Intro And Theories Of Development

Question 1

Reasons to learn child development

Answer 1

1. Importance ones won child-learning
2. Help society promote well-being of children in general
3. Better understand human nature

Question 2

Four major theories of development

Answer 2

1. Learning
2. Cognitive development
3. Evolutionary
4. Ecological

Question 3

Learning theory of development

Answer 3

• emphasise role of experience
• rewards and punishments
• learning from watching others

Behaviourism: (Skinner)
- reinforcement increase future likelihood of behaviour
- punishment decreases future likelihood of behaviour

Social Learning Theory
- reinforcement and punishment = powerful
- people also learn by watching others- observational learning, imitation
- imitation is not just mimicry

Question 4

Cognitive theory of development

Answer 4

• focus on mind; thought processes, construction of
• how children think
• how thinking changes over time
• roots in nativism
• model cognitive development theories: more interactionist
• major figures: Piaget, Vygotsky

Piaget:
-children like scientists
- they want to understand world and how it woks
- children revise their there’s radically at few critical points— leading to new theories
- revisions happen in universal seance at particular ages

4 stages:
1. Sensorimotor
2. Preperational
3. Concerted operations
4. Formal operational

Question 5

What is sensorimotor stage ?

Answer 5

Infant explored world through direct sensory and motor contact

Ages 0-2

Question 6

What is preoperational stage?

Answer 6

Child uses symbols to represent objects but does not reason logically
Child is egocentric

Ages 2-7

Question 7

What is concrete operational stage ?

Answer 7

Child can think logically about concrete objects

Ages 7-11

Question 8

What is formal operational stage?

Answer 8

Adolescent can reason abstractly and think in hypothetical terms

From age 11

Question 9

Evolutionary theory of development

Answer 9

Applies concept of natrual selection and adaptation to human behaviour

Charles Darwin

Focus on functions of behaviours

• seeks similar patterns of behaviour across human societies and cultures
• studying child development can produces insight to human nature
• some propose ‘critical periods’
• Kindchenschema (babay schema) attachment

Question 10

Ecological theory for development

Answer 10

• Stresses effects of context on develoment
• emphasises child’s active role in selecting and influencing the contexts
• children’s personal characteristics (temperament, intelligence, etc) also influence development

Bronfenbrenner Bioecological model