Child
Development
Chapter 10
#1: What is the nature versus
nurture controversy?
 The
debate over whether who we are or
become is the product or our genetics
(heredity) or our environment
#2: What has psychology
focused on more in recent
years?
 Heredity,
or genetics
#3: What are some
characteristics in children that
genes can influence?
 Abilities,
behaviors, activity level,
emotional responsiveness, ease of
soothing, response to new things,
tolerance for alcohol
#4: If something is inherited,
can it be changed by the
environment?
 Yes…


You might be smart, but you still need to
study
You might be a great athlete, but you still
need to practice
#5: What was the overall
outcome of the twin study
described in the text?
 Heredity
plays a crucial role in
development, more than originally
expected
 Researchers estimated that at least 50%
of our personality/intelligence is hereditary
#6: What did the study of the
couple who raised a baby
boy and chimp demonstrate?
 Developmental

patterns:
Development within a species is orderly &
specific w/its own timetable & pattern
 Pattern
is related to how complex the
organism will be
 Humans
develop slowly compared to
many other species, but later go far
beyond in terms of intelligence & other
skills
#7: What species has the
longest developmental
pattern?
 Human
beings
#8
A
child is preprogrammed for activities
such as walking.
#9
 Walking
at an earlier age is not a sign of
future intelligence but is just a reflection of
individual differences.
#10
 The
kind of skill that develops
automatically as the child becomes more
and more mature is part of the process
called maturation—the automatic,
orderly, and sequential process of
physical and mental development.
#11
 It
is important for parents to spend time
playing and “talking” with their babies,
because this is a good way to stimulate
the infants’ brain.
#12: What three things does a
child need for good
development?
 Good
nutrition
 Stimulation
 Safety
#13
A
good environment is necessary for
proper development, but it won’t speed
up the process.
#14
 The
timing of development will vary from
one child to another.
#15: What are growth cycles?
 Patterns
of development in which some
areas develop more rapidly and some
more slowly, but all in a way preplanned
by nature
#16
 By
age 6, 95% of the basic structure of the
brain has been completed, but the body
has 55% left to go, and the reproductive
system has more than 90% to go.
#17: How do girls’ growth
cycles differ from boys?
 Girls
are more orderly and stable, while
boys grow in spurts and mature more
slowly…although they eventually catch
up…by age 55 or so…don’t worry girls…
#18: What is imprinting?
A
process that occurs at a preset time in
development, when the brain is ready to
receive and respond to a specific stimulus

Example: ducklings seeing “mother
duck”…even if it’s not really mom!
#19
 The
critical period is a specific time of
development that is the only time when a
particular skill can begin to develop or an
association can occur.
#20: Identify two examples of
critical periods
 Dogs
form solid attachments to humans
only up to 12 weeks of age
 Humans who wish to learn a foreign
language with a correct and natural
accent must start learning before age 12
#21: What are the potential
consequences of missing
critical periods?
 You
will have a very difficult time catching
up to your peers
#22: How much is
mother/child attachment
affected when mothers work
outside the home?
 Not
much…children of working moms
appear to be as attached…
 It is more important that the child feels
loved!
#23: What is the permissive
parenting style and what are
the potential consequences?





Parents allow children to do whatever they
want
Few rules that aren’t enforced
Children don’t learn about unacceptable
behavior & its consequences
They are often impulsive & irresponsible, lack
self-confidence, have trouble making
decisions & doing things for themselves
Often don’t get along with other children
#24: What is the authoritarian
parenting style and what are
the potential consequences?

This approach involves parents who:






Are rigid & inflexible
Set down rules
Demand compliance
Often administer harsh punishments
Don’t trust their children to make good decisions &
therefore don’t allow them to have input
Potential consequences: children aren’t good at
making decisions & have poor self-esteem;
children often have trouble getting along with
others
#25: What is the authoritative
parenting style and what are
the potential consequences of
this?


Parents are authority figure, but not dictator
They make rules and enforce them, but are caring
and flexible at the same time




Show interest in their child’s views & try to help
them grow as individuals
Help them make their own decisions
Don’t ignore or cover up problems, but will offer
suggestions & support
Potential consequences: children are self-reliant,
friendly, self-confident, take responsibility for their
actions, have stable relationships, positive image
of self & others
#26: According to the text,
what are the “five most
important things” for a child’s
healthy development?
 Love
 Affection
 Guidelines
 Listening
 Encouragement
#27: Identify three factors that
contribute to child abuse.
 Abusers
usually don’t know much about
children
 Abusers are often immature
 Abusers often come from a violent
background
 Financial problems, unemployment, stress,
alcoholism, psychological problems,
isolation from friends/family
#28: Why does separation
anxiety occur only after about
nine months of age?
 By
nine months, the brain has developed
enough that the child is aware of the
mother or father & is beginning to
understand that they can “disappear” in
place of a babysitter
#29
 Piaget
studied cognitive development,
which is the ways in which thinking and
reasoning grow and change.
#30
 Piaget
divided cognitive development in
to four stages.
#31: Chart Piaget’s stages of
cognitive development.
Sensorimotor Stage


Birth-2 years
Two activities: sensation & movement



No object permanence


Baby sees, studies, grasps a bottle
Makes connections between objects and the
effects they create
If babies don’t sense something (see it, hear it)
then they believe it doesn’t exist
No more reaching & grasping for objects, but
asking for them (use of words that symbolize
the object=end of sensorimotor stage)
Preoperational Stage
 Age:
2-7 years
 Awareness of object permanence
 Lack of logic

Talk to inanimate objects
 Rapid
development of language
 Unable to see others’ point of view
 Cannot understand reversibility
Preoperational Stage (con’t)
 Cannot

grasp conservation
Conservation is the idea that one can
change some of an object’s characteristics
while keeping others the same
 Child
is very self-centered, but starts to
notice differences between people and
objects in their environment
Concrete Operational Stage
 7-11
years
 Now understand reversibility &
conservation
 More logical
 The world is very “black & white”, cannot
understand “shades of grey”
 Cannot understand hypothetical
situations
Formal Operational Stage
 11
years on (although some never get
there!)
 Abstract thinking, critical thinking, logic
 Problem-solving
 “Shades of grey”
#32
 Moral
development, the development of
ideas about right and wrong, also seems
to follow a maturational sequence, or a
series of stages.
#33
 Like
Piaget’s system, there is not
necessarily a fixed pattern of this
development for every single person, and
there can at times be a mixture of stages.
#34
A
major difference between the theory of
moral reasoning and Piaget’s cognitive
system, though, is that a person may be
at a high level of moral reasoning, but still
not be inclined to “be good”. In other
words, we have a choice regarding moral
issues but not so with mental
development.
#35
 This
moral system was developed by
psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg.
#36: Chart Kohlberg’s Levels
of Moral Development
Preconventional
 Younger
than age 6
 Morality determined by the power of
outside authority
 Children cannot see the difference
between right & wrong, only between
punishments & rewards
 Punished=bad; rewarded=good
Conventional


7-11 years
Expectations of others is the motivation for
doing what is right or wrong




At first, children seek approval of others
Later, they understand that they must behave in
a certain way because society expects it
Intention behind an action takes on meaning
Most people never make it beyond this stage
Postconventional
 11
years on
 Small portion of population makes it to this
stage
 Personal ethics and human rights are
considered
 Rules are not absolute; one’s one moral
code can be more important

Civil disobedience
#37
A
basic blueprint of all speech sounds is
programmed in the infant from birth.
#38
 The
environment, by providing examples
to imitate, then guides the infant to the
correct speech pattern for the society
within which the infant lives.
#39
 Psychologists
believe that language
patterns develop because certain sounds
are reinforced whenever they occur.
#40
 In
the process of learning to speak,
children follow rigid, fixed rules.
#41
 The
most important thing at this stage is
the location of the word.
#42
 It
is obvious that environment plays a
critical role in speech development.
There is a general feeling, however, that
basic ideas or concepts might be
inherited rather than learned.