Chapter 1-Introduction

Introduction
Chapter 1 Outline
1. Caring for Children

• Improving the Lives of Children
• Resilience, Social Policy, and Children’s Development
2. Developmental Processes, Periods, and Issues

• Biological, Cognitive, and Socioemotional Processes
• Periods of Development
• Age and Cohort Effects
• Issues in Development
Copyright © 2014 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or

1-1
distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Introduction
Chapter 1 Outline
3. The Science of Child Development

• Importance of Research
• Theories of Child Development
• Research Methods for Collecting Data
• Research Designs
• Challenges in Child Development Research

1-2
Chapter 1 Preview
Why study children?
• Perhaps you are or will be a parent or teacher, and
responsibility for children is or will be a part of your everyday
life.
• The more you learn about children and the way researchers
study them, the better you can guide them.
• Perhaps you hope to gain an understanding of your own
history—as an infant, as a child, and as an adolescent.
• Perhaps you accidentally came across the course description

and found it intriguing.

1-3
Chapter 1 Preview
Why study children? (continued)
• Whatever your reasons, you will discover that the study of
child development is provocative, intriguing, and
informative.
• In chapter 1, we will:
- Explore historical views and the modern study of
child development.
- Consider why caring for children is so important
- Examine the nature of development.
- Outline how science helps us to understand it.

1-4
Chapter 1: Caring for Children
Development
– Is the pattern of change that begins at conception and
continues through the life span.
– Most development involves growth, although it also

includes decline.

1-5
Caring for Children
Improving the Lives of Children
• Health and Well-Being

– Today, health professionals recognize the power of lifestyles and psychological states
(Burns & others, 2013; Graham, Holt-Hale, & Parker, 2013).
– Clinical psychologists are among the health professionals who help people improve
their well-being.
• Parenting
– Can two gay men raise a healthy family?
– Are children harmed if both parents work outside the home?
– Does spanking have negative consequences for a child’s development?
– How damaging is divorce to children’s development?
Controversial answers to questions like these reflect pressures on the contemporary

family (Grusec & others, 2013; Patterson, 2013).
1-6
Caring for Children
Improving the Lives of Children
• Parenting (continued)
– Good parenting takes considerable time.
– Understanding the nature of children’s development can help one become

a better parent (Grusec & others, 2013).
– Many parents learn parenting practices from their parents.

• both desirable and undesirable practices are usually perpetuated.

1-7
Caring for Children
Improving the Lives of Children (continued)
• Education
– There is widespread agreement that something needs to be
done to improve the education of our nation’s children (Eccles &
Roeser, 2013; McCombs, 2013; Reynolds & Miller, 2013)

1-8
Caring for Children

• Education (continued)
– Should schools focus only on developing the
child’s cognitive skills?
– Should schools pay more attention to the child’s
socioemotional and physical development?

1-9
Caring for Children

• Sociocultural Contexts and Diversity
– Health and well-being, parenting, and education — like development
itself — are all shaped by their sociocultural context (Bennett, 2012;
Gauvain, 2013).
– The term context refers to settings in which development occurs.

– These settings are Influenced by historical, economic, social, and cultural factors
(Spring, 2013).
– Four contexts that we pay special attention to in this text are:

– Culture
– Ethnicity
– Socioeconomic status
– Gender
1-10
Caring for Children

• Culture
– Behavior patterns and beliefs passed on from generation to generation
– Results from interaction of people over many years (Gauvain, 2013).
– A cultural group can be as large as the United States or as small as an

isolated town
– The group’s culture influences behavior of its members.

1-11
Caring for Children

• Cross-Cultural Studies
– Compares aspects of two or more cultures
– Provides information about degree to which development is similar, or

universal across cultures, or is instead culture-specific (Mistry, Contreras, &
Dutta, 2013; Zhang & Sternberg, 2013).
• Ethnicity
– The word ethnic comes from the Greek word for “nation”
– Rooted in cultural heritage, nationality, race, religion, and language
– Diversity exists within each ethnic group (Trejos-Castillo, Bedore, & Trevino, 2013).
1-12
Caring for Children

• Ethnicity (continued)
– Contrary to stereotypes, not all African Americans live in low-income

circumstances;
– Not all Latinos are Catholics;
– Not all Asian Americans are high school math whizzes.
A special concern is the discrimination and prejudice experienced by ethnic

minority children (Benner & Graham, 2013; Tobler & others, 2013).

1-13
Caring for Children

• Socioeconomic status (SES)
– Refers to a person’s position within society based on

occupational, educational, and economic characteristics.
– Socioeconomic status implies certain inequalities.

1-14
Caring for Children

• Socioeconomic status (SES) (continued)
• Generally, members of a society have

– (1) occupations that vary in prestige, with some individuals having more access than
others to higher-status occupations;
– (2) different levels of educational attainment, with some individuals having more
access than others to better education;
– (3) different economic resources; and
– (4) different levels of power to influence a community’s institutions.

– These differences in the ability to control resources and to participate in society’s
rewards produce unequal opportunities (Doob, 2013; Purtell & McLoyd, 2013).
1-15
Caring for Children

• Gender
– Refers to the characteristics of people as males and females.
– Few aspects of our development are more central to our identity and
social relationships than gender (Hyde & Else-Quest, 2013; Leaper, 2013; Matlin,
2012).
– How you view yourself, your relationships with other people, your life,
and your goals are shaped to a great extent by whether you are male or
female and how your culture defines the proper roles of males and
females (Eagly, 2013; Patterson, 2013).

1-16
Caring for Children
Resilience, Social Policy, and Children’s Development
• Some children are confident in their abilities despite

negative stereotypes about their gender or their ethnic
group.
• Some children triumph over poverty or other adversities.

1-17
Caring for Children
Characteristics of Resilient Children and Their Contexts.
Figure 1.2

1-18
Caring for Children
Resilience, Social Policy, and Children’s Development

(continued)
• Social policy - a government’s course of action designed to

promote the welfare of its citizens.

1-19
Developmental Processes, Periods, and Issues
Discussion Questions:
– Discuss the most important processes, periods, and issues in
development.
Each of us develops in certain ways like all other

individuals, like some other individuals, and like
no other individuals.
– What shapes this common path of human development, and what

are its milestones?

1-20
Biological, Cognitive, and Socioemotional Processes

• Biological processes
– produce changes in an individual’s body
• genes inherited from parents
• development of the brain
• height and weight gains
• acquisition of motor skills
• hormonal changes of puberty
• Cognitive processes
– refer to changes in an individual’s thought, intelligence, and language.
• Socioemotional processes
– involve changes in an individual’s relationships with other people, changes in
emotions, and changes in personality.
1-21
Connecting Biological, Cognitive, and Socioemotional Processes

• Biological, cognitive, and socioemotional processes are inextricably intertwined
(Diamond, 2013).
• Nowhere is the connection across biological, cognitive, and socioemotional

Processes more obvious than in two rapidly emerging fields:
– Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience

• Explores links between development, cognitive processes, and the brain
(Diamond, 2013; Johnson & de Haan, 2012; Zelazo, 2013).
– Developmental Social Neuroscience

• Examines connections between socioemotional processes,
development, and the brain (Bell & Diaz, 2012; Pfeifer & Blakemore, 2012)

1-22
Connecting Biological, Cognitive, and Socioemotional Processes

(continued)
• In many instances, biological, cognitive, and socioemotional processes are

bidirectional.
• Biological processes can influence cognitive processes and vice versa.
• Although we study the different processes of development (biological, cognitive,

and socioemotional) separately, development is integrated and interdependent.
(See Figure 1.4)

1-23
Changes in Development Are the Result of Biological, Cognitive, and

Socioemotional Processes.
Figure 1.4

1-24
Periods of Development
• Prenatal period
– Time from conception to birth
• Infancy
– Developmental period from birth to about 18 to 24 months
– A time of extreme dependence on adults
– Many psychological activities are just beginning:

• The ability to speak
• To coordinate sensations and physical actions
• To think with symbols
• To imitate and learn from others
1-25
Periods of Development (continued)

• Early Childhood
– Extends from the end of infancy to about 5 to 6 years of age.
– Sometimes called the “preschool years.”
– Young children learn to become more self-sufficient.
– They develop school readiness skills.
– They spend many hours in play and with peers.
– First grade typically marks the end of this period.

1-26

• Middle and late childhood
– Extends from about 6 to 11 years of age.
– Sometimes called the “elementary school years.”
– Children master the fundamental skills of reading, writing, and

arithmetic.
– They are formally exposed to the larger world and its culture.
– Achievement becomes a more central theme of the child’s world
– Self-control increases.

1-27

• Adolescence
– Transition from childhood to early adulthood
– Entered at approximately 10 to 12 years of age and ends at 18 to 22
years of age
– Begins with rapid physical changes
– Dramatic gains in height and weight

1-28

• Adolescence (continued)
– Changes in body contour; and the development of sexual characteristics
such as enlargement of the breasts, growth of pubic and facial hair, and
deepening of the voice.
– More and more time spent outside of the family
– Thought becomes more abstract, idealistic, and logical

1-29
Processes and Periods of Development.
Figure 1.5
1-30
Age and Cohort Effects

• Cohort
– Is a group of people who are born at a similar point in history and
share similar experiences as a result such as living through the
Vietnam War or growing up in the same city around the same time.
• These shared experiences may produce a range of differences
between cohorts (Schaie, 2012).
• In research on development, cohort effects are due to a person’s
time of birth, era, or generation but not to actual age.

1-31

• Cohort (continued)
– In recent years, generations have been given labels by the popular
culture.
– The most recent label is Millennials, referring to the generation born
after 1980—the first to come of age and enter emerging adulthood in
the new millennium.
– Today’s children and many of their parents are Millennials.
– Two characteristics of Millennials stand out:

• (1) Their ethnic diversity
• (2) Their connection to technology (Pew Research Center, 2010)

1-32

• Cohort (continued)
– Many Millennial adolescents and emerging adults are more tolerant
and open-minded than their counterparts in previous generations.
– One survey indicated that 60 percent of today’s adolescents say
their friends include someone from diverse ethnic groups (Teenage
Research Unlimited, 2004).
– Another major cohort change involving Millennials is the dramatic
increase in their use of media and technology (Gross, 2013; Roblyer &
Doering, 2013).

1-33
Issues in Development
• Many questions about children’s development remain unanswered.
• Debate continues about the relative importance of factors that influence

the developmental processes and about how the periods of
development are related.
• The most important issues in the study of children’s development

include:
– Nature and nurture
– Continuity and discontinuity
– Stability and change
1-34
Issues in Development (continued)

• Nature and Nurture Issue
– Involves the debate about whether development is primarily
influenced by nature or nurture.
– Nature refers to an organism’s biological inheritance; nurture refers
to environmental experiences.
– Almost no one today argues that development can be explained by
nature alone or by nurture alone.
– “Nature” proponents claim biological inheritance is most important
influence on development; “nurture” proponents claim environmental
experiences are most important.

1-35

• Nature and Nurture Issue (continued)
– According to the nature proponents, just as a sunflower grows in an
orderly way so does a person.
– The range of environments can be vast, but evolutionary and genetic
foundations produce commonalities in growth and development
(Buss, 2012; Durrant & Ellis, 2013).
– Nature proponents emphasize the influence of tendencies that are

genetically wired into humans (Mader, 2012; Maxson, 2013).

1-36

• Nature and Nurture Issue (continued)
– By contrast, other psychologists emphasize the importance of
nurture, or environmental experiences, to development (Dweck, 2013;
Grusec & others, 2013).
– Experiences run the gamut from the individual’s biological environment

(nutrition, medical care, drugs, and physical accidents) to the social
environment (family, peers, schools, community, media, and culture).

1-37
Continuity and Discontinuity in Development.
Figure 1.6
1-38

• Continuity and Discontinuity Issue
– Focuses on extent to which development involves gradual,
cumulative change (continuity), or distinct stages (discontinuity)
– Developmentalists who emphasize nurture usually describe
development as gradual, continuous process
• like the seedling’s growth into an oak
– Developmentalists who emphasize nature describe development as

series of distinct stages
• like the change from caterpillar to butterfly

1-39

• Early-Later Experience Issue
– Issue of the degree to which early experiences
(especially in infancy) or later experiences are key
determinants of the child’s development.
– Has a long history and continues to be hotly debated
among developmentalists (Kagan, 2013; Dixon & others, 2013;
Easterbrooks & others, 2013).
– Some developmentalists argue that, unless infants and

young children experience warm, nurturing care, their
development will never quite be optimal (Cassidy & others, 2011).
1-40

• Later Experience Issue
– Advocates argue:
• Children are malleable throughout development.
• Later sensitive caregiving is just as important as earlier sensitive
caregiving.
• Too little attention has been given to later experiences in
development (Schaie, 2012).
• Kagan (2000, 2010, 2013) points out that even children, who
show the qualities of an inhibited temperament, have the
capacity to change their behavior.

1-41

• Evaluating the Developmental Issues
– It is unwise to take an extreme position on the issues of
nature and nurture, continuity and discontinuity, and early
and later experiences.
– Development is not all nature or all nurture, not all
continuity or all discontinuity, and not all early or later
experiences.
– Nature and nurture, continuity and discontinuity, and
early and later experiences all play a part in development
through the human life span.
1-42
The Science of Child Development
Discussion Questions:
– Summarize why research is important in child development, the
main theories in child development, and research methods.
– Can a discipline that studies:

• how parents nurture children,
• how peers interact,
• the developmental changes in children’s thinking,
• whether watching TV hour after hour is linked with being
overweight,
be equated with disciplines that study the molecular structure of a
compound and how gravity works?
– Is child development really a science?

1-43
The Importance of Research

• Scientific research is objective, systematic, and testable. It
reduces the likelihood that information will be based on
personal beliefs, opinions, and feelings (Smith & Davis, 2013;
Stanovich, 2013).
• Child development researchers use the scientific method

– Includes the following steps:
• Conceptualize a process or the problem to be studied

• Collect research information data
• Analyze data
• Draw conclusions
1-44
Theories of Child Development

Theorizing is part of the scientific study of children’s
development. Theories guide the conceptualization of a
process or problem to be studied.
• Theory
– Is an interrelated, coherent set of ideas that helps to explain
and to make predictions
• Hypothesis
– Is a specific, testable assumption or prediction
– Often written as an if-then statement

1-45
Theories of Child Development (continued)

– A wide range of theories makes understanding children’s
development a challenging undertaking.
– No single theory has been able to account for all aspects
of child development.
– Each theory contributes an important piece to the child
development puzzle.
– Although the theories disagree about certain aspects of
development, many of their ideas are complementary.

1-46
• Psychoanalytic Theories
– Describe development as primarily unconscious (beyond
awareness)
– Are heavily colored by emotion
– Emphasize that behavior is merely a surface characteristic
– A true understanding of development requires analyzing the symbolic

meanings of behavior and the deep inner workings of the mind
– Early experiences with parents extensively shape development
– The characteristics above are highlighted in the psychoanalytic

theory of Sigmund Freud (1856–1939)
1-47
• Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory

– As Freud listened to, probed, and analyzed his patients:
• He became convinced that their problems were the result of
experiences early in life.
• He thought that as children grow up, their focus of pleasure and
sexual impulses shifts from the mouth to the anus and eventually
to the genitals.

1-48
• Freud’s Psychosexual Theory (continued)

– He theorized that we proceed through five stages of psychosexual
development:
• Oral
• Anal
• Phallic
• Latency
• Genital
– Freud (1917) claimed that adult personality is determined by the way
we resolve conflicts between sources of pleasure at each stage and
the demands of reality.

1-49
Freudian Stages.
Figure 1.7

1-50
• Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory (continued)

– Has been significantly revised by a number of psychoanalytic
theorists.
– Many contemporary psychoanalytic theorists maintain that Freud
overemphasized sexual instincts.
– Today, more emphasis is placed on cultural experiences as
determinants of an individual’s development.
– Unconscious thought remains a central theme.

1-51
• Erik Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory

– Erikson (1902–1994) recognized Freud’s contributions but believed
that Freud misjudged some important dimensions of human
development:
• We develop in psychosocial rather than psychosexual stages
• Primary motivation for human behavior is social and reflects a desire to

affiliate with other people
– Erikson emphasized that developmental change occurs throughout

the life span with eight stages of human development, each posing a
unique developmental crisis to be resolved.

1-52
Erikson’s Eight Life-Span Stages.
Figure 1.8

1-53
Caring Connections
– Strategies for Parenting, Educating, and Interacting with
Children Based on Erikson’s Theory:
1. Nurture infants and develop their trust, then encourage and monitor
toddlers’ autonomy.
2. Encourage initiative in young children.
3. Promote industry in elementary school children.
4. Stimulate identity exploration in adolescence.

1-54
• Evaluating the Psychoanalytic Theories

– Contributions of psychoanalytic theories:
• Emphasis on a developmental framework, family relationships,
and unconscious aspects of the mind.
– Criticisms of psychoanalytic theories:

• A lack of scientific support, too much emphasis on sexual
underpinnings (Freud’s theory), too much credit given to the
unconscious mind, and an image of children that is too negative
(Freud’s theory).

1-55
• Cognitive Theories
– Whereas psychoanalytic theories stress the importance of
the unconscious, cognitive theories emphasize conscious
thoughts.
– Three important cognitive theories:
• Piaget’s cognitive developmental theory
• Vygotsky’s sociocultural cognitive theory
• Information-processing theory

1-56
• Piaget’s Cognitive Developmental Theory

– Children actively construct their understanding of the world.
– We go through four stages of cognitive development.
– Organization and adaptation — underlie the four stages of

development in Piaget’s theory
• We organize our experiences.
• We separate important ideas from less important ideas.
• We connect one idea to another.
• We adapt, adjusting to new environmental demands.

1-57
Piaget’s Four Stages of Cognitive Development.
Figure 1.9
1-58
• Piaget’s Cognitive Developmental Theory (continued)

– Each stage:
• is age-related
• consists of a distinct way of thinking
• consists of a different way of understanding the world
– The child’s cognition is qualitatively different in one stage

compared with another.

1-59
• Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Cognitive Theory

– Children actively construct their knowledge.
– Gave social interaction and culture far more important roles in

cognitive development than Piaget did.
– Emphasized how culture and social interaction guide cognitive
development.
– Portrayed child’s development as inseparable from social and cultural
activities (Mahn & John-Steiner, 2013).

1-60
• Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Cognitive Theory (continued)
– Development of memory, attention, and reasoning

involves learning to use the inventions of society,
such as language, mathematical systems, and
memory strategies.
– Children’s social interaction with more-skilled adults and
peers is indispensable to their cognitive development.

1-61
• Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Cognitive Theory (continued)
– Knowledge:
• is situated and collaborative (Gauvain, 2013)
• is not generated from within the individual
• is constructed through interaction with other people and

objects in the culture, such as books
• can best be advanced through interaction with others in

cooperative activities

1-62
• The Information-Processing Theory

– Emphasizes that individuals manipulate, monitor, and strategize
information
– Development is not stagelike
– Individuals develop a gradually increasing capacity for processing
information, which allows them to acquire increasingly complex
knowledge and skills (Bjorklund, 2013; Gelman, 2013; Zelazo, 2013).

1-63
• Evaluating the Cognitive Theories

– Contributions of cognitive theories:
• Include a positive view of development and an emphasis on the
active construction of understanding.
– Criticisms of cognitive theories:

• Include skepticism about the pureness of Piaget’s stages and
too little attention to individual variations.

1-64
• Behavioral and Social Cognitive Theories

– Pavlov’s Classical Conditioning: learn through association
– Skinner’s Operant Conditioning: learn through consequences of
behavior
– Social Cognitive Theory:
• Behavior, environment, and cognition are key factors in
development
• Albert Bandura (2001, 2007, 2009, 2010a, 2010b, 2012):
– leading architect of social cognitive theory
– emphasizes that cognitive processes have important links with
environment and behavior
– early research focused on observational learning (also called
imitation or modeling)
1-65
• Social Cognitive Theory (continued)
– Bandura proposes that people cognitively represent the

behavior of others and then sometimes adopt this
behavior themselves.
– Bandura’s (2009, 2010a, 2010b, 2012) most recent model of
learning and development includes three elements:
• Behavior
• The person/cognition
• The environment

1-66
Bandura’s Social Cognitive Model.
Figure 1.10

1-67
• Evaluating the Behavioral and Social Cognitive Theories

– Contributions of Behavioral and Social Cognitive Theories:
• Emphasis on scientific research and environmental
determinants of behavior, and in Bandura’s Social
Cognitive theory reciprocal links between the
environment, behavior, and person/cognitive factors.
– Criticisms of Behavioral and Social Cognitive Theories:

• Too little emphasis on cognition in Skinner’s view and
giving inadequate attention to developmental changes
and biological foundations.

1-68
• Ethological Theory
– Stresses that behavior:
• is strongly influenced by biology
• is tied to evolution
• is characterized by critical or sensitive periods
The European zoologist, Konrad Lorenz (1903–1989),

helped bring ethology to prominence.

1-69
• Ethological Theory (continued)

– Lorenz identified imprinting – as the rapid, innate
learning within a limited critical period of time that
involves attachment to the first moving object seen.
– John Bowlby’s work (1969, 1989) illustrated an
important application of ethological theory to human
development.
– Bowlby argued that attachment to a caregiver during
the first year of life has important consequences
throughout the life span
1-70
• Evaluating Ethological Theory

– Contributions of ethological theory:
• Focus on the biological and evolutionary basis of

development, and the use of careful observations in
naturalistic settings.
– Criticisms of ethological theory:
• There is too much emphasis on biological foundations
and a belief that the critical and sensitive period
concepts might be too rigid.

1-71
• Ecological Theory
– Emphasizes environmental factors
– Created by Urie Bronfenbrenner (1917–2005)
– Reflects the influence of several environmental systems:
• Microsystem
• Mesosystem
• Exosystem
• Macrosystem
• Chronosystem
• Bronfenbrenner’s environmental system theory (now called

bioecological theory due to his recent addition of biological
influences) focuses on five environmental systems.
1-72
Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory of Development.
Figure 1.11
1-73
• Evaluating Ecological Theory

– Contributions of ecological theory:
• Systematic examination of macro and micro
dimensions of environmental systems.
• Attention to connections between environmental
settings.
• Emphasis on a range of social contexts beyond the
family, such as neighborhood, religious, school, and
workplace as influential in children’s development
(Gauvain, 2013).

1-74
• Evaluating Ecological Theory

– Criticisms of ecological theory:
• Inadequate attention to biological factors.
• Too little emphasis on cognitive factors.

1-75
• An Eclectic Theoretical Orientation

– Does not follow any one theoretical approach,
but rather selects from each theory whatever is
considered its best features.

1-76
A Comparison of Theories and Issues in Child Development.
Figure 1.12

1-77
Research Methods for Collecting Data

• Observation
– Trained observers systematically gather, record, and communicate
observations
• Laboratory (see “drawbacks”)

– Controlled setting with many of the complex factors of the “real world”
removed
• Naturalistic observation
– Observing behavior in real-world settings
• Survey and interview

– Often the best and quickest way to get information about people
1-78
Research Methods for Collecting Data (continued)
• Laboratory research drawbacks:

1. It’s almost impossible to conduct research without the participants’
knowing they are being studied.
2. Laboratory setting is unnatural and can cause the participants to behave
unnaturally.
3. People who are willing to come to a university laboratory may not fairly
represent groups from diverse cultural backgrounds.
4. People who are unfamiliar with university settings and with the idea of
“helping science” may be intimidated by the laboratory setting.
5. Some aspects of life-span development are difficult, if not impossible, to
examine in the laboratory.
6. Laboratory studies of certain types of stress may even be unethical.

1-79

• Standardized test
– Uniform procedures for administration and scoring.
– Many standardized tests allow a person’s performance to be compared with
the performance of other individuals (Watson, 2012).
– Standardized tests have three key weaknesses:

• First, they do not always predict behavior in non-test situations.
• Second, standardized tests are based on the belief that a person’s

behavior is consistent and stable,
• A third weakness of standardized tests is that many psychological tests

developed in Western cultures might not be appropriate in other cultures
(Hall, 2010).
1-80

• Case study
– An in-depth look at a single individual.
– Case histories provide dramatic, in-depth portrayals of people’s lives
– Case studies involve judgments of unknown reliability.
– Psychologists who conduct case studies rarely check to see if other

psychologists agree with their observations.

1-81

• Physiological measures (e.g., fMRI, EEG)
– Researchers are increasingly using physiological measures when
they study children’s development (Bauer & Dunn, 2013).
– Assess the functioning of the central nervous system, autonomic
nervous system, and endocrine system.
– Another physiological measure is neuroimaging, especially functional
magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), in which electromagnetic waves
are used to construct images of an individual’s brain tissue and
biochemical activity (Fletcher & Rapp, 2013).

1-82
Brain Imaging of 15-Year-Old Adolescents.
Figure 1.14
1-83
Research Designs
- Descriptive research
• Aims at observing and recording behavior and can reveal
important information but cannot show cause-and-effect (Leedy &
Ormrod, 2013).
- Correlational research
• Describes strength of the relationship between two or more
events or characteristics
• The more strongly the two events are correlated (or related or
associated), the more effectively we can predict one event from
the other (Rossi, 2013).
1-84
Research Designs (continued)

– Correlation coefficient
• Number based on statistical analysis used to describe
the degree of association between two variables
• Ranges from +1.00 to -1.00
• The higher the correlation coefficient (+ or –), the stronger

the association between the two variables
• Correlation does not equal causation (Graziano & Raulin, 2013).

1-85
Possible Explanations of Correlational Data.
Figure 1.15

1-86
• Experimental Research
– Experiment
• Carefully regulated procedure in which one or more
of the factors believed to influence the behavior being
studied are manipulated while all other factors are
held constant.
• Non-experimental research methods (descriptive and
correlational research) cannot establish cause and
effect because they do not involve manipulating factors
in a controlled way (Leedy & Ormrod, 2013).

1-87

• Experimental Research (continued)
- Experiment (continued)
- Independent variable (IV)
• A manipulated, influential, experimental factor
• It is a potential cause
• It can be manipulated independently of other factors to
determine its effects
– Dependent variable (DV)
• A factor that can change in an experiment in response to
changes in the IV
• Researchers measure the DV for any resulting effect.
1-88

– Experiment (continued)
• Experimental group
– A group whose experience is manipulated
– Experiments can involve one or more experimental groups.
• Control group
– A comparison group
– Experiments can involve one or more control groups.
– Serves as a baseline against which the effects of the
manipulated condition can be compared

1-89

– Experiment (continued)
• Random assignment
– The researchers assign participants to experimental and
control groups by chance.
– Reduces the likelihood that the experiment’s results will be
due to any preexisting differences between groups (Kirk, 2013).

1-90
Principles of Experimental Research.
Figure 1.16

1-91
– Time Span of Research

• Cross-Sectional Approach
– A research strategy in which individuals of different ages are
compared at the same point in time.
• Longitudinal Approach
– A research strategy in which the same individuals are studied
over a period of time, usually several years.

1-92
Connections of Research Methods to Theories.
Figure 1.17
1-93

– Conducting Ethical Research
• APA Ethical Guidelines address four important issues:
– Informed Consent
– Confidentiality
– Debriefing
– Deception

1-94

– Minimizing Bias
• Studies of children’s development are most useful when they are
conducted without bias or prejudice toward any particular group of
people.
– Of special concern is bias based on:
• Gender bias (Matlin, 2012).
• Cultural and ethnic bias (Benner & Graham, 2013; Trejos-Castillo, Bedore, &
Trevino, 2013)
• Ethnic gloss
– using an ethnic label, such as African American or Latino, in a
superficial way, that portrays an ethnic group as being more
homogenous than it really is
1-95

Chapter 1-Introduction

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Chapter 1-Introduction

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Introduction

1. Caring for Children

2. Developmental Processes, Periods, and Issues

Copyright © 2014 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or

3. The Science of Child Development

Copyright © 2014 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or

• Perhaps you accidentally came across the course description

Copyright © 2014 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or

Copyright © 2014 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or

– Most development involves growth, although it also

Copyright © 2014 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or

• Health and Well-Being

Controversial answers to questions like these reflect pressures on the contemporary

Improving the Lives of Children

– Understanding the nature of children’s development can help one become

– Many parents learn parenting practices from their parents.

Copyright © 2014 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or

Copyright © 2014 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or

Improving the Lives of Children (continued)

Copyright © 2014 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or

Improving the Lives of Children (continued)

– The term context refers to settings in which development occurs.

– Four contexts that we pay special attention to in this text are:

Improving the Lives of Children (continued)

– Results from interaction of people over many years (Gauvain, 2013).

– A cultural group can be as large as the United States or as small as an

– The group’s culture influences behavior of its members.

Copyright © 2014 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or

Improving the Lives of Children (continued)

– Provides information about degree to which development is similar, or

– Rooted in cultural heritage, nationality, race, religion, and language

Improving the Lives of Children (continued)

– Contrary to stereotypes, not all African Americans live in low-income

– Not all Asian Americans are high school math whizzes.

A special concern is the discrimination and prejudice experienced by ethnic

Copyright © 2014 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or

Improving the Lives of Children (continued)

– Refers to a person’s position within society based on

Copyright © 2014 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or

Improving the Lives of Children (continued)

• Generally, members of a society have

– (3) different economic resources; and

– (4) different levels of power to influence a community’s institutions.

Improving the Lives of Children (continued)

Copyright © 2014 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or

Resilience, Social Policy, and Children’s Development

• Some children are confident in their abilities despite

• Some children triumph over poverty or other adversities.

Copyright © 2014 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or

Copyright © 2014 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or

Resilience, Social Policy, and Children’s Development

• Social policy - a government’s course of action designed to

Copyright © 2014 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or

Each of us develops in certain ways like all other

– What shapes this common path of human development, and what

Copyright © 2014 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or

Biological, Cognitive, and Socioemotional Processes

Connecting Biological, Cognitive, and Socioemotional Processes

• Nowhere is the connection across biological, cognitive, and socioemotional

– Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience

– Developmental Social Neuroscience

Copyright © 2014 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or

Connecting Biological, Cognitive, and Socioemotional Processes

• In many instances, biological, cognitive, and socioemotional processes are