PSY 213 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Psychoanalytic Theory, Psy, Twin Study
Chapter 1 – Child devel’ intro PSY 213
JAN 5/18
Themes
- Reasons to learn about child devel’
- Historical foundations of the study of child devel’
- Enduring themes in child devel’
- Methods for studying child devel’
Reasons for learning about child devel’
Raising children – Best practices as parents
- Helping children control their anger
- In Canada, prevalence rates for spanking range from 50--66%
- Research provides effective atl.
- Offering sympathy & finding positive alt. to expressing anger.
- “turtle”
Choosing social policies – Best practices as society
Children in the Courtroom
- Knowledge of child devel’ permits informed decisions about social-policy questions that
affect children.
- Regulations, policy, practice.
- w/in the schools, w/in homes
- Psychological research on children’s responses to leading interview questions can help
courts obtain more accurate testimonies from preschool children.
- Young kids can be effective at giving us accurate information that is needed.
- Need to educate the individuals asking the questions.
- Open ended & WH’ questions.
- Closed & repeated questions are confusing.
- Props no longer recommended for youths indicates they have to pick a
spot.
Understanding human nature – How/why do we devel’ the way we do?
- Child-devel’ research provides important insight into some of the most intriguing
questions regarding human nature.
- This infant is one of the children adopted from a Romanian orphanage in the 1990s. How
successfully he develops will depend not only on the quality of caregiving he receives in
find more resources at oneclass.com
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Chapter 1 – Child devel’ intro PSY 213
JAN 5/18
his adoptive home but also on the amount of time he spent in the orphanage and the age
at which he was adopted.
- No interaction. Flattened backs of the heads from laying for such long periods.
- Improvements shown when they were removed from initial environment, but
never up to the expected/particular levels.
- 5th percentile.
- Degree of negative effects and time spent in situations differed the impacts.
- Is there a critical period for development of certain abilities?
Historical foundations of the study of child devel’
Views of children’s devel’
- Plata & Aristotle (4th century BCE)
- Welfare of society depends on proper upbringing.
- Locke & Rousseau (1630-1770’s)
- Parents + society shape children vs complete freedom.
- Social reform movements (late 1700’s-1800)
- Child labour & reform
- 5-6yr olds working 12+hrs a day.
- Your size dictated where you work. I.e. a small boy sent to the mine be/c he could
fit in the crevases. Young girls sent to textile machines be/c it was a females job.
- Many children were not making it to adulthood.
- Darwin’s Theory of Evolution (1877)
- A biographical sketch of an infant.
- The beginnings of research-based theories of child development (late 1800’s early
1900’s)
- Frued’s Psychoanalytic theory.
- Sexual driven.
- Watsons Behaviourist theory.
- Reward + punishment.
1: Nature + Nurture: How do nature + nurture together shape devel’?
Nuture = enviro.
- Wide range of enviro.
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Chapter 1 – Child devel’ intro PSY 213
JAN 5/18
- Both physical + social.
Nature/Genome = individuals complete set of hereditary info.
- Biology + genes.
All human characteristics are created through constant interaction of genes + enviro.
Research evidence
Bidirectional interaction of nature + nurture
- Schizophrenia: family + twin studies.
- Genetic Relatedness + Schizophrenia: The closer the biological relation, the
stronger the probability that relatives of a person with schizophrenia
- will have the same mental illness. (Gottesman, 1991)
- Adopted children research.
- Epigenetic studies.
- How maternal stress can impact the child, even in utero.
- Looks at things that can change the expression of a gene.
2: The active child: Children shape their own development
- Children contribute to their own development from early in life, + their contributions
increase as they grow older.
- Three most important contributions during first years are their: attentional patterns, use of
language, play.
- Newborns
- Prefer things that move + make sounds; pay particular attention to mothers face.
- Toddlers (1-2yr)
- Internally motivated to learn + practice talking; uses self-speech.
- Young children
- Engage in internally motivated play, fantasy play, + dramatic play to support their
devel’.
- Older children
- Use more organized rule bound play to enhance self-control + social devel’.
Theme 3: Continually/Discontinuity: In some ways devel’ is continuous, + in others it is
discontinuous
Con’t devel’
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Document Summary
Historical foundations of the study of child devel". In canada, prevalence rates for spanking range from 50--66% Offering sympathy & finding positive alt. to expressing anger. Choosing social policies best practices as society. Knowledge of child devel" permits informed decisions about social-policy questions that affect children. Psychological research on children"s responses to leading interview questions can help courts obtain more accurate testimonies from preschool children. Young kids can be effective at giving us accurate information that is needed. Need to educate the individuals asking the questions. Props no longer recommended for youths indicates they have to pick a spot. Child-devel" research provides important insight into some of the most intriguing questions regarding human nature. This infant is one of the children adopted from a romanian orphanage in the 1990s. How successfully he develops will depend not only on the quality of caregiving he receives in.
