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Chapter 1

Studying a Child’s World

:

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Major points to consider

• The scientific study of child development began during the late 19th C and has evolved to become part of the study of the full life span.

• Developmental scientists study change and stability in the physical, cognitive and psychosocial domains.

• Development is subject to internal and external influences.

• Important contextual influences on development include family, neighborhood, socioeconomic status, culture, ethnicity and history.

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Big Picture

What are your assumptions about the nature of development

and the factors that contribute to it?

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1. Development is age-related changes that are orderly, cumulative and directional.

2. There are qualitative and quantitative changes.

3. Later abilities, behavior and understanding emerge from earlier ones in systematic ways.

4. Development is both normative and individualistic

5. Development is the product of genes, environment and developmental history.

Developmental Assumptions

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Domains of Development

• Physical Development – Change in growth: body and

brain, sensory capacities, motor skills, and health

• Cognitive Development– Change and stability in learning,

memory, moral reasoning, language, thinking, and creativity

• Psychosocial Development– Change and stability in

personality, emotional life, and social relationships

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The Whole Child

PHYSICAL

COGNITIVE PSYCHOSOCIAL

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Periods of Development

• Prenatal period– From conception to

birth

• Infancy and toddlerhood– From birth to 2 years

• Early childhood– From 2 to 6 years

• Middle childhood– From 6 to 11 years

• Adolescence– From 11 to 20 years

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Basic Developmental Concepts

• Normative development: typical or average development of all children

• Individual development: variations around the normative course of development

• Development is influenced by:– 1) Genetics– 2) Developmental history– 3) Environment

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Basic Developmental Concepts

• Qualitative changes: novel ability emerges that can’t be measured with a previous standard of measurement– Ex: Babbling babies eventually learn to say actual words– Ex: Egocentric toddlers become young adults with empathy for

others

• Quantitative changes: when change can be measured using same standard of measurement before– Ex: Toddlers learning to walk eventually walk across the room– Ex: Attention span changes from 15 minutes to 50 minutes

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Historical Foundations for Understanding and Studying Development

• Medieval times (6th – 15th C)• Reformation (16th C)• Philosophies of the enlightenment

– John Locke (17th C)• Tabula rasa (children as blank slates)

– Jean-Jacques Rousseau (18th C)• Development unfolds naturally as society permits

• Charles Darwin (19th C)– Through natural selection, humans have acquired

common traits that have helped us to adapt and increase our chances of survival Natural selection

• Scientific beginnings (late 19th C/early 20th C)

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• New Frontiers – Methods, questions, and proposals changed– Technology, e.g., cameras, videos, tape

recorders, improved objectivity in studies.– Basic Research (to answer questions) versus

Applied Research (to solve a practical problem)

– Research findings impact on child rearing, education, health, and social policy

The Study of Child Development

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An Emerging Consensus

• All development domains are interrelated

• Normal development is very diverse

• Children’s development: bidirectional effects

• History and culture influences development

• Children are remarkably resilient

• Continuity between childhood and rest of life

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Influences on Development

• Heredity, Environment, and Maturation– Heredity: characteristics from biological parents

– Environment: factors outside the self

– Maturation: natural sequence of physical changes and behavior patterns in development

– Rate and timing of development varies in each individual

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Influences on Development

• Major Contextual Influences– Family structure and function

have varied over history and societies

– Family influences: nuclear and extended

– Socioeconomic Status and risk factors

– Neighborhood and population

– Culture and Ethnicity

– The Historical Context

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Poverty Hurts Children: Higher risks associated with living poor in the US

HealthDeath in infancy

Premature birth

Low birthweight

Inadequate prenatal care

No regular source of health care

1.6X

1.8X

1.9X

2.8X

2.7X

EducationMath scores (ages 7-8)

Reading scores (ages 7-8)

Repeated a grade

Expelled from school

School drop-out (age 16-24)

5 pts lower

4 pts lower

2x

3.4x

3.5x

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Major Contextual Influences

• Normative Influences– Normative age-graded

influences: timing of biological events is fixed, while timing of social events is varied• Ex: puberty, entry into college

– Normative history-graded influences: a historical generation may include more than one age cohort• Ex: AIDS epidemic; WWII

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Major Contextual Influences

• Nonnormative Influences– Unusual or unexpected events

that impact an individual

– Events can be traumatic or happy

– Young people can create nonnormative life events, actively participating in their own development

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Major Contextual Influences

• Timing of Influences

– Critical Period: Specific time when a given event, or its absence, has a specific impact on development.

– Sensitive Period: Times in development when a child is particularly responsive to certain kinds of experience.• Plasticity: modifiability of performance.

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Major points to consider

• The scientific study of child development began during the late 19th C and has evolved to become part of the study of the full life span.

• Developmental scientists study change and stability in the physical, cognitive and psychosocial domains.

• Development is subject to internal and external influences.

• Important contextual influences on development include family, neighborhood, socioeconomic status, culture, ethnicity and history.