Chapter 1: Themes and Theories in Developmental Psychology

Does sociocultural context affect development?

Yes. A childs culture/background can influence development

example observational learning

a child learning to walk. they see the parent and imitate the behavior driving a car - learn how to drive by watching parent do it

children respond to the risks differently

a child who grew up with minimal food grew up differently than someone who never struggled with food. Resilient since they had to overcome that obstacle.

assimilation

a component of adaptation; process of interpreting an experience in terms of current ways (schemes) of understanding things - infant sucking on pacifier recognizes it is similar to breast, so it is assimilated in the scheme of sucking.

What is learning?

a relatively permanent change in behavior as a result of such experiences, as exploration, observation, and practice

Behaviorism

a theoretical account of development that relies on basic principles of learning to explain developmental changes in behavior has roots in radical learning position by John B Watson. Extended by BF skinner Ivan Pavlov - classical conditioning - dogs salivating

classical conditioning

a type of learning in which one learns to link two or more stimuli and anticipate events

weight/volume conservation

all have a way to rationalize why they are thinking what they do, but slowly develops throughout their lifetime to learn these concepts.

Stage 2 of Erikson's Theory

autonomy vs shame and doubt (1-3) - child begins to explore and make choices in order to understand what is manageable and what is socially acceptable. adaptive mode: control

2 basic mechanisms of learning

behaviorism operant conditioning

differences between behaviorism and social learning theory

behaviorism is when thoughts/feelings influence your behavior (essentially, experience). Dentist office may make you anxious because in the past you can associate needles + drills. social learning is purely observational

example of resilience

child who can't go to preschool vs high quality preschool - you didn't go to preschool, but your parents read to you every night and you're genetically intelligent.

Example of Social Learning Theory

commercial regarding shampoo products that suggest this product is the best for your hair. You buy the shampoo because you see on tv that it's great, so you imitate this behavior child sees/hears mother cussing in certain situations, so child also cusses when they stub their toe, imitating parental behavior.

accomadation

component of adaptation; process of modification in thinking that takes place when old ways of understanding something no longer fit. - child sucking pacifier realizes that is has a different shape, size, and texture than moms' breasts. Forced to accommodate to the new encounter.

continious

development is gradual steady advances

discontinuous

development stage-like with abrupt changes followed by stability

nurture

environmental influences

nature

genetic/heretic

Sociocultural context refers to

how cultural, societal factors, customs, values, beliefs, religion, and political can impact how children grow up and think a certain way.

why is it useful to know which factor is playing a bigger role in development?

if you want to change/modify behavior, it is important to know what causes the tendencies. This can affect how we approach a situation

most kids are....

resilient and can overcome obstacles that we thought we would have to shield them from.

What is developmental psychology?

science of studying these changes (physical, psychological, behavioral) across the lifespan study in a variety of ways. Scientists try to find age related changes. Behavioral changes = accident/fall causes change

Resilient children

seem to most effectively resist the negative consequences of risk

What determines our development?

specific area of interest. Historically and consistently keep reappearing in human development HAS to be something that impacts the child's life in some way.

Stage Theory

supposed to be discontinuous in pure form Piaget's thinking skill development - child has a certain set of skills then 1 day they have a new understanding and they're on a new level and have new ways of thinking. most other theories show many small changes over time

what is the focus of psychological theories such as Erikson's?

the first stage, her theorized that incorporation or taking in is the primary mode for acting adaptively towards the world. This extends beyond the mouth and includes other senses such as looking/hearing and motor systems such as reaching/ grasping - society plays a CRITICAL role in shaping and forming reality for a child - example: some cultures push breast feeding while others push bottle feeding.

operant conditioning

the process by which the frequency of a behavior changes depending on response consequences in the form of desirable or undesirable outcome example: caretaker that greets baby, baby smiles. Another ignores baby. Baby 1 will smile when seeing caretaker while baby 2 will not

social learning theory

theoretical approach emphasizing the important of learning through observation and imitation of behaviors modeled by others.

Stage 1 of Ericksons stages

Basic Trust vs Mistrust (0-1 yr) - babies must find consistency, predictability, and reliability in their caregivers' behaviors to gain a sense of trust adaptive mode: incorporation

Risk vs Resilience general theme

Children are exposed to various kinds and levels of benefits/risks throughout their development. have to overcome risks that they are exposed to

do various areas of development interact or affect one another?

Duh

what are the 5 themes of developmental psychology?

1. Nature vs Nurture 2. Sociocultural Influence 3. Continuity/Discontinuity 4. Interaction of Domains 5. Risk/Resilience

2 overriding assumptions about intelligence

1. it is a form of biological adaptation 2. Becomes organized as an individual interacts with the external world

my own example of interaction of domains

A child is held back a year in school. They are upset to be losing their friends and they perform worse this school year because the other children don't want to befriend the older student. This affects their mental, social, and emotional domains

example of sociocultural influence

A child who grew up in a hostile environment responds to everything in a violent matter. They don't know how to respond with another emotion because they were never taught

Why is understanding sociocultural influences important?

Advantages: How people change/handle problems a submissive may approach stuff differently than someone who grew up in an individual society.

Example of interaction of domain

An outcast child who is a late bloomer is socially left out and this upsets him since he doesn't have friends and he has no social life

example of nature vs nurture factor

Nature: If the child is lashing out and it is genetic, we should approach in a calm manner and try to calm them down, knowing they can't control this type of behavior. Nurture: If the child acts this way because of learned behaviors at home or in their neighborhood, they should be taught that his is not proper behavior.

Current View of Nature vs Nurture

There is an interaction between the 2 concepts. People think there are certain aspects that are only nature or only nurture. They can find evidence for both sides of the claim. conclusion? both are highly important and cannot be isolated.

Muller-Lyer Illusion

illusion of line length that is distorted by inward-turning or outward-turning corners on the ends of the lines, causing lines of equal length to appear to be different Visional system has a big biologic component and deals with environment you grew up in different cultures look at things different urban: see different lengths rural: say same length Their brains didn't learn that rule yet on perception

adaptation

inborn tendency to adjust or become more attuned to conditions imposed by the environments takes place through assimilation and accommodation - these changes depend on the opportunity to look/touch, handle/play with and construct/order the rich assortment of experiences stemming from action from the environments.

Stage 4 of Erikson's Theory

industry vs inferiority (6-11 (puberty)) - child acquires skills and performs "work" in the form of becoming educated and supporting the family in order to feel competent and attain a sense of achievement. adaptive mode: construction

example of scheme

infant sucking on moms' boob, pacifier or thumb is exercising the scheme of sucking

Stage 3 of Erikson's Theory

initiative vs guilt (3-6) - child starts to make plans, set goals, and persist in both physical and social exchanges to gain a sense of purpose and remain enthusiastic even in the face of inevitable frustration adaptive mode: intrusion

scheme

mental structure underlying a coordinated and systemic pattern of behaviors of thinking applied across similar objects/situations - a kind of template for acting or thinking applied to similar classes/objects or situations

Interaction of domains - what do we mean by domains

mental vs physical vs social vs emotional

example of development

neuronal changes in the brain puberty changes social changes

Learning Theory

perspective that explains the development of behavior according to the principles of classic/operant conditioning

What is development?

physical and mental changes we go through in a lifetime. we change how we think about things and how we behave in certain situations we want to find the systematic changes that occur between ages 0 and death. We see certain things at certain ages that are expected. This way we can see who is falling behind or ahead.

cognitive development theory

theoretical orientation most frequently associated with Piaget, emphasizing the active construction of psychological structures to interpret experience. - normal children display common intellectual, emotional, and social capacity despite widely varying experiences - children believe a cup of water varies in quantity based on the container it is in

Consensus? (cont vs discont)

undecided - development has been characterized in both ways

Conservation (Piaget) of matter

water cup (1 small glass put into bigger glass) Children will say the amount of water changed 2 rows of checkers with the same #. you spread out one row and keep the other the same, children will say the other row now has more checkers

what is the nature vs nurture debate?

whether it is heretic/genetic factors, or do we acquire these throughout the environment where we grew up, homelife, culture can affect these things

do schemes change?

yes schemes change with assimilation and accommodation