PSYCH 140 Study Guide - Fall 2019, Comprehensive Final Exam Notes - Empiricism, Evolution, Fetus
PSYCH 140
Lecture 1 - Chapter 1
Definition of developmental psychology
the study of the continuous process of development and behavioral changes in
humans throughout the life span; from birth til death
Developmental psychology focuses on stages rather than ages, and focus more on
the earlier stages.
Reasons for studying child development:
understanding human nature (e.g. timing of experiences)
implications on medicine, policy (e.g. courtroom), education, and parenting
from basic to process (e.g. artificial intelligence)
History of child development
focus is on Western
Western (individual and Platonic) vs. Eastern (communal and Confucian)
Profound thinkers from ancient Greece to present days:
goals were similar (to become better parents, improve well-being, understand
human nature)
three major stages - ancient to medieval, reformation to enlightenment, true child
psychology
Early philosophers
Plato:
innate knowledge
self-control and discipline are important goals of education
Aristotle
knowledge comes from experience
children are blank blackboard
child rearing is important
Late Philosophers
Locke
tabula rasa, blank state (like Aristotle)
instilling discipline and reason first, then give freedom later
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growth of character
empiricism, continuous, nurture, passive
Rousseau
maximum freedom
maturation, discontinuous, nature, active
Social Reforms
focused on changing the living conditions of children
particularly related to children working as low-paid or without legal protections,
argued how development is delayed or affected for them
Charles Darwin
Darwin
baby biography of William, one of first methods for studying children
evolution influences on research in modern child development
attachments with mother
scared of spiders or snakes
altruism
True Child Psychology people
Freud
psychoanalytic theory and dreams
infantile sexuality and the unconscious
levels of consciousness (automatic primary id, rational secondary ego, cultural
and moral superego)
characterized different stages of child development
never did observations but only studied patientʼs record and conducted
interviews about dreams
Watson
behaviorist theory; behaviors can be modified
environmental factors including rewards and punishments
classical conditioning (little Albert)
behaviorism - a more durable method to study how one stimulus react to
another stimulus
pros: explanatory answers, focus on application
cons: environment cannot be everything, individual differences and critical
periods, childʼs contributions can matter
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