HISTORICAL PERCEPTION OF CHILDREN.
European paintings centuries ago often depicted children as miniature adults. Do these artistic creations indicate that earlier Europeans did not view childhood as a distinct period?
Development. The pattern of movement or change that begins at conception and continues through the life span. original sin view. Advocated during the Middle Ages, the belief that children were born into the world as evil beings and were basically bad. The goal of child rearing was to provide salvation, to remove sin from the child’s life. tabula rasa view. (17th century)The idea, proposed by John Locke, that children are like a “blank tablet.” innate goodness view. (18th century) The idea, presented by Swiss-born French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, that children are inherently good
MODERN STUDY OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT * Alfred Binet invented many tasks to assess attention and memory. He used them to study his own daughters, other normal children, children with mental retardation, children who were gifted, and adults. Eventually, he collaborated in the development of the fi rst modern test of intelligence (the Binet test). At about the same time, G. Stanley Hall pioneered the use of questionnaires with large groups of children. * 1920s. many child development research centers were created and their professional staffs began to observe and chart a myriad of behaviors in infants and children. * [Arnold]GESELL’S PHOTOGRAPHIC DOME. Cameras rode on metal tracks at the top of the dome and were moved as needed to record the child’s activities. Others could observe from outside the dome without being seen by the child. argued that certain characteristics of children simply
“bloom” with age because of a biological, maturational blueprint. * Evolutionary theory also influenced G. Stanley Hall. Hall (1904) argued that child development follows a natural evolutionary course that can be revealed by child