PYC2602 NOTES
PYC2602 - Summary of A child's world - Papalia et al Cpts 1,2,3
THE STUDY OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT: BASIC CONCEPTS
THE STUDY OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT: THEN AND NOW
• Child Development: Scientific study of processes of change & stability in human children.
• Quantative change
Change in number/amount eg height, size of vocabulary, frequency of communication tends to be continuous
• Qualitative change
Change in kind, structure & organization
Discontinuous
Marked by the emergence of new phenomena that cannot be easily anticiped on the basis of earlier functioning, eg change from non-verbal to verbal communication
• Constancy
Most people show underlying stability in certain aspects
EARLY APPROACHES
• Baby Biographies - Forerunners of scientific study - Journals recording the development of a single child - Speculative nature
• Darwin - 1st emphasized developmental nature of infant behavior • Gave baby biographies scientific respectability p7 DOMAINS OF DEVELOPMENT
• Physical Development • Growth of body & brain • Development of sensory capacity & motor skills • Health
• Cognitive Development • Change & stability in mental abilities eg learning, memory, language, thinking, moral reasoning, creativity.
• Psychosocial Development • Change & stability in personality, emotions & social relationships.
All these influence each other
INFLUENCES ON DEVELOPMENT
HEREDITY, ENVIRONMENT & MATURATION
• Heredity • Inborn traits inherited from biological parents
• Environment • World outside self, beginning in the womb • The learning that comes from experience Includes socialization: The child’s induction into the value system of a culture
• Maturation • Unfolding of a typical, universal, natural sequence of physical changes & behavior patterns. (including a readiness to master new abilities) • Maturational processes act in concert with heredity & the environment
CONTEXTS OF DEVELOPMENT
• Human beings are social •
THE STUDY OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT: BASIC CONCEPTS
THE STUDY OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT: THEN AND NOW
• Child Development: Scientific study of processes of change & stability in human children.
• Quantative change
Change in number/amount eg height, size of vocabulary, frequency of communication tends to be continuous
• Qualitative change
Change in kind, structure & organization
Discontinuous
Marked by the emergence of new phenomena that cannot be easily anticiped on the basis of earlier functioning, eg change from non-verbal to verbal communication
• Constancy
Most people show underlying stability in certain aspects
EARLY APPROACHES
• Baby Biographies - Forerunners of scientific study - Journals recording the development of a single child - Speculative nature
• Darwin - 1st emphasized developmental nature of infant behavior • Gave baby biographies scientific respectability p7 DOMAINS OF DEVELOPMENT
• Physical Development • Growth of body & brain • Development of sensory capacity & motor skills • Health
• Cognitive Development • Change & stability in mental abilities eg learning, memory, language, thinking, moral reasoning, creativity.
• Psychosocial Development • Change & stability in personality, emotions & social relationships.
All these influence each other
INFLUENCES ON DEVELOPMENT
HEREDITY, ENVIRONMENT & MATURATION
• Heredity • Inborn traits inherited from biological parents
• Environment • World outside self, beginning in the womb • The learning that comes from experience Includes socialization: The child’s induction into the value system of a culture
• Maturation • Unfolding of a typical, universal, natural sequence of physical changes & behavior patterns. (including a readiness to master new abilities) • Maturational processes act in concert with heredity & the environment
CONTEXTS OF DEVELOPMENT
• Human beings are social •