… Could you tell me how to grow, or is it unconveyed, like melody or witchcraft? --- Emily Dickinson (1862)

Basic Questions about Child Development 1.How do nature and nurture together shape development? 2.How do children shape their own development? 3.In what ways is development continuous, and in what ways is it discontinuous? 4.How does change occur? 5.How does the sociocultural context influence development? 6.How do children become so different from each other? 7.How can research promote children’s well-being?

Why Study Development Reason #1: Raising Children Knowledge of child development can help parents and teachers meet challenges of rearing and educating children

Reason #2: Social Policies Knowledge of child development permits informed decisions about social-policy questions that affect children –For example, psychological research on children’s responses to leading interview questions can help courts obtain more accurate testimonies from preschool children

Reason #3: Understanding Human Nature Child-development research provides important insights into questions regarding human nature (such as existence of innate concepts and relationship between early and later experiences) –Recent investigations of development among children adopted from inadequate orphanages in Romania supports principle that timing of experiences often influences their effects

Periods of Development Prenatal Period -from conception to birth Infancy - from birth to 18/24 months Early Childhood - end of infancy to about 5 or 6 years Middle and Late Childhood - from 6 to 11 years Adolescence – 12- early adulthood Early Adulthood Middle Adulthood Late Adulthood

Is Development... Continuous? –Infants and children respond to world same as adults, but more simply. –Development is gradual change. Discontinuous? –Infants and children have unique ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving. –Development in stages.

Is Development Time-sensitive? Sensitive period –period of development during which certain behaviors are easily learned Critical period –period of development during which certain experience is needed for future normal development. Without such experience, later development may be impaired Konrad Lorenz - Imprinting

Nature or Nurture? Nature Genetic factors/heredity Stability –Individuals who are high or low in characteristic will remain so at later ages. Nurture Environmental factors Plasticity –Change is possible and likely if new experiences support it.

Nature and Nurture Developmentalists now recognize that every characteristic we possess is created through the joint workings of nature and nurture –Accordingly, they ask how nature and nurture work together to shape development

Concept of childhood Ancient Rome through middle ages (1450 AD) –Childhood ends at 6 years After the Renaissance and Enlightenment –Childhood was recognized as a unique period After 17 th and 18 th centuries, –John Locke: a tabula rasa ( “blank slate”) –Jean Jacques Rousseau: innately good

Historical Foundations: Research-Based Approach Social reform movements established a legacy of research conducted for benefit of children/provided some of earliest descriptions of adverse effects that harsh environments have on child development Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution inspired research in child development in order to gain insights into nature of human species

Psychoanalytic Perspective –Children move through stages, confronting conflicts between biological drives and social expectations. Resolution determines psychological adjustment. Freud's Theory –Personality development is determined by how parents manage their child's early sexual and aggressive drives.

Key Theories Cognitive-Developmental Theories –Piaget, Information-processing theories Psychodynamic Theories –Freud, Erikson, Jung, Adler, Kohlberg Behaviorist Theories –Watson, Skinner, Pavlov, Jones Social Cognitive Learning Theories –Bandura, Piaget, SocioCultural Theories –Vygotsky Nativist Theories –Chomsky,Darwin

Uri Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Model Microsystem –Innermost level of the environment and includes bi- directional influences in the person's immediate environment Mesosystem –Connections among microsystems that foster development Exosystem –Contexts not directly linked to children that affect their microsystem and mesosystem experiences Macrosystem –Outermost layer that includes a culture's laws, values, and customs one of founders of Head Start.

How do children become so different from each other? Individual differences among children arise very quickly in development Children’s genes, their treatment by other people, their subjective reactions to other people’s treatment of them, and their choice of environments all contribute to differences among children, even those within same family