Chapter 2- Theories of Human Development PDF

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Professor Anna-Liisa Mottonen...

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THEORIES OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT Beginning as a microscopic cell, every person takes a fascinating journey designed to lead to adulthood. !is trip is ! lled with remarkably interesting and challenging events. I. Setting the Stage 1. Historical Views of Children and Childhood For thousands of years, philosophers have speculated on the fundamental nature of childhood and the conditions that foster children’s well-being. Plato and Aristotle provided the first philosophical views of childhood. Their ideas were picked up in the 17th century. They believed that schools and parents had the responsibility for teaching children the self-control that would make them e!ective citizens. But both philosophers, particularly Aristotle, also worried that too much discipline would stifle children's initiative and individuality, making them unfit to be leaders. In Plato’s view, children's sensory experiences simply trigger knowledge they’ve had since birth. The first time a child sees a dog, her innate knowledge allows her to recognize it as such; no learning is necessary. In contrast, Aristotle denied the existence of innate knowledge; instead, he theorized that knowledge is rooted in perceptual experience. Children acquire knowledge piece by piece, based on the information provided by their senses. These contrasting views resurfaced during the Age of Enlightenment. John Locke emphasized the role of experience in children’s lives, he portrayed the human infant as a tabula rasa or “blank slate” and claimed that experience molds the infant, child, adolescent, and adult into a unique individual. Jean Jaques Rousseau believed that newborns are endowed with an innate sense of justice and morality that unfolds naturally as children grow. During this unfolding, children move through the developmental stages that we recognize today—infancy, childhood, and adolescence. Instead of emphasizing parental discipline, Rousseau argued that parents should be responsive and receptive to their children’s needs. 2. Origins of a New Science The Industrial Revolution began in the mid-1700s; England was transformed from a largely rural nation relying on agriculture to an urban-oriented society organized around factories, including textile mills that produced cotton cloth. Children moved with their families to cities and worked long hours in factories, under horrendous conditions, for little pay. Accidents were common and many children were maimed or killed. Child development emerged as a science in the 19th century, reflecting reformers’ concern for children’s well-being and enthusiasm for Darwin’s theory of evolution. G. Stanley Hall generated theories of child development based on evolutionary theory and conducted many studies to determine age trends in children’s beliefs about a range of topics. More importantly, Hall founded the first scientific journal in English where scientists could publish findings from child-development research. Alfred Binet had begun to devise the first mental tests. Sigmund Freud had startled the world with his suggestion that the experiences of early childhood seemed to account for patterns of behavior in adulthood. John B. Watson, , the founder of behaviorism, had begun to write and lecture on the importance of reward and punishment for child-rearing practices. Child-development researchers help shape family policy by providing knowledge about children so that policies can be based on accurate information. They also contribute by serving as advocates for children, by evaluating the impact of social programs, and by developing effective programs that can be implemented elsewhere. II. Foundational Theories of Child Development

In child development, a theory is an organized set of ideas that is designed to explain and make predictions about development. Many early theories shared assumptions and ideas about children and development. Grouped together, they form 5 major theoretical perspectives in child- development research:

1. The Biological Perspective According to the biological perspective, intellectual and personality development, as well as physical and motor development, are rooted in biology. ● In maturational theory, child development reflects a natural unfolding of a prearranged biological plan. Without interference from adults, Gesell claimed, such behaviors as speech, play, and reasoning would emerge spontaneously according to a predetermined developmental timetable. ● Ethological theory views development from an evolutionary perspective and states that children’s and parents’ behavior is often adaptive. For example, clinging, grasping, and crying are adaptive for infants because they elicit caregiving from adults. Ethologists believe that all animals are biologically programmed so that some kinds of learning occur only at certain ages. 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. Ethological theory and maturational theory both highlight the biological bases of child development. Biological theorists remind us that children’s behavior is the product of a long evolutionary history. 2. The Psychodynamic Perspective Thee psychodynamic perspective is the oldest scienti!c perspective on child development, originating in the work of Sigmund Freud. ● As Freud listened to his patients describe their problems and their lives, he became convinced that early experiences establish patterns that endure throughout a person’s life. Using his patients’

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case histories, Freud created the first psychodynamic theory, which holds that development is largely determined by how well people resolve conflicts they face at different ages. The role of conflict is evident in Freud’s description of the three primary components of personality. The id is a reservoir of primitive instincts and drives. From birth, the id presses for immediate gratification of bodily needs and wants (hungry baby crying). The ego is the practical, rational component of personality. The ego tries to resolve conflicts that occur when the instinctive desires of the id encounter the obstacles of the real world. The third component of personality, the superego, is the “moral agent” in the child’s personality. It emerges during the preschool years as children begin to internalize adult standards of right and wrong Erik Erikson (1902–1994), Freud’s student, embraced Freud’s idea of conflict, but he emphasized the psychological and social aspects of conflict rather than the biological and physical aspects. In Erikson’s psychosocial theory, development consists of a sequence of 8 stages, each defined by a unique crisis or challenge.

3. The Learning Perspective ● B. F. Skinner studied operant conditioning, in which the consequences of a behavior determine whether a behavior is repeated in the future. Skinner showed that two kinds of consequences were especially influential. (1) A reinforcement is a consequence that increases the future likelihood  such as of the behavior that it follows. Positive reinforcement consists of giving a reward— chocolate, gold stars, or paychecks—to increase the likelihood of repeating a previous behavior. Negative reinforcement consists of rewarding people by taking away unpleasant things (if a child got an A, the parents don’t give the child chores for a week). (2) A punishment is a consequence that decreases the future likelihood of the behavior that it follows. Punishment suppresses a behavior by either adding something aversive or by withholding a pleasant event. Applied properly, reinforcement and punishment are indeed powerful influences on children. However, researchers discovered that children sometimes learn without reinforcement or punishment. Children learn much simply by watching those around them, which is known as imitation or observational learning. ● Social Cognitive Theory- Children do not mechanically copy what they see and hear; instead, they look to others for information about appropriate behavior. When popular, smart peers are reinforced for behaving in a particular way, it makes sense to imitate them. Albert Bandura

based his social cognitive theory on this more complex view of reward, punishment, and imitation. Bandura also argues that experience gives children a sense of self-efficacy, beliefs about their own abilities and talents. Self-efficacy beliefs help determine when children will imitate others. A child who sees himself as athletically untalented, for example, will not try to imitate LeBron James. _______Bandura’s social cognitive theory is a far cry from Skinner’s operant conditioning. The social cognitive child, who actively interprets events, has replaced the operant conditioning child, who responds mechanically to reinforcement and punishment. 4. The Cognitive-Developmental Perspective The cognitive-developmental perspective focuses on how children think and on how their thinking changes as they grow. Jean Piaget proposed the best known of these theories. He believed that children naturally try to make sense of their world. That is, throughout infancy, childhood, and adolescence, youngsters want to understand the workings of both the physical and the social world. Piaget argued that as children try to comprehend their world, they act like scientists in creating theories about the physical and social worlds. Children’s theories are tested daily by experience because their theories lead them to expect certain things to happen. As with real scienti!c theories, when the predicted events occur, a child’s belief in her theory grows stronger.

5. The Contextual Perspective Most developmentalists agree that the environment is an important force in development. All these people and institutions fit together to form a person’s culture — the knowledge, attitudes, and behavior associated with a group of people. Lev Vygotsky emphasized the role of culture in children’s development. He argued that skilled adults help children acquire the beliefs, customs, and skills of their culture. III. Themes in Child-Development Research Four themes help unify the findings from child-development research that are presented throughout this book. 1. Early Development Is Related to Later Development but Not Perfectly Development is not perfectly predictable; early development sets the stage for later development but does not fix it. In other words, if Ricardo is friendly and smart as a 5-year-old, he wouldn’t necessarily be friendly and smart as a 15- and 25-year-old. Thus, the continuity–discontinuity issue is really about the “relatedness” of development: Are early aspects of development consistently related to later aspects? 2. Development Is Always Jointly Influenced by Heredity and Environment Heredity and environment are interactive forces that work together to chart the course of development. Nature–nurture issue: What roles do biology (nature) and environment (nurture) play in child

Development? Today, we know that virtually no aspects of child development are due exclusively to either heredity or environment. Instead, development is always shaped by both—nature and nurture interact. 3. Children Influence Their Own Development These two points of view illustrate the active–passive child issue: Are children simply at the mercy of the environment (passive child), or do children actively influence their own development through their own unique individual characteristics (active child)? The passive view corresponds to Locke’s description of the child as a blank slate on which experience writes; the active view corresponds to Rousseau’s view of development as a natural unfolding that takes place within the child. Today, we know that experiences are indeed crucial, but not always in the way Locke envisioned. Often, it’s a child’s interpretation of experiences that shapes his or her development. Also, a child’s unique characteristics may cause him or her to have some experiences but not others. 4. 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. IV. Doing Child-Development Research Child-development researchers use the scientific method in which they formulate hypotheses, then collect data to evaluate those hypotheses. 1. Measurement in Child-Development Research

Research typically begins by determining how to measure the phenomenon. ● Systematic observation involves recording children’s behavior as it takes place, in either a natural environment or a structured setting. Two forms of systematic observation are common. In (1) naturalistic observation, children are observed as they behave spontaneously in some real-life situation. Of course, researchers can’t keep track of everything that a child does. Beforehand they must decide which variables — factors that can take on different values— to record. In (2) structured observation, the researcher creates a setting likely to elicit the behavior of interest. Structured observations are particularly useful for studying behaviors that are diffcult to observe naturally. ● Sampling behaviour with tasks is popular with child-development researchers because it is so convenient. For example, to measure memory, investigators sometimes use a digit span task:

Children listen as a sequence of numbers is presented aloud. A major problem with this approach, however, is determining whether the task really samples the behavior of interest. ● In self reports, children answer questions posed by the experimenter. Self Reports are useful because they can lead directly to information on the topic of interest. However, children sometimes answer incorrectly due to response bias—some responses may be more socially acceptable than others, and children are more likely to select those than socially unacceptable answers. ● Physiological Measures is less common but can be very powerful: measuring children’s physiological responses. Heart rate, for example, o"en slows down when children are paying close attention to something interesting. They’re often used alongside other behaviorally oriented methods. After researchers choose a method of measurement, they must show that it is both reliable and valid. A measure is reliable if the results are consistent over time. A measure is valid if it really measures what researchers think it measures. Researchers are usually interested in broad groups of children called populations. Virtually all studies include only a sample of children, a subset of the population. Researchers must take care that their sample really represents the population of interest. An unrepresentative sample can lead to invalid research. 2. General Designs for Research Having formulated a hypothesis, identi!ed variables, and selected a method to collect data on the topic or behavior of interest, researchers must then choose and implement an overall conceptual approach called a research design. Child-development researchers usually use one of two designs: correlational or experimental studies. ● Correlational Studies- In a correlational study, investigators look at relations between variables as they exist naturally in the world. In the simplest possible correlational study, a researcher measures two variables, then sees how they are related. Imagine a researcher who wants to test the idea that smarter children have more friends. To test this claim, the researcher would measure two variables for each child: the number of friends the child has and the child’s intelligence. The results of a correlational study are usually expressed as a correlation coefficient, abbreviated r, which stands for the direction and strength of a relation between two variables. Correlations can range from -1.0 to +1.0. In interpreting a correlation coefficient, you need to consider both the sign and the size of the correlation. !e sign indicates the direction of the relation between variables. A positive correlation means that larger values on one variable are associated with larger values on the second variable; a negative correlation means that larger values on one variable are associated with smaller values on a second variable.

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Experimental Studies- In an experiment, an investigator systematically varies the factors thought to cause a particular behavior. The factor that is varied is called the independent variable; the behavior that is measured is called the dependent variable. Experimental studies allow scientists to reach conclusions about cause and effect. In a field experiment, the researcher manipulates independent variables in a natural setting so that the results are more likely to be representative of behavior in real-world settings. Another important variation is the quasi-experiment, which typically involves examining the impact of an independent variable by using groups that were not created with random assignment. In a quasi experiment, scientists take advantage of naturally occurring events to create different experimental groups.

3. Designs for Studying Age-Related Change Sometimes child-development research is directed at a single age group. Consequently, in conjunction with the chosen general research design, investigators must also select a strategy for assessing age-related change. "ree strategies are used to incorporate different age groups into experimental and correlational

research: the longitudinal approach, the cross-sectional approach, and the longitudinal-sequential approach. ● Longitudinal Design- In a longitudinal design, the same individuals are observed or tested repeatedly at different points in their lives. Will characteristics such as aggression, dependency, or mistrust observed in infancy or early childhood persist into adulthood? In a microgenetic study, a special type of longitudinal design, children are tested repeatedly over a span of days or weeks, typically with the aim of observing change directly as it occurs. ● Cross-sectional Design- In a cross-sectional design, developmental changes are identi!ed by testing children of different ages at one point in their development. Cross-sectional designs are convenient but only longitudinal designs can answer questions about the continuity of development. ● Longitudinal-sequential Studies- Neither longitudinal nor cross- sectional studies are foolproof; each has weaknesses.Consequently sometimes investigators use a design that is a hybrid of the traditional designs. A longitudinal-sequential study includes sequences of samples, each studied longitudinally.

Meta-analysis allows researchers to integrate the findings from many similar studies, making it possible to determine the generality and consistency of research results. 4. Ethical Responsibilities Professional organizations and government agencies have codes of conduct that specify the rights of research participants and procedures to protect those participants. Before researchers can conduct a study, they must convince review boards consisting of scientists from many disciplines that they have carefully addressed each of these ethical points. If the review board objects to some aspects of the proposed study, the researcher must revise those aspects and present the study anew for the review board’s approval.

Minimize risks to research participants: Use methods that have the least potential for harm to or stress on research participants. ● Describe the research to potential participants so they can determine whether they wish to participate: Prospective research participants should understand the research so they can make an educated decision about participating, which is known as obtaining informed consent. ● Avoid deception; if participants must be deceived, provide a thorough explanation of the true nature of the research as soon as possible: Providing complete information about a study in advance can sometimes bias or distort participants’ responses. ● Keep results anonymous or confidential: Research results should be anonymous, which means that participants’ data cannot be linked to their names. When anonymity is not possible,research results should be conf...