PSY BEH 110D Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Nature Genetics, Collectivism, Tabula Rasa
8 Sep 2016
School
Department
Course
Professor
Nature and nurture
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Continuity and discontinuity
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Passive and active processes
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Brain development and social influences
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Important Issues
Nature - genetics, inherited characteristics, biology
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Nurture - environment, context
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The interaction between nature and nurture.
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child develops well based on their own natural tendencies, no parental intervention
needed
Nature - Jean Jacques Rousseau
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Tabula rasa
Society writes upon the blank slate
Nurture - John Locke
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Initially thought of as a debate
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Nature and Nurture
Incremental changes, but at each point in time, this thing looks the same as before
and after, except maybe a little bit bigger.
Quantitative change
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Continuity - each new event builds on earlier experiences
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What you have in one point in time looks qualitatively different than another part in
time
Qualitative change
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Discontinuity - development occurs in discrete steps or changes, and each stages constitutes a
qualitatively distinct set of behaviors
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EX: sitting to crawling to walking (seeing the small changes in the behaviors over
the course of days)
□
Assessing behavior frequently, perhaps through the use of microgenetic studies.
Continuous
○
EX: Motor development (seeing the big steps discontinuously, more stage-like
relative to a continuous view of a child's motor development)
□
Assessing behavior infrequently, thereby missing the small changes that occur
Discontinuous
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Whether development appears to be continuous or discontinuous may relate to measurement
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Continuity and Discontinuity
Passive process - infants are acted upon by others; they don’t exert any influence on their
surroundings or environment.
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Active process - infants respond to individuals and items in their environment.
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Passive and Active Processes
The importance of context and culture: infants and children are products of the environment.
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In many parts of the world it's common to co-sleep, to have shared bonding (collectivistic
bonding)
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In the US it's not as common to co-sleep (it's discouraged)
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Sleeping habits in infancy
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Westernized cultures - individualism - tend to report earliest memories at around age 3
Focus on individualism or collectivism, in terms of autobiographical memories.
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Context and Culture in Development
Mini Lecture 1-2: Themes Underlying the Study of Infant
Development
Monday, June 20, 2016
6:56 PM
PSB 110D Page 1
Document Summary
Mini lecture 1-2: themes underlying the study of infant. Nature - jean jacques rousseau child develops well based on their own natural tendencies, no parental intervention needed. Continuity - each new event builds on earlier experiences. Incremental changes, but at each point in time, this thing looks the same as before and after, except maybe a little bit bigger. Discontinuity - development occurs in discrete steps or changes, and each stages constitutes a qualitatively distinct set of behaviors. What you have in one point in time looks qualitatively different than another part in time. Whether development appears to be continuous or discontinuous may relate to measurement. Assessing behavior frequently, perhaps through the use of microgenetic studies. Ex: sitting to crawling to walking (seeing the small changes in the behaviors over the course of days) Assessing behavior infrequently, thereby missing the small changes that occur.
