Lecture 8/29What is Child development?The study of: how and why children change and grow in three domains:cognitive, physical and social emotionalDevelopmental science more broadly is concerned with change andstability internal and external to the individual across the lifespanand in diverse contextsThings that would stay the same would be your eye color, languagecaregiver relationships/ familyIndividual differences, group differences and universalsConceptualizing development:Domains- inter-wovenPhysical- biological changes that occur in the body as well as theintegration of sensory and motor activities Cognitive- changes in the way we think, understand, and reason aboutthe worldSocial-emotional: changes in the ways that we connect to otherindividuals, as well as the ways we understand our emotions and theemotions of othersMajor stages of infancy and child development:Pre-natal: conception-birthInfancy/ toddlerhood: 0-2 yearsEarly childhood: 2-6 yearsMiddle childhood: 6-11 yearsWhy study child development?Forming social policy- laws and programs related to the well being ofchildren and families Child development research can inform development of policies andprograms/ evaluate the effectiveness of policies and programsUnderstand your own development (self-knowledge)Understand human nature Continuous vs. discontinuous Quantitative changes- changes in the amount or quantity of what youare measuringDiscontinuous- a process in which new ways of understand andresponding to the world emerge at specific times Stage theories- each stage in life is qualitatively different from onesthat come before and after Modern consensus- development is basically continuous, butt here areperiods of more abrupt transition (puberty)Nature and nurture:Nature- biological perspective, biology is destinyDevelopment is pre-determined by genetic inheritance BehavioristsWatson -1928 –give him any child and he could produce Mozart, BabeRuth or Al CaponeAdaptive and Maladaptive development:Developmental psychopathology- the study of how biological,psychopathology- the study of how biological, psychological and socialinfluences affect development to produce adaptive or maladaptiveoutcomes Identify developmental pathways leading to behavior problems ormental illness The role of the child:Children are products and producers of their development Social learning theory- children acquire many skills through modelingSocial cognitive learning theory (bandura) originally social and latercognitiveChildren learn through observing and imitating Culture and development:Contexts- unique combinations of personal and environmentalcircumstances that can result in different paths of change Development in cultural contextsCulture shapes beliefs, environments and relationships- all domains ofdevelopment Development in cultural contexts:Cultural- children in different cultures may undergo different process Differences vs. deficit- tradition of research that focuses on comparingdevelopment of one group to your own group (usually comparingnegatively to a dominant group) Ecological systems theory:Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory- Individuals are embeddedwithin a complex It’s how your outside life relates to your inside life- school/parentsProximal processes- progressively more complex reciprocal interactionsbetween an active, changing human organism and the immediateenvironment that occur regularly over timeVary systematically according to the characteristics of- developingperson, environments and developmental