Chapter 1
Developmental domains: 1. Physical: growth and change in a person’s body and bodily functions 2. Cognitive: development of mental processes used to process information, grow in awareness, solve problems, and gain knowledge 3. Social-emotional: development of processes related to interactions with other people
Developmental issues: 1. Maturation & learning: genetically determined and due to heredity vs. experience and observation 2. Nature & Nurture: (genes vs. influences in terms of development) genetic influences and what we inherit vs. environment and how parents raise a child * Ex: argumentative-genetic from Dad or because that’s how the child was raised to act and respond in situation based on observations * Twins commonly studied when raised in different environments because they have identical genes but may turn out with different personalities, attitudes, and values 3. Continuous & Discontinuous: smooth/gradual development vs. abrupt/unstable * Ex: learning to talk = continuous * Ex: lifting head, to crawling, to walking = discontinuous (development happens in stages and each stage has features that must be completed before the next one can happen)
Early and Later Experiences * Critical periods: limited time span in which a child develops a skill (e.g. imprinting) * Sensitive periods: more relative to child development; individuals are sensitive so they are able to learn something (e.g. speaking is learning as a baby)
Historical Foundations * Children of antiquity * Helpless/lacking self control (Greek/Roman) * Take kids from parents and give to state—believed that parents couldn’t discipline kids well enough and the kids needed to be closely monitored. * Medieval Times * “Little adults” * Needed them for labor and as soon as girls could give birth they were married off; not seen as special * Tabula Rose * Locke * Children were seen as a blank slate/piece of clay * Believed children were molded by parents and environment * Innate goodness * Rousseau * Born with a sense of right and wrong (built in moral sense) * Told parents to stay away and let the child be * Darwin * Natural selection: individuals best suited to environment are more inclined to reproduce offspring with same features
Studies of Development * Baby biographies: first way children were observed (parents took notes) * Scientific Method: we can see different environments and how each effect environment * Normative Approach: 2000 infants & their parents and measured everything; made averages of when things should happen (“normalized” child development) * Mental Testing Movement (IQ test) * Simon Binet—tried to find a way to test children for retardation in France * Consistent & good predictors of academic achievement but not for retardation * Contemporary Applied Directions: * Health and well-being: e.g. child exposed to cigarette smoke * Sociocultural contexts: culture, ethnicity, gender * Policy
Terms & Concepts
Child development: changes in physical, social, emotional, and intellectual functioning over time, from conception through adolescence.
Developmental Domains: physical, cognitive, and social-emotional development
Physical Development: growth and change in a person’s body and bodily functions
Cognitive Development: development of mental processes used to process information, grow in awareness, solve problems, and gain knowledge
Social-emotional development: development of processes related to interactions with other people
Dizygotic Twins: development from 2 separate eggs fertilized by 2 separate sperm cells (fraternal)
Monozygotic Twins: share the same genetic code because they developed in 1 fertilized egg, which divided into 2 separate individuals (identical)
Heritability: estimate of the degree to