Child Psychology 560 What is development We do develop Things that are changing across ages features developing o Language logics Thinking developmentally What changes and what doesn t What causes change Roles of o Nature versus and Nurture Factors that are hereditary vs factors that are acquired The N N Problem Nature Innate stuff o Rousseau 18th C Nativism Child is a noble savage beautiful engaged creature Children as hypothesis testing in the world trying to figure the world out Nurture Experience o o Locke 17th C Empiricism Child as tabula rasa Latin for blank slate Nothing is there to determine what a child will be from birth 20th C Behaviorism Watson quote 1930 Where conditioning came from 1 23 14 You can train someone to do anything What counts as nature Experience independent change o o o o o o Behaviors traits abilities that form in the absence of experience Genetic factors Chromosomal abnormalities e g Down Syndrome Eye color Temperament personality attribute Maturational Timetables certain things tend to follow a general timeline Growing teeth Learning to walk Timing of language development Hormonal Changes triggering events in environment but time of occurance laid out by our Menstruation Bird song acquisition Reflexes Newborn humans Newborn non humans baby horse walks right away Instincts Spider s web just know how to spin web Cricket song no learning experience required Imprinting Ex Ducklings on Konrad Lorenz s boot Ethology Baby duckling imprints onto mother and follows her around natural imprinting There was no mother so Lorenz was imprinted as the mother Dead reckoning ants What counts as nurture Experience dependent change o o o o Things that happen to us that make us who we are based on experience Environmental factors Native language Effects of child abuse and neglect Nutrition Prenatal toxins Learning Conditional responses Playing the piano Your mother s voice Effects of experience Food preferences Development of prejudice Most behaviors involve both Nurture and Nature How do we disentangle this interaction Where do behaviors come from Interactive behaviors of Nature and Nurture Interaction 1 Language o o Nature humans not pets Nurture Culture specific Interaction 2 Food aversions e g chemotherapy o o o Conditioned response nurture Eat banana feel sick from banana avoid banana People that undergo chemo will avoid favorite foods to avoid hating them Garcia experiment Bright noisy tasty water Created stimuli that had a very characteristic look sound and taste Rats developed a taste aversion adaptive strategy Species specific effects o o o Quail visual hunters rates used taste and smell Nurture Conditioned food avoidance Nature species specific effects Rats taste and smell of what they are exposed to Quail sight of what they are exposed to Tease apart interaction of Nature and Nurture Interaction 3 Duckling Imprinting o Duck decoy moving around track o o Timing Critical perioid Must occur within 9 24 hours of hatching After 24 hours avoidance response fear of novelty Shape preferences Do ducklings follow it Best stimulus is a real duck then a sphere Interaction 4 Duckling auditory preferences o o Ducklings prefer mom s calls over others innate Gottlieb Remove embryos vocal cords Expose to chicken calls o Newborns prefer chicken calls Prenatal experience nurture overrode genetic preference nature Interaction 5 Bird song o o o o o P Marler Constraints on learning Critical period Learn only own species song If raised in isolation sings isolate song Zebra Finch examples Other big issues What causes individual differences o Nature and nurture problem Does everything change develop o Is all change development E g learning calculus Is change continuous or discontinuous o Stage theories discontinuous o E g tadpole frog Vs continuous theories E g identical twins E g changes in weight height Competence vs performance o Understanding vs doing It all comes back to Where does behavior come from Why should we care Scientific curiosity Caregiving Teaching Reaching children at risk o Mental illness o o Developmental disabilities Poverty Changing concepts of childhood Today Separate critical phase This is a recent phenomenon o Child development new ish field A brief history of childhood Classical times military upbringing Medieval times no juvenile justice system 17th 18th C Renewed interest o Looked at children differently once the idea of nature vs nurture was brought up 18th Century debates kids are o Inherently selfish evil requiring control o Innately pure noble savages corrupted by society o Hobbes nativist view Rousseau Tabula rasa Malleable by society Locke not an innate view Evolutionary theory Darwin 1st baby biographer o o Instincts o Emotions and language Similarities to other species Unlearned behavior patterns Survival of fittest adaptiveness of behavior 18th 19th C Freud Psychosexual theory o Develops during childhood id ego etc o Childhood major impact on mental health o Psychodynamic Early 20th C Behaviorism Watson Skinner o o Stimulus response learning Equipotentially equal potential anyone can learn anything Operant conditioning Use of external stimuli to influence behavior o E g reward punishment in parenting Theorist today Mix of nativism and empiricism interactionist Biology Kids in context peers family media school neighborhoods digital media For Tuesday How do we stu 01 23 2014 01 23 2014