Identify a testable hypothesis about child development using one of the theories described in your course readings. After creating a hypothesis:
- Describe how you would use the scientific method to determine whether your hypothesis is correct.
- Describe the steps of the scientific method that must be taken to verify the hypothesis.
- Describe what research strategy you would use. Use concrete examples to justify your rationale.
- Support your responses with examples.
- Cite any sources in APA format.
Introduction to Child Development.html
Introduction to Child Development
Child development is the scientific study of the growth, stability, and changes that occur from childhood through adolescence. However, many generations ago, children were not considered significantly different from adults. During the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, children were dressed like adults and expected to behave as such, regardless of his age.
Until the acceptance of child development research in the twentieth century, different thoughts (e.g., John Locke’s concept of “tabula rasa”) shaped our views on childhood. Fortunately, as centuries have progressed, our conceptualization of childhood and adolescence has expanded, becoming more scientifically oriented. For example, many years ago, it was assumed that children who displayed symptoms of autism (e.g., head banging, body rocking, delayed speech) were possessed by demons. These children were treated with extreme exorcisms and sometimes killed to drive the “demons” out of their bodies.
In our culture today, the scientific study of child development is a well-recognized area of study. Unlike the children of the previous generations, children are treated as individuals with skills and abilities distinct from adults.
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Child Development
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Child Development
Phases based on age
We will discuss each of these types of development in relation to three distinct phases based on
age. The preschool period ranges from three through six years, middle childhood ranges from
six through twelve years, and adolescence ranges from twelve through twenty-one years.
Physical Development
A great deal of physical development occurs from age three through twenty-one. Chris will
grow taller and heavier, his nervous system and muscles will grow, and his ability to engage in
certain physical behaviors, such as sports, will improve.
Cognitive Development
Children and adolescents also experience significant cognitive development. Chris
will increasingly acquire the ability to learn, solve problems, and form memories.
Social Development
Chris will also undergo social development as he experiences changes in his relationships with
his family, peers, culture, and society.
Theories of Child Development.html
Theories of Child Development
Although child development is now a recognized and respected area of study, the field did not develop overnight. It has taken many theorists from many schools of thought to produce the advanced conceptualization of child development that we now accept. Different theories that have informed the field of child and adolescent development include psychodynamic theories, behavioral theories, cognitive theories, contextual theories, and evolutionary theories.
Although some of these theories may seem contradictory, they can also be complementary. It is often necessary to consider all these theories when considering child and adolescent development. There is no perfect theory that explains every feature of development. You cannot build a house with just one tool. Similarly, you cannot use just one theory to completely explain child development
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Theories of Child Development
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Theories of Child Development
Psychodynamic Theories
When most people think of psychodynamic theories, they initially think of Sigmund
Freud’s extreme beliefs regarding the unconscious and his strong focus on
psychosexual development. Although Freud provided a basis for understanding child
development, his theory is not the only psychodynamic theory.
Erik Erikson, a psychodynamic theorist, was more focused on psychosocial
development than on psychosexual development. Freud and Erikson shared a common
belief that children must successfully complete a series of stages in order to function
appropriately as adults.
We will cover these stage theories in later weeks.
Behavioral Theories
Behavioral theories of child development came about as theorists became frustrated
with the often vague and untestable predictions that psychodynamic theorists promoted.
Behaviorists believed that the unconscious that Freud and Erikson relied on so heavily
is a useless construct because it is not visible to the naked eye. Conversely, behaviorists
had a “see it to believe it” perspective.
Behavioral theorists, such as John Watson, B. F. Skinner, and Albert Bandura, held
different views on how children learned behaviors, but they all agreed that children
and adolescents develop their specific skills and abilities through the principles of
reinforcement—reinforced behaviors persist but ignored or punished behaviors fade
away.
Cognitive Theories
Until the late 1800s, theorists focused largely on child behavior but paid little attention
to child cognition. Cognitive theories filled this gap by focusing on the process that
children use to gain knowledge and to understand the world. Jean Piaget is the most
well-known cognitive theorist because of his influential views on child cognitive
development.
Like Freud and Erikson, Piaget believed that children developed through a series of
stages. Piaget provided a great deal of information on children’s thinking abilities, but
another cognitive theory, the information-processing model, has been much more
influential when discussing the development of memory. By comparing the human
brain to a computer, this model provides a framework for understanding how
memories are formed and how this capability develops over time.
Contextual Theories
Understanding the impact of the environment on children (and vice versa) is necessary
to form a complete picture of child and adolescent development. Two major theorists,
Urie Bronfenbrenner and Lev Vygotsky, have provided a contextual perspective that
explains the interaction between children (including their different physical and mental
abilities) and their environments.
Bronfenbrenner developed the bioecological approach to development, which
focuses on children’s interactions within several “systems.” Cross-cultural
researchers commonly use his approach to explain the impact of culture on a
developing child. Vygotsky examined the social relationships among people within a
culture. He strongly believed that interactions among children and the people in their
environments are necessary for appropriate cognitive and social development.
Evolutionary Theories
Although the previously mentioned theories provide information on our physical,
cognitive, and social development, no theories have addressed the impact of our genes
and inheritance on our developmental trajectories.
Evolutionary theories on development, which arose from Charles Darwin’s work,
consider the impact of inherited genes on our development. Obviously, our genes
influence our physical features, but evolutionary theorists believe that our behaviors
can also be genetically preprogrammed. Konrad Lorenz, the most well-known
developmental evolutionist, focused on genetic behavior patterns by studying these
patterns in geese.
Research on Child Development.html
Research on Child Development
The scientific method typically involves three major steps:
Identifying a question of interest (i.e., based on a theory)
Specifying a hypothesis
Carrying out research to test the hypothesis
A researcher using the information-processing approach to memory (i.e., a theory) expects children to form memories better at seven than at five (i.e., a hypothesis). If, through research, the researcher finds that children’s memory is better at seven than at five, the researcher has provided support for his theory.
When developing the hypothesis, the researcher is mindful that predictions determine the type of research methodology to use. The researcher must begin by operationalizing the hypothesis. In doing so, the hypothesis is made specific and measurable.
Continuing with the above example, the researcher could operationalize “memory” by measuring the exact number of words that a child remembers from a word list. If the child remembers significantly more words at seven than at five, then the researcher can conclude that age influences memory formation abilities.
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Research on Child Development
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Research on Child Development
Types of Research
The two major types of psychological research are correlational and experimental research.
With correlational research, we can simply state that two constructs are related to each other.
For example, age and memory may be positively correlated such that older children have better
memories (i.e., as age increases, memory increases). Correlational studies usually involve
conducting naturalistic observations, surveys, or brain scans. We choose to conduct correlational
research when we expect that two naturally occurring constructs are associated with (or related
to) each other but not when we want to determine whether one construct causes the other. A
correlation between two variables can imply that there may be a causal relationship between two
factors. However, because of the potential of other intervening variables, the correlation cannot
guarantee that the effect is causal. In the memory and age example, the relationship between
these variables can be explained by other factors, such as intelligence.
To investigate cause-and-effect relationships, we have to conduct experimental research. The
researchers control experimental studies. Experimental studies typically occur in laboratory
settings. For example, if a researcher wants to conduct an experiment to determine whether age
causally influences memory abilities, he or she would select children with equal intelligence
levels. By controlling this variable (intelligence), he or she can be more confident that any
difference between two age groups in memory abilities is due to age and not due to intelligence.
Correlational and experimental studies are common across all types of psychological
investigations, but there are also specific research strategies that must be considered when
conducting developmental research. The objective of developmental research is to examine
changes over time. Both correlational research and experimental research typically provide us
with a snapshot of one time period, but neither of these options allows us to examine changes
over time.
Techniques
To examine changes over time, we must use one of the three major developmental research
techniques: cross-sectional research, longitudinal research, and sequential research.
Cross-Sectional Research
Cross-sectional research examines developmental changes by identifying groups of people at
different ages and comparing them. For example, if a researcher is interested in the mathematical
abilities of a child throughout the preschool period, he or she would take one sample from a
group of three-year-olds, one from a group of four-year-olds, and one from a group of five-year-
olds and compare their mathematical abilities. This technique has the advantage that it can be
conducted relatively quickly because each child will be tested only once. However, this
technique has a weakness because you are comparing different children with presumably
different skills and abilities.
Longitudinal Research
A strategy that solves the problem arising from having separate groups is longitudinal research.
Longitudinal research involves following a group of children of one age over time rather than
working with three separate groups of children. For example, a longitudinal study would take
one group of children and test their mathematical abilities at ages three, four, and five.
Longitudinal research techniques provide a great deal of information about changes over time
without the weaknesses of cross-sectional studies. However, longitudinal research has its own
weaknesses. Repeatedly working with the same group of children requires a greater time
commitment from researchers (years as opposed to days). In addition, retention of the children
under study over time can be quite difficult as children’s families often move and researchers
may lose contact with participants.
Sequential Research
Sequential research is a combination of cross-sectional and longitudinal research. This research
strategy examines different groups of children over time. For example, a sequential study
would take three samples of children aged three, four, and five and test each group once per
year (i.e., testing the three-year-olds until they are five, testing the four-year-olds until they are
six, and testing the five-year-olds until they are seven). This type of research is ideal because it
allows researchers to focus not only on changes within children but also on differences among
the children.
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