Class 2:
Introduction to Child Development
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Theories of Child Development
Theory: an interrelated, coherent set of ideas that helps to
explain and to make predictions.
Hypothesis: a specific, testable assumption or prediction.
• Testing a hypothesis can inform researchers whether a
theory is likely to be accurate.
• Often a hypothesis is written as an if-then statement.
• Example: If children from impoverished backgrounds are
given individual attention by mentors, then the children will
spend more time studying and earn higher grades.
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Psychoanalytic
Theories
Freud, Erikson
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Theories of Child Development: Psychoanalytic Theories
Psychoanalytic theories describe development as primarily
unconscious (beyond awareness) and heavily colored by
emotion.
• Behavior is merely a surface characteristic.
• Understanding development requires analyzing symbolic
meanings of behavior and the deep inner workings of the
mind.
• Theorists stress the importance of early experiences with
parents.
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Theories of Child Development: Psychoanalytic Theories
Sigmund Freud (1856 to 1939)
envisioned five stages of psychosexual
development: oral, anal, phallic, latency, and
genital.
He claimed our adult personality is determined
by the way we resolve conflicts between
sources of pleasure and the demands of
reality at each stage.
Many theorists today maintain that Freud
overemphasized sexual instincts.
• They place more emphasis on cultural
experiences.
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Figure 7 Freudian Stages
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Theories of Child Development: Psychoanalytic Theories 3
Erik Erikson (1902 to 1994) said we develop in psychosocial
rather than psychosexual stages.
• The primary motivation for human behavior is social and
reflects a desire to affiliate with other people.
• Developmental change occurs throughout the life span.
In Erikson’s theory, eight stages of development unfold;
and at each stage, a unique developmental task confronts
individuals with a crisis that must be resolved.
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Figure 8 Erikson’s Eight Life-Span Stages
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Cognitive Theories
Piaget, Vygotsky, Information Processing
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Theories of Child Development: Cognitive Theories
Cognitive theories emphasize conscious thought.
Among these is the cognitive developmental theory of Jean
Piaget (1896 to 1980).
Piaget’s theory states that children actively construct their
understanding of the world in four stages of cognitive
development.
• Two processes move us through the stages: organization
and adaptation.
• Cognition in each age-related stage is qualitatively
different.
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Figure 9 Piaget’s Four Stages of Cognitive Development
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Theories of Child Development: Cognitive Theories
Lev Vygotsky (1896 to 1934) also argued that children
actively construct their knowledge.
Vygotsky’s theory is a sociocultural cognitive theory that
emphasizes how culture and social interaction guide
cognitive development.
• Children’s social interaction with more-skilled adults and
peers is indispensable to their cognitive development.
This has stimulated interest in the view that knowledge is
situated and collaborative.
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Theories of Child Development: Cognitive Theories
With the advent of computers, psychologists began to draw
analogies between computer hardware and the brain, and
between computer software and cognition.
Information-processing theory: individuals manipulate
information, monitor it, and strategies about it.
• Central to this theory are the processes of memory and
thinking.
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Theories of Child Development: Behavioral and Social
Cognitive Theories
Behaviorism holds that we can study scientifically only what
can be directly observed and measured.
Out of this tradition grew the belief that development is
defined as observable behavior that can be learned through
experience with the environment.
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Behavioral & Social
Cognitive Theories
Pavlov, Watson, Skinner, Bandura
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Theories of Child Development: Behavioral and Social
Cognitive Theories
In the early 1900s, Ivan Pavlov discovered the principle of
classical conditioning: a neutral stimulus produces a
response originally produced by another stimulus.
• Example: a bell rung with dogs’ food later elicits salivation
when presented by itself.
John Watson and Rosalie Raynor (1920) demonstrated that
classical conditioning occurs in humans.
• Many of our fears may result from classical conditioning.
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Theories of Child Development: Behavioral and Social
Cognitive Theories
B. F. Skinner argued that a second type of conditioning—
operant conditioning—accounts for other types of behavior.
• The consequences of a behavior produce changes in the
future probability of the behavior.
• Skinner emphasized that development consists of the
pattern of behavioral changes that are brought about by
rewards and punishments.
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Theories of Child Development: Behavioral and Social
Cognitive Theories
Social cognitive theory: behavior, environment, and
cognition are the key factors in development.
• Albert Bandura (1925 to ) is the leading architect.
• People acquire a wide range of behaviors, thoughts, and
feelings through observing others’ behavior, and these
observations powerfully influence children’s development.
Behavioral and social cognitive theories emphasize the
importance of environmental influences.
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Figure 10 Bandura’s Social Cognitive Model
The arrows illustrate how relations between behavior, person/cognition, and
environment reciprocally influence each other rather than being “unidirectional.”
Access the text alternative for slide images.
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Ethological Theory
Lorenz, Bowlby
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Theories of Child Development: Ethological Theory
Ethology: a field that stresses that behavior is strongly
influenced by biology, is tied to evolution, and is
characterized by critical or sensitive periods.
• Konrad Lorenz (1903 to 1989) helped bring it to
prominence with his study of imprinting in graylag goslings.
John Bowlby (1989) argued that attachment to a caregiver
during the first year of life has important consequences
throughout the life span.
• The first year of life is a sensitive period for the
development of social relationships.
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Ecological Theory
Bronfenbrenner, Indigenous Theories
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Theories of Child Development: Ecological Theory
Ecological theory emphasizes environmental factors.
One such theory significant to children’s development was
proposed by Urie Bronfenbrenner (1917 to 2005).
Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory: development reflects
the influence of five environmental systems.
• Microsystem: the setting in which the individual lives.
• Mesosystem: relations between microsystems.
• Exosystem: links between social setting and immediate
context.
• Macrosystem: the culture.
• Chronosystem: environmental events and transitions over
the life course, as well as historical circumstance.
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Figure 11 Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory of Development
Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory consists of five environmental systems:
[Link]
microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, and chronosystem.
Access the text alternative for slide images.
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Reconceptualist Thinking
Reconceptualist thinking in child development:
• Shift away from traditional Western developmental theories
• Shift toward critical, culturally sensitive, and socially contextualized
perspectives.
• Reconceptualist thinking:
• Challenges classical theory assumptions that development is linear and
universal
• Emphasizes diversity, context, and the socio-political influences
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Reconceptualist Thinking
Reconceptualist thinking in child development:
• Shift away from traditional Western developmental theories
• Shift toward critical, culturally sensitive, and socially contextualized
perspectives.
• Reconceptualist thinking:
• Challenges classical theory assumptions that development is linear and
universal
• Emphasizes diversity, context, and the socio-political influences
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Reconceptualist Thinking: Indigenous Theories
• Children are equal members of the
community
• All children are sacred gifts with
capacities to contribute
• Children carry on traditions, culture, ways
of life and are protectors of the land
• 4 dimensions of learning: spiritual,
emotional, physical and cognitive
• Learning throughout stories and
teachings through voice, dance, music
and role modelling
• ‘Breath of Life” elders sacred and support
echo across generations
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Review:
Perspectives
on Child
Development
[Link]
perspectivesOnChildDevelopmentReview/q
[Link]
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Research Methods for Collecting Data 1
Systematic observation takes place in the laboratory and in
the everyday world.
Laboratory: a controlled setting where many complex factors
of the “real world” have been removed.
• Participants will be aware they are being studied.
• The unnatural setting can prompt unnatural behavior.
• Participants may not be a diverse group.
• The setting may intimidate.
• Some aspects of children’s development are difficult to
examine in the laboratory.
• Laboratory studies of certain types of stress may be unethical.
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Why is research important to what we know about child development?
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Research Methods for Collecting Data 2
Naturalistic observation: observing behavior in real-world
settings with no effort to manipulate the situation.
• Example: a study focused on conversations in a children’s
science museum.
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Research Methods for Collecting Data 3
Surveys (or questionnaires) and interviews are conducted in
person, over the phone, and online.
• One drawback is that participants may answer in a way they
think is socially desirable, rather than what they truly feel.
Standardized test: a test with uniform procedures for
administration and scoring.
• Many allow a person’s performance to be compared with the
performance of others.
• They do not always predict behavior in non-test situations;
they do not allow for the variability of personality and
intelligence; and a test may not be appropriate in all
cultures.
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Research Methods for Collecting Data 4
Case study: an in-depth look at a single individual.
• The data often cannot be generalized to others.
Physiological measures include:
• Blood samples, showing the blood levels of certain
hormones; and
• Neuroimaging, especially functional magnetic resonance
imaging (fMRI).
The data-collection method often depends on the goal of the
research.
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Research Designs 1
Descriptive research: aims to observe and record behavior;
it cannot prove cause.
Correlational research: aims to describe the strength of the
relationship between two or more events or characteristics.
• Correlation coefficient: a number based on a statistical
analysis that describes the degree of association between
two variables; it ranges from −1.00 to +1.00.
• Correlation does not equal causation.
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Research Designs 2
Experiment: a carefully regulated procedure in which one or
more of the factors believed to influence the behavior being
studied are manipulated while all other factors are held
constant.
• The independent variable is the manipulated factor.
• The dependent variable is a factor that can change in
response to changes in the independent variable.
• An experimental group is a group whose experience is
manipulated.
• A control group is a comparison group that is treated the
same way except for the manipulated factor (independent
variable).
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Research Designs: Time Span of Research
Cross-sectional approach: a research strategy in which
individuals of different ages are compared at the same point
in time.
Longitudinal approach: a research strategy in which the
same individuals are studied over time—usually several
years or more.
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Figure 17 Connections of Research Methods to Theories
Research Method Theory
Observation All theories emphasize some form of observation.
Behavioral and social cognitive theories place the strongest emphasis on
laboratory observation.
Ethological theory places the strongest emphasis on naturalistic observation.
Interviews/survey Psychoanalytic and cognitive studies (Piaget, Vygotsky) often use interviews.
Behavioral, social cognitive, and ethological theories are the least likely to
use surveys or interviews.
Standardized test None of the theories discussed emphasize the use of this method.
Correlational research All of the theories use this research method, although psychoanalytic
theories are the least likely to use it.
Experimental research The behavioral and cognitive theories and the information-processing
theories are the most likely to use the experimental method.
Psychological theories are the least likely to use it.
Cross-sectional/ No theory described uses these methods more than any other.
longitudinal methods
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Challenges in Child Development Research: Conducting
Ethical Research
The American Psychological Association (APA) has
developed ethics guidelines for its members.
• Informed consent: All participants must know what their
participation will involve and what risks might develop; and
they have the right to withdraw at any time for any reason.
• Confidentiality: All data must be kept confidential and,
when possible, anonymous.
• Debriefing: After the study, participants should be informed
of its purpose and methods.
• Deception: Psychologists must ensure that any deception
will not harm participants and that participants will be
debriefed.
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Challenges in Child Development Research: Minimizing
Bias
Studies are most useful when they are conducted without
bias or prejudice.
Of special concern is bias based on gender and bias based
on culture or ethnicity.
• Ethnic gloss: use of an ethnic label such as African
American or Latino in a superficial way that portrays an
ethnic group as being more homogeneous than it really is.
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Might the results of research be different depending on which of these
groups were studied?
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Challenges in Early Childhood Research
The Exploitation of Vulnerable Populations:
These studies often targeted marginalized or vulnerable groups, such as African
Americans, children in institutions, and Aboriginal communities.
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