Exam #1 Flashcards
(116 cards)
Why are theories important? (3)
- Organize what we know into coherent set of principles
- Form testable hypotheses about children’s behavior
- Interpret findings
Continuous development
Change is gradual and smooth, each experience builds on earlier experiences
Discontinuous development
Change occurs in discrete steps with qualitative differences at each step
Overlapping waves for development
Variability in social behavior at a given point in time, change happens as children adopt new strategies
Current view of development (continuous or discontinuous)
Continuous but interspersed with transitional periods
Case study: Genie
Nature vs nurture, locked in basement, after certain amount of years passed she couldn’t learn how to talk
Current view of nature vs nuture
Both are important and interact, expression of biological characteristics is shaped by environmental circumstances
Current view of whether social development is universal across cultures
Some universal aspects but need to understand cultural variation
Rogoff’s research
Culture, Mayan vs US children, Mayan children better at attention and learning
Equifinality
Pathway, convergence, two children follow different paths to reach same outcome
Multifinality
Pathway, divergence, two children start out similarly but end up at different points
Early view on what role children play in their own development
Passive role, children shaped by external forces
Current view on what role children play in their own development
Active role, children explore and seek out info about world, participate in exchanges with others, shape own development
What makes for a “good” theory? (3)
- Parsimonious- simple
- Falsifiable- testable
- Applicable-practical relevance
Psychodynamic Perspectives: Freud
Development driven by unconscious instincts: sex, aggression, hunger
Shaped by relationships with others (mostly parents)
Freud’s psychosexual stages of development
Oral —> anal —> phallic (learns differences between males and females) —> latency (little or no sexual motivation) —> genital
Erikson’s psychosocial theory
Extended stages through adulthood, emphasized social environment over biology, specified tasks that must be accomplished at each stage, risks of failing to accomplish
Erikson’s stages
- Trust vs mistrust (0-1 years)
- Autonomy vs shame and doubt (1-3 years)- assert independence
- Initiative vs guilt (3-6 years)-responsibility and ambition
- Industry vs inferiority (6-12 years)-master tasks
- Identity vs confusion (12-20 years)
- Intimacy vs isolation (20-30 years)
- Generatively vs stagnation (30-65 years)-raise children, generative career, give back to community
- Integrity vs Despair (65+ years)
Strengths of Freud and Erikson
Emphasis on effects of early experience and social interactions on development, introduced concepts (attachment, gender roles, morality, identity)
Weaknesses of Freud and Erikson
Difficult to test empirically
Just Freud: not based directly on work with children
Just Erikson: mechanisms for transitioning across stages not identified
Piaget’s cognitive developmental theory
Transactional focus: children as agents in exploring and making sense of their environment
2 important processes for Piaget’s theory
- Assimilation- fit new info into existing schema
2. Accommodation- modify existing schema in response to new info
Piaget’s theory stages (4)
- Sensorimotor
- Preoperational
- Concrete operational
- Formal operational
Piaget’s sensorimotor period
0-2 years, differentiates self from objects and other people, imitate and engage in imaginative play, basic understanding of causality, develops object permanence