User:Atcovi/Spring2024/Child Psychology/Ch. 1

1.1 - What is Child Development?

 * Child - Between infancy and puberty.
 * Infancy - First 2 yrs of birth.
 * Early childhood - Ages 2 to 5.
 * Middle childhood - Ages 6 to 12.
 * Development - Organisms showcase features and traits, grow, and increase in structure and ability to do things.
 * Growth - Organisms change in size.

Why Do Researchers Study Child Development?

 * Find out more about us!
 * Find out more about our origins!
 * Find out about gender roles!
 * How do we prevent childhood disorders, such as PKU and down syndrome?
 * How do we develop our child in the best way?

- Foods on the embryo

- Parent-infant interaction

- Bottle-feeding vs. breast-feeding

- Daycare programs, good or bad?

What Views of Children Do We Find Throughout History?

 * More was expected from children back then, some practices bordering cruelty. In the 20th century, children worked in factories.
 * John Locke believed children were shaped from their environment and experiences, while Rousseau believed children were inherently bad or good. The truth is more with Rousseau than Locke, as we now know that one's heredity has effects on our behavior.
 * Charles Darwin with evolution and his "baby diary" of his infant son, G. Stanley Hall founded child development as an academic subject (he was a "questionnaire the children" type of guy), and Binet & Simon came up with a test to seek kids who were academically behind ("first modern standardized intelligence test").

1.2 - Theories of Child Development
John B. Watson, the founder of behaviorism, leaned on the side of nurture vs. nature. Arnold Gessel leaned towards nature, but he was more-so talking about the growth of the baby rather than the behavioral patterns [Watson].

What Are Theories of Child Development?
A theory is a springboard for us to make educated geusses/predictions


 * 1) Psychoanalytic - stage theory by Freud [psychosexual]/Eriksen [psychosocial].

What Are the Learning Perspectives on Child Development?

 * 1) Behaviorism (bell-and-pad method - classical conditioning; operant conditioning, reinforcement, punishment). "In classical conditioning, children learn to associate stimuli so that a response made to one is then made in response to the other. But in operant conditioning, children learn to do something because of its effects". Look into the 1959 Harriet Rheingold operant conditioning on infants study. Learning occurs by mechanical conditioning.
 * 2) Social cognitive theory by Albert Bandura. Children learn by observing. Learning occurs by cognition. Children can shape their own environment (the art student seeks art & an artistic environment, for example).
 * 3) Cognitive-developmental theory - Investigate mental processes/maturation of neurons. Jean Piaget-orientated. See information-processing theory. "Thus, many cognitive psychologists focus on information processing in people—the processes by which information is encoded (input), stored (in long-term memory), retrieved (placed in short-term memory), and manipulated (processed) to solve problems (the solutions are the output)".
 * 4) Biological perspective - This perspective directly relates to growth. Ethology, imprinting, examples of the swans hiding eggs in their mouth and birds build nests.
 * 5) Ecological perspective - Deals with the relationships between living organisms and their environments, ecological systems theory (takes two to tango, parent-child relationship proposed by Bronfenbrenner).
 * 6) Sociocultural perspective - Children are social beings affected by culture, Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory, ZPD, scaffolding. Considers diversity to a great degree, including ethnic group, gender, socioeconomic status.

Nature or Nurture?
How much of human behavior is derived from nature (genetic code, genetic heritage, nervous system) and/or nurture (environmental influences, nutrition, cultural background). For example, language is both nature (certain parts of the brain are activated) and nurture (accents/vocab).

Is Development Continuous or Discontinuous?
Do we develop gradually or almost suddenly?

Maturational theorists, those that believes growth comes from within the organism, highlight the fact that 1 year old babies are not going to speak intelligibly just because their parents do. Stage theorists, like the great Frued & Piaget, also believe that development is discontinuous.

Learning theorists, like behaviorists (Watson, for example), believed development as continuous.

Are Children Active (Prewired to Act on the World) or Passive (Shaped by Experience)?
Do we let the child learn on their own [active] or do we have to set that child straight so he doesn't go astray (and when we say straight, we mean STRAIGHT) [passive]?

Bandura & Bronfenbenner both believed the children aren't dumb like these guys asking the active vs. passive question believe they are, they have their own unique contributions and work in the process of growing as well [ecological systems theory]!

1.4 - How Do We Study Child Development?

 * Scientific Method - Form a question, hypothesis, test the hypothesis through research, draw conclusions, publish findings.

How do we get information out of the child? NOT through testimony...


 * Naturalistic Observation
 * Case Study - Getting to know EVERYTHING about the child, including tests, interviews, questionnaires, and friends.
 * Surveys - These are conducted for information that we cannot observe in real time/experiment with realistically.

We can observe...


 * Correlations - Two variables in comparison to one another, either positive (same direction) or negative (opposite direction). Shows effects, but not cause. For the cause, we need to see the experimental method.
 * Meta-analysis - A study of multiple research studies.
 * Experimental method

Long-Term Studies

 * Longitudinal studies - Repeated measures, same cohort of kids, different developmental stages. Usually takes a few months or years, not a decade. Obvious drawback is keeping a group of volunteers for long (time).
 * Cross-sectional research - Measures children of different age groups at the same time in order to figure out the way younger children will develop by seeing the differences observed in the older children. Obvious drawback is the cohort effect, where different groups of people have their own unique experiences that prove to be disadvantageous (watching TV as a child vs. living in a time where TV wasn't a thing).
 * Cross-sequential research - Combination of above two. Covers time-lag comparisons.

1.5 - Ethical Considerations

 * No physical/emotional harm.
 * Informed consent - "Before beginning her experiment, Sasha explains the purpose of her research and the methods she will be using to the participating parents and their children. Which part of the research process is Sasha engaging in?"
 * They must consent.
 * Must be able to withdraw from the study at any time.
 * Debriefing.
 * Confidentiality
 * Need committee approval beforehand.