Intro and Theoretical Perspectives

• “An area of study devoted to understanding constancy and change from conception through adolescence”

The periods of development:

1. Prenatal
2. Infancy and Toddlerhood
3. Early Childhood (2-6)
4. Middle Childhood (6-11)
5. Adolescence (11-18)
6. Emerging Adulthood (18-25)

Wow, it’s kind of crazy that most of the students taking this course are still considered (at least in part) “children” under these terms.

Child development informs psychology, sociology, biology, and neuroscience. I think I’m finding this more interesting than my major, political science.

Some of the basic issues in development include:

• Continuous vs. Discontinuous
• Nature vs. Nurture
• Active vs. Passive
• One course or many? (Children grow up in unique contexts, genetic-environment combinations)

Historical views of childhood:

1. Medieval era and earlier: Childhood is regarded as a separate phase with special needs
2. 16th century (Reformation): Children are born as evil and depraved and need to be dealt with strictly in order to grow into civilized adults
3. 17th century: Locke’s tabula rasa view became prevalent, more humane
4. 18th century: Rousseau’s noble savage view became popular, that children have an innate moral sensibility that society damages, and the proper role of a parent is to be supportive

Darwin’s theory of evolution posited that early childhood would reflect adaptive traits. He was wrong, but his theory started the scientific study of child behavior.

1. First, they did “Baby Biographies” which didn’t help much
2. Hall & Gesell created age-related averages based on large-scale studies and observations which inspired the first parenting books
3. Simon & Binet created some of the first intelligence tests that focus on individual differences
4. James Mark Baldwin was a developmental theorist who held nature and nurture to be of equal importance

Freud’s psychosexual theory pinned the id down at birth, the ego at early infancy, and the superego at ages 3-6, which made children more active in development. His stages were Oral, Anal, Phallic, Latency, and Genital, which sounds delightful.

Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory from the mid-twentieth century goes like this:

1. Birth-1: Basic trust vs. Mistrust
2. 1-3: Autonomy vs. shame and doubt
3. 3-6: Initiative vs. guilt
4. 6-11: Industry vs. inferiority
5. Adolescence: Identity vs. identity confusion
6. Emerging adulthood: Intimacy vs. isolation

Behaviorism includes classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and the social-learning theory, which is my favorite.

Piaget’s Cognitive-Developmental Theory:

1. Birth-2 years: Sensorimotor
2. 2-7: Preoperational
3. 7-11: Concrete Operational
4. 11+: Formal Operational

This theory was developed based on a child’s response to cognitive tasks and influenced teaching methods but underestimated the competency of infants and preschoolers and ignored individual differences.