issues in developmental psychology
empircism
watson - little albert and phobias - hands on - controlling - make sure they learn things
extreme nativism
gesell, the child grows in the direction of evolution - hands off because they believe its in their genes - lack of involvement - just physical needs met for their development
discountinous child development
Freuds psychosexual stages, Piagets theory of cognitive development
continuous child development
bandura SLT
the passive child
do they just get moudled by the world around them
the active child
do children use the world around them to determine and contruct their understanding of the world
longintudinal stability and influence
do certain developmental constructs remain stable over time?
do certain developmental constructs predict later development - attachment style?
how do we study development?
methodological problems of studying development
the data problem
the developmental task
rather than observation come up with task and give to child and see if they can complete
unexepected transfer task
asses theory of mind - will the child be able to recognise that someone will look for something if thats where they think it is
issues of causation with developmental research
how to move from a description of how the mind develops to an explanation of what causes these changes.
how to overcome issues with causal relations
choosing the right age
44 thieves study
studied children who were criminals and their attachment
children after WW2 how much had they suffered from maternal deprivation
thought attachment was an important construct that needed to be researched further
the accepted wisdom of attachment
formed an attachment as a byproduct of being with people who kept you alive and safe. attachment is a secondary drive
primary attachment behaviours
crying clinging smiling frowning
these behaviours are innate try build an attachment
freud and dan support for innate attachment
mutual attachments of 3-4-year-olds who lived together in a concentration camp, they couldn’t provide for each other but still formed an attachment thus there’s a primary drive.
harlow support for innate attchament
rhesus monkeys —> do they gravitate towards food or mother —> when stressed goes to comforting mother
robertson and hospital finding
films staying in hospital, werent allowed to stay with children in hospital, inititally babies were distressed, prolonged speration broke attachment, protest despair and detachment.
strange situation
what behaviours were being tested in the SS?
proximity seeking, contact maintenance, avoidance and resistance