PART 1: ENTERING A CHILD’S WORLD

STUDYING A CHILD’S WORLD

THE STUDY OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT: BASIC CONCEPTS

Developmental processes: Change and stability

 Quantitative change: change in number or amount (height, weight, communication frequency)
 Qualitative change: change in kind, structure or organisation

Domains of development
 Physical development: growth of body and brain, development of sensory capacities and motor skills, health (a child with frequent ear infections
may develop language more slowly than a child without this problem)
 Cognitive development: change and stability in mental abilities, such as learning, memory, language, thinking, moral reasoning and creativity.
Cognitive advances are closely related to physical, social and emotional growth (ability to speak depends on the physical development of the
mouth and brain)
 Psychosocial development: change and stability in personality, emotional life, and social relationships and it can affect cognitive and physical
functioning (anxiety about taking a test can impair performance)

INFLUENCES ON DEVELOPMENT

Heredity, environment and maturation

 Heredity: inborn influences or traits inherited from biological parents
 Environment: totality of nonhereditary, or experiential, influences on development
 Maturation: unfolding of a natural sequence of physical and behavioural changes, including readiness to master new abilities

Major contextual influences

Family:
 Nuclear family: two-generational kinship, economic, and household unit consisting of one or two parents and their biological children, adopted
children or stepchildren (Western and developing countries)
 Extended family: multigenerational kinship network of parents, children and other relatives, sometimes living together in an extended family
household (Traditional societies and minority groups)
Socioeconomic status and neighbourhood:
 Determines kind of home, neighbourhood, nutrition, medical care, supervision, schooling opportunities
 Influences the physical, cognitive and psychosocial development
Culture and race/ ethnicity:
 Culture: a society’s or group’s total way of life (customs, traditions, beliefs, values, language, and physical products ~ all learned behaviour
passed on from parents to children)
 Ethnic group: group united by ancestry, religion, language and/ or national origins, all of which contribute to a sense of shared identity
Historical context:
 Historical events determine experiences, influence lives and development

Timing of influences: Critical or sensitive periods

 Critical period: specific time when a given event, or its absence, has the greatest impact on development (pregnant women consuming drugs will
defect the foetus)
 Sensitive periods: times in development when a person is open to certain kinds of experiences

Typical major developments in five periods of child development

Age period Physical developments
Prenatal Period Conception occurs by normal
(conception to birth) fertilisation or other means
Genetic endowment interacts with
environmental influences from start
Basic body structures and organs
form; brain growth spurt begins
Physical growth is most rapid in life
span
Vulnerability to environmental
influences is great
Infancy and All senses and body systems operate
Toddlerhood at birth to varying degrees
(birth to 3 years) Brain grows in complexity and is highly Use of symbols and ability to solve
sensitive to environmental influence
Physical growth and motor skills
development rapid
Early childhood Growth is steady; appearance
(3 to 6 years) becomes more slender and
proportions more adultlike
Appetite diminishes and sleep
problems are common
Handedness appears; fine and gross
motor skills and strength improve
Cognitive developments
Abilities to learn and remember to
respond to sensory stimuli are
developing
Abilities to learn and remember are
present, even in early weeks
problems develop by end of second
year
Comprehension and language use
develop rapidly
Thinking somewhat egocentric, but
understanding of others’ perspectives
grow
Cognitive immaturity results in some
illogical ideas about the world
Memory and language improve
Intelligence becomes more predictable
Psychosocial developments
Foetus responds to mother’s voice and
develops a preference for it
Attachments to parents and others form
Self awareness develops
Shift from dependence to autonomy
occurs
Interest in other children increases
Self-concept and understanding of
emotions become more complex; self-
esteem is global
Independence, initiative and self-control
increase
Gender identity develops
Play becomes more imaginative, more

Middle childhood Growth slows
(6 to 11 years) Strength and athletic skills improve
Respiratory illness are common, but
health is generally better than at any
other time in life span
Adolescence Physical growth and other changes
(11 to 20 years) are rapid and profound
Reproductive maturity occurs
Major health risks arise from
behavioural issues, such as eating
disorders and drug abuse
Egocentrism diminishes. Children
begin to think logically but concretely
Memory and language skills increase
Cognitive gains permit children to
benefit from formal schooling
Some children show special
educational needs and strengths
Ability to think abstractly and use
scientific reasoning develops
Immature thinking persists in some
attitudes and behaviours
Education focuses on preparation for
college or vocation
elaborate, usually more social
Altruism, aggression and fearfulness are
common
Family is still focus of social life, but other
children become more important
Self-concept becomes more complex
affecting self-esteem
Coregulation reflects gradual shift in
control from parents to child
Peers assume central importance
Search for identity, including sexual
identity becomes central
Relationships with parents are generally
good
Peer group may exert a positive or
negative influence

A CHILD’S WORLD: HOW WE DISCOVER IT

ERIK ERIKSON: PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

 Modified and extended Freudian’s theory by emphasising society’s influence on personality development
 Psychosocial development theory covers eight stages across the life span, each of which involves a ‘crisis’ in personality: major psychosocial
themes which emerge according to a maturational timetable and must be satisfactorily resolved for healthy ego development (crisis = conflicting/
competing tendencies)
 Each stage requires the balancing of a positive trait and a corresponding negative one ~ positive quality should predominate and some degree of
the negative is needed ~ the successful outcome of each stage is the development of a particular ‘virtue’ or strength

Developmental stages according to Erikson’s theory (the first 5)

Basic trust versus mistrust:
 Birth to 12-18 months
 Baby develops a sense of whether the world is a good and safe place
 Virtue = hope
Autonomy versus shame and doubt:
 12-18 months to 3 years
 Child develops a balance of independence and self-sufficiency over shame and doubt
 Virtue = will
Initiative versus guilt:
 3 to 6 years
 Child develops initiative when trying out new activities and is not overwhelmed by guilt
 Virtue = purpose
Industry versus identity:
 6 years to puberty
 Child must learn skills of the culture or face feelings of incompetence
 Virtue = skill
Identity versus identity confusion:
 Puberty to young adulthood
 Adolescent must determine own sense of self or experience confusion about roles
 Virtue = fidelity

JEAN PIAGET’S COGNITIVE STAGE THEORY

 Emphasis on mental processes

 Organismic perspective, viewing cognitive development as the product of children’s efforts to understand and act on their world
 Piaget’s clinical method combined observation with flexible questioning where in order to learn how children think he followed up their answers
with more questions, and he designed tasks to test his tentative conclusions
 Suggests cognitive development begins with an inborn ability to adapt to the environment
 Occurs in four qualitatively different stages which represent universal development patterns ~ at each stage a child’s mind develops a new way of
operating
 Children’s minds are not miniature adult minds

Developmental stage according to Piaget’s theory (4 stages)

Sensorimotor:
 Birth to 2 years
 Infant gradually becomes able to organise activities in relation to the environment through sensory motor activity
Preoperational:
 2 to 7 years
 Child develops a representational system and uses symbols to represent people, places and events
 Language and imaginative play are important manifestations of this stage
 Thinking is still not logical
Concrete operations:
 7 to 11 years
 Child can solve problems logically if they are focused on the here and now but cannot think abstractly
Formal operations:
 11 to adulthood
 Person can think abstractly, deal with hypothetical situations, and think about possibilities

Cognitive growth occurs through three interrelated processes

Organisation:
 Tendency to create complex cognitive structures: systems of knowledge or ways of thinking that incorporate more and more accurate images of
reality
 These structures (schemes) are organised patterns of behaviour that a person uses to think about and act in a situation
Adaptation:
 How children handle new information in light of what they already know
Two steps:
 Assimilation: taking in new information and incorporating it into existing cognitive structures
 Accommodation: adjusting one’s cognitive structures to fit the new information
Equilibration:
 Constant striving for a stable balance
 Dictates shift from assimilation to accommodation
 When children cannot handle new experiences within their existing cognitive structures (disequilibrium), they organise new mental patterns that
integrate new experience, restoring a more comfortable state of equilibrium

THE INFORMATION-PROCESSING APPROACH

 Explains cognitive development by observing and analysing the mental processes involved in perceiving and handling information
 Enables researchers to estimate an infants later intelligence from the efficiency of his or her sensory perception and processing
 Used to test, diagnose and treat learning problems

Computer-based models
 Brain is compared to a computer ~ sensory impressions go in: behaviour comes out
 Researchers infer what goes on between a stimulus and a response
 Computational models have been developed to analyse specific steps children go through in gathering, storing, retrieving and using information
 View development as continuous and not age-related increase in speed, complexity, and efficiency of mental processing and in amount and
variety of material that can be stored in memory

LEV VYGOTSKY’S SOCIOCULTURAL THEORY

 Bronfenbrenner sees contextual systems as centred around the individual person

 Vygotsky’s central focus was the social, cultural and historical complex of which a child is a part ~ social processes from which a child’s thinking is
derived
 Stresses children’s active engagement with their environment
 Piaget described the solo mind taking in and interpreting information about the world
 Vygotsky saw cognitive growth as a collaborative process ~ children learn through social interaction, they acquire cognitive skills as part of their
introduction into a way of life; shared activities help children internalise their society’s way of thinking and behaving and to make those ways their
own
 Adults (and older peers) must help direct and organise a child’s learning before it can be mastered and internalised ~ most effective in helping
children cross the (ZPD) Zone of Proximal Development: Gap between what they are already able to do and what they are not quite ready to
accomplish by themselves ~ children in ZPD can almost but not quite perform task on their own, therefore guidance assists them in doing it
successfully
 Scaffolding: temporary support that parents, teachers or others give a child in doing a task until a child can do it alone (floating)

Important implications for education and cognitive thinking of Vygotsky’s theory

 Test based on ZPD, focus = child’s potential, provide valuable alternative to standard intelligence tests that asses what that child has already
learned ~ many children may benefit from Vygotsky’s prescribed expert guidance
 Contribution of contextual perspective: emphasis on social component of development ~ research shift from individual to larger, interactional units
 Contextual perspective reminds that development of children in one culture, or group within a culture, may not be the norm for children in another

DEVELOPMENTAL RESEARCH DESIGNS

Cross-sectional, longitudinal and sequential studies

Cross-sectional study:
 Study design in which people of different ages are assessed at one time
 Shows similarities and differences between age groups
Longitudinal study:
 Study designed to assess changes in a sample over time
 Reveals how children change or stay the same as they grow older
The Oakland (Adolescent) Growth Study:
Participants, who as teenagers showed self-confidence, intellectual commitment and dependable effectiveness made good choices in adolescence and
also in early adulthood, which often lead to promising opportunities. Less competent teenagers made poorer early decisions and tended to lead crisis-
ridden lives
Sequential study:
 Sequence of cross-sectional and longitudinal
 Complex strategy designed to overcome drawbacks of longitudinal and cross-sectional research
 Type of Procedure Advantages Disadvantages
study
Longitudinal Data are collected on same Can show age-related change or Its time-consuming, expensive; presents problems of
person or persons over a continuity; avoids confounding age attrition, bias in sample, and effects of repeated testing;
period of time with cohort effects results may be valid only for cohort tested or sample studied
Cross- Data are collected on people Can show similarities and Cannot establish age effects; masks individual differences;
sectional of different ages at same time differences among age groups; can be confounded by cohort effects
speedy, economical; presents no
problem of attrition or repeated
testing
Sequential Data collected on successive Can avoid drawbacks of both cross- Requires large amount of time and effort and analysis of
cross-sectional or longitudinal sectional and longitudinal designs very complex data
samples

Microgenetic studies:
 Study design that enables researchers to directly observe change by repeated testing over a short time
 Vygotsky’s ‘microgenisis experiments’ manipulated conditions to see how much children’s performance could improve over a short period of time
 Operant conditioning experiments – kicking mobile