Chapter 7
Child Development
Developmental
Psychology
Principles of Development
1. We develop at different speeds
2. Development is orderly
3. Development is gradual
How?
Maturation & Interaction
(Nature & Nurture)
Nature & Nurture
• Heredity imposes limits on what you can be
• Home, education, nutrition, etc. can be +/-
• Vulnerabilities: Difficult temperament, genetic
disorders
• Protective factors: High intelligence, good
coordination, easy-going personality
Harmful Influences on Prenatal
Development
• Teratogens: x-rays, drugs (prescription or
illegal), environmental toxins (lead, smoking,
chemicals, asbestos)
• Maternal disease or condition: diabetes, HIV,
herpes, cancer, sexually transmitted diseases,
malnutrition (lack of nutrition, obesity)
• Substances: alcohol, *tobacco, diet pill
• Excessive stress, family violence
• **Critical Period
Temperament
(personality)
•
•
•
•
Aspects of temperament:
Activity level (frequency and strength)
Sociability (approach others, positive affect)
Inhibition (withdraw from new situations/
people; withdraw from too much stimulation)
• Negative emotion (fussy, irritable, anger)
• Effortful control (focus, attention, persistence)
Three types of temperament
• Easy: pleasant mood, adaptable, regular sleep,
eat, respond positively to new people/ situations
(40%)
• Difficult: irregular patterns of sleep and eat,
reacted negatively to new situations, unpleasant,
intense emotions (10%)
• Slow to warm up: withdrawn, slow to adapt,
could be negative (15%)
• The rest is Mixed….
Attachment in detail…
• Bond between child and mother (or caregiver)
• Safe Haven - Return to attachment figure for safety
comfort in face of fear or threat.
• Secure Base - Attachment figure acts as secure base
from which child can explore environment.
• Separation Distress - Anxiety that occurs in absence
of attachment figure starts at 6-8 months – good
sign.
Attachment
• Bond between child and mother (or caregiver)
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnFKaaOSPmk&feature=r
elated “Strange Situation”
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6fY6RchNk4 “Parenting
and Attachment”
Importance of Fathers…
• Why do we need dads?
Importance of fathers
• Regular positive interaction (vs. none) = higher
IQ, better in social situations, good emotional
regulation, + persistent, less violent/impulsive
• No (or poor) interaction = poor school
performance, less self-confidence, aggression,
delinquency, early sexual behaviour for girls
Theories of development
Piaget: Swiss, biologist & psychologist
Vygotsky: Russian, died of tuberculosis
Piaget: Four interactions
1.
2.
3.
4.
Biological maturation
Activity
Social experiences
Equilibration
Piaget: Two instincts
• Schematic Organization: schema: knowledge
about situations/events that help us
understand and recognize new information by
providing ideas about what should occur
• Adaptation: The process of adjusting
information to fit into our schemas. We either
change our schema altogether or modify it.
Piaget: Adaptation
• Assimilation
• Accommodation
Keep existing schema to
make sense of events,
take new information
and ‘bring it in’ –
confirms what I
thought
Change schema to
accommodate new
information or create
new one – totally
different from what I
expected
Police example –
good cop, bad
cop?
Four Stages of Cognitive Development
1
Sensorimotor
(0-2)
Object permanence - Goal directed actions
2
Pre- (2-7)
Operational
Egocentric (it’s all about me), collective
monologue (with/alone)
3
ConcreteOperational
(7-11)
Compensation (balance), reversibility (123,
321), classification (categories), sequence
4
FormalOperational
(12 -onwards)
Abstract thinking, solution/ possibility
generation, teenage egocentrism (it’s still
about me).
Sensorimotor
(Object permanence)
Babies understand world thru senses
and motor activity (movement).
Behavior becomes more complex.
Baby responds to/manipulates objects.
Object Permanence: Realization that
objects continue to exist even when they
are no longer seen
Pre-Operational
(Egocentrism)
• Symbolism: One thing stands for another, i.e.
use of words to represent object
• Pretend Play: Imagining a block is a car
• Egocentrism: Belief that everyone sees what I
see, think what I think, and feel what I feel
Concrete-Operational
(Conservation)
Use of logic: act like scientists
Conservation
Not egocentric
Future thinking
Formal-Operational
(Rational Logic)
Use of logic and abstraction:
apply logic to abstract, verbal,
and hypothetical situations
and to problems in the past,
present, or future
Teenage Egocentrism:
Imaginary Audience and
Personal Fable
Vygotsky’s Sociocultural
perspective
• The role of culture, community
and other individuals is
important for development
• Cognitive structures develop as
we interact with world
Vygotsky: Two themes
• Co-Construction
We evolve through
interaction with others,
settings. We coconstruct our realities &
social reality too.
• Tools
Tools are language,
symbols, technology,
pictures, body
language, etc., that
transmits and builds coconstruction.
Vygotsky: Role of Language
• Critical for cognitive development
• Private speech
• It’s how we ‘figure things out.’
• Talking to yourself is normal, and should occur.
But it’s what you say that matters.
Social Development
• Who influences our social development?
• Baumrind (1991): 3 parenting styles
Parenting
• Authoritarian: expect obedience, arbitrary
rules, punish misbehaviour, value authority
not independent thinking.
Parenting
• Permissive: friendly but few rules/
expectations, no enforcement, children make
decisions
Parenting
• **Authoritative: set high but realistic
standards, enforce limits, encourage
communication and independence. Strict but
loving.
Bronfenbrenner: Ecological Model
of Development (89)
• Similar to Vygotsky: We develop by
interacting with our ecological context.
• Reciprocal determinism (we each
determine, or, influence one another).
Contexts of Development