History, Theory, and Research Strategies

1. History, Theory, and Research Strategies Chapter 1

2. What is Developmental Science? • Developmental science – field of study devoted to understanding constancy and change throughout the lifespan • Great diversity exists among investigators who study development, but all have 1 major goal… • Major goal: to identify those factors that influence consistencies and transformations in people from conception to death

3. The Field of Human Development is… • Scientific – conduct empirical research • Applied – meaning practical use • Interdisciplinary – meaning that people from many different fields contribute to the study of human development

4. Theories of Development • Theory – orderly, integrated set of statements that describes, explains, and predicts behavior • Example: theory of infant-caregiver attachment would: • 1) describe the behaviors of babies 6-8 months old as they seek the affection and comfort of a familiar adult • 2) explain how and why infants develop this strong desire to bond with a caregiver • 3) predict the consequences of this emotional bond for future relationships • Theories are important for 2 reasons: • Provide organizing frameworks for our observations • Theories verified by research provide a sound basis for how to improve welfare of individuals

5. 3 Basic Issues in Development • Continuous or discontinuous? • One course of development or many? • Nature or nurture?

6. Continuous or Discontinuous? • Continuous – a process of gradually augmenting the same types of skills that were there to begin with • Discontinuous – a process in which new ways of understanding and responding to the world emerge a specific times • Stages – qualitative changes in thinking, feeling, and behaving that characterize specific periods of development

7. Is there one course of development or many? • Stage theorists assume that people everywhere follow the same sequence of development • But… field of human development is becoming increasingly aware that different contexts matter • Contexts – unique combinations of personal and environmental circumstances that can result in different paths of change • Example: • Personal: a shy person who fears social encounters develops in very different contexts from people who are more outgoing and readily seek out other people • Environmental: people who grow up in a third world village society have different experiences in their families than people who grow up in an American city

8. Relative Influence of Nature and Nurture • Are genetic or environmental factors more important? • Nature – inborn biological givens • The information we inherit from our parents at the moment of conception • Nurture – the complex forces of the physical and social world that influence our biological makeup and psychological experiences before and after birth • Example: do children learn language rapidly because they are genetically predisposed to do so or because their parents teach them from an early age?

9. Relative Influence of Nature and Nurture (cont.) • A theory’s position on the roles of nature vs. nurture affect how it explains individual differences • Nature/heredity • Stability – that individuals who are high or low in a characteristic (i.e., verbal ability or anxiety) will stay that way throughout their life • Nurture/environment • Plasticity – that change is possible and even likely if new experiences support it

10. Development as a Dynamic System • More and more, researchers are regarding development as a dynamic system • Perpetually ongoing process • Conception to Death • 3 Influences on development • Biological • Psychological • Social

11. The Lifespan Perspective • Leading dynamic systems approach • 4 major assumptions: development is… • Lifelong • Multidimensional and multidirectional • Highly plastic • Affected my multiple, interacting forces • Within each age period change occurs in 3 broad domains • Physical • Cognitive • Emotional/social

12. Lifespan View of Development

13. Periods of Development

14. Lifespan Assumption 1 • Development is Lifelong • Every age period can have equally powerful effects on future change • No single period has a “supreme” impact on the life course

15. Lifespan Assumption 2 • Development is Multidimensional and multidirectional • Multidimensional: development is affected by a blend of biological, psychological, and social forces • Multidirectional in 2 ways • development is not limited to improved performance. Every period consists of growth and decline • Change is also multidirectional within each domain of development (physical, cognitive, and emotional/social)

16. Lifespan Assumption 3 • Development is Plastic or Flexible • Adaptations and changes can occur at all ages • Aging is not an eventual “shipwreck” • Different opportunities can yield different outcomes

17. Lifespan Assumption 4 • Development is influenced by multiple, interacting forces • Biological, historical, social, and cultural • These multiple influences work together • Combine in unique ways in each individual life course

18. 3 Types of Influences • Age-graded influences – events that are strongly related to age and therefore are fairly predictable in when they occur and how long they last • Example: most people begin walking shortly after their 1st birthday • History-graded influences – influences on development unique to a particular historical era (ex. epidemics, wars, periods of economic prosperity or depression) • Example: my great-grandmother was raised during a time of great economic depression and because of this she stockpiled goods in her home. Today she would be described in modern terms as a “hoarder” • Nonnormative influences – irregular events that only happen to one person or a few people and do not follow a predictable timetable • Example: an inspiring childhood teacher or meeting your life-partner on a random blind-date

19. Scientific Beginnings • Scientific study of human development dates back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries • Charles Darwin – 19th century theory of evolution • Studying natural selection and survival of the fittest lead other scientists to speculate about the evolution and development of humans • Thus, the scientific study of human development was born… no pun intended

20. The Normative Period • G. Stanley Hall – early 20th century - founder of the child study movement • Intensive efforts to describe all aspects of development launched the normative approach • Normative approach – measures of behavior are taken on large numbers of individuals, and age-related averages are computed to represent typical development

21. Mid-20th Century Theories • Mid-20th Century – study of human development expanded into a legitimate discipline and several theories and perspectives emerged • The psychoanalytic perspective • Behaviorism and social learning theory • Piaget’s cognitive-developmental theory

22. The Psychoanalytic Perspective • 1930s and 1940s driven by attempts to treat psychological problems: How and why do people become the way they are? • Psychoanalytic perspective answer: people move through a series of stages in which they confront conflicts between biological drives and social expectations. • How these conflicts are resolved determines the person’s ability to learn, to get along with others, and to cope with anxiety • 2 main theorists • Sigmund Freud – psychosexual theory • Erik Erikson – psychosocial theory

23. Psychoanalytic Perspective: Freud • Psychosexual theory – emphasizes that how parents manage their child’s sexual and aggressive drives in the 1st few years of life is crucial for healthy personality development

24. Psychoanalytic Perspective: Freud • Psychosexual stages – During childhood sexual impulses shift their focus from the oral to the anal to the genital regions of the body • If parents strike an appropriate balance, then the child will grow into a well-adjusted adult

25. Psychoanalytic Perspective: Erikson • Psychosocial theory – emphasized that the ego makes a positive contribution to development, acquiring attitudes and skills at each stage that make the individual an active, contributing member of society • Basic psychological conflict between positive and negative occurs at each stage in development • How the conflict between positive and negative is resolved at each stage determines if healthy or maladaptive outcomes occur

26. Psychoanalytic Perspective: Erikson

27. Psychoanalytic Perspective: Erikson • 1st 5 stages parallel Freud, but Erikson added 3 more adult stages • Normal development must be understood in relation to each culture’s life situation • Child rearing can be understood only in relation to the competencies valued and needed by an individual’s society

28. Psychoanalytic Perspective: Strengths and weaknesses • Strengths • Emphasis on the individual’s unique life history • Inspired research on many aspects of emotional and social development (infant-caregiver attachment, aggression, sibling relationships, child-rearing practices, morality, gender roles, and adolescent identity) • Weaknesses • No longer in the mainstream of human development research • Too focused on the clinical approach, failed to consider other methods • Psychosexual stages and ego functioning are so vague that they are difficult or impossible to test empirically

29. Behaviorism & Social Learning Theory • Behaviorism – only directly observable events are appropriate to study • Completely disregards anything that cant be directly observed (like Freud’s id, ego, and superego) • John Watson – founder of behaviorism, backlash against psychoanalysis • Goal: to create an objective science of psychology, disregard unseen inner workings of the mind

30. Behaviorism & Social Learning Theory • Classical conditioning – Showed that a reflex (an involuntary reaction) could be caused to occur in response to a formerly unrelated stimulus • Dog Study:

31. Behaviorism & Social Learning Theory • Watson wanted to see if classical conditioning could be applied to children’s behavior • “Little Albert” study • Conditioned a baby to fear a white rat by paring it with a loud noise • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMnhyGozLyE • Concluded that environment is the supreme force in development • Adults can mold children’s behavior by controlling stimulus-response associations • Viewed development as a continuous process, consisting of gradual increase with age in the number and strength of these associations

32. Behaviorism & Social Learning Theory • Operant conditioning theory (B.F. Skinner) • The frequency of a behavior can be increased or decreased • Increased: follow the behavior with a reward called a reinforcer (food, praise, friendly smile) • Decreased: follow the behavior with punishment (disapproval or withdrawal of privileges)

33. Behaviorism & Social Learning Theory • Albert Bandura – most influential social learning theorist • Social learning theory – emphasizes modeling, AKA imitation or observational learning, as a powerful source of development • Example: baby claps her hands after seeing her mother do so • Diverse factors effect children’s motivation to imitate • Their own history of reinforcement or punishment for the behavior • The promise of future reinforcement or punishment • Even vicarious reinforcement or punishment (observing the model being reinforced or punished) • Today, social learning theory stresses the importance of cognition, or thinking

34. Behaviorism & Social Learning Theory: Strengths and Weaknesses • Strengths • Behavior modification - procedures that combine conditioning and modeling to eliminate undesirable behaviors and increase desirable responses • Example: eliminating bad habits such as smoking and nail biting • Weaknesses • Many theorists believe behaviorism and social learning theory have too narrow of a focus on environmental influences • Criticized for underestimating people’s contributions to their own development

35. Piaget’s Cognitive-Developmental Theory • Jean Piaget – most influential researcher on child development • Did not believe that children’s learning depends on reinforcers • Cognitive-developmental theory – children actively construct knowledge as they manipulate and explore their world • Based on biological concept of adaptation • Just as structures of the body are adapted to fit with the environment, structures of the mind also develop to better fit with, or represent, the external world

36. Piaget’s Cognitive-Developmental Theory • Infancy & early childhood: children’s understanding is different from adults’ • Example: young babies do not realize that an object hidden from view (like a favorite toy) continues to exist • Preschool: thinking is full of faulty logic • Example: children younger than 7 years commonly say that the amount of a liquid changes when it is poured into a different-shaped container • Eventually revise incorrect ideas via ongoing efforts to achieve equilibrium, or balance, between internal structures and information they encounter in their everyday worlds

37. Piaget’s Cognitive-Developmental Theory • 4 broad stages occur as the brain develops and experiences expand • Sensorimotor stage (birth-2 years) – cognitive development begins with the baby’s use of the senses and movements to explore the world • Preoperational stage (2-7 years) – action patterns evolve into symbolic but illogical thinking • Concrete operational stage (7-11 years) – cognition is transformed into more organized, logical reasoning • Formal operational stage (11 years-on) – thought becomes an abstract, systematic reasoning system

38. Piaget’s Cognitive-Developmental Theory: Strengths and Weaknesses • Strengths • Children are active learners whose minds consist of rich structures of knowledge • Stages sparked research on children’s conceptions of themselves, other people, and human relationships • Encouraged development of discovery learning programs which emphasize direct contact with the environment • Weaknesses • Underestimated the competence of infants and preschoolers • Stages pay insufficient attention to social and cultural influences on development • Cognitive changes do not stop occurring in adolescence

39. Recent Theoretical Perspectives: Information Processing • Information processing – views the human mind as a computer • A symbol-manipulating system through which information flows • Information is presented to the senses during input, information is actively coded, transformed, and organized, then emerges as output, a behavioral response • Regard people as actively making sense of their own thinking • Continuous change – thought processes are regarded as similar at all ages but present to a lesser or greater extent

40. Uses flowcharts to map the precise steps individuals use to solve problems and complete tasks • Example: 5-year-old solving a bridge building problem • Use the blocks to build a bridge a cross a “river” painted on the floor too wide for any single block to span • Child discovers how to counterweight and balance the bridge

41. Recent Theoretical Perspectives: Information Processing • Strengths • Commitment to rigorous research methods • Provided precise accounts of how people tackle many cognitive tasks • Weaknesses • Better at analyzing thinking into components than putting them back together into a comprehensive theory • Virtually ignores aspects of cognition that are not linear and logical • Such as imagination and creativity

42. Recent Theoretical Perspectives: Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience • Developmental cognitive neuroscience – studies the relationship between changes in the brain and cognitive processing and behavior patterns • Uses brain-imaging techniques to analyze relationships between brain functioning, cognitive capacities, and behavior • Gain knowledge regarding: • The types of experiences that support or undermine brain development at various ages • The brain bases of many learning and behavior disorders • Example: ADHD has been linked to dysfunction in brain regions such as the prefrontal cortex

43. Recent Theoretical Perspectives: Ethology • Ethology – concerned with the adaptive, or survival, value of behavior and its evolutionary history • Critical period – a limited time span during which the individual is biologically prepared to acquire certain adaptive behaviors but needs the support of an appropriately stimulating environment • Example: if children are deprived of adequate food or physical and social stimulation during their early years, will intelligence be impaired?

44. Recent Theoretical Perspectives: Ethology • Sensitive period – time that is optimal for certain capacities to emerge and in which the individual is especially responsive to environmental influence • Boundaries are less well-defined than those of the critical period • Development can occur later, but it is harder to induce

45. Recent Theoretical Perspectives: Evolutionary Developmental Psychology • Evolutionary developmental psychology – seeks to understand the adaptive value of specieswide cognitive, emotional, and social competencies as those competencies change with age • Clarify origins and development of behaviors • Example: life-threatening risk taking in adolescents and male-to-male violence may have been adaptive in our ancestors • But today, our lifestyles are so radically different that these behaviors are no longer adaptive

46. Recent Theoretical Perspectives: Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory • Sociocultural theory – focuses on how culture is transmitted on to the next generation • values, beliefs, customs, and skills of a social group • Social interaction – necessary for children to acquire the ways of thinking and behaving that make up a community’s culture • Views cognitive development as a socially mediated process • Children depend on assistance from adults and more expert peers to tackle new challenges

47. Recent Theoretical Perspectives: Ecological Systems Theory • Ecological systems theory – views the person as developing within a complex system of relationships affected by multiple levels of the surrounding environment • Views the environment as a series of nested structures • Microsystem – innermost level, activities and interaction patterns in immediate surroundings (immediate family, school) • Mesosystem – second level, connections between microsystems • Exosystem – third level, social settings that do not contain the person but affect experiences in immediate settings (neighbors, extended family, board of directors in the workplace) • Macrosystem – outermost level, cultural values, laws, customs, and resources

49. Studying Development • Hypothesis – prediction about behavior drawn from a theory • Research methods • Basic approach to gathering information • Systematic observations, self-reports, clinical or case studies, ethnographies • Research designs • Overall plans for research studies • Permit the best possible test of the investigator’s hypothesis

50. Common Research Methods: Systematic Observation • Naturalistic observation • In the “field” or natural environment where behavior happens • Example: observing children in their homes or schools • Structured observation • Laboratory situation set up to evoke the desired behavior • All participants have an equal chance to display behavior • Used when the behavior of interest is very difficult or impossible to observe in the “field”