Child Development

Laura E. Berk 8th edition

Chapter 1
History, Theory,
and Applied
Directions

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Domains of Development
Physical
Cognitive
Emotional and Social

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 Periods of Development
Prenatal Conception to birth

Infancy and Toddlerhood Birth to 2 years

Early Childhood 2 to 6 years

Middle Childhood 6 to 11 years

Adolescence 11 to 18 years

Emerging Adulthood 18 to 25 years

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 Theory
An orderly, integrated, evidence-
based set of statements that
– Describes
– Explains
– Predicts behavior

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Basic Issues in Development

1. Continuous or discontinuous?
2. One course of development or
many?
3. Nature or nurture?

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Continuous or Discontinuous
Development

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 Contexts of Development
Unique combinations of:
– Genetics
– Environment

 Can result in
different paths
of development
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 Nature and Nurture

Nature Nurture
Inborn, biological Physical and
givens social world
Based on genetic Influence
inheritance biological and
psychological
development

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 Resilient Children
What factors offer protection from the
damaging effect of stressful lives?
– High intelligence and socially endowed
talents, including temperament
– A warm parental relationship
– Social support outside the immediate family
– Community resources and opportunities

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 Historical Views of Childhood

Medieval Era Childhood (to age 7 or 8) regarded

and Earlier as separate phase with special
needs
16th Century Puritan “child depravity” views

17th Century John Locke’s “tabula rasa” or “blank

slate” view

18th Century Jean Jacques Rousseau’s “noble

savages” view

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 Key Principles of Darwin’s
Theory of Evolution

Natural Selection, or Survival of the Fittest

Species have Individuals best

characteristics that adapted to their
are adapted—or fit— environments survive
to their to reproduce.
environments. Their genes are passed
to later generations.

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 Early Scientific Study
of Development
Baby Day-to-day impressions of a child’s
Biographies behavior

Normative • Age-related averages

Approach • Based on measurements of large
numbers of people
Mental Testing Simon & Binet: Early developers of
Movement intelligence tests

James Mark • Developmental theorist

Baldwin • Nature and nurture of equal
importance
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 Freud’s Three Parts
of the Personality
• Largest portion of the mind
• Unconscious, present at birth
Id • Source of biological needs &
desires
• Conscious, rational part of mind
• Emerges in early infancy
Ego • Redirects id impulses acceptably

• The conscience
Superego • Develops from ages 3 to 6, from
interactions with caregivers
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Freud’s Psychosexual Stages

Oral
Anal
Phallic
Latency
Genital
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 Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages
Basic trust Birth–1 year Identity vs. Adolescence
vs. mistrust identity
confusion
Autonomy 1–3 years Intimacy vs. Emerging
vs. shame isolation Adulthood
and doubt
Initiative vs. 3–6 years Generativity Adulthood
guilt vs.
stagnation
Industry vs. 6–11 years Integrity vs. Old Age
inferiority despair

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Behaviorism and Social Learning

Classical Stimulus – Response

Conditioning

Operant Reinforcers and Punishments

Conditioning

Social Learning Modeling

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 Piaget’s Stages of
Cognitive Development
Sensorimotor Birth–2 years
Preoperational 2–7 years
Concrete
7–11 years
Operational
Formal
11 years and older
Operational

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Information-Processing Flowchart

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 Developmental Cognitive
Neuroscience
Brings together researchers from
psychology, biology, neuroscience, and
medicine to study the relationship between
the brain and the developing child’s
cognitive processing and behavior
patterns.

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 Ethology and
Evolutionary Psychology

Ethology Evolutionary
– Critical Periods Developmental
– Sensitive Periods Psychology
– Adaptive Value
of behavior to
the species
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 Ethology - Sensitive Period
An optimal time for certain capacities to
emerge
Individual is especially responsive to
environment
Development is hard to
induce later
Boundaries less
defined than a critical
period
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 Evolutionary
Developmental Psychology
Seeks to understand adaptive value of
human competencies
Studies cognitive, emotional and social
competencies and change with age
Expands upon ethology

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 Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory

Transmission of culture to a new

generation
– Beliefs, customs, skills

Social interaction
necessary to learn
culture
– Cooperative dialogue
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members of society

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Ecological Systems Theory
Structure of the Environment

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An Ever-Changing System
Bronfenbrenner:
chronosystem
Children are both
products and
producers of their
environment.

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The Dynamic Systems View Of
Development

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 Social Policy
Planned set of actions
By a group, institution or governing body
To attain a social goal

 Public Policy
Laws and other
government social
policy programs
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 Indicators of Children’s
Health and Well-Being
U.S. Rank Canadian
Rank
Childhood Poverty 23 16

Infant Death 26 16

Teen Pregnancy 28 21

Education Spending 10 6

Health Spending 16 4

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 Individualist and
Collectivist Societies
Individualist Collectivist
People think of People define
themselves as themselves as
separate from part of a group.
others. Concerned with
Concerned with group goals over
personal goals. individual goals.

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 Looking Toward the Future
Justification for child oriented policies:
Children are the future
Humanitarian grounds—children have
basic rights as human beings
Convention on the Rights of the Child

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