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Child Development - A Thematic Approach
, Fifth Edition
Danuta Bukatko - College of the Holy Cross
Marvin W. Daehler - University of Massachusetts, Amherst
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| | Chapter Outline
Chapter 1:
Themes and Theories
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What is development?
Development describes all the physical and psychological changes that an individual undergoes
in a lifetime. Developmental psychology is the scientific discipline that attempts to describe and explain these
changes by verifiable fact-finding procedures. An essential component in
this process is the availability of a theory.
Theories serve to organize facts about a particular subject of study, and they guide further research.
But most important, theories explain research findings in an orderly and
predictable fashion. Theory and research also help in formulating social policies that affect children and their development. Specific theories that have been developed to study child
psychology typically center on several basic themes.
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Six major themes in developmental psychology
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What roles do nature and nurture play in development?
The nature-nurture debate concerns whether behavior is the result of innate, genetic influences (nature)
or the environmental stimulation to which each individual is exposed (nurture). -
How does the sociocultural context influence development?
Human development occurs within a larger social group. The influences of
the values and resources of that social group on development are wide and
varied. Each theory of development has a separate view on how integral a part the sociocultural
context plays in an individual's development. -
How does the child play an active role in development?
Whether the child is a passive receiver of incoming information or takes an active role in acquiring
his or her behaviors has been a controversial question in psychology. Today,
most psychologists adopt the position that the child is an active participant
in his or her own growth and development. -
Is development continuous or discontinuous?
Debate exists concerning how to explain the dramatic changes that are observed
in children as they develop. Do children go through a series of stages--sudden, qualitative changes in unique developmental qualities? Or is the process of change
more gradual and continuous, resulting in quantitative advances in the way
the child perceives, thinks, and feels about the world? More recently, an "overlapping waves" theory of development has been proposed to account for the variability individual children
often display throughout their development. -
How prominent are individual differences in development?
This question concerns the extent to which development is similar among children and how much is unique
to each individual. The differences that are observed among children may
arise from the various kinds of experiences they receive as well as the risks
to which they are exposed. -
How do the various domains of development interact?
Although the different domains of development are often discussed separately,
psychologists recognize that they do not operate in isolation. Advances in physical development, for example, can lead to changes in social and cognitive
development. To explain the behavior of the whole child, theories of development
must explain how each domain contributes to the others during the developmental
process.
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Historical perspectives
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The concept of childhood in Medieval and Renaissance times
Children of the Middle Ages in Europe, although recognized as different
and possessing special needs, were incorporated into the adult world as soon as they were
physically able to contribute to the economy. -
Age of enlightenment
John Locke's belief that the newborn's mind is a tabula rasa, or "blank slate," emphasized the idea that the individual is shaped by environmental experiences.
Locke's philosophy, called empiricism, conveyed the need to provide children with proper experiences through good
rearing practices and education. Jean Jacques Rousseau described the child as a "noble savage" and argued that children require adult guidance to bring their natural instincts
in line with the social environment. -
The origins of developmental psychology
Charles Darwin and Wilhelm Preyer studied their children not to understand child
development but to support the emerging views about the evolution of human
beings. Their baby biographies stimulated interest in the systematic study
of the child.
Historians considered G. Stanley Hall to be the founder of developmental psychology. Among
Hall's important contributions was his use of the questionnaire method to systematically
collect data on large groups of children.
Alfred Binet developed the first intelligence assessment scale. The use of this scale to identify unique patterns in the
mental capabilities of each child led to the important study of individual differences.
James Mark Baldwin contributed important theoretical ideas to developmental
psychology, including development as a mutual dynamic between the child and others.
Sigmund Freud proposed his psychosexual theory of development, which stated
that many aspects of an individuals' personality develop from an early and broad form of childhood sexuality. Psychological tension, or libido, caused by biological instincts need to be released
and are manifested in different ways, depending on the child's age. During the oral stage, libidinal energy is focused around the mouth
and is reduced by sucking. Tension during the anal stage is lessened by expelling body wastes. The phallic stage
was seen as a time of desire for the opposite sex parent. During adolescence,
a latency period is entered, during which libidinal energy is submerged.
Finally, the genital stage emerges in adulthood, during which mature forms of genital satisfaction occurs. -
The growth of developmental psychology in the twentieth century
During the first forty years of the twentieth century, developmental psychologists primarily gathered descriptive information on children. Today
research increasingly seeks to identify the causes of development. Many major
institutes and research centers were founded to study child development.
Today child development scholars comprise a variety of disciplines and work in many subareas of psychology.
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Learning theory approaches
Learning is the relatively permanent change in behavior that results from experience.
An extreme form of learning theory, such as that proposed by John Watson,
holds that all behavior can be explained by the experiences a person encounters.-
Behavior analysis
Behavior analysis is a theoretical concept that relies on the principles of classical and operant
conditioning to explain most aspects of development. Classical conditioning occurs when a neutral stimulus is repeatedly paired with a stimulus that
elicits a reflexive response. The neutral stimulus can then elicit the reflex-like
response by itself. Operant conditioning, or instrumental conditioning, is a learning process through which behaviors
increase if they are followed by rewarding outcomes. Behavior modification,
or applied behavior analysis, deals with how the principles of conditioning
can be applied to bring about desired changes in behavior. -
Social learning theory
Social learning theory stresses the importance of observational learning, the acquisition of behaviors from watching and listening to others. Albert Bandura's social cognitive theory, which expanded social learning theory to include
cognitive processes, states that observation and imitation of a model allow
new skills to be acquired quickly and efficiently in a social context. -
Learning theory and themes in development
Although both are learning theory approaches, behavior analysis and social
learning theory emphasize different aspects of the six themes in development
outlined in this chapter. Behavior analysis emphasizes the role of the external environment in rewarding or punishing
behavior. Social learning theories rely more heavily on the roles of biology
and other internal factors that interact with experience to affect development.
Behaviorists theorize that the principles of learning are universal and therefore less subject
to sociocultural differences; and that individual differences are the result
of different learning experiences. Social learning theory, on the other hand,
recognizes the importance of learning in a social context and consequently emphasizes the importance
of cultural differences for learning. Behavior analysis proposes that the
child does not play an active role in development and that development is
continuous.
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Cognitive-developmental approaches
The cognitive-developmental theories stress the emergence of psychological structures, which are organized ways
of thinking that affect the way the child interprets experience. Jean Piaget
is the best-known cognitive-developmental theorist. His views emphasize that development
is action-oriented and that mental structures become qualitatively reorganized
at different stages of development.-
Piaget's theory
Piaget's theory of how children acquire knowledge about the world focuses on two
basic processes: adaptation, the tendency to adjust to the conditions of the environment, and organization, the tendency for knowledge structures to become more systematic and coherent. The basic mental structure for Piaget is the scheme, a coordinated and systematic way of acting on and reasoning about the world.
The processes that change schemes with development are called assimilation and accommodation. As new experiences are encountered, the individual's understanding of the world is thrown out of balance. Balance is restored
by either assimilating the new experience into an existing scheme or accommodating
to that new experience by constructing a new, modified scheme. This process, called equilibration, brings about more organized and powerful schemes for thinking over the course
of development. Piaget proposed four major stages of intellectual development:
sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete, and formal. -
Piaget's theory and themes in development
Piaget was largely influenced by biological theories. He emphasized the process
of maturation, the gradual unfolding over time of genetic programs for development. Piaget stressed that these biological factors must interact with experience
for the development of knowledge to proceed. Piaget minimized the influence
of sociocultural differences in the development of knowledge. According to
Piaget, the child is very much an active participant in his or her own cognitive development. Knowledge
is constructed, created by the continuous revision and reorganization of
mental structures. Piaget stressed that children proceed through a series
of qualitatively distinct stages of development that represent major reorganizations in the way they think.
He placed little emphasis on individual differences. Piaget's views have implications for many different domains of development.
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Information-processing approaches
Numerous programs of research in developmental psychology stem from an information-processing
approach. A primary assumption of most information-processing models is that the human mind has a limited capacity (like a computer) for processing information.
With development, changes in capacities, skills, and strategies help the
child process information more effectively. Researchers using an information-processing
approach explicitly try to delineate the exact rules, strategies and procedures that children
use as they learn and develop various skills, such as learning the alphabet
or solving math problems.-
Information-processing approaches and themes in development
Information-processing theories have not specifically addressed the nature-nurture
debate, although a few basic capacities are presumed to be present at birth.
The sociocultural context has been given little attention. Information-processing approaches accept that the child is an
active processor of information and depict developmental changes as continuous
and quantitative. Little emphasis has been placed on individual differences
or on the interaction among domains of development.
VII. Psychosocial approaches
Psychosocial models of development deal with emotional and personality development.
Their emphasis is on societal and cultural influences on development. -
Erikson's psychosocial theory
Erikson modified Freud's psychosexual theory to reduce its emphasis on biology and sexual sources
of tension and, instead, emphasized the importance of society in shaping reality for the child. Thus, for Erikson, development
is psychosocial. He identified eight stages in psychosocial development. A common theme
in Erikson's theory is the individual's search for identity, the acceptance of one's self and society. -
Psychosocial theory and themes in development
For Erikson, the child is actively seeking identity within the society.
Erikson views development as a series of stages, with behavior at one stage laying the foundation for behavior at the next stage. Individual differences
are the product of the degree of success in negotiating each stage of development,
and are common to every individual in every culture. Concerning the interaction
among domains of development, Erikson sees the intricate relationship among thought, emotions,
and social interactions as necessary and important for normal development.
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Contextual approaches
Children develop within a complex set of hierarchical contexts--the family, the community, the political system, and the culture. Contextual
models of development address the broad range of biological, physical, and
sociocultural settings that influence development.-
Ecological systems theory
Urie Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory focuses on the broad range of situations that children encounter and are
influenced by during their development. Several levels of context--the microsystem, the mesosystem, the exosystem, and the macrosystem--affect the individual. These contexts are, in turn, influenced by the chronosystem, Bronfenbrenner's term for the time-linked events that affect development. -
Vygotsky's sociohistorical theory
Lev Vygotsky's sociohistorical theory emphasizes the unique cultural and social contexts within which every child
develops. As children grow and participate in their own cultures, they acquire
the language, practices, and ways of thinking specific to those cultures. According
to Vygotsky, language is a particularly important cultural tool because it
can influence the child's thinking and problem-solving abilities.
Both ecological systems theory and sociohistorical theory view development as a dynamic, continual process that
involves reciprocal exchanges at many different levels of the environment.
Much of development is a consequence of the active role that the child plays
in creating the environment within which she or he develops. -
Dynamic systems theory
Dynamic systems theory captures the perspective that development is often the outcome of interactions
occurring at multiple levels of behavior. These interactions can produce unexpected and novel outcomes in behavior and reorganization
that are more adaptive for the individual. For example, the right combination
of neural and muscular changes combined with a responsive environmental context
underlie the transition from crawling to walking. -
Ethological theory
Ethology is the discipline concerned with how adaptive behaviors have evolved and
how they function to help a species survive. Konrad Lorenz and Niko Tinbergen
were zoologists who first studied the contributions of the inherited, biological bases of behavior and
how those behaviors interact with particular environments. Ethologists also
posit that certain kinds of learning may occur only during sensitive, or critical, periods in development. Imprinting, for example, an early, rapid, and fairly permanent form of learning, is exhibited
in some species of newly born birds and some other animals. Although human
infants do not become imprinted to their mothers, the species-specific behaviors
of newborns, such as crying and smiling, may form the basis for attachment, the
mutual system of physical, social, and emotional support between caregiver
and infant. -
Contextual approaches and themes in development
With the exception of ethological theories that stress biological contributions,
contextual theories emphasize nurture in the developmental process. Most
contextual theories are concerned with sociocultural influences on development;
ethological theory, however, is assumed to apply to all cultures. Contextual models view the
child as an active participant in the environment; at times the relationship
between the two is assumed to be bidirectional, each influencing the other.
Contextual models view development as a gradual and continuous process without reference to any major
qualitative changes that occur with age. Individual differences are highlighted,
as is the emphasis on interaction among domains in contextual approaches.
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What develops?
Each major theory of development provides its own answer concerning what
develops, and each brings an important perspective to our understanding of
children and their development. As already pointed out, the extent to which the theories address the various themes in development differs, as do their
positions on these themes.
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