Exam 1 Study Guide lifespan 1 1 Child development child psychology an area of study devoted to understanding constancy and change from conception through adolescence part of a larger interdisciplinary field known as developmental science which includes all changes we experience throughout the 1 2 Physical development how we walk growth puberty health motor skills Cognitive development language problem solving critical thinking common sense object permanence attention memory imagination Emotional and Social development socialization self awareness forming relationships independence self esteem ALL DOMAINS ARE INTERRELATED Language ability to interact with people Growth aging capacity for knowledge New motor capacities such as reaching sitting crawling and walking physical contribute greatly to infants understanding of their surroundings cognitive When babies think and act more competently adults stimulate them more with games language and expressions of delight at their new achievements emotional and social 1 3 Periods of Development Prenatal the most rapid period conception birth innate knowledge brain growth 9 month period one celled organism is transformed into a human baby with remarkable capacities for adjusting to life in the surrounding world Infancy and Childhood birth 2 years language or crying for attention personality behavior patterns dramatic changes in the body and brain that support the emergence of a wide array of motor perceptual and intellectual capacities first intimate ties infancy 1st year toddlerhood 2nd year first steps etc Early Childhood 2 years 6 years start of real education and more language development physical growth imagination and memory the body becomes longer and leaner motor skills are refined and children become more self controlled and self sufficient Make believe play blossoms Thought and language expand a sense of morality establish ties with peers Middle Childhood 6 years 11 years advanced education more independence and coordination growth and adult teeth learn about the wider world improved athletic abilities logical thought processes mastery of fundamental knowledge and skills reading writing math advances in understanding self morality and friendship Adolescence 11 years 18 years more relationships that last puberty leads to adult sized body and sexual maturity thought becomes abstract and idealistic schooling is increasingly directed towards higher education the world of work establish autonomy from the family and to define personal values and goals Emerging Adulthood 18 years 25 years college exploration of love career and personal values enduring commitments THE TRANSITION TO ADULT ROLES HAS BECOME INCREASINGLY PROLONGED NEW STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT 1 4 Theory an orderly integrated set of statements that describes explains and predicts behavior Theories provide organizing frameworks for our observations of children guide and give meaning to what we see also theories that are verified by research often serve as a sound basis for practical action Explain behavior describe behavior and predict behavior 1 5 Continuous development a process of gradually adding more of the same types of skills that were there to begin with to the world emerge at specific times Discontinuous development a process in which new ways of understanding and responding Stages qualitative changes in thinking feeling and behaving that characterize specific periods of development like climbing a staircase discontinuous 1 6 One course of development vs Many courses of development ONE COURSE OF DEVELOPMENT Stage theorists assume that people everywhere follow the same sequence of development discontinuous MANY COURSES OF DEVELOPMENT Contemporary theorists children grow up in distinct contexts which are unique combinations of personal and environmental circumstances that can result in different paths of change 1 7 Nature Nurture Controversy Are genetic or environmental factors more important in influencing development By nature we mean inborn biological givens the hereditary information we receive from our parents at the moment of conception By nurture we mean the complex forces of the physical and social world that influence our biological makeup and psychological experiences before and after birth Stability children who are high or low in a characteristic verbal ability anxiety or sociability will remain so at later ages usually associated with heredity lifelong characteristics early experiences establish patterns Plasticity open to change in response to influential experiences 1 8 Resilience the ability to adapt effectively in the face of threats to development Factors that protect against harmful life events parents socioeconomic status personal characteristics support outside the family community 1 9 Child development during medieval times childhood 7 8 yrs regarded as separate phase with special needs children were often depicted playing games and looking up to adults Reformation children were born evil and stubborn and had to be civilized Locke s contribution to the field of child development during the enlightenment viewed the child as tabula rasa blank slate proponent of nature opposed physical punishment continuous species Rousseau claimed that children were not blank slates rather they were noble savages naturally endowed with a sense of right and wrong and an innate plan for orderly healthy growth 2 influential concepts maturation which refers to a genetically determined naturally unfolding course of growth and stage Darwin scientific beginnings of the field of child development natural selection and survival of the fittest discovered that early prenatal growth is strikingly similar in many The normative approach in which measures of behavior are taken on large numbers of individuals and age related averages are computed to represent typical development The mental testing movement Binet and Simon constructed the first successful intelligence test when asked to find a way to identify children with learning problems Stanford Binet Intelligence Scale Intelligence tests rose quickly to the forefront of the nature nurture 1 10 Psychoanalytic perspective children move through a series of stages in which they confront conflicts between biological drives and social expectations How these conflicts are resolved determines that person s ability to learn to get along with others and to cope with controversy anxiety Freud s Psychosexual theory which emphasizes that how
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