Childhood and

Adolescence: Voyages
in Development, 7e
Chapter 1: History, Theories,
and Methods

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 Learning Objectives
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:
1-1 Define child development, explain why researchers study child development, and describe
the history of the study of child development.
1-2 Describe and evaluate theories of child development, including psychoanalytic theory,
learning theories, cognitive-developmental theory, biological views, ecological systems theory, and
the sociocultural perspective.
1-3 Discuss controversies in child development, including the nature–nurture controversy,
whether development is continuous or discontinuous, and whether children are active or passive
participants in their development.
1-4 Explain how researchers study child development, referring to the scientific method, methods
of observation, the correlational method, the experiment, and longitudinal versus cross-sectional
studies.
1-5 Discuss ethical considerations in the study of child development.

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1.1 What Is Child Development?

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 What Is Child Development? (1 of 4)
• Defining childhood: the period from infancy to puberty
− Infancy: the first two years of life, until development of complex speech
• Early childhood: from 2 to 5 years
• Middle childhood: from 6 to 12 years
• Adolescence: from 13 to 20 years

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 What Is Child Development? (2 of 4)
Dimensions of development:
− Biological
− Cognitive
− Social
− Emotional
− Behavioral

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 What Is Child Development? (3 of 4)
• Defining development:
− Qualitative changes
 Changes in type or kind
 Development
− Quantitative changes
 Changes in amount
 Growth

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 What Is Child Development? (4 of 4)
• Field of study that tries to understand the processes that govern the
appearance and growth of children’s
− Biological structures
− Psychological traits
− Behavior
− Understanding
− Ways of adapting to demands of life

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 Why Do Researchers Study Child
Development?
• To gain insight into
− Human nature
− Origins of adult behavior
− Origins of sex differences and gender roles
− Effects of culture on development
− Origins, prevention, and treatment of developmental problems
• To optimize conditions of development

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Views of Children Throughout History (1 of 2)

• Ancient and medieval times: “miniature adults”

− Children sometimes thought innately evil
− Harsh discipline
− Children treated as property and servants
− “Age of reason” considered to be 7 years old
 Children expected to work alongside adults in the home and the field

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Views of Children Throughout History (2 of 2)

• Transition to modern thinking: Enlightenment philosophers Locke and

Rousseau
− John Locke: A child is born as a tabula rasa, a blank slate, to be shaped by
experience
− Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Children are naturally good and will express this
nature if allowed
• Industrial Revolution: children labored long hours in factories
• 20th century: child labor, protection, and compulsory education laws
enacted

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 Pioneers in the Study of Child Development

• Charles Darwin (1809–1882)

− Theory of evolution
− Use of baby biography
• G. Stanley Hall (1844–1924)
− Child development as academic discipline
− Adapted questionnaire methodology for use with large groups of children
• Alfred Binet (1857–1911) and Theodore Simon (1872–1961)
− First standardized intelligence test

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1.2 Theories of Child Development

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 Theories of Child Development (1 of 2)

• John B. Watson
− Behaviorism—learning
− Nurture
• Arnold Gesell
− Biological maturation
− Nature

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 Theories of Child Development (2 of 2)

• Theories of development help us

− Describe
− Explain
− Predict
− Influence events being studied

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 What Is the Psychoanalytic Perspective on
Child Development?
• View of children (and adults) as in conflict
− Internal basic drives conflict with external limits
− Internalize “external” demands and rules
− Conflict then occurs between these opposing inner forces
• Freud’s theory of psychosexual development
• Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development
• Stage theories
− Distinct periods of development

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 Sigmund Freud’s Theory of Psychosexual
Development
• Sigmund Freud (1856–1939)
• Levels of awareness
− Conscious and unconscious
• Parts of personality
− Id
− Ego
− Superego
• Quantity of gratification at each stage
− Fixated at that stage
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 Stages of Freud’s Psychosexual Theory of
Development (1 of 2)
• Oral stage
− Sucking
− Early weaning or breastfed too long
− Fixation: nail-biting, smoking, “biting wit”
• Anal stage
− Control and elimination of waste
− Excessively strict or permissive toilet training
− Fixation: anal-retentive (neatness); anal-expulsion (sloppiness)
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 Stages of Freud’s Psychosexual Theory of
Development (2 of 2)
• Phallic stage
− Parent–child conflict over masturbation
− View same-sex parent as rival
• Latency stage
− Sexual feelings remain unconscious
• Genital stage
− Begins at adolescence
− Desire sexual gratification through intercourse with member of other sex
 Interest in any other sexual gratification is fixation at the earlier stage

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 Evaluation of Psychosexual Theory of
Development
• Contributions
− Comprehensive theory of childhood
− Influenced parents, child-care workers, educators
• Criticisms
− Based on emotionally troubled female patients
− Little empirical data
− Overemphasis on instincts and unconscious motives (Erik Erikson,
Karen Horney)

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 Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial
Development
• Erik Erikson (1902–1994)
− Modified and expanded Freud’s theory
− Successful resolution of life crises bolsters sense of identity
• Differences from psychosexual development
− Focuses on development of self-identity
− Includes conscious and purposeful acts in development
− Extends stages to eight, throughout adulthood

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 Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial
Development
• Trust versus mistrust
• Autonomy versus shame and doubt
• Initiative versus guilt
• Industry versus inferiority
• Identity versus role diffusion
• Intimacy versus isolation
• Generativity versus stagnation
• Ego integrity versus despair

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 Evaluation of Erikson’s Psychosocial
Development Theory
• Highly appealing
− Emphasizes choice and minimizes urges
− Portrays people as prosocial and helpful
• Some empirical support

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What Are the Learning Perspectives on Child
Development?
• Behaviorism
− Observable behaviors only
− Classical conditioning
− Operant conditioning
• Social cognitive theory
− Observational learning

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 Classical Conditioning (1 of 2)

• Simple learning
− Neutral stimulus repeatedly paired with second stimulus
− Elicits the response usually brought by the second stimulus
• Example: Bell-and-pad method to eliminate bedwetting

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Classical Conditioning (2 of 2)

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 Principles of Operant Conditioning

• Learn to do something for its effects

• B. F. Skinner: reinforcement
− Any stimulus that increases the frequency of the behavior it follows
− Positive reinforcers
 Things presented that increase the frequency of a behavior
− Negative reinforcers
 Things removed that increase the frequency of a behavior

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Positive Versus Negative Reinforcers

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 Behaviorism: Skinner—Punishment

• Aversive events that decrease the behavior they follow

− Effective in emergencies, but less preferable in general
 Offers no alternative, acceptable form of behavior
 Tends to suppress undesirable behavior only under certain conditions
 May cause withdrawal from situation
 Can create anger and hostility
 May be imitated as a way of coping with stress
− Instead, reward children for desirable behavior

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Negative Reinforcers Versus Punishments

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 Applications of Operant Conditioning

• Shaping
− Teaching complex behaviors
− Reinforcing small steps toward the behavioral goal
• Socialization of children
− Parent and child
− Child and child
− Teacher and child
 Time-out

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 Social Cognitive Theory

• Albert Bandura
− Acquire basic “know-how” through observational learning
− Skills may lie latent
• Child is an active learner
• Intentionally seek out or create environments where reinforcers are
available

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 Evaluation of Learning Theories

• Contributions
− Meet the goals of describing, explaining, predicting, and influencing
aspects of children’s behavior
− Principles are abundant in education and clinical application
• Criticisms
− Unclear if learning is only mechanical
− Underestimate the role of biological-maturational factors

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 What Is the Cognitive Perspective on Child
Development?
• Focuses on children’s mental processes
− How children perceive and mentally represent the world
• Jean Piaget (1896–1980)
− Cognitive-developmental theory
• Information-processing theory

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 Piaget’s Cognitive-Developmental Theory

• Working with Binet on IQ tests for children, Piaget became

interested in children’s wrong answers
• Piaget’s work not widely read until the mid-1950s
− Difficult to understand
− Reflected biological-cognitive perspective when behaviorism and
psychoanalysis were popular
• He viewed children as “budding scientists” interacting and
experimenting with their environments

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 Piaget’s Basic Concepts (1 of 2)

• Scheme
− Pattern of action involved in acquiring or organizing knowledge
• Adaptation
− Interaction between child and the environment
• Assimilation
− Responding to a new object or event according to existing schemes

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 Piaget’s Basic Concepts (2 of 2)

• Accommodation
− Adjusting scheme to a new object or event
• Equilibration
− Process of restoring equilibrium after a period of accommodation

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 Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development

• Four major stages:

− Sensorimotor
− Preoperational
− Concrete operational
− Formal operational
• Sequence is universal
• Development is based on children’s interactions with their environments
• Influential in many educational settings

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 Evaluation of Cognitive-Developmental
Theory
• Criticisms
− Piaget may have underestimated children’s abilities by age
− Cognitive growth may be more gradual than Piaget’s distinct stages
• Contributions
− Different view of children from psychoanalytic and behaviorist
− Strong theoretical foundation for researchers

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 Information-Processing Theory (1 of 2)

• Influenced by the concepts of computer science

− Process of encoding information (input)
− Storage of information (long-term memory)
− Retrieval of information (short-term memory)
− Manipulation of information to solve problems (output)
− Software (mental processes)
− Hardware (brain)

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 Information-Processing Theory (2 of 2)

• Considers cognitive development

− Size of short-term memory
− Number of programs that can run simultaneously
• Applications in education

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 What Is the Biological Perspective on
Development?
• Physical development
− Gains in height and weight
− Brain development
− Developments connected with hormones, reproduction, and heredity
• Ethology
− Study of behaviors that are specific to a species

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Ethology and Evolution: “Doing What Comes
Naturally”
• Concerned with instinctive behavior patterns
− Influenced by Charles Darwin, Konrad Lorenz, and Niko Tinbergen
• Prewired—instinctive behavior patterns
− Fixed action patterns (FAPs)
− Influence of prenatal hormones
• Lorenz’s work on attachment during the first year
− Imprinting

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 Evaluation of Ethology

• Assumes that instinctive behaviors can be modified through

learning
• Suggestion that instincts play a role in human behavior

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 What Is the Ecological Systems Theory of
Development?
• Explains development through interactions between children and
the settings in which they live
• Urie Bronfenbrenner (1917–2005)
− Focus on two-way interactions between parent and child, not just
maturational or child-rearing approaches
− Views the contexts of human development as a series of systems

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 The Ecological Systems Theory of Child
Development
• Five embedded systems
− Microsystem
− Mesosystem
− Exosystem
− Macrosystem
− Chronosystem
• Evaluation of theory
− Helps focus attention on changing systems

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The Contexts of Human Development

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 What Is the Sociocultural Perspective on
Development?
• Views children as social beings who are influenced by the cultures
in which they live
• Lev Semenovich Vygotsky’s (1896–1934) sociocultural theory
• Impact of human diversity on children

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 Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory

• Zone of proximal development (ZPD)

− Range of tasks a child can perform with the help of someone more
skilled
− Use of conversations, external and internal, to guide learning
• Scaffolding
− Adult provides problem-solving methods until a child can perform
independently
− May also be used by children with peers

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 Evaluation of Vygotsky’s Sociocultural
Theory
• Research support for
− Scaffolding
− Private speech
• Teachers often discourage private speech due to distraction

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 The Sociocultural Perspective and Human
Diversity
• Awareness of diversity among children
− Ethnic groups
 Understanding of children’s family values and cultural expectations
− Gender
 Understanding of gender role expectations
− Socioeconomic status
 Associated with opportunity

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1.3 Controversies in Child Development

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 Which Exerts the Greater Influence on
Children: Nature or Nurture?
• Nature = heredity
• Nurture = environmental influences
• Orientation toward nature
− Cognitive-developmental theory
− Biological theorists
• Orientation toward nurture
− Learning theories
• Contemporary view—both nature and nurture

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 Is Development Continuous or
Discontinuous?
• Do developmental changes occur
− Continuously (gradually)?
− Discontinuously (in qualitative leaps)?
• Orientation toward continuity
− Maturational theories (behaviorism, Bandura’s social learning theory,
information-processing theory)
• Orientation toward discontinuity
− Stage theories (Freud, Erikson, Piaget)

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 Are Children Active (Prewired to Act on the
World) or Passive (Shaped by Experience)?
• For learning to occur, do educators need to
− Motivate passive learners?
− Encourage active learners to explore?
• Perspectives of children as both active and passive
− Bronfenbrenner’s bidirectional influence
− Bandura’s reciprocal influences between children and the
environment

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1.4 How Do We Study Child Development?

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 What Is the Scientific Method?

• Step 1: Forming a research question

• Step 2: Developing a hypothesis
• Step 3: Testing the hypothesis
• Step 4: Drawing conclusions
• Step 5: Publishing findings

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 Naturalistic Observation

• Field studies
− Observations done in natural (real-life) settings
− Control for interference
• Examples of naturalistic observation studies
− Activity levels of 3- to 5-year-olds in preschools
− Motor behavior of Native American Hopi children strapped to cradleboards
− Language development in various countries
− Socialization patterns in diverse cultures

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 Case Study
• Account of an individual’s behavior
− Diaries
− Direct observations
− Questionnaires
− Standardized tests
− Interviews
− Other sources of records
• Examples of case studies
− Piaget’s observation of children’s behavior
− Freud’s studies of his patients
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 Survey

• Assists in studying behavior and mental processes that cannot be

observed
• Questionnaires or interviews
− Used to study attitudes
− May question parents or teachers about children
− May also use records to obtain information

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 Correlation: What Does It Mean to Correlate
Information?
• Mathematical calculation to determine relationships between
behaviors and traits (variables)
• Correlation coefficient
− Mathematical number between +1.00 and –1.00
− Positive correlation
− Negative correlation
• Limitation: shows relationships, not cause and effect

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Examples of Positive and Negative
Correlations

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 What Is an Experiment? What Are an
Experiment’s Advantages over Correlation?
• Experiments are used to determine cause and effect
• Experimental research: a method in which one group receives
treatment and another does not
• Independent and dependent variables
− Independent variable: manipulated by experimenter
− Dependent variable: measured results; depends on independent
variable

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 What Is an Experiment?

• Experimental and control groups

− Experimental group: receives the treatment
− Control group: does not receive the treatment
• Random assignment
• Ethical and practical considerations

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 How Do Researchers Study Developments
That Take Place over the Years? (1 of 2)
• Longitudinal research
− Same children observed repeatedly over time
− Most span months or a few years, not decades
• Drawbacks to longitudinal research
− May lose participants over time (attrition)
− Difficult to enlist volunteers for long-term participation
− Researchers must be patient
− Older researchers may need to rely on younger researchers to continue the
research

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 How Do Researchers Study Developments
That Take Place over the Years? (2 of 2)
• Cross-sectional studies
− Children of different ages are observed and compared
− Cohort effect
• Cross-sequential research
− Combines longitudinal (time period) and cross-sectional (cohorts)
methods
− Breaks time span into convenient segments
− Time-lag comparisons

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Example of Cross-Sequential Research

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 1.5 Ethical Considerations

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 Ethical Considerations

• Professional groups propose guidelines for research with children

− American Psychological Association
− Society for Research in Child Development
• Risk of physical or psychological harm
• Voluntary informed consent
• Right to withdraw from study
• Debriefing
• Confidentiality
• Prior approval of research by review committee
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 Self-Assessment

• Which theories of development did you find most challenging, and thus need
to review?
• Which theories of development appealed to you the most? The least? Why?
• What are some ways that you think you could apply certain developmental
theories in your own life, such as in your job or family?

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 Summary
Now that the lesson has ended, you should have learned how to:
• Define child development, explain why researchers study child development, and describe
the history of the study of child development.
• Describe and evaluate theories of child development, including psychoanalytic theory,
learning theories, cognitive-developmental theory, biological views, ecological systems theory,
and the sociocultural perspective.
• Discuss controversies in child development, including the nature–nurture controversy,
whether development is continuous or discontinuous, and whether children are active or
passive participants in their development.
• Explain how researchers study child development, referring to the scientific method, methods
of observation, the correlational method, the experiment, and longitudinal versus cross-
sectional studies.
• Discuss ethical considerations in the study of child development.

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