Monday January 27 2014 Developmental Psychology Chapter 1 Themes and Theories Nature Nurture What roles do nature and nurture play in development This issue is concerned with how genetic and experiential variables interact to influence behavior One implication of this interaction is that children play and active role in the process of development Multiple levels of interaction between genes and experience are involved in determining developmental outcomes Sociocultural Influence How does the sociocultural context influence development Children grow up in a social environment and cultural community that can have a behaviors that are displayed tremendous impact on the Continuity Discontinuity Is development continuous or discontinuous Changes in behavior may stem from quantitative incremental developmental advances or qualitative reorganization Children s behavior also may be influenced by multiple strategies or ways of responding Interaction Among Domains How do the various domains of development interact Developmental scientists are concerned with the whole child thus they are interested in how skills and capacities acquired in some area affect other aspects of behavior Risk Resilience What factors promote risk or resilience in development 1 Monday January 27 2014 Certain biological or environmental factors may be associated with a course of development that is less than optimal Other factors may protect the child from the impact of these risks Developmental scientists are interested in identifying the complexities of risk and resilience so that appropriate interventions can be designed What is Development Development refers to all the physical and psychological changes that occur throughout a human s lifetime Developmental psychology s the discipline concerned with the scientific study of changes in human behaviors and mental processes over a lifetime Developmental science is now often the level given to this field of study because researchers from many different disciplines work together to consider biological social and other complex systems that affect human development T heo r ie s s e r v e t o org a niz e information gathered by researchers explain observations and predict behaviors that should occur in future observations The information gathered in research should be helpful in suggesting specific actions for social policy plans by government or private agencies to alleviate social problems Five Major Themes in Developmental Psychology Often described as the nature nurture debate this issue is concerned with how genetic and experiential variables interact to influence behavior Research reveals that there are multiple levels of interaction involving the genes and experience Children grow up in a social environment and cultural community that can have a tremendous impact on the behaviors that are displayed 2 Monday January 27 2014 Changes in behavior may stem from quantitative incremental advances or qualitative reorganization that is often described as a stage in development However at any one time in development behavior may be influenced by multiple strategies or ways of responding Individual differences exist in the development of behavior Some children are able to cope with difficult biological or environmental conditions effectively others seem less able to do so In addition some children are exposed to events that increase the risks associated with their development Developmental scientists attempt to identify those factors that promote risk and those factors that promote resilience in children s abilities to respond effectively to the circumstances that influence their development The Study of the Child Historical Perspectives In medieval and premodern times although recognized as vulnerable children quickly became a part of adult society By the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries children were viewed as worthy of special attention in terms of parenting and education By the beginning of the twentieth century children became the objects of scientific study Philosophers such as John Locke emphasized empiricism the view that experience shapes the development of the individual whereas others such as Jean Jacques Rousseau wrote about the curious and active nature of the child Baby biographers such as Charles Darwin and Wilhelm Preyer carried out the first systematic observations of individual children G Stanley Hall introduced the questionnaire method for studying large groups of children Alfred Binet initiated the movement to study individual differences in children s behavior and abilities Theorist James Mark Baldwin viewed the child as a participant in his or her own cognitive and social development Freud emphasized the importance of early experience on development and posited a series of psychosexual stages that 3 Monday January 27 2014 children must successfully negotiate in order to demonstrate normal personality development For much of the first half of the twentieth century work was carried out on gathering descriptive information about children Arnold Gesell and others focused on establishing norms of behavior Limited research also began to be initiated to investigate the variables that might cause development Theories of Development Learning is the permanent change in behavior that results from experience Behaviorism relies on two basic forms of learning classical and operant conditioning to bring about behavioral change Social learning theory as outlined by Albert Bandura adds observational learning as an important mechanism by which behavior in continuously modified and changed Jean Piaget s cognitive developmental theory highlights the child s construction of schemes or patterns of acting on and t hin k in g a b o u t t h e wo r ld T hrough assimilation and accommodation a child s schemes actively adapt to the demands of the environment by becoming more organized conceptual and logical These regulatory processes of adaptation and organization result in equilibration Cognitive development progresses through a series of qualitatively different stages according to Piaget s theory Information processing models use the computer as a metaphor in accounting for cognitive development Developmental differences in cognitive structures and processes such as rules strategies and procedures account for changes in attention memory thinking and problem solving Erikson s psychosocial theory of development focuses on the sociocultural context in which behavioral needs