chapter 1: the science of child development. chapter 1: the science of child development chapter 1...
TRANSCRIPT
Chapter 1:
The Science of Child Development
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
Setting the Stage
Philosophers have long speculated on the nature of childhood
• Plato • Aristotle• Locke• Rousseau
Do you know the difference between each view?
Historical Views of Children and Childhood
Historical Views of Children and Childhood
Reform During Industrial Revolution
• Rural to urban transformation• Child workers
Origins of a New Science
Darwin• Detailed, systematic observations (baby biographies)
• Application of child-development research
Origins of a New Science
New Science Leaders•G. Stanley Hall•Binet•Freud•Watson and Skinner
New Organization and Journal•SRCD•Applied Developmental Psychology
Origins of a New Science
Foundational Theories of Child Development
• Organized set of ideas designed to explain and predict
• Leads to hypotheses that are tested, then confirmed or rejected
What is a theory?
Important theorist and concepts
Lorenz• Critical period• Imprinting
Can you provide an example for each?
Biological Perspective
Development is determined by how child resolves conflicts at different ages
Freud• Psychosexual development• Components of personality
Psychodynamic Perspective
Development is determined by how a child resolves conflicts at different ages
Erikson• Psychosocial development• Stages with psychosocial crises
Psychodynamic Perspective
Early learning theories emphasized the importance of experience in development
B.F. Skinner• Operant conditioning• Reinforcement and punishment
Learning Perspective
Other learning theorists suggested that children can learn by observing others
Bandura• Social cognitive theory• Imitation or observational learning
Learning 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
The Cognitive-Developmental Perspective
Development is determined by immediate and more distant environments, which typically influence each other
Lev Vygotsky• Importance of cultural context
Contextual Perspective
Themes in Child Development Research
Early Development is Related to Later Development
The continuity-discontinuity issue:
Development is not completely rigid, nor completely flexible!
Development is Jointly Influenced by Heredity and Environment
The nature-nurture issue:
Major goal of child development research is to understand joint contributions of
heredity and environment.
Children Influence Their Own Development
The active-passive child issue:
Can you think of ways in which both may apply to children’s cognitive development?
Development in Different Domains is Connected
Doing Child Development Research
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
Measurement in Child-Development Research
Approaches
• Systematic observation
• Sampling behavior with tasks
• Self report
• Physiological response measurement
Evaluating Measurement in Child-Development Research
Measurement Methods• Reliability• Validity
Representative Sampling• Populations• Samples
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?
Three Interpretations of a Correlation Coefficient
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.
Example of an Experiment
Designs for Studying Age-Related Changes
Research Designs: Age-Related Changes• Longitudinal design
• Microgenetic study
• Cross-sectional design
• Longitudinal-sequential studies
Longitudinal Study
• Same children observed/tested repeatedly at different points in their lives
• Microgenetic studies
Cross-Sectional Study
• Children of different ages tested at one point in their development
• Developmental changes identified
Longitudinal-Sequential Study
• Different sequence of children tested longitudinally
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
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
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