Berk Chapter 2 - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

1 / 86
About This Presentation
Title:

Berk Chapter 2

Description:

Example: classic study by Singer & Singer (1981) Are differences in TV viewing ~ aggression? ... depressions, war, parent rearing styles change, etc ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

Number of Views:582
Avg rating:3.0/5.0
Slides: 87
Provided by: homeCcUm
Category:
Tags: berk | chapter

less

Transcript and Presenter's Notes

Title: Berk Chapter 2


1
Lecture 2
  • Berk Chapter 2
  • Theories of Development
  • Methods of Study
  • Correlations Experiments
  • Research Strategies
  • Cross-sectional Longitudinal
  • How genes environment work together
  • 4 models

2
BASIC THEORIES OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT
  • Why bother with theories?
  • Facts are only facts
  • a description of what we can observe
  • Theories help us
  • make sense of our observations.
  • allow us to predict explain the changes

3
Theories
  • Theories help us make plausible stories that
    allow us to make sense of the facts
  • help us understand and interpret facts
  • explain make predictions in new scenarios
  • Even good theories may be wrong
  • But good ones act as stimulus for new questions

4
Theories are useful
  • We use implicit theories all the time
  • life is easier in a predictable world
  • Examples
  • Girlfriend/boyfriend has found someone new
  • Predict he/she will break next date
  • If prediction correct, predict more avoidance
  • If prediction wrong, maybe wanted to wash his
    hair, worried
  • Observe that child is cross, cranky
  • gt hunger? gt eat
  • gt needs a nap? gt sleep

5
The observation
  • The father of a 2-yr old finds that he becomes
    very impatient with his daughter, when,
  • night-after-night, she claims she cannot fall
    asleep because of a monster that comes out in
    the dark.
  • Although each night the father tries to reassure
    and comfort his daughter, the next morning she
    does not remember his attempts to reason with her
    regarding her fear.
  • He should probably

6
4 theoretical perspectives
  • A) try to understand the hidden causes and
    meaning of his daughters dreams
  • B) give his daughter a reward the following
    morning if she stayed in bed until falling asleep
    the night before.
  • C) realize that, because of her limited cognitive
    abilities at age 2, she cannot be rationally
    reasoned with.
  • D) consider how he can structure his interactions
    with his daughter to mentor her through her
    fear.

7
What was your answer?
  • A)
  • B)
  • C)
  • D)

8
Basic Theories
  • Psychodynamic
  • Freud, Erikson
  • Behavioural
  • Skinner
  • Social-cultural
  • Vygotsky
  • Cognitive
  • Piaget
  • Social Learning
  • Bandura

9
Psychodynamic Theories
  • Focus
  • Freud on psychosexual instincts pleasure
    principle
  • Erickson on psychosocial challenges.
  • Both Freud Erikson focus on
  • our unconscious motivations
  • are specific tasks challenges at each stage.
  • overcoming early challenges makes later ones
    easier to handle
  • early success lays foundation for later success.

10
Psychodynamic normative stages
  • Ages Freud Erikson
  • 0 - 1 oral trust vs mistrust
  • 1 - 3 anal autonomy vs shame/doubt
  • 3 6 phallic initiative vs guilt
  • 6 11 latency industry vs inferiority

11
Psychodynamic ChallengesA War Analogy for
Development
  • Development akin to an invading army
  • Eg Napoleons army heading into central Russia
  • Each battle along way developmental crisis
  • need psychic energy/ troops to attend to each
    crisis
  • If crisis successful, then energy/ troops free
    for next battle
  • If unsuccessful, then army must leave energy/
    troops behind to battle insurgents,
  • have fewer resources for the next battle

12
Limitations
  • Psychodynamic
  • Vague stages, difficult to test empirically
  • psychosexual stages controversial at best
  • Dark view of human nature derived from work with
    patients with psychological problems

13
Strengths
  • Psychodynamic
  • Theory of motivation, emotion, personality
  • Notion of the unconscious influence
  • Presents a dark view human nature
  • an important component
  • Emphasized individuals unique life history as
    worthy of study.

14
Example of strength of psychodynamic theory
  • How children internalize parental beliefs
  • In initiative stage, preschoolers start to model
    selves after same-sex parent
  • and internalize values beliefs of parents
  • In autonomy stage
  • they learn self-control, choosing for themselves

15
Cognitive Theory Piaget
  • How do children come to think understand the
    world like adults?
  • Theory focuses on
  • how children actively explore the world
  • emphasize qualitative changes in thinking

16
Piagets Stages
  • Age
  • 0 2
  • 2 7
  • 7 11
  • 11
  • Stages Description
  • Sensorimotor senses
  • Pre-operational symbols
  • Concrete operations reasoning
  • Formal operational abstract logic

17
Examples of Piagetian stages
  • Way to observe change in thinking over childhood.
  • In sensorimotor, babies explore world with senses
  • Learn by mouthing, stroking, looking
  • Exploration centres on their own bodies.
  • In pre-operational, kids explore in new ways
  • when they learn to crawl and walk
  • Use symbols like language, pretend play,
  • Exploration is centred outside of self, on larger
    world
  • In operational, kids are able to understand
    constancy of numbers, volume, size, shape

18
Limitations
  • Piaget
  • Limited empirical support for the specific ages
    at which cognitive changes occur
  • Underestimated childs cognitive capabilities
  • Rate of cognitive development can differ in
    different domains
  • Eg, understand constancy of number but not volume
    (horizontal décalage)

19
Strengths
  • Piaget
  • Historical started the field of cognitive
    developmental psychology
  • Many of the questions he raised are still being
    examined today
  • Idea that children are active thinkers
    contribute to their own experiences

20
Behaviour Theory
  • Skinner
  • focus on observable behaviour
  • principles of conditioning learning
  • Reward
  • Punishment

21
Behaviourism
  • Principles of operant conditioning
  • positive reinforcement (action gt outcome)
  • eg
  • negative reinforcement (action gtless neg outcome)
  • eg
  • eg
  • punishment (action gt negative outcome)
  • eg

22
Limitations
  • Behaviourism
  • Narrow view of environmental influences
  • Ignores role of mental world
  • Thoughts, feelings, attitudes, motivations

23
Strengths
  • Behaviourism
  • Powerful means to change behaviour
  • eg reduce fears, train pets, change
    characteristics
  • Discipline of children
  • Principles apply across childhood adulthood.

24
Banduras Social Learning Theory
  • theory of social development
  • Children model, imitate others behaviours.
  • Most likely occurs when child is uncertain
  • when model is admirable, powerful, nurturing
  • Eg of bad modeling Bobo doll
  • Eg of good modeling empathy, respect, sharing
  • Through modeling
  • children learn about social situations
  • develop self-regulation
  • and sense of control over social situations

25
Limitations
  • Social Learning
  • Focuses only on social development
  • Narrow view of environmental influences
  • ignores childrens social conditions
  • Ignores childs physical and cognitive abilities

26
Strengths
  • Social Learning
  • understanding how social processes influence
    development
  • Identified an important mechanism of
    developmental change
  • Eg in helping children incorporate values
  • Hard work, responsibilities, ways to communicate
  • and appropriate social behaviour with peers
    sibs
  • Sharing, cooperating, playing

27
Vygotskys social-cultural theory
  • Focuses on social origins of mental functioning
  • Language is learned as a social and cultural
    process as way to interact and communicate with
    others.
  • Adults help children by guiding them
  • offering support in the form of scaffolding.
  • Eg adult helps child with puzzle
  • Guidance on how to do it, trying shapes, colours
  • or Mom offers child a new word
  • as child tries to express him or herself.

28
  • Snoopy gets scaffolding

29
Limitations
  • Vygotsky
  • Less emphasis on biological, heredity in
    development
  • Less emphasis on childs own capacity to shape
    development

30
Strengths
  • Vygotskys
  • Understanding transfer of culture, social
    knowledge from one generation to next
  • Understanding social aspects of cognition
  • Motivations, attitudes

31
Summary What good are theories?
  • 2 important functions of theories
  • 1. Organize and integrate information facts
    into a coherent story.
  • 2. Lead to testable hypotheses or predictions
    based on our observations.
  • No one theory purports to explain all aspects of
    development.

32
Question
  • Nine-yr-old David is more aggressive in the
    classroom than Maria. His teacher should
    probably
  • A) give him stars and privileges when he behaves
    appropriately.
  • B) refer David to a therapist who can get him to
    talk about his repressed urges.
  • C) realize that Davids past social interactions
    have not challenged him to develop certain social
    competencies.
  • D) have his vision, hearing, other perceptual
    abilities tested to find out why he is not able
    to concentrate on the class material.

33
METHODS
  • How do we study child development?
  • Theories provide insights, hunches, ideas about
    development
  • But do children behave and develop in the ways
    that theories suggest they will?
  • How do we know?
  • Next step is to find out whether the theories
    observations are correct
  • or not

34
Choosing a Research Strategy
  • Research Methods
  • The specific activities of participants
  • Questionnaires
  • Interviews
  • Observations
  • Etc.
  • Research Design
  • Overall plan for the study
  • Permits the best test of a research question.

35
Asking Research Questions
  • When we want to know if a relation exists, we ask
    a research question.
  • These questions are used to establish
    relationships and sometimes causes.
  • Examples
  • Is TV violence associated with higher aggression?
  • Are infant motor milestones associated with
    season of birth?
  • Do the prenatal Mozart tapes have any positive
    effect on intelligence later on?

36
Strategies Designs
  • I will discuss 2 main research strategies and 2
    principal designs used to investigate children's
    development.
  • Research strategies
  • Correlations
  • Experiments
  • Research designs
  • Cross-sectional
  • Longitudinal

37
Correlations
  • You need two variables
  • eg, hours of TV viewing / measure of aggression
  • eg, infant motor milestones / season of birth
  • Researcher does not systematically change
    anything
  • about environment or experiences of participants.

38
Definition of Correlation
  • is an index or estimate of how much two measures
    vary together
  • correlation coefficient r

39
Correlation Coefficients
  • Magnitude (Size)
  • Size of the number between 0 and 1
  • Closer to one (either positive or negative) is a
    stronger relationship
  • Direction
  • Indicated by or - sign
  • Positive () as one variable increases, so does
    the other
  • Negative (-) as one variable increase, the other
    decreases

40
Examples of Correlation Coefficients
41
Correlations
42
TV aggression in preschoolers
  • Example classic study by Singer Singer (1981)
  • Are differences in TV viewing aggression?
  • Parents interviewed about amount of TV kind of
    programs preschoolers watched
  • Amount of aggressive TV watched
  • the independent variable
  • Observers rated aggression in nursery school
  • Aggression observed in children
  • the dependent or outcome variable

43
Results
  • Children spent average of 23 hours/wk watching TV
  • TV viewing clearly related to aggression
  • more action adventure shows watched
  • more aggressive preschoolers were with peers

44
In the TV-aggression example
  • what kind of correlation do we have?
  • between what variables?

45
Other examples of correlations
  • Reading to child and vocabulary size,
  • more reading larger vocabulary
  • ? correlation
  • Age cognitive development
  • ? correlation
  • Good parenting child behaviour problems
  • ? correlation

46
Cautions About Correlations
  • Relation between 2 variables does NOT mean one
    caused the other
  • They are only related in some systematic way
  • In the TV-aggression Singer study,
  • we can't say watching violent TV caused
    aggression
  • could be that children who are already aggressive
    prefer to watch violent types of programs
  • Correlations cannot establish cause!

47
Experimental Strategy
  • Experiments - only method that can establish
    cause.
  • Systematically change characteristic of child's
    environment or childs experience
  • Independent variable - IV
  • The variable changed or manipulated
  • expected to cause changes in another var
  • Dependent variable DV
  • variable measured for evidence of change

48
Experiments
  • Use at least 2 groups
  • experimental (treatment) control
  • Individuals are randomly assigned to a group
  • want both groups are same at start
  • want experimental and control groups to be as
    similar as possible, differing only on the
    treatment given.

49
Experiments
  • Experimental group - receives treatment
  • 1 group plays aggressive videos
  • Control group receives no treatment
  • 1 group plays non-aggressive videos
  • When changes in IV (type of video) result in
    changes in the DV (aggression), you can infer
    that one causes the other.

50
3 Types of Experimental Studies
  • lab - children randomly assigned to treatments
  • In lab, children view violent show or sports show
  • field - introduce change in natural setting
  • Eg experiment in nursery school TV viewing
  • 3wk baseline, 4wk 1/2 class violent 1/2
    prosocial, 2wk behaviour assessment
  • natural - capitalize on change occurs naturally
  • Eg effects of hospitalization, adoption, disaster

51
Research Methods
  • Two major goals
  • Eliminate alternative explanations
  • E.g., pre-existing group differences
  • Reduce bias
  • Children are representative of all children
  • Task materials used represent what you are
    trying to study in the real world

52
2 Key Study Designs
  • Cross-sectional
  • People of differing ages all studied at the same
    time
  • Longitudinal
  • Same participants studied repeatedly at different
    ages

53
Cross-Sectional Designs
  • Compares different groups of children of
    different ages at the same time
  • Example
  • compare groups children ages 4, 8, 12, 16
  • might find that amount of hitting and physical
    aggression greater in younger kids
  • but verbal insults greater in older kids
  • 2 outcome (DV) variables at 4 ages (IV)

54
Advantages of Cross-Sectional
  • Data collected over a short period of time
  • Can study a range of ages to identify age
    differences.

55
Disadvantages Cross-sectional
  • Does not tell about age changes
  • what individual children were like when they were
    younger and how they developed
  • Only age differences
  • Does not control historical cohort variables
  • depressions, war, parent rearing styles change,
    etc
  • Tells nothing about the stability of variable
  • will aggressive 4 yr old become aggressive 10 yr
    old

56
Longitudinal Research Design
  • Compares the same children over time.
  • Examples
  • Effect of prematurity on later IQ
  • Effect of preschool aggression on adolescent
    delinquent behaviour
  • Gold standard in developmental research

57
Longitudinal Study of TV Violence
  • Example by Huesmann, 2003
  • Follow-up study of 329 children
  • original study in 1970s 1980s when kids were
    6-10 yr
  • shows relation between amount of TV violence
  • Starsky/Hutch, 6million man, woman, Road Runner
  • and adult aggressive behaviour 15yrs later
  • Self others reports of aggression
  • verbal physical, aggression, aggressive
    personality, aggression toward spouse
  • archive govt reports speeding criminal
    convictions

58
Longitudinal TV-Aggression Study (Huesmann et al,
2003)
  • Results
  • Childhood exposure to violent TV predicted young
    adult aggression in males females
  • Identification with TV characters a perception
    that the TV violence was realistic predicted
    later aggression
  • After controlling SES, intelligence, parenting
    behaviours style

59
Longitudinal TV-Aggression Study (Huesmann et al,
2003)
60
Longitudinal TV-Aggression Study (Huesmann et al,
2003)
  • Conclusions
  • Steady diet of violent TV does predict later
    aggressive behaviour in those from
  • all social strata
  • all levels of initial aggressiveness (defined by
    classmates)
  • The worst are Dirty Harry shows where
  • child identifies with perpetrator
  • show pretends to be real life
  • perpetrator is rewarded for violence

61
Longitudinal Design
  • Advantages can
  • observe same kids at different points in their
    development
  • evaluate actual changes in behaviour, not just
    age differences
  • determine the impact of earlier events on later
    behaviour
  • assess the stability of a behaviour across age

62
Longitudinal Design
  • Disadvantages
  • Long time to conduct study
  • importance of research may change, obsolete
  • Expensive
  • Selective attrition
  • Lose participants through illness, moves

63
Longitudinal Design
  • Disadvantages
  • Practice effects A change in outcome (e.g., IQ)
  • may be due to repeated testing
  • not a true developmental change
  • Cohort effects Results may be unique to 1 cohort
  • Eg children born in 1920's - Great Depression,
    WWII
  • May have unique effect on development
  • experiences of 4-year-old today 50 years ago
  • significantly different?

64
Conclusion
  • Understanding basics of methods strategies is
    important
  • like understanding the bricks mortar that make
    up buildings
  • gives you tools to start understanding the
    science of child development
  • can go to source articles
  • understand what they are talking about
  • and why they do what they do

65
Influences of nature nurture
  • What is the relationship between genes
    environment?
  • Discuss various ways heredity and environment may
    combine to influence complex traits.

66
A tennis story
  • We see a 5-yr-old boy on tennis court
  • An adult joins him on the court.
  • Child says, want to play?
  • Adult gently hits the ball
  • Ball rockets back at him
  • Things escalate
  • Adult finally triumphantly scores a point
  • Parents drive up to pick up son

67
  • Parents are Steffi Graaf Andre Agassi
  • Two world champion tennis players
  • Moral of the story
  • Early tennis lessons necessary
  • But genes help a lot too!

68
How do genes environment work together?
  • 4 Theoretical Models
  • Canalization (Waddington, 1957, 1966).
  • Reaction range (Gottesman, 1963)
  • Genetic-environmental correlation (Plomin, 1994)
  • Epigensis (Gottlieb, 1998, 2000)

69
Canalization
  • Waddington (1936) model of how development
    occurs
  • Child is like a ball rolling along possible
    developmental paths.
  • Early on, development is less susceptible to
    environmental forces.
  • Eg Most infants will acquire motor milestones.
  • Later, environment is more influential
  • Eg tennis, music lessons necessary for skills

Environment
Age
Epigenetic Landscape
70
Canalization
  • Potential Plasticity
  • Early on, you have maximum potential,
  • a full range of developmental pathways.
  • Later on, choices and experiences restrict
    possible pathways.

Environment
Age
Epigenetic Landscape
71
Canalization
  • Stability of development
  • as a buffered pathway
  • eg illness or malnutrition
  • Catch-up growth
  • No books in home
  • child still learns to read
  • No hearing in 1st year
  • Can be normal by 3yr

Environment
Age
Epigenetic Landscape
72
Canalization
  • Theory which focuses on our possible
    developmental pathways
  • Highlights how, with any given set of genes, our
    environment can put us on different pathways.

73
Reaction Range
  • Heredity provides range of possible development
    outcomes
  • Environment determines where in the range you
    develop to
  • Genes relate to a childs responses to different
    environments
  • eg IQ is heritable but environment matters

Normal IQ
74
Reaction Range
  • Different genetic ranges lead to different
    responses to the environment.
  • All poorer IQs in bad environ.
  • All better IQs in best environ.
  • Different responses in moderate environs
  • Ben responds steadily
  • Linda responds quickly
  • Ron requires moderate environ to start responding
  • IQ is relative to peer group

75
Reaction Range
  • Focuses on how much we achieve in a given domain
    of behaviour
  • Genes give us the range of abilities
  • environment influences where on that range we
    land.

76
Genotype-Environment Correlations
  • 3rd Model of how genes interact with our
    environment
  • Comes from field of behavioural genetics
  • Plomin, 1977, 1994
  • Interested in influence of genes on our
    environment
  • Propose 3 ways genes influence the environment
  • Passive start early and peter off
  • Evocative constant over life
  • Active genes influence you to put yourself in
    particular environment

77
Genotype-Environment Correlation
  • Passive
  • Passive link between childs genes environment
  • Parents have similar genes so produce
    environments that are compatible / correlated
    with the childs genetic predispositions
  • eg athletic parents produce child with
  • Athletic genes encourage athletic environments
  • Passive because childs own genes are not
    influencing the environment

78
Genotype and Environment
  • Evocative
  • ie genes of child evoke responses
  • a. Genes influence infant/child behaviour, which
  • b. influences how others respond to the child.
  • c. Thus, the genes influence the environment
  • eg Friendly baby gets evokes more positive social
    stimulation than a quiet baby
  • eg cranky child evokes more cranky social
    interactions with others than calm child

79
Evocative correlation?
80
Genotype and Environment
  • Active Niche picking
  • Children actively seek or create environments
    that are compatible with their genetically
    influenced interests or abilities
  • In pursuing your genetic interests, you expose
    yourself to an environment compatible or
    consistent with your genetic interests.

81
Active - Niche Picking
  • eg genetically bright children hang out with
    intellectually stimulating peers, adults,
    activities
  • Child with genetic musical talent seeks a
    musically stimulating environment.

82
Age Changes in G-E Effects
eg niche picking
more influence
similar influence over time
eg, personality
eg, parents
less influence
  • Relative importance of each G-E correlation
    (Shaffer, 2002)

83
Genetic-environmental correlation
  • Focuses on ways in which genes influence the
    environments we grow up in.

84
Epigenesis
  • Bidirectional influences focused at biological
    level
  • Genes effect environment,
  • and environment effects gene expression too!
  • Eg, babys healthy diet gt brain growth gt new cell
    connections gt changes gene expression gt new
    behaviours (exploration) gt brain growth gt gene
    expression.

85
Gene-Environment Models
  • 4 Models summarized
  • Canalization the developmental paths we end up
    on
  • Reaction Range how much we achieve in a given
    domain of behaviour
  • Genetic-environmental correlation ways in which
    genes influence the environments we grow up in
  • Epigenesis environment influences gene
    expression (bidirectional)

86
Conclusion
  • Your first two lectures form the basis of
    understanding of CD
  • Issues and foundations - important
  • We will be using these concepts as we talk about
    developmental changes findings presented
    throughout the course
  • Read Chapter 3 for next week
Write a Comment
User Comments (0)
About PowerShow.com