

– Hardware (brain)

• Consider “limitations” of child– Short-term memory

– Ability to multi-task

• Applications in education

Information-Processing Theory


• Physical development– Gains in height and weight– Development of nervous system– Developments connected with hormones, heredity

• Ethology

The Biological Perspective


• Evolution of humans within the animal kingdom– Influence by Charles Darwin, Konrad Lorenz and Niko Tinbergen

• Involves instinctive behavior patterns– Inborn fixed action patterns (FAPs)

• Evaluation – Assume instinctive behaviors can be modified through learning

What Is Ethology?


• Explains development through interactions between children and the settings in which they live

• Urie Bronfenbrenner– Reciprocal interactions

• focus on interactions between parent and child (bidirectional)

• Five Embedded Systems– Microsystem– Mesosystem– Exosystem– Macrosystem– Chronosystem

The Ecological Systems Theory


Figure 1.4 The Contexts of Human Development


Developing in a World of Diversity

Influence of the Macrosystem on the Development of Independence


• View children as social beings who are influenced by the cultures in which they live

• Lev Vygotsky’s (1896 – 1934) sociocultural theory• Impact on children of human diversity

The Sociocultural Perspective


• Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)– range of tasks child can perform with help of someone more skilled

– use of conversations, external and internal, to guide the learning

• Scaffolding– Adult provides problem-solving methods until child can perform

independently

– May also be used by child with peers

Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory


• Awareness of diversity among children– Ethnicity

• Understanding of children’s family values and cultural expectations

– Gender• Understanding of gender-role expectations

– Sexual Orientation

– Disabilities

Sociocultural Perspective and Human Diversity


Controversies in Child Development


• To what extent is human behavior the results of– Nature – heredity

– Nurture – environment

• Orientation toward nature– Cognitive-development theory

– Biological theorists

• Orientation toward nurture– Learning theories

• Contemporary view of both nature and nurture

The Nature – Nurture Controversy


• Do developmental changes occur– continuously (gradually)

– discontinuously (major qualitative leaps)

• Orientation toward continuity– Maturational theories

• Orientation toward discontinuity– Stage theories (Freud, Piaget)

The Continuity – Discontinuity Controversy


• For learning to occur do educators need to – motivate passive learners, or

– encourage active learners to explore

• Bronfenbrenner (1977) views children as both active and passive• Bandura’s reciprocal determinism

– mutual influences of people and the environment

The Active – Passive Controversy


How Do We Study Child Development?


• Step 1: Formulating a Research Question

• Step 2: Developing a Hypothesis

• Step 3: Testing the Hypothesis

• Step 4: Drawing Conclusions about the Hypothesis

• Step 5: Publish Findings

What Is the Scientific Method?


• Field studies– Observations done in natural (real-life) settings– Control for interference

• Often used initially to gather descriptive data or to explore relationships among variables

• Examples of naturalistic-observation studies– Motor behavior of Native American children strapped to

cradleboards– Language development in diverse cultures– Socialization patterns in diverse cultures

What Is Naturalistic Observation?


• Account of behavior of an individual

• Includes many different types of information– Child diaries– Questionnaires– Standardized tests– Interviews– Other sources of records

• Example of case study– Piaget’s cognitive-development model based on his own children– Freud’s psychosexual theory based on his patients

What Is Case Study?


• Mathematical calculation to determine relationships between behaviors and/or traits

• Correlation coefficient– Mathematical number between +1.00 and -1.00

– Positive correlation

– Negative correlation

• Limitation: Shows relationships, not cause and effect

What Does It Mean to Correlate Information?


Figure 1.7 Examples of Positive and Negative Correlations


• Research method in which one group receives treatment and another does not

• Used to determine cause and effect

• Variables– Independent variable - manipulated by experimenter

– Dependent variable – measured results

• Participant Groups

– Experimental group – receive the treatment

– Control group – do not receive the treatment

• Random Assignment

• Ethical and Practical Considerations

What Is an Experiment?


• Longitudinal research

– Same children are observed repeatedly over time

– May lose participants over time

• Cross-sectional research

– Children of different ages are observed and compared

– Cohort effect

• Cross-sequential research– Combines longitudinal (time period) and cross-sectional (cohorts)

– Breaks time span into convenient segments

How Do Researchers Study Development Over Time?


Figure 1.8 Examples of Cross-Sequential Research


• Standards to promote the dignity of the individual, foster human welfare, and maintain scientific integrity– Treatment may not do physical or psychological harm

– Subjects must participate voluntarily

What Ethical Guidelines Are Involved in Research in Child Development?

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Chapter 1 History, Theories, and Methods