PSYC 304 Lecture Notes - Arnold Gesell, Erik Erikson, Jean Piaget
8 Dec 2011
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Developmental psychology: the study of changes in behaviour and abilities across a lifespan from conception to death. Goals of developmental psychology: descriptive: identify children"s behaviour at various developmental points, explanation: determine the causes and processes that produce developmental changes. Child psychology: the study of changes in behaviour and abilities from conception to age 18. Reasons to study children: 1) childhood is a period of huge, rapid changes. 2) early experiences are critical in determining later adult development (long-term influences, insight into complex adult processes) The self-esteem movement: gave only positive feedback to children. Problem: dumb kids still get bad self-esteem because they still know they"re dumb even if they get positive feedback. They just get pushed through the system and don"t get to learn/understand at their own pace. John locke: environmentalism: all knowledge is acquired through experience and learning. Jean-jacques rousseau: nativism: knowledge is inborn and unfolds naturally with age.
