Lecture Notes for Child Development, 9th Edition
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Instructor’s Resource Manual
for
Berk
Child Development
Ninth Edition
prepared by
Sara Harris
Illinois State University
Laura E. Berk
Illinois State University
Leah Shriro
Judy Ashkenaz
for
Berk
Child Development
Ninth Edition
prepared by
Sara Harris
Illinois State University
Laura E. Berk
Illinois State University
Leah Shriro
Judy Ashkenaz
CONTENTS
PREFACE vii
CHAPTER 1 HISTORY, THEORY, AND APPLIED DIRECTIONS 1
Chapter-at-a-Glance 1 • Brief Chapter Summary 2
Learning Objectives 2 • Lecture Outline 2 • Lecture Enhancements 11
Learning Activities 15 • Ask Yourself 17 • Suggested Readings 21
Media Materials 21
CHAPTER 2 RESEARCH STRATEGIES 23
Chapter-at-a-Glance 23 • Brief Chapter Summary 23
Learning Objectives 24 • Lecture Outline 24 • Lecture Enhancements 29
Learning Activities 33 • Ask Yourself 36 • Suggested Readings 39
Media Materials 40
CHAPTER 3 BIOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS, PRENATAL DEVELOPMENT, AND
BIRTH 41
Chapter-at-a-Glance 41 • Brief Chapter Summary 42
Learning Objectives 42 • Lecture Outline 43 • Lecture Enhancements 56
Learning Activities 59 • Ask Yourself 62 • Suggested Readings 69
Media Materials 69
CHAPTER 4 INFANCY: EARLY LEARNING, MOTOR SKILLS, AND
PERCEPTUAL CAPACITIES 71
Chapter-at-a-Glance 71 • Brief Chapter Summary 71
Learning Objectives 72 • Lecture Outline 72 • Lecture Enhancements 81
Learning Activities 83 • Ask Yourself 86 • Suggested Readings 90
Media Materials 91
CHAPTER 5 PHYSICAL GROWTH 93
Chapter-at-a-Glance 93 • Brief Chapter Summary 94
Learning Objectives 94 • Lecture Outline 95 • Lecture Enhancements 103
Learning Activities 106 • Ask Yourself 109 • Suggested Readings 113
Media Materials 114
CHAPTER 6 COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT: PIAGETIAN, CORE KNOWLEDGE,
AND VYGOTSKIAN PERSPECTIVES 117
Chapter-at-a-Glance 117 • Brief Chapter Summary 118
Learning Objectives 119 • Lecture Outline 119 • Lecture Enhancements 130
Learning Activities 133 • Ask Yourself 136 • Suggested Readings 142
Media Materials 142
iii
PREFACE vii
CHAPTER 1 HISTORY, THEORY, AND APPLIED DIRECTIONS 1
Chapter-at-a-Glance 1 • Brief Chapter Summary 2
Learning Objectives 2 • Lecture Outline 2 • Lecture Enhancements 11
Learning Activities 15 • Ask Yourself 17 • Suggested Readings 21
Media Materials 21
CHAPTER 2 RESEARCH STRATEGIES 23
Chapter-at-a-Glance 23 • Brief Chapter Summary 23
Learning Objectives 24 • Lecture Outline 24 • Lecture Enhancements 29
Learning Activities 33 • Ask Yourself 36 • Suggested Readings 39
Media Materials 40
CHAPTER 3 BIOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS, PRENATAL DEVELOPMENT, AND
BIRTH 41
Chapter-at-a-Glance 41 • Brief Chapter Summary 42
Learning Objectives 42 • Lecture Outline 43 • Lecture Enhancements 56
Learning Activities 59 • Ask Yourself 62 • Suggested Readings 69
Media Materials 69
CHAPTER 4 INFANCY: EARLY LEARNING, MOTOR SKILLS, AND
PERCEPTUAL CAPACITIES 71
Chapter-at-a-Glance 71 • Brief Chapter Summary 71
Learning Objectives 72 • Lecture Outline 72 • Lecture Enhancements 81
Learning Activities 83 • Ask Yourself 86 • Suggested Readings 90
Media Materials 91
CHAPTER 5 PHYSICAL GROWTH 93
Chapter-at-a-Glance 93 • Brief Chapter Summary 94
Learning Objectives 94 • Lecture Outline 95 • Lecture Enhancements 103
Learning Activities 106 • Ask Yourself 109 • Suggested Readings 113
Media Materials 114
CHAPTER 6 COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT: PIAGETIAN, CORE KNOWLEDGE,
AND VYGOTSKIAN PERSPECTIVES 117
Chapter-at-a-Glance 117 • Brief Chapter Summary 118
Learning Objectives 119 • Lecture Outline 119 • Lecture Enhancements 130
Learning Activities 133 • Ask Yourself 136 • Suggested Readings 142
Media Materials 142
iii
CONTENTS
PREFACE vii
CHAPTER 1 HISTORY, THEORY, AND APPLIED DIRECTIONS 1
Chapter-at-a-Glance 1 • Brief Chapter Summary 2
Learning Objectives 2 • Lecture Outline 2 • Lecture Enhancements 11
Learning Activities 15 • Ask Yourself 17 • Suggested Readings 21
Media Materials 21
CHAPTER 2 RESEARCH STRATEGIES 23
Chapter-at-a-Glance 23 • Brief Chapter Summary 23
Learning Objectives 24 • Lecture Outline 24 • Lecture Enhancements 29
Learning Activities 33 • Ask Yourself 36 • Suggested Readings 39
Media Materials 40
CHAPTER 3 BIOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS, PRENATAL DEVELOPMENT, AND
BIRTH 41
Chapter-at-a-Glance 41 • Brief Chapter Summary 42
Learning Objectives 42 • Lecture Outline 43 • Lecture Enhancements 56
Learning Activities 59 • Ask Yourself 62 • Suggested Readings 69
Media Materials 69
CHAPTER 4 INFANCY: EARLY LEARNING, MOTOR SKILLS, AND
PERCEPTUAL CAPACITIES 71
Chapter-at-a-Glance 71 • Brief Chapter Summary 71
Learning Objectives 72 • Lecture Outline 72 • Lecture Enhancements 81
Learning Activities 83 • Ask Yourself 86 • Suggested Readings 90
Media Materials 91
CHAPTER 5 PHYSICAL GROWTH 93
Chapter-at-a-Glance 93 • Brief Chapter Summary 94
Learning Objectives 94 • Lecture Outline 95 • Lecture Enhancements 103
Learning Activities 106 • Ask Yourself 109 • Suggested Readings 113
Media Materials 114
CHAPTER 6 COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT: PIAGETIAN, CORE KNOWLEDGE,
AND VYGOTSKIAN PERSPECTIVES 117
Chapter-at-a-Glance 117 • Brief Chapter Summary 118
Learning Objectives 119 • Lecture Outline 119 • Lecture Enhancements 130
Learning Activities 133 • Ask Yourself 136 • Suggested Readings 142
Media Materials 142
iii
PREFACE vii
CHAPTER 1 HISTORY, THEORY, AND APPLIED DIRECTIONS 1
Chapter-at-a-Glance 1 • Brief Chapter Summary 2
Learning Objectives 2 • Lecture Outline 2 • Lecture Enhancements 11
Learning Activities 15 • Ask Yourself 17 • Suggested Readings 21
Media Materials 21
CHAPTER 2 RESEARCH STRATEGIES 23
Chapter-at-a-Glance 23 • Brief Chapter Summary 23
Learning Objectives 24 • Lecture Outline 24 • Lecture Enhancements 29
Learning Activities 33 • Ask Yourself 36 • Suggested Readings 39
Media Materials 40
CHAPTER 3 BIOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS, PRENATAL DEVELOPMENT, AND
BIRTH 41
Chapter-at-a-Glance 41 • Brief Chapter Summary 42
Learning Objectives 42 • Lecture Outline 43 • Lecture Enhancements 56
Learning Activities 59 • Ask Yourself 62 • Suggested Readings 69
Media Materials 69
CHAPTER 4 INFANCY: EARLY LEARNING, MOTOR SKILLS, AND
PERCEPTUAL CAPACITIES 71
Chapter-at-a-Glance 71 • Brief Chapter Summary 71
Learning Objectives 72 • Lecture Outline 72 • Lecture Enhancements 81
Learning Activities 83 • Ask Yourself 86 • Suggested Readings 90
Media Materials 91
CHAPTER 5 PHYSICAL GROWTH 93
Chapter-at-a-Glance 93 • Brief Chapter Summary 94
Learning Objectives 94 • Lecture Outline 95 • Lecture Enhancements 103
Learning Activities 106 • Ask Yourself 109 • Suggested Readings 113
Media Materials 114
CHAPTER 6 COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT: PIAGETIAN, CORE KNOWLEDGE,
AND VYGOTSKIAN PERSPECTIVES 117
Chapter-at-a-Glance 117 • Brief Chapter Summary 118
Learning Objectives 119 • Lecture Outline 119 • Lecture Enhancements 130
Learning Activities 133 • Ask Yourself 136 • Suggested Readings 142
Media Materials 142
iii
CHAPTER 7 COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT: AN INFORMATION-
PROCESSING PERSPECTIVE 145
Chapter-at-a-Glance 145 • Brief Chapter Summary 146
Learning Objectives 147 • Lecture Outline 147 • Lecture Enhancements 154
Learning Activities 157 • Ask Yourself 160 • Suggested Readings 165
Media Materials 165
CHAPTER 8 INTELLIGENCE 167
Chapter-at-a-Glance 167 • Brief Chapter Summary 168
Learning Objectives 168 • Lecture Outline 169 • Lecture Enhancements 177
Learning Activities 179 • Ask Yourself 182 • Suggested Readings 185
Media Materials 186
CHAPTER 9 LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT 187
Chapter-at-a-Glance 187 • Brief Chapter Summary 188
Learning Objectives 188 • Lecture Outline 189 • Lecture Enhancements 196
Learning Activities 199 • Ask Yourself 201 • Suggested Readings 207
Media Materials 207
CHAPTER 10 EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT 209
Chapter-at-a-Glance 209 • Brief Chapter Summary 210
Learning Objectives 210 • Lecture Outline 211 • Lecture Enhancements 220
Learning Activities 223 • Ask Yourself 226 • Suggested Readings 231
Media Materials 232
CHAPTER 11 SELF AND SOCIAL UNDERSTANDING 235
Chapter-at-a-Glance 235 • Brief Chapter Summary 236
Learning Objectives 237 • Lecture Outline 237 • Lecture Enhancements 245
Learning Activities 249 • Ask Yourself 251 • Suggested Readings 255
Media Materials 255
CHAPTER 12 MORAL DEVELOPMENT 257
Chapter-at-a-Glance 257 • Brief Chapter Summary 258
Learning Objectives 259 • Lecture Outline 259 • Lecture Enhancements 270
Learning Activities 274 • Ask Yourself 276 • Suggested Readings 280
Media Materials 280
CHAPTER 13 DEVELOPMENT OF SEX DIFFERENCES AND GENDER
ROLES 283
Chapter-at-a-Glance 283 • Brief Chapter Summary 283
Learning Objectives 284 • Lecture Outline 285 • Lecture Enhancements 292
Learning Activities 295 • Ask Yourself 298 • Suggested Readings 303
Media Materials 304
iv
PROCESSING PERSPECTIVE 145
Chapter-at-a-Glance 145 • Brief Chapter Summary 146
Learning Objectives 147 • Lecture Outline 147 • Lecture Enhancements 154
Learning Activities 157 • Ask Yourself 160 • Suggested Readings 165
Media Materials 165
CHAPTER 8 INTELLIGENCE 167
Chapter-at-a-Glance 167 • Brief Chapter Summary 168
Learning Objectives 168 • Lecture Outline 169 • Lecture Enhancements 177
Learning Activities 179 • Ask Yourself 182 • Suggested Readings 185
Media Materials 186
CHAPTER 9 LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT 187
Chapter-at-a-Glance 187 • Brief Chapter Summary 188
Learning Objectives 188 • Lecture Outline 189 • Lecture Enhancements 196
Learning Activities 199 • Ask Yourself 201 • Suggested Readings 207
Media Materials 207
CHAPTER 10 EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT 209
Chapter-at-a-Glance 209 • Brief Chapter Summary 210
Learning Objectives 210 • Lecture Outline 211 • Lecture Enhancements 220
Learning Activities 223 • Ask Yourself 226 • Suggested Readings 231
Media Materials 232
CHAPTER 11 SELF AND SOCIAL UNDERSTANDING 235
Chapter-at-a-Glance 235 • Brief Chapter Summary 236
Learning Objectives 237 • Lecture Outline 237 • Lecture Enhancements 245
Learning Activities 249 • Ask Yourself 251 • Suggested Readings 255
Media Materials 255
CHAPTER 12 MORAL DEVELOPMENT 257
Chapter-at-a-Glance 257 • Brief Chapter Summary 258
Learning Objectives 259 • Lecture Outline 259 • Lecture Enhancements 270
Learning Activities 274 • Ask Yourself 276 • Suggested Readings 280
Media Materials 280
CHAPTER 13 DEVELOPMENT OF SEX DIFFERENCES AND GENDER
ROLES 283
Chapter-at-a-Glance 283 • Brief Chapter Summary 283
Learning Objectives 284 • Lecture Outline 285 • Lecture Enhancements 292
Learning Activities 295 • Ask Yourself 298 • Suggested Readings 303
Media Materials 304
iv
CHAPTER 14 THE FAMILY 307
Chapter-at-a-Glance 307 • Brief Chapter Summary 308
Learning Objectives 309 • Lecture Outline 309 • Lecture Enhancements 320
Learning Activities 323 • Ask Yourself 326 • Suggested Readings 330
Media Materials 331
CHAPTER 15 PEERS, MEDIA, AND SCHOOLING 333
Chapter-at-a-Glance 333 • Brief Chapter Summary 333
Learning Objectives 334 • Lecture Outline 335 • Lecture Enhancements 346
Learning Activities 349 • Ask Yourself 352 • Suggested Readings 358
Media Materials 358
ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONAL IDEAS 361
MEDIA DISTRIBUTION INFORMATION 363
v
Chapter-at-a-Glance 307 • Brief Chapter Summary 308
Learning Objectives 309 • Lecture Outline 309 • Lecture Enhancements 320
Learning Activities 323 • Ask Yourself 326 • Suggested Readings 330
Media Materials 331
CHAPTER 15 PEERS, MEDIA, AND SCHOOLING 333
Chapter-at-a-Glance 333 • Brief Chapter Summary 333
Learning Objectives 334 • Lecture Outline 335 • Lecture Enhancements 346
Learning Activities 349 • Ask Yourself 352 • Suggested Readings 358
Media Materials 358
ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONAL IDEAS 361
MEDIA DISTRIBUTION INFORMATION 363
v
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PREFACE
This Instructor’s Resource Manual, which accompanies Child Development, Ninth Edition, is designed to assist both the novice
and the experienced teacher in preparing lectures and guiding students’ learning. During the months that we wrote the manual,
we tried to think of the kind of supports that might help instructors seasoned by years of experience bring freshness,
stimulation, and inspiration to the teaching of child development. At the same time, we paid great attention to addressing the
needs of beginning teachers—only a breath ahead of the syllabus in class preparation and scrambling to find good sources that
amplify text discussion. The resources in this manual are intended to lighten the busy schedules of instructors; bring new
insights and lively discussion to the classroom; and, most of all, deepen the understanding of students of child development.
The Instructor’s Resource Manual consists of the following instructional resources keyed to each chapter of the text:
1. Chapter-at-a-Glance. Located at the beginning of each chapter, the Chapter-at-a-Glance tables provide easy reference to
available resources in the manual as well as outside supplements. Main topics are page-referenced, and instruction ideas
(Learning Objectives, Lecture Enhancements, Learning Activities, and Ask Yourself questions) and the supplement (Test
Bank) relevant to each text section are listed.
2. Brief Chapter Summary. This feature is designed to provide quick familiarity with the coverage of topics in each chapter.
It can serve as the basis for deciding which subjects treated by the text to review and extend in class lecture and which
supplementary topics to add that reflect the instructor’s unique perspective, interests, and personal experiences.
3. Learning Objectives. For each text chapter, a comprehensive set of Learning Objectives is provided. We believe that
students learn best when they actively grapple with text material and integrate new information with what they already know.
Students can be asked to write a paragraph or two in response to each objective, include important terms in their responses,
check their answers against the text’s discussion, and revise each response accordingly. This exercise yields a student-generated
summary of the content of each chapter. Once completed, it provides a useful review written in the student’s own words that
can be referred to while preparing for examinations. Further, the objectives are tied to individual items in the accompanying Test
Bank.
4. Lecture Outline. The purpose of the Lecture Outlines is to provide a detailed synopsis of each chapter. Material is
organized by text headings and subheadings and page-referenced to the text. Important terms and concepts appear in boldface
and in italics, as in the text narrative. The outlines permit a “quick read” of each chapter and can serve as the basis for lecture
notes or PowerPoint® Presentations.
5. Lecture Enhancements. Four Lecture Enhancements, page-referenced to relevant text material, accompany each chapter.
Each expands on information treated in the text by addressing new theory and research, considering controversial issues that
promote student discussion and debate, and extending the text’s emphasis on the vital connections among theory, research, and
applications. To assist instructors with the time-consuming task of lecture preparation, the Lecture Enhancements go beyond
merely suggesting appropriate topics to providing the general direction of each lecture’s content. Enough detail is given so that
instructors who are pressed for time can integrate information from the manual directly into their lectures. Each Lecture
Enhancement is accompanied by one or two current sources that can be used to develop a more extensive lecture presentation.
Finally, for Lecture Enhancements calling for student participation, specific instructions have been boldfaced.
6. Learning Activities. From seven to eleven Learning Activities per chapter are included. Many of the activities provide
students with opportunities to see “live” examples of research findings by observing and interviewing children and adolescents.
Also included are written assignments that permit students to extend their knowledge of topics in the text.
7. Ask Yourself. The Ask Yourself feature consists of critical-thinking questions, designed to support students’ active
engagement with the subject matter. Each question can be found at the end of major sections in the text and is page-referenced
in this manual. The focus of these questions is divided between theory and application. Many describe problematic situations
and ask students to resolve them in light of what they have learned. In this way, the questions inspire high-level thinking and
new insights.
vii
This Instructor’s Resource Manual, which accompanies Child Development, Ninth Edition, is designed to assist both the novice
and the experienced teacher in preparing lectures and guiding students’ learning. During the months that we wrote the manual,
we tried to think of the kind of supports that might help instructors seasoned by years of experience bring freshness,
stimulation, and inspiration to the teaching of child development. At the same time, we paid great attention to addressing the
needs of beginning teachers—only a breath ahead of the syllabus in class preparation and scrambling to find good sources that
amplify text discussion. The resources in this manual are intended to lighten the busy schedules of instructors; bring new
insights and lively discussion to the classroom; and, most of all, deepen the understanding of students of child development.
The Instructor’s Resource Manual consists of the following instructional resources keyed to each chapter of the text:
1. Chapter-at-a-Glance. Located at the beginning of each chapter, the Chapter-at-a-Glance tables provide easy reference to
available resources in the manual as well as outside supplements. Main topics are page-referenced, and instruction ideas
(Learning Objectives, Lecture Enhancements, Learning Activities, and Ask Yourself questions) and the supplement (Test
Bank) relevant to each text section are listed.
2. Brief Chapter Summary. This feature is designed to provide quick familiarity with the coverage of topics in each chapter.
It can serve as the basis for deciding which subjects treated by the text to review and extend in class lecture and which
supplementary topics to add that reflect the instructor’s unique perspective, interests, and personal experiences.
3. Learning Objectives. For each text chapter, a comprehensive set of Learning Objectives is provided. We believe that
students learn best when they actively grapple with text material and integrate new information with what they already know.
Students can be asked to write a paragraph or two in response to each objective, include important terms in their responses,
check their answers against the text’s discussion, and revise each response accordingly. This exercise yields a student-generated
summary of the content of each chapter. Once completed, it provides a useful review written in the student’s own words that
can be referred to while preparing for examinations. Further, the objectives are tied to individual items in the accompanying Test
Bank.
4. Lecture Outline. The purpose of the Lecture Outlines is to provide a detailed synopsis of each chapter. Material is
organized by text headings and subheadings and page-referenced to the text. Important terms and concepts appear in boldface
and in italics, as in the text narrative. The outlines permit a “quick read” of each chapter and can serve as the basis for lecture
notes or PowerPoint® Presentations.
5. Lecture Enhancements. Four Lecture Enhancements, page-referenced to relevant text material, accompany each chapter.
Each expands on information treated in the text by addressing new theory and research, considering controversial issues that
promote student discussion and debate, and extending the text’s emphasis on the vital connections among theory, research, and
applications. To assist instructors with the time-consuming task of lecture preparation, the Lecture Enhancements go beyond
merely suggesting appropriate topics to providing the general direction of each lecture’s content. Enough detail is given so that
instructors who are pressed for time can integrate information from the manual directly into their lectures. Each Lecture
Enhancement is accompanied by one or two current sources that can be used to develop a more extensive lecture presentation.
Finally, for Lecture Enhancements calling for student participation, specific instructions have been boldfaced.
6. Learning Activities. From seven to eleven Learning Activities per chapter are included. Many of the activities provide
students with opportunities to see “live” examples of research findings by observing and interviewing children and adolescents.
Also included are written assignments that permit students to extend their knowledge of topics in the text.
7. Ask Yourself. The Ask Yourself feature consists of critical-thinking questions, designed to support students’ active
engagement with the subject matter. Each question can be found at the end of major sections in the text and is page-referenced
in this manual. The focus of these questions is divided between theory and application. Many describe problematic situations
and ask students to resolve them in light of what they have learned. In this way, the questions inspire high-level thinking and
new insights.
vii
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8. Suggested Readings. Many instructors wish to assign or recommend supplementary readings to their students. A list of
three to four additional readings complements each text chapter. The readings have been carefully selected for their interest,
value, and readability; the majority are recently published. Each entry is annotated so instructors can discern the topic and
general orientation of the reading prior to consulting the original source.
9. Media Materials. Each chapter contains a related list of available DVDs, including the date of production, the name of the
distributor, the length of the presentation, and a description of content.
Sara Harris
Laura E. Berk
Leah Shriro
Judy Ashkenaz
viii
three to four additional readings complements each text chapter. The readings have been carefully selected for their interest,
value, and readability; the majority are recently published. Each entry is annotated so instructors can discern the topic and
general orientation of the reading prior to consulting the original source.
9. Media Materials. Each chapter contains a related list of available DVDs, including the date of production, the name of the
distributor, the length of the presentation, and a description of content.
Sara Harris
Laura E. Berk
Leah Shriro
Judy Ashkenaz
viii
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ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONAL IDEAS
For additional instructional ideas, visit MyDevelopmentLab, an interactive multimedia resource that is designed to reinforce
text concepts through controlled assessments, extensive video footage, simulations, biographies of major theorists in the field,
careers in child development, and other interactive activities that are unique to Child Development. Below are sample activities
that can be used for classroom instruction or out-of-class assignments.
Sample Videos and Simulations Featured on MyDevelopmentLab
Chapter 1
MDL Video: Resilience: Mentoring At-Risk Children
MDL Simulate: Ecological Systems Theory
Chapter 2
MDL Simulate: Distinguishing Independent and Dependent Variables
MDL Simulate: Ethics in Psychological Research
Chapter 3
MDL Video: Parenting a Child with a Genetic Disorder
MDL Video: Childbirth
MDL Video: Preterm Birth
MDL Simulate: Alien Gene Lab
Chapter 4
MDL Video: Newborn States
MDL Video: Motor Development in Infancy
MDL Simulate: Newborn Reflexes
MDL Simulate: Experiencing the Visual Cliff
Chapter 5
MDL Video: Motor Development and Play: The Children’s Circus
MDL Video: Childhood Obesity
MDL Video: Adolescent Parenthood
MDL Simulate: Brain Development
MDL Simulate: Early versus Late Pubertal Timing
Chapter 6
MDL Video: Make-Believe Play: Sophie, Age 2½ and Alison, 4 Years
MDL Video: Understanding of Death
MDL Video: Cooperative Learning
MDL Simulate: Piaget and Vygotsky
Chapter 7
MDL Video: ADHD
MDL Video: Mathematics: A Second-Grade Math Lesson
MDL Simulate: Working Memory
361
For additional instructional ideas, visit MyDevelopmentLab, an interactive multimedia resource that is designed to reinforce
text concepts through controlled assessments, extensive video footage, simulations, biographies of major theorists in the field,
careers in child development, and other interactive activities that are unique to Child Development. Below are sample activities
that can be used for classroom instruction or out-of-class assignments.
Sample Videos and Simulations Featured on MyDevelopmentLab
Chapter 1
MDL Video: Resilience: Mentoring At-Risk Children
MDL Simulate: Ecological Systems Theory
Chapter 2
MDL Simulate: Distinguishing Independent and Dependent Variables
MDL Simulate: Ethics in Psychological Research
Chapter 3
MDL Video: Parenting a Child with a Genetic Disorder
MDL Video: Childbirth
MDL Video: Preterm Birth
MDL Simulate: Alien Gene Lab
Chapter 4
MDL Video: Newborn States
MDL Video: Motor Development in Infancy
MDL Simulate: Newborn Reflexes
MDL Simulate: Experiencing the Visual Cliff
Chapter 5
MDL Video: Motor Development and Play: The Children’s Circus
MDL Video: Childhood Obesity
MDL Video: Adolescent Parenthood
MDL Simulate: Brain Development
MDL Simulate: Early versus Late Pubertal Timing
Chapter 6
MDL Video: Make-Believe Play: Sophie, Age 2½ and Alison, 4 Years
MDL Video: Understanding of Death
MDL Video: Cooperative Learning
MDL Simulate: Piaget and Vygotsky
Chapter 7
MDL Video: ADHD
MDL Video: Mathematics: A Second-Grade Math Lesson
MDL Simulate: Working Memory
361
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Instructor’s Resource Manual for Berk / Child Development, 9e
362
Chapter 8
MDL Video: Home Environment and Mental Development
MDL Video: Jumpstart: Promoting Early Literacy and School Readiness
MDL Simulate: Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences
Chapter 9
MDL Video: Supporting Early Language Learning: Storybook Reading
MDL Video: Acquiring Conversational Skills
Chapter 10
MDL Video: Early Emotional Development
MDL Video: Multiple Attachments: Fathers
MDL Simulate: Recognizing Facial Expressions of Emotion
MDL Simulate: The Strange Situation
Chapter 11
MDL Video: Understanding of False Belief
MDL Video: Autism
MDL Video: Self-Concept
Chapter 12
MDL Video: Early Morally Relevant Self-Control
MDL Video: Delinquency
MDL Simulate: Development of Moral Reasoning
Chapter 13
MDL Video: Gender Typing
MDL Video: Gender Constancy
Chapter 14
MDL Video: Transition to Parenthood
MDL Video: Quality Child Care
MDL Video: Child Abuse
MDL Simulate: Child-Rearing Styles
Chapter 15
MDL Video: Peer Acceptance
MDL Video: Friendship in Adolescence
MDL Video: Adolescent Dating
MDL Simulate: Peer Acceptance
MDL Simulate: Name That Educational Philosophy
362
Chapter 8
MDL Video: Home Environment and Mental Development
MDL Video: Jumpstart: Promoting Early Literacy and School Readiness
MDL Simulate: Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences
Chapter 9
MDL Video: Supporting Early Language Learning: Storybook Reading
MDL Video: Acquiring Conversational Skills
Chapter 10
MDL Video: Early Emotional Development
MDL Video: Multiple Attachments: Fathers
MDL Simulate: Recognizing Facial Expressions of Emotion
MDL Simulate: The Strange Situation
Chapter 11
MDL Video: Understanding of False Belief
MDL Video: Autism
MDL Video: Self-Concept
Chapter 12
MDL Video: Early Morally Relevant Self-Control
MDL Video: Delinquency
MDL Simulate: Development of Moral Reasoning
Chapter 13
MDL Video: Gender Typing
MDL Video: Gender Constancy
Chapter 14
MDL Video: Transition to Parenthood
MDL Video: Quality Child Care
MDL Video: Child Abuse
MDL Simulate: Child-Rearing Styles
Chapter 15
MDL Video: Peer Acceptance
MDL Video: Friendship in Adolescence
MDL Video: Adolescent Dating
MDL Simulate: Peer Acceptance
MDL Simulate: Name That Educational Philosophy
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Media Distribution Information
MEDIA DISTRIBUTION INFORMATION
ACT Media Productions Inc.
1365 North Winchester Street
Olathe, KS 66061-5880
Phone: 1-800-745-5480
Annenberg Media
P.O. Box 55742
Indianapolis, IN 46205-0742
Phone: 1-800-LEARNER (1-800-532-7637)
Fax: 1-317-579-0402
E-mail: order@learner.org
www.learner.org
Aquarius Health Care Media
30 Forest Road
P.O. Box 249
Millis, MA 02054
Phone: 1-508-376-1244
Fax: 1-508-376-1245
www.aquariusproductions.com
Cambridge Documentary Films, Inc.
P.O. Box 390385
Cambridge, MA 02139-0004
Phone: 1-617-484-3993
Fax: 1-617-484-0754
E-mail: mail@cambridgedocumentaryfilms.org
www.cambridgedocumentaryfilms.org
Child Development Media, Inc.
5632 Van Nuys Blvd., Suite 286
Van Nuys, CA 91401
Phone: 1-800-405-8942
Fax: 1-818-989-7826
E-mail: info@childdevelopmentmedia.com
www.childdevelopmentmedia.com
Davidson Films, Inc.
735 Tank Farm Road, Suite 210
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
Phone: 1-888-437-4200
Fax: 1-805-594-0532
E-mail: dfi@davidsonfilms.com
www.davidsonfilms.com
Discovery Channel
Discovery Store
Phone: 1-800-889-9950
http://store.discovery.com
Fanlight Productions
c/o Icarus Films
32 Court Street, 21st Floor
Brooklyn, NY 11201
Phone: 1-800-876-1710
Fax: 1-718-488-8642
E-mail: info@fanlight.com
www.fanlight.com
Films for the Humanities & Sciences
132 West 31st Street
17th Floor
New York, NY 10001
Phone: 1-800-322-8755
Fax: 1-800-329-6687
E-mail: custserv@films.com
http://ffh.films.com
Films Media Group
132 West 31st Street
17th Floor
New York, NY 10001
Phone: 1-800-322-8755
Fax: 1-800-329-6687
E-mail: custserv@films.com
http://ffh.films.com
Insight Media, Inc.
2162 Broadway
New York, NY 10024-0621
Phone: 1-800-233-9910
Fax: 1-212-799-5309
E-mail: custserv@insight-media.com
www.insight-media.com
Learning Seed
641 West Lake Street, Suite 301
Chicago, IL 60661
Phone: 1-800-634-4941
Fax: 1-800-998-0854
E-mail: info@learningseed.com
www.learningseed.com
Magna Systems, Inc.
641 West Lake Street, Suite 301
Chicago, IL 60661
Phone: 1-800-203-7060
Fax: 1-800-327-1443
E-mail: info@magnasystems.com
www.magnasystems.com
363
MEDIA DISTRIBUTION INFORMATION
ACT Media Productions Inc.
1365 North Winchester Street
Olathe, KS 66061-5880
Phone: 1-800-745-5480
Annenberg Media
P.O. Box 55742
Indianapolis, IN 46205-0742
Phone: 1-800-LEARNER (1-800-532-7637)
Fax: 1-317-579-0402
E-mail: order@learner.org
www.learner.org
Aquarius Health Care Media
30 Forest Road
P.O. Box 249
Millis, MA 02054
Phone: 1-508-376-1244
Fax: 1-508-376-1245
www.aquariusproductions.com
Cambridge Documentary Films, Inc.
P.O. Box 390385
Cambridge, MA 02139-0004
Phone: 1-617-484-3993
Fax: 1-617-484-0754
E-mail: mail@cambridgedocumentaryfilms.org
www.cambridgedocumentaryfilms.org
Child Development Media, Inc.
5632 Van Nuys Blvd., Suite 286
Van Nuys, CA 91401
Phone: 1-800-405-8942
Fax: 1-818-989-7826
E-mail: info@childdevelopmentmedia.com
www.childdevelopmentmedia.com
Davidson Films, Inc.
735 Tank Farm Road, Suite 210
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
Phone: 1-888-437-4200
Fax: 1-805-594-0532
E-mail: dfi@davidsonfilms.com
www.davidsonfilms.com
Discovery Channel
Discovery Store
Phone: 1-800-889-9950
http://store.discovery.com
Fanlight Productions
c/o Icarus Films
32 Court Street, 21st Floor
Brooklyn, NY 11201
Phone: 1-800-876-1710
Fax: 1-718-488-8642
E-mail: info@fanlight.com
www.fanlight.com
Films for the Humanities & Sciences
132 West 31st Street
17th Floor
New York, NY 10001
Phone: 1-800-322-8755
Fax: 1-800-329-6687
E-mail: custserv@films.com
http://ffh.films.com
Films Media Group
132 West 31st Street
17th Floor
New York, NY 10001
Phone: 1-800-322-8755
Fax: 1-800-329-6687
E-mail: custserv@films.com
http://ffh.films.com
Insight Media, Inc.
2162 Broadway
New York, NY 10024-0621
Phone: 1-800-233-9910
Fax: 1-212-799-5309
E-mail: custserv@insight-media.com
www.insight-media.com
Learning Seed
641 West Lake Street, Suite 301
Chicago, IL 60661
Phone: 1-800-634-4941
Fax: 1-800-998-0854
E-mail: info@learningseed.com
www.learningseed.com
Magna Systems, Inc.
641 West Lake Street, Suite 301
Chicago, IL 60661
Phone: 1-800-203-7060
Fax: 1-800-327-1443
E-mail: info@magnasystems.com
www.magnasystems.com
363
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Instructor’s Resource Manual for Berk / Child Development, 9e
Media Education Foundation
60 Masonic St.
Northampton, MA 01060
Phone: 1-800-897-0089
Fax: 1-800-659-6882
E-mail: info@mediaed.org
www.mediaed.org
National Geographic Channel
National Geographic Catalog/Online
777 South State Road 7
Margate, FL 33068
Phone: 1-888-225-5647
http://shop.nationalgeographic.com
PBS Home Video
Phone: 1-800-531-4727
www.shoppbs.org/home
PHD Lowe Productions
#188-P.O. Box 8000
Abbotsford, BC V2S 6H1
Canada
Phone: 1-604-854-8130
E-mail: phd-lowe@shaw.ca
www.vygotskydocumentary.com
School Media Associates
5815 Live Oak Parkway, Suite 2-B
Norcross, GA 30093-1700
Phone: 1-800-451-5226
Fax: 1-770-441-8529
E-mail: info@smavideo.net
www.smavideo.com
364
Media Education Foundation
60 Masonic St.
Northampton, MA 01060
Phone: 1-800-897-0089
Fax: 1-800-659-6882
E-mail: info@mediaed.org
www.mediaed.org
National Geographic Channel
National Geographic Catalog/Online
777 South State Road 7
Margate, FL 33068
Phone: 1-888-225-5647
http://shop.nationalgeographic.com
PBS Home Video
Phone: 1-800-531-4727
www.shoppbs.org/home
PHD Lowe Productions
#188-P.O. Box 8000
Abbotsford, BC V2S 6H1
Canada
Phone: 1-604-854-8130
E-mail: phd-lowe@shaw.ca
www.vygotskydocumentary.com
School Media Associates
5815 Live Oak Parkway, Suite 2-B
Norcross, GA 30093-1700
Phone: 1-800-451-5226
Fax: 1-770-441-8529
E-mail: info@smavideo.net
www.smavideo.com
364
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CHAPTER 1
HISTORY, THEORY, AND APPLIED DIRECTIONS
CHAPTER-AT-A-GLANCE
Chapter Outline Instruction Ideas Supplements
The Field of Child Development pp. 4–6
Domains of Development • Periods of
Development
Learning Objectives 1.1–1.2
Lecture Enhancement 1.1
Test Bank Items 1–12
Please contact your Pearson publisher’s
representative for a wide range of video
offerings available to adopters.
Basic Issues pp. 6–10, 11
Continuous or Discontinuous Development? •
One Course of Development or Many? •
Relative Influence of Nature and Nurture? •
A Balanced Point of View
Learning Objective 1.3
Lecture Enhancement 1.2
Learning Activities 1.1–1.2
Ask Yourself p. 9
Test Bank Items 13–26, 136–137, 141
Historical Foundations pp. 10–14
Medieval Times • The Reformation •
Philosophies of the Enlightenment • Scientific
Beginnings
Learning Objective 1.4
Learning Activity 1.3
Ask Yourself p. 14
Test Bank Items 27–46
Mid-Twentieth-Century Theories pp. 14–21
The Psychoanalytic Perspective • Behaviorism
and Social Learning Theory • Piaget’s
Cognitive-Developmental Theory
Learning Objective 1.5
Learning Activities 1.3–1.4
Ask Yourself p. 21
Test Bank Items 47–80
Recent Theoretical Perspectives pp. 21–31
Information Processing • Developmental
Cognitive Neuroscience • Ethology and
Evolutionary Developmental Psychology •
Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory • Ecological
Systems Theory • New Directions:
Development as a Dynamic System
Learning Objective 1.6
Lecture Enhancement 1.3
Learning Activities 1.3–1.5
Ask Yourself p. 31
Test Bank Items 81–117, 138–140
Comparing Child Development Theories
pp. 31–32
Learning Objective 1.7 Test Bank Items 118–121, 141
Applied Directions: Child Development and
Social Policy pp. 32–38
Culture and Public Policies • Contributions of
Child Development Research • Looking
Toward the Future
Learning Objective 1.8
Lecture Enhancement 1.4
Learning Activities 1.6–1.7
Ask Yourself p. 38
Test Bank Items 122–135, 142
1
HISTORY, THEORY, AND APPLIED DIRECTIONS
CHAPTER-AT-A-GLANCE
Chapter Outline Instruction Ideas Supplements
The Field of Child Development pp. 4–6
Domains of Development • Periods of
Development
Learning Objectives 1.1–1.2
Lecture Enhancement 1.1
Test Bank Items 1–12
Please contact your Pearson publisher’s
representative for a wide range of video
offerings available to adopters.
Basic Issues pp. 6–10, 11
Continuous or Discontinuous Development? •
One Course of Development or Many? •
Relative Influence of Nature and Nurture? •
A Balanced Point of View
Learning Objective 1.3
Lecture Enhancement 1.2
Learning Activities 1.1–1.2
Ask Yourself p. 9
Test Bank Items 13–26, 136–137, 141
Historical Foundations pp. 10–14
Medieval Times • The Reformation •
Philosophies of the Enlightenment • Scientific
Beginnings
Learning Objective 1.4
Learning Activity 1.3
Ask Yourself p. 14
Test Bank Items 27–46
Mid-Twentieth-Century Theories pp. 14–21
The Psychoanalytic Perspective • Behaviorism
and Social Learning Theory • Piaget’s
Cognitive-Developmental Theory
Learning Objective 1.5
Learning Activities 1.3–1.4
Ask Yourself p. 21
Test Bank Items 47–80
Recent Theoretical Perspectives pp. 21–31
Information Processing • Developmental
Cognitive Neuroscience • Ethology and
Evolutionary Developmental Psychology •
Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory • Ecological
Systems Theory • New Directions:
Development as a Dynamic System
Learning Objective 1.6
Lecture Enhancement 1.3
Learning Activities 1.3–1.5
Ask Yourself p. 31
Test Bank Items 81–117, 138–140
Comparing Child Development Theories
pp. 31–32
Learning Objective 1.7 Test Bank Items 118–121, 141
Applied Directions: Child Development and
Social Policy pp. 32–38
Culture and Public Policies • Contributions of
Child Development Research • Looking
Toward the Future
Learning Objective 1.8
Lecture Enhancement 1.4
Learning Activities 1.6–1.7
Ask Yourself p. 38
Test Bank Items 122–135, 142
1
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Instructor’s Resource Manual for Berk / Child Development, 9e
BRIEF CHAPTER SUMMARY
Child development is the study of human constancy and change from conception through adolescence. It is part of the larger,
interdisciplinary field of developmental science, which includes the entire lifespan.
Researchers often divide the study of development into three broad domains—physical, cognitive, and emotional and
social—and divide development into five age periods from conception through adolescence. In recent decades, researchers have
posited a new period, emerging adulthood, which describes the prolonged transition to adulthood typical of contemporary
young people in industrialized nations.
Theories of child development provide organizing frameworks that guide and give meaning to the scientific study of
children. All major theories of child development take a stand on three basic issues: (1) Is the course of development
continuous or discontinuous? (2) Do all children follow one course of development, or are there many possible courses? (3) Are
genetic or environmental factors more important in influencing development? Recent theories generally take a balanced view of
these issues.
Contemporary theories of child development are rooted in ideas about children that go back many centuries. The theories
that have been major forces in child development research vary in their focus on different domains of development, in their
view of development, and in their strengths and limitations.
In recent years, the field of child development has become increasingly concerned with applying its vast knowledge base to
solving pressing social problems. Public policy—favorable laws and government programs aimed at improving current
conditions—is essential for safeguarding children’s positive experiences in family, school, and community contexts. Such
policies are strongly affected by cultural values like individualism versus collectivism. To be effective in meeting children’s
needs, public policies must be guided by research. As researchers in child development collaborate with community and
government agencies, they can help to create a sense of immediacy about the need to improve the condition of children and
families.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After reading this chapter, you should be able to answer the following:
1.1 What is the field of child development, and what factors stimulated its expansion? (p. 4)
1.2 How is child development typically divided into domains and periods? (pp. 4–6)
1.3 Identify three basic issues on which child development theories take a stand. (pp. 6–10, 11)
1.4 Describe major historical influences on theories of child development. (pp. 10–14)
1.5 What theories influenced child development research in the mid-twentieth century? (pp. 14–21)
1.6 Describe recent theoretical perspectives on child development. (pp. 21–31)
1.7 Identify the stand taken by each major theory on the basic issues of child development. (pp. 31–32)
1.8 Explain the importance of social policies for safeguarding children’s well-being, and cite factors that affect the policy-
making process, noting the role of child development research. (pp. 32–38)
LECTURE OUTLINE
I. THE FIELD OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT (pp. 4–6)
A. Child development is an area of study devoted to understanding constancy and change from conception through
adolescence.
B. Child development is part of the field of developmental science, which includes all changes that humans experience
throughout the lifespan.
C. Research in child development has both scientific and applied (practical) importance.
D. Our large storehouse of information about child development is interdisciplinary.
2
BRIEF CHAPTER SUMMARY
Child development is the study of human constancy and change from conception through adolescence. It is part of the larger,
interdisciplinary field of developmental science, which includes the entire lifespan.
Researchers often divide the study of development into three broad domains—physical, cognitive, and emotional and
social—and divide development into five age periods from conception through adolescence. In recent decades, researchers have
posited a new period, emerging adulthood, which describes the prolonged transition to adulthood typical of contemporary
young people in industrialized nations.
Theories of child development provide organizing frameworks that guide and give meaning to the scientific study of
children. All major theories of child development take a stand on three basic issues: (1) Is the course of development
continuous or discontinuous? (2) Do all children follow one course of development, or are there many possible courses? (3) Are
genetic or environmental factors more important in influencing development? Recent theories generally take a balanced view of
these issues.
Contemporary theories of child development are rooted in ideas about children that go back many centuries. The theories
that have been major forces in child development research vary in their focus on different domains of development, in their
view of development, and in their strengths and limitations.
In recent years, the field of child development has become increasingly concerned with applying its vast knowledge base to
solving pressing social problems. Public policy—favorable laws and government programs aimed at improving current
conditions—is essential for safeguarding children’s positive experiences in family, school, and community contexts. Such
policies are strongly affected by cultural values like individualism versus collectivism. To be effective in meeting children’s
needs, public policies must be guided by research. As researchers in child development collaborate with community and
government agencies, they can help to create a sense of immediacy about the need to improve the condition of children and
families.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After reading this chapter, you should be able to answer the following:
1.1 What is the field of child development, and what factors stimulated its expansion? (p. 4)
1.2 How is child development typically divided into domains and periods? (pp. 4–6)
1.3 Identify three basic issues on which child development theories take a stand. (pp. 6–10, 11)
1.4 Describe major historical influences on theories of child development. (pp. 10–14)
1.5 What theories influenced child development research in the mid-twentieth century? (pp. 14–21)
1.6 Describe recent theoretical perspectives on child development. (pp. 21–31)
1.7 Identify the stand taken by each major theory on the basic issues of child development. (pp. 31–32)
1.8 Explain the importance of social policies for safeguarding children’s well-being, and cite factors that affect the policy-
making process, noting the role of child development research. (pp. 32–38)
LECTURE OUTLINE
I. THE FIELD OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT (pp. 4–6)
A. Child development is an area of study devoted to understanding constancy and change from conception through
adolescence.
B. Child development is part of the field of developmental science, which includes all changes that humans experience
throughout the lifespan.
C. Research in child development has both scientific and applied (practical) importance.
D. Our large storehouse of information about child development is interdisciplinary.
2
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Chapter 1 History, Theory, and Applied Directions
E. Domains of Development (pp. 4–5)
1. Development often is divided into three broad domains, which combine in an integrated, holistic fashion to yield
the living, growing child.
2. The three domains are physical, cognitive, and emotional and social.
F. Periods of Development (pp. 5–6)
1. Researchers usually segment child development into age periods.
2. The prenatal period: from conception to birth: In this nine-month period, a one-celled organism is transformed
into a human baby.
3. Infancy and toddlerhood: from birth to 2 years: This period brings dramatic changes in the body and brain that
support the emergence of a wide array of motor, perceptual, and intellectual capacities.
4. Early childhood: from 2 to 6 years: In this period, motor skills are refined, children become more self-sufficient,
make-believe play blooms, and thought and language expand rapidly.
5. Middle childhood: from 6 to 11 years: In this period, children learn about the wider world and master
responsibilities that increasingly resemble those of adults.
6. Adolescence: from 11 to 18 years: During this period, puberty leads to an adult-sized body and sexual maturity,
thought becomes abstract and idealistic, and schooling focuses on preparation for higher education and work.
7. Emerging adulthood: from 18 to 25 years:
a. Some researchers posit this as a new period of development for contemporary youths in industrialized
nations.
b. During this period, young people intensify their exploration of options in love, career, and personal values
before making enduring commitments.
II. BASIC ISSUES (pp. 6–10, 11)
A. Speculations about child development combined with research have inspired the construction of theories of
development.
B. A theory is an orderly, integrated set of statements that describes, explains, and predicts behavior.
C. Most theories of development take a stand on three basic issues: (1) Is the course of development continuous or
discontinuous? (2) Does one course of development characterize all children, or are there many possible courses?
(3) What are the roles of genetic and environmental factors in development?
D. Continuous or Discontinuous Development? (pp. 7–8)
1. Continuous development is a process of gradually adding more of the same types of skills that were there to
begin with.
2. Discontinuous development is a process in which new ways of understanding and responding to the world
emerge at specific times.
3. Theories that accept the discontinuous perspective see development as taking place in stages—qualitative changes
in thinking, feeling, and behaving that characterize specific periods of development.
E. One Course of Development or Many? (p. 8)
1. Stage theorists assume that children everywhere follow the same sequence of development.
2. The field of child development is becoming increasingly aware that children grow up in distinct contexts—unique
combinations of personal and environmental circumstances that can result in different paths of change.
3. Contemporary theorists regard the contexts that shape development as many-layered and complex.
a. Personal contexts include heredity and biological makeup.
b. Environmental contexts include both immediate settings (home, school, and neighborhood) and more remote
circumstances such as community resources and societal values.
F. Relative Influence of Nature and Nurture? (pp. 8–9)
1. The age-old nature–nurture controversy asks: Are genetic or environmental factors more important in
influencing development?
a. Nature refers to inborn biological givens—hereditary information we receive from our parents.
b. Nurture means the complex forces of the physical and social world that influence our biological makeup and
psychological experiences before and after birth.
2. Investigators disagree on the question of stability versus plasticity.
a. Some theorists emphasize stability—that children who are high or low in a characteristic will remain so at
later ages. These theorists typically stress the importance of heredity.
3
E. Domains of Development (pp. 4–5)
1. Development often is divided into three broad domains, which combine in an integrated, holistic fashion to yield
the living, growing child.
2. The three domains are physical, cognitive, and emotional and social.
F. Periods of Development (pp. 5–6)
1. Researchers usually segment child development into age periods.
2. The prenatal period: from conception to birth: In this nine-month period, a one-celled organism is transformed
into a human baby.
3. Infancy and toddlerhood: from birth to 2 years: This period brings dramatic changes in the body and brain that
support the emergence of a wide array of motor, perceptual, and intellectual capacities.
4. Early childhood: from 2 to 6 years: In this period, motor skills are refined, children become more self-sufficient,
make-believe play blooms, and thought and language expand rapidly.
5. Middle childhood: from 6 to 11 years: In this period, children learn about the wider world and master
responsibilities that increasingly resemble those of adults.
6. Adolescence: from 11 to 18 years: During this period, puberty leads to an adult-sized body and sexual maturity,
thought becomes abstract and idealistic, and schooling focuses on preparation for higher education and work.
7. Emerging adulthood: from 18 to 25 years:
a. Some researchers posit this as a new period of development for contemporary youths in industrialized
nations.
b. During this period, young people intensify their exploration of options in love, career, and personal values
before making enduring commitments.
II. BASIC ISSUES (pp. 6–10, 11)
A. Speculations about child development combined with research have inspired the construction of theories of
development.
B. A theory is an orderly, integrated set of statements that describes, explains, and predicts behavior.
C. Most theories of development take a stand on three basic issues: (1) Is the course of development continuous or
discontinuous? (2) Does one course of development characterize all children, or are there many possible courses?
(3) What are the roles of genetic and environmental factors in development?
D. Continuous or Discontinuous Development? (pp. 7–8)
1. Continuous development is a process of gradually adding more of the same types of skills that were there to
begin with.
2. Discontinuous development is a process in which new ways of understanding and responding to the world
emerge at specific times.
3. Theories that accept the discontinuous perspective see development as taking place in stages—qualitative changes
in thinking, feeling, and behaving that characterize specific periods of development.
E. One Course of Development or Many? (p. 8)
1. Stage theorists assume that children everywhere follow the same sequence of development.
2. The field of child development is becoming increasingly aware that children grow up in distinct contexts—unique
combinations of personal and environmental circumstances that can result in different paths of change.
3. Contemporary theorists regard the contexts that shape development as many-layered and complex.
a. Personal contexts include heredity and biological makeup.
b. Environmental contexts include both immediate settings (home, school, and neighborhood) and more remote
circumstances such as community resources and societal values.
F. Relative Influence of Nature and Nurture? (pp. 8–9)
1. The age-old nature–nurture controversy asks: Are genetic or environmental factors more important in
influencing development?
a. Nature refers to inborn biological givens—hereditary information we receive from our parents.
b. Nurture means the complex forces of the physical and social world that influence our biological makeup and
psychological experiences before and after birth.
2. Investigators disagree on the question of stability versus plasticity.
a. Some theorists emphasize stability—that children who are high or low in a characteristic will remain so at
later ages. These theorists typically stress the importance of heredity.
3
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Instructor’s Resource Manual for Berk / Child Development, 9e
b. If theorists regard environment as important, they usually point to early experiences as establishing a lifelong
pattern of behavior.
c. Other theorists see development as having substantial plasticity throughout life—as open to change in
response to influential experiences.
G. A Balanced Point of View (pp. 9–10, 11)
1. Today, some theorists believe that both continuous and discontinuous changes occur.
2. Many acknowledge that development can have both universal features and features unique to each individual and
his or her contexts.
3. A growing number of investigators regard heredity and environment as inseparably interwoven.
4. The relative impact of early and later experiences varies greatly from one domain of development to another, and
even across individuals, who vary in resilience—the ability to adapt effectively in the face of threats to
development.
III. HISTORICAL FOUNDATIONS (pp. 10–14)
A. Contemporary theories of child development are the result of centuries of change in Western cultural values,
philosophical thinking about children, and scientific progress.
B. Medieval Times (pp. 10–11)
1. Childhood was regarded as a separate period of life as early as medieval Europe.
2. Laws recognized that children needed protection from people who might mistreat them.
3. Medieval religious writings sometimes portrayed infants as possessed by the devil, at other times as innocent.
Both ideas foreshadowed later views of childhood.
C. The Reformation (pp. 11–12)
1. In the sixteenth century, the Puritan belief in original sin gave rise to the view that children were born evil and
stubborn and had to be civilized.
2. Harsh, restrictive child-rearing practices were recommended, but love for their children prevented most Puritan
parents from using extremely repressive measures.
3. As the Puritans emigrated from England to the New World, they brought the belief that child rearing was one of
their most important obligations.
D. Philosophies of the Enlightenment (p. 12)
1. John Locke (1632–1704)
a. Locke, a British philosopher, viewed the child as a tabula rasa, Latin for “blank slate.” He saw parents as
rational tutors who could mold the child through instruction, example, and rewards.
b. Locke championed nurture—the power of the environment to shape the child—a belief that suggested the
possibility of many courses of development and of high plasticity at later ages due to new experiences. He
regarded development as continuous.
c. Locke’s view of children as doing little to influence their own destiny has been discarded.
2. Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778)
a. The French philosopher Rousseau saw children as noble savages, naturally endowed with a sense of right and
wrong and with an innate plan for orderly, healthy growth.
b. The role of adults was to be receptive to the child’s needs at each of four stages: infancy, childhood, late
childhood, and adolescence.
c. Rousseau’s philosophy includes the idea of stage and the concept of maturation—a genetically determined,
naturally unfolding course of growth.
d. Rousseau saw development as a discontinuous, stagewise process following a single, unified course mapped
out by nature.
E. Scientific Beginnings (pp. 13–14)
1. Darwin: Forefather of Scientific Child Study
a. British naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882) constructed his theory of evolution after joining an expedition
to distant parts of the world, where he observed infinite variation among plant and animal species.
b. Darwin’s theory emphasized two related principles:
(1) According to natural selection, certain species survive because they have characteristics that are adapted
to their surroundings, while others, less well-suited to their environments, die off.
4
b. If theorists regard environment as important, they usually point to early experiences as establishing a lifelong
pattern of behavior.
c. Other theorists see development as having substantial plasticity throughout life—as open to change in
response to influential experiences.
G. A Balanced Point of View (pp. 9–10, 11)
1. Today, some theorists believe that both continuous and discontinuous changes occur.
2. Many acknowledge that development can have both universal features and features unique to each individual and
his or her contexts.
3. A growing number of investigators regard heredity and environment as inseparably interwoven.
4. The relative impact of early and later experiences varies greatly from one domain of development to another, and
even across individuals, who vary in resilience—the ability to adapt effectively in the face of threats to
development.
III. HISTORICAL FOUNDATIONS (pp. 10–14)
A. Contemporary theories of child development are the result of centuries of change in Western cultural values,
philosophical thinking about children, and scientific progress.
B. Medieval Times (pp. 10–11)
1. Childhood was regarded as a separate period of life as early as medieval Europe.
2. Laws recognized that children needed protection from people who might mistreat them.
3. Medieval religious writings sometimes portrayed infants as possessed by the devil, at other times as innocent.
Both ideas foreshadowed later views of childhood.
C. The Reformation (pp. 11–12)
1. In the sixteenth century, the Puritan belief in original sin gave rise to the view that children were born evil and
stubborn and had to be civilized.
2. Harsh, restrictive child-rearing practices were recommended, but love for their children prevented most Puritan
parents from using extremely repressive measures.
3. As the Puritans emigrated from England to the New World, they brought the belief that child rearing was one of
their most important obligations.
D. Philosophies of the Enlightenment (p. 12)
1. John Locke (1632–1704)
a. Locke, a British philosopher, viewed the child as a tabula rasa, Latin for “blank slate.” He saw parents as
rational tutors who could mold the child through instruction, example, and rewards.
b. Locke championed nurture—the power of the environment to shape the child—a belief that suggested the
possibility of many courses of development and of high plasticity at later ages due to new experiences. He
regarded development as continuous.
c. Locke’s view of children as doing little to influence their own destiny has been discarded.
2. Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778)
a. The French philosopher Rousseau saw children as noble savages, naturally endowed with a sense of right and
wrong and with an innate plan for orderly, healthy growth.
b. The role of adults was to be receptive to the child’s needs at each of four stages: infancy, childhood, late
childhood, and adolescence.
c. Rousseau’s philosophy includes the idea of stage and the concept of maturation—a genetically determined,
naturally unfolding course of growth.
d. Rousseau saw development as a discontinuous, stagewise process following a single, unified course mapped
out by nature.
E. Scientific Beginnings (pp. 13–14)
1. Darwin: Forefather of Scientific Child Study
a. British naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882) constructed his theory of evolution after joining an expedition
to distant parts of the world, where he observed infinite variation among plant and animal species.
b. Darwin’s theory emphasized two related principles:
(1) According to natural selection, certain species survive because they have characteristics that are adapted
to their surroundings, while others, less well-suited to their environments, die off.
4
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Chapter 1 History, Theory, and Applied Directions
(2) Survival of the fittest refers to Darwin’s explanation that individuals within a species who best meet their
environment’s survival requirements live long enough to reproduce and pass on their beneficial
characteristics to future generations.
c. Darwin observed that the early prenatal growth of many species is strikingly similar.
(1) Other scientists concluded that human child development follows the same general plan as the evolution
of the human species.
(2) Although this belief proved inaccurate, efforts to chart parallels between child growth and human
evolution prompted researchers to document all aspects of children’s behavior, giving rise to the field of
scientific child study.
2. The Normative Period
a. The American psychologist G. Stanley Hall (1844–1924) is generally regarded as the founder of the child-
study movement.
b. Hall and his student Arnold Gesell (1880–1961) developed theories of child development based on
evolutionary ideas. They regarded child development as a maturational process—a genetically determined
series of events that unfolds automatically.
c. Hall and Gesell are best remembered for their intensive efforts to describe all aspects of child development,
which launched the normative approach, in which measures of behavior are taken on large numbers of
individuals and age-related averages are computed to represent typical development.
d. Gesell was among the first to make knowledge about child development meaningful to parents by telling
them what to expect at each age.
3. The Mental Testing Movement
a. French psychologist Alfred Binet (1857–1911) and his colleague Theodore Simon constructed the first
successful intelligence test as a way of identifying children in the Paris school system with learning problems
who needed to be placed in special classes.
b. Binet defined intelligence as good judgment, planning, and critical reflection.
c. The English-language version of Binet’s test, the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, sparked interest in
individual differences in development, and intelligence tests rose quickly to the forefront of the nature–
nurture controversy.
4. James Mark Baldwin: Early Developmental Theorist
a. American psychologist James Mark Baldwin (1861–1934) granted nature and nurture equal importance in
development, and he believed that children actively revise their ways of thinking about the world but that they
also learn through habit, or by copying others’ behaviors.
b. Baldwin argued that heredity and environment should not be viewed as distinct, opposing forces.
IV. MID-TWENTIETH-CENTURY THEORIES (pp. 14–21)
A. In the mid-1900s, the field of child development expanded into a legitimate discipline.
1. The Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD), established in 1933 to promote interdisciplinary
research, now has an international membership of about 5,500.
2. In the theories that have emerged, the European concern with the child’s inner thoughts and feelings contrasts
sharply with the North American focus on scientific precision and observable behavior.
B. The Psychoanalytic Perspective (pp. 15–17)
1. By the 1930s and 1940s, parents increasingly sought professional help to deal with children’s emotional
difficulties. Psychiatrists and social workers turned to an emerging approach to personality development that
emphasized the unique history of each child.
2 According to the psychoanalytic perspective, children move through a series of stages in which they confront
conflicts between biological drives and social expectations. How these conflicts are resolved determines the
person’s ability to learn, to get along with others, and to cope with anxiety.
3. Freud’s Theory
a. Viennese physician Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) sought to cure emotionally troubled adults by having them
talk freely about painful events of their childhoods.
b. Examining his patients’ unconscious motivations, Freud constructed his psychosexual theory, which
emphasizes that how parents manage their child’s sexual and aggressive drives in the first few years is crucial
for healthy personality development.
5
(2) Survival of the fittest refers to Darwin’s explanation that individuals within a species who best meet their
environment’s survival requirements live long enough to reproduce and pass on their beneficial
characteristics to future generations.
c. Darwin observed that the early prenatal growth of many species is strikingly similar.
(1) Other scientists concluded that human child development follows the same general plan as the evolution
of the human species.
(2) Although this belief proved inaccurate, efforts to chart parallels between child growth and human
evolution prompted researchers to document all aspects of children’s behavior, giving rise to the field of
scientific child study.
2. The Normative Period
a. The American psychologist G. Stanley Hall (1844–1924) is generally regarded as the founder of the child-
study movement.
b. Hall and his student Arnold Gesell (1880–1961) developed theories of child development based on
evolutionary ideas. They regarded child development as a maturational process—a genetically determined
series of events that unfolds automatically.
c. Hall and Gesell are best remembered for their intensive efforts to describe all aspects of child development,
which launched the normative approach, in which measures of behavior are taken on large numbers of
individuals and age-related averages are computed to represent typical development.
d. Gesell was among the first to make knowledge about child development meaningful to parents by telling
them what to expect at each age.
3. The Mental Testing Movement
a. French psychologist Alfred Binet (1857–1911) and his colleague Theodore Simon constructed the first
successful intelligence test as a way of identifying children in the Paris school system with learning problems
who needed to be placed in special classes.
b. Binet defined intelligence as good judgment, planning, and critical reflection.
c. The English-language version of Binet’s test, the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, sparked interest in
individual differences in development, and intelligence tests rose quickly to the forefront of the nature–
nurture controversy.
4. James Mark Baldwin: Early Developmental Theorist
a. American psychologist James Mark Baldwin (1861–1934) granted nature and nurture equal importance in
development, and he believed that children actively revise their ways of thinking about the world but that they
also learn through habit, or by copying others’ behaviors.
b. Baldwin argued that heredity and environment should not be viewed as distinct, opposing forces.
IV. MID-TWENTIETH-CENTURY THEORIES (pp. 14–21)
A. In the mid-1900s, the field of child development expanded into a legitimate discipline.
1. The Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD), established in 1933 to promote interdisciplinary
research, now has an international membership of about 5,500.
2. In the theories that have emerged, the European concern with the child’s inner thoughts and feelings contrasts
sharply with the North American focus on scientific precision and observable behavior.
B. The Psychoanalytic Perspective (pp. 15–17)
1. By the 1930s and 1940s, parents increasingly sought professional help to deal with children’s emotional
difficulties. Psychiatrists and social workers turned to an emerging approach to personality development that
emphasized the unique history of each child.
2 According to the psychoanalytic perspective, children move through a series of stages in which they confront
conflicts between biological drives and social expectations. How these conflicts are resolved determines the
person’s ability to learn, to get along with others, and to cope with anxiety.
3. Freud’s Theory
a. Viennese physician Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) sought to cure emotionally troubled adults by having them
talk freely about painful events of their childhoods.
b. Examining his patients’ unconscious motivations, Freud constructed his psychosexual theory, which
emphasizes that how parents manage their child’s sexual and aggressive drives in the first few years is crucial
for healthy personality development.
5
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Instructor’s Resource Manual for Berk / Child Development, 9e
c. Freud identified three parts of the personality that become integrated during five stages of development.
(1) The id, the largest portion, is the source of basic biological needs and desires.
(2) The ego, the conscious, rational part of the personality, emerges in early infancy to redirect the id’s
impulses so they are discharged in acceptable ways.
(3) The superego, or conscience, develops between ages 3 and 6 through interactions with parents, who
insist that the child conform to the values of society.
d. Freud believed that during childhood, sexual impulses shift their focus from the oral to the anal to the genital
regions of the body.
(1) If parents strike an appropriate balance between permitting too much or too little gratification of the
child’s basic needs at each stage, the child will grow into a well-adjusted adult.
(2) Freud’s perspective was eventually criticized in part because it overemphasized the influence of sexual
feelings in development.
4. Erikson’s Theory
a. Erik Erikson (1902–1994), a neo-Freudian in the field of child development, developed his psychosocial
theory, which emphasizes that in addition to mediating between id impulses and superego demands, the ego
also makes a positive contribution to development, acquiring attitudes and skills that make the individual an
active, contributing member of society.
b. Erikson believed that a basic psychosocial conflict is resolved positively or negatively at each stage,
determining healthy or maladaptive outcomes.
c. Erikson’s first five stages of development parallel Freud’s stages, but Erikson added three adult stages.
5. Contributions and Limitations of the Psychoanalytic Perspective
a. A strength of the psychoanalytic perspective is its emphasis on the individual’s unique life history as worthy
of study and understanding. Reflecting this view, psychoanalytic theorists accept the clinical, or case study,
method.
b. Despite its extensive contributions, the psychoanalytic perspective is no longer in the mainstream of child
development research.
c. Erikson’s broad outline of psychosocial change remains relevant because it captures the essence of
psychosocial attainments at each age period.
C. Behaviorism and Social Learning Theory (pp. 17–19)
1. Child study was also influenced by the perspective of behaviorism, which views directly observable events—
stimuli and responses—as the appropriate focus of study.
2. North American behaviorism began in the early twentieth century with the efforts of psychologist John Watson
(1878–1958) to create an objective science of psychology.
3. Traditional Behaviorism
a. Inspired by Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov’s studies of animal learning, Watson wanted to find out if
classical conditioning could be applied to children’s behavior.
b. Watson concluded that adults can mold children’s behavior by carefully controlling stimulus–response
associations.
c. B. F. Skinner (1904–1990) developed another form of behaviorism, operant conditioning theory, which holds
that the frequency of a child’s behavior can be increased by following it with a variety of reinforcers or
decreased through punishment.
4. Social Learning Theory
a. The rise of behaviorism sparked the emergence of several kinds of social learning theory based on the
principles of conditioning.
b. The most influential form of this theory, devised by psychologist Albert Bandura, emphasized modeling, also
known as imitation or observational learning, as a powerful source of development.
c. Bandura’s work is still influential, but he now calls his theory a social-cognitive rather than a social learning
approach because it stresses the importance of cognition.
d. In Bandura’s revised view, through watching others and feedback about their own actions, children develop
personal standards for behavior and a sense of self-efficacy—the belief that their own abilities and
characteristics will help them succeed.
6
c. Freud identified three parts of the personality that become integrated during five stages of development.
(1) The id, the largest portion, is the source of basic biological needs and desires.
(2) The ego, the conscious, rational part of the personality, emerges in early infancy to redirect the id’s
impulses so they are discharged in acceptable ways.
(3) The superego, or conscience, develops between ages 3 and 6 through interactions with parents, who
insist that the child conform to the values of society.
d. Freud believed that during childhood, sexual impulses shift their focus from the oral to the anal to the genital
regions of the body.
(1) If parents strike an appropriate balance between permitting too much or too little gratification of the
child’s basic needs at each stage, the child will grow into a well-adjusted adult.
(2) Freud’s perspective was eventually criticized in part because it overemphasized the influence of sexual
feelings in development.
4. Erikson’s Theory
a. Erik Erikson (1902–1994), a neo-Freudian in the field of child development, developed his psychosocial
theory, which emphasizes that in addition to mediating between id impulses and superego demands, the ego
also makes a positive contribution to development, acquiring attitudes and skills that make the individual an
active, contributing member of society.
b. Erikson believed that a basic psychosocial conflict is resolved positively or negatively at each stage,
determining healthy or maladaptive outcomes.
c. Erikson’s first five stages of development parallel Freud’s stages, but Erikson added three adult stages.
5. Contributions and Limitations of the Psychoanalytic Perspective
a. A strength of the psychoanalytic perspective is its emphasis on the individual’s unique life history as worthy
of study and understanding. Reflecting this view, psychoanalytic theorists accept the clinical, or case study,
method.
b. Despite its extensive contributions, the psychoanalytic perspective is no longer in the mainstream of child
development research.
c. Erikson’s broad outline of psychosocial change remains relevant because it captures the essence of
psychosocial attainments at each age period.
C. Behaviorism and Social Learning Theory (pp. 17–19)
1. Child study was also influenced by the perspective of behaviorism, which views directly observable events—
stimuli and responses—as the appropriate focus of study.
2. North American behaviorism began in the early twentieth century with the efforts of psychologist John Watson
(1878–1958) to create an objective science of psychology.
3. Traditional Behaviorism
a. Inspired by Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov’s studies of animal learning, Watson wanted to find out if
classical conditioning could be applied to children’s behavior.
b. Watson concluded that adults can mold children’s behavior by carefully controlling stimulus–response
associations.
c. B. F. Skinner (1904–1990) developed another form of behaviorism, operant conditioning theory, which holds
that the frequency of a child’s behavior can be increased by following it with a variety of reinforcers or
decreased through punishment.
4. Social Learning Theory
a. The rise of behaviorism sparked the emergence of several kinds of social learning theory based on the
principles of conditioning.
b. The most influential form of this theory, devised by psychologist Albert Bandura, emphasized modeling, also
known as imitation or observational learning, as a powerful source of development.
c. Bandura’s work is still influential, but he now calls his theory a social-cognitive rather than a social learning
approach because it stresses the importance of cognition.
d. In Bandura’s revised view, through watching others and feedback about their own actions, children develop
personal standards for behavior and a sense of self-efficacy—the belief that their own abilities and
characteristics will help them succeed.
6
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Chapter 1 History, Theory, and Applied Directions
5. Contributions and Limitations of Behaviorism and Social Learning Theory
a. Behavior modification, consisting of procedures that combine conditioning and modeling to eliminate
undesirable behaviors and increase desirable responses, has been used to relieve serious developmental
problems and also to deal with everyday difficulties, such as thumb sucking.
b. Many theorists believe that behaviorism and social learning theory offer too narrow a view of important
environmental influences.
c. Behaviorism and social learning theory have been criticized for underestimating children’s role in their own
development.
D. Piaget’s Cognitive-Developmental Theory (pp. 19–21)
1. Swiss cognitive theorist Jean Piaget (1896–1980) has influenced the contemporary field of child development
more than any other individual.
2. In Piaget’s cognitive-developmental theory, children actively construct knowledge as they manipulate and
explore their world.
3. Piaget’s Stages
a. Central to Piaget’s theory is the biological concept of adaptation, whereby structures of the mind develop to
better fit with, or represent, the external world.
b. Piaget believed that young children’s understanding differs from adults’ and that children eventually revise
these incorrect ideas in their ongoing efforts to achieve equilibrium, or balance, between internal structures
and information they encounter in their everyday life.
c. According to Piaget’s theory, as children’s brains develop and their experiences expand, they move through
four broad stages characterized by qualitatively distinct ways of thinking:
(1) Sensorimotor stage (birth–2 years): Cognitive development begins as the baby uses the senses and
movements to explore the world.
(2) Preoperational stage (2–7 years): The baby’s action patterns evolve into the symbolic but illogical
thinking of the preschooler.
(3) Concrete operational stage (7–11 years): Cognition is transformed into the more organized, logical
reasoning of the school-age child.
(4) Formal operational stage (11 years on): Thought becomes the abstract, systematic reasoning system of
the adolescent and adult.
d. To investigate how children think, Piaget first observed his three infant children’s responses when he
presented them with everyday problems. Later, to study childhood and adolescent thought, he conducted
open-ended clinical interviews.
4. Contributions and Limitations of Piaget’s Theory
a. Contributions
(1) Piaget convinced the field of child development that children are active learners whose minds consist of
rich structures of knowledge.
(2) Piaget investigated both children’s understanding of the physical world and their reasoning about the
social world.
(3) Piaget’s stages sparked research on children’s conceptions of themselves, others, and human
relationships.
(4) Piaget’s theory encouraged the development of educational philosophies and programs that emphasize
discovery learning and direct contact with the environment.
b. Limitations
(1) Research indicates that Piaget underestimated the competencies of infants and preschoolers.
(2) Studies show that children’s performance on Piagetian problems can be improved with training, calling
into question Piaget’s assumption that discovery learning, not adult teaching, is the best way to foster
development.
(3) Also, adolescents generally reach their full intellectual potential only in areas of endeavor in which they
have had extensive education and experience.
V. RECENT THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES (pp. 21–31)
A. Information Processing (pp. 21–23)
1. The information-processing perspective views the human mind as a symbol-manipulating system through which
information flows.
7
5. Contributions and Limitations of Behaviorism and Social Learning Theory
a. Behavior modification, consisting of procedures that combine conditioning and modeling to eliminate
undesirable behaviors and increase desirable responses, has been used to relieve serious developmental
problems and also to deal with everyday difficulties, such as thumb sucking.
b. Many theorists believe that behaviorism and social learning theory offer too narrow a view of important
environmental influences.
c. Behaviorism and social learning theory have been criticized for underestimating children’s role in their own
development.
D. Piaget’s Cognitive-Developmental Theory (pp. 19–21)
1. Swiss cognitive theorist Jean Piaget (1896–1980) has influenced the contemporary field of child development
more than any other individual.
2. In Piaget’s cognitive-developmental theory, children actively construct knowledge as they manipulate and
explore their world.
3. Piaget’s Stages
a. Central to Piaget’s theory is the biological concept of adaptation, whereby structures of the mind develop to
better fit with, or represent, the external world.
b. Piaget believed that young children’s understanding differs from adults’ and that children eventually revise
these incorrect ideas in their ongoing efforts to achieve equilibrium, or balance, between internal structures
and information they encounter in their everyday life.
c. According to Piaget’s theory, as children’s brains develop and their experiences expand, they move through
four broad stages characterized by qualitatively distinct ways of thinking:
(1) Sensorimotor stage (birth–2 years): Cognitive development begins as the baby uses the senses and
movements to explore the world.
(2) Preoperational stage (2–7 years): The baby’s action patterns evolve into the symbolic but illogical
thinking of the preschooler.
(3) Concrete operational stage (7–11 years): Cognition is transformed into the more organized, logical
reasoning of the school-age child.
(4) Formal operational stage (11 years on): Thought becomes the abstract, systematic reasoning system of
the adolescent and adult.
d. To investigate how children think, Piaget first observed his three infant children’s responses when he
presented them with everyday problems. Later, to study childhood and adolescent thought, he conducted
open-ended clinical interviews.
4. Contributions and Limitations of Piaget’s Theory
a. Contributions
(1) Piaget convinced the field of child development that children are active learners whose minds consist of
rich structures of knowledge.
(2) Piaget investigated both children’s understanding of the physical world and their reasoning about the
social world.
(3) Piaget’s stages sparked research on children’s conceptions of themselves, others, and human
relationships.
(4) Piaget’s theory encouraged the development of educational philosophies and programs that emphasize
discovery learning and direct contact with the environment.
b. Limitations
(1) Research indicates that Piaget underestimated the competencies of infants and preschoolers.
(2) Studies show that children’s performance on Piagetian problems can be improved with training, calling
into question Piaget’s assumption that discovery learning, not adult teaching, is the best way to foster
development.
(3) Also, adolescents generally reach their full intellectual potential only in areas of endeavor in which they
have had extensive education and experience.
V. RECENT THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES (pp. 21–31)
A. Information Processing (pp. 21–23)
1. The information-processing perspective views the human mind as a symbol-manipulating system through which
information flows.
7
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Instructor’s Resource Manual for Berk / Child Development, 9e
2. In this view, from the time information is presented to the senses at input until it emerges as a behavioral response
at output, the information is actively coded, transformed, and organized.
3. Information-processing researchers seek to clarify how both task characteristics and cognitive limitations (for
example, memory capacity) influence performance.
4. Some information-processing models track children’s mastery of one or a few tasks; others describe the human
cognitive system as a whole.
5. The information-processing approach is being used to clarify the processing of social information.
6. The information-processing approach, like Piaget’s theory, sees children as active, sense-making beings who
modify their own thinking in response to environmental demands.
7. This approach views development as a process of continuous change.
8 A strength of the information-processing approach is its commitment to rigorous research methods.
9. Information processing is better at analyzing thinking into its components than at formulating a comprehensive
theory. It has had little to say about imagination and creativity.
B. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience (p. 23)
1. Developmental cognitive neuroscience, which has arisen over the past three decades, brings together researchers
from psychology, biology, neuroscience, and medicine to study the relationship between changes in the brain and
the developing child’s cognitive processing and behavior patterns.
2. Neuroscientists use improved methods for analyzing brain activity while children perform various tasks, to
investigate relationships between brain functioning, cognitive capacities, and behavior, including questions like
these:
a. How does genetic makeup combine with specific experiences at various ages to influence the growth and
organization of the child’s brain?
b. How do changes in brain structures support rapid memory development in infancy and toddlerhood?
3. During infancy and early childhood, the brain is highly plastic. But a revolutionary finding of neuroscience
research is that the brain retains considerable plasticity throughout life.
4. The final four theoretical perspectives focus on contexts for development.
C. Ethology and Evolutionary Developmental Psychology (pp. 23–24)
1. Ethology is concerned with the adaptive, or survival, value of behavior and its evolutionary history.
a. Its modern foundations were laid by zoologists Konrad Lorenz and Niko Tinbergen, who observed behavior
patterns that promoted survival in diverse animal species.
b. The best known of these patterns is imprinting.
c. Observations of imprinting led to the concept of the critical period, a limited time during which the child is
biologically prepared to acquire certain adaptive behaviors but needs the support of an appropriately
stimulating environment.
d. The term sensitive period, referring to a time that is optimal for certain capacities to emerge and in which the
individual is especially responsive to environmental influences, applies better to human development than the
strict notion of a critical period. Its boundaries are less well-defined than those of a critical period.
e. British psychoanalyst John Bowlby applied ethological theory to the understanding of attachment in human
infants through the caregiver–infant relationship.
2. Recently, researchers have extended ethologists’ observations that many aspects of children’s social behavior
resemble those of our primate relatives in a new area of research, evolutionary developmental psychology,
which seeks to understand the adaptive value of species-wide cognitive, emotional, and social competencies as
those competencies change with age.
a. Evolutionary psychologists study the entire organism–environment system.
b. By clarifying the origins and development of certain evolved behaviors—such as life-threatening risk taking
in adolescents and male-to-male violence—that are no longer adaptive, evolutionary developmental
psychology may help spark more effective interventions.
D. Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory (pp. 24–26)
1. The field of child development has recently seen a dramatic increase in studies addressing the cultural context of
children’s lives, including comparisons across cultures.
2. Today, much research is examining the relationship of culturally specific beliefs and practices to development.
The Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky (1896–1934) played a major role in this trend.
3. Vygotsky’s perspective, known as sociocultural theory, focuses on how culture is transmitted to the next
generation.
8
2. In this view, from the time information is presented to the senses at input until it emerges as a behavioral response
at output, the information is actively coded, transformed, and organized.
3. Information-processing researchers seek to clarify how both task characteristics and cognitive limitations (for
example, memory capacity) influence performance.
4. Some information-processing models track children’s mastery of one or a few tasks; others describe the human
cognitive system as a whole.
5. The information-processing approach is being used to clarify the processing of social information.
6. The information-processing approach, like Piaget’s theory, sees children as active, sense-making beings who
modify their own thinking in response to environmental demands.
7. This approach views development as a process of continuous change.
8 A strength of the information-processing approach is its commitment to rigorous research methods.
9. Information processing is better at analyzing thinking into its components than at formulating a comprehensive
theory. It has had little to say about imagination and creativity.
B. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience (p. 23)
1. Developmental cognitive neuroscience, which has arisen over the past three decades, brings together researchers
from psychology, biology, neuroscience, and medicine to study the relationship between changes in the brain and
the developing child’s cognitive processing and behavior patterns.
2. Neuroscientists use improved methods for analyzing brain activity while children perform various tasks, to
investigate relationships between brain functioning, cognitive capacities, and behavior, including questions like
these:
a. How does genetic makeup combine with specific experiences at various ages to influence the growth and
organization of the child’s brain?
b. How do changes in brain structures support rapid memory development in infancy and toddlerhood?
3. During infancy and early childhood, the brain is highly plastic. But a revolutionary finding of neuroscience
research is that the brain retains considerable plasticity throughout life.
4. The final four theoretical perspectives focus on contexts for development.
C. Ethology and Evolutionary Developmental Psychology (pp. 23–24)
1. Ethology is concerned with the adaptive, or survival, value of behavior and its evolutionary history.
a. Its modern foundations were laid by zoologists Konrad Lorenz and Niko Tinbergen, who observed behavior
patterns that promoted survival in diverse animal species.
b. The best known of these patterns is imprinting.
c. Observations of imprinting led to the concept of the critical period, a limited time during which the child is
biologically prepared to acquire certain adaptive behaviors but needs the support of an appropriately
stimulating environment.
d. The term sensitive period, referring to a time that is optimal for certain capacities to emerge and in which the
individual is especially responsive to environmental influences, applies better to human development than the
strict notion of a critical period. Its boundaries are less well-defined than those of a critical period.
e. British psychoanalyst John Bowlby applied ethological theory to the understanding of attachment in human
infants through the caregiver–infant relationship.
2. Recently, researchers have extended ethologists’ observations that many aspects of children’s social behavior
resemble those of our primate relatives in a new area of research, evolutionary developmental psychology,
which seeks to understand the adaptive value of species-wide cognitive, emotional, and social competencies as
those competencies change with age.
a. Evolutionary psychologists study the entire organism–environment system.
b. By clarifying the origins and development of certain evolved behaviors—such as life-threatening risk taking
in adolescents and male-to-male violence—that are no longer adaptive, evolutionary developmental
psychology may help spark more effective interventions.
D. Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory (pp. 24–26)
1. The field of child development has recently seen a dramatic increase in studies addressing the cultural context of
children’s lives, including comparisons across cultures.
2. Today, much research is examining the relationship of culturally specific beliefs and practices to development.
The Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky (1896–1934) played a major role in this trend.
3. Vygotsky’s perspective, known as sociocultural theory, focuses on how culture is transmitted to the next
generation.
8
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Chapter 1 History, Theory, and Applied Directions
4. According to Vygotsky, social interaction is necessary for children to acquire the ways of thinking and behaving
that make up a community’s culture.
5. Like Piaget, Vygotsky viewed children as active, constructive beings. But Vygotsky saw cognitive development
as a socially mediated process, in which children depend on assistance from adults and more-expert peers as they
tackle new challenges.
6. Vygotsky believed that children undergo certain stagewise changes.
7. Cross-cultural research shows that cultures select different tasks for children’s learning, and the social interactions
surrounding those tasks lead to competencies essential for success in a particular culture.
8. Vygotsky said little about the role of heredity and brain growth in cognitive change.
9. Vygotsky placed less emphasis than other theorists on children’s capacity to shape their own development.
E. Ecological Systems Theory (pp. 26–29)
1. The ecological systems theory of Urie Bronfenbrenner (1917–2005) views the child as developing within a
complex system of relationships affected by multiple levels of the surrounding environment.
2. Bronfenbrenner calls his perspective a bioecological model, in which the child’s biologically influenced
dispositions join with environmental forces to mold development.
3. The environment is seen as a series of nested structures—microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, and
macrosystem—that include but also extend beyond home, school, and neighborhood settings.
a. The Microsystem
(1) The innermost level of the environment is the microsystem, consisting of activities and interaction
patterns in the child’s immediate surroundings.
(2) All relationships are bidirectional: Adults affect children’s behavior, but children also affect adults’
behavior.
(3) Third parties—other individuals in the microsystem—also affect the quality of any two-person
relationship.
b. The Mesosystem
(1) The second level of Bronfenbrenner’s model, the mesosystem, encompasses connections between
microsystems, such as home, school, neighborhood, and child-care center.
(2) Family–neighborhood connections are especially important for economically disadvantaged children,
who, compared with affluent children, are more dependent on their immediate surroundings for social
support.
(3) Yet in dangerous, disorganized neighborhoods, high-quality activities for children and adolescents are
usually scarce, and home and neighborhood obstacles often combine to reduce involvement.
c. The Exosystem
(1) The third level, the exosystem, consists of social settings that do not contain children but nevertheless
affect children’s experiences in immediate settings.
(2) This level includes both formal organizations, such as parents’ workplaces and religious institutions, and
informal supports, such as parents’ social networks.
(3) Research confirms the negative impact of a breakdown in exosystem activities—for example, the effects
of unemployment or social isolation.
(4) When family time is at the mercy of external forces, such as parents commuting several hours a day to
and from work, family routines are threatened.
d. The Macrosystem
(1) The outermost level of Bronfenbrenner’s model, the macrosystem, consists of cultural values, laws,
customs, and resources.
(2) The priority that the macrosystem gives to children’s needs—for example, support of high standards for
child care and generous workplace benefits for employed parents—affects the experiences children have
in their immediate settings.
e. An Ever-Changing System
(1) Bronfenbrenner sees the environment as ever-changing and calls the temporal dimension of his model the
chronosystem.
(2) The timing of important life events, such as the birth of a sibling, modifies relationships between children
and their environments.
(3) These changes can be imposed on the child or can arise from within the child.
9
4. According to Vygotsky, social interaction is necessary for children to acquire the ways of thinking and behaving
that make up a community’s culture.
5. Like Piaget, Vygotsky viewed children as active, constructive beings. But Vygotsky saw cognitive development
as a socially mediated process, in which children depend on assistance from adults and more-expert peers as they
tackle new challenges.
6. Vygotsky believed that children undergo certain stagewise changes.
7. Cross-cultural research shows that cultures select different tasks for children’s learning, and the social interactions
surrounding those tasks lead to competencies essential for success in a particular culture.
8. Vygotsky said little about the role of heredity and brain growth in cognitive change.
9. Vygotsky placed less emphasis than other theorists on children’s capacity to shape their own development.
E. Ecological Systems Theory (pp. 26–29)
1. The ecological systems theory of Urie Bronfenbrenner (1917–2005) views the child as developing within a
complex system of relationships affected by multiple levels of the surrounding environment.
2. Bronfenbrenner calls his perspective a bioecological model, in which the child’s biologically influenced
dispositions join with environmental forces to mold development.
3. The environment is seen as a series of nested structures—microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, and
macrosystem—that include but also extend beyond home, school, and neighborhood settings.
a. The Microsystem
(1) The innermost level of the environment is the microsystem, consisting of activities and interaction
patterns in the child’s immediate surroundings.
(2) All relationships are bidirectional: Adults affect children’s behavior, but children also affect adults’
behavior.
(3) Third parties—other individuals in the microsystem—also affect the quality of any two-person
relationship.
b. The Mesosystem
(1) The second level of Bronfenbrenner’s model, the mesosystem, encompasses connections between
microsystems, such as home, school, neighborhood, and child-care center.
(2) Family–neighborhood connections are especially important for economically disadvantaged children,
who, compared with affluent children, are more dependent on their immediate surroundings for social
support.
(3) Yet in dangerous, disorganized neighborhoods, high-quality activities for children and adolescents are
usually scarce, and home and neighborhood obstacles often combine to reduce involvement.
c. The Exosystem
(1) The third level, the exosystem, consists of social settings that do not contain children but nevertheless
affect children’s experiences in immediate settings.
(2) This level includes both formal organizations, such as parents’ workplaces and religious institutions, and
informal supports, such as parents’ social networks.
(3) Research confirms the negative impact of a breakdown in exosystem activities—for example, the effects
of unemployment or social isolation.
(4) When family time is at the mercy of external forces, such as parents commuting several hours a day to
and from work, family routines are threatened.
d. The Macrosystem
(1) The outermost level of Bronfenbrenner’s model, the macrosystem, consists of cultural values, laws,
customs, and resources.
(2) The priority that the macrosystem gives to children’s needs—for example, support of high standards for
child care and generous workplace benefits for employed parents—affects the experiences children have
in their immediate settings.
e. An Ever-Changing System
(1) Bronfenbrenner sees the environment as ever-changing and calls the temporal dimension of his model the
chronosystem.
(2) The timing of important life events, such as the birth of a sibling, modifies relationships between children
and their environments.
(3) These changes can be imposed on the child or can arise from within the child.
9
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Instructor’s Resource Manual for Berk / Child Development, 9e
F. New Directions: Development as a Dynamic System (pp. 30–31)
1. Today’s researchers, recognizing both consistency and variability in children’s development, have adopted a
dynamic systems perspective—a view in which the child’s mind, body, and physical and social worlds form an
integrated system that guides mastery of new skills.
a. The system is dynamic. A change in any part of it disrupts the current organism–environment relationship.
b. In response to change, the child actively reorganizes her behavior so the components of the system work
together again but in a more complex, effective way.
2. Researchers who adopt a dynamic systems perspective try to study children’s behavior while they are in
transition.
3. Dynamic systems theorists believe that within certain universal, broad outlines of development, biological
makeup and environmental factors vary greatly, leading to wide individual differences in specific skills.
4. From this perspective, development is not a single line of change but a web of fibers.
VI. COMPARING CHILD DEVELOPMENT THEORIES (pp. 31–32)
A. The major theoretical perspectives in child development research focus on different domains of development.
B. Every theory contains a point of view about child development and takes a stand on the basic issues.
C. Every theory has both strengths and limitations, allowing one to develop an eclectic position, or blend of several
theories.
VII. APPLIED DIRECTIONS: CHILD DEVELOPMENT AND SOCIAL POLICY (pp. 32–38)
A. In recent years, the field of child development has become increasingly concerned with applying its knowledge base to
solving pressing social problems by influencing social policy.
1. Social policy is any planned set of actions by a group, institution, or governing body directed at attaining a social
goal.
2. Nations attempt to solve widespread social problems through public policy—laws and government programs
aimed to improve current conditions.
B. U.S. public policies safeguarding children and youths have lagged behind policies in other developed nations: The
United States outranks nearly all other economically advanced countries in child poverty.
1. Nearly 21 percent of U.S. children are poor, and poverty is expected to worsen, due to the recent economic
recession.
2. Of all Western nations, the United States has the highest percentage of extremely poor children—nearly 8 percent.
3. The United States does not rank well on any key measure of children’s health and well-being.
4. Despite improved health-care provisions signed into law in 2010, the United States remains the only industrialized
nation without a universal, publicly funded health-care system.
5. The United States has been slow to move toward national standards and funding for child care.
6. Weak enforcement of child support payments heightens poverty in mother-headed households.
C. Culture and Public Policies (pp. 34–35, 36)
1. Public policies are strongly influenced by cultural variation in the extent to which individualism versus
collectivism prevails.
a. In individualistic societies, people think of themselves as separate entities and are largely concerned with
their own personal needs.
b. In collectivist societies, people define themselves as part of a group and stress group over individual goals.
2. The United States is strongly individualistic, whereas most Western European nations lean toward collectivism.
3. Less consensus exists among American citizens than among European citizens on issues of child and family
policy, resulting in fewer and more limited programs.
4. Good social programs must compete for a fair share of a country’s economic resources.
5. Some policies aimed at solving one social problem—for example, returning welfare recipients to the workforce—
can work at cross-purposes with children’s well-being, sometimes even worsening their condition.
D. Contributions of Child Development Research (pp. 35–37)
1. For a policy to be effective in meeting children’s needs, research must guide it at every step.
2. Research on the importance of early experiences for children’s intellectual development played a major role in the
founding, in 1965, of Project Head Start.
3. Several decades of research on early rapid brain growth and plasticity and the short- and long-term benefits of
early intervention helped Head Start survive.
10
F. New Directions: Development as a Dynamic System (pp. 30–31)
1. Today’s researchers, recognizing both consistency and variability in children’s development, have adopted a
dynamic systems perspective—a view in which the child’s mind, body, and physical and social worlds form an
integrated system that guides mastery of new skills.
a. The system is dynamic. A change in any part of it disrupts the current organism–environment relationship.
b. In response to change, the child actively reorganizes her behavior so the components of the system work
together again but in a more complex, effective way.
2. Researchers who adopt a dynamic systems perspective try to study children’s behavior while they are in
transition.
3. Dynamic systems theorists believe that within certain universal, broad outlines of development, biological
makeup and environmental factors vary greatly, leading to wide individual differences in specific skills.
4. From this perspective, development is not a single line of change but a web of fibers.
VI. COMPARING CHILD DEVELOPMENT THEORIES (pp. 31–32)
A. The major theoretical perspectives in child development research focus on different domains of development.
B. Every theory contains a point of view about child development and takes a stand on the basic issues.
C. Every theory has both strengths and limitations, allowing one to develop an eclectic position, or blend of several
theories.
VII. APPLIED DIRECTIONS: CHILD DEVELOPMENT AND SOCIAL POLICY (pp. 32–38)
A. In recent years, the field of child development has become increasingly concerned with applying its knowledge base to
solving pressing social problems by influencing social policy.
1. Social policy is any planned set of actions by a group, institution, or governing body directed at attaining a social
goal.
2. Nations attempt to solve widespread social problems through public policy—laws and government programs
aimed to improve current conditions.
B. U.S. public policies safeguarding children and youths have lagged behind policies in other developed nations: The
United States outranks nearly all other economically advanced countries in child poverty.
1. Nearly 21 percent of U.S. children are poor, and poverty is expected to worsen, due to the recent economic
recession.
2. Of all Western nations, the United States has the highest percentage of extremely poor children—nearly 8 percent.
3. The United States does not rank well on any key measure of children’s health and well-being.
4. Despite improved health-care provisions signed into law in 2010, the United States remains the only industrialized
nation without a universal, publicly funded health-care system.
5. The United States has been slow to move toward national standards and funding for child care.
6. Weak enforcement of child support payments heightens poverty in mother-headed households.
C. Culture and Public Policies (pp. 34–35, 36)
1. Public policies are strongly influenced by cultural variation in the extent to which individualism versus
collectivism prevails.
a. In individualistic societies, people think of themselves as separate entities and are largely concerned with
their own personal needs.
b. In collectivist societies, people define themselves as part of a group and stress group over individual goals.
2. The United States is strongly individualistic, whereas most Western European nations lean toward collectivism.
3. Less consensus exists among American citizens than among European citizens on issues of child and family
policy, resulting in fewer and more limited programs.
4. Good social programs must compete for a fair share of a country’s economic resources.
5. Some policies aimed at solving one social problem—for example, returning welfare recipients to the workforce—
can work at cross-purposes with children’s well-being, sometimes even worsening their condition.
D. Contributions of Child Development Research (pp. 35–37)
1. For a policy to be effective in meeting children’s needs, research must guide it at every step.
2. Research on the importance of early experiences for children’s intellectual development played a major role in the
founding, in 1965, of Project Head Start.
3. Several decades of research on early rapid brain growth and plasticity and the short- and long-term benefits of
early intervention helped Head Start survive.
10
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Chapter 1 History, Theory, and Applied Directions
4. Investigators have broadened their focus to include wider social contexts that affect children’s well-being and to
examine the impact on children of societal changes.
E. Looking Toward the Future (p. 37)
1. Policies aimed at fostering children’s development can be justified on two grounds: Children are the future, and
child-oriented policies can be defended on humanitarian grounds.
2. Growing awareness of the gap between what we know and what we do to better children’s lives has led experts in
child development to join with concerned citizens as advocates for more effective policies, creating several
influential interest groups devoted to the well-being of children:
a. In the United States, the most vigorous children’s advocacy group is the Children’s Defense Fund, which
engages in public education, legal action, drafting of legislation, congressional testimony, and community
organizing.
b. Another advocacy organization is the National Center for Children in Poverty, dedicated to advancing the
economic security, health, and welfare of U.S. children in low-income families.
3. More researchers are collaborating with community and government agencies to enhance the social relevance of
their investigations and to disseminate their findings more widely.
LECTURE ENHANCEMENTS
LECTURE ENHANCEMENT 1.1
Illustrating Domains of Development: The Relationship Between Cognitive and Emotional and Social Development
(pp. 4–5)
Time: 10–15 minutes
Objective: To illustrate domains of development by examining the relationship between reading problems and internalizing
behavior in school-age children.
Chapter 1 of the text notes that each domain of development—physical, cognitive, and emotional and social—influences and is
influenced by the others. To highlight the relationship between reading problems (cognitive domain) and internalizing behavior
(emotional and social domain), Ackerman and colleagues (2008) recruited 105 school-age children who were already
participating in a longitudinal study of low-income families. The researchers collected the following information when children
were in grades 3 and 5:
(1) Teachers completed the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), which assesses withdrawn behavior, somatic
complaints, anxiety, depression, aggression, and delinquency.
(2) Statewide reading achievement test scores, which were available on all participants, were used to assess reading
levels and problems. The researchers also had access to participants’ scores on a vocabulary subtest from the
Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale.
(3) Children completed a self-report about emotional experiences. For example, they were asked, “How often do you
feel angry, disgusted, shy, sad, or guilty?”
(4) During academic tasks, trained coders conducted direct observations to assess inattention.
(5) Parents provided demographic information, including a family disruption index. (For example, had the mother
experienced any change in intimate residential partners in the past two years? Had any adult member of the
household had police contact or received psychiatric treatment in the past two years?)
Results indicated that of the 105 participants, 43 percent of third graders and 39 percent of fifth graders were enrolled in a
reading-assistance program. Despite their involvement in the reading program, the majority of these children scored well below
average on the statewide reading achievement test. Findings also showed that reading problems in the third and fifth grades
strongly predicted internalizing behavior and negative emotion, although this finding was stronger for fifth graders. That is,
fifth graders experienced more distress than third graders over poor reading achievement. The relationship between reading
problems, internalizing behavior, and negative emotion remained even after controlling for family disruption. Taken together,
these findings highlight the negative consequences of reading problems on the psychological well-being in school-age children.
According to Ackerman and colleagues, the longer reading problems persist, the more frustrated, depressed, and anxious
children are likely to become.
11
4. Investigators have broadened their focus to include wider social contexts that affect children’s well-being and to
examine the impact on children of societal changes.
E. Looking Toward the Future (p. 37)
1. Policies aimed at fostering children’s development can be justified on two grounds: Children are the future, and
child-oriented policies can be defended on humanitarian grounds.
2. Growing awareness of the gap between what we know and what we do to better children’s lives has led experts in
child development to join with concerned citizens as advocates for more effective policies, creating several
influential interest groups devoted to the well-being of children:
a. In the United States, the most vigorous children’s advocacy group is the Children’s Defense Fund, which
engages in public education, legal action, drafting of legislation, congressional testimony, and community
organizing.
b. Another advocacy organization is the National Center for Children in Poverty, dedicated to advancing the
economic security, health, and welfare of U.S. children in low-income families.
3. More researchers are collaborating with community and government agencies to enhance the social relevance of
their investigations and to disseminate their findings more widely.
LECTURE ENHANCEMENTS
LECTURE ENHANCEMENT 1.1
Illustrating Domains of Development: The Relationship Between Cognitive and Emotional and Social Development
(pp. 4–5)
Time: 10–15 minutes
Objective: To illustrate domains of development by examining the relationship between reading problems and internalizing
behavior in school-age children.
Chapter 1 of the text notes that each domain of development—physical, cognitive, and emotional and social—influences and is
influenced by the others. To highlight the relationship between reading problems (cognitive domain) and internalizing behavior
(emotional and social domain), Ackerman and colleagues (2008) recruited 105 school-age children who were already
participating in a longitudinal study of low-income families. The researchers collected the following information when children
were in grades 3 and 5:
(1) Teachers completed the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), which assesses withdrawn behavior, somatic
complaints, anxiety, depression, aggression, and delinquency.
(2) Statewide reading achievement test scores, which were available on all participants, were used to assess reading
levels and problems. The researchers also had access to participants’ scores on a vocabulary subtest from the
Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale.
(3) Children completed a self-report about emotional experiences. For example, they were asked, “How often do you
feel angry, disgusted, shy, sad, or guilty?”
(4) During academic tasks, trained coders conducted direct observations to assess inattention.
(5) Parents provided demographic information, including a family disruption index. (For example, had the mother
experienced any change in intimate residential partners in the past two years? Had any adult member of the
household had police contact or received psychiatric treatment in the past two years?)
Results indicated that of the 105 participants, 43 percent of third graders and 39 percent of fifth graders were enrolled in a
reading-assistance program. Despite their involvement in the reading program, the majority of these children scored well below
average on the statewide reading achievement test. Findings also showed that reading problems in the third and fifth grades
strongly predicted internalizing behavior and negative emotion, although this finding was stronger for fifth graders. That is,
fifth graders experienced more distress than third graders over poor reading achievement. The relationship between reading
problems, internalizing behavior, and negative emotion remained even after controlling for family disruption. Taken together,
these findings highlight the negative consequences of reading problems on the psychological well-being in school-age children.
According to Ackerman and colleagues, the longer reading problems persist, the more frustrated, depressed, and anxious
children are likely to become.
11
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Instructor’s Resource Manual for Berk / Child Development, 9e
Ask students to identify factors that may explain the relationship between reading difficulties and anxiety and
depression. How might internalizing problems, in turn, contribute to reading difficulties?
Ackerman, B. P., Izard, C. E., Kobak, R., Brown, E. D., & Smith, C. (2008). Relation between reading problems and
internalizing behavior in school for preadolescent children from economically disadvantaged families. Child
Development, 78, 581–596.
LECTURE ENHANCEMENT 1.2
Risk and Resilience in Low-SES Ethnically Diverse Families (pp. 10–11)
Time: 10–15 minutes
Objective: To extend existing research on risk and resilience in low-SES ethnically diverse families.
As noted in the text, environmental risks, such as poverty, negative family interactions, parental divorce, mental illness, and
drug abuse, predispose children to future problems. However, not all at-risk children experience lasting problems. To extend
existing research on risk and resilience, Wadsworth and Santiago (2008) recruited 94 families living at or below the federal
poverty line. Each family had at least one parent or guardian and one child or adolescent between the ages of 6 and 18 years.
Thirty-three percent of the families were European American, with the remaining families being African American, Latino,
Native American, or multiracial. The researchers collected the following information:
(1) The Multicultural Events Schedule for Adolescents (MESA) was used to measure family poverty-related stress.
The MESA focuses on the daily hassles and life events that are common among poor, urban youths, including
economic strain, family conflict, family transitions, discrimination, and victimization/violence exposure. Parents
completed the MESA for children under the age of 10, whereas adolescents completed a self-report.
(2) The Economic Hardship Questionnaire (EHQ) was used to measure the number of constraints a family
experienced in the past 6 months due to financial hardship. For example, in the past 6 months, We have had to sell
possessions to make ends meet. We had to apply for federal assistance.
(3) Parents completed the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), which rates a broad range of internalizing (anxiety,
somatic complaints, depression) and externalizing (aggression, impulsivity, hyperactivity) problems. Parents also
completed the Adult Self Report (ASR) and the Adult Behavior Checklist (ABCL). The ASR measures one’s own
psychological symptoms, whereas the ABCL focuses on the partner’s symptoms.
(4) Parents and adolescents completed the Responses to Stress Questionnaire, which assesses how a person responds
to a stressful domain—for example, withdrawal, talking about the situation, or becoming anxious or depressed.
Results indicated that poverty-related stress (PRS) predicted psychological distress in families regardless of ethnic
background. However, some individuals were more vulnerable to the effects of PRS. For example, children tended to exhibit
greater behavioral difficulties and poorer coping skills than adolescents or adults. According to Wadsworth and Santiago,
children may have an especially difficult time coping with PRS due to their lack of control over the family’s financial situation.
As a result, they may have difficulty developing effective coping strategies, which may interfere with their ability to deal with
other stressful life events. And compared to males of all ages, females had higher rates of anxiety, depression, and somatic
complaints, which is consistent with previous research on gender differences in stress reactions. Finally, African-American
families were less affected by PRS than European-American or Latino families. This may be due to the social supports
available to African-American families, such as strong extended-family relations and religious participation. Such social
support may serve as a buffer against PRS.
Wadsworth, M. E., & Santiago, C. D. (2008). Risk and resiliency processes in ethnically diverse families in poverty. Journal of
Family Psychology, 22, 399–410.
12
Ask students to identify factors that may explain the relationship between reading difficulties and anxiety and
depression. How might internalizing problems, in turn, contribute to reading difficulties?
Ackerman, B. P., Izard, C. E., Kobak, R., Brown, E. D., & Smith, C. (2008). Relation between reading problems and
internalizing behavior in school for preadolescent children from economically disadvantaged families. Child
Development, 78, 581–596.
LECTURE ENHANCEMENT 1.2
Risk and Resilience in Low-SES Ethnically Diverse Families (pp. 10–11)
Time: 10–15 minutes
Objective: To extend existing research on risk and resilience in low-SES ethnically diverse families.
As noted in the text, environmental risks, such as poverty, negative family interactions, parental divorce, mental illness, and
drug abuse, predispose children to future problems. However, not all at-risk children experience lasting problems. To extend
existing research on risk and resilience, Wadsworth and Santiago (2008) recruited 94 families living at or below the federal
poverty line. Each family had at least one parent or guardian and one child or adolescent between the ages of 6 and 18 years.
Thirty-three percent of the families were European American, with the remaining families being African American, Latino,
Native American, or multiracial. The researchers collected the following information:
(1) The Multicultural Events Schedule for Adolescents (MESA) was used to measure family poverty-related stress.
The MESA focuses on the daily hassles and life events that are common among poor, urban youths, including
economic strain, family conflict, family transitions, discrimination, and victimization/violence exposure. Parents
completed the MESA for children under the age of 10, whereas adolescents completed a self-report.
(2) The Economic Hardship Questionnaire (EHQ) was used to measure the number of constraints a family
experienced in the past 6 months due to financial hardship. For example, in the past 6 months, We have had to sell
possessions to make ends meet. We had to apply for federal assistance.
(3) Parents completed the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), which rates a broad range of internalizing (anxiety,
somatic complaints, depression) and externalizing (aggression, impulsivity, hyperactivity) problems. Parents also
completed the Adult Self Report (ASR) and the Adult Behavior Checklist (ABCL). The ASR measures one’s own
psychological symptoms, whereas the ABCL focuses on the partner’s symptoms.
(4) Parents and adolescents completed the Responses to Stress Questionnaire, which assesses how a person responds
to a stressful domain—for example, withdrawal, talking about the situation, or becoming anxious or depressed.
Results indicated that poverty-related stress (PRS) predicted psychological distress in families regardless of ethnic
background. However, some individuals were more vulnerable to the effects of PRS. For example, children tended to exhibit
greater behavioral difficulties and poorer coping skills than adolescents or adults. According to Wadsworth and Santiago,
children may have an especially difficult time coping with PRS due to their lack of control over the family’s financial situation.
As a result, they may have difficulty developing effective coping strategies, which may interfere with their ability to deal with
other stressful life events. And compared to males of all ages, females had higher rates of anxiety, depression, and somatic
complaints, which is consistent with previous research on gender differences in stress reactions. Finally, African-American
families were less affected by PRS than European-American or Latino families. This may be due to the social supports
available to African-American families, such as strong extended-family relations and religious participation. Such social
support may serve as a buffer against PRS.
Wadsworth, M. E., & Santiago, C. D. (2008). Risk and resiliency processes in ethnically diverse families in poverty. Journal of
Family Psychology, 22, 399–410.
12
Loading page 24...
Chapter 1 History, Theory, and Applied Directions
LECTURE ENHANCEMENT 1.3
Do Home and Neighborhood Characteristics Contribute to Children’s Participation in Out-of-School Activities?
(pp. 26–28)
Time: 10–15 minutes
Objective: To examine the influence of home and neighborhood contexts on children’s participation in out-of-school activities.
According to ecological systems theory, a child’s development occurs within a complex system of relationships affected by
multiple levels of the environment. Moreover, each layer of the environment has a powerful impact on development. To extend
existing research on how home and neighborhood contexts influence child development, Dearing and colleagues (2009)
recruited 1,420 elementary school-age children who were participating in The Panel Study of Income Dynamics, Child
Development Supplement (PSID–CDS), a longitudinal investigation of children’s health, emotional well-being, intellectual
development, academic achievement, and relationships with family and peers. The researchers collected the following
information:
(1) Parents provided demographic information, including children’s age, gender, ethnicity, family size, partner status,
employment status, and annual income.
(2) Trained interviewers visited children’s homes and completed the Home Observation for Measurement of the
Environment (HOME). The HOME focuses on a range of household characteristics, such as quality of parent–
child interactions, material resources, presence of children’s books, affection toward child, and use of physical
punishment.
(3) Using U.S. Census data, the researchers calculated neighborhood affluence using median family income,
percentage of residents with a college degree, and percentage of residents in professional or managerial jobs.
(4) The researchers conducted observations of neighborhood safety and orderliness. They focused on the presence of
drug-related paraphernalia, condoms, liquor containers, cigarette butts, and discarded cigarette packages in the
streets or on the sidewalks.
(5) Parents provided information on their child’s participation in nonschool activities during the past year, including
before- and after-school programs, community center activities, lessons (e.g., music), church clubs, and summer
camps.
Findings indicated that family income strongly predicted children’s participation in activities outside of school. For
example, a child living in a family with an annual income of $20,000 was 2.5 times as likely to participate in nonschool
activities than a child living in a family with an annual income of $10,000. Neighborhood characteristics also contributed to
participation rates. Children living in affluent, safe, and orderly neighborhoods had greater access to nonschool activities, which
predicted higher rates of participation. One exception to this trend was participation in church clubs, with low-income children
having higher participation rates than affluent children. This finding is not surprising, as churches tend to be a central source of
support for low-income and ethnic minority families. Finally, the quality of the home environment had an indirect effect on
children’s participation in nonschool activities. Affluent families tended to provide more enrichment, which, in turn, predicted
higher participation rates.
These findings support previous research on the importance of home and neighborhood contexts for children’s
development. Although neighborhood resources tend to have a greater impact on economically disadvantaged than on well-to-
do young people, poor children often lack access to growth-enriching activities like before- and after-school programs, formal
lessons, and summer camps.
According to your text, why are strong family–neighborhood ties especially important for low-income children?
Dearing, E., Wimer, C., Simpkins, S. D., Lund, T., Bouffard, S. M., Caronogan, P., Kreider, H., & Weiss, H. (2009). Do
neighborhood and home contexts explain why low-income children miss opportunities to participate in activities
outside of school? Developmental Psychology, 45, 1545–1562.
13
LECTURE ENHANCEMENT 1.3
Do Home and Neighborhood Characteristics Contribute to Children’s Participation in Out-of-School Activities?
(pp. 26–28)
Time: 10–15 minutes
Objective: To examine the influence of home and neighborhood contexts on children’s participation in out-of-school activities.
According to ecological systems theory, a child’s development occurs within a complex system of relationships affected by
multiple levels of the environment. Moreover, each layer of the environment has a powerful impact on development. To extend
existing research on how home and neighborhood contexts influence child development, Dearing and colleagues (2009)
recruited 1,420 elementary school-age children who were participating in The Panel Study of Income Dynamics, Child
Development Supplement (PSID–CDS), a longitudinal investigation of children’s health, emotional well-being, intellectual
development, academic achievement, and relationships with family and peers. The researchers collected the following
information:
(1) Parents provided demographic information, including children’s age, gender, ethnicity, family size, partner status,
employment status, and annual income.
(2) Trained interviewers visited children’s homes and completed the Home Observation for Measurement of the
Environment (HOME). The HOME focuses on a range of household characteristics, such as quality of parent–
child interactions, material resources, presence of children’s books, affection toward child, and use of physical
punishment.
(3) Using U.S. Census data, the researchers calculated neighborhood affluence using median family income,
percentage of residents with a college degree, and percentage of residents in professional or managerial jobs.
(4) The researchers conducted observations of neighborhood safety and orderliness. They focused on the presence of
drug-related paraphernalia, condoms, liquor containers, cigarette butts, and discarded cigarette packages in the
streets or on the sidewalks.
(5) Parents provided information on their child’s participation in nonschool activities during the past year, including
before- and after-school programs, community center activities, lessons (e.g., music), church clubs, and summer
camps.
Findings indicated that family income strongly predicted children’s participation in activities outside of school. For
example, a child living in a family with an annual income of $20,000 was 2.5 times as likely to participate in nonschool
activities than a child living in a family with an annual income of $10,000. Neighborhood characteristics also contributed to
participation rates. Children living in affluent, safe, and orderly neighborhoods had greater access to nonschool activities, which
predicted higher rates of participation. One exception to this trend was participation in church clubs, with low-income children
having higher participation rates than affluent children. This finding is not surprising, as churches tend to be a central source of
support for low-income and ethnic minority families. Finally, the quality of the home environment had an indirect effect on
children’s participation in nonschool activities. Affluent families tended to provide more enrichment, which, in turn, predicted
higher participation rates.
These findings support previous research on the importance of home and neighborhood contexts for children’s
development. Although neighborhood resources tend to have a greater impact on economically disadvantaged than on well-to-
do young people, poor children often lack access to growth-enriching activities like before- and after-school programs, formal
lessons, and summer camps.
According to your text, why are strong family–neighborhood ties especially important for low-income children?
Dearing, E., Wimer, C., Simpkins, S. D., Lund, T., Bouffard, S. M., Caronogan, P., Kreider, H., & Weiss, H. (2009). Do
neighborhood and home contexts explain why low-income children miss opportunities to participate in activities
outside of school? Developmental Psychology, 45, 1545–1562.
13
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Instructor’s Resource Manual for Berk / Child Development, 9e
LECTURE ENHANCEMENT 1.4
Do Welfare-to-Work Programs Enhance Children’s Health Outcomes? (pp. 33–37)
Time: 15 minutes
Objective: To examine the relationship between welfare reform and children’s health outcomes.
A wealth of research exists on the effects of welfare reform on children’s cognitive and emotional and social well-being.
However, few studies have examined the relationship between welfare reform and children’s physical health. In a recent study,
Slack and colleagues (2008) recruited 484 families who were participating in the Illinois Families Study (IFS). To be eligible
for the study, families had to have at least one child 3 years of age or younger who was used as the “focal child.” The study
lasted six years. The researchers collected the following information:
(1) To assess general physical health, parents completed an annual survey in which they rated the focal child’s health
as excellent, very good, good, fair, or poor. The researchers also had access to children’s medical records for the
duration of the study.
(2) Using data from the Illinois Department of Human Services and the Illinois Department of Employment, the
researchers identified the following welfare and work combinations for each family: (1) mostly working,
(2) mostly on cash benefits, (3) mostly combining welfare and work, and (4) neither working nor receiving
welfare.
(3) To determine health care access, the researchers identified whether a focal child experienced a gap in health
insurance coverage in any year (or years) of the study.
(4) Demographic information was gathered for each family and included caregiver’s education and age; caregiver’s
age at birth of first child; number of minors in the home; race, ethnicity, and marital status of household members;
focal child’s age and gender; and cumulative number of months receiving welfare benefits.
Several important and unanticipated findings emerged from this study. First, children with working caregivers were no
healthier than children with welfare-dependent caregivers. Slack and colleagues suggest that under current welfare reform
policies, the transition from welfare-to-work may not enhance children’s health as expected, particularly if children experience
gaps in health insurance coverage. Findings also revealed that children were healthier in families that relied neither on welfare
nor on work. It is important to note that in this study, no work/no welfare mothers were more likely than welfare-dependent or
working mothers to be married or cohabitating. Thus, income from an outside source or partner may have contributed to this
outcome.
Although few children in this study experienced gaps in health insurance coverage, findings suggest that the primary care
setting may be an important predictor of children’s health. Specifically, compared to children receiving medical care from
hospital settings, those receiving care from private care settings experienced poorer health outcomes over the course of the
study. The authors provide several interpretations of this finding. One possibility is that private care settings have less
experience delivering services to high-risk populations, particularly those who are underinsured. Underinsured families, in turn,
may be less likely to seek out health care or follow-up care from these settings. Another possibility is that private care settings
may present more barriers to obtaining health care than hospital settings (for example, inconvenient hours or location). Taken
together, these results suggest that current welfare-to-work programs have little impact on children’s physical health. However,
it is important to note that this study focused on Illinois families. Therefore, these findings may not generalize to other states’
welfare-to-work programs.
Using findings from this study and research presented in the text, ask students to discuss additional reasons why
welfare-to-work programs may not have a positive impact on children’s health. Why is this an important public policy
issue?
Slack, K. S., Holl, J. L., Yoo, J., Amsden, L. B., Collins, E., & Bolger, K. (2008). Welfare, work, and health care access
predictors of low-income children’s physical health outcomes. Children and Youth Services Review, 29, 782–801.
14
LECTURE ENHANCEMENT 1.4
Do Welfare-to-Work Programs Enhance Children’s Health Outcomes? (pp. 33–37)
Time: 15 minutes
Objective: To examine the relationship between welfare reform and children’s health outcomes.
A wealth of research exists on the effects of welfare reform on children’s cognitive and emotional and social well-being.
However, few studies have examined the relationship between welfare reform and children’s physical health. In a recent study,
Slack and colleagues (2008) recruited 484 families who were participating in the Illinois Families Study (IFS). To be eligible
for the study, families had to have at least one child 3 years of age or younger who was used as the “focal child.” The study
lasted six years. The researchers collected the following information:
(1) To assess general physical health, parents completed an annual survey in which they rated the focal child’s health
as excellent, very good, good, fair, or poor. The researchers also had access to children’s medical records for the
duration of the study.
(2) Using data from the Illinois Department of Human Services and the Illinois Department of Employment, the
researchers identified the following welfare and work combinations for each family: (1) mostly working,
(2) mostly on cash benefits, (3) mostly combining welfare and work, and (4) neither working nor receiving
welfare.
(3) To determine health care access, the researchers identified whether a focal child experienced a gap in health
insurance coverage in any year (or years) of the study.
(4) Demographic information was gathered for each family and included caregiver’s education and age; caregiver’s
age at birth of first child; number of minors in the home; race, ethnicity, and marital status of household members;
focal child’s age and gender; and cumulative number of months receiving welfare benefits.
Several important and unanticipated findings emerged from this study. First, children with working caregivers were no
healthier than children with welfare-dependent caregivers. Slack and colleagues suggest that under current welfare reform
policies, the transition from welfare-to-work may not enhance children’s health as expected, particularly if children experience
gaps in health insurance coverage. Findings also revealed that children were healthier in families that relied neither on welfare
nor on work. It is important to note that in this study, no work/no welfare mothers were more likely than welfare-dependent or
working mothers to be married or cohabitating. Thus, income from an outside source or partner may have contributed to this
outcome.
Although few children in this study experienced gaps in health insurance coverage, findings suggest that the primary care
setting may be an important predictor of children’s health. Specifically, compared to children receiving medical care from
hospital settings, those receiving care from private care settings experienced poorer health outcomes over the course of the
study. The authors provide several interpretations of this finding. One possibility is that private care settings have less
experience delivering services to high-risk populations, particularly those who are underinsured. Underinsured families, in turn,
may be less likely to seek out health care or follow-up care from these settings. Another possibility is that private care settings
may present more barriers to obtaining health care than hospital settings (for example, inconvenient hours or location). Taken
together, these results suggest that current welfare-to-work programs have little impact on children’s physical health. However,
it is important to note that this study focused on Illinois families. Therefore, these findings may not generalize to other states’
welfare-to-work programs.
Using findings from this study and research presented in the text, ask students to discuss additional reasons why
welfare-to-work programs may not have a positive impact on children’s health. Why is this an important public policy
issue?
Slack, K. S., Holl, J. L., Yoo, J., Amsden, L. B., Collins, E., & Bolger, K. (2008). Welfare, work, and health care access
predictors of low-income children’s physical health outcomes. Children and Youth Services Review, 29, 782–801.
14
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Chapter 1 History, Theory, and Applied Directions
LEARNING ACTIVITIES
LEARNING ACTIVITY 1.1
What Is Your Stance on the Three Basic Issues of Human Development? (pp. 6–9)
To help students better understand the three basic issues of human development, present this exercise as an in-class assignment.
The exercise will help students express their own viewpoints on some of the controversies in the field of human development.
Directions: The following four pairs of statements relate to basic issues about human development. Read each statement
carefully. Then circle the statement in each pair that more closely reflects your own view.
1. A. Development is a continuous, gradual progression, with new abilities, skills, and knowledge gradually added at a
relatively uniform pace.
B. Development occurs at different rates, alternating between periods of little change and periods of abrupt, rapid change.
2. A. All humans follow the same general sequence of development.
B. Each individual has a unique course of development.
3. A. Children respond to the world in much the same way as adults. The main difference is that children’s thinking is less
sophisticated and complex than adults’.
B. Children have unique ways of thinking about and responding to the world that are very different from those of adults.
4. A. An individual’s personality is mostly determined by heredity.
B. An individual’s personality can be modified through caregiving experiences.
Next, have students break into small groups and discuss their answers. What is their stance on the three basic issues of
human development? Which theories take a stance similar to their own? If students had to choose a theory that best represents
their own view of development, would they choose a single theory or would they select certain components of several theories?
What aspects of their chosen theory (or theories) make it more attractive than the others?
LEARNING ACTIVITY 1.2
Interviewing a Resilient Adult (pp. 10–11)
Ask students to identify an adult they know well, such as a family member or close family friend, who experienced and
overcame significant adversity as a child or adolescent. For example, the individual may have experienced the death of a parent
or sibling, experienced community or school violence, had a mentally ill parent, become a teenage parent, been poor for a
number of years, or been removed from the family home for some reason. If the adult is comfortable discussing the situation,
have students conduct an interview with him or her. The following questions might be useful to students: Briefly describe your
childhood/adolescent experience. How did you respond to the event? What factors helped you overcome the event?
Following the interview, students should compare the answers with research in the text. What factors likely contributed to
the individual’s resilience? For example, did he or she mention personal characteristics, a warm parental relationship, social
support outside the family, or community resources? Explain, using examples from the interview.
LEARNING ACTIVITY 1.3
Keeping a Theory/Research Notebook (pp. 10–31)
Given the many developmental theories that exist, students are likely to find some more appealing and plausible than others.
Encourage students to construct a systematic list of their theoretical likes and dislikes by keeping a theory/research notebook.
For each theory, students should list the concepts and principles they find important and those they believe to be inadequate or
incorrect. As they learn more throughout the course, they can revise their opinions, noting research that supports their changing
views. At the end of the course, students should have developed a personal perspective on human development, which may
emphasize one theory or blend aspects of several or many theories.
15
LEARNING ACTIVITIES
LEARNING ACTIVITY 1.1
What Is Your Stance on the Three Basic Issues of Human Development? (pp. 6–9)
To help students better understand the three basic issues of human development, present this exercise as an in-class assignment.
The exercise will help students express their own viewpoints on some of the controversies in the field of human development.
Directions: The following four pairs of statements relate to basic issues about human development. Read each statement
carefully. Then circle the statement in each pair that more closely reflects your own view.
1. A. Development is a continuous, gradual progression, with new abilities, skills, and knowledge gradually added at a
relatively uniform pace.
B. Development occurs at different rates, alternating between periods of little change and periods of abrupt, rapid change.
2. A. All humans follow the same general sequence of development.
B. Each individual has a unique course of development.
3. A. Children respond to the world in much the same way as adults. The main difference is that children’s thinking is less
sophisticated and complex than adults’.
B. Children have unique ways of thinking about and responding to the world that are very different from those of adults.
4. A. An individual’s personality is mostly determined by heredity.
B. An individual’s personality can be modified through caregiving experiences.
Next, have students break into small groups and discuss their answers. What is their stance on the three basic issues of
human development? Which theories take a stance similar to their own? If students had to choose a theory that best represents
their own view of development, would they choose a single theory or would they select certain components of several theories?
What aspects of their chosen theory (or theories) make it more attractive than the others?
LEARNING ACTIVITY 1.2
Interviewing a Resilient Adult (pp. 10–11)
Ask students to identify an adult they know well, such as a family member or close family friend, who experienced and
overcame significant adversity as a child or adolescent. For example, the individual may have experienced the death of a parent
or sibling, experienced community or school violence, had a mentally ill parent, become a teenage parent, been poor for a
number of years, or been removed from the family home for some reason. If the adult is comfortable discussing the situation,
have students conduct an interview with him or her. The following questions might be useful to students: Briefly describe your
childhood/adolescent experience. How did you respond to the event? What factors helped you overcome the event?
Following the interview, students should compare the answers with research in the text. What factors likely contributed to
the individual’s resilience? For example, did he or she mention personal characteristics, a warm parental relationship, social
support outside the family, or community resources? Explain, using examples from the interview.
LEARNING ACTIVITY 1.3
Keeping a Theory/Research Notebook (pp. 10–31)
Given the many developmental theories that exist, students are likely to find some more appealing and plausible than others.
Encourage students to construct a systematic list of their theoretical likes and dislikes by keeping a theory/research notebook.
For each theory, students should list the concepts and principles they find important and those they believe to be inadequate or
incorrect. As they learn more throughout the course, they can revise their opinions, noting research that supports their changing
views. At the end of the course, students should have developed a personal perspective on human development, which may
emphasize one theory or blend aspects of several or many theories.
15
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Instructor’s Resource Manual for Berk / Child Development, 9e
LEARNING ACTIVITY 1.4
True or False: Mid-Twentieth-Century Theories and Recent Theoretical Perspectives (pp. 14–31)
Present the following exercise to students as a quiz or in-class activity.
Directions: Read each of the following statements and indicate whether it is True (T) or False (F).
Statements:
_____ 1. According to Freud, in each stage of psychosexual development, parents walk a fine line between permitting too
much or too little gratification of their child’s basic needs.
_____ 2. Both Freud and Erikson pointed out that normal development must be understood in relation to each culture’s life
situation.
_____ 3. Behaviorism and social learning theory have been praised for acknowledging people’s contributions to their own
development.
_____ 4. In Piaget’s theory, as the brain develops and children’s experiences expand, they move through four broad stages,
each characterized by qualitatively distinct ways of thinking.
_____ 5. Research indicates that Piaget underestimated the competencies of infants and preschoolers.
_____ 6. Information-processing researchers view the mind as a symbol-manipulating system through which information
flows.
_____ 7. Evolutionary psychologists are solely concerned with the biological bases of development.
_____ 8. According to Vygotsky, social interaction is necessary for children to acquire the ways of thinking and behaving
that make up a community’s culture.
_____ 9. The mesosystem is made up of social settings that do not contain the developing persons but nevertheless affect
experiences in immediate settings.
_____ 10. According to Bronfenbrenner, the environment is dynamic and ever changing.
Answers:
1. T 6. T
2. F 7. F
3. F 8. T
4. T 9. F
5. T 10. T
LEARNING ACTIVITY 1.5
Applying Ecological Systems Theory to a “Hot Topic” in Child Development (pp. 26–28)
Have students form small groups and select a “hot topic” in child or adult development, such as the effects of divorce, child
abuse and neglect, quality of child care, the obesity epidemic, public policies for children, or sex education programs in the
schools. Once students have selected their topic, ask them to consider how each level of the environment may affect
development, including bidirectional influences and the role of third parties.
LEARNING ACTIVITY 1.6
Conducting a Survey of Attitudes Toward Government Intervention into Family Life (pp. 32–37)
Have students interview two or three family members, friends, or acquaintances and ask the following questions:
(1) Who should be responsible for raising young children?
(2) Should the government provide money and resources to low-income families with young children? If so, should
the money come from tax dollars?
When students return to class with their responses, instruct them to classify each answer on the basis of whether parents are
viewed as solely responsible for children’s upbringing or whether society should play an important role. Compile the findings,
and discuss them in relation to evidence that government support for children and families has been more difficult to realize in
the United States than in other industrialized nations. How do students feel about their findings? Do they agree with the
findings? Why or why not?
16
LEARNING ACTIVITY 1.4
True or False: Mid-Twentieth-Century Theories and Recent Theoretical Perspectives (pp. 14–31)
Present the following exercise to students as a quiz or in-class activity.
Directions: Read each of the following statements and indicate whether it is True (T) or False (F).
Statements:
_____ 1. According to Freud, in each stage of psychosexual development, parents walk a fine line between permitting too
much or too little gratification of their child’s basic needs.
_____ 2. Both Freud and Erikson pointed out that normal development must be understood in relation to each culture’s life
situation.
_____ 3. Behaviorism and social learning theory have been praised for acknowledging people’s contributions to their own
development.
_____ 4. In Piaget’s theory, as the brain develops and children’s experiences expand, they move through four broad stages,
each characterized by qualitatively distinct ways of thinking.
_____ 5. Research indicates that Piaget underestimated the competencies of infants and preschoolers.
_____ 6. Information-processing researchers view the mind as a symbol-manipulating system through which information
flows.
_____ 7. Evolutionary psychologists are solely concerned with the biological bases of development.
_____ 8. According to Vygotsky, social interaction is necessary for children to acquire the ways of thinking and behaving
that make up a community’s culture.
_____ 9. The mesosystem is made up of social settings that do not contain the developing persons but nevertheless affect
experiences in immediate settings.
_____ 10. According to Bronfenbrenner, the environment is dynamic and ever changing.
Answers:
1. T 6. T
2. F 7. F
3. F 8. T
4. T 9. F
5. T 10. T
LEARNING ACTIVITY 1.5
Applying Ecological Systems Theory to a “Hot Topic” in Child Development (pp. 26–28)
Have students form small groups and select a “hot topic” in child or adult development, such as the effects of divorce, child
abuse and neglect, quality of child care, the obesity epidemic, public policies for children, or sex education programs in the
schools. Once students have selected their topic, ask them to consider how each level of the environment may affect
development, including bidirectional influences and the role of third parties.
LEARNING ACTIVITY 1.6
Conducting a Survey of Attitudes Toward Government Intervention into Family Life (pp. 32–37)
Have students interview two or three family members, friends, or acquaintances and ask the following questions:
(1) Who should be responsible for raising young children?
(2) Should the government provide money and resources to low-income families with young children? If so, should
the money come from tax dollars?
When students return to class with their responses, instruct them to classify each answer on the basis of whether parents are
viewed as solely responsible for children’s upbringing or whether society should play an important role. Compile the findings,
and discuss them in relation to evidence that government support for children and families has been more difficult to realize in
the United States than in other industrialized nations. How do students feel about their findings? Do they agree with the
findings? Why or why not?
16
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Chapter 1 History, Theory, and Applied Directions
LEARNING ACTIVITY 1.7
Researching Social Indicators of Children’s Well-Being in the United States (pp. 32–37)
Although the United States is one of the wealthiest nations in the world, it does not rank among the top countries on any
measure of children’s health and well-being. Direct students to a website sponsored by the Children’s Defense Fund:
www.childrensdefense.org. By clicking on “State Data on Children” under the Research Library heading, students can find out
their state’s ranking on several leading social indicators of children’s well-being. If students are not from the United States, they
can choose a state to research.
Using information from the website, have students answer the following questions: How does your state rank on child
poverty? How about health coverage? How are cultural values, special interests, and economic conditions reflected in these
policies? Do students think that these policies reflect current research in the field of child development? How large is the gap
between what we know and its application to public policy?
ASK YOURSELF . . .
REVIEW: What is meant by a stage of development? Provide your own example of stagewise change. What stand do
stage theorists take on the issue of continuous versus discontinuous development? (pp. 7–8)
A stage is a distinct period of development characterized by qualitative changes in thinking, feeling, and behaving. Stage
theorists believe that development is discontinuous—a process in which new ways of understanding and responding to the
world emerge at specific times. In this view, development is like climbing a staircase, with each step corresponding to a more
mature, reorganized way of functioning. The stage concept also assumes that children undergo periods of rapid transformation
as they step up from one stage to the next, alternating with plateaus during which little change occurs. For example, as children
begin to represent their world through language and make-believe play in early childhood, or as they begin to think more
logically in middle childhood, they are entering a new stage of development.
CONNECT: Provide an example of how one domain of development (physical, cognitive, or emotional/social) can affect
development in another domain. (pp. 4–5)
Development is often divided into three broad domains: physical, cognitive, and emotional and social. Each domain
influences and is influenced by the others. For example, new motor capacities, such as reaching, sitting, crawling, and walking
(physical), contribute greatly to infants’ understanding of their surroundings (cognitive). When babies think and act more
competently, adults stimulate them more with games, language, and expressions of delight at the child’s new achievements
(emotional and social). These enriched experiences, in turn, promote all aspects of development.
APPLY: Anna, a high school counselor, has devised a program that integrates classroom learning with vocational
training to help adolescents at risk for school dropout stay in school and transition smoothly to work life. What is
Anna’s position on stability versus plasticity in development? Explain. (pp. 8–9)
Anna’s program reflects a belief that development has substantial plasticity throughout life. In this view, change is possible
and even likely if it is supported by new experiences. First, Anna takes the position that environmental influences, not just
heredity, are important. Second, by devising a program for adolescents, she rejects the view that early negative experiences
establish lifelong patterns of behavior that cannot be fully overcome by later, more positive experiences. Anna takes a more
optimistic view: She believes that high school students who are at risk for dropout will benefit from the program she has
developed because it will provide positive experiences that will enable them to overcome the negative events of their first few
years.
REFLECT: Cite an aspect of your development that differs from a parent’s or grandparent’s when he or she was your
age. How might contexts explain this difference? (p. 8)
This is an open-ended question with no right or wrong answer.
REVIEW: Imagine a debate between John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau on the nature–nurture controversy.
Summarize the argument that each historical figure is likely to present. (p. 12)
John Locke: The child begins as a tabula rasa, or blank slate, neither good nor evil, whose character will be shaped entirely
by experience. Parents function as rational tutors who can mold the child as they wish through careful instruction, effective
example, and rewards for good behavior. In sum, nurture is the primary determinant of growth.
17
LEARNING ACTIVITY 1.7
Researching Social Indicators of Children’s Well-Being in the United States (pp. 32–37)
Although the United States is one of the wealthiest nations in the world, it does not rank among the top countries on any
measure of children’s health and well-being. Direct students to a website sponsored by the Children’s Defense Fund:
www.childrensdefense.org. By clicking on “State Data on Children” under the Research Library heading, students can find out
their state’s ranking on several leading social indicators of children’s well-being. If students are not from the United States, they
can choose a state to research.
Using information from the website, have students answer the following questions: How does your state rank on child
poverty? How about health coverage? How are cultural values, special interests, and economic conditions reflected in these
policies? Do students think that these policies reflect current research in the field of child development? How large is the gap
between what we know and its application to public policy?
ASK YOURSELF . . .
REVIEW: What is meant by a stage of development? Provide your own example of stagewise change. What stand do
stage theorists take on the issue of continuous versus discontinuous development? (pp. 7–8)
A stage is a distinct period of development characterized by qualitative changes in thinking, feeling, and behaving. Stage
theorists believe that development is discontinuous—a process in which new ways of understanding and responding to the
world emerge at specific times. In this view, development is like climbing a staircase, with each step corresponding to a more
mature, reorganized way of functioning. The stage concept also assumes that children undergo periods of rapid transformation
as they step up from one stage to the next, alternating with plateaus during which little change occurs. For example, as children
begin to represent their world through language and make-believe play in early childhood, or as they begin to think more
logically in middle childhood, they are entering a new stage of development.
CONNECT: Provide an example of how one domain of development (physical, cognitive, or emotional/social) can affect
development in another domain. (pp. 4–5)
Development is often divided into three broad domains: physical, cognitive, and emotional and social. Each domain
influences and is influenced by the others. For example, new motor capacities, such as reaching, sitting, crawling, and walking
(physical), contribute greatly to infants’ understanding of their surroundings (cognitive). When babies think and act more
competently, adults stimulate them more with games, language, and expressions of delight at the child’s new achievements
(emotional and social). These enriched experiences, in turn, promote all aspects of development.
APPLY: Anna, a high school counselor, has devised a program that integrates classroom learning with vocational
training to help adolescents at risk for school dropout stay in school and transition smoothly to work life. What is
Anna’s position on stability versus plasticity in development? Explain. (pp. 8–9)
Anna’s program reflects a belief that development has substantial plasticity throughout life. In this view, change is possible
and even likely if it is supported by new experiences. First, Anna takes the position that environmental influences, not just
heredity, are important. Second, by devising a program for adolescents, she rejects the view that early negative experiences
establish lifelong patterns of behavior that cannot be fully overcome by later, more positive experiences. Anna takes a more
optimistic view: She believes that high school students who are at risk for dropout will benefit from the program she has
developed because it will provide positive experiences that will enable them to overcome the negative events of their first few
years.
REFLECT: Cite an aspect of your development that differs from a parent’s or grandparent’s when he or she was your
age. How might contexts explain this difference? (p. 8)
This is an open-ended question with no right or wrong answer.
REVIEW: Imagine a debate between John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau on the nature–nurture controversy.
Summarize the argument that each historical figure is likely to present. (p. 12)
John Locke: The child begins as a tabula rasa, or blank slate, neither good nor evil, whose character will be shaped entirely
by experience. Parents function as rational tutors who can mold the child as they wish through careful instruction, effective
example, and rewards for good behavior. In sum, nurture is the primary determinant of growth.
17
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Instructor’s Resource Manual for Berk / Child Development, 9e
Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Children are not blank slates who passively respond to environmental influences. Rather, they are
noble savages, naturally endowed with a sense of right and wrong and an innate plan for orderly, healthy growth.
Environmental intervention has no value; adult training can only harm or delay a child’s genetically determined, naturally
unfolding course of development. In sum, nature is the primary determinant of growth.
CONNECT: What do the ideas of Rousseau, Darwin, and Hall have in common? (pp. 12–13)
Rousseau, Darwin, and Hall all emphasized the importance of nature over nurture in development. Rousseau believed that
children develop according to a genetically determined, naturally unfolding course of growth. Darwin’s theory emphasized the
adaptive value of innate characteristics, which determine whether individuals will meet the survival requirements of their
environment and, as a result, live long enough to reproduce and pass on their more beneficial characteristics to future
generations. Hall, inspired by Darwin’s work, saw development as a maturational process—a genetically determined series of
events that unfold automatically.
REFLECT: Find out whether your parents read any child-rearing advice books when you were growing up. What
questions most concerned them? Do you think the concerns of today’s parents differ from those of your parents’
generation? Explain. (p. 13)
This is an open-ended question with no right or wrong answer.
REVIEW: What aspect of behaviorism made it attractive to critics of the psychoanalytic perspective? How did Piaget’s
theory respond to a major limitation of behaviorism? (pp. 17–21)
The early behaviorists rejected the psychoanalytic concern with the unseen workings of the mind. They sought, instead, to
create an objective science of psychology that would study directly observable events—stimuli and responses. As psychologists
wondered whether behaviorism might offer a more direct and effective explanation of the development of children’s social
behavior than the less precise concepts of psychoanalytic theory, several kinds of social learning theory emerged. The most
influential emphasized modeling, also known as imitation or observational learning, as a powerful source of development.
Many theorists believe that behaviorism and social learning theory offer too narrow a view of important environmental
influences and that these approaches underestimate children’s contributions to their own development. In response to these
concerns, Piaget maintained that children’s learning does not depend on reinforcers, such as rewards from adults. Rather,
children actively construct knowledge as they manipulate and explore their world.
Besides investigating children’s understanding of their physical environment, Piaget explored their reasoning about the
social world. His cognitive-developmental perspective convinced the field that children are active learners whose minds consist
of rich structures of knowledge.
CONNECT: Although social learning theory focuses on social development and Piaget’s theory on cognitive
development, each has enhanced our understanding of other domains. Mention an additional domain addressed by each
theory. (pp. 18–20)
Albert Bandura’s social learning theory emphasizes modeling, also known as imitation or observational learning, as a
source of development. From its original emphasis on the emotional/social domain, the theory has evolved to stress the
importance of cognition, or thinking. As a result, Bandura now calls it a social-cognitive rather than a social learning approach.
In addition to explaining children’s social development, social-cognitive theory provides insight into how children control their
own learning and behavior through the attitudes, values, and convictions they acquire about themselves.
Piaget’s cognitive-developmental theory, best known for its emphasis on the stages of cognitive development, also
explores how children reason about the social world. It has sparked a great deal of research on children’s conceptions of
themselves, other people, and human relationships—all aspects of the social/emotional domain.
APPLY: A 4-year-old becomes frightened of the dark and refuses to go to sleep at night. How would a psychoanalyst
and a behaviorist differ in their views of how this problem developed? (pp. 15, 17)
According to the psychoanalytic approach, children move through a series of stages in which they confront conflicts
between biological drives and social expectations. From this perspective, fear of the dark reflects an unconscious motive or
deep-seated anxiety within the child. A psychoanalyst might conclude, for example, that the child’s fear really represents
anxiety about nighttime separation from the parent. Once the anxiety is resolved, the fear will subside.
18
Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Children are not blank slates who passively respond to environmental influences. Rather, they are
noble savages, naturally endowed with a sense of right and wrong and an innate plan for orderly, healthy growth.
Environmental intervention has no value; adult training can only harm or delay a child’s genetically determined, naturally
unfolding course of development. In sum, nature is the primary determinant of growth.
CONNECT: What do the ideas of Rousseau, Darwin, and Hall have in common? (pp. 12–13)
Rousseau, Darwin, and Hall all emphasized the importance of nature over nurture in development. Rousseau believed that
children develop according to a genetically determined, naturally unfolding course of growth. Darwin’s theory emphasized the
adaptive value of innate characteristics, which determine whether individuals will meet the survival requirements of their
environment and, as a result, live long enough to reproduce and pass on their more beneficial characteristics to future
generations. Hall, inspired by Darwin’s work, saw development as a maturational process—a genetically determined series of
events that unfold automatically.
REFLECT: Find out whether your parents read any child-rearing advice books when you were growing up. What
questions most concerned them? Do you think the concerns of today’s parents differ from those of your parents’
generation? Explain. (p. 13)
This is an open-ended question with no right or wrong answer.
REVIEW: What aspect of behaviorism made it attractive to critics of the psychoanalytic perspective? How did Piaget’s
theory respond to a major limitation of behaviorism? (pp. 17–21)
The early behaviorists rejected the psychoanalytic concern with the unseen workings of the mind. They sought, instead, to
create an objective science of psychology that would study directly observable events—stimuli and responses. As psychologists
wondered whether behaviorism might offer a more direct and effective explanation of the development of children’s social
behavior than the less precise concepts of psychoanalytic theory, several kinds of social learning theory emerged. The most
influential emphasized modeling, also known as imitation or observational learning, as a powerful source of development.
Many theorists believe that behaviorism and social learning theory offer too narrow a view of important environmental
influences and that these approaches underestimate children’s contributions to their own development. In response to these
concerns, Piaget maintained that children’s learning does not depend on reinforcers, such as rewards from adults. Rather,
children actively construct knowledge as they manipulate and explore their world.
Besides investigating children’s understanding of their physical environment, Piaget explored their reasoning about the
social world. His cognitive-developmental perspective convinced the field that children are active learners whose minds consist
of rich structures of knowledge.
CONNECT: Although social learning theory focuses on social development and Piaget’s theory on cognitive
development, each has enhanced our understanding of other domains. Mention an additional domain addressed by each
theory. (pp. 18–20)
Albert Bandura’s social learning theory emphasizes modeling, also known as imitation or observational learning, as a
source of development. From its original emphasis on the emotional/social domain, the theory has evolved to stress the
importance of cognition, or thinking. As a result, Bandura now calls it a social-cognitive rather than a social learning approach.
In addition to explaining children’s social development, social-cognitive theory provides insight into how children control their
own learning and behavior through the attitudes, values, and convictions they acquire about themselves.
Piaget’s cognitive-developmental theory, best known for its emphasis on the stages of cognitive development, also
explores how children reason about the social world. It has sparked a great deal of research on children’s conceptions of
themselves, other people, and human relationships—all aspects of the social/emotional domain.
APPLY: A 4-year-old becomes frightened of the dark and refuses to go to sleep at night. How would a psychoanalyst
and a behaviorist differ in their views of how this problem developed? (pp. 15, 17)
According to the psychoanalytic approach, children move through a series of stages in which they confront conflicts
between biological drives and social expectations. From this perspective, fear of the dark reflects an unconscious motive or
deep-seated anxiety within the child. A psychoanalyst might conclude, for example, that the child’s fear really represents
anxiety about nighttime separation from the parent. Once the anxiety is resolved, the fear will subside.
18
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Chapter 1 History, Theory, and Applied Directions
In contrast, behaviorists look at the effects on behavior of directly observable events, not at the inner workings of the mind.
From a behaviorist perspective, a child would be afraid of the dark if previous experiences in the dark were unpleasant. Perhaps
the child heard a sudden, loud noise at night or was frightened by the visual images of a nightmare. On the basis of these
experiences, the child would be conditioned to respond fearfully to being in the dark.
REFLECT: Illustrate Bandura’s ideas by describing a personal experience in which you observed and received
feedback from another person that strengthened your self-efficacy—belief that your abilities and characteristics will
help you succeed. (pp. 18–19)
This is an open-ended question with no right or wrong answer.
REVIEW: Explain how each recent theoretical perspective regards children as active contributors to their own
development. (pp. 21–31)
Information processing: Like Piaget’s cognitive-developmental theory, the information-processing approach views
children as active, sense-making beings who modify their thinking in response to environmental demands. In this view, the
human mind is a symbol-manipulating system through which information flows. From the time it is presented to the senses at
input until it emerges as a behavioral response at output, information is actively coded, transformed, and organized. When
presented with a task, children perform a set of mental operations and experiment with various strategies in their attempts to
solve the problem.
Ethology and evolutionary developmental psychology: Both ethologists and evolutionary developmental psychologists are
interested in the evolutionary history of behavior and its adaptive, or survival, value. For instance, infant smiling, babbling,
grasping, and crying are built-in social signals that encourage the caregiver to approach, care for, and interact with the baby. By
keeping the parent near, these behaviors help ensure that the infant will be fed, protected from danger, and provided with
stimulation and affection necessary for healthy growth.
Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory: Vygotsky’s theory focuses on how culture is transmitted to the next generation.
According to Vygotsky, social interaction—in particular, cooperative dialogues between children and more knowledgeable
members of society—is necessary for children to acquire the ways of thinking and behaving that make up their community’s
culture. Like Piaget, Vygotsky saw children as active, constructive beings. But whereas Piaget emphasized children’s
independent efforts to make sense of their world, Vygotsky viewed cognitive development as a socially mediated process, in
which children depend on assistance from adults and more-expert peers as they tackle new challenges.
Ecological systems theory: Ecological systems theory views the child as developing within a complex system of
relationships affected by multiple levels of the surrounding environment. The child’s biologically influenced dispositions join
with environmental forces to mold development. Life changes can be imposed on the child, or they can arise from within the
child, because as children get older they select, modify, and create many of their own settings and experiences. How they do so
depends on their physical, intellectual, and personality characteristics and their environmental opportunities. In ecological
systems theory, the child and the environment form a network of interdependent effects that, together, determine the course of
development.
Dynamic systems perspective: Much like ecological systems theory, the dynamic systems perspective maintains that the
child’s mind, body, and physical and social worlds form an integrated system that guides mastery of new skills. The system is
dynamic, or constantly in motion. A change in any part of it—from brain growth to changes in physical and social
surroundings—disrupts the current organism–environment relationship. When this happens, the child actively reorganizes his or
her behavior so the various components of the system work together again but in a more complex, effective way.
CONNECT: Return to the Biology and Environment box on pages 10–11. How does the story of John and Gary
illustrate bidirectional influences within the microsystem, as described in ecological systems theory? (p. 27)
The microsystem consists of activities and interaction patterns in the child’s immediate surroundings. Bronfenbrenner
emphasizes that to understand development at this level, we must keep in mind that all relationships are bidirectional: Adults
affect children’s behavior, but children’s biologically and socially influenced characteristics—their physical attributes,
personalities, and capacities—also affect adults’ behavior. In the example, both John and Gary experienced similar
environmental stressors during their childhood and adolescence. However, Gary’s personal qualities, such as his ability to make
new friends and adapt to new surroundings each time his family moved, likely contributed to his resilience. In contrast, John
responded to similar changes by becoming anxious and angry, picking arguments with his parents, siblings, and peers.
19
In contrast, behaviorists look at the effects on behavior of directly observable events, not at the inner workings of the mind.
From a behaviorist perspective, a child would be afraid of the dark if previous experiences in the dark were unpleasant. Perhaps
the child heard a sudden, loud noise at night or was frightened by the visual images of a nightmare. On the basis of these
experiences, the child would be conditioned to respond fearfully to being in the dark.
REFLECT: Illustrate Bandura’s ideas by describing a personal experience in which you observed and received
feedback from another person that strengthened your self-efficacy—belief that your abilities and characteristics will
help you succeed. (pp. 18–19)
This is an open-ended question with no right or wrong answer.
REVIEW: Explain how each recent theoretical perspective regards children as active contributors to their own
development. (pp. 21–31)
Information processing: Like Piaget’s cognitive-developmental theory, the information-processing approach views
children as active, sense-making beings who modify their thinking in response to environmental demands. In this view, the
human mind is a symbol-manipulating system through which information flows. From the time it is presented to the senses at
input until it emerges as a behavioral response at output, information is actively coded, transformed, and organized. When
presented with a task, children perform a set of mental operations and experiment with various strategies in their attempts to
solve the problem.
Ethology and evolutionary developmental psychology: Both ethologists and evolutionary developmental psychologists are
interested in the evolutionary history of behavior and its adaptive, or survival, value. For instance, infant smiling, babbling,
grasping, and crying are built-in social signals that encourage the caregiver to approach, care for, and interact with the baby. By
keeping the parent near, these behaviors help ensure that the infant will be fed, protected from danger, and provided with
stimulation and affection necessary for healthy growth.
Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory: Vygotsky’s theory focuses on how culture is transmitted to the next generation.
According to Vygotsky, social interaction—in particular, cooperative dialogues between children and more knowledgeable
members of society—is necessary for children to acquire the ways of thinking and behaving that make up their community’s
culture. Like Piaget, Vygotsky saw children as active, constructive beings. But whereas Piaget emphasized children’s
independent efforts to make sense of their world, Vygotsky viewed cognitive development as a socially mediated process, in
which children depend on assistance from adults and more-expert peers as they tackle new challenges.
Ecological systems theory: Ecological systems theory views the child as developing within a complex system of
relationships affected by multiple levels of the surrounding environment. The child’s biologically influenced dispositions join
with environmental forces to mold development. Life changes can be imposed on the child, or they can arise from within the
child, because as children get older they select, modify, and create many of their own settings and experiences. How they do so
depends on their physical, intellectual, and personality characteristics and their environmental opportunities. In ecological
systems theory, the child and the environment form a network of interdependent effects that, together, determine the course of
development.
Dynamic systems perspective: Much like ecological systems theory, the dynamic systems perspective maintains that the
child’s mind, body, and physical and social worlds form an integrated system that guides mastery of new skills. The system is
dynamic, or constantly in motion. A change in any part of it—from brain growth to changes in physical and social
surroundings—disrupts the current organism–environment relationship. When this happens, the child actively reorganizes his or
her behavior so the various components of the system work together again but in a more complex, effective way.
CONNECT: Return to the Biology and Environment box on pages 10–11. How does the story of John and Gary
illustrate bidirectional influences within the microsystem, as described in ecological systems theory? (p. 27)
The microsystem consists of activities and interaction patterns in the child’s immediate surroundings. Bronfenbrenner
emphasizes that to understand development at this level, we must keep in mind that all relationships are bidirectional: Adults
affect children’s behavior, but children’s biologically and socially influenced characteristics—their physical attributes,
personalities, and capacities—also affect adults’ behavior. In the example, both John and Gary experienced similar
environmental stressors during their childhood and adolescence. However, Gary’s personal qualities, such as his ability to make
new friends and adapt to new surroundings each time his family moved, likely contributed to his resilience. In contrast, John
responded to similar changes by becoming anxious and angry, picking arguments with his parents, siblings, and peers.
19
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