2 | 1 Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Scientific Theories Are a set of ideas structured to organize and explain facts. –Fact: an objective statement of truth Give meaning to facts. Guide research.

2 | 2 Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Evaluating Theories of Development Good theories –Explain many facts. –Are understandable. –Predict future events. –Are empirically based. –Are testable.

2 | 3 Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved. 1)Biological Theories: Emphasis on inherited biological factors and processes. Evolutionary Theory Focus on behaviors that promote survival and reproduction Research areas include social behavior, mate selection, language, reasoning abilities, cooperation, etc.

2 | 4 Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Ethological Theory Focuses on –Causes and adaptive value of behaviors –Cross-species comparisons Considers evolutionary history of both species and social context John Bowlby

2 | 5 Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Neuro-developmental Approaches Focus on the relationship of brain development to behavior and thinking Doug Plummer/Photo Researchers

2 | 6 Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved. 2) Psychoanalytic Theories Common focus on unconscious drives and forces Not commonly used in research Many are Freudian in nature

2 | 7 Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Psychoanalytic Theories: Freud’s Psychosexual Theory Human behavior arises from the dynamic internal energy resulting from biology The libido is the source of action and sexual desire Individuals behavior is based on the changing interactions between the three components of the Psyche and the environment

2 | 8 Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Psyche Id –Primitive and instinctual component –Operates via pleasure principle Ego –source of reason –operates via reality principle Superego –conscience and moral standards

2 | 9 Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Freud’s Psychosexual Theory Stage theory –Children go through a number of stages and their resolution of the stage influences their personality development Important concepts –Unconscious –Defense mechanisms –Psychoanalytic therapy Problems –Not based on scientific evidence –Not easily testable –Culturally biased

2 | 10 Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Psychoanalytic Theories: Erickson’s Psychosocial Theory Individuals go through a series of stages representing psychosocial crises Resolution of each crises results in a sense of competence or incompetence which effects the course of development Crises represent critical periods in personality development Sequence and types of crises are fixed, stages are epigenetic

2 | 11 Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Erickson’s Psychosocial Theory Contributions –Life span approach Led to increased study of adolescents and adults –Outcome of stages not viewed as permanent –Recognition of cultural differences –More positively oriented than Freud However, not easily testable

2 | 12 Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved. 3) Learning Based Theories environment and experiences are the major determinants of behavior. People are passive and learning occurs when the environment changes.

2 | 13 Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Classical Conditioning: Realized that conditioned responses to previously neutral stimuli could be taught Principles discovered accidentally by Pavlov in dogs Later extended by Watson to infants Operant Conditioning: Focus on how the consequences of a behavior affect the likelihood that the behavior will be repeated B.F. Skinner

2 | 14 Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Social Learning Theory Albert Bandura People are influenced by others Much of learning occurs through –Vicarious reinforcement –Modeling –Imitation

2 | 15 Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved. 4) Cognitive Theories: emphasize the role of mental processes in influencing development. Examines how thinking and reasoning change over time and the effects of these changes on development. Essential feature of development is that individuals strive for a greater understanding of the world around them.

2 | 16 Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Jean Piaget: Cognitive Theory based on Schemes –“Blueprints” that change over time for processing information –Assimilation Directly processing information that fits a scheme –Accomodation Changing the scheme to fit the new information Stages of Cognitive Development: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational

2 | 17 Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Stages of Cognitive Development Sensorimotor Preoperational Concrete Operational Formal Operational

2 | 18 Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Cognitive Theories: Lev Vygotsky Children use psychological tools to develop higher levels of thinking –Numbering systems –Maps –Language

2 | 19 Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Cognitive Theories: Vygotsky Social interaction as key determinant of development Learning occurs via interactions with more sophisticated others Zone of proximal development –Distance between what you know now and what you could know with help –Where learning occurs

2 | 20 Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Cognitive Theories: Information Processing Theory People have limited capacity for learning, but can flexibly apply strategies to get around these limitations Children and adults remember information differently. Changes the way we think effecting our development.

2 | 21 Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved. 5) Contextual Theories: Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory Outlines interplay between child and environments Multiple interacting systems influence development

2 | 22 Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Brofenbrenner’s Ecological Model microsystem –immediate environment mesosystem –connections among settings exosystem –systems indirectly affecting the child Macrosystem –larger society values, mass mediaand social policies Chronosystem –Historical context

2 | 23 Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

2 | 24 Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Contextual Theories: Dynamic Systems Theory development occurs within systems Strong interconnection between children and environment A new behavior emerges out of several different systems that work together to produce a new ability. systems –show self-organization –have control parameters –naturally develop complexity from more basic and simple forms –have rate-limiting components

2 | 25 Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved. The Scientific Method Goal: finding the probable explanation Designed to produce results that are –objective –reliable –valid

2 | 26 Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved. The Scientific Method Steps –Formulating a hypothesis –Designing a study –Collecting evidence –Interpreting and reporting the evidence –Replication –Further Study

2 | 27 Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Topics in Developmental Science Basic developmental research –Designed to answer broad, fundamental questions Applied developmental research –Designed to solve practical problems

2 | 28 Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Research Strategies Vary with respect to degree –Of control and structure. –To which cause and effect can be determined. –Of generalizability. –Of application to real life.

2 | 29 Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Case Studies In-depth examination of a single person May not be generalizable to others Often useful for unusual or rare conditions

2 | 30 Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Clinical Interviews Detailed interview with participant May be biased by participant telling experimenter what they think he/she wants to hear Participant must be language proficient Flexible method Offers insight

2 | 31 Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Survey Studies Involves responses to sets of structured questions Data is easy to obtain Self-presentation issues

2 | 32 Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Naturalistic Studies Observation of people in their natural environments People tend to behave normally Difficult to generalize No control over setting

2 | 33 Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Correlational Studies Are two variables related to each other? –Correlation coefficient Cannot establish causality Provide ethical means to study sensitive topics

2 | 34 Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Experimental Studies Used for determining causality Provides experimental control Involves creation of manipulated situation in a laboratory –Can lead to artificial responses from participants

2 | 35 Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Measuring Change over Time Cross-Sectional Studies Longitudinal Studies Cohort-Sequential Research Design

2 | 36 Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Cross-Sectional Studies Individuals of different ages are tested at the same point in time Results from each age group are compared Cohort issues

2 | 37 Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Longitudinal Studies Same group of individuals is tested over time Results at different times are compared Problems –Individuals drop out –Repeated testing –Difficult to identify age-related change –Expensive and time-consuming

2 | 38 Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Cohort-Sequential Design Combination of cross-sectional and longitudinal designs Data is collected from –Multiple cohorts (like cross-sectional) –Over time (like longitudinal) Disentangles age and cohort effects

2 | 39 Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

2 | 40 Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Measuring Children’s Behavior Physiological measures –Record responses of the body Behavioral measures –Direct assessment of behavior through observation Self-report –Asking people questions –Usually questionnaire-based Projective measures –Indirectly assess individuals’ psychological states

2 | 41 Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Challenges in Research with Children self-report and projective measures cannot be used with infants and young children young children, even if verbal, may lack insight into their behavior testing infants is difficult ethical issues