PSY311H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Behaviorism, Naturalistic Observation, Lawrence Frank
Document Summary
We don;t talk about adult personality with development. Why are children studied? for practical and theoretical reasons. We are interested in adults (why is it we are who we are?) how childhood experiences influence adult behaviour, dispositions, personalities, problems e. g impact of being brought up in orphanages. Suggestion was to get a glimpse of some of importatnt moments to understand how our species developed. Focus on biology. was helpful, e. g age of onset of puberty, this has lead to much descriptive info about normal timelines, we have learned and developmed bell curves, for many different aspects within child development. Enviromentalist appprach - focus on observarions, things we see and record, no inferring on internal processes. focused on looking at how children learn and grow up, based on tthe influeces they have on life. Using experimentations (unethical now) theories of classical and operant conditionign through studying animals, these things work only to a certain amount when it comes to humans.
